Jude doesn't care for his costume.

But we think it's really cute on him.

P.S. At the ward Trunk or Treat we went to about 2 minutes after this picture, he kept the hat on (the real offender) for about 10 minutes as long as he was double-fisting the candy.  Pictures to come; 'tis Halloween week!

Jude Lately (20 months)

He makes it so hard to get a good picture with our DSLR!  As soon as he sees it, he comes running.  Bless him.

- So this is one for the Nature v. Nurture argument: For a while now, Jude loves cars like I love Sonic beverages.  I keep a small supply of Hot Wheels for rainy days, and he's already got access to quite a few cars.  Jude greets each one as if it were its own beautiful Princess Diana engagement ring.  Guided by his slightly cushy hand, "vroom vroom" sounds included, they make tracks all over everything.  The road is me, his own body, the floor, the walls, nothing is off limits.   I maybe would have done this if I were more on top of it, but I had never, not once, shown him how to steer a car around and make an engine noise. And to my knowledge, no one else had either.  He just started doing it one day.  Also in the engine department, whenever we see a big truck drive by, or happen upon a construction site (the Costco parking lot is a doosy), he goes berserk.  I think I'll put this one on Nature.

- Kisses have morphed from open mouthed slobbers to puckers and ! the real thing.  He will often accompany these by a full on hug around the neck and pats our arms or backs.  We are putty.  It's probably the most enchanting thing that's ever happened.  These kisses are also applied liberally to "owies" that may or may not actually be owies.  Jude also is working it with his lady friends Violet and Lyla; yesterday he and Violet had a "I'll come 90, you come 10" kiss on the lips.  Quite the Lothario.

- Jude goes up to kids that are 5 seconds younger than him and, with his most patronizing smile, gives them tickles.  He looks at them afterwards like, "Yeah, I know your life just hit an all-time high.  Don't thank me, I'm just a nice guy trying to increase the world's morale."  He also wants to share his food with everyone (but also assumes everyone wants to return the favor).

- He copies us doing random things that crack us up.  I make green smoothies every morning.  Our blender is not the most efficient item to ever grace a counter top, and I usually have to shake it around, then stop it, open the lid, hack away at chunks with a fork, and then put the lid back on and shake the running blender some more.  Jude is over trying to push all the blender buttons, but he does want to copy cat my shaking the blender and popping the lid off and on.  I'm learning to be more patient with this; sometimes I just wish he'd go play with his toys instead of wanting to follow my every culinary move.
If we are going up the stairs and he stops to lollygag, I'd pat him on the bum a couple of times to remind him of the course we were on.  I guess it had become a somewhat regular thing because last week as we traveled upstairs he stopped, turned, patted himself on the bum, and looked at me like, "We're good?"  There are more copy-cats but I can't think of them at the moment....

- My son has a soft spot for the underdog (it seems).  On a glorious rainy day a couple of weeks ago, I took him to the "playground" (more like germ fest) at the mall to take the place of the watery park.  Jude was playing with a bead maze on the wall next to a couple of other kids his size.  Kid A was getting jealous of the amount of space Kid B was taking up, and he shoved Kid B to the ground.  Jude saw this and then shoved Kid A to the ground.  Was he just joining in the shoving?  Was he protecting Kid B?  We'll never know.  But Kid B's mom happened to be sitting right next to me and was grateful.  Kid A was removed hastily from the playground by a very mortified mother.

- When I sing him songs at bedtime, he'll chime in with the occasional "Waaa waaaa waaaaaa".

So obviously, I kiss him about 73,000 times a day.

Some Stuff

- We've been spending our mornings at a park by our house that is perfect for Jude at this age.  Compared to the other parks we've been going to, the structure is lower, there aren't as many gaps for Jude to fall through, but still plenty of things for him to get excited about. It also backs into a big grassy baseball field that Jude can run down screaming for joy.

This is the park that has opened up the nanny pocket of our neighborhood; I had no idea there were so many!  I'm getting to know them and the nanny world.  There's some drama; nannies stealing jobs, etc.  They are very sweet and affectionate with their little tots and it makes me happy.  They don't know yet that I espeak the Espanish and understand what they're saying to each other.  Thankfully they haven't commented yet on how slouchy I am dressed and whether or not I smell sweaty (we've been going right after family jog in the morning).

