Christmas and Seven Months

Hard to believe Christmas and New Years have come and gone and Sweet Sully is SEVEN Months old!  Wow how time flies!

 

We had a wonderful Holiday but so much went on I am going to take the lazy way out and just do bullet points!

 

Christmas:

• We went to see Santa pretty early which was nice b/c we didn't have to wait in line.  Sullivan loved Santa.  She just grinned ear to ear and ynked his beard.  Hudson wanted nothing to do with him but we forced it and we have yet another Santa picture of Hudson looking tortured!  Haha...oh well...memories!
• Hudson had a big time this year with her Elf on the Shelf.  She named him "Baby Elfy" (shocking) and loved finding him every morning.  He didn't get into much trouble this year since he had to hide out of her reach so she wouldn't be tempted to touch him!
• We started our week long Christmas Celebration by heading out to Opryland to visit ICE - Shrek the Halls and to look at all the lights.  It was a lot of fun although Hudson had a little meltdown inside ICE b/c she really wanted to do the ice slide but was also too scared so after 6 or 7 trips up to the top (and walks back down), we decided to cut our losses and finish the tour.
• A few days later, we headed down to Atlanta for Halter Christmas.  It was a fun filled 4 days with lots of cousin time.  We celebrated Friday night with a big Christmas Eve dinner and opening presents.  With a 9, 7, 4, 2 year old and 6 month old...it was chaotic but totally awesome at the same time.  Hudson LOVES (kind of an understatement) her cousins and they are very sweet to both she and Sullivan.  This trip featured a massive cousin wrestle-mania and Hudson loved every second of it...you will see what I am talking about in the pictures.
• We headed back to Nashville on Saturday but not before making "Gingerbread" house out of graham crackers and visiting with my best friends, husbands and babies.  The Boyles were coming through town from Austin to NC and the Websters were coming down to ATL from Knoxville so we were lucky enough to get everyone together!  Between the three of us we now have 5 kiddos and Rach and Doug have the only boy...Sweet Will.  He has his hands full for sure!

Sully, Santa and Frosty

Four Generations on Christmas

Family pic in Atlanta

MamMam and Sully

Best friends and babies...awesome!

Picture break in the middle of WWF

• When we got back to town we only had a few days before Christmas day so we finished up our shopping and relaxed a little.
• Christmas Eve we made Santa cookies, headed to church for the kids service and then drove around and looked at some Christmas lights, headed home and made pizzas for dinner (our new annual tradition).
• Christmas Day started out with Santa of course...he leaves his gifts here unwrapped and on display...but he also fills stockings too!  So the girls came down and saw their gifts and opened their stockings, then we took a breakfast break and opened the rest of our gifts. Hudson was not sold on the Santa thing - especially the part about him coming in our house.  She wanted Daddy to get the presents from Santa and bring them.  But now that she has seen what Santa is all about...She seems to like him.  If you ask her what he brought she opens her arms real wide and says "all the toys"
• Both girls took a long nap and we waited for Grandma and Grandpa Frericks and Aunt Kelly to arrive for Round 2 of presents.
• We had a long day of gifts and playing with our new stuff and finished the day with Christmas dinner.

Christmas Eve...Sully was not in the mood

Cutest sock monkey....thanks Aunt Kelly



Hudson displayed all her stocking stuff...so my child!

New Years Eve:

• We had a fun NYE with the Kopfs and Roses.
• Everyone came over for potluck dinner, football, and watching the kiddos play.
• Hudson and AB had a big time and Mills and Sully even rocked out for a little while too.
• We are so lucky to have such great friends with great kiddos.  It was a night full of lots of laughs for sure.

Hudson:

• Hudson is still wild and crazy as ever.  She is still taking gymnastics and loves it.
• She is big into singing and dressing up which is pretty funny.  She rarely leaves the house without some sort of hat and her sparkly shoes - or "farkle" shoes as she calls them.
• She still loves Mickey Mouse and friends and has started getting into Princesses.  Right now the only one she knows is Cinderella so I am trying to avoid the madness that is all Disney Princesses...we shall see!
• She is still having so much fun with our Nanny Jen and loves when she comes over just to play with Hudson of course.
• Now that she is over 2 we only go to the Doctor once a year so we don't have her latest measurements but I will tell you that she is too heavy to carry around...haha!  And she wears a 3 or 4T pant...so she is a tall one!
• We love taking trips to the Science Center and she and Tom have a big time swimming at the indoor Y pool.  She and Jen also spend a lot of time at Monkey Joes, Bounce U and Sky High Sports....can you tell she has a lot of energy to burn!

