jude, 11 months

age: 11 months

weight: breaking the 20 lb. mark, but not sure by how much.

length: unsure

clothing size: 12 months.

nicknames: jude bug, bug, judeabega, and juda remain the top pics.

health: brandon and i came down with horrible 24-hr stomach bugs within a day of one another. we held her back from daycare, assuming she was next in line. but this girl must have a strong immune system from all the stuff she picks up off the floor and puts straight into her mouth. or maybe from is all the slobbery kisses harvey bestows upon her? regardless of how she avoided the nasty bug, we were beyond relieved when a solid week passed without a sign of sickness. 

sleep: due to variety of factors (staying in a hotel or at my moms, teething, brandon being out of town, etc.) i was tolerating a 3:00-3:20 wake-up with a quick  nurse and then back to bed. my friend at work, a dad of two toddlers, challenged me on why i was letting that one fly. that night we didn't go when she cried at 3:18 and she was back to sleep in less than 5 minutes without trying again any night since. i feel so duped in hindsight!

diet: she is still a fan of pretty much every food you put in front of her, but has developed a special affinity for goldfish crackers. she would eat her weight in them if we kept her in supply.

baby gear love: our bar-mounted "high seat" where she eats her meals and entertains herself while we cook dinner or clean-up the kitchen. it doesn't take much space and it packs easily for travel. 

loves: her daycare! she is so happy to be at miss tammi's, with the other kids and the pup named, homie. it warms my heart to see her dig it there and makes having to leave her with a stranger a heck of a lot easier knowing she is happy as a clam. on her first day there, she came home with her first ponytail. it was hilarious!

dislikes: she still hates taking naps when i am home. she doesn't seem to have a problem with naps for other people, but 100% of the time she does when i'm around and, 75% of the time when brandon is with her. little girl doesn't want to miss a thing!

milestones: she doesn't do too much that is new, but she does everything at double-speed now. she also seems to know when she is touching something she shouldn't (i.e. the nightlight, the plants, etc.) because she looks at you slyly to see what your reaction will be and then tears off in the opposite direction.

jude, 10 months

age: 10 months

weight: 19.5 pounds

length: 27.5 inches.

clothing size: 12 months.

nicknames: jude bug, judeabega, and juda still hold strong. sometimes she is just "bug". 

health: she continues to be super healthy. we are so thankful her health has been as easy as her spirit. she starts daycare part-time soon so hopefully her immune system is ready for the germ-fest!

sleep: mostly through the night, with disruptions here and there that totally throw us off!

diet: all the foods. no dislikes, she even pulled sliced beets off my plate and chomped away. yucko!

baby gear love: her pack 'n play and pieces of string. now that she is on the move all.the.time. having her contained in the garage or his office space is the only way brandon can get much done on his days with jude. she also loves to play with strings of all kinds. forget expensive toys, she appears to like the simplest of things!

loves: practicing her "walking" by holding onto our fingers and dragging us around the house. she also loves talking to perfect strangers, which is painful for her introverted parents. 

dislikes: getting in the carseat or taking naps. now that she can pull herself up to sitting or standing, naps are so blase. 

milestones: legitimately crawling (from time-to-time), pulling herself up to standing, and lowering herself back down. 

jude, 9 months

age: 9 months

weight: unsure, but she feels substantially heavier these days. 

length: unsure.

clothing size: 9 months , with more and more 12 month items fitting.

nicknames: jude bug, judeabega, and juda. 

health: earlier this month we thought jude was (finally) getting some teeth, she was generally cranky and chomping ferociously on EVERYTHING. she had a few days of fever so we gave her tylenol regularly and tried to be especially comforting. eventually she stopped drinking her bottles of breastmilk or water, which was alarming. i took 1/2 a day off work to stay home to nurse her and replenish her fluids. on the 4th day, she broke out in a rash that covered a good 70% of her body and left her scratching her scalp. i called the nurses line through our pediatrician's clinic for the first time. turns out she had a textbook case of viral fever rash. and still no teeth for this little one. 

sleep: her virus messed up her sleeping for a few weeks, where she was waking every 1.5-2 hours. it was brutal and we were not functioning well. she finally resumed normalcy again. whew. 

diet: she still hasn't met a thing she doesn't love to eat!

baby gear love: her outside swing. it makes her deliriously happy!

loves: making a surprised face accompanied by "ohhh", wooden puzzles, dancing, chuckling, silent laughs, and balloons.

dislikes: not getting what she wants when she wants it (yeah, that starts early).