Along with the nannies, of course, come kids.  A lot of them are about Jude's age, which I love.  Some of these little kids I want to eat up.  They are so cute and lovey (and good sharers with toys).  A couple of the kids I think, "Well, at least you have a Mom who loves you."

Here Jude is with one of the kids I want to keep.  Such a sweet boy.

I can't hear you I can't hear you I can't hear you

- Whenever a Presidential campaign comes around, I usually smirk at the people that put bumper stickers on their cars.  I smirk AND laugh when, after the elections are over, the stickers for the losing parties are still on cars.  I am usually not in favor of bumper stickers of any kind; it usually ends up looking junky.  I also have always removed the dealerships' license plate frames from any car I've ever driven.  I feel like it makes me a marketing pawn when I've already given them an arm and a leg.  However, for the next few weeks I'll have this gem on my back window:

I guess I feel strongly enough about this election.  When Obama got elected I thought, "Well, I didn't vote for him, but I'll be his #1 fan if he gets the job done."  He didn't.

2 Forces to be Reckoned With

I love them both (in different ways).

Conference Sunday

While I'm all hopped up on the inspirational messages of General Conference, I'm going to jot down a few things I love about Jude these days:

Jude is hilarious.  He's figured out what to do when he's getting his picture taken, and within seconds will bust out his biggest, cheesiest smile (see below).

He's going to rip my house to shreds.

He's finally learning how to give real kisses.

He calls himself "baby" and sometimes a version of "Juju" that probably only we would recognize.

He's an OK eater.  Harry asked me last week what he eats.  Hmmm -- the regulars are Greek yogurt, hummus, hot dogs, milk, green juice, grapes, strawberries, eggs, peas, and a few bites of whatever we're eating for dinner.  He does not usually care much about dinner.  Anyway, I'm trying to curb the snacking, period, to make meals more complete.

I think Jude was a little weirded out today that Jeff and I were both home but we didn't really go anywhere till 3pm because of General Conference.  Afterward we went to walk a path that runs along the San Clemente beach.  Beautiful.  Pictures may surface another day.  We thoroughly exhausted him. We saw a few dogs and he lit up every time.

He used to, if he got hurt, want me to hold him but would be mad at me like it was my fault he tripped and bonked his head.  That phase is over and he seems to have realized that that isn't the way I roll.

He wants to do everything by himself and do everything the way we do it.  He seems to think the high chair is condescending these days.  Brushing teeth was a battle until he grabbed my toothbrush off the counter one morning; now that he uses an adult toothbrush he's much more amenable to the idea.

Tonight he bonked his head on the kitchen island with quite a bit of force.  It was tragic and he's got a little bump.  He was, of course, wailing and then some music came on in the background.  Still horribly upset, through his wails he started dancing in my arms.  Music is his drug.

That's all I can think of for now.  Peace.

The Most Appreciated Season Change of All Time

A few days ago, when the mid-day temperatures were in the high 70s, I wanted to cry, do a dance (which would have looked awesome with my stomach protrusion), give every man, woman and child in a 2 mile radius a hug, and drop to my knees to offer a prayer of thanksgiving!  And then, this morning as we drove to McDonalds for a post-family-jog breakfast, and the air was wet and crisp, I started singing songs.  I don't really know why the infernal weather was getting me so down, other than the fact that my body is already operating at a much higher temperature for obvious reasons, and my son needs to be outside every day (and wants to be out there from the moment we lift him from his crib in the morning to the time we put him back in at night).  If I wasn't out there I felt like a bad mom.  If I was out there I felt like I was going to keel over.  You may be right, I may be crazy.  But, it just may be a lunatic you're looking for.

