Family vacation - the series

We have lots of pictures to share, so they will probably be a little too much if you don't love Hudson!But if you're looking at this blog, you probably already love him to bits. :) So enjoy. 

 We started our week  long trip in PV with Auntie Susie - and her hot tub! It was beautiful weather, and despite Hudson feeling a little under the weather, which you would never guess from these pictures, we had a wonderful time! 

 Somehow he always manages to find the dog toys...

Giving a look that is basically asking why we took the dog bone away from him...that or why does she get to put it in her mouth and i don't?

LOVE our time with Auntie Susie!! :)

play time

 Last night we took Hudson's diaper off so he could "be free" for a few - and he loved it. Of course. 

 This kid LOVES being thrown up in the air, turned upside down, swung around like a monkey, etc. Basically he only sits still when he's sleeping, and he likes it that way. 

 One of the many noises and mimicking actions...here we try to demonstrate through photos...

 And after a good job of mocking dad, we get a HOORAY!!

 Check out the two top teeth!

Teeth

Hudson's top teeth are on their way in! And he is smiling all the time - so it's strange to watch his appearance begin to shift with these teeth showing up. Still the cutest little boy in the world though!

BLOOMS!!

Andy got me an orchid for Valentines day, and for the first time ever (i've tried this a few times) i not only kept the flower alive, but it BLOOMED TWO NEW FLOWERS!!!! :) I'm so proud, can you tell? My Aunt Susie grows the most amazing orchids, and i just never thought i would be able to keep one alive. So here are the pictures of these two new beauties!

These are the two new blooms - so pretty!! :)

9 months!

Our little baby is 9 months old! And he had his check up so we updated stats!

Height: 30.75 inches (98%)
Weight: 22 lb. 2 oz (75%)
Head circumference: 17 1/2 inches (45%)

We found out Hudson is about as tall as a 1 1/2 year old!! No wonder he's wearing 12-18 month clothes and they fit just right! This kid is TALL.
This month has been very active for Hudson as well.
1. He is cruising! He loves his walker from his Aunt Jen and Uncle Josh, and is smart enough to turn it when he runs into a wall so he can keep on moving! He is experimenting with his furniture walking as well, letting go and standing for a second before he plops down on the floor - then pulls himself right back up!
2. This month has been a month of recovery from a bad round of ear infections, and we found out that he has residual infections so we're still working on getting rid of them! It appears that tubes may be in our future, but we're hoping there are a couple more options before we have to go there. He is a trooper though, and his mood has been generally good.
3. We are now just putting him down in his crib for nap and bed time. He will cry for a couple minutes, then begins soothing himself until he falls alseep. He sleeps from about 7:30-5:30, sometimes 6 (if we're lucky), and has been sleeping solid through the night!
4. He still eats about 30 ounces of formula a day, plus his three meals and snacks! He started eating meat this month, along with a lot more finger foods! He loves eating the finger foods, and they tell me at daycare he always watches the other kids eat their finger foods too!
5. He has started saying "Ge"and we think he's trying to say Lego - but we're not sure. He sure loves his doggie though - she makes for much of our pre-bedtime entertainment. Otherwise he does a lot of baba, dada, bububub noises - he is a vocal little guy!
6. Hudson also loves touching his hair - it's hilarious, but he will play with his hair (and mine) while he's eating. This usually results in sticky, food ridden hair, but it's very cute.
7. He's also started waving, clapping, and giving hi-fives! He'll copy much of what he sees and hears, and is definitely a interested and engaged boy. He watches very closely, and you can almost see him figuring out in his head how to copy!
We have had so much fun with him - especially since he got over that BAD two week sickness a couple weeks ago! He loves laughing - he gets the giggles! - and he is so quick to smile, it awesome.

