10 Months Old

Little buddy turned 10 months old on Friday. It is hard to believe that I will be planning his first birthday party in 2 months! Actually, I need to start thinking about that pretty soon!

The photo session on the chair lasted about 2 seconds. He was out of there!

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This is what Hudson is up to at 10 months:

• Hudson is all over the place. Let's just say this phase is exhausting, and I know it is only going to get worse! He is crawling everywhere and pulling up on anything and everything. I don't think he is anywhere near walking, but his balance is improving every single day. He can move around on things pretty well and he is starting to let go of one hand and balance on his own, so we are well on our way.
• He is giving hugs now! It is the best thing in the world! He even gives the dogs hugs too. They don't feel quite like we do about them, but it is still cute. Also, if you get on the floor and tell him to come get you, he will come and climb on you and "get you." It is a fun game and he just laughs and laughs!
• He initiates many peekaboo and peep-eye games. He LOVES this!
• He still does not have any teeth, but we are really thinking that one may be coming through soon. He has been so fussy today especially and was up every couple of hours last night crying. He has had his fingers in his mouth all day, and at bathtime tonight, he wanted to bite the side of the tub instead of playing with his toys, so I really think his mouth is bothering him. I hope it is not like this with all the teeth! Gosh, this is a process!
• He has started this thing when he eats baby food where he thinks it is really funny to spit the food back out at you. He "motorboats" it and it goes everywhere, to the point that I have started wearing an apron when I feed him or else I will have carrots, green beans, or whatever he is eating all over me. He laughs when he does it. I have to say, it is pretty cute and I laughed at first, but we are working on getting him to stop that because it makes a mess. He doesn't really listen to me, but when Joel tells him no, that bottom lip comes out and he starts crying so I know he somewhat understands. Or maybe he is just scared of Daddy!
• I love that he laughs at everything we do. Just tonight, Joel was making funny sounds with the gum he was chewing (so not funny, probably a little gross!), and Hudson got so tickled. I was laughing so hard that I had tears in my eyes. He thinks we are so funny no matter what we do, and I love it!
• He has started reaching up towards us, and loves to crawl to us and pull up on our legs when he wants to be held. It is really sweet.
• He still loves to be bounced or thrown up in the air. He also likes being on Joel's shoulders. On the bouncing note, when Hudson gets excited about something, he bounces. He was so funny during Christmas because when he would get excited about a toy that he got, he would just bounce away. It is hilarious.
• He is getting better at eating finger foods. Tonight we had pears and he really liked them. I haven't been the best at starting new things every day (it is so much easier to just do baby food!), but he has had pineapple, bananas, any kind of bread, green beans, cheese, turkey, pancakes, and all sorts of sweets, including an ENTIRE cupcake at his daycare Christmas party. He probably would have eaten a second one if I had let him! He loves using the sippy cup, although we are just putting water or juice in it for now. I need to start putting formula in there at some point to start the process of weaning him off bottles. I might wait another month or so for that! Oh and the puffs...whoever invented puffs was a genius. That is the only way we can get through a dinner out these days!
• He is a talker, and loves to use his outside voice! He is saying mamama, dadada, gagaga, lalala, and bababa. I don't think he knows yet what anything means, but he sure does have some serious conversations with us!
• He is still not sleeping through the night. We have to go his room once or twice a night most nights. It is frustrating, but usually it doesn't take much to get him back to sleep and he still goes down pretty easily, although, he has started to like being rocked to sleep. I don't mind that at all though! He will just put his head on my shoulder and we just cuddle for a while. It is so sweet! He goes down at around 7 and sleeps to around 6:45.
• He is wearing 12 month clothes, and a lot 18 month. Actually, the 12 month clothes are about to be put away. It is a good thing Christmas is over with because he was busting out of all his cute Christmas outfits!

I think that's about it for what he's up to this month!

This picture below makes me think he is teething as well. He is ALWAYS biting on that bottom lip! Maybe I will have tooth news soon!

Oh and a little update on the duck tub.

A friend of mine told me that the beak of the duck makes noise (thanks Ashley, we did not know about that!), and he does like to check that out. We go and look at the duck every night at bathtime. Hudson will hit at the duck and smile at it....

But when you put him in the tub, he is still terrified!

