10 months old

We spent a month in Utah doing a 'working vacation' and while there Jude turned 10 months old. He started crawling, saying 'baba' and decided to stop nursing at 10 1/2 months. He's started throwing things, is still putting everything in his mouth and is starting to get pickier with food. He really doesn't drink much formula now that he's stopped nursing, but he eats enough table food to make up for it, I think. This boy loves his fruit- and cookies and carbs. He's so fun and adventurous, but will cuddle and kiss when he's in the mood.

Life Lately According to David's iPhone

Letting out his wiggles at church

 New cheesy smile and bringing Dad candy for Father's day

 Hiding my face at the beach

So tall on Uncle Kyle's shoulders

Knott's date for my birthday

Fun little Fiat

Standing boy

 Me + Coco at Farrels

Celebratory bday lunch and late night family pic

Big Boy

We are in love with the age that Jude is at. I like it because he's mobile enough to keep himself happy, but he's not quite crawling yet so he stays somewhat where we put him. 

He's also started doing this hilarious cheesy grin where he shows all of his teeth and scrunches up his nose. We can't stop cracking up.

Tonight I was nursing Jude before bed and he was so tired that he kept falling asleep. He hasn't done that in a really long time. We kept him up late the last two nights for having fun with our families and I think it caught up with him. I let him fall asleep and just stared at him. He felt like a teeny baby again, and almost looked like he used to, except for the hair that's started to get so long that it hangs over the tops of his ears. I held him just a little bit longer than I normally do tonight.

Summer Plans!

Woo hoo! Finals are over and now our schedules can get a little more normal. Summer heat isn't our favorite thing but summer activities we like! It's our first summer with Jude and we want to fill it with exciting plans like...

1 Beach days
2 Evening park picnics
3 Lots of watermelon
4 Visit park splash pads
5 Teach Jude how to kick in the pool
6 Fill our patio with flowers and a water play table for Jude
7 Make homemade popsicles with fresh fruit
8 Make homemade ice cream
9 S'more nights with the fire pit in my parent's backyard
10 Mountain weekend visits and hikes
11 Lots of corn on the cob
12 Morning or evening walks in the cooler air around the neighborhood

That's all I can think of for now, but it already seems like a lot. Summer is hot here, so I'm sure we'll be in the pool a ton. I love each new season and the fun plans it brings!

Jude's Room: Nursery Tour

One of the exciting things a new mom gets to do is design her baby's nursery. Since we were in a one bedroom when we had Jude, we knew he'd just have his little corner until we moved into a bigger place. We moved a few months ago and are LOVING having two bedrooms to spread out in. Jude is doing so well sleeping in his own room and we are enjoying not waking up at ever little sound he makes!

There is no "theme" for his room. It's just a combination of things we love for the time being. It's not quite done, and we add to it little by little when we find fun things. Here's what we have so far:

Jude's crib was my crib (and my 3 other sibling's crib) that my parents saved for 15+ years in the attic.

The amazing quilts hung over the crib are each from Jude's grandmas.

His pennant was made by our friend Cori for his baby shower.

And the ugly black thing on the wall is our awesome video camera so we can monitor his every move.

On the other side of the room we have Jude's $35 garage sale dresser!

I wanted something low and long so that we could put his changing pad on top. The dresser was originally whitewashed. My dad painted it Looking Glass gray and we found some cute brass knobs to finish it off. The top middle knob is a brass fox from Anthropologie and the rest are round brass knobs from Home Depot. The fox cost more than the rest combined- our little splurge :)

His curtains are from Ikea.

His lamp is thrifted from Goodwill.

The shelves are homemade. So is the baby ;)

We also have a futon thrown into the corner for company and near the mirror is Jude's cuddling corner. Eventually I'm planning on removing the rocking chair and putting in a play teepee.
The lion photo is a drawing David did in kindergarten!

I love having this blog to document fun things like Jude's little room. I know he'll love being able to look back and see what it was like (or at least his future wife will!)

Cousins

 

Yosemite + Bass Lake

The Fenn side planned a getaway to celebrate David's parent's 45 wedding anniversary. We decided to rent a house so everyone could fit and spend time together at Bass Lake, which is pretty close to Yosemite. Lots of food was eaten, tons of pictures were taken and plenty of games were played:)

Jude did not enjoy the drive there or back, but did decently well in the car. By the end of the trip he was even doing great sleeping somewhere besides his crib! Poor boy is teething tho, so he was fussy a lot.

Friday we hiked around the falls all day and then threw together a little Hawaiian anniversary party as a surprise for the grandparents. The kids loved dressing up!

Saturday everyone went on a train ride while David and I stayed back with Jude so he could get a decent nap. Then it was relaxing, bubbles, yummy bbq for lunch and homemade pretzel dogs for dinner.

