October Update

I'm aiming to keep my promise of at least one post a month, so here we go!

Hudson is just growing and changing so much right now, it's crazy. About a week after my last post, Hudson officially took off with his army crawl. It was such a relief for both of us, as he was much happier being able to get where he wants to go. He quickly progressed to pushing up to sit on his own, and then pulling to stand. He is now just starting to cruise the furniture, and he is doing a true hands and knees crawl. It's so fun to see him learn all these new things, and also to realize that he is going to be walking very soon.

About a month ago, Hudson started at a new daycare. It was a frustrating search, but we found an in-home setting for him that we are really loving. His babysitter, Rachel, is a stay-at-home mom to her little girl who just turned 1 a couple weeks ago. I think Hudson is having a lot of fun there. While he's always super excited to see me when I pick him up, he always seems to be having a good time playing too. It is a blessing to have a good situation, so that I don't have to worry about him while I'm at work 2 1/2 days a week.

Hudson picked up a new trick at daycare as you'll see in the video below.

If you watch closely, you'll also notice his other new trick- shaking his head no! I can't quite figure out if he understands what he's saying or not. He definitely seems to use it at times when it's appropriate, like when he doesn't want to eat something, or he doesn't want to stop doing whatever he's doing, but he also does it at random times too. If you ask him a question, there's a good chance he'll shake his head no, no matter what you ask! :)

Another development as of late is his two front teeth! He's also working on two more on the top, so that will make a total of 6 once those come through. Unfortunately, the teething seems to have really thrown a wrench into his sleeping habits. He's always been a decent sleeper and was down to waking only once a night to nurse (and even slept all the way through right before his 9 month Dr's appt), but the last couple weeks he's been having a hard time being laid down after being rocked to sleep and has been waking frequently, even as often as every hour! Clearly, that does not work well for anybody. I think all the motor skills development has messed with his sleep as well. He often wakes up and starts crawling or pulling to stand, even though his eyes are closed and he settles down as soon as I pick him up. Anyway, we decided to start sleep training. I am not comfortable with cry-it-out methods, so we've been trying some more gentle approaches, and I'm happy to say we've seen progress. He was able to fall asleep in his crib tonight without rocking or nursing to sleep! He did require some singing and patting on the back from mom, and it took about 35 minutes, but we're taking baby steps at least!

Ok, well for the rest of the update, I'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures from the last month! :)