Watch Jude Grow!

What a difference a year makes! [I didn't make a two month picture apparently, and I'm kicking myself for that now!]

And since we haven't taken Jude's 12 month picture yet (we'll do that tomorrow on his actual birthday), here is a recent picture of the birthday boy :)He's growing too fast for me!

Jude is 11 Months Old!

I cannot accept the fact that in one month from today, I'll have a one year old. I feel like that means that this is my last month to have a baby. That's honestly kind of sad. However, Jude is SO cute and SO much fun that I'm not too sad :) I love every stage, and this one is no exception. Here is what Jude has been up to the past month:

-The biggest development with Jude this month is that we dropped his early morning feeding. I had been feeding him right before he went to bed at about 8, and then he would sleep until around 5am and I would feed him to get him back to sleep for a couple more hours. I knew he was capable of going without that feeding, but I was just scared to drop it because I didn't particularily want to start my day at 5am! We decided that it was time to drop that feeding, though, since I will be weaning him pretty soon, and feeding him at 5am won't be an option anymore. I'm happy to report that dropping that feeding has been MUCH easier than I was worried it was going to be! David goes to Jude's room when/if he wakes up, and just gives him his pacifier, and he usually goes right back to sleep. Unfortunately, David has to be the one to go to Jude's room, though, because if I go, he wants to eat and will not go back to sleep until I nurse him -- I know he isn't actually hungry; I think he is just in the habit of eating when he sees me. So, since we've dropped that 5am feeding, Jude nurses 3 or 4 times a day now. I am planning on weaning him over the next month, and that is kind of bittersweet, but I'm really proud that we've made it this far.

-Jude still takes 2 naps a day, and he definitely still needs that morning nap, so I don't think he will be transitioning to 1 nap a day anytime in the near future. He has been sleeping about 11 or 12 hours a night, but he does still wake up for his pacifier once or twice a night. He sleeps all night sometimes, but not very consistently. I feel like we've come so far in the sleep department that I can't really complain. Maybe one day, Jude will consistently sleep through the night!

-He still eats mostly babyfood. He is starting to like table food more and more, so hopefully soon we can ditch the babyfood! He will eat little piece of cheese, bread, butter beans, carrots, and puffs. We have tried lots of other things, too, but those are the things that he's eaten the best so far.

-He crawls everywhere and is into everything. He loves to play and he definitely tries to keep up with his big sister. It's so cute to see the two of them play together! Jude puts everything into his mouth, so Aubrey knows not to leave any little things laying on the floor, and she is usually good about watching out for her little brother :) Jude pulls up constantly, and he has started cruising a little bit. I don't think walking is in the very near future, but I know it won't be too long!

-He has four teeth, and I've been wondering if he is getting more because he has been a little fussy lately, and he's been drooling a lot. No new teeth have popped through yet, though. He looks super cute with his four little teeth!

-He babbles all the time, and the thing he says the most is "da da da." He also says "uh oh" when he drops something, and "by by by." He squeals a lot, too. His voice and noises are the cutest ever!

-He will play peek-a-boo when he's in the right mood. We say, "Where's Jude?" and he puts his little hands over his eyes. Then he pulls his hands down, and we say, "There he is!" and Jude just giggles and laughs. It's SO adorable!

-He is still a Momma's boy, and I love it! When I pick him up from the nursery, he is always so happy to see me, and he just holds onto me and lays his little head on my shoulder. When he's tired, he doesn't want anyone else to hold him. He likes David a lot, too, but Aubrey is his favorite. He gets SO excited when he see her. He kicks and laughs and squeals. It makes me so happy that they love each other so much.

Even though it is a little sad for me that Jude is growing up so fast, it's also so exciting to watch his personality develop and start to really show. He is just a content, happy baby almost all the time, and he's a joy to be around. I am SO in love with my baby boy, and every day with him is a gift. We can't imagine our family without Jude, and we're forever thankful that God gave him to us!
These pictures are getting more difficult to take......

Jude is 10 Months Old!

As of today, Jude is double digits! He is getting closer and closer to a year old, and he's developing and doing new things daily these days! This past month was a big one for Jude in the milestone department. He started doing SO many new things this month!

-The big new development is that he is crawling! This has made life around here a lot more interesting :) He is all over the place now, and he likes to be on the move exploring his world as much as possible.

-As of Friday, he is pulling up. We were at the photographer's studio having his pictures made, and she asked me if Jude was pulling up yet. I told her that he wasn't, and I guess he heard me and wanted to prove me wrong :) Not 5 minutes later the little guy was standing up all on his own! And this morning, he pulled up in his bed when I went in to get him. Guess it's time to lower his mattress again :)

-He is getting four teeth! His two bottom middle teeth have broken through, and now he is getting his two top POINTY TEETH. (I can't remember the "proper name" for them :) The weird thing is that he doesn't have any other teeth on the top yet. Does it make me super shallow that I'm now paranoid that my child is going to look like a vampire? Ha! He WILL be a super cute little vampire, but still. I'm hoping the middle teeth aren't far behind! ;)

