Christmas Surprise!

I can't wait to go down to Bakersfield this weekend. I really wish Christmas was tomorrow and I would be that much closer to the four hour drive down south. Kris and Dave had a little Christmas Surprise on Tuesday. They had their first baby boy yesterday... two weeks early! His name is Riley James Harvey, born at 1:50pm, and he was 6lbs. 13oz. 20''. I can't wait to see him! If only Benny was able to come. Thats one thing I hate about the retail business. You have to work the holidays... no matter what.

Well, I'll have pictures of Christmas up before I take off on Saturday. Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Where in the world has the time gone?

I can't believe we are only eleven days away from Christmas! I have been scolded several times by my mom and dad for not updating my blog. Apparently more people than I realized actually read this thing. :) Just kidding. I know I've been pretty bad at updating my photos of Jude and everyone thinks I lost my camera or something. Well here is his latest picture with the man of the month... SANTA CLAUSE!!! Now I know he looks a little funny... but give him a break. He tends to shy away from strangers now and looks really confused by the fact that I am standing in front of him waving. These two pictures were taken right before he realized a strange man was holding him. After realizing this he looked back at me and started crying. It was so funny.

Jude's new playpen...

is wonderful and large enough for all of his toys and has even enough room for mommy to get in and play with him. I love the fact that I can walk him in and out of it through one of the two doors it has. The first time I put him in it he didn't throw the usual fuss because it didn't look anything like his little playpen and it wasn't as confining. Give it two or three more times and I'm sure he will catch on and dislike this playpen just as much as his other one. :)

Here are a few pictures of his new play area.

Update on the H1N1 shot...

Well... yesterday morning I decided to call the doctors office to make sure that they had Jude's H1N1 shot still and luckily I did before waking him up at eight thirty to get him there by nine. They still did not have the shot available for him. I would have got all the way down there and would have been turned away. I figure it can wait until we go to get his second regular flu shot in three weeks. Hopefully they will have it by then.

H1N1

I know its probably a bunch of hoopla and what not... but Jude is still getting his H1N1 vaccine just in case. I always watch The Dr.s on T.V. and they actually said around seventy eight kids have died from the H1N1 virus in October alone. I haven't checked to see if these statistics are correct... but it did make me a little nervous. Everyone is California is going crazy with this news. We have had two vaccine clinics in the past two weeks that have had two thousand people or more waiting for these shots and sprays.

Needless to say. At Jude's pediatricians appointment on Friday they said they did not have the vaccine and I would have to continue calling on Mondays to see if they had gotten it in that day. So I called today and they said they had the vaccine available and would get me in tomorrow at nine. I just wish there was a clinic or place I could go to get the vaccine too. I guess the regular flu shot will have to do for myself. Lets just say I'm not looking forward to tomorrow though. Jude does well with getting the shot... but horrible with the after pain from the injection.

A LONG week with the cold. :(

I have had the worst cold this last week. We went down to Bakersfield last Friday for Kris and Dave's Baby shower... which was fantastic. But on the way home I could just feel myself falling into a sickness. Sure enough by the time we pulled into the driveway my throat was killing me, nose was running, and my head felt like it was about to explode. Needless to say I wasn't feeling good at all.

Monday was even worse. I still had to run a few errands in the morning and took Jude with me. When we got home I was exhausted. Jude thankfully took a nap and I was just about to slip back into my pj's when my friend Bri came over to give me some soup and tea. What a sweetheart. She even offered to stay a few hours to watch Jude once he woke so I could sleep a little longer. I was so thankful.

After THREE HOURS I woke up and found Bri putting the stroller away with Jude no where to be found. She had taken him for a walk and called my mom to see if she could bring Jude over to their house for the afternoon. She had dropped him off and was heading out. So I decided to have the soup she had brought and take lay down again. I couldn't believe how horrible I felt. I didn't even wake up until midnight and completely freaked out! I didn't know WHERE Jude was and whether or not Benny had picked him up at my mom and dads, if they still had him over there, what was going on. Thankfully Benny had went and got him at eight, fed him, and had him in bed.

I slept from 1p.m. to 5p.m.--- 5:30p.m. to 12:00a.m.---- 12:30a.m. to 8:00a.m. and still felt horrible on Tuesday. Another piece of my self destruction was the fact that I didn't really breastfeed Jude at all Monday evening and Tuesday morning he was fussing while being fed. I could tell something was wrong. By Wednesday morning I had a LARGE lump in my breast accompanied by a rather large red discoloration on my breast as well. I had given myself Mastitis again. Great. So then I felt the FLU like symptoms of body aches and chills. It took all of Wednesday and Thursday... complete with breast pumping and trying to get Jude to eat until it finally passed.

