thirty-six weeks!

It is H*O*T! in new york. Like 100 degree weather hot (plus way too much humidity). So hot that Hudson and I did not leave the house on Saturday. That's not true. We went grocery shopping at 9am and were back by 10:30am. We did not leave the house after that. Sunday we did church at home where there is AC (they church we've been attending does not have AC. I didn't want to have to scrape the melted Hudson and Dave off the floor), but it cooled off to the mid 90s so we could go out for a little while. It was still way too humid.

But wait. This post is about Hudson and how cute he is. We got lazy today and couldn't bother trying to keep him on a blanket and just used the graphic rug. He is so active now, it is hard to keep him in one place for very long.

 

Unless you are holding a tape measure that is really interesting to look at. That's how we got this shot:

Or unless you are talking to mommy, which is how we got this shot.

Or he is going after a phone or the remote like in this shot:

And sometimes you just throw him around to get a smile...

strollin' along

So the stroller saga continues. We love our Uppababy Vista. It has an amazing ride (especially on uneven sidewalks and potholes). Hudson loved it too for the first 2 months when he slept in the bassinet and then for the few months after plowing through snow drifts. But by six months the snow had melted and he wanted to SIT UP - and it was hard to lean forward enough to do so in the Uppababy 2009 (the 2010 and 2011 versions have fixed this).

So we knew we had to find something lighter weight that would be easier to take on the subway and into stores and restaurants. We looked at the usual McClarens, which people seem to love, but we weren't sold. The back was not so supportive, the basket was small, they don't stand on their own, the sunshades are not big enough, and the ones that do recline are pricey. Uppababy makes the G-Luxe which reclines and stands with a kick-stand, but again, it was not affordable new.  While perusing gilt.com one day I discovered the Aprica Presto.  The seat was high like the Vista (which we love) the sunshade extends and it stands on it's own (without a kick stand). The back is rigid and reclines and the basket is one of the largest ones for the strollers in its group. Although the handles are not height adjustable like the G-Luxe, they are taller so Dave is comfortable pushing it. It works for babies 4 mo. + up to 70(!) lbs. and has a cooling feature in the back and a nice mesh removable seat liner (I just found out they have come out with one that can accommodate a car seat so you can use it from birth!). And it doesn't look too shabby:
   


The folding takes a bit of practice, but has a safety feature to avoid pinching (or amputating) baby fingers. And we found it on amazon for 40% off of retail plus free shipping (thank you amazon moms!).  The best part is that Hudson *loves* it.

We sold the Uppa for $40 less than we paid for it. If I could have rented the stroller for $6.66 per month, I would have (and I essentially did). The moral of this story is to buy used and sell used. Much like cars, the first owner takes the biggest initial depreciation hit. We swooped in as second owners and got out early enough to make out like banshees. However banshees make out.

And now Hudson is pushing his own stroller of sorts. I know - collective 'awww.' Dave got him started and he was off on a roll. But then remembered it is faster to crawl to attach the camera than this rolling car thingy.

He's coming to get me!

thirty-five weeks!

 It was hard to get a picture of Hudson smiling on his back this week as his teeth were bothering him. You can tell because he is trying to get BOTH hands in his mouth at the same time. I love the upturned toe! More baby toes...

 ...again - if he could fit both hands in his mouth he would!

 

 

grin and bear it

Hudson has been teething the past week - both front top teeth have been bursting through his gums which has made him particularly drool-y [did you know that 'drool-y' isn't a word? it should be!]. He's also been gritting his teeth which is funny because I think his mouth kind of looks like a platypus:

We went to the park on Saturday and met up with some girlfriends and his one of his favorite playmate - Bryden.  We got there first and Hudson spent a little time playing with leaves and climbing on his stroller...

And then Leslie & Bethany showed up! Hudson is a huge flirt and had a ball making eyes at them (unfortunately, no photographic evidence of this...). A surprising note is that Hudson has really caught up with Bryden size-wise - they are almost the same size, which seemed inconceivable a couple of months ago. Bryden was usure of what to think of me at first (or it could have been the camera!)...

