The Hudson Family Chronicles

The Gift of a Sibling

2009-11-16T16:02:00.001-08:00

A brother is a friend given by Nature.

~Legouve

“We are not only our brother's keeper; in countless large and small ways, we are our brother's maker.”

~Bonaro Overstreet

Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk.

~Susan Scarf Merrell

Happy Hallowe'en!

2009-10-31T23:04:00.001-07:00

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog

2009-09-10T21:23:00.000-07:00

The family and I were back East this week, visiting family and attending a friend’s wedding. It was a whirl-wind trip, filled with more time in the car than any of us would like to remember but also some great memory-making moments with loved ones. Highlights from the trip include an awesome party thrown by my mom and her amazing boyfriend for both sides of my family (since we didn’t have time to go to everyone’s houses for dinner) and a visit to the Seneca Park Zoo with Auntie Meghan (pictures of the zoo trip throughout this post).

I have to confess that this was not an easy trip for me. Over the past few years, as many of you know, I have struggled a lot with homesickness. Living 3,000 miles away from your family is no picnic. Doing it with young children is even more difficult, emotionally and otherwise. But, with lots of prayer, support from Brian, and some good old-fashioned initiative, I have come to love our new home in Seattle. This was the first time I had been back to my hometown since my heart truly began to feel at home out West. And, for the first time, my heart learned to speak the words of Thomas Wolfe, “You can’t come home again.”

My family moved a great deal when I was a child, but Rochester was always home for me, even during the years we lived away. Now, I have a new home. Finally, it feels like home and not merely some location where my family is currently living. Now that this is home, I have found that I cannot go home to Rochester again. Because it no longer feels like home. It is merely a location where I used to live and where my family sometimes goes to visit.

Of course, hearing the noisy din of my extended family all around me, feeling the arms of my best friend enveloping me in a hug, cooking with my mother at her kitchen stove--there is something magical and wonderful and nostalgic about these things. These are the things I used to believe I needed in order to feel at home. My poor husband was tormented by the thought that he could never give me these things, as we knew his career would never enable us to relocate to Rochester. (Believe me, we explored every avenue!) After a few years of riding an emotional see-saw, I came to the realization that I needed to turn my heart over to the Lord and learn to let Him satisfy me where I was. Slowly but surely, God worked in my heart, giving me the ability to find a new sense of home.

Home for me now is the familiar meals that I cook for my husband and children, the smell of freshly baked bread that I’ve kneaded with my own hands, my daughter’s little arms around my neck, the feel of the bed my husband and I share, the smell of my babies after a bath, Sophia’s stuffed animals and Duplo blocks scattered on our living room rug, the view of Mt. Rainier towering over the shimmering lake as I cross the 520 bridge, the scent of pine, picking berries at our favorite local farms, roasted salmon, sharing an impromptu dessert with our downstairs neighbors, blushing golden Rainier cherries purchased on the roadside in the summertime, the cozy patter of rain on the roof as I curl up with my family in our own house, watching a movie and snacking on homemade popcorn.

For the past three and a half years, well meaning friends and family have reminded me during my bouts of homesickness that “Home is where the heart is.” For too long, I tried to split my heart in two. I know some people who can do this successfully, but I have never done well with living in limbo. I need stability, and I need to be whole. Now that I find that my heart is at home here in Washington, with my husband and children, there is a grieving inside me for the home I cannot come back to. Yet, at the end of the grieving, I sense that there will be a peace. Rochester is no longer my home, but it is a nice place to visit, a place full of friends and family, familiar sites, fond memories, and a lot of love. And in my new home, there is family also and friends, sites that grow increasingly familiar, fond memories in the making, and love, and love, and love.

James is 2 Months Old!

2009-07-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

Wasn’t I literally just pregnant? Where does the time go? Though, even while time seems to have flown by, it seems like James has always been a part of our family. And, he certainly has had an eventful two months of life!

He’s had a five-day hospital stay, for one thing. Then, he had his first plane ride at five weeks to accompany us to a wedding in Burbank, CA. Unfortunately, on the trip, he got his first cold (very scary for Mama, considering his respiratory history), but he pulled through it like a champ. He was hardly fussy and never lost his appetite. He started smiling and rolling over at seven weeks! He is also growing well. We have his 2-month pediatrician appointment on Tuesday, and I will be very surprised indeed if this little buddy doesn’t weigh in at 13 lbs. or more.

He is such a strong little boy, and I just love his voice (wish I could upload a good quality sound-clip for you all), which is so emotive for a newborn. He has an incredibly sweet personality already, and Brian, Sophia, and I all feel how marvelously blessed we are to have him in our family and to be able to enjoy him each and every day.

Raspberry Pickin' 2009

2009-07-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, my Mom (Grammie), Brian, and I took the kids raspberry picking. We go strawberry picking every year to make our jam, but this year, we are delighted to be adding raspberry to our repertoire. It was also a special treat since it is the first time Grammie has been berry-picking with the kids. She lives in my hometown in New York, but we are blessed to have her visit with us for several weeks each summer, and this time, we decided we’d ~~put her to work~~ invite her to join the fun.

We went to our favorite organic farm, Remlinger Farms, in Carnation, WA and had a blast gathering 7 lbs of raspberries (enough for three batches of jam)…and eating a few along the way! James, being only 7 weeks old, wasn't much of a picker, but he certainly contributed helpfully by staying asleep in Mama's Moby Wrap so she could be productive.

Unfortunately, Brian, being our resident photographer, is not featured in these photos, but we hope you enjoy them anyway. My mom is the lovely lady in the black t-shirt and white capris, I'm the one in the sunhat with a baby on the front, and Sophia...well, I'm sure you'll need no help identifying her!

James' Baptism Video

2009-06-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

Boy, what with out-of-town guests, my 25th birthday, James' Baptism, and entertaining for 35 in our 1275 sq. ft. condo, it was a very busy weekend! Now, the house is quiet, and we are missing our wonderful friends and family who headed back to their own homes. Not a few hours of cleaning and a half dozen loads of laundry later, I finally have time to post this video from Saturday evening: our precious son's baptism into God's family!

<br/><a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=0a22560b-29bf-4f62-804a-a9a06bff3a62" target="_new" title="James' Baptism Ceremony">Video: James' Baptism Ceremony</a>

I will post photos when I find another spare block of time. In the meanwhile, God bless! I hope you enjoy the video (and Sophia's commentary...she was next to the videographer!)

Funny Feline

2009-05-13T12:11:00.001-07:00

I don't usually blog about our furriest family member, but this was just too hilarious. I had to share. Yes, that's our cat, George, nesting in our daughter's basket of stuffed animals. Silly boy! Looks quite at home, doesn't he?

A Sunday Afternoon in the Park

2009-04-19T18:29:00.001-07:00

Easter Pictures

2009-04-13T22:21:00.001-07:00

We had a lovely but very rainy Easter. When we went to early Mass, it was only drizzling, and the fact that the air seemed warmer made us hopeful. But, when the sun never quite rose during the service, we started to anticipate that we'd be having another rainy Easter this year.

Fortunately, our Easter Egg hunt was conducted indoors...

...Unfortunately, it meant that we had to use the harsh flash on our camera, so we didn't get as many good pictures as we would have liked.

Sophia's still got her coat on so it's almost like an outdoor hunt :) For those of you who were around last July, you may notice that Sophia's "Easter dress" is the same one she wore for her first birthday... looks like she may still be wearing it for her second birthday in a couple months! Ah, my little peanut... And God reveals His mercy in this: that he gave a petite pregnant woman a petite toddler to care for.

After the "hunt", Sophia rested and the resident Easter bunnies got to work in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on Easter dinner, which we were blessed to share with some dear friends, as none of us had family in the area. Of course, the busy bunnies forgot to take phots of the meal, but here is the menu, with links to recipes, if you'd like to try some. The dishes without recipes are my own creation.

Beet Salad with Almond Butter and Gorgonzola Bomboloni

Glazed Ham
Angel Biscuits
Parsleyed Potatoes with Saffron
Roasted Asparagus with Lemon
Spinach Salad with Strawberries, Toasted Almonds, and Poppy Seed Dressing

Bethany's Picnic Perfect Lemonade
wine (brought by one of our guests)

Four-Layer Almond Cake with Raspberry Jam, Almond Buttercream, and Jordan Almonds
Lemon Meringue Pie -- I mainly followed this recipe, but the crust is my own family recipe :)
tea

Here's a photo of the cake after the festivities...it's a bit demolished, but at least you can see the pretty layers:

In typical Catholic fashion, I don't put out our decorations until the holiday vigil (for Easter, that's Holy Saturday; for Christmas, it would be Christmas Eve...you get the idea). So, here are some flower arrangements I put together on Saturday evening before assembling Sophia's Easter basket and hiding the eggs:

Latest Sophia Photos

2009-03-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

Playing with Daddy's laptop:

Playing with Daddy's hat (yes, we like playing with Daddy's things...Mommy's, too):

Eating our waffle with peaches and whipped cream...she was in Heaven:

We have such a silly, sweet girl!

Welcome to the Third Trimester!

