Fall Update: 19 months!

As usual I have procrastinated on updating the blog. I fully intended to write an 18 month update and take some pictures of Hudson last month and I never got around to it :( Things are going pretty good in the Bloom household. Hudson seems to be turning into more and more of a toddler (or 2 year old ..) these days. Temper tantrums are a daily (or hourly) occurance and he definitely makes his wants/preferences/needs known at all times!!

Hudson still isn't talking a ton, but he has slowly been adding more and more words to his vocabulary. He even started counting with me yesterday (I said one, then he said 'two'). Here are some of the words he says consistentely: mama, dada, grandma (kinda sounds like mama), Maverick, dog, kitty, more, all done, please, thank you, nana (banana), choo-choo, car, ball, that, juice, wa-wa/agua (water),shoe. He also shows us what he wants/means most of the time, can point to several body parts and do what we ask him (when he chooses to of course).

Hudson has adjusted really well to his daycare and loves his teachers there. Whenever I drop him off in the mornings they comment on what a quiet, well behaved boy he is. He definitely lets his guard down at home though!! :)

I'm on my computer at work so I'll post pictures as soon as I get a chance at home!

Rocking and Rolling!

Well, last Saturday (June 25th) was the Rock and Roll Marathon!! I am proud to say that I finished the half marathon - and even did it faster than I anticipated. My official time was 2:14:20. Which averages out to about 10:15/mile. Not too shabby for my first half marathon - 13.1 miles is a long way to run! :)

Surprisingly, I actually even enjoyed the run!! I fully expected to get drained and exhausted half way through, but I had a great time and enjoyed listening to the bands, watching the other runners and seeing all the spectators cheering us on! I am even thinking about doing the race again next year! :)

Not much else is new with us. Just living our lives and trying to enjoy what each day brings us. Hudson has been talking a lot more the last couple weeks - some of his new/favorite words are: bye-bye, thank you, daddy, dad, doggy, mama, mom, uh oh, more (and he even started signing this even though I haven't been very consistent with teaching him signs), Maverick (we are probably the only ones that recognize this one though) ... and probably some more that I'm forgetting. It's so fun to watch him grow and learn every day - I love this little munchkin so much!! :)

15 months and VEGAS!!

I have been slacking in the blog department for the last month!! We have all been busy with life! Hmm..where to start. Well, summer definitely hasn't officially started yet around here. We've only had a few nice/warm days - but we're hoping for more SOON so we can get out and enjoy the beautiful Northwest.

Last weekend I took my first weekend away from my boys since Hudson was born! I went to Vegas for my best friend Katie's bachelorette party!! We had an awesome trip - and it was great to have some baby-free girl time. I was really nervous to be away from my boy for 3 days - but I did surprisingly well and so did he! :) I think more 'girl trips' are in my future. I don't go into too many details about the trip (like they say "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!!") but we had some fun by the pool, a lot of dancing/drinking and overall a ton of fun! I just wish we would've had a day or 2 longer to relax by the pool and recover from our late nights!

Hudson is doing great - he turned 15 months on the 15th! I can't believe how fast time goes - it seems like just yesterday he was born. He's still not walking yet (he's just being stubborn I think..) He's taken a few steps here and there, but he knows that he can get where he wants to fast by crawling or being carried. I'm not too worried about it since I know his muscles are strong enough (he walks around all the furniture, behind his toys, holding our hand/finger, etc.) - and I know I will wish these crawling days back once they are gone!!

Hudson is slowly adding more words into his vocabulary and is definitely understanding a lot more than we realize! He constantly points and says "that, that!" and will also give us toys or do something we ask of him (sometimes ..)

In other exciting news - Hudson is going to have a cousin!! Andy's sister Katie is pregnant and due 11/11/11!! We are so excited to find out if Baby Turnbow will be a boy or girl (she finds out Thursday!!)

I am at work right now, but I will update with pictures soon.

First Family Vacation: MAUI

The past month has flown by! We just got home from our first 'big' vacation with Hudson to MAUI!! We had so much fun and Hudson did great with all the traveling and new experiences.

