Smiling for Daddy

We finally caught a picture of Jude doing one of his cute little smiles. I LOVE to see him do this, I wonder what he is thinking about.

It's hard for me to even look at this beautiful face without crying. I can't get enough of his kisses and I will never be able to express enough how much I love him...

We came home on Tues the 16th and on Thurs it was time for Jude's first pediatric check up. He had gained back all but an ounce of his birth weight and was so healthy! God is so generous to let us have this beautiful baby to raise. I can't imagine any better gift than to see the love of my life in the eyes of our child.

Little Bear

I ready to go home!

Precious! I was trying to feed him but he was just too sleepy!

Jude David 6lbs 14 oz, 20 in...perfect!

Saturday night Dec. 13th Brett had a basketball tournament up in Knoxville. I had been fighting through contractions since 2:30am Thursday but was not dialated enough to be admitted so....we waited trying to do normal things! We decided to go to the game and see if the cheering and intensity would speed things up! My contractions were beginning to strengthen but we had two games to make it through, the second was the championship at 8:00. I sat high in the bleachers so that no one could see my crazy faces when one would hit and squeezed Mom, Collin, Whit and Dad, whoever I could get my hands on! After the game was over we said ok it's time and drove to the hospital. I was admitted to triage at 10:30 and at 12:30 checked into a room. I was having some really painful contractions but luckily only had to wait about an hour for the epidural! HEAVEN! We waited until 6:30 and I was ready to begin pushing. I pushed for 4 sets of contractions and then he was ready to enter the world! He is the most beautiful baby in this world and I never knew I could love a little person so much. We are truly blessed that he is finally here!

39 weeks, 6 days...

This pic is on Jude's due date, he decided it was not his day to come! That's ok though he wants his momma to have her own birthday, how thoughtful! Today is the 8th, it was the day that I predicted him to come. I just have to remember that God knows exactly when he wants this precious little boy to enter the world!

Jude enjoyed his first Thanksgiving. The doc told me to eat a lot to try and send him on out but he did not like that idea. He decided it was too cold and wanted to have Christmas as his first holiday in the outside world.

This was around 37 weeks. Jude has dropped lower at this point but still moving around with lots of energy! We thought that he may want to come early because of all of the braxton hicks contractions but he was just faking us out:o)

We had two showers in Rome this past weekend. It was so neat getting to see family and friends that we haven't seen in a long time. Jude is already bringing people together, I know that he is going to be just like his dad, loving everyone and everyone around loving him!

Change

"Inevitably the breeze will blow in a different direction,

the leaves will be ruffled a new way,

and the color of the sky will morph into another shade of

blue. Take these new adventures and create a palate of

colors that will show the beauty of the change."

Caving

Jude's first trip caving! This past weekend we went to Caverns in Townsend TN. We love to do things like this so Jude is getting to experience them early!

27 weeks, I can tell that he is getting bigger. He has found new positions that he thinks are extremely comfortable, not so much for me! It's hard to believe that he is only going to get bigger :o)

Looking down I see an addition that has never been there before! I can't believe that Jude is protected and cozy in his own little world, and I am looking down at that little world.

26 1/2 weeks, things just don't seem to fit the same way :o)

26 weeks pregnant.

It feels like it has been going by quickly but I feel like I have been pregnant my whole life at the same time! I have felt really good the past couple of months, no sickness and smells are a whole lot easier. Jude has been kicking and moving around so much more! He has figured out when I want to go to sleep and when I want to sleep in in the mornings and he chooses that time to show off his dad's energy!

Pregnant and Growing!

The beginning of Judes life! He took his first trip out of the country to Guatemala at a very early age:o) He will be ready for missions and world traveling when he gets here. It was the week after we got back from Guatemala that we found out we were about a month pregnant. While we were there we worked with an orphanage, God was already preparing our hearts for Jude because we definitely wanted to take some of those little babies home with us. As a side note, this is not how Collin normally styles his pelo (hair).