talking, crawling, and teething

Salem Pregnancy Care Center's annual Walk For Life was a couple of weekends ago, and our little family took part. We had fun thinking back to a year ago when I was starting to grow out of my regular clothes and pooching out a little. Jude had fun and even got a baby footprint painted on his face by the Walk For Life's resident face painters, Brittany and Sara (two of my awesome "Pinedale Girls"). Shawn and I took turns pushing the stroller and while Jude enjoyed looking around for the first half of the Walk, he graced us with a healthy Nap For Life for the second.

I apologize for not posting anything substantive lately (not that anyone has been complaining about the mostly picture posts!) we've just had quite a bit going on here. The advent of spring always seem to stir the inner landscaper and home improvement...-er..in Shawn, and this year was no different! We've been saving for awhile to get desperately needed new windows in our home and were finally able to pull the trigger. Our old windows were old...really old. Brown, chipped paint, and most of them didn't even lock. I didn't worry too much about my safety though because you almost threw a shoulder out trying to open the ones that weren't painted shut. Our new windows are glorious. They're white, clean, and can open and shut on a moment's notice! It's incredible to see the difference they make in the look of both the interior and exterior of the house. The yard of our home was pretty much atrocious when we first moved in, and we've been trying to slowly tame the wild beast that is our landscaping. Let me be honest. Shawn has been trying to slowly tame this beast. When we first moved in, I decided to weed all of the beds. I did just that, spending a few hours doing so. Little did I know that somewhere in our beds lay poison oak and my hands were covered in it. My hands swelled so much that I had to get a ring cut off (thankfully not my wedding ring, I got that one off in time).

So the landscaping and I keep our distance.

But let's be realistic - you don't really care about our landscaping, I know. "How the heck is that Judeabug of yours?" is most likely what you want to know.

Well, he's great. He's almost six months old and is quickly turning from an infant to a baby and sometimes even looks like he's well on his way to toddlerhood. He's babbling quite a bit and if it didn't seem way too early, I'd swear he sounds like he can say, "mmm mommy." Rolling over has been a feat that Jude accomplished awhile ago, so he's onto the next task -crawling. He hasn't figured out that if he gets his knees up under him he can propel himself forward, so he's resorting to lots of scooting backwards and making angry noises at the toys he can't reach.

As I type this, Jude is jumping in his Jumperoo, letting out squeals of delight, and then craning his neck to see if Cole is reacting to his squeals (Cole is lying a few feet away, apparently thoroughly bored and unimpressed with Jude's noises). It's awesome to see Jude continue to recognize us and even be excited by our presence. He loves to watch Shawn and wait for him to catch Jude's eye - at which point he breaks out in smiles that overtake his face. (Jude - not Shawn. Although it's hard to suppress a smile with that bug grinnin' at ya!).

Diaper changes have become an Olympic feat as Jude continues to perfect his rolling skills. Consider the prowess required to diaper a ninja on attack and you have a good idea of the coordination and skill involved in diapering Jude. Sometimes he'll slip through our hands and roll over despite our best intents. I suppose I should be frustrated, but then I see his naked little butt and he pops his head up like, "hey there! this is pretty cool what i can do, huh?" and my heart quickly melts to a puddle all over my shoes.

For my first Mother's Day, we'll be traveling to Indiana so that Jude can meet the rest of his Uncles, Aunts, Cousins, Great Uncles/Aunts, Second Cousins, and many other dear people who love the heck out of this kid. I'm super excited, but again - nervous about trying to drive eight hours with him. Any advice?

While I could gush about this kid for days, he's quickly on his way to a meltdown, so gotta go!