Though he seems a little bit “off key” right now, Hudson really does love to sing. He gets a little shy at first, but when he hears a familiar (or unfamiliar) tune, he starts bobbing around and singing.

Some of our favorite music is all the Praise Baby music (CDs and DVDs) and an album called Sing Over Me that includes music from contemporary Christian artists singing praise songs and some classic Christian children’s songs.

Another singer/songwriter that we love is Elizabeth Mitchell. Her style is folksy and fun, but still really soothing when you’re sitting in the nursery rocking your baby and listening to her sweet voice on the iPod. She has a few albums and in one of her albums she collaborates with Lisa Loeb. Remember her?

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Most of the music would be familiar to anyone, and my personal favorite is her arrangement of “You Are My Sunshine.” I used to sing it and just boo-hoo while rocking Hudson.

Hudson’s favorite is “Oh Susanna” or “Oh Sus-nanna” as he says. We filmed this last night to send to KK and Poppie.

(I was not compensated to endorse any of these artists. I just really love all of this kids music that is fun for adults, too, and wanted to share it with y’all!)

A few months ago, when I opened up my comments for y’all to ask questions, a few people asked about some great toys for toddlers. I know that all toddlers are different, but I thought I’d share with you the toys that Hudson loves the most and what have been “hits” around our house.

Hudson loves anything that has to do with music or animals. He has gotten into trucks,  cars, and trains in the last six months. He loves puzzles, books, and flash cards. And we have a few outdoor toys that he loves, too.

These are some of our favorites. I’m always looking for other great ideas, so if you have a toddler and know of a great toy, please tell me in the comments!

Little People Farm by Fisher Price

We gave him the Little People farm for Christmas last year. There are tons of animals, a farmer, and the farmer’s wife. He mostly just carries the animals around and plays with them and doesn’t even always use the farm. But sometimes he does. Yesterday I saw him putting his animals in his toy fire truck. So, it’s really the Little People animals that are the big hit.

I’ve got my eye on the Little People Noah’s Ark and the Little People Zoo for him just because of the animals.

Little Tikes Anchors Away Water Table

This fabulous water table was Hudson’s birthday gift from TC and me this year. He absolutely loves it. We usually get it out on Saturday mornings before it gets really hot, but he loves all of the little parts and pieces. He loves splashing in the water. It was a good buy.

Hudson on the morning of his birthday with his water table. Love the bed head!

Melissa & Doug Puzzles

We gave Hudson the alphabet puzzle and the numbers puzzle for Christmas and he can recognize and name all of his letters and all of his numbers because of these puzzles. (You may remember the video of him doing his alphabet puzzle when he was 19 months old.)

He is always wanting to play with these puzzles and I’d say they’re his favorite toys in the house. We also have some of the chunky animals puzzles and shapes puzzles and he enjoys those, too. But he loves his letters and numbers!

Flashcards

We have this set by Baby Einstein that he started looking at when he was 9 months old. He still loves to play with those cards. Then we recently got this set by Eric Carle. The illustrations are amazing and he loves looking at the animal and the letter and associating the two.

Melissa & Doug Trains, Cars, and Ice Cream Set

Melissa & Doug makes the greatest toys. Hudson has a lot of different toy cars and a Tonka firetruck, but he loves his Melissa & Doug train and his Melissa & Doug car carrier. He recently got the Melissa & Doug Ice Cream set as a gift and he is obsessed. It’s so cute!

Schleich Animal Figurines

Okay, these are Hudson’s absolute favorite things right now. My mom got him a few of these animals when we went to Arkansas this summer. He carries them around everywhere in this little beach bucket that we got him so he could carry his animals. He has a zebra, a family of lions, and an elephant. I’d love to get him the giraffe and the the monkey, too. These are so great. They’re kind of heavy and not cheap plastic. He just loves them!

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Hudson is also obsessed with all things Sesame Street, The Lion King movie, The Jungle Book movie, and he has just started watching Oliver and Company. He loves music and animals.

Hudson got a great tricycle for his birthday that we can’t wait to use more when it cools off. We’re also planning to get him a t-ball set for when it cools off more. I’m happy that he has so many learning toys, fun toys, and movies to keep him entertained while we hibernate in the summer!

*Note: Almost all of Hudson’s Melissa & Doug toys came from One Kings Lane, Zulily, Totsy, The Mini Social, or Gilt. We have never paid full price for any of those toys. So if you watch those sales, they frequently have Melissa & Doug toys available. And at amazing prices! If you aren’t a member of those sale sites, visit my Shop With Me page.

My mom has always used a saying with me. She says, “No one can make you feel guilty without your permission.” And today’s post is all about that. I don’t have a reason to feel guilty and I’m not going to let myself feel guilty.

Yesterday, my friend Megan wrote a great post that I think all moms should read. She and I had a conversation this weekend and we were both doing lots of venting about the way moms are treated by other moms for their decisions.

And a couple of years ago, I wrote this post about being able to stay at home with Hudson and now Hayes.

Before I start, I want to acknowledge that about 90% of my blog posts are parenting posts. But they are my parenting posts about my children and my experiences. They are not advice posts. If someone asks me how I do things and I write a post on it, it’s not me handing out advice. I’m not a doctor, a nurse, a psychologist, or certified in any kind of early childhood development. I am a mother. And now I can say I’m a mother of two, and the road I’m going down with Hayes has been traveled before with Hudson. So I feel qualified to share what worked for my children on my blog.

