The bumblebee

On Friday afternoon I met my friend Ethan at the park.
I always have fun with Ethan!!
I also discovered that the bumblebee is even more fun with a friend!

Tigger

We attended da-da's work's annual Halloween bash this afternoon.
Initially, Hud did NOT want any part of his Halloween costume.
It was a bit of a battle getting him in it. Once he realized that his
costume came complete with a tail, he got on board.
He did not, however, enjoy the "hat" portion of his costume,
and went without it for most of the afternoon.
We thought he still looked adorable.

Back in Business

Feeling more like himself this morning...



...and we're off to school!

Sick since Friday

Hud, happy, healthy, and with avacado on his face.

Hud, not so happy, not so healthy,
asleep en route to his doctor this morning.

Yeah, he's sick. Again. I'm loving Hudson's school, but I am not loving this aspect of it. He came down with a fever on Friday afternoon which lasted the entire weekend. Oddly, he didn't have any other symptoms, but we could tell he didn't feel well. Monday morning his fever finally broke, but he still wasn't eating much and his tummy was upset, so he stayed home from school and we worked on getting better. This morning, Hudson broke out in a rash all over his entire body- poor guy! We headed up to see his pediatrician, where he was diagnosed with Roseola, a virus which is very common in children ages 2-3. The doctor said it was basically a "right of passage" for kids his age. Perfect! Soooo glad we got that one out of the way. Strangely enough, the doctor said once the rash shows up they're no longer contagious. My fingers are crossed that he continues to improve and can go back to school tomorrow. This mommy much prefers a happy, healthy version of the Hud.

The Hud these days

Most of you don't get to see the Hud very often, so I thought I'd share with you some of things he's up to these days.

1.) School. Hudson is now loving his school! He goes without any trouble and although he's happy to see me, he's is sad to leave school. He's made several friends at school, but his favorite is a little boy named Zane. Anytime you mention school, Hudson starts saying, " Zane, Zane, Zane." This morning Zane got to school the same time as Hudson and Zane's mom said when Zane saw Hudson he said "friend". His mom said, "who is your friend?" Zane replied, "Hudson". AWWWWWE!!!!! The cutest! Last week we went to the park and bumped into Zane and his mom there. When Hudson saw Zane he walked over to him and said "Zane!" and then gave him a hug. Talk about melting your heart! I am so, so proud to have such a sweet and loving child.

2.) Bye-Bye. Hudson is into waving bye-bye to everyone and everything. Typically babies start waving bye-bye at a much earlier age, Hud was never into it. We attributed it to personality at the time. Not to worry, he's making up for lost time with his byebye/waving explosion right now! When we leave the park, he waves bye-bye. When we finish our bath he waves bye-bye to the bath tub. We went to the doctor on Tuesday and when the doctor was leaving the room he waved bye-bye. Every night when we get him ready for bed, I give him a kiss and leave the room while Scott sits with him and tucks him in bed. After I give him a kiss he waves bye-bye to me while I leave the room. He sees da-da leaving in the morning for work and waves bye-bye. I should also mention that the bye-bye wave is accompanied by a very sad moaning sound which we think means "I don't want to say goodbye to you, but I have to, so here is a goodbye wave to make up for it."

3.) The Park. We go to the Park almost every day. Hudson loves to go and is getting quite accustomed to the routine of the park after his afternoon nap. If we get in the car and don't go to the park, he gets very upset with me and repeats "park, park, park" over and over again. We're taking full advantage of this beautiful fall weather while we can, so you'll probably be seeing a lot more park pictures on the blog in the near future. Going to the park with my son is one of my very favorite things to do. There is just so much joy, for both me and him. I get to see him so happy and having so much fun, and that alone is fun for me. I love how being at the park with my child brings out my inner child, too. It's a time for me and Hudson to play, have fun and not worry about anything else in the world. I realize every time I'm there how incredibly fortunate I am to be able to spend this time with Hudson. I will always treasure and love the memories that come from our time together while we're there.

4.) Ut-oh. When you're dealing with a toddler there are a lot of "ut-oh's" in your day. I guess I say "ut-oh" when there's a spill, something falls, drops, breaks, all of which happen frequently around this house. Now Hudson is chiming in.... He says "ut-oh" for everything! Sometimes when there isn't even an "ut-oh". It makes me laugh to think about what goes on in that silly head of his.

