Moving

Phase I of the move is complete thanks to C & A and good weather. Jude is asleep, the dogs are asleep, Jon is at work, and I am about to make cookies in the new oven. The view from our apartment is nice, and I think we're going to like living in Raleigh. Jon took me out to dinner last night for my birthday, and really pulled one over on me. I told him I wanted to be surprised, and it didn't matter to me where we went to eat. We started the evening window shopping at Triangle Town Center at my suggestion. We then went out to the car to go to our next destination, my surprise dinner. Jon told me it wasn't too far from where we were. We pulled out of our parking space, drove about 15 feet and pulled into another space! We were going to eat at Twisted Fork, and he totally faked me out. Dinner was great. We started things off with the crab dip and yogurt crackers, which was rich and delicious. I had the filet mignon, and Jon enjoyed the buffalo chicken sandwich. We split a butterscotch blondie for dessert that was served with coffee ice cream and caramel. Yum!

Jude's First Thanksgiving

Jude had his first cereal today, which he seemed to enjoy. He also Skyped with Gran Jan and Grandpa, and he took a nap. It was an overall successful day!

Changes

Jude is now four months old and doing great. He is rolling around everywhere, and loves to smile and laugh. He likes for us to hold him up while he steps with his legs, and he will begin eating cereal before we know it.

We wanted to let everyone know that Jon was recently hired on as the evaluator for the magnet school assistance program grant for Wake County School System, and we will be moving to Raleigh, NC in December. Jon will continue working on his Ph.D. at UNC-G, and I am going to stay home with Jude. I am applying to a Master’s program in Library Science at UNC-Chapel Hill and plan on starting that in the fall of ‘09.

Our current challenge is getting our house packed and ready to sell, and, of course, selling it! (3BR, 2BA!) We are going to miss Winston-Salem and all of the friends we have made here. However, we are so excited to be near Chris and Ashley and start this new adventure!

yyxc vvvvvv n

Jude typed the heading of this post. He is very talented. Above is how he spent the morning. We had a two hour delay because of "snow."

Jude!

Jude got a Bumbo!

Huzzah!

Holy cow!

Jude rolled over! Back to front! Woo Hoo!

Grandma's G and Greyhounds Part III

The semi-annual greyhound gathering in Oak Ridge is a staple gig for Grandma's Genius. This year's event was special, as it marked Jude's very first Grandma's Genius show. It was also the first time Jude had touched grass. He was amazed...

Pappy carves a pumpkin

My dad was in town this week and carved Jude his first Halloween pumpkin--a pirate!

AHHH!

Jude rolled from his back to his side!

Tootheses

Our 3 month old is teething! He is chewing and drooling and fussy and all that mess! It's fantastic.

Update: 3:53 p.m. Jude has discovered his feet! He was holding his right big toe in his hand :)

Update: 8:38 p.m. There is a very good chance that Jude will learn to turn over this week! His hips are willing, but his torso isn't following. . .yet.

Capt. Judeman

Here are a few recent pics. One of Jude in an outfit from Nana Lou--the first outfit we received after we found out we were having a boy. And a pic of Jon and Jude after a tough morning of watching college football.

He's also on the couch reppin' those 'Toppers. Jude is doing well holding up his head, and we bought him a new mirror to look at while he does that. Jude has spent most of his evening listening to music.

Yippee!!!

Jude went to bed last night at about 10:45 and I woke up before him at 6:30!!! Yea, Jude!

Photos by Brendan

B came to see us last weekend and meet Jude for the first time. While he was here, he gave us the wonderful gift of some beautiful pictures of Jude.

Adventures in Teaching

One of my 6th grade students wrote the following about a three-headed monster he drew in class:
"Mr. Bubbles is just like your average monster. He is feared by many, but he is really mean. Don't let the name fool you--he is impervious to pain. The middle head, the boss, the left one, the brain, the right one is down right nasty. Every day they terrorize villages. Once or twice he'll have to fight King Kong, Godzilla, and things like that. But once he gets his paycheck he goes home to his wife and kids, Mrs. Bubbles and Bubble Jr. That's the Day in the Life of my Monster."

Sounds like a movie trailer to me folks. Coming soon: "Mr. Bubbles: Impervious to Pain."

Jude unfiltered.

After watching last night's presidential debate, Jude had some strong opinions he wanted to share with you, the loyal readers of this blog. Below, the comments are presented in their entirety.

The Brasfields

I've been playing around with the interweb. Enjoy.

