Huddy Boo Boos

For no other reason than I think he's adorable!  Here are a few semi-recent pictures of our little man.

 Posing

Please excuse the super long hair, he was way over due for a hair cut and we were avoiding it! 

 

Mommy and Hudson

 

If anyone knows our little guy they know he has a fetish with fuzzy things.  Both of his comfort blankets are fuzzy, and  he loves to touch anything fuzzy, soft, or furry.  Here he is with blanket batting,  he will take it and rub it on nose.  He mostly does this when he is tired, or comforting himself.  It is the funniest thing....I guess it could be worse. 

 

 

Helping in the garden with his shovel

l 

Helping mom and dad dig trenches for garden

 

He is a really good at saying "CHEESE!!"

We are alive!

In mid-January, we took a trip up to Washington to go see  my family.  I wasn't feeling too well when we left, but had gotten some medication from the Dr. , and thought everything would be fine.  Well after only being there for 3 days out of our 10 day trip, I got really sick.  It was the strangest thing, but I was extremely dizzy, so dizzy I had to hold on to things to walk.  Needless to say, I spent a lot of time in bed.  I went to a few docs there and no one could figure out what was wrong.  They gave me all types of pills, and tried all kinds of head maneuvers, but nothing worked.  I kept thinking it would go away eventually, but day in and day out 24 hours a day, I was miserably dizzy.  I couldn't do much with the kids, so Andy really was taking care of them all day and night by himself, with a little help from my parents.  Finally I just told myself that I might just feel this way forever, so I better suck it up and just figure out how to live with it.  So finally I felt brave enough to get onto a plane with two kids.  

Once we got back to Utah, I again went to a few docs, an ENT, had an MRI, a MRA, then to a Neurologist.  Finally a about a month after we got home things started to get better, little by little I could feel the dizziness and fog lifting.  The Neurologist thought it might be migraine related, so she gave me some pills for headaches, so with taking those and some other "Homeopathic" pills that were suggested to me, the dizziness finally went AWAY!!  

You never realize how lucky you are to be in good health until that is taken from you.  When Ryker was first here, I was so dreading getting up 10 times a night again, I am an 8 hour or sleep a night kind of girl, and can get a little grumpy with lack of sleep.  But once I was unable to get up with him because I was sick, it was the worst feeling not being able to take care of my kids and feel like I wasn't being a mom to them.

  I was so excited to get rid of the baby weight and start working out as soon as I could, and I couldn't do that either....needless to say, I am so happy to have my health back, and am trying to remember not to take that for granted.  I can play with my kids, go out on jogs with them, and I am so grateful for that!  

I will give an update on the kiddos and what they have been up to in the next few posts, but here are a few pictures mostly of Ryker from the past few months. 

Ryker 3 weeks old

Taking a nap while daddy reads...if any of you know Andy, he is never caught without a good book to read, so this was a common napping place. 

Getting ready for bed one night...about 6 weeks old

Hudson HAD to lay on Ryker's play mat.  He thought it was so funny, and started laughing.  I don't think Ryker could figure out what was going on. 

Asleep in the swing

Having some tummy time on the couch and not looking too happy about it

Look at all of that blond hair!

I was in the middle of burping him, and he fell asleep!

Totally passed out

Cute lucky dog!  About 2 months old

Chillin out max and relaxin all cool!

Figuring out he can kick and splash water EVERYWHERE!  Good thing it's cute and funny!

Playing peek-a-boo after his bath

Santan Splash Pad

There is an outdoor mall right down the road from us that has a little play area, and splash pad for the kiddies. We usually go there on the weekends just to get out of the house, and because it's relatively cool with the water. Hudson doesn't seem to love it too much because the water just sprays in his face....but we keep taking him hoping he will get over it.

This picture was after playing, and he just couldn't decide which one he wanted...milk or juice?

Trying to escape up the stairs.....most of our time is spent making sure he doesn't run away (Why do we bring him here again?)
Evidence of not liking the water in his eyes. It's so funny because he loves baths, he loves to swim, but he hates that this thing sprays everywhere.

Checking out the scenery

WARNING...

RUNNING WITH A BINKY IN YOUR MOUTH IS HAZARDOUS, AND HERE ARE THE PICTURES TO PROVE IT!!

Looks like he was scrapping at the playground

Boo Boos

Mom...STOP taking pictures of it!!

O.K. fine I'll smile...I know I'm cute!!

We've Moved!

That's right, over Thanksgiving weekend officially sold, and moved out of our house in Arizona. We put our house up a few months ago hoping to sell it before Andy graduates in May. Luckily, we were able to sell it, and now when Andy graduates, we can get the heck out of dodge! (Can you tell I love Arizona?) We're not sure where we will be moving to just yet, as he is still keeping options open....applying for grad school, and also applying for a few jobs that we really hope work out.

