napster

speaking of sleep from our last post...jude is now officially a one nap baby. but that doesn't mean he always makes it home before the nap begins. usually after church on sundays, and after his tuesday morning playtime (aka mommy's women's bible study group), jude crashes in the car.

super sleepin baby

reprising the role

Kara has mastered the art of moving him from the car to crib. It involves a careful dance of juggling her house key, somehow wiping off and/or slipping off her snowy shoes, closing jude's window shades while balancing him with the other arm, and laying him down. This is quite a dance with a 27 or 28 pound little guy. But the reward is 2 hours of quiet sleep from jude and a chance to recover from chasing our busy toddler.

Night Night

I remember reading that babies like routines. The experts write that babies like knowing what to expect, because so much of their world is big, scary, loud, confusing. We implemented a bedtime routine for Mister Jude fairly early on. He gets a diaper change, pajamas, a pacifier, and then the best part...two books read to him by mom or dad in his rocking chair.

My parents commented after their visit with Jude about how easy he is to put to bed. We are glad he likes the night night routine, and glad it pays off when others have to use it. Here are some snapshots from last night's bedtime.

stories with dad

happy bedtime baby

I thought it might be fun to pull up Jude's older bedtime pics. These are a few shots of Baby Jude's bedtime at six months old.

same story time routine

It cracks Greg and I up that Jude is still using the same tiny pacifiers he was in these early photos. We tried to move him up to larger big-kid sizes. But he wasn't having it.

stylin in a sleepsack

We both enjoy the chance to sit and read to our little guy and watch him develop. It is nice that even as he grows up, runs and explores, some things haven't changed with Baby Jude's little life.

night night baby. we love you!

go baby

jude is moving, playing, grabbing, and tossing toys, all day long.
as a first-time parent Kara was desperate to find other places for jude to be busy besides the living room, but overwhelmed by the large number of classes for infants and toddlers...music class, gym, spanish, story time, gymnastics, art, Shakespeare. (just kidding on that last one, but i'm sure someone has tried to sell a class with old william to desperate parents hoping their little one gets accepted to Harvard).

Jude's busy nature helped Kara settled on My Gym, a chain of baby and child exercise facilities and classes. One of the best parts during the winter is the indoor swings. jude and his classmates always toddle super fast to reach the one special swing that has Winnie the Pooh attached.

swinging in winter!

The best part about the twice weekly visits to My Gym is that the entire place is child-safe and padded. Jude gets to practice skills he never would at home because, uh, we don't have gym equipment, and Kara would be exhausted setting it all up. Slides, trampolines, a large ball pit, forward and backward rolls and flips.
Kara has also seen Jude's trust of strangers grow as he is whisked off to ride the zip line with mom cheering him on, or hanging from a trapeze by his little hands and a staff person.

the new squat skill

Here's my favorite My Gym moment. It was an exercise mat under the high bar, picture the blue or red plastic one from your or your child's YMCA class. This mat had a support bar hidden under the middle. So it was a slight hill from the edge to the middle.

Jude carefully stepped up the one inch to climb on the mat. Carefully, and later really fast, he walked up the slight incline. Mister Jude squealed as he practiced walking on this new surface over and over, making laps on the mat.

A great part of class for Kara is separation time.

separation time skyscraper

Its is two to three minutes where the kids play with special toys with the staff while parents take a breather on the sidelines. I'm usually like that mom in the background, making a quick check of facebook or the news.

If I had one criticism of My Gym, where is the latte bar for parents during the separation time? Maybe I'll start one and get jude a lifetime membership.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from Baby Jude and family. We spent a fun weekend in Champaign, staying at Grandma Carole's & Chuck's, but seeing lots of family.
Kara put Jude in this bright sweater to celebrate the holiday. Unfortunately today was also the same day the Illini played Ohio State, with team colors of red & white.

Valentine 2010

Jude celebrated the second Valentine's Day of his life, by staying awake the entire drive back to Oak Park. He finally got to his crib about 8pm, making this one of the latest nights he has stayed up in several months. Kara hopes he shows her the love tomorrow...by sleeping in.

His usual schedule is bedtime at 6:30pm, wake up at 7am. We'll see what happens.

vampire baby?

Jude's frequent smile is now even funnier. His 20 month grin looks like a vampire with his pointy incisors that stick far below his other baby teeth.

beware pacifier...i will bite you!

We recently introduced him to a toothbrush. He apparently heard the brush part because he tried to brush his hair with it the first time Kara handed it to him. Not sure when we reach the toothpaste phase...guess we'll have to pull out the baby books for that one.

long lost blogger

We apologize to readers for the lack of blogs in January on Baby Jude. Be assured he is well and cute at 20 months.

packaging and boxes are his favorite!

Thanks to Aunt Jamie for Jude's cute sweater. He is enjoying wearing and playing with his holiday haul.

January was a busy month for Jude's mom and dad. First let's tell you the fun part. We went to London! Kara joined Greg for a long weekend as he wrapped up a business meeting there.

one of the Notting Hill private gardens

Kara felt freaked out about leaving Jude, even in the capable hands of her Grandpa Scott & Nana Jane, and Grandma Carole and Chuck. But good friends reminded her the break would be good for everyone. And it was!

Greg in Southbank

Jude's parents enjoyed sleeping in, seeing plays, and finding the best London restaurant for under 25 pounds.

our hotel in Clerkenwell

Jude's grandparents report that he laughed a lot, played hard, and went to bed fairly easily. We are so grateful to Kara's parents for the help.

The other reason for the blog delay is an unexpected wrinkle after Kara's annual physical. The doctor ordered a scan that found gallstones. Kara is now weighing whether to remove what is apparently an unnecessary organ. There is also a potential kidney issue that has required Kara's time to worry about :-) and get a few more tests. We learned last night everything is probably fine, but they want to check one more thing.

Let's hope February is healthy, happy, and maybe sunny?? even for a few days??