Jude, Ten Months

Jude is 10 months old!

Weight

Approx. 19 lb. Slowly but surely gaining!

Height

No idea on this one. Last we checked (a month ago) he was 30 inches.

^^Jude dropped his cheerio.

^^Cheerio returned. All is right in the world again.

Sleep
This boy has become quite the awesome sleeper, praise GOD!

He has his two naps down to a science. Down for nap #1 pretty much exactly 3 hours after he wakes up in the morning. Down for nap #2 pretty much exactly 3 hours after he wakes up from nap #1. Bedtime around 8pm. Sleeps 'til about 6am - 7am. The past few days he's been waking around 4am or 5am, so I feed him and he goes right back to sleep. I think teething pain is the culprit. But other than that, we're good in the sleep department. :) :) :)

Firsts this month
-"All Jude wants for Christmas is his two front teeth . . . " And now he has them! They came through about a week ago and they are cute (and sharp) as ever!
-Stands without holding on to anything for a few seconds.
-Signs "all done" and "water."
-Says "all done" if we say it to him first.
-Gives super slobbery kisses when I ask.
-Waving for real this time.
-Drinks from a straw.
-Eats waaaay more solid food now. He's finally mastered the chew and swallow business.
-Dances to music. The most adorable booty bounce you ever did see.
-Babbles like he's having a conversation with us.
-First plane ride!

Nicknames
The Jujer
Boo Ju Ju

^^Baby's first Thanksgiving!

^^No, big bro, I am NOT interested in you holding me. Kthanx.

Other things to note

-New favorite foods include tempeh, cheerios, chia seed pudding, oranges, and cantaloupe. 

-He's thankfully not really in "put EVERYTHING in mouth" mode anymore, but he still does like a good floor food find. 

-Still obsessed with ALL appliances. Dishwasher, fridge, dryer, lamps . . . We're seriously considering a dishwasher-themed 1st birthday party. Wanna brainstorm with me? ;)

-Jude is finally warming up to the idea of having books read to him. Are we going to have another bookworm in the fam?

-Officially needs his first haircut. Look at those long locks! We were trying to hold off 'til his birthday, but I think we're nearing mullet status. I'll report back on whether we go through with it next month.

-This boy still love to nurse. We're nursing about 6 times a day and I think he still gets most of his calories from breastmilk. Hoping to see that flip this next month: more solid foods, less breastmilk. I love nursing my Jude baby, but I'm also excited to see him explore food more!

-Juji had big travels this past month! We went to Rhode Island for my little brother's wedding during the first week of November. It was such a whirlwind wonderful trip! The boys did great with the traveling, for the most part, and it was such a joy to introduce Jude to my 3 siblings! And extended family too! The rest of the pictures from here on out are from my brother's wedding, all taken by my older brother @ Matt Ferrara Photography. <3

^^Dance floor snoozing.

Happy 10 months, Jude the Dude!

Jude, Nine Months

Jude is 9 months old!

Halloween edition -- Jude the Dalek, an evil alien robot from Doctor Who!

In fact, it was a family costume kinda year. The Doctor, his companion: Amy Pond, the TARDIS, and a Dalek . . . 

Yes, we are nerdy.

Now on to the more important stuff . . . 

Weight

Alright, so official weigh-in at his 9-month appointment was 18.5 pounds, which means little bub is not keeping up with his growth curve. He dropped from the 50th percentile to the 30th. Womp womp. I blame his busy-ness (climbing and crawling and just never stopping), my progesterone shots dropping my supply a little, and his distractedness during eating. So the plan: we're going to monitor weight a little more closely the next few months and hopefully bulk him up with things like coconut milk, avocado, peanut butter . . . all the fatty foods. We shall see.

Height

30 inches, which puts him in the 97th percentile for height. Wowsa!

^^The boys and their cousin, Rosie.

Sleep

Sleeps keeps on getting better and better. *hearts for eyes*

Jude usually naps 2 times a day now. In general, morning nap is 2 hours long and afternoon nap is 1 hour. This means that the boys are on opposite nap schedules: Jude naps 10am-12pm, John Paul naps 1pm-3pm, Jude naps 3pm-4pm. Whew. So basically we just stay put in the house all day and the boys get awesome naps and life is good. I bet Jude will go down to one nap here in the next few months, and then they'll be back on the same schedule and we'll stop being hermits so much. In the meantime, I really can't complain. 

Overnight, Jude is sleeping like a champ. He goes down around 8pm or 8:30pm and sleeps through until 6:30am or 7:30am. It's wonnnnnderfulllll. He does have the occasional night waking, usually about once a week. But other than that, we're sleeping through the night again, baby. *happy momma dance*

Firsts this month

-Standing without holding on to anything for like 2 seconds.

-Waving! He perfected this skill early in the month, then forgot it and will only do it on occasion now.

-Cruising along furniture fast!

-Better aim when eating with a spoon.

