What a Whirlwind!!!

Hello gang!  I can't believe so much has changed since my last musings on this Hood Life of mine.  I thought I had finally started settling into a routine.

Step 1: Sleep.
Step 2: Wake up, get unswaddled and let out a grimace-faced STTRREEEEEETTTTCCCHHHHHHH, complete with moans and grunts.
Step 3: (At this point as if on cue, Daddy seems to always stick his huge dome -right- up in my face to kiss me and call me one of a dozen nicknames...this week it is "Huddy Buddy"...where does he come up with these names - in the shower??!?!  Anyway, it always startles the bejeezus out of me!)  Mommy takes me to the back room to feed.
Step 4: Mommy gives me to Daddy for play time (which includes diaper change.  And when it's play time, I'm not sure Daddy knows what to do with me quite yet.  He might shake a rattle at me, or sing to me, or rap to me, but mainly he just looks at me smiling...until I cry.  He's got work to do!!!).  Then after a bit, Mommy might join the fun and we may even go outside for a walk.  After all that action it's back to...
Step 5:  Sleep and repeat.

After four weeks (yup!  I'm over one month old now!!!), I thought I finally had this "living the baby life" thing down.  I was getting the hang of it!   Then last week, out of nowhere, I was packed into the car with M&D and the dog, and before I know it, we are on a road trip and my entire schedule was put out of whack!   I HATE road trips!   Or, at least I thought I did.  It's not the trip so much as the car seat that M&D strap me into.  I have caused M&D many a grey hair with my griping while being strapped in the car seat!   But something happened on this trip...I'm not quite sure why, but I pretty much just zonked out for the entire car ride (well, unless it was feeding time).  Yeah, I was fantastic!   M&D owe me BIG time!!   When we finally got out of the car, we were in Ohio visiting Lolly & Pop!!  I recognized them immediately, and Lolly seem to know instinctively what each of my cries were all about.

"Oh Chris, that cry sounds like he's overstimulated." or "Hudson sounds like he needs to be burped." or "Chris, he's telling you he wants to be rocked."

Each time, I looked over to Daddy only to see an incredulous look on his face.  I overheard Daddy say, "How the heck do you know my son's cries already?!?!   They still all sound the same to me!!"  Daddy is running way behind on this parenting thing!!

Uncle Andrew and Aunt Shannon also came over to Lolly & Pop's house too!  But this time they brought along cousin Anderson!!   I was soooooo excited to meet him, even though he was kind of a wreck that evening and cried as much as I did.   But he was composed long enough to be fascinated by me and sat next to mommy Shannon as she rocked me to sleep.  Little cousin Anderson was even brave enough to kiss me on the head!!  I thought it was super manly of him to do that!  

The next day (last Saturday) began one of the longest weekends of my short life!!!  

We left Ohio and drove down to Louisville in order to meet Mommy's side of the family.  I've seen Daddy's side, and that was a bunch of people I thought, but Mommy's side is HUMONGOUS!!   When I got to Mimi and Pappy's place I was greeted by a TON of people!  In addition to all the great aunts and great uncles, I also finally met Uncle Brandon and Aunt Sam as well as cousin Hannah and cousin Nathan.  At first, I thought Hannah and Nathan were both 5 years old, them both being the same size.  But nope.  Only cousin Hannah is five.  Nathan is only 7 months old.   Say what?!?!!?!   He's only 7 months??!?! My thoughts on meeting cousin Nate....you are a BIG OL' strapping boy!!!    

Nathan and I ended up bonding though as we were forced to endure the muggy outside all evening.  It was awfully hot....too hot for both of us and Nate and I were taken inside the house where we cried it out together.  He's my crying buddy!   Love you cousin Nate!  After collecting my emotions, all I remember was being passed around...a lot.  But apparently, we took family pictures and Mimi and Pappy even threw me a baby shower and I got tons of awesome gifts!!   Thanks Wilsons!!  And according to Daddy, they all said I looked more like him than Mommy.

It was sad to leave, but the next day we packed up again and stopped by to see M&D's friends Abby & Rob.  They also had their first baby in May - baby Stella - and she was the first girl that I ever saw that was my age!  Also joining us were M&D's Lexington friends Jenny & Brad - who drove all the way to Louisville just to visit me & Stella!!!  Ahhhh,Stella...you could say I was smitten from the get-go.  But Stella?  I could tell she was ga-ga for me - it's a sixth sense I got from my Daddy.  I held back my nerves and told M&D to lift me up and introduce me as "Sugar Bear".   So Daddy held me up, while Abby & Rob did the same for Stella and let us have a little one-on-one time with each other.  We stared at each other in amazement; I spit my baby-game to Stella before ending our little rendezvous with a look in the eye that said "Stella, don't hate player, hate the game baby.  Sorry, I gotta go."   Emotions ran high...Stella broke down and cried, and I quickly followed suit.  It was exhausting for both of us, and we just wanted to get put down and go back to sucking our paci's, as the picture can attest!

