Holiday Cards...

My Sawyer will get his own post here soon...as soon as I get pictures onto the computer. But in the mean time, I am thinking about Christmas cards, as I am sure you are too! We are having our Christmas pictures made on Sunday by our brother in law, Justin www.375photography.com. If you need any kind of pictures, you should definitely call him...he's awesome! I am thinking that I might try to have Sawyer's birth announcement with our Christmas picture...this is the card I'm thinking...it's my favorite for this year http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/joy-love-story-holiday-5x7-photo-card-5x7-photo?sortType=1&fa=8&storeNode=93496. I'm thinking that we'll have one family picture and then some pictures of Sawyer around it.
One of my favorite things to get from Shutterfly is the photo books http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books. They are so easy to make and a great way to get save all your digital photos.
Check back soon for all the details about baby Sawyer and to see some great pictures by our Uncle Justin.

And if our God is with us, then what can stand against...

Back at the end of the summer, I took Hudson to have blood drawn to check his allergies. There is something called a RAST test. They take blood and then test the blood against the allergens. Hudson and I have had quite a few bad experiences with having blood drawn, so needless to say, I was dreading this test! Thankfully, my mama came with me, so I had some moral support. I didn't tell Hudson exactly what was going to happen, because I didn't want to scare him. We walked into LabCorp and they took us right back to a room. I was glad my mama was with me, because he needed to sit in someone's lap to have his blood drawn, and my midsection has been bulging a bit lately and a bit unavailable. As the lady left the room to go get something, I realized the song that was playing is that great Chris Tomlin song that has the lines...and if our God if for us, then what could ever stop us and if our God is with us, then what can stand against. I pointed it out to Hudson and we sang along for a few minutes. The lady came back in to draw the blood and explained everything she was doing. I had made Hudson drink tons and tons of water that day because I wanted to make sure they could find a good vein. Hudson watched everything she did and as the song played that our God is for us, I watched my boy sit like a champ in his grandmama's lap and have his blood drawn like it was no big deal. There wasn't even any crying, well except for me! I was so proud of that boy! Tony and I have been praying for him to outgrow these food allergies, grandparents have been praying for him to outgrow them, and we just knew he had. A few weeks later, we got the results in the mail. It didn't look so good. All of his numbers had gone up since his last RAST test, some more than others. The allergist suggested that we could try a wheat challenge where you go to the allergists office and they give the child the food that they have previously been allergic to...in small doses...building up to a bigger dose and they watch for any allergic reactions. It takes about 2 hours and it was quite boring. Hudson and I didn't know what to expect, so it seemed like we were there forever! They begin by doing a skin test. Then, he got to eat the tiniest piece of a Wheat Thin I have ever seen! Every 10 minutes, they came back, checked him and gave him a little more cracker. These pictures are of the skin test and then his first time trying the Wheat Thin.

Our 2 hours were well spent, b/c my boy had no reaction and he can now eat wheat! Praise our Lord! I really can't say how life changing this has been for our family! We have had sandwiches as a family meal...BIG deal for us! Hudson got to eat his first hamburger in a BUN! This boy is a hamburger fanatic, but has always just eaten the meat, with no bread, and he got to have a bun! I discovered that Oreos don't have milk, and that was one of the first wheat things we all ate together. They(all the kiddies) LOVED them! A month later, we tried an egg challenge and he was pretty allergic to the raw egg on the skin test, but he had no reaction to it baked in the muffins we took. So, my boy can now eat wheat and eggs cooked in things. Wheat has to be the biggest deal because it is in EVERYTHING! My next big prayer is that he will outgrow the milk allergy...that's in a lot of things too! However, we have had a serious life change over here at the Dudish house! We are thrilled beyond words and thankful to our God for allowing our boy to eat wheat! (The night after the test, when we were having macaroni, I think, Hudson came in the kitchen and very seriously said to me..."Mommy, are you sure Finley and Walker can eat the wheat?" and I said of course they can, why..."Because, Mommy, they didn't go to the doctor and have the wheat challenge!" Such a sweet boy, thinking about his brother and sister, and I love that they all just think they have the same allergies!)

