What a Summer

Well, its Labor Day and for swimming pools, government offices and other local municipal bodies, it effectively marks the closure of summer-related activities and with the Vernal Equinox just weeks away, the department stores and the ilk are already preparing for Haloween, let alone that football season has already started.  Don't get me wrong, I have not complaints about Fall and the goings-on it entails but with the weather we've been having I wouldn't hold out for a typical autumn, and I certainly doubt it will arrive on Sept. 21.  At least I hope not.

Who would have guess at the very beginning of this summer we'd end up in a mild drought with a string of 100 degree weather to cap off August?  I think I mowed our yard more in the month of June than all of July or August combined.  This weather pattern of course made our first attempt at a garden an interesting venture.  I am pleased to say, though, that we have two plant varietals doing well....pumpkin and tomatoes.  The carrots held up for awhile but they didn't enjoy the lack of moisture.  I tried to water but they could not survive.  The herbs also did not do well, and the peppers didn't want to show their faces I guess.  But yes, our pumpkins have spread their vines like mad and we anxiously await for them to start budding some actual pumpkins.  I'm not sure if they should have by now.  Our neighbor down the road appears to have at least one pumpkin on the vine.  Will ours just not come?  That'd be a bummer; the kids are very anxious.

The tomatoes, at least, are holding up to the weather.  They are thick and lush and we have to pick them daily to keep up.  We have four varieties going now, but its the Romas and the cherry tomatoes that seem to be ripening quickly.  We have a few bigger slicing tomatoes plants, which product a rip tomatoes about every other day.  There are some big green ones out there which we are anxious to pick (and eat).  Lizzie is a big fan of Caresse salads so she has definitely been enjoying our harvest.

We took our first camping trip this past month as well, staying a few days at a local campground.  We are part owners in a pop-up camper (we share with Leisa) so the setup can be time consuming but once up, we enjoyed the scenery and other accoutrements of the camping life.  We were right next to the beach area too so the kids enjoyed long hours at the beach.  BellaRose was especially glued to the water and it was near impossible to tear her away at dinner time, even when we got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa, bearing gifts nonetheless.  She's always been a bit of a fish though, moreso that Jude.  The jury is still out on Finch.

Speaking of her, Finch just enjoyed her first birthday and we celebrated by systematically getting the same flu-like illness one after the other.  Consisting of mostly a fever, body aches, head aches and the chills, this little bug seemed to last only a day or so before going away but at its peak it was nigh on intolerable.  It even kept me away from work a day, which has only happened twice in the past two years.  I was definitely glad that it was a brief illness and that all the kids tolerated it well, especially Finch, who was a real trooper.

She had a full week of celebration, really, kick started on Sunday with a dinner with her Omi & Opi, complete with gifts and cupcakes.  Per usual, Omi sent us home with a boatload more cupcakes, which we all lived off each night until Wednesday, when she enjoyed a some more cupcake on her actual birthday.  Then, on Friday, Finch got her 1-yr. check-up, including but not limited to four shots and one finger poke, but she did impress her pediatrician and she measured in at over the 90th percentile for height.  I'm guessing she gets this from her mom's side.  Then, later on Friday, her Grandma visited and brought more gifts (as is her tradition, it seems) and thus was the end of Finch's week long party.

With summer slowly going bye-bye, we start to prepare for all things fall.  Lizzie is going to start homeschooling and supplementing with some weekly curriculum programs we have signed up for through our church.  We hope this goes well but I have great faith it will.  Hopefully our pumpkins will start to come in and we will have no need to purchase any this year.  Who knows, we may have more than we know what to do with.

Also, my running season will start to come to a close as next weekend Lizzie and I are both entered in a local 5K walk/run and then next month is my big half-marathon that I've been training for.  I am eager for the race but also a bit nervous. After that its just run as much as I can before its too cold to do so.

