Changes Afoot for Baby Jude

Well, life is busy and it's certainly been awhile since our last post. Jude is growing like mad. His life is changing once again as we have sold our house in Otsego and moved. We're in temporary digs for now as we search for another house, closer to family and church, but still mid-way for all the work activities we have.

Another change on the horizon: a new cousin! Uncle Mike and Aunt LeAnn (fondly known as that fine Asian couple Okoma and Akaya as Jude calls them) are beginning the process for their first adoption, so in the next year or so, Baby Jude will have a new cousin to fuss over. Who knows...maybe this will help him learn gentleness. He is a boy to the bone, as we say, full of wrestling and running and wildness.

Pictures below are of Aunt LeAnn helping Jude decorate his own moving boxes so that he would know for certain that his things were coming with us as we loaded the truck. Pushing the stroller up and down the ramp was great fun. There's also one last kitchen project with mama in the old house.

Hope for the sleepless!

Baby Jude is doing wonderfully. A couple of months ago we began taking him to see a chiropractor. We told her of his sleep issues, and she examined him. She found that several of his ribs were out of joint, and that was putting pressure on other vetebrae (it's all connected, of course). I asked her how those kinds of things happen, and she explained that it can happen during the trauma of birth, it can happen just in the normal falling and bumping that little ones do, and any other number of ways; most of the time, it can't really be pinpointed. Matthew and I decided that whether or not it improved his sleep, clearly those ribs needed to be put back where they belong, and better while he's little yet than years later in life. So, he began recieving adjustments. Amazing; within twenty-four hours he began to bang his head much less during the night. In fact, that first night, as we recall, he slept until about three in the morning before he started banging his head or rocking his body. We were tickled. He still cries out in the night most nights, and still picks his head up and lets it fall occassionally, but it's not anything so severe as the slamming and banging he for months after coming home. In fact, I think we're up to about five hours of sleep most nights...doesn't sound like alot, but we'll take it and praise the Lord for it!

Here's Jude waiting for his appointment:


Jude with Aunt LeAnn and Dr. Diane Riddle of Acorn Chiropractic in Hastings. We are so fortunate to have Dr. Diane for Jude. She is very good with him, always allowing him to check out the adjusting instruments so he can learn what she's doing and be comfortable. She's so good with little ones that often he doesn't even realize she's adjusting him!

Baby's First Road Trip - Bringing Back the Free Bird!

This one's photo intensive...

Well, we call Jude's Aunt Jessica the J-bird. She had moved to Tennessee to finish her undergraduate degree, and when she finally found a job here in Michigan so that she could come back, Jude and I and my parents went to Tennessee to get her. We like to joke that we clipper here little birdie wings so she wouldn't fly away again. Jude just adores her. He shouts her name "Jekkika!" until she comes to him or he finds her, and then shouts it some more - precious!
The trip to Tennessee was long (about twelve hours by the time we made our occasional stops), and Jude did great. He didn't really fuss until about the last three hours, and then Grandma kept him distracted with tickle games. Anyhow, here are some pictures from the road trip.

Riding, riding, riding...and kissing mama!


There was a park at Aunt Jessica's apartment complex...


...and even Grandpa became a kid!


Jude learned to drive through the apartment complex. We can't tell who's having more fun here!


Shopping at Sportsman's Warehouse (and testing products with Aunt Jessica) was great fun. Grandpa and Grandma bought Jude his first fishing pole...a simple, good old fashioned cane pole - and we'll be breaking it in this Friday evening!


We had dinner with Aunt Jessica and her dear friends, Shameca and Courtney. (Don't tell anyone, but Jude and Courtney like to make eyes at one another!)


Resting for the trip home the next day.


Jude loved getting into the back of Grandpa's "big truck!" each time we stopped. We also ate lunch in the bed of the truck. It was a good way to contain Jude with all those vehicles zipping about!



Jude was so glad to get home to Papa after three days away.


What a trip!


We just love having Aunt Jessica home!

Baby's First Illness at Home

About six weeks ago the lack of sleep finally caught up with me and I became sick. Then Matthew...then Jude. That's just how it goes sometimes in a household - especially when it's cold outside so all the pathogens are trapped in with us because the windows are all closed up tight!

For about three days Jude didn't eat much, but he took his supplements like a champ and he rested a lot. So strange to see my little pistol resting so much through the day...

Speaking Judanese

Many people have asked us if Jude understands English. There's not much, actually, that he doesn't understand in any language, as he reads body language and vocal inflection very well. He tries new words every day. We speak mostly English at home, but I also try to speak as much French as I can remember from the days when I was fluent years ago. Unfortunately, you sure lose it when there isn't anyone to speak the language to! Also, French seems to still be very soothing to him in a meltdown. But the reality is, we are actually tri-lingual in our home...here is a small portion of the French/English/Judanese language:

"Ah-bey" - Obey! (one of our favorites, of course! Jude says this while patting his own bottom in a mock spanking)
"Ah-bedda!" - All better!
"Ah lah tu" - I love you
"Ah-wi!" - All right! (a Grandpa Garrett classic)
"Ahf-wa" - Au revior (good bye)
"Ah, tum-ahn" - Oh, come on! (another, courtesy of mama...you really need to watch it around these babes!)
"Appo" - apple
"Arretez" - arretez (stop)
"Ba-BOH!" - Bravo!
"Be-be" - baby
"Be-be Du" - baby Jude (that's what Jude calls himself in photographs)
"Bieh" - Bien! (good)
"Bhooh" - spoon
"Bood-dah!" - good job!
"Buh-dee" - bonne nuit (good night)
"Dacco mama" - D'accord mama (Okay mama)
"Deshuh" - Jesus
"Ess Gama?" - Where's Grandma? (Or Grandpa, depending on who's missing)
"Hep pee!" - Help, please! (another one we love...much better than the alternative, which is a loud, frustrated whine!)
"I-ya!" - Pick me up (always accompanied by outstretched arms)
"It a ni-ni" - Just a minute
"Jekkika" - Aunt Jessica
"Lu-wah" - Aunt LeAnn
"Me-ah-meh" - Amen!
"No" - snow
"Noh!" - No!
"Oh metty" - Oh mercy (one he picked up from mama)
"Oh nah" - Oh no
"Papa" - papa...for some reason always called out in either a whisper or a shout, never a regular speaking voice
"Pata Da" - Pastor Dan - our senior pastor, who Jude loves to give high-fives to and say "amen" with
"Ubb uh bebby" - Rub your belly
"Uh-ko-mah" - Uncle Mike

So, that's just a small sampling of our strange third language; he also knows most of his body parts, and several other words I'm sure I'm forgetting. Funny how we understand so much of this new non-language. I think Jude's training us in Judanese by immersion...the best way to learn a language!

Tuesday Evening...Without Jude

We must tell you that in light of that last post, the only thing great for us about being without Jude on the occasional Tuesday night is the sleeping. In fact, we sleep so hard on those nights that we have to set three alarms because we both sleep through the first two. Oh, and there's no need to make the bed; we can just slip out and flip the covers up since neither of us really move in the night. If you think that's sarcasm, think again...it's completely true!

However, hard sleeping aside, we sure do miss that little man when he's gone. After all, who wouldn't miss this?

Before you start to wonder why we would do this to the poor kid, let me tell you that he actually did this all on his own. One morning when his papa was shaving, he heard Jude giggling behind him. Matthew turned around, howled with laughter, and ran for the camera! This is the fun we live with.

Wonderful days. What nights?

What nights? Well, I say that because nights are for sleeping and we just don't do that. Some people roll their eyes at us as thought we naive new parents don't have a clue. While there are many things about which we indeed do not have a clue, what they don't realize is that our sleepless nights are not normal. Jude doesn't wake us up a few times and we all go to sleep and wake up a little bleary-eyed in the morning. On the contrary, Jude does some things in the night that are very disturbing and keep us awake often from 11pm until morning. So, for almost five months, we can only think of two or three nights in which we've slept for more than three or four hours.

Those couple of nights we were able to sleep were because Jude stayed overnight with Grandpa and Grandma Bowen. They have an enormous bathtub and deer in the yard every night, and Jude loves both - and Bah-pa and A-ma, of course! No, that's not a typing error - he calls her A-ma, and sometimes Maaa-ma.

Thank God for Little Boys

We recently received an email note with a link to the following blog post: http://zuidemas.blogspot.com/2008/10/it-is-not-ok.html, posted by a case worker we know, about boys. Because the overwhelming majority of people adopting want girls, there are many cases in which boys are considered to have a "special need" just because they are boys. The post is worth reading, and after you do, here is my response:

"My thoughts: 'here-here' as they say after a good toast at a celebratory event. Boys...precious boys. You know, girls are cute and precious and cuddly and soft and lovely and ruffly. But, as it turns out, I am not a girl mama. I, by God's grace and provision, am a boy mama, and I'm so glad to be. Harder to raise? Well, I wouldn't know...you see, I don't know much about kids. I only know about 'kid' - my kid. He's all boy right to his core. He's a rough-and-tumble, shout-out-loud, running, tossing, throwing, wrestling boy to the very core.

What some people forget - the people who want softness and light and ruffles - is that boys also sing to you through the day, cuddle when they're sleepy, grin with mischief when they wrestle with their mamas (knowing they can't wrestle the same way they do with their papas), and kiss you awake in the morning if you're not getting up fast enough. Seems to me that I, a boy mama, have been given the best of both worlds. What more could I ask?"

Surprising Papa

For the first time since Jude's been home, I took the day away to do some shopping with my sister and mom. On January 12th, we went to Birch Run searching for deals. Jude stayed with Grandpa Garrett during the day and his papa in the evening. He surprised Matthew when they were getting ready for dinner and Matt said, "Hmmm...where did I put your cup, son?" Jude promptly took off down the hallway and reappeared with his water cup.

Funny...people ask us if Jude understands English. You bet he does - very well. We speak English and a little French at home, and he understands both. His papa had no idea he knew what "Where's the cup?" meant.