Thank you!

Today, in the mail, I received a wonderful little gift for Hudson. Nikki is my Dad's cousin and a great mom to 10 (ten!) kids that I've connected with through blogging. I'd noticed a teether her little guy was using called a Chewy Q and she graciously sent one our way. It arrived just as we were walking out the door for Steven's award ceremony at work so I brought it for distraction purposes. Well, he saw it in the package before we'd even opened it and was flipping out. I handed it to him and he acted like they'd been separated since birth. We'll see how it stands the test of time, but this is already loved. He can hold it well on his own (it's a ring) and pop the nubby end in his mouth. It's not squishy like I expected but he seems to enjoy how it feels against his new teeth and gums. And since he has 4 more teeth coming in, I'll take anything that gives him comfort. It's made in Maine by speech pathologists and is latex, lead and PVC free. Thanks, Nikki!

Num num num

His hair does look a lot fuller in real life...

Snow days

Lots of snow. Lots of inside Pinterest-inspired activities. Lots of sameness. But today we got to go out for a bit! Henri's been really getting in to helping me with housework which is nice, and we've finally had a breakthrough in bedroom cleanliness, so I'm having to do a lot less organizing for her. Hudson has developed a serious temper scream whenever the slightest thing doesn't go his way, and he seems to be hitting separation anxiety early. He also gave me a nasty bite the other day, and lets just say my goal of 24 months of breastfeeding just changed to a session-to-session decision. Ouch. I've started putting him in the high chair for meal time and he's just tickled with himself. Ruth, as far as feeding him goes, it's really whatever I can tolerate that particular day. For example, I hadn't mopped today so it was babyled weaning all the way (I put black bean soup on his tray, flattened the beans a bit, let him go to town trying to feed himself). Other days he gets tastes of stuff in his feeder (it's a silicone one, much easier to clean. Munchkin, sold by Target, makes it). And still other days I spoon feed him puree or yogurt. He doesn't have the hand dexterity to really pick up stuff and get it to his mouth, so spoon feeding is just easiest for me. And not spoon, he prefers me to use a fork. Very very very opinionated. As far as what I'm feeding him, the doctor did say he could have anything, so I'm just feeding him anything. Not meat, but that's more because we don't eat a lot of it and when he does have some I want it to be organic free range stuff. And I don't think it's necessary to him. So far he seems to mimic my likes and go towards the more middle eastern flavors of cumin and curry. We're going through a lot of laundry :)

6 months

I've seen this format on a few friends' blogs (Hi, Ruth and Gen!) and thought it was a good way to summarize where our big boy is at now. Wow, half a year already. Go ahead and insert all the cliches about time moving too fast, it's all true. A blink and he's going to be all grown up!

Personality Total Mamma's boy. He loves to mux on my face and gives big hugs when you pick him up from his naps. In his own home, he's very opinionated, wants to see every thing that each of us is doing, expects to be held all the time. Out in public, he's very subdued and really just taking everything in. You have to work pretty hard to make him break his sober supercilious expression, but at home he makes the funniest faces. He's really starting to interact with Henri and she with him, and they've started to wrestle together. I worry when she plants an elbow in his stomach but he doesn't seem to mind in the least and loves to grab her hair and chew on her (which she thinks is hilarious).It's fun to watch their bond, and it's clear Hudson loves everything about Henri. He's quite sympathetic to her moods as well and now when she cries he does too, stopping occasionally to look at her in a worried way. As soon as she tells him she's OK he lights right back up again.
Physical His 6mo appt isn't for another week, but unofficially he's in the 18-19# range and seems tall; he's outgrown most of his footies. His head continues to be large and bumpy but two appointments with the neurosurgeon later we're pretty confident he's just on the abnormal end of normal (whew, no surgery needed for now). Hudson is a very delicate roller and has learned to scoot forward on his forearms though he tends to just "swim" with his arms and feet in the air and go nowhere, then scream till I get him what he wants. He likes to bounce in his jumper and is learning to manipulate the toys on it. I just realized I should have been working on sitting with him, so we started that this week. He tips to the side but when placed in a well balanced way has great ab muscles and can lean down to get a toy then sit back up straight. His hair continues to be red and spiky (yay!) and his eyes are turning more grey than blue. He has 2 bottom teeth with 2 more coming in and just learned how to give good bites with them (ouch!).
Eating We're still going strong breastfeeding which I'm so grateful for. Really no big problems with that so I'm hoping to continue to 24ish months like I did with Hen. However, he has discovered the world of food and he's a pretty enthusiastic eater. I'm doing a loose version of baby led weaning, meaning I give him whole food when I feel it's safe or low in ingredients, put a lot of stuff into his feeder so he can taste but not choke, and feed him a bit of puree. Up till a few days ago he just wanted to taste things but now he actually wants to eat so I'm having to be more deliberate about what I make for supper because if he's not included, well, there are many tears. So far his favorite foods are dill pickles (crazy boy), apples, and grapes. He's had green beans, celery sticks, mum-mums, puffs, yogurt, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash...I think that's it. I gave him a sippy cup with some water last night to just gum on and in about 10 seconds he'd figured out how to drink from it and gulped down a ton before I could stop him (pretty sure babies aren't supposed to be drinking water yet?). I'm going to try some breast milk in the cup since he refuses a bottle. I was impressed because Henri still can't use a tip up sippy. It's nice for Hud to do one thing before his sister since he's been so far behind her in everything else.
Sleep He goes to bed at 8pm. Sharp. Normally. He just loses it, nurses for a minute and wants to be put down. Then it's anyones guess what will happen. On bad nights he's up at 11, 1, 3, 5 and 7. On good nights like last night, he gets up at 3ish, nurses, and back to bed till 6:30-7. Naps are generally at 10a for about 1.5hours, and then sometime in the afternoon and those vary greatly in length from 15mins to 2 hours. He'll usually nurse and nap for a few minutes around 6:30 as well. If I'm desperate I can always pop him into the Lillebaby and he's out pretty fast, but it's starting to hurt my back so I don't make it a daily thing like I used to.
Names Huddie, Hudson-Budson, Huddie-Buddy (Hen calls him this), Love Bug (I usually call him this), Lover Boy, Lovie.