Since becoming a mom, I’ve felt more judgment than I ever have in my whole life. And I think that most moms can say the same thing. The mommy wars are worse than ever. From how you feed your baby to whether or not you work outside the home. From how long your baby sleeps and where your baby sleeps to using cloth or disposable diapers. Mothers (and fathers) have so many choices to make and some of those choices come naturally and some require a little bit of research before we decide how exactly we want to try to do things.

In many cases it’s just a guessing game. We survive and we move from one day to the next. Some days you may have the most content baby in the world and the next day the same baby may not be able to get comfortable and fusses all day long. And those days can confuse the heck out of you. Some days your toddler is hilarious and sweet and cooperative and the next day he is hitting you on the head with a book and blowing spit bubbles in your face at church. And you know you didn’t teach him either of those things.

So in the last 35 months (35 months ago I found out I was pregnant with Hudson), I have had to make some decisions. And at some point or another, I was made to feel like I had to defend those decisions.

For my children!

Why does anyone care?

But I’m taking my mom’s advice and not giving anyone the permission to make me feel guilty about any of these things.

My faith in Jesus Christ: And pretty much anything that comes along with that. I love the Lord and I’m not going to quiet my excitement because I’m worried about offending someone. I’m going to share His love with my kids and pray that at some point in their lives they will invite Jesus to live in their hearts.

Formula feeding: I tried breast feeding both of my babies. They were both very large babies. And because of some surgery I had six years ago, breast feeding didn’t come super easily to me. Both of my boys lost a whole lot of weight in their first weeks. And no matter how many times I visited the lactation consultant, they didn’t gain weight until they started taking formula. Daily weight checks for the first two weeks of their lives were miserable and frustrating and sad. I was starving my children and THAT will make you feel some guilt. So I made a quick decision to feed them in a way where I knew they would be satisfied in a way that I obviously could not satisfy them. And they’ve thrived and I am so thankful that formula is an option. I am so thankful that we have options for how our children can be fed and that we can provide for our kids. I truly think it is a real accomplishment when a mom can breast feed her child for any period longer than I did! I know how hard it is and I think it’s remarkable that women can do it for so long.

Being a stay-at-home mom: I know some amazing moms that work and I know some amazing moms that stay home. This is a personal choice. But for me, personally, my previous job as an event planner couldn’t pay me enough for me to stay and be able to pay for day care. I was 8 months pregnant when I had just been told I was going to have to be teaching two classes for no additional pay. And I wasn’t happy with the job to begin with. Our family has had to make sacrifices for me to stay at home and it has never been easy. But just because I stay home, that doesn’t mean that I’m not allowed to complain about a bad day– because we all have bad days. There may be a day that I go back to work if there is a job that excites me and pays enough for us to make it work. I have friends who absolutely love their jobs and are so happy to have jobs that they love. And I get really excited for them, because that was always my “dream.” I wanted the “best of both worlds” and wanted a job I loved and I wanted to have a family. But now that I’m at home, I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world. I love my job now and am so happy to be with the two sweetest guys on the planet every day!

Having a life: I do volunteer a lot and I am involved in some things in the community and at church. And those things help me keep perspective. And they help me stay “me.” I’m able to use my creativity and I’m able to serve and give back in ways that I couldn’t do if I didn’t get out and do them. Those responsibilities do take me away from my family for a few hours a week, but I think it’s good to have some time away.

Saying no: I also recognize that I can’t do everything and there is a limit to how far I’m willing to stretch. I can’t please everyone and, frankly, there are some volunteer roles that just aren’t right for me. And sometimes I just know that I can’t commit to being away from my family for any other additional responsibilities.

Choosing an epidural and then a c-section: I had an epidural when I was induced with Hudson after I was criticized for wanting a c-section. I didn’t want to have a natural childbirth and I didn’t even have a birth plan. I was very “hands off” when it came to how Hudson was going to enter the world. Then I had an elective c-section with Hayes and got the, “you do NOT want a c-section” talk from quite a few people. I knew I wanted and needed a c-section and it was the best choice I could have made for myself. How our babies enter the world shouldn’t matter to anyone else at all.

Sleep training: I do it and it worked out well for us. I don’t care at all what other people choose to do or choose not to do. It’s none of my business.

Not having all the answers and looking for help: I read parenting books. I do have instincts, of course, but I am also very interested in information. And I, personally, like having the information available to me so I can decide how I’d like to use the information. I’ve read some bad parenting books and some great parenting books. And I also turn to the Bible and to prayer for a lot of parenting decisions. I don’t have all the answers.

Telling the true stories about my family: This is my family and I choose to blog. I do put it out there. And it’s not fabricated or glossed over. I don’t tell all the stories about our arguments and misunderstandings because I owe my family members some level of privacy. But I tell the truth here.

Parenting my children my way: These are the choices that I am privileged to get to make as a mother. And I am proud of them. And sometimes I make a choice and realize it wasn’t the best one and then I can go back and correct it. But my kids are happy and healthy and I’m very grateful to be their mother. And I will tend to them and not focus on the way another mother is doing things. I pray, pray, pray that I never cause a mother to feel any kind of guilt for her decisions. Because just as I’m entitled to make my own choices, so is she. She has that privilege and shouldn’t be judged for it.

Thanks to everyone for entering the Monogram Chick back to school giveaway! We’ll be doing Monogram Chick giveaways frequently because sweet Sarah is so generous!

And don’t forget, until the end of August, you can receive 10% off of your Monogram Chick order by entering the code BACKTOSCHOOL.

Congratulations to Katrina for winning the back pack and lunch box!

Congratulations to Caroline M. for winning the nap map!

Congratulations to Megan for winning the toddler backpack and snack pack!

Winners: email me at eeakin11{at}gmail{dot}com for instructions on how to redeem your prize!