The many faces of Jude

I have been determined lately to get a picture of Jude smiling. He seems to be the happiest for the first 5 to 10 minutes after nursing. So I decided to keep the camera right next to were I feed him.

The different smiles....


He gives lots of lopsided smiles too!


Thinking about smiling...


Laughing!


Lips pursed tight, no smile happening....


You can actually see his dimple in this one!

She's exercising!

Julia likes to play on our bed. She really likes to jump and walk and run, etc. on the bed. I don't like her doing that because I am afraid she is going to fall and hurt herself or someone else.

This morning I was getting dressed and once again Julia was jumping and playing on the bed. So I asked her "Are you supposed to be jumping on the bed?". Her reply was "I am doing my exercises!"! Bwhahahaha...... It was quite hard to keep a straight face.

I really wonder where she comes up with some of this stuff!

Wet surprise!

Julia came crying into our bed again last night. Nothing new there, she has been doing that a lot lately. So imagine my surprise when she climbed in and snuggled up with me that she was soaking wet! She wet her bed and that was the reason she came in bed with us! (Normally it is because she woke up and got scared. I think she is having night terrors again.)

I stripped off her wet pajamas, but realize that I am going to have to wash our sheets now too!

I guess it deserves me right, I was just saying yesterday how well she was doing at night not wetting the bed. I jinxed myself!! I'm sure the cup of water I gave her at bedtime did not help either!

Phantom crying

This is one thing no one ever tells you about colic.... You still hear the crying even when you are not around the baby!! This was true with Julia, and it is happening again with Jude.

When Jerrod got home from work today, I went outside to mow grass. I had my iPod on and the lawn mower running, but all I kept hearing in my head was "Whaaaa, whhhhhaaaaaa". It really sounded like Jude was crying only a few feet away from me!

So I never truly get away from the crying. Even when I leave him, I still hear him in my head! Ack!!

Julia's new room

Although we finished Julia's new room in June, Debbie just finished the quilt for Julia's bed. So now the bedroom is officially done and I can take pictures!

The room used to be a cat/catch-all/junk room. Here are the only "before" pictures I can find of it. These were taken several years ago when we still had the cat litter boxes in there. The room looked much, MUCH worse when we started on it this spring. (We ended up having to rip up the entire floor and sub-floor!!)




Here is the room now. Quite a transformation if you ask me. I never thought this room would ever look so good.

A view of the new closet and built-in shelves. (Same view as the first picture with all the litter boxes in it.)


Standing beside the closet looking at the other end of the room.


The letters on the wall were the same letters Jerrod had hanging in his bedroom!


A closer look at the toy selves. I LOVE these!! I am so glad I insisted on them. They somewhat neatly contain all of the toy mess. Unfortunately, a lot of Julia's toys are not even on these selves when I took this picture!


The HUGE closet! I just went through all of Julia's clothes. She did have 4x this amount of clothes.


Plenty of storage space on the closet floor for the big toys.


I also had built-in shelves made for the closet. I am all about storage space!



Her shoes. Again, I had just went through her shoes. This was overflowing with shoes....


Outside of the closet.


I want give a HUGE "Thank You" to Jerry for doing most of the building and work (and never getting to upset with what I wanted done); and to Debbie for helping furnish and decorate it. The dresser was Jerrod's growing up, the bed was Jen's and all the other furniture came from them.

Three weekend pictures

Jude normally naps in the swing. I think he has minor reflux issues and if he sleeps with his head slightly up, he seems to have less puking while sleeping.

This afternoon we had a major poo explosion. Not only was he and all his clothing covered, so was the swing. So I had to remove the swing cover and wash it. In the meantime Jude needed a place to nap. (After he had a bath!)

I decided to try the crib. (He sleeps in a co-sleeper next to our bed at night) He fussed and cried for just a little bit. I eventually went in to find this....




That was the first time he has slept in the crib. Unfortunately, it was short lived. Less than an hour later, he was awake again.


