Hudson :: 11 Months Old

Dear Sweet Hudson,

You are 11 months old!! I can't believe you will be 1 in a month. This has been the fastest and most exciting year of our lives. You really have changed so much this month. You are becoming a toddler every day and very less baby.

The biggest change this month is you're WALKING! You took your first steps the day before your 10 month birthday but this month you've really taken off. You walk everywhere and hate to be held now. I would say you walk 95% of the time and crawl about 5%. Our lives are very different this month with you walking. We love it though!

You are still such a tiny guy so seeing you walking is too funny. You are still wearing most of the things you were able to wear 6 months ago. The clothes we bought on sale last summer are WAY too big! But you are such a big eater. You eat 3 meals a day, 1 snack and 4 bottles with 6 ounces each.

Another huge change this month is that we are no longer breastfeeding. My doctor told me that I had to stop cold turkey so you nursed for the last time when you went to bed on April 16. You have done great transiting to bottles and formula. Your 11:00 and 3:00 bottles are usually out of a sippy cup though. You are not interested in bottles then because you would rather be playing. This is fine because it will make dropping the bottles next month that much easier.

You understand so much when we communicate with you. You now know, "come here," "sit on your bottom," (when you are in the bathtub) "look," "let's go bye bye," "outside," "say bye bye," "bottle," and "go get it." You are also able to sign "all done" and "more."

You play so well independently. You love stacking things and putting your toys on top of furniture. You also love putting things in the bathtubs and in your Diaper Champ. You really love putting toys in your Diaper Champ and watching them disappear. This is very gross and we are trying to figure out a way to lock this. :) You love your books that have texture. You know what to do with each page and you also love the books that have flaps that you look for things under.

You "bounce" on command and it is the funniest thing! We will say, "bouncy bounce" and you will start bouncing up and down. If you are standing up you will still do it but sometimes lose your balance.

Your schedule is pretty much the same this month. You take a bottle around 7:00 and then we put you in bed. Usually you will go right to sleep but the last few nights you have laid in bed talking to yourself for almost an hour. You wake up between 6:45-7:30 in the mornings. You are still taking a good morning nap from about 9:00-10:00/11:00. And your afternoon nap is usually 1:00-3:00 but you have also slept until 4:00 many times.

Your favorite foods are strawberries, peas, carrots, green beans, corn, blueberry waffles, apple cinnamon waffles, grilled chicken, brisket, beans, goldfish, tomatoes and guacamole. You will still eat pretty much anything.

You are still wearing a size 6-12 month and 12 month in clothes. You are STILL in a size 3 diaper which you've worn since about 5 months. You do wear a size 4 overnight diaper at nights though. You wear a size 3 shoe but it is SO hard to put your little fat foot in shoes. You have 6 teeth (2 bottom and 4 top) and you don't seem to be getting close to getting your 1 year molars which is fine by me. I'm not looking forward to those at all.

You love to share whatever you are eating (or chewing on if it's a toy). You will put it in your mouth and then stick it out to share with whoever is close by. I love that it makes you so happy to share! You have really started to play with Oliver this month and it is SO much fun to watch y'all play together. You will chase him around the house screaming and y'all will roll around on the floor wrestling. He is so gentle and good with you. You also still love to be outside. If I say, "let's go outside" you will run for the back door. You will walk out on your own and just take off.

You have made our lives SO much fun little man. We can't wait to celebrate your 1st birthday next month and continue to watch you grow and develop. 

Love,

Mommy

::11 month stats::

weight: 22 pounds 8 ounces

height: 30 inches

eating: 6 ounce bottle at 7, 11, 3, 7. meals at 8, 12, 5:30.

clothing: 6-12 month, 12 month

diaper: size 3 during the day, size 4 overnight at nights

Look how you've changed!

Queso Poblano Chicken Sausage Grilled Pizza

Our grocery store here (HEB) has this great little area in it where chefs cook and have samples to try. They always have recipe cards so you can recreate the recipe at home. This is where this recipe came from. I rarely buy the stuff for the recipes and usually just taste what they've made. But this week when I was shopping I knew John would love this pizza. We made a few changes from the original recipe so I'll post what we did. It's SO SO SO good!

You will need...

