9 months

 

 Weight: 17 lbs 9 oz

Height: 28"

At 9 Months:

Still cruising furniture

Walking around with walkers, laundry baskets, boxes or anything he can push around :)

Standing without holding on to anything (for a little while)

Self feeding small finger foods (peas, rice crackers, puffs, yogurt drops)

Loves yogurt, carrots, apples, pears & blueberries. Likes sweet potato, kale, peaches, oatmeal. Hates bananas & cauliflower.

I'm little behind this month, but better late than never...
Everyday with this little guy brings something new.  It's so fun to see him take in the world and continue to learn new things. Now he can open and close doors and get into the cabinets. He remembers a lot more now, like where we hid the TV remote the night before! It's so funny, he will go straight for the couch and start searching behind the cushions where he knows we hid the remote the night before.  He's pointing and trying to communicate a little but he's mostly interested in getting around and exploring.  Everyday gets a little harder because he just gets that much more adventurous,  and a little easier because he gets a little more independent.  Some mornings he is perfectly content to play on his own while I get things ready. Other days he's getting into everything and making it impossible for me to get anything done.
We're still battling cold after cold. We seems to have a window of 3 or 4 days where he's well before he catches something new.  His Dr has a new theory and we have to do some tests with him but more on that next month when we know more.  I just pray every day that we can figure out how to keep him well! But no matter how sick he is he continues to be the happiest sick baby ever.  He is just the sweetest happiest little guy!

Loves books

The majority of his 9 mo pictures look like this... he's discovered the camera! :(

Discovered the sticker... I have a feeling next month's pictures will be hard to get :)

It's amazing what can happen in 9 months!

 

 

 

8 Months

At 8 months: 

Crawling (everywhere!)

Prefers to stand & cruise furniture rather than crawl

Climbing everything

Reaches for you to be picked up

 

I think he's grown just a bit!?

8 months!  I'm posting this a little late, but the pictures were taken right on time :-)  8 months have flown by!  Our little guys is developing so fast these days.  I think everyday I look at him and say "when did he learn how to do that!?" He just keeps getting better at everything he does (standing, balancing, using his hands) plus learning new stuff.  He lifts his arms up to be picked up now and reaches for you when he wants to be held.  He crawls over to me and climbs up me (possibly my favorite new skill, but also a difficult one because I'm usually in the middle of doing something). 
He is just SO much fun.  His laugh fills our hearts with happiness and his curiosity keeps us on the edge of our toes.
Our house now has these beautiful decorations called "baby gates" which we discovered were necessary as soon as we got our Christmas tree :-)
Hudson's first Christmas was fun, but unfortunately the little guy got his first fever that week which lasted 4 days ending Christmas day.  That was tough.  It's so hard to see him suffer.  We really enjoyed having so much time off with him during the holidays and are trying to get back into our normal routine again.

Christmas Morning

Santa!

Happy New Year!

7 Months

   

Weight: 16 lbs 7 oz

Height: 27.5"

At 7 months: 

Crawling (everywhere!)

Pulling up to a stand on his own

Trying to climb everything

Starting to "cruise" furniture

Getting clingy to Mommy 

Eating food! (Hooray)


Wow, its amazing how much of a difference a few weeks makes!  Life has changed SO much in the last few weeks.  Now that Hudson is mobile he can get anywhere he wants in seconds.  He LOVES his new found freedom and hates to be confined now that he can get around.  He wants to be put down everywhere so he can "run around" :)  To say I underestimated how mobile he'd be by Christmas is an understatement!  We ordered a huge tree for a friend's fundraiser months ago and now I'm kind of regretting it.  It's going to be really fun keeping him off the tree!
Hudson just keeps getting so much more fun every day.  He is developing into his own personality and its just too cool to watch.  He loves to play with other kids now and he's so sweet.  He's also super curious and so stubborn and determined (what a surprise!).  He started trying to walk before he could crawl and now that he's got crawling down he wants to walk so bad.  We have our hands full with this little guy.
He is eating now! Which is great!  I've been making all his food and its fun to watch him try new things.  His favorite food by far is yogurt (OK I don't make that though)!  He pretty much eats anything as long as its covered in yogurt.
He's been feeling better, although we can't get rid of his cough and congestion :(  Overall he is doing better though.
The past 3 months since he started getting sick have been some really tough nights and unfortunately got him in the habit of getting up every 45 minutes or so.  I finally gave in and couldn't take it anymore and we've started sleep training.  He's doing really great with it though and since we've started we are all getting much more sleep!  Things are looking up (this week anyway).
We continue to be amazed at how much our love for this little guy grows each day.  Everyday I fall asleep thinking I couldn't possibly love him anymore, my heart is so full.  But then I wake up the next morning to find him standing in his crib waiting for me with a huge smile of his face and my heart grows a little more.  He is just the sweetest most amazing blessing and we are just in awe! Thank you God!

 

Yum!

Good Morning!

First Santa Pic

We're ready for Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

6 Months

 

Weight: 15 lbs 9 oz

Height: 27"

At 6 months: 

Sitting Up really well now 

Sooo close to crawling- he loves to work on his crawling!  He gets up on all four and starts rocking back and forth.  Eventually he goes back to his belly and army crawls.  He's able to get to things pretty quickly now when he wants to

 Much more interactive, reaches for Mommy & Daddy

 

The past month we've really seen some big changes as Hudson starts to develop into his own personality.  He is (intentionally) much more loving.  He reaches for me when he wants me to hold him and expresses true happiness when I enter a room, and unhappiness when I leave the room (which is hard).  He is soo funny and loves to laugh and make people laugh.  He's really starting to enjoy playing and interacting with us and is able to anticipate behavior now, like our hands in the shape of claws means tickle time, or certain noises we make mean certain things.  Its really fun!

