March Madness

The last few months have been the craziest with all our church activities, basketball, regular motherly/wifely/home-ish responsibilities, and trying to keep up with two kids (that are both very mobile now!). I have a list that will likely never get fully accomplished and it's hard to turn my brain off at night when I go to sleep. Fortunately, I'd rather snuggle babies, read books, and play soccer outside because I know that babies don't wait (they just keep growing!)...So, I try to find the balance and lots of tasks just don't always get done or done to the level of perfectionism I might have desired in the past (but that's a good thing too! These little people grow me in so many ways!)...

Just a few pictures from our version of March Madness (our crazy but wonderful life):

We had a big weekend at the end of February: James' last basketball game (Nana, Grandpa, Jonathan, and Samuel came.), Reagan's 1st Birthday Party, James Basketball Award's Night. (I still haven't downloaded the pictures from Nana's camera - so behind!)

James and Jude are playing together more and more. He adores his big brother:

We washed cars on a pretty weekend. It attracted several kids from the neighborhood kids. James kept telling them "we have a great family" while they helped us wash the cars. Ha! I pray he always feels that way! 

So, this is not posed..the other day while we were getting ready for church, Jude was digging through the DVDs and I remembered that we had a picture of James doing the same thing in the same outfit. So, I had to get a picture. (I have a memory for the craziest things - I know!) This was not staged - promise!

Jude in 2014:

James in 2010:

Jude is 9 Months Old!

Jude has been with us on the outside as long as I carried him on the inside now. :) It just feels like he's always been a part of us now.

Wearing: 6-9 month clothing and some 12 month clothing; size 3 diapers; was just measured at 4.5 wide (for a high instep apparently; "his feet stretch up") for his first pair of shoes (that weren't hand-me-downs from James; wanted good shoes that fit him well as he begins to walk) 

Growth: He has really tapered way off since his 6 month appointment. He weighed 20 pounds, 10 ounces and was 28 inches long (just below the 50th percentile for both) at his 9 month appointment. He does have some amazing cheeks (and his head circumference is a lot bigger as well) so I think it gives him a deceptively bigger look.

Sleeping: He takes 2 or 3 naps during the day with the longest one in the afternoon when James naps. He sleeps 10-12 hours at night. He may wake some but quickly resettles. I think teething pain is contributing to more restless sleep lately.

Eating: We are doing a combination of baby food and finger food at ever meal, and sometimes only finger foods. We recently when to chick-fil-a (we forgot baby food) and he ate small pieces of grilled chicken and fruit with no problem. He seems to love everything we offer him.   

Personality: Content, happy, easy-going, active, fearless, playful, and sneaky (always up to something!) 

Teething: He still just has two teeth on the bottom (since 6 months old), but his gums are so swollen. He may end up with a bunch all at once...I don't know.

Look: Big Brown Eyes, light brown hair that seems to be getting curly; he looks very similar to James but with darker features; lately so many people have thought he was a girl (I'm going to take that as a compliment for now and assume that he's just a beautiful baby.) 

New "Tricks": super fast crawler, pulling up, getting into everything, can stand for a few seconds when he's still and not bouncing, says "Mama" and "Dada," can escape from his high chair which is not fun for me at all but worth documenting (he pulls his legs up and wiggles out of the buckle), is starting to cruise on furniture and let go and stand unassisted. I predict he will be walking before his birthday like his big brother.

Likes: playing, being on the go and into everything, eating, bath time, watching us brush our teeth, swinging and being outside, anything that James is doing is where he wants to be, he seems to like dog stuffed animals, playing with books and paper (and eating paper), he loves remotes and cell phones, he loves taking out DVD cases, he laughs at the word "no" and "bless you" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" with Mama; the only things that he dislikes are being stopped from all of his adventures and being left in the church nursery

Jude Brooks, we are so grateful that you are ours and we are yours! We praise God for your sweet life (with every shred of paper that we pull from your mouth, every page in a book that you crumple, and every DVD case that you scatter - you are SO loved!)

Love, Mama

4 year old & (Almost) 9 Month Pictures

I like to update a few picture frames in our house and add new pictures to the boys' scrapbooks every 6 months or so, especially trying to get a good picture around their birthdays. Stephen and I tried our hand at taking some at the park recently, and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I'm no professional so there are some shadows in a few pictures and things like that, but I really enjoy taking pictures of my two favorite subjects. 

James is really not into taking posed pictures right now and smiling in a way that shows his teeth for some reason, but I thought these were still very sweet pictures of our big four year old.

He has brought me so much joy these last four years! Oh how my heart is just full of love for him!

I adore this sweet baby boy!

My two most precious little blessings.

I love these candid shots. :)

(Almost) 9 Months with this little stinker! He's a charmer!

We'll have to bring a tripod (or a stack of books!) to get a shot of the whole family next time. :)