-Picks up a cup with no lid and drinks from it (with much spillage, but he's so proud). 

Nicknames

Juji <3

Other things to note
-Things Jude likes to get into: all of them. All the things. But especially the dishwasher (see above), trash, shoes (he likes to lick the bottom of them . . . ?), any little speck he finds on the floor (this month he's tried to eat mud, a rock, and a fuzz ball, among other actual edible floor things), your face, your glasses, your hair. Anything is fair game.

-Current favorite foods are applesauce, oranges, and all the carbs. He's still trying to figure out the chewing and swallowing thing, but he's figuring out how to eat more solid foods each day. Slow and steady.

-He loves following John Paul around and doing whatever he's doing. For example . . .

-He loves to play with anything that he comes in contact with. Broom, dish towels, the window, vases, pillows, diapers, the clothes I just folded, the occasional toy. Jude is so interacty with his world right now and I love it. He can keep himself distracted and happy for an hour or more, so long as he's well slept and well fed and there are plenty of fun things around to get in to. Mama loves it.

-Jude is probably half fish. This kid LOVES water, but most especially bath time. Just last night, John said he was shivering through the bath, but still wanted to stay in and play foreverrrr. Obvi we didn't let the shivering continue and pulled him out, but he was miserable being taken away from his favorite playtime of the day. That's dedication, baby.



Happy 9 months, little dude. You're definitely the coolest. :)

Jude, Eight Months

Jude is 8 months old!

Weight
Still not sure on this one. He'll weigh in again at his 9-month appointment. I'm a little worried his distractedness during eating has meant verrrry slow weight gain over the last two months. And he's super crawly and active, so he's burning extra cals. Eep!

Height
While his weight gain has slowed, I'm nearly positive he's still going to be in the 90+ percentile for height. He's a string bean these days.

Sleep
Jude naps 2-3 times a day. Morning nap is typically 2 hours, afternoon nap is usually 1 hour, and if he does an early evening nap, it usually only lasts 30 minutes at the most.

Overnight sleep has vastly vastly improved! This little dude can now sleep through the night about half the time. Usually that's 9pm to 6am. We're still working on getting him to sleep 8pm to 8am, but I'll take what he's giving in the meantime. If he does wake up in the night, it's never at a predictable time, and it's either because he wants some snuggles or I didn't have enough milk at bedtime, so he wakes to fill that tummy a little more. Are we finally at the end of this lonngggg sleep deprivation tunnel??

^^baby model, casual hand in pants pocket

Firsts this month
-SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT WAY MORE! Praise!!
-Lots of screaming and growling to gain our attention.
-Real deal crawling. So fast!
-Repositioning himself from crawling position to sitting up and back to crawling.
-A tiny bit of cruising along furniture!! Ahhhh! Will we have an early walker?!
-Getting down from standing position with ease and no head bonks on the floor.
-Transferring while standing from one thing (furniture) to another (mom's leg).
-Wayyyy way way more clingy with mama. Cries when I leave the room. Cries if daddy goes in to soothe him at night instead of me. Cries if someone else holds him for too long.
-I swear he's trying to wave and do the "all done" sign and sometimes he mimics our intonation when we're talking to him. But maybe I'm just thinking he's super advanced and can do these impressive things early because: mom.
-Finally swallowing lots more solid foods. Has stinkier diapers to prove it!
-Popped his second tooth. Look how cute . . .

Nicknames
Juju and Trash Panda. Juju is just a play on Jude. But Trash Panda. Ohhhh Trash Panda. This little boy gets into EVERYTHING, including our trash, recycling basket, floor crumbs, the toilet, the dirty dishwasher. You name it, he's played in it. He digs around until he finds something that looks edible and then, without hesitation, tries to eat it. I pull paper/fuzz balls/floor food/small objects out of this baby's mouth constantly. So yeah, Trash Panda.

^^ oh, those sweet baby cheeks and lashes

Other things to note
-Jude's current favorite foods are green beans, sweet potatoes, and one time he sucked all the juice out of a piece of steak. He'll basically try anything we give him. Including kale, which is always hilarious because he can't chew it, so he just nom nom noms on it like a giraffe eating a leaf.

-This kid regularly disappears on me. He can crawl so fast now, that if I turn away for a minute, he's already in a different room all the way across the house!

-Jude LOVES to play with toys now. He's SO grown up to me these days, the way he interacts with the world. He's so curious and it's so cute to watch.

-He is giddy watching his big brother play, especially when John Paul is playing with something fast and on wheels. So when John Paul rides his bike or pushes his toy lawnmower, Jude squeals and yips and it's oh so adorable.

-While I don't have a picture to prove it, Jude loves sticking out his tongue. It'd say it's out about 25% of the time, especially if he sees something he wants to eat or if he's concentrating hard on something.

^^ the many faces of Jude

Happy 8 months, little man! Thanks for being so wonderful. <3