He's starting to come in to his own in the past few weeks. While I'm grateful to be out of the baby phase (oh, I hate the baby age!), I find myself sad it's already gone and wishing he'd stay little and snugly longer. He's already starting to push me away because he wants to explore, or expressing an opinion on his clothing (he hates sleeves...) and I can't just leave him in one spot. But somehow I already know he has my sense of humor and I can't wait to see the person he becomes. I'm looking forward to the next 6 months, these are the really fun and crazy ones!

Just a few days old

I still think we look a lot alike

Best friends (she wanted to dress alike today and picked out their monkey outfits)

Our sweet 6 monther. Without a doubt the most adorable thing you've ever seen. 

Quick VT run

It's been a trying week, one of those where you fantasize about running away and living in a yurt with a pet yak on the edge of a small brook in a meadow of daisies and a view of a mountain. Not that there's been anything big happening, it's just been a regular week where you think, on a minute basis, "this is my life?!?!?!". To combat this grump, we took a very quick trip up to VT for some Papa and Grandma therapy. Aaahhh, we all feel much better. Clearly VT air agrees with Hudson because he only woke up once on Friday night. As he woke up 5 times on Thursday (and Wednesday, and Tuesday....), this was a minor miracle. I'm now more able to laugh at the melodrama that surrounds every moment of life with a 2.5 year old (oh, the drama....). Didn't hurt that there was a marathon of Extreme Couponers on this afternoon to watch while bouncing Hudson :)

Sledding adventures with Papa

Lots of ice

Steve had fun too

Contemplative bluebird

I made this! haha, seriously, he is about the cutest thing you've ever seen

The Adoration of Papa Society has another member

Art time today somehow dissolved into an unauthorized sensory session. Hurray for water washable!

Hudson loved participating. Actually, he just found his toes so any chance to commune with them is seized with joy.

We're celebrating Valentine's in a big way this year. All week the kids (and Steve) are getting cards and little treats in their own mailboxes, and then we'll cook a nice meal on Friday.

More art fun

How does Henri like Hudson?

I get asked this every time we are out of the house. The simple answer, she loves him. The long one? She loves him. Buuut, she's not too interested in being selfless and sharing the spotlight with him. If she's got something to do, his wants have no bearing on her life. And even though he worships the ground she walks on, air she breathes, and wants nothing more than her attention, she can be a little stinker and snub him. But when she does look at him, he just turns himself inside out he's so delighted. She's been really good about sharing her toys (actually, she just gave him her beloved doll Bobby to suck on and thought it was sweet that he loved on her), and a lot of times when I'm in another room and he squawks she's the first one to him and give him something to play with. She doesn't seem to be bothered by his screaming in the car, gets me diapers for him, helps to give him his bath, and encourages him to scoot. All in all, I think they have a pretty close bond for a toddler and baby. The following photos kind of illustrates a typical day between them:

She's looking at me!!!!

Let's refuse to smile for a picture

Spontaneously giving each other kisses

Hud thrilled he's gotten affection, Henri telling him something

Hen: Hm, maybe I didn't want to kiss him

Hud: Want to talk to me again?
Hen: No, I really didn't want to kiss him...

Hud: I want another kiss!

Hud: Riiiight here. I'm so cute!

Hen: Let me act like I want to snuggle him

Hen: Oops, I didn't see him (because I shut my eyes when I deliberately elbowed him)

Hen: Haha! He's down!!!

Hud: (resigned noises)
Hen: Awwww, poor Huddie!

Hen attempts to right Hud 

And then the cycle repeats. Very long answer to say, yup, they act like siblings :)
And no child was harmed in this filming. She really is gentle with him, and there's a chance he was tipping before she applied a little force to encourage the topple.

Why it pays to marry a tech guy

Way behind on posting picts, but that shall soon change because I have downloaded a new web browser and it's accepting my artistic attempts. Anyway, here's a few weeks ago:

Our aborted potty training attempt. If you want the detailed version, I'd be happy to email you the saga. It was long. And painful.

First food, a celery stick :) He's moved on to bananas, mum mums, apples, grapes, lentil stew, smoothies, frozen yogurt, water from my glass, green beans. 

We set up my tent in the living room and camped out for a day. HUGE hit with the kiddos, I had a good time too :)

Playing dress up

Went to see the US Championships for ladies figure skating with a group of friends. Very fun outing (without the kids!!!)

Henri's started to steal my phone to take pictures. Scary how she can navigate an iphone with no tutorial. Anyway, here are some of her shots:

Nice color composition

I thought this one rather artsy. Also, that's a strawberry sundae from Burger King and it was really good :)

The camera's charging so once it's done I should be able to catch up. It's just been a lot of trying to stay warm and sane, though :)