a new year's resolution

Happy New Year from Baby Jude and all of us. Many of us will vow to eat less after the calendar clicks over to 2009. But Baby Jude has a different idea. He's vowing to eat more...solid food that is.

Jude's dining habits

Yes baby jude is slowing exploring the world of baby food. He's tried peas, pears, and the sweet potatoes you see above, among other things.

Jude's dining area

Usually Jude has his dinner in our kitchen. Its quite a messy process but he is getting better at actually swallowing some of the food instead of mearly spitting it all out on himself and the poor bib. Almost every new food is greeted by a Calvin and Hobbs type face scrunch, and then some sort of chewing motion.

Kara is quite happy that Greg can now participate in the baby feeding process. As all of baby jude's meals up to now have come from mom.

Tonight we'll take another trip into the exciting world of apples and pears. whoo hoo. go baby jude go.

baby's 1st christmas

"For unto us a child is given"

Baby Jude celebrated his first Christmas at home with his family. It was funny to wake up and tell him that today, on christmas, we were celebrating another baby. I actually tried to summarize the Christmas and the gospel story to him in simple terms. And then...I realized how simple and even somewhat foolish it all sounds.

Jude & George Christmas morning

Along those lines, Greg and I were talking about our favorite contemporary Christmas songs. I think mine is by a group called 4Him and the chorus is "This is such a strange way to save the world". The Bible's story of God sending his son to be born a baby on christmas takes on new reality for me as I finally hold a son of my own this year.

So back to Jude. He 'helped' open several gifts this year.

Jude helps with his gift

It consisted of:
Hold Up Gift bag, baby grab tissue paper and put in mouth. Remove tissue paper, replace pacifier. baby spit out pacifier and regrab tissue paper. remove tissue paper, baby cry.

On one of his large wrapped gifts, Jude helped rip off the wrapping paper. His little 'pincher grip' as they call it is quite strong and he is a determined baby when he grabs on.

I can't wait to eat that paper

Also another highlight today--- Jude sat without being supported in the kitchen for a bit...with daddy's hands at the ready and mom nervously watching.

I can sit

Its amazing how much stronger he is becoming. Merry Christmas to all!

i still love this thing...

bugaboo for big boys

Mister Jude keeps on growing despite our wishes that he would remain a little baby. He just graduated into the big boy version of his amazing Bugaboo stroller.

The Bugaboo Stroller with bassinet

He used the bassinet feature for 6 months. It allowed him to lay back and take in the world...or just nap.

Jude at two weeks old

It was nice to have him face us. We could always see our little guy in the stroller during walks or outdoor time. Well he's finally outgrown the bassinet and we installed the stroller seat on the same frame.

Jude's little feet barely reach the 'bend' of the stroller seat

I'm sure we'll make plenty of memories during big adventures in his big red stroller.

jude's friday fun

The holidays are a great time to stop and mention things and people we are thankful this year. We know Jude is thankful for his awesome babysitter/nanny on fridays. He smiles and naps and has a good time with Tara.
Tara watches Jude in her home near ours, while keeping up with her own busy 9 month old Davie.

Jude, Tara, Davie

We really appreciate Tara's desire to see Jude develop, be happy and healthy. And the obvious warmth and care she expresses in the way she relates to our little guy. Finding her has been one of the many blessings we've seen this year as Jude grows up.

dedicated to our boy

Recently we went through a "baby dedication" ceremony at Calvary our church.

one baby all spiffed up

This is a time where parents of young babies bring them in front of the congregation to make a public pledge. The pledge is basically that we'll pray for Jude and raise him to know about the God who has done so much for us through Jesus his son. And then our pastor says a special prayer of blessing for Jude and his life.

Pastor bob holds Jude

But its not just us who makes a pledge. They also ask all the family and members of the congregation to stand. They also take a pledge to help us raise Jude in way that honors God.

jude is amazed at all his family support

however he appears to be so over mom and grandma

This dedication thing may sound hokey if you're not familiar what Jesus has done, but it is so amazing to think we have the priviledge of sharing with our little boy how God sent his own son to save the world and redeem it.

Kara's family, who live closer, were able to be on hand for the event...

Uncle Todd tries to keep Jude quiet

...but Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Henry sent Jude a special cross that he wore on his collar for the big day.

thanks for the pin

the 411

here's the 411 on baby jude and his 6 month doctor visit

18 lbs, 8 oz (75th percentile)
26 1/2 inches long (50th percentile)
45 inches head (75th percentile)

today our big boy finished his third series of vaccinations. he only screamed for a little bit. (poor guy) and he got a flu shot. wow, his little body is full of antibodies now. maybe he'll share some with mommy who keeps battling sniffles :-)

And, Jude is also diving into eating. He enjoyed his first taste of bananas yesterday. Liked it much better than the carrots and rice cereal he's tried this past week.
He gets the stuff everywhere. We put a bib on him to cut down on mess. but he crinkles the bib and chews on it. which means messy food smears get on the backside of it, on his clothes, and even on his eyebrows.
I remember seeing our friends' kids just decimate a restaurant high chair and floor while dining out. i guess we're approaching that phase.

getting ready for the big day

We recently celebrated Jude's "baby dedication"...more on that in the next post. But like any big occasion, Jude just had to try on his outfit beforehand and make sure it all worked.

pretty boy blue

O.K. maybe it was mommy who had to try it on ahead of time.

mom excited about the outfit

It seems silly to say it, but its fairly emotional as Jude grows out of each size of cloths. Our big baby was in 'newborn' clothes for like a week. And he has just now moved up to 9 month clothes. Its hard to put away the outfits that have memories associated with them. My wise friend Lynsey tells me its not any easier even though her child is now 3.

yes jude does cry

sometimes we just have to remind others who see Jude being good all the time, that even our great little baby has moments of crying and 'expressing himself'.

although he's still darn cute in this video

emergency video fix

We had our first "emergency video fix" to view the newborn videos of Jude. You see, he's gotten large enough that he needs to move up from the "infant" car seat to the "toddler/convertible" car seat and that prompted a sad he can't be getting big yet moment. Not to fear, the video fix reminds us of how really tiny he once was (though he was never that small) and we're OK now.

If only we can get the firewire jack to work on the camera, then we can actually transfer the video over to the computer!