One Month Old!

This guy is one month old already!

We have been having so much fun getting to know Hudson.  He is such a sweet boy, generally content and laid back.  He started out sleeping like a champ, but the last week or so he has been a little ornery at night!  After he eats around 3:30am, he just wants to hang out & not go back to sleep for awhile.  Normally, he eats every 3 hours, though sometimes in the late evening he will go for a 4 hour stretch which gives me a chance to sleep a little bit longer.  

Adley seems to be adjusting pretty well to the new baby in town, although she has been having a few more fits lately.  She also tells me she's a baby and wants me to carry her more than usual, but overall she is doing good.  She likes to help by bringing me the pacifier or a blanket, and she always asks "OK baby?" when he starts to cry.  Sometimes if he cries a lot she'll tell him "Hush, Baby!"

I was nervous about how a new baby would fit into our family of 3, but Hudson fits in perfectly!  For me, it has been a much easier transition than it was when Adley was born, which I'm very thankful for. We are so blessed by this little guy, and look forward to seeing who he becomes as he grows!

Hudson's Newborn Pictures

We decided to have some newborn pictures taken of Hudson at our house, as well as a few family shots.  If you're in the Houston area, Megan Roden does an excellent job for a very affordable price!  Although Adley wasn't feeling too cooperative (she smiled for a couple of seconds and then said, "all done, cheese" and ran off to play), we still got some good ones of both kids & the four of us!

Hudson Kendrick Bell

I am thrilled to introduce Hudson Kendrick Bell!  Our new bundle of joy was born 2 weeks early, on June 16, 2014 at 5:17 pm.  Although the ultrasounds were showing that he was going to be on the small side, he weighed in at 7 lbs., 14 oz and was 21 inches long!  After being on bed rest for a month before he came, scheduling a C-section for June 9th & then the doctor deciding we didn't have to do a c-section, and rescheduling to be induced on June 23rd, Baby Boy decided he wanted to come on his own time.  The doctor had taken me off bed rest the week before he came, but whenever I would move around too much I started having Braxton Hicks contractions.  So although it was nice that I could stay home without having to have people there to babysit me (Thanks to my dad, Rebekah, Regina, Laura, Megan, and my father-in-law for being my babysitters while I was on bed rest!), I still couldn't do much without getting really tired & having trouble breathing!  On Sunday (Father's Day), I was feeling better and managed to make it through Bible Class and Church that morning, went grocery shopping, and even for a quick dip in the pool that afternoon.  Around 1:30 am (Monday morning), I started having contractions & by about 4am, I woke up Matt & called the doctor.  The contractions were about 6 minutes apart, but I was also having some bleeding, which had been the cause for my bed rest.  We headed to the hospital, where they said my contractions were about 3.5 minutes apart.  After talk of sending me home (Matt said we weren't leaving the hospital without a baby again!  Ha!…we already had to go in 3 other times during this pregnancy), they finally decided that I needed to be admitted because the baby was coming!  After 15 hours of labor Hudson finally made his entrance into the world, and we were so happy to have a healthy baby boy!

So far he is a very laid back baby, besides his daily crying episodes around 8pm!  He usually sleeps for 3 hour stretches at night, which is much better than his big sister did at this age!  Speaking of his big sister, Adley seems to like him pretty well so far, although she occasionally gets a little jealous & insists that she is a baby too…and if he cries too much, she says "Hush, Baby!"  She mixes that with wanting to hold him (for about 1.2 seconds at a time) and wanting to give him kisses & tell him "Hi, Baby."

We were so blessed to have all of the grandparents, Aunt Jen, Uncle Misa, and Chloe at the hospital when he was born!  It was certainly clear that he is surrounded with family that loves him!  MawMaw & Papa (my mom and dad) were even able to stay and help out for 2 weeks, and Meme and Punkie got to make a return trip for a long weekend over the 4th of July!  Matt got to have 2 weeks at home as well, and he split it up so that we ended up having 3 weeks of people being here to help me before I had to go it alone with 2 kids.  So far, so good…I have survived the first week & even managed to get a few things done around the house (and a blog post written!)  Not bad for week 1!

Easter Sunday

She has been a Daddy's girl lately!

