Mr. Potato Head

The Brasfield parents came down for Thanksgiving, and we invited them along on a trip Marbles. This video is Jude's meeting with Mr. Potato Head. He would follow that spud any where.

Thanksgiving was delicious. Jon made the turkey, and together we made French bread suasage stuffing and a Derby Pie, ahem, excuse me, a chocolate chip pecan pie. Please do not sue me. C&A provided the sides, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, and a pumpkin pie.

Jude had a wonderful day, and he loved the sweet potatoes!

Growing

Jude grew Saturday night. I know this to be true because that's when his diapers stopped fitting him just right. We finally had to admit it to ourselves, and Jon ran out to buy some size 6 diapers tonight.

Here's a pic of Jude last Thanksgiving for your enjoyment. He was 4 months old.

SOLD!

It only took 13 months and tons of cash, but our house is finally sold! The folks who bought it loved the colors inside, and I was so happy to hear it because it's one of the reasons we liked the house too. (Plus, we had done some painting).

Clara is on the mend, we hope. I'm not sure that we blogged about it, but Clara gave us a big scare in October when she suddenly stopped eating. Through many doctor appointments and a liver biopsy, we found out her liver had a "toxic insult" of some type and a good portion of her liver cells are dead. We have no idea what she could have eaten that made her sick. Our house is locked down because of the baby, and she is always on a leash outside and well attended. Lucy did not get sick, which means Clara got a hold of something that Lucy did not. Clara is on 2 antibiotics and 2 herbal supplements for her liver. She is doing well, and she eats Purina HA now for her allergies. We're hoping that she will continue to improve though the necrosis in her liver has probably shortened her lifespan. Clara is a special pup--just ask Jude.

The Brasfield Family Thanksgiving Extravaganza Feast and 5K is this week, and we are very excited. Jude ate his first bowl of rice cereal on Thanksgiving last year, so he is in for a real treat this year. We are also looking forward to Christmas time in Kentucky and Tennessee, and we will do our best to see you!

NOTE: If you have babies coming to your holiday festivities this year, be sure to remind guests to wash their hands and have hand sanitizer available. There are lots of nasties going around, and those should not be shared at any time of the year!

Photo by Robert Ross Photography http://www.ross-photography.com/

Keeping our fingers crossed

About a year ago we were packing our house up for a move a couple of hours east so that Jon could take a new job and I could stay home Jude and start graduate school. Since then, our house has been for sale. We finally have a closing date of next Thursday and the appraisal and inspection are scheduled for this week. We are so very excited, but I am trying not react until those papers are signed!

We will be glad to get rid of those monthly payments, but we are sad about letting go of Winston-Salem. The house was our last claim in the city. We'll go back, I'm sure. I mean, I can't go too terribly long without a Wild Buffalo sandwich from Terry's Deli in Kernersville. We also miss meandering around Old Salem, walking at Salem Lake, the simple lunch from Salem Kitchen, my WMS friends, and Wake football (where we were totally going to buy season tickets when Jude was old enough!)

Not ever going in the house again is sad too. We never really got to enjoy our new HVAC system installed just before we moved. We never opened the fireplace. The saddest thing to me is leaving Jude's room. We picked out the color, a pale yellow called "Summer Wish" for our little July baby. Jon painted the room by himself because I had to stay out of the fumes. My mom came and helped me install the room darkening shades. Jon and I spent a lot of time in there putting together furniture with an Allen wrench. After Jude was born we could get a few moments free of acid reflux screaming if we put him in bed and cranked up the mobile.

We will miss you Winston, and a part of our hearts will always live on Hartley Street.

Oasis

So this video is long, but if you're a fan of Grandma's Genius or Jude, this video has something for you. Jude just can seem to focus with the music pulling on his heartstrings. He has to dance.

Books

Jude is really starting to get into interacting with books rather than just listening. Here he is with "The Wonder Pets Save the Three Little Pigs" and "Eyes & Nose, Fingers & Toes."

Thieves

About a year ago, someone stole our lawn mower out from under our deck. We were awfully mad because it was a really nice, though purchased used, Honda mower. It was paid for, and we suddenly had to pay someone $40 a pop to mow our yard. Because North Carolina stays warm well into October we found ourselves nearly paying for another mower in paying other people to mow the yard because we couldn't dish out the funds all at once to buy another mower and we were just trying to make it until winter so we could save up for a new one next summer.

