Splash pads

We have gone on several play dates to splash pads. There are so many around. We went to the Highland Splash pad first. It's probably our favorite one that we've been to. The boys love playing in the "river". Roman loves throwing rocks into the waterfall, and Hudson even likes that one. We met my friends Amy and Reagan and their kids there. They had fun running up and down the river together. It was awesome because usually if we could find one we would find them all. Sometimes that was a bad thing because we would find them all (in trouble).





The next week we decided to try the Alpine splash pad. We brought a picnic lunch with us so we sat and ate lunch then went to the water area to let the kids play in the water. I think they had as much fun playing on the fence as they did in the water.




Roman really wanted to check out the playground there too. He was a little nervous at first, he is a cautious kid (at first, until he knows he can do something then he's wild) he was so proud of himself when he made it across the ladder area all by himself. I told Roman he could do one last thing then we needed to go so he wanted to spin. I spun him around really fast then we had to wait a few minutes before we left because he was complaining that his tummy hurt (poor kid gets crazy bad motion sickness).




The day after we went to the Apline splash pad we had a play date with some of our friends from our old neighborhood at the Herriman splash pad. Roman was a total grump that day and didn't want to get in the water at all. He played on the playground some but he mostly just sat at the table with us while we talked. Hudson was in prime form too, it was nap time and I ended up leaving with both kids screaming. I stole this picture from Meredith's blog, I didn't have my camera with me.

Top - Me, Hudson, Christy, Sherry, and Meredith
Bottom - Julie and Christa


We tried to go to the Riverton splash pad, but that was an epic fail. My friend had tried going a few weeks ago and it was closed. So I called Riverton parks and rec to make sure it was open. They said unless there was a problem with the water it was open for the season. We got there and it very obviously was NOT open for the season. The splash pad was fenced off, the road into the parking lot was closed and there was heavy machinery doing construction right next to the water play area. So we went to the Herriman splash pad again. Both boys fell asleep on the way there and I almost turned around to go home. I decided to ask Roman if he wanted to wake up and play or just turn around and go home. It took him a minute to decide but he did indeed want to play. I'm actually glad that we stayed. Both boys had such a great time. It took Roman a few minutes to wake up and get going but once he was going, he was non-stop. He was all over the place. We stayed for about 2 hours and both boys had fun playing in the water.

4 year and 1 year well child check

Wednesday I took both boys to the pediatrician for their well child check-ups. I thought it would be easier that way, boy was I wrong! I won't be doing that again! (Remind me of this if I try to schedule them together next year, it was such a nightmare!) Roman was just wild. He was running all around the room, hurt Hudson several times, wouldn't sit still. Hudson is teething. He just had 2 teeth come in and there are 4 more that are just RIGHT there.

As always they weighed them, measured them, and checked Hudson's head circumference. After the first nurse had measured another came in and said "Can I just re-measure his height to make sure she got it right. His curve is just off on height." So she remeasured him and it was the same. The doctor came in and we talked about Hudson first. I never know what to expect. I feel like Hudson is so far behind (but I also know that Roman was so far ahead I really can't judge by what he was doing at each age.)

She asked if he was pointing and I said no...should he be?
She asked "Does he wave?" "Yes!" He loves waving.
"Does he say any words?" "Yes, he says about 6 words. Mom, Dada, No, Cup, Hi, Go, Bye."
"Is he walking?" "Not even close! He does stand up by himself though."
"He sounds about average." "Oh good, I don't even know what average is."

So developmentally he's about average. As for size, he is mostly below average.

Height - 28 1/4" (6%)
Weight - 18 lbs 6 oz (off the charts, but she said probably around the 2%)
Head circumference - 81%

Then it was Roman's turn. She directed most of her questions to him.

"How old are you?" "4"
"Did you have a birthday party?" "Yes, 2"
"2?" (I took over and explained that one was in Utah and one was in California.)
"What have you been doing this summer?" "We took a trip."
"Where did you go." "California, Oregon, and Idaho."
(The doctor glances to me to confirm.) "Yes, we went on a long roadtrip."
"Wow, you're brave." "I am! I can float on my back."
(And the conversation continues for several minutes.)

