Santa Baby

Last year, getting our picture taken with Santa, was a breeze.  Jude was ten months old, and sometimes scared of strangers, but for the most part, he'd contently sit on anyone's lap.  This year, Jude does not easily trust strangers, and has a very strong reaction when he is placed in someone's lap that he does not know.  While we talked about Santa this year, he had no clue what was going on when we were waiting in line at the mall with all kinds of excited kids, and all of a sudden his mean Mommy turned him over to a puffy guy with a lot of white hair -- nooooooooooooo!

Maybe next year will be better.  This classic photo was well worth the $25.  He's already forgiven me for the ten seconds of torture, and I'm sure we'll look at this years and years from now and think it's hilarious...I already do!  Sorry kid.



Cookie Time

I'm starting to get over the fact that Jude is not always going to look perfect.  I am slowing accepting that he will often get food on his clothes, that his hair is not going to lay perfectly, that dog hair will always be on him, and that the majority of time he will have snot smeared on his face.  Because I'm coming to this realization, I'm also starting to do more messy things with Jude - like making cookies!  I thought this would be a great year to start a homemade sugar cookie tradition for me and Jude, and I'm so glad we did.  While, he didn't help much, he did get to see the process from start to finish of making something. 

"Helping" with scooping out the cookie dough.

Being thoughtful, and sharing his cookie dough with Lucy (at bottom of pic).

And the finished product.  And I must say, they were delicious!



Kissing Cousins

K Pa asked for a sentimental gift from me and Kitty for Christmas.  We're not the best, or most creative, at coming up with sweet gifts, but we decdied a cute pic of the grandboys together in a canvas would be sentimental to him.  We had to figure out how to get these two (mostly Jude) to cooperate enough to get a good pic.  We met at the mall to try to get some shots.  Here are some of the outtakes.

Snuggling boys.

Pucker up.  Waller's not too sure about this crazy kid yet.

Kitty must have been saying something interesting.

Jude tasting how yummy Waller is!  Waller looks a little terrified here.

Jude helping Waller with his drool.

And the winner - sweet, Eskimo kisses!



First Cards Basketball Game

K Pa took Jude and I to a U of L basketball game right before Christmas.  He had so much fun.  I outfitted him in his U of L gear, and he loved the excitement, and seeing his Cards in real life. 

Getting a better view from K Pa's shoulders.

A quick pic while watching the game - we won!

And his favorite part, checking out the "wa wa" and lcking the glass, gross.

Me, trying to get a picture with the little man...not going my way.

Thanks K Pa for taking us to the game, can't wait to go back!



No Biting

Jude was having some problems at daycare, namely, biting.  Jude is not used to be around lots of little kids, and I think this is the only way he knew how to express his frustrations with kids.  He's been so used to getting whatever he wants, playing with whatever toy he wants, and not having to worry about sharing it with anyone.  Throw in a bunch of 1-2 year olds where it's all fair game, and he was having a difficult time adjusting.  So, after several weeks of biting, I thought I should just talk to him about it.  I always read that toddlers understand more than we think they can, so I thought we should have our first Mother-Son talks about doing the right thing (one of many more to come I'm sure).  Here it goes!



Really, he improved!  His biting decreased, and now he rarely does it!  But, he has starting jumping on kids' backs...guess we'll need to talk about that now.

Light Up St. Matthews

And on to the next Holiday event.  This one was on a gorgeous December day.  It was so mild and pleasant, and a perfect day to go to Light Up St. Matthews.  We started by going to the petting zoo, which was just a small enclosed area, full of all kinds of animals, and tons of kids.  It was crazy in there.  I was very nervous with all these rambuctious kids running around in there, torturing animals, and hoping we didn't get trampled by them.  Actually, thankfully, I was holding Jude when this kid was literally hanging off the side of this pony, and the pony was none to pleased with that, and actually kicked its legs in the air, ran as fast as it could away from the kid that was hanging on it, and knocked over a little girl.  That was enough for us, we were done.

In the petting zoo, hoping for the best!

Checking out an alpaca.

