Jude is One

Oh my sweet baby Jude.  You may not be overly impressed with the effort I put into celebrating your first birthday.  But what I lack in decor and time, I make up for in my obsession with you.

You didn't even use your birthday as an excuse to take a break from your daily chore of emptying dishes onto the floor.  That is the kind of dedicated baby you are.  

You love to play outside with your brothers and sister.  It sometimes ends in tears (they are kind of rough) and it always ends in a very dirty little guy but you look so awesome crawling after them.

You have become a little wary about food.  You are willing to give things a try but a lot of things end up spit back out into my hand.  But you love steamed baby carrots, almost all soups, yogurt, and almost everything eaten by other people.  There is nothing that gets you crawling faster than someone eating something.  You are always up for a bite.

 The second thing that gets you crawling is loud noises.  The vacuum sends you reeling at an unprecedented pace.  When you spent the morning with my friend Leslee, she said you crawled like a speed demon when her big Mastiff dogs came into the room.  Of course from your view they probably looked like small horses.

 You have big beautiful grey/brown eyes.  They are very expressive and very curious.

 You are extremely good at baby sign language and you know a lot of words.  But when frustrated, you would much rather just scream at us.  Your dolphin pitch, as it has come to be known is both adorable and ear splitting.

 And the way you scrunch your nose when you smile?  I can't get enough of it.

 Whenever you are expecting something, like mom to finally give you that milk bottle, you pant like a puppy and it is the best thing ever.

 You also play a mean game of fetch.

 You sleep through the night almost all of the time now.  It is amazing for everyone.  You also go down for naps and sleep with very little fanfare.

 You LOVE stories in the rocking chair.  You always squeal in joy when I sit you in there and go reaching through the books.  But, you don't love my entire board book selection.  When I pick a non-favorite, you bat it out of my hand and reach down to pull out one you really want.  We have read five little ladybugs many many times.

You are such a happy little guy, unless someone wants to change your diaper.  You were so unreasonable that you sat in a poopy diaper for a long old time when the poor babysitter couldn't get you to hold still long enough to get it off.  

Every lady in church is in love with you.  You stare at them behind us until they catch your eye.  Then you give them your killer scrunch nose smile.  I frequently turn around to find half the ladies in the back of the church making faces at you.  

 You are also a big fan of frosting. The cake you could do without.  But the frosting... mmmmm.

 Jude, I am so glad to be your mom.

 Asher, knock it off.

 But seriously Jude, so glad to be your mom.  I love you buddy.