Developmental updates

I'm getting ready to write a post about our trip to San Fran, but I'm waiting for the 720 pictures to download (yes, we were only gone for one week). So I thought I'd take a minute to update on the kids' development. This is my way of tracking the things they're doing since I no longer have a baby book for Hudson. So I guess this post is more for me than you :)

HUDSON:
-This kid's memory blows our minds! He knows his ABCs now and loves to sing them over and over and over. He also randomly broke out in a store last week with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. His version is pretty cute "twinkle, twinkle, star. How wonder what are. Up above sky high. Like diamond in sky." We definitely have to get this on film.

- He likes to tell you everyone's name. If you ask him his name, he says "Name, Hudson James Prichard" and then continues with "Name, Hadley Grace Prichard. Name, Mommy Prichard. Name, Daddy Prichard." He had a hard time saying his nanny's last name (Bissally) so when you ask him Joyce's name he says "Name, Joycey Bussy, ahahahah!" (He covers his mouth and laughs since he knows he's not saying it correctly.). Lately he's been saying "Name, Joycey Bussy. Name, Joycey SALLY!"

-He LOVES jigsaw puzzles and is a master at them.

-He's been into a few dinosaur books. His transportation books are still his favorites and he loves to tell you which is the "single propeller passenger airplane" and which is the "microlite". Some other favorites from those books are the "4 wheel drive", "combine harvester", and "airport fuel tanker".

-Joyce once told him that a tanker truck outside of our house was going to pick up gas, so every tanker, bus, or airplane he sees, he tells you "Tanker truck/bus/airplane pick up gas".

-When he can't get someone's attention, he resorts to calling them by their names. So far, he's called for "Ryan" (and he does that often), "Reuben" (aka Pop Pop), and "Jack" (aka Pappy).

-He continues to be lovey and affectionate - always giving be hugs and kisses :)

HADLEY:
-She is just the happiest baby ever! As soon as she wakes up, she glows with the biggest smiles you can imagine (made all the cuter with her huge chubby cheeks).

-She cuddles next to me all night and with sleep the entire night. We haven't made the transition to the crib yet, but I'm enjoying all of the snuggles!

-She recently started to giggle out loud. Her biggest bout of giggles came while she was looking at Mom Mom when we were riding to our hotel from the airport in San Francisco.

-She has learned how to blow bubbles. This may be a side effect from her new drool machine status. She also sucks on her hands so we may have some impending teeth (though nothing is visible yet).

-She's a girl who knows what she wants! Hudson never turned away a chance to nurse, but if I try to force it on Hadley (like when we're flying and I'm trying to make sure her ears pop), she throws a bit of a fit.

-She gasps for air and acts as though she can't breathe when you wipe her face or put her shirt on. And then come the tears. Like I said, she knows what she does (and doesn't!) want!

Okay, off to go through these pictures. SF post coming shortly.....

Full of gummy smiles!

Hadley Grace has been full of smiles lately. She seems to have kicked the cold and is back to her happy self. She LOVES to be on her changing table and just cracks up at her name on the wall. Here are some of the pics:






And all of those smiles are because she was looking up at this:

Someone pinch me!!

I never thought this day would come. Ever. I fully anticipated that I would go off to CMU with Hudson and need to rock my 18-year old son to sleep. But now I have hope. For two straight days he has allowed me to rock him for a few minutes then put him into his crib awake and let me walk out of his room. With no tears (for either of us). For both his nap and at bedtime. It's a sleeping miracle!! It has been really cute. I think he's internalizing his big brother status. I tell him how proud I am of him for going to bed on his own and he tells me "Hudson pillow. Hug Birdie. Hadley Grace cry." which translates to "Hudson lays on his pillow, hugging his Big Bird because Mommy has to leave to get Hadley Grace who is crying".

We're so proud of you Hudson James!

You know you're a mom when....

