I LOVE my fingers

Jude has always been a finger sucker, from the day he was born he loved to have his hands in his mouth. Lately he has been teething and anything that he can get into his mouth is fine by him! Because he is not always so great with the placement of his hands we give him one of our knuckles every once in a while and he can really clamp down! I can feel a couple of little sharp teefers making their way through...I will admit I am a little nervous about this. There is one side that he does not like to nurse on very much anyway and sometimes clamps down with those gums...and teeth?! Well I guess we will see how it goes!

The love of my life for Valentines Day

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,
Therefore, we are saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore, we are saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

-Reinhold Niebuhr

This sweet face is so exciting to wake up to everyday. His rash has cleared up completely and I know that he is so happy to be itch free!

Pump it up

wow what can I say about pumping? It is a combination of things wrapped up into one. Great for times when I need extra sleep or to run out of the house, neat for Collin to feed Jude and have some bonding time, and a time to relate a little better to a cow. I am so thankful that my cousin Jessica let me borrow her electric pump but being hooked up to that system is hilarious!

One morning when Collin was letting me sleep in I had pumped so that he could give Jude a bottle. I had not pumped enough so he was going to give Jude a little bit of formula after the breast milk, and above is the result. Haha, Jude was not having the formula and kept spitting it back out. The top picture makes me think that he was laughing at Collin's attempts to feed it to him. This little guy has so much personality and is always making some kind of crazy expression!

I got an itch and I don't know where to scratch...(courtesy of uncle Lidelle)

Our poor little guy has been broken out with what we thought was an allergic reaction to something that had been touching his skin. We ended up taking him to the Dr. yesterday because he has been clawing at his face from itching so bad :o( It ends up that it is a rash caused by cradle cap but called seborrheic dermatitis when it is not on the head. Our Dr. advised us to use hydrocortisone cream to stop the itching and said it should clear up. Today he already looks so much better and hasn't been itching as much. Thank goodness, how terrible to itch and not have control over your hands to scratch in the right place!

Oh Uncle Wyan, you're so silly

Ryan came to hang out with Collin in Knoxville a couple of weeks ago. He is great with Jude! As always he had a new "do" probably for aerodynamics during his 3 mile run with a 50 lb pack ( for fire rescue training). I think that they could almost pass as relatives in this photo.

Too Big

I can't believe how fast he is growing! Today we laughed and talked to each other like he was a pro at conversations. It really feels like I just brought him home...I know now what they mean by cherish every moment.

The future of our world.

The sweetest flowers in all the world—

A baby’s hands.

–by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)

I was trying to do a photo shoot with him but he did not want to cooperate! Oh well so cute anyway.

I think they look so much alike here! I am seeing Collin in Jude more and more everyday. What do you think?

And 2 became 3

We went on our first date last night since Jude was born. Mom and Dad said just let us keep him and you go enjoy each other. It is amazing to think that it has been 6 weeks since we went anywhere and talked alone! It reminded me of the days when that was all we did, hung out together doing whatever we wanted. Those were definately fun times but nothing could replace our relationship now with Jude here. Having a baby does change things but for the better! There is a little life that is part of both of us and that is a bond that can't be replaced by anything else in the world.

My Amazing Man

Ok I have to brag on Collin. I have the most wonderful husband in the world! Not only is he working to keep us alive:o) but he has been doing all of the grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning and has even been taking Jude at 6:00 to give me sleep before he gets ready to go to work! How in the world did I get blessed with such an amazing man? I really can't imagine how I would do this without him. He is also so good with Jude, Jude LOVES his daddy. He laughs at him and just stares when Collin is holding him. They are going to be such great buddies when Jude gets older. This is exactly what I want in life, to spend time with my best friend and raise this beautiful little boy together, I am so thankful.

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?!