Happy six weeks!

Six weeks old today and more beautiful by the moment. She is very alert in her wake times, starting to coo and we get the occasional smile!

Hudson’s last Summer Hurrah

So one day last week, my sweet seven year old boy celebrated his last day of official summer vacation.  He got to pick what we did for the day – anything (well, within reason!).  And you know what?  Typical to his adventurous nature and his playfulness, he chose to go to a local farmer’s market that has a ton of playsets.  When I say a ton, seriously – they have about 20 different playsets and playhouses for kids to experience and adventure on (I’m guessing in hopes that the families will buy them…sorry, not in our budget!).

For 2 hours Hudson, Anna, Courtlyn and Carson romped on the playsets (Hadleigh slept ;) – and worked up a sweat and an appetite.  It was a gorgeous day and a fantastic way to spend the last day of his summer vacation.

Upon arrival home, the fun did not stop though – Hudson had shnuckered convinced daddy into buying a bag of fresh lemons to make homemade lemonade for a lemonade stand.  I, being the responsible Mommy that I am, prepared the said entrepreneurs for the likelihood of no sales.  You know, the whole spiel, we live on a cul-de-sac, we don’t have a lot of people walking by, the big people are all at work….

Well wouldn’t ya know that they hadn’t even been outside for more than 2 minutes and a grandpa walked by pushing his granddaughter and offered them a dollar for a glass?  Hudson came charging in – he didn’t even have cups out there yet!  Needless to say, the rest of the lemonade was consumed by our family as that was their only sale of the day – but they were excited!

mmm…pickles

We’ve been in canning mode – a little slower than most summers, but still using up the goodness God has given us through the garden in our yard.   And one of our favorite summertime savers?  Dill Pickle Mix.

Anna helped to mix the vinegar and water brine….

while Hudson packed 1 tsp of red pepper flakes, 4 garlic cloves and several sprigs of fresh dill in each quart jar.

Then both of my helpers stuffed cucumbers, cauliflower and carrots into the jars.

A mere 10 minutes of processing later, and voila ~

Yummilicious pickle mix.

Happy 4 weeks Hadleigh!

So, I’ve roughly figured out that in the four wonderful weeks that we have had with our beautiful Hadleigh that….

we’ve gone through about 350 diapers…

she has nursed about 300 times…

I’ve gotten about 70 hours less of sleep…

and  she’s brought an uncalculated amount of joy to us in 28 days….because she is

oh

so

worth it.

paging Dr. Hudson Smith

Paging Dr. Smith…to the delivery room stat.

I don’t want to forget how much Hudson really enjoyed coming to the baby doctor with Mommy to hear the baby’s heartbeat.  This was our appt at 39 weeks, and we were waiting to see the OB.  (for the record, they always left the room after the heart beat was heard….)  He was very strategic with his questions and wanted to make sure all was going well….and look, he was sterile as well – made sure to put those gloves on before beginning!

Dr. Anna Smith did a fabulous job as well – she just needed to know if I was feeling well and if I had a tummy ache.  If I did, she told me I should eat a Oreo Sprinkle Donut with Chocolate icing.  I’ll take that medicine any day!!!!!

Sisters watching Clifford

blueberries

A week before Hadleigh arrived, the kids and I ventured to a local blueberry field to load up on one of our favorite blueberries.  Besides the fact that we eat a couple of pounds fresh (yes, I said pounds :=) We freeze a bunch to have for the winter.  We like them frozen, in blueberry coffee cake and in blueberry baked oatmeal.

I have a good friend that was SURE that the baby would come out swimming, walking or picking blueberries.  None happened, but I am pretty sure she’ll like blueberries as much as her siblings!

See? She was berry picking in the womb!

10 pounds later, my helpers and I were ready to go! Thankful to God for a place to live in where we can have farm fresh produce to store for yummy eating over the colder months!

PS…I do need to also mention that my Grandmother, Mom and Alli also helped to can peaches, blackberry jam and chopped tomatoes the week after Hadleigh arrived.  I could never have done that on my own.  What a big blessing!