The New Dad Blog

Lily (and Baba & Grandpa) Comes to Denver

Jude had his favorite cousin as a playmate this week as Marcy's parents brought Lily out to Denver so everyone could meet Anna. They took Jude out to the zoo and the museum and of course played around the house and in the backyard a lot. Here are the two cousins posing for the camera.

Since Marcy's parents will not be here for Jude's 2nd birthday we celebrated it a month early. Jude was showered with presents from his grandparents with a whole new wardrobe of clothes and a dump truck which, of course, he liked best. We also had a birthday dinner for Jude, complete with party hats and birthday cupcakes. The photo below was taken as we were all singing Happy Birthday to Jude.

Baba, Grandpa and Lily left on Friday morning and so we had the weekend to ourselves.The big adventure for Jude this weekend was our trip downtown to visit the playground there which is supposed to be excellent. Well we barely made it to the playground because Jude was so enamored with this big bus that was parked nearby. We spent about 20 minutes just going up and down the side of the bus. Eventually, we thought we had to get a video of this because his affection for this bus seemed to have no end.

One thing we have noticed with Jude recently is that he is starting to take more of an interest in what he is wearing. This morning he rejected the plain orange shirt I had chosen for him and asked for his tiger shirt which I was able to find in his closet. He immediately ran to the full length mirror in our bedroom and admired his shirt. His other favorite shirts are his digger shirt and his dump truck shirt. He is also very excited about his new airplane pajamas.

Jude Loves to Help Out in the Kitchen

 
Jude is back to his normal self again after all the disruption with his new sister being born the previous week. We noticed by the middle of the week he was back connected with Marcy again and not acting out quite as much. Marcy did quite a bit of cooking this week which is one of Jude's favorite pastimes. Marcy gets out a chair for him so he can stand and see what she is doing on the counter. Then, of course, he likes to help and test the cookie batter as you can see above.

Jude has always been a very affectionate boy, and since his sister has been born has only become more so. One day this week I came home from work and Jude was playing in the backyard. He came running towards me and gave me a hug and then said, "So happy to see you" which I had never heard before. He has also shown a lot more affection for his sister, multiple times every day he gives her hugs and kisses.

Anna gave Jude a new digger this week. Marcy bought it at Costco a few weeks ago and we have had it in the closet since then. Considering his love of diggers we knew it would be a big hit so we decided to make it a gift from Anna this weekend as a thank you for being such a good big brother. It was amazing. He has never been so mesmerized by a toy, he played with it nonstop for 40 minutes and then when we tried to pry it away from him for dinner he had a complete meltdown.We had to give him more time with the digger and then did a second turn at dinner half an hour later.

The other big event of the week was the visit to the pumpkin patch this morning. Jude loved the pumpkins and he chose one just for himself. He didn't want to leave and he became so attached to his pumpkin that he gripped it all the way home in the car.

A couple of hours ago Marcy's parents and Lily came to visit to see their brand new granddaughter and cousin. So Jude is going to have a fun week playing with Lily, you will be able to read about their adventures next Sunday.

Jude Meets His Baby Sister Anna

What a week! It really began on Monday when Marcy started noticing some contractions. Jude must have sensed something was going on because he was very loving and easy for Marcy all day Monday. Then on Monday night (the last night Jude would be an only child) he didn't want Marcy to stop reading books which was unusual. Then as Marcy was closing the door, he said "Goodbye Mommy", something he had never said before. On some level he knew something was going on and that his relationship with Marcy was changing.

Marcy and I went to the hospital around 4:30am and our babysitter Charlotte, came over and spent the entire morning with Jude. Anna was born at 8:34am on Tuesday morning - if you want to read details about the birth you can read about it on the New Dad Blog 2.

Anna was born at 8:34am and I was home reading with Jude by 12:30pm relieving Charlotte of her babysitting duties. It was quite surreal going through the intensity of Anna's birth and then being back with Jude reading his books and putting him down for a nap as if nothing had happened. Jude had a good three hour nap and after that I took him down to the hospital to meet his sister Anna for the first time.