I've been thinking about this post for a few days since it seems I have so many "mom tags" these days. And I laugh when I think of how different my life was 2.5 years ago. I'm sure there are many lists like this out there, but these are my mom tags. Please feel free to add yours in the comment section.

You know you're a mom when...

...you could be on the show "What not to wear". Just today I ran errands in the following attire: non-maternity grey sweatpants that were clearly too tight, and therefore also wore some VPLs, Uggs pulled up haphazardly over the sweats, a nursing tank, a hoodie that was too large, a red pea coat, severely overgrown eyebrows, dark circles under my eyes, and greasy hair. I kept looking for Stacey and Clinton to be filming secret footage.

...you have a children's show theme song stuck in your head at any given moment. For me, it's usually "It's signing time with Alex and Leah..."

...you know more about the features of your stroller than you do about the features of your car.

...Friday and Saturday nights are no different than a Tuesday night.

...you're more familiar with the local preschools and story times than you are with the local bars and restaurants.

...you don't think twice about wiping boogers off of your child's face with your bare finger.

...you are personally responsible for keeping the snack food industry in business.

...your car is littered with random toys and snack foods.

...you have NO idea what the hottest songs on the radio are.

...you and your husband have full conversations with spelled-out words. "Hey, I'm going to take a b-a-t-h. Can you watch the kids?" "Sure. Should I give him m-i-l-k or j-u-i-c-e while you're up there?"

...you don't remember the last time you slept without a little foot or hand kicking or hitting you all night long.

...you're a master stain remover.

...you learn that Mr. Clean Magic Erasers do more than just clean your bathroom. They also remove crayon from anything.

...your house looks like FAO Schwartz.

...you know every creak the floor and door of your child's room make and are an expert at avoiding them.

...you don't bat an eye when you find a matchbox car or stray cheerios in your purse.

and lastly...

...you don't care how cliched this phrase is because it captures your feelings perfectly: You truly know your a mom when you see your heart outside of your body.

She's growing

Much to my dismay, despite my orders for her to stay little, our baby is growing! At a rapid pace!
Here are her numbers:
Birth: 6 lbs, 3 oz
Next day before release (24 hours old): 6 lbs, 2 oz
First doctor's appt at 4 days old: 5 lbs, 15 oz
Second doctors appt at 13 days old: 6 lbs, 11 oz
And her numbers from her one month check-up?

8 lbs, 6 oz!!!!!!!!!!!!!


90 minutes after birth

1 month, 3 days old before the doctor's appt

Hadley's photo shoot

We had a photo shoot with Meghan Boyer when Hadley was just 11 days old. The pictures are fantastic! Here are some of my favorites:





Here's the link to the entire album.

Our Christmas in review

I know this is a bit late, but better late than never, right??

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas. We were lucky enough to have both families travel to us. Ryan's parents, my parents, our 3 brothers were all here to celebrate the holiday. On Christmas Eve, we had a nice dinner, complete with a fight over the holiday nut (for those of you not familiar with this tradition, we hide a nut in the dessert (this year we had a banana pudding) and the person to get the nut is supposed to have a year of good luck. Ryan's competitive nature takes over and this becomes a bit of a blood bath. Rules have been created to keep people in check. Much to Ryan's chagrin, I got the nut (again)!) :)

After the nut fiasco, I asked Hudson if he wanted to leave Santa milk and cookies. We went to get milk and Hudson protested. Instead he wanted to leave Santa cookies and coffee creamer. Sorry about that Santa!

Christmas morning was so fun! Our house was an explosion of gifts since everyone was visiting. Hudson took the first gift, opened it slowly, then wanted to play with it right away. It took a good 15 minutes to get through one gift! He slowly got through all of them (and there were a ton!). He really enjoyed playing with everything...especially the tool bench :)

Sadly, we didn't make it to church. I really wanted to take both kids, but it has gotten exponentially harder to do so.

Here are some of my favorite pics from the day.

