Jude is 1 and Other News

And you thought my last post was about Jude's birthday. Well, his actual birthday was just this weekend even though we had the party for him last month. I kept telling people that we were not going to do anything special and that I was just going to get him his very own balloon. But then we woke up on Saturday morning and were reminiscing about what we were doing this exact day one year ago; how we went into the midwife office, found out we needed to run home, pack, grab a bite to eat and head over to the hospital; how Kevin wanted to stop at Chipotle and I thought it was a good idea until we got there, and I decided that habanero salsa and cayenne chicken didn't square with my nerves; and how we were so nervous when we got to the hospital, but even more excited about meeting our son so soon.


So, someone must have spiked our coffee with some sort of parent-love potion on Saturday morning, because somethng came over us that made us want to celebrate. What would Jude really enjoy doing as a live-for-the-moment-no-thought-of-tomorrow guy who won't have any memory of whatever it is afterwards (hedonistic little creature)? We quickly decided on the zoo and headed to Philadelphia for a day that turned out to be, as far as we could tell, the most fun day of Jude's little 1-year old life.


"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" Mt 7:11


Clapping at the hippos








Big bleating Pippins





Now for the Other News. I'm sure most of you that read this blog know about how Jude came to us through in vitro fertilization (you can read about it here http://gainingpounds.blogspot.com/2008/12/baby-on-wayreally.html). When we decided to go forward with IVF we felt very strongly about being responsible for whatever embryos that we created. At the risk of sounding ungrateful, I will say, thank God that we have 3 additional beautiful embryos, and no MORE (or less). So in the spirit of populating the earth with Pounds', we are beginning round two. In a couple of weeks I will be starting the hormone treatments and we should know if we are pregnant by mid-August. We'll keep you posted!


Here are some other pictures of Jude from the last month:


In his birthday crown




the daily love fest with Pippin





talking to the grandparents on the calculator

Good buddy Ricky

Birthday

I always hear mothers say how quickly their children grow up. It seems like every other day, when Jude and I are out, some woman will stop me and say, "enjoy this time, they grow up so fast." Then they tell me how old their "baby" is now--eight years old, seventeen or forty-five. Well, one year has almost come to Jude so we celebrated a little early with two of our dear friends, the Benton's and the Takemoto's. Lennox is 6 weeks older than Jude, and Ricky is one month older, so we threw a joint birthday party at a nearby park. Many good friends came and the weather was just right.

Since I was young, my mom has made beautiful cakes for us for birthdays, graduations, and even weddings! My dilemma was this: I wanted to have a homemade cake for the boys' party, but I knew that it would probably end up looking like they made it themselves. So I figured that I couldn't do much wrong with cupcakes--solid colored cupcakes I can do. It's a caterpillar, by the way. I'm sorry to say that Kevin could not figure out exactly what it was (sorry Mom, I guess I just don't have it)...

The Donning of the Birthday Hats:

Happy Birthday dear Knox, Ricky, Jude...

Cutie pies...

Laura and Mari have been special friends for me, I am so thankful for them. I have needed these friendships and support like never before. They are what I will miss most when we leave this year.