Anyhow, we are now living in ASU family housing, which is awesome, and not so awesome at the same time. It's old military housing, so they are actually bigger than our old house, and only families can live there so it's nice, and they are EXTREMELY AFFORDABLE, but they are a little....shall we say...OLD!...I keep telling Andy we are living in the projects...... but it's only for 5 months, so it's not that bad.....just a little different coming from a house, and I'm not going to complain because it was such a blessing that we were able to sell our house that fast!

So....the point of this post is to let you all know we have moved, and if you need our new address just text me or email me at naomi.shuldberg@yahoo.com and I will give you our new address.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Thanks to all the family that came to help us move! Some even came from Utah!!...we couldn't have done it without you!

Real Men Sparkle!!

I am feeling a little sorry for it today because I am so tired, but last night was totally worth it! Two of my best friends from high school, Tara and Michelle and I attended the 12:01 am showing of Twilight. One of my friends from Arizona Becki, made us these awesome shirts to wear! I loved them cause they were totally original...Thanks Becki!

Now I am normally not one to attend a 12:01 am movie, no matter how excited I am to see it, but we thought it would be fun to join the tons of teens and makes fools of ourselves over Edward! We made a night of it by going to Applebee's first....then heading over to the theater about 1.5 hours early thinking there would be a huge line, we even bought our tickets early. So we show up, and there is not even a line! So we all sat in Michelle's car for an hour or so chatting it up, taking pictures, and killing time.

We finally get into the theatre, and they have it playing on two screens....luckily we all got seats next to each other, and got to sit in the back. We were a little worried there would be lots of people screaming, and clapping and doing all the dumb annoying stuff people tend to do in movies like this, but the crowd was really good, and I didn't get annoyed once!

The movie was O.K for me. The actor they got to play Edward I thought was a good choice, but overall, the book is much better, which is usually the case. Anyhow, it was so much fun to go out with the girls without all our kids for a change! We all had a blast......and Michelle even got a nap in at the movie.....now she's gonna have to see it again cause she missed 3/4 of it!

Thanks girlie's for a great night....it's been real! Sweet dreams about Edward!

Tara, Naomi, Michelle
Michelle and Tara with their "Team" shirts

Hanging out in the car

The three of us in the car waiting to go in

Michelle said make a vampire pose....and this is what I came up with? Good job on the vampire pose Tara!

Finally in the theatre waiting for the movie to start

Two things I am totally loving right now....

1. Sonics diet cherry limeade.....seriously nothing better on a hot day, they are so good!

2. The Office! Andy and I never got into that show, not because we didn't think it was funny, but because if we watch every show we wanted to we would be on the couch 24 hrs a day! However, over the summer we finally started renting and watching all the seasons so we could start watching in the fall when season 5 starts. When I first started watching I always thought it was funny but Michael...Steve Carell's character was so absurd it annoyed me at times, but the more I watched the more addicted I got. It has some of the best characters on TV....Dwight kills me, whoever writes his character is a genius! I also love the pranks Pam and Jim play on Dwight...... and Kevin,...well he is just weird! Anyhow, great show....we can't wait to see what happens in season 5!

Dear driver of the kind of nice car parked in the Wal-Mart parking lot...

So a couple of weeks ago...while in Utah, Andy and I made a stop at the local Wal-Mart for some items. We had finished our purchases, and were in our car waiting to back up and drive off. While we were waiting, a lady was putting her shopping cart "away".....not where shopping carts should go in the cart return, but basically in the middle of the parking lot. So she walks away, and I'm sitting in the car watching this cart slowing start rolling away....I watch for a second and then realize that this cart is a run away, and it's not going to stop. I look beyond the cart and see a "Nicer" car right in the carts path....so being the extremely good Samaritan that I am, I hop out of our car and start running after the cart to save the strangers car. While in mid stride, literally leaping to grab the cart with in inches of hitting the parked car, I ram my toe right into the wheel of the shopping cart. OUCH!!!

My toe is hurting pretty bad, but I grab the cart and put it where it belongs, and then hobble back to my car so I can check out my toe.....ya, totally broken. It was already bruising, and swelling and hurt like crazy (I know it's just a toe, but it hurt!). So anyway, the point of this rant is two fold.....1. Please put shopping carts where they belong! and 2. To the driver of the car in the parking lot, I hope you appreciate that for the past 3 weeks, I have been walking with a limp, in pain, and I swear I re-break that dang toe every other day stubbing it on things, and then it re-bruises and I start the healing process all over again! It sucks, and I just want my stinking toe back to normal!

I think that might be the last time I go running after a shopping cart!

:o)

We're finally home....and we're CRAZY busy!

