pulling up already

Well Jude has discovered how to pull up on things. He either sits on his knees or tip toes...so walking won't be in the near future because he tends to tip over pretty easily. But the crib is where he learned to pull himself up because it has those nice bars to pull up on and it's sturdy enough that it doesn't fall over. Now when he pulls himself up, he then likes to "yell" for us until we come to get him. It was really surprising to walk into his room the first time he did this. I'm not quite ready for that stage yet.

pulling up already - part 2

wrestling with daddy

Jude is learning how to wrestle with daddy from watching Ethan. I guess it's not so much wrestling as it is jump on dad when he's not looking. So now Jason will be out-numbered...as soon as Jude can walk.

our paper eater

Jude seems to seek out paper now that he can scoot around. He especially likes to go after the paper and magazines under our coffee table (which needs to be cleaned out anyway). I'm not sure if he needs more fiber in his diet or if he just likes the crinkly sound. But he's very good at finding it.

orange is the new black

Orange has become my favorite color lately... and orange scented things. Anything from shampoo to cleaners to air freshener... and clothes. Anyway, we all happened to wear orange shirts on the same day (not planned) so I thought it would be a great photo opportunity.

our little swimmer

Ethan has been very adventuresome lately and runs out into the ocean to play in the waves. He hasn't even minded having the waves crash over his head a few times. Thankfully he doesn't go too far and our beach is pretty shallow for a little ways. So his new trick is to wait for a wave to come and then fall forward and kind of crawl forward on his hands (he calls it swimming). It's so funny to watch and he has a blast.

This is Ethan's 'I have sand in my eyes' face. He's finally remembered not to try to wipe the sand out of his eyes with his sandy hands. As you can imagine that only causes more problems.

Since we don't have snow here, Ethan learned how to make sand angels. Almost the same thing.

boys and machines

Our neighbor let us use their mini-motor scooter because it was just sitting and collecting dust. Jason was so excited about it and rides it at least twice a day...and even tried riding it to work one day...which he ended up walking it to work about half way there because it ran out of juice. It's electric so it's definitely cheaper than gasoline powered machines but has just enough power to move you a little faster than walking speed. So one day he let Ethan ride on it with him and now Ethan jumps at the chance to ride the "bicycle" with daddy. Poor Jason...it's probably the closest he'll ever get to a motorcycle.


I rode it to the grocery store the other day just to pick up a few items. It was fun to ride but I definitely felt like I was an old lady riding on a hover-round. So I don't think anyone will be seeing me buzzing around town any time soon...yes I probably care too much what people think.

stuck!

I think Jude has out-grown his bouncy seat. He can't just sit there and relax, he has to be grabbing for the toys in front or leaning over to chew on the sides. He is way more happy scooting on the floor or sitting in his exersaucer. So this day I walked into the room to find him turned side ways and still trying to find something to chew on. He didn't seem mad about it just annoyed that he still couldn't reach the floating fish and toys on the front of it.

sweet moment

Ethan asked to hold Jude, so I laid him in his lap (he wanted to use the Boppy pillow like mommy does). They cuddled a little bit and then Ethan was all done. Just needed a quick snuggle with his little brother.

strike a pose

This is Jude's new little move. I'm not sure if he does it to rest a minute or so he can reach for something. But it sure is funny to watch him. As soon as he can sit on his own I'm sure it will be helpful to go from crawling to sitting...but right now it just looks like he's posing for a picture.

The Big 3

Ethan is showing that he is 3 by holding up 3 fingers.


