Jude's Baptism

We had another exciting event almost a couple weeks ago - Jude was baptized! He had a lovely baptism. Uncle Paul was his sponsor, and Neenee gave me Paul's baptism outfit for Jude to wear. It fit perfectly and looked adorable on him. Neenee thoughtfully gave him a beautiful little pair of white satin shoes and a little pair of white socks with crosses on them to complete the look! He looked like a little angel.

After the church service, we came back to our house for some barbecue and cake. Events like this (along with the upcoming holidays) remind us how blessed we are to have such wonderful family to support us and be there for these special occasions!

Halloween, Part 2

AAAHHHH! Crazed School Psychologist on the loose!!!

Halloween was so much fun this year! Sam really got what it was all about and loved trick-or-treating. We carved pumpkins in the afternoon and Sam helped us pull out pumpkin guts and decide whether to make our pumpkins "scay-we" or silly (mine was scary and Daddy's was silly, in case you were wondering). Sam did not love playing with the pumpkin guts and let Daddy handle most of that. He was really excited about his Spiderman costume he picked out, and had no qualms about wearing the mask all night, unlike last year, when the mask was ripped off before we even made if off the front porch! Jude seemed to enjoy it, too. He gotdressed up in Jackson's old pumpkin outfit, which was warm and snuggly for him. He enjoyedhis stroller ride down the street and back. The nice thing about Halloween is that you get to meet all the neighbors you don't normally talk to....we have many nice neighbors and quite a few had special treats for Sam, which was really sweet. Know what else is sweet? That Sam can't possibly eat all the candy he got, so Mommy and Daddy get plenty of treats,too!

Yeah....that looks icky.

Jude presiding over pumpkin carving

Giving our neighbor, Mrs. Bowman, a hug. I think Mrs. Bowman gave Sam 10 pieces of candy!

Halloween Festivities, Part 1

We had our 3rd annual visit to Hidden Valley Fruit Farm last weekend to find a pumpkin! We met up with Uncles Paul and Brett, Aunt Dianah, and Neenee and had a really nice time. Jude got to come along in the Baby Bjorn. I think he really liked being able to see all the action.

Mmm...forget apple cider. This Baby Bjorn is DELICIOUS.

Had lots of fun with Uncle Brett

Sam loved the hayride. He thought the tractor was really cool. Only sad thing was the lack of color because of the draught. It was a lot of brown trees and grass.

With Neenee on the hayride!

Sam made a little buddy while looking for a pumpkin. He had noticed a couple of pumpkins that had broken open, so he kept pointing at pumpkins and shouting "broken!" over and over. Even at the pumpkins that were perfectly fine. Madeline chimed in, too, and then they ran off. Sam's probably telling her that these pumpkins are "broken!" here.

Sam got to do something new this year - ride a pony! He was so excited, and not scared at all, which really surprised Ben and me. This is one of the pictures I got of him trying to smile. I think it's hilarious because you can tell he really was a little nervous.

More halloween pictures will be coming soon!

Transitions

We've hit another one. The transition from the miraculous Miracle Blanket (and it's counterpart, the wonderful Woombie) to just plain old wearable blanket. This straight-jacket-like product has a large role in ensuring blissful sleep-filled nights for my boys when they are newborns.

But there comes a time when binding babies like little caterpillars no longer works.

FREEDOM!!!!

A friend who used a Miracle Blanket after I used one with Sam asked me how I knew when it was time to not use it anymore. Well, it's when you go into your baby's room in the morning, and he or she looks like the above picture. For his morning nap today, I put on Sam's old Cloud b blanket. Check out the arms. I remember with Sam, we had a couple bad days/nights while he got used to it, so here goes! Wish us luck.

It's FINISHED!!!

I FINALLY finished Sam's photobook that I've been working on for so long I can't even remember when I started. It feels so good to have actually finished a project! It's part of the reason I haven't put much on this blog lately....naptime has meant Photoshop Scrapping Time lately. Now, I've started Jude's and have vowed to keep up with his so that I'm actually scrapping whatever month he's in. We'll see if it lasts, but I'm totally committing to it. At least for now. We'll see what happens when I go back to work.......

Anyway, you can click on the link in the lower post to see the book. I can't wait till it comes in the mail!

Sam's First Year Photobook

Click here to view this photo book larger

I Am In Love With This Baby!

The Dude is fantastic. 10 weeks now and we just really love him to death. Like a lot of moms probably do, I really could not fathom loving another baby as much as I love Sam. Those worries went out the window as soon as Jude was born, of course. He is such a sweet little guy and is as much of a cuddle bug as Sam was. And he's even a better sleeper - the best part of all! (Now that we survived a little rough patch a couple weeks ago, anyway.) My favorite time with Jude is when it's just him and me after his morning meal. If Sam's at school, I just feed him in our bed and afterward, he just lays there and smiles at me. Take it from me, it's adorable. I didn't catch a smile this time, but it's still pretty cute:

"Geez - stop taking pictures of me, lady!"

Here's a scene from right before bathtime in our house....

Caught one!

So far, Jude still has blue eyes. I checked some old pictures and Sam's had changed to brown by this time. We'll see if they stay!