The Daily Jude 3/2/11

Seriously?

The Daily Jude 3/1/11

Enjoying a little reading time with Mommy. Jude loves his new birthday books (thanks, Katy, for "The Little Fish")!

The Daily Jude 2/28/11

Our friends, Kris and Dana, invited us over for special weeknight Asian dinner. We loved it and Jude did, too!

Would you call this a "mosey"?

Dictionary.com describes mosey as "to walk or move in a leisurely manner." Jude's walking certainly doesn't look like casual or easy. My little boy is using all of his brain to keep his balance and put one foot in front of another.

He is up to about 15 steps or so now. But as Mommy and Mama move further apart, he takes a couple of stumbles as he walks across the living room floor. We were so proud to see him get right back up on to his feet to keep trying. Soon, I know that walk will turn into a run.

Snowy Snowy 1st Birthday

One year ago I hadn't eaten in 36 hours, Lindsay was watching season one of Lost on DVD, and Tiger was apologizing for his mistakes. And then, at 9:14 that night, a scrunchy little web-toed being came into our lives.

And now we've planned a party to celebrate one year of crying, giggles, smiles, and poop. And while Jude's name is on the invitations and the party banner, I have to admit that the party is really our way of celebrating the fact that we made it through one year. There were tough times - oh were the times tough - but here we are, with a little guy who is happy, curious, and oh-so-busy. I'm not saying that the rest is going to be a walk in the park, but I've gone from feeling like every second was a decision to a confident, proud, and very happy mama. 523,600 minutes was all it took.

So while the weather had other plans for our party (you can call it "Domebuster II"), that didn't stop us from reveling in the amazement of how our lives have changed for the better.

I love you, Jude!

He looks just like you.

When we were choosing our donor, we chose someone who had brown eyes and brown curly hair, not because we thought we were going to fool anyone into thinking that maybe he was genetically related to both of us.  But it was important to me that Jude looks like a part of "us."  Similarly, we chose someone who was outgoing and extroverted for the same reasons -- so our baby would have a combination of both of our personalities.

Yesterday at our Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) class, we were going around the table sharing how we created our families.  We shared a little bit about our story and Liz's pregnancy.  And then after class, another parent came up to me and shared that she never knew that Liz was the one who had carried Jude.  She said that she always thought that Jude was such a perfect combination of our personalities and appearances that she didn't know who his birth mother was.  

Well done, Heyers.  Well done.

The Daily Jude

Having an iPhone has changed my life in more ways than one, but one of the best parts about it is the ability to take decent pictures and easily email them. I really love taking pictures, but I don't always have my big ol' camera on hand and the thought of pictures languishing in the camera, waiting to be uploaded, kind of makes my head explode (can't. handle. one. more. item. on. the. to-do. list).

So I started taking and emailing a picture of Jude every day. It's the kind of thing that if I'd set out to do, I never would have done it. In fact saying I'm doing it here could potentially be picture suicide.I'll try not to let it turn into that, but just in case, here are a few we've taken so far:

Diving in the toy box

Shaking his maraca (when ISN'T he shaking that maraca?)

Wearing his new Boston Terrier shirt

"Mama, I might be too cool for school."

And he's up the stairs!!!!

Showing off his hammer skills

There's this thing in front of my face, but I can still see you.... weird...

Happy Birthday, Isabelle!

You know I love the stripes!

Oooooh.... a new toy from Mommy....

Mac and cheese?!?! Where have you been all my life?????

I'm a blackbelt in karate!

Looking for a book....

A little skeptical of his buddy, Milo

I bite my spoon at you!

Questioning authority

Blueberries, why are you so good to me?

At least he'll know his name, right?

When we decided to try to get pregnant, we started brainstorming names.  We had picked out our girl's name years ago.  In fact, the "Project Roosevelt" blog name came from our girl's name.  Eleanor.

We were at a loss for boys' names.  We had some ideas, but nothing really struck us.  Until Jude.  People ask us today how we came up with the name, what he is named after, but we don't really know.  I think that we were having the typical "What about ____?" conversation and someone said "What about Jude?" and the other one said "I like that."  And that's it.

And that decision has led to what some might call an obsession.  That is an obsession with personalized items for Jude.  Others in my family share that obsession and feed my problem.  As I look around Jude's room, I see puzzles, toys, art, towels...

Here are some of my favorite personalized things!

Jude's growth chart...he's 31" now!

A special piece of artwork for baby Jude.

Jude's very own name puzzle to match the stool I had growing up.

Dental hygiene starts early.

You know how sharks grow seven rows of teeth so that they can shed them and have replacements?  Jude isn't quite to the 7 rows of teeth yet, but the kid has a toothy grin that stretches from ear to ear even at the age of 11 months.  Right now, he has the four front top teeth and the four front bottom teeth.  So to start his dental hygiene early, we have started brushing his teeth before bedtime.

We were reluctant at first.  He's going to hate it!  There's now way he'll let us brush his teeth!  But Sneaky Baby strikes again, and in fact loves getting his teeth brushed.  Maybe it's the Elmo toothpaste.  Maybe it's the mirror that he gets to check himself out in.  Either way, Jude is an oral hygiene champ.  Here are a couple of pictures of the mini-dentist in action!

When you wake up in the morning, it's a quarter to one, and you want to have a little fun, you brush your teeth (ch-ch-ch-ch ch-ch-ch-ch-ch)....

When you wake up in the morning, it's a quarter to two, and you wish you had something to do, you brush your teeth (ch-ch-ch-ch ch-ch-ch-ch-ch)....

When you wake up in the morning, it's a quarter to three, and your mind starts humming, twiddle dee-dee, you brush your teeth (ch-ch-ch-ch ch-ch-ch-ch-ch)....

And Again....

Jude is sick. Again.
Another call from daycare, another dash from work to the school.
This time it's just a fever. Just a fever. So far, anyway.
I called the nurse line and they said he didn't need to come to urgent care unless his fever went up to 105, any other symptoms showed up, or he still has the fever in the morning.
I'm beginning to get better at this whole "parenting a sick child" thing, but I'm not so sure that's a good thing.

Since Jude is sick, we won't be going to our ECFE class tomorrow (Early Childhood Family Education). I'm kind of bummed because I was looking forward to the conversation we were going to have. But since we became parents, we've also become cancellers. I hate that. I hate that we are no longer dependable. I hate that we may or not come. I hate that we may or may not be on time. I hate that we sometimes have to miss out on the things that we'd like to do. I hate that I had to cancel a meeting at work today. I hate that we make plans and then can't follow through with them.

I know. I was probably too anal about all that stuff before and this is the healthy dose of "get over it" that I've been needing. I also know that other parents of small children totally get it and are definitely not judging me because honey, they've been there, too.

I think it's more the reality setting in of what everyone always told us - having kids will change your life. I knew that on an intellectual level, but learning that on an emotional level has been an entirely different story. Pre-baby, it was not unusual for us to hang out in our pajamas until 1:00 on a Saturday, then go run errands all afternoon and top off the day with dinner out. Now I'm up at 6:30 and planning my time away from the house in 2-3 hour increments. Or canceling work meetings. Or eating dinner at 5:00.

Ok. I don't want to complain. Because though the adjustment to life as a parent hasn't exactly been smooth sailing all the way, words can't describe how much I love Jude and honestly, a little change is quite worth it. Today, though he had a fever of 103, he was practicing standing on his own. It was amazing. There he was in his little footie pajamas with the guitar on them, squatting, then standing, then squatting again. Like a person.

So I guess if I have to cancel a meeting or two (or ten), it's ok. But I still hate that he's sick.