Jude…11 Months

In less than a week (April 5th), Jude will turn one…here’s a little recap of a few things he’s been up to at 11 Months! 

It turns out that this month has been one of major achievement for our sweet Jude.  He’s finally crawling scooting!  Yep, it turns out that his preferred method of travel is scooting on his hiney!  And for those of you that know me really well, you know that I also scooted as a baby and did not crawl.  While most babies start rocking on their hands and knees right before they crawl, Jude started rocking on his hands and bottom right before he began to scoot.  A few weeks ago we noticed him moving just a few feet over a short period of time.  And then, just a few days ago…He. Took. Off.  He seems so happy with his new-found freedom of movement!  Here are a couple of videos of him in action…

First up…playing ball.

In the “10 Months” post I wrote about Jude’s love for any kind of toy ball.  And now that he’s mobile, this is one of his favorite activities around the house…he plays catch…with himself.  He throws the ball, scoots to pick it up and then throws it again.  He literally makes laps around the bar in the kitchen. 

Second…discovering the dog bowls.

This next clip brought back memories of when Ben discovered the dog bowls.  Oh, how enticing these bowls are…to splash in the cool water and attempt to eat the crunchy dog food!  What a treat! 

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We took the boys to the beach last week.  I couldn’t help but do a quick compare of these two photos.  The first is of Jude at 7 months with my dad and the second is of him at 11 months with Jake.  It’s amazing the difference just four months can make!  He seems so much bigger to me now!  He also loved the beach just as much the second time around as the first!  (Another post on our trip to the beach coming soon!)

I just love how happy Jude is in this video.  Plain and simple, the kid loves water!  He tries to swim in the bathtub all the time now.  Yes, swim.  He’ll just throw himself forward or backward in the water with no warning…then he squeals with great delight!  It scares me to death.  And this day at the beach was no different.  I’m pretty sure he would have tried to ride a few waves if we would have let him!

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Some of my other favorite things Jude’s been up to this month…

Vroom Vroom.  He makes all kinds of cute “vroom vroom” noises when playing with his cars and trucks.  I can’t imagine where he learned that from!?!

High Fives.  If we hold up our hand and ask him for a high-five, he’s usually very excited to oblige.

The Point and Wave.  He likes to point and wave to each person and object on every page of the book when we read to him.  If there are ten people/objects on a page he’ll point and wave to each one.  We call it the “presidential” wave because he waves by turning his little hand from side to side versus opening and closing his palm into a fist!

Double the Birthday Wishes!

Happy HAPPY Birthday Oma (Jake’s mom) and Tim (my brother)!  How fun that the two of you share a birthday!  In honor of this special day, we made a special family video for you.  Ben had lots of fun gathering play “party” food like pizza, coke, cake and cookies.  The scene was set, Ben was anxiously awaiting his time in the spotlight on lead vocals, Jude was eager to sing back-up and the camera started rolling…

Okay, so things don’t always go as planned.  Hope Jake and I didn’t hurt your ears too badly with that beautiful rendition of  the Happy Birthday song.  Apparently the boys were having way too much fun munching on play party food to chime in!  At least you both got to hear Ben’s sweet little version of Happy Birthday to You on the phone today!

Hope you’re both having a wonderful birthday!  We love and miss you lots!

Happy 10th Birthday, Hunter!

My nephew, Hunter, turned ten today!  We had the pleasure of spending Christmas with him…he’s one cool kid!  He’s super smart and one of the kindest, most helpful ten-year olds I know.  He was more concerned about making sure everyone else had plenty of presents to open at Christmas than himself…yep…and he’s only ten.  Pretty cool!  Happy Birthday to you, Hunter!  We love you!

Jude…10 Months

The thing that I’ll remember most about Jude’s 10th month…it’s the sweet two-syllable word that every mother longs to hear spoken from her sweet baby’s mouth…Jude said, “Mama”!  Pure sweetness to my ears!

