More Horses and Family

Angela here!  Happy Friday!  Baby Adley finally got her first bath the other week.  She took it like a champ and didn't scream till the end.  Big brother Hudson wanted to help out so he jumped in the tub and made sure to point out that she was screaming.  Such a good helper.

We found Hudson more "horsey rides" last weekend!  We discovered the Renaissance Festival, which had jousting, pirate ships, mud pit battles, meat on a stick and so much more.  It's a month-long festival and they built an entire town to honor the time period.  Chris was in heaven.  And the horses this time were not little ponies; they were legit full-grown horses that were at least 16 hands tall.  Which is ginormous when you put a two year old on top of it. 

We got a special drop-in from the Wilsons as well.  My brother and his crew were driving back from Florida and stopped by to meet Miss Adley.  Hannah was a great big cousin, as she treated Adley like a porcelain doll.  Cousin Nate was the typical boy who didn't know she existed.  But the kids played well together for a bit with Hudson's kitchen set. 

Hannah might be Hudson's favorite cousin.  He thinks she is hilarious and will always laugh at her jokes.  Which then makes Hannah adore Hudson.  They are cute to watch.

With a new baby in the house, I feel as though the pets are getting neglected.  Penny Lane does get a long walk everyday, but that's about it.  As for Mr. Jack, he is trying to make his presence known.  Whenever Adley is swaddled or in my arms, he takes the opportunity to try out all the baby devices and toys..... 

The best way to walk the dog.  She loves this sling!

And with Chris back at work and always working late, I have both kiddos by myself in the evenings.  It's been a challenge to keep a toddler entertained and a newborn happy.  Every time I turn my back, Hudson wants to "play" with something that's not a toy.  I've found that getting frustrated is not the best way to handle these situations.  The other day he got into the coconut oil tub.  He always sees us lather up the baby in coconut oil, so I'm assuming he was trying to "help."  He flung it everywhere and rubbed it all over himself and the dog.  Instead of getting mad, I decided life would be easier if I turned his greasy hair into a mohawk and we played outside.  I'm sure the neighbors didn't judge me one bit.

         

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Perfect Adley and Horsey Rides

Angela here!  It's been three weeks since our princess entered the world and things are going great.  She has already been dubbed "Perfect Adley" because, well, she is perfect.  She sleeps about 20 hours a day and knows that her mama needs rest at night and will give me a 4-5 hour stretch of sleep between feedings.  She doesn't mind car rides and understands that when her brother is having a meltdown, she is to remain asleep.  Other than pooping and spitting up WAY too much, I could not ask for a better child.  

Now Hudson never had a great adjective in front of his name as a baby, but he is definitely making up for it in the big brother department.  Every time Adley makes a peep or spits up, he comes running to let us know.  "Daddy!  Baby Addie 'it-up' (spit up)."  If she cries, he immediately shoves a paci down her throat.  And he throws away all her dirty diapers after announcing to the world "PeeU, Baby Addie pooed!"

 Chris had the past two weeks off so we could enjoy some quality family time.  And Hudson was out of daycare for a week so we all got some extra LolliPop time as well.  Hudson lovesssss his Pop; they are best buds!  He is always most excited to see his Pop and it is so sweet to watch.  Mowing the lawn is their new favorite hobby together.

We did a lot of fun activities this past week since Hudson was home.  I was so proud of myself that the family managed to pack up and head out for daily trips.  Life is so much different with baby #2...your anxiety is less and you feel like you can conquer the world.  At least, I keep trying to convince myself that.  We first hit up the Cincinnati Zoo, which Hudson LOVED!  He can tell you any animal and the noise they make.  He kept pointing out and showing Adley all the animals.  Again, adorable to watch.  Good thing Hudson didn't notice that Adley slept the entire time. 

He still loves to hug the goats....

I needed to run errands one day sans children and came home to the picture below.  Chris and Adley were both snoring on the couch and Hudson was happily chomping away on some crumbly substance that ended up all over my couch/carpet/blanket.  Chris mentioned how tough it was to watch two children at once.  He must be Superman if he can manage a nap between watching children.... 