milestones: she has started saying "bye-bye" pretty consistently, melting everyone's hearts. she also is on the verge of legitimate crawling and currently drags her lower body around army-crawl style. lastly, she met the ocean, specifically the pacific ocean. given that she is a total water baby, she LOVED getting her feet wet and wiggling her toes in the sand.

jude, 8 months

age: 8 months

weight: not too sure, haven't checked in a while. 

length: also not sure on this measurement.

clothing size: 6-9 months is ideal still, but we are creeping into 6-12 months too.

nicknames: jude bug and judabega seem to be the reigning champs. 

health: this kiddo has been pretty healthy but has had a few more head bonks lately and accidentally burned her right foot last week while playing in the sink. she loves the water so when i turned it off she reached out to crank it back up, grabbing the hot water and scalding her poor little foot. she wailed and wailed, but some lavender oil did the trick and there is no scar to speak of. 

sleep: she is back to sleeping solidly again, going to bed at 8, waking up about 5:50 for a nurse in our bed, then going back to her crib until 7 or 8.

diet: all the foods! boy, she loves to eat her baby food. her pincher reflex is not very strong so she doesn't usually get finger foods into her mouth, but instead squishes them in her palm until they aren't very edible. i find this ironic as EVERYTHING else goes straight to her mouth.

baby gear love: a counter-mount "high chair" (ours was a hand-me-down). it is awesome to not have our floor space taken up by a bulky high chair. plus, then she can sit at the bar while i cook and we were able to take it camping where we clamped it right onto the picnic table. 

loves: clapping her hands, blowing raspberries, sticking her tongue out, making guttural sounds, camp fires, sleeping in a tent, and sleeping with a book in her crib. 

dislikes: harvey licks on her face (she loves his kisses on her hands, arms, legs, and feet though), going to bed without her stomach being 100% full, and home-made baby food.

milestones: she said her first word and it was clearly... "mama"! it warms my heart to hear her mouth "ma ma ma ma" although i don't think she knows it is my title quite yet. never-the-less, i'll take it. we are working on "dada" so maybe she can say that by the time he gets home from his field work.

jude, 7 months

age: 7 months

weight: 17+ pounds

length: 27 inches

clothing size: 6-9 month is ideal.

nicknames: jude bug, judabaga, jude girl, and sweet girl. i find myself calling her sweet girl a lot in public because she is often mistaken for a boy. which i don't know how i feel about this. i am not mad when people make the mistake, but i really haven't been able to either let it go or find a smooth way of telling the well-meaning waiter/barista/stranger.

health: she is in 60th percentile for weight, 77th percentile for height, and 88th percentile for head circumfrence. baby got some brains! no wonder rolling over was so hard for her!

sleep: freaking sleep regression. i feel that all the parents of children who don't sleep through the night wished this upon us. she has recently taken to waking up 1-2 times per night screaming. we try to avoid feeding her, but it is the only thing that seems to console her so i end up nursing her in the middle of the night, feeling resentful that all those parents put a hoax on my otherwise angelic sleeper. 

diet: we opened the solid food gates and this kiddo is loving eating. so far she has made a few faces, but overall she enjoys sitting in her big chair, waiting for the next bite of fruits or veggies. the meat baby food, which the pediatrician said is necessary for exclusively breastfed babies, isn't as bad as i expected but i am not about to dig into it anytime soon. 

baby gear love: our deuter backpack. since we have moved near the river, brandon has been putting her in this and getting out of the house daily. she loves to bop along on his back and she usually babbles the whole way, meanwhile her little spiky hair glistens in the evening sun. it is pretty magical.

loves: water in all forms, including baths, lakes, rivers, and drinking glasses; patting people on the face or chest when they hold her; and eating fruits. her auntie jordyn gave her chocolate (a first!) ice cream (also a first!) on her 7 month birthday. i think they will be sweet-loving friends for life! 

dislikes: having to chew (O cereals or yogurt bits), having to let go of things she is inevitably going to use to hurt herself or others, and having her stroller hit from behind with a kickball.

milestones: she sits up unassisted for long stretches of time. although she can't quite get from sitting to laying without a major "bonk" she doesn't seem to mind having a new position from which to enjoy her world! 

jude and her song

this was jude's reaction to hearing "hey jude" for the first time. we have chosen to embrace the reality that people will always sing her name back to her when she introduces herself, so on sunday mornings, while we drink our coffee we play the 7 min version of her song and she taps her feet in the mellow parts and "dances" around during the chorus. 

