MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Wishing you a blessed Christmas day...

Holiday FUN!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Another baby boy :)

I have to congratulate my good friend, Erynn and family on the birth of their second son... Noah Harper Seidel. (you can check out their cutie-pie(s) by clicking on "The Seidels" down on the right) He was born on December 1st!! Actually, for all of you who have been secretly mad at me for not updating the blog, you have Erynn to thank. Noah is 10 days old today and so far, Erynn has made 5 posts to their blog. I realized I have no good excuses :) Congratulations Erynn & Chad!!

our little Christmas tree!

We decided to go with a smaller tree this year to fit in a small spot in our den, so we can enjoy it all the time since that's where we hang out. I think it's adorable, and I love how it looks with the ornaments all piled on. Apparently, Matthew thinks it's hilarious.

Hudson's 6 month check-up...

We were a little late on Hudson's check-up this time. His appt was Tuesday, and he will be 7 months old on the 20th. From now on, I'm making his next appts before I leave the doctor's office! Anyhoo, here are his healthy stats:

weight - 16 pounds 3 ounces
height - 25 inches

Most importantly, he checked out happy and healthy, so we are very thankful. It's amazing how with each child we are more and more aware of how precious health is.

We're BACK!!

Wow... it has been a LONG time. Too long! (i know many of you are thinking the same thing!!) So, enjoy all of the many pictures in the album covering our lives in October & November. Here's what you missed:

1. Fall fun with pumpkins.
2. Our very fun long weekend with family in the Georgia mountains.
3. Church Fall Festival.
4. HALLOWEEN!
5. Rice cereal for Hudson.
6. Matthew's singing debut at the Thanksgiving banquet at church.
7. Thanksgiving lunch. (we forgot the camera for dinner)

bittersweet day...

as i write this, my sister Anna and her family are driving to their new home in north carolina :( i am so happy for them... happy for Caleb and his great new job; happy that they will be living in the state that Anna absolutely loves; happy for their new journey and their courage to leave the familiar and start a brand new chapter in their life. but as happy as i am for them, i am equally just as sad... sad that i really do not know when i will see them next, sad that i won't have my sister just a short walk away, sad that our kids won't grow up together, sad that my kids will not have the pleasure of such a phenomenal aunt to go and see on a regular basis. she is truly one of a kind :)

on a lighter note, thank goodness for cell phones and email because i know we'll be taking full advantage of the two from here on out. and who knows, maybe we'll head up their way one day too! no plans for that of course, but one thing we've all learned over the last year is that anything is possible and we really never know what God has in store for us.

PS the matthews clan has joined the blogging world, so i've added their link!

4 month check-up

Hudson had his wellness check-up last week and it went well... healthy & doing everything he should be doing at this point. Yay! He weighed in at 14 pounds 10 ounces and is now 25 inches long. Oh, and his umbilical hernia seems to be closing a bit already... not completely, but it's getting there. He was also pretty brave with his shots, but they certainly took their toll the next day and the next and the next... Poor little guy. Thankfully, he's back to himself now!

first "real" photos!

Our good friend, Sara Beth, who is extremely talented, did a photo shoot with mainly Hudson for his 3 month pics. Here are a few... there were WAY too many faves to put them all in the album!

Sunday Fun!

Our church had a community outreach block party at a park near our house yesterday... we had so much fun! The weather was perfectly pleasant and it was a great turnout! God certianly knew what he was doing when we had to cancel it last month when TS Fay came through. Hopefully, every "visitor" felt very welcomed and loved by the people of our church.


Matthew was a little nervous about the huge slide, but in no time he was going down by himself... he played on that slide for about 45 minutes straight!


SNOWCONES!

guess who's 4 months old?!

We cannot believe that our little baby is already 4 months old! Time is going by way too fast... definitely faster than when it was just 3 of us. Hudson will go for his check-up on Tuesday, so I'll post all of his info then. Wish us luck with his shots... all four of them :(



Matthew is becoming more and more interested in "playing" with Hudson. Hudson loves to watch M, but he will get a very concerned look when the playing is just a little too much! It is really cute though because Matthew loves being around Hudson and gives him lots of hugs & kisses.

stickers!!

another cousin is born :)

We are so excited to announce the birth of Beckham Gregg Jarrard!! Beckham was born at 4:10 a.m. this morning... healthy and very handsome! Congratulations, Blair & Jenny!! Can't wait to get all the boys together!

Matthew's big day :)

Matthew turned THREE last month... hard to believe! We celebrated with a casual backyard water party and a "Cars movie" cake. He was in heaven!

Introducing...

