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 

4 Months Old

Our little man turned 4 months old this past Thursday! We couldn't be more proud of him. He has made so many accomplishments, met all of his milestones ahead of time, and is growing so quickly. 

In this month Jude has:

- Flew in a plane

- Been on a 14 hr. car ride

- Sleeps through the night in his crib!

- Plays with toys

- Rolls Over 

- Pushes himself along

- Drools up a storm

- Put Everything in his mouth

We are so proud of our little nugget and cannot wait to see what he does next. 

So proud of our cutie-pa-tootie! 

Keeping Jude Close...

I wonder if at times we keep our children too close or if we expose them too much. I feel like we are either at one extreme or the other most days. In today's society we are posting photos of our children all over the internet and n matter what security features we have those photos can be accessed if a person really wanted to. On the other hand there are those who do not want photos of their children taken in any circumstance (i.e. at school, for yearbooks, etc.) I wonder where the line will be for our dear son Jude. I struggle when people take photos of him that I don't particularly want taken (such as when changing his diaper). I don't think these are appropriate photos that anyone needs to take or have for any reason. 

All of this comes up due to an incident that took place on Sunday. For Father's Day Jude and I took Brian out to his favorite place for lunch (Chipotle). For those of you who have been there you know there is a line process to get your food. So, while waiting in the line a lady behind us (age mid 60's approximately) commented to us how cute our son was, I thanked here and made sure she was able to get a good look at him. I turned back around and was waiting in line when I turned to say something to Brian when I noticed something... The gentleman that the aforementioned lady was with (approximately the same age) was taking a photo of my son with his iPhone. I couldn't believe it and I quickly moved Jude out of camera site and in front of my body. I just didn't know what to do or say. Why would someone take a photo of our son? Someone we didn't know... Someone who will never see us again... What is the purpose? Why doesn't someone know better? 

What would you have done? Should I have said something? I can only hope that the reason this person took this photo is not sinister... 

Breastfeeding Rant:

Okay, I have been breastfeeding my dear son for nearly four months now and I have to take some time to rant on the subject, so here it goes:

So, this whole concept did not go so easily in the beginning and a lot of that was due to stress imparted by the nurses in the recovery room, it feeling painful, me being stressed, and just in general not going perfectly.

At Jude's two week appointment I went to the lactation consultant desperate for some help with feeding my baby. Since that meeting I have been able to feed our baby with the use of a nipple shield which is not typically used for long periods of time, but it works for us. The whole process really took a turn for the better I was starting to save some milk and freeze it. 

So, here comes my rant: 

It's not easy!! All these women who say it comes naturally, is painless, and is the best thing ever are ALL liars!! 

It was a lot of hard work

It is still painful at times

Also, it is not the best thing in the world...

Given all that I wouldn't give it up for anything! I love taking care of our son, I love feeding him, and honestly I love saving the money! 

So, this is what I wish society would do about this whole breastfeeding thing to make my life just a little easier. I would love to at least be able to start feeding my son without a cover over his head and then I will put my cover on! I get it that people don't want to see my boob (well maybe some people do), but it is just a pain in the but to try to get my son latched on, keep covered, and look through the little top hole of my cover. UGH!!  Plus on top of all of this Jude is heavy to be holding and has taken  to wiggling more and more before being fully eating. 

Sorry, just frustrated with the whole concept of feeding my son while I am out and cannot wait till I can give him some baby food while we are out and about.