It is Ethan's birthday today and he turned 3. He has grown up so much these past few months...especially now that he is a big brother. He loves to sing his ABC's and counts up to 20. He is starting to sing songs with us and loves to be read to. He really enjoys going to the beach and getting sand all over him and has recently started playing more in the water. He is pretty much potty trained and he is usually running around in just his underwear (partly because it is easier and partly because it is so hot lately). He's using so many new words lately that we can actually have little conversations with him. He loves to wrestle with his daddy and whenever I get down on the floor to clean up or something, he jumps on my back ready to play. We've had to explain that wrestling is only with daddy. :o)


We had a party with some friends from church and had a great time. He seemed a bit overwhelmed by it and got whiny toward the end...but I think over-all he had a great time too. We had swimming in our blow up pool, a pinata (which took too long so we ended up tearing it open and dumping it on the ground), dinner and cupcakes and then topped it off by opening presents. Happy Birthday our sweet little boy!

our explorer

Since Jude has been scooting around more and more he is getting himself stuck in corners or on top of toys. He then lets out a big cry to let us know. This is a picture of Jude trying to crawl under the excer-saucer. I think he saw some fun toys underneath and he thought he could just climb on in to get them. Then he got mad becaue his head kept hitting the top...but a cute moment to click a picture.

5 months old

Jude is 5 months old today. He has really changed so much in the past month. He smiles a lot and laughs. He loves to move around the floor and explore everything he can get his hands on...or mouth on. His new move is to go from crawl position to almost sitting while he leans on one arm and looks like he's taking a break for a minute. He loves to give me kisses by grabbing my hair and sucking on the side of my face...Jason thinks it's gross. He growls and can scream extremely loud when he's playing. He grabs his feet and puts them in his mouth. He now likes to ride in the car and the stroller (big accomplishment) He loves to eat food and hasn't turned his nose up to anything yet. His new thing is the mesh bag that you can put whole pieces of food in it (see picture below). It keeps him quite entertained. He's quite the cute little kid (if I say so myself) and we all love him so much. God has blessed us with another great little boy!

we all scream for ice cream

Ethan and I have enjoyed our ice cream in the evening. I bought some ice cream cones the other day and Ethan and I agree it has made it even better (Jason likes his in a cup with milk and chocolate syrup). On this particular evening Jude was scooting around and came up to Ethan. If I zoomed the picture in you could probably see the drool dripping off his chin....let's just say he's looking forward to ice cream in the evenings too (...and don't worry, Ethan does have underwear on in this picture. It's hot here but not hot enough to go naked .... well maybe it is but we don't).

yummy papayas

We've tried giving Jude a variety of foods. We want him to be a good eater like his big brother so hopefully trying new things will help him to not be picky...we'll see. There are papayas growing in our back yard and a friend of mine told me how to make them into baby food, so we gave it a try... as you can see he seems to like them. We've also tried peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, peaches, applesauce, pears...and our next new food to try is the avacado. So far he seems to be a good eater and hasn't turned away any food we've given him. Sometimes we can barely get it to his mouth fast enough.

fun at the beach

Well Jude had his first real beach day. Usually we would put him in the front carrier and let Ethan run around and play in the sand and water. But we decided it would be fun to get Jude's little swim shirt and trunks on and see how he liked the beach. It was a little challenging since Jude can't sit up on his own and he loves to chew on his hands...so trying to keep him somewhat sand free was a little tricky. But he seemed to like it.

water table fun

Sand and water tables were a great invention...especially when we don't really have much of a back yard. We had some old rice that I threw in there since we didn't have sand for the other side. Ethan had a blast mixing it all together and driving his cars through it. It's a great way to stay cool...until he decided it would be fun to dump the whole thing over and all of the plants below were covered in sticky rice. We then had a great talk about not doing that again. :o)

sugar high

Well thankfully potty training is going well. Ethan has seemed to get the idea and we have had few accidents. We're still using pull-ups at night and naps but hopefully as he gets older we won't need to use those anymore. What size do they go up to...? :o)

A piece of small candy has been a great motivator for potty training. Sometimes the thought of a piece of candy would get Ethan to go without me asking him. Sometimes he would go a few drops (since he just went 10 minutes ago) just so he could get another piece. So I'm wondering how do I phase out the candy?