Today was rather good. I am still not healthy by far. Very tired and congested with a horrible head ache. Anyhow. Dave is over and so is Benny's dad and little sister Tonya. Hopefully when I wake up tomorrow I will feel 100%. Tomorrow Tonya has a Cheer leading competition at the Sacramento Convention Center at one and I would really like to go see. But if I still feel fatigued I think I will stay home with Jude and try to rest up.

Happy Halloween!

Jude looked like he had a wonderful time getting ready for Halloween. We were over at Grammy and Papa's house yesterday to help decorate for today's festivities. There was an alien, a werewolf, spiders, a bat, and eery smoke to set the spooky mood for our little trick or treaters. Benny and I carved a few pumpkins. Mine of course was simple and traditional as Benny's was a little more artistic. Benny took a funny picture of Jude and turned it into a Frankenstein/Jude pumpkin. Here are a bunch of pictures of us getting ready for Halloween yesterday and some from today. Hope everyone had a Wonderful Halloween! woohahahaha. :)

Shopping with Grammy...

Today my mom and I got Jude's Halloween Pictures!!! He did so well this time and smiled in every photo. We think that these might be the best pictures of him thus far but who knows... every mother thinks their babies are absolutely adorable. I'll let you decide if these photos of Jude are as cute as my mom and I believe they are.


Side note... Benny, Jude, and I are going down to Bakersfield for Kris and Dave's baby shower next Saturday. Although I'm excited to go see them and drop by Aunt Lisa and Uncle Dave's house I'm a little nervous because Jude's pediatrician has been soooo booked up that Jude hasn't received his Flu shot yet. I'm so nervous my little man might come in contact with someone with the flu, so I plan on being the overprotective mother for the entire weekend... purell in hand and mandatory for anyone who wishes to hold or play with Jude... I just hope anyone with the flu or slightest inclination that they might have the flu decide to stay home and get well instead of going out and infecting us all. :) Sorry, I know that might sound harsh, but things change when you have kids.


Back to happier thoughts... I found some cool prints for Kris and Dave's baby blankets that I think they will love. Dave really wanted something cool and modern instead of the traditional baby prints, so I went to Joanns and found one fabric with guitars and musical drum sets on it and another with bright musical notes that look great together. I just hope Kris likes it too. Dave will definitely not be embarrassed taking his baby boy out with these blankies.

:0 I just forgot what happened last weekend. My mom and I were at Joanns together looking for a few baby prints for my good friend Brianas baby blankets and I actually had someone look at Jude... look at me, and then ask me... "Hi... oh how cute...what is he mixed with?" That had to be the strangest question I had ever been asked. I know he looks nothing like me, but wow. I kind of stuttered a little before stating that his father was Vietnamese. I thought I was being weird about it, the girl did look pretty young, but I thought it was kind of rude, don't you think?

Thank you Jude...

Yesterday might have been the first day I felt balanced in my life since I lost my job and delivered Jude. I don't know why I would say that but that just seems perfect to say for the way I felt yesterday.

The day started off with a wonderfully happy baby who laughed within minutes of me picking him up. What did he laugh at... the entourage of dogs at my feet as I entered the nursery. (He loves to watch them run around and play with each other) Another plus was the fact that he actually stayed still while I changed his diaper. This in itself has been a challenge here lately... my little monkey loves to toss himself on his tummy and try to crawl away from me in order to explore... while I have a diaper literally in my mouth ready to throw on while still cleaning his cute little butt with one hand and holding him down with the other. :) It was wonderful.

The rest of the day was just as wonderful. He ate all of his breakfast without a peep, played in his playpen for a few minutes while I put away laundry, and the cute way he told me he was tired made me a little teary eyed. I was sitting on the floor across from him watching him play when he all of a sudden rubbed his eyes, looked at me, and while softly crying crawled to me and buried his face in my blouse. I love when he does this. It happens more and more often now when he will crawl to mommy for loves or to tell me hes tired and want a nap.

Our day ended with Jude happily playing in the floor while Benny, my mom, and myself watched The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and ate dinner. It was one of the first times I didn't have to wait for Jude to go to bed before eating or eating while chasing him down in order to intervene when seeing a potentially fretful fall. It was an overall wonderful day.

I KNOW... I KNOW....

it has been a LONG time since I have updated my blog.... but for good reason. My GRANDPARENTS were here. I tried to spend every waking minute with them since I knew it would be a while since I would get the chance to spend time with them again. I must say that I miss them sooooo much and cherish every minute I get to spend with them. Next year I really want to plan a trip out to see their home and beautiful view that my Grandpa raves about. Its so hard to get a visual from just pictures alone. Hopefully Benny and I can hitch a ride with my parents or something next spring.

