First Christmas

There are many firsts that we have the privilege of sharing with our baby, Jude. First time he sees his hand for what it is, first smile that doesn't have gas behind it, first real laugh, etc. Each new moment he experiences we are there to share it with him and see it through his eyes. You see, these moments are firsts for us too. Although we have experienced our own firsts we don't remember the ones from our infancy. It seems as though this makes it that much more fun and surreal.


Jude's first Christmas is on the books. It was fun and eventful. Some travel was involved. But then again it wouldn't be a holiday without some sort of travel. Oddly enough, it was Jude's first trip to Hutchinson to see his Nonna and Poppa Myers. Yes, they only live 40 minutes away, but they do come to see us quite often.

His first night in Hutchinson, Jude put in 6 and 1/2 hours of sleep. What?!? This is unheard of for 'The one who sleeps in spurts' (his Native American name). I don't know if it was our scent or the baby scent that put my parent's new cat, Malcolm, in a mood, but he didn't really enjoy our presence until the last day of our visit.

After our time in Hutchinson, we hopped in the car back to Wichita. Although it was nice to be home, we reloaded with in 2 hours and were back on the road to iced over Tulsa to see Megan, Andy, and to attend Erin's grandma's 90th birthday party. Our short stay at the Brown residence was most excellent. We were able to relax after experiencing the Tulsa road conditions. The next day we made it to the party. It was a great time with lots of family and Langston friends.

Back in the car. We journeyed back to Wichita where we were able to exchange gifts with Erin's parents, Amy and Justin. Jude once again raked in some awesome Christmas presents. Some of them are for now while others are for down the road. Jude is definitely all set for the time being thanks to loving family.

Hope you enjoy some of these photos. Even though some of you were able to experience these pictures first hand it is always good to match your own image with the actual one taken in the moment. Live in the moment. There won't be another first Christmas for Jude. It doesn't matter. His first one was legendary. Until the next Christmas...the Jude abides.

Real Food!

Jude has officially moved on to the real stuff. That's right! He got tired of milk (although he still drinks it) and wanted something solid.


Baby food it is, my little man! He eats applesauce, rice cereal, and carrots. But let us not forget his favorite meal of them all...sweet potatoes. A man after our own hearts.


For a while Jude had been fussing with the bottle in regards to breast milk. We thought something was wrong with him. After our doctor tried to feed him he gave Jude the diagnosis of being a 'terd,' which is curable. You give him solid food.

He loves it! We love that he loves it. He is such a happy baby boy. Once again Jude has figured out how to communicate with us. And once again...the Jude abides.

The Fam

We have started to take more and more family photos. Family photos in the sense of Erin, Jude, and I. This past weekend was great because both sets of Grandparents were able to hang out and see Jude for his first Halloween. I seriously hope Jude isn't half as weird as some of the kids who came to our door on the evening of Halloween. Yikes!

Halloween weekend was good not only because of Erin's parents being in town but also because of Jude's best night yet. Friday night was the night Jude slept the most in a night. He went to bed about 11:45 p.m. and slept until 4 a.m. After eating he went back down until 7 a.m. Wow! It was nice. Especially for Erin.


Jude liked his costume for all of 10 minutes. I'm not sure if it was the snuggness, warmth or the papparazi. Flash, flash, flash! Poor guy. But seriously, who wouldn't want to take a ton of photos of a baby in a giraff costume?

Jude is inching closer to when we can begin to introduce some rice cereal into his diet. We're told he may sleep through the night when this happens. We shall see about that. Next week Jude is 3 months old. Life has just begun for Jude. There are going to be so many new things for him. He has already started to investigate his hand seemingly saying to himself, "I have the power!" as he stares in amazement and wonder at this wonderful addition to his arm. No matter what life throws his way I'm sure the Jude will abide.

Jude and his mobile

Jude REALLY, REALLY enjoys his friends he talks to on his mobile. Now, he is only a little over 2 months old for this video. So he is doing his best to have a regular conversation. HILARIOUS!!!

The Night

Night time has been a bit difficult lately. Jude hasn't quite developed his intestinal system. This means he struggles with going number two. Don't worry. He still has plenty of wet diapers. Therefore, he isn't dehydrated.

There have been some days recently where he acts hungry but won't eat once presented with milk. It can be a little frustrating for him. Jude wants to tell you what's going on. He is a great little talker. Always making noises.

Speaking of little noises...Jude loves his mobile. My cousin Seth and his wife Kristian got him the mobile. He loves to talk and talk and talk to it. He thinks it is the greatest. We have some video of him doing this. I will get it up soon. It's funny, though. When you run and get the video camera and start recording he will then stop, and the talking will turn into crying. It's almost like he's saying, "These moments are just for you, Mommy and Daddy."

