A Shout Out to Mothers EVERYWHERE!!!

Mother's are completely inspiring. I am in awe at my Mom, my mother-in-law and Thomas' mom Marian, grandma's, friends, WE LOVE YOU SOOOOO MUCH! Thank you for all the incredible examples of motherhood in our lives!

As of today, I experienced my 1st legit Mother's Day! Woo woop, joining the ranks. Last year at this time, I was pregnant and about to POP with Hudson and I was beyond thrilled to be a mother, but boy, I didn't have a clue at what this role would entail! What a miracle it has been to help me grow in a ways I could never put into words. My life revolves around tiny toes and little hands and sweet potatoes on chubby cheeks. I could never be happier doing anything else at this time in my life! Being a mother is a wonderful gift from God. I feel so blessed to be Hudson's mother:)

For Mother's Day, I requested a silly gift from Thomas. .. I  have watched as Hudson't hands just keep doubling in size and I wanted to freeze a memory of their little cuteness. Long story, cut short, we got covered in black ink as we worked to get a baby to cooperate by giving us his prints. An impossible feat to accomplish alone. But do-able with Thomas' help. We were covered in black ink by the end of it! Can't begin to explain how much I love the framed prints of my Hudson:) Thank you Thomas!

We enjoyed the sunshine today as a family before Thomas finishes 3 big tests for this last week of his first year in Podiatry school. Today, we just soaked in the mellow nature of Sunday and what a blessing it has been this year to have a day to reset mentally and rejuvenate spiritually.

Love that Hudson was able to go barefoot and fancy free, and he obviously did as well:)

We're working on getting some sunshine. Our pale bodies need some lovin'!!!

Amazing how a big smile and a little giggle can make this now one of my favorite holidays!

Beach It Up Baby!

As of late, Hudson took his first steps last week after walking around on his knees the weeks before. He still prefers crawling, but is quickly becoming more confident with walking each fall. He also hit his 11 month mark! It almost caused a minor heart attach when I realized how quickly this year has flown by and how BIG my little baby now is. Thomas keeps informing me, he is not a baby anymore. Tears. I also quit pumping (my method of breastfeeding for the last 11 months)... I got super emotional as I thought about what a miracle it has been to be able to keep my milk going through solely pumping, not to be finished feeling married to a breast pump! It was definitely a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father. He knew my desire to breastfeed Hudson and blessed me to work through several bumps along the way (that I won't go into). Who wants to hear a Syd pitty party??? Me neither. What it really comes down to is that, God is so mindful of each of us! What a feat it was to get through even a day. I just got totally burnt out from the whole experience. I'm a free woman! FREEDOM and GRATITUDE all in one!

Our new beach quilt!!! I tried a rag quilt this time around. Turns out when I compiled all the squares, rows and columns, there wasn't much of a quilt left... We may have to lay "sandwich style" on the blanket and rotate the person that gets the bottom and top. Sounds like a quality beach experience for the whole family right? Next time, I probably won't go the rag quilt route when I want a lot of space to be covered. 

Our sunning walrus. Although deceiving, I am referring to the baby, not the Mom lying in the back:) I swear I have a baby picture of me that looks exactly like this. I gotta find it!

Looks can be deceiving. I am convinced babies come so cute to appear innocent and harmless. But Hudson has officially declared war on our house. Nothing is orderly anymore (if it ever was). He loves to empty drawers, cabinets, bookshelves and you can bet that anything you leave unattended, is certainly going to be explored via mouth/saliva. His favorites include the remote controller to the TV, my sewing machine foot pedal, the cell phone charger, measuring tape, and don't get me started with how big of a help Hudson was with the beach quilt:) He would hold his hand on the scissors and feel the "power" as they cut, grinning from ear to ear. Getting anything done took much, much more time with my little helper around.

Hudson has really started enjoying the beach. He will crawl 100 mph like a crab to the sea, and get clobbered by a wave and love every minute of it. It is a messy clean up afterward, but super entertaining! 