2009-02-28T18:57:00.000-08:00

In response to some pressing requests and in honor of my entering the final trimester of this pregnancy (tomorrow), here are some photos of what the baby and I look like right now :)

I cannot believe how quickly this pregnancy seems to be zooming by, compared to my first one. I suppose it has much to do with chasing a busy toddler around all day! Even though some of the heaviness and discomfort of late pregnancy has begun to set in a bit (including battling sciatica, as I did with my last pregnancy), I am feeling very blessed right now. I'm looking forward to the birth and to holding my new son in my arms, but I'm also very content with being the pregnant mama of my little girl just now. It is a wonderful place to be.

Sophia's First Haircut!

2009-02-05T11:46:00.001-08:00

It was long overdue, but finally Sophia submitted long enough to let me take a pair of scissors to her bangs...not without a great deal of protestation, mind you. I was so proud that I managed to avoid either poking her with the scissors while she squirmed or make her look ridiculous.

I've been thinking, though: with a girl, you really only have to cut the bangs for the first couple of years. If it was this difficult with a good-natured daughter, what am I going to do with our son?

I kept her "first curl" in a little silver box that we were given as a shower gift before Sophia was born. It's so sweet looking at her little lock of strawberry-blonde hair lying in tiny black velvet-lined box. I'm sure it's something that I will come to treasure even more as the years pass.

And, showing off our belly button!

20 Weeks, 6 Days...and counting

2009-01-10T14:09:00.001-08:00

"Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch."

- E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

As I have had many requests from friends and family afar who want to know how much I'm "showing," here are a few of pregnancy photos for you all to enjoy. These were taken today at 20 weeks and 6 days gestation.

I love this part of pregnancy. Mainly, I feel great, though I'm still a little tireder than I would normally be. The nausea is officially passed (thank Heaven!), and I feel pretty much back to normal. It's good to have enough energy again for all the things I need to accomplish each day. I must admit, it's also been nice to actually look pregnant, as opposed to just chubby.

Our little boy began kicking regularly at 16 weeks, and I just adore feeling those tiny bumps and squirms. Now that I'm halfway through the pregnancy, I can feel him moving often throughout the day, and it's such a comfort to feel his presence and know he's doing well. He is right on target for size (33rd percentile), so with any luck, he will come out the same size or maybe a tiny bit smaller than my Sophia who was just over 8 lbs. at birth--fairly sizeable for a 5'2'' mama who only weighed about 135 lbs. 9 months pregnant!

Even with the inconveniences it can sometimes cause (sickness, fatigue, shortness of breath, sciatica, stretch marks, etc.), I really do love being pregnant. There is something about carrying another life inside your own body that makes you feel truly beautiful and, in a way, magnificent.

It's a Boy!

2008-12-29T17:15:00.000-08:00

I had my ultrasound this morning, and our photogenic little baby left us in no doubt that we are having a boy! I will post pictures from the ultrasound as soon as Brian gets the chance to scan them in at work. We are so excited! Brian, in particular, is over the moon; though, before we went he assured me that he would like another girl just as much.

I can't believe that in five months, we are going to have a son! He is already so beautiful. Even the sonographer was commenting on what a nice nose he has; I think it looks like my husband's. But, my favorite comment was when she said, "He has such a beautiful heart!" Apparently the heart is usually difficult to view so nicely, but we got some wonderful footage on our complimentary DVD of our son's healthy (and, yes, beautiful) heart.

We do not have a name picked out, yet. Speaking of which, I have set up a new name poll. [name poll has been disabled; thanks for voting!] There are a few more boys' names than before, and I have (obviously) removed the girls' names. If you have a few seconds, please stop by and cast your vote. You can either click the link in this paragraph or follow from the icon at the top right of the page. You will only be able to vote once from any given computer. Vote either "yes" or "no" on each name (you don't have to pick just one name that you like).

We are elated, and just had to share the wonderful news with you all. We'll keep you abreast of any news as the pregnancy progresses. Gosh, I am one happy and blessed mama!

Help Us Name Our Newest Bun!

2008-11-07T11:45:00.001-08:00

Click on the above link to vote on our list of possible boy and girl names for the May Baby! We may add or delete names from time to time, but we're looking forward to hearing input from you all. Thanks!

[name poll has been disabled; thank you for voting!]

Fantastic News!

2008-11-04T14:13:00.001-08:00

It feels marvelous to finally be able to share the good news with you all. Brian and I are thrilled. I am currently eleven weeks along, and I am due at the end of May. Sophia has no idea that anything is happening yet, but we hope and pray that she will be overjoyed when she gets to meet her new baby brother or sister this spring. They will be twenty-two months apart, which means I'm going to be a mama to two under two...at least for a few weeks! I will, of course, keep you all updated with more information than you'd probably care to know. The ticker at the top of this post will be placed at the bottom of the webpage, if you'd like to keep track of the countdown to birth! Prayers would be much appreciated during the coming months, if you feel so moved.

So, that's the fantastic news! We have so much to be thankful for! Pregnancy, motherhood, even childbirth are all such tremendous blessings from the Lord! He has granted me such grace, I feel my heart is too full of thanks to express it. So, REJOICE with me, because I feel that I must share this joy, which is overflowing from the depths of my being!

Oh, and Sophia's favorite new word is "baby." Isn't that sweet? She loves saying, "Hi, baby" to all the newborns at church and looking at the pictures of babies from around the world in a little book she has. Hopefully, she'll be very happy when she realizes there will be a baby at home.

"Expectant Mother" by Ben Hammond

Halloween by Bill

2008-10-31T18:58:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Brian works for a *small, little-known* computer software company. Every year they throw a fantastic Halloween party for the kids of all the employees in his building. There's trick-or-treating, a Haunted Lab, and lots of fun costumes and gags. Sophia really seemed to enjoy herself, and as always, we had a wonderful time showing off our cutie to all of Brian's coworkers.

After receiving an orange from our friend Leslie, Sophia decided to take Mommy on a tour of the offices.

Here we continue our tour. Special stop off at the elevator. Infinitely fascinating for babies.

Can you believe these spoiled engineers get their own slushy and frozen strawberry lemonade machines? Sophia was pretty keen on the lemonade.

Have you seen the Mac/PC commercials? If you look carefully, this lovely fellow has an "I'm a PC" nametag proudly displayed on his shirt. Nearby signs warn those who enter that none may leave without killing all bugs.

Sophia gets her chocolate fix.

"What?"

And, of course, when in Rome...do as the geeks do!

Picking Pumpkins With Our Peanut

2008-10-31T18:40:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, after our annual church Harvest Fest, we took Sophia to pick out pumpkins at a local patch. It was lots of fun. I think Sophia particularly enjoyed picking out her own pint-sized pumpkin. It took her nearly five minutes to decide which one she wanted!

Sanctuary Harvest Fest 2008

2008-10-31T18:29:00.001-07:00

Every year, our church in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle throws a Harvest Fest for the local kids (and parents!) We have tons of carnival games and way too much candy! We also set up treats and hot drinks for all the parents. This year, we got a bunch of hay bales, we had a great musician come to bless us with his talents, and the Salvation Army set up a truck to hand out free nachos. It was a blast!

One of Greenwood's finest.

Sophia and Mommy are having a great time!

Our busy little bee.

A little witch enjoys the beanbag toss.

Spiderman 1 and Spiderman 2 enjoy some self-decorated cookies with their sister.

Elmo gets some popcorn.

Our pastor, Randy, showing off his Nordic roots.

Our little friend Nicholas is a very serious little boy.

But when he's with Daddy, you can sometimes get him to smile!

Little Evie the chick tries out her wings!

Some canine companions show off their costumes.

Bee and flower twins.

I didn't know ducks used pacifiers.

Our face painters really made the kids' days.

Go fish! And, if you'll notice, our little Sophia is fishing (pilfering) in the candy bowl behind the fish pond.

Whew! What a day.

Growing Girlie: 14 Months

2008-09-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

Our friend Torrey who is a gifted photographer took these impromptu photos at our church's monthly gathering at a local pizza place. Unfortunately, they don't show off her three beautiful pearly whites that well, but they are still wonderful pictures.

So, yes, Sophia has three teeth now: two on the top and one on the bottom. She has not begun walking on her own yet, but she can really cruise if she's holding onto your fingers! I get the feeling that when she does finally "walk" it will not be walking so much as running. Her new favorite accomplishment is to say "Hi!" to everyone while waving at them. It is very cute...except perhaps in the middle of church when she begins egging on the other toddlers with her adorable antics.

Oh, and a final "break-through" to share with you all: You'll probably think I'm lying, and I would have thought I had imagined it if Brian hadn't been right there to confirm. Last night, Brian and I watched in awe-struck silence as Sophia hummed/sang "Just You Wait 'enry 'iggins" from My Fair Lady from her highchair (minus the words, naturally)! We watched the film the other day, and I've been going around singing this song, so I guess she picked up the melody! But, we were both totally shocked by the accuracy of her pitch! Maybe we'll have a musical child, after all.

This Post Has Nothing to Do With Anything, But the Pictures Are Cute

2008-08-25T15:39:00.001-07:00

The tooth is coming in nicely, and now she has another one on the bottom to match.

We attended our downstairs neighbors' bible study the other night, and it turns out some of their friends brought their baby, too: a blonde nine-week-old dauchsaund named Samson.

Sophia and Samson make friends.

Sophia loves to sit in her highchair at the piano and give us concerts before dinner.