Well, that's the basic happenings in our life thus far.  We are eager for the start of a new season, which brings different events and things for the kids to do.  We'll keep you apprised of their progress and all the other fun fall activities we get ourselves into, whether voluntarily or not.

Thanks again.  Toodles!

The Green-ish Initiative - Vol. 1, Issue 1

We are nigh upon the summer and with it, great change has come to the Davis household.  Not another baby (yet) but we are turning over a new leaf and trying our hands at some new skills, of which we are yet to fully acquire.  Practice makes perfect, right?

Anyway, we do hereby enact a new family initiative this summer.  With some reluctance and much uncertainty, we are making our first attempt at so-called "green living", a.k.a. "organic living".  It all seems very liberal and "hippie-ish" but really we are just being miserly and attempting to save some coin with attempts at homemade items, DIY projects and the always elusive at-home garden.  The end goal, of course, is to make millions off our line of "natural products", vinegars, pickled everything and yummy jams and jellies, retiring shortly thereafter.  The goal of this post, it seems, is to use as many "quotations" as possible.  So far both are coming to fruition.

Accompanying this new found niche of ours is a revamping of this blog.  Yes, you will still find occasional family updates, but more frequently we intend to post updates around our progress in the aforementioned "at-home projects" as well as recommendations and suggestions for your own, similar projects.  Here are some things you can look forward to learning about and we intend to do "at-home" this summer:

1. Home-brewed apple cider vinegar & root beer
2. Homemade cleaning products
3. In-town gardening & composting
4. Landscaping ideas
5. Various home projects
6. Kids craft ideas

That being said, we've only barely kicked off the summer fun.  We were on the verge of planting our garden when the winter spell hit, dropping some snow on use in early May.  Once we are snow free we'll start our garden.  Got the spot picked, got the plants and seeds, just need to till and plant.  Also waiting on the compost but all of this is for another post.  You'll have to come back for more.  Just a little tease, I guess.

So, with that, I bid farewell until next morrow.  We'll post with pics soon our progress on the above mentioned items and so much more.  Thanks so much for reading the Famous Davis Family's "Not Green, Just Cheap" inaugural blog.  Here's to a great summer!

2012 Family Update

So much has changed in a year that I’m sure you’ve all given up on us by now and have moved onto far more interesting blogs.  Certainly ones that are updated at least semi-annually…but I digress…

Well, like I said, so much has changed since September of last year.  Where do I begin.  Perhaps its best in a chronological synopsis.  Here goes.

Just a month after my last post, we adopted a dog from the Boone Co. Humane Society.  She is a 4 year old ‘’Schnoodle” (Schnauzer/Poodle).  We brought the kids to meet her to see how she responded and she latched onto our family in an instant.  We named her Olive and since she has become a big member of the family, though I feel she has attached herself more to me than mom. 

The winter of 2011 was hardly that, as well remember, with almost no snow for most the year.  We were able to go sledding a few times with the kids.  There were few people on the hill that day but somehow our sled managed to careen right into another little girl at the bottom of the hill.  Her parents were very forgiving though I’m sure we ruined sledding for he that winter.

We “upgraded” our vehicles further before winter, selling our Honda Civic and purchasing 1990 Ford F-150.  It seems we always need access to a truck and its nice to have a vehicle with 4-wheel drive.  Its not much to look at but it was cheap and it gets me where I’m going.  Plus I feel I look pretty cool when I’m driving my truck.

In February, Jude turned one and our little guy has never looked back.  In fact, he’s hardly can be classified as a “little guy” at all.  Currently Jude has earned the nickname “Tank” given his ability to withstand all matter of assaults from himself or his sister.  Plus he’s kind of a destroyer wherever he goes.   He’s just over 18 mos.  now and maintaining the 90^th percentile in height and weight.   He certainly is a decent match against his sister who has quickly learned that he is a rough kid who can take as well as dish in a fight.

