14 months!

New things this month: Hudson is no longer just walking...he's running!  At first he looked like one of those competitive speed walkers who always had one foot on the ground but now he will break into a jog if he's excited! He is starting to try and imitate words and has added a few to his vocabulary like "baseball" (thanks to his friend Noah!), "baby", and a few others that only Mommy and Daddy can understand.  He consistently points to his belly, hair, and feet and gets nose, mouth, and ears about 50% of the time.  He knows what sound a sheep, dinosaur, lion, cow, and horse make.  He is finally putting himself to sleep for naps.  I actually didn't do any sleep training at nap time (call me lazy but he was so easy to rock to sleep) but in the past month he has become very independent and sometimes even reaches for his crib when he's tired.  I can say "are you ready for night-night?" and he will go and stand at the gate at the bottom of the stairs ready to go.  We finally have two top teeth!  These seemed to take forever to come in but thankfully Hudson hasn't had much trouble with teething.

My favorite things about Hudson this month: Where do I begin? This is such a fun age! I love how he is learning to interact.  He is very social and loves to wave and give hugs and kisses.  He and his bff Noah are starting to learn to play together (instead of just beside each other) and it's so cute.  He is becoming more independent and it's so fun to watch him learn to do things for himself (and then clap for himself too).  I love when he's tired and just wants to snuggle with Momma.  I love chasing him around hearing him laugh hysterically when I catch him.  I love watching him "play" himself to sleep at nap time and his sweet little grin when I go in to get him out of his crib when he wakes up.  I love everything about this little bow and feel so blessed to be his Momma! 

 

Already had his second haircut!

His first time as a ring-bearer...he walked a pretty long way but was carried the last little bit

play date with his bff

my big boy at the pool!

did I mention this boy LOVES to eat??  and he's NOT picky

just like Daddy already

Five years!

 

 

Has it really been 5 years since that day?  That was the first best day of my life...the day I married my best friend.  I'm thankful that I love him even more today, especially since watching him become a daddy.

 

We try to get away for a few days each year for our anniversary.  Last year Hudson was 7 weeks old and honestly the trip was a bit easier than this year, at almost 14 months.  It wasn't exactly a "relaxing" trip but I wasn't ready to leave him quite yet.  Next year...maybe ;)

Anyways, we went to Roanoke and Natural Bridge, VA.  We did some hiking, went to Mill Mountain Zoo, Center in the Square Science Museum, Natural Bridge Park and Caverns, and the Virginia Safari Park.  Did I mention we did this all in 2.5 days?  I love these getaways but honestly I love coming home too!  Enjoy the pictures!

 

Checking out the Mill Mountain Zoo

 

 

He loved this fake tiger...more than the real animals!

View of Roanoke from Mill Mountain Park

The Roanoke Star

 

Hudson wasn't a huge fan on this backpack at first but we finally (at the end of the hike) got him adjusted so he was comfy

Sometimes you just gotta nap!

So sleepy

 

Natural Bridge in the background

 

 

This boy loves rocks!

 

Love these two boys!

Another makeshift nap...poor buddy only got ONE nap in his pack in play the whole trip

Virginia Safari Park...the animals literally come right in your car!

He woke up just in time!

Well hello bison!

Hudson was not a fan on the zebra in the car!  I can't say I loved him being 6 inches from my face either!

 

 

Another great trip in the books!

Our weekend

Hudson woke up on Saturday acting kind of pitiful.  I assumed he just had a little cold.  He's also cutting his top two teeth which I'm sure is painful.  We went about our day despite him being unusually fussy. However, after his afternoon nap it seemed like Hudson was having a hard time catching his breath.  He was wheezing and when I tried to nurse him to calm him down he wouldn't latch and this never happens.  So, we immediately got in the car and went to Urgent Care.  We were taken to a room literally within 30 seconds of walking in the door and they hooked Hudson up to a pulse oximeter.  His oxygen saturation fluctuated betwen 88-91.  In the middle of all this, Hudson proceeded to throw up all over himself and me.  The PA who was seeing us gave us two options- be taken by ambulance to Brenners or to drive there immediately ourselves.  We opted to drive ourselves (making a short detour to our house to change clothes).  When we got to Brenners, Hudson proceeded to throw up again, this time he only got my sleeve thank goodness!
Long story short, he was really desaturated and the doctor was worried he might have pneumonia.  But, after giving him 12 albuterol treatments in 4 hours, he seemed to be responding well and they decided to let us go home (initially we thought we would have to stay at least one night).  They ruled our pneumonia and diagnosed it as "reactive airway disease" which was described to us as being the same thing as asthma- they just can't call it asthma in children under 5.  We are still giving him breathing treatments every 2-4 hours and a dose of prednisone each night for 4 days.  It broke my heart to see my poor boy so pitiful but I'm thankful that it wasn't anything more serious and he seems to be back to normal today!

Since Hudson was feeling so well today, we went to the Dash game with our life group. It was the most perfect weather and we all enjoyed ourselves- especially Hudson!

13 months

I was going to stop doing monthly posts at a year but I don't want to forget how much Hudson is changing each month! So I'm going to do an abbreviated post :)

New things this month: It amazes me how quickly Hudson learns new things. His vocabulary, while not huge, is growing for sure! He says "mama", "dada", "bye", "ball", "up", "no", and makes noises for things that I understand although no one else would (like banana, duck). Hudson understands so much and I love that he's beginning to follow directions! His top two front teeth have been trying to pop through now for about 2 weeks and just today I could feel a little bit of sharpness from one of them finally! 

My favorite things about Hudson this month: Hudson now gives hugs and (slobbery) kisses when you ask for them...so sweet! His love of book continues and some of my favorite moments everyday are when he brings me a book and plops down in my lap to read it. His current favorite is "wheels on the bus" and I'm sure I read/sing it 100 times a day...seriously!  I love that Hudson is a great sleeper/napper right now- he's sleeping 11-12 hours a night and taking 2 naps a day ranging from 1-2 hrs each.  And, he's so happy when he wakes up that sometimes I wonder how long he's been playing in his crib before I notice he's awake.  Today when I went in to get from after his morning nap he fussed when I took him out of the crib because he was having fun playing! 

We love our sweet boy! Here are some pictures from his 13th month:

Swinging with his cousin Ava- two peas in a pod!

Seriously melts my heart...

Best grandfather ever

Chris and I went on our very first date night since Hudson was born and some of our close friends came and kept Hudson- I received a text with this picture which confirmed he was in very good hands!

Another picture from Carl and Ashley while Chris and I were on our date!

Hudson ran a 5k with Mommy...the post race bagels were his favorite part by far!

Love my silly boy!

We had LOADS of fun!

We had Hudson's birthday party of April 27th.  We had beautiful weather and a great turnout of family and a few friends. It was a construction theme which was pretty easy to decorate for.  Hudson was probably the neatest cake smasher ever...he had to have a little help from his friends to get messy!  Sorry for the abundance of pictures but I couldn't choose which ones to post!  My friend Allie took these pictures for us which was such an awesome gift!  And it helped me enjoy the party without having to worry about taking pictures!  Without further ado...