9 Month Letter

9 month Check Up: 

20 pounds

29.5 inches

Dear Jude Man Dude Man, 

You are my little man.  You still have smiles for miles that break all the girl's hearts. You are my little snuggle monster when you are hungry or tired, otherwise you want to be on the move!  You are an expert crawler.  You have great form and you go super fast.  You are also pulling up on anything and everything and can cruise around furniture.  I have caught you go from squatting to standing for fleeting moments before you fall on your bum.  You are ready to walk! Me? Not so much. 

The 6 teeth you had last month are much more prominent, but no #7 yet. Your hair is still super blonde and your eyes still blue.  My blue eyed son. You have the sweetest dimples, the chubbiest cheeks, and the softest, squishiest baby fat. I could just eat you up, I think you're so delicious. 

You are still not a big fan of sleeping, although you give us a break from time to time.  You will take your longest day naps if I am holding you, so I will let you sleep on me and I try to savor the moment (usually by taking lots of pics of you sleeping in my arms).  

Your bubba Leon loves you very much and would lick you all day if I let him.  He is protective of you and loves when you pay attention to him.  He lets you "pet" (hit) him and pull on his ears and tail.  

We have been on lots of family walks lately.  We adventured to get this plant one day, but we usually walk to the park or around the neighborhood.  You are enjoying the park these days.  You love to swing, play in the sand, or just crawl around and pull up on everything while making baby friends. 

When I do get you and your sister to nap at the same time in your beds during the day, I feel like I am winning at this whole mom thing. You share a room with your sister, and so far it has been working out.  Mostly because she seldom wakes up when you cry.  

You have been loving the backyard even more now that your on the move.  You have free range and will crawl to your hearts content, exploring every corner.  You always have to make a stop at the gardening pot to dig (and eat) the dirt.  You like to play with balls and pick up rocks too.  You will wait until we are not looking and slip a rock in your mouth.  We are constantly saying "Jude! Not in your mouth buddy!  Yuck!" 

We have been meeting your baby friends and their moms at the park once a week.  You are always so content to be outside amongst friends exploring.  You are all smiles and seldom cry when hitting the social scene.  You tend to get a little cabin fever if we are home for too long.  You are up at 6 and by 9 am you are ready to be out of the house for a daily adventure.   You'll nap around 10 but it is usually a quick one (maybe 30 minutes) and then I try to get you for a "long" nap around 2 b/c that is when Breckin naps.  You will give me an hour and on special days you give me 2.  We put you down for the night around 6:30, but you will wake 2-3 times before 10. Then you go anywhere from 12:00-3:30 when we bring you back to the bed with us.  You are a big fan of nurse/sleeping when you are in bed with us.  Lots of nursing and a little sleeping.  We have been trying to break you of this with daddy's help b/c we could all use a little more sleep around here! You are up for the day by 6 am.  Daddy brings you to the living room and puts a cartoon on for B.  You eat cereal and do some of your best playing in the mornings with your daddy. 

We have been hitting the tennis court this month. 

You are eating so much food these days!  You are getting the hang of chewing and I just cut up whatever food we are eating into small pieces and you handle it! 

College football has started and we love having lazy saturdays watching the games. 

Liz (charb's mom)

Daddy has been working a lot from home, which we love! 

You are drinking water out of water bottles these days. 

jude + arrow eating crackers

Eating a chicken nugget from your sister's kids meal...you handled it

Watermelon

Water blob

You love going up the stairs and looking at yourself in the mirror

spaghetti monster

Breckin is inside the pillow fort

breakfast date with mommy

You say mama and dada sometimes. Usually when your upset. You laugh hysterically. Especially at physical comedy. Especially at Breckin's physical comedy. You love your sister and want to do everything she does. She sometimes lets you and sometimes does not like it.  You give kisses.  You wave hi and bye.  You raise your hands when we say "so big!".  You clap and dance.  Your personality is shining through and we love you so much!  

Love, Mommy