Miss Taylor Adair Thompson :) Hudson & Matthew have a new cousin to play with in the years to come. Sweet Taylor was born on August 15th and we cannot wait to meet her. Congratulations, Adam & Sharon!!

turning t-h-i-r-t-y...

okay, so i turned 30 last month and i must say that i really enjoyed it. i loved my twenties... finishing out my college education at UGA, (so what if it was my 3rd school!) marrying the guy i dreamed of marrying back in the 11th grade, and then being blessed with two healthy & happy boys. now, i look forward to the excitement of my thirties! no kidding.

to celebrate this milestone, melissa surprised me with the best day/date ever. she sent gus and me off to a scavenger hunt sort of date with 4 wrapped boxes titled location 1, 2, 3, and 4. our first stop was at a skating rink and we were instructed to wear the boa and cowboy hat below. hilarious! next we went to a private dance lesson, which was soooo much fun! (the only silly part was having to wear the gloves) after that we were instructed to go to Borders, get a coffee and stay awhile... told to search separately for 5 books to then share with each other - favorite book, language we'd like to speak, hobby we would like to learn, best joke, and where we'd like to go on our 10 year anniversary. THE most fun! by the way, it looks like gus will be heading to hawaii while i'm skiing in canada :) the final location was dinner at one of the coolest places in t-town, cypress. needless to say, i will never forget this birthday!







as for my actual birthday, i had a yummy mexican lunch with my boys and then dinner at mom and dad's with the family... it was a great day!

growing up too fast...

Hudson is now 9 weeks... already :( He had his 2 month check-up last week and he is definitely eating well! Here are his stats:

weight - 12 pounds 8 ounces
height - 22 inches

So, he has grown 2 inches since birth and he's apparently storing up for winter! I looked in Matthew's baby book and he only weighed 10 lbs 2 ounces at this age :) Hudson's our little chunky monkey!! Most importantly, he checked out perfectly, so we are very thankful for that. The only "glitch" is that he has an umbilical hernia, which is why his belly button looks large in some of the pics, but it's not a threat... it should close on it's own with no problems by the time he's 2 years old.

He also started smiling around 6 weeks, so we're always on a mission to get him to smile. Now he's cooing a bit too, which is so fun to hear. He's just a happy baby all around.... eating great, sleeping great, and only getting up once to eat in the middle of the night.

So, enjoy all the pictures and be sure to double-click to see them full size.

fun with matthew :)

4th of July weekend...

We spent the first part of the holiday weekend with some of my family in Panama City and the rest of it at Mexico Beach with Gus' side... a lot of packing and unpacking, but totally worth it!

HUDSON BRUCE BERT...

We are thrilled to introduce our newest blessing, Hudson!! Delivery went really well and he has proven to be as good a baby as Matthew was and maybe even better. He is so content and just fits right into our little family perfectly. We are so thankful for his health and grateful that everything is going as well as it is. Matthew has also really taken to Hudson... always asking what he's doing and giving him lots of kisses.

So, enjoy all the pictures and be sure to click on the album to see them full-size.

TWO weeks...

we will be the parents of two boys in just 14 days!! as slow as the pregnancy has really been for me, i cannot believe we are already approaching the end. we really cannot wait to meet Hudson Bruce and are dying to see what he looks like... will he look like Matthew? will he look completely different? will his hair be dark or light? not to mention, how much will he weigh?! i know most people would guess a high number, but i'm not so sure. just last night he was all over the place, so it's clear he still has a decent amount of room to wiggle in there. most of all, we thank our Lord for the healthy pregnancy so far and just ask for another healthy little boy.

Matthew's room!

after numerous trips to home depot (for gus), we finally finished the chalkboard wall... which completes matthew's big boy room! yay!!

sleepyhead

Emerald Crest!

We went to the beach with the May's 2 weekends ago and had the best time... next time there will be FOUR kiddos in the mix :)

Hudson's shower!!!

I was given by far the prettiest shower I have ever been to (three weeks ago)... thank you girls!!!


(be sure to click on the album to see the pictures larger)

sunday with matthew

walking to Nana & Papa's from church...


walking all over the golf course with daddy...
(dad & gus calculated all the holes gus played and the 2 of them walked a mile... needless to say, M slept really well that night!)

the deck is DONE!!

I forgot to post the pics from the last phase, but it was a shorter work day, so they had only finished a small portion of the railing. Now all we have to do is find some caps for the posts and plant pretty things all around it! Anyway, what an accomplishment!! Very, very proud :)

BIG night @ our house!!!

Matthew slept in his new room for the first time last night!! He's been watching the progression of his room for a few weeks now and thankfully, he was very excited about the change. The big surprise was a new train set & table, so as you can see, he was in heaven with that!





Big boy in a big bed!!! We were a little nervous about the unknown, but Matthew did GREAT! After our normal routine of songs & kisses, he went to sleep without any problems.






We snuck in before we went to bed to get this picture! He slept so well all night despite the horrific thunderstorm that had us awake a lot of the night!


PS his room is not 100% done yet... but it's close! as soon as it's complete, we'll post pictures.

fun at the park!

On Wednesday, we all went to Torreya State Park to hike a little trail and play on the playground. Despite being attacked by mosquitoes (which is why there isn't a picture of Preston), it was a fun time!

Deck - phase 4!

We have steps :)