Hopefully the 90s and 100s are over until next year when I'm not pregnant.  I can smell fall, I'm making soup tomorrow, a pumpkin candle burns, and I'm on Cloud 22.

iPhone Photo Dump

Time for a purging of my phone's blurry pictures.  Does my life revolve around my boys or does my life revolve around my boys?  Speaking of my 2-almost-3 boys, it occurred to me the other day that I am going to be very outnumbered over here.  I'll be living with 3 other people and not a one of them is going to be a girl.  As much as I am looking forward to having another squishy boy, I quickly whipped into the phase of "DON'T FORGET, I MAY LOVE YOU A LOT BUT I'M STILL A GIRL", and attempting to preclude myself from becoming a tenant in a world of excessive boogers/toots/bathroom-and-bodily-waste TMI.  Some mothers of plural boys have told me it's not possible.  I'm still going to try.

Strawberries before bed on his favorite destination of late: a countertop.  Dad, the fun one, had to stop letting Jude up there because it was very frustrating for the small boy when Mom, the rude one, wouldn't ever let him up there during the day.

One of my favorite people of all time, Alyson Allen (or I guess her last name is Pete now), is in San Clemente for a little while so we went to see them.  Her son Maddox is a few months younger than Jude and they are SO SIMILAR!  Jude has a few guy friends but none of them are as...hmmm....in love with growling, throwing things, scavenging, making a louder noise than the noise your buddy made last, etc.  I just need Aly's husband to get a job in the area so they can be terrors together ALL THE TIME.  Jude loved it and so did I.

Finding new seats in the house.  I closed the cupboard door and he thought it was hilarious and horrible, all rolled into one.  Crazy times.

While doing some home improvement projects in our room I needed Jude to stay still and happy.  For about 15 minutes he sat in all his glory on our bed, flanked by fruit snacks, milk, toys, and Tangled on the iPad.  He got bored with his lot and curious about our room and then it was over, but I do appreciate the time I got. 

Finding places to hide.  My mom was over last week and he deposited himself under this chair again, and waited patiently with a silly grin for us to notice him "hiding".  When my mom spotted him he dissolved into hysterical giggles.  Be still my heart!

Let the domesticity warsh over you.  My friend and I made 21 jars of raspberry jam a couple of weeks ago, and I'm hooked (I just need my own set of canning tools and then I will wipe CA clean of all fruit).

He's coming to get me!

He loves to look at this book, point at all the dogs (and cats) and say, "Dog!  Woowoo!"

Swim diaper head.  I am SO DONE with the pool until next year.  I've overdosed in the most extensive way.

Dad had to work late so we met up for dinner.  They gave us a free sourdough in the shape of a turtle.  It was rock hard and inedible at that point in the day (hence the freebie?), but Jeff turned it into a toy that had Jude laughing his head off.  

Being nutso at the doctor's office.  Nutso.

I found this $50 mirror at Target on clearance for $12.  Now it's a chalkboard.

"Fall Mix" is a McOmber thing that has spread its sugary roots to the homes of many cousins.  Just 2 ingredients, a million tastebud explosions.  This will sit on my counter (requiring many refills) until Thanksgiving Day. 

Trying Acai bowls; "Woot woot!" goes the Jude Monster.

You know how you always envision yourself standing at your child's bedside, watching them sweetly dream?  I almost never get to do this, because Jude is a very light sleeper. (This is actually causing some anxiety on my part for Baby #2's arrival; will the 4 or 5am feedings wake up Jude and decide 9 hours of sleep is sufficient and he's ready to start the day??)  Anyway, sometimes it works out, and is he not the cutest sleeper??

Continued craziness at the doctor's office (same appt as above).  He's giving me a hyper-charm face in hopes I'll give him the fruit snacks.

German pancake for breakfast.  My boys gobble it up.

2 thumbs up!  

Jude's first carousel ride -- am I rude for waiting this long to expose him to this childhood delight?  See the thrill written across his flushed face?

Pants and shirts are overrated, hats are not.

Pushing buttons is fun to do, fun to do, to do, to do....
I love that he's small enough to sit in the center console.   

Jeff was planting a box hedge in 100 degree heat and Jude needed to be a part of the splendor.  I lathered Jude up with sunscreen, gave him some fluids, and they sweat buckets together.  

Christy Moe's wedding; Jude has lovergirls there.

Thanks for the offer to FULL FILL my cleaning needs!  (Found on my doorstep this morn.)

