We got an offer for $5 tickets to go see the St. Louis Cardinals play the Cincinnati Reds last night & decided to jump on the offer and take Hudson to his first ball game. We weren't quite sure what to expect taking a 4wk old baby, but it was great! Everything fell into place perfectly. We went with our good friends, Colin & Elisa, found free parking thanks to our neighbor, George (a huge feat for downtown St. Louis!), saw an in-park home run & some intense "run down" outs, the Cards won, the weather was good & Hudson was an angel! We put the little tyke in his front carrier and he slept on Trent's chest for a couple hours, I fed him in the bathroom and then Elisa held him. All in all, it was a great evening.
Today I'm planting flowers in our front garden and tonight is Trent's next race...pictures of both events coming soon.

Weekend

We had a good weekend. Hudson got his first tub bath yesterday. I realize he's almost 4wks old & I've only been giving him sponge baths, but he seems to be doing okay. He didn't cry at all, so I'd say he enjoys the water. :) He also had his first babysitter. One of our neighbors came over today for 30min while Trent & I went for a run together. Although it was overcast, in the 50's and drizzling, it was fabulous to be able to go running together! I felt really good (well, I had a side stitch despite our slow pace, but it felt great to be active!), so I'm looking forward to going again soon. Sunday evening we got ice cream with our neighbors and good friends here. We're looking forward to a "normal" week of school, work and hanging out with Hudson.

a boy needs a little privacy

The Swaddle

Another thing that I never knew would be so important before I became a parent was the importance of the swaddle. The swaddle is important because Hudson doesn't yet control his arms completely. They move suddenly when he's awake or sleeping. If he's not swaddled when sleeping, his arms will jerk and hit himself in the face, waking him up. I wrap him tightly in the blanket, but it's often just a matter of time before he pushes and wiggles his arms free, wakes himself up and cries. As you can see from the picture below, I am not a professional swaddler. A friend recommended a special swaddling blanket at Babies-r-us that works with velcro and keeps even the most active babies properly swaddled. If I can manage, I think I'll go buy one today and test it out.

I'm taking Hudson to his 2nd baby shower tonight. He cried at the first one until we left and then was a complete angel in the car. I'm hoping the one tonight goes better.

when Trent swaddles (what it should look like)


when Emily swaddles :)

10k

Last night Trent entered a road race series in the beautiful park by our house. Last night's race was a 10k and there are 4 more races of varying lengths over the next 4 Wednesdays. It was so much fun for both of us to be around the racing environment since this is one of our favorite hobbies. Since we've only been running marathons and half-marathons for the last few years, we've missed the smaller race feel. Trent did an awesome job, finishing 3rd overall and 2nd in his age group with a time of 38:57 (6:16 pace). He was disappointed because he was aiming for 6:00 pace, but he still enjoyed it. Hudson & I had a great time walking all around the park cheering for Trent.
I'm really looking forward to running again. I'm planning on starting next week. Monday will be 4wks since Hudson was born and the doctor told me to wait at least 4 or 5 weeks. I stopped running when I was 36 weeks pregnant and next Wed will be 9wks since I last ran, which is the longest I've ever gone without running in over a decade. Although I've continued to walk a few miles daily or do the elliptical during this time, I'm definitely planning on easing back into running. I do not want to wind up with an injury. We also can't take Hudson in the stroller when we run for a few more months and we both enjoy taking him for walks (& he seems to love the motion). All that to say I think I'll split my time between running and walking.

about 200 people ran

about mile 3.5 with no competition in sight

a strong finish

Many Thanks

Hudson received a blanket today with his name & birthday embroidered on it from one of my friends from Vandy (thanks Ashley!). This gave us a great study break because I was excited to get his picture on the blanket. Trent & I have a history test tomorrow that we are both dreading and spending the day cramming for it since we haven't done a good job studying the last few weeks. You'll see the fruits of our procrastination in the pictures below.
Thank you to so many other people who have done such helpful and thoughtful things for our family. We've really appreciated all the meals that our neighbors have provided. There are so many great cooks around us! Hudson's also received other gifts, flowers and cards.