Jude wasn’t in much of a photo taking mood when I took these pictures of him at 10 months and he certainly was in no mood for pants.  However, he was happy to just lay on the changing table (above) and he let me sit him in the chair for one picture…yep, this is the one!  The long sleeve button-up shirt with no pants look he’s sporting in the pics later reminded me of Tom Cruise’s attire during his dance scene in Risky Business…minus the dancing, of course!  🙂

Jude…9 Months

With Jude’s first birthday right around the corner (two weeks from yesterday to be exact), I thought I’d spend some time catching up on his monthly posts!  Back on January 5th he turned nine months old!  I think this is one of my all-time favorite photos of him…he really is that happy and smiley!  And just look at those pudgy little hands and fingers!!  Okay, I’ll stop gushing for now and move on.  At his nine month appointment he weighed in at 20 pounds and 11 ounces and was 28 1/2 inches long with a head circumference of 17 3/4 cm.

One of his favorite outside activities is racing around in the red car!  This is one of my favorite memories of Ben in this same car!  The car is a favorite among all of the kids when they come over and play…it doesn’t matter how young or old they are!  A typical afternoon in the cul-de-sac…pushing Jude in the car while chasing after Ben in his Jeep.  Jude squeals with excitement the entire time…it’s super cute (and quite the work-out for me!!)!

Another favorite at this month…playing in the grass!!  When I took these pictures in January some of the grass was still brown from the tiny bit of cold weather we received during the winter months.  Jude had a grand time grabbing handfuls of it and throwing it everywhere.  And I mean everywhere.  By the time we were done playing outside, it was all over him…in his hair and on his clothes (and inside his clothes too)!!  Oh, and the kid has never met a ball he didn’t like.  Playing “catch” and rolling the ball back and forth is another favorite pastime!   

Here’s one of my favorite videos from this particular month.  It’s of Jude enjoying one of his favorite times of the day…snack time!  As you’ll see in the video he’s munching on a Mum Mum and demonstrating two skills that he really seemed to master during Month 9…clapping and shaking his head!  Enjoy!

Jude at Months 10 and 11 coming soon!!

This is the Day

“This is the day the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.” ~Psalm 118:24

As many of you know, this was one of my mom’s favorite verses…one of her favorites even during her nine month battle with cancer.  I thought it was fitting for today.  This is the day that she would have turned 63!

 

While going through some photos around the time of Ben’s third birthday, I ran across this one.  I’d forgotten about it and was so excited to find it.  It brought back a fun memory of my mom…we sent it to her for her 60th birthday!!  Ben was only three weeks old at the time.  I thought it would be fun to share it with everyone today!

Another favorite…Mom with Ben when he was about a week old. 

Happy Birthday, Mom!  I can’t wait to hug you again one day and see your beautiful and smiling face!  I love you and miss you so much!

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Bill just sent this to me.  It’s a picture of the Saucer Magnolia that he had planted in his front yard as a memorial to Mom the April after she passed.  Look at the blooms!!  They are gorgeous just like her!!  And as Bill mentioned…perfect timing for her birthday!

Loads of Cuteness on St. Patrick’s Day!

I just so happened to save Ben’s little t-shirt from the St. Patty’s Day right after he turned one.  As luck would have it (it is St. Patrick’s Day after all), it was the perfect fit (size 12-18 months) for Jude to wear today!  I couldn’t resist putting Jude in the back of the same dump truck and snapping a few pictures.  Love love LOVE the comparison shots…so cute that they are both waving! 

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Staff Appreciation.  This year Ben’s preschool implemented a new monthly Staff Appreciation.  Ben’s class was responsible for hosting one day during the month of March…we picked today!  All of the parents signed up to bring lots of yummy “green” treats!  We had such a great time putting this together…everything turned out super cute!  It was a fun way to honor all of the wonderful people who make a difference in the lives of our children each day!  