Julia takes after me and LOVES ice cream. Saturday afternoon we decided to stop at the Dairy Queen for some ice cream. Julia was quite happy!

Huh....

I just found a flashlight in the fridge..... Just one of the MANY things I find in odd places!!

Oh, I learned this week that I could carry Jude's carrier in one arm (combined weight of about 20+ lbs.) and carry Julia on the other hip (just under 40 lbs) AND still carry a huge bag full of swimming stuff over my shoulder!! I think my chiropractor would just shake his head if he knew........

Like father, like son.....

I think this is going to be a common sight at our house. Jude seems to be just as memorized by the TV as Jerrod always is!


Loving any blanket!


Just because he is cute!

Bedtime stories

Julia loves books. She loves them so much that I have to limit how many I read to her at bedtime or I would be there all night!

She has a few favorite books that I read almost every night. Well, I have read them to her so many times that she now has these books memorized! So now when I go to read her a bedtime story from one of her favorite books, she actually reads (recites it actually) it to me!!

Definitely loves the Blanket

Yep, it is official, Jude is definitely a Blanket baby too!

On the hour drive up to my parent's house yesterday, Jude kept rubbing the Blanket on his face and cooing and laughing and talking. He was also sucking on it (just like his sister does).

When he fell asleep on the way home and I just left him in the carrier (in the house) until he woke up, he kept on pushing the Blanket in his face. I would move it away from his nose and mouth, only to have him push it right back up there. I guess he likes to bury his nose in the satin just like his big sister did (and still does!).

Yesterday was a pretty bad colic day, but today seem to be going much better!

Baby feet

I don't know what it is, but I just LOVE baby feet!

I love to smell them, touch them, see them, feel them, play with them, kiss them, etc..

Jude has such LONG feet. Luckily, he likes it when I play with them.

Here are his feet at 2 days old!

Backsliding

I am quite disappointed.

Jude had several days in a row where he was just a happy baby. Hardly fussed and was pretty content most of the time we was awake. I was beginning to think that he was finally getting over the colic.

But then, these last two days have been pretty bad again. Not near as bad as it was in the beginning and SO MUCH better than Julia's colic ever was. But he still has been pretty fussy.

I have upped his probiotic and he is now taking a full adult dose! (This is recommended and approved by our pedi) I really thought that it was the reason for the happy several days we had. I think I might have to add a third dose in the afternoon and see if that helps.

I don't think so!

Like I have said in a previous post, Julia like to play pretend. Being "Baby Julia" is one of her favorite pretend games.

Yesterday, around supper time, I asked her if she was hungry and what she wanted to eat. Her reply?

"Baby Julia is hungry. Baby Julia is going to eat your icky bugs."

ACK!! I don't think so!! (Icky bugs is what Julia calls nipples and anytime Jude nurses, she says he is eating from my icky bugs.)

An afternoon in the driveway

This morning we went over to Mimi and Bapa's house after my chiro appointment. On the way home, both kids fell asleep. Since both were in desperate need of a nap, I did not want to risk waking them up by bringing them into the house. So I dashed into the house for a book and spent over an hour sitting in the van reading with two sleeping kids.

It finally came time to take Julia to her swimming lessons, but she was still asleep. Luckily, I had already had the bag packed and in the van. I had to wake Julia up when we got to swimming lessons. It took her awhile to fully wake up, but once she got in the water, she finally perked up!

I am sure it looked pretty silly, but hey, it was sort of nice.....

Super small bladder

I think Jude has a bladder the size of a pea. This kids pees more than anyone I have ever known!

I will change his diaper, only to have him pee in it 5 minutes later. Change him again, and less than 10 minutes later he will be wet again!

Because of this, he also pees a lot during changes. At least twice a week (or more), he will pee while I am in the middle of a diaper change.

Hopefully this is something he will outgrow.

Another blankie baby!

Jude is definitely going to be a Blankie baby too!

