Friday, April 20, 2012

Easter Shoes

So for those of you who don't know about my discriminating taste in shoes, I love to wear toe shoes. It is just like walking around barefoot, but I am not in violation of stores' "No shirt no shoes, no service" policies. Sara Beth had been asking for some as well, and since being mean is part of a parent's job description, I hadn't gotten any for her.  Well, fortunately, being mean is not part of the grandparent's job description, and so Heather's mom sent a pair for her.
Look out world, Hudson can now roll over. One day he went from his being on his back to his stomach, and then, later that very same day, he successfully rolled back to his stomach as well. And now, any time you lay him down on his back, he will very quickly flip to his stomach and struggle to move his arms and legs in an attempt to begin crawling. I have been helping him practice standing up by placing his arms on the couch and then letting go. He can hold himself upright for several seconds before his hips pop out from under him.
Sara Beth and Hudson got all dressed up for Easter Sunday, and I thought they looked adorable, and I know everyone else thought so too. I have proof. Sara Beth wore her pink dress. Every time she wears it to church, she gets 2-5 compliments about what she is wearing. And Hudson, well, he is literally the  best chick magnet I have ever seen. Any time Heather or I go out in public with him, we will be swarmed by women. Just today, Heather said that three separate people came up to rub his head at the store.
For Sara Beth's Easter basket, Heather purchased assorted goodies including a Tinker Bell doll, a butterfly net, and some coloring books. If you look in the below picture however, you will notice a distinct lack of Tinker Bell in the basket. That is because, about a week ago, Sara Beth found her in a closet. She came to us with a giant smile on her face and said "Mommy, look what I found!" We let her keep it.
We filled about 12 plastic eggs with candy and I placed them around the back yard. Sara Beth went through the yard and enthusiastically collected all of them. I let her know once she had gotten all of them in her basket, but she wanted to keep looking, just in case. Then she came inside and continued to look around the house in case there were any more eggs in the house. I did actually surreptitiously took some of the eggs out of her basket and re-hid them in the front room of the house so that she would actually have more to find when she looked in there. She obviously had a lot of fun, and I have decided that there is no reason not to have an egg hunt at other times through out the year too.  
Sara Beth and her best friend Ashlyn rode their bikes around the block together. Halfway around the block is Ashlyn's house and when they got in front of it, she stopped and asked "Can Sara Beth come in and play for a while?" It seemed she had it all planed out even before she began the bike ride. 
Hudson adores Sara Beth. He definitely looks up to his big sister, and not just because she is taller than him. Sara Beth played some hide and seek with Hudson and I in the couch cushions. Every time that Sara Beth was out of eye sight, Hudson looked intently around searching for her, and then, when she popped out from behind one of the cushions he broke out in the biggest smile and started cooing and laughing at her.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

The big race

So last Saturday (the 31st) was the 6th annual "Muddy Creek Run", a 5k race and 1 mile walk in our neighborhood. I always try to do the 5k, and this year, we thought that Sara Beth would be interested in doing the 1 mile run.
Hudson decided to sleep through the whole thing. My mom held him till I finished the race, 23 minutes later.
It was a fast enough time that I placed second in my age group, so I received a metal and got to shake the mayor's hand. The mayor noticed that I was holding some little pink sunglasses and asked if they were mine. I said "yes" and put them on. From the back of the crowd I heard Sara Beth say "No! Those are my sunglasses". 
Sara Beth practiced her tree climbing skills. She easily hopped up to the first branch without issue, but it got a little more tricky after that.
After the race we went to a park to eat a picnic in celebration of my Mom's birthday. Sara Beth was playing hide and seek with my dad after lunch. Grandpa had the camera and Sara Beth tried to keep away from it, so there were a lot of pictures taken of empty space, but there were some good ones of Sara Beth interspersed among them. Good thing digital cameras cannot waste film.
Although she cannot successfully swing from ring to ring, Sara Beth is really close. After swinging on one ring with both hands, she then asked me to help her. I agreed, and lightly held her to take some of the weight off her hands. She then let go completely and just wanted me to walk by each of the rings while she lightly gripped them one by one.
Hudson has really gotten into the baby food and constantly shows interest in eating more and more food off of our plate. I haven't given him anything like tacos, yet. Heather did let him suck on a strawberry top, which he seemed to enjoy.
It is pretty easy to make Hudson smile. Typically, he will be grinning and cooing unless he has a diaper or if I try to give him a bottle. Heather went to Bible study one night, and I tried to convince Hudson to drink from a bottle before going to sleep. There were some disagreement between Hudson and me about the suitability of a bottle. I clearly heard him say "that's not how my mommy does it." But he did finally wear himself out, fell fast asleep, and slept straight through the night, so I considered it a success.
One morning, I sat down to eat breakfast when Sara Beth burst into song. The words were "I love you, but I don't love scorpions, because they hate me." I think she has a bright future in showbiz. With the nice weather, Sara Beth has been outside collecting things to build a "fairy house". And she has become a discriminating expert on building materials. She sorted all her sea shells then sat down with Heather to describe what makes one shell better than the other.