Playing Hide and Seek

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

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 :)

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

Graduating from the Bumbo to a High Chair

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

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!

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"

Make a Smilebox greeting

Hudson's First Hunting Trip

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

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