Willa at 7 Months

Willa turned 7 months old and within a week started sitting up perfectly and cut her first two teeth! She's content to just sit and play, at least for a while. She still prefers her mama to hold her :)
She wakes up 1-2 times a night. I haven't been super vigilant with her sleep training because we're rarely getting her down at the same time every night. She takes 2-3 naps a day- usually one in the morning about an hour after she wakes up and then another around 12 or 1 with Jude. That nap is normally 2 hours or more. If there's time she'll take a quick nap before dinner so she can last til 730 for bed.
Willa loves baths and absolutely loves swimming in the pool.
She smiles at Jude whenever he smiles at her.
Even after covering her in sunscreen she's managed to get a pretty nice tan.
She loves her pacifier and uses it to sleep.
She loves real food and stares at us whenever we eat.
She's tried most vegetables and fruits now as well as beans, oats and yogurt.
She needs about 3 hours between naps now and pretty much refuses to nap in my arms at church.
She's pretty ticklish but it takes a lot of work to get her to laugh hard.
She's started taking toys out of a basket and has a lot of fun with that process.
She loves to pull hair.
It's so different having a baby that is so attached to me. I thought I would not like it very much since Jude was so easy going and went to anyone and was content for long periods of time. Willa will go to anyone but is always scanning the room for me. I have to say that I actually don't mind her attachment to me. Sometimes it's a little draining but I love that she loves me so much. She also still won't take a bottle so if we get the opportunity for a date we wait til she's in bed to go. Willa has definitely taught us patience and that we have so much love to share with both her and Jude.

Jude at 2 years, 10 months

Jude is officially potty trained! Since September we've been talking about the potty and getting rid of diapers and he showed NO interest. We tried bribing, begging, reasoning, but he would NOT sit on the potty long enough to go. Finally last week he was in the bath and started saying he had to pee so we got him out and he actually peed for the first time in his little frog potty. Since then he's had only a few accidents and even took to pooping pretty dang quick. He got a new bike to celebrate.
He also did swimming lessons with my mom for two weeks during this same time and can swim pretty well. I think by the end of the summer he'll be swimming completely on his own.
Some of Judes favorite things are:
 tools
 watching tv
books
riding his bike
 going for walks (especially to the trash with dad)
stuffed animals
cleaning his table and vacuuming
having mom or dad play with him in his room
kissing willa
hitting willa
pushing the little shopping cart at trader joes


He says a few funny things too. Instead of "vanilla" he says "nil-a-va". And David saw a coyote right near our house the other day and Jude keeps talking about the "hi-cote-EE".
His favorite foods right now are sandwiches- turkey sandwiches or peanut butter and jelly. He still loves meat and fruit, especially salami and grapes.  He has to eat his meals at the table, but every once in a while I let him have a non-messy snack on the couch while watching a show. He likes to say, "can I have a snack on the couch?" He's a really big helper and a pretty good listener, most of the time. He tries to "fix" or put together every thing in our house.
David took him to the movies two months ago for only the second time and he LOVED it. He sat the whole time and was great.
Since transitioning him to a toddler bed he likes to get up and try to come out of his room every couple of nights. It's exhausting. We lock the door from the outside, and he knows that, but he still tries to come out and ends up crying or knocking on the door so loud that we have to go put him back to bed. I don't even know what he wants- usually I think he just can't fall back asleep.
Jude is growing SO fast and is so fun and cute. I can't believe how big he is. He learns new things every single day and it's so fun to watch him discover everything the world has for him. It's hard for me to watch him learn lessons the hard way or get hurt, but I guess it's just a part of life. I am trying really hard to think of what we can teach him so he's happy and healthy. We love our Jujube.