-Because he is teething, things have been less than ideal in the sleep department. (At least I'm blaming it on the teeth and PRAYING it improves when the teeth are all through.) Lately Jude has been up a couple of times a night and the ONLY thing that will get him back to sleep is for me to feed him :( He will have several bad nights, and then he will randomly have a couple of night where he sleeps GREAT, so I know he is capable of sleeping through the night. I honestly never dreamed he would still be waking up at night at 10 months old, but that's where we are right now. He is doing great with his naps, though! He takes a 1 1/2 - 2 hour morning nap about 2 hours after he wakes up for the day. And then about 2 - 2 1/2 hours after he wakes up from his morning nap, he takes another one. The afternoon nap is usually about 1 - 1 1/2 hours long. I will kind of be glad when he drops his morning nap and just takes one nap a day so that he and Aubrey will hopefully be on the same nap schedule. Now their naps kind of end up staggering, and I have maybe 30 minutes a day when they are both sleeping. I'm just so thankful Jude is a decent napper now, though!

-Jude still nurses about 4 times a day (or more now that he is eating in the night again sometimes). He is still eating mostly babyfood, but I've tried to give him some table food lately. (Mostly just little pieces of fruit or bread.) He isn't a huge fan. Hopefully, he will get used to the texture soon! He likes puffs. We also introduced a sippy cup with water, and he likes sucking/chewing on that. It's my goal for him to go straight to a sippy cup of cow's milk when he is done nursing, so we'll see if that actually happens.

-He has started waving, and it's super cute! He doesn't do it all the time yet, but he has waved several times lately. Precious!!

-He says "Uh Oh" when he drops his pacifier. It sounds like "Ah Ah" when he says it, and it's THE cutest thing. I have got to get it on video. At first I wasn't completely sure that's what he was saying, but he does it so consistently now that I'm sure it is. I guess that's his official first word? He babbles other sounds (especially da da da), but that is the only sound that he uses in the right context. I LOVE hearing his little voice!

-He is a Momma's Boy, and I love that! When I'm holding him and someone tries to take him, he turns away from them and fusses. Usually if they take him and distract him, he is fine :) He does cry and reach for me sometimes, though, especially if he is tired. He gets SO excited when I pick him up from the nursery, and it makes me so happy to see him excited to see me :)

-Jude also LOVES his big sister! Aubrey can always make him laugh, and it's precious to see them interact. She is so proud of him and loves to introduce him to random people in the grocery store. She says, "My brudder's name is Jude." Too cute!! Jude and Aubrey definitely love each other, and I could not be happier about that!

-He wears a size 9 month or 12 month clothes, and he even has some things that are an 18 month that fit him. I think he weighs 20-21 pounds.

-He is getting more and more hair. People have even started to notice and comment that he is getting hair! So far it seems like his hair is going to be a lot darker than Aubrey's hair. His eyes are still SO blue, and I'm starting to think that they might actually stay blue!

I know I say it every month, but Jude really is SUCH a sweet, happy baby. We love him so much, and we can't get over how cute and adorable he is. We are so excited to watch him develop into a little toddler over the next few months (although, Mommy is a little sad that her baby is getting so big!). Thank you God for such a precious gift!

Jude is 9 Months Old!

My baby boy has now been outside of the womb for as long as he was in! The past 9 months have just FLOWN by, and Jude is changing so quickly! He learns something new everyday, and he is just so so cute and fun!

-Jude is still a great nurser. He nurses about 4 times a day. (We aren't on a strict schedule, so some days he might eat an extra time.) He eats 3 solid meals a day. He has yogurt or cereal and a fruit for breakfast, and fruits and veggies for lunch/dinner. He isn't real picky, but there are some things that he doesn't like. He hates peas. He is also not a fan of mixed vegetables. He's never met a fruit he didn't like, though :) We tried puffs for the first time this past month, and he isn't so sure about them yet. I don't think he has actually swallowed one yet. Haha! He just doesn't know what to think of that texture! We're going to keep trying and maybe even introduce some table food this month. Ahh, scary (for Mommy)!

-He has been doing much better with his sleeping lately. He had been waking up a couple of times a night, and we would give him his pacifier or I would feed him once. Several weeks ago, we decided that he didn't need to eat at night anymore. He was clearly not hungry when I would feed him, and sometimes it didn't even work to get him to go back to sleep. So, David started going to him when he woke up and just giving him his paci, and Jude would fuss/cry for a very short time and then go back to sleep. He still wakes up some nights fussing, but I don't feed him anymore, and he usually goes back to sleep easily. I do end up feeding him at around 5:30 every morning, and then he'll go back to sleep for several hours. I'm hoping that we can drop that early morning feeding soon though. Jude's naps are SO much better now, too! He takes a great morning nap - usually about 2 hours. His afternoon naps are shorter and less consistent, but that's big sister's fault. Lately she has been in her room talking loudly keeping Jude awake during afternoon naptime :-/ There have been many days lately when I have wished that their rooms weren't right across the hall from each other!