I have been noticing in the last week or so that Jude has been sucking on the blanket when he can. Julia loves to give Jude her Blankie once in awhile and he seemed to really like it. So this evening I pulled out one of Jude's stain blankets he had. (He has two that look very similar.) I rubbed the satin part on he cheek and he got the biggest smile! So I sort of draped the blanket on him so that the satin part was touching his face. I have never seen him so happy before!!! He was smiling the biggest smiles, talking and laughing! I really wish I had my camera to capture that moment. It was precious and priceless.

I guess both kids take after their daddy. Jerrod was a Blankie baby too!

The only problem is now I am going to have to keep track of TWO blankets at all times!

Chillin' with Daddy

Jerrod was watching the kids while I made supper last night. This is what I found when I went into the living room to tell them it was ready....


Another of Jude just because he was in a GREAT mood yesterday!!


P.S. - Yes, he is wrapped up in Jerrod's shirt. Don't ask me why Jerrod used his shirt instead of a blanket.

Almost smile

Jude has been smiling and laughing for some time now. I just cannot seem to capture it on camera yet.

This is the closest I have gotten so far....




Oh, here is one of him screaming. You can sort of see his forked tongue. (The tip in indented from being tongue-tied.)

Cloth Diapering

With me being unemployed and no job in sight, I am trying to find ways to save money.

Diapers are a HUGE expense at our house. Since Jude has such sensitive skin, I buy the Pamper's Sensitive Swaddlers and the Pamper's Sensitive wipes. I figure that between the two I spend close to $30 a WEEK on just those two items!!

With Jude's belly button all healed up and back from vacation, I finally started cloth diapering Jude over a week ago. I had some cloth diapers from when I cloth diapered Julia for several weeks before we started potty training. I also bought some more pretty cheap from a fellow mom who made them. I also found a pattern, so I could make them myself if I wanted to.

My, my how cloth diapering has changed in the last 20 years since I last changed a cloth diaper. Now they are SOOOO similar to disposables!! No nasty plastic pants and diaper pins. I prefer pocket diapers, which is a diaper that has a pocket so you can stuff the inside of it with an insert. This insert is then removed for washing. It cuts down on the drying time. Once the insert is stuffed into the pocket is is just like a regular disposable diaper. A lot of cloth diapers had snaps as closures, but I prefer velcro. I feel I can get a better fit with velcro.

So far colth diapering has be working GREAT! AND..... cloth diapers are so much cuter on than disposables!

Awwwwwww.....

This just makes my heart melt!!

We read to Julia ALL the time. She LOVES books. I actually have to limit the number of bedtime stories to 3 or 4 books, otherwise we would be there all night.

I think Julia is delighted to have someone else to "read" to.


P.S. - I really do put clothes on my children, honestly! I just cannot get Julia to keep them on in the house. That is why so many pictures of her are of her in her underwear. This will embarrass her to no end someday. Oh, I think Jude just spit up all over his outfit, which is why he is hanging out in his diaper and a blanket.

Being silly

Here are just some random pictures of Julia.

Apparently she thought that the markers made for good make-up! (Luckily they were washable markers!)


Tutu and Hello Kitty rain boots! What a great combo!


Sitting in the Bumbo seat. I got it out for Jude since he has such good head/upper body control. Julia decided to squeeze into it. Getting out was a little difficult for her!LOL

The pumpkins

Every year my parent's have a garden. A few years ago they realized that if they took a pocketknife and lightly carved in a name on the pumpkin when it was still green, it would scar over for a neat affect. They try to carve a name in a pumpkin for each grandkid.

Here is Julia's. She also happened to have the biggest pumpkin this year.



Sitting on one of her cousin's pumpkins.


Helping daddy load it up in the van to take home.


Unfortunately, Jude's pumpkin started to rot. So they put what was let into the freezer to save it so we could at least see it and get some pictures of it. Luckily he is young enough that it did not matter.