Also during the winter we learned that we would be blessed with our third child this year, who joined the family on Aug. 28, 2012.  Similarly we kept the baby’s name a secret the whole time and this time, since we had both genders already, we decided also keep its gender a secret to us as well.  It was different not knowing.  We had to keep a list of possible boy and girl names and think of gender neutral themes too. 

For this baby we also wanted to try something new too—a home birth!  We had been planning on it after about week 20 and were all set.  We had read some on it and watched a video about it and thought it would be a neat experience and something special to tell the kid later.  “Hey, you were born in this very room! See that stain?”  That sort of thing. 

This time ‘round we also were using doula, or birth coach.  All was set but then, about two weeks out from due date (baby was due Sept. 4), Lizzie noticed her water seemed to be leaking.  She called our midwife, who was going to do the homebirth, and she said she was having car troubles.  Lizzie could elaborate further, with more colorful adjectives, about the phone calls between them and ensuing frenzy of “WHERE ARE WE GOING TO HAVE THIS BABY!!!”.  In the end our third child came that same day and was NOT born at home but rather, like the other two, born in Ames at Mary Greeley.  

We were able to use the birthing tub at the hospital, which we had already rented, plus our doula was there for us through it all.  If you ask me, she was worth her weight in gold.  It ended up to be a quick ordeal.  Lizzie flew through the labor, again a “natural” one, and our newest addition—a baby girl—arrived faster than you can say “GIVE ME AN EPIDURAL!”.  We settled on the name Finch Winifred-Lola Davis, harkening back to our very first home where BellaRose and Jude lived prior (more on this in a minute). 

They say Finch doesn’t like the other two kids really and is the girl version of me.  I’m not so sure.  You decide.  Currently she is going by the nickname “Bird” though we were envisioning Winnie as a possible one.  All in all it couldn’t have gone any smoother, considering we started out the morning not knowing where baby Finch would be born.

So, clearly the birth of baby Finch was easily the hugest event of 2012 and certainly since last fall.  However, there is one more that was paramount in our family life and hopefully in the lives of our children and grandchildren.  Yes, finally, in May of this year, we became homeowners!

Given the knowledge of the new addition looming, we realized just two rooms wouldn’t cut it for a growing family and more rooms were needed.  It was high time we got a home.  We had mulled the idea of an acreage around but it was difficult, it seemed, to find a home in our price range that had a decent spread of land and wasn’t too far from Ames.  We ended up scratching that idea and settling on a home in town.  It seemed like we were searching forever and lost out on house after house to some other buyer.  Finally we found one we liked and not wanting to lose it, jumped at the opportunity.  It was FSBO, which in hind-sight we would only do with a realtor or lawyer mediating.  The sellers were foreign and just wanted the money now, not understanding all that was required to close a mortgage.  It eventually did happen and we closed May 31.

The home is near downtown Ames, nestled in a historic neighborhood (the house itself is 112 years old) by the DOT office and Lincoln Way.  We are about 5 mins or less from the in-laws, which is nice, and the close vicinity to a local park is a plus.  We are also not too far from Jack Trice Stadium and we are getting our first taste football season.  The home is 4 bedrooms and has a full-basement, partially finished.  It needs a little work but its hard to find a home in Ames with that many rooms, in that location, for the price we got.  All in all we are glad we made the move and though it was stressful,  it is nice to know we have a place for the kids to call home, hopefully for the rest of their lives and then some.

Aside from that, the usual has been going on.  I’m still working at WebFilings in town and can’t complain there.  Job security is a rarity right now so I’m happy to have a place that appreciates me, I enjoy and supports us.  Moreover, I cross a big milestone soon.  Its my 30^th birthday next month!

Elizabeth also started working this past year, waiting tables at Ge-Angelo’s Italian Restaurant in Ames.  She was hesitant at first, not sure if she was cut out for serving, but has since grown quite adept at it and I think she finds its almost a release from the rigors of her other full-time job—a stay-at-home mom.