 But he warmed up quickly...

 And got to eat a little dinner (he was nice enough to share a bit with Hudson!)

 Hudson took a drink by Leslie - such a pro at the sippy cup...

 Notice my baby getting into trouble in the background while Bryden is just chillin'

 He's such a happy baby!

 They exchanged toys...

 ...what  a love bug! Hopefully Hudson will take some cues from Bryden on how to snuggle!

book worm

Hudson has always loved books - even at one week old, he was enthralled with the pages. Now books are more interesting. You can climb them...

... and pull them off the shelf (Pablo Neruda Love poems and the Power of the Praying Wife - a nice variety)...

 ...not really into poetry...

...but he flipped through the Praying Wife book, but it must not of sat well, as he threw up a little..

turn off the lights!

Sometimes the sun is just too bright. Especially when Hudson's bedtime is 7:15pm and the sun doesn't set till almost 9 (It's been hard to read The Going to Bed Book - "The sun has set not long ago" when your apartment looks like it is 3pm with the shades down!). We've been hearing him toss and turn and whine till almost 8:30 some nights because it's too bright to go to sleep.

We've recently made some updates that has been a huge help (Hudson sleeps longer which is *always* a good thing). We went to Ikea a couple weekends ago with our friends M+B and picked up some black out shades.

I proceeded to chop up a shade to line our existing roman shades (we couldn't mount long panels because there is a radiator cover in the way and short drapes look silly). I used 'stitch witchery' to seam the edges and cut unfinished buttonholes in the back to accommodate the exiitng hardware and sewed the liner to the bamboo shade.

That's Dave re-hanging the shade. I'm sure my mother is asking why, why didn't I use the sewing machine? Truth is that is long gone (a CL sell a year ago) to make room for baby. Sometimes you gotta make do with what you've got and I have an iron board and mad ironing skillz ;).  You may be wondering why is it night outside? Well, Saturday night is our in-house "date night" we put the baby to bed in our bedroom and take over the living dining room to ourselves - make a leisurely dinner and watch a movie. Come bedtime, we either transfer baby, or blow up the air mattress and camp out in the living room. I know - it's the small things in life.

Anywho... below is the final shot. It's hard to tell with the flash, but the liners do cut out most of the light (see the bright sun along the edges?)! We figure it will be great insulation in the winter (and our electric bill has gone down even with all the AC usage :)).

The other improvement to the living arrangements has been adding a curtain to the entrance to the living room. The sunlight from the kitchen was reflecting off the artwork in the hall and still bringing in light to Hudson's sleeping area. A sample from work and 'stitch witchery' and the iron did their magic and we had the shade installed. I got the hardware off of west elm including the drapery clips (a decorator's best friend!) in the gunmetal finish. I liked that the hardware relates the dark bookcase. Below are the open & closed photos. The drape relates to the color of the sofa (it's a light color, but doesn't blend too much with the wall) and looks good open during the day and does it's job at night! Dave installed the rod with lead anchors in our plaster walls as Hudson loves to tug on things. I wonder if he will think his name is "no touch!" soon? Ah, the joys of the active baby!

And we can't have a blog post without at least one baby photo...

thirty-four weeks!

Everyone said that time would fly. And sure you believe it, but it doesn't really hit home till you look back to see how much Hudson has grown these (almost) eight months. This week he has been enjoying black figs and apricots in Greek yogurt. He also learned to clap on Tuesday and now he will sit and give him self a little applause when he is happy. He is happy most of the time, so this happens a lot in one day.

He also loves giving himself kisses in the mirror and playing pattycake with himself (and with others sometimes). You might notice that the photo quality has gotten better on this post. We got a faster camera to keep up with our fast baby. We are very pleased with the quality and will have a post later to discuss the process. Also this week, you can look forward to a post about how our one bedroom is working out for us as well as a post on strollers (a busy week to look forward to!). We also took gratuitous photos of Hudson today with the new camera and I'll post a couple more photos that I couldn't resist below...