And, a smile to brighten your day!

Our Little Starlet

2008-08-15T19:07:00.001-07:00

We took Sophia to have her birthday portraits done at our local Kiddie Kandids this afternoon. She's wearing her special birthday dress from her Grammie (except in the bathtub shot where she is just in her diaper).

We have had countless people tell us that we should have her model. After this, I'm thinking we should consider it. We woke her up from a much-needed nap to bring her in to take these... and she just sparkled!

I wish I could post these with the nifty color effects they used. It made the pictures look much softer and better composed, but these originals are still quite good, I think.

So elegant. Sophia loved playing with the string of pearls.

Who doesn't love a baby in the bath?

Old-time traveler.

Just beautiful.

Our little lady.

Sophia's Birthday Pictures

2008-08-07T18:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry these have been so long in coming, everyone! Between my mom's visit to town, then my visit to Rochester, I haven't had a free minute to upload these. But, here they are at last. I hope they are worth the wait.

Sophia wants to get a head start on the presents.

A veggie tray, care of Mr. MacGreggor's garden! I had toothpicks with Beatrix Potter illustrations in nearly all the food.

Grandpa and the birthday girl all dolled up in her party dress (a present from Grammie--my mom)

Mrs. Elizabeth Knighton and Mrs. Julie Eidson enjoying the summer sun and some fresh squeezed lemonade.

Guests having a good time and passing around cards.

I think Brian likes the elephant hand puppet even more than Sophia.

More quality literature--who doesn't love Dr. Seuss? This one was placed on our doorstep early that morning by our downstairs neighbors who had gone camping.

Sophia's birthday cake--coconut layer! She loved it. We also had raspberry and raspberry-peach pies. I loved making her first birthday cake; there is something so special to me about a birthday cake being made with Mama's own hands and recipe.

"Uncle" Tom playing with Sophia's duckie push toy, a gift from her Grandma & Grandpa Hudson. Sophia is looking on, giggling.

Mama, Sophia, and Grandpa

On the morning of Sophia's actual birthday, she received her card and presents from Mama and Daddy. Here is her "special" gift, wrapped in bunny paper.

Sophia becomes acquainted with Hazel the Hippo.

George is liking the look of those stacking rings. I'm pretty sure Sophia liked them, too.

Sophia's "special" gift: her first Growing Up Girl.

Later that day, Grammie took Sophia and me out for tea at a lovely little teahouse in Bothell called Elizabeth & Alexanders. We had a wonderful time. Here, you see Sophia playing with a little metal teabag holder--though we ended up having looseleaf.

So many tasty treats! And, I must say, Sophia acquitted herself quite well with all of them She especially liked the checkerboard shortbread (vanilla and chocolate) that you see on the second tier.

Sophia loves her kitty!

The birthday "cake": a mini lemon cupcake leftover from afternoon tea. I figured one layer cake and two pies was plenty for this mama to make in one week.

Make a wish!

"This is all for me?"

We started off so daintily...

...but quickly dropped the pretense.

Our precious little birthday girl.
How does the time fly so fast?

Sophia's 10-Month Photos

2008-06-08T14:15:00.001-07:00

Hello, Friends and Fam!

We thought that, since Sophia is now getting on toward 11 months (a week from today!!) we should put up some 10-month pics for you all to coo over. Notice, if you will, her gummy and totally toothless smile. We've got a late teether! Or, we will whenever she actually cuts those chompers. Of course, on the achievement side of things, you will also notice her standing up (with a little balancing support) in several pictures.

California Dreamin' With the Hudsons

2008-04-21T18:47:00.001-07:00

Lunch at El Cholo with some 'SC friends:

Having fun in Irvine:

With Family in Santa Barbara:

The Hudsons invade Solvang:

Visitting the Santa Barbara Zoo!
(Thanks, Terrie!)

Hope you enjoyed checking out this visual guide of our trip! It was such a blast, but very tiring. Of course, the best part was being able to see so many friends and family and introducing them all to our Sophia. Our first day, we were also able to witness my cousin Aaron's wedding. Naturally, we took a ton of photos of that event, but I'll post those another day.

Sophia's First Easter

2008-03-24T10:18:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, we got up early and hunted for Easter eggs. Sophia actually crawled around the floor of her nursery and found them herself! We were so proud. Of course, the candy inside was for Mama and Daddy, but Sophia still loved shaking them to hear the jelly beans rattle around and, of course, gumming the papier mache eggs in her mouth.

After that, we went to church, where everyone commented on how pretty Sophia looked for Easter. The dress she's wearing was actually my dress as a little girl, which my mother saved for when I had my own children. It's in pretty good shape for being 23 years old and having survived no less than a dozen moves!

Church was lovely. Our worship pastor, Mark, put together a beautiful program of traditional hymns, and one of our teenage congregants, a very talented musician, played his electric fiddle, which is just so evocative. Our pastor gave a decidedly "unoriginal" Easter sermon--his joke about how you simply can't improve on the message of Easter: "He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered, died and was buried. He descended into Hell. On the third day, He rose again from the dead. He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead." Amen, indeed!

After church, we went home, and Sophia took a brief nap. Then, we spent some time dying Easter eggs together, which was a lot of fun. Brian had never done it without an "egg dying kit," and he got such a kick out of the fact that we could dye the eggs with just a few things that were already in our pantry. If you've never dyed eggs "from scratch" before, you just put 20 drops of food coloring into 1/2 c. boiling water with 1 t. vinegar.

In the afternoon, we headed down to Federal Way to have Easter dinner with some dear friends. It was such a wonderful time, and Sophia was even pretty cheerful for the most, though her lack of sleep did catch up with her by the end of the visit, and she was pretty cranky.

Just before we headed home, the sun came out; all morning it had been gray and pouring rain. Seeing the beautiful gray sky and the brilliant sunshine after such dreary weather was an awesome reminder of the message of Easter. I hope you all had as memorable and blessed a holiday as we did.

Oh, and last but not least: Sophia pulled herself up to standing on the couch yesterday! It didn't last long, but it seems that she's quickly progressing toward walking. We can hardly believe it, but we're so excited.

A bit of wisdom from Benjamin Franklin

2008-03-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

Hello there family and friends!

While I haven't posted in awhile (Brian here), I was reading a book on Benjamin Franklin yesterday and came across a great little fable which illustrates a great point in a humourous way - I thought I'd share it with you.

"A certain well-meaning man and his son were travelling towards a market town, with an ass [donkey] which they had to sell. The road was bad, and the old man therefore rid [rode], but the son went afoot. The first passenger they met asked the father if he was not ashamed to ride by himself and suffer the poor lad to wade along through the mire; this induced him to take up his son behind him. He had not travelled far when he met others, who said they were two unmerciful lubbers to get both on the back of that poor ass, in such a deep road. Upon this the old man gets off and let his son ride alone. The next they met called the lad a graceless, rascally young jackanapes to ride in that manner through the dirt while his aged father trudged along on foot; and they said the old man was a fool for suffering it. He then bid his son come down and walk with him, and they travelled on leading the ass by the halter; till they met another company, who called them a couple of senseless blockheads for going both on foot in such a dirty way when they had an empty ass with them, which they might ride upon. The old man could bear no longer. My son, he said, it grieves me much that we cannot please all these people. Let us throw the ass over the next bridge, and be no farther troubled with him."

And the moral of the story is... you can't please everyone!

Our Little Girl is Growing Up!

2008-03-08T21:33:00.000-08:00

Sophia has made all sorts of new developments in the past few weeks. She is babbling quite well now, and is starting to really resonate in her speaking range, which is allowing us to hear what her real voice sounds like, as opposed to the previous assortment of baby coos. She is using multiple syllables of gibberish, though no words yet. She can say "mama" and "dada" but has not yet connected those with Mama and Dada. We can't wait for that to happen!

As her language skills have been progressing, Sophia is a lot more interested in storytime than she was previously, as you can tell from the pictures below. She particularly likes Rosemary Wells' Max & Ruby books, Beatrix Potter, Maragaret Wise Brown, and the Brothers' Grimm fairie tales.

Sophia is also crawling! She took her first "crawl" on her 7 month birthday (February 15th), and she's quickly gotten quite mobile. She is also enjoying her toys a lot more. Currently, her favorite ones are her Haba wooden rattle, which she loves to bang on anything in reach, her amber teething necklace (below is a picture of her crawling around with it dangling out of her mouth like a puppy dog with a bone), and her board books (she is definitely her mother's daughter).

Last but not least, the foray into solid food world has begun! Sophia now eats 2-3 meals a day of real food. She is not at all fond of rice cereal, so we've given up on that; I'd imagine it's pretty bland for her. Her favorite food is sweet potatoes. She also likes winter squash, peas, and applesauce. Today we had a bit of an adventure with finger foods. We cut her up tiny, tiny pieces of a very ripe pear and she managed to gum and swallow three pieces! Then, of course, Mama got worried about her choking since she was coughing a bit, so we stopped. Still, I think you will agree from the photos that she is really enjoying her newfound abilities.

We hope you enjoy the photos, and we look forward to documenting more of our beautiful daughter's growth for you all at a later date. Until then, God bless!

Splish Splash!

