TC, Hudson, and I all hope your day is filled with love, family, and most importantly, the joy and peace of Christ Jesus!
sorry about the scanned copy of our Christmas card. I didn’t save the electronic proof like I should have, so this will have to do.
On this very special day of the year, I always stop and think of a night so long ago during a time that I can only fathom because of the books I’ve read and the Bible stories I’ve heard. And this year, when I’m pregnant with our second son, I think even more about Mary.
She was young- probably 16 years old. And she was a young girl of incredible faith. Now that I know the toll that pregnancy takes on your body, I think of her and how she experienced all of these things during of time of no doppler machines to hear the heartbeat and no sonogram machines. There were no prenatal vitamins or emergency trips to the doctor. She wasn’t married and if Joseph hadn’t been a man of incredible faith as well and agreed to marry her, she probably would have been stoned to death!
But they both believed that what the Lord spoke to them through the angels was true and they committed themselves to God, to each other, and to raising the Messiah.
I can’t think about the Christmas story without also looking ahead to Easter. And as a mother, my mind goes to Mary again. Because she had her son for 32 years and then had to watch him die. For me. For my family. For all of you.
Could I do that? I am so unbelievably in love with my child and the new little one on the way.
A friend of ours named Rick Vale wrote a very special song from Mary’s point of view that many of you have probably heard. The lyrics always get to me and remember that even though Jesus was human, and was once a baby, he was the Savior. But for a short time, Mary had him to herself to hold and to cherish. And to coo at, the way we all do with babies.
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Someday, when this night is over
And the star has faded
And the angels fly
I will look at You with wonder
Dreaming of this first night
When I heard You cry
Someday, You’ll take Your tiny fingers
And with just a touch will cause the blind to see
Someday, You will walk with strangers
But, tonight, I’ll rock You
Stay awhile with me
Someday, they will call You Savior
Hope of all the people light and life divine
Someday, You will speak the words
And touch the hearts of many
As You now touch mine
You will speak in love and wisdom
Prison doors will open
We all will be set free
Someday, You will walk among us
But, tonight, I’ll rock You
Just stay awhile with me
My son, let me rock You
Stay awhile with me
We will be spending Christmas Eve here with both of our families in Columbia. We are heading to church in a couple of hours and then coming home for gumbo, French bread, and salad before opening a few presents. We’ll read The Night Before Christmas and part of Luke 2 in preparation for tomorrow.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Dear Hudson,
You are just a couple of weeks away from being 19 months old, but Mommy has fallen a bit behind of your monthly updates. I completely missed your 17 month update, but we did take your picture with your favorite monkey and this is what we got! You’re not much into looking at the camera!
17 months
Your 18th month has been pretty great. Aside from the ear infections and the cold that won’t seem to go away, you have been the happiest and most content I’ve ever seen you. For the most part, the tantrums have completely stopped and you are just happy to sit and read, work a puzzle, sing along with Elmo, or build stuff with your blocks.
Your obsession with Elmo has really taken over this month. You sing the Elmo’s World song in an abbreviated form and say “ya ya ya, ya ya ya, Melmo.” (Instead of la la la la, la la la la, Elmo’s World.) You pay so much attention to everything and repeat so much of what you hear. We really have to watch what we say.
Your pediatrician was commenting this week on how great your language skills are and what a big vocabulary you have. I’m always shocked at how many words you know and understand. You do a pretty good job of communicating with us and I am sure that’s why the tantrums are happening much less frequently.
In just the last couple of weeks, you’ve started answering our questions. Except it’s clear you don’t really know what we’re asking you and you just understand that you’re being asked a question. And the answer if always “no.” We have to try not to laugh, and thankfully when you say “no” you’re not talking back to us. We may just be saying “Hudson, do you know how to tell the truth?” And you say, “no.” And you say it with such conviction!
Or “Hudson, do you like Boudreaux?” And you just pop off with “no.” We always laugh.
You are getting more and more agile and are really running and almost jumping now. You still try so hard to get both feet off the floor at the same time.
I’m so happy that you love school and your teachers so much. Sometimes at home, you’ll sit on the floor and sing the “hello” song that you sing at school. I’m so glad that you are enjoying it and bringing home things that you learn there. They always have you making sweet little crafts or painting pictures.
You still love saying “thank you” to everyone and at Daddy’s urging, you’re saying “please” more and more. We set up your model train set to go around the Christmas tree and you call it your “choo choo.” On the way to church last week, you were saying “choo choo” and I asked if you wanted to go home to play with your train. And you said, “please? please? please?” It broke my heart because you were being so sweet, but we couldn’t go home right then to play with the train.
Hudson, you’re growing up so much and I absolutely love it. But with each new word you learn and all the ways you grow, I know that we can’t go backwards, and that does make me sad sometimes. You are so precious to us and so very sweet. Your friendly personality is always shining through and we just love the little boy you’re becoming.
We love you so much!
Mommy
18 months
30.5 pounds
Size 2T
Size 5 Diaper
Size 7 Shoe
It’s a little hectic around our house as we prepare for Christmas this weekend. My parents are getting into town, but my brother can’t come this year. So we’re all making sure we do things to make sure he feels loved even though he’s a couple (or a few) thousand miles away. But Hudson is still battling this little sickness, so we’re also at a stand-still because it’s obviously more important to stay home with him rather than run all over town finishing up last minute items.
We did get out to see Santa last week. Hudson has been saying “ho ho ho” every time he sees a picture of Santa and he was really excited about seeing him. We got to the mall in the middle of a weekday, so there wasn’t a line. Hudson was saying “Santa” over and over again and doing his “ho ho ho” routine. I was thinking he’d be excited about sitting on Santa’s lap. After all, this is what he looked like last year!
And this is what my brave little toddler looked like last week. Poor thing was trying so hard to be brave and he never cried, but boy, did he want to!
He still isn’t feeling great, though. Last night he woke up in the night and that’s just not like Hudson. Even when he’s super sick we know he’s going to sleep through the night. So when he woke up, I knew I had to go in to check on him. I picked him up and he laid his on my shoulder while we rocked for about 20 minutes under a blanket. I could see his eyes opening and closing, so I looked closely at him to see if he was asleep.
And he looked back at me and said, “Elmo?”
My body was probably shaking because I was trying so hard not to laugh at him and get him all excited. But I just whispered, “No, it’s Mommy.”
We rocked for a bit longer and I laid him back down. He slept great, but woke up this morning with a little bit of a fever and his congestion sounded worse than ever. He wasn’t having super sweet dreams about Elmo, I guess.
I decided I better take him in to see his doctor before the week goes on and it gets harder to even see a doctor. I know pediatricians want to spend their Christmas with their children, too! So we went on in.
Our pediatrician let me know that Hudson has a double ear infection. Such a bummer for the week of Christmas, but hopefully it will be gone by Friday night! He’s still in pretty good spirits, but I just want him to feel good.
I hope you’re all enjoying the beginning of Christmas week and aren’t stressing. Just take some time to enjoy this week with your family and friends and be intentional as you reflect on the season.