-Jude is SO close to crawling. He spends a ton of time playing on the floor and he gets down on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. He can move around on his tummy, too. I think he will definitely be crawling for real this month. I know how much busier life gets when your child is mobile, so I'm really in no hurry! ;-)

-Jude can go from his tummy to a sitting position now. Just the other day, I was telling David that I had looked back on the blog to when Aubrey was 9 months old. I said that she could go from her tummy to sitting when she was this age, and I hoped that Jude wasn't behind. Jude was playing in the floor as I was talking, and literally as those words were coming out of my mouth, he sat right up from his tummy. I told David that Jude heard me talking and wanted to prove that he could keep up with his sister ;-) Haha! He went from his tummy to a sitting position again right after that, and I was so proud of my big boy! (By the way, I try not to compare Aubrey and Jude. I know that they will hit different milestones at different times, and that's ok. However, it's just my nature to worry about whether my children are hitting the milestones that they're "supposed to" when they're "supposed to." Haha! I've actually been a LOT better about not worrying about this with Jude than I was with Aubrey.)

-Jude definitely knows who his mama is, and he prefers me over other people. He is a happy, easy-going boy and is usually fine with pretty much anyone holding him, but sometimes he just wants his mommy :) He gets really excited and kicks and smiles when David comes into the room, too.

-He hates to be left in a room by himself. He is good about playing independently in his exersaucer or on the floor, but someone HAS to be in the room with him or he gets very upset. If I'm running around the house trying to get stuff done, I'll get Aubrey to sit and talk to him, and he is usually pretty happy with that.

-Gone are the days when Aubrey could take a toy away from Jude without him noticing/caring. Now he puts up a fight and gets MAD when you take something away from him. Haha! It's been good for Aubrey to learn that she can't take stuff away from her brother when he is playing with it ;-)

-Jude is a pacifier baby. He does love his pacifier, but I don't think he is as attached to it as Aubrey was to her's. He is not a big fan of taking a bottle. A couple of times this past month, I was gone, and he just refused to take a bottle. But then he will randomly take one with no protest sometimes. He likes to mix things up ;-)

Jude is still just a sweet, happy baby, and we all love having him around :) We could not be more thankful that he is part of our family. Not only do we love Jude dearly, but we also just sincerely enjoy him. He is such a blessing and a delight!

And this is what I got when I asked David to take Jude's 9 month pictures for me :)

Jude is 8 Months Old!

Sweet Jude is 8 months old today. It's amazing how fast the months go by. I feel like I was just writing his 7 month post. Jude gets sweeter and sweeter every month, and our love for him and delight over him continues to grow. We are all completely smitten with him, and I think he is pretty fond of us, too :-) We have had another good month with our little man, and here is what he's been up to:

-He is sleeping better and better. We definitely still have rough night and napless days, but things are really getting better. He is sleeping in his own bed in his room all the time now, which has really helped. He usually takes a good morning nap (about an hour long) and a decent afternoon nap (less than an hour). The afternoon nap is definitely the most up in the air. Sometimes he skips it and just ends up taking a cat nap at some point. At night, I feed him and put him to bed between 8:30 and 9. He almost always goes to sleep very easily and sleeps until somewhere between 1 and 3, at which point one of us goes into his room and gives him his paci. We usually have to go in there a couple of times, but he's been going back to sleep and sleeping until the early morning (5-7) without eating. It's been nice! I'm really looking forward to the day when he stops waking up at all and we can get a FULL night of solid sleep, but this is ok for now :-)

-He loves his solids! He still gets 2 solid meals a day - breakfast and dinner. So far, there isn't anything that he just won't eat. Peas aren't his favorite, but he will tolerate them. (Incidentally, Aubrey didn't like peas either. I also happen to HATE peas.) We recently introduced yogurt, and he really likes that. He still nurses every 4 hours or so during the day. He nurses great, but he is very easily distracted. The world around him is just SO interesting! He is also a super fast eater just like Aubrey was. He eats in about 5-10 minutes. I know I totally take this for granted, but I'm reminded of how nice this is when I hear women talking about nursing for an hour or more. I don't know how I would do that with Aubrey running around, so I'm thankful that he eats quickly!

-He doesn't have any teeth yet. It seems like he might follow in his big sister's foot steps and be a late teether. She was a year old before she got her first tooth! ;-)

-He sits up really well. He likes to spend time sitting on the floor playing with toys. He just seems like such a big boy sitting up all by himself! He's not mobile at this point, and that is TOTALLY fine with me. Life is going to get a bit more hectic when I have two mobile children going in opposite directions, I'm sure! Jude really doesn't spend a lot of time on the floor, so it's not surprising that he hasn't started to crawl or scoot around. It occurred to me the other day that I should probably be putting him on the floor more. I'm just worried about him getting trampled, honestly. Ha!

-He still loves his exersaucer. He will play in there for as long as I'll let him. He also likes his jumperoo. We never really put him in his swing anymore. I need to see if he still likes it or just take it down. I can't believe we're already taking "baby stuff" down! It's too soon for that!

-He wears a size 9 or 12 months in clothes. He's a size 2 shoes and still a size 3 diaper. We'll probably be going up a size soon.

