The New Kid On The Block

(if you were a teenager during NKOTB madness chances are you are now humming "You've got the right stuff, baby...")

Ryan McCord Hudspeth arrived Monday, November 10th at 7:26pm. He weighed in a 7 lbs. 14 oz. and measured 21 and a quarter inches long.

We are so excited and can't wait to meet him! Congratulations Hudspeth Family!

This kid already smiles and keeps his eyes open for pictures. Way ahead of the curve.

Up, Up, Up and Away!

I promised that I would right a post about our trip to Balloon Fiesta. Here it is!

I have been trying to make it to this balloon festival for the last few years. But something always came up, out of town guests, being hugely pregnant, etc, etc. When we found out the first day of the 2008 festival was the weekend we would be driving back from Arizona we were so excited that we could see what all of the fuss was about. Let me just tell you - it was worth it. I have never been that much of a hot air balloon fan but this is something else. There are so many balloons and people. It was a blast. It takes place in these fields that are completely surrounded by the mountains around Albuquerque; so not only are the balloons pretty and the sheer volume of them unbelievable but the views are stunning. I am pretty sure Sam had more fun watching people than the balloons but it was worth it all the same.

We rolled into Albuquerque about 5 pm the day before and checked into our Hilton. Little did we know the hotel room would be the sight of one of our top five worst nights of sleep ever! After walking around a bit I started to freak out that Sam would be too cold the next morning so we headed into a Gymboree to get some gloves and an extra pair of socks. (Now Gymboree is not my first choice for these items since it cost us $21 - yes $21! but we didn't have a lot of options in the small outdoor shopping area we were in.)

The night of not-so-much sleep

We had planned on Sam sleeping in the bed with us. Port-s-cribs tend to freak me out (see the Dominican Republic story) and the pack and play she slept in while we were in Arizona was under about 2 tons of stuff we had stuffed in the trunk of our car. We had planned to leave for the dawn send off at about 5:30am. After spending most of the night tossing and turning and the hour from 3:30 to 4:30 trying to convince Sam that this was sleep time and not playtime we caved and got ready to head out the door. I am sure the people in the adjoining room appreciated our departure more than we will ever know. In the end it turned out to be a blessing that we left earlier than planned. We got a great parking spot and missed most of the traffic heading into the event. (always looking for a silver lining...)

This is what Sam thought of getting out of the nice, warm car and into the chilly morning air. Especially since she had to sit in her stroller. Oh the horror! I have to admit the thought running through my head at this point was - Quiet kid! You have been up for hours. There's no complaining now! If anyone should be crying it should be your me. Or maybe your dad since he has a 10 hour drive home ahead of him. It's the sweet maternal instinct in me. What can I say.

Can't you tell how much she loved the $14 mittens we got her?

I was so glad that we were there for the dawn patrol. It was my favorite part.

They send off 12 balloons first thing to check the wind conditions before the other gazillion balloons take off.

We rested for a bit between the dawn patrol and mass ascention. Since we haven't had any cold weather I had the poor kid so bundled up. Hat - check. Hoodie - check. Mittens - check. Long sleeve shirt - check. Undershirt - check. Jeans - check. Socks - check. Two blankets on top of all that - check.

If Sam was looking at the camera, there were no people milling around in the background, and there were more balloons in the picture this would be one of my favorites of the three of us. If, If, If...

Some of the balloons were really cool. There was one balloon of Darth Vader's head, supported by grown-ups in full costume (I have no idea what character they were dressed up as since I haven't sent he movie in about 20 years. White plastic looking costumes?) and Nemo which you can see here.

After all the excitement she was so tired she fell asleep chewing on her blanket. And the big, huge, silver lining of getting up at 3:30 in the morning? She took a four hour nap and slept from Albuquerque all the way to Amarillo - it was awesome!