Happy 10 months Hudson! You are such a joy to us and we just love getting to know this little personality that has started to come out!

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Joel and I are back to work tomorrow. I've had 2 weeks off and needless to say, I am so depressed. I have enjoyed every second that Hudson and I have spent together, and I have a feeling there might just be some tears tomorrow at drop off!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I can't believe it is 2010! We had a wonderful time ringing in the New Year last night. Thank goodness for grandparents...best thing ever! Joel and I had a great dinner out and then went to a party close to our house. We never thought we would make it to midnight, but we did! We have paid for it today though.

We had some bubbly at midnight!

Today feels like a new school year. You always want to start the year out right. I made a few resolutions/thoughts about the new year that I will share.

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1. Get back on the couponing! I have gotten inspired from some fellow bloggers and I really think this can be done. First things first though...I've got to get a Sunday paper! That's on the list for next week!

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2. Stop complaining about things so much. Joel has a "no whining" pin that he probably brings out way more than he should, so I need to do better about that. I'm serious about the no whining pin!

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3. This one goes along with #2. I feel like I am constantly nagging Joel to help with Hudson and I really need to stop that. I give him a bad rap sometimes, but he really is a great dad and husband and I don't tell him that enough. So, I'm going to cut him some slack and tell myself that he is a man and doesn't necessarily always know what to do, and I'm going to make sure that I thank him for all that he does do. I really am a lucky girl and Hudson is so blessed to have him as his dad!

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4. I should probably put exercising down, but let's be honest, I know I won't live up to that resolution! Ha!

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5. Get together with friends more. Since having Hudson, we have sort of become anti-social. It's a lot harder going out to restaurants with Hudson. We always get so nervous about it because it always seems like he is in the worst mood when we go, and I don't want to make a scene! Of course, he is always perfect when we get there, but we get so worked up about it that most of the time, we just eat in instead of taking the chance! If it means we need to have some dinner parties at our house, then that's what we will do. I miss our friends and we really need to get together more often!

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6. Cherish every moment with my sweet Hudson. I have realized in these last 10 months that life flies by so fast and I have a feeling that I'm going to blink and he will be 10 years old! That thought just makes me so sad! So, I'm going to do better about not wanting to wish my life, and his, away because this time is so precious! Sorry about this one...it's sappy, but needed to be said. Why can't he just be a baby forever?!?!?

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Well, there's just a few. I have more, but I won't bore anyone with more of that!

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This is sort of not related to New Year's, but below are some pictures of Hudson playing and our constant mess of a house. This boy has no lack of toys, that's for sure! I should have put keeping a cleaner house on my resolutions list as well, but how is that possible with a baby!?!? We do straighten up every night, but I've had to get used to the clutter.

He loves this barn! I know I have said this before, but he has an obsession with doors and loves to open and close them. He will do it for an hour at a time! I'm not kidding! With the barn, he loves to open the door, crawl through, and close it behind him, over and over again! It is so cute!

My parent's got him this bear for Christmas, and he gives it a "bear hug" every time he sees it! It is adorable. More on his "hugs" on a later post! We are loving it!

He got a kitchen too and he loves to open and close the refrigerator door!

I just thought this was funny. This is our den on a good day. Looks like a tornado ran through it! So does the play room for that matter!

Hope everyone had a GREAT New Year! We are excited about what is to come in 2010. I'm not sure that it can top 2009, but we'll see!

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Ten month post to come soon! My baby is 10 months old today! Can't believe it!!! Oh and hooray for an Auburn victory today! Three times at that...we thought the refs were going to give it to Northwestern!

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad...Duck?

Look at this sad face!!! He is absolutely terrified of his new duck tub. This is going to make a great story at his rehearsal dinner someday. My little boy...who is tough as nails, loves to play rough, loves BIG dogs, I could go on and on about how much of a BOY he truly is...but, he is terrified of a duck! There is something wrong about this!

His aunt Carrie got him this tub because he has had several incidents in the tub recently. We were hoping that this would help contain him and provide some padding! He loves to climb all over the tub, swim all over the place, and just be a boy, but sometimes he would slip before you even knew what happened. I'm always sitting right there and most of the time I am holding on to him when it happens, but it still happens! Ahh! Anyway, this was our solution and he hates it. He takes one look at the duck and starts shaking and screaming.