I have so many pictures to post and things to write about from Washington and Utah, but seriously I just DO NOT have the time right now. Since I have been home, Andy and I both started school full time...he goes in the morning, I go in the night. I also have been interviewing for a few different jobs...I think I have had a interview everyday for the past 3 days, and I HATE interviews! So between all of that and Hudson, and trying to get my house in order after being gone for so long....blogging will definitely be taking a back seat for a few weeks.

Hopefully I can get on here soon to post the pictures, but for now, I need to go mow my lawn and pull some weeds! SO FUN!

:o)

It's Time!

Time to read all long day because Breaking Dawn has arrived! I won't be taking any calls today, as I will be way too caught up in reading Stephenie Meyers latest addition!!...Hahaha.....Happy reading to all of you Twilight fans!

Photoshop Skills (Kinda)

So I have been pretty much been obsessed lately with editing some of our pictures. I have never really done it before, but man once you get started it is addicting! I am not very good at it at all, there is so much you can do it's ridiculous...but I have been trying, and thought I would post a few pictures from our trip to Portland a few weekends ago. These pictures are amateur editing at it's best for sure, but still was fun to dink around with them. It was really hot in Oregon like 100 degrees, which is very hot for that area so we went that day down to the waterfront park and Columbia River Gorge, and played around in the water.....these were the pictures we took before we hit the water.

Crazy Family! I look nuts, and Hudson ...well I don't know what he's doing...??
This one is a little bit more shall we say...normal?!

Sleep Habits.....(Long Post..might want to skip this one if you don't have kids!)

I decided I would write this because we have so many people ask us how in the world at 4-5 months did our child start sleeping 12 hours a night?

Before we had Hudson we had read On Becoming Baby Wise as suggest by some friends. We decided we would try it, so for the first month and a half or so we implemented the Baby Wise technique. He did OK with this, I think it was more difficult for us than any thing else to remember the schedule. The book says to follow the cycle of "Feed, Wake, Sleep"....then repeat "Feed, Wake, Sleep." The book keeps you on a pretty tight every 3 hour schedule and suggests that after each feeding you have some awake or play time, then put the baby to sleep. They suggest that if you have a feeding...followed immediately by sleep, the baby will become dependent on the feeding to go to sleep.

Anyhow....while still trying our best to follow this routine, I came across another book at Barnes and Noble called Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child. I read a little bit of it in the book store and was really intrigued by it so I bought it and started reading it. I immediately fell in love with this book, and felt that this "Method" was so much more for us than Baby Wise. The author of this book Marc Weissbluth, M.D., is a pediatrician and also founded the Sleep Disorders Center at Chicago's children's Hospital ......I loved this book because he was able to explain more scientifically why babies cannot sleep for long periods of time, and explained that at about 6 weeks babies are able to sleep for longer durations....almost like clock work at 6 weeks Hudson started sleeping longer.

It also talks a lot about the timing of sleep, and how nap times develop as they get older, and there are times of day when naps are best because they are the most restorative. It also urges a consistent bedtime, and bedtime routine.....it also says which I totally agree with now, that feeding a baby right before they go to sleep WILL NOT cause dependency on the feeding to sleep.....We switched to this book, and saw immediate changes.

This book also explains how infants become tired and are ready for a nap within 1-2 hours of being awake...I thought this sounded crazy at first...but it told you to start studying your child and to look for cues of sleepiness....when I really started paying attention to it...Hudson was tired again after 1.5 hours of being awake! So after waking up in the morning, he would go back down for a nap about 1.5 hours after being awake...then he would be awake for awhile, and go back down for another nap...and that was our routine for the day.....still is. Except now he usually goes 2 hours before he needs a nap. He usually has 3 naps a day and goes to bed a 7 pm and sleeps till 7 or 8 am. The best part is, I realized when I got him down to a nap the moment I noticed he was getting tired, he hardly cried at all......there were times when I did let him cry for a bit before he fell asleep, but they were never that long.

A lot of people we have talked with also seem amazed that we put him down to bed and for naps wide awake, and he falls asleep on his own. We don't have to rock him for hours or keep going in the room to soothe him...well that is all thanks to the book....he goes down happy, and wakes up cooing in his crib in the morning...all bright eyed and bushy tailed!

I could go on forever about the methods in this book, but just read it for yourselves, it has TONS of information and helps for any sleep issues you might be having. A great read for a mother who is having sleep problems with their kids.....the book actually follows all the way to teenage years for kids, and how important sleep is through our whole life.

People sometimes think I am a crazy lady because I am so adamant about his sleep routine, but if that is what I have to do to have a happy, content child, and well rested family....then I am more than happy to be considered a sleep Nazi!

It really made our lives and his better. If he misses his naps or goes to bed late he is totally grumpy, but if he is kept on his schedule he is the most laid back, non fussy baby you have ever met. I think sometimes he almost enjoys going to bed when he is tired! We put him down at 7 pm and have the rest of the night to ourselves, and don't hear a peep from him till the next morning....SO NICE!