Beach Week '08

This year we set off for Pismo beach in a motor home. Once we got there, it wasnt really what we expected but as always, it is great to hang out with the family. And Hudson and Gianna had the best time - as long as they have each other, they were totally content with the pile of sand they played in for days.


I love that you can give kids anything and they can make it into a toy.




Hudson LOVES daddy's jeep. So off he went, in his carseat, slowly over the dunes (or at least JR said they were going slowly!)



I pretty much got over my 'dont like dirt' thing a LONG time ago (obviously because I had to with Hudson). So after about 10 face plants in the sand, each day, my mom gave us a trick for getting it off: baby powder. Now talcum isnt great for the face, but neither is sand in the eyes and with the baby powder, the sand came RIGHT OFF. Great trick. Anyways, here he is, with baby powder, sunblock, sand and home-made fruit popsicles all over his face.

Olympic Games

I love watching gymnastics, volleyball and swimming so the last couple days have been right up my alley....
And Hudson's. Here he is after watching some gymnastics. I am glad it resulted in just a somersault because for awhile he was running around and jumping and I thought he might hurt himself trying to copy the flips.



And this is my favorite face that Hudson is currently making. It is him saying "Ohhhh" and "Oooooh" and being really excited. This particular time it is in response to a Chinese gymnast's floor exercise.

Baseball and Basketball

In case Hudson turns out to be a professional athlete I thought I should tape him doing some stuff while he was young. He has picked up sports since he could walk (he was kicking a soccer ball all over the house when he could hardly walk) and now he can differentiate between a soccer ball, a golf ball, a baseball bat and so on... Like we have been saying forever - he is all boy. Here he is playing some t-ball and basketball (next time I will tape golf and soccer).

6 Month Bump

The Ball Pit - Part II

This video isn't as good as the first one but Hudson has come up with another way to get in and out of the ball pit (or rather to get the balls out of the pit). I dont know how he comes up with this stuff but he cracks himself up (and us too).

20-25 Pounds

I had my 6 month check up today and despite the title of this post, I have not gained 20-25 pounds - yet. The 20-25 pounds refers to the amount of weight my doctor told me I should NOT be lifting while pregnant. Hmmmmm. Interesting since Hudson is just OVER that amount AND he is in one of those stages where he wants to be held. By me. All the time. Meaning I am currently lifting him about 50 times a day. Up and Down. My doctor suggested that I sit on the ground and have him sit in my lap. Hmmm. That would be heaven if he (and I) both just sat. Sitting is great but I need to figure out a way to get Hudson to agree with that.

I have noticed though that when Hudson and I are really busy, where I get little down time, and when I am holding him a lot, those are the days that I get really crampy in the evening. Not good. But I know I am not the only one who has been pregnant with another little one at home that they carry around so I will keep in mind what my doctor said and try to watch my body but otherwise... carry on...

Who Needs a Double Stroller?

No need for us to use the double stroller that my mom has for Gia and Hudson because the cousins had so much fun sitting in the single stroller together.


They have so much fun together and this is such a cute age for them (Click to enlarge and see their faces)!


And here is the big boy at Chuck E. Cheese (Grammy and Papa took him - JR's parents). He is so big now!

The Wiggles Teach Dance Moves

The Wiggles sang "Turn Around" and Gianna thought they said 'Run Around'... and Hudson is actually doing some of the moves (from swaying his arms back and forth, to clapping and singing la-la-la-la). Haha.

'Party Police' ??

I just read an article in Cookie Magazine (a parents magazine) and the article was titled "Party Police." The article discussed parents who throw parties for their children while placing 'increasing demands' on their guests. What increasing demands? ASKING THIER GUESTS TO NOT BRING A GIFT. The author states this is done because the parent is controlling (not to mention mean because what kid wouldnt want gifts?, she asks). Well, it just so happens that I threw Hudson a 1st birthday party and wrote on the card that Hudson was lucky to have plenty of toys and to please not bring anything (I went on to state that if you felt you had to bring a small toy, we would happily donate it to a local charity). Now, no one is going to deny that I can be controlling. But that is not why I wrote 'no gifts'. I wrote 'no gifts' because I felt that every time our group of friends gets together these days there is a gift (and therefore money) involved. I had a wedding recently, a bridal shower, a bachelorette party, TWO baby showers...not to mention birthdays, Christmases and anniversaries. Most of these events involved wonderful and generous gifts for us. It just started to seem that every time I saw my friends, I was 'asking' for a gift. Well, I wanted to throw Hudson a 1st birthday party WITHOUT people HAVING to spend MORE money on him/us. Hudson has no clue he 'missed out' and some people still got him a gift (to which we were very appreciative and thankful). I thought it worked out GREAT, but apparently I messed up the 'unspoken contract between planner and guest.' Our friends and family have been MORE than supportive over the years and we felt it RIGHT to throw a party without receiving/expecting something in return.