Our next activity was Parky's Farm, which has a petting zoo, tractor rides, a play park and lots of space to run around.  We packed our lunches and headed out with Lolly and Pop.  Hudson even got to water the vegetables and flowers, which continues to fascinate him.  Every morning, we have to water the plants on the front porch.  He's going to have a great garden one day.

   The hanging vegetable garden...

Perfect Adley again slept the entire time.  The most she ever moved was just to stretch...
 

And Hudson's favorite part was the ponies.  Ever since July 4th weekend, he has been asking for "horsey rides."  We thought he would forget, but he has persistently been asking on a daily basis.  I'm just glad we were able to find some "horsey rides" for him.  And if you try to correct him and say "horse," he will insist that you are in fact incorrect...it is a "horsey ride."

 

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!  Chris is back at work and Hudson has returned to daycare.  So it's just us girls hanging out and on a mission to find more "horsey rides."

Baby Adley is here!

Hello young world!!!!   Baby Adley finally hit the world stage last Wednesday (8/12/2015), being ripped out of her mother's stomach at 11:14am  and weighing in at an impressive 7 lbs 13 oz, 20.5 inches!!!  

And this time Daddy Kemp got to see it all happen live!!  For Hudson's birth, I had a big ol' blue screen blocking my view and was reprimanded for trying to push it away.   Not this time....I was given front-row access.  Woo hoo!!!   Lots of blood and other goo I have no idea what to call, and then all of a sudden a head popped out of Angela's stomach (which, for all you Total Recall fans, for a split second reminded me of Kuato!!).  Adley was crying as loud as possible (and the doctors noted how healthy Adley's lungs were) and taken to the testing table, where she was cleaned up and aced her Wonderlich (or whatever test that they give babies) with flying colors!! 

Adley got a bath to get all the white goo off of her (which I don't remember Hudson having, but apparently all babies have when first being born).  They cleaned her up nice before handing her off to me.  And I'll admit, holding little Adley in my arms produced some sort of salty discharge coming out of my eyes.  I was taken aback, because for all the excitement of Hudson's birth, it did not elicit tears.  Maybe it was because I got to see Adley being born, or because having Adley, in some way, makes a "complete" family.  Or maybe it's just because I now had the sweetest, prettiest looking girl looking up at me.  It was all just overwhelming.   Adley, I am so sorry that watching you be born made me think of a weird sci-fi movie character when you first popped out!!!!  We love you!!!!  :-)

Although you wouldn't be able to tell from any of the pictures, Adley was/is the most alert baby I have ever seen.  Her eyes opened up almost immediately and she didn't seem tired or hungry at all.  She just wanted to look around and see what was going on.  Of course, once she did finally feed, it knocked her out and she's been just the perfect little baby girl - sleep, eat, pee/poop, repeat.   Can't ask for much better than that!!  Angela and I were totally prepping ourselves for another Hudson (i.e. a baby whose volume is set at level 11), but Adley is a complete 180° - the little girl just loves her sleep!!!  The first night, I think I got around 4 hours of sleep!  If the baby cried, I didn't hear her (I'm sure Angela did though).   Unfortunately, I had to sleep on an awful sofa, and when I woke up my lower back was in debilitating PAIN, which lasted all day and severely compromised my ability to be a helpful husband.   Not to make this about me - that's not my style - but I had to take Angela's bed, which was way more comfortable and I fell asleep holding baby Adley in that instead.  Thanks babe!!!  

Oh calm down.  Ang was taking a shower and please believe she kicked me out when she got done. 

On Day 2, we brought Hudson to the hospital to see his new baby sister.  He has been fascinated with "it" ever since, which is what Hudson calls HER.  We've tried to correct him many times, but as of now, he still looks at Adley as more of a toy than an actual sister!

