Why is everyone dressing up today?

Happy Halloween! Here is our little panda bear. The costume used to belong to his cousin.

Me thinks she was a bit older when she was wearing it. What with the standing and all.

Lucky for us, it fit right in time for Halloween. He wore the outfit to the doctor's this morning (4 month check-up). And when we got home he promptly barfed on it. Twice.

So we made sure to get some photos of him in it and then into the hamper it went.

Gert went as an alien for Halloween. Ralph is going as Kujo (always).

Besides barfing in the costume, Judah also sneezed. It went a little something like this:

Oh, Give Me a Home

Where the buffalo roam...

We actually did see buffalo.

But they weren't roaming. They were penned up at a farm.

Well, you guessed it. We were in Kansas last week.

They have some pretty big crickets and grasshoppers out there.

That's way bigger than we grow them out west!

You might be wondering why we picked the Mid West as our vacation destination. Were we drawn by the amber waves of grain? The skies that are not cloudy all day? Or maybe we are storm hunters just hoping to be lifted off to Oz? Well, if you thought any of those things you would be wrong.

The real story is that Bill's mom's family is from Kansas and we went out so they could meet Judah.

Specifically, so his Great-grandma could meet him. This lucky little dude has 2 great-grandmas. When I was born I only had two grandmas. Period. He has a whole gaggle of family to ooh and aah over him.

That's four generations right there. Crazy, no?

Even the smaller cousins were all about Judah. Piper (pictured) was completely enamored with him. She kept wanting to hold him and hug him and touch him and just watch him. The holding was pretty funny, since she had maybe 2lbs on him. Maybe.

During our vacation we mostly just hung out with family and carted Judah around to various activities.

Like a little cousin's soccer game.

And a little cousin's football game.

He got a bit sleepy with all the games so we snuggled up for the duration.

We visited the town Bill's mom grew up in (and where her mom has lived her entire life). This is their town church (which happens to be where Bill's parents got married. In December. In a blizzard.)

It was a really good looking church. It is crazy how large and nice it is being that it is in a tiny ass town in the middle of Kansas.

Judah gabbed quite a bit while we were there. I think he enjoyed the echo.

Who doesn't enjoy a blue ceiling? No one. That's who.

Judah is barely tolerating us at this point.

We also spent a couple of days in Kansas City.

Which I had no clue that it was in both Missouri and Kansas. It is partially separated by the Missouri River, but mostly by State Line Road. I was pleasantly surprised with Kansas City. It was much nicer than I was anticipating  There are actually a lot of (deciduous) trees and tons of fountains. We spent one day at the zoo and another one walking around the Plaza (a shopping area).

It was a nice trip and I am now able to put faces to all the names I hear. Judah did better than expected. We were able to keep his bed time the same (6pm Pacific Time, 8pm Kansas Time), but his naps were totally haphazard if they even happened at all. He was a champ though. He did well on the flight there, but was a bit cranky on the flight back. I'm not sure if his ears were bugging him (mine were killing me and I wasn't congested or anything). It might have just been because he was tired (from the lack of naps and we had to wake his ass up early to catch out flight). Still, he was a rock-star.

Sadly, now he is awake and I have no idea why. He shouldn't be up for another 3 hours at least. Bill is up in the nursery rocking him and singing Bob Marley, but that doesn't seem to be doing the trick. So, peace out. I need to go get that kid back to sleep.

Judah at four months

Our little dude turned four months on October 21st. How time flies. Soon he will be 6 months. Before you know it, he will be a year! Then two! And on and on and on.

He is just getting so big- as you can see from the excess of rolls on his arms. It makes him look like he has a few extra joints in there. He doesn't.

This was the first monthly photo session where it wasn't just me and him. We had a whole entourage: dad, grandma, a great aunt, and two cousins. There are only one or two photos where he is actually looking at me and the camera. Mostly he was staring at his adoring fans.