-He can put his pacifier in his mouth all by himself when we hand it to him. He can even switch it around to get it pointing in the right direction. He passes toys or the pacifier back and forth from one hand to the other.

-He babbles a little bit. He says "Da Da Da." He laughs and squeals all the time and is constantly smiling.

-He is really happy and easy going. Everyone who keeps him in the nursery tells me what a sweet baby he is. He is pretty much happy with anyone holding him, but I think he does prefer me. At least David says he does, and I believe him because it makes me feel good :-) Jude gets really excited and kicks his little legs when I walk into the room, and I just love that!

-He is starting to get more hair! He still doesn't have a lot (which is TOTALLY fine with me - I think bald babies are the cutest, and I always have!), but the hair that he has seems to be coming in dark. I think he might have brown hair unlike his blonde big sis. His eyes are SO blue, and I'm really hoping they stay blue. Aubrey's eyes have changed over time, and I love her eye color too, but I hope Jude's stay blue like his daddy's :-) Jude also has the longest eyelashes, and I just think his eyes are beautiful.

I'm really trying to enjoy Jude while he still seems like a baby. I know in the next few months, he will learn to crawl, and then walk, and then talk, and my little baby will be replaced with a toddler before I can even blink. This is bittersweet. I'm so excited to see Jude learn to do new things and interact more and more with Aubrey, but I'm also sad that he can't just be my little baby forever. He is absolutely precious, and I know I'll love him more and more in every stage that he enters. I can't imagine loving him more than I do right now, but I know that I will because a mother's love just keeps growing! :-) Happy 8 months, sweet little man! Thank the Lord for such a precious GIFT!

Jude is 7 Months Old!

My sweet baby man is 7 months old today. It's hitting me that Jude is now officially closer to being a year old than he is to a newborn. So crazy! For me, it's been so different having a second child. With Aubrey, I was never really sad that she was "getting old." I was excited and couldn't wait for the next milestone that she would reach. It's just a little different with Jude. While I am definitely excited for him when he reaches a new milestone, I feel like I'm a little more sentimental about him "growing up." I'm just trying to hold onto and cherish his babyness, because I know how fast it goes away. Like I said, though, I do love watching him grow and make new discoveries everyday, so here are some things that Jude does at 7 months old:

-He eats two solid meals a day now! We have been introducing new foods since he turned 6 months old, and so far, there haven't been any that he doesn't like. He's had sweet potatoes, apples, green beans, pears, and bananas. Carrots are next on the list :-) He also still enjoys his rice cereal mixed with fruit.

-Jude is still a good nurser, but we have had some issues with him being too distracted to eat lately. He is just so curious about what is going on around him that he can't stand the thought that he might be missing something while he eats. Going into a dark, quiet room with minimal distractions just isn't really possible with a loud big sister running around. Haha! I've just had to realize that when Jude gets hungry enough, he will latch on and eat and not worry too much about what's going on around him ;-) I've also noticed that he seems to want to eat less now that he's eating two solid meals. I know, duh, right?! We've always just kind of fed "on demand" rather than on a strict schedule. That's just my personality and what works for us, so I just follow his hunger cues and guess he will eat if he is hungry!

-Speaking of eating, it isn't like he is missing any meals! We found out at his 6 month checkup that he is in the 75th percentile for weight and height. He probably weighs 19 or so pounds. He wears 9 month clothes and a size 3 diaper. He wears a size 2 shoe :-)

-Jude is doing great with sitting up! He can sit by himself for a good while without falling over, which is amazing since every time I try to let him practice sitting up, Aubrey immediately tries to grab him and put him in her lap. Ha! In other words, Jude doesn't get a TON of practice sitting up. Ha!

-He loves playing in his exersaucer and will entertain himself in there for quite a while... as long as I'm in the room with him. He has gotten to the age where he cries when I leave the room. It's kind of sweet :-) It does make it more difficult to get things done around the house, though.

-Jude is still a sweet, content baby. He is good about sitting in his bouncy seat or playing in his exersaucer while I get ready or clean the house, etc. He is wanting to be held more lately, but I think that has more to do with his age than his personality.

-He LOVES his big sister. She really is his favorite source of "entertainment." He just finds Aubrey hilarious, and it is the cutest thing I've ever seen.

-I can't end this without talking about sleep. Oh, sleep. This continues to be our biggest challenge. Jude's naps are spotty at best. He usually takes a couple of 20 minute catnaps, but that's about it. If I hold him or lay down with him, he will sleep for hours, but I just cannot do that everyday, especially with another child, even though I really would like to some days. I have tried everything to get him to nap in his bed. The only thing I know to do is to just keep trying and pray it clicks one day. As far as night sleep, Jude still wakes up about once a night. Sometimes he will go back to sleep with his pacifier, but I usually end up feeding him. This is mostly because I'm sleepy and want to get him back to sleep as quickly as possible and not because he is hungry. Some nights I just accept the fact that this is how things are right now, and other nights I want to cry when he wakes up because I'm just SO ready for him to sleep through the night again. I'm not going to lie and act like I have a great attitude about our sleep issues all the time. Is it frustrating to feel like I never get a break during the day where both kids are asleep? YES! Is it hard to not have an uninterrupted night of sleep for months and then take care of two kids the next day? Definitely! But I have to remind myself to put it in perspective everyday. Yes, I'm sleepy a lot of times, but I have two children who I love dearly, and they are HEALTHY. And I know that getting up in the night and having young babies and toddlers is just a season in my life. Sometimes the days are long, but I KNOW that I'm going to look back on these days and feel like they just flew by. I already feel that way about Aubrey's baby days. These crazy, napless, ordinary days are SUCH a blessing, and I want to be constantly aware of that. Even when I'm on the verge of pulling my hair out ;-)