 We are still battling the constant sickness issue.  He continues to be congested, boogery, and cough through the night.  Nighttime has become so tough as he wakes up ever hour or two and wants only Mommy.  I'm just SO tired all of the time and its killing me that I can't make it all better for him.

We went to the Dr and they drew some blood to run some tests and are referring him to an Ear Nose & Throat specialist.  He also has to go to an Occupational Therapist because he still refuses to eat food.  

I wish we could just get past all these issues! He is otherwise SO perfect and we just want him to be healthy and thrive the way he was before.

I just LOVE this little guy!

Bath Time

Loves Mirrors!

On the move!

5 Months

Hudson continues to be the sweetest baby and we are still just loving every moment with him, but this past month was tough with being back at work, Hudson getting sick and having to find a new daycare. Sometimes being a parent is hard.

Weight: 14 lbs 6 oz (10th percentile)

Height: 26"

At 5 months: 

Started eating solids! (And then stopped when he got sick)

Started Sleeping through the ENTIRE night! (And then stopped when he got sick)

Sitting Up, but topples over after a little while

Daycare #2

Leaving Hudson at daycare was incredibly hard, but to make it worse I didn't have the best feeling about the place. To be honest, I didn't have a good feeling about it from the first time we visited.  But I figured it was just because it was daycare and I wasn't going to love anywhere that wasn't home with me. Turns out it was more like Mother's intuition... On day #2 Hudson came home with a giant scratch on his face starting at his eye. The daycare didn't address it at all. On day #3 he came home with a full bite mark inches from his eye! This warranted a call to the school's principal who seemed less than concerned and told me biting is normal child behavior. Although I agree to some extent, it was not OK that children with teeth were being allowed unsupervised access to my baby! That along with a few other things and my gut feeling that the place wasn't right was enough to find a new daycare.
So, Hudson is now at daycare #2 and it's MUCH different and has made a huge difference in my ability to cope with going back to work. I have so much more confidence in leaving him where he's at and it's made it easier for me to focus on work during the day. When I drop him off in the morning he's instantly intrigued by all the kids. When I pick him up he seems perfectly content and not overwhelming happy I'm there to rescue him. Overall I'd say it going much better! 

Being a Working Mom

Even though I'm pretty happy about his new daycare I can't say I love being a working Mom.  I'm back in the swing of things at work now, but I can honestly say I am a different person than I was before.  Work doesn't matter as much as it used to and everything about being away from my child all day feels wrong and I am incredibly exhausted!  Being a working Mom is having 2 full time jobs.  I have to get up at 5am to be at work by 8.  Then during the day I am constantly juggling trying to get things done, attend meetings and manage to pump every 3 hours.  I get to spend an hour or two with Hudson once we get home before we have to start the bedtime routine and once he's asleep it takes another hour to wash all the bottles and pump parts, then pump again, then rewash and get everything ready for the next day.  

Hudson's First Cold

What comes with daycare? Germs & sick kids!  Of course only a week after starting the new daycare Hudson got a cold, which then turned into a sinus infection.  For the past 2 1/2 weeks Hudson has been sick, congested and of course NOT sleeping.  Poor baby.  Seeing him uncomfortable is heartbreaking!   He had just started to eat solids and was loving it, and then he got sick and lost his appetite.  Notice his 5 month stats are the same as last month.  In the past few weeks he lost the weight he'd gained at the beginning of the month :-(

This is what happens when you lay him down on a blanket and then look away for 5 seconds

A little DIY decoration I made for Hudson's room

Yum, cereal!

4 Months, Back to work & Off to Daycare

At Four Months: 

Our little guy just gets bigger every day.  It’s amazing how much he changes each month.  He is currently still very excited by his feet and has discovered he can get them into his mouth (yuck).  He’s becoming more coordinated with his (assisted) sitting, standing, and ability to move around/ roll around.  He loves to splash around in the bath and plays with/ mostly chews on his toys.  He’s interested in grabbing everything and once he’s gotten a hold of something he promptly sticks it in his mouth.  And he is still just too cute and soo sweet!

 

Weight: 14 lbs 6 oz (23rd percentile)

Height: 26" (80th percentile)

Still Loves: 

Ceiling fans, lights, tummy time & being held/ cuddled, Blankets, bouncy chair, rolling over (and over, and over...), grabbing his feet, TV

 

New Loves: 

Bath time splashing, putting EVERYTHING in his mouth :-)

 

Hates: 

the car :-(

 

Now he is: 

Rolling over every which way, putting his feet in his mouth, making new noises

 

Sleeping: 

He took great to sleeping in his crib at night.  He hasn't been back in our room since we moved him over, although these days I wish he would just sleep in my bed again.  I never know what kind of night I'm in for.  Some nights he only gets up once, other nights I spend more time in his room than in my bed.  Those nights are especially painful now that I'm back at work :-(

 

 

Back to Work and Off to Daycare: 

Alas, our precious time together has come to an end. The day he turned 4 months old I returned to work and this week Hudson started daycare.  Currently he is attending daycare Mon-Thurs and Jason and I are alternating staying home on Friday’s so he always gets a “three day weekend.”  This makes the situation slightly more tolerable.  I will say that it has been a difficult transition, I think both for he and I.  It will take some time to adjust.  There is lots I could say on the subject and the struggles that I have been battling but I think it is perhaps too soon to talk on the subject.  It has been emotional and exhausting to say the least.  I’ll follow up on this subject next month...