This was Joel trying to tell him that the duck is nice! Ha!

Oh well, so much for the duck tub. It's back to the regular tub. He now has some FABULOUS new bath toys though, so maybe that will make him stop wanting to climb the tub!

Christmas!

We have had a whirlwind couple of days, but it has been wonderful! We had the best Christmas! Warning, this post has a TON of pictures! We were a little camera crazy on Hudson's first Christmas!

We started out the festivities with Christmas Eve lunch at the Birmingham Country Club...a Whitt family tradition. It is always so fun and we absolutely stuff ourselves!

Check out Grandmother's dessert plate! She is the smallest person in the world, and she had about 4 desserts! Wish I could do that!!!

Hudson did not want to be in the high chair for long. He wanted to be crawling around, so we finally let him. He loves looking out windows!

Here is Ashley and Blaine. Blaine was so funny. He said his outfit wasn't Christmasy because it didn't have green in it. He is so into his clothes, and of course, he looked so cute as always!

Here is our attempt at a family picture. It was naptime at this point, so Hudson wasn't cooperating! He woudn't take a morning nap before lunch, so we were really struggling!

He loves watching Morgan!

Los Angeles Carrie and me...once again, she makes me look like Casper! Can you tell she lives near the beach?!?!?

We left the country club and went home to get Hudson a quick nap before heading to church and then to Joel's family's Christmas dinner. We let Hudson sit in church with us and he did pretty good. Only two talking outbursts while the preacher was talking! Everyone turned to look at us, but it was ok. He ate three church bulletins and about a hundred puffs too, but we were good to go! I just couldn't stick him in the nursery on Christmas!

Once we got to Joel's aunt's house, the power went out from all the wind and rain, so we ate Christmas Eve dinner by candlelight! The food was delicious as always.

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We were able to snap a couple of pictures right before the power went out.

The Reed family.

After dinner, you would think we were done for the night, but no, we headed back to my parent's house for the Whitt Christmas. We open all our presents on Christmas Eve. I was a little worried that Hudson wouldn't make it through the Whitt family Christmas since he had not napped since 3 that afternoon, but we tried to put him down twice at my mom's and he wouldn't go! He was so keyed up!

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This was part of the reason. Best present of the night! He stayed in this riding toy most of the night! We all took turns pushing him around the house, and he just loved it. He got so many other things too. You wouldn't believe our den right now. It looks like a tornado full of toys came through it!

It wouldn't be a Whitt family Christmas without my dad getting the hot new toy for the kids. Check out the Zhu Zhus! Morgan was so excited! I have to say though...I don't really see what all the hype is about, but Morgan loved them. They seriously look like little rats running across the floor!

Joel got this really old Auburn football helmet for his man room. He looks pretty funny in it!

This was at about 9:30 pm. He is usually in bed by 7!

We finally got home and put the little man to bed and then played Santa for the first time! We didn't get Hudson very much since he had no idea what was going on, and he got a ton of stuff from his grandparents (and his birthday is in 2 months!), but it was still fun setting it out. We couldn't wait for him to see everything the next morning!

Hudson had a terrible night's sleep that night, but did manage to sleep until 8. We got out the video camera and snapped a few pictures of his reaction to his new toys!
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He loved this little play table! It was definitely his favorite.

He liked the alphabet train too, but unfortunately, when I went to put him on it the first time to ride on it, he did a nose dive right onto the handle. Of course we were videoing all that. I definitely won mother of the year for that. We have figured it out today though and we have been riding it all over the house!

He is so excited about all his gifts! Finally, some new toys to play with! And, doesn't he look too cute in his pjs?!?!?

I got a sewing/embroidery machine. I was so excited about it (it really was exactly what I wanted) until I got it out last night and tried to do it. It is so intimidating and I told Joel that he just needed to take it back. I didn't have time to figure all that out! Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I'm not sure I'm cut out for this. I have a whole new respect for the $10 that I have to pay every time to get something monogrammed. It may be worth that. Ha!

After playing with all the stuff that Santa brought for a little while, we headed over to the Reed's to do Christmas with them. They outdid themselves for sure. We got tons of great stuff! Unfortunately, our camera was not working and I didn't get any pictures of the gift giving part. Of course, we figured out what was wrong after it was over! Oh well, I know that they got a ton of great pictures, so hopefully they will share!
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Hudson got this great little riding toy that he just loves! It turns into a walker too. We have ridden it all over the house today too! Hudson looks so cute in the Santa hat!