There was also a choo choo train!  Ah, so exciting!  Waiting in line with Daddy.

Getting strapped in the caboose.

He just sat there with his arms resting on the rails...chillin.  It was too cute.

A sweet shot I captured on my phone of Jude playing in the leaves.  He had such a blast jumping in them and throwing them all around him...it's the simplest things that bring him pleasure.  Love him :)

Christmas Fun

The weeks leading up to Christmas seemed crazy busy, but that's ok with us.  It's nice to have stuff to go to and see when the weather is miserable and we're all bored in the house.  We started off the Holiday season by going to Light Up Louisville.  I had never been before, and since it wasn't freezing outside, we thought we would check it out.  We got there at the very end of the parade...which wasn't much of one, from what we saw.  Not that we minded.  There were lights, and trucks, and music and even some dancers, so Jude found it to be interesting enough. 

Getting a better view from Daddy.

Family photo.  I know I look wacko in this hat, but it's so warm and made of soft Irish sheep wool .

They had a little walk through area that was indoors - I think it was Santa's or the elves' playland.  There were lots of holiday decorations, arts and crafts for little ones, and sugar cookies. 

Jude moved a little elf that was sitting in this chair because he wanted to sit in it himself!

I wish I had taken a video, because Jude was a dancing machine.  There was live music at the event, and a huge open grassy area, and this kid jammed.  He was doing forward rolls, skipping around, clapping, and just dancing.  He loved it!  I think we'll come back next year, as long as it's not 10 degrees outside.

My cute little guy.



Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving Day was very low key - thankfully!  We spent the first part of the day at home eating a big breakfast feast.  Then we headed over to the Austin's house since Lonnie's parents were in Tennesee celebrating.  Now, I get pretty nervous going over here, because they have a really nice house, with LOTS of very breakable, expensive things.  We have to watch Jude like crazy to make sure nothing gets broken.  But, with so many adults, we had enough eyes on him to stay in the clear.

And did I mention they have three dogs?  One is huge, and very friendly, but Jude was a little overwhelmed.

A successful family picture!

O Christmas tree!

Love my Mi Mi.  After all, she's the one who taught me that farting is funny.  Thanks Mom!

Kitty with my sweet nephew.

Best attempt.

Precious Baby Waller.

A game you and Daddy played.  Not real sure about you two.

A little blurry, but Jude got a little jealous when his Pa Pa held Waller, so of course, he scooped them both up!

Pa Pa with his favorite girls and boys.

My favorite nephew :)

Top 5 BIG things I'm thankful for!

1. A healthy, happy son and my amazing husband (okay that's 2).

2. Wonderful and loving family and friends that help us care for Jude, and will surely help us raise him into an exceptional man one day.

3. The newest addition to our family -- Waller -- who brings us all such joy and reminds us of the blessing and miracle of life.

4. A new job with a great company that makes lives better for others!  Even though marketing isn't saving any lives, being part of a company that does, makes work so much more rewarding.

5. More time to spend with all these wonderful people largely due to #4.

Chicago!

I'm behind again....here we go - catch up time!

A couple months ago, we went on a quick trip to the windy city -- and had a blast!  We decided this would be a fun way to celebrate my new job, Lonnie's promotion, and do a bunch of fun kids stuff with Jude in the big city.  We left for Chicago after work on a Friday, and Jude did surprisingly well on the 5 hour trip.  He napped, played with his musical toys, and then was completely passed out for the last two hours.  We arrived at 10pm, and once we got the car parked and checked in at the hotel, Jude was a maniac!  We were in a huge room, with these great windows that Jude would stand at and look at all the cars.  He ran around the room, doing his forward rolls, playing on the bed, and just being silly.  It was so cute to see.  But, it really messed with his nightime routine.  We all didn't go to sleep until 12:30am (1:30am our time!).  The one negative thing about our room, was that we couldn't figure out how to get it warmer in there.  So, we used the excuse that it was too cold for Jude to sleep in his pack-n-play, and needed to sleep in the big bed with us :)

Relaxing the first night in Chicago.