We were blessed with a beautiful day to celebrate Easter, hunt Easter eggs, and spend time with family as we awaited the arrival of our new niece!  Adley was so excited to hunt eggs after church, and kept saying "More eggs, more eggs," as we awaited the signal that it was time to start the hunt!  She quickly found 3 eggs for her basket, and then was distracted by the playground slide & spent the rest of the time sliding!  She was also very proud of her Easter dress, and was sure to show anyone who told her she looked pretty the flower and ribbons on her dress!  The Easter Bunny (aka Mawmaw & Papa) also brought her a bucket full of goodies, and then she got more presents later in the day from Meme & Punkie, and Aunt Jen!  She was definitely excited about all her new treats!

Ready for the hunt!

"Seriously, Mom, are they ever going to let us pick up all those eggs?"

Forget the eggs…sliding with friends is more fun!

 And just for comparison…here's our Easter photo from last year!

Although Easter this year was several weeks later than it was last year, I feel like Easter now marks an "anniversary" of sorts for our family.  It was last year on the day after Easter that we moved into our house.  We also placed membership at our church congregation last year on the week after Easter.  One of the many contributing factors in choosing that congregation was our preacher's Easter sermon.  Although I missed some of it while I was feeding Adley in the nursery, Matt was particularly touched by David Duncan's words that day.  As we were leaving worship that morning, he told me that David's sermon had sealed the deal in his mind & that's where he thought we should place membership.  We have been so blessed over the past year by the friends we have made there, and the wonderful worship services, Bible classes, and Bible studies we have been part of…and this year's Easter sermon was just as powerful as last year's!  Easter weekend 2013 was when Houston really started to feel like "home" to us, and I am so thankful that we have settled in and established "roots" over the past year!

Emilia Maria

Our new niece was born yesterday, and she couldn't be any cuter!  Her name is Emilia Maria Escobar, and she was 7 lbs. 2 oz, and 20 inches long.  The nurse said she is "perfect," and I would have to agree!  Adley was in love with her, and kept asking to say "Hi, Baby."  We tried to get her to say "Emilia," but she would say, "NO, Baby!", so I guess Emilia has a nickname already!

One proud Papa!

Miss Personality

Adley is certainly not lacking in personality!  She keeps us laughing most of the time, and loves to make us laugh…although sometimes her "personality" shows through in the fits she throws!  Here are a few pictures of what she's been up to lately!

She was so happy at the strawberry patch!

She chose her accessories…and she calls this shirt her "Da-da shirt"

Saturday morning donuts at Shipley's is a favorite tradition already!

Strawberry Picking

 Adley and I had a fun morning at Frogberg's Farm picking strawberries!  Our Mommy & Me playgroup from church headed down to Alvin, TX to pick as many strawberries as we could fit in our buckets.  Adley seemed to think the goal was to EAT as many strawberries as she could fit in her belly!  She had strawberry juice from her forehead to her toes, and even some dripping off her elbows.  The weather was perfect, and we even picked up some homemade strawberry preserves that were made right there on the farm!

16 Months already!

Our little munchkin turned 16 months on Monday, and boy is she a lot of fun!  Here are a few of the things going on with Adley right now…

• She is full of personality, smiles & sweet little "hi's" for everyone she meets!  We were eating dinner last night before church, and she took off walking around the restaurant waving & saying "hi" to everyone she saw!  She has certainly never met a stranger!
• She loves to go visit Daddy at work & eat lunch with him, but I think her favorite part is going up to his office afterward and walking around to talk to everyone.  She loves all the attention, and peeking through the glass walls to "spy" on people while they're working.
• When I'm teaching, she gets to play in the nursery with the school director's sons.  They have taught her to "fist bump" and they always run to give her a hug and high five before she leaves.  She always makes sure all 3 of them tell her goodbye before we can go.
• Her favorite words right now: hi, bye, dada, cheese, shoes, "ooce" for Lucy, "cacka" for cracker
• If we leave our shoes out in the floor, she will pick them up & bring them to us & try to put them on our feet…and if we don't put them on, she tries to wear them instead.
• She's always on the move…climbing the stairs, making laps around the kitchen, climbing up in our laps & then right back down.  She's a bundle of energy all the time!