jude, 6 months

age: 6 months

weight: unsure

length: unsure

clothing size: 6 months and up, with a few of our favorite 3 month onesies stretching to their max.

nicknames: jude bug, judabaga, and jude girl. 

health: rocking it!

sleep: she rubs her eyes between 7:30 and 8, so we take our cues from her and put her down somewhere in that timeframe. while she continues to sleep through the night, she also continues to be a mediocre napper (although i hear she does well for her grandma). on our trip however, she could not stand the thought of missing a single second so she did not nap, for 2 days in a row. it was not my favorite stretch of time, but, to her credit, she did hold it together pretty well!

diet: breast milk 98% of the time. a few teething biscuits and some avocado off my plate. we didn't want to deal with transition or the mess while on our trip, so we intentionally chose to postpone solids until we got back. clearly she isn't starving. 

baby gear love: she digs her "exersaucer" although we call it the overstimulation station. our house is really looking like the house where a baby lives. so much equipment everywhere.

loves: her uncle justin, her little lovey bunny, and getting a reaction out of her family with her pathetic little fake cough.  

dislikes: boring airplane rides, getting back in the carseat after only a short break, and having the sun in her eyes.

milestones: she officially rolls. everywhere. it may have taken her a while to get to this stage, but she is making up for lost time. she likes to get herself under furniture where we have to pull her out. she also had her first flight and did well, although she got bored at about the 1.5 hour mark. 

jude, 5 months

age: 5 months

weight: unsure

length: unsure

clothing size: primarily 6 month.

nicknames: jude bug, judabaga, jude girl, and brandon has recently added jude muffin.

health: she seems to be doing well since last month, a few challenges with me over-indulging on garlic and rhubarb, but otherwise ok.

sleep: she continues to be a total champ! just last night the smoke detector in our house started chirping in the night. brandon was gone and i awoke to harvey standing over me (on my bed) licking my face to make sure i heard the alarm. it took me 2 hours to calm him down and convince him we weren't all headed for certain demise. meanwhile, jude slept through the whole chaotic ordeal.

diet: still rocking the breast milk routing. rob snuck her a piece of watermelon which she was very excited about but i haven't ventured into feeding her solids on a regular basis because it just sounds like so much work and once you get into it there is no turning back. so i wait.

baby gear love: spf baby hat and clothes because slathering sun screen on a squirmy baby always seems to result in her getting it into her eyes and screaming.

loves: watermelon (see above), splashing in the bathtub, and reading books. dislikes: tummy time (still) and being in a crowded house, which further supports my theory that we are raising an introvert.

milestones: she can roll from her back to her side, so that counts towards the rolling over milestone. she also discovered she can reach her feet, so she quietly plays for about 15 minutes at a time with her little toes. yeah, it's totally adorable.

jude, 4 months

age: 4 months

weight: 13.9

length: 24 3/4"

clothing size: a dwindling selection of 3-6 month things still fit, but she is creeping into 6 month sizes.

nicknames: jude bug, judabaga, and jude girl.

health: no problems for this little one, although the doc did say we will have to keep an eye on her birthmark directly above her butt, which can, in rare circumstances, be indicative of underlying spinal cord issues. [for the record: that was a horrible thing to hear, especially since there is ZERO we can do about it other than wait-and-see.]

sleep: generally she zonks out at 8pm, but occasionally she starts rubbing her eyes even earlier, which creates a dilemma for me because i get home at 5:30, so when she goes down much earlier than 8 i don't get much time with her and that makes me sad, but then i don't want to force her to stay up when she clearly needs the sleep.

diet: all breast milk all the time. brandon snuck her some cool whip and both my mom and i came unglued! i also gave her a micro bite of sweet potato, which she seemed to enjoy. we let her gum on a very tart mango the other day and she was totally uncertain of how to react.

baby gear love: my mom found an old toy of mine that is a pull-cord bunny that plays peek-a-boo. jude is crazy about this thing and can even pull the cord on her own. it is cool to see the toy still in commission nearly 30 years later! also, gripe water is an awesome hiccup solution and this girl gets a lot of hiccups!

loves: seeing brandon or i first thing in the morning, hearing herself shriek, and sucking on her fingers.

dislikes: tummy time, taking her liquid vitamins, and getting the sun in her eyes.

milestones: she is working towards rolling over, but is taking her sweet time because she despises "practicing" since it requires tummy time. eh, in due time, right. in the meantime, we are just appreciating that she can't move from the spot we leave her at on the floor. she loves to scratch her nails on things that make a bit of noise and seems to have figured out that she can control that sound.