1 thin pizza crust

2/3 cup Philly Cooking Creme in Savory Garlic

1/4 cup pizza sauce

2-3 links of queso poblano chicken sausage (or something similar)

1/2 of a bell pepper sliced (we used red and green)

1/4 of an onion sliced

shredded cheese (we used a Mexican blend)

guacamole (make your own or use a pre-made kind)

And here's what to do...

Start by removing the sausage from the casings and brown in a skillet. Remove from skillet when finished cooking. Add the peppers and onions and sauté until tender. 

Grill the pizza crust on each side for 1-2 minutes. Then top with the cooking creme. Spread the pizza sauce over that. Sprinkle on the cooked sausage, peppers and onions and then the cheese. 

Place on the grill over low heat for 6-7 minutes with the cover closed. Remove from the oven and let stand for a few minutes before serving. Top with guacamole!

*You could also make this in the oven. Just follow the cooking instructions for your pizza's crust.

Visit with Lady and Aunt Whit!

I think I'm just about caught up! Not quite, but almost!

Last weekend my mom and sister came down for a visit. Hudson hadn't seen his Aunt Whit since January. He's changed a lot since then!

We had fun playing in the backyard when they got here.

Without fail, Hudson wakes up early when we have company in town. So he got to hang out with Lady and Huck while everyone else slept in a little.

He entertained himself by going through Aunt Whitney's suitcase.

After a while Hudson got to wake up Aunt Whit. Hair pulling works. 

So does nose picking and eye brow pulling. 

Yay! She's finally awake!

Hudson LOVES his Aunt Whitney. You can see why. There is NOONE like Aunt Whitney. She knows how to entertain a 10 1/2 month old. 

For lunch we went and picked up sandwiches and had a picnic at the park. John stayed home and built a table and 2 benches for our back porch. More on that later. :)

I love Hudson's face in this picture! He's so serious about swinging!

After his afternoon nap we were going to enjoy popsicles outside but the mosquitos were so bad and he already had 2 bites on his head so we moved the party to the kitchen floor. 

We had a great weekend! We love having family come visit!

Big Brother Outtakes

Let's hope he's a little more excited in November. :)

Sleep Stripper!

This is one of those, "for the baby book" posts. A few weeks ago I learned a lesson. Hudson either needs to nap in shorts or a onesie. Never a t-shirt and diaper. 

I glanced at the video monitor like I do several times while he naps and noticed his bare bottom sticking straight up in the air. 

I was shocked and just laughed! After texting John to look I debated going into re-diaper him or just let him sleep. I chose sleep. I knew that at this point any "damage" had already been done.

When he woke up, I went in quickly and his diaper was thrown over the side of his crib. 

As I got closer I noticed a wet spot on the hardwood floor. It's hard to tell but it's at the bottom of the picture. Apparently he had taken off his diaper while standing up and then went to the bathroom while standing up and it went out of his crib. Fun! 

Oh the joys of little boys. :)

Fun at the Park!

John took off work the day after Easter. The weeks leading up to Easter and Easter weekend are very busy for a worship pastor, as you can imagine. It was nice for him to have a day off and for us to have a family day!

We had a picnic lunch at the park. Hudson enjoyed his biscuit. We were sitting right under a tree for shade but there were these caterpillar things that kept falling out of the tree and landing on me. Not John or Hudson, just me. They were fat and fury. Not fun!

We've taken Hudson to the park a few other times and he's gone down the slide with John but we decided to try letting him go on his own. 

He wasn't a fan. We laughed and enjoyed watching it though! :)

Papa Jim's Visit and Hudson's First Trip to the Zoo!

A couple weekends ago my dad, Papa Jim, came for a visit. 

Saturday we picked up burgers from our favorite place here and headed to the zoo. 

We had a picnic outside of the zoo before we went in. It was actually pretty chilly outside that day!

Hudson loved his grilled cheese and watching the birds around us.

This was Hudson's first trip to the zoo and he really enjoyed it.

His favorites were the birds and the animals that moved around a lot. The ones who just sat there did not catch his attention. 

He loved these birds!

He couldn't care less about the lions.

The little zoo in our town is just perfect for Hudson right now. It is small and we were able to see everything in about 45 minutes. And it took less than 10 minutes to get home for nap time!

When my dad is here we always do something fun on the grill. That night we made beer can chicken. It was SO moist and delicious! I also made John's favorite BBQ beans, roasted garlic mashed potatoes and grilled corn on the cob with honey lime butter! Yum!

After church Hudson enjoyed a snack with PJ. We had a great visit and can't wait for another one!