Best Friends

Meet Andy (and Foxxy in the background). Andy is our 8 month old lab. He and Hudson were inseperable last night. Jason and I laughed and laughed at them. They followed each other around everywhere. I wish I could have found my camera when Hudson was crawling all over him but I didn't know where it was.

This isn't the best picture but shows you how Andy went everywhere Hudson went.

Hudson playing in his room.

Both of them enjoying a toy that lights up and plays music.

This picture and the one below were taken back to back. Hudson would throw the ball and Andy would chase it down. While Andy was running after it Hudson would throw his arms in the air and scream, "yay". It was the first time we've heard Hudson make the "Y" sound.

Andy would bring the ball back and drop it and wait for Hudson to pick it up.

They did it over and over!

He loved throwing the ball for Andy.

Everyday we feel much better. The past two nights we have both gotten good sleep. Jason went back to working today. But I am so thankful he stayed home for almost a week. And winters are slow for him so he can be very flexible. Yesterday we sent off our paperwork to register Hudson at the Russian Consulate in D.C. and we turned in health insurance information both of those things were at the top of my to do list since we've been home and I'm so relieved now that they are done. Hopefully I can get the rest of the paperwork finished soon.

Also yesterday we bought a new washer and dryer. Saturday my washing machine quit working and my mom has been washing our clothes. Our dryer is also on it's way out. It takes an hour and a half to dry a load of clothes so we decided to get a set. It arrives on Friday and I'm very excited! Also got a hand mixer and a blender. Is it sad that we were married for 5 1/2 years and never used a blender?!

So glad we have the blender. Since we are having texture issues and feeding him anything besides mashed potatoes and oatmeal is a battle, I decided to puree the food we eat and see what he thinks. I made spaghetti, smelled good, but didn't look good pureed! But he loved it and ate every bit of it and didn't hold any of it in his mouth.

Now if we can get him to sleep a little more than 1 hour per day!

This coming Monday we go to Vanderbilt where he will see specialists that only work with internationally adopted children. He will see a pediatrician, developmental pschycologist, and occupational therapist. I am looking forward to talking with these doctors and asking them my many questions. I am not looking forward to having to be there at 8 a.m.!!

Lotsof Pics

These first set of pics are from the second day we were home. Sheryl, Jeanna, Robert, and Loretta came over.

He has loved exploring the house and he LOVES all of his toys.

Grandmom and Grandad gave him his first rocking horse for Christmas.

We tried to get some good pics of the 3 grandkids, but weren't very successful. He kept wanting "Mama" which I was not complaining!

He's pretty cute in camo!

All the pics below are from the night we got home.

Grandmom and Loretta

My mom is still not sure what she wants to be called.

My girls and their posters.

He was already putting the move on Jordin. They were too cute!

Best friend, Mandy, who I think cried enough for all of us put together! She and my mom spent the afternoon taking turn crying the day we were coming home, I was cracking up listening to her tell me about it.

Grandad Meeting Meemaw and Granny

Loretta

Aunt Jeanna

First time to be held by Papaw

We were all so tired!

Austin

Today I'm hanging out on the couch and letting Jason play Mr. Mom. I'm not feeling so well and I hope it just passes, I was up for about 3 hours last night and drank 1/2 a thing of Pepto. My biggest concern is that Hudson does not get sick.

Overall I feel like his transition has been smooth, I can't wait to get on a good routine. Nap time has been a battle the past few days but the past 3 nights he has slept the entire night which is so awesome. We are having some eating issues which are pretty common with adopted children. He seems to have some texture issues. My friend Cydil gave us some pointers we are going to use and see if it will get better. But the biggest problem we are having is him going to everyone. He definitely prefers mom and dad but if someone comes in the house he walks right up to them, it's really bothering me. I think we need LOTS of alone time with him and no one else. But I know that our family has waited over 2 years for him and they are so excited, but I think we are just going to have to be firm.

All that being said here are some random Hudson thoughts. He is so happy and the only time we see him upset is when he's getting sleepy. He loves to walk in our bedroom and reappear in about 30 seconds. He is picking up on some more english. He knows when I say "Come on" that we are going somewhere, when he's ready to go he holds his arms up wanting you to pick him up and says "Bye Bye". We're pretty sure he called my dad "Papa" the other night. He does not want to get out of the bath tub but when he does get out he shivers and sometimes his teeth will chatter. And it's very hot in the bathroom, we'll be almost sweating! He no longer has to crawl to something and pull himself up, he can stand up on his own in the middle of the floor. He has figured out how to go down the little step in his bedroom without falling. I could go on and on!

Oh, and he loves animals. He thinks Andy is hilarious and last night he was in the kitchen smiling at Foxxy. Foxxy is our stray who has been here for 3 years but is still very skiddish. Howevery, she loves me :) She's normally the most skiddish around children and men but the other night I was sitting in his room with him and she snuck up behind him and sniffed his hair, I don't even think he knew she was there. Then later that night she was laying below the couch and let him touch her 3 times. It was very sweet.