Julia LOVES her pumpkin. She talks about it all the time. She has to tell me about it every time we walk past it. (It is by our front steps)

"Like Mommy's hair"

This weekend I wore my hair with my sides pulled up in a clip, something I rarely do anymore. Julia saw me do it. When it came time to do her hair, she told me "like your hair, mommy".

So I had to pull her sides up too. She looked so grown up with her hair like that!

Jude's 2 month check-up

Jude is still a really BIG boy!

Jude had his 2 month check-up today. He weighed 12lbs, 12oz. Although I actually think he is a few ounces heavier. He was kicking and moving when they tried to weigh him and had a hard time getting an accurate weight. Later when I had him swaddled up and sleeping, I placed him on the scale, he was just 1oz shy of 13 pounds. He was still off the charts in height at 24.25". His head also grew to 16".

Everything else looked great. The pedi was saddened to hear that Jude is still struggling with colic, but was relieved that it is not NEAR as bad as Julia's was.

Jude also got 5 vaccinations today; 4 shots and one oral.

The pedi was really great and even let Julia listen to Jude's heart with her stethoscope!

Being a grown-up

I think I need to put a lock on the outside of our bedroom door so Julia cannot get in there to play!

Yesterday Jude was finally napping and Julia was watching Sesame Street. I thought I would take that time to take a quick shower. Apparently it was not quick enough.

I get out of the shower and Julia is no longer on the couch. I hear her in our bedroom/bathroom upstairs. As soon as I open our bedroom door, I am hit with the smell of hairspray. I go into the bathroom and find Julia sitting on the counter. The front of her hair is sticking straight up from being sprayed with hairspray. The counter and everything on it also has a coating of hairspray. I see where she has opened one of Jerrod's brand new contacts and must of played with it because I found it ripped in half. His deodorant was also open and used. Julia also found some medical tape and had unrolled several yards of it and had it sticking to everything! She had gotten out some jewelry and had played with that. She must have tried to clean some of the mess up before I got there because I found a hand towel in the trash can.

She just wants to do what everyone else does.

I washed her hair TWICE and still didn't get all the hairspray out!

Here is her newly styled hair!

Rock On!!!

As most of you all know, Jerrod is a HUGE Beatles fan. Both Julia and Jude were named after Beatle songs.

So when Rockband announced that they are coming out with a Beatles addition, you can bet that we pre-ordered it!

It was released a couple weeks ago. Julia really likes it too. She asks us to play Yellow Submarine over and over and over and over again, while she sings the vocals.

Here she is rocking out on the drums!


She even has a Beatles t-shirt! (She is sitting in Jude's bouncy seat!)

Playing pretend

Julia has such an imagination and loves playing pretend. Her favorite is playing "Julia Doctor" and "Julia Baby". That is what she calls it.

Julia Doctor is when she plays doctor and you are her patient. She is actually really go at this. She does everything a dr. would do. She even knows that when taking a blood pressure, you need to use both the blood pressure cuff and the stethoscope. She keeps saying "Julia Doctor make you feel better.".

Julia Baby, is just that, Julia acting like a baby. She wants you to hold her like a baby, feed her like a baby, burp her like a baby, etc.. I know a lot of this comes from Jude's recent arrival. At first I would not allow her to act like a little baby, but I have realize that she is just pretending and not regressing. So I have no problem with this now. I even gave her a pacifier (the one the hospital gave us, the kind I don't use) for her to play with when she is pretending to be a baby.

The one other common pretend character is "Julia Kitty". The cats like to lounge on the back of the couch and look out the window. So frequently Julia will lay or stand on the back of the couch and say she is "Julia Kitty".

Monkey see, monkey do....

Julia imitates EVERYTHING I do and say.

Someday she is going to be embarrassed by this picture. (See what I am doing right next to her? Feeding Jude the same way!)

Even more vacation pics

We found a playground near us and Julia loved it! We had to go play there a couple of times.


Just being silly!


The house we stayed in also had a swimming pool. Julia really like that since she did not like the ocean.





Vacation is hard work though!