Swing time

Today we went for a walk, and stopped at the park across the street on our way back to swing! Hudson LOVED it. It is such a beautiful day here today in Denver - 72 and sunny with a light breeze. The kind of day I long for all winter - so we're taking advantage!! We'll probably go for a second walk later this afternoon, or after Andy gets home - definitely one of our favorite things to do on warm evenings here!

A boys best friend

Lego will always be Hudson's first dog, and what a great first dog she is! She is so patient, loving, and calm with him (other than when she wants to play REAL bad). Hudson loves being around her, watching her, laughing at her. I'm sure as soon as he can figure out how to feed her, he'll be doing that as well - and she will be in doggie heaven. This picture kind of captures those little moments they already share, and moments I know Hudson will look back on with great fondness (once he starts remembering his childhood, of course). :)

Easter egg hunt

Every year there is an easter egg hunt across the street from our place at the park. This year we were excited to bring Hudson out into the mix with all the other kids. Yea, should have thought that one through a little more. Of course he can't walk, and all the other kids can. SO, we ended up finding ONE egg, hovering over it while we put Hudson down (he was still under the weather so just sat there which was kind of nice) and took pictures of him looking adorable with his lone Easter egg. But you can see in these pictures, he did look adorable!! :) Unfortunately because he was sick, we didn't even think about taking a family photo. Maybe next year!

Couch walking

EVEN with an ear infection/stomach bug/cold/teething, Hudson has begun walking his way around the couch. 8 1/2 months. Anyone want to place bets on when this kid will be walking on his own?

Hello, Easter Bunny

Hudson met the Easter bunny today...as interesting looking as this Easter Bunny was...looks like Hudson thought he was different looking as well...

A good day after a VERY long week...

This last week was probably one of the roughest we've had so far as parents. Hudson experienced the following:
1. Double ear infection
2. Stomach bug, causing him to vomit for over 12 hours
3. A cold (runny nose, cough)
4. Top teeth coming in
5. The worst diaper rash I've seen yet

YES. That all happened this week. So you can imagine, we got very little sleep. Because of that, we missed work, snapped at each other unnecessarily, and got sick ourselves. Oh, and it has been a VERY busy week at work for me - which doesn't work well with everything else going on. It was also the hardest week I think for us not having family close by to help out. I now realize why they say it can depressing and lonely when your kids are sick - it's true.

BUT!!! Yes!! We are on day 5 of medication, and doing MUCH better! We went to our first swim lesson today AND our first Easter egg hunt (not much of a hunt, but you know what i mean!)!! So things are finally looking up!

cutie pie

Well, its been a couple weeks, so sounds like its time for another cold. Great. Once again, poor baby, and poor us. :) Good thing is, he's still smiling some of the time!! He's a trooper. Now i'm off to take a nap. 

copy cat

Hudson has begun copying certain things. He will copy one of his friends at daycare if they scream or cry - he waits until they are quiet, then makes the noise they just made. It is hilarious. He also watches one little boy, Talal, walk around on one of the toys they have there, and now he is starting to do that himself. Tonight, he copied Andy as he made a pllll noise with his mouth. He's done this kind of thing before a little, but never cause on video! He also copied me three times in a row when i said DADA today...WOW! Not sure if i'm ready to say that is his first word...

EIGHT MONTHS?!?!

I have an 8 month old son. Really? Yes. He's 8 months old. WOW. So much has happened the last month, it's amazing how much this little baby has grown into a little boy. And he's only 8 months. ONLY. Funny how one minute he seem so grown up, but the next he is just my precious little baby boy.

From 7-8 months, the following changes have taken place:

Hudson got his first cold, that turned into his first ear infection. Not fun. 

He figured out how to pull himself into the standing position; and now he does it ALL THE TIME. 

He got his first case of the hives - haven't figured out what caused them yet, but they stayed for just a few days. 

Hudson climbed the stairs. Yes. Hudson climbed the stairs. By himself. See video in previous post. 

He is a busy little guy, crawling everywhere, feeding himself, pulling his toys out of his toy box, playing with the remote, cell phone, and any other electronic device he can stick in his mouth. 

We think he is teething, as he has been waking up at least once a night for the last week - with a shreaking whale. 