Erin took Jude to the lactation consultant just to figure out if there is anything she is doing wrong. Apparently, Jude is quite healthy. Or should I put it in the words of the consultant? He is a Buddha Baby! Hilarious! I think it was their way of saying he is a chunky boy. What she got out of the visit is that she needs to do mostly breast feeding and less from the bottle. It is more of an allotment of time when it comes to how fast he eats. Obviously, he sucks it down from the bottle whereas he is more likely to take his time with Mommy.

Jude with tummy time...plus some baby butt crack.

But the Jude abides. It won't be long now until his intestinal track is, well, on track. For us, it will be very comforting to know that he is, well, comfortable. We love him so much!!!

Mr. Talkative

Jude is talking more and more each day. I would describe his favorite thing to say as 'owwwuuuuu.' That is a rough translation as I am still learning the language of baby.

He already recognizes our voices, but now he is getting our faces down to a science.

Throughout this blog entry are some good pics of Jude hanging out with his Mom and Dad.

Take 2

Okay. I'm going to try this video thing one more time. I uploaded a video of Jude onto YouTube. For some reason I wasn't able to upload a video directly onto this blog. I don't think my internet speed is fast enough to do that.

Anyway, this is Jude after a feeding during his awake time. It is about 7 minutes long. You don't have to watch all of it.

Enjoy!

The Life

The life expectancy of a blog can vary depending on the author. As for my blogs, I am notorious for blogging on a constant basis and then, for no reason, stop for a while. I think life happens. Whether it is work, the commute, trying to eat, helping Erin with Jude...I am unable to explain the phenomenon that coincides with the lack of blogging from time to time.

What's new with Jude? Slowly but surely, Jude is starting to catch on to the little things. But they aren't little when you put them into perspective. When I get down within his arm's reach and start talking to him he does his normal flailing around of the arms. However, things are different now. Jude is 1 month old today. Once he makes contact with my face he stays with it for a little bit at a time. I've noticed from these chance encounters with his fingers that it is nearly impossible to keep his nails filed down. No, seriously. I think Erin gave birth to Freddy Kruger incarnate.

It often peeves Erin when I come home from work, pick Jude up after a feeding, and after burping him let him fall asleep on my chest while I lay on the couch (see photo). I think it is the part where Jude falls asleep on my chest completely satisfied with his new, make-shift bed. He pretty much lies there for 2 hours until he is hungry again.

I love that Erin is pumping, now. The reason is because I get to feed Jude every now and then. When I feed him he looks up at me with eyes that seem confused with the feeding situation. This moment, although cute and fun to witness, doesn't last all that long as he settles into a good meal. It's probably pretty close to walking into the dining room of your brand new boyfriend/girlfriend's house when you were in high school. You see what's for dinner but don't quite recognize it. Your face seems confused as you bring yourself to the table. But once you start eating you recognize that taco meat is a vary versatile dish. Those are the looks I get from Jude only more intense. His little brow furrows and then relaxes in an instant.

Although he is a little colicy, Jude is still irresistably cute. We feel so bad about his little tummy when he is trying to work one down the chute and comes up disappointed in the sharted result. As seen in this clip from Along Came Polly.


None the less, I am almost positive Jude will get the hang of things. Until then...The Jude Abides!!!

Crazy Times!

I'm not quite sure how this happened, but it happened.

Erin told me a story about what happened with Jude when I got home from work the other day. I'm guessing you know where this might be going. If it involves a baby it involves sleeping, eating, or pooping.

As Erin was changing Jude's diaper he decided to have another projectile poop. Only this time it launched so hard and so fast that parts of his fecal matter landed on Erin's neck, hair and MOUTH!!! It was all she could do to not leave him on the changing table to clean up. So she got his diaper on him and laid him in the crib. She then ran to the bathroom to clean up the face waste.

He is a cutie. Erin would tell you at that point she was not too pleased with him. But you just can't get upset with him. It's impossible. We love him so much! It doesn't matter where his poo lands. No matter what happens we will be sure to share it with his first date he brings by to meet his crazy parents.

So Tired

I know it is probably not right for us to complain about being tired. Every parent goes through this part. The worn out feeling of not knowing what day it is.

The silver lining to that cloud is that Jude has decided to be awake more often than he has been recently. He was wide awake yesterday during the late afternoon for a good 3 hours straight. Jude likes to be awake for feedings (sometimes). Then he likes to be awake for 2 or 3 hours during the night. You're killing us, Jude!

He is too cute to be mad at for being awake. Irresistable. Last night, we laid down at about 8:30 p.m. to start going to bed. While I was re-reading the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Erin was reading a magazine Jude decided to let off like a machine gun. Yes, farts will always be funny. I don't care who you are. He has such grown-up sounding farts.