The Spread.  We served muffins adorned with green shamrocks, cupcakes with green frosting, fruit salad, mini quiches from Panera Bread, munchkins from Dunkin’ Donuts, sweet tea and green punch.  If you’re looking for a green punch recipe check out this one.  I made it for the first time today and it turned out great!  A couple of recommendations…don’t add any of the sugar it calls for (it’s already sweet enough) and add some lime sherbet.  You won’t be disappointed!  A few other favs from the day…the round paper decor hanging from the ceiling, the green flower bouquet and a “pot of gold” for each staff member (little black pots filled with Hershey’s kisses)!!

Leftovers.  While the mommies cleaned up at the end of the day, the kiddos did a little “clean-up” of their own.  They sipped on punch and ate cupcakes, and they enjoyed every. second. of. it!  (I snapped this pic on my phone.  I know, the quality is terrible, but the pic is too cute not to post.  From left to right:  Anabella, Will, Miles, Madison and Ben.)  They are all classmates!  They are also the usual suspects that make it out on all the class play dates so it’s been fun to get to know them and their mommies outside of the classroom.  We love our friends!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Catching Up With Matt and Yvonne

At the beginning of the year, we had a special visit from Jake’s brother, Matt and his wife, Yvonne.  They had tickets to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans for the Arkansas vs. Ohio State football game and decided to take a little detour to Florida on the way!  I love this picture of the all the boys!  This was the first morning after they arrived.  Ben and Jude were sooo excited to see their aunt and uncle! 

 

In the afternoon on New Year’s Eve, Matt and Yvonne headed down to the parks for the spectacular fireworks show.  I heard a clip on the news that day that said New Year’s Eve is one of the busiest days of the year at the parks!  That being said (and the fact that we’d just gotten back into town and had no babysitter lined up for the boys) we opted to stay in for the evening.  Although it was crazy crowded, Matt and Yvonne seemed to really enjoy the show!  I think it will be a lot of fun to take the boys there when they get older!!

On New Year’s Day we stopped by the mall to ride the train (of course!) before eating lunch and checking out some of the after-Christmas sales!  

The following evening our babysitter came to watch the boys while we enjoyed a night out to dinner and a movie.  First, we headed to the theater to watch the latest film in The Chronicles of Narnia series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  We all really liked it!  Next, we ate a late, but very tasty dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Seasons 52.

 

Yvonne bought Ben some really fun projects to work on while they were here.  All of them involved painting and Ben was all over it!  He loves to paint!  So on the morning before they left, Yvonne and Ben painted an airplane, a dragon and a picture frame!  Ben thought they all turned out super cool!  Thanks, Yvonne!!

Matt and Yvonne, Thanks so much for coming to visit!  We hope to see you all out on the West Coast this Fall!

Where Dreams Come True

The morning after Ben’s birthday party, we headed down to Magic Kingdom for a few hours!  Ben, Laci and Jude had a blast grooving to the music at the Move It!  Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party and they got to meet a few Disney Characters too!  We took a relaxing little boat ride through “it’s a small world” and spent the rest of the day riding anything that had a short (or at least a fast-moving) line! 

I’m pretty sure Tim’s dreams came true when he was the lucky one to ride in a giant tea cup at the Mad Tea Party attraction with Ben and Laci.  The tea cups make me want to puke on a good day and I was already feeling a little bit yucky.  (Long story short…I ended up coming down with a bad sinus infection the day after Ben’s party and completely losing my voice.  One antibiotic and four days later my voice returned.  I chuckled to myself when the doctor told me to rest my voice.  Try not talking with two kiddos ages three and 11 months…it’s impossible!) 

Anywho…thanks for riding the tea cups, Timmy…Ben is still talking about them!  For that matter he’s still talking about you, Candice and Laci too!  No joke.  Just this morning at breakfast he asked me if I could see the three of you.  When I told him I couldn’t he pointed to the ground and said, “See, they’re right there…just really tiny.”  So apparently he believes that you are tiny, invisible people still living at our house!  🙂  All that to say, we miss you guys!  Thanks for coming to visit!  We had a great time!

Happy #1, Ashlin!

It seems like you were born just yesterday…Happy #1, Ashlin!  We love you lots!!