Christmas and Kisses!

We had a great time celebrating Hudson's first Xmas in St Louis. While we were in town we also got to celebrate two special engagements - Hudson's Aunt Dana and soon-to-be Uncle John's engagement as well as Hudson's Uncle Evan and soon-to-be Aunt Lyndi'. We enjoyed getting to spend some time with their families as well.




Christmas was a great time for all. Hudson enjoyed climbing over the stacks of paper and boxes and helping everyone rip some paper. He especially enjoyed his new drumset by grandpa and new car from grandma, and a nice big bath towel from Aunt Sam. He also is getting ready to sport his new t-shirt from Aunt Dana, that says Lock Up Your Daughters. This doesn't seem to be a problem yet since he scares most babies right now by greeting them with a very loud "AAAHHHH" and then follows that with a tackle to try and kiss them. Hopefully his skills will improve with age. He LOVES to kiss, just about everyone and everything including our pets and pictures of babies in books or boxes! It is rather sweet as long as those five friendly teeth don't surprise you with a bite.







Hudson enjoyed meeting his cousin-in-law Keely and also got to see his old pal, Alejandro while we all enjoyed some Mexican food and one of our favorite places, El Maguey.



He continues to increase his appetite daily and we are all amazed with how much this child eats. We aren't sure where it goes. He eats just about everything. So far, the only thing he doesn't like is tilapia...not bad. Pears and avocado's and cheerios still top his list of favorites. After these "feed myself" meals, we usually make a dash for the bathtub which he still loves.

Merry Christmas!

One last post before we head to St Louis for Christmas later this afternoon! Here are some of Hudson's latest 9 month old pictures.

I have to share his new trick of the day. Those of us that know Hudson, know that when he learns a new trick like clapping or his new monkey noise, he does it obsessively through the day and night for a good week till a new one comes along. Well now, he takes his two fingers to make a popping noise with his cheek. It is funny though because half the time he does it, he cracks up at the noise and other other half of the time, he starts crying hard because he stratches himself! So I guess I have to get those finger nails trimmed down even more which is about impossible with his incredible wrestling skills he has when it is time to be still. Thank goodness for velcro on diapers....

He also is cutting a third tooth on top and is very excited that he might actually be able to eat faster, if there is such a thing.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas with your families and will be back posting some fun pictures soon! Hudson is very excited to play with some wrapping paper, boxes and ribbon!

God Bless!

A Christmas exchange with Ainsley.....

No we didn't spike their bottles!!!!!!!!!

No we didn't spike their bottles!!!!!!!!!


Today Hudson and Ainsley had their Christmas exchange. They sported their new t's purchased by Emily and we hope they don't hate us someday for what we dressed them in! They placed really well as long as Hudson didn't make his loud "ahhhhh" voice which scared sweet, little Ainsley who was just trying to quietly play.

9 months old

Sorry we are a bit behind on the blog. We have been busy these past few weeks! Hudson is officially 9 months old now and loves to be a "big" boy. He had a good check up last week. He weighs 20 lb and is 28 inches tall which puts him in the 50th percentile for both. The doctor was not surprised he had trimmed down a bit when he saw how busy he was in the exam room. Hudson still loves to clap and is working on standing alone and clapping although that doesn't usually last too long! He pulls up on EVERYTHING, stable or not. He loves all the new finger foods he gets to eat. He says "dada" and makes all kinds of new noises which crack him up. He is still pretty happy most of the time. We visited Santa a few weeks ago and were so surprised he didn't even cry on his lap, although he was very interested in the jingle bells on his lap! I am having issues with downloading that picture, but here are a couple of others from the past few weeks.

We are getting ready for a St Louis trip for Christmas and very excited to see my newly engaged brother Evan and his fiancee Lyndi, AND my newly engaged sister Dana and fiancee John. We look forward to many weddings next year!




Bathtime is still one of his favorite activities.

Our new friends

We have had some fun play dates this week. One with our friend Benjamin who is 9 months (the blond) and one with Gage who is 10 months and Charlie who is 6 weeks. Benjamin shared some of his new favorite foods with Hudson and they both threw somewhat of a fit when they ran out. Luckily his mom quickly got more!

Hudson and Gage greeted each other with many kisses:) They played great together too though and Gage shared his new tunnel with Hudson. Hudson was especially happy when he found some of Gage's leftover Cheerios in his exersaucer. He made sure to clean those up!

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

You may notice a theme to many of the pictures these week. Hudson's favorite sound is AAAHHHHHH really loud! He especially loves to do this in public when it echoes in stores and it gets us lots of attention! He has also decided this week he is done with pureed foods and wants to feed HIMSELF finger foods, which he is still mastering. He has improved though and more are making it into the mouth than the high chair seat, which is a pretty big accomplishment from when we first started. He LOVES muffins which gives me an excuse to take him to Classic Cookie where they serve muffins and cookies with your lunch. This could be a bad thing for mom! We are working on the sign for "more" but he is choosing to "clap" for more muffins so that may be our sign instead!

Thanksgiving with the Walter cousins

We had a great Thanksgiving in Ovid, Colorado. Hudson did great on the long road trip and took longer naps there than he does at home (probably because his cousins kept him so busy playing)! The kids were all helpful in feeding Hudson and helping with his baths. Hudson slept through dinner but woke up in time for pumpkin pie! Hudson practiced his new favorite thing, kissing with his cousin Annika. They sure are cute but very slobbery! We even got to see Uncle Evan and Lyndi who drove up from Denver to spend the weekend with us. The only downfall was catching the flu. I had it over the weekend, then Hudson got it, but luckily he didn't have it very long. Here are some pictures from the weekend, and also of the new puppy Abby that the cousins got.

our weekend visitors

This weekend Nana, Dana and John C came up to visit. Nana and John helped us with leaves and we are so thankful to see the grass again! Well at least until it gets covered again! We had a great time with them and look forward to seeing them again soon.

the climber

Hudson is now 8 months old! We can't believe it! He is still doing great and learning new things each day. He is getting really good at climbing up and is now walking around his crib by holding on to the railing. He has four teeth now and is enjoying using those on some new foods. He still loves bath time and trying to grab the faucet water and of course, pull up on the bathtub! He is still army crawling but it is getting him every where he wants to go. He still claps and this weekend, his Nana taught him to wave!