We talked about developmental milestones and she asked if he knew his numbers, colors, my phone number, if we've talked about stranger danger, etc. I told her he can identify numbers to 100, count to 20 without help and 50 with a little help, he can read simple words and write. She said "Then I'm not going to tell you what to expect in the next year." She did ask if he was going to pre-school she said for him it's a good thing. He was kind of a live wire the whole time we were there. He was really showing off (and by showing off I mean showing all the worst things he can do!)

And for size, Roman is also on the small side.

Height - 37" (below the charts)
Weight - 31 lbs (he gained a whopping 1 lb this year!)(13%)
BMI - 76%

They both had needed immunizations and I thought it would be fine. When we had Roman's MMR a few months ago it was no big deal. He whimpered a tiny bit when they gave him the shot then he was over it. Roman said he wanted Hudson to go first. He had 3 shots and was so upset. Before I even had a chance to get him calmed down the nurse gave Roman his immunizations and he was wailing too. I had two angry, screaming kids that I had to get dressed and calmed down. As we were walking out the door the nurse asked Roman if he wanted a sticker. He stopped crying and calming said "yes, please." And he was done screaming. Hudson on the other hand was still mad when we got to the car to go home.

Pineview Reunion

We started a new tradition last year, and we looked forward to it all year. It was our family reunion. Before last year it was held at the Uintah park. Last year they decided to try something new and had it at Pineview Reservoir. Last year we went, but I wasn't really able to do much because I looked like this. It was July 16 just a few days before Hudson was born.

This year it was a great time for everyone (as always). It was fun to see all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and their spouses and children. We don't see them often enough. My uncle Dennis rented a pontoon boat with a 3 person tube and wave runners.



I went out on the boat first with Roman and Hudson. And Spencer went out on a wave runner. Hudson LOVED having the wind blowing in his face on the boat.

Spencer pulled up to the side of the boat and Roman said he wanted to go with him on the wave runner so we put him on the wave runner with him and away they went. I think Roman was a little nervous (see the death grip he has on Spencer's swim trunks?)

Roman got in and out of the boat a few times to get on and off the wave runner with Spencer. He really wanted to be on the wave runner, but was just a little nervous about it. Hudson was trying to climb right off the boat. He wanted to touch the water.

Spencer even took Hudson out for a little ride on the waverunners. He LOVED it. Loved it so much that he cried when Spencer took him off. He wanted to stay on it all day.

After we were done on the boat and his little ride on the waverunner I took Hudson up and went for a drive to get him down for a nap. Spencer came up to the pavilion once he was asleep to took him from me so that I could have a turn taking the wave runner out too. I asked him where Roman was and he said "He went back out on the boat. Um, what? I guess Roman said he wanted to go back out on it and Spencer said sure and just sent him out on the boat. There were other adults (obviously) but I was a little surprised that he just sent him out. Roman just talked to my cousins wife the entire time. I decided it was probably the best time for me to go out on the wave runner while Hudson was sleeping and Roman was off with the boat. I didn't get a chance to ride them last year, so I was really looking forward to that this year.

We went back out on the boat with my sisters when the boat finally came back (It was gone for a LONG time, I was starting to get worried.) I went out on the tube first with my cousin Tiffany and her son Corbin and Roman. We let Roman tell them how fast (or slow) to drive the boat for us. Roman was so funny, he was so into giving thumbs up and down to signal to go faster or slower that he wasn't holding on so I ended up holding him on the tube. Unfortunately no one brought cameras out on the tube that time. After that I went out with my sisters Becky and Marla. It was a much faster, bumpier ride that time. Again no pictures, but we had a great time talking, laughing and screaming (then laughing some more.)

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

Sunday we had Hudson's birthday party at the park with our families. We had a picnic potluck dinner then cake and ice cream and presents. It was simple and perfect. I forgot to bring so many things with us, so we just went with it. I forgot to bring a candle, lighter, high chair, and a bib. We figured he wouldn't blow the candle out anyway so it was fine. We would just put him on the table rather then a high chair, and we had another outfit and really is a bib going to really help when he's smashing into a cake?

Our neighbor, Micki, made Hudson's cakes. They were SO CUTE! The big cake was zoo animals and Hudson's smash cake was a monkey.

