Video of Jude rolling over

Jude has been rolling over a few times each day, mainly in his crib, and when I'm not around. I was able to capture this video of him rolling from his tummy to his back this morning. Enjoy!

A day of firsts for Jude

Today was a day of firsts for Jude. It was the first time Jude rolled over from his tummy to his back. He was hanging out on his tummy in his crib and when I came back from cleaning up a messy diaper, he had rolled over on to his back. Jude also had solid food for the first time today. Unlike his brothers, Jude doesn't have any issues with the tongue thrust reflex. He had two servings, albeit very small, of rice cereal at lunch today. We'll continue with the cereal for a few more days and then move onto fruits and veggies. Here are a couple of photos of him in his high chair today.

Getting ready to eat

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My hands are super yummy

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It's tough being a Kindergartener

James passed out last Thursday after a long day of school. Mrs. Moore must keep him super busy all day long. He also passes out each night at bedtime.

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As promised...

Here are some new photos of Jude.

Much more content with tummy time now.

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A rare unhappy moment in the exersaucer.

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His fingers are almost always in his mouth these days.

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Jude at 4 months

Jude had his 4 month check up this morning. He's 17 lbs 11 oz and 26.5 inches long. I couldn't find James' 4 month stats so I compared with his 6 month numbers. Jude is the EXACT same size James was at 6 months. We knew he was chunky but wow, he's big. He got two shots and one oral vaccine. He cried pretty hard but calmed down quickly. He's still a super sweet baby. He still enjoys talking with us and his brothers. He loves being in his exersaucer and will chill there quite content if football is on TV. We need to pull out the Jumparoo and see how he enjoys that. I'm sure it will be a hit just like it was with James and John. He's not rolling yet but he pushes up with his hands during tummy time and pulls his legs in and gets to his side when he's laying on his back. I'm sure it won't be long before he starts rolling over. We'll probably be starting solids soon as he is definitely showing interest. He watches us when we eat and looks like he really wants a bite. It's time to get the high chair down from the attic and give it a good cleaning. He's been chewing on his fingers lately and drooling lots so I'm pretty sure teeth will be on their way soon. He still has blue grey eyes that change color depending on what he's wearing. Overall, he's a really happy baby who's content to do whatever the rest of us are doing. We're so lucky that he's just fit into our family so effortlessly. I'll post some pictures of him tomorrow.

Canadian/Alaskan Adventure

Brian and I just returned home from our 10 day Canadian/Alaskan adventure. While we definitely caught up on sleep, we're suffering from jet lag today. We took off on our adventure on the 11th with a 4+ hour flight to Vancouver, BC. Saturday we took a nice walk to Stanley Park, toured the Vancouver Aquarium and walked around downtown. Sunday morning we caught a cab down to the cruise ship terminal and boarded our home for the next 8 nights, the Celebrity Mercury. The ship was on the older side but you really couldn't tell. They've done a great job redoing the inside. Since we were going to have beautiful scenery almost the entire time, we splurged and got a suite with a nice deck.

After a relaxing day at sea, we pulled into our first port of call - Sitka, AK. We had to tender into the harbor (I don't do well with small boats so I took some Dramamine). We had pretty smooth waters so my stomach was fine. Sitka was a really nice small town. It was definitely on the cool side and it drizzled the whole time we were there. They had a beautiful Russian Orthodox church in the middle of town that we visited along with lots of shops.

We hopped back on the boat and headed off to our next destination, the Hubbard Glacier. It was SUPER cold that day and it got colder the closer we got to the ice. We were incredibly lucky. We had beautiful weather, calm seas and next to no ice in the water. We had the closest approach to the glacier any ship had all season long. We got within a quarter mile of it and boy could we tell. We sat out on the patio huddled in our sweatshirts, jackets, hats, scarves, gloves and those Snuggie blankets you see on TV. Even then I was still cold. We didn't get to see any calving (when big chunks of ice break off and splash into the water) but we did hear a lot of "white thunder" (when the ice breaks and shifts up on land).

Our next destination was the capital of Alaska - Juneau. It was another quaint town. Lots of shopping near where the ships docked. Brian and I took a walk to see another really old church and then over to the capital building. We walked around the corner and found the Governor's mansion as well. We strolled back into town and took the Mt. Roberts tram up to the top of Mt. Roberts. It was amazing to ride the tram up through these incredibly tall trees. We watched a short video about the local Native American tribes in the area and checked out the spectacular views of Juneau.

Our final stop in Alaska was in Ketchikan. Again, it was raining - quite a bit harder this time. This was the only shore excursion Brian and I signed up for. After hearing about Sally and Jason's zip lining experience on their honeymoon, we decided to give it a try. We rode up the mountain in what looked like a golf cart on serious steroids. There were points in time where the incline was so steep, I was sure we would go sliding back down the mountain. We got all suited up in our harnesses and headed out to the course. Brian and I ended up being separated because he volunteered to go first and I wasn't quite ready to take the leap. I was the last one in our group of 9. The whole thing was lots of fun. Not even the rain could ruin the outing. I'll definitely have to give it another try when it's not so wet. We didn't take any pictures or video because of the rain which was disappointing. We didn't see anything else of the town because by the time we got back to the ship, it was time for dinner. Perhaps one day we'll go back and check out Creek St. or the logger show.

