Thoughts

I was talking with a good friend the other day who is 20 weeks pregnant with her second little girl. She was saying that this baby is her chance to do a lot of things differently. Her comment made me start thinking about Jude. Would I do anything different in regards to raising him? Is there anything I’ve learned these past 21 months that stopped and made me think “Hmm, mental note, if we have a second child don’t do this.” I’ve been trying to come up with anything I feel that I would differently with another baby… and I really can’t think of anything. We’ve just gone with our instincts and what feels natural when it comes to Jude, while still providing boundaries and discipline. He’s happy, well-adjusted, social, and respectful. Of course he has his occasional toddler moments of “NO! MINE!” or back-arching spaz attack when he doesn’t get his way, but not so often that I would call them anything other than being an ordinary toddler. With daylight savings time, there was a night this week that was a little rough and brought me back to the first year when every little creak or crack would wake him up, pretty much hourly. As I was rocking my almost two year old back to sleep, I was transported back to one of the many similar moments over a year ago and couldn’t help but smile. I kissed his sweet blond head and snuggled him a little tighter. I thought of all the “advice” I got during that time period about letting him cry it out because he was “manipulating” me. If ‘manipulating’ meant he needed his mommy to hold him in the dark because he was tired, scared, hungry and couldn’t get back to sleep on his own, so be it. Those moments felt like an eternity when I was in them, but now they feel like a million years ago. And I miss them. I suppose only time will tell if there are certain things I would change. But when I look at Jude right now – with his wild shock of white hair, infectious laugh, million watt smile, and his sheer enthusiasm for EVERYTHING- no, I wouldn’t have done anything differently.

Slow down, little man.

I came across this the other day and decided to post it here so I can look back on it when life starts to get crazy, as it always does.  I worry too much about things like career, money and other "important" things that you really can't take with you.  I need to make this blog more of a priority as my hope is that one day, when I'm gone, Jude will be able to pull this up and read and still feel my love for him emanating from these simple words.  I need to learn to stop and give my husband one extra kiss or lingering touch every day and resist the urge to check my work email on my phone in the evenings while Jude hands me cloth diaper after cloth diaper that he pulls out of his drawer.  "Thank you, Jude, " I smile.  "Yup.  Yup mama." he says as he reaches for another, bursting with pride and confidence at what a good helper his mother thinks he is. 

"Long ago you came to me,
a miracle of firsts;
First smiles and teeth and baby steps,
a sunbeam on the burst.

But one day you will move away
and leave me to your past.
And I will be left thinking of
of a lifetime of your lasts..."

"The last time when you ran to me,
still small enough to hold.
The last time when you said you'd marry
me when you got old.

Precious, simple moments and
bright flashes from your past-
Would I have held on longer if
I'd have known they were your last?"

Jude's Words And Delicacies

So I don't forget, I like to make a post every few months of all of the words Jude says and all of the foods he loves and hates since I know pretty soon, there will be too many on each list to keep track.

Words:
Mama
Dada
More
Yup
Dog
Banana
Puppy
Cat
Kitty
Hat
Bellybutton
Book
Go
Hello
Milk
Shoe
And there are plenty more words that he has made up for things that I have no idea how to spell.  :)

In regards to food, I'm super lucky:  I don't have a picky eater.  He LOVES veggies- the greener the better.  He doesn't dislike much, and the ones he doesn't like, I sort of agree with him since they are foods of a questionable texture.  Maybe the universe is giving me a non-picky toddler to make up for the fact that he woke up every 1-2 hours a night for the first 10 months.  He'll have an occasional fickle day where he turns up his nose at all of the faves and will only settle for macaroni and cheese or toast, but those are really rare.  Regardless, I realize I'm lucky and I'm grateful!

Foods Jude loves (the favorites):
Pears
Peaches
Zucchini/Squash
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Pizza (who doesn't?)
Cheese
Crackers
Cheerios
Bread (let's be honest, Jude hasn't met a carb he didn't love)
Yogurt
Sweet Potatoes
Oatmeal
Peas!!
Carrots
Spinach
Green peppers
Salsa (mild of course)
Beans (black, pinto, baked- whatever)
Veggie Burgers
Lettuce
Raisins
Avocado
Veggie Eggrolls
Scrambled eggs
Toast
Pancakes
Macaroni and Cheese
Noodles with olive oil and garlic
Tofu
Frozen yogurt
Green beans
Mozzarella sticks
Tuna Salad
Onions
Mushrooms
Fish
Hashbrowns
Hummus
Potato Salad

Foods Jude hates:
Mandarin oranges
Mashed Potatoes (?!?!?)
Blueberries
Raspberries
String cheese
Cole Slaw

11 months

My sweet baby boy is eleven months today.  This time is going by way too fast.  He is starting to look and act less and less like a baby and more and more like a toddler. 