Hudson's FIVE!!!

I can't believe I've waited this long to post this about Hudson's birthday party! I put some of these pictures in a post at least a month ago, and I am just now getting back to it! This was one of the most fun birthday party's we have had. Parties are always fun when you use a little creativity and things you already have! There are lots and lots of pictures, so I am going to tell about the party up here and then you can scroll down and see all the fun! The boys usually come up with a birthday theme quite a while before their birthday, and Hudson wanted to have a super hero party. Originally, he just wanted boys and their daddy's, but I convinced him that there needed to be girl superheroes there too! We decided to have it at Grayson Park, where you can reserve a pavillion for free! I made the superhero capes out of an old sheet, ribbon I already had, scrap material and sticky felt I bought. I made their letters out of the die cut machine at school and traced them on the felt. The wrist bands were a last minute entry and I just cut them out of felt that I had on hand and used velcro I already had for the closures. The masks and crowns were made from a pack of foam I bought at the dollar store!

To start the party, I sat all the kids down at one of the picnic tables and asked them if they were ready for some super hero training in order to become super heroes. Their eyes lit up and they were ready to go. My sweet Tony had agreed to be our "super villain" for the day, and he ran up and said he was going to try to ruin the birthday fun. He dropped some balloons that I told the kids were bombs and they needed to diffuse by jumping on them and popping them! After they completed this task, they received their wrist bands. Next, I told them we needed to do some training like super heroes and climb the rock wall at the park...like Spiderman, and then go across the bridge and fly down the slides...like Superman. When they completed this task, they were rewarded with their very own cape. Next, the supervillain was back with what he thought would zap all of their superpowers...kryptonite (rocks I had spray painted green). But, we were ready! The kids had to use kitchen tongs to pick up the kryptonite and put it in our hazardous waste container. I told them if they touched it with their hands, they would lose their superpowers, and they needed those to help stop the super villain. After the kryptonite was disposed of, they were rewarded with their best defense against the super villain, their masks or crowns. I told them that this hides their identity. Finally, the super villain came back one more time and said he knew how to take all of the birthday fun...he was going to destroy the CAKE. I quickly gave them each a water gun and they took off running after the super villain. they caught him by surrounding him and squirting him with their water guns. Then, the police (my brother dressed in some police gear from my friend Christa) came and took the super villain to jail. The super heroes had won! They were all so excited! We put the water guns away and played on the playground for a while before the cake. After the cake, we had our homemade pinata to break. I didn't do favor bags, we just made bags for them to put their treats from the pinata in, and of course, they got to keep all of their super hero gear! Most importantly, my boy enjoyed his 5th birthday party, and hopefully it will be one he will remember for many years to come! I have to say a special thanks to two of my girls in my youth small group from church...Kelci and Brittany. They spent the night with me the night before and helped me finish last minute preps for the party. Kelci made all the masks and crowns and Brit made all the treat bags! They also were great sounding boards for how to get that cake looking pretty cool!

5 Things I've learned about being a Parent

Hudson Isaiah Dudish turned 5 last Monday, and it's gotten me thinking about the fact that I've been a Mommy for 5 years. The past 5 years really have flown by and I am so thankful that I get to be Hudson's Mommy. In no particular order, these are some things I've learned about being a parent...

1. You have to pick your battles. Sometimes, you just have to let little things go...like wearing socks with croc shoes, which looks ridiculous! Now, I'm no fashion diva, but I want my kids to look decent and NOT ridiculous. However, the crocs with socks is a battle that if pushed to it, I just let slide. I think part of the battle picking is to have a good radar of where your child's head is at the time. You know, sometimes you can easily persuade a child to do what you want and other's it would be a fight...that's when I choose not to fight over silly things.

2. What works for one child might not work for another. I'm not saying that I parent my children totally differently, but a look can break Walker's heart, while not so much for Hudson. It's part of the parenting to find out what works best for each child and try to parent them in that way.

