HD in High Def

November 2011

2011-12-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

HD helps Doug drive through the mountains to go on our annual post-Thanksgiving Day hunting trip to find our special Christmas tree!

We're have enough hunting for today and are all ready to go home...being pulled around the woods in a sled in such rough work :-)

The Kavanaghs accompanied us on the outing and found a pretty sweet tree as well.

Here's Doug hauling our tree out of the woods, thank goodness it was DOWN-hill!

HD did such a great job helping us decorate the tree (we did suffer about four broken ornaments, thank goodness all of them were able to be superglued and were good as new!).

October 2011 - Part II

2011-12-21T19:00:00.000-08:00

Visiting the corn maze at Rocky Creek Farms

HD picking out his pumpkin at the Rocky Creek Farms pumpkin patch

HD and his pumpkin :-)

We tried to get him to take a picture with the pumpkin but I don't think he really trusted it enough to take his eyes off it. I think he thought it was going to reach out and grab him!

HD and Jack ready for some trick or treating!

He became obsessed (and still is) with being a pirate after seeing the Veggies Tales movie "Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". He loves to run around the house with nothing on except his underwear and his pirate hat and eye patch along with his sword stuck through the waist and out the leg of his underwear :-)

October 2011 - Part I

2011-12-19T19:00:00.000-08:00

Master of the Strider!

Look Mom and Dad, no feet!

It took all summer long but he finally figured out his pedal-less bike and once he did we had to run just to stay up with him.

We'll see, he may be ready for an actual bike by the time he turns 3!

Our new little baby! Yes, that is our camper! We went in halvies with a some good friends of ours who also love the outdoors and were wanting to upgrade to a nicer camper. This thing has all the bells and whistles and even though we have only gotten to use it once this year we cannot wait until next summer so we can go camping all over the place.

HD and Kaitlin up by the falls near Hyalite Reservoir.

HD with dad's hat on faithfully carried his bug collector kit everywhere with him in his little backpack.

Hudson, Doug and Charlie walking around Hyalite Lake.

September 2011

2011-12-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

Camping at Hyalite Reservoir with friends

Reid, Hudson, and Rachel

Hudson and Joy Taylor

Brynn - striking a pose in her camo fleece sleeper!

Hudson and Reid going on a bear hunt with their guns (sticks) at the ready :)

Mindy, Brynn, Reid, and Ryan relaxing after several bear hunts through the woods.

Getting warmed by the fire

August 2011

2011-12-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hudson loved the boat this summer.
Even more so when it was in the garage than when we were floating down the river :)

Summer fun by the pool

HD and Jack

Hudson loved sliding down into his pool, eventually he wanted to take off the slide and just do cannonballs into the water! I don't know how that didn't hurt in only a few inches of water but he never seemed to mind.

He also LOVES bugs!

I think he was contemplating whether or not to let this little creature live to see another day, often they don't make it out alive.

This is possibly moments before saying goodbye to his new little friend, sorry, sad but true. But, he's a boy right, isn't that what they're supposed to do?

July 2011

2011-12-06T12:13:00.000-08:00

Our little farmer...

Some of the first fruits from our garden - fresh green onions!

Hudson loved helping in the garden and he also loved eating veggies straight out of it. One morning he pushed aside his cereal and asked us if he could go to the garden and pick some carrots for breakfast! Both of us just stood at him dumbfounded for several seconds, then, of course, we were thrilled to let him go pick his veggies and chow down on them first thing in the morning. What could be better than that?!

I can't find my pictures of our full grown garden (which definitely got way bigger than what we had anticipated). Here you can see the beginnings of our onions, swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, zucchini, cucumber, and spinach. Unfortunately, our cauliflower never did well and we only got three cucumbers but the rest of the veggies were amazing!

This part of the garden had our tomatoes (in the blue walls of water), potatoes, green beans, peas, mixed greens, turnips, beets, and carrots. Mostly everything did pretty well except our green beans. The best part of the garden was just looking out our back door and the evening and deciding what we were going to have for dinner based upon what was ripe and needed to be eaten.

June 2011

2011-12-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

Our first trip to Yellowstone National Park this year.

HD loved the bison. We were sitting in the car when this big herd walked by us. HD kept wanting to get out and go see them. It was difficult to convince him that this was not a good idea.