Sunday we hiked the giant sequoia area with the jogging stroller...David was a champ and pushed it uphill and over rocks most of the time. We almost made it to the top but decided to turn back when we learned that the tram back down cost mucho dinero. It was still fun to get a hike in!
We had a great trip with everyone and I always love bonding with the fam.  It's nice to have other adults around after the kids go to bed to chat with. We love our families!

Watch Me Grow: 8 Months Old!

Jude turned 8 months old on May 8. In the past month Jude got a cold, then a runny nose that lasted two weeks which led to a double ear infection. He was acting so fussy around the time of the ear infection and I saw him rub each ear one time- something I'd never seen him do. I decided to take him into the doctor just in case. I'd never taken him for anything more than checkups. He had an infection in both ears and was put on antibiotics. After about 3 days he was back to his normal self.

We went swimming again and he liked it a lot more.

Jude says mamama, dadada, bababa and nanana. I also heard him copy me and say 'nigh-nigh' for night-night.

He barks like a dog when he sees dogs or his puppy book, but it sounds like a high squeal.

He smacks his lips before eating something yummy.

He likes all food he's tried except avocado. Still deciding on that one.

He pushes his arms up, ready to crawl, but ends up army crawling everywhere.

Still loves drinking out of a straw.

His favorite food is chunks of apricot from his grandparent's tree.

He weighs 19 pounds and is 28 1/4 inches long.

He is still a happy boy, but has definitely gotten more attached to me and wants to be held more than ever before. He sleeps 12-13 hours a night and takes 2 hour and a half naps- one at around 9am and one around 2pm.

He is still nursing 3-4 times a day and loves eating 'big people' food.

We love watching him grow and learn!

Watch Me Grow: 7 Months

I am so behind with updating Jude's monthlies.  He turns 8 months old in two days. Here's the 7 month update!

Jude is a happy boy! He is sleeping all night (unless we're not at home), much to the joy of his parents.

He loves toys, other babies, bath time, ANY food, snacks, riding in his stroller, naps, necklaces, strings to suck on, pulling hair, rolling over, dogs, eating grass, cuddling, pacifiers, sippy cups or drinking out of a straw, yogurt melts, music or singing, screaming, biting stuff with his sharp baby teeth, balloons, blankies and sleeping with blankets over his face, being tickled or thrown in the air, being held by pretty much anyone.

He learned to drink out of a straw and can't get enough. He does a little sigh after taking a long drink.

He says mamama, dadada, bababa.

Jude went swimming for the first time and hated the pool because it was too cold, but liked being in the jacuzzi for a few minutes.

He loves to growl, grunt and scream.

He had his first runny nose that lasted for TWO WEEKS.

We visited second cousins in Arizona.

He waves bye-bye at himself in the mirror.

He can turn in a 360 while sitting.

When he's about to eat something yummy he will smack his lips.

He picks up food by himself and puts it into his mouth.

We love him and we love watching him grow. He makes us so dang happy!

I'm into it

What I'm into right now:

1. How much Jude loves food (see photo). He's also learned how to drink out of a straw. Big boy!

2. Using the Feedly app- so much better than the blogger app and even google Reader. Those always used to freeze or quit on me. Feedly is much more user friendly and prettier, anyway. Are you still into blogs? I've narrowed my list down to mostly friends/family and a few guilty pleasure blogs. I wish I wasn't so snoopy...

3. Having central air at my disposal. After a summer pregnant, on the third floor of an apartment complex in humid Orange County with only an ancient wall unit AC to cool us down I am joyous over living in comfortable temperatures.

4. Babies. Newborn babies. Jude as a baby. What the? He's almost EIGHT months old. I never in my life imagined that I would be baby hungry this soon after giving birth. We're not planning on having kids quite this close together but I will say that my views on age gaps has changed drastically in the last 2 months.

5. Anne Shirley Blythe. I have loved the Anne of Green Gables series since I was a little girl and I'm re-reading them for the 4th time. I'm on the 5th book in the series (Anne's House of Dreams) and sat on Friday morning with tears running down my cheeks at 6AM (I had just finished working) because it just feels so real. The dialogue especially, and experiences, are so true to life and I love Anne's personality and attitude toward life, love and happiness. Plus, Gilbert is the perfect husband. It's had me daydreaming about the benefits of having a doctor for a husband...I guess a lawyer will have to do ;)

6. Netflix obsessions: The Office, Parenthood, Overboard, Lars and the Real Girl.

7. Fenugreek supplements. If you want to produce more breast milk, take it. It works for me and makes a HUGE difference. I buy mine at Sprouts. (I pump for Jude's last feeding because he's often too tired to eat enough before bed with nursing alone).