Jude was a little uncertain about everything at first. Marcy looked a bit different having gone through the intensity of the birth earlier in the day and she was in this unusual setting with a tiny baby. After a couple of minutes Jude said, "Home! Sharkey! Fred!", but Marcy had anticipated this and out came a couple of presents for Jude. First there was a baby doll, so that Jude could have his own baby just like Mommy. He wasn't all that into the doll, but his other present he loved. Marcy bought him these rubber stamps with ink of a fire truck, airplane, police car, and other favorite vehicles and these were a big hit. Marcy put these stamps on his hands and arms which he thought was very cool (he now asks for his stamps regularly at home). After about 20 minutes I took Jude out for a break to see some construction equipment and then we came back to say goodbye and I took Jude home for the night.

Charlotte had Jude again the next morning so I could go to the hospital by myself to be with Marcy and Anna. Then I took Jude back in the afternoon again, and this time he was not as uncomfortable. We went to the playground afterwards for Jude to run off some energy. He actually slept great when it was just the two of us at home, which was a relief. He had a 3 hour nap each day and around 11 hours each night.

Thursday morning Jude and I went to bring Marcy and Anna home from the hospital. One of the first things Jude said after we got home when he was checking out his new sister was "Anna so tiny!" which we thought was hilarious. I think Jude was relieved to get everyone back home but he was a little unsure around Marcy. For the first couple of days back home he asked for Daddy more than Mommy which he rarely does, but by today he was back bonded with Marcy again.

But Jude is definitely struggling a bit with this transition. He is having regular meltdowns throughout the day over the smallest thing. Whenever we get a bottle out for Anna he always asks "bite", as in he wants some, and after the first couple of meltdowns we now give Jude milk with a little cocoa and call it his special treat. Most of the time he is his normal sweet self but if he doesn't get what he wants then he can have huge reactions.

He has been taking comfort in his many familiar things. His favorite "toy" right now would have to be our black vacuum cleaner. You can see him here working hard on the stairs (you may notice it isn't plugged in, though). Some kids have blankets, Jude has a vacuum cleaner. It is always a very sad affair now, usually with lots of tears, when we put it away for the night. 

This has been a big week for Jude, probably the biggest change he has had in his life since being born. Overall he is adjusting quite well, he has shown his love for Anna as you can see below. We expect it is going to take some time before he really gets used to having her around, and in the meantime we are just trying to do everything we can to make him feel loved and comforted.

Baby You Can Drive My Car

Jude's new favorite game is "driving Mommy's car." He gets in the front seat of Marcy's car and pushes all the buttons, gets into all the compartments, honks the horn, and even gets into the back seat. Sometimes he will grab the steering wheel and say he is driving to the zoo to see elephants. Now, if we open the garage he immediately asks to play driving mommy's car.

Something that has really developed the last couple of weeks is Jude's attachment to his stuffed animals. His favorite are the lion, the dog and the horse. When we sit down to read books before nap time he always wants to grab one of these animals before we start reading. Just this week he started playing pretend games with his animals. Sometimes, lion gets sleepy or dog is hungry.

Along with that, he has become really attached to our three cats, Lola, Sharkey and Fred. When we are out and he wants to go home he now says, "Home! Lola! Sharkey! Fred!". And when he wakes up from his nap or sleep he will greet the cats. This morning he saw Fred on our bed when I brought him in to our room after waking up (at 7:15am, woohoo!) he said "Hi Fred" in this really cute voice that had Marcy and I cracking up. He always likes cuddling with the cats and will often go up to one of them (usually Lola) and say "Lola, hug". She is the most tolerant of the cats and puts up with a lot of attention from Jude.

Today we went to annual pumpkin harvest festival at Four Mile Park, an historic park just a couple of miles from our place that features the oldest building in Colorado. They had horse drawn wagon ride that Jude really enjoyed and there was a pumpkin patch and many other interesting things from the old west. Jude even learned how to light a fire without matches although, I am hoping that went over his head for now.

The new baby is due in 10 days. No contractions yet, but we are hoping for some movement this week. In case you are wondering there will be a new "New Dad Blog" for our second child - you will be able to read along about his/her life here.