My sister, Becky got an amazing camera for her birthday. She was so good at taking pictures of everything I didn't even worry about taking my camera out of my purse. She got pictures of everything. I called her after we got home and I asked her to e-mail me some of the pictures when she got a chance. She was just getting her kids to bed so she called me back about an hour later kind of freaking out. She said she put the card in her computer and all the pictures were GONE! So she tried taking a picture and it saved and there were 103 pictures just missing. All the pictures from the party. Everything else was there. We thought of everything that we could to get the pictures back but it was beyond us. Spencer called his dad who told us about a program that we could try that might be able to recover the pictures. I also sent a text to a friend who told us that he had a different program that if the first one couldn't recover the pictures that his may work. Becky downloaded the program that Spencer's dad recommended then she started the scan. By 11:00 pm it was only about 25% complete. Becky got up a few times in the night to check on it, and at 3:00 am it said that it could recover the pictures but she had to buy the full version of the program. She did it and started the scan again. By 9:00 the next morning she had recovered all but the first few pictures of the cakes. I am so glad we were able to recover them. I am so glad we were able to get them back. SO CUTE (and funny!) And irreplaceable memories.

We were getting Hudson all settled on the table next to the cakes so that we could sing Happy Birthday to him. He kept trying to get his hands on the smash cake. We had to stop him several times. (He got his toes in the cake too)

When we finally let him get into the cake he wasn't really sure that he wanted to.

And once he finally did have his fingers in the cake, he was sure he definitely did NOT want to have it on his hands. (The naked picture was later when he was thinking about getting into the cake again, but he didn't REALLY want to touch it.)

Hudson (and Roman, and all his cousins) LOVED opening his presents, and playing with them.

Hudson is 1

This year has gone by so fast. I can't believe my baby boy is a year old already. One year ago today I met this little man.

(I love looking at this picture of him the day he was born, he was so cute, alert. He is just looking around like he knows what's going on.)

What a sweet year it has been. He has brought so much happiness to our family. He is such a happy, fun baby.

At a year old Hudson is really so fun. He loves being around Roman. He has started talking more. He can say:

Mom (he says it "Mahm" I love it!)
Dada or Dad
No
Go
Bye
Eat (he also signs Eat)
Hi

He is a climber. He will climb everything.

He has started standing on his own and really enjoying it. He has started standing with toys in both hands. He's getting daring.

He crawls so fast!

He likes to fake laugh, cry, cough, even fake smile.

He can climb up and down the stairs. I am still nervous about him going down the stairs by himself, but he does a great job, as long as big brother isn't helping him. (Big brother LOVES to help)

He eats most everything as long as he feeds himself. He will spit it out if we try to put things in his mouth.

We have loved this first year with our sweet baby Hudson, and love watching him grow. One year ago RIGHT NOW our amazing miracle baby boy was born.

Zoo with Heather and Amy

While we were in California we went to the Oakland zoo with my friend Heather and her kids Ashli and Quinn. They were coming to Utah right after we got back so I told Heather we should go to the zoo while they are here too. Our friend Amy came too and brought her boys Colby and Parker.

We started out going to the bird show. I love watching the birds swoop down right over everyone's heads (but I am always a little worried that one is going to poop on me)

They were really struggling with the bird that collects donations. I guess the day before he found some popcorn, so rather then getting money and taking it to the collection box he was more interested in looking for snacks to eat.

Roman was super happy to be at the zoo. Can't you tell. Doesn't this look like a child who is enjoying himself?

Roman and Colby did have fun playing in the sand/digging area. It was hot outside and the kids were more interested in playing then really seeing the animals. After the sand area we went to let the kids sit on the big t-rex and somehow I didn't get any pictures of that. I think i found a spot to sit with Hudson in the shade.

All the kids (that is all the kids not in strollers) on the Rhino. Quinn on the ear, Roman, Ashli and Colby.

Roman and Colby were playing in the egg together.

Amy said "Wouldn't it be so cute to do a birth announcement picture in the eggs and have it say "Just Hatched." So, even though he wasn't a newborn she put Parker (he's 6 months old) in the eggs and snapped some pictures. So I decided to get a few of Hudson too.

What a cute little hatchling.

Daddy and his boys

Roman is always trying to get us to go in his pirate tent with him. He got it for his birthday and it's his favorite place to play. Most nights while I am making dinner Roman and Hudson play in the tent (Really, Hudson likes to get out of the tent as fast as he can, but Roman tries to get him to stay in the tent and play.) One night Spencer got home from work early and Roman invited him to come into the tent to play with him. Of course, because Spencer was in the tent, Hudson wanted to be in the tent too. So all 3 of them crowded in the tent while I made dinner...well, I had to take a few pictures first.