And the waiting begins......

We have officially started the waiting game! Although, I am pretty sure that Hudson is going to wait until his due date or after but everyone says you have to be ready if he decides to come early. I went to the doctor Thursday August 14th and not much progress. The doctor wasn't certain I had dilated any and then he said well maybe a little. He also reassured me that most first babies make you wait so I am thinking little Hudson may do just that:) Everything seems to be healthy. His heartbeat was in the 160's, my blood pressure is still good and my Strep B test came back negative so that was very good news. We are just getting anxious to meet our sweet boy!

Things have also been very busy for us the last couple weeks. Todd is back to school and staying very busy and I have started baby-sitting a sweet baby girl. She is almost a year old and a wonderful baby. The plan is to keep her until I have Hudson and then start keeping her again after he is born. I had planned on staying home with him and then eventually keeping a few kids and this opportunity came early. I am also keeping my cousins Miller and Andre two days a week which is another blessing because I can spend time with my two favorite boys while staying home with mine!

We also had a great visit with Zack, Cherith and Ella Kate. Zack had some business close to us so they came in for a long weekend. We love when they come to visit and hate that they live so far away. Ella Kate is getting so big and of course beautiful as ever. She is walking and talking...her favorite words our puppy and baby and "ba"or ball. I worked very hard on Aunt "B" but that just confused her with ball. I know she will say it eventually:) We hated to see them leave but we are looking forward to seeing them in a couple weeks for Hudson's arrival. Zack keeps asking me if I can wait until the weekend of Tennessee's first football game because they had already planned to come that weekend. I told him I would do my best but that also happens to be the weekend of his due date. We will see what happens:)

We are almost finished with all the work on the house. Just a little more painting to finish up and and we hope to start moving stuff in this weekend. So much work has already been done and it looks amazing. We are so excited about starting our family in OUR new home. I will post some pictures once we get all settled in.

Todd and Ella Kate were watching TV but of course she looked up everytime I took a picture. They were so sweet together.

The girls after church...we missed having Brandy there with us.

Todd and I with EK. I love her sweet face!

What a beautiful family:)

My Other Half

So I thought I would take time to devote a blog to my wonderful husband Todd. Since I am the one that usually updates our blog I sometimes forget to include him. Todd has been amazing throughout this whole pregnancy and very patient with me through mood changes, cravings and of course all the aches and pains that go along with it. I am sure that he is as ready as I am for the pregnancy part to be over and have our baby boy home. I am so thankful for him and all that he has done for me the past eight months.

Todd began his first day of school with the kids on Friday. Although they haven't started P.E. yet he did spend some time in the classrooms getting to know the kids. I am very excited for him to get back to school and doing what he loves but at the same time I am very nervous about him being 30 minutes away if I were to need him. Luckily, my mom has been helping out by taking me to doctor's appointments so Todd doesn't have to take off work but I would much rather have him there. We both know that Hudson is going to come when HE is ready not when it is convenient for us but hopefully Todd will have time to get there. So please keep the three of us in your prayers the next 25 days as we await baby Hudson's arrival.

Closing Time!!

It is official...we are homeowners! We finally closed on our house July 30th and we were thrilled. So as I am updating our blog my parents and Todd are at the house working on taking up floors and painting. Todd teases me and says I made perfect timing being pregnant during both of our moves. I would much rather be helping them then just sitting here especially since the "nesting" instinct is starting to set in. So I spend my time going through Hudson's things and trying to organize his clothes. There is lots of work to be done to the house but we hope to have everything done by next weekend so we can move in. I will post some pictures once everything is finished so I can show you the before and after. Thanks for checking on us!

What a difference a year makes!!!

Us on our wedding day

Todd and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary on July 21. We both couldn't believe that it had already been a year and never imagined that we would be spending it with me being almost 9 months pregnant. We have enjoyed every minute of the last year together and we are looking forward to many years to come.

We celebrated by going out to dinner at one of my favorite places.....Outback and then stopped by Dumplins to get a piece of Strawberry cake like one of the layers from our wedding cake. We of course came home and ate the top of our wedding cake which to our surprise tasted pretty good. Todd enjoyed the rest of it while I ate the strawberry.

We are looking forward to celebrating again in the fall after baby Hudson's arrival!

Us on our one year anniversary

Me at 34 weeks

Safari Adventure

Mom, Aunt Judy and I took a day to take Miller and Andre to Alamo to the Tennessee Safari Park. We called this "our little adventure" because we weren't exactly sure how it would all turn out but the boys loved it and of course we did too. We rode around in our car and got to see lots of animals including ostriches, zebras, llamas, camels and many many more. At the end there was a petting zoo where we saw some very interesting monkeys, pigs, a huge giraffe and even a hyena. Miller and Andre loved looking at all the animals. Miller even fed the pig a bottle while Andre was more interested in the tractors. The giraffe was in the barn trying to stay cool but we bribed her out with carrots and Aunt Judy got to feed her some. We enjoyed our adventure and topped the day off by stopping at The Green Frog for ice cream.

Aunt Judy feeding the giraffe carrots

Miller got to feed the pig with a bottle

Me with my favorite boys

Weekend in Missouri

We made our last trip back to Missouri (before Hudson arrives) for Carissa's birthday party and for our baby shower. We enjoyed getting to spend time with all of our friends at the party on Saturday and at the shower on Sunday. We also enjoyed getting to see Byron and Jennifer who came in from Dallas and my Mom, Aunt Judy and Grandmother Miller who came for the shower from Tennessee. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends and Hudson already has so many people that love him and can't wait to meet him.

Me at the shower with Grandmother Miller, Mom and Aunt Judy


Me with Todd's mom and our sister-in-law Jennifer

Me and the wonderful girls who gave us our shower

FUN IN THE SUN!!!

We just spent an amazing week in Florida with some of the family (Zack, Cherith, EK, Mom and Dad). Katie, Patrick and the boys even joined us for a few days. We missed having Chad and Brandy there with us but we are looking forward to seeing them soon.

We enjoyed spending time on the beach and ate lots of great sea food. We also enjoyed getting to meet up with our friends Eric and Stefanie for dinner while we were there. We had a great time but after a week of the beach, swollen ankles and an eight hour drive home we were very happy to get home and Gracelyn was very happy to see us.

Here are some pics from our trip......

Ella Kate wasn't so sure about the ocean at first but eventually she loved it. She loved playing in the sand and taking naps on the beach. We would sit under the umbrella and she would be out instantly.....but then again whats better than taking a nap on the beach!

The guys and Cherith took a day to go Deep Sea Fishing while Mom and I stayed with Ella Kate and went shopping. They had a blast and caught tons of fish but Cherith out did all the boys and caught the most fish and of course the biggest!

Of course we had to get a few beach pictures while we were there....

Todd, Brittany and Hudson:)