We tried to get a picture of Hudson and his cousin Mark with Papa John, but the fear of old folks came back and Hudson threw a fit!

We had brunch at the Reed's and then headed back to my parent's house for Christmas Day lunch with my other grandparents. Yes, we had to eat again an hour after we ate brunch! It was all SO good though! Our tummies were definitely full!
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Check out our silly faces!

Hudson did manage to squeeze in a short nap at Joel's parent's house that morning, but he was definitely exhausted by the time we got to my parent's. I'm really surprised he did so well. We were so off his routine and he has been on somewhat of a nap strike, so I know he was overtired, but he didn't fuss or anything.

We are so blessed to have such wonderful families! Thank you to everyone! We loved seeing you all and celebrating such a wonderful day!

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Joel and I are looking forward to a few days of rest and relaxation. We are flat worn out!!!

Santa!

Well, it started out as love at first sight...

"Hmmm...I think I know you, but I'm not quite sure!"

"I'm getting a little scared now. White haired old folks really give me the creeps!"

"Don't get near me!"

"Mmmmoooooommmmmmmyyyyyyy!!!!!!"

"I don't like this one bit!"

"Santa, this isn't helping very much...but, you sure do look a lot like my granddaddy!"

At least someone is not afraid of Santa!

Let's just say Hudson's second run-in with Santa, aka Big Daddy (my Dad) did not go over too well! He was terrified of him! He had his picture taken at daycare with Santa and did great, or so they say. The picture that we got was terrible, but they said he didn't cry or anything. I think he was a little confused at who Santa was, and he has always had this fear of old people with gray/white hair. I can't imagine how bad it is going to be next year! He probably won't even get near Santa!

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We had a little fun after Santa left!

This pretty lady is finally in town! We picked her up from the airport today and we get her for a whole week!!! So fun!

Merry Christmas to everyone! Let the chaos begin!

Stop That Ball!

My favorite book growing up was called "Stop That Ball." It was about a little boy who had a ball that rolled down the street and ended up going all over town. I know, strange book for a girl, but I had older brothers and loved sports. Barbie dolls and dresses were not my thing. Anyway, I had memories brought back about that book when Hudson yanked off a Christmas ball off the tree and it slipped out of his hands and rolled all over the room. He had a blast trying to get it back! I managed to sneak a few pictures as he crawled through the shelf under the coffee table to get it!

I'm going to get that ball!

Almost got it!

Darn...rolled away again.

No worries, I can still get it!

He is a mess these days!

We have had SUCH a busy weekend. We had my work Christmas party at Vestavia Country Club Friday night, which was a really fun time. I actually won a door prize! Yay! I won $50 to Walmart, and sadly it has already been spent. Oh well! It sure did beat the $50 to Starbucks that I got last year, seeing as though I don't even drink coffee! However, I was still grateful to win a prize both years because normally, I am never one to win anything! Little man stayed with Joel's parents and we picked him up on the way home. We were hoping he would sleep in a little bit on Saturday morning, but nope, up and going at 6 am! Ugh! We were so tired. Joel kept Hudson all morning Saturday while I went and tried to finish up my shopping. Unfortunately, I still have some folks to go, including my hubby. My idea for him fell through so it is back to square one!

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We went over to our friends Derrick and Nicole's house last night for some fun. There were several couples over there. Hudson actually made it until 9 pm before we decided we probably needed to head home! He did so well. It helped that there were other kids there for him to watch. Derrick and Nicole have a little boy a few months older than Hudson and I swear, we had half of the offensive line for Vestavia Hills high school covered. They don't need to worry about that in about 15 years! Hudson and Paxton are big boys! Anyway, it was great visiting with everyone and we need to do that again soon!
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We went to church this morning and then celebrated Christmas and birthdays with Cameron and Caroline at the Tavern at the Summit. It was so fun and Hudson and I got some great gifts! Thank you, thank you! We are headed to Joel's parents' house tonight to celebrate his Dad's birthday! Lots of December birthdays around here. I'm just glad we get so much family time in this time of year. I just love it!