No more bottle!

I was always that parent that said, "When I have a baby they wont do this, or that." Turns out you feel a lot different when you actually become a parent. Who would have known. ;) hehe Anyways, I always said that by age 1, the bottle was gone. Well Tucker just turned 2 and we just got rid of his bottle this week. He still had a bottle just at bedtime and nap time and he was really attached to it. Even if it just had water in it he wanted it. We tried to take it away a while ago and he cried for over an hour and still didn't go to sleep. I thought it was going to be such a long process and I am SO happy to say that it only took three days of crying for only about 10 minutes each day and WE ARE DONE WITH THE BOTTLE! :) My plan was set for his first birthday and he was teething so bad that it was the only thing that calmed him down and got him to sleep at all at night so we felt bad. He has only ever had it at bedtime, never while just being awake and he has never been attached to a pacifier or anything. After his second birthday I decided that was it. I thought it would be harder but he goes right to sleep after just a few nights without it. Life is so much easier without worrying about the bottle. This is now our 4Th night bottle free! My baby is growing up so fast. :( Here is a favorite bottle moment!

I did it!!

Ok. So I told you all earlier how today was the day we were getting serious about potty training (for the second time). I won't lie. Today I was almost at the point where I was ready to give up. I started off first thing this morning letting Tucker be naked. A shirt on to keep him warm and that was it. I figured if he didnt have the security of having something there that he would go to the potty. I had been following him around the house for a couple hours asking him over and over if he had to go potty. Then my friend stopped by to drop off her daughter (I babysit for her) and of course I turn around after 1 min of not asking him and he has peed all over our floor. Our carpeted floor at that. I was frustrated yet continue to let him stay naked because I believe consistancy is the key. I am determined to get him potty trained this time. I kept giving him fluids throughout the day and reminding him of his special prize (the new hot wheel) that he would get if he went on the potty. He did not have one accident all day, but he also did not pee on the potty all day. I gave him a bath (where he might have went pee) and then put him to bed. Then I heard from his room, " Mommy!! Need to potty!" He apparently decided it would be a good excuse to get out of bed and...he was right. I got him up and set him on the potty. We waited for about ten mintutes and I walked out of the bathroom for a second and heard the potty playing its little song it plays when he goes! I ran in there and we danced and shouted YAY!! He was so proud of himself. I kept telling him, "you did it!" He would yell back at me, " I did it!" It was such a proud moment for both of us and I am hoping this will pave the way for the next days to come! I captured the "I did it" moment!

This is him saying, "I did it!" :)

In this one you can tell how excited and proud he was by how he is clasping his little hands together!

" The Joys (or not) of Potty Training"

So, we started introducing Tucker to potty traning at a fairly young age. Right about the time he started walking we got excited and started puting him on the potty. He went on the potty a few times but only because I would catch him right before the act and set him on there and he would go. I decided that the first time around (the first time that we were actually really serious about it) that he was too young. He just didn't understand what we were trying to get him to do and would get very upset and frustrated with me. He was around 1-1 1/2.

(This picture helps explain the frustration hehe)

We are now back into it full force and hoping to have better luck this time. He is such a stubborn little guy! He understands ALL of his bodily functions now and tells me all throughout the day everytime he is going. I have tried all the tricks, candy in the jar, new toys, even puting hot wheels (which are his favorite things ever) into a bucket and letting him pick a new one every time he goes potty. Nothing is working so far. The next approach I am taking (which Im not looking forward to because we have carpet all through the house) is letting him run around "bare down there". I am hoping this will do the trick! So far today we have already had an accident on the floor! Hoping for better luck as the days go by. Wish us luck! :)

Fall Festivities

I get more and more excited for the holiday season every year now that we have Tucker. Each year he understands it all a little more and has a lot more fun. Tucker and I baked together for the first time in October and we made Halloween cupcakes! It was actually his idea. We passed a baking isle in the store and he saw the pictures of the cupcakes on the boxes and the sprinkles and he asked for them. We had so much fun!! He LOVED puting the svrinkles (sprinkles), as he calls them, on. Here are a few picures of our cupcake making fun!!

The next fall festivity that we took part in was pumking carving! This was such a fun night! We went over to my Aunt Denise's house and it turned out to be quite the family event! Tucker has never been very fond of having messing hands so I wasn't sure how he was going to react to touching the pumkin "goo". This picture pretty much says it all. Needless to say, he did not touch the "goo". lol

Even though pumking carving may not be Tucker's favorite thing, it will still remain to be one of my favorite fall events. Here are all of our finished pumpkins!

(Kayla, Doc, Chrissy, Tucker (which obviously we did for him), Denise and boys, Mine, and Phil's)

Every year Phil goes back and forth about wanting to dress up and by the time he makes up his mind, its always too late to try to find costumes so this year we did not dress up. I was bummed and I decided that from now on I will just go ahead and find us costumes in advance. I asked Tucker a couple of months ago what he wanted to be for Halloween. I had no idea that he even knew what I was talking about. Then he looked and me and replied, " A Wion (lion)." He went back and forth between a lion and a turtle for a little while but since I knew that it was going to be hard to find a turtle costume I just went ahead and started searching for a lion costume. I found one that I loved online but I could only find it in one size bigger than his actual size. Since I loved the costume so much I decided to go ahead and take the chance of it not fitting and ordered the costume. It ended up fitting perfectly and I am so glad that I got it. I was so excited to take Tucker trick-or-treating this year. Somehow I just knew he was going to love it. Maybe it was the fact that he loves chocolate, that he had already known that he wanted to be a lion months in advance, or that he had been practicing saying trick-or-treat for over a month. ;) We decided to stick to one little neighborhood so that he wouldn't have to walk too far and I was so surprised at how much candy he got. His bag weighed probably 3 lbs or more. Here are some pics of trick-or-treating fun.

(He wasn't real excited about the makeup lol)

(Tucker and Auntie Jess)

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!!

Love,

The Hudgens

How We Became The Hudgens

As you probably already know, since you are on the blog, my name is Ashley Hudgens. I wanted to do a little blurb on how we became the Hudgens family. This is a very simplified version of our story.

Phil and I met in December of 2005 through mutual friends. He asked me out on a date shortly after. Following that first date we spent almost every day together. We always had fun together whether we were going out with friends or hanging out at home and watching movies. After dating for about 9 months or so we decided to get an apartment together. At that time Phil was working in the security department at Walmart and I was working as a teller at Wells Fargo. We lived in the apartment for about two years and we decided to rent a small house for more space.

We were only there for a short time but it was in that house, in February of 2008 when we learned that we were pregnant with our sweet baby boy.

In June of 2008 we bought our first home together which was one of the best decisions we have ever made!! We have really enjoyed having our own home.

One of the things we were most excited about was decorating the nursery and bringing our brand new baby home to our new house! I spent the next 4 months after we moved in getting all of the baby's stuff ready for his arrival.

On October 20, 2008 we Finally got to meet our precious baby boy Tucker Lee Hudgens. We couldn't have been happier or more excited. He is by far the best thing that has EVER happen to us! He has brought more joy into our lives than we could have ever imagined!!

After being together 3 years Phil and I FINALLY (hehe) got engaged in February of 2009 and were married that same month on February 18, 2009. It was such a wonderful day filled with great memories that we will always cherish.


That is how we became the Hudgens family! Thank you for visiting our blog and I will have more posts that keep you updated on our life!!