rockin' the 1st percentile

We had a weight check this past Tuesday for Jude, and our little bug weighed in at 15lbs 7oz and 25.5 inches. He's still in the first percentile, but that's actually good news. Doc says that he's gaining weight, but since he's holding steady in the lower range, it probably means he's just a small baby. The fact that his growth curve is consistent and his head is growing just fine both indicate that we most likely are NOT dealing with a metabolic disorder. We had been holding back on the solid food in order to give him as much calorie rich milk as possible, but we now have permission to give him as many solids as he'll take. Bring on the carrots!

I'm sure you can imagine our relief at finally getting some good news after a weight check. Jude seems thoroughly unaffected by everything and is continuing to crawl, wiggle, pull up, and laugh as if nothin's going on.

Jude and I are both incredibly excited that Shawn's finally back from almost two weeks of youth trips. It's hard to describe without getting all mushy how much I missed him, so we'll just leave it with -I missed my best friend and partner. I do, however, have much respect for the single mothers of the world. Being by myself with Jude - sans family down here - was hard. I barely had time to eat most days, and did my best to cram all the work I needed to get done into the 3.5 hours between him going down for the night and me collapsing. I think the most difficult thing was not having someone to pass Jude off to when I found myself at the end of my rope. If we're having a tough day, I usually tell myself, "It's okay. Shawn will be home in five hours, and then you'll have a break. You can make five hours, you can totally do this," (counting down of course, each passing hour) and not having that option was tough. Nonetheless, Jude and I both survived, and I felt a little bit more confident in my mothering and coping skills at the end.

I've included some random pictures - nothing exciting - we were just outside to give Jude a change of pace, and I took advantage of the beautiful sunlight.

He's been sticking his tongue out and kind of covering his bottom two teeth with it. Shawn thinks he's feeling his two teeth with his tongue, I think he thinks he's sticking his tongue out like we do to him. Either way, it's pretty cute.