2008-02-25T11:53:00.000-08:00

I remember being a little girl, lookin through photo albums and thinking, Why did my parents take so many pictures of me in the bathtub? Well, now that I have a baby of my own, I know why. Just look how much fun Sophia's having! Do you remember when taking a bath was this much fun? I think she's going to be a little fish like her mama.

Playful Baby!

2008-01-20T15:09:00.000-08:00

Here's Sophia having a blast in her Excersaucer, a Christmas present from her Grandpa Carlberg.

We're having so much fun!

coo!

2008-01-17T20:30:00.001-08:00

coo!
Originally uploaded by HudsonFam

What a silly girl!

Holiday Catch Up

2008-01-17T20:04:00.000-08:00

Well, there's a lot to catch up on--it's been a month since I last wrote. Suffice it to say that the trip to Rochester was wonderful, Christmas was merry, and we rang in the New Year quietly at home again in Seattle. We'll tell you the rest in pictures:

Out to get Sophia's first Christmas tree. Don't worry, Brian's there, too; he's taking the picture.

Lauren helping her dad cut down the chosen tree.

Happy family at the Christmas tree farm. Isn't Sophia adorable in her snowsuit?

"I like this snow stuff."

The tree all decorated on Christmas morning.

"Merry Christmas, Grammie!"

Is there anything sweeter than a child's eyes shining on Christmas morning?

Stocking time!

Meeting Great-Grandma Carlberg on Christmas Day.

Making funny faces at Aunt Krissy.

Playing at the Carlberg Christmas party.

Meeting Great-Grandpa Carlberg.

Lauren and Lanie at a girls' holiday tea with me, my mom, and Sophia.

Making a cute "Charlie Brown" smile while hanging out with Auntie Stephanie.

Dad came up later in the week to celebrate with us. Here he is with Sophia and her Aunt Meghan.

On December 28th, Sophia had her first solid food. Rice cereal...mmm...

2008 is shaping up to be a pretty good year thus far...all 17 days of it. Sophia is now 6 months old. My goodness! How time flies. We brought her in for her 6-month check-up on Tuesday, and she is growing steadily and seems to be developing right on schedule. Her new favorite thing to do is blow raspberries at us. She especially likes when you blow them back! She's also begun babbling quite a bit. She enjoys showing off this new talent at church on Sundays. Randy concluded that he didn't mind that she liked to preach when he's preaching...he just minds that she's better at it! What a joker. But, it's so wonderful having a church who really embraces our littlest members.

Health and blessings to all!

An Adventure in Photography

2007-11-28T16:20:00.001-08:00

So, after an extremely unpleasant and disappointing experience at JCPenney Photo Studios, Brian and I decided to take our own holiday photos of Sophia. I'll post some of the others later, but this is the one we ultimately decided on for our Christmas cards. If you're reading this page it means you're likely getting one in the mail, but consider this your sneak preview. Is our little girl not the most adorable thing on this earth?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-28T15:58:00.000-08:00

We have had so very much to be thankful for this year! First of all, our beautiful, healthy, happy little daughter who we love so much. We are thankful for all our friends and family, those we were able to celebrate with and those who are separated by distance but always with us in spirit. We are so grateful for Brian's wonderful job at Microsoft and for our church family here in Seattle. I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to excercise my craft at Taproot Theatre this fall. We are thankful for our wonderful marriage. We are especially thankful for and to a God who loves us beyond measure. And, we're thankful for our new camera that lets us capture such beloved memories!

Grandpa Lyle and Sophia.

Uncle Ethan holding Sophia at Thanksgiving Dinner.

One of the Thanksgiving tables set up at Cythia & Bobby's house. They were gracious enough to host 13 of us! It was great to celebrate with a large family again, something I've missed since being away from home.

Sophia and Mama.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we went down to Portland to meet up with Lance & Carol and the kids, since they were up visiting Lance's mom for the holidays. It was such a blessing to be able to catch up with them and introduce them to Sophia...though admittedly, it was a busy week for driving! Here is Carol holding our little girl.

Here we have Lancelot carving up the roast beast.

And Nathan with his Pokemon of the day!

Hope you all had as great a holiday as we did! God bless!!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Sophia Hudson!

2007-10-14T18:53:00.000-07:00

Today, Brian, Sophia, and I went to the Lattins Country Cider Mill in Olympia to get some of the state's most delicious cider--and to pick out Sophia's very first pumpkin!

Poster baby!

We arrive.

A view of the pumpkin patch.

The old water wheel.

Checking out the bunny with Bun.

Sophia is rather unimpressed by the calf....

...but these little boys sure did like them. Maybe she'll appreciate them when she's older.

Isn't this just hilarious? Okay, maybe it's just me.

Sophia rather liked looking at the ducks.

Sophia started getting a little tired around 3 o'clock. What a good girl she was!

A little pumpkin on a big pumpkin!

Too sweet.

Sophia's Christening

2007-10-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

On October 7, 2007, Sophia Christine Hudson was baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Randy Rowland, our pastor at Sanctuary CRC, performed the ceremony, and Meghan Dole was presented as Sophia's godmother. All four of Sophia's grandparents were able to attend, as were many dear friends from far and near. It was a joyful day for our family.

Brian, Meghan, Sophia, me, Randy

After "introducing" us to the congregation, Brian read a passage of Scripture that he and I selected to mark this special day in Sophia's life:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us.

~1 John 4:7-19

We chose this passage for Sophia for two reasons. The first is that, as a member of God's covenant community, she is called to love others as God has loved her. This will be her continual daily calling in Christian life. The final verse is also particularly significant. In fact, it is this verse that we had placed on her christening cake. It is a reminder that salvation is a gift, given through God's grace as a result of His incomparable love for us. It is only because of this Love that we are able--and blessed--to love Him. This love relationship with the Lord of Lords is our hope in Sophia's life as she grows and one day, God willing, lives into her baptism.

Randy's sermon that Sunday poignantly touched on the same themes as he reminded us that God's love is calling for us to live in a way that we might try to be worthy of that love and to reconcile ourselves to one another as He reconciled us to Himself through the blood of Christ.

In this picture, you can see Meghan holding a candle. On the candle are symbols for Christ and a dove, which represents the Holy Spirit. I explained the significance of the candle, which was always a part of the baptism ceremonies Meghan and I grew up witnessing in the Catholic tradition. The candle is lighted during the baptismal ceremony as a symbol of the light of Christ and the flame of the Spirit that indwell all believers. Every year on the anniversary of the child's baptism, the candle is lit again and the family renews their baptismal vows, reminding the child of the charge they have been given to be the light of Christ in the world.

Here, Randy took Sophia and presented her to the congregation just prior to the actual baptism.

He handed her to our friends, Matt and Laura Watrous, who were seated in the front row. This illustrated the congregation's charge to live in a way that would compel our little girl to want to know, love, and live like Jesus. The congregation took a vow to this effect just after the baptism was performed.

Next, Randy asked Brian and I some questions regarding our faith and we vowed to raise Sophia in a Christian home where she might come to know and love Jesus. Here, we have the actual baptism.

The congregation saying their vows.

After all service and some pizza next door at Romio's (Sanctuary's tradition on the first Sunday of the month), the party headed across the Lake to our house.

Snuggling with Grandma after a long day...

On a more somber note, at the same time that the baptism party was going on, there was a memorial service being held for John Fason, a member of our Sanctuary community who had passed away earlier that week. In his final days, John surrendered his life to Christ. As sad as it was to say good-bye to John, it was a blessing to know that he has gone before us to our Lord and to remember that, ultimately, we all belong to Him and will rejoice with Him together forever. The cycle of life was reaffirmed, and it was a gift to have Sophia's baptism held on the same day that our community celebrated the life of our brother, John.

We want to thank all of you who were able to celebrate this special day in Sophia's life and those of you who were praying and celebrating with us from afar. God bless!

Daddy's at home with the Baby!

2007-09-29T21:55:00.000-07:00

As you've probably read, I've been hanging out with Sophia while Bethany has been rehearsing for The Importance of Being Earnest, a hilarious Oscar Wilde play. They opened the show last night, and Matt and Laura Watrous were kind enough to babysit so I could be there. It was a remarkably funny show, and I was ecstatic to see Bethany back on the stage after so long.

Bethany was right - between work during the day and being at home with Sophia while Bethany rehearsed in the evenings, I've definitely experienced a long energy-demanding month. Fortunately I've made it to the beginning of my parental leave, and I have to say I'm already extremely thankful for it. I am so thankful for the wonderful opportunity to be able to spend so much time away from work with our new baby girl, and I think Bethany and I will be able to spend some much needed time together after our long split schedule in September.

I'm really looking forward to having friends out next weekend when Sophia gets baptised, and I'm hoping to find a number of opportunities to grab some great snapshots with our new camera. I've also been eager to get a cable to connect our camcorder to the computer so I can put together a compilation of the cute moments we've caught on tape so far.

Welcome the Fall

2007-09-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

"Whoa!!"

What a September! What with Brian working frantically to get everything squared away before leaving for a month of paternity leave and me rehearsing in the evenings and on Saturdays, and both of us juggling the care of our beautiful newborn, this has been one crazy month. The Importance of Being Earnest had a wonderful opening last night, though, and it has all been worth it. October will be relaxing comparatively, with Brian home from work! What a privilege.

Here's me busily making dinner with Sophia before heading out to rehearsal:

Daddy and Sophia being sillies.

