Our Second Cinco de Mayo Together

Jude's 1st Birthday was fairly uneventful.

The night before his birthday, I set up his toy room so that he could wake up and go downstairs to play. He seemed confused about why all of his toys were moved, but seem interested in the new space.




After breakfast we had his 12 month check up. He unfortunately had to have 2 shots... which I felt terrible about! The check up went normally. Jude is right on track and doing well. He was 19lbs 15 ounces and 29.5" long. The doctor mentioned that he has noticed that Jude may have a slight heart murmur, but that there's nothing to be concerned about. He advised me that it's not uncommon in young children (and I compared it to my dog Zoey... she had one too that she was supposed to outgrow). He said it's so slight that he has no restrictions for Jude, he just thought he'd let me know in case for some reason someone else noticed it and mentioned it. He didn't want us to think he wasn't paying attention.

I got the go ahead to stop nursing and to switch to whole milk. We're still not totally ready... but at least the options there.

After our check up we had a nice relaxing lunch with Uncle Bryan and Aunt Katy and then headed home. I considered going to a park or something, but there was much to do around the house. Instead, Jude and I planted some stuff in the garden and once Ryan got home we did some painting and finishing touches on Jude's toy room (photos to follow).

The day quickly got away from us and so we decided to go out for dinner. Being Cinco De Mayo, we tried to be a little festive. We went to Applebees. Ok... that's not the festive part... Ryan got a Corona, I got a Margarita (or two...).

After hurrying home to meet up with Uncle Byran and Aunt Katy and Ryan Creed, we gave Jude his first of three birthday cakes. It was a classic funfetti cake with vanilla frosting, and Jude loved it.











The day really went by so quickly. It's still hard to believe that he's a year old!

**I can 'technically' cross off 'make jude a birthday cake' from my list with this cake... but I'd say I officially crossed it off with his birthday party cake. Either way, it's done!

Happy 11 Months Jude

11 months? Really? My goodness I have some work ahead of me. A house to clean, some construction to wrap up and a yard to finish ripping apart. All before everyone comes over to see my precious little Jude Man for his birthday.


This month has been no less amazing then the last 10. As I always say: HE'S GROWING! He prefers to be on his feet or knees more than on his stomach. If he's stuck in the middle of a room, the grass, or whatever and isn't able to pull himself up on something, he does his own version of London Bridge (downward facing dog for you yoga enthusiasts) and tries his hardest to stand.

With the weather warming up, the two of us have been spending a tremendous amount of time outside. We take walks, work in the yard or just roll around in the grass. Jude loves all of this. specifically he loves yard work time. Why? Because I pull out his trucks, his see-saw and a blanket and set him free. The blanket? It's pointless. He off of it in seconds. Rubbing his fingers through the grass, eating dirt, torturing small insects or crawling through a pile of leaves. I love that he's exploring the world around him.



I've taken Jude to the swings a few times. It's safe to say he loves them. He giggles and babbles and outright laughs as I push him higher and higher.

He loves other kids - or just people around him. Eating at restaurants he will try to catch the attention of people around him or watch intently what everyone is doing.


Did I mention that he's the master of the universe? Yup, he is. Well at least when it comes to the sippy cup. He loves drinking out of the sippy cup and just recently acquired the skills to be really successful at it.

Then there's his teeth. It's like they were all just waiting for the perfect moment to come in together. Within a month he got all of his top 4 teeth. They're still falling into place, but they're through the gums and showing off their pearly whiteness.
He has this habit of taking things out of baskets, drawers, cabinets, whatever. He'll take them out, put them back in, take them back out, put them in... you get the picture. It's adorable.
Then he'll mock me. Yup. The other day I was dusting and he crawled into his room. He began taking all of the wash cloths out of the drawer and then started to dust the dresser. I melted.

So, it's pretty safe to say he's amazing.

My Double Digit Man

A Cute Story:
When Ryan turned 10, his mom referred to him as her "double digit man". Ryan told me that she kept saying it and he didn't understand. He then started crying and saying "but I don't want to be a double digit man..". The End.

