Baby Weight

I am happy to report that after 3 weeks and 4 days I have lost 35 lbs of my baby weight! Now yes I did gain 50 lbs, but I am still proud of myself. Well actually I haven't really done anything, my little man is just a good eater :). 

But me not really doing anything changes today. I have tried to run a few times this week but on days that I haven't been able to run I haven't done anything. Well today I did 1/2 of a P90X workout then 1/2 of the ab work-out video. I am going to do some sort of physical activity everyday. CJ has done P90X all week, I am so proud of him. :)

And CJ and I have radically changed our eating habits. I am also going to blog about what I eat. So for today here has been what has gone into my kisser. We realized that if we want to be good examples to our sweet baby boy then we needed to change what we were doing.

1. Coffee

2. Granny Smith Apple

3. Honey Bunches of Oats with Fat Free Milk

4. A teaspoon of peanut butter

5. Vanilla Yogurt

6. A grilled chicken breast

My goal is to lose the rest of my baby weight and an additional 10 lbs at least and to run the white rock half marathon in December. My goal is to have the weight lost by my 26th birthday in October. 

So here's to losing the weight and living a healthier lifestyle for our sweet baby boy. 

What a difference a day makes

I can't believe our little man is 3 weeks old! Just this week we have accomplished so many new things!

1. Mommy cooked dinner for the first time, shredded chicken tacos, yummy!!!
2. Hudson moved from newborn diapers to size 1's!
3. Hudson moved out of his newborn size clothes and into 0-3 month size
4. I ran 2 days in a row, and actually ran like I used to :)
5. We took our first trip to Athens yesterday! Hudson did great!!
6. I got 4 hrs of straight sleep, last night actually!
And most importantly NO more gagging episodes!!!!  PTL!!!!!

We had a great visit with my grandparents and are sad to see them leave today.  We may go up there to visit them for Thanksgiving, my grandpa is turning 80 so we will have to help him celebrate!! We had dinner at my moms yesterday and got to visit with them and see all of Hudson's cousins!

Here are some pictures of the week!

Hudson wearing his first 0-3 month outfit!

Our handsome little man

Grandma Great and Hudson

Grandma and Grandpa admiring him

4 generations all together

Please continue to pray for Hudson and his yucky reflux. We are trusting that He will continue to protect our precious lamb.

A schedule you say?

I have had many people ask me about our "schedule".  All of my babies are work are on a schedule. They are either on a 4 hr schedule to be fed, changed, assessed, etc. at 8-12-4 or 9-1-5 or they are a 3 hr baby with your choices being 8-11-2-5 or 9-12-3-6. It is a glorious thing, you know exactly when they are going to be fed, when you need to take their temperature, etc.

So with our precious lamb people have asked me about our "schedule". And to be totally honest here is what the Hoover Household Schedule looks like

Feed Hudson whenever he acts hungry
Sleep whenever Hudson is sleeping
Be awake and play whenever Hudson wants to be awake
Change diapers, constantly, what can I say he is just like his daddy :)

I have had people tell me I shouldn't just feed him whenever he throws his head to the side or tries to give his sweet little hand a hickey. But frankly I don't care what they say. I don't mind BF (breastfeeding) and neither does my little man.

Yes we are almost 3 weeks old and Yes I do fear I am going to have to go back to work out in the workforce, so we will eventually be on a schedule, but for now we just answer to Hudson's every beck and call. (And we wouldn't have it any other way :) )

AMAZING GRACE HOW SWEET THE SOUND

GRACE. Undeserved. Under appreciated. Under thought of. But still He gives it. Freely. Without hesitation. Over flowing Grace. He gives and I try my best to understand and accept, but it is  hard. This person, me, a sinner, undeserving, unworthy, a hot mess. And He loves me. He gives His grace to me.  Thank you Father, for loving this sinner and blessing my life each day.

This weekend has been eventful to say the least. We had a very scary experience on Friday which ended up with my grandmother calling 911. What we have come to learn is that our sweet baby boy has reflux which is causing irritation which in turn causes him to make some extra mucous, which is thick. It gets hard for him to swallow it, clear it, or catch his breath and this is what happened for what seemed like an eternity  and resulted in us calling 911. He is okay and had his episode had stopped by the time the ambulance arrived. Needless to say I have been a basket case for the past few days, but today has been great. We have not had an imaging to confirm the reflux which may be the next step. For now we are sleeping in our swing or car seat and our spit ups have been decreasing each day. Lots of prayer has been coming out of this momma and He has been faithful to ease my worrying.

In other happy news my sweet grandparents are in town from Illinois. They came in on Thursday to see our sweet new addition. They were totally smitten and my grandma would have never put him down if she didn't have to! My sweet grandpa doesn't hold babies as young as our sweet boy but he sure enjoyed sitting beside him and talking to him. It is so neat that Hudson's great grandparents are able to see and love on him even though he doesn't know what's going on yet.

And of course here are so recent pictures of our sweet punkin

Here is a video, I am not sure if you can see it or not. 