My beautiful opening night flowers from Brian!

Praise God: Morgan is finally home from Iraq and reunited with Elizabeth! We got some good pictures of him and Sophia meeting for the first time at church on Sunday. What a blessing to have him safely home again.

New Photos....7 weeks already

2007-09-06T12:27:00.000-07:00

Well, Sophia is now 7 weeks old. How is the time already flying so very fast? What with taking care of a newborn and me (Bethany) starting rehearsals last week, we've been a bit overdue for posting new pictures for you all to coo over. The good news is that we did take lots of pictures, and we just posted some of our favorites on our flickr site (link in previous post). Hope you enjoy!

In other news: Sophia has started smiling!! What a precious gift. She's also just begun making sounds that seem intentional, rather than involuntary (ie more communicative), but that isn't exactly a frequent occurrence yet. The doctor said to start watching for more of that this month and that she should begin trying to mimick our speech soon. What fun things to look forward to!

Sophia has officially outgrown her newborn clothes :( Mama was rather sad. Though, since they were mainly summer outfits and we're starting to see the beginnings of autumn weather here, it's probably well-timed. The 0-3 mo clothes still look rather baggy on her, but her poor ankles stick out of the Nb sizes. She's lookin' like her Daddy already: long and lean...except for the chipmunk cheeks and the double chin, of course.

Rehearsals are going very well. I love my cast and my director. There's a surprising lot to sink your teeth into despite the fact that The Importance of Being Earnest is a marvelously frivolous comedy. We're all having a blast, and I feel very blessed to be a part of this show. Besides, it's so nice to be practicing my craft again.

My father made us the generous gift of loaning us his other car. He shipped it cross-country and it arrived today. Now we have a safer car to put the carseat in and a second car so that Brian and Sophia will have one while I drive to rehearsals each night. It is a tremendous blessing to have it, and we are so grateful.

We hope that everyone is having a beautiful end of the summer and start of the fall. God bless!

Baby Pictures!

2007-08-08T21:51:00.000-07:00

A picture is worth a thousand words, so 24 pictures are worth. . . well, you know - here are the photos! We've got a flickr account with lots of great photos for you guys to have a look at. We'll be adding more as we move along!

http://flickr.com/photos/hudsonfam

That's all for now!

The Journey Begins...

2007-07-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

At last - our family has grown!

I'm proud to announce that as of 4:18 pm, after an amazing display of courage, Bethany Hudson delivered Sophia Christine Hudson at 8lbs, 1oz. Sophia was wide awake and aware almost immediality, measuring in at 20 and one half inches.

This photo was taken less than 5 minutes after she was born, and she really really liked that little hat :)

Bethany gets to hold Sophia for the first time.

Her little onesie fit perfectly, but how about those hammer-pants?

The details:

At 7pm on July 14, Bethany called the nurses at the hospital thinking she had broken her water. We were admitted at 11pm and slept through the evening. In the morning at 3am, the hospital staff needed to start a pitocin drip since Bethany needed to deliver as quickly as possible since her water broke. Bethany started having some pretty serious contractions by 5am, and by 4 o'clock in the afternoon she was ready to push! (Obviously I've omitted about 10 hours of hard work - Bethany delivered completely naturally without any medication other than the pitocin!).

The new star:
Sophia has been very quiet so far and taken naturally to feeding. She's sleeping with Grandma and Bethany is recovering quite nicely.

We're so thankful to the Lord for our blessing, and we thank you all for your continued prayers of health and safety for my girls!

37 weeks, 3 days pregnant: 18 days to go!

2007-06-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

...or so they tell me. Really, we're looking at anywhere between 2 and 4 weeks. Please, not 4!!

My last appointment was pretty uneventful, and they should be from here out. The only large piece of news was that I am Group B Strep +. It's not a huge deal; about 30% of women are. In a healthy adult, this means nothing; there are no symptoms. But, very rarely, a woman with the bacteria can pass it on to her baby, and this can cause very serious problems like brain damage, meningitis, and even death. But, not to worry! In order to avoid these tragic outcomes, I just have to show up at the hopsital early and get put on a penicillin drip for at least 4 hours before Sophia is born.

We had our 4th and final baby shower yesterday (Sunday) with our small group from church. It was very sweet, and we got some extremely creative gifts. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring the camera, so no pictures!

I've been getting a lot of comments that I look ready to pop and that I look much bigger than I did even two weeks ago. I must say, I agree. I'll see if Brian will take a couple pictures this week so that I can prove it to y'all. Our final birth class is tonight: the one I've really been looking forward to. We have an hour of practice labor, and then we get a hospital tour the second hour. Then, with all our classes done and all our showers attended, I can tell you that I am more than ready for the labor to begin! I am so excited to see our baby girl and to start getting to know her. Besides, a couple extra weeks postpartum before starting rehearsals at the end of August would be nice :)

Take care!

36 Week Appointment Update

2007-06-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

4 weeks left until Sophia is due! (Which, of course, means anywhere between 2 and 6 weeks).

We had our final Maternal-Fetal growth ultrasound. In an unexpected turn of events, our "little" girl now weighs in at an approximated 6 lbs, 6 oz! I don't know what percentile that is, but it means she would be "average" for 37.5 weeks gestation. We thought we were going to have a little peanut, and we just might end up with a big girl. It all depends on when I go into labor, really. The waiting game begins.

After that, we had our appointment over across the way with our normal caregiver. We've now joined the "Weeklies Club," meaning we've begun our weekly appointments. We went over our birthplan, and I got a culture taken to see if I test positive for Group B Strep. Everyone please pray that it comes back negative, because I really don't want to have to show up early on in labor to get hooked up to an IV to receive antibiotics. I'll let you all know the results once we get them back. I also got checked for dilation, and there's nothing to speak of as yet. Of course, that's no indication of when I'll go into labor or how fast it will progress, but just thought I'd share the news.

Love to all!

35 weeks tomorrow!!

2007-06-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

Well, as of tomorrow (Friday), I'll be 35 weeks pregnant. That leaves only a month until Sophia is due to be born! We're having a great--if slightly stressful--time getting all the final details in order. The nursery is pretty much complete. We just have a few minor things like, oh...installing the carseat to do still. But, we'll get there. We're getting very, very excited about welcoming our little girl into the world. Oh, yeah, and I turn 23 on Tuesday. Funny how you forget these things, isn't it? :-P

Here are some pictures of what I look like now. The belly is getting very large!

Babymoon on Orcas Island

2007-05-29T11:36:00.001-07:00

Brian and I spent Memorial Day weekend on beautiful Orcas Island in the San Juans, here in WA. We stayed at a B&B called the Turtleback Farm Inn, which is an old 1930s farmhouse and 80 acres of farmland. It was so much fun and extremely relaxing. We enjoyed exploring the little village, Moran State Park, and the rest of the island. We hope to go back to camp there with Sophia when she is older. Here are some pictures we took on the trip.

Views from Mt. Contitution

In Eastsound Village Observation Tower

More Pictures from Mt. Constitution

Pictures from Turtleback Farm Inn:

Coeur d'Alene Shower

2007-05-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, Lyle & Roberta threw a shower for us in Coeur d'Alene. It was great to celebrate with everyone over there. Hope you all enjoy the pictures!!

The cake

Dock Jake & Greg

Gary, Lana, and Ethan Lyle & Roberta

Mark & Jodi Brian & Jim

Brian & Bethany Daisy & Mollie

Latest Ultrasound

2007-05-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I was back at MFM (Maternal-Fetal Medicine) this week for the latest ultrasound and an NST (non stress test). I scheduled it with a different doctor this time, since I felt like my previous specialist wasn't listening to a thing I was saying and treating my pregnancy is though it was high risk, which it isn't. Right away, I could tell that my new doctor was much more attentive. He informed me that he needed to take a closer look at Sophia's kidneys because the sonographer hadn't seen anything. When I asked him what he meant, he seemed very surprised and said, "Didn't they discuss with you last time that they thought they saw something near her kidneys?" I said, "No," and he seemed rather taken aback, but I'm sure not nearly as much as I was! Of course, he didn't find anything wrong either. My previous doctor also "thought" he saw something in her large intestine last time. Curiouser and curiouser.

So, this new doctor didn't even go into percentiles with me. He said that my blood pressure has been exceptional throughout the pregnancy and very steady and to stop taking the baby aspirins in two weeks. He told me that Sophia is 3 lbs, 14 oz, and that she's right on track to be around seven lbs or just shy on her due date, and more around 6 lbs if she comes a week or two early. He seemed very pleased with her progress, and frankly rather surprised that I was still coming to the clinic. He told me I could wait a month to come in for my next appointment, and that it would probably be the last one.

Just a cute story: Dr. Wall was spending a lot of time checking out Sophia's heart at the ultrasound. Eventually he said, "I don't want you to be concerned that I'm spending so much time looking at her chart. There's nothing wrong; it's just so beautiful. It's not often that I get to see the heart so well, but you're slender and the baby is in just the right position. What a beautiful heart." It made me smile :)

Rochester Baby Shower

2007-05-15T17:36:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! It's been a long couple of weeks. First, Brian was away speaking at MEDC in Las Vegas, which went very well, and then I was in Rochester for five days. I can't believe that I'm already 31 weeks pregnant! This pregnancy has flown by so fast and has been such a blessing so far. Brian and I are both getting really excited as we anticipate Sophia's birth.

