Sunday, April 22, 2012

Sweetness-13 Month Check In



In the words of one of my friends, "You don't have a baby any more; you've got a toddler." I think she's pretty accurate. This little man is becoming such a big boy. Yes, I'm a little late on a 13 month post, but I am getting to it. I'm thankful to make myself do this so I won't forget. I remember friends telling me that you forget the small things and I thought, "I never will" but I already have in some of the early months.

Jude man is all boy. He loves his blocks, throwing balls, and animals. He also LOVES water. He cries when bath time is over and he's grown to enjoy playing in Mason's water bowl. Because that is disgusting, we bought him a kiddie pool, which he loves and insists in playing with any time we're outside. He also loves his Mason. These two rarely leave one another's side. Mason even naps under his crib on days we're home. I am so thankful Mason is so gentle with him.

Jude has learned to sign "please" in the past week. This means his signs are up to more, milk, all done, and please. I'm working on teaching water (since he signs milk for that too right now) and thank you. He babbles a lot and recognizes many words, but doesn't verbalize a whole lot. He still says Daddy, Momma, dog, and cracker. He is very good at pointing and then saying "more" to let us know what he wants though. We have definitely begun having to discipline this little guy. Most often it's because he's playing in Mason's food bowl or throwing food from the table. Over all, knock on wood, he understands "no" and listens. That doesn't mean he doesn't temporarily scream when removed from a situation, but over all, he's doing well with taking direction. I know this will continue to develop.

He's in a big boy car seat and has been for a while. He definitely prefers facing forward. I know there are a lot of studies that say children should stay facing back ward for as long as possible, but this poor child screamed bloody murder every time he was in the car until we turned him around. He's definitely over the weight limit for facing forward so Justin and I agreed to go ahead and turn him around.

He continues to be a good eater and a good helper. He is learning to put things in the dryer, as well as throwing things in the trash. He is very loving and enjoys snuggling when tired and being sung too. He likes books, but he prefers opening and closing them, rather than reading and entire one, but we make sure to read to hiim at least 1 short book a day.

Jude has a buddy, Isaac, who he stays with during the day. Isaac will be 2 in June and his Mom is who cares for Jude 3 days out of the week. They are a good, godly family and I am so thankful the Lord brought them into our lives. Jude and Isaac have become good pals. They play so well together, hold hands, and give each other kisses. They share well and when Jude goes down for his morning nap (since Issac just has 1 afternoon nap now) he says "no seep baby dude" and waits at the door for him, haha. I am so thankful they are learning from one another.

Jude continues to soak things up continually and amaze us with his sweet temperament. I will not lie, he can be a "mean little cuss" in Justin's word, but it's usually because he's frustrated and can't tell us, teething (oh, by the way, he's been cutting 3 molars the past 2 weeks, poor baby), or because he's slowly learning he can't always have what he wants, when he wants it.

I am so thankful to have the honor in raising this child. What a blessing he is!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Easter Weekend

Jude and Mamaw Joyce
Jude checking out his Easter Basket
His sweet Easter outfit
Easter 2012-Dellinger Style
We had a wonderful weekend last weekend celebrating the resurrection of our Savior! Praise the Lord! Not only did we enjoy our weekend, but we had a special visitor, Justin's Mamaw Joyce! She was with us Thursday evening through Tuesday evening and what a blessing! We had a wonderful time showing her our small town here and just visiting. She and I took turns whooping up on Justin in Gin and she has a ball staying with Jude Monday and Tuesday while we were at work.
We of course took her to our favorite authentic Mexican restaurant, Los Robertos. We also took her up into the Pinal Mountains so show her the views, as well as enjoy the cooler weather and quiet scenery.
I think my favorite part of the weekend had to be our church picnic. The Lord has blessed us with a sweet, quaint church here in AZ. We are by far the youngest couple in the congregation, but the people there love Jesus and adore Jude. The continually dote on him and we are so thankful to have these people in our lives. One of the families in our church are ranchers. They run a ranch of 17,000 square miles. Yes, you read that correctly, 17,000 square miles. After the service on Sunday, we all drove the 30 minute drive to their home (10 miles of dirt road) and enjoyed a wonderful picnic at their ranch. We spent the whole afternoon there and it was wonderful enjoying good food and fellowship. I felt like Laura Ingalls a few times, I won't lie. :)
I also wanted to mention Jude's favorite part of his Easter basket. We got him the movie "Where the Red Fern Grows". It was a favorite of both mine and Justin's growing up and now having our own hound, we wanted to Jude to have it. He's not really into watching t.v., at all, but every time he heard one of the dogs howl on the movie, he would watch it, point, and say "dog". He enjoyed just looking at the picture of the dogs on the front of the DVD case...too cute!
We are so thankful to have enjoyed such a wonderful season of joy and thanksgiving! Happy Late Easter!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

3 Marriage Truths

I thought I would go back and find one of mine and Justin's first pictures together...this was taken in the spring of 2007, our junior year of college. (2 things: 1.) I'm thankful for my current high lights and 2.) Look at my man's arms!)


I stole this from a college friend's Facebook post. These 3 small things speak volumes and definitely made me re-evaluate and question for a moment, "What am I doing to make my marriage better?" and "What can I do to allow my marriage to bring more glory to God?"


Ponder...

• Having a good marriage is more about being the right partner than having the right partner.

• Love is a decision.

• The grass isn't greener on the other side. It's greener where you water and fertilize it.