Cute Story for Your Tuesday Morning

This morning (actually all night) was full of rain, thunder, lightning... Perfection I tell you.  Could I have asked for a more relaxing spring break day.  Um no.

Anyway, it got pretty loud earlier this morning.  Jude was afraid of the thunder and asked me what it was.  I explained that it was the sound the lightning made.  He immediately got excited and said, "It's my McQueen!?!"  (As in Lightning McQueen the racecar from Cars)

I laughed and went along with it.  Now, Jude's not afraid of lightning and thunder so much.  But he does run to the window each time trying find 'his mcqueen".  It's adorable.  And I guess thunder and a race car kinda sound similar....

Tales from the 2

This hasn't stopped making me laugh to myself-

I have a student who talks incessantly.  I actually have several, but this one is more extreme you could say.  When I actually have it together and remember, I let her talk to me a couple minutes about whatever  after dismissal.  The other day she talked about her new toenail polish.  She was out with strep Monday and Tuesday, so this was her first day back at school.

Student: Yea my babysitter painted my nails.  Do you like them?

Me:  Love them!  They look fantastic.  I love purple.

Student:  Yea, I love purple too.  It's my favorite color.

Me:  I thought pink was your favorite color?

Student:  Well, I've changed a lot since I got sick.

Me:  (Bahahahahhahahaha in my head) So you're like a new person now?  Is the new 'student' going to talk less when I'm teaching?

It.  Was.  Funny.  I love overly smart kids because they sometimes say things that sound so 'adultish' like changing who they are but are still so 'kiddish' because the change occurred over nail polish and a favorite color.

Book de Jude

Last night, I caught Jude crawling in to the empty bookshelf.  (incidently, the bookshelf is empty because Jude insists on destroying everything in it.)  Anyway, lately he just crawls in to places and will lay down for about 30 seconds.  It's so cute!  You can't exactly tell, but he is completely laying down in this picture, resting his little head on his hands.  So adorable!

Wolftastic

I rocked this shirt Friday for spirit day.  Instead of Lee school spirit though, I showed my wolf spirit.  I told the kids this was me in my wolf form.  Apparently, I'm an arctic wolf...

The funniest part about wearing this shirt though was when Jude saw it.  Over Christmas, Jude transferred his knowledge of saying the word sit to telling my sister's dog to 'sit'.  Incidently, Kyah is part huskie aka slightly wolf like.  Friday morning, as I was putting Jude in to his car seat, he saw the 'dog' on my shirt and immediately pointed his finger at it and said 'sit'.

So funny!  That has to be the first 'funny' kid saying Jude has had.  I'm looking forward to more of these!

Ring Around the Armie

Jude loves to play with his set of rings. They're colorful, they rattle. What more could a 4 month old want right?


There is one slight problem with this seemingly perfect set of rings. They fit right around Jude's arms perfectly. In fact, they seem to end up at Jude's armpits 90% of the time.



Everything starts out perfectly. He gets his little hand and fingers to wrap around the ring. He manages to get it all coordinated in to his mouth. Then...

Down, down, down it goes. And Jude just isn't coordinated to retrieve a ring from around his arm.

Luckily, Jude is pretty happy go lucky and moves on to other toys.

Cereal Boogers

Its amazing how messy eating cereal first is. I now have this event timed to end exactly right before bathtime. It only made sense....

Toe Talents

Jude has discovered his toes. He's like a little monkey now, using all 4 sets of phalanges to the greatest extent possible.

His bouncer has become much more fun when he can prop his feet on either side.

Feet are meant to be flying around in the air.

And toes are meant to be grabbed.

The best toys are free.

and this is why I'm never on time

So I'm nearly or definitely late to work every day. I always start out on time, or at least with good intentions. I'll be honest actually not hitting the snooze button is hard when Jude wakes up at 3:30 every day wanting to be fed. By the time he eats and has a diaper change, its about 4:15 when I crawl back in to bed. My alarm goes off at 5 which means after his feeding I take a 45 minute nap before I start my day. Can you say exhaustion? True, he sleeps a 7-8 stretch each night which is good for a 4 month old. Still, its tiring.

Me being tired is not the real reason I'm always running behind though. Something always seems to happen. This morning the shirt I was going to wear got spit up all over and smelled awful so I had to change. Sometimes its a diaper explosion. Yesterday was the most unexpected yet. I was holding Jude, putting my breastpumping supplies in my carrier bag when he spit up. STRAIGHT IN TO MY BREAST PUMP CUP. (If you've never seen one, it looks like a funnel.) Anyway, full of spit up. So instead of leaving promptly, I had to rewash and resterilize my breast pump.

And this is why I'm never on time...

Worst picture ever, but it captures the essence. Myself, my breast pump sheild, and Jude. I look tired and dazed. Jude is oblivious. Pretty typical morning in our house.

You Spin Me Right Round Baby

Right round like a record baby...

Now that Jude can roll, it's been interesting to see all the places he ends up. Endless surprises!

This is how I found him when I woke him at 6:15 before heading to work. He'd made a 45 degree turn, had his blankets wrapped around his waste, and his lovie by his face. Silly...

Then later on he was playing on his mat. His head started at the far left end. Somehow he ended up making a 90 degree turn with his legs on either side of the pole.

Eventually he got his other leg over. He was on his way to the full 180 I think.

Scremo

Jude has a new vocal talent. I know, I know. You're like vowels and consonants already. What more can this kid do with his vocal cords. A lot I tell you. He can scream. Not the typical baby scream because he's upset. This is an 'I love the sounds I can make on my own. Screaming is so cool and hilarious. I want to grow up and sing like Robert Plant and my daddy and be a total rock star.' That kind of screaming. It's hilarious. I think he is either going to bust out with a Tarzan scream or the Immigrant song in the next few days.