Meg, Mom, Me, Aunt Pat

Opening Gifts

........ More gift opening...... close up of cake

....and more cake.... Me with the cake

Michelle & Me (she's due a week after I am)

Aunt Pat's tropical fruit tray and her amazing punch!

All the tablecloths were baby blankets and most of the decorations were clothing, books, and stuffed animals for me to bring home for Sophia. All the silverware was tied together with little pastel flower ponytail holders.

Thank you to everyone who attended the shower, and especially to Aunt Pat, Meghan, and Mom for throwing it!!!

28 Week Pictures... Trimester #3 Begins!!

2007-04-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

As the title says, these are pictures of me at 28 weeks (and 2 days, if you want to be precise), also known as 7 months or the 3rd trimester. I can't believe we've only got 12 more weeks until Sophia is due to be born! It's going to be a very busy month. Next week, Brian will be speaking at the MED-C conference in Las Vegas for 4 days. Then, I'll be in Rochester for 5 days for Mother's Day and the baby shower. The following weekend, we'll be in Coeur d'Alene for a second shower hosted by my lovely in-laws, and the last weekend in May, we'll actually be going on our "babymoon" (ie. last trip before we have to wrangle a baby-sitter) on Orcas Island. And, then...no more travelling until this little one is born! Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

25 Week Belly Pics!

2007-03-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

Ultrasound #3

2007-03-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

Just to keep you all updated... I went to the maternal-fetal medicine clinic at our hospital this week and got a very thorough, very long ultrasound/Doppler scan. Mostly, the news was good. They found no trace of the uterine artery notching, and Sophia seems perfectly healthy. However, she's still very small (back under the 10th percentile, they believe). I've been put on even more protein (those disgusting health shakes--yuck! I really need to buy some ice cream or something to make milkshakes with that powder). I'm supposed to consume about 40g of protein a day! On top of that, I've still got my twice a day folic acid/calcium supplements, and I'm not supposed to take 1 baby aspirin a day, as well, to help prevent pre-eclampsia, which because of Sophia's size, I apparently have a heightened risk for. So, with all that and the prenatal vitamin, I'm beginning to feel a bit like my grandmother. But, it's all for a good cause :) I have another ultrasound at the M-F clinic in two weeks, so we'll let you know how things are progressing.

In other news, our carpet is being put in on April 10th!!! Yay!!! And, Ethan will be coming out while I'm in Rochester over Mother's Day weekend to help Brian put in engineered hardwood in our main living area. I can't wait to put up new pictures. It's like an entirely different house already, just from the paint. The floors should be a big improvement.

Celebrity Look Alikes

2007-03-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

Just something funny I did today!

Name Change!

2007-03-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

Well, spelling change, in any case. Just wanted to alert you all that we've changed the spelling of our daughter's name to Sophia Christine. That's all for now. I'll post more pictures of the baby belly later.

Ultrasound #2

2007-03-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we've reached the goal for the month: Sophia is up above the 10th percentile now. She moved from the 8th to the 14th in 3.5 weeks! She is still on the smaller side, though, and since they discovered some uterine artery notching (small gaps in the pulse of the arteries connected to the uterus), I am being referred to the specialists at the maternal-fetal medicine center. They are going to do some special Doppler test to make sure that the baby is getting sufficient nutrients despite the notching. I'm not sure what happens if she's not, but since she was able to grow so effectively with relatively minor dietary changes, I'm hopeful. Please pray that the tests all go well and that Sophia continues to grow healthfully.

Some other interesting pregnancy news: my OBGYN is getting married and moving to Montana! So, I'm being transfered to a different doctor in the same practice. I do like my current doctor a lot, but I'm not too concerned about the transfer since there are only 6 doctors in the practice, all of them female, and I have heard excellent reports of all of them. Besides, there's no guarantee who will be delivering Sophia, anyway.

Brian has been extremely busy at work, and with all the rennovating we're doing on the house--and will continue doing over the next couple of months--it's been quite a time here. Please pray that his work schedule would lighten up some and that he will be able to work more efficiently with what's on his plate.

Love to all!

Per Request:

2007-03-03T17:01:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots of my growing belly! Hope all of you who have been asking for them enjoy. We'll post more as I move increasingly towards what Stephanie's mother refers to as the "beach whale stage." hee hee.

The verdict is in...

2007-02-23T10:46:00.000-08:00

We're having a baby GIRL!!!

We had our 20-week ultrasound this morning at 8 AM, and around 8:15, the technician made a definitive call that we're having a little girl. I was surprised that she could so easily tell that it was a girl; I had always thought that they predicted that because there was an absence of male genitalia. But, nope, our technician was very sure that she was looking at a girl.

We got to see the baby's spine, face, hands, brain, heart, legs, arms, stomach...all sorts of things! It was truly fascinating. We've got a video, too, so if anyone's interested, they can check our "little scrapper" out. That's what my OB called her since I started feeling kicks on February 1st (~17 weeks), which is considered quite early for a first time mom.

The only concern the doctor had with the ultrasound was the baby's size. Apparently she measured very small (below the 10th percentile). The OB wasn't worried, but she did put me on folic acid supplements, instructed me to increase my protein intake daily, and scheduled a second ultrasound for next month to check the baby's growth progress.

Oh, and we think we've finally decided on a name: Sofia Kristine Hudson. Now that the baby's not an "it" anymore, we can start calling our daughter by her name!

Quick Update...more to follow

2007-02-19T16:08:00.000-08:00

So, once again, it's been months since I've update you all.

Everything is going well with the pregnancy. Let's hope the labor is as textbook as the rest of the pregnancy has been! The baby started kicking in early February. It seems we may have a bit of a Mama's boy/girl on our hands, though, as the baby has thus far refused to cooperate and let Brian feel the kicks.

On Friday, we have our ultrasound appointment! We get to have a video of the appointment to take home, and we'll be able to find out the baby's gender, provided that he or she cooperates, of course.

We are working (rather, I should say Brian is working) on painting and recarpeting the two smaller bedrooms in our condo, one of which will be the baby's room. It's been a fun and involved project thus far, but we're definitely making headway. We're also beginning to get the baby's room decorated. My mom sent out a care package of all my old baby bedding (also used by my cousins Alex and Elena) so the baby can have a bit of an heirloom. And, once we know if it's a boy or a girl in there, the fun can begin with the purchasing of the baby clothes!

We have really been enjoying spending time at Crosspointe Church, not too far from our place. We've been attending for a little over a month now and have begun to make friends. We are currently participating a study of Hebrews at our neighbors' Jamie & Marcia's house. We're also involved in a study of 1 Peter during pre-service Sunday school each week.

The one piece of bad news is that Brian's boss, John, whom he is very fond of, is taking a job with the Long Island division of Microsoft, so he'll be moving home to NYC in a couple of weeks. They've been having a series of farewell bashes at the office and around town, as everyone who knows him is sad to see John go. We don't know who his replacement will be yet, but we're hoping that he or she will be as wonderful a supervisor and mentor to Brian as John has been.

Well, hopefully I'll be posting again this weekend to let you all know if we are expecting a son or a daughter!! Take care, and God bless.

Oh, btw...for those of you who have been inquiring, we are registered at Amazon.com and Babiesrus.com :)

Just in case you haven't heard...

2007-01-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

We're Havin' a Baby!

We don't know the sex yet, but we'll update you when we do. For now, things are looking good. We were able to hear the baby's heartbeat at my 12 week appt, the day after Christmas. Luckily, my mom was in town for the holidays, so she got to hear, too. 166bpm, which is supposed to be textbook healthy. We were really excited for that. And, now that the first trimester is winding down, the morning sickness has passed, and I feel back to my old self again. Brian's pretty happy, too, because it means my stomach is now allowing me to cook dinner for him again!

As soon as there is something to show, I'll post some pictures to keep you all updated on just how much my little body can expand in a short period of time :)

Love to all!

Happy Hallowe'en!!

2006-10-31T20:24:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share some fun Halloween photos with all our family and friends out there!

Here's Jack o' Lantern #1. A couple weekends before Halloween, we went to a local organic farm and picked out two pumpkins from the patch. We couldn't wait until Halloween to start carving, so this guy was set up a bit early.

This photo has nothing to do with Halloween, but I just wanted to show off the lobster! My mom came up with this great idea. See, she misses not being able to cook dinners for us, so each month, she sends me a menu and recipes and a check to buy the food with, and I can cook a nice dinner for Brian and myself. This was a extra special celebratory dinner in honor of buying our first house.

Here's pumpkin #2! Not the greatest picture, but I think you can see; it's a cat peeking over a fence saying "Boo!" We named it Boo Kitty. We think the cat looks a little like George.

Here we have some holiday decor.

And here's Brian, hard at work on carving Boo Kitty. Yes, that is a roto-zip he's using :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This Old House, Part 2

2006-09-26T22:19:00.000-07:00

So Blogger decided it didn't wan't to let me upload any more images to my last post, so here's part two! Remember that fan I was replacing? It turned out quite nicely.

After that, we decided that this hideous mirror wall had to go. While we were at it, we decided to paint the dining room, since we knew the color under the mirrors would be different than the tan/gold that we found elsewhere in the house.