While at the LDS Women's Conference broadcast on Saturday (such a treat with my mom and Sarah), Jude and Jeff had "Boys' Club".  I get this picture texted to me during the broadcast.  Uh-oh, someone got to go shopping with Dad.  It's maybe the sweetest thing because Jeff, who is a natural saver, can hardly help himself when he sees anything his little boy might like to play with or look cute in.  Too bad it was sized 3T and won't fit him for eons.  But the whole scenario was a big dollop of swoon.

20 Weeks

Half-way there!  That's alright with me.  HERE I am at 22 weeks with Jude; I have decided I carry so weird.  I had the same low, tent-like peak to my stomach last time.  Where's that cute, high, basketball that other ladies have (Annie Reynolds, I'm talking to you!)??

Disappointment in prego bump styles aside, things are good.  We had a healthy outcome from our ultrasound yesterday.  Jude decided that since Jeff was there, he could act twice as crazy.  My last OB's waiting room was more of a pausing room.  This new OB I sit there for 30 to 60 minutes wrangling Jude.  I think I'll go for afternoon appointments from now on and get a babysitter.

Also get this.  This will blow your mind.  Yesterday I was 20 weeks and 0 days but the baby was measuring 20 weeks and 3 days!  So maybe I only have 19 weeks left??

Craving french bread with cream cheese and fig jam.  Want to sit but can't.  Sleeping on one side.  Forgetful.  Cleaning like every wipe and scrub is a winning lottery ticket.  Always hot (although it's cooling off a bit outside!!!).  Haven't done anything with the nursery.  Can't wait to meet my baby and be a family of 4.  Until then, soaking it up with my one wild man Jude.

A Few Items of Business

Last week I was getting something out of the fridge in the garage, minding my own biz, talking to Jeff on the phone, when my stomach was forced to flip 43 times because I saw:

a black widow spider on its little web by the garage door.....and....wait for it....there was an EGG SACK on the web!!!!  It took me a few minutes to digest this fact and then decide if I was brave enough to take care of it by myself (verdict: not brave enough).  While I waited for Jeff to come home that afternoon and be the one to suck it up with the vacuum, I was tortured over whether or not the thousands of baby black widow spiders were ready to hatch and welcome themselves into the world, or more specifically, my garage.  Luckily they didn't, and Jeff came home ready to jump into action and really wanted to have our house sprayed but I talked him out of that one.  Anyway the black widow is dead and gone, and we are resting easy.

Moving on.

Tangled.  We saw a lot of that movie during Binky Detox, and that and Cars 2 are only shows we really watch (having had all I can take of Yo Gabba Gabba).  Usually we flip it on while we're waiting for Dad to come home in the evening or while we're greeting the day, breakfast, getting out of our jammies, etc.

Anyway.  I think Tangled is an adorable movie.  But just one question: did Flynn Rider have to cut her hair so short when he was essentially saving her life?  Couldn't he have left it shoulder-length or something?  She is stuck with the Meg Ryan a la You've Got Mail -- forever.  Sorry, Rapunzel.

And after I'd watched it the first time, I realized I couldn't remember all the details of the original Brothers Grimm version, mainly just that she has long hair and a prince comes to visit her by climbing it and there's a wicked witch.  So I looked it up on the source of all some summarized truth and was a little horrified.  Here's the gist:

- Husband and pregnant wife.  Pregnant wife is craving the Rapunzel root their neighbor (Mother Gothel) has growing in her yard.  Pregnant wife is apparently going to die without satisfying her craving so the husband steals it, and they get caught.  As penalty Mother Gothel gets ownership of the unborn baby.
- Mother Gothel and her adopted daughter Rapunzel go hide out in the tower for who knows what reason.  Mother Gothel only visits by night, so when the prince is wandering around and hears Rapunzel singing, and subsequently climbs her hair for a meet-and-greet, their daily companionship is able to grow to a secret love.
- Rapunzel is not the quickest whip so she accidentally lets it slip when she asks Mother Gothel why her dress is so tight at the waist (implying pregnancy!).  Mother Gothel chops off Rapunzel's braid, and kicks her out of the tower.  Note: in my cousin's human development class in college, she learned that most teenage pregnancies are conjured up during afternoons when both parents are working.  Truth rings here.
- When the prince comes for his usual visit, Mother Gothel drops down the braid she kept, he climbs it, she drops the bomb on the prince, and then pushes him out of the tower.  He falls into some rose bushes or something with thorns and is blinded.
- Later, these two lovers are just sort of meandering through the countryside, the prince hears her singing, they are reunited, she cries, her tears restore his sight, they return to the prince's castle and live happily ever after.

