Lucky

Jude is going to be 4 months old this week.  Wow.  Looking back at pictures he has come such a long way and grown so so so much!  At this point our guy is wearing anywhere from 9-12 month clothing!  Can you believe that?  And it’s not that he is big or chubby, it’s that he is so long!  I think this kid is going to be one tall dude when he grows up!  Also the cloth diapers give him a big booty, so that ups the clothing size as well.

We have had some success in the sleeping department.  Jude actually slept through the night abut three days ago, going down at 7pm and getting up at 6:30am with out a peep in between.  Normally though he wakes up once sometime between 10-12pm and we just sooth him back to sleep using a sort of Ferber method and then he is up between 4-5am where he eats a few ounces and goes back to bed till 6:30-7am or so.  It’s really been great. I love our bedtime routine, some down time in the crib while I get things ready, a nice long bath with lots of kicking and singing, then a big bottle and a little cuddle time.  And now Jude goes pretty much right to sleep on his own without it being a long production after using the Ferber method for a few days. The only down side is that he has become a real bear at nap time.  He just doesn’t want to do it for very long.  We try for an hour nap in the morning and a two hour nap in the afternoon.  It used to be that this was easy and he liked the schedule, but this week it is a no go.  Earlier this week he even had a day where he didn’t nap AT.ALL.  Ugh!  Luckily he was in chipper spirits all day despite the not napping.  It seems to be getting better but the only place I can get him to nap for more than 20-30 minutes at a time is in his swing, which is a life saver but a habit I hate to make.  We went cold turkey on weening him off of swaddling and I dread the day we have to get rid of the swing too.  Though it was really only bad with the no swaddling for about a week and I think part of it was because of teething.  Yep, still working on a picture but Jude’s TWO bottom teeth have broken through the surface and are coming in strong.  So cute.  But SO.MUCH.DROOL.  Really, he soaks through shirts.

Being a stay at home mom has been going really well for me.  I feel like we have a routine and because of birthday money we have been going out and doing things a few times a week, which has been really nice.  And I think going forward in our budget we are going to come up with a small amount of money each month for S and I each to have and spend as we will.  Some mad money.  Though we still have days were I feel like I am just counting the hours till S comes home and takes over or bedtime/nap time.  But those days a few and far between and they are nothing compared to the horrible, rotten, no good, very bad days we used to have in the beginning.  After all, in the last two weeks I haven’t once cried or said terrible things to the baby, so improvement!  But sometimes it is so good, so much fun, so much joy that I think to myself, how did I get so lucky?  Because over all that is the only word to describe this beautiful life that I am living, lucky.

Now, to reward you all with some pictures!

 Doesn’t he look like we have done something to really astound/embarrass him in this one?

 Jude LOVES his jumperoo.  He only two days ago figured out how to jump 

in it and he goes crazy in it.

 This guys name is Octo-Jude, for sure Jude’s favorite toy right now.

 Nothing is safe from Jude’s teething mouth.  Other than teething toys of course, he doesn’t want

anything to do with those silly things.

 We realized with the rate Jude was growing he probably won’t fit into these

hats during the winter, so we did a hat photo shoot.

And last, our little pilot.  Such a heart breaker.

-Liz