Child Labor...

Hudson has taken a liking to the swiffer sweeper lately. I took out two of the middle poles to make it "hudsky size" and now he is obsessed with cleaning the floors. I made the mistake of getting it out in front of him from the hall closet and now he knows where to stand and whine until I open the door. I tried hiding it in the laundry room and he found it there too! He is getting way too smart!

He also likes to use the swiffer to wet mop the floor, but after he slipped on the wet tile we have decided that dry mopping will be his specialty for now. If only I could get him to fold laundry, make his bed, clean the bathroom, vacuum, do the dishes........I think you get the picture!

Hudsky's jibber jabber....

Hudson has been very busy talking over the past couple of weeks! On Sunday when I asked him if he was ready to go to church he looked at me and said "I go" and then walked to the door and picked up his shoes and said "shoe!" Then he sat down on the step and lifted up his foot to put his shoe on, it was super cute!

He also recently acquired some new tub crayons and has been naming some of the pictures I have been drawing for him. So far we have "circle, kitty cat, choo choo, and car." I can't believe he is already old enough to be talking. The saying is totally true that they grow up way to quickly. I feel like I am not even home enough to be able to cherish all of these small moments!

first official day back to work...

Today was a tough one....I decided to go and work in the classroom for the day and took Hudson to daycare. He was crying when I left which therefore meant I started crying as I was walking out the door. Then I got to my classroom and it was a total disaster from the summer cleaning crew and I started crying again! I am glad that I hopefully got most of my crying out today, because come Monday morning I am in it for the long haul....that is until next June anyway when once again Hudson and I will be FREE!! I am tempted to look up how many days until then, but that would push me further into depression. For now we will just look forward to Labor day weekend, and then Thanksgiving, then Christmas.....well, you get the point!

I did find that after worrying all day about Hudson that really there was nothing to fret over, when I got there to pick him up he was happy as can be and was crying when I tried to take him away from the train table to go home with me! Who would have thought that at age 16 months my son would choose Thomas the Train over me! At least there is a bright side to all of this, he loves his new daycare and that will make my transition just a little bit easier :)

Hudson's latest accomplishments....

In the past couple of weeks Hudson has started doing several new things as he approached age 15 months! It all began with saying "uh-oh" and "oh no" and has grown into "ca" for car, "mo" for more (with signing), "no, no, no" for no, "mi" for mine (why did he have to learn that??), and he makes a cute little noise whenever he sees a train in books, tv, or on the tracks :)

Next big development that I was not particularly looking forward to or ready for was the "I want it so I am going to throw a big huge tantrum over it stage!" Hudson has become that child that screams through Target when he can't have a treat or toy that he sees, he is pointing to food that he sees and saying "mo, mo, mo" and when you don't give in he cries and throws himself on the floor. Um, I would like to state for the record that I thought that this happened during the "terrible twos" not the "I just turned one and can walk, look out world here I come stage." Everyone failed to mention that this all starts so young!

Last but not least in his miraculous development is his love of dipping things. On our vacation he learned to dip french fries in Ketchup. He watched Lee do it and immediately reached to his plate grabbed a fry and went to town! As I write this I am wondering if he will eat vegetables if he can dip them in ketchup first?? Worth a try? I think so!

Summer Vacation 2010

Last week we went on our first family vacation to Twin Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We flew there with our good friends Jimmy, Hilary, and Ashton and spent the entire week at their family cabin on the lake. We had so much fun swimming, laying on the beach, kayaking, going on boat rides, hiking, geocaching, and of course eating Jolly Cone!

We went on a couple of adventures outside of the fascinating town of Bridgeport including a trip to the town of Bodie which was an old gold mining town that turned ghost town. We also made the trek to Yosemite! It was worth the 3 hour drive to get there!! It was the most breath taking beautiful place I think I have ever seen, I can't wait to go back. Hudson was a real trooper for our entire vacation and I am so thankful that he is such an easygoing, flexible baby to fly, drive, and roll with the punches for that long!

I can hardly wait for our next vacation. I had forgotten how nice it is to just get away and relax!

Fun at the fountain

Hudson had a great time playing at the Wilsonville fountains today! He loves running in and out of the water and trying to climb the waterfall stairs. I should also mention that he is quite fond of picking up other children's toys to play with! Why can't everyone come and just play in the water, why do they all have to bring toys. All my kid wants to do is take their toys and throw a tantrum when I tell him we have to put them back.

First day of summer vacation....

Today was our first Monday at home and it was so much fun to spend the day with Hudson! He slept in until 7:00 and then promptly destroyed the house in a matter of minutes. There were cheerios all over the kitchen, books all over his bedroom, toys all over the living room, and oatmeal all over the dining room and high chair!

After cleaning up several messes we went for a walk with our neighbors Maggie and Brigid. We went to Petit Provence on Alberta for some tasty pastries and coffee. Hudson and Brigid shared a berry muffin and totally loved it!

This afternoon we blessed Winco with our presence (and whining) as we paced the aisles as fast as we could before the ticking time bomb (aka Hudson) went off. Everyone kept telling me how cute he was....if only they could have been at the checkout with us when he was taking everything off the conveyer belt and throwing it onto the floor! Sooo cute!

A second "attempt" at blogging....

I guess it was a nice thought that I would be able to keep on the blog.....I looked back and only a few posts ago it was the first day of school and now today it was the last. I suppose you could say I might have left out a few things over the past 9 months!!

Thank goodness school is out! This was a very hard year, not only in the classroom but for me as a mom too. I struggled everyday having to take Hudson to daycare and not stay home with him. Tomorrow will be like a fresh breathe of air knowing that it is the first of a couple of months that I don't have to leave him at daycare while I am at work.

Hudson is walking/running all over the place these days and pointing out all of the things that he can't reach that he wants. He is obsessed with the tv remote and my cell phone....shocking I know! He is blabbering words and sounds all the time, yet the only things I can decipher are "mama" "papa" and "uh-oh" at this point. He likes to play peek-a-boo with his hands, blankets, curtains, etc! He loves to laugh at himself and play chase. His favorite game lately is running away from the bathroom naked when it is time to dry off after bath time! He is such a happy boy and he brings joy to us every minute that we are with him.

I'm horrible at blogging....

I don't know if I will ever start consistently blogging, but here is another go at it! Hudson is almost 11 months and I laughed when I logged on to my blog because the last post was about Hudson starting to eat food and although he is still eating food, we are having a difficult transition to table food. He loves his puree! He will eat table food at the daycare, but so far anything that I make here is a no go! The one thing that he does love to try to eat is the cat food.....why is it that I can spend hours making him meals that he won't eat yet he loves a tasty little piece of cat food. Maybe I should just put out a dish on the floor for Hudson too!

On a brighter note, he has 5 teeth now and another on it's way! He is surfing the furniture like crazy and can stand un-supported for a few seconds. It won't be long before he takes that first step! His hair is really growing fast now too....with all this hair and teeth he is no longer the gerber baby that he was for a few months. He is looking more and more like a toddler!

So far his favorite phrase to say is "uh-oh" He says it every time he throws something on the floor or something drops. It is super cute. We are working on kitty or Monty, so we'll see if that sticks for his next word!