Well... Jude is my double digit man today. He's 10 months old!


As I say over and over again, he's growing and maturing so quickly. With the realization that we're not going to Disney sinking in, I'm now faced with what to do for Jude's first birthday. This is a huge realization for me. Not so much the Disney part... but the party part. I have all these ideas, some big and some small. I've considered a close party for just the three of us, a huge she-bang for extended family and friends and everything in between. But really, why and I'm talking about this?? I should be talking about how amazing he is at 10 months old. Because really, he is.

You always hear people warning you about different stages of childhood. You don't want to hurry this or speed up that... well, I think it's safe to say that the picking himself up and getting more and more (and more... and more...) mobile is one of those things. He is into everything. The pantry, the basket of TV wires, the surround sound box, the dog bowls, laundry room, trash cans, etc. He crawls under things and then can't crawl out. He wants to see, touch and experience everything. Everything goes in his mouth - it's like he can't fully experience it without tasting it first.




I wouldn't trade any of it though. It's so much fun. He's so curious. He plays on his knees, goes from sitting to crawling to standing and back again as if he's known how to do it forever.

Jude and I have been taking weekly trips to the library, talking about colors, reading and just really setting a good education foundation. (or so I think...)

He's eating more, getting more interested in food and is getting solid. Dinner is now his "eh" meal. he eats a solid breakfast and scarfs down lunch. He loves peas and carrots. I could probably feed him nothing but steamed peas and carrots and he would be entirely happy.

He loves Buddy. They cuddle and it melts my heart.

He laughs. Everything we do is hilarious. Ryan and I are comedians and the world around us is our stage. Jude watches and laughs at just about everything.

He's got to be (hands down) one of the happiest babies. Sometimes when he cries, I (still) have no idea what to do... I hold him and comfort him and get worried because, if he's crying, there's usually something wrong.

We've had to move his crib down so that he can't crawl out... although he sleeps with us a lot too. I love waking up with the three (four including Buddy) of us in bed cuddling. At this point in my life, I can't imagine having another child. My love for Jude is so whole that right now, there's just no space. I look forward to each day of giving Jude 100% of me to help him mature.


Our days together are getting more and more rewarding. All of these months of 'boring' infant are starting to pay off as he's becoming more and more of a person.

For his '10 month birthday' we got out in the warm(ish) weather on Friday. We ended up meeting another mother I met on a Delaware chat board at a local park. We were planning on going to the Hullabaloo play center, but decided to take advantage of the warmth. The little boy was 2 days younger than Jude and about a whole head taller. Jude was very interested in him and tried to poke and prod at him. The other little boy wanted very little to do with it. They sat on the ground and crawled and explored the outside world. I put Jude in a swing, on one of those little animal things that bounce back and forth on a spring and crawled on some climbing stuff.

Later, his 2nd cousin came over to play and Jude had fun (again) trying to poke and explore him. We took him to New Castle and had a fire pit. All in all, it was a great 10 month birthday.

Nine Months!

Happy Nine Months Jude!

You're growing up so quickly! You are pulling yourself up regularly now. You don't often get beyond your knees, but on occasion you do. Usually though, you'll pull yourself up to a surface and play there on your knees. Today though, you were standing and took what I saw as your first attempt to take a step while using furniture to support you. You didn't get far, but you seemed to make an effort!

You love your toys. You can pick up and throw your blocks over and over again while chasing after them on your belly. We have been practicing your colors. This past week I've been showing you a lot of yellow things. I show you yellow cars, yellow blocks, bananas, yellow clothes and much more. I'm not sure how much you're really getting from it, but I'm sure it's beneficial in some way. I sing you your ABC's and you love it. We dance around the living room to music and you just laugh.

You are still totally a mommy's boy, but you are reaching for others more and more.

Daddy is loving you getting bigger! He likes being able to do things with you and can't wait until you're walking around having Nerf gun fights together and building tree houses in the back yard.