2 weeks old today and getting to hang out in my swing for the first time, Thanks Papa Gene and Patty, I love it!

Hudson and His great grandma

Precious lamb just napping 

Please pray that this nasty reflux would leave our sweet boy and that this momma would trust in His great plan.

Mommyhood

It's A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

I can't even begin to describe the love that I have for my child. It is overwhelming, all consuming, and absolutely the best thing that I have ever done.

I have many hopes and dreams for my sweet baby boy, but mostly I desire for Him to reveal the plan He has for Hudson's life and for me and CJ to help facilitate that in every way we can. I pray for his future friends, that they too long for God's will to be done thru their lives, and for his future wife, if that's what the plan He has includes, to be a God fearing woman.

I do have to admit that my husband is the best father, ever! He is totally taken with our little man and just seeing him look at Hudson melts my heart.

Hudson Update:
Today our sweet boy is 2 weeks old. I can't believe it, it seems like we just got home from the hospital. We went for his 2 week check up on Monday and here are his stats...

7 lbs 10 oz (we are up 14 oz in 1 week!! I guess this momma should not be worried about you getting enough to eat)
20.5 inches long (he has grown 1 inch (or roughly) in the past 2 weeks)

This momma went for her first run yesterday and it was sooo good and then today Huddy and Mom took a walk with Choppie. He slept the whole time but I am still going to say he enjoyed it. We also slept in our swing for a few minutes and played on our play mat while mommy sat beside him and folded some clothes.

His umbilical cord fell off yesterday so we can now officially take a soaker bath! Daddy was so excited, he has been ready for that to come off since day 1. We have only tinkled thru 2 outfits and blankies today (which is really good seeing as how one day we did it 7 times!)

I think that is it for now, we are just loving life and savoring every second we get with him!

Part of the week in pictures

Daddy and Hudson

Getting my first bath at home

Going for our first walk 

Nonni and Hudson and Choppie

Our family of 3

Lolly and Hudson

Sweet blondie boy

In the Moses basket Great Grandma Mary bought for Aunt Coco when she was born

Big boy yawn

Cousin Brock and Hudson

Allie Cakes and Uncle Gogo

Brock and Hudson again

Allie meeting Hudson

Aunt Coco and Hudson

G-Pops and Hudson

Hudson and Daddy sleeping on the couch

Big boy yawn again

We continually give thanks for this sweet new blessing in our life. Praise the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever.

Welcoming His Miracle into our lives

 This was the day that our sweet baby was born.

Big Belly

Getting ready to see our sweet little man

getting all cleaned up

After 22.5 hrs we are finally a family of 3

Finishing  up his first bath

After his first bath- Hospital day 1

After our first night

Studmuffin Day 2

Getting some loving from Daddy

Going home today!

Daddy putting Hudson in the same outfit he wore home from the hospital

About to get in the car for the first time

Going home finally

The wait is over!!!

No time to blog, taking care of our new precious lamb! We are totally smitten with our handsome little man and loving every second we have had as new parents. Our hearts are filled with joy!

Daddy and Hudson right after delivery.

Mommy and Hudson after 21.5 hrs of labor. (He was worth every second!)

Hudson Shaw Hoover

7 lbs 19.5 inches

It was a long journey but we know that God was perfecting our sweet angel for the 9 months we waited! Thank you for all of yours prayers for our sweet growing family! We are blessed beyond belief and our hearts sing praises to our Lord for the goodness He has so graciously given to us!

The time has come........almost

Hi friends! Have you heard the song, that goes this is my story, this is my song? We sang this familiar hymn today at church and I just love it. I have not sang it or thought about this song in quite some time and it just really rejuvenated and refreshed my heart . What an amazing song to sing to our Lord and what an amazing reminder of how blessed we truly are...(this is how part of it goes)

This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my savior all the day long
This is my story, this is my song,
Born of His Spirit, Washed in His blood

I think it is fitting for this upcoming holiday our country celebrates tomorrow. We have the privilege to be able to praise our Savior all day, in whatever way we chose, where ever we feel led to do it. And not fear death or prison. Although I know I do not take advantage of it like I should and worry too much about what people will think.

On another note:

Well the Hoover household is excited and frankly getting a little anxious to meet our precious baby boy! We only have 5 days until our due date, fingers crossed that he comes by himself and we don't have to risk the chance of induction which may fail and then lead to a c-section. But again, if that is what it takes to get him here safely then may God please give me the peace I need.

For my friends that read this I have a prayer request to ask of you. There is a sweet girl who works with me named Ash-Lee, she was a tech and just graduated from nursing school in May! Well she has been on leave since about January and I learned this week that she has been gone because she has, what I understand, a large tumor on her spinal cord. She has started radiation about 2 weeks ago and goes everyday. It is too big to do surgery on so they are hoping that the radiation shrinks it and then I guess they will see where to go from there. My heart is broken for her and it has made me think about the people I work with and whether they have had the chance to hear the Truth and accept our Lord. Please pray that when I see her I will be bold enough to talk to her about her eternal salvation and pray that the Lord gives her supernatural healing that only comes through him.