18 Months Old

Hudson had his 18 month checkup last week and he is 35.75 in tall which is above the 95th percentile in height and he weighs 28lbs 8 oz which is in the 85th percentile. So we have an over-achiever! Which is fine by me because I bought myself a pass to Holiday World this summer, and it looks like the cutoff for a lot of the rides is 36" if accompanied by an adult. So he'll be free this summer, and next summer, and will be tall enough to actually do something there. I can't wait! The weather has been milder lately, and we've been taking every opportunity we get to go outside and let Hudson burn off some energy. He is such an outdoors kid, as long as he's outside he's happy. It doesn't matter what we're doing. There are some pictures below of him riding on the 4 wheeler Jesse's uncle brought over for him. He thought he was pretty hot stuff! There are also some pictures below of him meeting my cousin Kate's little boy Quinn, as well as him having a staring contest with a dead ladybug at mom and dad's. He loves bugs, and will get down on the ground and blow them around the floor!

When Life Gives You Lemons...

Jesse, Hudson and I went to Evansville over the weekend to look for summer necessities for Hudson. While we were there, we stopped at the Olive Garden to eat, and Hudson grabbed the lemon out of my drink almost before the waitress had let it go after setting it on the table. Since Hudson's attention span usually only lasts about 5 to 10 mins after we sit down, we let him keep the lemon because it was entertaining him (and us). I got my camera out and snapped a few pictures of him enjoying the lemon. He was making some strange faces, but kept going back for more!

Let it Snow

We took Hudson out in the snow for the first time last night. We've had snow off and an all winter, but last night it was sunny and warm enough that we weren't as worried about him getting sick from being out in the cold. He loved it right away. Jesse pulled him around in a sled and I followed and tried to take some pictures. Hudson was determined to eat as much of it as he could, so he was constatnly dragging his hands beside the sled inthe snow to get some to put in his mouth. That's why in some of the pictures below he's laying down, or has fallen out of the sled altogether. All in all, we were only outside for 15 or 20 minutes, but it was enough for his face to turn bright red, and for him to throw a fit when it was time to go back in the house.

Dance Party

I just wanted to post a short video I took Sat night of Hudson dancing to a kids song CD at Mom

and Dad's house. He went up to the CD player and wanted to listen to this CD and was dancing

and jumping around for about 15 mintues before I thought about using the video camera feature on my camera. So at the end of this one, you can see him get tired and walk off, but it's enough

to give you a pretty good idea of what was going on!

No More Baby Hudson

Hudson has changed so much over the last few weeks, it's amazing to me to think back to Christmas and how different he is now. It was like flipping a switch. All of the sudden he
really started talking and trying to repeat everything anyone said to him. He tries to tell
you what he wants, he'll let you know when he's tired and ready to go to bed, or when you
aren't doing what he thinks you should be doing. Below are some pictures of him from the
last couple of weeks. The first one is him sitting is his chair eating popcorn. That's a new-
found favorite food of his, and something we all can sit down and share. The first time we
made it, Jesse and I couldn't stop laughing because Hudson would stick his little hand down
in the bag and eat it just like we were. He sat and watched us at first, and then dug in like an
old pro. The second picture is Hudson and Jesse watching one of Hudson's Wee Sing tapes.
He absolutely loves them, and so far that's the only thing we've found that gets him to sit
still for longer than a few seconds. At first he just enjoyed the singing and dancing, but now
he actually tries to do the movements with the characters, which is hilarious! The last
pictures are from the week of Mom and Dad's birthdays. Instead of getting them a cake, we
got a message cookie, and had some left over that was sitting on the counter. I sat Hudson
on the counter to take his hat and coat off after coming home from Corydon to see Jesse's nephew
play basketball and Hudson spotted the cookie. He looked up at me and plain as day
said "Cookie" and pointed over to it. I was so excited that he said cookie, I sat him up on the counter

and let him have some. He was VERY proud of himself! I don't have a picture of it,
but he also peed on the big boy potty for the first time last night. I clapped and made a big
deal out of it, and now he's constantly pointing at the bathroom door asking to go potty!

Merry Christmas

This was Hudson's first Christmas where he was old enough to take part in the Christmas festivities. He was a little tentative at first when opening gifts, and was more interested in the paper and boxes than what was inside. But once he got a few gifts under his belt, and realized there was fun stuff inside for him, he quickly began diving into the gifts and wanted to play with everything all at once. Some of the gifts that he got were a St Louis Cardinals ornament, a massager that he loves because it lights up and makes noise when you put it against a hard surface, a huge stuffed cow, a ball popper that shoots little plastic balls up in the air, a tricycle, and a wagon. He also learned that Santa says "Ho ho ho", even though he won't go anywhere near the real thing. But anytime he sees a Santa decoration, or doll, he breaks out his "Ho ho ho" and wants to play with it. He also really enjoyed Christmas lights and decorations. Every time we'd drive past a house that was lit up, he'd say "wow, pretty". He was very disappointed when we took our decorations down!

Hello Christmas

We're one of those strange families who waits until after Thanksgiving to put up our Christmas decorations. Not long after Thanksgiving, but after none the less. This year, we were trying to decide how much of the decorations to put up and risk their destruction by Hurricane Hudson. We decided to put up the outside decorations and the tree, and the other inside decorations that are up out of his reach. We figured he'd like the lights, but we'd have a hard time keeping his little hands off of the decorations. We were right! So far, he's already ripped the nose off of a snowman that I have inside, and torn both of the eyes off of the light up Rudolph that we have outisde. But it is funny to watch him get excited when we plug in the lights on the tree, and he'll run to our front window and point and jump up and down when the outside decorations come on. Sad to say, though, our nativity scene is one thing we decided not to mess with this year. It probably won't see the light of day for a few years now!