please be seated

Jude prefers to sit more and more, rather than lay down when he plays. Occasionally he still spends some time flat on his activity mat or laying in the pack n play. But usually he lets out a cry until we come sit him up.

handsome little guy

He's getting better and better at reaching and playing with things while he's sitting. But its still not a sure thing. Every so often he takes a back dive into the nearest soft pillow or blanket
.

wonder what happens if i drop this?

Jude still explores most things by putting them directly into his mouth. Its like a contest to see how many different things he can chew on each day. And a test for Kara to make sure the things he reaches are all safe.

i'll take 2 in my mouth please

We're happy to report tonight he ate chicken from Kara's salad. Until now he has spit all the pieces out with disgust. Jude's already down with hamburger and pork tenderloin. And thanks to Aunt Pam for the tip about Puffs baby finger foods. Jude, or atleast his parents, are glad he has another option besides the cheerios he repeatedly cries for.

9 months and eating

No one would accuse Jude of being a poor eater based on his current big baby size. He continues to be quite the chunker. But also adorable.
We have new photos taken in February. Here's mister jude at 8 1/2 months.

Hello World!

George the dog is enjoying Jude's new baby food meals 3 times a day. He camps out at the bottom of Jude's chair, hoping for some cheerios or even meat to fall. Our friend Laura Birkey captured a great moment with George and Jude.

Dogs need food too!

A is for Art

Jude's along way off from learning his ABC's, but if he learned the letter "A" anytime soon, he'd hopefully connect it with the word art. You see Jude recently took an excursion to The Art Institute of Chicago with his mother.

Outside by the famous Lions

It was a rather chilly February day, so no chance of getting a nice unbundled shot of baby. But Kara did manage to snap a few photos on her cellphone.
Kara prefers French impressionism and the musuem has quite an impressive collection, including the famous "Sunday in the Park" painting by George Seurat. But Google tells her that his work is considered neo-impressionist. (Aren't you feeling smart now too?)

La Bebe with Seurat painting

Why the Art Institute you might ask? Well the Art Institute is free during the month of February (and select thursday nights during the year). After days of noisy baby, Kara enjoys the tranquil space (i.e. enforced quiet) and the beautiful paintings. Baby Jude was pretty quiet and captivated during the hour or so visit.

Jude with art and the furniture collection

The Institute has a small collection of 'modern' design pieces. After walking around with the very cool and very functional Bugaboo stroller, Kara is convinced that it too belongs in a design collection :-)

poo poo parenting

The past two weeks have been a blur.

blurry photo, baby still cute

Greg had a stomach flu that kept him down for the entire work week. Kara cared for him as needed while keeping Jude happy, fed and rested. And then took mildly ill on Friday. We're glad there's no webcam to see what our kitchen looked like on day 3 :-)

While everyone is better, this week is Jude's turn to deal with issues. Not having dealt with an infant before I have to say that I'm against feeding solid food to babies! OK not really, but the change in the results on the other end is shocking and disturbing.

The past few days our child had apparently been having problems with that process. So after some lovely prune juice, he kept us up much of the night with his results.

relaxed bahama parents

As I watched him in the high chair at lunchtime (momentarily quiet, no whining while eating :-) )

I thought about how its the ordinary daily stuff of life that God uses to teach grace, self sacrifice and giving.

an easier baby day in the bahamas

I, a successful, smart woman, really struggled to care for sick hubby and sick baby. Today I even jokingly called Greg and asked him, on speakerphone, to have a talk with his son about pooping less. Its definetly a season of learning about holding a looser grip on my own plans and time.

On a lighter note, I think Jude has officially decided George is his buddy. He grins and babbles when George appears. Today he kept leaning way over his high chair to watch the dog. and kept reaching out his little hands from way up in the chair to try and pet george. I think the dog is only mildy amused...and perhaps jealous of all the people food Jude gets to try.