at this very moment...

this very moment was one of my best moments, ever. laying in bed with my two boys in the middle of the afternoon. jude had just woken up from a half-hour wimpering in bed (not) nap and he very happily joined us in bed. first he came right up to dan's face like he had the intent to give a kiss. then he burped right on dan's cheek. it was the cutest &funniest. (you understand if you have a baby so adorable that you think even their burping is cute). dan and i gave each other a little kiss and jude did not want to be left out. he went in slowly and put his face on ours, just holding it there, knowing something special must be going on. we then looked up at him and he gave me a big open mouth kiss and just held it there for a good five seconds. then looked us at both and dad asked for his, he leaned in and gave me another one. then he sat back up and dan got threee beautiful little kisses. then another one for mommy. then another one for daddy. he has no idea how much we love, need, &live for those kisses!

We picked some carrots out of our garden last night!

Jude has been saying "mom mom mom mama" all day, more than he ever has, and it just melts my heart to no end!

for the Love of January

January has been mostly very pleasant. We have not had a sick soul in this household and are very glad and planning to keep it that way. I feel like everybody has been sick. So lots of juice and fish and breast milk and wheat germ and hand washing going on over here. We have had plenty of indoboarding (Dan's dream has come true), doctor's visits (one year check up, WIC, allergist, and dentist!), visiting teaching (the adorable piano), and Lowe's and grocery trips (just to feel the wind in our face and give Jude a little adventure, not to mention a 3/$10 Mayfield ice cream sale).

I just found this picture on my phone and it made me happy. "Say cheese!!"

Just so I don't forget our 12+ hour day travelling just Jude and I. And the big black man blocking Jude from escaping into the aisle. "Excuse me, sir... I'm trying to get through and, um, your leg is in my way..."

We had an ice storm type thing the other day. It was supposed to snow and Dan was anxiously anticipating it for days, even weeks when we had a false alarm. It "snowed" for a couple minutes, but not really. It was more like little frozen rains.

We have a little bird heaven in our backyard. It is so much fun to look out the window every morning as Jude vigorously throws his arm out and points at everything he sees. Dan has been exploring and working on some fun projects down at the creek in our backyard. It is truly a magical place where we live.

My favorite part of January was probably when Dan got a phone call from an unknown 205 area code the other day... It was UAB. Optometry School. And Dan got an interview! It is this coming Friday at the school in Birmingham, Alabama. Dan must be a competitive applicant because he got an interview without having taken the Optometry Admission Test yet... they want him?! I think so. He takes the OAT in two Fridays. We are excited. They are going to have to disable the fire alarms in the testing center because he is going to smoke it!


Our pretty little haven of a home is going to be up for sale soon. So I am cleaning and trying to make things neutral. This doesn't come naturally for me. Luckily I only painted one wall. It will soon return it's former taupe glory.

Here is the perfectly imperfect roman shade I made for our little dining area. Maybe it will fit somewhere in our next place?!

Jude is loving life. He still prefers pureed foods over real, which is fine. As long as he is eating! Lately he has been eating veggies, fruits, stews, coconut milk ice cream, corn tortillas dipped in salsa, plain tuna fish, freeze dried strawberries, craisins, brown rice cakes, oatmeal, rice cereal... did you notice there is no wheat, eggs, or milk in any of those things?! Probably because he's allergic. We are learning lots and so healthy it's insane. 

Here's our sweet boy after church. He had a ball in church today. He cried when we left.

Something miraculous happened today. Jude forgo'ed his afternoon nap (I don't think that has ever happened, ever) and stayed up and played while I cleaned up (he let me clean!!!) and he even grabbed that Swiffer and helped. What a gem!

Just to make sure this post is long enough, have you ever seen "You Can't Take it With You?" with Jimmy Stewart? If not, you should. It is amazing.

a little birthday surprise

We had a little surprise dinner, good ole steak and potatoes, to celebrate Meghan's birthday... she was very surprised! We had so much fun. We feel so blessed to live by such wonderful neighbors! It's crazy how similar Meghan and my lives are. We have so much fun together and especially love watching our babies "play" together. :) 

my kangaroo quacker.

(a few days ago..)

Jude got his one year shots on Tuesday, which included the Chicken Pox and MMR vaccines, which contain live viruses. (It may sound scary, but getting vaccinated is very important! These diseases have killed, made ill, or severely debilitated millions and are now drastically reduced. (here, too), almost eliminated in the US even. We can not deny the facts, people.) He was really brave when he got the shots and was over it in like, 10 seconds, but he has been feeling a little under the weather since. He also threw up on the car ride home the other day (I was rushing to try to get home to take care of him, that backfired)... Between that and the twelve hour plane ride/travel from LV to SC, he has just been a little sensi. Sweet baby. He wants me to hold him all the time so I just put him the ergo baby and get to work. The highlight of his days are the bike rides out front on his little Red Rider when it's not rainy or cold (which is has been mostly the whole time we've been back!) We love how much he has been cuddling with us and how he'll rest his cheek on ours and rest his head on our chests and give us loves. He knows how to give us loves and when we say "Give ___ a kiss" he will turn towards that person and open his mouth wide and give them a big kiss, usually on the lips. It completely melts our hearts! We had a wonderful time in Las Vegas and sure do miss the fam, but it is nice to be home! Jude is reacquainting himself with everything and everyone. He had more fun that he could handle yesterday playing with Joslin next door. Oh, we missed them!

We took him to the park one day last week. We knew he was having fun but he just couldn't budge a smile! He couldn't take his eyes off the ducks, his favorite animal. Have I ever even mentioned on this blog how Jude quacks?! He quacks when he is happy or excited or sees something he likes. It is the greatest. So when he sees actual ducks quacking?! He can't get enough.

QUACK QUACK!!

(a few days later...)

Jude is feeling much better. He will actually let Dan hold him sometimes or even sometimes play by himself for a max of two minutes before he wants me to hold him again. :) He still likes to kick it with mama in the ergo. Today I was stirring chocolate fondue with one hand and feeding Jude stew with the other while he was in the ergo. I loved it. I made this chicken, quinoa, sweet potato stew the other day and Jude loves it! I was so thrilled. Feeding Jude can be a lot of work sometimes, so it such a lovely relief when he likes what I put so much effort into. :) He is quite the little chatter. He says dad (&all pertaining variations, mama (rarely), go, yay, ohh! (as he points), & wow (this is a recent addition and my personal favorite. i love to see the things that make him say wow.)

Jude points at everything. It is the funniest. He will want you to hold him and then he will just hold his arm out pointing at anything and everything. He will point at something and go "ohhh" so we'll take him over to it, then he'll point at something else, we'll take him to it, it goes on and on. He loves to just leave that finger out and point at everything, and sometimes nothing. It is so cute. Earlier today I was nursing him to sleep and he was in my arms with his eyes closed and his arm still out, pointing. Dreaming of something interesting I'm sure.

We had a birthday dinner for Meghan tonight (more to come on that later) and we had a dance party after to our jam, 22 by Taylor Swift. It was delightful. I love how my dance moves have evolved over the years. We love to bounce and spin around in circles.

Life is good. We are healthy and reaching new levels of happiness. Thank you, the Gospel. :)