jude, 3 months

age: 3 months

weight: not certain, but we've crossed the threshold into double digits.

length: also not sure, but she's getting too long for lots of her one-piece outfits.

clothing size: mostly 0-3 months, with a few 3-6 month items beginning to fit.

nicknames: jude bug is clearly here to stay, but sara mia also came up with judabaga, so i call her that sometimes too.

health: she came down with RSV the week before we moved, which i'm certain was a reflection of the stress in our home. a PA friend in town listened to her lungs for me and let us borrow their nebulizer to give her some breathing treatments, which helped immensely. i was fearful it would turn into pneumonia, but we dodged that bullet. it was rough to see her feeling so puny and crummy because there was very little we could do except wait it out. 

sleep: jude rocks the nighttime sleep thing; we can put her down fully awake and she falls asleep within a few minutes and generally sleeps through the night until 6am. naps aren't quite as great, but the kid has been existing in a state of flux for the last month, so i think she will find a rhythm once we settle.

diet: so far, all breast milk all the time. but she takes quite a few of her feedings from a bottle now, in anticipation of my return to work.

baby gear love: she is finally big enough for the ergo, so we use it around the house and have gone on a couple of hikes. i much prefer this version of babywearing to the moby, which was a real pain in the ass to tie up and never fit brandon.

loves: recognizing extended family members, watching "dog rodeos," and time outside. 

dislikes: her car seat. oh how she hates that thing! our 17 hour, 1/2 way across the country move and subsequent house-hunting drives may have something to do with her disdain.

milestones: she is growing more and more ticklish by the day, she has a full-on grunting laugh that usually comes out when she watches aforementioned dog rodeos, and she can now put her binky back in her mouth on her own.

our girl in our home.

faith, a photographer here in laramie, came to our house to capture jude during her first few days. while we loved the images she got during that session, we hoped for a few more family pictures. 

days after that finding out that we were moving away from laramie and our first house, the place where we brought this baby home, faith contacted us to see if she could do a photo shoot in jude's nursery. she offered to give us the images at no cost if we let her use them for her promotional materials. it was a pretty hard sell, as you can imagine, but we agreed. :) 

i don't have all of the digital images yet, so i can't upload them, but here is one and the rest are on faith's blog.

these pictures do such a wonderful job of capturing the room we worked hard to make just right for jude's arrival. i will miss our little laramie bungalow a lot, but i will especially miss jude's room. thanks for capturing all the special details faith!

--- 

in other news, our house sold after being on craigslist and zillow for all of three days. we had multiple offers and a bit of a bidding war going on over our little place. brandon keeps referring to jude as our change agent, because since she came along nothing has been still. we hope that facing three of the big life challenges (new baby, new job, and moving) in a short period of time means we can find a bit of reprieve once we get settled in oregon.

as for the chickens, they were itemized in two of the offers we received. so they get to stay put and we get to avoid the headache that would surely accompany moving a brood of hens halfway across the country. i think we have enough to worry about with our crazy dog and newborn! at least there are dog-friendly hotels; i highly doubt any best western between here and bend would be willing to accommodate 8 chickens!

jude, 2 months

age: 2 months

weight: 9lbs 9.5oz

length: 21.5"

clothing size: 0-3 months

nicknames: jude bug, bugga, and babykins seem to be sticking the most.

health: all seems to be well for this kiddo health wise thus far. she had her first shots ever at her appointment earlier this week and despite the piercing initial scream, she recovered quickly and slept most of the day.

sleep: jude rocks the sleep thing from 8:45 to somewhere between 2:30 and 4:40, when she wakes up hungry. brandon has taken the middle of the night feeding so i get to sleep through the night, but i get up with the early bird. other moms shoot me death glares when i share that i get to sleep through the night. look, i've got it good, i know. 

diet: lately jude wants to eat multiple times in within a half hour in the morning but otherwise goes about 2-3 hours between feedings. we have been out and about more during her feedings and she really doesn't understand why she has to hide out under the apron to eat, so she sometimes swats it away, exposing me in many coffee shops.

baby gear love: we still think these bumgenius cloth diapers are awesome. and otherwise the girl loves her wubbanub dog+pacifier. 

loves: laying on her back so she can kick her legs, her uncle alex's deep voice, and big old face licks from harvey boy.

dislikes: when brandon torments her by blowing in her face or when the waistband on her pants are too tight (who doesn't hate that?).