In front of Old Faithful

HD was so excited his friend, Amelia, and her mom and dad came to hang out at Yellowstone for the day.

Amelia was not so excited :)

May 2011

2011-11-29T16:51:00.000-08:00

Playing with worms in the dirt with his good friends, Logan and Makenna (see the worm in his hand)!

Trying to find more worms to play with...

Yuck, too slimy!

April 2011

2011-11-29T16:50:00.000-08:00

Just a few photos from HD's 2nd birthday - we videotaped most of the occasion and forgot to take pictures, oops!

HD got Thomas the Train PJ's from Granny Janny and Grandpa Bill

March 2011

2011-11-24T13:44:00.000-08:00

He's getting so big and looking grown up!

HD gets an early birthday present from Gigi and Aunt Lynley, sweet!

February 2011

2011-11-17T15:25:00.000-08:00

Superbowl Party 2011
HD was rooting for the Bears and Reid for the Packers...the game hadn't even started and they were already fighting over who was going to win!

Taking a brief intermission from the wrestling

Back at it again

HD has him pinned down!

Hugging and making up after the long match

Hmmm, looks like HD still got a big of frustration he needs to work out...

Back at it once again!

January 2011

2011-11-13T14:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Duschene

HD got a toolkit from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas

He was also super excited about his new Bears outfit for Christmas, just in time for the Superbowl this year!

Yummm, cupcakes :)

Sunset out our front door.

A year of pictures...

2011-11-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

So, we're going to go back over the past year and look at some of the things that we have been up to one month at a time. Here's some pics from December 2010...

Hiking through Bridger Mountains with Gigi, Aunt Lynley, Doug, Kaitlin, and HD

Aunt Lynley making a snow angel

Aunt Lynley's first time skiing since she was 3 years old!

Skiing at Big Sky - HD had the best time ever, as you can see!

Opening Christmas presents with Aunt Lynley

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Carly got Hudson Rex (from Toy Story). He was terrified of it at first when it growled at him!

HD in Daddy's boots (sorry it's sideways!).

John Deere Tractor

2011-07-14T15:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it really been 8 months since our last posting?! How time flies when you get preoccupied with life :) There are so many pictures to show you what we have been up to since our last post, however, I just want to quickly show you a few super cute photos of HD on his "new" garage sale John Deere tractor. The unfortunate part of this sweet new toy is that it didn't come with a battery or charger, so as you can see, HD is having to spend his time pushing it around the yard or just sitting on it. We hope to remedy this issue soon but until then at least he doesn't know what he's missing!

Fun times of late

2010-11-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from Hudson's first trip to McDonald's...his first Happy Meal...his first time at the Playland...overall, I think he loves McDonald's and I am sure we will visit more often in the winter when we need a warm place to play for him to exert all of his neverending amounts of energy!

His first few times in the Playland Hudson needed Dad in there with him to encourage him and make him feel comfortable in the new environment.

However, after a few rounds with dad at his side he was good to go and wanting to down the slide all by himself - he is already way too independent for me at times :)

Hudson and Logan have matching little cars that they love to ride around the front porch - they are two littles peas in a pod, so cute!

Here are some pics I found from earlier in September when we made our first trip to the Belgrade water park (pretty much one of the last 90 degree days we had this summer). Hudson was pretty apprehensive at first around all of the water features, but before too long he was running around the park and screaming like a wild child. I can't wait until next summer when he is a bit bigger and will be able to enjoy the water park even more. (I also love his gut sticking out over his swim diaper!)

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T18:39:00.000-07:00

Strolling down Main St. for the Halloween walk last Friday. The walk is held in the afternoon when it's usually a lot easier for the little kids to get out and about before it gets too cold or they run out of steam. All of the store venders pass out candy - this was Hudson's first trick-or-treating experience and he did great! Doug and I were rooting for Hudson to pick out the yummy candies like Reeses peanut butter cups or Milky Ways, but no, he kept going for all of the bright colored wrappers like banana flavored Tootsie Rolls, Nerds, or Sour Patch Twizzlers - mmmm, we'll save those to hand back out on Halloween night! Oh well, we had a blast and HD looked so cute in his little lion outfit (perfect timing too since he just learned how to roar like a lion a few weeks ago, whew!)