The many expressions of Hudson

 I take a lot of pictures of Hudson, and typically choose the best (or favorite) ones to post on the blog. But tonight we took some hilarious pictures of Hudson making some interesting expressions, so wanted to show that not every picture he takes is necessarily great - though he IS very photogenic, like his mom. :) He is obviously experimenting with his facial expressions right now, and it's so funny to watch! He gives open mouth kisses - loves it when you make the kissing noise while you kiss his open mouth. He's sticking his tongue out all the time now, chewing on his fingers, moving his hand back and forth on his mouth while he makes a noise to hear how it changes, still making the bbbllllll noise with his tongue and lips, and just talking a lot in general. He's lots of fun!

Oh and I can't forget to mention how much he loves smiling and laughing! He LOVES laughing - and we love laughing with him!

LOVE this little man

Our little nine month old...we love our dinner times together. 

Cry it out?

The last couple weeks we have tried a new tactic when it comes to sleep time for Hudson. We used to go pick him up every time he cried, try to rock him back to sleep, only to put him back down in the crib and watch him immediately wake up and start screaming. So we would repeat this process - along with trying a few other things like seeing if he'd sleep in our bed with us - only to wind up exhausted. We knew he wasn't old enough to self sooth in the beginning, but by 8 months he should be learning, right?


So the last two weeks have involved the "cry it out"method. We feed him, rock him, rub his back, etc., then put him down. This happens for both bed time and nap times. At first he would cry for about 20-30 minutes, standing, yelling, doing what he thought would bring us back into the room to pick him up (because normally, it would). But our patience was indeed rewarded, as he would eventually topple over like a rag doll (really) and fall asleep. It's hilarious to watch on the video monitor! Then the crying time began to shorten, and it was often 10 minutes or less before he would allow himself to relax enough to sleep. Andy and I were thrilled. We also stopped going in to pick him up if he wakes in the middle of the night, and wouldn't you know it? He puts himself back to sleep! Yes I know - I'm sure this is normal. But to us it has been a small miracle.


Well, the last few days, Hudson - my darling Hudson - has decided he really needs to start crying and SCREAMING for at least 20 minutes, before he'll let himself go to sleep. Not sure what happened, but this is just not working. It's not working at home, and it's definitely not working at daycare. They can't put him down to cry it out there - so what happens? Stubborn Hudson doesn't nap. Great. By the time I go to visit him at lunch, he is a crabby mess. And if they can't get him to sleep in the afternoon? God help us all. SO, here we are today.


Precious little Hudson will be sleeping soundly in your arms...until you go to put him down. It's like there's a scream/cry button you accidentally press in the process of putting him down. So far I've been unable to determine where this secret button is.


Perhaps someday, my little Angel Hudson will give up the fight, leave the drama behind, and sleep without tears. Someday.

beautiful day!

Today it's a beautiful day out! We've gone for a couple walks, put some new flowers in the pots on the patio, tried some watermelon for the first time this season (and first time ever for Hudson - he likes it!) and sat out with Hudson to enjoy some of the 80 degree warmth - my kind of day! :)

Last night Andy surprised me with an early Mother's day gift - a beach cruiser! I LOVE it. Best first Mother's day I could have asked for! Hudson is back to his normal self, smiling, laughing and into everything! He is such a great kid, it's so fun to be with him - watching him discover and grow right before my eyes. We definitely love him more every day.

Can't believe he'll be NINE months next week!! Yikes.

phone camera

 These pictures were taken with my camera phone - not bad!

Copy Cat

I think i may have written before about how Hudson has been copying the other kids at daycare - they cry, he watches them, waits for them to stop, then squeals at the same pitch they did - almost as if he's making fun of them. It's hilarious! He has also recently learned to give hi five's, clap, and as of today, he's waving. YES - he was sitting by the front door, looking out the glass/screen door, when he looked back at me with that sweet face of his (dead pan) and waved. Of course we've been trying to get him to wave for a week or so, but he hasn't done it until tonight! It was a finger wave, really, the kind where you just bend those four fingers, leaving the rest of your hand still. We will definitely be trying to get it on video! oh man, this kid is smart AND cute. Lady killer for sure.

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.