Likes:
Avocado eggrolls from Kona Grill
Snugglepuppy book
When Mommy dances for him
Playing "This Little Piggy" with his toes
Pulling all the toys out of the daycare toyboxes
Walking while someone holds his hands
Exploring every nook and cranny
Yogurt, yogurt, yogurt (if you offer it to him at a meal, he can't see it and it has to be given last otherwise he refuses to eat any other food)
Puppies
Having a bite of whatever someone is eating
Brushing his teeth (well, more like sucking the baby toothpaste out of the bristles)

Dislikes
Diaper and clothing changes
When Mommy leaves the room
Someone new taking him out of our arms before he is acclimated to them
Exersaucer
Telling him he can't do something

We survived!

I'm happy to report that our first day of cloth diapering went extremely well!  In fact, it went so well that I'm angry that I didn't try this sooner and let fear get the better of me.  Granted, we used pockets and fitteds for the entire day as I wanted to send the prefolds through one more wash and dry cycle.  I'm still a little intimidated by prefolds with snappis, but I'm sure it will be just like the others.  The only mistake I did make was forget that a fitted diaper wasn't a pocket (I was distracted by the striped skulls on the front) and forgot to put a cover over it.  Luckily, I noticed some dampness on the front of Jude's onesie before any huge mishaps occurred.

Daycare will be the next hurdle.  If you are thinking of cloth diapering and you send your child to daycare fulltime, you will have to check with the daycare provider to ensure they will be on board.  Oh, a tip I learned in regards to that:  make sure to talk to them in person with a pocket or AIO diaper in hand.  Most people when they hear the word "cloth diaper", the image of complicated cloth folding and big bulky diaper pins comes to mind (myself included before I knew better!).  Once they see that cloth diapering can be just as easy as disposables, most will go along with it with no complaints.  I didn't have an issue since the director of our daycare center said that many parents over the years had cloth diapered.  The only thing we needed to do was bring in a diaper pail to leave there and also a new wetbag everyday.  Then we would just transport the dipes to and from daycare in that.  We still have some disposables to use up at daycare, but will probably start with the cloth this week there as well!  We won't mess around with sending the prefolds there, only pockets and AIOs.  So far, so good!

In other news that is un-cloth diaper related, we are in the midst of trying to plan Jude's 1st birthday party which is occurring in a month.  My baby will be one year old in ONE MONTH??  It seems impossible.  It makes me sad and happy all at the same time.  I know it is stated over and over, time and again, but it really does go by so fast.  That's why I love to keep this blog- if only to remember the little things.

Mother's Day and The Mama Necklace

My Mother's Day rocked.

Jude woke up at 5 am (oh yeah, and he slept through the night- he must've known it was Mother's Day) and I brought him in to bed with us.  He chattered and giggled away until Phil got up with him so I could sleep in, which I didn't think I could do.  Then I woke up at 9am to the smell of a Skinny Vanilla Starbucks latte, a bouquet of beautiful flowers, a card and a beautiful little wrapped gift.

Sidenote:  Thanks to the blogosphere and mommy blogs, I fell in love with The Mama Necklace from ripegoods (etsy love!).  I showed Phil months ago and then assumed he forgot.  He didn't. 

I love the 'concept' of mother necklaces.  The only issue I have with them is that most you find in stores are just cheesy.  That's not for me.  This has that earthy, hippy, artsy vibe that I love in jewelry.  And it's eco-friendly.  What is there not to love?

The day was awesome.  I was spoiled by my two favorite guys.  I'm a lucky, lucky lady.

Magic

Yesterday we had classic spring weather.  The type of day where if you were standing in direct sunlight, you were warm, but if you happened to stay in a shadow for a few minutes there was a chilly bite of kinetic energy in the air.  I love these kinds of days that briefly exist before the hot blanket of summer takes over.  I came home from work, put another layer of clothing on Jude and we went and hung out in the backyard.  These days are his first real experience with the great big outdoors and he is constantly in awe of the small things that I take advantage of on a daily basis.  I found myself slightly envious of Jude in that he is able to see such sheer beauty and magic in the smallest of small things.  I posted something of the like on Facebook stating that I wished I could see the magic in something so simple as a blade of fresh spring grass, as Jude does. My wonderful aunt/godmother (who is one of the most insightful and artistic people I've ever known) stated in response to my comment : "you ARE--just noticing his discovery of the magic returns it to you!" 

And as always, she's right.

HUGE milestone.

That's right, avid blog followers.  It's official.  The day we've all been waiting for.  Are you waiting with baited breath?  Can't stand the anxiety for one more second?  Alright then, here it is....




We would like to announce.





Jude finally has enough hair to make shampoo mohawks!!!!  Wheeeeee!!!!



Enjoy the cuteness of the photographic evidence (and also the last time a bath will take place in the kitchen sink as evidenced by the last photo, before the expensive camera was almost lost to a tidal wave).