Walking!

The big news around here is that Jude took his first steps on Tuesday. What a miracle! Knowing that one of the results of his brain bleed may mean he would never walk was incredibly challenging to think about. But, through God's healing, he is showing no signs of his bleed and is walking. Not only that, he's not even delayed in his walking! Praise God! We tried to get a video, but in typical Jude fashion, he just stares at the camera (hence all his serious pictures) rather than doing what we want him to do. I think it'll be awhile before he's actually walking more than crawling, but I think that's quite common.

Hazel decided she could not be outdone and she took her first steps today! She's always been more fearful than Jude, which has prevented her from walking sooner (that's what we think anyway), but she has been going CRAZY ever since Jude walked the other day. After she walked today (7 steps), she seemed so excited and calm rather than crazy.

What a great week!

15 months

We had Hazel and Jude's 15 month check-up today and they're doing well. They are FINALLY ON their actual age growth chart for weight! Jude's at the 5th % weighing a whopping 20 lbs 7 oz and Hazel's at the 8th % weighing 19 lbs 8 oz (the boy/girl charts are different...obviously). The doctor thinks they'll probably stay around those percents and be petite people (which may have been the case regardless of prematurity). They've always been so close in weight, but Jude's such a great eater lately that we knew he blew by Hazel in the weight category. He eats EVERYTHING, even things he doesn't like! I hope he stays that way, but I'm starting to notice him having more preferences lately. Hazel is still quite picky, but doing better than before. Her favorites are cheerios, cheese, and crackers. When she doesn't like something that's on her tray, she often throws it on the floor. We're trying hard to teach her not to do that, so recently she started feeding me the things she doesn't want, or putting them on Jude's tray. She's a clever one!

On a different note, I'm 34 weeks pregnant today and still truckin' along. Praying for 5 more so that the baby's well developed and my mom gets here before she does!

15 Months

I understand this is a ridiculous amount of pictures, but I wanted to let you know that we tried. We tried really hard to get a good picture of the 2 of them, but one thought she had places to go and the other decided to be quite serious (his typical camera face).

Guess who pulls the headband off? It's not the one who wears it!

Jude: "Maybe if I do one of my tricks, she'll sit down."

Hazel: "This is the most fun I've had all day!"

Jude: "So big didn't work, so I'll try signing 'more'."

Jude: "Will clapping work?"

Mom: "I'm outta here."

Hazel and Jude are a little over a year "adjusted age" now and doing really well. They're still not walking, but Hazel's very close. I'm quite sure that she's determined NOT to walk. She thinks it's so funny when I tell her to walk to me and she sits down on her butt. Hazel has really learned a lot of new things over the past few weeks. She can follow lots of commands from a book (pat her head, rub her tummy, wiggle her fingers, jiggle her ears, etc.), which is tons of fun and she's also quite good at puzzles (one piece at a time)! I'm sure Jude will catch on any day now. He is currently most interested in pulling up on me (when I'm sitting), going behind me, and pulling my ponytail. He also likes to really over react when he's bothered by Hazel. Sometimes she pulls his hair and he doesn't mind until I say, "no, no Hazel". Then he starts crying as if she really was hurting him. Silly Jude. I love having them be more interactive and responsive.