It's always a little hard to end these posts, because I feel like I'm so repetitive every month. But I just feel like I cannot say enough how much I love my two babies. We are so so thankful that Jude has been part of our family for the past 7 months. It's still so amazing to me the way you can love one child so completely and feel so content with your family with just that one child. And then you add another child, and it's like suddenly, they are as much a part of your family as if they had always been there. I can only imagine that it's the same way no matter how many children you have. Jude is supposed to be a part of our family because the Lord chose to give him to us -- it's as simple and as beautiful as that. God entrusted Jude to us, and we are so very humbled and thankful.

Jude is 6 Months Old!

My sweet little man is half a year old! I cannot even believe that's possible. The past 6 months have just flown by. They have been so filled with joy and love for our precious baby boy (and his big sister, of course)! We are so blessed to be Jude's parents! He's getting so big and full of personality. Here are some things that he is doing at 6 months old:

-We are working on Jude's sitting up skills! He is still pretty unstable, but he can sit by himself for short periods.

-Jude rolls from his tummy to back, but he still hasn't rolled from his back to tummy. I guess we should probably be working on that, too.

-He is SO happy and sweet. He is rarely fussy. He really is just a content baby. He's happy as can be as long as someone is in the room with him. He's very social and loves to watch people and be talked to. Really the only times he cries a lot is when we're trying to get him to sleep! :-/

-On that note, we have had some sleep issues. I've mentioned that Jude wouldn't take good naps in his bed. That trend has continued. Plus, he started waking up at night again, sometimes several times a night. So, we recently decided it was time to let him cry it out. As much as I hate it, I feel like this is really what's best for him right now. He HAS to learn to sleep in his bed. I will do another post with more details on our sleep issues, but he has been sleeping better lately :)

-Jude takes 2, sometimes 3, naps a day. If he takes a third nap, it's more of a "doze" in the car.

-Can you believe that Jude is STILL sleeping in his pack n play in our room?! When he started waking up at night again, I didn't want to move him because I didn't want to go upstairs all night. Now, I'm afraid if he cries in the night, he will wake Aubrey up. I definitely want to move him soon, though. I can't believe we've kept him our room for 6 months! When I write his 7 month update, it's my goal to be able to say he is sleeping in his own room!

-Jude and I are still going strong with nursing. He is a good eater! I can also pump and give him a bottle, and he takes that well. He has been eating rice cereal really consistently the past few weeks, but we haven't given him any baby food yet. I really wanted to exclusively nurse him for 6 months, but I gave him the cereal to get him used to eating from a spoon. I think the time has come to start food, though! :)

-Jude weighs over 19 pounds, and he is 27 inches long. He can still wear some 6 month clothes, but he's mostly in a 9 month. He is still in a size 3 diaper.

-Jude enjoys playing in his exersaucer and bouncy seat. He doesn't love his swing right now, but he'll tolerate it for short periods.

-He puts everything in his mouth these days! He is constantly putting his feet in his mouth, which I think is so cute. He grabs everything he can reach and puts it immediately into his mouth. I have to watch out for my hair and earrings!

Like I've already said, Jude is just SUCH a precious baby. He's very quick with a smile and laugh, and seeing his adorable little smile always makes me so happy! We could not be more thankful for such a wonderful addition to our family, and we cannot imagine our lives or our family without him. The past 6 months have absolutely been a gift, and we thank God for this precious treasure He has given us!

Jude is 5 Months Old!

For some reason, it's really hitting me hard this month. I'm just shocked that he is so old already. I'm not sad, per say, I just can't believe how fast time flies. I really still consider myself to have just had a baby. It hit me the other day that I really didn't. I don't have a newborn anymore. I wasn't just pregnant. It's been 5 months. Wow. I always wondered how I would handle having a toddler and a newborn. I still wonder how. It's funny the way you just take it day by day, and suddenly you realize you did it. I got through the newborn, sleepless nights stage, and I didn't go crazy! I'm in no way saying I've arrived - we still have rough days and I'm definitely still learning how to be mom of two. It has been the most challenging, rewarding thing I've ever done, though. Here are some things my big, no-longer-newborn baby has been doing:

-Jude tried rice cereal for the first time this week! I was planning on waiting until he was 6 months since that's what the AAP recommends for breastfeeding babies, but he seemed ready, so we went ahead. He liked it ok. He did a pretty good job of swallowing it. We're just introducing it slowly for now. We won't really get serious about solids until he is 6 months old.