Well, thieves have struck again, taking with them more than 200 CDs from Jon's car. It was a quick job because they left the stereo and several CDs in the console and Jon's work bag. Why wasn't the car locked? Well, the key to a 1996 Camry doesn't last 13 years, and it is so worn it won't lock the doors or open the trunk. We had been meaning to get a new key made, but life, as they say, was keeping us so busy we didn't make time. We are lucky this time because we ripped a lot of the CDs onto our computer so we didn't have to keep lugging the CDs around. I'm not real sure what this thief plans to do with the entire catalogs of Guster, Barenaked Ladies, and Pearl Jam. Whoever it was must also not realize that the car seat would have gotten some nice cash on eBay.

I guess, in a way, we are naive. We go around trusting others and not stealing, assuming they will do the same. It's harder all the time to face the reality that not everyone has your best interests at heart, and some people don't even act in their own best interest. We'll be locking our car doors from now on, and I guess we'll be burning some CDs in the next few days too. I'm not really clear on how it all works, but I do know that at the end of the movie "Mean Girls," the meanest girl gets hit by a bus, so that guy with our lawn mower better be careful.

Exceeding in all categories

Jude had his one year evaluation a few weeks ago to take a look at his communication skills and fine and gross motor skills. After what Jude went through birth, we were anxious to find out what the experts saw in their evaluations. Jude was seen by a speech language pathologist and an occupational therapist who evaluated Jude using the Mullen Scale of Early Learning. The scale measures gross motor, visual reception, fine motor, expressive language, and receptive language. We were over-joyed to find out he is above his age in every category. His fine motor skills were particularly high, measuring at about the 20-month level. We are so blessed.

It was recommended that we discontinue Jude's developmental therapy and only see our case worker for the early childhood development team every other month. We decided not to exit the early-intervention services completely in case something comes up and we need services. Jude will be eligible to receive services until he is 3 years old because of his time in the NICU.

In other news, Jude is a walking/running machine. He loves trucks and dogs, and he wants to read books all day long! He loves "Llama Llama Red Pajama" (a gift from Nana K and Pappy), "Llama Llama Misses Momma," "In a People House," and the last page especially of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear."As you can see in the pictures he likes to play in the pans, and he likes to carry his toys around in my lunch box.

Own the beach

As a finally to Jude-ly, we took Jude to the beach. From Raleigh, Wrightsville Beach is only about 2 hours away, so that's where we went. We decided to go ahead and get a hotel room so we would have a place for Jude to take his afternoon nap and a place to clean up from the sand and surf.

I know that Jude likes water, but what I didn't know was how much Jude was going to love the tide. At one point, Jude and Jon were playing in the waves, and Jon thought Jude might be getting tired so he brought Jude back to the blanket to sit with me. Jon started making his way back to the ocean, and Jude watched him for a moment then started crawling after him! I took a picture of Jude's trail as he went for the water. Jude enjoyed playing in the sand too, but overall he is a water baby!

We had dinner at the South Beach Grill in Wrightsville. It was wonderful. We started with the crab and seafood nachos for two, which were cheesy and delicious and served on freshly fried flour tortillas. Jon had the sweet potato crusted flounder served with garlic mashed potatoes. He said it was great and far exceeded his expectations. I had the char-grilled Mahi with lime butter. It was so light, and it was perfectly paired with quinoa, which really added a nice flowery flavor and a good texture. Fortunately for our figures we had to skip dessert. An interesting aspect of the grill is that they offer a list of signature alcohol-free cocktails. Things like an "Arnold Pomegranate" with iced tea, lemonade, and pomegranite juice. Very refreshing offerings after a hot day at the beach.

New memories

Things don't always go as you expect them too, and Jude's birth taught us a lot of lessons about that along with lessons about faith, hope, love, and family. On Saturday, we celebrated Jude's birthday, making some great memories to help bring closure to the year that started out in a way no one expected and ended up exceeding our highest hopes.

Thank you to everyone who has watched over our shoulder in Jude's first year. Everyone who has said a prayer, changed a diaper, bought our dinner, babysitted, given hugs and kisses, given advice, offered kind words, and loved us has contributed to the very happy boy we see today.

The Brasfield family will be celebrating the last day of Jude-ly by delivering donations from us and from friends and family members to the Ronald McDonald House in Winston-Salem. We know how lucky we were to leave the NICU with a healthy child after only a week, and we know there are lots of people who are struggling much longer, some who are away from home, to care for their children who are very sick and in the hospital. In raising Jude, I think the memories of his first week of life will fade, but I hope we always hang on to what we learned about the fragility of life and what it feels like when people reach out to help you and to hug you when you need them the most.