Why wont he sleep!?!

The past week or so Hudson has been waking up at least once, if not twice, in the middle of the night. It used to be that when he woke in the middle of the night we could just go in and comfort him for a few minutes and he would go right back to sleep....lately it has taken up to two hours to get him to go back to sleep. I fell like I've tried everything except for medicating him - I've tried the gentle, soothing method (singing, rocking, holding, etc) and I've tried the not so gentle (letting him cry) method. Neither seems to work very well. Last night he would calm down when I was in his room, even if I wasn't holding him, but then as soon as I started leaving his room he would start whaling again. I let him cry for half an hour and he was showing no signs of stopping. After the half hour of crying I went back into his room, held him for a minute, then put him back to bed...he cried for another minute or two and then finally went back to sleep. He then proceeded to wake again at 5 and I wasn't willing to do the whole routine again since I had to get up for work at 6:30 so we just brought him to our bed (where of course he sleeps great).

I'm sure a lot of you have been through this so you know exactly what it's like. By the time Hudson gets back to sleep at night I am soooo frustrated (possibly even angry). I just don't understand why he wakes up. Why wont he go back to sleep? I also struggle with when he needs to be disciplined and when he needs to be comforted.

If you have any tips or tricks that have worked for you, please let me know. Otherwise, please pray for us. Pray for Hudson to sleep or pray for my patience and a good attitude. I know that someday he will sleep and that someday in the not so distant future he would ask me to rock him in the middle of the night....but for now, it's very trying and I wish it was over.

Thanksgiving Photos

For Thanksgiving we headed to Port Townsend where my family and Christian's parents both had a condo reserved for the long weekend. It was a great time to get away and enjoy the company our families (although sadly, 3 of my sisters and their husbands were not able to join us). On the day after Thanksgiving we took the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, BC for a whirlwind tour. It was a quick trip due to the ferry times but it was a neat place to see.

The worst part of the trip was that my little brother, Jeffley, took a spill of a swing and ended up with a broken leg. He and my mom made a trip via ambulance to Seattle children's hospital where they spent a couple nights. Fortunately no surgery was needed but the poor kid is in nearly a whole body cast for 6 weeks! Keep them in your prayers as it's going to be a long 6 weeks - especially for Jeffley and my mom. Check out my mom's blog for a photo of the little guy in his cast.

Hudson chillin' with his new friend Bryce

Such a cutie!...and yes, I know he looks like Christian

Hudson and Mommy riding the ferry

Playing trains with his uncles

Playing hide and go seek in the closet. That was all fun and good until his finger got pinched in the door - should have seen that one coming.

Christmas Time is Here

Yes that's right...I said Christmas time is here. Some girlfriends recently were mentioning how Thanksgiving is later and that means less time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. After that I decided it was time to bust out the Christmas tree. If we're going to do all the work to put out the Christmas decorations then we need to enjoy them for a while! So join the club - put up your Christmas tree!

Hudson wasn't real sure what was coming out of the giant box

Hmm...that's pretty cool

Growing up, my mom always gave us girls an ornament for Christmas. It made for a neat tradition as I now have ornaments from when I was 5, 6, 7....years old. Christian and I decided to carry on the tradition and this is the ornament he got me the first Christmas we were married. It's one of my favorites!

Ahhh...the Christmas tree all lit up. It's a little sparse on the ornaments right now because I was afraid to put up anything very fragile since Hudson is very interested in touching everything!

A Wee Dance

Here's a bit of dancing/hopping action from Hudson for your viewing pleasure ;)

Fun with Paper Towels

Remind me again why we bother buying toys for our kids....Last week I went to Costco and while there I got some paper towels. When we got home Hudson decided that paper towel rolls make great toys. They're great for stacking and then knocking over, or even better, they're good for throwing down the stairs. Hudson thought it was all great fun. Friday evening Hudson's Grandpa Koethke was over for our housewarming party and they played the throw-rolls-of-paper-towels-down-the-stairs game and Hudson was so giddy he was doing a funny little happy dance. Who knew paper towels could be so much fun?