We wen't with a nice "Moonlight White" paint color, which looks like white to me. . . but I'm told there is a distinct difference. Either way, I think you'll agree that the room looks much better now:

At this point, George decided that the top of the fridge needed to be dusted, and being the ever industrious cat that he is, he went ahead with his can-do attitude and got to work.

While George has been quite active around the house, the neighbor's cat tends to be a bit more . . . sedentary:

In the end, our work around the house led to a bit of R&R.

This Old House, Part 1

2006-09-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

We've been doing all sorts of fun renovations since we got here. Since folks were asking to see pictures of our new place, and of course Bethany and I want to show off the fun things we've been doing inside since we moved in, I'm going to combine the two and show off the inside with a few before and after photos (no weight loss shots, I promise).

To start off our little adventure, have a look at the pretty lighting that the previous owner decided would add to the alien-decor. This was the first thing to go :)

For those playing along at home, you'll want to turn off the power first.

Then just remove the old light fixture and put the new one in place!

While we're at it, let's put a light fixture on that ceiling fan too, because the living room is far far too dark.

The technique is really rather simple. Find something relatively stable. . . say, a stepladder half perched on your mantle, and half perched on some cinder-blocks. . .

Then, climb on up there and hook things up!
No electrician's license required - although I do recommend you get your affairs in order first, and maybe send your lovely wife into another room until you're done. Just kidding!

Moving in Across the Crick

2006-09-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we've gone and done it now. We're officially suburbanites :-P

On Labor Day, Brian and I and some very kind friends moved all of our stuff from the U-District in Seattle across Lake Washington to Kirkland. (If you want our new mailing address, just shoot either of us an email or a phone call, and we'd love to give it to you.)

The move went pretty smoothly. We only had one truly evil piece of furniture: the dreaded sleeper sofa. Now, the story behind this ridiculously heavy piece of furniture is that we bought it so that our out-of-town friends and family (of which there are many) would be able to have a place to sleep when they came to visit us here in the Emerald City. It was well enough when we lived in a one-story bungalow, but let's just say it is a blessing that none of our four sofa-moving men died getting that thing up to our third-story condo! After about half an hour, unfastening some lighting fixture, taking a door off of its hinges, and some scraped paint here and there, the sofa is happily settled in our guest bedroom. So all you out-of-town friends and family had best be heading out this way to take advantage of it :)

We love our new place. We're almost completely moved in at this point, and it really feels like home. We can't wait to light our first fire in the fireplace this autumn! There are some oddities in the house. The previous owner clearly should have been a renter and not a home owner. The place isn't totally trashed, but it's pretty clear she didn't know how to maintain things. Or clean. Ick. But, a little sweat equity goes a long way, and it's been a good challenge for us (so far, at least).

We're photo-documenting our rennovations as we go, so we'll be periodically putting updates of the condo online for all to enjoy. Until then...

God bless!

NEW PHONE NUMBER

2006-02-02T16:52:00.000-08:00

We have a new phone number. Yay!! But I guess it's not a good idea to put it on here. Email Brian or I and we will send it to you. :) Then, you can feel free to pass it on to our other friends and family in LA, Cd'A, and Rochester.

Officially Mrs. Brian Hudson

2006-02-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

At last! For once the State of California actually came through on something. I was honestly beginning to worry. I had heard from several people in a little wedding chatroom I used to visit while engaged that Los Angeles was notorious for making people wait up to 5 months to get the certified copy of their marriage license, without which one cannot go to the Social Security office to change one's name. But, in a month-and-a-half, they managed to deliver it to my door.

The best part is that when I went downtown to the Social Security office here in Seattle, the hardest thing I had to do was find parking. Which, incidentally ended up being less than a block from the building and costing me a quarter. (Toto, we're not in South Central anymore!!) Then, I went into the building which was empty except for three employees and one other lady. So, I walked right up to the counter, filled out my application, and got my name changed. My new card should be arriving in the next 8-10 days!

In other news....

Brian has begun work at MS and just loves it. His boss, John, is a really neat, down-to-earth guy who isn't one for working crazy hours and seems to feed them all very well. He's had so much free food at work, in fact, that I'm beginning to feel silly for packing him lunch!

UW is treating me well. I wore one of my USC sweatshirts to school today for the first time. No one gave me any dirty looks, which was nice especially considering that it was the most conspicuous piece of 'SC garb I own: bright red! Tends to stand out next to UW's white, grey, and purple. Oddly enough, nobody around here seems to wear red. Intriguing...

Student body aside, though, I did end up in an interesting conversation due to the sweatshirt with two of our new neighbors. Apparently the husband of the family next door, whose name is Adam, was a Bruin, class of 1989! He said 'SC was a lot dirtier then but that he has a good deal of respect for them now. Nonetheless, he and our neighbor from across the street, Randy (who is a UW grad) couldn't help ribbing me for a little bit. It was a good introduction; mainly, it was really nice to get to meet some folks who live nearby.

More photos of the house soon, I promise! I just need Brian to sit down and help me figure out how to get them off of the camera.

House photos, finally!

2006-01-15T18:49:00.000-08:00

We picked up the keys for our house last night, and today we dropped off a few things. I finally brought the camera over, so I've uploaded some photos for you all to have a look at.

It's not an enormous place, and we're having a hard time trying to figure out where to put a few things, but have a look for yourself.

Here's one of the back yard and the rear stairs, which come up behind the kitchen.

Here's another shot from the farthest corner of the yard. The landscaping isn't much, but the landlords say they may be putting in a lawn - who knows, we're happy either way!

Here's a shot of the dining room. But, the way things are going, it looks like we may end up using it as the living room. The small bit of doorway you see on the left leads to the front room which we'll probably use for the dining area - see the next photo.

You can see part of the deck from the back room and the front room.

Yup, it's a kitchen.

The "breakfast nook" is unfortunately too small for our dining table, so instead, we're thinking about putting a desk or something here.

From the front room. I was standing right next to the front door. You can see from here that the deck is enormous. Sometimes I wish they would have just brought the roof out a bit further so our deck was smaller and the inside larger. Oh well, it'll make for good summer parties... Think GIANT grill :)

Finally, one of the more somber details: this little fireplace has gas running to it, and we had the landlords bring out the gas company to check it out, but apparently the pilot light won't stay lit, so lighting it can be a bit dangerous to say the least. Perhaps I can get my Dad to have a look... but then again, I'd rather not tempt fate - it's just a fireplace. (If you're wondering about the blue doornob, it's painter's tape. They're painting the door).

Let us know what you all think! (Unless you think it's a bad place... in which case, you can keep it to yourself).

The Pix are Here!

2006-01-14T17:23:00.000-08:00

Or rather...they are at www.pictage.com. Just enter Bethany&Brian and you will find professional photos galore! Let us know what you think ^_^

Home Hunting Complete...the Church Hunt is ON!

2006-01-09T10:15:00.000-08:00

Well, as you can probably tell from the title of this post, we have found a place to live! What a godsend, huh? I can hardly believe that we've only been here for 10 days and already we've found a wonderful little home. We ended up leasing that cute little house in the University District that Brian wrote about in the last post. We're planning on taking pictures of the outside today after my Italian lecture, and then we'll post them for you all to enjoy. Once we've moved in (January 15-17!!) we'll take some interior shots; those are more fun than the outside anyway, right?

Brian is particularly excited for the basement, henceforward known as "The Man Cave" where he plans to do manly things...like build model airplanes (rrraaaawwwwwwwrrrrrrrrr!) Do you hear the manliness? No...he'll probably build stuff down there, too, and hopefully have some good male bonding time with other "buildy-type" men. My one question is about the washer and dryer down there. Does that mean that part of the Man Cave belongs to me, thereby decreasing its manliness? I think not. I will just have to do laundry when he's not around :-P

Well, one down, one to go. The church hunt has begun. For some reason, we've been sticking to the Christian Reform denomination as we begin our search. We're denominational muts, as is, so really we're just trying to find a church home where we can grow. Our first attempt was at Seattle CRC. Nice little congregation and the sermon was thought-provoking...but we were by far the youngest couple and we really want to plug in with others who are in the same place in life that we are.

This past Sunday, we went to Sanctuary CRC, which is inside of the Taproot Theatre, a Christian theatre company around here that I plan to check out sometime in the not-too-distant future. They are a very young church, begun just over a year ago. Their worship is good and their pastor is really great. He, like Seth (the pastor at PCI for those who don't know him), seems to have the ability to "comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable" and to be controversial in a gentle way, "speaking the truth in love". We are going to a viewing/discussion of the movie Crash at the church office tonight. Hopefully that will prove entertaining and enlightening. If all goes well, we should be back at Sanctuary again on Sunday.

Brian mentioned after church that there are pros and cons to the church being so young. It's a little scary because you don't know what will happen, and they're just getting on their feet. But, it's also exciting because there is so much room to grow and serve in a church whose traditions aren't yet solidified. To be a part of that growth and service would be a great blessing.

Home hunting!

2006-01-04T22:19:00.000-08:00

So to move on from my previous rant about football, Bethany and I have been looking for apartments in the area and have had quite a time of it.