Thomas had his White Coat Ceremony this last week and we got to celebrate his entering into the medical field. An exciting step along our long journey! He is legit and for sure too legit to quit... Lame I just brought those music lyrics into our blog.

We have really enjoyed the swings and playground in general. He is now big enough to actually enjoy the thrill of being a kid.

Although Lake Michigan is still icy... Brrrrrrr. It feels really refreshing to  jump in  when it is hot and humid. Both of which we have plenty of come summer.  Don't mind if I do!

Spidey Man

A few things to catch up on since our last post... 1) Hudson is standing alone, anxious to run around the house, 2) Hudson't first Easter (kind of anti-climatic for the Easter bunny), 3) Emily (our sister-in-law and Hudson's aunt) came into town and we played with her and her little child that is baking in the oven until August 16th... Can't wait for their new baby boy to arrive!!! 4) Hudson got a crazy spider bite, and 5) Hudson is SLOWLY learning "no"... 

We are just on our way out the door to enjoy some springtime 50 degree weather, Hudson is all over the house and busy as all get out. I have considered making this hat padded to act as a helmet of sorts... Thank goodness babies come with a hard-shell!

The Easter Bunny must have known about our summer of beach fun ahead of us because he brought some sand toys, a couple of bunny related books "The Runaway Bunny" and "Guess How Much I Love You", and some eggs filled with Cheerios and a yellow T-shirt.

I was a little worried when I saw him in action with the shovel...

The grass in the bottom seemed to interest him more than its actual contents. Such is life with babies!

As tradition in the Montague family, I made some Easter sugar cookies. My Mom's look 50 times better, but I felt festive after making them:)

So Hudson woke up with a whoppin' spider bite. Who knows what kind. Thank goodness he's still breathing. This is day 2 . I hope that spider died somewhere. Can't believe he decided to touch MY baby.

It was super puffy and irritated. Run spidey. Run where Mama bear won't EVER find you.

Hudson somehow managed to turn on the TV and get a DVD going. I was in another room when I started hearing voices. I came in to find he was selecting a scene to watch from our beloved Disney movie "Aladdin" He loves playing with the controller and dancing when the music comes on.

Grandma and Trulee

My sweet Mother, and Hudson's Grandma came out to visit us for the week! We had a great time playing hard while she was out here:) We were able to go to the Botanic Gardens, the zoo, eat Thai food downtown at Tiparos, go to Wildberry, Green Basil, Walker Bros., go to the Great America Mall in Gurnee, go to the beach, go on walks and get some specialty candies from Fresh Market. She wasn't here nearly long enough, but it was fun while it lasted!

This is Trulee, Hudson's new best friend. We watched Trulee for the week and Hudson couldn't get enough of her. Trulee escaped outside just to get a break from the constant attention of Hudson and still he couldn't cease giving his love to this big fur ball. It was precious. 

Some hunk right?;) Grandma brought him some "dude glasses" out with flames included. He knew what kind of looks to dish out with these bad boys on. Bad to the bone...

Let us not forget how much Hudson adores Grandma Lisa! He was enamored by her and how much fun she is.  Thanks for being so wonderful Mom!

It is beautiful, green, luscious and a colorful display of springtime out here in Chicago and we are loving the change of weather! We had to snap a shot of this bed of tulips at the zoo. 

After playing hard all week while Grandma was here, Hudson crashed. Game over. Yes, he fell asleep right in the middle of dinner. 

A Few Highlights

Hudson loves to swing! What baby doesn't right? I think we got a little too into it because soon he was swinging WAY too high and WAY too fast... and that ruined the fun for all of us when Hudson realized how scary it was to be at the mercy of his ambitious and excited parents. We grounded that party pretty soon after.

We don't know what Hudson found that was so disgustingly intriguing, but by the looks of it, it was just that.