• In the evenings when it's almost bath time, I can say "are you ready for a bath?" and she says "yes" and heads for the stairs.  She usually wants her Daddy to carry her up for her bath.
• She still loves to eat…pretty much anything we give her.  Although she did cry for 30 minutes one night because she didn't want the potatoes and carrots I gave her.  She ended up drinking some milk & never eating dinner!  Her favorite foods: bananas, cheese, bread, grapes, crackers, yogurt, and nutri-grain bars.
• She has started throwing a few little tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants…I think the terrible 2's have started early around here!  She usually stops pretty quickly when she realizes that I'm not paying attention & it's not going to get her what she wants, and then goes back to playing like nothing happened.
• Playing in the laundry basket & pushing it around the house is one of her favorite forms of entertainment.  She will spend the longest time moving her toys from one basket to another and back again.  She usually prefers to get in the basket & sit with them awhile as well.
• She loves the fall decorations I've put up around the house, especially the Jack-O-Lantern that lights up.  He's on the counter near her hi-chair, so I have to turn him on as soon as she sits down for breakfast.
• Reading books is still one of her favorite things to do, so often during the day she will stop playing & bring me a book to read.  It's one of the few times she will sit still (although it's usually only for a minute or two before she's off & running again).  Books will keep her from going crazy while I change her diaper (usually).
• When she hears the garage door going up when Daddy gets home, she can't get to the back door fast enough!  She always wants me to take her out to the garage to meet Daddy as soon as he gets out of the car!

She definitely keeps me busy during the day & it is so much fun to watch her grow & learn new things.  I'm amazed all the time at how much she understands what we are saying!

Teaching Again...

Well, I recently started a new teaching job.  We are about 4 weeks in, and so far it is going great!  I am teaching part time, Monday and Wednesday, for 3 hours each day.  I have 7 students-6th & 7th grade-for Math, Science, and Bible.  The school is Covenant Preparatory Academy (although it will soon change names) and it is a school for home schooled kids.  They just started last year, so it is still pretty small.

You might ask, "shouldn't home schooled kids be learning at home?"  And the answer is, "yes...and no."  Although most of their studying and work is done at home, these kids come to classes 2 days a week.  They have the 3 classes with me in the morning, and 2 classes (English & History) in the afternoon.  We do the lecturing, experiments, "teaching" and then give them studying & assignments to do at home.  If it sounds like college to you, you're on the right track...it's a university model school.  So the class set-up is a lot like college.  The other interesting thing is that the kids aren't required to take all 5 classes...their parents can choose which classes they want them to take, & which ones they would rather teach them at home.  So, although there are 7 students, I only have 3 in Math.  The other students are either below level in Math or have another reason that their parent chose to teach them this subject at home.

As I get further into teaching in this setting, my thoughts about homeschooling are continually changing.  I have actually thought a lot about whether I would want to homeschool Adley, although this decision is a few years away still, and I tend to go back and forth.  There are pros and cons to all kinds of schooling, public, private & homeschool.  But this new idea of having some classes with other kids & some at home is starting to grow on me.  There are several schools that I know of that have adopted this model around Houston, and the people that I have talked to who's kids are in this model really seem to love it!  Perhaps it's a growing model across the US, but it is definitely an intriguing idea that I'll keep in mind for the future!

Kiddie Land

As a kid, one of my favorite places to go during the summer was Kiddieland.  Growing up, this place was like Disney World to me...Ok, maybe not quite that exciting, but I did love to go.  Kiddie Land has exactly 4 rides (Train, Airplanes, Carousel, and Tilt-a-whirl) and when I was little I could only ride 2 of them (Train & Carousel) because I'm pretty much a ride wimp.  Every summer I would give the airplanes a try again, only to realize halfway through that you don't really "outgrow" motion sickness, and spend the rest of the ride with my head down praying for it to be over.  Then I would get off the ride, and promptly walk to the bushes and puke.  Every. Summer. As I got older, I realized that I should just ride the train over and over again and then get a snow cone! 

On Friday night, we introduced Adley to the joys of Kiddieland.  Following in her mom's footsteps, she started off with just 2 rides (more because she's not big enough for the other ones more than the fear of puking!)  She rode the Carousel with my mom first, and then we all rode the train.  I think the jury is still out on the Carousel...she started out looking excited, halfway through had her arms around my mom's neck, and by the end they were sitting on one of the benches instead of the horse.  But as we walked past the ride after she got off, she acted excited like she wanted to go again.  Who knows!

I would call her first Kiddieland adventure a success...except that we passed on the snow cones at the park in lieu of getting one from the good snow cone stand down the street...and when we got there it was closed for the summer.  Bummer!  I'm sure she will enjoy more Kiddieland adventures (and snow cones!) next summer!