Jump

Never Leaving the House Again

I think we have been pretty good about taking Hudson with us to places and havent totally made ourselves home-bound just because we had a kid. However, that may soon change. I took Hudson to the OC Fair this week and he was a maniac. He was totally overwhelmed, overstimulated and totally over listening to mommy. It was hot. I was sweating. Hudson was running. And running. And finding places to squeeze his little body into that people werent supposed to be. We found a sand pit with toys for kids to play in and I thought I might be able to stand still for one minute. Until I saw Hudson digging dirt between his legs like a dog and getting a bunch of nearby adults all sandy. At one point I found Hudson behind a little fence kicking at large electrical plugs. Great - he probably almost turned out the power for the whole fair.
Part of my exhaustion and frustration from the fair day stems from the fact that he is running and moving like a much older kid (and has been for awhile) but he listens like a baby (or a boy - same thing). I am sure this is just another 'phase' but let's just hope this phase is at least better before this next baby comes or there is no way I will be able to leave the house alone with both kids. Unless I want to put Hudson on one of those leashes (which I dont - I used to make fun of people that had to use those and called the moms 'lazy' for not chasing their kids. Haha. Little did I know that I would have the poster child for that darn leash).

5 Month Bump

20 week belly photo! And I didnt cheat this time. This photo was taken right after I ate. I cannot believe we are already halfway there!

Faux-Hawk

Ok, I am pretty sure Hudson doesnt have enough hair for a mohawk or a faux-hawk, but Hudson did get a cool new hair cut. It is actually pretty much identical to the haircut/style JR has, so I need to get a picture of them together. But here are some photos of Hudson's cool new hair do.
(If you click to enlarge, you can see Hudson's new fat lip from running and hitting the cement in the backyard yesterday- sounds bad but it honestly happens daily around here as he gets faster and faster and refuses to slow down or be careful. He is ALL BOY.)

So you think We're Having a Boy...

The results of the voting poll (to the right) are showing that more people think I am having a BOY than a GIRL... and it looks like the Chinese Gender Prediction Calendars are in agreement.

That is, IF the November due date is correct (because that would mean a conception month of February), the calendar shows BOY if we conceived in February. However, IF we conceived in March (and the due date is closer to the first ultra-sound prediction of December 4) then the calendar predicts GIRL.

JR and I both think we are having a BOY.

But the 'necklace' (which many of you swear by) predicted a GIRL.

So there you go.... does that help? The wait to know continues...

Introducing....

Isabella Victoria Spaulding
Born July 3rd at 6:58 pm, weighing 8lbs 2oz and 20.5 inches long.
Isabella is finally here after 40 weeks of waiting! She looks like mommy with a hat on and daddy without the hat on!
I got to hold her this morning and she is perfect! The whole family is doing great!

Ultra-Sound Photos

Here are some of the 17 week ultra-sound photos. Amazing how clear they are! The technician said the baby is about 6 inches long and weighing about a 1/2 pound.

Little Doggy

I was filling up the dogs' water bowl last night and Hudson decided to copy Maya. Maya loves to drink straight from the hose and so Maya and Hudson were going back and forth, drinking from the tap. I am sure we are just days away from Hudson drinking out of their bowl.

18 Week Bump

Ok, so I cheated a little. These pictures were taken right wnen I woke up... when my stomach is the smallest.