We had another day at sea after we left Alaska. The water was on the rough side but calmed down around 3 pm as we re-entered the Inside Passage. We did lots more reading and napping. We had to order lunch in because of the rough water. My stomach couldn't handle sitting upright for more than 10 minutes or so. Thankfully it was nice and calm well before dinner as it was our last formal night and lobster night. I will say that the food on the ship was fantastic and that night was no exception. At the end of dinner and before dessert, they introduced the head chefs and the folks in charge of the wait staff. They had a really nice parade around the dining room carrying Baked Alaska. Finally, just before they cut into dessert, we all got to witness a marriage proposal!! It was so incredibly sweet. Of course she said yes, and as it turns out, their table was right across from ours.

Our final port of call was Victoria, BC. All the locals on the cruise told us about the unusually warm summer they had been having and that day was no exception. The sun was out all day and it was on the warm side. It would have been wonderful had I not been in pants and a long sleeved t-shirt. I figured we were going to Canada so there wouldn't be any need for t-shirts. Boy was I wrong. Thankfully there were cool breezes and it was quite comfortable in the shade. We had a nice walk down to the old harbor, saw the Empress Hotel as well as the Parliament building, both of which were incredibly beautiful. On our walk back, we came across a really pretty courtyard with a beautiful fountain. They also had shields with the flag of each province on them flanking a beautiful water wall. We had one more nice dinner on the ship and then it was off to Seattle.

My only complaint for the whole trip would be the disembarkation process. We had asked for Express Walk off since we had a flight to catch. It wasn't well organized and there was a huge crowd of people all trying to get off the ship with their luggage at the exact same time. Thankfully we had no problems once we were off the ship. I think that was the quickest trip through immigration and customs I've ever had in all my travels. They barely glanced at my passport and didn't even look at our customs form. We hailed a taxi and were off to the airport. We were missing the boys so much, we decided to see how much it would cost to get on an earlier flight. We had originally thought it would be $150 each but when we go there it was only $50 a piece so we splurged and caught the earlier flight. We were on the ground in Houston before 6 and home before the boys went to bed. All in all, it was a great trip. We're both well rested and ready to tackle whatever lies ahead.

Here's a slide show of our trip. I haven't added captions yet. It goes in the order of our trip so hopefully you can match up the pictures to what I've described.

Visit from Poppa Mike, Mimi, and Aunt Sarah

This weekend, Poppa Mike, Mimi and Aunt Sarah came to visit us. We hadn't seen Mike and Lisa since April and we hadn't seen Sarah since our last trip to Tucson! That's just way too long between visits. We had a great time!! We had dinner at Mission Burrito and then walked around La Centerra Friday night. Then Saturday we hit the zoo for the first time in many months. It was also Jude's first trip to the zoo. He had a great time riding in his stroller, having a bottle and seeing some animals. James and John were both in bad moods and so they missed out on the rest of the days activities which included lunch at Lupe Tortilla and shopping at the Galleria. The boys and I came home, ate lunch and then they went down for naps. All in all, it was a great visit. Hopefully several months won't pass before we see them again.

With the sea lion statue

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James and Sarah in the prairie dog tunnels

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Getting ready to ride the carousel

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A video from the carousel ride

Volunteering

Now that James and John are both in school, I have the opportunity to volunteer more. The first request came from the head Kindergarten homeroom mom, Tanya. She needed volunteers to help sort out colored construction paper so I headed up to the school Thursday while John was at school to sort. I did about 15 packs of paper while I was there and then brought another 8 packs home to sort later with James. Here's a couple of pictures of our handy work. While doing this we worked on colors and what letters/sounds the words began with. James had a lot of fun being a helper for Mrs. Moore.

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Video of James reading

This week Mrs. Moore had her class working on the letter "N" and the word "the". As part of that, the kids circle the word "the" in the rhyme Hey Diddle, Diddle. James was showing it to Brian one night and he showed us how he could read the words. Here's a video of him reading it with me.

We have a Preschooler too!!

John started preschool at Child's Play Learning Center, which is located at our church, this last Tuesday. He'll go every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:15 to 2:15. Thus far he's really enjoying it. I take him potty before walking down to his classroom. He puts his lunchbox away and is off playing with the other kids. He has had no problems leaving me at all which is not a surprise. He's happy to see me when I pick him up and tells me his missed me but had a lot of fun. I really hope he makes a lot of great friends this year. Here are a couple of photos of him before heading out the door for his first day. Notice that Puppy went to school too. : )

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Busy week with the sewing machine

I was super busy this past week sewing chair covers for James' teacher and didn't have a chance to post what we've been up to. Anyway, the finished product turned out SUPER cute and Mrs. Moore LOVED them. Here are some pictures I took before giving them to her. I hope to get a picture of them actually in her classroom.

My sewing machine also got a workout the week before making quilt squares for a new quilting project. I picked up a pattern book while visiting Sally in Granbury over 4th of July weekend. Brian and I picked out the fat quarters that weekend as well and I finally got around to getting the blocks sewn two weeks ago. I'll post photos once I get the quilt top all sewn together.

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