Easter Is For Babies

I really do think holidays are more fun with children around. We had a great Easter weekend. We even ended up hosting both families at our house! It's actually not a bad thing, I only had to dust once ;)

Saturday, we had the Froehlich's over. I finally got a decent picture of the cousins:


We ate a ton, of course, and then walked it off on a hike down to Riverside Park. It was windy by the water, so we didn't stay long, but it was a really nice walk.


Sunday morning we went to church with my entire family, which is really quite impressive! Everyone then met up at our house for a rousing game of Easter Egg Lightning With A Baby Basketball Hoop. Only the Jochman's could come up with such a thing :) If you got someone "out", you received an Easter egg with $1, $2, or $3 in it. After the big kids were done, Jude even got to play!

We ended our Easter happenings with a really nice buffet lunch at Liberty Hall. It was a whirlwind of a morning, but we got Jude home on time for his afternoon nap. All in all, a very successful holiday!

Baiting The Baby

Cats make for really good incentive to get a baby to crawl:




Puffs work, too:

My 8-Month Crawler

I feel like I'm long overdue for a Jude update.

February and March were full of illnesses for Jude. Poor little guy. He seemed to just get over one cold and then another one would come along. I'm really hoping we're at the tail end of our last winter cold.

The illnesses gave us some setbacks in the sleep department. Some nights he had a hard time going to sleep and other nights he was up in the middle of the night. The worst nights were when BOTH of those things happened, though that was rare (thankfully). He's still having some trouble going to sleep, but he hasn't been up in the middle of the night for a week now - yay!

Jude loves to play with the cats. He can't decide if he wants the cats to play with the toy or if he wants to play with it himself. The cats have been great motivation for Jude to start moving. I think they deserve all the credit for the fact that Jude crawled for the first time on Sunday! He's pretty wobbly and only gets a stride or two in, but he'll be picking up speed in no time. Yikes!

Jude also got his first haircut. I guess it was more of a trim. His hair was getting really long around his ears and it was driving me crazy. I put him outside in his Bumbo seat on Sunday and carefully snipped away. I'm no hair stylist, but it looks better than before :)

Before (notice the hair over the ears):

After:

We're ready for summer now!

Showing Off My Freebies

I am a member at the website BzzAgent, from which I occasionally get the opportunity to sign up to try out products and share coupons and "buzz" with people I know. This week I really struck it rich and received two packages from BzzAgent!

The first was for S.C. Johnson:


Anyone want coupons for any of these products? I think I have 5 coupons for each. :)

The other package was from L'Oreal:


No coupons included, though, with the L'Oreal products. I was a bit bummed about that. I really like the mascara, but I'm not a fan of the eye shadow. You're supposed to be able to apply all three colors with one swipe, but it didn't work at all. I had to wash it all back off and start over. Good idea in theory, I guess :)

Oh, how I love getting free products!

Dancing Boy

Jude discovered dancing a day or two ago. He's getting really good at it! :)

Daddy took a video of Jude's mad dancing skills this morning:

6 Months of Mommyhood

I can't believe I've been a mom for over 6 months already. Jude has changed so much in that short time. He can now sit really well (though I still have to keep a Boppy around him). He finally rolled both ways and he's getting interested in things that are out of his reach, so he'll probably be mobile soon!


Jude is also starting to get the hang of solids, though I think he's going to be a picky eater like his mom (his dad is not going to be happy about that!). He hasn't liked any vegetable baby food or baby cereal. So far, he likes Puffs and potatoes. I know, shocking right? (I am a potato fanatic) I did try baby food peaches this morning and he took a couple of bites, so hopefully that one will become a "like". He also still has no interest in the sippy cup, though he knows how to use it. I think he somehow knows that once he drinks from a sippy cup, he will not be nursing as much and he LOVES to nurse.

I've been feeling really trapped in the house lately. First, Jude is not a big fan of the car. Second, he no longer nurses in public easily. The distractions are too much. Third, he still requires a nap about every 2 hours and one of them is his 3-hour afternoon nap. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the 3-hour nap! It is my sanity. But, the combination of the short morning nap and the not eating in public makes it hard to be out of the house for very long in the mornings. I can usually get in one or two errands max per day. Of course, the winter weather isn't helping. Hopefully Jude will be a good stroller baby this summer and we can go on walks pretty regularly.

Come on, Summer!!!

Charlie, Ray, and Jude (in his basketball diaper)

No More Braces!

Mommy and Jude before (can you see his two bottom teeth, can you???):



Mommy and Jude after: