12 months! One whole year! Seriously, where does the time go?

I’ll be posting pictures from his party all week, but I wanted to do this first for my little boy.

Dearest Hudson,

What a year it’s been! You came into our lives on June 5, 2009 and nothing has been the same since. I mean, we’ve continued to love life and maintain a majority of our pre-Hudson lives, but everything has honestly changed for the better.

You are such a sweet face to see every morning. I can’t wait to see you when you wake up every morning to see what you’re going to say or what you’re going to do. Your face lights up every time you enter a room and see the faces around you. You love everyone and want to make sure they know it. You don’t know yet how great a feeling it is to get that kind of welcome from someone, but I’m sure you’ll always make people feel good about themselves.

The days with you have flown by and some of those early months are a blur. You’re such a different little guy now than you were then.

People tell us what they hope you’ll be when you grow up, but honestly, I just want you to be happy. I want Jesus to live in you and I want you to be happy.

I don’t look at this first year as if it’s the end of something. This is just the beginning of a fantastic life ahead of you! The possibilities are endless and we want you to know that you always have our love and support.

You are the happiest boy I know and you surprise me every day with how much you know and how much you’ve changed. A few more words every week and a few more steps every day. There’s no stopping you!

Our biggest goal right now is working on getting you to be content without your daddy or me in the room. We’ll always come right back, so you don’t need to worry.

Twelve months ago we were getting ready to come home from the hospital with a brand new little person. We had no idea what we were going to do and to say we were terrified is an understatement. We helped build each other up and I got a whole lot of help and confidence from your KK. She wanted to help me, but she also wanted me to know that I could do it without her. I know that you’ll grow up to be the kind of parent that your grandparents are to your daddy and me. Those relationships will always be special.

We’re so excited to see what the next year brings. We love you so very much and plan to hold tightly to each little moment with you!

Love,

Mommy

Height: unknown- 12 month doctor appointment in a couple of weeks

Weight: 27 pounds? – waiting to confirm at doctor appointment. Birth weight was 9 lbs 6 oz

Food: Completely done with formula and we’re officially now only giving you a bottle a bedtime. You drink whole milk through your straw sippy cups (Nuby brand). You’re now exclusively on table food. I emptied all of the baby food out of our pantry last week. It’s hard to find things that are safe for you to eat– it’s hard not having molars– and it’s more work for us, but it’s fun watching you try new things. You love cheese!

Words: Mama, Mommy, Da-da, Daddy, Nona (Fiona), Boo-Doh (Boudreaux), Poppie, Bye-bye, Baba (bottle), no-no-no, e-yi-e-yi (when singing Old MacDonald), tay too (thank you), doos (shoes)

Activities: walking 20-30 steps at a time, crawling less and less, loves the baby pool in the backyard

Clothes: some 18 month, mostly 24 month

Diaper: size 4 during the day, size 5 at night

A look back at the months– we didn’t start the monkey pictures until he was 3 months old

1 month

2 months

3-11 months

(3 months, 6 months, and 9 months are my favorites! He’s so goofy!)

12 months

Dear Hudson,

You are 11 months old! Time flies by so fast. You turned 11 months on the day we returned from New York City.

I can’t believe how fast these 11 months have gone by. You’ll be a year old in just a few weeks. You become more and more hilarious every month. It has been such a joy to watch you grow and change. I’ll say it again- I am so torn! I want time to stand still with each stage with you because each new stage is my favorite. But then I know that the next stage is going to be even better than this one. (Remind me that I said this when you turn 16 and you don’t want to talk to me!)

You spent more than two nights away from us for the first time and I’m confident that it was harder on me that it was on you. I really did miss you and knew that I was missing so many of your laughs and smiles.

You took two steps a couple of days before your daddy and I left for our vacation! It was so wonderful to get to see that and since then you’ve only taken two steps a handful of times. You know that you can get around really quickly if you crawl. And that’s fine with me. I’m not in any hurry to have a walker in our house. You’ll be running soon and I’ll never be able to catch up with you!

You’re really discovering words! You say “ba-ba” (bottle), “buh-bye” (bye-bye), “mama”, “da-da”, “Boo” (Boudreaux), “do” (dog), and “ba” (ball). You’ve even really started getting that “n” sound down and when you shake your head back and forth like I do, you also say “na-na-na” (no-no-no). It’s so cute!

When I say, “Hudson, what does the cow say?” You say, “mmmmm.” You can’t quite make the “oo” sound come after the “m” sound, but you’re getting it and you definitely know what the cow says! Just today when I started singing “Old MacDonald had a farm,” you said “e-yi-e-yi” and I didn’t know what you were saying. Silly me, you were singing “e-i-e-i-o.”