Angela and I were looking at pictures the other day of Adley in the hospital and Adley a week old, and it is amazing how much babies change in so short a time frame.   I swear I think Adley gets cuter by the day.  Even Hudson can't get enough of his baby sister!   Every morning when he wakes up, he ruuuuunnnnnnss to mommy and throws his arms out in front of him and says "Mommy, I'ma hold it.  I'ma hold Addy."  He loves holding his little sister.  Even more, he's fascinated with touching and poking and prodding Adley - an eye here, a nostril there, or a rough tickling of the forehead that I can't imagine would feel in anyway uncomfortable!  That said, both he and Penny Lane are super protective of their little sister.  Whenever Hudson hears Adley cry, he'll run up to me or Angela, point to Adley and yell "Daddy.  Addy crying.  Come on!"  It's cute.  Penny Lane loves to get right in Adley's face and be on the verge of licking of her though never do so.  But you can tell she wants to so bad!!!

On her way to first doctor appointment, where everything checked out a-ok.  Adley is soooo tiny in that car seat!  Angela has a huge collection of obnoxiously big bows for her little head!!

We ended this week by taking Adley out for her first dog walk in the baby sling.  I know as parents we aren't supposed to compare children, but I can't help it....I still vividly remember us walking the dog in Humboldt Park w/ Hudson in a sling and him crying his lungs out the entire time.  He did eventually get better at it, but Adley mastered the sling like she's an old pro.  Never cried one peep the whole of the walk.  Woo hoo!  Hudson, mommy and daddy still love you lots though!!!!  

Until next time....

Moving on up and the Nursery

Angela here!  Hudson had another life change this past week.  I feel terrible because every two weeks something major happens to the kid.  First we took away the pacifiers.  Two weeks later we took away his crib.  Now he has changed rooms at daycare and is in with the "big kids."  And in one week, he'll have to share his parents with a new baby!  I'm freaking out over here!!  Luckily, my son seems to adapt well to change and is not as stressed out as his mama.  He does not ask for a paci anymore, he sleeps through the night and he won't get out of bed till we go get him.  Success!

 Now his new room at daycare is where they start to potty train, eek!  Every two hours, they line the kids up and place them on the potty.  And double eek - he's still in cloth diapers.  The teachers have not complained (yet) so I'm holding out to buy pull-ups.  But Hud seems excited about this new challenge and has actually successfully made the trip to the potty a couple times.  He's still young (according to the pediatrician and the baby blogs) to potty train, so we'll see how long the excitement lasts.  Chris keeps expressing daunting concerns of having two children in cloth diapers.  I keep telling him Pampers makes this awesome product called a disposable diaper, but he refuses to listen.

Another fun festival happened in good ole' Springboro last weekend.  The high school hosted a Family Fest with face painting, bounce houses, carnival rides, food and music.  So the entire crew headed out to embark on the chaos.  Hudson requested his blue sunglasses and I happily obliged...

 The boys got their face painted, so we had two Spidermen and one Batman....

Hudson was too short to ride the rides by himself, so Chris happily jumped in to help.  It was a good time for all! 

And with one week to go, we finally finished the nursery!!  Well, it was actually done over a week ago, with everything decorated and hung on the walls.  And then I decided the wall paint needed to change.  I would say it was a diva moment, but hear me out.  The walls were brown before.  Not really fit for a little princess.  I thought that if I kept adding enough purple, the dark walls would disappear and everything would be girly.  But that just wasn't happening.  So another Lowe's trip later, Chris painted the room light gray and it looks soooo much better.

 My crafty-decor wall, with some help from my craft expert, Lolly...

 And below are just SOME of her bows!  No I have not been on a shopping craze, as I have only bought two bows myself.  These are all awesome hand-me-downs from family and friends.  And she has another shoe box full of more bows!

We also had our last photos taken as a family of three.  Definitely bittersweet and crazy to think how fast time has flown by and how quickly things are about to change.  Chris is definitely more nervous about having a girl (aka, he's totally freaking out over here), but I know he'll rock out as a dad just like he did with Huddy.  And whether he likes it or not, he'll eventually get a grasp on all the accessories and dolls and glitter and all that sparkles that comes with having a little girl :)

Next week we become FOUR!!!