JUDES FIRST BIRTHDAY

It's hard to believe how different our lives were one year ago! I was 35 weeks pregnant, trying to pack up our hours in Colorado so I could make it to Hawaii in time to make sure Jude had a Hawaii birth certificate! Our little family of 4 had spent nearly 2 years apart, and we were so ready to finally settle down in Hawaii. A couple of days after landing in Honolulu, our sweet baby boy made us a family of five.

Jude, you filled a spot in our family that we didn't know was empty! After a long day at work and school, we all look forward to walking through the door and seeing your huge smile, and your silly laugh.  There is nothing in the world better than the way your smile lights up when you see us.

You have 6 teeth! And you know how to use them! You never really cared much for bottles (We still have to struggle to get you to drink a bottle, and trick you into drinking it after you fall asleep). But you LOVE regular food. The other day I found you with a big bit of Nova's steak in your mouth, and your face, hands and arms smeared with steak sauce from licking her plate! 
Your favorite foods are pizza crust, macaroni and cheese, and ice cream.

You have discovered a love for music...mostly because it gives you an opportunity to clap your little hands.  You have a great time listening to upbeat music, then in the evenings you relax so easily to a nice lullaby.

You say a few words...."mama" "dada" "wa-wa" (water)

You LOVE your dogs (actually you love any dogs, for that matter). You go crazy when we see a dog walking around.  You are trying to learn to be patient with Summit, but usually you get so excited you end up pulling her tail or ears, or bopping her on the head while your arms are flailing around with excitement.

 

You get up once or twice a night. Every night. Without fail. You haven't yet slept through the night a single time in 365 days.  But who's counting? The middle of the night is pretty much the only time you actually enjoy drinking a bottle.
You usually sleep from about 730 p.m. until 6 a.m.

You took your first steps 2 days before your first birthday!

You love the water and the beach!

Getting thrown high into the air is your favorite activity.

You are always on the go! You don't like to sit still, and you REALLY don't like anything that requires you to hold still (diaper changes, getting dressed, etc)

You are incredibly easy going, and always up for anything. 

 

Jude Freeman Stickley, you are an amazing and precious gift from God.  This year has been the best yet for our family, and I am so excited about the many wonderful years ahead of us!

Jude -11 months

Hey Jude! You're 11 months old! It's been a very eventful month for you!

 

You can clap! It's very cute when you get excited and clap your tiny hands.  You were especially excited watching a rerun of an Ohio State football game (do you call it a rerun when it's sports? i'm not so sure). Anyway, the crowd was going wild, and you were totally into it! I think you and your daddy will have some fun times watching Ohio State football together over the years!

 

You also learned how to wave! you wiggle each of your fingers when you wave, and it's so cute!

 

You like riding in the Ergo, as long as you are on the back.  Daddy still carries you around all the time, and he help out with all the "guy stuff" around the house and yard.

 

One of favorite activities is ringing our "Doorbell"!

You still don't really like to drink a bottle, but you love to drink from your sippy cup and a straw.  When you are finished drinking, you start to spit water out....you usually end up with a drenched t-shirt.

You pretty consistently say Da-da, and we are almost sure you were saying "wa-wa" (for water) at dinner the other night. You do your own version of the sign for "more"

Your favorite food is pizza crust (well, not counting ice cream...that's probably your true favorite). You also eat cheerios, yogurt, bananas, black beans, and grapes.

You don't like meat or rice.

Snuggling with the D.

You definitely want to be involved in whatever your sisters are doing.  Usually they don't mind, but sometimes it can get a little annoying.

You can stand on your own (although you prefer not to). I'm pretty sure you could actually take a few steps, but you are such a fast crawler that you don't really see the point in that! I'm pretty sure you will be walking before your first birthday, though.

You LOVE to be outside. You love to look at the birds, and other animals, and just play in the grass, dirt, and rocks.

You aren't much of a snuggler, and you are always on the move.  You still wake up about twice a night (occasionally only once, and sometimes 3 or 4). You drink a bottle when you wake up and then *usually go right back to sleep.

You are a pretty happy little fellow, except for when you are tired or hungry. You have developed a little stranger anxiety, and have started to fuss when we leave for work, but for the most part you are social and friendly.

We think you look more like Grandpa Stickley every day.

You are a perfect fit into our family, little Jude, and we love you so much! One more month until your first birthday!!

Jude - 10 months

Hey Jude!! You're 10 months old!

