Hey Jude

Hey Jude,

The weekends with you are filled with the best moments of my life. I love being able to spend all my time focused on you and dad. After our full week of teaching and babysitters and coming and going, there is nothing more peaceful that spending my down time with you.

Lately, the times I have been treasuring most are rocking you to sleep. I love the way your little head always finds its way into the nook of my arm and how you cuddle right up. I love listening to you sigh with exhaustion as you realize you are in a safe and comfortable place. I love watching your eyes flutter as you try to fight sleep. I love the way your little hand forms a fist which he you rest lightly on my chest. Sometimes when you get disturbed by a noise you fan out your little fingers, but it always closes back up. I always sit and count the little dimples in your fingers as I rock you.

If I could freeze time during these moments, I would. My mind always wanders to the future. Looking at this sweet little baby, it's hard to imagine that it's going to go so fast, and you won't be my baby forever. I can't help but think of how fleeting life really is and how these precious moments are really just one breath of my life.

I'm so thankful that God brought you in to my life if for no other reason than you remind me to take things slow. I've always been one to look ahead and anticipate that "next big step" in life. Now that you're here, I don't want life to move forward. I do my very best to appreciate every single moment. I finally understand how much of a gift each moment truly is. I feel quite blessed that you came when I was 25 so that I have (hopefully) many years to appreciate every moment that comes along.

I know it's impossible for you to be my little baby forever, but know that I never once took those moments with you for granted. I loved each one of them fully and completely.

I love you buddy.

Mom

"....But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart..." Luke 2:19

Jude's New Year

Yes, this is late, but it should be noted that Jude rang in the New Year in true style. He slept. Michael and I also went to bed before midnight. How festive. The point of this blog is just to have a place to post the cute pictures of him we took that time.

Blowing bubbles....

Confused, but with a precious little pout....

Faces Jude makes while talking....

Smiles during play time...

A furrowed brow... He probably was in the middle of talking. He makes this face a lot while he's talking. I'd love to know what he's thinking when he says stuff. He seems so concerned about it all.

Watching mom and thinking "she's a wackjob".

I love the little dimples on his hands. I could freeze time and look at them forever....

Tuckered out little guy..

I also could watch him sleep for the next 100 years....

Happy New Year

Three Months

Jude Dylan is 3 months old as of yesterday. Can Not Believe It. I absolutely adore the last 3 months. He's gotten soooo much fun. He started getting to be easier and less demanding around 6 weeks, but by now he is just completely entertaining. He's one of the happiest kids I've ever seen, much less for being so young. He just loves to play and interact with people. He really is just the funnest baby ever. (Yes, I know I sound braggy- but he's just so stinking happy!)

At 3 months Jude :

* eats 7 times a day

* follows a 3 hour routine of eat/play/nap

* loves his bouncer and play mat

* loves kicking, kicking, kicking at things

* is able to reach for and successfully grab things he's interested in

* Typically is sleeping for 6+ hours at night (except for this week because his schedule has been shot to crap)

* smiles and laughs all the time. Everything makes him happy.

Click the link to watch a video of Jude playing.

Jude Plays- 3 months

These pics are actually from the 18th when I was off an able to hang out with him.

Back to Square 1

The past few nights have been rather confusing in our household. Jude seems to be back to square 1 with the whole sleeping through the night thing. At the time I started back to work, Jude began sleeping from 8 until sometime between 3-5. (He was 8 weeks old.) Since then, he has kept it up, even sleeping as late as until 6.

That is until the past couple days. He has starting waking up at 12, 3, 5, 7, and 8. Thank goodness this has been on a long weekend and I can sleep in! Typically once it gets to 7 and he's waking up, I just take him to bed with me and feed him laying down.

The thing is, he's not actually hungry all these times. He's not getting up wanting to play. He just is waking himself up. It's like he's forgotten how to put himself back to sleep, which he has previously been a champ at.

I have no idea what has caused this, but here are my theories. Theory 1: He has now been with a sitter for 2 weeks and she might rock him until he is dead asleep. Theory 2: I hate working and miss him so much, that I tend to hold him longer than I used to in order to soak up all available minutes with him. Theory 3: Lately, when I feed him at 8 he falls dead asleep literally as soon as he's eaten 20 minutes, so he isn't putting himself to sleep in his crib on his own. Theory 4: We moved him to sleep in his room the past few nights. Theory 5: Michael's parents have been in town and the past few nights he was up later than usual.

It's probably a combination of all of those theories to be honest. I've also heard that at 3 months babies start waking up again because they are needing more calories and they can't have solids yet. Supposedly, the rice cereal at night helps this. Maybe that's what it is as well.

Regardless, we are trying to get back in the habit of putting ourself to sleep here. Today during his first morning nap I didn't rock him at all. I stood over him at his crib until he was pretty much asleep. That way it was like a transition. He wasn't completely alone, but not totally dependent either. He went to sleep after about 15 minutes and slept for an hour or so.

The crazy thing about so much of this is that not only am I training Jude to do things independently, I'm training myself to let him be independent. I love being the mom, and it's hard to "let go". I can only imagine how I will be 18 years from now when he goes to college. Pathetic, but I love that kid! Anyway, we are relearning some skills around here...

Ha! This was Jude's first nap in the new house!

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.

Sweet Serenade

So I know with moving things have been quiet on the blog front. Hopefully I can start picking it up here soon. For now though, he is a sweet video with Michael playing acoustic guitar for Jude. Jude loves loves loves music in general, but when we stumble on to songs he really likes it's always fun!

Some favorites:

* Break on Through by the Doors

* Ain't too Proud to Beg by the Temptations

* The Lonely Goatherd from the Sound of Music

* When I'm 64 by the Beatles

* Blackbird by the Beatles

* Dear Prudence by the Beatles

* Hey Jude by the Beatles

Enjoy the video

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....