Sullivan:

• Sweet Sully turned 7 months old this week.  Her doctor's appointment last week was cancelled last minute so we won't know her new stats till next Wednesday but I will update when I get them.
• She started crawling the week of Christmas and has not stopped.  She is so happy now that she is mobile and can really cover some ground when she gets going.
• The day after she started crawling, she also started pulling up...she isn't too steady on her feet but she tries so hard!
• Earlier this month she also got one of her top front teeth and her other front tooth is about to come in any day now.
• She LOVES LOVES LOVES to eat.  She gets so excited for real food and literally shrieks at you if you don't feed her fast enough.
• She is a good sleeper and typically sleeps from 8pm until 6:30am.  She isn't a great napper but we usually get at least one from her every day.
• She also LOVES Jen and they have a big time together - especially on Wednesday when big sister is at school.
• Sully LOVES Hudson too.  She just lights up when she sees Hudson...it is so sweet.
• Now that she is mobile she is all about big sister's stuff so that is getting interesting...we have been talking a lot about sharing!!!

I guess that is about it.  About the only other thing going on is our sweet Maysie tore her ACL.  It happened about a month ago and we finally got her brace.  After much deliberation we decided to forgo surgery and just use a brace to get her back to as close as normal as possible...not having an ACL of course.  We got it today and it took a little getting used to but I think she is already putting more weight on her leg...so fingers crossed it works for us!  Anyone that knows Mays, knows that she is a Saint and lets the girls do just about anything to her without moving a muscle to we hated to see her in pain!

I guess that is all for now.  I thought I would share these little clips with you all.  Here is Hudson with her version of Jingle Bells (her new favorite song) and a short clip of Sully crawling...she is much faster now but this was the only one I could get on video.

We hope everyone had a great Holiday and that your 2013 is off to a great start! 

 

As always here are some pictures from our last month or so...warning - there are over 400 of them so feel free to skim quickly!

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Thanksgiving and Six Months

So happy!

Happy Happy Half Birthday to Sweet Sully.  As you can see she is super smiley these days!  She is getting so big and learning to do so many things so fast...it is crazy.  She is all about sitting up and can even push up from laying down into the seated position.  She is SO close to crawling and gets so frustrated when she gets up on all fours but then can't go anywhere...so any day now she will figure it out...then we will be in trouble!

 

  The past month has flown by for sure and I can't believe it is almost Christmas!  We got our decorations up this past weekend and are getting our tree this coming weekend so that will be super fun!

Her favorite hang out

We have had a productive last few weeks that included potty training, Thanksgiving and much more. 

 

It started with me running the Hard Rock Cafe 1/2 marathon!  I was talked into it by Jen, our nanny, and then convinced my good friend Heidi to do it with me.  With only about 3 weeks to train we sucked it up and finished under our goal time...which was WAY slower than the last 1/2 marathon I ran but I figured after having 2 babies...just finishing was pretty good.  Tom and the girls made signs and met us along the way and also at the finish line.  Hudson was so cute and of course just wanted my medal...haha!

 

The next weekend was Potty Training Boot Camp!  And it was a long one!  Being locked in the house for 3 days straight was tough but worth it in the end.  After cleaning up lots of accidents and handing out lots of stickers and blow pops, I can say that we are officially potty trained!  She has had a few accidents over the past few weeks but that is to be expected and I am proud to say that she has even used numerous public toilets which is pretty impressive!

 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving up in Bowling Green this year.  Hudson got to have lots of Grandma/Grandpa (or as she calls them G-Pa and G-Ma) time and we did a lot of playing outside enjoying the 60+ degree weather.  We spent Thanksgiving morning at the park/playground and Hudson just loved the ducks (and geese...right Aunt Kelly?!?) and of course she went crazy on the awesome playground.

Feeding the ducks on Thanksgiving

Sully loved being outside too.  She just took it all in from the Baby Bjorn of course and went along for the ride...as she always does!

Sully and Daddy

Sully and Hudson are so sweet together.  Hudson is very gentle and nice with Sully and Sully just lights up when she see Hudson.  It is awesome.  Here is a sister picture that was too cute not to post.

Sisters!

After Thanksgiving, Tom was all ready to decorate for Christmas but I just couldn't bring myself to put anything up until at least December 1st.  So this past weekend we were all about the holiday spirit.  We took the girls to see Santa on Friday.  Sully nailed it!  Hudson...not so much!  Evidence below...

