Easter Weekend

My Boys

Mom and the boys. Notice how Gabe is spitting up all down his chin, my hand, and his belly and Jude is whacking me in the face. Seems like a typical moment to me.

Again with Gabe spitting up and Jude refusing to look at the camera.

Mike and Gabe. Look...Gabe is starting to respond and smile. We make absolute fools of ourselves trying to get that little guy to smile.

Jude and Tyler. Best buds.

We've decided that Gabe more or less looks like Jude, just much fatter. Mike calls him "fatso" and I cringe every time, convinced the kid will develop a complex. He is deliciously chubby, though. Today I put a 0-3 month onsie on him and he was bursting out of it. It looked like a skin-tight belly shirt. I couldn't fit it over his girth. It was awesome.

Yawning. Notice that tasty chin roll.

Mike and "Fatso". See, you can already see how grumpy he is with all the name calling.

A few tasty Jude moments.

Jude likes to run around our living room while holding his stuffed shark behind his back screaming at the top of his lungs that the shark is eating his back.

Jude likes to pick his nose. A lot. And then eat it. Two choice moments from this. One is that he ate such a big booger the other day that it got stuck in his tooth and I had to fish it out. Ah, motherhood. Then, when I was telling him how "yucky" it was to pick his nose and eat it, he looked up at me earnestly and said, "No. Boogers not yucky. Boogers YUMMY." Silly mom getting her "Y" words confused.

Jude was making this creepy hissing noise at breakfast the other day. I asked him what sound he was making and he said: "Spider laughing" As Satan's minions, that is probably what spiders' laughing sounds like. Observant boy.

Jude loves to have his puppy do everything with him. He changes the puppy's diaper. He feeds the puppy whatever he is eating. He wraps the puppy up in a blanket and puts him in the baby swing. He is very sweet to his puppy. I even saw him trying to nurse his puppy the other day (buddy, hate to break it to you, but that well is dry...). The other day we were eating a fruit snack on our front step and the puppy was sitting dutifully between us. Jude said, "Puppy hungry" and went to feed him some of the fruit snack and then laughed at himself, pulled the snack away quickly and gobbled the whole thing up. It was like "as if...there are just some thing a man doesn't share. fruit snacks is one of them."

Jude loves the Angel Moroni on top of the temple. He's obsessed. He says his name and that he is playing the trumpet way up high, at least 50 times a day. Tonight he made me sing him an "angel Moroni" song at bedtime. I can assure you that was one, made-up, tasty number.

The mischief is never ending with Jude.

Mr. Sun

Today the weather actually surprised us and the sunshine felt warm.
Yes, balmy. So, off we went to see Buddy the dog.

Jude blew about twenty kisses to Buddy the dog when we left.
Those are eyes of love.

The boys found a muddy puddle and I felt shocked at how mannish they are.
I mean, when did they become little boys?
They found sticks and splashed the nasty water everywhere.
They tried to climb in. They threw rocks and debris into the puddles.
Jude kicked the puddle. It was gross.

If you look closely, you can see muddy water splashed all over Jude's face.
He was trying to flick it all over me, too.
I'm trying not to think about all the diseases and writhing microbes.
Trying and failing.

P.S. I know it seems like Jude is wearing the same outfit in every picture since he turned about 6 months. However, I promise, I both change his clothes and do laundry regularly. His shirts are different under his jacket almost every day. I swear.

Buddy the Dog

A tasty one of Mike

A few weeks ago, we fooled ourselves into thinking the weather had warmed enough for a walk to see Buddy the dog, who lives around the block from us. Lies! Lies, thou foul, fooling sunshine! Icy cold by the end of the walk. The boys learned to put their hands in their pockets and walk around like mature adults.

Tyler. He was probably growling at me.

Hiding from mom. And running with no eyes. A trick he learned from his dad.

"Doggie! Doggie!" "Pup! ppy!"

The mature man

The elf

Trying to steal a kiss only to be ridiculed and have my cheeks gleefully smacked.

Christmas Stroll

Afternoon in the park....

G. I. Jude and Tyler the Tiger

So, over Christmas my mom taught me how to make little sweat pants for Jude. Mike demands that he wear only "manly" outfits, so I obvioulsy fashioned the sweat pants out of camo. I made a pair for him and his little cousin, Tyler. And then sweatbands may or may not have been made. And we may or may not have taken a bevy of pictures.
"Hi-ya!"