-He still nurses about every 3 hours during the day. Jude has never had any formula, and I'm kind of proud of that :o) He takes bottles of milk that I've pumped for him occasionally, and he does pretty well.

-Jude rolls onto his back anytime we put him on his tummy, but he hasn't quite gotten from his back to his tummy. He tries so hard! He can get onto his side, but he just can't get all the way over just yet. It's coming soon!

-Jude discovered his feet! He thinks they're pretty interesting, and he grabs them and holds on for dear life when he's getting his diaper changed. Super cute!

-He grabs at everything. It's cute sometimes, but you have to be careful about what you put near him. I used to be able to hold him in my lap while I ate, but now he grabs at my food as I'm putting it in my mouth. Haha. He also grabs toys, my hair, blankets, hands... anything! He reaches up and grabs his pacifier out of his mouth, too. That's frustrating when he is trying to go to sleep but can't because he keeps pulling the paci out :o/

-Speaking of sleeping, Jude is still a pretty good sleeper. He wakes up sometimes at night fussing for his pacifier, but I rarely feed him in the night. Sometimes, if he doesn't go right back to sleep when I give him the paci, I end up feeding him. That's just me being lazy, though. Ha! Because he does wake up for his pacifier a good bit, though, he is still sleeping in our room. Getting up and giving him his pacifier now is not a big deal - I really don't even wake up fully. If I had to go all the way upstairs, it would be way more annoying. I never dreamed we would keep him in our room this long, though. We'll move him to his own room one of these days. Maybe ;)

-Naptime is a bit of a challenge. Jude just does not like his bed during the day. He loves sleeping in his carseat. That's not really ideal, though, so we are going to work hard to make him love his bed night AND day! Jude usually takes 2 good naps a day and several little catnaps if we're out and about.

-He weighs around 17 pounds, and he's about 26 inches long.

-We just moved up a diaper size! He is now in a size 3. He had started having some "blowouts" lately, so hopefully the larger diaper will help with that ;o)

-Jude really loves anyone who will talk to him and give him attention. He smiles and laughs SO easily. Literally all I have to do is look at him and say "Hey!" and he just cracks up. ADORABLE!

-He loves bathtime! He just kicks his little legs and enjoys the warm water.

-Jude isn't a huge fan of his swing anymore :( Hopefully he will learn to love it again. We are going to pull out Aubrey's old [pink!] bouncy seat and see if he likes it.

Jude just gets sweeter and more delightful every month. Of course, he IS a baby, and it's not all smiles and laughs all the time. He does cry sometimes, too. Ha! He really is a sweet, darling little thing, though, and I just love love love him! :o)

Jude is 4 Months Old!

I'm a date late with Jude's 4 month post, but it worked out well, because today is also a special day for Jude. It was one year ago today that we first learned of Jude's existence! :) That's right, this time last year, I took a pregnancy test and was shocked to see that positive sign. I blogged about that crazy week, but I left out the fact that I discovered I was pregnant on that Wednesday. It's fun for me to go back and read stuff like that. That was such a crazy day. I really didn't think there was any WAY I was pregnant, but I had the pregnancy test already, so I figured I would just take it real quick so I could dismiss the possibility of pregnancy from my mind entirely. Why I thought it would be a good time to take a pregnancy test while I was running around like crazy getting our old house ready for an inspection, I have no idea. I was just THAT sure it would be negative. David didn't even know I was going to take a pregnancy test that day - I didn't even know. It was totally a spur of the moment decision. Aubrey was in her highchair eating breakfast (and wanting down) and I was frantically trying to get our house spotless so we could leave before the inspectors got there. I took the test, and then left the room to do some more cleaning. I absently went back into the bathroom and glanced at the test, and I was shocked when I saw that it was positive! I called David sobbing because I had recently gotten the chicken pox vaccine and was told NOT to get pregnant for at least a month after getting it. (That's why I was so shocked - I wasn't supposed to get pregnant because of the vaccine, so we definitely weren't trying!) You can imagine that David was pretty shocked himself when his wife called him sobbing that she had just taken a pregnancy test and it was positive and oh my gosh the chicken pox vaccine probably killed the baby and we are so irresponsible!! Not exactly the ideal way to tell your hubby that you're pregnant ;) David was very calm about it, though, and made me feel a little less panicked. I somehow managed to finish cleaning the house, load Aubrey up, and leave on time. I called my doctor and went in for a blood test that afternoon to confirm the pregnancy. They assured me that the baby would probably be fine and, thank God, he was! :) That story is funny to think back on now. It makes me SO glad that God is the One in charge of growing our family, and not us. I cannot imagine our family without our sweet little Jude! It also makes me incredibly thankful that God protected our little baby, and the chicken pox vaccine turned out to not even be an issue.

So, today, our little man is a sweet, healthy 4 month old baby! I'm just loving this age. Jude is precious and squishy and cuddly and cute! He is growing and developing everyday. Here are some milestones from the past month:

-We found out at Jude's 4 month checkup that he is in the 75th percentile for everything. Big boy!

-Jude wears a size 6 months in clothes and a size 2 diaper.