3. Listen to advice from other people...and do what works best for your own family. In five years, I have heard all kinds of different advice, from how to sleep train your infant to how to nurse them, to when they should start eating, etc, etc, etc. What works for one family just might not fit into your lifestyle, personality and just how you want to do things. So, pick and choose the advice you want to take from others or even baby help books.

4. The person who coined the phrase "terrible two's" had apparently not met a three year old. Seriously...the three's are much harder in our family than two's. Period.

5. It is the hardest job I've ever had, and positively the most rewarding. You surely have to be super flexible and willing to change your plans at the drop of a hat (at least that's how it goes over here). There is no way I could parent alone, and I am so thankful for all the help of Tony Dudish. There is also no way I would even know where to begin being a parent if I didn't have the Bible and a direct line to talk to God...for the times when I'm about to go insane as well as the times when I am bubbling over and oozing out with all the love and gratefulness that I get to parent these little ones God has entrusted in my care.

I love love love being a Mommy and really am so thankful that I get to parent my littles!

For Paige...

This past year at school, I got to work with a sweet gal, Paige. I also got to see her on Wednesdays when she led the 9th grade girls small group and I did all the other gals. She always tried speaking to the littles at church, but they were always a little shy and didn't really talk to her. But, as the year went on, Hudson warmed up and would hug and speak to her. At the end of the school year, she said she wanted to come and visit us. I told Hudson and he asked every day for at least the first two weeks of summer if Miss Paige was coming today. Sometime in July, we finally nailed down the day she would come. The night before, Hudson went potty and came back and told me that he had prayed for Miss Paige. When I asked him what he prayed, he said that God would protect her and she would get to our house the next day! Sweetness! She stayed with us a few hours, played a fish game with the boys and just fellowshiped with us a while...we tried pictures at the end...Walker was kinda done! :)

Summer

We have been having a busy summer at the Dudish house! Tony and I went to youth camp with our youth from church and left the littles with my parents for the week. We had a great time and so did the kiddies. Although, when we returned Finley let it be know and quite loudly that she was not happy that I had left her for so long. She was then attached to me for the next week...which I actually spent back in Commerce with my parents because the day after we brought the kids home, the upstairs A/C went out...so off we went. Our compressor ended up being broken and so we replaced the entire unit which is now bigger and works a lot better than the old one that we've had to fix each summer since moving into this house!

Last week, the kids and I went up to my new classroom to work for a few hours and the kids had a blast playing in the housekeeping area of the room. I took a snack and they were all happy!

Tony's sweet sister and her husband, Lori and Justin took Tony and I on a last hoorah?? before summer is over. We left Sunday morning at 8 and drove to Savannah, had lunch, walked around, napped, had dinner...at the Crab Shack (best crab legs I've ever had) and spent the night at a sweet hotel across from River Street. We all got up early the next morning and drove to Tybee Island and spent a few hours on the beach...then back to the hotel to shower and pack before check out time. We walked around a little more, ate lunch at Uncle Bubba's-Paula Deen's brother...super yummy food! Then we headed back home to meet our littles who had spent another night with grandmama! We had a great time with Lori and Justin and are so thankful that they took us along on their trip! Thank you, Lori and Justin!

Summer fun

At the end of last summer, I found a fun Safari pool on clearance at Target. I was super excited about the great deal! I pulled it out today and started blowing it up. After it took 15 minutes to blow up the zebra slide, I kinda thought that I wasn't going to blow up the entire thing. I called Lori and asked if Justin had a hand held pump. He came over and it took about 20 minutes to pump with the hand held thing...seriously, I would've passed out trying to blow the entire pool up. The boys were so excited, they could not wait to get in. So, thanks to our Uncle Justin, we were able to play in our pool! And...as much as the boys loved it, Finley was not quite as enthusiastic about the baby pool. You can't tell in the picture, but she was letting me know she did not like it!