Gotta Crawl before you walk....right??

In the past 2 weeks, Jude does not want to do anything but stand! Ofcourse he needs help from mommy and daddy but he is all about having his feet on the ground! It's adorable but...what happened to crawling?? I mean, he doesn't even roll over completely yet. If I try to sit him down he reaches for my fingers and if he can muster up the right positioning, he pulls back up to standing almost saying "ok, now I'm ready...let's go somewhere!" :-) Here's some recent pics of our standing and playing around at the Southlake Town Center...
*don't mind my cheesy smile - I had 3 wisdom teeth pulled the day before*


*proof he still enjoys his chillaxin' with daddy (with the help of mommy's shades) *

Nikeol's visit

Nikeol was in DFW with work this week so we took advantage and had her over for dinner!!


Jon made his famous homemade pizza while she volunteered to feed Jude bug. :-)








INSTANT FRIENDS?! Check! ;-)


It was so nice having you Nikeol! Hope you have a safe trip back to Atlanta and come back to see us soon!! *HUGS*

Verdict is...I'm gonna live! ;-)

<-- 6:00am - morning of the surgery...ME BEYOND FREAKED OUT!!



To say that I'm terrified of the dentist is an understatement! I literally cringe at the thought of going and have all my life!! I've known that my wisdom teeth have been slowly making their sneaky debut for a while now but I felt it was still pretty under control... UNTIL I got pregnant that is and they decided to go full force and attack! They started first by breaking skin and then by causing some nasty headaches! By the time Jude was born, I had 2 fully in acting as chompers and one pushing forcefully to come thru SIDEWAYS on the bottom left crowding out my wanted teeth! EEK! I still managed to wait in pain 4 months before finally making a dreaded appt (last week) with our local dentist. I ended up needing 2 fillings, got my teeth cleaned (which felt wonderful) and was referred to an oral surgeon to have 3 wisdom teeth extracted yesterday.
Verdict - not so bad! ;-) I gotta say...with every good experience, I'm learning that dentists aren't the devil in flesh after all. HaHa. I've made it past my 24 hour mark, haven't popped a hydrocodone since 4am and...just ate a piece of pizza. :-) I'm gonna live after all! LOL. Thank you Jesus!

Pics for your entertainment:

Laid up with a wrap around ice pack = HOT!




Me and Hydrocodone was likes peas and carrots! ;-)





Bentley's love is never failing - I heart him!



Jon took Jude to daycare today so I'm solo at the house cleaning out the DVR box and am thinking...maybe a bowl of some ice cream and a cat nap to follow? :-) Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!! I'm doing great! :-) Oh and yes, I am in the same outfit still...and promise I'm about to take a shower...after my nap. HeHe. ;-)

*HUGS*
Brooke

Jude is 4 mos old!

Jude was 4 mos April 14, 2010! Can you believe?! Time is FLYNG!!

Here are his stats...
Height: 24 1/2"
between percentile 10 and 25

Weight: 13 lbs, 14 ounces
between percentile 5 and 10

Head: 16"
between percentile 5 and 10

I swear he looks so chunky to us! I don't get it, LOL. We got online last night and ordered a weight scale for our bathroom that measures by the ounce so we can monitor a little better though I'm not sure what else we would/should do differently...he eats like a champ! Our pediatrician, Dr. Martin, advises us to not pay much attention to the stats just YET. He's reassuring reminding us that Jon and I are both lean and Jude probably will be too. My thoughts are that he may still be a little behind being born so small?? Dr. Martin says it COULD be the case but as far as skills and development go, Jude is doing GREAT!! So...we watch and wait. He's such a happy baby...I suppose that's all that matters right now, right?! ;-)

Happy 1st Birthday Grayson & Ethan!!

Sunday we had the privilege of sharing in the celebration of some of our new friend’s, Alan and Jennifer’s, twin boy’s first birthday! ABSOLUTELY PRECIOUS!!


They were so curious as mommy and daddy put their individual cakes in front of them to “dig” into. It was slow going at first but they got the hang of it and enjoyed every minute of the sugar rush! :-)


Jude had fun lounging in the baby hot tub while the bigger kids enjoyed the bounce house out back. What a GREAT idea!!






The cake was the cutest ever!! TALENTED FOLKS!!