We also went around our neighborhood trick-or-treating on Halloween night. We went with our neighbors whose kids, Makenna and Logan, dressed up as a princess and a puppy dog. The three of them had such a fun time literally running from one house to the next to get more candy. Actually, all I think Hudson cared about was getting to knock on everyone's doors; he loves knocking and goes around our house all day long just knocking on the doors.

The princess, puppy and lion all on the loose, we couldn't even keep up with them running from house to house!

Again, here's Hudson as he has already passed off his candy to dad and is taking off for the next house on the block...

Water Fun...

2010-09-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

It's a bit cold here today (~40 degrees right now) so there's no swimming going on but here are a few pics from mid-summer.

Fun times with Makenna and Logan or maybe not?? ...

Summertime

2010-09-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

Well, summer is nearing its end here in Montana so I guess it's about time for me to get back to the computer and start blogging again! Sorry I have been so delinquent over the past few months and I know you are just waiting to see some updated photos of the little guy. So, here are a few pictures from our summer with (hopefully) more to come very soon!

Hiking around Bozeman

HD and his favorite summer hat, thank goodness for the vecro strap since that is the only way it would ever stayed on!

HD playing in the water with our neighors, Makenna and Logan.

We learned that Hudson LOVES the playground and especially the slide.

Hudson has yet to learn his lesson and gets stuck in this basket at least once a week :)

Starting to figure out the spoon and fork. I am sure we will be working on this for a long time!

Toys, clothes, books and more...

2010-05-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the fun news gifts HD was blessed with for his birthday...
HD riding his Tonka truck -

Opening his package full of gifts, I think the bubble wrap entertained him longer than anything else :)

Dino books and dino clothes -

Little Tykes school bus

Gotta love all the Little People in his mouth and hands, he walks around all day long with these things in his mouth!

April 28, 2009

2010-04-28T15:27:00.000-07:00

Do you remember where you were one year ago today?

For me and Doug, April 28, 2009 was the most nerve-racking yet exciting day of our lives since our wedding day. We had received the long awaited phone call the day before informing us that we had been chosen as his parents. So on a cold, snowy April morning we drove up to Missoula and picked up our beautiful son! Wow, how life changes in such a short period of time. Below is a pic of Hudson the day we drove home from Missoula (after Doug and I spent almost an hour arguing about the proper installation of the carseat and if it was strapped down tightly enough!)...

Here are pictures of him one year later...such a handsome little boy :)

We are so blessed to have such an amazing child who we have grown to love more than we ever could have imagined!

Does anyone else's child love playing on dog beds?

2010-04-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

Need a haircut?

2010-04-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

He's #1!

2010-04-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

Hudson turned one on April 12th. We had a few friends over to celebrate the occasion and were blessed with beautiful weather (it snowed 6" the very next day!) so the kids were able to play outside. Here are a few pictures from his special day...

Hudson and Reid

Jack

Hudson and Jack

Connor

Reid and Hudson playing with one of Hudson's favorite birthday gifts - a Tonka truck with all the bells and whistles.

HD and Reid were having some mechanical issues, so Kale came over to offer some help...

Kale looks under the engine to see if he can diagnose the problem...

Unfortunately, the boys were still having issues getting it running, so Hudson decides to push Reid to try and get it going...without much luck :)

Time for his first cake!

Hudson had a great first birthday!

(Of course, he's in sugar shock so his joy may not be evident in this picture but he really did have a great time!)

Peek-A-Boo!

2010-04-03T20:31:00.000-07:00

Hudson learns something new everyday. It's funny how you wonder if he is picking up on everything you are trying to teach him and then all of a sudden he pulled this out of thin air, and now he wants to play peek-a-boo all the time. The same thing has been happening with sign language. For a while now he has been able to sign "milk" but it was pretty sporadic at best. About a week or two ago he has started signing "more" and today he signed "food" for the first time (and several times throughout the day everytime he was hungry!). It's so great to know that he not only understands what we are signing to him but that he is learning how to tell us what he wants using signs, we love it! Already we feel like we can understand him better, we know if he is hungry or thirsty and if he wants more food or is all done. Being able to communicate with Hudson in this simple way is so exciting for us and we look forward to what signs he will learn next.

Here's our recent peek-a-boo game frame by frame...