Pregame

Happy Jude in motion

Lori took these in sequence at daycare today. He's so happy he can't sit still.

10 second interview with Jude

Whats in your IPod playlist? Right now I’m really feeling lullabies, white noise, and Ne-yo

WOW character: gnome rogue

Happiness is: a warm bosom

What would your personalized license plate say? HEYJUDE or PUGLIFE

What should you really be doing right now? Sleeping

Take whatever you want, just don’t take my: Designing Women DVDs

Favorite 80s band: RATT

Mary Kate or Ashley? Ewww! They could be my moms.

I feel at peace when: Screaming. Zen, right?

In 20 years I’ll be: trying to find out outside of which minor league ballpark mom and dad have parked their RV.

7 weeks old

Jude in his first message-T from B and K. Get it?
Jude<3 his baby Einstein activity mat.

Jude is doing well and had an overall good week with Jon and Lori. And now he is stirring...

first day back/wonderful news

Wonderful news first-- If you were to ask Jon what band he would most like to see reunite and play one last show and for that last show they would play the album of his choice, he would say that he would like to see Ben Folds Five and he would like to hear "Reinhold Messner." THIS IS HAPPENING AND WE HAVE TICKETS!!!! In Chapel Hill we will be 2 of 1,400 people seeing BF5 reunite. AND Chris and Ashley will be beside us because Ashley was able to get through online today and get our tickets!!! She is most certainly the queen today!

Today was my first day back at work, and it went well. I was sad, but I held it together by way of the whirlwind of the day. At home, once relaxed and baby in-arms, I finally shed a few tears. I wish I could have stayed home longer. We worked so hard to get Jude home and healthy that it is hard to go back and realize that today was just one day of more than a hundred more away from him. The week in the NICU and 3 weeks battling to find peace for a screaming, acid reflux stricken infant stole my 6 weeks away. I am lucky in teaching to have the weekends and breaks and the summer. I hope to one day move out of the classroom and to work in some other capacity within a school, media perhaps. I would like to move away from 5 different preps, 200 students, and big classes. All the planning and grading is grueling especially considering the subject is Spanish, as the format does not seem to fit. It's hard to keep thinking of teaching as a craft with such a schedule. I feel like a move out of the classroom may bring me the time to be more creative and still contribute to the profession, as well as have more time at home. The move will not be now--duty calls.

Yearbook time!

In light of Jude's 6-week anniversary (oxymoron?) of birth, I present to you, the viewing public, our family's old yearbook pictures.

Jon, circa 1976
Amanda, circa 1966
Jude, circa 1964
Lucy, circa 1972
Clara, circa 2000

Jude's big day out

Jude has his big debut on Friday at Jon's annual back-to-school departmental lakeside bash. He was interested in all the new faces and was very cooperative with all those who wanted to hold him. It is such a pleasure to introduce Jude to those who have kept him so close in prayer and in thought. We get to show them our little sandy-haired, answered prayer. I'm so glad we have the blog and all of the comments to show him how many folks were cheering him on from the moment he was born. We are so thankful for all the support and the continued kindness from our friends and family.

Beginning this past Wednesday Jude has really improved in the reflux arena. I don't know if the Prevacid finally kicked in or the Carafate took hold, but he is a MUCH happier baby. We have also been employing the strategies of "Happiest Baby on the Block." We are swaddling, shh-ing, swinging and such and feeling more confident each day. I don't want to downplay the challenges of an infant because we certainly struggle with finding what works on a given day, but we went to bed at 9:45 last night and I'm feeling pretty dang good.

A few pics

Can't stop the reflux

Jude's reflux was full tilt yesterday, and he hardly slept at all. But yesterday evening he went to sleep at about 8:45 and didn't get up until 1 a.m. and then again at 5 a.m. Our pediatrician has now prescribed Carafate to coat his throat and prevent the acid from penetrating. The trick is the Carafate will also prevent the Prevacid from being absorbed if taken too close. We have developed a schedule to administer. He had a bad moment in the car today in the form of a screaming, sweaty fit. It was kind of scary because it was not crying, it was screaming. I was checking fingers and toes and clothes to be sure everything was intact. Once I sat him up at 90 degrees in my lap (we were parked), he stopped crying and fell asleep. Acid reflux is a mean, mean dude.

Jon has his first class of the semester tonight, so I'll be flying solo with Capt. Judeman. I'm hopeful that tonight will be like last night. The med schedule puts him taking the coating agent before bed, so falling asleep should be easier.