It has been another fun and exciting month!
You officially have 4 teeth, 2 on the top, and 2 on the bottom.  In fact, you can (and do!) bite pretty hard!
You are eating lots of different foods now.  You like cut-up grapes, anything with bananas, and bread.
You have perfected your crawling ability, and you go anywhere you want, as fast as you want!
Your sisters absolutely crack you up.  They are so excited to see you after a long day, and the second they walk in to the house after school, you start going crazy.
You still get up at least twice a night for a bottle (you don't like to drink bottles during the day because you are just way too busy).  Daddy gets up most nights with you.
You sleep from about 8 p.m. until 6 a.m.
You don't like to nap. We are lucky to get a single one hour nap out of you!
You are always on the go!

Playing basketball with dad....He loves having a boy around the house :)

You like to be tossed, thrown, flipped, and generally roughed up...it makes you laugh when you hang upside down!

You wish you were big

You spend a LOT of time on daddy's back

Weekly sunday trip to Costco...It must be nice to grow up with two big sisters who absolutely adore you!

Your buddy (let's see...it's actually your daddy's cousin Tim's wife Beth's cousin Abby's daughter Makenzie....so that makes you.....some sort of cousin in law)

You are big enough to be included in the cousin picture! Celebrating melody's 7th birthday!

This was one of your more difficult decisions. During a moment of freedome at Melody's house you had to choose between a table full of legos, or a really soft kitty....you went for the legos

Another amazing thing about Melody's house....buckets of loose change! A baby's dream come true!

mmmmm.....shave ice! Broke Da Mouth!

Family photo at the Annual Vietnam Adoption Picnic. That's the face you were making as you grabbed a giant handful of mom's hair and prepared to pull! :)

You are learning how to give kisses (it's more like eating the lucky recipient's face)

One of your favorite parts of our morning routine is helping daddy brush his teeth. You love the electric toothbrush!

sleep on daddy's shoulder in church

More good times at Costco...

And finally, a nice Sunday afternoon nap with your dad

Jude - 9 months

Hey Jude! You're 9 months old! What a great month we have had, discovering more and more about what your little personality is like! You are a laid back little fella! It doesn't phase you to get poked at, tickled, carried around, kissed all over, and generally tormented (with the best intentions, of course!) by your 2 adoring sisters. 

You took your first big tumble...we set you on the bed while we bustled around the bedroom doing our early morning routine, and in half a second flat, you had made it to the edge of the bed and tumbled right over onto the floor. You had a bit if a bloody nose to show for it! Of course we felt just terrible, but it didn't bother you for long! And now we know we can't turn our backs on you!

For Memorial Day we went to Punchbowl   Cemetery to remember the fallen. You attracted quite a bit of attention in your red, white and blue, and you even ended up with your picture in the newspaper!

You get around quite efficiently these days! You were up on all fours and crawling all over the place the minute you turned 8 months, and we have had to baby proof the house in rapid fashion to keep you from tumbling down the stairs. 

For Mother's Day, we spent the afternoon on your first catamaran ride! You absolutely loved it! You spent the whole time hanging out with Daddy and Cousin Tim. 

We even almost got a family photo with everyone looking!

Nakey Baby Bottoms with your buddy Torin

Enjoying a good snuggle in the waves with dad

Mothers Day! One Happy Momma!

Napping at the beach

You still fit in the sink for bath time (notice how blonde your hair is getting!)

You also survived your first camping trip (2 nights!). Ill have to post more about that when I finally get around to Nova's birthday post. 

You can easily pick up and eat puffs, Cheerios, and even pieces of banana. You still don't want to take the time out of your busy day to eat, so you wake up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner over the course of the night. Your daddy has pretty much taken over nighttime duty, and I'm not sure how he functions during the day, but he never complains about getting up 3x/night with you. He must really love you!

Your daddy has also been carrying you around on his back for a good portion of the day. You have helped him do yard work, fix the cars, clean out the garage, and a whole list of other "guy stuff". I guess it's never too early to learn these things! I just can't help but be impressed that your dad can do all of that while toting a baby around on his back! Yep, he must really love you!

You make lots of sounds, but no real purposeful sounds yet. 

You love bananas

You hate naps (you sleep less than any baby I've ever seen!)

You are kind of on the shrimpy side, and haven't yet reached 17 pounds. You are only in the 5th% for weight and the 10th% for height. 

Your nicknames include: Cutie Bootie, cutie, Bootie, and Boots (all made up by Nova). 

Your favorite toy this month has been a bigger version of a matchbox car. 

For some reason gates and doors crack you up and you go crazy anytime we open a gate or door. 

You love dogs, birds, and fish. 

