Dear Jude: 16 months

Dear Jude,
You are sixteen months old today! You are so much fun! We are loving how much your personality emerges everyday. You are constantly learning, growing, and changing and we are so thankful to get to witness your awesomeness!


You are 32 inches long (90th%) and weigh 25 pounds (75th%)! You are a solid little bruiser, you are still mainly wearing 12-18 month clothes and we have moved you to a size four diaper.


You have 8 teeth, no molars yet. You are still eating everything under the sun. Potatoes and fruit are your favorites, specifically French fries and strawberries, but you will eat any variety of the two. You usually eat two dinners, one at 5:15 when you meltdown in a pile of hunger, and then you eat half of my dinner whenever I eat.


Buddy, you are always on the move. You run, climb, and bounce around so much that I'm tired just watching you, or maybe I'm tired from chasing you?! You absolutely love to be outside and will stand at the backdoor and cry "bye bye!"


Speaking of talking, you say too many words to list. You are constantly identifying things, saying hi, talking on the phone, yelling at the dogs, demanding a cookie, etc. By the way, you use the word cookie for any item that you ingest: liquid, meat, cereal, actual cookies...it's all a cookie to you. And I pretty much love that! You know twinkle twinkle little star and sing it to us often and you can count to three!


You take a morning nap about two hours after waking up and demand to go "nigh night" at exactly 6:30pm every night. You go down to sleep really easily and are almost always awake by 7am at the latest. You are not a morning person, but you wake up first which is frustrating for everyone. You seem very angry to be awake, but you absolutely will not go back to sleep. Silly little love.


Favorites: any stuffed animal, sitting in boxes from Costco, eating, pulling Liam's hair, snuggling in the afternoon with dadda, going anywhere in the car, riding in your wagon outside, chasing Liam around your room, balls, going to school, massages before bed, your birdies above your crib, singing, dancing, and flirting.


Judesy Roe, you are seriously one of the sweetest babies I've ever known. You love to share food and hugs. You are our snuggly child and we absolutely adore your hugs and cuddles. You are tragically impatient and have the tenderest of hearts which means you are often in tears. And guess what, you're cute even when you're crying! I'm so glad to be your mommy and to have to power to sometimes soothe your spirit. I can't wait to see these little baby preferences and opinions in a strong big boy. Well actually, I can wait, you can stay little as long as you want, my love.


Love you forever,
Mommy

Dear Jude: 15 months

Dear baby Jude,

Happy fifteen month birthday! Buddy, you are such a joy and you have had such a big month! This is the month you became a toddler, you'll always be my baby, but you're definitely pushing quickly into little boydom.


You are a full-time walker! And by walker, I mean runner. You are constantly on the go! You love to climb as well as run, you are constantly keeping us on our toes.


Along with walking, you started going to "school" this month! I think you feel like such a big boy going off to school with daddy and Liam. You seem to really enjoy yourself and you like to play with the other babies. You still hang out with Aunt 'Risa, Uncle Mate, and your cousins one day a week.


Love, you are a jibber jabber! You love to run your mouth and say so many words. You are constantly talking, babbling, and screaming into fake microphones. You also love to dance. So, basically you are a loud, wiggly little thing...and we love that about you!


Your appetite is still quite voracious. You eat anything and everything and lots of it, please! You love eggs, cheese, yogurt, strawberries, oranges, and pasta. So far, the only thing you don't like are black beans. And I don't blame you. You love to feed yourself most finger foods and we are pretty sure you will be a lefty based on your "eating hand."


You have seven teeth, wear a size four diaper, size 12-18 month clothes, a size 3 shoe (tiny), and that's all I know for sure. We go for your 15 month check up next week, based on a recent ear infection I know you weigh about 23 pounds.


Favorites: pulling on the dogs hair/tails, eating, climbing out of the bathtub, your plastic fireman hat, stuffed animals, anything Liam is playing with, running outside, climbing on the fireplace, mommy, climbing the stairs, music, trying to get into the pantry, pulling clothes out of drawers, carrying puzzle pieces around, and waving.


Judesy, one of the most common words we use to describe you is, "determined." I have never known someone so focused on one thing. If you want to do something, you can just about overpower me to do it, kind of scary. We are hoping to harness this trait for good. You can already do anything you put your mind to, and that's a beautiful thing to see in a baby. I hope you always insist on doing things that you are passionate about. You are such a sweet boy, we love to cuddle you and you frequently crawl into our laps while playing and rest your sweet head for a few precious moments. You are absolutely adored, my dear. And please, don't ever forget it.

Love you forever, and ever,
Mommy

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!