Surprise Mother's Day!

OK, so I might just have the best husband in the world! Today he surprised me with an early Mother's Day. If your husband has questionable skills when it comes to gift giving, you may want to stop reading right now! He took the day off work in order to give me a 'day off work'! Not only that, but he arranged lunch for me with my best friend and also a massage. Then I had time for a nap before we dropped the kids off with the grandparents to go out for a dessert that I had seen at a restaurant recently, but was too full to order. The day went rather quickly, but it was a nice relaxing and very enjoyable day. I'll have to admit, though, that by the end of the day, I was kind of missing my job!

As far as the baby, things are going well. She is still eating, sleeping and growing! We have finally gotten fairly settled - her room is set up and she has some clothes in the closet, so we are more prepared to have a baby here! The boys love her and are really sweet with her. It is really fun to watch them with her. I hope they will always be sweet with her, but realistically - probably not. I can hope, though, right? :)

Our Baby Surprise!

Berkeley Elizabeth
Originally uploaded by The Hudsons

Well, if you were looking for a new 'Watch SB Get Fat' Picture, you're not going to find it! I was supposed to have Joe take one on Thursday night for my 35 week picture, but instead, I found myself in the hospital giving birth to our precious baby girl Thursday morning. 5 weeks early! What a surprise! She is doing well, but is in the NICU until she can begin to eat better on her own. She weighed in at 6 lbs 6oz and 19 1/2 inches long. It was an exciting and fast birth story with lots of details...too many to blog about, but if you want to know them, just ask and I will tell you the story! We are excited about our newest addition! I'm sure we'll have much more to post once we get home. I'm technically discharged from the hospital, but they are allowing me board here for an extra day or two without nursing care. They still feed me and supply me linens and things I need for postpartum care and I get to stay close to the baby. Our house is about 17 miles away from the hospital, so I'd like to stay here as long as they'll let me or until we can bring her home. We'll do our best to keep everyone posted!

Finally - An Update!!!

Giant's Causeway
Originally uploaded by The Hudsons

OK, I've done it! I've added pictures from the last 6 months of our lives. My excuse is a combination of laziness, morning sickness and computer problems, as well as the idea of what an overwhelming task it would be to add everything we've done in the past 6 months. In summary, here is everything we've done:
We went to Northern Ireland for a week for Jeb and Helen's wedding. Then we went on a week-long Mediterranean cruise. Joe and I left the kids with my parents and went for a long weekend to Seattle. Then, just a few days later, we left the kids again and went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. We had all the usual holiday business - Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas with visits to and from Grandparents. And we can't forget Tyler's 5th birthday. We also went on a weekend trip to the mountains. Oh yeah, and I'm going to have another baby! So watch me get fat in the pictures as I add them. (I promise I'll add them, since I have a new functioning computer and it won't be overwhelming to add just a few pictures at a time!!) In other news, Joe started a new job in October and is really liking it. He gets to work from home as much as he wants but is enjoying going in to the office a couple of days a week. Ariail also got married in the middle of all this, so needless to say, we've been busy!
I think that is about it, but with covering such a long period of time, I'm sure to have left something out. Check out the pictures I've added and you'll have a pretty good idea of what we've been up to!
Sorry for the long delay in updates. I am going to try to be better now that I'm all caught up! xox <3

Appalachian Ski Mountain

Appalachian Ski Mountain
Originally uploaded by The Hudsons.

This weekend we left Jonah with Grandma and Granddaddy and took Tyler for his first ski trip. Joe and I haven't skiied since college, so we weren't sure what to expect of ourselves, but we all did really well. We did spend a lot of time on the bunny slope, but as soon as Tyler was ready, we hit the intermediate slopes. Joe and I took turns going down with Tyler so that we each got to down a little faster when we went by ourselves. Tyler enjoyed the ski lift and never fell getting on or off of it. We stayed with friends Wendy and Patrick overnight. All three of us were ready see Jonah, but aside from that, the weekend passed way too quickly.

Jo Ann and Bruce

Jo Ann and Bruce
Originally uploaded by The Hudsons.

This weekend Jo Ann and Bruce came down. They were here to help take care of the boys since Leslie was getting married and all our baby sitters were going to be at the wedding. It was great for them to spend some time with the boys and it was great for us to get to do some grown up things without worrying how long we'd been gone or if the boys were being well taken care of.

Leslie's wedding and all the events surrounding it were wonderful! Friday my mom hosted the bridesmaids luncheon and it was not only beautiful (her sunroom and tile backsplash were finished in the nick of time!) but delicious. The rehearsal went well, as did the St. Patrick's Day themed dinner afterwards. In our party favor bags were scratch off lottery tickets, since the party was hosted just over the SC line, and out of 30 people there 3 won prizes - Joe and both my parents! I think the grand total of the prizes was $6 and we donated them to the groom for the honeymoon!

Saturday I spent the day with Leslie and her sister getting our hair done and sipping champagne while we tried to remember how to apply make-up! I think we cleaned up pretty well (don't have pictures yet, but I'm sure I will get some). The wedding was beautiful. It was a Lutheran ceremony but held in a really neat historic bed and breakfast. The flowers were probably the most spectacular flowers I've ever seen. The food was wonderful and a good time was had by all. Leslie and Stan are headed off on a cruise for their honeymoon. I'm looking forward to seeing all the pictures and as soon as I get some, I'll put them up on the site.

P.S. Tooth #4 came through over the weekend - the other bottom tooth and the first one at all on the right side. Hopefully he will be all balanced out soon!