two and three quarters

When people ask how old Jude is I feel like I need to do the math and give a better answer than two. So my current answer is two and three quarters. Four months from today actually Mister Jude will turn three.

Our little guy is so interested in how things work and trying to connect things together. At dinner he took a paper towel tube and balanced it on his milk cup to make a ramp. He kept going into the living room to find various toys and see which could fit inside to slide on his impromptu toy ride. Unfortunately also learned today that he can balance his milk cup on the thin top edge of his kid chair. We're expecting this to end with a nice spill in the near future.

I've been dealing with a bad case of the winter blahs, so I decided to pull out summer pics for today's entry:

leaving on a jet plane

The first picture is Jude and Greg inside a jet airplane 'cockpit' at a downstate children's museum. Its fun to see how much his little face has grown up since this picture was taken.

I see...Daddy

And here is Captain Jude eyeing landlubbers from his slide and climbing toy. Speaking of eyes, we crack up at his two year old version of hiding. Jude simply closes his eyes tight and says "Where'd Jude go?" as if he is now missing. He will also cover only the eyeballs of characters in the children's books we read and ask where that character has gone.

Here's hoping I see the end of this snowy cold winter soon. Unfortunately covering my eyes

hasn't worked for me either.

a new addition for the baby blog

We are pleased to announce a new addition, a new topic for the baby blog.

The current Miller family

We are expecting our second child in July 2010. We began our blog a few days prior to Jude's birth back in May 2008. We explained some of our struggle with infertility and the years that passed before we could have Jude.
We are happy and relieved that God answered our prayers in a shorter fashion this time. It still required two cycles of IVF and one annoying "incomplete" cycle. But we are definetly pregnant, evidenced by Kara's growing belly and rapid mood swings, oh ya and several ultrasound pictures :-)

toddler talkin

Welcome to 2011. We are back to real life today, with Greg returning to work and Jude and mom returning to our many days together. Hope you find enjoyment in some of your routines today. That is my goal, instead of complaining about the long week ahead :-)

Had to share the latest cute things our talkative toddler is saying. This morning he woke up and had to describe for daddy all the animals under his blanket...pooh bear, baby doll. Then Greg laid him on the changing pad. Jude says "I hate it traffic. Daddy make the coffee. Evelyn not downstairs."

I also like to crash things

The traffic reference is from our recent drive to Maryland. Kara frequently shared her dislike of traffic while driving. And now Jude repeats the phrase a lot. oops. As for the coffee thing, we're not sure. But just last night, Jude wanted to go the basement office to see Evelyn, Greg's business partner. We had to explain that she was not there on Sunday night.
It is so cute to see how his mind works...as he works on his speaking.

Have a good Monday

Happy New Years!

So we end 2010 with a final Jude-centric celebration... rather than finding a babysitter and going to an "up past midnight" party, we went around the corner for a gather of families with two-year-olds and celebrated the new year with a countdown at about 6:40pm (the kids can't tell time, so we just started a countdown when it felt appropriate).

Jude did his best impersonation of Baby New Year, big ears and all.


He was not quite able to get the concept of the noisemaker, but felt the need to hold on to it in any case.

And, finally, no new year celebration would be complet without a toast. In Jude's case, the fizzy grape juice was his first experience with a sparkling beverage of any kind. After a slight initial shock, he gladly drained his cup in honor of the new year and all it will hold.
Happy New Year!