11 Months

11 months!  As the weather is changing and Thanksgiving is drawing near, I have been taken back to one year ago today.  I was going to the doctor weekly and worried about this little guy being breach.  We were taking daily walks, going to the chiropractor, standing on my head, and anything else I could think of to get him to turn.  Then I remember the pure excitement we felt at the thought of meeting our baby boy - washing and folding those tiny clothes, cleaning every nook and cranny of our new home, and going to new parent classes at the hospital.  And here we are today with the most precious 11 month old baby boy that brings us more joy than we could have ever imagined a year ago.  This little guy is all personality and all about moving, moving, moving!!  The biggest feat this month - WALKING!  That's right, at the beginning of the month our world took a big turn!  It took him about a week to really get things down, and now he prefers all walking.  This week he has been practicing his turns over and over.  He just walks around talking, laughing, and moving his hand all about.  Good luck getting this on video though, because the second he realizes you have the camera, he drops to the floor to attack you as quick as possible!  One day we'll get it!  He has also started connecting with us so much more by "talking" and repeating things that we say.  We like to say that he is speaking "Judenese " because we have no idea what he is saying!  For the most part he using the same words/sounds, so it seems that he knows exactly what he is saying!  Especially when he wants to touch something (or I should say everything) he points and makes the same sound over and over until you allow him to touch it.  From day one we have described this boy as inquisitive, and this seems to just get stronger and stronger.  He wants to learn, explore, and know about everything! 

 



 Walking with his dino with crazy bedhead!

 

Playing at Klyde Warren Park downtown

Yay Jude!

Here I come mommy!

New favorite way to hang out - upside down!!

Sweet smile

 

 

 Now to LOTS of Halloween pics!!

 Our little sock monkey

 

 Another visit to a pumpkin patch

 

 Hanging with his bud, Ethan

 

 The boys were DONE taking pictures - ha!!

 

 Last pumpkin patch with our Square One friends -

An elephant Jude and a monkey Jude!

 



 Daddy finally got to join us!

 

 Good luck getting them all to look - Ethan, Parker, Jude, and Jude

 

 Time to Trick-or-Treat!  He never once put his bucket down!

Getting his only pieces of candy - he held onto the Crunch bar the rest of the night!

 

Last, we went to Amarillo to see family and celebrate Pops' 60th birthday and retirement!

 Playing with Meme's oxygen cord!

 

 Showing Pepaw his cars

 

 Hanging with Pops

 

 Happy Birthday Pops!

 

 Trying to play with Tripp

(he's making the vroom sound with Tripp's fire truck)

 

 Getting some Pepaw and Memaw time at the party

 

 The family (minus the Thomas girls) at the party - sorry about the tiny pic

 

 Just a little depiction of how these monthly pics are really going!  Good thing there is only one more month!!

Stats:

-Weight - 18 pds 2oz (growing but very slowly!)

-Every one is amused by the amount of food this boy can eat at one sitting.  Its pretty amazing for his small size.  He will pretty much eat anything that we give him, but still does not favor meats. 

-Loves to talk: Besides his "Judenese" we can clearly hear dada, mama, uh-oh, stinky, and kit kat (kitty kat). 

-He loves to climb - not sure this is a good thing or bad thing, but it does show his adventurous side.  He also tricks us into thinking he is coming to give us a hug, but then just uses us to climb onto something or get higher!

-He started a new thing we call the "Jude Slam".  He puts his hands in the air, throws his head back, and then slams his hands onto us or a table.  Its hilarious and he does it over and over.

-This boy loves animals and especially dogs.  He goes CRAZY whenever he sees one!

-We have started playing hide-n-seek.  He will crawl as fast as he can and laugh so hard when you find us. 

-When he gets really excited, he has started a high pitched scream.  A good tickle can get it out of him too. 

-He loves to be up-side-down (see pic above) and does this all the time.  He thinks its hilarious.

-Toys?  What are toys??  He only wants to play with anything that is not a toy!

-Still has 5 teeth (2 top & 3 bottom).

-Still wearing size 2 diapers.

-Wearing 6-9 month clothes. 

-Most days takes 2 naps

-Tongue STILL out 24/7!

-We know this boy needs are haircut, but we just can't bring ourselves to do it!  The front is in his eyes, the sides over his ears (unless we tame it), and we could put the back in a ponytail if we tried!

 

This month brings on more and more feelings of nostalgia knowing that we are only one month away from the big 1 year birthday, but we could not be having more fun with this little guy.  We strive to treasure each and every day for what it brings and to reflect on the past with joyous remembrance, while looking forward to all that is coming our way!  We love you little boy!

10 Months

(note: somebody no longer likes sitting down to take these monthly pics!)