We got up early Sunday morning (April 17th) and caught our first flight from Seattle to Portland. We made sure to keep Hudson awake on this quick flight, hoping he'd sleep for the long flight over to Maui. We had a quick layover in Portland and then it was off to Hawaii! The flight to Maui from Portland was 5 hours 45 minutes or so ... I was nervous to be cooped up in 2 small plane seats for that long, but Hudson did AMAZING!! He only slept the first hour and a half, but we managed to keep him interested and happy the rest of the flight by feeding him lots of snacks, reading books, playing with some new toys and stickers and talking to fellow travelers :)

Once we arrived in Maui, we got our luggage and picked up the rental car. Our first stop was Safeway to pick up a few grocery items for the week. I was amazed at how expensive things are over there. For 2 small bags of groceries we spent $70!!! That's generally what we spend for a week's worth of groceries here...yikes! We loaded up the car and headed South to our condo in Kihei. We were all exhausted after a long day of traveling and although it was only about 3 pm Hawaii time when we got to the condo, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to our condo to call it a night.

The rest of the week was pretty relaxed and low key. We didn't want to plan a lot of activities or excursions since this was our first family vacation. We spent most of our time at the beach, talking a lot of long walks along the beach and to/from 'town' and eating at new restaurants. We were also able to meet up with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins a couple times as well as have lunch with a couple co-workers and their families who were staying nearby!

We did attend a luau to celebrate mine and Andy's 4th anniversary on Thursday April 21st. After waiting in a LONG, hot line to get into the show we were rewarded with amazing food and an awesome show. Hudson stayed awake through dinner and tried several new foods including watermelon, kalua pork, mahi-mahi, hawaiian sweet rolls and probably others that I'm forgetting!

Overall we had an AMAZING trip and are already talking about when we can go back to Hawaii (or somewhere else warm to get away from this nasty Seattle weather ..) Hudson did great on the flight home - sleeping most of it and we're slowly getting settled back into our daily routines (I'm back at work today .. ugh ..)

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the week... Enjoy! :)

11 months old!

11 months! Can you believe it? Hudson will be 1 in only 1 more month. I'm getting emotional just thinking about my baby turning into a toddler! Although he's beginning to act like one more and more each day! :)

At 11 months Hudson is:
-Pulling up to standing on everything!
-Walking around and between furniture
-Waving
-Clapping
-Trying to stand unassisted by letting go...still not successful at this! :)
-Climbing and trying to climb onto everything (dishwasher, couch, us, fireplace...)
-Picking up tiny objects (and generally putting them straight into his mouth..lol)
-Constantly "talking"-still only saying a few real words: Mama, Dada, Dog/Doggie, Baba and others that sound like words although we're not really sure if that's what he means :)
-Crawling fast! (although he sometimes still resorts to army crawling)
-Feeds himself 'finger foods' - string cheese is a new favorite
-Showing signs of defiance - refusing to hold still for diaper/clothes changes, gets angry when he doesn't get his way or gets something taken away that he wants.
-Has 8 teeth (4 top, 4 bottom) and I believe he's trying to cut his molars although it's hard to tell since he doesn't like us feeling in his mouth (and he bites!)
-At his dr. appt last week for the flu he weighed about 19 lbs 12 oz (lost a little weight due to the flu bug..)


Birthday planning is in full force and I really need to actually start making some progress now I guess! :)

In other news...we had a rough week last week. Hudson was sick with the stomach flu the first half of the week, passed it on to me the 2nd half and luckily I'm finally feeling ok. We also got a phone call the beginning of last week that Grandpa Lawrence wasn't doing well, so we made a trip to visit him in the nursing home on Thursday when Andy was off. I knew when we walked into his room and saw him asleep in bed his time was limited. Unfortunately he didn't wake up when we were there, but I could tell he knew we were there when we spoke to him and touched his arm/hugged him. We were able to say our goodbyes and give him one last hug before he passed on Friday morning. It was a very sad day and I miss him very much already, but I know that he is no longer suffering and has moved on to a better place. He had a very tough last few years and I know that he will be watching over us from above. I feel blessed that I had such an amazing Grandpa to grow up with and learn from and his memories will live on in my heart forever :)

Best Buddies!

Hudson adores his doggy..here are some recent pictures of them .. Hudson saw Maverick looking out the window and wanted to see what was so interesting..so he crawled over and pulled himself up there to check it out. I couldn't resist the photo op! Enjoy ..

10 months old .. let the birthday countdown begin!

I can't believe my baby boy is already 10 months old. This year is going faster than any has ever gone in my life! I am already feeling sad that my little one will be a TODDLER soon .. but at the same time I am so incredibly excited for this milestone. He has gotten quite the personality the past few months and is learning so much each day.

