Hudson's Funny Comments

Hudson, I am sad that I rarely record your funny comments.  Here are two that I can remember:

Last night, as your dad was giving you your vitamin, you told him it hurt.  He asked if it went up your nose and you looked at him and said, " No, it went in my mouth, through my teeth, down my throat, and in my tummy."

You asked if we could "broke" sissy and get a new one.  That one makes me sad, but it will be funny one day I assume.

Three has been a much calmer year for you.  You will actually sit still.  You love the ipad, and you are really good at Sonic Blast and Temple Run.  You also will watch select tv shows. You like two episodes of Barney, a very random show called The Wheels on the Bus, and Leapfrog Numberland.

You still are very obsessed with doors.  I am not sure if it will ever end or what will become of it.  You have learned to control your urges to play with them, which has made most days easier for me.  You have your moments though!  We put you through testing at your dad's school, and everyone thinks you are fine!  I am just one worried little mama at times, and you my sweet boy, do not fit the box of most little boys your age.  I am learning to praise God for who you are.  I truly would never want you another way.  You are our Hudson!

Clara-10 months

Clara,

I cannot believe that you have already been in our lives for 10 months!

At 10 months, you love to crawl.  You really don't pull up and cruise quite yet.  You can and you have, but you just do not do it much!  You love to wave bye bye and clap your hands.  We have heard you say dada, mama, and bye bye.  Your paw-paw also is confident that you said his name, but I have yet to hear it. :)

You eat just about everything I put in front of you.  You were never into baby food, but you love table food.  I am much less strict with you and just give you whatever we are having.  You have even had Chick-fil-a and pizza!  I would have never given that stuff to Hudson, but you just get to have what we are having!

You still will not stay in the church nursery.  You cry and cry. The only people you will stay with are your grandparents.

You just started consistently sleeping through the night....at 10 months!  You sleep from 10-6 most nights!  Still not great, but I will take it.  You also are still sleeping in a pack and play in our room, so I think it will help if we finally let you sleep nights in your crib downstairs.

You are unlike your big brother in so many ways--you notice things he never did....like babies and animals.  You will stare and laugh and talk to any animal you see.  You also love to watch cartoons.  I am grateful for that.  Your brother did not sit still for 2 years, so I welcome your love for cartoons, and I indulge you in small doses! Oh, and I just cannot kiss your face enough!

Chicago

If you follow me on Instagram, there is no reason to keep reading this.  It is simply a regurgitation of my photos from our recent trip to Chicago.  Once again, I can thank Instagram for eating my blog.

Will and I spent a total of 49 hours in Chicago last week.  We were there celebrating our 5th anniversary, which was in May, and Will's 31st birthday.

It was W.O.N.D.E.R.F.U.L.!

Seriously, it was the most fun we have had in a very long time.  Kid free fun that is. We have plenty of kid-full fun around here.

We stayed at the Park Hyatt. Super nice. We rarely stay at hotels with over-sized tubs and flat screens in the bathroom.

Here is the view from or hotel window:

Or first stop was Giordano's Pizza.  Good. A little too much emphasis on crust for us. We walked right in and to a table.  Perks of being there on a Monday at 11 AM.

Afterwards we headed to the Willis/ Sears tower.  We went right to the top.  No lines at all.  It was worth the 36 bucks.  Very touristy, but that is what we were!

We tried Garret's popcorn.  The Chicago Mix was melt in your mouth yummy.

We checked out Millennium Park.

After regrouping and taking a nap in our hotel, we checked out the view from the Hancock Tower.  No joke, the best view was in the women's bathroom of the Signature Lounge. We didn't even pay to go in the tower.  We actually didn't even buy drinks at the lounge.  We just checked out the view.

From the top:

From the bottom:

Afterwards, we found a Portillos and tried a true Chicago dog.
Note: We got tons of great restaurant recommendations, and I originally wanted this trip to be a foodie adventure.  We decided to just stick to trying some of the food Chicago is known for...pizza and hotdogs.  We hope to go back one day and try more food.

I really wanted to see the Theatre District.  We took the train to walk around that area for a bit

Afterwards, we hit a local Irish Pub.  Not sure of the name, but it seemed more like a local spot. It was a perfect spot to unwind and talk.

Day 2 was much more relaxing. We strolled around Navy Pier that morning.

Afterwards, we took an architectural river tour through a company called Sea Dog.  Our tour also included a speed boat ride on Lake Michigan.  If we could only choose one thing to do in Chicago, this would be it.  It was so cool!  I loved seeing and hearing about all the history of downtown.  It was well worth it!   We had heard to make reservations beforehand. We didn't, but our boat was nearly empty.  Another perk of being there during the week I guess.

Our boat just so happened to be cruising under that waterfall as it turned on that morning.  It turns on for a minute every hour or so during the summer. They usually time it to miss it.   Obviously, they didn't this time.  There were a few folks that were mad.  I honestly thought it felt awesome.

Then, we went to Gino's East.  We liked it the best!  Less emphasis on crust, and more on the toppings! We took Man vs Food's advice and tried the meaty legend. Glad we did!

Our final adventure was watching the Angels play the Cubs at Wrigley Field. This was our third Angel's game together.  The first two were in Los Angeles exactly 4 years before.

Chicago was a great adventure.  We laughed at the fact that we traveled by car, plane, taxi, subway, train, bus, and boat in just 2 days.  We really don't live that type of life here in Helena, and it was a nice change of pace.  We love exploring new places together and look forward to the days our kiddos can share in the experience with us!