Sully is pumped about Santa

If we only had one child...

But this is what we got instead...haha

We busted out all of our decorations and even put up our very first Christmas Village.  It's not as good as SueSue's but for our first try it's not bad!  Hudson loves it and of course has already pulled the snowman and several of the trees off!  But oh well, what did we expect with a two year old who is too tall for her own good!

Christmas Decorations are up

Tom read the Elf on the Shelf to Hudson and we told her all about the Elf and his magical powers.  She named him "Baby" and was so excited when she found him this morning.  He started on the mantle and ended up hugging a bottle of Makers - of course!

Daddy reading the Elf Story and introducing our Elf "Baby"

That is about all for now. After we get our Tree we will be all set for Christmas and have a Pre-Christmas trip planned to Atlanta to celebrate with the Halters.  We hope everyone has a great Christmas and we will post after the Holidays!!

 

As always here are some more pictures of our adventures:

 http://thefrericksofnashville.shutterfly.com/
 

Halloween and Five Months Old

Happy Five Months

We have had a crazy past two weeks.  After Hudson's birthday we didn't have much time to get ready for Halloween! Which we were all super excited for!  On top of that...Sullivan turned 5 months old...can you tell she is excited!

 

We took a trip to Lucky Ladd Farms out in Franklin.  It was kind of a haul but totally worth it and according to Tom, he is not sure who had more fun...me or Hudson?  They had so much fun stuff to do like feeding the animals (including fainting goats - my favorite), slides, bouncy balls, tire swings, hayrides, a train pulled by a tractor, and much more.  It was kind of a cold day so we only stayed for about an hour and half but next year I think we are going to make a day of it!  Since it was the weekend before Halloween, they were also selling their pumpkins - All you can carry for $20.  You had to carry them 20 feet and well let's just say Tom has really long arms so we made the most of it.  He claims he could have carried more but we didn't really need more than 6 pumpkins!

Lucky Ladd Farms

Sweet Sully was such a trooper.  Her little face was frozen but she just hung out in the Baby Bjorn the whole time and took it all in.  I tried to get her sitting with the pumpkins but this was the best I could do!

Sully was such a trooper

Then of course it was time for Halloween!  Hudson was very excited to be dressing up as Minnie Mouse and we had been practicing ringing the doorbell and what she would say, etc.  She had it down and got VERY into trick-or-treating.  She said "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" at every house and then out of nowhere starting telling people "Happy Halloween".  It was awesome.  Sully of course just took it all in but made one really cute Chic-fil-a cow!

Happy Halloween from the Chic-fil-a cow...

And Minnie Mouse of course

Our neighborhood gets a little into Halloween. We have a kids parade and it is so fun.  We invited some friends over this year to go with us and we had a blast.  As you can see...we also had the cutest ladybug EVER at our house...Mills!

Sweetest ladybug around

Trying to get a picture of all the kiddos was like trying to herd cats but here is the best we got - AB the Lamb, The sweet ladybug (who nailed every picture), Minnie Mouse and the cow.

In about 15 years...this crew is going to be TROUBLE

I just love this picture from Halloween....we were headed to the parade and Hudson didn't want to put her ears on...so Tom did instead!

Best Halloween Memory!

That is about all for now.  We don't have much planned in November until Thanksgiving so we hope you all had a great Halloween and here are the rest of the pictures from our farm and Halloween adventures!

 

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A Birthday and a Baptism

It is safe to say that we have had a jam packed past month!  It started with a trip to Atlanta for Rachael's Baby Shower.  She was so sweet to include both girls, so we had a girls trip down for a long weekend.  We had so much fun at the shower and even got to see Reed play tee-ball and PJ play baseball.  It was a fun, exciting weekend for sure.

We got back from that road trip and had two weeks to plan for our HUGE weekend of fun.  This past weekend we celebrated not only Hudson turning TWO but also Sullivan being baptized.  Talk about a packed weekend...but we survived and I think everyone had a blast!

Hudson's party was of course Mickey Mouse Themed. 
Here are some pictures of the decorations and party:

Hudson Turns Two - she loved her giant Mickey balloon!

The Frericks

Mickey's Chicken, Toodles Tater Tots, Hot Diggity Dogs and Friendly Fruit Salad

Doodle with Toodles Coloring Station

Hudson's Clubhouse

Leave a Note for the Birthday Girl

Play Area - Charlie doing a demo...