wearing the outfit from Martha Jane

Parenting

We are adjusting more to parenthood, but continually learning new things. One thing I've learned recently is that there are many different theories about babies and sleeping. Now that I've heard some people talk about it, it seems like everyone knows all of these theories and which one they think is best for them. I feel overwhelmed learning about them. In the last week, I've skimmed through 2 different books on the subject (Babywise and The Baby Whisperer) and read the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) website. The problem I'm running into is that all my friends and neighbors that I've discussed this with cannot say enough good things about these 2 theories, but they are in contradiction to the AAP and what our pediatrician told us. So, Trent & I are asking ourselves which we should follow. I'm not sure how I never knew about these things before I had him. Most other moms I talk to tell me all the research they did while they were pregnant and the plan they developed. I never did any research, reading or thinking about this subject. Now, we need a game plan. Right now, Hudson does a pretty good job eating, "playing" and then sleeping. He sleeps mostly in his crib and we tried letting him cry last night, but got him after 15min of wailing. I felt horrible for letting him lay there and cry that whole time. He stopped as soon as I picked him up and then fell asleep in his crib a bit later after reading a book and singing. If there was just someone telling you what the right thing to do was all the time. I imagine this is just the first of many parenting things that we will question and hope we're doing the right thing.
After 2 Sundays off, Trent preached yesterday. He enjoys it so much and was glad to be back into his routine of studying for his sermon and preaching. Hudson did a great job sleeping through his dad's sermon.
More pics soon...Hudson is really growing. I'm guessing at his one month check-up he'll be a very high percentile for weight, height and head circumfrence.

Adventure of the Little Bunny

As we sat during breakfast yesterday, we discussed all our plans for the day. We decided we needed a more "normal" day of getting schoolwork and housework done in addition to taking care of Hudson. Right about that time we realized there was a small animal laying on our back porch. Papias (our cat) had gone hunting and left a cute little baby bunny for us to find. The rabbit was still alive, but couldn't hop. We called around and found an animal rescue center. So, we loaded up the bunny and Hudson and drove across town to try and save this bunny. They took him in and we called today and he's doing well. It seems like he should make it. This rescue center happened to be adjacent to our favorite state park in the area. So, we decided to try the baby carrier we have and do a little hiking. Trent carried Hudson and we enjoyed a couple miles on a new trail in this state park. Our morning turned out quite different than we had planned, but it was nice. We also stopped by my work on the way home and introduced Hudson to my coworkers. I'm going back to work June 2nd.

2 weeks old

Hudson is 2 weeks old today! To celebrate, we got out a new toy that Hudson had received from Trent's siblings. It's a lay on your back and enjoy sight and sound stimulation mat. You'll see his first reaction to the mat (he was happy when I laid him down) and then he started really enjoying it.
The most common question I get asked is "How's he sleeping?" He sleeps pretty well. He eats every 2-3hrs and normally sleeps in between feedings. A couple times a day he stays awake for 1-2hrs looking at the lights, making funny faces and now playing with his toy. I feel fairly rested.
I made a huge accomplishment today...I took a 30min nap and felt refreshed when I woke up! I've never been a napper and find it difficult to fall asleep during the day. I do get down time during the day in addition to when Hudson is sleeping because Trent jumps in and takes care of Hudson. He helps with everything except feeding, including holding him when he is crying and just wants to be held, rocked, sung to or needs his diaper changed. Trent also gets up during the night with Hudson if he needs anything besides being fed. I'm very grateful to have such a caring and help initiating husband!

Reflection

At the beginning of this week I wrote about my thoughts of staying home all week with Hudson. Instead of laying low and staying home, Hudson and I were out and about the whole week. In hindsight, this was not the wisest of decisions. I didn't take any naps, but instead walked too much (I'm definitely taking after my father here) and spent 8 hours in IRS offices with Trent & Hudson trying to get our taxes finished. The good news is that our taxes are now finished, but the bad news is that it took 8 hours of running around to 3 different IRS offices with a 10 day old baby, pouring rain and I had a stomach virus. Trent and I kept saying things like "Well, at least our car is working" because that was about the only positive thing we could think of for the day. Fortunately, our taxes are done and that long day is behind us.