At 10 months he is now able to:
-Pull himself up to his knees and then up to standing
-Hold his own bottle
-Reach and grab for any and everything
-Eat "finger foods" (including: "Puffs", "Mum Mum" crackers, cheese cubes, yogurt melts, fruit (he especially enjoys bananas!), etc.)
-Push his trucks and tractor toys
-Push buttons on his other toys to make noise/play music
-Say a few words: Mama, Dada, Dog/Doggie, Baba, Bye Bye (although most of them he will only say when HE wants to)
-Sit up in the big bath tub for baths (he LOVES to play in the water now)
-Stand up and play with his activity table and hold himself up in a standing position while hanging on to something
-Still army crawling
-Get into a sitting position on his own from his back/stomach, etc.
-Drink from a sippy cup
-Weight just hit the 20 lb mark!

Baby's First Christmas!!

As usual I've been slacking in my blog updates..but it's been a busy month! With all the preparations for Christmas, working full time and enjoying Hudson I haven't found time to blog. But I am done training at work for now so I will update here when I have the time. Prior to Christmas Hudson turned 9 months!! I swear time just keeps going faster and faster. I can't believe his first birthday is right around the corner. It's time for me to start planning!

Lets see ....at 9 months Hudson can:
-Army crawl to get where he wants to go
-Climb over the legs of chairs, our legs, toys, etc.
-Eat 'finger foods' and raw fruit such as apple slices, pears, etc.
-Clap
-Wave (a little after 9 months .. he did this for the first time on Christmas Eve)
-Talk up a storm!
-Laugh at Maverick constantly
-Sleep through the night (usually..)
-Drink less formula and eat more solid foods
-Pick up small objects (such as pine needles off the carpet ..ugh!)

The weekend before Christmas, Hudson took his first plane ride to visit The Bloom Family in Spokane!! He did great on the plane sleeping the whole flight (although it was only an hour each way ..) We were so relieved he didn't have any problems since he had been diagnosed with an ear infection a few days before leaving. I guess the antibiotics and ear drops helped! We had a nice visit with the family, but as usual it went WAY too fast since we were there less than 2 days. We had a family dinner and gift exchange at Katie and Kyle's on Saturday, then Sunday we went and visited Grandma and Grandpa Bloom at their new Assisted Living home. We hope to make it back over to the East side soon .. once all the snow and cold weather lets up! :)

Christmas came and went much to fast, as it always does. We spent Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family and my Aunt Gail and Uncle Dan's house in Montesano. All the McIntyre's were there as well as the Ayres', Grandma Patty, Steve, Hudson, Andy and I. My dad and sisters didn't make it this year because they were on vacation in Oahu! Lucky ducks!! We had a fun day playing the annual "Christmas Challenge" my Aunt Gail creates, eating a delicious dinner of crab salad, Prime Rib (for the non vegetarians!), Sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, potatoes, Berry Pie and a variety of Grandma's Cookies and sweets! We then opened our gifts. Hudson got the Fisher Price Lil Zoomers Speedway, A Christmas story book, Corduroy book and I'm sure some others that I'm forgetting about. On our way home, we stopped at Nancy and Kenny's to say hi to everyone there where we stayed WAAAYY past Hudson's bed time. Luckily he had napped in the car, because by the time we got home and got him to sleep it was close to 11 p.m. On the plus note, he slept through the night until 8 am Christmas morning...a gift in itself! :)

When we awoke Christmas morning, Hudson, Andy and I opened our gifts to eachother and from Linda and Steve. Hudson then ate his breakfast while we waited for mom and Dean and Nancy and Kenny to come over for brunch. Around 11 they all came over and we had a delicious brunch and opened more gifts!! Hudson was such a spoiled little guy this year. Some of his gifts included: Rocking horse that neighs/winnys, Ride-on Fisher Price Ice Cream Truck, Busy ball popper, lots of books, a few wooden puzzles, Fisher Price trucks, fire truck and police car, Fisher Price Mailbox, Inchworm, Ugg boots, Lily and Jack boots, several pairs of PJ's and a couple of outfits. Of all the gifts he received I think he was much more interested in the boxes, paper, ribbon and bows! Although, that's pretty much what we expected! :) We had a pretty low-key Christmas day, everyone left in the early afternoon and Hudson napped while we got things cleaned up a bit. After he woke up we went on a family walk, then I got a few side dishes ready and we went to my mom and Dean's house for Christmas dinner. Overall we had a wonderful Christmas and I was so thankful to finally get the day off after having to work it the past 4 years!!