10 months baby boy!!!  You (we) made it to double digits.  I honestly cannot believe it is October and that you are 10 months old.  I can remember the first days that you were home like it was yesterday and each day in between.  People are right that the time just flies!!  Although fast, every day is so much fun with you.  He is developing and growing so much every day.  He is very into "exploring" these days, which is fun for us to watch but also VERY tiring!!!  I fear this will only increase!!  But it is all worth it to be able to watch you explore your little world.  The smallest things are the greatest things!  You are still a petite little guy, but you carry a big punch of personality and energy!  I am beginning to wonder why we have toys at all, because at this point the only things that really seem to interest him are the "no touch" things!!  If we put something out to keep him safe, such as corner protectors, he spends all his waking hours trying to get them off to play with them!  He is getting closer and closer to walking these days - he technically took two steps last week, but he had no idea because he was so into his baseball bat!  He is doing great with his walker and walking while holding our hands.  When we let go though, he gives you a look like "I know what you are trying to do" and instantly drops down!!  He'll get there in his own time!  He still conquered enough things this month:
-Clapping - we say "yay" and he'll start clapping with the biggest smile, we also catch him clapping in the car all the time.
-Waving hi and bye-bye to EVERYONE - he will ONLY do it though when its actually time; not into pretending!  Sometimes you'll even get a double wave!
-Praising Jesus - we say "Praise Jesus" and he puts his hands up and usually follows it up with some clapping.
-Saying Jude - it sounds more like "dude", but its so cute!
-Saying vroom when he plays with his cars & fire truck.
-Belly laughing at something he thinks is funny without being tickled or prompted, it is so stink'n cute!
-Whispering - I tell him we have to be quiet and he'll start whispering with me.  Needless to say, it doesn't last long!
-Opening cabinets & doors - this has been a fun one!  Daddy is in the process of making this a bit harder!
-Turning off the lights - he loves being the one that flips the light switch!
-Growling - he loves to growl and hear himself make this funny noise. 
-Dancing - he loves to dance!  Its more of a bounce, but its pretty cute!
-Sharing his toys - he is starting to learn about sharing and giving you his toys.  Some times I think I even hear a thank you!  I'm sure we have a long way to go on this!!!
-My all time favorite - saying mamma!! Just melts my heart instantly and makes me want to give him anything he possibly wants!  He has been saying Dada for awhile, so it was so exciting.  He tends to get his "n" and "m" sounds mixed up, but I still know what he is saying!  You'll catch him saying "mama, dada" all the time; its so cute! 
-I would say his favorite thing to do right now is play at the windows, he could do it for hours!  He likes to watch things going on, bang on it, and kiss it.  So if you come over and wonder why all of my glass is crazy slobbery, that is why!
Every day is a new adventure and we feel so blessed to be this little guy's parents.  We know that it is a very high calling, but feel that we get more out of all this than he does!  We honestly could not ask for more and thank the Lord for each day that we have been given - the good, bad, and ugly.  We are so excited to continue to watch this adventurous, fun-loving, energized, curious, wild, big-hearted, funny little boy grow (although not too fast!). 

Handsome boy all dressed up

"You caught me"

Family Fun

Pure Jude face - everything is so exciting

 

Lov'n on our boy

"Yay Jude"

"Praise Jesus"

Who needs to sit in the toy, when you can explore down here!

Rangers game in the rain

 Jude's tv debut

 



Enjoying the cooler weather

Yummy corner protector!! 

Mom, why won't these open!!

 Thinking about letting go

Playing with daddy

"Help mom, daddy is tickling me!!"

Playing at the window

 

Stats:

-Will pretty much eat anything you put on his tray.  Tends to prefer feeding himself, but will still allow us to feed him his baby food before the finger foods.  Favorite foods: banana, mac-n-cheese, black beans, and cheese.

-Constantly talking and getting really good at mimicking what we say using the right sounds and inflections. Has started to scream when he gets really excited!

-Loves anything to do with blocks, balls, and cars! 

-Loves playing in the Tupperware drawer and can get it all out in about .2 seconds!

-Still very interested in the smallest of details and goes at it with his pointer finger like ET.

-Now has 6 teeth (3 top & 3 bottom).

-Still wearing size 2 diapers (not moving anytime soon).

-Still wearing 3-6 month & 6 month clothes. Starting to get too long for a lot of the smaller clothes.

-Most days takes 2 naps

-Tongue STILL out 24/7, although it seems the teeth may be helping this some!!!

-His hair still keeps getting longer and longer!!  Cut or not to cut??

 

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch on his 10 month birthday

Some of his favorite friends!