He LOVES to make a fishy face - seen above. And he is playing with his voice, making all sorts of interesting noises. One of which is screaming. We hope that phase doesn't last. 

Hudson has recently become much more of a mama's boy. Only mom can put him back to sleep when he wakes up at night. Joy for mama. Hm. Hopefully he starts sleeping through the night again, for my sake. 

We also got a visit from Grandma Rosdil this month! We went to the zoo, went for walks, and just had fun together. It was beautiful weather, and lots of fun!

Last night we got a sitter for the first time, and had gotten tickets to the Arcade Fire concert. We were both excited to see the band, and have a night out of the house. Once we arrived at the concert venue, about 25 minutes away from home, i get a call from the sitter. Hudson is screaming in the background. He has woken up, and she can't get him to calm down. We ask her to try soothing him for a few minutes, then check back. She calls 7 minutes later, and he is still screaming. Loud. We wait another 10 minutes to see if he will calm down (the band is getting ready to go on), and when I call to see if he's calming down, I can't hear her talking over his screams. So, we do what any good parent would do. We go home. Though disappointed, I really couldn't wait to get home to comfort my baby boy. And of course, it wasn't hard once he was in my arms. Within seconds he was smiling, putting his head on my shoulder, and getting ready to fall asleep. We said thank you to our awesome sitter (who will hopefully sit for us again in the future!), and put our little boy to bed. All by 9:45pm. I'm sure the concert was in full swing by then, but we'll have to wait until next time to hear them live.

just a few short months ago...

Just looking back at pictures of Hudson from day one, and found this one picture of him with Great Grandpa and Grandma. I love it, because you can almost hear grandpa talking to Hudson - and Hudson talking back. That night, Christmas Eve, was one of the best Christmas memories I think I will ever have. Hudson was so wound up from all the energy and people - meeting everyone for the first time, having four generations together for the first time. And we all had such a fun time with him. I don't know if we'll ever have another Christmas, quite like that one.

doing stairs

Hudson's first NUDE photo shoot (PG-13)

No need to shield your eyes...unless you want to miss out on seeing some cute baby booty. 

family photo

our fun (warm) day at the zoo!

visit with grandma Rosdil

 Hudson had fun with Grandma Rosdil this weekend! and he wore his special shirt from Ireland just for her! (she brought it back from her trip last summer!)

An examination of Lego's bed

Hudson decided to check out Lego's bed...and the new carpet we got put down in our bedroom! He climbed the stairs last week to check the carpet out there...i think he approves. :)

a trip to the zoo

Last time we went to the zoo was Halloween, Hudson was less than three months old, dressed like a pumpkin, and slept through the whole thing. This time was a little better - he was awake, in his big boy stroller, and was equally as cute as he was at Halloween! And this time Grandma was here to go with us!!

we had to stop in to get a sun hat because it was 81 degrees out! Of course the next day it is snowing...and if someone says "that's spring in Colorado" one more time...I swear...

He's smiling now...

Once Hudson starts walking, I think Andy's face might look a little bit different...

stand in the place where you are...at least for the moment.

Now that Hudson is crawling AND standing up - he is getting EVERYWHERE, and pulling himself up on EVERYTHING. Here are a few examples...:)

fish face

Hudson's new favorite pose - we like to also call it "Blue Steel" (Zoolander inspired).

me and my boy

Well, we thought Hudson had his first cold a couple weeks ago, but I now believe it was a precursor to his REAL cold, which is currently happening right now. He has the runny nose, the horrible cough, trouble sleeping, trouble eating, general unhappiness - which is not like him! Poor little guy...and now i've got the cold too, so poor me. :) It's definitely more difficult to take care of a sick baby when you're sick and not getting sleep either! At least we have Andy, and he is a good daddy/husband - so we appreciate that! He just has to deal with us...so poor Andy too.

In other news, Hudson is pulling himself into the standing position whenever possible, and has now mastered his crawling. He will crawl directly to the closest object he can pull himself up on, and work his hardest to get up on those feet. Last night i walked into his room to find him standing in his crib...and i know it's only a matter of time before he takes a nice crash and hits his head. But i guess there's no avoiding that, since he doesn't know how to bend his knees while standing, and i'm not going to stay up all night watching him. Andy and I both think this kid will be a handful of constant motion...starting now.