You absolutely love books. I mean, you love cruising around the house and playing peek-a-boo constantly, but you really love your books. You crawl over to your book basket every morning after your nap and pull out the books one by one. And you read them one by one. I hope that you’ll grow up to love books as much as I do.

Since we returned from our trip, you’ve been much more strong-willed than usual. You make it very clear when you don’t like something and when I tell you “no” in a stern voice, you have a full-blown meltdown on the floor. Hopefully we can figure out a way to correct this before it happens in public.

Your personality is really coming through every day and I absolutely love it. You have such a sweet spirit, but you are 100% boy. You make sounds like a truck and your KK calls you a little bull. You run into the couch cushions with the top of your head and plow through the room like you’re on a mission. But when you’re tired, you crawl over to my lap and climb up, pop your thumb in your mouth, and rest your head on my shoulder. There are few greater feelings than the one I feel when I recognize how much you need me right then.

Your daddy and I love you so much and we are going to cherish this last month of having an infant! The toddler days are right around the corner!

Love,

Mama

Stats for this month:

Weight: 27 pounds (you haven’t gained in a while!)

Diaper: size 4 Pampers Cruisers (daytime) and size 5 Pampers Overnights (night time)

Clothes: 18-24 months

Food: 32 oz of formula during the day (8 oz per bottle) and 3 meals at the high chair. You love your vegetables and Yogurt Melts. We only have one more month of formula!

Teeth: 8 teeth!

Sleep: 7 am- 7 pm with two naps during the day. We love this!

Hudson loves to get into the kitchen cabinets these days.

I arranged one cabinet to have only plastic things like mixing bowls, food storage containers, and other plastic cooking items. This way Hudson can open this cabinet and tear into it as much as he wants to.

And that’s exactly what he did!

Dear Hudson,

Yesterday you turned 10 months old. We are just two months shy of your first birthday and I cannot get over how quickly time passes. I say this all the time and it sounds cliche, but it’s true. I feel like it was a week ago that we brought you home from the hospital and were giving you your first bath. We were so scared that we were going to mess up and not do everything right. And now here you are, ten months later, and you are thriving, growing, smiling, and moving.

just practicing with the sunglasses

Every month gets better and better. As you learn new things, we learn something new about you. The ninth month was pretty great. You did lots of smiling, laughing, playing, teasing, crawling, and cruising. You are such a curious little boy. You want to have your hands in everything and as soon as we say “no” you fall apart and act like we’ve broken your heart. You know how to push the boundaries as far as you can without going too far. We have to try so hard not to laugh at you for fear that we’ll just encourage mischievous behavior. But you are a smart little boy!

You love new people and love playing peek-a-boo with them even if they don’t know they’re in on the game. You’ll tilt your head to the side and give someone a big grin. You’ve already become quite the flirt and know a cute girl when you see one. You love to wave and say “buh-buh” (bye bye) and you’ll do it as soon as you see anyone. You also love to clap, but still aren’t sure about clapping on command. But whenever someone claps or says “yay!” you’re ready with your two little hands. When you see your bottle, you still say “ba-ba.” And when you see Boudreaux you say “buh” or “da.” (Boudreaux or dog?)

You are so strong and your teacher at The Little Gym swears that you were doing a pull-up this morning without her help. Your Daddy has big plans for you to be an offensive lineman for the Gamecocks. Of course we want you to be anything you want to be.

You still love books. The other day I had you in your pack ‘n play so I could fold some laundry and you were just sitting there holding your little Baby Einstein books and jabbering away. We love to read to you. You don’t sit still very often, but if you’re interested in what we’re doing, then you have a great attention span.

You are still doing the fake cough to get our attention and when we fake cough back at you, you just roll with laughter. You laugh the most when you’re having your diaper changed and we make funny noises at you. You know that we’re funny– or you’re just sweet and courteous.

We love you so much and love seeing the big boy that you’re becoming. What were our lives like without you? It’s hard to even remember. We’re so happy that you’re here with us and that you bring so much love and happiness into our lives.

Love,  Mama

Clothes: 18-24 months

Weight: 27 pounds

Height: not sure this month

Diaper: size 4- daytime, size 5-night time

Food: 32 oz of formula per day – 4 bottles w/ 8 oz each (per doctor’s recommendation) and 3 meals at the high chair

Teeth: 6 teeth are in and 2 have broken the gum and are on their way down. 8 teeth!

Sleep: 7 pm- 7 am (sometimes 7:30 am) without waking, crying, or needing anything. This is why you’re such a happy boy!

10 months

9 months

Some out takes from the 10 month pictures…