Christmas Celebration

This year was definitely my favorite year for Christmas thus far. It was so much fun seeing how excited Hudson was about Santa coming and telling us what he wanted for Christmas. Christmas morning he was of course up before Mila and was having a hard time waiting on opening his gifts. He moved all of his presents away from the tree and made a pile, he kept telling me "I'm just looking mom". Justin & I allowed him to open one present, the movie Planes. Yep we ended up watching it four times just that day and have seen it at least once a day since...... The little stinker then poked a hole in another present and slowly started ripping a piece away. Finally Mila woke up about 7:45 so it was time to open gifts :) Hudson was pretty good about opening a gift then helping Mila open a gift. I think he was excited about Mila's presents as he was about his own. This year Santa brought him the movie Planes & Toy Story, Hungry Hungry Hippos, and a LeapPad Ultra or as he calls it, his own iPad.  He also received his first pair of ice skates and a hockey helmet.  So far he is not too sure about them, but hopefully next year :)  Mila received some clothes, dolls, and some toys.

 Being difficult about getting his picture taken.....

Hope you all had a safe and happy holiday!

Sleepless nights......

I just realized that I am a little (okay a lot) behind on the blogging. I need to catch up from Christmas to our recent Florida vacation, oops! Life has been a little busy at our house the last few months with lots of sleepless nights and early morning awakenings. Since the beginning of January, Mila has been battling all sorts of colds, ear infections, eye infections, or so we thought. Just recently we figured out that she has FPIES (food protein induced enterocolitis syndrome). Basically, her little digestive tract has a hard time processing food protein along with the milk and soy protein. Because of this, she has been having numerous issues with her GI tract as well as other symptoms of food sensitivities, being the ear irritation, eye irritation, skin irritation. Needless to say, this has caused her a lot of difficulty when it comes to sleep. We have had many nights of her being up numerous times or up for an hour or two in the middle of the night with severe gas pains. Luckily since we found out about this recent diagnosis, she has been much more content during the day and sleeping a little better at night. The next couple months will be a challenge as we won't really know what foods she can or can't eat without trying them. I do know that at this time we need to continue to avoid dairy, soy, and milk protein until she is at least one (possibly longer). We now also have to avoid all grains, legumes, certain meats (chicken & turkey), and have discovered she can not have cinnamon or carrots. Each new food will need to be introduced for one to two weeks to see if she has a reaction. So far we have been mainly eating sweet potatoes and squash but will be starting with new foods next week. Hopefully she will outgrow this by the time she is one though some kids continue to have issues until they are 3-4...... Now that we finally figured out what is going on, my goal will be to catch up on this blog as I have many pictures I need to post from the last few months!

A visit with Santa!

Sunday December 8, 2013 we headed over to the MN Zoo for Snack with Santa. This is a great program that the zoo has for their member's. They provide snacks, art projects, and the kids can make an ornament for their tree. Santa then comes table to table to chat with your kids and to get some pictures.

We have seen Santa from afar numerous times this year at the mall. Everytime I ask Hudson if he would like to go sit on his lap and I always receive a quick "no". We were a little worried at how he would do this year but once again it was a success. They have a zoo volunteer ask you your child's name so when Santa comes over he can address your child directly. He asked Hudson what he wanted for christmas and of course his response was Tractor's :) This year they gave out little stuffed Tapper's to the kids. He then had Hudson come sit up on his lap so we could take that tag off :) Worked like a charm. I was able to get pictures of Hudson & Santa, the whole family & Santa, and Mila & Santa. If you are a member of the MN Zoo, I highly recommend checking this out. It makes for a much more enjoyable experience with Santa vs. standing in line at the mall. We will definitely do this again next year!

 Making his ornament

 Taking the tag off of his tapper

Hudson's Holiday Program

December 5, 2013 Hudson had his preschool holiday program. Justin & I were both hoping that baby boy would do a little more singing this year as he loves to sing at home. Once again his shyness overtook him and he hung out in the back just checking everyone else out. At least he stood up there during the whole program.  Here are some of the pictures we were able to get :)

 Just love this little guy!

4 months!

Wow, I am way behind on my blogging. Hoping to catch up here over these next couple days. To start, Mila turned 4 months on November 29, 2013!!! The time is just flying by.....

We had her 4 month well child visit on December 2, 2013. She weighed in at 11 lbs 7 oz, measuring 24". Her pediatrician is a little concern about her weight as she did not gain as much as predicted in following her growth curve. Hoping at the 6 month visit we can catch up as he thinks it may be in part to my recent medical problems (more on that later).

Here is what Mila has been up to......
1. She continues to roll over from her belly to back. She is pretty close to rolling from her back to tummy.

2. She is noisy! She loves to talk and she loves to be heard :)

3. Her brother I think is her favorite person :) Everytime she seems him she smile and stares in awe. Luckily he likes her too.

4. Sleeping is not her thing, unfortunately for me. On average she is taking about 3 cat naps during the day and at night she is waking about 4 times :( I am hoping this is just the 4 month sleep regression and that within a couple weeks we will be back to normal.

5. Still working on teething. Nothing has poked through yet but hopefully soon.

6. She was diagnosed with her first ear infection on December 1, 2013. Hoping we don't follow in big brother's steps.

Happy Halloween!

I was very excited about Halloween this year as I knew Hudson would have a better understanding of what it was about.  Months before we started discussing what he would be and he was set on being Bob the Builder.  Perfect costume as I just needed to purchase a few clothing items :)

Unfortunately he woke up Halloween morning with a fever so he was not able to go to daycare with his friends but instead he got to go hang out with Papa all day!  I am sure he thought that was much better.  By the time we got there after work he was feeling much better but we decided to pass on trick or treating at the zoo and instead hung out at my parents until it was time to go out.  Of course we had to start out night with a Pumpkin Pizza from Papa Murphy's

 

It took a little convincing to get Hudson to put his costume on and head out but once we started trick or treating he didn't want to stop!  Here are some more pics from our night.

 My little ladybug

 Bob the Builder without his construction hat :)

With Hudson, my mom took some pictures of him inside a pumpkin his first Halloween.  Since Mila is not able to sit up yet, we improvised with her :)

 Falling over...

Smiling at her big brother!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!  Looking forward to next year :)

3 months

October 29, 2013 Miss Mila turned 3 months old!!!  Hard to believe three months has passed since this little baby girl stole our hearts.  The last three months have definitely been a challenge with two kids but I wouldn't change anything about it.  Here is what our little princess has been up to......

1.  Eating about every 2 hours during the day and waking anywhere from one to three times at night to feed

2.  Very alert during the day.  On average at daycare she is only napping two to three hours all day.  Too much to see there :)

3.  She loves to watch her big brother and he always makes her smile :)

4.  She is rolling side to side but has not rolled over yet.  Tummy time, she just lies there and sucks on her thumb or fingers.  Little stinker.....

5.  Still not taking a pacifier but she loves to suck on her thumb, fingers, or her blanket

6.  Chatty little girl.  Loves to talk to you especially in the morning.  All sorts of coos :)

Looking forward to seeing what the next couple months bring!