Grandpa Myers stop by to see Jude on his way to visit with some old college buddies. Jude was awake for that. Lucky for Grandpa. Grandma Myers was nice enough to come by a few days ago and bring some food and help look at after the little guy.

We tried me watching movies on the laptop in the nursery while Jude slept and Mommy slept upstairs. When it was time to eat he would eat. I thought it would be nice for Erin to get a little more sleep than she has been. She is too nice to wake me up out of my stooper during the night while she is feeding him to ask for help with things like burping and diaper changing. I wish she would just say, "hey, snap out of it" because I would.

I'm going back to work in a couple of days. I don't know how to feel about leaving him. Quite frankly, I don't know what I would do without him now that he is here. We are going to have to spend extra time together when I get home each night.

World Record

There has to be a world record for Longest Projectile Poo by a baby. Yes...I've looked for it on Google but haven't found anything yet. It would be a simple competition, really.

They could set it up with a changing mat that has measuring lines on it. You line your baby up on their back with their butt up to the beginning line. After a good breast feeding these kids can launch. It would be a sight to see.

Jude has launched twice today. We are talking about really letting loose (pun intended). He could quite possibly be in the running for this mythical world record of projectile poo.

Erin changed him after his projectile poo and automatic sprinkler system. She said that he was dozed off and obviously found something funny. He smiled and laughed a couple of times. Now, week-old babies aren't aware they are doing this but they will laugh without connecting it to anything really funny. It is typically gas.

We switched over on diaper brands today. Jude went from Pampers to Huggies. I'm not completely sold on either, yet. We haven't tried Luv's. After we have tried all brands I will come back with my assessment. I should say Erin's assessment.

Overall, Jude is a pretty happy baby. He had his heel pricked again today to have blood drawn to make sure he doesn't have a high level of Jaundice. That wasn't fun to watch a typically happy guy be in that much pain. Afterwords we took a test run in Target. You know...taking him in the car seat and putting him in the grocery cart. He did fantastic. So, Erin and I celebrated with Sonic drinks. Naturally.

It doesn't matter what you throw his way. The Jude abides.

Projectile

We just had our first experience with projectile poo this morning. All I heard was "Oh, no! Andrew get in here" and laughter. Erin had just witnessed the devistation of the projectile poo. It got all over the changing station including the Desitin ointment.

He had a fairly good night last night. He slept when he was suppose to sleep and was feeding when he was suppose to feed. Jude hiccups, sneezes, gargles, cries, farts, poops, pees, etc. Always a surprise as to what he is going to do.

The cats are gradually getting used to a little human being in the house. They are doing what they typically do, ignore everything around them.

I'm going to a dealership today to make sure the car seat is installed properly. I have a good idea it is. Never the less, it is important to be safe.

Blessed

Erin and I are so blessed to have a family so dedicated to our well being. Erin's mom, Pam (a.k.a. Grandma) was kind enough to stay with us for a while so that Erin could get back into the swing of things. Her dad, Don (a.k.a. Grandpa) was here for some of the time, but had to go back to work for a little bit before coming back to see Jude one more time before they headed back home.

Although they live just 2hrs 15min North of us, it is tough for them to have that kind of distance. So they are going to get as much time with Jude as they possibly can.

Jude is continuing to do his thing. Thanks to Aunt Amy we realized that if you push his penis down when you are putting the diaper on he won't leak as bad OUTSIDE of the diaper. Hince the golden showers...of which I had the pleasure of receiving again, today. That guy!

The cute outfits continue to come in. We are convinced that gender-nuetral outfits are more for boys anyway. That's a good thing considering most of the cool outfits belong to girl babies, according to all of the women in my family. It's okay though...

The Jude abides.

Jude Harrison Myers

He has arrived! In this corner, weighing in at a lean 7lbs. 4oz and 19.5 inches tall...it's Jude Harrison Myers. Sweet Jude arrived at 6:35 a.m. on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009. He has a ton of brown hair and baby blue eyes, which I believe is the color of most babies' eyes.

What can we say? He is amazing! We love him so much. I don't think we can love anything else as much as we love him.

Jude's facial expressions are priceless. At one point he looks concerned then surprised then confused then gassy. The main thing to realize is that he looks just like his Mommy (except for the nose...that button nose is all Daddy).

So far he has given both Mommy and Daddy a golden shower of pee. He somehow knows how to hit your cratch with his pee. I'm not upset...I'm impressed! I'm not going to lie to you...it's quite warm and surprising when he does it. Baptism by urine is something all parents of baby boys get to experience. Thanks, Jude!

Other than that he eats, sleeps, and poops. But when his eyes are open and looking around it is fun to show him everything. His neck, legs, and arms are strong. He is able to lift his head off of your shoulder. Wild, huh? I'm convinced Erin gave birth to a superhero.

Stay tuned to more news about Jude. We will have plenty to share.