BellaRose.continues to grow and is a very smart, clever, witty girl, not unlike her father.  She turns 4 next month and is in pre-school currently and enjoys it immensely.  We see many positive changes in her, even though its hard to watch your little girl grow up.  Though she is stubborn and bossy at times, she has noxious laugh and is also very sweet to her new little sister.

Jude. What can you say? He’s so very different from his sister(s).  As a baby, he was super easy going.  As a toddler, he is super naughty, going from one extremely dangerous activity to the next.  He seems to be  always playing with something he shouldn’t or purposefully torqueing his sister, and he bounces back from injuries that would keep his sister out of commission for hours, as if to have super healing powers.  A true force to be reckoned with, the aptly named “Tank” keeps us all on our toes but he is equally as sweet and loving as his counterparts and we love his rough approach to life just the same.

Well, I think that’s roughly it for the time being.  Our deepest apologies for such a complete and utter lack of bloggings since the blog’s creation.  Even during its “hay-day” it never had all that many posts.  Our already small fan has surely suffered.  How can I persuade you to stay the course and keep following?  Candy? The promise of hope?  Comical pictures of cats?

Anyways, I sincerely hope to post more.  I shall try and we will see.  Certainly there’s plenty to blog about, if only I had time.  I will write my Congressperson  about extending the hours in a day or something…

That’s it, readers.  Sorry for the long hiatus.  All the best and all that.  Cheerio!

Its Fall and We Caught a Squirrel

I hate to say it but I think fall is officially upon us. Though it was 80 degrees on Monday, its been lingering around the 60 degree mark for days now, and approaching the freezing point at nights. Its not that I dislike fall--it is a nice season, with good colors and mostly pleasant weather, not to mention my birthday--its just that it leads to winter and seems so very short in comparison to the winter. I'm sure its just perspective. Winter seems long because its cold and snowy and summer seems short because we take it for granted. Either way, I have mixed feelings about the fall.

So, its been a fast summer. We did enjoy many outings, when we could. Lizzie took the kids to the zoo more than once, and we went to the Ames pool a few times, though we should have utilized our membership a bit more than we did. We also had many park outings, and trips the ice cream shop. BellaRose has become fond of these outings and she knows if we are driving the car past 8:00 pm its a fair bet she's gonna score some ice cream. She is a Davis, after all, and we are fond of our ice cream.

Jude has grown like crazy! At his 6 mos. check-up he was 21 lbs. BellaRose weighed the same at 1 year. He's in the 95% for weight and 70% for height. He has already started to get a taste for table food, which is partially to be blamed for his above average weight. We try not to give him too much, especially things he shouldn't have, but sometimes he's too convincing with his cute "please, daddy" eyes. He too is a fan of ice cream.

I bet you're all wondering about the title of this post. Yes, as the second part reads, we DID catch a squirrel. In our house. Not a tree dwelling brown squirrel, but a striped ground squirrel, a.k.a "chipmunk" or "squinny". Lizzie discovered him one day when he decided to come check out place out while she was in the living room. I never saw him for weeks but Lizzie would have occasional sightings, usually when it was quiet, during the afternoon. He'd check the place out, and be scared off when he'd spy a living, breathing human. What did he think he'd find?

At first I was certain Lizzie had schizophrenia and was imaging the dread squirrel that plagued her life. I've never known a women so deathly afraid of rodents. During the Mouse Wars of 2010, she was on edge and thought she heard mice scurrying everywhere. Same for the chipmunk, whom she was certain had made a burrow underneath our bed and plotted her demise nightly. I vehemently explained that he stood no chance of defeating her in a duel and unlike mice, was not here for food, but rather a place to store his nuts for the winter. Chipmunks, as it seems, are not nocturnal and come out only during the day, when the master of the house--the only one NOT afraid of him--was at work. To be fair, BellaRose was pretty curious about the chipmunk and talked at great length about her adventures with the beast. She became a good sidekick when I took measures of my own to catch this possibly imaginary rodent.