Needless to say, I felt a connection and can't wait to see her again and shower her with Chicago Blackhawks memorabilia (Daddy says that Rob is a Red Wings fan and that there is no bigger doofus in sports than a Red Wings fan).  HAWKEYtown USA!!!!

After saying our goodbyes to Abby, Rob, and Stella, we then headed to downtown Louisville for a wedding for one of M&D's high school friends.  Mommy got her sling together and put me in it, and you know how that sling is akin to baby-Ambien...it knocked me out cold!   I love my sling!   When we all got to the reception, I was again passed around, but this time I sparkled BIG TIME!!!  I was even calm enough to have one of Daddy's friends, Tyler, feed me dinner!!  Mr. Tyler though, was quite awkward in feeding me and you could tell he had never done this before (he kept trying to give my bottle back to M&D before the bottle was empty, telling them "I think Hudson is finished".  Keep going buddy!!!  The bottle ain't done yet!!!).  

The next morning, we hopped back in the car...to go back to Ohio and see one of Mommy's best-est of friends - Bonnie!  Once again, I sparkled like it was nothing...although when Bonnie first held me I got a little scared and cried with all the strength in my lungs (which, to be fair, is anytime I cry - it's with every ounce of energy I got!).  I finally came around though, and Bonnie was a great cuddler (though I'm still a little unsure about things in this picture)!!!  

After Bonnie's, we drove full circle back to Lolly & Pops.  Whooooooooooohh!!!!!   That was the most hectic three days I've ever experienced in my life!!!   Back in Lolly's arms, I was a sparkling machine, and I only had to worry about Lolly and Aunt Shannon for the most part, since they were baby hogs the entire time and hated to share me....and given the prior 48 hours, was A-OK with me!!!

We finally got back to Chicago on Wednesday.....that journey wiped me and M&D out!!   We're still recuperating.  But I loved visiting everyone (especially you Stella!!!), and can't wait to do again....maybe not all at once, though!  Until next time...








  

Mommy & Daddy Edition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone!   It's Daddy writing this week, as Hudson is currently indisposed (he's feeding, per usual).  So I figure this is a great opportunity to dish out the real dirt on child-rearing.  You really have no idea!!  Hudson's blog posts makes it seem like this raising-a-kid thing is no sweat - as if everyday Mommy & Daddy are shittin' in tall cotton with smiles on our faces (a phrase my mother taught me).  Pshaw!   Okay true, the way Hudson sees it, we DO make it look easy - like it ain't no big thing (and to Angela's credit, I think it really is "ain't no big thing"...at least most days).  But it's absolutely no walk in the park...maybe that's the wrong phrase b/c those do not come all that easy these days!  I mean, I felt like I prepared myself....I read aloud a bunch of baby books and aced all the quizzes inside (guys, Angela forced me); I watched all the "Supernanny" shows until I could give spot-on critiques regarding child-discipline (again you guys, I was coerced by Angela); and I downloaded "Happiest Baby on the Block" and took copious notes (guys, at some point, you just learn to pick your battles and do what wifey wants).  I thought I was armed and ready to go; I wasn't gonna cry "Uncle!" to a tiny little pipsqueak - even if this pipsqueak was blood.  I GOT THIS!!!

