Dear Jude: 14 months

Dear Jude,

You are fourteen months old today! You are an amazing bundle of never ending energy and we are so very thankful for your life, health, and spunk!


You are a solid little boy, I'm not sure of your measurements but I know that you are stout without being rolly. You are still in 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers.


Judes, eating is your very favorite thing. You still eat lots of baby food, because it's convenient, but you love finger foods as well. Favorites are: cheese, grapes, blueberries, yogurt, sweet potatoes, and Chex cereal. You are drinking whole milk and have finally made your peace with the sippy cup. Now mommy needs to make her peace with you being a big boy and get rid of the bottle altogether. You have four bottom teeth and 2.75 top teeth, I would love for you to finish up with the teething. Thanks.


Love, you can walk! Over the past few weeks, you have put multiple steps together a lot of times. You aren't afraid or unsure of walking at all, you prefer to run like a drunken sailor, so that's not terrifying at all. I would say you walk 4% of the time, creep 60% of the time, and crawl the remaining 56%. I'm excited for you, and a bit nervous at all the chasing in my near future as you gain steadiness. You are also a pro at climbing stairs and say "weee" as you nimbly scurry to the top.


Speaking of talking, you say lots of words and are a true parrot. If Liam says "mommy," you say "mommy." Newish words are "nigh nigh," and "no no," you love to imitate the transportation sounds that your big brother makes and you just babble all the day. I think you will be a very verbal little boy.


You sleep well at night and love to cuddle your stuffed bunny while you snooze. You are gradually dropping your afternoon nap, even though you still need it. You usually take a two hour morning nap and then terrorize the world until bedtime.


We joke a lot about you being a bit of a hoodlum, and you are, but you are equally, if not more, sweet as pie. You love to snuggle and you love to try to bash your skull in, regardless of your destructive tendencies, you are such a joy to us. You are growing and developing and changing at the speed of light and I am so glad to be your mommy and receive your smiles and pats on the back. You are truly wondrous, baby Jude.

Love you forever, and ever,
Mommy

Dear Jude: 13 months

Dear Judesy Roe,

You were thirteen months old on Christmas Day! I can't believe you are such a little toddler these days, you are so much fun!


You got your two front teeth for Christmas! Actually, they are still just barely poking though, but hopefully that relieved some pain for you. This takes your total up to six teeth! Your teeth get a lot of use these days, it seems like you are constantly eating! You get very offended if you aren't offered food when someone is eating, even if you've just finished a large meal. Favorite foods: bananas, raspberries, meatballs, mashed potatoes, and cheese.


At your twelve month doctors visit, we discovered that you are 36 inches long (80th%) and you weigh 22 pounds (70th%). You are very solidly built and fit nicely in your 12-18 month clothing. You sleep well at night and love your morning nap most of all.


Baby Jude, I'm afraid you will be walking very soon. You have taken one or two steps on several occasions to snatch a toy or get into trouble. You can stand, and dance, on your own for a pretty substantial period of time and you cruise with the utmost of purpose. Oh mobility, such a blessing and a curse. :)


Your daddy and I are pretty sure that you are going to be our biggest troublemaker. You love to instigate dance parties and nap-time raves, and you always get your brother to participate even when he is half asleep. Basically, we are all powerless to resist your charms. You love lamp cords, electrical sockets, air vents, and house plants more than any actual toy.


Sweet Judes, you are a very vocal little boy. You are constantly babbling, growling, squealing, or grunting. You can say a lot of words, "mama" and "dad-di" most consistently. You call for your cousins, Micah and Reagan often and can even say "Judesy."


You are still a little momma's boy and love to take cuddle naps, which is my favorite thing ever. I hope you always are so affectionate. You adore your brother and your dadda as well. You are such a tough little thing, you get tackled regularly and always seem to hold your own. Liam needs to watch his back! You love love love music and stuffed animals, your bedtime bunny is your favorite.


Darling boy, you are adored and cherished and loved like nobody's business. Thank you for making all of our hearts grow larger and all of our days happier.

Love you forever, and ever,
Momma

Liam Lately

It's been awhile since I have updated on our oldest ball of energy! Liam Davy is hilarious, and brilliant, as always.


We are especially enjoying this Christmas season with him. His observations never cease to entertain. He calls all lights, "Christmas" and if they are on a house then it's "Christmas on the roof!" He also associates wrapped gifts with birthdays, so every time he sees a package he tells one of us "Happy birthday!" Love it!


