vacation! part two...

 So on Tuesday we went into town to check out the scene. We went to an antique store that was cool. I gave Hudson a wrapped lollypop but with his new teeth he was able to break the wrapper...

 He held onto that lollypop for dear life till we took it away 2 minutes later. All was not well with the world and our drool baby. Here Dave and Hudson are posing on the Lehigh & Hudson River caboose..

 In Brooklyn we see claw foot bathtubs with flowers in them. I guess in the country they need something a bit bigger..

 The pacifier took the lolly's place for a while - not as sweet though...

 

A trip to the swing brought back out Hudson's smile!

After a long nap we went and got some i c e  c r e a m! It was delicious and the view wasn't half bad either!

The sun came out and everything! We went back to the barn and had a good time playing in the yard...Swinging together...

 

Playing on a chair his size...

 Yes. He toppled out of the chair after this shot. Again. Such a bad mom letting her baby fall on his head. Twice. In one week. Builds character, right?

forty weeks!

We are packing to move to our friend's house this week/weekend. It is a busy week! Hudson is helping out by playing with the tape. He went to the doctor today for his Hep B shot and his 9 month check up. He is still perfectly in the 50th percentile at 20lbs 10oz and 28 inches long.

The doctor said it was safe to start peanut butter so we had PB&J for dinner. In this first photo, I think it looks like he is thinking "Why, why have you been holding out on me for so long!?!"

Mmm..delicious!

vacation! part one..

 So Dave, Hudson and I headed up to the Hudson Valley Barnhouse in Warwick, NY on Monday morning. Hudson was good in the car for about the first thirty minutes. Then he was pretty cranky. He was fine when we stopped for lunch and enjoyed posing next to the Indian Native American Statue at the Tavern. Yes, it said "Tavern" on the front. Dave had a cheese burger (after I eyed him and he said "I'm on va-cay - tion.") and Hudson and I shared a sweet potato stuffed with mushrooms and spinach - it was actually pretty yummy.

We got to the Barnhouse about two hours after leaving Brooklyn (this included the traffic and the lunch break). It was overcast and much cooler than the city. Love the natural air conditioning! It felt like being in main. We all took a long afternoon nap. Hudson enjoyed seeing all the flowers and playing with all the toys!

 The giant hibiscus was one of his favorites:

 He also liked playing with the cone flowers:

 Black-eyed Susans..

 The sink was fun to play with as well!

He still fits in the sink!

 Rain!

 The next morning Hudson slept in till 7:30! He loved talking to all the stuffed animals in the crib that was at the house. He also loved all the new-to-him toys...

 

The third picture in this series I didn't get as I was running to get him:  Hudson falling on his head. Don't worry - he didn't get hurt - he's too hard-headed for that!

Yummy blueberries and pancakes for breakfast!

Part two to come tomorrow! Along with Hudson's 9-month check-up stats (it's tomorrow afternoon!)

measure twice...

 ..Cut once. Well, last Sunday we measured the apartment and took tons of photos to devise the plan. We had help! Our friends came too - Megan was kind enough to keep Hudson occupied, Amanda helped me measure and Dave and Ben poked around the attic. Brooklyn had eight(!) inches of rain on Sunday so it was good to see that it was bone dry. Our current apartment building, however, was not. Fire trucks came to help release some of the pressure from clogged drain pipes on the roof that caused a waterfall of water down 12 flights of fire stairs. Thankfully, our current apartment was dry as well!

                                 

So after all that measuring, we headed off to the country for some R&R. In the evenings, I was able to focus on what our apartment would look like and we have narrowed it down to two options. They are very similar. Option 1 gives a bit more room to the washer/dryer closet and requires the demolition of one nib wall (and consequently some ceiling patching). Option 2 requires no wall demo (just the half-wall in the kitchen) and has about 12" less space of kitchen cabinets. Both are workable and we will see what fits more in the budget later on. We met with the contractor on Friday and should have pricing by Monday (gulp!). Will have more detailed posts on the plans for each room coming up! We are excited about the process and hope it will continue to go smoothly!

              

We also bought the first item for the apartment. Dave found an amazing deal on a Bosch dishwasher in black (as shown in elevation D) for 50% off! We hope we can find such good deals on the other appliances too!

thirty-nine weeks! and the next next 12 weeks...

Hudson turned nine months old on Monday. It's amazing how much he has changed! He took his first three steps towards Dave unassisted on Sunday. I think it was a fluke because he didn't really realize what he was doing (and hasn't repeated it), but in my mind, it still counts! It was hard to get Hudson to face me for this photo shoot. He was facinated with a pack of gum rather than the photogenic toy. Such is life! This blanket is also new to us as it is in the Barnhouse we are staying at for a few nights. It's been a great getaway and there will be more posts this week about our trip.

 Here is Hudson talking to the pack of gum...

 ....I have that same pack of gum out of the shot to get his attention. Yes, this is how I make my baby happy. I lure him with a pack of gum...

 This was one of the few shots that I could throw the '39 weeks old' tag on...

 I think he looks like he is giving an important speech in this shot:

 And for those of you paying attention, I forgot to have the last 12 week update two weeks ago. So below is the montage. It's amazing how much he has changed since week 26. It's like he went from being a baby to a toddler. Wait...that's what happened. Okay, maybe not quite yet, but he is changing so fast.




And yes, in case you wondering, he still hates the car carseat.  More on that in the next post.