Super Dealio

Lately Hudson has been really into Thomas the train. I told family that would probably be a good way to go for Christmas presents. So I started thinking about maybe getting a train table. I checked craigslist and also looked online a little but didn't really see anything I liked for the amount of money I wanted to spend. Saturday morning Susan called me and said there was a yard sale in West Valley and the add said they had a train table. It was already 10am so I hopped in the car just hoping that they might still have it. (oh, and I hadn't even told Susan that I was looking for a train table.) I got to the yard sale and they still had the table....here's the kicker...I got the table with two huge trundle drawers, a couple of trains and a ton of wooden track for....drumroll.....$44! I was stoked! I thought about waiting until Christmas to give it to Hudson but I was just too excited. He spent nearly all his waking time Saturday playing with the trains. $44 dollars well spent. :)

Fall Fun

A couple of Saturdays ago Christian went golfing so Susan and I took Hudson to the Pecks Canyon Road Orchard where they had a pumpkin patch, hay maze and other fall festivities.

Hudson loves pumpkins!


He also loves wagons

They had built these "forts" with a couple of apple bins...they were just the right size for Hudson.

"See what I found"

Hay maze

We gleaned some apples from an orchard near a friends house and then made a bunch of applesauce. Hudson wanted in on all the action with the apple peeler/corer/slicer.

Random Hudson Stuff

Hudson's rocking horse was in the storage unit all summer and he wasn't really into it before we moved....now he thinks it's great. He discovered the other night that it's tail moved....

"Wow...check that out..."

Hudson had eczema when he was little and we got in the habit of putting lotion on after baths...he used to hate it...now he brings his lotion to me so he can put it on himself.

Fun in the sun...errr...dirt

This morning Hudson really, really wanted to go outside and play...in spite of the cold weather. He loves playing in our dirt back yard; I think he may be disappointed when we get a lawn back there. I can't wait until we get our fence up so I can send him out there and not have to worry about him running off when I turn around for a minute.

This cracked me up...he'd walk a little way away from his bucket to fill up his shovel but then by the time he had gotten back to his bucket he had inadvertently dumped all the dirt off his shovel.

This afternoon when we were out doing some shopping I bought Hudson a dump truck to add to the fun of playing in the dirt. He was upset when I brought him in for dinner and made him leave the truck outside. After dinner I even brought the truck in and gave it a bath and he played with it in the house.

Moving Day

We have finally moved into our new house! Christian missed all the moving since he is down in Texas for work. That lucky guy...he left before we even had carpet and he'll come home tomorrow to a house that's 90% unpacked. All he has to do now is paint the front railings and put up a fence. :) Even though Christian was gone I was blessed with tons of help last weekend. They got all my furniture put together, did some random "honey-do" tasks, cleaned, laid sod in the yard, and even hung some stuff on the walls. I couldn't have done it without them!

I really love the way the front of our house turned out. I even love the paint color now.

Master bedroom

Living room

Hudson's room

Hudson and I with Susan....it was bittersweet moving out of their place....they were such a huge blessing to us this summer. God sure knew what He was doing when he put us with them!

Jim drove his backhoe over to our place and has been working on the yard....what a guy!

Grass! I must say....the instant lawn is soooo nice.

Hudson "helped" lay the sod

Sucker

There's nothing quite like a good sucker to make a kid content...and very messy...

18 Month Photos

Finally...a successful 18 month photo session. After many attempts, I finally got Hudson to sit still and smile for me. Here are the top 3.

#1
#2#3

Big smile!
Ohhh...check out my flower

Here' s a good scowl for you....

Fair Time

On Friday Jill and I decided to take the boys to the fair while it only cost $1 to get in. Unfortunately it seemed that the rest of Yakima decided to go to the fair at the exact same time as us. It took us an hour to get from Jill's house to our parking spot....what would normally be a 10 minutes max. Needless to say, the fair was packed. I think if I go back next year I'll just pay the big bucks to not have to fight the crowds. Despite the crowds, Hudson seemed to enjoy having so much to look at, especially the animals.

This isn't the greatest picture but it was cute seeing the three boys squeezed into the back seat of the Torrent all ready to go to the fair.

Hudson playing in a giant feed trough full of dried corn.

Hudson didn't stay inside the trough very long...he had more fun outside the trough picking up all the corn on the ground and throwing it back in. That's my boy!

Checking out the pony.

Fair food....Hudson was a big fan of the curly fries...that's about all he ate for dinner....

I know, so healthy.

Jacob really like the ketchup more than the fries...here he is trying to find some.

Hudson and his pal Jacob chillin' at dinner.

Here's a short clip of Hudson and the rabbits...he like to wave at them and say hi ;)