Well, three weeks into it and if handing my kid off to Angela in frustration counts as crying "Uncle!", or if it's considered a cop-out every time I tell Angela "I'll calm Hudson down this time" and then quickly follow that up with "Ummm Angela, I think he's hungry!", then...yeah, I was fooling myself at how well-prepared I was for baby-rearing (though to be fair to me, he IS hungry a lot!)!!!  There is no question that I absolutely adore my little Huckleberry - Angela and I love watching him do his little baby arm-stretches after we un-swaddle him, and can sit seemingly for hours just looking at him make silly faces after he gets done eating.  But I cannot recall, as far as I can remember, anyone telling me how a baby's lungs were perfectly designed to create shrieks that are more cringe-inducing than nails on a chalkboard and that they can reach octaves you never even knew existed!  And those horrific cries that would make you think you were torturing your baby if you didn't know any better, those same bloodcurdling howls will evaporate instantly (INSTANTLY!!) the moment you do any number of things that, to my Dad-eyes, seem wholly random and arbitrary - like, I don't know, say, pull down his shirt all the way or blow in his face or cover his feet with your hands or something else equally capricious.  Oh, and please believe that the reverse holds just as true. One moment you're holding your baby boy, calming him down and rocking him to sleep oh-so-softly that it takes every ounce of energy to make it that gentle - I think I caught myself sweating once, it's THAT energy-zapping.  But with determination it finally works!!  After a while his eyes begin to roll back and then they start to close shut and you swear you can almost make out a faint smile on Huddlebug's little face.  He's gone.  He's sound asleep!!  I did it!!!!   You let out a satisfied sigh of relief....which wakes the baby up (or was it that my arm moved a half inch when I tried to scratch an itch on my leg?)!!!   Damn you Hudson!!!!    So I try it again...or I pass him off to Angela.   Dad's can only do so much... 

Anyway, Angela and I got the joy of experiencing this sort of cry on the car ride - it felt like the entire car ride - to Hudson's first Dr.'s appt. this past Monday.  Angela blamed it on my driving (a dubious idea, for anyone that knows my expert driving ability); I blamed it on her lack of energy (more probable).  The Dr.'s appt. went great and Hudson was given a clean bill of health; he tipped the scales at 8lbs 8oz (up from 6lbs 9oz at discharge from the hospital...I thought that was a massive increase in weight, but he's still only in the 50th percentile), and Hudson grew a quarter of an inch (now 21.25 inches long....in the 75th percentile).  I think all the crying wore little Huddy out, b/c he was zonked when we came back...which allowed Angela to get in a photo session with the pets. 

All the photos we've been posting don't really show it, but Hudson has slowly but surely been getting a little grime-y.  He'd have old spit-up from his lips to the back of his ears (!!), his eyes are starting to get a tad bit too gunky, even for MY liking, and the boy's head pours out sweat sometimes (although, that could be the coconut oil I've lubed his head up with - hey, I've been told it promotes healthy hair - but at this point, who knows what it is).  So after Angela's ever-so-craftily-built photo shoot, we  had the pleasure of giving Hudson his first ever bath!  His reaction when we put him in the water wasn't a surprise....he did NOT enjoy it one bit!!    

It reminded me of Bernie Mac in Kings of Comedy.  Bernie talked about how he smacked his kid's hand one time, and his kid cried so hard that no sound came out.  That is exactly what Hudson did; neither of us had seen it before and we both couldn't help ourselves but to laugh at it!   We eventually settled down (after taking pictures, of course) and got him all cleaned up.  And after we got him out and bundled him up in his towel, we had another one of those moments when Hudson's torture-tears disappeared instantly.  We gave him another bath on Thursday and he took it a tiny shade better that time around...(he peed all over Mommy afterwards to show his spite).  Here's hoping tonight's bath will be a breeze!

We also went to the dog beach this past week.  Hudson LOVES his sling!   After Angela gets him all settled down, he is zonked...until we put him back in the car (where he still hasn't gotten used to the car seat...he's not a fan yet).  The dog beach wasn't too crowded so I was able to keep Penny Lane calm enough to snap a picture or two.  Shortly after this picture was taken, we came across a pack of dogs who were all playing together.   Then one of them calmly walked away from the group, sat down, and spent the next five-ten minutes hopping in circles.   Angela and I were both cracking up the entire time!! (lest you think the dog was injured, he eventually stopped and continued back on playing)  And thank God for Hudson - if he's taught me anything, it's to always make sure I'm ready to snap a picture (or in this case record a video)!!!  While I'm not exactly a quick draw when it comes to getting out my phone and hitting the "record" button, thankfully ol' Sparky didn't mind and kept on going in circles long enough for me to get some funny clips.  The dog's owner was nearby so I had to control my laughing and play it cool so as not be too obvious in filming his dog.  Anyway, I posted up one of the videos for your enjoyment.  Hooray for stupid dogs!!!  It made our day!   

That's about all this week.   Next week we will be out of town visiting the Angela's family in Louisville!!! We're excited to show him off...this will be Hudson's first time being introduced to the Wilson's - which is a WAY bigger fam than the Kemp side - so we will be giving him pep talks all week telling him that he needs to sparkle!!!    Unfortunately, this will mean that next week's post will be a bit late and perhaps a bit short.  We'll keep you posted.   Love you all and take care!  Til next time...