a jude update

Jude will be 11 months on the 18th of May- just a couple of weeks away! Plans are underway for his first birthday. The theme is going to be dump trucks. It's so fun to plan his first party and we look forward to seeing him eat his first piece of cake.

Jude is the happiest baby I've ever been around. He constantly has a huge smile on his face. He even smiles with his eyes, which melt my heart. He loves to watch Noah play and laughs at everything he does.

Jude enjoys playing "shy" now. He buries his head under my arm when we see a friend or a stranger. This is his sweet way of getting attention.

He loves to snuggle and cuddle. He will reach for anyone who is willing to hold him. He's been quite attached to me for several months, but lately he will lunge for his daddy and does not want me to take him back.

Jude is crawling very fast now. He pulls up to a standing position on anything that will hold his weight. Even a large toy will serve this purpose on occasion. He's been cruising a little. He stood by himself for a few seconds one day, but then realized he was standing and dropped down on his bottom.

Jude likes to pull all the books off the shelves, flush the toilet and play in the toilet water, and drag out everything from the lower kitchen cabinets. Toddlerhood, here we come!

His favorite thing to do is EAT. People are so surprised at how much food he can consume. He eats whatever we have for dinner with a few exceptions. He's not picky at all! He's nursing much less now. Five minutes at best, four times a day and then he's down to play in the floor, especially if big brother is in the room.

Jude takes a morning and afternoon nap and sleeps great at night.

All around Jude is a laid-back happy kind of guy who brings great joy to our family!

Jude's first official swim and he LOVED it! The water was bit cold, but he never fussed once. As soon as I put him in he started splashing. His lips began to quiver once and I realized maybe it was time for a swimming break!

All dressed for the pool

Look at my cute knee crawler! No more soldier crawling for this guy!

a noah update

Noah is at the age (2 years, 9 months) where he is learning new things, singing new songs, saying new words, and surprising us with new thoughts each day. He has an incredible amount of energy which I attempt to channel in a good way. He's becoming more and more obedient, throwing less fits, and is a joy to be around. Someone described him the other day as "obedient, but fun". I think that sums our Noah up pretty well.

Noah's favorite songs as of lately: "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and "The Gospel Song" (You can click here to listen to this song by Sovereign Grace Ministries.)

Noah enjoys reading books, lots of books. He enjoys learning about sharks and other marine life and trucks and other forms of transportation. He also enjoys hearing bible stories. His favorite bible story is Jonah right now.

Noah identifies all shapes and colors with the exception of sometimes calling rectangles, triangles. His favorite shape is of course the circle. But he is also fond of the oval and star.

Noah is aware that words are comprised of letters, but is not identifying letters yet. Our plan is to work more on identifying letters and their sounds in the coming months.

No news on the potty training front. This is more my fault because I haven't invested the time or energy. I hope to work on this in the coming months as well!

Enjoy some pictures of Noah's busy life!

Noah did not suddenly get diagnosed with a vision problem. He just really enjoys wearing our glasses. Though I hope he doesn't inherit his mom and dad's near-sightedness, he does look awfully cute!
Here's Noah reading a bedtime bible story to his Elmos.

This is a world map puzzle I bought for the boys. It's quite advanced for their age, but I thought Noah could learn about the animals in different continents and where daddy is going when he goes to Africa in a few weeks.

We've had quite a few rainy days lately, so lots of indoor play. One day Noah spent quite a large chunk of time transferring beans to different sized bowls. This proved to be a big hit!

One of his favorite activities- reading books by the bookshelf. He'll do this activity for 30 minutes or more!

I spread out a blanket the other night for us to watch Finding Nemo for our Friday Family Night. Noah ran in circles before the video began.

One day for snack time I made Noah and I some Raspberry Lemonade using some Crystal Light individual packs. Noah thought it was such a treat!

Here's Noah playing underneath his slide. His friend, Grant, calls it a "jail". I think that's because his dad is a security officer.

My sweet boys are ready for a wagon ride. There's this area by our house that has a bunch of hills. The boys yell like crazy and beg me to take them down again and again. Going down is fun but try lugging this wagon with these big boys up all the hills. Talk about exhausting!

Last Saturday we took the boys on their first swim of the year. Noah wore floaties for the first time.

He was a little afraid at first and just wanted to stay in the kiddie pool. Towards the end I pulled him in to the big pool and showed him how he could touch in the shallow end. Then he had a blast!

Noah and his daddy are laying on the floor watching Finding Nemo. This was Noah's first full-length movie ever. He didn't really sit still, which is totally fine. He basically watched the movie while running around the room and sitting on different pieces of furniture. I guess that's how active little boys watch videos :)