THE RUDENS: 1/1/09

1.26.2009

1.25.2009

This little guy has been melting our hearts lately. What a sweet boy. I have a lot of other things to write about including Christmas and then our trip to see Nana and Papa (which I'll definitely get to) but I want to write and make sure I don't forget this stage. Here are Andrew's latest traits and tricks:

Just turned 5 months old on the 17th!!
He's big, I mean REALLY big. According to Dan and our unofficial scale he's around 18-19 pounds. I call him my chunky monkey.
He's not rolling over yet but he can sit up pretty well. The only rolling we're getting is this half roll and it mostly happens in the tub. Speaking of rolls...
We figured out this morning that he recognizes his name. We administered a little test, he did not respond to Jacob or Kale, but he did respond to Andrew. Yup, it's official, he's the smartest 5 month old in town.
Andrew is ALL smiles. The best is when we go in to get him in the morning. I gotta get that on video.
He's ticklish under his arms and on his back, cute to see him squirm.
He has been sucking his thumb lately. It looks a little something like this... (fingers out, never tucked)
He is officially too fat for the bumbo chair. So sad. It was fun while it lasted.
He just grew out of size 3 diapers. Maybe we can pass on all the extra's to his 1 year old cousin.
Sleeping like a champ. He goes 12-14 hours at night waking up twice to eat which only takes about 10 minutes... GLORIOUS!!!
Naps are nothing to brag about.
He has a little cold right now, and his mom really likes to suck his boogers out with that little gadget, poor guy.
He's all about the squeals and slobbery raspberries.
He has a fantastic bald strip along the back of his head. Thinking about shaving the mullet.
He's a cuddler, and I was praying for a cuddler.
Whenever I nurse him he touches my face with his hand. It makes me want to have a dozen just like him.

nursing is my favorite and judging by his size, Andrew likes it too.
Whenever anyone holds him, he keeps his eyes on his mom. I love it, dad doesn't as much.
He gives big open mouth slobbery kisses. He gets so many kisses from his mom all day he probably just wants to return the gesture.
Love this boy...

1.16.2009

Catch-up part 1 - Thanksgiving

I am in need of some major catch up. Let's start with Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving in Arizona with my family. We stayed with my brother Dave and his family. His wife Shawni wrote about it here.

Except for a baby who wouldn't sleep without his swing (which we ended up buying on Craigs list while there), we had a fantastic time. Instead of writing about it all, I'll just show pics...

The Turkey Trot - all who ran from the fam...

Andrew and I were there to support (and Dan was in bed)...

neices and nephew playing at Nana and Papa's house...

Thanksgiving night we got together with my cousins. There were over 40 kids at the house, complete chaos, but fun to catch up with my cousins...

Had lunch with my high school friends Stephanie and Spencer. Spencer brought his little guy, Benson. We went to get pics of the two boys and Benson threw up all over Andrew's head.