9 Months old... a little late...

Jude's 9th month has been a busy one so excuse me for the delay.. So, what has happened?

- Family Photos
- 1st Halloween
- Trip to San Francisco
- 9 month appointment

Following all this we prepared for our trip to Illinois for Thanksgiving, but more about that next month! 

Jude is such an amazing man and has changed so much! Jude is now walking with a walker, cruising on furniture, standing up, and crawling everywhere! He loved his visit to San Francisco and meeting his great uncles. This was also an opportunity for Jude to dip his toes into the Pacific Ocean (that went much better then the Atlantic). We are so proud of Jude and love watching him grow! Now the most important part... PICTURES!! 

8 Months Old

Oh wow what an exciting and busy month it has been! 

Jude is now crawling (though it is more of an Army crawl, but that's how we roll)! We went to the Georgia Aquarium, Jude's 1st Birthday party (for cousin Lilly Jane's 4th), and Ikea in one weekend. That weekend also included his first night in a hotel (boy was that a learning experience)! We also attended the Richmond Hill Pumpkin Patch to get some cute pictures of Jude with pumpkins! Jude also got his first flu shot, which he did not even whimper for! Amazing! I was still complaining a few days later about my arm hurting. He is such a little champ! Finally, we had our family portrait taken on Jude's 8 month birthday! I cannot wait to see them! That day Jude also attended the Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival! 

We are so excited about how much he is learning. He is pulling up to stand, crawling/climbing all over us, and is taking a few steps with us holding his hands! We also officially have a Da-da! Jude also pants like a dog, growls like a monster, gurgles (for lack of a better word) like Chubacca, and clicks his tongue. So amazing and constantly changing and learning! I cannot wait to see what he does next!

In the upcoming weeks we are preparing for Jude's next cross country trip as we visit family in San Francisco while Brian attends a conference. Then the end of next month will be a trip to Illinois for Thanksgiving with our families! Can't wait to see everyone!!

PICTURE TIME!! 

At the aquarium!

Sissy love in the morning!

Kisses to Daddy!

Pumpkin Patch!

8 Month Old Picture!

Ready for Thanksgiving!

In other news, I started a crochet business. Please check me out on Facebook!! I would love to create something beautiful for you!

A Big Week!

This week has been HUGE in our family. Our little man has changed so much!! In the last 7 days Jude visited the Atlantic Ocean the first time, began to crawl (well, Army crawl), and has started his journey to potty training with pooping with only 2 dirty diapers in the last 7 days! :D 

We are so proud of our little man and we are looking forward to more firsts! This weekend we will all go to the Georgia Aquarium for the first time (it is the largest Aquarium in the WORLD) and Jude will attend his first birthday party! So excited and can't wait! :) 

7 Months!

Today Jude has turned 7 months old! I cannot believe how quickly he is growing and he is becoming such  little man. He is wanting to crawl so bad, but so far he mostly scoots backward and turns around. In the few days leading up to him turning 7 months old Jude has had a lot of firsts. He sat up on his own, ate Banana while picking it up with his finger & thumb, he pooped on the potty, visited the beach, and started his journey on adding spices to his food (we just tried cinnamon). Jude has also upped his list of states that he has visited and spent time in. We are now up to 5 (Illinois, Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina, and Washington) and I am hoping to add a few more to our list by his first birthday! 

On the weight front... Jude has now had 3 positive weight gains so we are relaxing a little on that front and enjoying trying new foods and learning how to eat on his own! 

He is such an amazing little man and we are loving seeing him grow and learn every day! We anticipate this little man will be crawling by the next update, but I wonder what else he will be doing?  Now on to the pictures!!! 

Jude watching his sisters outside

First poop on the potty (oh I can't wait till he is older to show him this!!)

Sitting on the beach and checking things out

He is ready to hit the ocean! 

Watching Daddy be silly in the water

First toes in the Atlantic Ocean! 

Daddy's turn! 

Kicking feet

7 Month Old BIG boy! 

Loves crawling and still loves lights! 

6 Months Old!

Holy Cow! Our little man is officially 6 months old! I can hardly believe that he is half a year old and is such a big boy! Over the past month Jude has grown so much and learned a lot... we have also had some stressful/trying times, but hopefully that is all behind us. 

Jude can: sit up, stand up,  get in crawling position, push back, say momma, buzz his lips, eat food, hold his bottle, and has taken another 14 hr. trip to IL and back! 

Foods he has eaten: Banana, Avocado, Sweet Potato, White Potato, Parsnip, and Carrots! Such an amazing boy! 