I am an ardent Obama supporter but I had to take a picture in front of the McCain bus. It was parked in our hotel parking lot when we went back to check out. Apparently he made a campaign stop at the balloon festival the day after we were there. The picture of me sticking my tongue out does not need to be posted on the Internet for all to see and judge. Just know that there is one and I can show it to Sam when she is old enough to understand. This bus did prompt a long discussion between KC and I about letting our kids make up there own minds on politics and still liking them if they decided to be Republicans (ha. ha.)

An Obama mama and a baby for Barack

Christina gave me this onesie when I was about 13 weeks pregnant with Sam. I took these pictures on the first night of the Democratic convention. Christina also gave me my Obama Mama pin - which I am wearing proudly today! Thanks Tina!

Today is the day. Have you done your civic duty yet? Texas offers early voting which makes it about as easy as pie to make sure you vote. Seriously, you have 2 weeks to fit it into your schedule (plus election day). Everyone in Texas should vote. I didn't bring Sam this year. But I plan to every year going forward. Election Day was a big deal in my house growing up. First of all, because my school was a polling place so we had off (which was reason enough to love the first Tuesday in November) but my mom made it a big deal. She always voted and she always took us with her.


I remember "voting" in 4th grade for the presidential election. Even then I was so proud. I promptly marched home and told my mother I voted for Bush (the first one). "Why?" she asked. I think my answer went something along the lines of everyone else is and the fact that he had to know what he was doing since he had been a VP. (Ha!) My mom as very liberal Democrat didn't mention that she supported Dukakis or even tell us how she voted. She believed that we needed to make up our own mind how we felt about government, politics, etc.


I think Sam needs to make up her own mind. And I am sure our beliefs will influence it (as my mother's did). She has a grandfather (PaPa - my dad) and an auntie Shannon who are both Republicans so they should help balance out her mother and aunties who are fierce democrats. I am sure she will hear sides to every story growing up. We talk politics A LOT and send lots of emails, links to YouTube videos and articles, etc (especially when we think the recipient will not necessarily agree with the commentary). Shannon - did you ever order that Obama sticker? :) And do we fight about it - yes. Loudly and passionately. But that's what great about our family. Somehow we all still like each other afterwards.

One of my favorite quotes from this election season was made by Hillary Clinton at the Democratic Convention. She said that "her grandmother didn't have the right to vote but that her daughter cast a vote for her mother." Wow. Look how much our country has changed in the last 100 years. Pretty cool. I can't wait to tell Sam all about it.

P.S. As I stated my father is a republican who loves to push the buttons of his 3 liberal daughters, and is usually the one to start stirring the pot. But....this year for the first time in over 30 years he is voting for a Democrat. Yea - go dad! I plan on reminding him of this for years to come.

Mean, Mean Lady

OK, I know that at times I sound insane. But seriously, I have nothing on this lady.

Trick or Treat!

This was Sam's first Halloween. It actually made me a little sad. We only have one more holiday (Thanksgiving) that will be her first. I just can not get over how fast this year has gone by.

As I mentioned before Sam was dressed as a Love Bug (Basically a ladybug costume with hearts instead of dots and heart shaped wings). Costume was courtesy of Mom-Mom and Grandma. My mom always made our costumes growing up. (best costume ever - fifth grade I was Glenda the good witch. Complete with tulle skirt, large crown with sparkles, and wand. If I can find a picture I will post it because it really was awesome.) I thought it would be nice to continue the tradition with Sam.

We trick or treated with Jill and Claire while Junior and KC stayed home to hand out candy. Sam just adores Claire (who is 2 and a half) and tries to imitate her when they play together. Claire returns the love and told Jill that "Sam was her best friend." Awwww. She also calls Sam "Samilicious" which is adorable!