After plugging up some entry points underneath the house, as well as inside, I had hoped to assuage some feelings and be rid of the pest. However, a few days ago, he was spotted again. We had set a live trap out, in the furnace room (a likely entry point) and placed some crackers with peanut butter in it. Being a swift and light creature by nature, the chipmunk snagged a cracker without being caught and ate it in front of Elizabeth, taunting her as if knowing about her phobia and plans for his removal. Then, a day or two later, I spotted him, when I came into the kitchen after changing Jude in the back room. He scurried underneath the cabinets and escaped. He is lucky I was holding Jude, for he had loose footing on the laminate floor and I could have stopped him, having no fear of him (I think he sensed it). I could tell that he was getting braver as well, coming out during the day when the master hunter was at home, and in the kitchen while BellaRose at breakfast. He must have heard the humans but was gaining confidence quickly. He also had a penchant for Disney songs.

Then, today, when I was again plotting my next move during naps, a "clank" was heard from the furnace room then a series of furious but futile scratchings. The beast had been caught...in a live trap that had no bait (he ate the other bait, continually teasing Lizzie). What luck! Likely just being overly curious and cocky, he entered the trap clumsily and set it off. Either way, he is now my captive. Not sure yet what techniques I will deploy to interrogate him. I must know how he entered, where his cache of nuts are and if he told any of his fellow rodents...especially mice...about or home. We will then take him to an undisclosed locale and release him so that he may spread the word. We spared him today, but others may not be so lucky. Just ask the few that made it out of Mice Wars 2010.

Its Summer

So, its been awhile, I know, but to be fair, I was going to post awhile ago, got the whole thing typed and ready to go and wouldn't you know it, the computer froze and I lost all my thought provoking material and wasn't in the mood to retype it. But now I have time so here you go. Let's hope the computer doesn't freeze...again.

Summer is here, though its been up and down. Sometimes chilly, sometimes muggy, seems to be raining a lot (which we just love, given last year's epic flood) all of which is great when you have kids. BellaRose just loves going outside ("bat-side" as she calls it) and doesn't quite get it when its rainy or 100+ degrees and she can't go. We have season passes to the Ames pool again and she loves going, of course. We've gone a few times but its hard with this rainy weather. She would go everyday if you let her decide. She went with her Momby a few weeks ago and I guess they (the lifeguards)let her go down a big slide, which she wanted to. Her Uncle Jordan was at the top manning the slide so she trusted him enough to push her down at least. The last time I took her she wanted to try it again but got scared when we reached the top. I guess she was expecting Jordan.

Jude has grown like wildfire. He just turned 4 mos. and is wearing 6 mos. to 12 mos. clothes, depending on the brand. He's a big kid, for sure, with a healthy appetite. My mom says I was a big kid too and everyone says he looks like me. For me its hard to see. I only know what adult, grey-haired, permanent 5 o'clock shadow Mike looks like, not 4 mos. old me. I guess I'll take their word for it.

Jude is sleeping in his crib now, in he and BellaRose's room. She doesn't seem to mind having a roommate and he's doing quite well. Some nights he'll go a full 10-12 hours without waking up or needing to feed and other nights he'll wake up like clockwork every 4 hours, feed, and go back to sleep. Either way, he and BellaRose are asleep from about 9 pm until 8 am each day. That chunk of time between 9 and midnight is quality Mom and Dad time, usually spent cleaning something, preparing for the next day or if we're lucky, relaxing, watching episodes of Grey's Anatomy and eating ice cream like its going out of style. Elizabeth didn't use to be as serious an ice cream connoisseur until she met me. As my family can attest, we Davis' are fanatics about ice cream and can devour whole gallons in mere minutes. And always between the hours of 9 and midnight--peak ice cream eating time.

The job is going well. Keeping me busy, that's for sure. Lizzie seems to be doing well too, adjusting to two kids. I would say she's doing fantastic. I'm constantly impressed. The times that I have both kids while she is out and about I find myself exhausted and at my wits end after only a few hours. She does it 8 hours a day, 5 days a week (and sometimes more). What an excellent mom and wife she is, for sure.