Goodie Bags

Welcome from Mickey

Oh Toodles

Decorating Mickey Cookies

Mickey Cookie Cake

Flying on her Birthday

 We had a great party and were so blessed to have all of our family and friends join us. As you can see the kids had a great time decorating cookies, coloring at the Doodle with Toodles Station and of course jumping in the bouncy house (Thanks to the Kopfs for letting us borrow it).  I think the picture below tells you just how much fun Hudson had!  And Sully too!

Safe to say she had fun...

And so did Sully

After we cleaned up and recovered from the Birthday Party...Sullivan was baptized on Sunday.  It worked out great so that both of our families could be in town for the whole weekend and not miss out on any of the events.  It was such a special day and Sullivan did awesome.  As soon as Pastor Jones baptized her, she fell right asleep before he could even walk her down the aisle.  She was so sweet.  Of course Hudson had to steal the show again.  She got down out of my arms and sat down in the middle of the stairs in the front of the church and proceeded to talk to everyone on the front row and play with her dress...never a dull moment!

Sully's Big Day

 We had a nice lunch at our house for our families and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

The Frericks

 Now that we survived the weekend o' fun....it is time to get ready for Halloween and Sullivan turning FIVE months old.  Here is a little update on both girls:

Trying to Crawl

Sullivan:

• She has two bottom middle teeth
• She gets to start baby food this week
• She is trying so hard to crawl and sit up on her own (as you can see above)
• She still loves her activity center
• She is getting better about sleeping - she either sleeps through the night or does 6 hours, eats and then another 4-5 hours
• Her new stats are: Length - 26 inches (>97th%), Weight - 15lbs, 10.5oz (80%)



So big!

Hudson:

• She is still as wild and crazy as ever
• She is loving having Jen keep her and really likes her new Mother's Day Out School on Wednesdays
• She talks NONSTOP (like her daddy) and is doing really well with using sentences - some with 4 and 5 words in them
• She loves singing her ABCs and Old McDonald and is learning her shapes (she told me the moon was a circle the other day...)
• She is obsessed with Mickey Mouse and all his pals
• She loves to kick the soccer ball and throw the football
• She still loves to dance of course
• She sleeps really well but is an early riser - usually between 5:30 and 6:00am
• Some of her new favorite foods are cantaloupe, quiche, grapes, cereal bars, peas and hot dogs/sausage of course
• Her new stats are: Height - 36.5 in (>97%), Weight - 33lbs (97%)

That is about all for now.  I will post again soon since we are headed out to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend and Halloween is next week!  I am excited to see the girls in their costumes!

Here are some pictures from our past month, including the Birthday and Baptism weekend:

http://thefrericksofnashville.shutterfly.com/pictures

I apologize in advance...there are a lot  of pictures in this album!

Four Months Old!

 

Four Months!

Our sweet Sully is officially 4 months old today!  Hard to believe it has been that long!  She has had a big month this past month and is growing up so fast! 

We have been trying to enjoy these last few weeks of summer/fall by getting outside and doing as much as we can.  We have been to Centennial Park to feed the geese and play on the playground, we went to the Greek Festival and had some good Greek food and jumped in the bouncy house and even went to watch our friend Karli play soccer at Lipscomb.  I am also coaching a 3rd grade soccer team so Hudson has been helping me at practice and games on the weekends.  She just loves to play with the "big" girls.  Hudson loves being outside so we are trying to do as much as we can before it starts to get chilly.

We are finally settled into our new routine with me being back at work, awesome Jen coming to keep the girls and Tom hitting the road for work again.  He has been travelling quite a bit lately and was even gone for seven straight days when a work trip backed right into a guys trip to the Notre Dame v. Michigan game.  Of course wouldn't you know it that the one week Tom is gone...Sully decides to have a huge week of growing up.  On the same day, right on her 3 1/2 month birthday she ROLLED OVER and got her very first tooth.  Two days later...she got her second tooth!  I was at work but thankfully sweet Jen was able to catch the roll over on video so Tom and I could see it when we got home!  Please notice Big Sister trying to help and then of course cheering for her!

 

For any of you that have met Hudson...you know she is FULL of energy  Literally going nonstop from 5:30am until 9pm.  Some days we are lucky to get a long nap but usually 45 min is about all we can hope for!  So we have been trying all sorts of things to help burn that energy.  Jen and Hudson have been to the zoo a few times and even hit up Monkey Joes and the Science Center.  A few weekends ago on a rainy day we decided to try out Sky High Sports - a warehouse full of trampolines - they literally cover ever inch and even go up the walls.  Needless to say it was SO fun.  I am not sure who has more fun...Me or Hudson!  Hudson still goes to Gymboree once a week but we are about to switch her over to real gymnastics.  She did a trial class last weekend and absolutely loved it!  There were trampolines, foam pits, rings to swing on...it was little kid heaven!  So I think we are going to get her started with that next month.