Today after registering the car (which could nearly warrant an entry of it's own -- let's just say that I own a $162 share of the Seattle Monorail via taxes even though I've lived here for 4 days), we went to look at a house we dropped by on the way home from Bethany's first day of class. Let's just say that compared to other places we've looked at, this place is absolutely adorable.

The street is a very steep hill, and our little prospective home has a driveway with one side separated from the level plot by a cobblestone wall with a little coat of green moss from the rainy weather. There is a little walkway up to the front door which passes through a very small front green area (can't call it a yard really). Inside, on the right is the first bedroom, but we'd probably use it for an office / guest room if we get the place. It's the only room in the house which is carpeted, as everything else is hardwood, and beautiful hardwood at that.

Next, there are two rooms which would be the living space, whitewashed walls with built-in bookshelves and small ledges to hold decorations or whatever. Off to the left are the enormous windows with a wonderful view of the mountain ranges in the distance and the University Village below. . . and . . . through the windows lays the porch/deck, which is nearly as big as some of the apartments which we've looked at downtown. Seriously, this thing has to be the size of a respectable bedroom.

In the back is the kitchen with a little dining area and a bedroom off to the side, of course, with a fireplace inside as well. The kitchen is every bit as nice as the living space, albeit the stove is a bit old, but the dish washer is brand new.

Finally, heading out the back door leads one to the wonderful BACK YARD. Yes, we might actually be able to have a back yard. To those in Idaho or Rochester, this might seem like a silly thing to be excited about, but for the price of the rent, and the conditions we are used to in Los Angeles and the prospects of a tract-apartment in the suburbs, this is really really exciting. Anyway, this place also has an unfinished basement with the washer and dryer (and a laundry chute to boot!) and plenty of space to store all sorts of things.

As soon as I walked in I knew that this was the place I'd love to live in with Bethany, and I knew that she was dying to have it as well. The landlords were a wonderful Christian couple who live just nearby and attend a local church, and they were really friendly. Bethany and I prayed long and hard tonight that the Lord would provide us with this house - it's something that we're just so excited about. I hope that it's what He has planned :)

The last thing of personal note is that I'm a bit anxious about living in this community because of the commute that it would entail for me. For those who aren't familiar with the Seattle area, Microsoft is situated on the east side of Lake Washington in Redmond, Washington. Seattle the city is located on the west side of the same lake. There are only two bridges across, and the rush-hour commute takes about 45 - 60 minutes by car, more like 45-50 minutes by bus. I'm pretty concerned that this might make me miserable, but I'm praying to see if this might change. It seems to me that I can learn a lot by being able to make the best of a situation like that, and honestly, even if I am somewhat dissatisfied by the commute, the house we would get to live in is so much more of a home than the apartments that we've looked at so far. There's simply no comparing them.

What a game (or not)

2006-01-04T22:09:00.000-08:00

I have to say that the face-off between USC and the Texas Longhorns this evening was quite an enormous disappointment.

Now, I'll be one of the first to admit that USC did not put up one of their best performances. Reggie Bush was shut down, Matt Leinart had a pretty low game by his own standards, and Vince Young was allowed to march around like a prize winning poodle at a dog show. Let us not forget Reggie Bush's immature and equally selfish and stupid lateral/fumble which led directly to a Longhorn field goal.

Yet, as a faithful Trojan and also a fan of accuracy, I have to express my disappointment in a lot of the play calling and review choices. One of the biggest turns in the game happened when Vince Young pitched the ball around the 10 yard line to a teammate, yet his knee was on the ground when the ball was released. Yet - after all the hullabaloo, there was no review! On another play, there was quite clearly no reason to review, a Longhorn receiver was clearly down and then the ball was stripped by a Trojan, yet the referees took that to the video booth to check out, obviously returning with a confirmation of the call on the field. Sometimes I really wonder how and why it is that the commentators have plenty of time to point things out with their video equipment, yet the college football commission can't seem to afford to pay people to check out each play and have a representative on the field echo their point of view to the officials.

If we're not going to effectively use the technology that we have, then I think we should take a step back. It's silly for commentators to be able to tell us, the viewing audience that the referees are incorrect, yet be unable to bring that to the attention of someone who can actually do something about it. This isn't about whether or not USC won, it's about the fact that so many big swings happen not because of the game itself but because of mistakes by officials.

That said, of course I wouldn't want to be in their shoes, and sometimes you have to stick with your decision either way in order to maintain authority. Meh...

A Lot Can Happen in 3 Weeks

2006-01-01T17:20:00.000-08:00

Well, everything went beautifully! Exams finished up with a bang. Brian and I both did very well, it seems. The wedding was a dream. It was so incredible that neither of us ever had an ounce of nervousness or hesitation. We were simply overjoyed from beginning to end. In another week or so we should have the link to our online professional pix. In the meantime, here's a teaser for y'all:

Me and Meg at the hotel before the ceremony

Me and Caiti, also at the hotel

Brian's Aunt Terri putting on my veil (after doing all of our hair!)

Our First Dance: "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds

Let them eat... butternut squash soup with curried olive oil :-P

Crying during the Father-Daughter Dance

Mom and I both crying during her special song, "In My Daughter's Eyes" performed by Lance & Carol Brown (written by Martina McBride)

Bad picture of me, but the cake looks good!

Sorry, Ethan...we used forks and did NOT shove the cake in each others' faces

Just before leaving the reception. I think we were even happier than we look :)

The honeymoon was a blast. We stayed at a 100+ year old B&B called the Gold Mountain Manor Inn in Big Bear City. We had a marvelous time exploring the town, eating delicious meals (and yummy snacks in between), and enjoying married life :-P

Christmas was a blast. We had such a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends. We got to go to Lanie's Christmas concert at their church with Uncle Jim & Alex (Aunt Krissy we up in the loft with the kids). We got to check out Grandma & Grandpa Carlberg's new apartment at Legacy on Christmas Day. It was really cute and the dining room they had for us was very nice.

On December 30th, we had our second reception at Mom's house. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many people we love to celebrate our marriage once again! What a perfect end to a fabulous trip.

A picture of the Rochester Reception cake.

And, now we're in our temporary housing here in Seattle. School starts on Tuesday for me, and Bri is counting the days until he begins at Microsoft. It seems that the whirlwind of the past month is beginning to die down, but the dust hasn't settled yet. Life is good, and God is better!

Btw... Here are some pictures of our new apartment:

Kitchen

Kitchen: view from living room

Bedroom: View #1

Bedroom: View #2

Brian at our kitchen table: already on the internet :-P

View of the Space Needle from our living room window!

The Living Room...I think the little candle makes it homey :)

THE END.

Last Day at PCI

2005-12-11T12:15:00.000-08:00

It was a bittersweet day today; it was our last Sunday at Pacific Church of Irvine. Some people we didn't have to say good-bye to just yet since we'll see them at the wedding, but there were many who we will not see, at least for a long time. As soon as Lance had us stand up at the end of service, I started bawling. But, during our final song "O Come, All Ye Faithful", Lisa came over and hugged me and I just started crying harder. She knows what it's like, too. With them leaving in June, this is her last Christmas at Pacific. Even Brian cried when it came time to say good-bye to Seth. It's not all sad, though... I feel blessed to have been a part of something that makes saying good-bye so very hard. Every person at that church is a gift from God in our lives. We will miss them so much, but we plan on visitting as often as we can. And, even if we don't, it is a comfort to know that someday we will live with them forever in God's Eternal Kingdom.

9 Days!

2005-12-08T11:12:00.000-08:00

Yes indeed! There are only 9 days until we'll be married!

In typical male fashion, I thought I'd write just a few of the things that have been keeping us busy / pulling our hair out :)

Getting vendors paid off while future father in law is out of state
Finishing final projects / studying for final exams
Cramming large pieces of (free!!) furniture into a small Ford Focus.
Going to pre-marital counseling
Speaking with 10s of people from moving van lines, car moving companies, Microsoft relocation agencies and relatives.
Writing favor letters for every pair of guests (yes, that's a lot of favor letters).
Buying christmas presents / cards.
Tracking down naughty non-RSVP'ers (admittedly I have been a part of that crowd before though)
Figuring out accomodations once I'm kicked out of my apartment before the wedding, and figuring out accomodations for Bethany and her gals.
Handling tuxedo rental details
Packing up my apartment

I'm sure there are plenty more, but I guess this gives a representative list. While I wish that we didn't have to do so much at once, it does make me feel a bit confident about our coping skills together. If we can manage graduating, moving, starting a new job, christmas and getting married within a 35 day span, I think we can do darn near anything!

11 days until the wedding!

2005-12-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

So, I guess we're not exactly "The Hudson Family" yet, but I just wanted to test drive this thing before we become so. Brian and I are thrilled beyond belief that the wedding is so close! The plans are in the final stages, and we've only had one snafu: Our photographer, Sharon, fell down a flight of stairs two weeks ago, holding her 15-month-old son! Luckily, he wasn't hurt, but she got a pretty bad sprained ankle and a tweaked back. Fortunately, she was able to set us up with one of her partners, Carla, who is now our new wedding photographer. Not quite the sort of thing you want to hear two weeks before the wedding, but God willing, it will all be for the best, anyway. Studying for exams is underway. The "exam season" officially begins tomorrow, but Brian had his first one today (evil Viterbi School of Engineering with their crazy professors). And, that's about all I've got for now. Have a blessed day!