The other day, I yelled "Jude Monroe" to get Jude's attention and now Liam calls him "Judesy Roe," which is my favorite thing about life, so precious. The Hawk brothers are buddies and partners in crime. They wrestle and dance and yell together, their relationship brings me so much joy and they are still so small. I can't wait to see how close they grow, and to referee their sure to be epic fights.











Liam loves school, he attends 3 days a week at the preschool affiliated with Ryan's school and starting next semester he will go 2 days at a public preschool to get a bit of speech and occupational therapy. We are excited to watch him continue to learn! He is so observant and quick to learn. He also never forgets anything! His latest discovery is emotion, he likes to show us "happy" and "sad" faces and has recently developed a few fears. He is afraid of balloon animals and candles. Two hilarious, but real to him, fears.


Transportation toys are at an all-time peak of favorites these days. I've never seen so many things with wheels in all my days. Liam loves vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers as well as typical cars, trucks, and planes.


Liam still loves books, Peppa Pig is his current favorite show to watch, helping me cook, splashing in the bath, being outside, and eating cookies are some other favorites these days.





We are so thankful for our sweet, healthy, smart, and kind little boy. He is so fun to be around and so easy to enjoy!

Dear Jude: one

Dear Jude Monroe,

You are one! Happy birthday, little love! We are so in awe at how quickly this year has flown by and we are so happy that you've been a part of our family for one whole year!


Your twelve month doctor visit isn't until next week, so I don't have any statistics on your weight or height, yet. You are fitting into 12 month clothes great, and seem like a giant in general, so I'm excited to know how big you actually are!


You continue to be a bit of a wild card when it comes to sleep and temperament. You love to be on the go, no walking yet, and hate being restricted from dangers. You take a great morning nap, but prefer to host raves in your crib instead of an afternoon nap. Silly little one.


Judes, you are a momma's boy to the core, which I love! But, you love any attention you can get. You also aren't shy to yell at someone who doesn't pay you the attention you deserve! You love snuggles, and dancing, and clapping! Your favorite toys are musical, or stuffed animals. You have a bunny that you sleep with and your face lights up when I give it to you at bedtime. So so precious.


Your mother has fallen off the bandwagon of transitioning you to whole milk and sippy cups, we will get there eventually. Eating is your favorite pastime, you now have 3.5 teeth to nom with and I haven't found anything you dislike yet! Favorites include: yogurt, sweet potatoes, bananas, cheerios, hash browns, and eggs! You had chocolate birthday cake last night, and loooooooved it!


Baby Jude, you are so loved and adored! Watching your eyes sparkle is one of my favorite things. We are having so much fun getting to know you and your sweet, high strung personality. I'm so very glad that God made you to be our Jude Monroe! I hope you always love to snuggle and dance!

Love you forever, and ever,
Momma

Fall Fun!

We have had a wonderful fall here in Colorado! It's been perfectly crisp and cool and the yellow leaves, while not as beautiful as my favorites reds and oranges of the south, have stayed on the trees for a long time!

I'm very late to post this, but last month we spent a gorgeous day at the Denver zoo! We went with Grami, Papo, Aunt 'Risa, Uncle Mate, and their kiddos and had a blast!

We started off the day at my favorite brunch place, Snooze! Come visit us, and I will take you there multiple times!


Liam and Papo passing the wait away.


Baby Jude eating hash browns and sharing with the floor.


Peacocks roam around free at the zoo, not so awesome for this girl who is bird-phobic. Look how close Reagan is, she's so brave!


Sweet Sidney and this gorilla were buddies. (Sid's adoption will be finalized in a few weeks ad then I will share some awesome pictures of his face!)


Everyone went into the bird house, except me, to feed the birds. Liam was a bit unsure...that's my boy.


Grami, Liam, and Sidney.


Uncle Mate and Liam! It was really fun to see Liam actually find and watch the animals. He's at a great age to really enjoy the zoo. Can't wait to go back!


After the zoo, we headed to Little Man Ice Cream, another of my favorite places. They were all decorated for fall, so we took some pictures with pumpkins.


Papo giving baby Jude his first taste of ice cream, it was a hit!


Baby Jude was clearly more interested in the hay than in taking photos. Liam was ready!





Love these little men!