Running around the halls of the hotel in our pj's.

Since we went to bed so late, I was a little excited thinking we would all sleep in the next morning...wrong.  Jude woke us up at 6:45a.m. - he doesn't even wake up that early when he goes to bed at 9.  That's okay, it was vacation...we adjust.  We got going and had a quick breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, then went to Millenium Park. 

One of our few family pics from this trip.

Hanging out with my man on this gorgeous day.

It didn't take long for Jude's lack of shut eye to catch up with him.  We walked a couple miles to the Children's Museum, and then hung out around Navy Pier until he woke up from his afternoon siesta.

And then the fun really began!  The Children's Museum of Chicago was so cool.  Way cooler than our Louisville Science Center, because the whole place was for little ones. 

We started out in the jungle gym room (or at least that's what I'll call it).

Then off to the fire station/fire safety room.  Where Jude and Lonnie learned to get low in case of a fire.

Driving the fire truck.

Then off to the big splash area.

Next up...excavation!

And then, probably his favorite part of this museum...a slide!  He went down it probably 20 times.

And then some area where Jude threw balls...I don't really remember the theme of this room.

And last up, Jude drove a bulldozer.  There were so many other cool rooms there, but this little guy was a wild man, and it made picture taking very difficult.

Hanging out with Daddy after the museum.



We then strolled along Michigan Avenue and ate a delicious late lunch.  But, we could tell this guy was wiped out.  We thought we'd head back to the hotel, let Jude take a nap, and then go get some dinner.  I'm slowly learning, that you can't plan everything with a toddler.  Jude was wired when we got back and wanted to play in the hotel room some.  I took a quick shower while Daddy and Jude were doing who knows what, but this is what I walked out to.  Oh Jude, the things your daddy does to you.

He finally crashed at 5:30pm, and I thought he'd wake up after an hour or two of napping, but that did not happen.  We ordered some Chicago pizza and ate in.  We tried to wake up Jude to eat some, but he wasn't having it.  He passed out for the night and didn't get up until 7:30am.

The next morning, I was so excited because we were heading to the Lincoln Park Zoo!!!  I love Zoos, probably just as much as Jude.  I think it is so fascinating to have all these creatures in one little place. 

We did need to eat some grub first, and headed to a great breakfast place right around the corner.  Here's Jude doing his new thing.  He loves to eat just the condiments.  He's dipping something (bread?) into the ketchup, and just licking off the ketchup, not eating whatever the ketchup is on.  He does this a lot, especially with his fries and chicken, and K Pa tells me he really likes Chick-fil-A's BBQ sauce the best.

And here we are -- the Zoo!  

First stop, the carousel.

Then to the cool cats exhibit.  I think lions are Jude's favorite cats -- when asked what they say, he says, "roooooaaaar."



Checking out the cats in the comfort of Daddy's arms.  They were so close!

I didn't get a picture -- but, the monkey/gorilla/chimpanzee exhibit was so cool.  A chimpanzee actually walked up to Jude and smacked the glass right where he was standing.  That was pretty cool. 

On our way to see the farm animals.  Photo op.

Don't mind the snotty nose :)

I had to get a picture of this.  I was very concerned that this camel was about to just walk out of the exhibit - look at him! Umm, anyone else think this looks like a potential problem?

Taking a break.

What are you looking at?

Ah, I see - du's.

They also had the neatest bears exhibit -- I guess because of their football team, but I've never seen so many species of them.  Here's a black bear, but they also a couple bears that grow to only be 150 pounds.

After spending a few hours at the Zoo, it was time for our little family to head home.  Jude did great on the way home too, but we did have a poo poo fiasco about 60 miles from home.  FIASCO!  Jude poo'd while driving (a massive amount) and when we stopped to change him, it was pouring out the bottom of his pants leg and onto his shoes.  It was so disgusting.  Poor kid kept saying "uh oh."  That's right honey - major uh oh.  Other than that, our trip was fabulous.  We had such an enjoyable time spending time with each other and experiencing new things together.  We'll be back, I'm sure!