5.) Getting dressed. Hudson is really into picking out his own clothes, which is sometimes a little scary, let's face it. However, this is an important part of his growing independence, and we try to encourage it. Yesterday we were running late getting to school so I just grabbed a sweatshirt and put it on him and this was very upsetting to the Hud. I had no idea it was so important to him until this incident. Lesson learned, mommy....from now on, the Hud is in charge of choosing his sweatshirt.

6.) The World Series. Yeah, the world series...As a general rule we don't usually have the tv on while Hudson is awake. For some reason, Scott has decided we can bend the rules with regard to sports. First there was football on Sunday afternoon and now there's the World Series. Last night Scott asked Hudson if he wanted to watch some baseball. The Hud of course said "yeah" and then "pleased" like crazy. He even knows how to "pitch". Wonder who taught him that? Like father, like son. Oh-boy.

My Da-Da and Me

Mommy had a lot going on this weekend with her animal rescue group's annual fundraiser on Saturday evening, so I got to spend a lot of time with my Da-Da, which was AWESOME! I had so much fun with Da-Da and I was so sad to see him go to work this morning.

We did lots of fun things, like swim class, a few trips to the park, and I even got to go for a jog with Da-Da in my jogging stroller. When we got home Da-Da was stretching and I copied everything he did. Ma-Ma thought this was adorable and wishes she could have seen it herself.

Yesterday the three of us got to go to the park and Ma-Ma took some photos of me and Da-Da together. Everywhere we go these days people say I look like my Da-Da. It's quite the compliment, I think. Ma-Ma says she thinks Da-Da is especially handsome, so that must mean I am too.

Ma-Ma, the park's this way!
(just in case I hadn't realized it)



We're loving this Fall weather!!
We've been to the park almost every day recently!



Yesterday there was a little boy at the park wearing the same shoes as Hudson. I hadn't even noticed until Hudson kept saying, "shoes, shoes, shoes" and then he'd look at his shoes and then look at the other kids shoes and repeat, "shoes, shoes, shoes". I'm not sure kids this age understand that there can be two things exactly the same. I'm pretty sure he thought the other kid was wearing HIS shoes and he wasn't so sure about it. I suspect he was looking down at his feet to make sure he, in fact, still had his "shoes, shoes, shoes" on.



The slide really does a number on Hud's hair!
He loves the slide so much that when he's done he climbs back up the slide (rather than go back to the stairs and climb those) and goes down again and again and again. The he'll say, "all-done", wave "bye-bye" to the slide and move on to the next thing.



Hudson loves helping Ma-Ma in the kitchen.
Last night we whipped up some ziti for dinner.
Hud did lots of taste-testing and gave it two thumbs up
and lots of "more" & "please" which he still prefers to say in sign language.

More Swim Class

Dancing at School

We knew that Hudson had some dancing skills, but we cracked up laughing when Sylvie sent us this video of him at school today. There's a brief lull in the middle, but the best part is at the end so hang in there, we promise it's worth it. Enjoy!

October in Dallas = time at the park

I've been terrible about posting to the blog lately. I love to do it and it seems like somehow there just hasn't been time in my day to get to it. So, I'm posting a whole bunch of photos I took at the park yesterday to make up for it. It's been really beautiful the last few weeks, and although I think I've mentioned once or twice that I'm not a big fan of Dallas, I do love October in Dallas. If only it was like this all year.

Note Hudson's leg...
toddler boys, full of bumps and bruises,
and yes, since it's Dallas...
mosquito bites, too.
Yuck.



The ka' is Hudson's favorite thing at the park.
It's where we spend 90% of our time while we're there.



The definition of happy.






Riding in the back of the ka'.



Look familiar?
I've taken quite a few pics of Hudson on the bumblebee.
It seems to get more and more fun as he gets older.



Swing.



And, we're back to the ka'.

Sunday Morning Stroll

Spoiler Alert!

You might recall Hudson's photo session at the Gypsy Wagon a few months ago with Jenny Watts. We loved her work so much that we asked her to do some more photos for us last weekend. Here is a small sample from the shoot which Jenny posted on her blog this morning. Spoiler alert!!! You may see one of these on our Christmas card this year! Enjoy!

http://www.jennywattsphotography.com/blog/