11 Months Old-September 8th

Jude is growing so fast! So much has happened this month. In the beginning, Jude had to see the doctor for a sick visit for the first time. He had an ear infection. That was not exactly a high point or anything, I just thought that only having to go to the doctor once for a sick visit in his first 11 months was pretty good. ;) Jude has also begun to sit up on his knees to explore areas a little higher than before. His new favorite toys are boxes. Shoe boxes, big boxes from the mail, any kind really. He loves getting in them if they are big enough and pulling them around if they are small. He is really good at entertaining himself now, he just crawls around and plays with all of his toys. He usually has two toys in his hands at all times while he is crawling around the house. It is adorable. He is still eating really well and he eats everything we do still. Jude got two more teeth in this month and he now has his middle two top teeth in to go with the bottom. He looks like he might have my gap. ;) He is making all sorts of sounds now and he can say mama and dadda. I don't think he knows what those words go with but he does say them. He also says other syllables that don't really make words. He shakes his head no and will repeat you when you do it. He also will mimic actions that you do like raising your hands. He is a lot more vocal now and there are times when he will just let out a really loud noise just to try out his voice. That is always nice when we are out to dinner somewhere. He chases Eli around the house and Eli is always on the go as to avoid him. He loves to eat Eli's food when we are not looking so we have to keep it up whenever he is crawling around. He loves going through the kitchen cuboards as well. He is still taking his 2 naps a day and sleeping through the night. He is so much fun and we are really loving being parents. He keeps us thoroughly entertained. Everyone always says it's not funny when it's your kids doing it but I still laugh. I know that is probably not the best thing to do but he's just too funny. He has begun to understand when we are being happy and when we are trying to discipline him though and he is very sensitive about us telling him no. Before he used to just laugh at us but now he sticks out his bottom lip and starts to cry if we tell him no. He loves taking baths still and he can now really play with all of his bath toys. He is always trying to crawl around though so it's a full time job trying to keep him from falling over. He is also pulling up on things and loves to look out our french doors as you can see in the pictures. He is such a happy baby, always laughing and smiling. Of course he has his moments but overall, he is such a joy to be around. He definitely consumes our time but we love it. They are only little once and they grow so fast so I want to spend as much time with him as possible.

I have been doing my OB/Gyn rotation and I have been sleeping at the hospital two nights a week. I absolutely love it though but I just wish I wasn't away from Jude so much. Jeremy has been helping so much even though he just started his PhD program this month too. Jeremy has had to quit some of the other projects he was working on, such as working for our church, so that he can have time to work on his school stuff and still be home some. We were both able to get some scholarships this year so that has worked out well. We are both pretty busy but we don't feel overwhelmed. We can't imagine life without Jude so we are so grateful to have him. It is such a priviledge to be parents and it gives us such a new perspective on life.