What have we been doing?

Hudson has been trying to develop a taste for fish...or he's been practicing his kissing skills. If you see him sometime soon pucker up, because he might just lay one on you...and he hasn't learned the appropriate time to use tongue yet.

We headed over to Willowbrook Park which is now our little slice of heaven on Staten Island. There is an old Carousel which we both rode with Hudson as well as a beautiful lake (stocked with fish for Jordan) and a trail going around the pond which goes into wooded areas. You would have no idea you are even in the city...which is lovely!

This picture is for Hillary.

Hudson has learned to climb and boy is he showing off. He climbs onto the couch, into the refridgerator, tries to climb onto the counters by using drawers as steps, and yup, you guessed it- he has mastered climbing into the dishwasher. I've got my hands full during the day for sure. Let's just hope he doesn't figure out how to climb out of his crib anytime soon!

We have been rolling with a rough crowd here. We went out for the first time this week with the newly formed Stroller Mafia. We walked all around the base and had a great time. There are goats on base clearing brush around some of the old forts so we went to visit them. The Park Rangers were kind enough to bring the goats into a little pen and give us bread to feed them. Hudson tried to eat the bread, but he also pet the goats and giggled contagiously as they nibbled at his little hands. I think he may become a farmer one day. Or a veterinarian. Or maybe he'll just have a pet goat.

That's all for now. We'll update you more as we get out and about. We've got a couple of trips coming up soon so I'm sure we'll have lots of photos and stories to share.

Not so shaggy anymore

We finally did it. After about a year and a month we finally brought Hudson to get his first haircut. We went to one of the kids haircutting places in the mall where they have planes and trains and automobiles for the kids to sit in and tvs playing cartoons. Hudson was the perfect little boy. He just sat there and played with the steering wheel that was in front of him. We were shocked that he wasn't his normal wiggly self. Here's my confession: I started crying! It was completely unexpected and came out of nowhere. I was taking pictures of him for the before shots and I started tearing up. I said to Jordan "I'm getting emotional right now" and he just looked at me and said "Why?" I honestly had no idea where it came from so I was laughing and shedding tears at the same time. It was bizarre. The hairdresser asked Jordan if I was nervous. I told her it was the pregnancy hormones coming out. So that's that. Here's what you are waiting for- the pictures!

Welcome to our blog

Hello and welcome to our new blog! I've been trying to share monthly updates of Hudson, but thought this might be a better way to share (hopefully) more often and whenever the mood strikes. I'm new to the blogging world, but I'm pretty sure you can subscribe to the blog and be notified when there is an update...for those of you who are interested in that sort of thing. So, without further adieu, here's the latest adventure of the Branem fam!


What's better than living in the city? Well, for us it is getting away from the city! Today the three of us went to a state park in Jersey to do some hiking and get out of the house. It was in the 90's all day and hotter than hot. Hudson refused to sleep anywhere...not in the car, not in the supposedly super comfy Beco carrier, not anywhere. He screamed and cried for what seemed like an eternity...until we got down to the water. Guess who loves to splash around and throw rocks? It looks like our little man continues to take after his Dad (except for the whole being able to sleep anywhere thing.) We had a fun time in the river. Jordan even had a good time despite not being able to get his fly rod wet. The fishing report from the random people with poles was that nothing was biting anyway...so hopefully he didn't miss out on TOO much. We played for a while and then when Hudson started to get miserable again we hiked back up to the parking lot with dreams of Hudson nodding off. That didn't happen, but we still drove around a bit and checked out the local architecture and the beautiful old homes. We found some gorgeous places that we can only dream of living in one day when the Coast Guard doesn't tell us where to live. In the meantime we are back in what is now our home sweet home with very necessary central air! Hudson is asleep in his little happy place and we are about to head off to dreamland ourselves.