$15 at a garage sale

2010-03-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

We got this little chariot at a garage sale several months ago and have anxiously awaited getting to finally put it to use. With the warm weather we have had over the past few weeks we strapped up Hudson, gave him some toys, a few blankets and put on his bright yellow 1920's football helmet-shaped hat to keep the sun out of his eyes and were off for a nice long walk around the neighborhood! Hudson really enjoys his new ride and hardly made a sound the entire time because he was so enthralled in soaking up everything there was to look at along the way. Next we will try hooking him up to our bikes and going for some longer rides!

Bear Trap Canyon

2010-03-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

Where's all the snow?!

We are a little sad at the lack of snow that has fallen over the past few months and at how quickly it is melting away, however, we are definitely enjoying getting out a bit more often to enjoy God's creation! We hiked Bear Trap Canyon the other day and Hudson slept in the carrier almost the entire time. It was so great to get out and we are really looking forward to more and more outdoor adventures as the warmer weather draws near.

28 days to go!

2010-03-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we are less than one month away until Hudson's 1st birthday, wow! It's so great to see him figuring out new things everyday and he's not even a year into life yet. We are trying to decide how to best celebrate his big day and I realize I need to get on the ball as the time is quickly approaching. Here are a few pics of his latest new moves...climbing up stairs, yikes!

He got kinda tired after the first few stairs and decided to take a break and pose for the camera...

"I love bathtime!"

2010-03-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

I think that is what he is saying here...

All he does the entire time...puts everything in his mouth and sucks on it...

So stinkin' cute!!

HD sporting his Dino robe

The face says it all

2010-02-25T11:01:00.000-08:00

Doug and I got ourselves a new digital camera for our Christmas gift to each other and have since really enjoyed taking tons of pictures of Hudson. No more 2 second snapshot delay or fuzzy action shots or constant red-eyes - amazing what great pictures you can get with a quality camera :) Here are some shots of Hudson that we have captured with our new little toy.

We finally found a food Hudson doesn't like - rice. I think it's more the texture that he didn't like rather than the taste.

He has been making this face ALL the time lately, not sure what he's trying to tell us but it makes us laugh every time he does it!

There's the funny face again - this time from the side.

His frustrated face. He wanted me to help pull him up and doesn't like the fact that we want him to pull himself up without our help!

His drunk face :)

He's such a happy little boy!

Hiding behind his block

10 Months Old!

2010-02-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

A few glimpses of what I am up to these days...

Learning to ride my bike

Learning to pull up on the furniture

Learning to walk around with mom and dad's help

Learning to master the art of climbing over anything and everything

And learning how to eat food like a big kid

And much, much more!

Sweet Puppies and Kitties

2010-02-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

This is Kitty, yes her name is Kitty, she is one of the pets we take care of where we housesit.

The black dog is Whistler, the other pet we take care of where we housesit. Husdon loves trying to take hold of Whistler's big, thick curly tail.

Sam

Charlie

Hudson, Sam and Charlie

Fun with blocks

2010-02-13T11:35:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of Hudson playing with the set of blocks Doug made him for Christmas.

Hudson is really getting into crawling onto and over everything - one of his favorite things to do right now is crawl back and forth over the box of blocks...

HD's on the DL

2010-01-17T16:08:00.000-08:00

Not too much going on around here lately for us to take pictures of. Hudson has been down and out with the stomach flu and an ear infection, so we figure we will spare you from the wonderful sights (and sounds) that we have enjoyed over the pasts several days of all that can come out of a babies' front and back ends when they have a gastroenterogical virus!

Here are a few pics from before the illnesses hit. Hudson is really getting around quickly now - still army crawling - he found his way into the shower the other day...

We are so excited to be able to finally use this little sled that we picked up for a few bucks at a garage sale last summer! Hudson seems to really love being pushed around the neighborhood in his sled and especially enjoys chasing the dogs around in it. Unfortunately, it's been so warm around here lately that all of our snow is melting. We better get more soon or we won't be able to push him around in the sled for much longer (not to mention that Doug is getting a little antsy when he goes for more than a week or so without work!).

A Few Snapshots of HD's First Christmas

2010-01-05T08:18:00.000-08:00

Bath toys, yea!!

Only two gifts opened, exhausted already and still a long way to go...

Of course, the one gift he really wanted to play with and it was the only breakable one.

Santa brought him a bike. So far he loves sitting on it but that's about it.

Cons from Aunt Kristin! Can't wait until he grows into them.

