One Month Old!

Our little Hudson is now 1 month old!!! Even though I know he's getting bigger, he is still so tiny. Especially when compared to our baby friends who are two months and four months. And I'm okay with that. I'm enjoying his little size. 

Since I'm kinda bad at taking baby photos, I thought I'd give a baby video a try. It's nothing exciting, but I know Grandma Jensen will love it.

And this little gem is for my dad. He got a big kick out my boys singing this while they were here, so here's Mason doing a little duet with George Strait. (Sorry it's sideways… what can I say, I'm not much of a photographer OR videographer.)

Finally!

I finally got the minivan that I have been wanting for years. I know there are a lot of people who have some kind of prejudice against vans. And I find it odd that so many young moms refuse to drive a van.
I don't get it. 

When you have a bunch of little kids, why wouldn't you want a van?

I love that in this van, all my carseats and boosters can fit comfortably. 

I love that in this van, I can open the doors with the push of a button (from either inside or out.)

I love that because of the sliding doors, I don't have to constantly worry about one of the kids opening up their door and slamming a car next to us.

I also love that because of the sliding doors, the crazy, strong wind can't blow the door shut on my legs while I'm reaching in to buckle a kid. (Seriously, it happened so many times in my SUV- and it was as painful as it sounds.)

Reason #3 to love the sliding doors is that I'm not constantly reminding my kids to back up so that the door doesn't smack them in the face while I'm opening it for them.

After one day of driving this, I can say its already easier with the kids than an SUV. 

Love it.

Also, Hudson is now 3 weeks old. I was just telling my mom today that he seems to be growing into his own little look now. He really has been a sweet baby. With the exception of a few gassy nights, he's been really good to me.

The boys really love him, too. Carson likes that he's big enough to hold him without my help. While he was holding him this afternoon he started cracking up that Hudson was holding his hands like this. Carson thought it looked like he was saying a prayer. :)

Sometimes our house gets a little bit crazy with all these boys, but it is exactly as it should be. I'm one lucky gal.

Newborn Pictures

My awesome visiting teaching companion, who is a photographer, asked if she could do newborn pictures of Hudson for me. I've never had newborn pictures done, and when he was a week old I decided to have her come, since he looked so perfect to me. I'm glad I did. Doesn't he look perfect?

It was actually quite challenging to take his picture, since he really wasn't very calm. He kept putting his hands in his face, or stiffening up his body, or crying. He wasn't very happy about not having clothes on. But you really wouldn't know by looking at these pictures. 

This was the only one I actually got in. :) I was trying to get him warm so he would calm down. Judy liked it enough to take a picture of it.

 Because he was fussing so much about being undressed, we tried some shots with this adorable blanket that my friend Anna made for me. She was my Body Pump instructor the whole time I was pregnant, and she's just plain awesome. 

 And this is a little lamb that my mom made for Hudson. It is a magical lamb, since he really likes to do this amazing disappearing act. Mason likes to hide it and then like a 2 year old, forget where he put it. Then, voila! just like that, he reappears. Thankfully we had it the day of the pictures, and I loved this shot she got of Hudson holding it. 

2 Weeks and Other Stuff

Hudson is two weeks old now! I took him to the doctor this morning, and we were all happy that he is back up to his birth weight. It puts him in the 38% for his weight, but he also grew an inch (or they just stretched him out really well- hahaha) so now he's in the 97% for height. It's about right for our boys.  Tall and skinny. Except that Mason was probably 97% for everything at this age! :) 

Hudson is doing really well eating and sleeping. My biggest problem has been trying to nurse him at night without falling asleep myself! I spent way too much time on my couch last night! But he will sleep for 3 hour stretches, which is great for me. 

 In other news, we were very sad that Grandma and Grandpa Jensen had to go home this week. The boys loved having them here, and I don't know how I can survive without my mom when I bring a baby home. They both were so helpful. I just hope my boys don't deter them from visiting again. :) 

 I love that my dad was able to come. This was the first time he'd been here to meet one of my babies. And he sure did love snuggling Hudson. This is my favorite picture of them. I never did get a picture of my mom snuggling with him, though. It breaks my heart a little to know that the next time they see him he will be big.

 This was the picture we took on Easter morning. One of my awesome friends bought matching ties for all my boys. I realize that I'm covering Hudson's tie up with my hand, but he looked just as handsome as the other boys.

 And this is one of my favorite pictures of Hudson so far. The perfect yawn. I love this little snuggly baby.

1 Week Old

I decided sleep was more important last night, so I'm a day late on Hudson's "one week old" post. I did capture this cute little picture of him last night, though. He's been a great baby. I still can't get over how tiny he is. It really doesn't help that Mason is gigantic!

Plus, I wanted to post a few of the pictures that I took along my pregnancy. I have never done this before, and it was fun to look back on the progress of my growing belly.

Me at 7 weeks, before we ended up moving my due date.

Me at 12 weeks, which was about the time I started telling everyone about my pregnancy.

Me at 20 weeks, when we found out that this would be baby boy #4!

Me at 28 weeks.

Me at 34 weeks. 

Me at 38 1/2 weeks- a week before giving birth.

Me at 40 weeks, only instead of a gigantic uncomfortable belly, I have a cute little baby!

No More Waiting

We finally have our baby Brud #4, Hudson John Brudnicki. He was born on Thursday, March 21st 2013 at precisely 11:59 pm, weighing in at 8 lbs and stretching out at 21". He has really cute light brown hair, what are sure to be blue eyes, and he looks very much like his big brother Jensen.

Once he decided to come it didn't take long for him to get here. They admitted me into the hospital around 8 in the evening and the doctor broke my water sometime between 10 and 11 (I'm not really sure when that happened.) When we did that we discovered he had had a bowl movement already, so the clock began ticking to get him out. Because I was laboring without an epidural again, I was all for getting him out quick! Things went really quickly once I started pushing, to which the doctors and nurses were relieved because his heart rate was dropping really low with every contraction. I only remember pushing 6 or 7 times (but I pushed so hard that I have broken capillaries on my face) and then everyone told me to open my eyes to get my first look at my boy. He did have a little trouble breathing at first, due to the meconium in utero, but once he nursed he didn't seem to have any more problems.

The boys, of course, absolutely adore him. They are constantly asking to hold him, see him, kiss him, sit by him, you name it.

Don't let the smiles fool you, though. They are still adjusting to all the changes. 

 Here's some proof that Dustin has actually held the baby. Until we got home last night, I'm pretty sure the boys had spent more time snuggling with Hudson than Dustin had!

And our first family photo.  

Dustin keeps wondering, "How did we end up with all these kids?!!!"

Anticipation

Anticipation can be one of those things that can totally enhance an experience. Like Christmas! 

Or it can be one of those things that makes it worse. Like being 9 months pregnant.

I really thought this little guy was on his way this past Friday. Before that, I really hadn't worried too much about it, which was keeping me sane. But all weekend I felt a little let down. The anticipation is working against me now. I decided to quit worrying about when he was going to come and just distract myself with other things. Anything. Everything! 

Thankfully we had an awesome (although entirely too short) visit from some of our dear friends, the Neeley's on Sunday. I needed it. Plus, I have my mom here to help me tackle projects, like re-upolstering our dinning room chairs. Today was laundry day. It's not that great of a distraction, but who knows, maybe folding, ironing and bed making will help convince this little guy that now would be a good time to join the rest of us.

Or he might just really be "in" to this whole anticipation thing. -Sigh-