At four months Judah is:

- only waking up once per night (I'm sure this is only temporary and I sure am enjoying it while it lasts! I think this is because he finally is NOT going through a growth spurt)
- grabbing things like crazy (fingers, shirts, my hair, books, toys, noses, and mouths)
- has found his dingle (which is hilarious. I can't believe how hard he pulls on it!)
- has found his feet (but they have yet to connect with his mouth)
- putting everything in his mouth (except his feet. He is especially his thumb and index finger into his mouth- it looks like he is trying to wolf whistle)
- enjoying the hell out of his baths (he is such a water baby)
- loving listening to us sing 'Twinkle, Twinkle', 'Row, Row, Row your Boat', and 'Hush Little Baby'
- laughing more and more everyday. Such a fantastic sound.
- becoming more interested in the dogs. He even sort of pet Gert the other day. Okay. He grabbed her ear and tried to shove it into his mouth, but that counts, right?
- drooling up a store. His chin is all red and raw from all that slime. I've started putting Cetaphil moisturizer on it and that seems to be helping.

Happy quarter of year birthday, son!

Babies, and pumpkins, and aliens. Oh, my!

We were down in Oregon and carved pumpkins with the fam. Judah was pretty amazed by his mom's and dad's mad jack-o-lantern skillz.

Oregon was just the beginning of our travels. We went somewhere else for a week. The title of this post is a hint.

Any guesses?

While we were in this mystery location Judah turned 4 months old. Expect his four month photo forthwith.

Hey, hey, good looking

Whatcha got cooking?

A big bowl of baby!

We were at Judah's grandma & grandpa's house the other night and we didn't have a proper baby tub. So, we made due with the bathroom sink.

The results?
Adorable.

Quick! Someone call a plumber.

I think the faucet is broken.

It keeps leaking!

Judah doesn't think I am very funny.

He also questions your sense of humor.

If you have a giant baby, then you need a giant swaddle

Raise your pudgy hand if you are giant sized.

When you are the size of a nine month old, but have the needs of a three month old, a regular old swaddle or receiving blanket just won't do the trick.

Those puny blankets can't contain all that chub.

So when you are this big:

You need this:

aden and anais for Target

Summer Infant

They are made of light weight muslin and are both larger than regular flannel swaddling blankets. The aden and anais is 44" square and Summer Infant is 40" square. When the nights are chilly we layer a flannel blanket underneath the muslin ones. The muslin keeps the flannel in place. I definitely recommend them.

So does Judah.

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Judah's BFFs

Two of Judah's (many) aunties came to visit and love on him this weekend. Despite how it appears in the picture, he was really a happy baby and enjoyed being the recipient of all that lovin'.

After they headed back down to Oregon today, Judah took his nap... And after nap time he got to hang with his two bestest BFFs (of the canine persuasion, that is).

Ralph:

And Gert:

Gert is probably his number one BFF. He loves to stare at her and she loves to lick his feet. She is just the right size for kids (meanwhile, Ralph is just the right size for no one. ha). Gert is almost a year and a half old, which puts her at a perfect age to grow up with Judah. We just know she is going to be his special buddy. We look forward to watching them play and run around together.

I really would have dressed Judah in cuter jammies for his nap if I had anticipated the doggie photo sesh. Oh, well.

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Judah has a new trick. Hint: It's adorable

Look at what Judah can now do:

That's right, he can sit like a gorilla.

It only last for a little bit though. It usually ends with a face plant.

nanoseconds away from his face connecting with the floor

Judah isn't the only member of our household who enjoys the gorilla sit. Gert is a fan, too.

After all, who do you think taught him?

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Good morning, starshine, the earth says, "Hello"

He is such a morning person.

I am not.

Sure does make it a lot easier to get up to this than if he was screaming and wailing first thing in the morning.

But, you know what would be even better? Sleeping for another hour and then waking up to that smiley face.

Sounds like somebody has a case of the Mondays.

But isn't it Thursday?

Judah cares not for your arbitrary day of the week designations. It's been one of those mornings where all his regular activities just aren't cutting it.

His activity center occupied him for, oh, about a minute.  He started out like this:

those cheeks!

But rapidly deteriorated to this:

Sorry, little dude. I hope your day improves.

You know what makes me feel better when I'm grouchy? TAKING A NAP.

Why don't you try it sometime?



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