He wasn't sure what to think of the life size moose and its huge antlers...

still sizing up Mr. Moose

Cute dino clothes from Uncle Dave, Aunt Linda and Adam (you can't quite them in this picture but they match his dino Robeez!)

Playing Hide and Seek

2009-12-26T22:00:00.000-08:00

He loves getting himself all wrapped up in Lynley's old playmat (Lynley, do you recognize it?! 16 years later and it is still getting good use)...

The Army Crawl

2009-12-23T10:43:00.000-08:00

BUSTED!!

(He has already kicked his way into one of his presents though hasn't figured out how to get it fully unwrapped.)

Hudson is starting to get the hang of this crawling thing. He is getting faster and faster with every passing day! The Christmas tree, lights, and presents are all doing a good job of luring him and encouraging him to crawl across the room to get to them. The videos are a bit dark but at least you can get a first glance at his newest ability. They are a bit lengthy so only the die hards will make it to the end :)

Sorry, the first one starts out sides but flips right side up after a few seconds...

Mostly playing with the tree in this video...

Lots and lots of talking in this one...

Our best Christmas present ever :)

2009-12-22T10:12:00.000-08:00

Hudson decided he wanted to go for a vacation over the holidays to visit the family. So, we're packing him up with the other presents for a little trip via USPS.

There's not going to be much extra room in there...good thing he's really flexible!

He's looking less sure of this idea as the time passes...

Some more packing material to tuck him in nice and safe and snug.

Here he is, all packed up and ready to go! If you are the lucky recipient of this package, just make sure to unwrap it right away...we didn't poke any air holes and he's probably gonna be pretty hungry :)

Daddy-time

2009-12-19T19:56:00.000-08:00

Graduating from the Bumbo to a High Chair

2009-12-18T20:03:00.000-08:00

Super Porridge! It looks gross but he loves the stuff.

This is what happens when he feeds himself.

Baby, you have something on your forehead...aim a little lower and to the left!

8 Months Old

2009-12-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

So excited for his 8 month birthday!

Though Hudson is not crawling (but is very, very close) he is still pretty mobile by rolling everywhere he wants to go, which is usually right under the Christmas tree...

This is his guilty face after repeatedly getting caught trying to eat the branches off the tree.

But, how could you say no to this face?!

It's Official!

2009-12-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

At 4:30 pm on Dec. 7th, Hudson officially became a Duschene! We had our court hearing yesterday to finalize the adoption. It only took about 5 minutes to read through the order but we all had huge smiles on our faces the entire time - including Hudson (thanks to Katie for keeping him entertained). The judge even got a little cracked up at Hudson's constant jabbering throughout the hearing, it was great!

We owe a few HUGE thanks...Katie, thank you for helping us fill out and file the legal documentation, we really appreciate all your help...and Kayla, obviously none of this would have happened without your willingness to give Hudson to us, thanks for choosing us as his parents - we could not have hand picked a more perfect baby!!! Thanks to everyone for all the love and support you have given to us through this entire adoption process - it's great to finally be at the end and celebrating the best little blessing in our lives!

Hudson says, "Happy Birthday To You"

2009-12-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

Hudson's First Hunting Trip

2009-12-01T08:25:00.000-08:00

One of the few traditions in the Duschene household is to go chop down a Christmas tree the first weekend after Thanksgiving. We were really excited to get to take Hudson out for his first hunt for a tree. We headed out the front door and up Little Bear Canyon on a beautiful Saturday morning with our friends Mike and Anna Miller and our dogs, Sam, Charlie and Solomon.

Getting ready to go, clearly we need a few more layers of clothes before we can head out!

30 minutes later and he's ready to go play in the snow!

Look closely and you can see his two teeth, they are getting so big and thankfully less sharp!

All suited up and ready to go hunt down a tree!

Gotta love those big blue eyes :)

Doug and Charlie have found our special tree

The only thing Doug successully hunted down and tagged this year. Good job honey!

Kaitlin, Hudson and Anna with our tree.

Mike and Anna and their Christmas tree.

Hudson in front of his first Christmas tree! We dug out a hole in the snow just to try to enable him to sit up, good thing Doug snapped the shot quickly becuase he didn't last for very long sitting up...

I'm sure all the clothing has nothing to do with his inability to bend in half.

The dogs had such a great time in the woods though they weren't too excited about being bunched in the back of the truck with the two trees. Good thing it was a short ride home.