Now for the updates and wonderful pictures that I have gotten throughout the last few weeks. The got to stay with us for about three weeks... which was wonderful. Granted, Jude and I did opt out of the camping trip due to teething and non-stop fussing from Mr.Fussbucket. (That's my nickname for him when he's being a booger) Plus I didn't know what I would do with him during this trip since he doesn't like the playpen for more than ten minutes and wants to crawl, pull himself up, and explore everything in the house. How could I have occupied him for an entire week?!? Anyhow... it sounded like they had a wonderful time relaxing, fishing, and catching up.

As for my week... alone... without mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and Benny(due to work)... Jude occupied my time with teething and learning how to crawl on his hands and knees instead of on his tummy, like a wounded soldier (Benny's expression). But it was actually a good thing that we had a rough week of off and on teething while everyone was gone because by the time they got back Jude was back to his happy, smiley self for grandma and grandpa to see. We also got to take Jude to Dave's Pumpkin Patch on daddy's day off. Here are some of those exciting pictures.

Here are some wonderful pictures of grandma and grandpa having fun with Jude. And a few of Jude having fun on Papas pool table. :)

Well... it's way past my bed time. :) I promise it won't be two to three weeks before another update. Hope everyone is doing well.

Great Grandma and Grandpa are here!!!

Today my grandma and grandpa arrived from Arkansas. It took them three days to drive all the way to California and we are SOOOO happy to see them. I can't believe it has been eight months since we have seen them last. We have so many pictures to show them and they still haven't seen our new home.

When grandma and grandpa used to live in Bakersfield, Benny and I would drive down and spend the weekend with Benny's Dad... but we would always spend one day at my grandparents house before coming home. I really hate how far away they live now, but I know they are extremely happy out there. All of the pictures that they show of their home are so beautiful with the view of the lake and the new editions they have made to their home. Benny and I would love to take a trip out and see them, but we need to find out what are financial future holds for us.

I'll have a ton of pictures to come in the next few days. We spent most of today just catching up. Tomorrow I'll make sure to have the camera by my side the entire day so I can get some candid shots of Jude and his great grandparents. :)

A long awaited post

Oh my goodness. I can't believe I haven't updated our blog in over a week and a half. Time has been flying now that Jude has become mobile. Every time I get on the computer I see Jude start grabbing for something... or crawling somewhere he's not supposed to.... just out of the corner of my eye and I have to stop what I am doing to run after him and put him back in the middle of the floor. At first he thought this was a new game, but now he gets mad at mommy for taking him away from a new area or toy.

Jude has just learned too many tricks all at once and all I can do is try to keep up. Just a week ago I discovered that Jude can sit in the sitting position unassisted and can actually can pull himself up into the sitting positon as well now. I thought this was a wonderful milestone he had finally reached and kidding you not... only two days later did he pull himself up in his crib to a STANDING position. Now he tries to pull himself up on everything! Along with all of these new tricks, he has also become so excited that he doesn't want to sleep at his regular time anymore... he wants to pull himself up in his crib and have mommy run in to get him.

Let me be more specific of our first experience with Jude pulling himself up in his crib. I was laying on the couch watching our video baby monitor... waiting for Jude to go to sleep before going to bed myself... and must have closed my eyes for a few minutes when I realized he was really quiet and must have went to bed. Not quite. I was glancing at the monitor while walking out of the living room when I realized he wasn't sleeping... he was standing in his crib and I couldn't see how far his upper body was out of the crib! I thought he was going to tumble out or something so I ran in there and his arms were completely over the side. I don't know if he could really pull himself out of the crib, but I'm in no way ready to find out. I slept on the couch and kept waking up and looking at the monitor to make sure he was sleeping for the rest of the night.

The very next day I took Jude to Grandma's and ran back home to lower his crib down to the lowest level so I could sleep soundly that he won't fall out of his crib in the middle of the night. That is one thing I never ever want to experience is a baby crawling out of their crib in the middle of the night. It still makes me cringe at the thought.

Here are a few pictures of Jude. In one or two I walked in to him sitting up crying in his crib watching for me to walk in the door. It's funny and cute... but also sad because he has tears on his face. I will also post another of him standing in his gt walker.


















Here are a few more pictures from just a few minutes ago... including Jude pulling himself up on the table while mommy is trying to type. :) I love him soooo much. He's my little handsom man.