January 5

He might not appreciate this when he's 16 and I'm showing this to his girlfriend, but he has a blast sitting on the potty! He laughs and raises his hands and claps and then when I crack up he does it even more :)

Pictures

He wasn't quite sure what to think about being on a horse. My Treasure 2 Farmers would be happy to know his first horse to sit on is my Honey!

He liked the cows.

Dad had hay in his hands and of course Raisin had to check it out. He really liked Raisin.

Dad has been waiting forever to get him on the tractor. He wasn't sure what to think about it. For the record, Chipp (my dad's dog and favorite thing in the entire world) was sitting on the ground just waiting to get on the tractor, Dad didn't even acknowledge he was there HA!

Ride 'em coboy!

Waving at Uncle Will

He really liked petting the horses, but we have to teach him how to be soft, he wanted to pat them hard. Gypsy was very patient with him.

We had Christmas last night at my parents house. He liked the tissue paper the best!

Center of attention!

Aunt Casey

Uncle Will makes this horrible sound, me and Casey says it sounds like a terradactil (however you spell it) and like we would know what that sounds like! Anyway, Hudson thinks it's hilarious!

Meemaw

Granny

Yesterday Sheryl, Jeanna, Robert, and Loretta came over but I didn't know where my camera was so I'll have to get pictures of them from Sheryl to post. Grandmom and Grandad got him a rocking horse that he thinks is lots of fun.

I am also going to have to get pictures from people of our homecoming. I can't wait to see them. Bentz Huschke also videod for us and I'm excited to watch that, too. So more pictures to come.

He seems to like animals which is a great thing when your mom trained horses for a living and you live on a 242 acre farm. He has really enjoyed exploring the house and playing with his toys. He didn't want to take a nap today but finally gave in. He woke up 4 times in the night. Jason is still sick and not sleeping good. I don't think I've been in a deep sleep since we've had custody of him. Any little noise and I jump out of bed. I don't even know what day it is. I know it will take us a week or two to get on a routine and sleeping better, I'm looking forward to it.

Home At Last

I don't think I've ever been so happy to pull up at our little love shack. It is so great to be at home!

Our plane rides were pretty rough, but we made it in one piece. He cried a lot to Prague and then when we arrived they were boarding for our next flight. He did great until the last 4 hours and then he screamed at the top of his lungs for about 30 minutes. Neither one of us could comfort him and then Jason looked at me and said "Oh my goodness", then rushed to the bathroom. He had a bad case of diarrhea. After this he was back fine. I gave him some medicine for his tummy. I think trying to get him to drink so his ears would feel okay, we gave him too much apple juice and it upset his tummy. We landed in Atlanta where my good friend Hannah met us and took us north of Atlanta to meet Casey and Will. It was great getting to see Hannah and her 3 1/2 month old, Gabe. By this time we were all 3 exhausted. We had slept about 30 minutes each and he had only slept about 4 hours. About the time he fell asleep in Hannah's truck we had to get him out and put him in the Sequoia. He slept about 3 hours on the way home. I was SO SO happy to see Casey. And I'm pretty sure she was happy to see me, but Hudson stole her heart. I don't think Will got a kiss last night because Casey gave them all to Hudson!

Then we went to the church. Sheryl (Jason's mom) met us at the door crying, then we went over to my mom who was also crying. Then I took him to see Meemaw and Granny, at this point I think everyone was crying. But the first person I let hold him was my Daddy. Hudson loved his cowboy hat and didn't mind it when dad put it on him. All of the immediate family held him. He would go to them, but when he spotted me or Jason he would reach out for us. That is a good sign. Friends from church were there, some of my students, and my best friend Mandy came in from Arkansas. It was an amazing thing, I loved seeing everyone and them seeing Hudson. He handled it very well, I think we stayed for about and hour or so and then it was time to go to the house!

Everyone at Bethel-thanks for coming, it meant more to us than you'll ever know. The support system has been HUGE for us during this whole process. And thanks for the food, too. Today Jason and I have been snacking while trying to get things done around the house. I don't know what I would have to do if I had to cook something right now! You guys are just so awesome! Don't you know you make God smile!

When we came home our house had been decorated by my students, Jordan, Lauren, Haley, and Abby. There were posters, streamers, and balloons everywhere. It was too cute and he had a blast crawling through all of the balloons and hitting them. He played for a while and explored then ate something and finally took a bath. Fell to sleep around midnight. He woke up once in the night for about 15 minutes and then went back to sleep. He slept until 6:45, which is great beause that's what time he woke up in Moscow. Then in Moscow he would nap from 10-noon, 2-4:00. He fell asleep this morning at 10:10, so hopefully this will continue to go good.

I need to get back to doing laundry and putting things away. Much to do during nap time! I will post pictures tomorrow of everything. I also took pics this morning of his first time on a horse, first tractor ride with PawPaw, and first time to see cows. He loved it. And he likes the dog and especially my cat raisin when he jumped up on the hay to see Hudson. Okay, he's sitting in his bed talking, I'll post more tomorrow.

God is so good, isn't He!