Trent didn't preach today or last Sunday, which was incredibly helpful. Instead of needing to devote a lot of hours to writing those sermons, he spent all the time hanging out with Hudson & me. We both got haircuts yesterday and then we watched a movie last night. We saw "Dan in Real Life" and both enjoyed it. We took Hudson to church today and he did a great job. He ate just before the service and fell asleep during the opening songs and slept straight through his first sermon (which I was pleased about).

Next week, I am looking forward to taking things slower and enjoying my time as a stay-at-home mom.

Showing his neat eye trick and wearing his new clothes from Nana


Dressed for church

Hodge Podge

Things have been going well the last couple of days. Hudson has been sleeping well, anywhere from 1-3 hours at a time. We did go to the park on Sunday and had a lovely time walking around enjoying such a beautiful spring day. Trent has been home the last couple of days for the most part, which has been nice. We're both taking a church history exam tomorrow, so we've spent the day holding Hudson and studying history. It has been hard to concentrate while holding such a cute little guy with big blue eyes staring up at us.
I also was able to plant some hyacinths in our front garden that Trent's parents and our friends Colin & Elisa gave us for Hudson's birth. It was fun to play in the dirt and get ready for summer. I'm looking forward to planting some annuals in a couple weeks.
A nurse came to visit us today to check Hudson over. This was a onetime event for Hudson's insurance. He weighed 8lbs! Everything was great except she talked to us about his breathing sounding like he had been intubated as well (the pediatrician told us this last week). It worries us, but it doesn't sound like there's anything we do about it when he's this little unless it gets worse.
Thanks to everyone who's left comments and sent e-mails, we enjoy reading them!











Puckered up:)



With our friends Suho, Younghee, and little Hyung ju


Weighing in again, this time at 8lbs!
Hudson with the hiccups

A New Normal

I decided not to go to church today to limit the number of germs Hudson is exposed to. I feel pretty good though (better each day!) and wanted to go. As Hudson and I hung out at home, I realized that for the next 8 weeks (while I'm on maternity leave) I'm a stay-at-home mom. I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I'm excited to spend so much time with Hudson. The weather is supposed to be pretty nice all week, so I'm looking forward to taking some walks and maybe venturing out to find a baby book. On the other hand, I'm nervous that I might not just love being overly busy with work, school and other activities all the time. Trent & I have always seemed to pack lots of things into our schedule and have been spontaneous with our free time. We love to just head outdoors whenever we have time. I'm realizing how much of an adjustment it's going to be to life as a parent. I'm not sure what thoughts and emotions this first week of staying home with my son is going to bring, but overall I'm looking forward to it. We are planning on going to the park this afternoon (it's a beautiful day in St. Louis :)), but can't go until Hudson eats again to maximize the window of time we have to be away. I'm sure we'll be posting pics from the park soon. Happy Sunday!

Mommy is excited to be able to wear her fleece again!

Although you can't really tell from the picture, this is Hudson's first bath at home. He hardly cried at all!

Hudson really wanted this picture in front of our WVU flag. How could we say no?

First Outing

Hudson made his first trip out this afternoon. We went to the pediatrician for a check-up. She checked him all over and Hudson got a clean bill of health. The only concern she had was that his voice was scratchy or raspy. She said he could get an ENT doctor to check it out when he's 4mo old.
He seemed to enjoy his carseat and it was a pretty nice day, so when we got home, we decided to go for our first family walk. We strolled about 15min through our neighborhood. Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful weather here, so we're looking forward to another walk tomorrow.



Reading with mommy



Working on his grip with daddy


At the pediatrician's office


Weighing in at the docs: 7lbs. 12 ounces.


Hudson says this was the torture rack. Really we're just trying to measure his length:)


Hudson gets a kiss for being so good at the doctor's office


Getting ready for his first family walk




In the hotrod with mommy behind the wheel

Welcome baby Hudson!

On March 31, 2008 at 3:48pm, Hudson Lee Casto was born. Weighing in at 7lbs. 14oz., and standing 21.5 inches tall, he's taking the world by storm (mostly while his parents are trying to sleep). Despite his nocturnal habits, we love the little guy to death and created this blog to share pictures of him with you (without filling up your e-mail). Enjoy these first pictures!