 

As I mentioned Hudson has been helping me coach my soccer team and as you can see in the video below...I think she is picking up a few things!  I especially love the header at the end...she does that all the time now..just throws it up and heads it!  No fear with that one...

 

That is about all for now.  We have a big month coming up.  The girls and I are headed to Atlanta this weekend for Rachael's Baby Shower and to watch PJ play baseball and Reedo play tee ball and then in just a few weeks we will be celebrating Hudson's 2nd Birthday and Sullivan's Baptism all on the same weekend!  It is going to be jam packed for sure!

 

Both girls go for their 2 year and 4 month check-ups in a few weeks also so I will let you know how big they are both getting!

 

As always check out our website for pictures from our recent adventures:

 

http://thefrericksofnashville.shutterfly.com/

Three Months Old Already...

Three Months Old

I can't believe Sweet Sully is already three months old!  She is such a big girl and is getting so grown up.  She can hold her head up all the time now and can even roll over (from front to back).  She has started smiling, giggling and cooing all the time now.  She is getting better about sleeping (just wakes up once a night or less) and is just such a laid back baby.

Caught a smile on camera

Doesn't she have the best smile?  Her whole face lights up...I just love it.

 

We have had a busy past month.  I started back to work - BOOO!  Our new nanny Jen started and Hudson is loving her.  They play babies all the time, go to the playground, go to the pool - and that was just the first two weeks!  I know Hudson and Sully are just going to love her! 

 

Since we hired Jen, Hudson is no longer going to The Academy.  But since she loves school so much we wanted to keep her going somewhere so she started Mother's Day Out at Judson Baptist and was so excited about her first day.  Ok so she was excited about carrying a backpack and lunch bag...not sure she cared about school.  But she had a great day and the teachers said she did wonderfully so that is nice to know.

First day at our new school

We enjoyed a nice extra long trip to the lake for Labor Day.  It started off a little rainy thanks to Hurricane Isaac so SueSue, Sully, Hudson and I ventured to Cleveland, GA.  The Home of Cabbage Patch Kids.  That is where Babyland General is located and I am pretty sure Hudson thought she had died and gone to heaven.  SO MANY babies and supplies all on her level...she went nuts!  We even found this little Cabbage Patch kid just hanging out in a cabbage!

Cabbage patch kid?

We also got to play with the new couch tube at the lake!  This thing is amazing.  It seats 8 comfortably - even Tom fits on it.  Hudson loved it and rode it by herself with just PJ and Charlie.  She seriously has no fear.  She swims like a fish and is not afraid to jump off the dock or swim in the deep water all by herself in her life jacket.  It is so much fun to watch her!

Loving the new couch tube

Of course Labor Day means the start of College football and as you can see Tom and Sully are pumped.  Game day gear and Game face on for the ND game.  It was a good weekend all around b/c UGA, FSU and ND all won!  Thank goodness!

Game Day...focused

Labor Day at the lake also means we got to celebrate Charlie's birthday!  We had a great time with him and all of our cousins.  To say that Hudson LOVES her cousins is an understatement.  She may have a small obsession.  But they are so sweet to her and let her follow them around and even played babies with her!  

Cousins!

We have had many other adventures in the past month or so.  We went to the Science Center - where Hudson climbed to the top of the building and went down the twisty slide all by herself.  We have enjoyed the pool and the playground also.

 

Hudson is getting so big and smart these days.  Her vocabulary is out of control and she can just about sing the entire ABC song.  I will try to get it on video soon.  She still loves to dance and is obsessed with playing babies!  It is very sweet to watch her feed, burp and change her babies diapers.  She also still LOVES Sully.  She gets so excited when she sees her and is all about giving her kisses and hugs!  I took this sweet picture at the end of our 6 hour drive yesterday.  Hudson knew we were getting close to home and Sullivan was crying and she just reached over and held her hand for about the last 20 minutes!  It was so cute!

Sisters!

That is all for now.  We go back to the doctor next month so I will be sure to send some updates on how much the girls are growing!  Hard to believe Hudson will be TWO next month!

Here are some pictures from our adventures:

http://thefrericksofnashville.shutterfly.com/