That's mostly it for now. I bought a truck, so that's nice. We've had to replace our dryer, which is fun, and just today we found we need a new fridge, equally as fabulous. Oh the delights of homeownership. Hopefully both of these investments pay themselves off and last millions of years. Well, that's all folks. Hope you enjoyed this riveting tid-bit. A true white-knuckle read, I'm sure.

Spring Time (Kinda)

So, its spring or almost. The equinox has passed, sure, but the weather hasn't completely got the hint. Sure, there was almost a solid week there where temps were 70 to 90 degrees, but now its nigh on freezing and windy. Alas, such is Iowa in the spring time. Its a like a teenager, lost and unsure of if its cold and prickly, like winter, or warm and loving, like summer. I myself prefer the warm and loving type.

As you can imagine, its been a bit crazy around the Davis household, what with there being four of us and all, and two of us can't eat or poop without help. I'll give you two hints as to who the two people are, but you'll only need one. Jude has grown like wildfire since coming home. Much like his sister, he is above average in size. He wore his size "newborn" clothes for about one week and is now fitting into 3 mos. attire like a champ. I can say he has no lack of appetite, that's for sure.

BellaRose has become very attached to her "baby rubber"--in BR speak--Jude in no time at all. Sometimes she is a bit too attached. She likes to poke at him and say "got you" or "tickle, tickle" when really its more akin to a pin prick or pinch. Luckily he seems to not mind her much and from time to time he almost seems to prefer, nay, even LIKE BellaRose. I may have seen an askance smile aimed in her direction a couple times.

All in all we really couldn't be happier with BellaRose's adaptation to a baby in the house. She plays well with him and hasn't regressed in behavior or acted out at all. She is still her usual bossy, playful, single-minded self, which is nice.

I think Elizabeth has also adapted well to having two little ones to take care of while I'm at work. I was able to stay home a week when we first came home, which was nice considering I had only been at my new job (which I love) less than a month. Sometimes I take the kids while Lizzie stays home and naps or rests, giving me a mere glimpse at what she goes through daily for hours on end. Not entirely sure how she does it. And all without getting a grey hair! I must learn, for my number of grey hairs is increasing daily and spreading to my beard and chest! But that's another post entirely.

I know we are eagerly awaiting the summer months, when we can take the kids outside or to the pool and let them burn of some energy. I know BellaRose is always asking to go outside. She just likes to run around and be crazy. Not sure what other fun things we'll do this summer. I don't see any vacations in the future, but maybe we'll go somewhere further than Des Moines.

With that, I sign off. Currently Elizabeth and BellaRose are napping and Jude is looking at me like he wants to do something more than bounce in his seat. I suppose I can acquiesce to his request. That's what fathers do, right?

Take care all and I hope that spring sets in for good soon and we can unpack all those summer clothes still stored away. But that just means more yard work and hot, sweaty days. Perhaps I really don't hate winter that much. Who am I kidding. I say the craziest things sometimes!

Jude Richard John

Its official, we're a family of four now. Well, since February 20th, to be exact.

At 10:27 am, at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames, our son Jude Richard John was born. He weighed 7lbs 10oz and was 20.5 in. long. He was born at 39 weeks and three days, two weeks later than BellaRose was. He weighed only 5 oz. more than BellaRose did as well. They were the same exact length, 20.5 in., though many people I have discussed this coincidence with believe that all babies are 20.5 in. long at birth. I suggested that their tape measures may only go to 20.5", but that seems illogical.