-His pediatrician said we could start rice cereal, but we decided to hold off for a while.

-Jude rolls over almost every time we put him on his tummy now. It was actually tough to get the pictures of him on his tummy at his photo shoot. You may have noticed that he was leaning to the side in most of them - that's because he was in the process of rolling over! :)

-He has almost rolled from his back to his stomach, but not quite all the way. He has rolled from his back to his side.

-We recently (as in, last night!) quit swaddling Jude at night. I can't believe he slept swaddled for 4 months. He just really loved it, and it really helped calm him down and go to sleep when we would swaddle him. Recently, he started breaking out of his swaddler, though. Since he is starting to try to roll over, too, we figured it was time to graduate to a plain ole sleep sack ;)

-While we're on the subject of sleep, Jude hasn't been sleeping great the past several nights :( He has been waking up multiple times a night. He goes back to sleep when I give him his pacifier, but it's just no fun getting up at night. That's part of the reason why we decided to quit swaddling him. I think he was waking up when he broke out of the swaddler, so I'm hoping if he isn't swaddled to begin with, that might help. He did do a little better last night. He has also been slightly congested, so that might be contributing to the night wakings, too. I'm not feeding him when he wakes up, so hopefully he will go back to being an excellent sleeper very soon!

-I was just about ready to move him upstairs to his room at night when he started waking up again. I think he would be much more comfortable in his crib than the pack n play, but there is no way I'm walking upstairs 5+ times a night! We'll move him when he starts sleeping through the night again.

-Jude is still very social. He LOVES it when people talk to him. He gets really upset if he can't see anyone. Sometimes when he is crying in his swing, I'll ask Aubrey to go talk to him until I can go get him, and that cheers him up a lot of the time. He loves his big sis!

-He has started grabbing at things. He loves to have something to hold. He loves to hold your fingers. That's another thing that calms him down when he is upset sometimes.

-Jude tried out the exersuacer for the first time a few weeks ago, and he like it for short periods of time. He looks so grown up in the exersaucer!

Jude continues to be a sweet, happy baby. He smiles and laughs all the time, and I just love seeing him smile and kick his little legs. We are just falling more and more in love with him everyday!

Here is the big 4 month old:

Jude is 3 months old!

Happy 3 month birthday, Jude! It actually feels like Jude has been here MUCH longer than 3 months. He is already such an important part of our family, that it's shocking to me that we've only had him for 3 months. We just love our little man so much!! Here are some of the things Jude has been up to the past month:

-He is still an excellent sleeper! He sleeps about 8 hours, and then wakes up to eat and sleeps for another 3 hours before he is up for the day.

-He takes two good naps a day and a couple of catnaps if we are in the car or running errands.

-Sometimes if he wakes up fussing during his nap, I slip in and give him his pacifier. I just stick my hand into his bed and try not to let him see me. He has gotten smart though - he knows when he sees hand that means there is a body attached to that hand! Haha. He looks around until he finds me, and then he just smiles so big. It's too cute, and of course I just have to pick him up and cuddle him back to sleep after that! :)

-Jude is very social. He LOVES it when anyone makes eye contact with him and talks to him. Pretty much all you have to do to get a huge smile out of Jude is to look him in the eye. If you talk to him, he just coos back at you so sweetly!

-He laughed out loud this past month! I was putting Jude in his carseat and talking to him, and suddenly he just belly laughed. He actually laughed for the first time on David's birthday (October 5th). It was so sweet I almost cried. He has laughed several more times since then, and most of the time it is when I'm putting him in his carseat. Apparently, there is just something hilarious about that.

-On that note, Jude loves being in his carseat most of the time. Except when his carseat is in the car :/ For some reason, he has decided he no longer likes riding in the car. He has gotten to where he cries almost every time we are in the car now. I have gotten very good at tuning it out and not letting it stress me out. He will scream for a while, and then randomly stop and go to sleep. So weird. He does love his carseat though. A lot of times, if David is taking care of Jude and he is fussy, the only way he can calm Jude down is to put him in his carseat and swing him. He goes to sleep almost every time.

-Jude rolled over for the first time the other day! (October 14th.) We were at church for karate, and my parents and I were just hanging out. I told them I was going to give Jude some tummy time, but to be prepared for screaming, because he hates it. Usually he just lays on his stomach and cries and doesn't even really try to pick his head up. Well, this time he pushed up on his arms, put his head all the way up, and rolled right over! We were all so impressed! He ended up doing it 3 times that night and has done it several more times since then! Such a big boy!

-Jude is really getting chunky ;) He weighs about 14 pounds and wears a size 3-6 month clothes.

-People are starting to say more and more that he looks like Aubrey now.

-He has gotten really good about taking a bottle. He has never had any formula, and he doesn't get a bottle very often, but I'm so glad he will take one when he needs to!

-Jude has discovered his hands, and he loves to suck/chew on them. He has them in his mouth all the time these days!

Jude is just a sweet, easy-going baby and he is such a joy! We love him dearly and are so thankful for the gift of children that we've been given. May we never take that tremendous gift for granted!

Jude is 2 months old!

