He is our sweet little lamb! Yesterday we got a lot of snow up here in Knoxville. Jude and I sat in the house and watched it fall out the window the whole day. It was so beautiful! We thought that Jude needed to bundle up and look like a snow ball for his first snow fall!

He has grown up on us!

He is ready for work already?! I can't believe how quickly he is growing. I was trying to remember yesterday what it felt like to have him all wrapped up inside of me. I am so glad that he is here but I also miss feeling him inside. Now I see that it was the only place that I could truly protect and take care of him without worrying if he was sick or cold or hungry. I am having to rely on the Lord more than ever before in my life. With my personality it would be easy for me to worry myself sick about every little detail of Jude's life. I know that even when I don't feel like handing my fears over to God I have to choose to do so if I don't want to end up with 10 stomach ulcers! I want to be so much for him, I want his life to be perfect without any pain, and I know that this is impossible. Having a son has helped me to realize the amazing sacrifice that our Father gave when he sent his Son to die for ME. I can't imagine watching Jude suffer for anything, let alone for everything he did not do, now I understand amazing love a little better. Please pray that I learn to take things day by day and rest in the Lords care for my entire family!

Listen Closely

SLEEP!

He slept for 5 hours straight last night without eating! I could have had a great extended amount of sleep, instead I was continually checking to make sure that he wasn't starving in his sleep! I woke up about 3 hours in and decided that it was my maternal duty to check his breathing every 15 minutes rather than enjoy the sleep that he was trying to give me. Maybe this is the start of a great habit, 5 hours every night. I NEVER thought that I would be excited about 5 hours of sleep, before he was here that would have been reason to sleep for 15 hours the next night!

My Hero

Daddy saved me from that aweful bath.

Although he did do much better than the first time that we gave him one...He didn't cry at all until we got to the hair!

Kicky Kicky

One Month Already

Jude has been spreading out his eating a little more during the day, sometimes 3 1/2 hours but is still staying at about 2 hours or so at night. I have to remind myself that this won't last forever because I feel like a zombie! I find myself wanting to stay put and start crying with Jude when he wakes up at night but then all I have to do is look at his sweet face and I am reminded that he is depending on me for his little body to grow!
We went to the doctor today for his one month check-up. The doctor said that he got an A+...He weighed 9lbs and was 22 1/4 inches. His breathing is doing much better and the doctor thought he looked a lot better than the last time that we brought him in with the tachypnea. No shots today, thank the Lord! He has a little bit of congestion but may just be from our dry apartment. We are going to get a humidifier to hopefully take care of that problem. We are so blessed to have such a healthy baby boy!

I can't believe he is already a month old today! It feels like I just had him yesterday. He has been more expressive the past few days and has discovered his mobile on the swing. He follows the little animals with his eyes and head and smiles! He has gotten a lot bigger, we have our month check up tomorrow and will know how much this little booger weighs now! He weighed 8 lbs at his 2 week check. He still hasn't decided to sleep for extended periods of time at night but I guess he has his own timing for things! There is too much to see now that he is in the world, who needs sleep?!

The father who would taste the essence of his fatherhood must turn back from the plane of his experience, take with him the fruits of his journey and begin again beside his child, marching step by step over the same old road.

~Angelo Patri

Jude had his first bath tonight since he cord fell off. He was not happy!

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)