 

9 Months

I feel like I say this every month, but HOW IN THE WORLD IS MY BABY 9 MONTHS OLD!!  We have now reached the length of my pregnancy!  All that said though, I am loving this age and seeing the personality of Jude Samuel Sessler really start to explode out!  And I do mean EXPLODE!  This boy is full of life, full of joy, full of energy, full of love, full of smiles, and full of complete preciousness!! This month was all about moving! If Jude is awake, Jude is on the move.  He plays without ceasing with anything that he can get his hands on, crawls all over the place, and has practiced standing without any objects to assist him all month.  Finally the last week of the month, he accomplished it!!  He's still a pretty little and skinny dude, so its kind of funny to see him doing such "big boy" things!  I am so proud of him and his complete determination and perseverance.  He never once got frustrated and tried over and over and over until he finally got it down.  The funny thing is that he insists on holding something (big or small) while doing it.  Even if he is successfully standing and drops the toy, he'll drop down and start all over just to pick it up!  He also learned to throw the ball earlier this month.  Sam showed him one time and now he could do it for hours (Sam says he's extremely coachable!).  Its hard to tell what hand he favors since he's pretty good with both hands, but more often than not he eats with his left hand.  I guess only time will tell.  Daddy is hoping for a switch hitter!  He hasn't gotten any  more teeth, although he has been drooling like a mad man and chewing on his fingers.  He also makes this weird ticking noise by grinding his top and bottom teeth together when his teeth are hurting him.  It hurts me watching it!  We also dropped his crib (should have done it awhile back) and unswaddled him for his naps.  He has been sleeping unswaddled at night for a long time, but seemed to need it during the day.  Took him a few weeks to adjust, but he's doing pretty good now with his sleep-sack.  We get so much joy from this little boy.  We are so blessed by each day that we get to spend with this little guy.  He is keeping us on our toes, but we are enjoying every moment of watching him explore and learn. 

Face Time with Daddy

Look at those top teeth!!

Go Tech!

Still one of his favorite toys

Playing with his "friends"

Trying to beat the heat!

Standing (while playing with his football)

The early days of standing.  Always stayed close by

our side as he practiced.

Sweet Daddy & baby pic

Stats:

-Weight: 17 pds (4%)
-Height: 28 1/2 inches (54%)
-Head: 17.17 inches (8%)

-This boy it an eating machine.  Our only conclusion for his small size is due to the high amount of calories he burns when playing!  He is really feeding himself so well.  His favorite finger foods are his puffs, carrots, black beans, blueberries, toast, & pasta .  We also added tofu, chicken, & greek yogurt to his diet.  There is really nothing that he doesn't like eating and he eats a TON!

-Talking all the time.  Still pretty much the same sounds, but seems to favor "da"!  He loves playing the mimic game; the higher the pitch the better.

-Loves playing with blocks and balls.  Will play catch with us or himself for hours.  Also loves knocking down stacked blocks, building blocks, and putting/taking apart his blocks.

-Although we had to get him a bath seat because he kept trying to escape, he is loving baths more than ever.  This boy LOVES the water.  If he splashes water in his eyes, he just shakes it off and keeps going.

-Loves to be up-side-down and laughs so loud if you kiss his tummy while doing this!

-We call him our little leach!  He loves standing on our legs while we do things (get ready in the morning, cook dinner, etc).  If we start to move, he simply drops down and follows us to the next place and climbs back up.  I keep expecting him to get impatient with us, but he doesn't!

-He has started getting shy when people first say hi to him.  He'll get a shy face and dig his face into our shoulders.  He'll do it a few times and then turn around with the biggest smile ready to be friends!

-He is an extremely detailed & patient baby.  He is so interested in the smallest things.  I love when something catches his attention.  He'll get his pointer finger and go check it out for awhile.

-Jude's toy test: Shake it, pat it, put it in the mouth.  If it passes...start playing.

-Still has 5 teeth (2 top & 3 bottom).

-Still wearing size 2 diapers (not moving anytime soon).

-Still wearing 3-6 month & 6 month clothes. Starting to get too long for a lot of the smaller clothes.

-Most days takes 2 naps

-Tongue STILL out 24/7, although it seems the teeth may be helping this some!!!

-His hair just keeps getting thicker and longer!  Its also very fine, so the wind can make him have some crazy hair.  People keep asking if he has had a hair cut.  Is this their way of nicely saying, the boy needs a hair cut???

 

Note the drool

 



So proud of himself!

 

The cutest little "leach"

 



Baby boy, we could not ask for more!  We had no idea what we were missing and you make our family complete (for now)! You bring us so much joy; we are so enamored and could just watch you for hours.  I kiss you more times than I can count a day and hope you always let me.  I love the sweet snuggly moments we have, but equally love the all boy moments of playing and being crazy.  I can't wait to see all that we have in store!