Future Scremo Rock Star

Little Chatter Box

Jude is a ridiculous chatterbox. I'm not sure he's really ever not talking. For example, when he wakes up in the morning or at night, he just lays in bed and talks and giggles. Not really ccry mind you. Just talks and laughs as if to say haha mom I'm up already. Come get me please. I'm ready to play. He's been talking a ton since before Christmas, but it just seems like every week he's adding more and more sounds to his 'vocabulary'. Since about the middle of January, I've noticed he's been adding a lot of consonants specifically. At first it was just all vowels. I guess he's got his vowels down now though. He started with a /g/ and /k/ sound. He's since added a lot of /b/ sounds with occasional /d/ and even /th/. Pretty interesting.

When we went to the doctor, she said we could expect consonants to creep in to his vocabulary at around 6 months, so I guess he is ahead of the curve when it comes to talking. Note- I'm not trying to say my son is amazing and advanced. Just that talking is his thing and I think Michael and I are in for a very interesting road to say the least. If we have a child who is ahead of the game with talking at 4 months, I can only imagine the delightful sounds he will fill our house with in months to come.

I'm picturing the little boy from Jerry Maguire who is constantly talking from the backseat...

Talking away

Talking with consonants

Around the World in 80 Days

It's no secret Jude loves tv. I've mentioned he was mesmerized by Harry Potter on one of my snow days. Well Michael discovered a new Jude fave. Around the World in 80 Days- the old movie. Granted, the movie has a lot of brilliant colors and images, so its understandable. Still, I can't help but worry that my child is drawn to tv. There's only one word to describe this selection of pictures: enthralled. If he weren't also so active and vocal, I think I'd be seriously worried !

Video 1

Video 2

Good Taste Baby

Jude has this fisher price little rocker guitar. It plays 3 songs: Message in a Bottle, Love Shack and ABC 123. His favorite is ABC 123. This makes me happy.

Our little boy is going to have good taste in music. I knew he didn't come out with rockstar hair for nothing!

Adventures in Bathtime

This evening my little stinker peed not once, not twice, but three times in the tub! Yes three. No sooner would I get his tub rinsed out when he would pee again. Not to mention the first time he completely drenched his hair. I mean drenched.

Check out that stinker face. He knows he's a stinker.

In the midst of the chaos where I single handedly tried to clean out the baby tub while holding a squirming, wet infant with my other arm, I also managed to completely spray water all over the floor with the shower head. (we have one of those detachable kind)

He thinks peeing over himself is sooo funny.

I didn't realize how bad my aim was in the midst of this circus until I realized that my pants were soaked from kneeling in water....

At least it wasn't pee. Why do these 'adventures' happen when dads are not home?

Mohawks- bc my baby rocks

So you know it was bound to happen sooner or later- with all Jude's hair and his rockin genes, we had to give him a mohawk at some point. I'm sure it's really just the 1st of many. Honestly, its better than the combover which we've also done with his hair. He just has so much! What do you do to make your baby boys hair look awesome?

Haha, I think he knows he's cool!

Rockers rockin' out. Awesome man.

Kid Quotes

Today my kids have been full of funnies, and I'm sure I've forgotten some of them already....

One of my adorable little boys dressed western today... oh texas....

He told me his mom told him he would get lots of chicks in his "pearl harbor" shirt :)



Then, while writing our own versions of Cinderella, one little girl asked me how to spell "upottom".


Oh second grade.... you make my heart sing....

Because this is so true... and I only have a 2 month old.

...and I teach 2nd grade so I like the children's book reference....

If you give a mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook ("101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger").
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year old's diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.
She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are...
If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

~ anonymous

Discoveries!!!

Jude has discovered something new! Today during his bath he discovered that having water poured over his little toes feels pretty dang good! Everytime I would pour the water, he would raise his feet to make sure the stream went over them. I was really excited for him that he realized HE could make something happen on his own.

I eventually moved the faucet so that it was close to his feet. He moved his toes back and forth in it. He was so relaxed. I think bathtime is about to get even more fun. Next step- toys and splashes!

Here is a little vid of Jude playing in the tub: Feet in the Tub

Jingle Bell Rock

Today while I was feeding Jude, I had Christmas music playing. Jingle Bell Rock came on, and Jude just stopped eating. His eyes got huge, and he became super alert. Then he just started smiling and smiling. I started singing along with the song and he started cooing! He didn't start eating again until the song was over. I think we've found Jude's favorite Christmas song!

Break on through....

Michael was Mr. Mom for a couple days this past week while I was working. I was extremely curious as to how this would go since Michael has never been alone with Jude. Even when I let him hang out with Jude while I do things like shower or whatever, the second Jude even whimpers Michael comes to me and asks, "uh AB what do I do?" Needless to say, I was wondering how this would all go.

Well Michael in all his creativity, discovered one of Jude's new favorite things. Michael loves the Doors, among other various classic rock artists. In attempt to entertain Jude, he pulled from his arsenal of classic rock lyrics. He would sing a song and hope Jude liked it. After a few attempts, he tried "Break on Through to the Other Side". Jude loves this! Something about the chorus just makes him smile and smile. I was skeptical at first, but the pictures are proof. You can see how much fun they are having "bonding" over rock and roll....

Some of my favorite childhood memories include listening to old records with my dad. I'm excited Jude will have similar types of memories.