Thanks for having us Jenn and Alan! We had a blast! Happy 1st Birthday Grayson & Ethan!!

*Hugs*
The Howertons

Jude likes squash!!

We're so proud!! Jude ate his official first "real food" meal tonight!!! Well, baby food ofcourse! :-) He finished a whole tiny orange jar of squash!! :-) He was so ca-ute!!! He couldn't quite figure out what the spoon was all about with it's repeated entering and leaving his mouth, haha. He sucked on the spoon for a while too but did finally get the hang of it and started just sucking the food off of the spoon and even grabbed at it like "just let me do it" - haha.

He'd start to cry when I went to dip for more and then make a thankful noise when the spoon re-entered with a heaping of tasty squashy goodness. It was so great!


I can't wait to do it again tomorrow night! :-D Stand by for more on whether it helped w/him sleeping thru an entire night...I mean, LOOK at that full belly!!! Hey, a mom can dream, right?! ;-)

A night out in Grandbury

We allowed ourselves plenty of time for the drive and showed up for Wes and Sarah's wedding nearly 30 minutes early. We parked, said hi to a couple of people we knew that showed up at the same time, fed Jude to prevent any cause for crying possible during the ceremony and got ready to walk in....and...PUKE! All over himself and some on Jon. :-( He had been sick all week but seemed so much better the past couple of days...poor guy. We sat in the car and finally made the decision that we shouldn't go. I walked up to sign us in and drop off our gift...it looked like it was going to be such a beautiful ceremony and I was so sad we would now be missing it ~ CONGRATS SARAH AND WES!! We were there in spirit!
We did however, after about an hour and 2 fresh changes of clothes, decide to go ahead and go to dinner while in Granbury and it ended up a pretty great night after all! I sure love my boys!!! :-)

First trip away from my boys....Cedar City, Utah

Last week I made my first trip away from Jude and Jon. I had to go to Cedar City, Utah for work to visit one of my suppliers. I was so scared I would miss my boys miserably but my boss, Amy, went with me and truly helped in making the trip a great first experience! Ofcourse I did miss them both so much but she has 2 young kids and is close to my age so it felt somewhat like just hanging out with a friend alot of the trip! The scenery was gorgeous and the town was so cute! We flew out of DFW Wednesday at noon and landed in Salt Lake City for a 2 1/2 hr layover which put us into Cedar City around 5:00.

The plane we took from Salt Lake to Cedar City was so small the flight attendant asked if Amy and I minded moving to the back of the plane to spread out the weight! HaHa. It was...an experience, LOL.

The Cedar City airport looked more like a warming house at a ski resort!

As soon as we walked into the airport lobby the rental car attendant says to us "One of you must be Amy. Your car is ready and waiting on the CURB!!!! HaHa! Now that's service! We stayed at the nicest hotel in town...The Comfort Inn & Suites.
The vendor visit went well and we had 2 nights to try some of the town's restaurants. The first night we had hibachi which was wonderful! Second night we opted to taste what Utah's mexican food was like...maybe not the best idea ;-)
Question: What do you get when you order Sangria in Morman land?
Answer: The waitress brings you a bottle of "sangria juice"...alcohol free. HeHe.
Amy and I looked at the plastic bottle that mirrored a cranberry juice cocktail, stared at each other and started cracking up!
2 days, 2 nights down and we headed back home! The trip went as well as it could but I was so anxious the whole day! I couldn't put Jude down for hours when I finally got home! :-) Absence absolutely does make the heart grow founder...especially when you were already fond to begin with. ;-)

First Zoo Trip!!

(about to enter the ZOO)
Jude and I met up with Joanna and Miss Madison last Tuesday at the Fort Worth Zoo for a nice first visit! The weather couldn't have been more perfect and since we went during the week mid-day, we didn't have to face crowds either! It was a great time!!

Jude's favorite exhibit was the aquarium by far! He just stared at the fish mezmorized!


We left around 1:30 as Madison and Jude showed us that they were ready for naps! LOL. The animals seemed to agree with them.

We can't wait to go back!!

Fun Games with Daddy

Jude has officially found his tongue! :-P Jon sticks his tongue out and Jude returns the gesture. It's hilarious and Jude would be fine playing this new found game back and forth all day long! He'll play with anyone but it's obvious he prefers Jon. Silly boys! ;-) Gotta love em'!!