milestones: she had her first giggle this week--the tiny stuffed koala brandon's advisor gave her fell off of the mobile on her swing and into her lap, which sent her into an adorable little giggle fit. jude also had her first overnight trip and hotel stay this past month. she was a traveling champ, despite the cold temps in keystone and less-than-ideal driving conditions.

jude and her daddy

this girl of ours is generally pretty happy, but she is starting to show her joy with cute little laughs and coos. boy do we like her a whole lot! 

grow in love

lots to say already.

i'm happy i managed to catch her cute little noise there at the start. i've been trying to catch it for a few weeks, but each time i bust out the camera, she gets quiet. we sure love this little wiggly, talkative girl!

jude, 1 month

caveat: this blog has quickly turned into being all about jude. i suppose it follows the classic middle-class american blog trajectory: blog about your adventures, then about your dog, then about your home remodel projects, and now about your baby. oh well, such is life!

i know keeping a proper baby book is unlikely to happen for me, so for now, this blog will serve the purpose of helping me remember her milestones and moments.

---

age: 1 month

weight: 8lbs 1.5oz

length: not sure, she was 21" at her 3 week appointment.

diaper size: newborn or size 1.

clothing size: 0-3 months primarily, with a few newborn things still fitting.

nicknames: jude bug, juno, babykins, critter (only brandon calls her that last one, but he calls all kids under 3 critters).

health: after we got home from the hospital with this little one, we ran into major issues with breastfeeding. i'll spare the details, but it was rugged for her and for me. i spent a lot of time pumping and feeding her with a syringe, which had me comparing the experience to raising a stray kitten. she kept getting fussy, so i thought maybe we were overfeeding her with the syringe, since we squirted it into her mouth (as opposed to breastfeeding where she would moderate when she was done). turns out, we were starving her--totally unintentionally and i, gladly, have no mom guilt about this mistake. she dropped from 7lbs, 11oz at birth to 6lbs, 9oz on day 5 so it was a rough start at life. we have overcome this issue and she is eating like a champ now!

sleep: she has a pretty consistent 5 hours at the start of the night, but the 2-6am period is a little unpredictable. she has slept 7 hours in a row a few times and that has been glorious!

diet: she breastfeeds 8-9 times a day and has her early morning (somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30) feeding from a bottle with brandon. i am so glad she is taking the bottle without issue because i really love to be able to stay in bed in the morning! i think brandon enjoys getting to participate in the feeding process too. 

baby gear love: she simply wouldn't have survived the first month if it weren't for having a nipple shield. i didn't even know these existed prior to her precipitous weight plummet (see above), but this little piece of silicon saved her from the unintentional starvation she experienced in her first week of life. 

loves: the swing, being swaddled, skin-to-skin time with dad, mimicking a woodpecker when she gets too hungry, and bath time. this kid is also clearly an introvert (hmm, wonder where she gets that?), as she requires a fair bit of alone time every day.

dislikes: change. diaper change, clothing change, position change, etc. she recovers from her annoyance quickly, but she makes her annoyance known.

milestones: she is starting to be more interactive with brandon and i, which is really fun. 

random notes: this girl is completely unfazed by the giant, rowdy dog who adores her. he loves to sneak licks, especially when she is in the swing and at the perfect height for him to nuzzle his way up to her. i guess because harvey has always been part of her life, she doesn't know to be perturbed by his kisses.

also, her eyes are a steely blue and i am eager to see what color they will turn out to be. there aren't any hints of brown, but i'm not sure they will stay as they are now.

the plunge

we envisioned using cloth diapers for jude, but during her first month she was too small and i was too tired. however, this week we took the plunge. we don't yet have enough to get through more than a day and half, so our plunge has been gradual, but i am pretty impressed with how uncomplicated they are. plus, she looks so darn adorable in these giant colorful diapers!

jude bug, the wiggle worm

here is a little video of jude from this morning. she really likes checking out the world on her own in the mornings, which is awesome because it gives me time to drink my coffee and eat before she requires much of me. she is still a pretty content little one.

(sorry for the poor video quality. those of you who care about the video likely won't care about the quality...)

we are getting a little better at life with jude as we learn her needs and cues. she has taken to a bottle, so i get up for the middle of the night feeding but brandon does the early morning feeding, allowing me to sleep in a smidge. i think brandon enjoys being able to participate in feeding her and i really enjoy sleeping in! 

the other night brandon did the middle of the night feeding, so i went without seeing jude for about 10 hours. i swear she grew up in that time! it was incredibly strange for me to go that long without seeing her!