No Internet....Again

No joke, our internet has been down for the past week. This time the modem died. (I did the last post from my parents' house). Time Warner came out this afternoon and replaced the modem with a more 'modern' one and now we are up and running...again. I dont even want to talk about how long I have been on the phone with Time Warner this past week.
Anyways, without internet (and without tv those first few weeks) I started reading books again. I used to be a HUGE reader. I like books far more than movies. I have always liked reading. But during law school, reading got put on the back burner. It was hard to read for fun when I couldnt finish the assigned reading from professors, so it just didnt happen. Then when I was pregnant I didnt have the attention span to get through a book.
Well, without modern technology, I started reading again. I finally read:


I loved Kite Runner so much I cant believe it has taken me so long to read his other book.
I also read:




I enjoyed all these books (all recommendations) and am excited to start the next one:

I would love to hear some more recently published "must-reads" to add to my summer list!
So something good did happen from the Time Warner/AT&T mess...

Bump Watch 2008

I wasnt going to put this picture up. But because I dont want the next one to look extra large, I thought I had to put this one up. For comparison. It is the only one I have for this pregnancy. One bump photo in 4.5 months. I took so many pictures last time, I have to remind myself to do it again this time... Anyways, this was taken before we moved, so it is the 12 week bump shot. Showing a little sooner than last time...

Flying By

This second pregnancy is flying by. Mainly because each time I go to the doctor, they push my due date up to an earlier date. I went this morning for a 'high-tech' ultra sound to determine the date (long story, but date of last period doesnt apply for my pregnancy calculations and we have to rely on ultra sounds). I finally got an ultra sound where they measured the bones and took about 200 pictures (it was a 40 minute ultra sound) and calculated the size to determine a due date of November 29th. This pregnancy is flying by ... almost half way done!
We are not finding out the sex. Like Hudson, we will wait for the delivery surprise. I must admit, it is much harder not knowing this time, but we love finding out in the room.

Just a Taste of Hudson

The video below shows how Hudson gets into his ball pit. He taught himself how to do this and he does it about 100 times a day. Just as a comparison, let me first tell you how Gianna gets in the ball pit: she is careful, calculated, she takes her time. She has both hands on the railing, one leg in at a time while never letting go.
Here is what our crazy little man does:

Cruisin'

He figured out how to drive his car... Now we just need to teach him how to steer!

Coming Soon...

Little Hudson is going to be a big brother! Baby Reynolds Number Two is coming soon with a due date of December 4th.

Dancing Machine

Watching Hudson dance never gets old to me....I want to cry and laugh at the same time.


Sorry for the angle...anyone know how to rotate on youtube?

The Move

Over Memorial Day weekend we moved! Yeah! To a house with a YARD! Yeah! Those of you that know where we lived before, know that we had ZERO yard. With two dogs. And a wild child who likes to play outside. JR found the perfect place and we felt at home and settled in LONG before the boxes were unpacked. We spend all of our time hanging out in the back yard and our dogs are happier. Hudson is happier. And all of that means JR and I are happy with our move. Hudson literally wakes up in the morning and after looking around and yelling for "DADA" he asks "Owe-sigh?"... meaning he wants to go 'outside' and play.
Here are some shots from the last couple weeks:





The dogs lovin' it too...

Disneyland

A few weeks ago Hudson went to Disneyland for the first time. I am so glad that I am taking him to places like Disneyland and the Zoo and the Aquarium because he LOVES it and proves to me each time that he is not too young to enjoy these types of activities. He had a blast running around and going on rides (and was even a tough guy on the scary rides - like Alice in Wonderland. That ride is completely in the dark!).








Hudson and Gianna holding hands on a ride...


And someone got really tired from running around all day... he fell asleep on our way out of the park.

2 weeks

Believe it or not, we still dont have internet. I am at my parents again doing this... There was a problem with the modem they gave us yesterday so after ordering another, they will be back... again. It has now been 2 weeks.
Here is a cute picture that I found on my parents computer so you know that Hudson is still doing well... Laughing as usual and being a crazy boy!

We Moved!

I am sorry that I havent posted in forever... I didnt realize so many people checked this blog. But the reason I havent posted is because we havent had internet. Or cable. In over a week. AT&T took three days last week just to tell us on Friday afternoon that the new house is too far from the box and that they cannot provide internet and cable. We called another provider and HOPE they can come next week.
I am at my parents house now picking up Hudson and doing a quick blog update. I have no pictures of the new place though. Sorry. Lots to post as soon as our life is unpacked and back together.