Getting ready for a beach trip...with an infant.

On Saturday we leave for our (mostly) annual trip to Ocracoke with Penny and Anthony. I am already a list-maker but having an infant to pack for in addition to all the rest of our crap takes it to a whole new level.

Those of you who know Mike will be amazed at this next tidbit: he was also making a list last night! In our 8 years together he has never (never!) actually spent much time planning for anything. He does all of his Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. He booked our honeymoon a week before the wedding. Don't get me wrong, his results are great, but it's always a last-minute scramble.

So last night, there he was, making his own list. He even grouped everything into little categories:

• Things to take for Hudson
• Things to do before we leave (organized by day)
• Things we still need to buy for the trip
• Things to take up to the parents before we go
• etc
• etc

Well I'll be darned!

So this evening and Friday evening will be spent feverishly packing up all the things that four adults, one infant and one tiny dog will need for a week at the beach.

In other news, it is always fun to gather the packages that arrive at the house from the places that either don't ship to Canada, or can't get to Canada in time for Penny's arrival in North Carolina. Yesterday was a typical scene outside the front door.

One package from Neimans, one from JCrew, one from Revolve. So far eight packages have arrived. Penny is going to need a bigger suitcase to get all this home to Edmonton.

Can't make a post without a picture of our Boo. Hudson gets cuter every day. This picture is from this morning before he left with Mike to go to daycare. He's hoping Zoe likes his new outfit.

Is the romance cooling off already?

Not much time to post today, but I wanted to get this picture up. Mike took it this morning when he dropped Hudson off. As you can see, he is clearly still infatuated with Zoe, but she has either cooled on him, or she's playing hard to get.

Note that she is making him keep his distance with her foot.

Only time will tell how and if this romance blossoms.

(Sorry for the poor photo quality, Mike took it with his CrapBerry. Clearly an inferior device to the iPhone.)

We are in so much trouble already...

Hudson has developed a crush at daycare. Her name is Zoe. She is the daugter of our good friends, Karen and Jonathan. It appears as though Zoe has also developed the same level of infatuation with Hudson. The teachers tell us that they stare at each other, play together all day, Hudson has even tried to kiss Zoe. And the teachers have photographic evidence.

I am not sure WHEN Hudson found the time and the transportation to get this t-shirt to profess his love for Zoe, but this is what I found when I picked him up from school today.

Karen and I just don't know what to do! We are afraid that they will soon run off together.

On a closing note, you may notice a new color scheme. Mike told me I had to change the colors from pink, because H is a BOY.

It's Friday!!

Last night Mike got home from a trip to Toronto and NYC. Hudson and I hung out and I tried to keep him wake for a bit so Mike could see him. This is what we did:

We went outside to play in the grass (until the mosquitos attacked us). H is *so close* to crawling. He just can't seem to figure out the mechanics behind locomotion.

When Mike got home and we had some fun in the tub. Thanks to Granny for getting me these cool, flashing ducks.

He has figured out 'splashing'. The floor got more than a little wet.

What a handsome boy. Look at those eyes.

Whatchu talkin'bout Willis??

Sent from my iPhone

Chatterbox....

This went on and on last night. We have a chatterbox on our hands.

He is really into his toys these days. This one is from Grandma and Grandpa B.

And this lion is from Aunt Deborah. He loves his lions, probably because they look like his cats but can't run away.

Sitting and Playing

I took this video when I got home from work this evening.

He is getting to be so much fun.

Monday, August 18

No more baby seat! It's official. Hudson has outgrown his infant car seat. Both cars now have convertible carseats that will take him up to 50 pounds.

Sunday, August 17

This may not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but Hudson never sleeps on me anymore. Now when he gets tired he immediately starts trying to roll over and sleep on his side or his belly. So when he actually fell asleep on me on Saturday all plans I had to be productive were tossed out the window.

Later on H got dressed in the outfit that his Granny sent him to celebrate his 1/2 year birthday.

Ok, that's enough. Stop taking pictures.

Sunday morning: H was practicing his 'crawling'.

Check out my bear. I think he's awesome.

Monday, August 11

The teeth are growing....

Bedtime bottle = Get in Mah Bellah!

Happy Half Year Birthday!

On Tuesday, August 12th Hudson will be half a year old. Six months has gone by so fast. We had a small family get-together today to celebrate.

Grandma and Grandpa came to celebrate with us. H was wearing a very cute outfit from his great-aunt Eleanor.

Ralph and Sandy played some Wii tennis.

Uncle Kevin showed up and we all had some birthday cake.

Earlier in the day Hudson helped Mike do some work on his laptop.

And Hudson did some work on his own laptop too.

Happy half year little man!

How do I get these in my mouth?

Friday, August 8

As mentioned earlier, we went to Patti and Kevin's last night. Awesome night! Hudson, like clockwork, wanted to go to sleep at 7:30pm. We brought his blanket, laid him on it, and after some initial whining, he was out.





When it was time to leave and we went to wake him from P&K's bedroom floor this is what we found. He was completely off his blanket and almost under the bed. And he wanted no part of being woken up. He barely even noticed the flash from the camera in the dark room.

Thursday, August 7

Today was a busy day at work. Then we went to Patti and Kevin's house for some quality family time where Patti made a delicious dinner. This is the first chance I've had to post today (11:30pm).

I've had requests for a picture of Hudson's first two teeth. Not sure I took good pictures, and he didn't enjoy the picture taking process (and was therefore uncooperative) but here they are:

Our First Post....

It's Nicole here. I thought I would start a blog about the family, the pets, and mostly about Hudson rather than continuing to send out copious amounts of emails with photos and updates attached. So this is my first post.

Today Hudson is 5 months, 3 weeks and 2 days old. We started him on solids pretty consistently around 5 months and recently we've added in meats (sorry to all of my vegetarian siblings). Something miraculous happened when the meat hit his belly - he started sleeping through the night. I mean *really* sleeping, not just the Dr.Sears version of sleeping through the night (5-6 hours). He is crashing for a solid 12-13 hours now and it.is.heaven. Last night he started crabbing at 7:30pm, like clockwork, was asleep by 7:35, and did not make a peep until 8:30am.

This morning Mike and I took him to apply for his passport. He had a bit of a hard time reaching the counter, and had to borrow $60 from me to pay the application fee (bum!), but he got it submitted. In 4-6 weeks he'll be all ready for his first time to Halifax/Dartmouth to visit Granny, Pops, Nan, Gramps, Aunt Penny Turner, Uncle Anthony, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Andrew, and (hopefully) new Cousin Hill-Woods. We will be in Halifax on October 15th - October 21st.

Here are some pictures from the last few days.

First time eating scrambled eggs.

Babies this age are not supposed to have egg whites due to the possibility of allergies, but the yokes are ok. Despite the picture, he really did eat quite a few. The dogs ate quite a few too after the eggs ended up on the floor.

He sitting up pretty well now unassisted. Cool.