You're eating dairy, you're eating meat and you still love fruits. One of your current favorites are cherries. I'll feed you cherries while you're in just your diaper because anything that is within a five foot radius gets cherry juice all over. Your belly is a big sticky cherry mess when you're done. You love the banana bread I made you and just swallow up yogurt. All of this is combining to make you solid! As the days go on, you're feeling less and less fragile.

You're finally starting to get back into a good sleep routine which makes me oh-so-happy!

I'm looking forward to this spring and all the fun we'll have with you moving around the front yard, taking walks and just enjoying the world around you.
Every month with you is so much fun!

8 Months!

As I say every month... "where has the time gone!?".




He's still growing, maturing and become an individual. He's getting attitude! His cries have become more like a whine. He very rarely cries, but when he does, it's more of a "whaaaa... give me what I want". I find myself saying "sir! please! enough of the attitude!"How much of what I say he understands... I'm not sure. But he seems to understand the context.

One thing I'm pretty sure he 'gets' is the word "no". I think he is beginning to understand that "jude" is not just a word in the English language, but that it's something we say when we want his attention. When I say "no" while he's going after something he'll turn and smile. Like he knows he's up to no good. Occasionally he'll redirect himself... other times I'll have to go after him.

I wish I could say that after 8 months he's still an amazing sleeper... but I can't. Since about a month and a half ago, sleep has been on and off. He's spending more and more nights in our bed and having more and more late night feedings. He doesn't wake up crying, he doesn't stay up for hours on end, but he wakes up. He fidgets, he moves, he whines, he nurses. I think I'll attribute this to teething. he just seems... restless. Uncomfortable... not 100% in the zone.

One thing that he does still have after 8 months is his eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes that just melt me. His blue eyes with his perfectly shaped pouty lips and jowly cheeks (and occasional double chin) are just enough to let him get away with anything.





Then there's his adorably naked bottom. He's got to have the most perfect little shape in the world.

And teeth... he has two of them. While they are adorable and cute just poking their little tooth heads up from under his gums... I miss the gummy smile. I think the top teeth that could be here any day now will be harder for me.

And while we're talking about his mouth. He eats. He eats all on his own. Pretty much the only thing we feed him ourselves is some unsweetened applesauce. Everything else he takes care of himself. He has moods about food. Sometimes he love bananas. Other times he'll make it clear that bananas three days in a row is just too much (no matter how much I want him to eat them before they go bad). He eats a lot of fruit. He seems to like broccoli. A recent favorite is cantaloupe. We're expanding to new fruits too... blueberries, peaches, etc. He eats breads, whole wheat, things like that. Veggies. He likes spinach, broccoli is always a fall back. he loves sweet potatoes, will suck on carrots, peas and pretty much sample anything else we put in front of him. He likes spices. We add a dash of cinnamon to just about anything it goes with and he just swallows it up.













I love that we pretty much bounced right over most purees. At first I was worried he would never consume much of anything on his own, but the past couple of weeks he's really gotten the hang of it. He eats twice a day. Usually when I'm eating lunch and during dinner. If I know we'll be eating while we're out, I'll take a piece of fruit for Jude. If he's hungry, he eats. If not, he doesn't. If I forgot his food, we'll order some steamed broccoli.

I'm loving this age. He's playful, fun, and getting around. This past month he's perfected sitting. He's been sitting up for awhile - but this past month he's become a sitting pro.








He plays. and boy does he play! He loves his new toys. He doesn't quite play with them the way they were intended, but he plays. He picks them up, he crawls on/around them. He bangs them, throws them, chews on them.





He's trying to stand. He doesn't quite get it, but he wants to. Sometimes he'll start an angry grunt whine while he's trying to stand... that's code for "come help". I'll prop him up and he'll be fine. All he wanted was to stand. He realizes there are things above his head that are there for the taking and he wants them.



In conclusion... he's amazing. I am truly loving every thing about him. The good, the bad and the every day. I dread the day I may eventually go back to work and wish I could bottle me up a good bit of 8 month old Jude and open it up when he's 15 and talking back.