The whole labor and birth went by fairly quickly, though if you asked Elizabeth, I think she would differ on the definition of "quickly". For the past few weeks she'd been experiencing contractions that were irregular in length and would come at random intervals--many times hours upon hours apart. Furthermore, she fell on the ice on Super Bowl Sunday, so we went in that evening to make sure baby was okay, which he was, but it was found out she was 3 cm. dilated and 80% effaced. At her following neo-natal check-up, the midwife further exclaimed Elizabeth's closeness to having this baby and she was told that she would most certainly not make it to the due date--Feb. 24th-- and could have the baby "any time", which is a reassuring diagnosis to be handed by a medical practitioner. I find that pre-natal care is a lot like meteorology in that they can only be so exact with their estimations or time, severity, when something will occur or what will actually happen. But I digress. As a result of that hullabaloo about going "any time", we were both on high alert for a couple weeks, only to be let down when contractions continued to be irregular. At our 39 week appointment, the midwife said we were ever closer but still not there. They couldn't break our water since we weren't full term, but stated they would if she were still pregnant at 40 weeks. We set up our appointment for the following Thursday, his due day, and planned to likely be induced but alas, Sunday morning rolled around and it appeared Jude had an important function to be at and needed to come out that same day. We were okay with it though.

So, like I said, the actual labor went fast, at least once it kicked in full fledged. At about 5 am, Lizzie started to get regular contractions and by 7 am they kept going and getting closer, about 2-5 mins apart. After finally convincing her this was likely the real deal (she really didn't wanna go in until his head was poking out) we made for the hospital. Of course, we hit nearly every red light in town and got stopped by a train. However, we made it.

She was at about 4 cm. dilated at that point and the midwife said we were gonna have him that day. Naturally, we were hesitant to believe this diagnosis (see meteorology reference above) but played along nicely. The kind midwife, however, did prove to be correct and things began progressing quickly, much quicker than we or the hospital staff presumed it would. By 9am were almost nearing the time to push and Elizabeth was contemplating an epidural but since she progressed so fast it really became a non-option for her so my wife, that ol' girl, experienced the full pangs of natural child birth, even the dread "ring of fire". I have a new found respect for her now. More than she will ever truly appreciate.

Jude came out pretty promptly, with probably about 30-45 mins of pushing. It was hard to imagine what he'd be like. The second kid would help predict, or so I thought, how dominant Elizabeth's genes were since BellaRose is like her doppelganger. We were unsure if he'd be blonde or have brown hair, or none at all like Bella did. His eyes would likely be blue but could be brown and who he'd look like was also up in the air. I was presuming he'd be another carbon copy of Elizabeth--blonde with blue eyes and her distinctive mouth. However, Jude came out with a full head of brown hair, way more than his sister had at birth, though he did look a lot like BellaRose did at birth. People say he looks more like me than she did. I'm still unsure. Regardless, I like the little guy a lot. He's a funny kid and I'm eager to the throw the ball around with him, though I am a bit jealous of all the time he gets to spend with Elizabeth.

The whole name thing was another fiasco. We'd been giving the family a fake name during the pregnancy--Dracula Rambo--and keeping his true name a secret. The bigger secret was that we weren't sure on his name at all and wanted to wait to meet him to decide anything solid. After a few hours, family was hounding us for names so we had to decide. Both of us like the name Jude and that it was rare and cute. I wanted to name a son after my dad and since I'm not sure if we'll have another kid, let along a boy, I thought it best to name him John now. Jude John didn't sound too cool and we didn't want him to be known as "J.J.", so we incorporated Jude's other grandpa's name, Richard. So, if you wanna know, that's how he got his name.

All in all we are very happy with Jude. He's a good baby who only really cries when he's hungry, which seems like all the time. BellaRose likes him too, and he likes her. They sit together on the couch a lot and she likes to play "tickle baby" or "get you baby" a lot. She insists on giving him a kiss before bed too, and when she gets up she asks where "baby" is. We couldn't have asked for a better response from BellaRose. We were anticipating regression behaviors, acting out and jealousy issues but so far she's been very responsive to the idea of a baby brother.

We'll let you know more soon. Hope you enjoyed the update. Thanks too all for the well-wishes, support and congrats! We appreciate it all so very much. Thanks again and toodles!