Now we are all decked out and ready for Christmas!!

Family Photos

2009-11-23T17:57:00.000-08:00

More photos from our trip to Atlanta! It was great to finally be able to introduce Hudson to my (Kaitlin's) side of the family. Only my mom and Lynley (my sister who came out to YAA for camp over the summer) had ever met Hudson before so there were a ton of people for him to get to know. The weeks that we were there just didn't suffice to allow him enough time to spend with everyone. Hopefully we will be able to get back soon OR hopefully everyone will be able to come out to Montana soon for a visit, hint, hint :)

Uncle Matt, Doug
Aunt Lauren, Hudson, Aunt Lynley, and Kaitlin

Kaitlin, Hudson and Gigi

Hudson and Gigi

Aunt Lauren, Hudson and Uncle Matt

Naptime with mommy
(falling asleep on my lap doesn't happen much anymore so I savor all the snuggles I can get!)

Hudson and his beautiful aunts!

Love the onesie..."World's Cutest Alarm Clock"

Aunt Lauren, Aunt Lynley, Gigi, Hudson and Kaitlin

More pictures from our time in Atlanta

2009-11-21T15:43:00.000-08:00

It was like "where's waldo"...can you find the baby among all of the toys?!

Oh, there he is!

Uncle Matt meeting his nephew for the first time...

BOO!!!

Papa G whispering sweet nothings in his little ears -

Hudson with his great-grandaddy and great-granny!

Hudson's introduction to the goats on the farm. Neither goat nor baby really seemed to fancy each other but at least they posed long enough for a picture together.

Celebrating Halloween - Dinner out with the family (Papa G, Mama K, Matt, Lauren, Stephen, Kaitlin and Hudson). Stephen was playing piano that night at the restuarant so we all went to support him and get some great food!

HD all dressed up for his 1st Halloween :)

2009-11-15T19:24:00.000-08:00

We travelled to Hotlanta for several weeks in October/November, hence, the lack of updates on our blog! Here are a few pics from our travels and there will definitely be more up soon.

Sam sat by Hudson before we left for the airport for Atlanta. He clearly knew something was up!

You look away for just one minute and he's already starting to get into stuff! Hudson had rolled off his playmat and half way across the room and started snacking on the plant...

Cuddles with mom :)

Learning how to ride horseback on dad's shoulders...

Uncle Matt and Aunt Lauren...

Hudson LOVED Aunt Lauren!

We keep trying to get him to show off his two pearly white teeth but he just won't keep his mouth open long enough for us to snap a shot.

Hudson got his first music lessons from Uncle Stephen and he was thoroughly entraced by the piano (and his uncle) the entire time...

Hudson spent lots of time with Granny and Grandaddy on their farm. Here's Hudson with Grandaddy...

Hudson and Granny - yes, that's a dictionary that she was reading to him!

That's all for now. Hopefully lots more pics of our trip very soon.

6 months old!

2009-10-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

Hudson celebrated turning 6 months old on Monday (the 12th) by a trip to the doctor where he stripped naked, laid on a cold metal balance and weighed, poked and prodded with various instruments in the chests/ear/mouth/etc then given 4 shots (two in each thigh) and one oral immunization. It was quite a traumatic morning for the little guy but exciting for me to find out that he is 17 lbs 2 ozs (80%) and 27 1/2" long (40%). He is long and lean.

To commemorate this occasion, here are a few pics of Hudson over the past 6 months, amazing how quickly they grow!

Only 16 days old...this picture was taken on our first road trip together the day we picked up our son from Missoula...

17 days old - we were still in shock that we now had a child and at how beautiful and perfect he was! The blanket he is cuddled up in was a gift to him from his birthmom.

One month old...already showing off his big blue eyes and cute little flipped out ears...

Two months old...he was smiling 24/7 by this point in time, we had made it through the first several weeks of total fussiness, whew!

Three months old...gotta love those ears! He was holding his head up pretty well by 3 months old...

Four months old...starting to interact with us and smiling when we smiled...

Five months old...holding his own bottle and eating solid foods!

He's still not sure what he thinks of avocado...(usually spits it back out unless I mix it with banana - he'll pretty much eat anything if I first mix it with banana. Thankfully the sweet potatoes are sweet enough that he loves those all on their own)...

Six months old...the shirt says it all...