You are a perfect part of our family, Boots, and we all adore you! Your smile and giggle every morning (even at 5:45 am!) brightens our day. 

Jude - 8 months!

Hey Jude! You're 8 months old! You are developing an adorable little personality.  You have a cute belly laugh, and it really  makes you giggle when we play peekaboo (or variations on the theme). Your favorite toy is a small plastic basketball.

We find it really crazy that you don't enjoy your bottles at all. We have to really struggle to get you to eat your bottle during the day (as opposed to Nova, who LOVED a good bottle!).  You do, however, go crazy for any other kind of food.  You think you are able to eat regular grown up food, and I have to keep a close eye, or you will end up with a handful of our food in each hand.

At the end of your 7th month, you really started to try to crawl (I'm trying not to give a spoiler for your 8th month!). You figured out how to get up on all fours and rock around. You also are able to kind of scoot from point A to point B. 

Enjoying a lunch date with mom and dad

On of our very favorite pictures of you....working on your fitness

You really enjoy the water!

Waikiki Beach (you're favorite thing is getting tossed way to high in the air-just like your sisters)

You also tried out paddleboarding fort the first time. Unfortunately you weren't too crazy about it...but you've got time to learn!

Biggest and Littlest Stickley sibs

Another fun month...and getting dangerously close to one year old!

I have some more great posts coming up...including our "staycation" in Waikiki, a camping trip, and Princess Nova's 5th birthday celebration!

2 posts in 1 day?

I had uploaded a bunch of pictures the other day, but never actually posted, so I'm posting again, with round 2 of pictures from the lives of the Stickley gang.

Thursday afternoon means gymnastics! The girls both really love gymnastics.  Juneau is actualy quite good, but often her energy gets the most of her, and it is hard for her to actually focus on the classes. But we are seeing lots of improvement in spite of this, and she really seems to enjoy it.

So cute with thier little buns!

Thursday is also "Take the Baby to Work Day".  I work on the North Shore on Thursdays, and the laid back office setting, along with a bit of a lighter schedule (and an amazing Nursing Assistant who functions really well using just 1 hand to take blood pressures and enter vitals while bouncing a baby on her other hip) allows me to bring this little cutie with me sometimes. Today he was a bit of a handful, and insisted on being held pretty much the entire day, but it was still really great to spend the day with my baby while still doing my job.  This would pretty much never fly in the Army, so it's one of the times I glad I have the opportunity to work as a civilian doctor now!

Jude has had a couple of big pool outings....and he loves it! He doesn't mind the cold, and enjoys floating and splashing around. It's so fun to watch him getting acquainted with the water!

Wednesday is my usual day off, and also happens to be a pretty light day for Cris as well.  Now that Cris' Tenure Dossier has been submitted, he's been a little more willing to sneak way from the university to hafe some daytime hiking dates.  This was pretty much the coolest hike I've ever done. Ever.  We are at the top of the first peak of the hike, and you can see the 2nd peak and the really point 3rd peak behind me.  It took us almost 4 hours, and pretty much all the energy I could muster, but we made it to all 3 peaks, and had a wonderful time enjoying our beautiful island, and a rare moment of time alone!

Self portrait from the top

One of my favorite times of day is between 6 and 630 am, when the kids slowly start to wake up and pile into our bed. By 630 everyone is all smiles and giggles and it's a really special time together (at least when we are not rushed to get out of the house and running around like crazy people!)  Here are all 3 of the kids at about 630 in the morning. I Love each one of their beautiful smiles so much!

Another hike I had been wanting to do in Hawaii (whih I can't believe I have never done after all these years!) is the Koko Head Crater hike.  It basically consists of a straight up trail of railroad ties....you can see the peak way out in the distance.  This was a really strenuous, but very rewarding hike, and I got a great workout, and then enjoyed some beautiful views from the top.

More Koko Head

And to finish off the day's posts...take a look at this little cutie. I actually forgot it was picture day (which was actually heartbreaking when Nova arrived to school and saw all of the other preschoolers in their "Aloha Wear" with curls in their hair, and she had on her school uniform and a ponytail...one of my worst-parenting moments!).  Luckily, some kind soul must have combed out juneau's hair, and then they put her in this graduation outfit, and voila! Our little graduate! When I look at this picture I can't help but fast-forward 13 years and imagine her as a graduating high school senior!

Aloha for the night.  We are going to drag our old, tired selves to bed, and hope to catch a little sleep before Jude wakes up for his midnight, 2 am, 4 am, and 6 am bottles :)