Hudson's First Snow Experience

As I said in the previous post, taking Hudson out to play in the snow in Wyoming was one of my favorite things we did there. He is just so squeezable all bundled up.

Wyoming--Heiner Reunion

We spent this past weekend in Wyoming and had so much fun!  Kellen, Colby's youngest brother, is seriously dating a girl and wanted to take her home to meet his Mom.  He had met every significant person in her life, and she hadn't met anyone in his!  With 2 of the other brothers living within driving distance, they decided to take the drive out to the family home to meet her as well.  Mom H called Colby saying, "get on the plane...everyone's going to be here!"  I knew she was serious when we were discussing things such as sleeping arrangements with everyone there and she said "you guys can have my bed and I'll sleep on the couch."  This is serious stuff for someone to give up their bed like that.

We decided to take the trip and actually didn't tell Kellen we'd be there.  We surprised him on the flight from SLC to Jackson.  That was a lot of fun.  It was so good to all be together.  It was the first time we've all been together since Kelly's funeral 2.5 years ago.  This, of course, was a much happier circumstance to be together.  Since we had last been together, we've added 3 grandkids and it was fun to have all the kids together.  Courtney is such a sweet girl and fits in so well with the family.  If all goes according to plan, she will be joining the Heiner ranks soon! (Don't worry--I'm not spoiling any surprises--they were openly discussing this all weekend.)

Besides being with family, one of my favorite things was getting Hudson all bundled up in snow clothes and taking him out to the snow for the first time.  It was sunny and most of the snow had melted, so it was quite patchy.  He was bundled so much, he was like a big fluffy marshmallow and couldn't move super easy, but he got around just fine.  He poked around at the snow a bit, but I think felt a little restricted with his mittens. We took him over to where Jefferson and Brigham were playing and throwing snowballs, and he just sat at my leg and watched.  He really was just taking it all in.  The cutest moment was when he put his arms around my leg, not in fear, but just wanting to be with me.  It was tender.  I am sure as he gets older he will be out there with the boys playing hard, and probably pelting me with snowballs.

We did a lot of visiting, too much eating (really good food--we even had an early Thanksgiving feast with everyone there), took family pictures, attended church and filled more than an entire bench, watched the stars from the glass room, did a little shooting in the back--a first for me with Colby, walked around Jackson and drove up to see the Tetons while we waited for our flight.  As with all family get-togethers, this one went way fast, but we were so glad we were able to be part of it.

the orignal Heiners

 of course Hudson decided to show off his new trick during photos...clapping. It's perfect.

A little backyard shooting...

Jackson Hole

one of the shops had a toyshop in the basement filled with Train Tables.  Hudson was in Heaven.

 The Tetons

On our way home.  Loving life as a {squirm all over the place, crawl across the floor, try to jump seats, pull the window shades up and down, push the call button, end up in the space between our legs,} lap child.

14 months

During Hudson's first 12 months at life, I was really good at documenting his growth month to month.  I think I did this knowing I would turn it into a baby book, and therefore had that motivation.  As hudson continues to grow, I have realized how much he has changed and that i am no longer documenting it.  Who is to say that the documenting should stop at 12 months?!?  As I sit and watch Hudson play, eat, sleep, etc. each day, I am amazed at how much he has grown over the past 14 months and then think of how much he will continue to grow in the next 14 months, 14 year, etc.  It is crazy.  I have concluded that this growing never really stops.  And I should never stop noticing the growth. So I can remember, here is what Hudson is doing at 14 months.