You have to look really close to see it (pretty much need a magnifying glass) but there is the beginning of a little tooth that has poked through his gums!

Well, there's your glimpse at his first 6 months of life. I am excited to see what the next 6 months have to hold for our little boy!

Dedication Day

2009-10-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

Hudson William was dedicated by Dave Bos at Alliance on Sept. 27th.

Thank you to everyone who came to support us, especially thank you Deea for taking all the wonderful pictures. After church, we were able to celebrate back at the house with elk burgers, a great game of football (the Bears won!) and smores by the fire.

Hudson and Lily

Quick bite to eat before showtime. Probably not the best idea on my part. I was nervous the whole time that he was going to lose his lunch all over Dave. Thank goodness he held it in!

Dave and Hudson - Hudson kept trying to get his hands on the microphone

The proud parents!

Burgers and the Bears!

Noah and Deea (thanks again for the great photos!)

To Wear or Not to Wear?

2009-10-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

Of course, little boys' clothes just aren't as stinkin' cute as little girls' clothes, however we have enjoyed some of the fun outfits Hudson has accumulated so far...

Doug and Hudson are ready to cheer on the Blackhawks (thanks grandpa and grandma Duschene!). It seems like Hudson is still upset that the Blackhawks lost their last game.

This photo is from a few months ago - the shirt says it all, "I'm in charge around here".

Twins! When Hudson came over to Logan's house to play one morning, they had no idea they had slept in the same sleeper overnight. Logan is our neighbors' little boy and is only 5 days older than Hudson.

Hudson was about one month old in this next photo. This was one of the fun little tie-dyed onesies that Jess made for Hudson's baby shower in May. Charlie always love to cuddle up next to Hudson and be near him while he plays.

Doug and Hudson in their matching orange fleeces (thanks Granny J!)

Just happy to be out of those restrictive clothes!

Hudson is getting his first swimming tips from dad!

Post-bath attire...he usually hates bath time, so the lack of tears and crying in this picture is a rare sight.

Last, but definitely not least, displays Hudson's favorite outfit of all! Good thing he's got his booties on to keep his feet warm :)

HD's First Snowfall!

2009-10-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

Other than the day (April 28th, 2009) we drove up to Missoula in a snowstorm to meet our son for the first time and bring him home with us, this is Hudson's first experience with snow. He doesn't really care much for the snow now but we are sure he will come to LOVE it very soon! By the way, these pictures were taken at the cozy little cottage where we are housesitting over the next few months. We measured 9" of snowfall in the front yard, not bad for the first of many more to come this season!

Live Action from Hi Def...

2009-09-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

The beginnings of a trumpet player (plus a lovely belch mixed in if you listen closely!)

More trumpet practice...

Close-up!

"I was worth the wait"

2009-09-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Thank you to some friends (who are also in the process of adoption and know exactly how we feel!) who got Hudson this great onesie that sums up our entire experience, both the highs and the lows, over the past four years in just a few short words, "I was worth the wait". Amen!

Another new milestone in the little guys life - he found his feet!

New favorite sleeping position

2009-09-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

All of a sudden one morning I went in to get him up from his nap and this is how I found him - amazing how quickly they learn new things! Now, every time we put him down he immediately flips over on his tummy and falls fast asleep.

Rice cereal

2009-09-19T15:21:00.000-07:00

Although he had been eyeing our food for several weeks prior, we didn't start Hudson on solid foods until the beginning of September - and boy was he chomping at the bit to take his first bites. Unfortunately, after the first few bites you can tell that he was not all at impressed with the taste of food...

However, once I added some banana to the cereal and coaxed him to try a few more bites, he quickly decided that this stuff was goooood and we couldn't feed it to him fast enough!

By the end, he was very sad when it was all gone.

First Trip to Yellowstone

2009-09-19T09:53:00.000-07:00

We'll be going back in time a few weeks to catch you up on what's new with Hudson. On August 24th we took him on his first trip to Yellowstone National Park. Here are a few pics from our little outing.

Hudson was watching daddy fish in the Yellowstone River...

...and enjoyed eating the flowers.

Walking the trail to the Grand Prismatic pool.

Joining the Wide World of Blogging

2009-09-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

We are finally setting up a blog to bring you regular updates of all the changes in our new little family! Hope you enjoy the photos and videos of Hudson as he grows up. Now I just need to figure out how to upload photos and we'll be up and rolling!