We have some leads in the childcare area and anticipate having a decision made by the end of the week. I am not looking forward to putting him into someone else's hands especially with all this acid stuff. I am hoping it is a lot better by the time I go back to school and it won't be a worry. We told everyone we've interviewed that he must be upright 20 minutes after he eats and if he's not it gets ugly. Of course, everyone said no problem, but we are leaning toward a provider with 3 other kids, one who is at school all day, over the one with two 2-year-olds and two-1-year-olds . We just didn't see where she would be able to devote the time to Jude that he needs and that I need to rest my mind.

Oh, and on Thursday, Jude weighed 10 lbs. and 10 oz. He's a moose! He's a month old too!

First day of school

Normally I would be all geared up for tomorrow. I would be rehearsing my script in my head, remembering the bad jokes I always tell on the first day of school and trying to describe to 6th graders how to read their schedule (it actually takes a college degree). I would sleep poorly, scared my alarm wouldn't go off. And Jon would finally have to say, "Amanda, it will be fine." I would spend the morning helping with combination locks and giving directions. I would come home exhausted from all the talking but call my mom immediately to tell her how it went.

This year is different. I will spend my day with diapers, feedings, and Jude the 10-pound wonder-kid. I know these next two weeks are going to go by so quickly before I have to go back to work. I'll be ready to see my friends and meet my new students, but leaving Jude is going to be hard. I'm so glad Jon will be here with him. We are still looking for someone to keep Jude about 10 hours a week when mine and Jon's schedules are off set for a few hours. We had something arranged, or so we thought, since April, but it fell through.

Anyone know of a good baby sitter? Must have experience with baby acid reflux :)

1500 meter swim

Thank goodness for the Olympics. Jude came home August 1, and the Olympics started a week later as did Jude's acid reflux and the colicky behavior. The competitions have given us good topics of conversation and diversion during these first few weeks without sleep. With swimming and gymnastics in the evenings correlating with Jude's fussy time, we have something to focus on while we let him "self-soothe." In the wee hours when Jude and I are up having a snack, I can stay awake watching women's doubles table tennis instead of infomercials for that sandwich maker thing. (By the way, if you have never watched women's doubles table tennis, you are missing out on some fast action. Their reaction time rivals that of major league hitters). I have also enjoyed replays of the day's highlights, badminton, beach volleyball, men's volleyball, handball, and water polo.


Tonight, the Websters paid a visit and brought dinner (thank you! thank you!), which was just what we needed as Jude had a rough 8-9:30pm. He is in bed now and asleep. The pediatrician told us to let him cry for 15-20 minutes, so he will fall asleep on him own. This waiting period is going better for him each day, and he seldom cries longer than 15 minutes. It continues, however, to be hard for me. We've received good advice and support from friends, so I am hopeful this won't last too many more weeks. No mom wants to see their baby cry, but I'm trying to keep perspective (easier now that he's sleeping in the next room). If this is our biggest issue, we are truly blessed.


Lucy and Clara are doing a nice job of accepting Jude into the pack, so I have included their pics here too. Clara is in the green harness, and Lucy looks disinterested. She is such a teen.

Colic, acid reflux, and sleeplessness

Jude's umbilical cord finally fell off so we could give him a real bath. He really enjoyed it, and was very curious the entire time. One hurdle down.

It's been a crazy week. We took Jude to the pediatrician last week after he threw up several times overnight. We found out he has acid reflux and needs to take medicine, sleep at a 30 degree angle, and stay upright after eating for about 20 minutes.

She also diagnosed him with that lovely collection of symptoms known as colic. It started over the weekend. Jude was fussy from about 4-9pm, but the last two days it's been more like screaming from 6p-12a. We had his 2 week check up today (he's 3 weeks old) and the doctor gave us some good advice about trying to get his schedule straightened back out and keep him less stimulated during the day so he doesn't melt down in the evenings. Our doctor is also certified in infant massage and will be showing us a few things to help Jude relax and sleep. No infant should be awake for hours on end, and no parents of an infant should be up past midnight.

In other news, Jude weighs 9 lbs. 12 ounces, having gained a pound in a week. He is an inch longer, as well. He is in the 75th percentile for length and weight and the 90th for head circumference. We had a photo shoot today to try to capture some cute moment for a birth announcement, but when your 3 week old is in the 90th percentile for head circumference, a lot of the photos make him look a lot older than he really is. There is a real sweet picture of him sleeping in the NICU, but that's not how I want to remember the blessed event nor do I want to distribute that picture.

Lobster Hat!