After we made the rounds and the boys ran out of candy we headed over to Mexi-Go for a late dinner. Where Sam had her first soda! Completely by accident of course. Our waitress was not the best (being nice here, really, really nice) and I asked for a kids cup with water no ice. I stopped bringing sippy cups with me since Sam does better with a straw and it's one less thing to drag around. When we got the cup it had ice in it, but I figured no big deal. Sam had a sip and while she spit quite a bit out I thought it was because it was too cold so I asked for the waitress to please bring a cup with no ice. No big deal. Then Claire got upset saying she thought she was getting sprite and that wasn't what was in her cup. Uh oh. Yep, Sam had the sprite. Apparently from now on I will checking to make sure Sam is drinking water and not soda. So, we had a few first on Halloween, trick or treating, wagon rides, and soda.

Our Little Love Bug

A Halloween Family Portrait (yes, I am wearing my Obama Mama pin. Thanks Christina!)

Sam is thinking "Can I be a fairy princess when I grow up?"

Our first wagon ride

When Sam got a little fussy and hungry (because we had a very abbreviate dinner so we could get out and trick or treat) I pulled out the gold fish. She has both hands completely full and was shoveling them into her mouth as fast as she could. Maybe she thought with all of the kids around there was going to be some competition. Little did she know the other kids were all eating candy and thinking "Goldfish - ha! I've got chocolate. Jokes on you baby."

Yes, that is bits of goldfish falling out of our mouth. I'm serious as cute as she is the goldfish bit got a little disgusting. In our house Goldfish are the magic, happy pill. They cure anything and everything. I should probably stop bribing my kid with food any day now. I want her to have a healthy relationship with food and all that jazz.

With the election so close even Halloween was political. KC and Junior had two little girls came by and had the following conversation:

Girl #1: Trick or Treat. Vote for Obama!

Girl #2: No way, McCain all the way!

The girls were about 10 and needless to say KC and Junior were a bit surprised!

Boo at the Zoo

When we were in Philly last week we went to Boo at the Zoo at the Philadelphia Zoo. We had a blast even though it rained off and on while we were there. Sam got to wear her costume for the first time. Mom-mom and Grandma made her a Love bug costume. KC has called her his love bug since we found out we were having a girl. Since it was pretty chilly out we were a love bug in a furry coat with dog ears. Hey, whatever works. It's actually the only coat we own. Something I have to rectify at some point in the next few weeks.

All dressed up right after we got out of the car. The head piece didn't last long though.

The girls

Sam got sick of the stroller so we transitioned to the carrier after a while. I love this carrier so much! And so does Sam! What you can't see in this picture are the triplets behind us - dressed up as a lion, a tiger, and a bear. So cute! And creative. We all walked by and said "Lions, Tigers, and Bears. Oh My!" You just couldn't help it!

This was our first trip to the zoo. She loved seeing all of the animals. I just had to make sure that we were looking at animals that moved. She didn't care too much for anything stationary.

Look at the bug eyes! We were at the lion "cage" and the lion came right up to the window and roared. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen at the zoo. He was touching the window. So close his breath was fogging up the window. She was mesmerized. (And no I didn't let her eat the snickers in her hand. I'm not that bad of a mother. She just really liked carrying it around since it was shiny.)

This was the lion roaring at the glass. You can see why she had the bug eyes. Some of the kids loved it and some of them ran screaming to their parents.

My little monkey

Silly, Silly Aunties

I have discovered one of her favorite things - riding a merry go round. She loves it. When we were in Arizona and she got on one for the first time. She was pretty hesitant at first and not really sure about it. This time we had no initial hesitation at all! She wrapped her hands around the pole and off we went. About half way through she started shrieking with delight. We had a blast. Our local mall has a merry go round inside so I am sure I will have to avoid that area unless I am willing to ride.

Happy Halloween!

Sam and Auntie Ande goofing off

For whatever reason Sam was fascinated by the umbrella. Possibly because she has never seen one before???

This is huge

You can really only understand how huge this is if you are a sports fan and your team has NEVER in your lifetime won a championship. I think it still hasn't hit me that there aren't any more games to lose and that this isn't another team's 'year'. Holy cannoli - the Phillie's won the world series. The freakin' world series. Wow.

Our Little Phillie's Phan