• The biggest change since the last update is we have a walker.  He walks everywhere and doesn't like to be carried often.  We will be walking with me carrying him and it's like it all of a sudden hits him that he can do this on his own and he almost jumps out of my arms to get on the ground. It is a fun stage to have him walk.  He can be much more independent and explore new things.  Life has slowed down in a sense as we walk at his pace and let him stop to literally enjoy the roses, and I love it. Amazingly though, he can keep up to my casual walking pace quite easily.  His little walk is adorable.  He is very stable, but doesn't look like he is.  He walks with his body learning slightly forward, chest out, arms either out a little or slightly back.  He looks like he will constantly face plant at any second.  And he often does, but just says "whoa" or "uh-oh" and goes on his way. 
• He plays "fetch" with the ball.  He will grab one of the many balls we have accumulated in our apartment, usually after walking around say "ba (ball) over and over, and bring it to me or Colby.  He will sit at our knee waiting for us to toss it after which he goes and retrieves it and brings it back to us.  The word "ba" is said multiple times throughout this process.
• I have been a little worried that Hudson hasn't done any type of hand motions to this point and was overcome with joy when he first waved and said bye.  He did them simultaneously and on cue as we were face-timing with my parents.  He now does them both quite often, but it is usually just after we have left, hung up the phone, or dad has left. It's like he doesn't quite understand we are parting ways until it has happened, then he reacts with his salutation.  It's quite cute. 
• He says "uh-oh," a lot.  And he always says it in correct context.  The funniest is how he drop food/utensils over the edge of the high chair, looks at me and says uh-oh.  He totally does it intentionally. 
• I unintentionally transitioned Hudson to 1 nap, but have since come back to 2.  I found myself at the end of a 2-week period where he had only taken 1 nap each day because we were out every morning and he would miss his morning nap.  We were having a great time at parks, the library, church, running errands, etc. and he was staying awake til a 1:00 afternoon nap easily. But, he went from taking 2, 2-hour naps, to 1, 1hour nap.  This didn't add up and I knew he wasn't ready for the switch.  While we are able to be more social with 1 nap, this kid isn't ready for the switch.  So we are back home most of the day for his naps, but I have a much happier child come dinner time. He sleeps 12 hours at night, plus 3-4 hours of naps in the day.  
• He has not been nursing at all since about 12.5 months.  He is mostly weaned from the bottle, with the exception of one bottle of whole milk before bedtime. 
• Just a week ago, he started pointing.  At first it wasn't at anything in particular, but now it has meaning.  He thinks its hilarious when he points out at something when in his highchair, and I touch the point of his pointer finger with mine. 
• He has become even more full of energy, especially during church, and we are officially counting down to nursery (he can start going to "child care" at/during church when he is 18-months)
• He is exploring constantly and gets into everything.  He loves getting into the kitchen cupboards, unrolling toilet paper rolls, pulling out the plunger, playing with the kitchen trashcan, and pulling things out from under the guest bed where we store things (old baby items, wrapping paper).  These are all things I wish he wouldn't have interest in, especially the plunger.  Gross. In the past month he has broken a glass mixing bowl and my iphone.  We now have a gate for our kitchen and have resorted to temporarily putting the plunger (which is in a case) in the shower where he can't get it. Why his fascination after ignoring it for months??
• He now sits in a convertible carseat and is forward facing in the car.  He really seams to enjoy the change, though he hasn't actually told me that. ;)
• He can ring doorbells, and perfected that at halloween.  Hopefully he only rings ours...:/
• He has an obsession with the computer mouse.  He comes up to the desk and stands on his tippy toes and reaches with his fingers to grab the mouse and wanders around with it until we see him, scold him, and put it back.  One morning Colby asked me if I had moved the mouse so Husodn couldn't get it.  He was needing to use the computer and the mouse was gone.  I hadn't moved it. Our conclusion was that Hudson had.  I had noticed him earlier playing with the kitchen trashcan--opening and closing the lid--and mentioned it to Colby.  Thankfully I had noticed this, as Colby went and found the mouse mixed in with the kitchen trash. Lovely. 
• He now wears a hat pretty well.  Colby found a great fitted UCLA hat at a bookstore sale and brought it home for h-man. He sometimes wants nothing to do with it, but also will occasionally bring it up to us and set it on his head then hand it to us to put on him.  He will go long stretches of time wearing it, and then will pull it off.  He looks a year older with it on. 

holding a pinecone (also referred to as "ba"), with his hat, pointing at the airplane.  Does it get any better than this? (taken at 14.5 months--Nov 5, 2013)

While he is a ball of energy and sometime hard to keep up with, I love that he is mischievous and loves getting into things.  I know it is simply his way of learning about the world around him.  I would not want it any other way.  okay, maybe I wish he would listen better to my commands, but that will come, maybe.  He is "all boy" and is my favorite little boy in the world.  I love him to pieces and love that I get to be with him each and every day. He is my joy. 

Halloween

I've heard holidays become more fun with kids.  I must agree.  Halloween, even though Hudson could barely grasp the concept of going to doors to get candy, was magical.  It was so fun for me to come up with a little family themed costume, get us all dressed up, and head out to trick or treat.

We had our church trunk or treat a few days before halloween, so Hudson had a little trick or treating practice there.  At that event, he wasn't quite sure what was going on , and kept running away from the parking lot to the field entrance where there was a string of balloons, or "ball" as he says, for him to play with.  The church party is where our costumes made their appearance, and I am so glad I went ahead and made them.  A few hours before the party, only Hudson had a costume made.  I had plans to make Tiger Lily and Mr. Smee costumes for Colby and I to go with Hudson's Peter Pan, but it was just seeming unnecessary.  Hours before though, I decided I had to do  it.  I had been looking forward to family themed costumes for years!  I had an idea, most of the materials, and a few hours, so I went for it.

Halloween night was magical for me.  We put Hudson's Peter Pan costume on and he waddled out the door, excited to be getting out of the apartment, but clueless that we would be taking him door to door to get candy!  Our most immediate neighbors were gone and left bowls of candy on their doorstep.  Hudson dug in.  As we walked through the complex, he got really good at standing up on his tippy toes and reaching up with his little pointer finger to ring the doorbell (they are all at lower handicapped heights--perfect for H.) If people passing out candy lowered the bowl to let Hudson get candy, he knew to grab a piece (or 5) and stick them in his pumpkin. If people tried to hand him candy, he got quite confused.  He eventually understood what he was getting, and would then start to try and grab candy from the bucket and eat it--wrapper and all. At one apartment, he ran right through the two japanese women at the door right into their apartment. Ha.  I had to go in and get him.  At other places, (home of foreigners) the tenants would sit and take pictures of peter pan trick or treating at their place.  It was kinda funny.  Hudson was so cute walking/running from door to door ringing doorbells.  He would also see carved pumpkins, say "ball" and try and grab them.  He did grab a few of the mini pumpkins and take off with them. He did really well with his costume, and it's hard to believe that he didn't even need a long sleeve shirt on under it on halloween night.  It was such a warn night! He was mostly good with his hat, but occasionally would remember it was on his head and would tear it off.  I know he didn't even come close to fully grasping the concept of halloween, but the little that he did sure made it that much more fun for Colby and I. I am looking forward to next year already!