As for the trying times... between Jude's 2 month and 4 month appointment he did not gain any weight, not one ounce. At that point he was categorized (though never officially diagnosed) with Failure to Thrive. He had gone from the 80th percentile to the 15th percentile which is not very good. At this point we needed to assess what was going on and how to fix this problem. From his fourth month appointment until today (his 6 month appointment) he has been in every 2 weeks for weight checks and it was a bumpy road. I am now happy to report we have had two consecutive appointments with weight gain! WOOT! Our feeding schedule is rather hectic and we are going to try and do some revising and hope that his weight will not level off again with any changes. For the past month his feeding schedule has been breastfeeding every 2 hours, two (super shake) bottles a day on the in-between hour, and one food feeding on the in-between hour (so 9 hours our of the day I have been feeding him EVERY HOUR!!) Jude's "super shake" bottles include: 3-4 oz. breast milk, 1 scoop of formula, 1 Tbl. rice cereal, and 1/2 Tbl. of oatmeal cereal! 

We will have to see how this revised schedule goes it really doesn't seem to be any less stressful, but maybe it will give me a little more of a break... kind of, but not really... ugh! 

Anyways, during this month we have gone to the pool, gone to the Forsyth Farmer's market, gone to a tap house, we also went to IL for my cousin's wedding, and enjoyed time together as a family. It has been a busy week and I am sure this next month will be just as busy. We are hoping to head to the beach in the next month as well as soaking up our last few days at the pool before it closes for the season. What an exciting month it will be! :) 

PHOTO TIME!! 

 Had to stop in Metropolis for SUPER BABY! 

 Good Morning Coos from Jude! 

 Loving Sissy Delilah

 He loves his sister!

 Conversations with Grandma! 

 Cool Guy at the Wedding

 Mom & Dad Selfie at the Wedding

Finally Finishing my belly cast!  

Big Boy!  

Sitting on his own! 

Ta-Da! 

Standing on his own! 

 Little Ham!

SO Handsome!  

 Sucking on Toes and Buzzing Lips

Our little robot! 

5 Months Old & Baby Food

I can hardly believe that our sweet little Judicorn is already 5 months old! (heck at this point almost 5 1/2 months old!) He is growing so much, meeting almost all of his milestones ahead of time and has become a chatter box at times. He really and truly is such a good baby though more energetic at times then I would have ever expected. On his 5 month birthday we decided to start Jude on real food and introduced him to banana (at times mixed with oatmeal), next was avocado, and today we will begin sweet potato. He has already accomplished and ate white rice cereal, brown rice cereal, and oatmeal. So proud of our little boy! 

Jude is still on his way to crawling and is constantly trying to be mobile, which we are happy for him to wait for. We have begun child proofing our current home in the anticipation of this event. Jude is so much in love with his daddy as well as his sissys, and his mommy. We are amazed by him every day and love watching him grow!

Yesterday we were at the hospital welcoming a friend's baby into the world and I was so amazed by how much Jude has grown. It felt like it was only yesterday that I was in the hospital bed just after having our baby, but I am surprised that it was already so long ago. Our little boy will be 6 months old in just over two weeks! Half way to a year HOLY COW!!! We love him to pieces and wouldn't trade a moment with him. 

Pictures: 

5 month old Little Man

Checking out the garden

Trying on the shoes from Uncle Dan (still a little big)

Banana drool

Avocado is VERY serious stuff!

Snuggles with Mommy

Sitting on his own! 

Hanging with Bella Bee!

Puppies & 4 Month Appointment

First off EVERYONE is always asking me how are the dogs doing with Jude? Do they like him? Do they get along? No matter how many times I tell people how great they do together, how much the pups seem to love Jude, and how Jude loves watching the girls NO ONE seems to believe me. So, here is some photographic evidence to support my claims: 

Bella & Jude Doing Tummy Time 

Jude & Delilah Relaxing On The Couch



















Also, on Wednesday (our Anniversary) we were busy bees! I had a dentist appointment, we had Jude's 4 month appointment, and we went out for our Anniversary lunch. Jude's appointment went well and we were told to start him on Rice Cereal to help build calories and so far it has been going okay. We are feeding him via syringe or bottle right now, because aside from these photos (which make it look like he loves eating by spoon) spoon feeding is not going too well as of yet. We will see how it goes with fruits & veggies... 

After a long day of walking around Savannah Jude and I enjoyed a nice foot soak with bubbles. He was so fascinated and my toes felt great afterward! 

Last, but not least... Jude enjoys watching his Daddy play video games, LOVES his Tig-Tig (Tigger), and is learning to sit up on his own!! :D