So what is the moral of the story?

1. Don't steal your neighbor's produce or from their garden in any way.  You could lose your firstborn.
2. No matter how dreary your life is, and how few people you get to associate with, don't give up your virtue, not even to a prince.  It will get your beautiful hair cut off and put you in a very difficult position.  If he loves you, he should remove you from the tower himself and make an honest woman out of you with a wedding (and why didn't he, anyway??).
3. Sometimes you are blessed with magical tear ducts.

And I had been wondering why Rapunzel had lost her magic hair but was able to revive Flynn Rider anyway.  Disney took that one from the original.

The moral to me is that the Brothers Grimm were a little dysfunctional.

The End

At our house lately

things are just chugging.

• I still go running every morning, although it can't really qualify as running anymore because I am just so darn slow.  I believe it's been a positive, though, and I'll do it until my belly or the baby tells me to stop.  My doc says he thinks it's great.
• I have felt so much more emotional this go around, and therefore deleted the Facebook app off my phone this morning.  Thanks to all the worthless political rants + my pregnancy richter scale of emotions, I figured it was best before I dove in and responded to some status update about something stupid like how we shouldn't vote for Romney because he happens to have a lot of money.  I am 99.9% sure that if any of the people complaining about it had that much money themselves, they'd be thrilled and feel proud of themselves.  And, like Mitt, they'd impart of their substance to those less fortunate.  
• The weather is still hot, so obviously I'm still bothered about that.  I've never heard of SAD going toward people in hot weather, but that's what's happening over here!  Jeff has been taking Jude to the park these days, after it's cooling off.  We go to the pool and splash pad sometimes because I want to be a good mom, but putting on a swim suit chips a few notches off my happy scale.  
• I have so many plans and ideas of things I want to do when the weather cools off and I'm not so grumpy!  I'm going to do some canning with a friend, pumpkin patches, a Favorite Things party, Christmas party, I hate carving pumpkins but have some Pinterest-sent ideas of other ways to decorate them that have nothing to do with seeds, goop, or knives, I have a list of about 10 soups I want to try, oh it's going to be good.  
• When Jude sneaks into the office, this is what happens in about 3 seconds.  It's beyond lovable. 

Jude Update

Jude's first 2-word sentence: "No, mom."  Sometimes he mixes it up a little with, "No-no, Mom."  I have traced an edge of condescension once or twice.  *Sigh* it begins.

Mostly, though, he is keeping me on my toes in a good way.  He insists on brushing his own teeth, sometimes allowing me to help as long as he's still holding it, he has started to put his own toys away (yippeeeee!), and makes "vroom vroom" noises while pushing his little toy cars around.  He is very particular about things being in their PLACE, and loves stacking and basically just arranging.  Very cute: instead of pitching his sippy across the room when he's done with it, lately (usually) he'll set it gingerly on the ground, standing upright.  I love it every time.  

Since we nibble his toes, give him zerberts, tickle, and otherwise attack him 50 times a day, he's been doing it to us but doesn't get that soft biting is key. I know he's going to draw blood one of these days.  It's another one of those things I know he's doing just to be a part of the big kid group, and to copy us, so we don't want to smash that, either.  Herm.

Anyway, feast your eyes on our favorite:

This is the face he usually makes when he's coming to "get" us with bites, tickles, etc.

"Mom, just let me try out the camera.  I promise I will not touch the lens, and will use utmost caution."

Ok see the intensity here??  Do you see why I'm exhausted all the time???  This is when he's sitting on the couch!

Crazy.

Now he's just being a "cutie boy", as his cousin Julia might say.

Yeah I'm not fooled, but I appreciate it all the same.

Oh we love him.

"BAHA!"