Hudson didn't quite enjoy the beach this past summer (he was just a wee baby then), but I can tell he is going to live it up this summer. The sand enthralled him and the waves beckoned his attention. Can't wait to throw his little suit on and get wet and gritty!

"Baby-proofing" the house has been ridiculous. Just when we figure things are proofed and let him at it, Hudson finds a detail that we overlooked. He is turning on the TV and DVD player, pulling lamps down on him, gnawing on cords and sucking on plug-ins, getting into the spices and finding a way to get the caps off... splashing himself with baby powder, pushing laundry baskets around as motorized vehicles, pulling down the garbage bins to get a really good look at the "things" inside---just the stuff we want him to be doing:) EXPLORE BUDDY.

I FINALLY got a booster seat! We have been "wingin" it up until this point and this point should have been reached months ago... I caved and got a booster seat AND a diaper changing station. Why I thought I could manage without these two items I still don't know, but I am soooo grateful to have them! 

Our 9-er, Monthy 9-er...

Although dead, still, this is our beach paradise. We walk past and dream about summer, sunshine and warm sand between our toes... Ahhhh

Hudson has to be bundled up of course. Of course. The wind that comes off Michigan Lake sometimes is enough to freeze you to the middle of your thickest bones... and Hudson has just a lot of tiny bones at present (although it feels like they're made of lead from Mom's standpoint as the "carrier"). Anyway, we keep him snug as a bug in a rug.

This is Hudson't new sidekick: his pointer finger. I guess it's his way of emphasizing he has something really important to say--Even if that means a whole lot of babbling.

If he isn't waving his pudgy little finger around and sticking it in tiny slots around the house, then he's using it to point to everything that catches his eye just so he knows I'm paying attention.

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Hudson definitely has his own personality that is rapidly developing. He gets a kick out of his own jokes as you can tell. We never know the punch line to his jokes, but we ALWAYS end up laughing, whatever it is.

Family Week

Thomas had a winter break from school this past week so we had a family-time-binge---it was fanTAStic! The cheap side of us beat out the adventure within us so we decided to stick around despite our near attempts to schedule a cruise somewhere sunny and warm. We ended up going into the city, going to the zoo, exploring some forest preserves around this mountain-less Midwest, we ate lots of yummy food, watched some movies, went to the massive Gurnee Mills Mall just 10 minutes away that made every other mall we've ever seen look puny. This mall went for miles and miles. It TOTALLY wore us out and we didn't even see everything. We considered it a great feat of control that we ended up leaving with only a pair of shoes:)

Hudson keeps toasty in his coat and bundle wrap that we makeshift for the cold weather. He enjoys spending time outside when we get the chance

The preserve we went to was beautiful! Although things were dead and not as colorful as the other seasons, we really enjoyed the beauty of winter.  There wasn't any snow on the ground but the air was brisk and fresh. We saw some magnificent landscapes. 

This was a pretty lookout that we liked. We could see for quite a ways in every direction from this point.

That thing that looks like a little kitten on the rock behind us is a lion... They are such beautiful animals! We really enjoyed them at the zoo. But were even more glad for the ravine that separated us from them...

I obviously turned a hideous blue color inside this exhibit. You would think I was Violet from Willy Wonka, but really I am just lovin' the little reindeer looking animal behind me;)

THE ESKIMO AND THE CITY! Rated G. Coming to theaters near you.

We walked down Michigan Ave for my sake. I love this place. Thomas is convinced it is a woman's dream---a theme park kind of fun for women. I told him that is probably the case for people who have money to throw into these stores...Which totally excludes us. Nevertheless, I do enjoy the excitement of it all!

Talk about a cool camera feature! We tried out the panoramic setting and it was able to capture a totally new picture.

My boys. I love love love this picture. Isn't Hudson a ham? :)

So you know how I mentioned it hadn't snowed at the beginning of the week??? Well welcome to Winter Wonderland the day after. It snowed for a full day and covered all the trees, even every last branch with a thick layer of snow. I wish my camera could have captured the splendor!