It's still too early for Hadley - she's yawning. Even all of the gifts couldn't take Hudson away from his sister!

Hudson in his new recliner

Hadley in her Christmas dress

Me and my angels

Still hugging Hadley! I hope this lasts when they are teenagers!

Christmas was so tiring that Hudson fell asleep while brushing his teeth

Time for an update!

I really should be working on my dissertation right now, but due to a becoming a Mac user and not having my technical adviser (aka Ryan) available, I'm stuck on something right. So I thought I'd take the time to post an update.

Everything is going great! I can NOT believe that Hadley is one month old!! It really makes me so sad. I didn't get this emotional with Hudson as he aged because I always knew that I would some day have another little baby to hold. But now that we have a little boy and a little girl, Hadley could be the last baby of my own that I cradle and comfort. So it breaks my heart to see that her newborn clothing is actually starting to fit and that her preemie clothes are now too small.

Hudson is totally and utterly smitten with Hadley. He hasn't shown any signs of jealousy. He is constantly kissing her, sometimes too much as he routinely wakes her up because he's kissing and hugging her. He always wants to hold her. He pets her and says "soft". When he kisses her, he says "Mmmmm good!". He calls her "Hadley Grace" all of the time which is adorable. He likes to point to certain features on her (like her ears and fingers) and say "teeny". He has been a wonderful big brother.

Hadley is still sleeping her days (and nights!) away. She probably sleeps for 22 hours each day. At night, she has pretty much been sleeping in our bed since the day she came home. The other night we broke new ground and she slept in her cosleeper bassinet from 11p-1a, ate, and then went back to sleep in there until 4a. At 4, I was too tired and just nursed her in bed. During the day, however, she prefers to be held over her swing or bouncer chair. This should make for an interesting task - completing my dissertation with a baby in one arm! Sometimes I can position her in the boppy, all cuddled up, and she'll stay asleep which buys me some time. Otherwise, I can wear her on my chest in the Moby wrap and she's content. See?

In addition to his big brother role, Hudson has lots of other cute things he's doing right now. He's been saying "Waaaas 'at?" (read: What's that?) with the cutest little intonations. He's started to play independently (which has been a life saver). His favorite toys are his trains, puzzles, cars, toolbench, and art easel. He loves the Wiggles and recently revived his interest in Signing Times. His favorite thing to tell you is about everyone that is "gone" (i.e. not home or visiting). Just about every morning he wakes up and says "Grami gone, Pappy gone, Mom Mom gone, Pop Pop gone, Joey gone, Bobby gone, Kevin gone". He literally goes through the entire list. And as soon as Daddy goes to work, he's "gone" too!

As for me, I'm adapting to the new role as a mom of two. Some of the emotions I had before have faded. For example, I was so sad to think about not having individual time with Hudson, but now I see how happy he is with Hadley and don't bat an eye at that. He's also become so attached to Daddy since they have more time together. Hudson hasn't shown interest in nursing (I was afraid he might regress). However, some of the guilt I had before has carried over. I still don't feel as connected with Hadley. I feel like she comes in 2nd alot of times since Hudson might need immediate attention. I don't feel the same anxiety about her every cry as I did with Hudson. I don't have that same heart-wrenching feeling that she needs me all of the time and I would actually be willing to leave her for a little while if I had to (whereas with Hudson, I didn't leave him overnight until he was 22 months old!). Maybe it's just that I have experience now, so I'm not as worried. I don't feel like I engage her as much as I did with Hudson. I was always talking to him, making faces while changing his diaper, etc. With Hadley, I feel like I'm always preoccupied and just happen to have her in my arms. I am constantly thinking that she must sense these things and know how I'm feeling. Then I worry that she'll interpret it as me not loving her as much as her brother. I know that I'm overthinking this, but that's just what I do!

Okay, enough with the sadness! Here are some happy pictures to enjoy :)