My sweet little Jude man is 2 months old today! He is just a precious baby and an absolute joy! Here is what he is up to these days:

-He has started sleeping though the night!! For the past week, he has been eating at around 11PM and sleeping until about 7AM. It's been wonderful! I know he will probably go through little spurts where he'll wake up in the night again before he is TRULY sleeping though the night (that's what Aubrey did anyway), but I'm SO enjoying the sleep!

-He loves it when you talk to him. He just smiles and coos. He makes the most precious little "talking" noises. He has also come really close to laughing out loud a few times, but he hasn't quite gotten there yet. It's coming soon though!

-We don't really do tummy time yet (oops!), but he is good at holding his head up. When he is on my shoulder, he almost always has his head up looking around.

-He still enjoys his swing. He has noticed the little mobile that is on his swing, and he loves it when I turn it on and make it twirl. He just stares at it for the longest time.

-He is getting to where he doesn't really like to eat every 2 hours during the day anymore. He usually wants it to be closer to 3 hours between feedings. If I try to force him to eat before he is ready, he gets mad ;)

-He is still going to bed when David and I do, but I think I'll work on putting him down earlier this month and see how that goes.

-He still sleeps in his pack n play in our room. This is working out well, so we'll probably keep him in there for a while.

-He takes several naps during the day on the go and one long nap in his bed.

-He wears size 0-3 month clothes and even some 3-6 month things. He is in a size 1 diaper.

-We had to adjust the straps on his carseat -- he is growing so fast!

-He got his first set of shots yesterday, poor little guy. He did pretty well with them, but he has been fussy and not himself ever since. We've been giving him Tylenol, so hopefully he will feel better soon.

Jude is just such a sweet little thing! He is pretty laid back and puts up with all kinds of "love" from his big sister! (Aubrey really does LOVE him -- she just loves a little rough ;) We love our sweet little brother to pieces and are so glad to have him as part of our family! :)

*David had to take our camera to work today, so I'll have to add pictures of our 2 month old later!*

Jude is one month old!

Today is Jude's one month birthday! I can't believe it's just been a month. It's already hard for me to remember life before he joined our family! Having two young children isn't easy, but he brings so much joy into our family that the hard work is TOTALLY worth it! Here is what Jude has been up to his first month of life outside the womb:

-He is nursing exclusively and eating about every 2-3 hours during the day.

-He is sleeping in his pack n play in our bedroom. We plan on keeping him in there until he is sleeping through the night better. I'm not too keen on the idea of going up and down the stairs 3 times a night!

-He has been sleeping about 4-5 hours at a time at night. He will usually go to sleep when David and I do around 11 and sleep for about 4 or so hours. He will then go back to sleep (usually easily) and go for another 4 hour stretch. After that, he sleeps for about 3 hours, and then he is up for the day. I'm happy with how he is sleeping at this point, and hopefully the stretches of sleep will start to get longer and longer :)

-After he wakes up for the day (around 9 or 10) he has some happy, awake time. This is usually his best time of the day. He is just so content and happy, and Aubrey and I have fun talking to him during this time.

-Jude and Aubrey have been taking naps at the same time! I didn't expect this, but it has been wonderful! I will feed Jude, swaddle him, and put him in his pack n play. Right after I get him down, I put Aubrey down for her nap. I then usually get about 2-3 hours to get stuff done while they sleep. So nice!

-He enjoys his swing most of the time. He used to take his naps in his swing, but I wanted him to get used to napping in his bed, so I try to limit the amount of time that he sleeps in the swing.

-He enjoys being carried in the Moby wrap. When I put him in it, he promptly falls asleep. It's nice to have my hands free to get things done when he is fussy and needing to be held.

-He likes bath time ok as long as we constantly pour warm water on him.

-He doesn't have a schedule yet, which is fine with me at this point. I still feed him on demand and let him sleep when he wants to. I'm finding that he is developing his own little routine though, which is working out nicely. Our days are becoming somewhat predictable, and that helps me so much.

-He has fussy time every night from about 9-11. Some nights are worse than others, but he is at least a little fussy every single night during this time. I have been keeping him up until David and I go to bed to try to get more sleep, but I might try putting him to bed earlier to see if that helps.

-He was super fussy last week, and I was starting to think he might have some reflux issues like Aubrey did. He doesn't cry every time after he eats though, so I'm not sure. He does spit up a lot, but not as much as Aubrey. The past couple of days have been better, so I'm hoping he was just going through a growth spurt. We are just going to watch him and see what happens.

-He still fits into his newborn clothes, but he is definitely filling them out more. We can tell he is getting lots bigger.

-He weighs around 10 pounds!

-He is starting to hold his head up pretty well. He is still super unstable, of course, but when he is on my shoulder, he likes to pick his head up and look around. We need to start having some tummy time this month.

-The most exciting thing that he has started doing is SMILING! He smiled at me for the first time a couple of days ago, and it was just the most beautiful sight! Then yesterday, he smiled at David for the first time. His smile just lights up his little face, and I can't wait to see more of them!

We are just so in love with our little man, and we can't wait to watch him grow and develop his own little personality!