day one at home with Max and Ruby

Living with Hudson and Hannah is a lot like an episode of Max and Ruby. Older sister Ruby tries to boss Max around, direct his play, tattle on him... and Max gets into everything and irritates Ruby. Ruby loves Max, but doesn't want him touching her things or playing with her toys

Hannah was given the honor of opening a package that was sent to Hudson and Hannah by another Taiwan adoptive family. Hannah was really excited about the Hello Kitty crafts for herself and wanted to play with Hudson's Lego set. I let her go ahead and open it with the understanding that his was baby brother's


"Mom! Look! Look, Mom! I'm building Taipei 101!"
Kevin hadn't had much sleep yet, so he went to bed and I was alone with both of them. Nearing 3pm I realized I hadn't showered yet and needed to go to work briefly and run to the bank to deposit some checks. I didn't want to wake Kevin up, so I called my mom to see if she would like to come over and play while I had a shower and ran an errand. Nana was more than happy to come over and play! I told Hudson good bye when I left. My mom said that he didn't cry but watched out the window for several minutes after I left. When I returned he wanted picked up and laid his shoulder down on me for awhile. I made him a bottle but he didn't want it. Guess he just missed me. That was nice!

When my mom came she brought our dog Sedona home. Hudson held my hand and walked behind me for 20-30 seconds while he checked her out... all the while "talking" to her with his baby/monkey like speech. He was delighted to touch her. The 5th touch or so turned into a grab and Sedona was not so delighted. We're working on "nice touches." Most touches are nice, but every once in awhile Hudson goes in for a grab that is not acceptable.

After my mom left I decided that I should make a since kid friendly dinner... and we could all sit at the table as a FAMILY. I warmed up the oven and was going to bake some chicken fingers. While I went out to the deep freezer to choose a chosen vegetable I heard Ruby Hannah screech, "Mom!!! Come look!!!" with a horrified tone.  I ran in and discovered Hudson squatting near the dog bowl.  Oh explative!  He's eating dog food on his first day home!!!  I put my hand below his chin to encourage him to spit it out like he would a piece of food he didn't like.  Hudson wasn't giving up this tasty bit of kibble.  I took a deep breath, inserted my pointer finger like a fish hook to fish out the bit of dog food.  I found one piece that had started to soften and one dry piece.  On their way out, Hudson bit down hard.  Ouch!  I let out a scream and he let my finger go.

I sat Hudson down in his high chair, microwaved some turkey and noodles my mom had made for us, threw in some canned mandarin oranges, a few grapes sliced in half, and let him have at it.  He's happiest when he's in his high chair, and I'm happy because he's well contained.  A few minutes later the chicken fingers were done and he downed three of those.  I prepared a plate for Hannah.  She had been snacking on strawberries and told me "No thanks.  I don't want any."  I told her she could eat dinner while watching TV (hey, kid #2 just ate dog food in my first day home with him... don't judge) or she could go to bed.  Hannah chose to go to bed with out any dinner.  Had to follow through with that choice I gave child #1.

By 7:30pm Max Hudson was rubbing his eyes and I was more than happy relieved grateful to be able to lay him down for bed.  I patted his back and he was out in less than three minutes.  Score one for mama today!