We have 3 walkers!

Let it be known that on April 17th, Nona started taking more than just a step or 2!

Also, Hazel named her baby doll "Oatmeal" (you can hear her say it in the video).

Nona's 1 year pictures

Nona had her 1 year pictures taken a few weeks ago. Here are a few of our little cutie pie!

Outside

We have been having some GREAT weather around here and have been spending lots of time outside! Don't be fooled by the winter coats. It's warm out! The kids just insist on wearing their coats out. 

 We picked a few tulips that were growing in random places. I have no idea where they even came from. We didn't have them last year! Hazel and Jude LOVE picking up things from the yard and then taking them to Daddy at work. I'm sure he's thrilled to receive handfuls of rocks, dead leaves, flowers, and sticks. He puts on a pretty good face!

 Hazel is incredibly hard to dress lately. She wants to stay in her pjs forever and when I finally convince her to put clothes on, she is very picky. I think it took over 2 hours last week to get her dressed. And a few minutes later, she was done with her clothes and wanted her costume. Of course, she insisted Jude wear his as well.

 We went to a "farm" with the Toddler Learning Center (the place Jude receives services from) and Jude totally loved it. Hazel really wanted nothing to do with the animals, but Jude was really into it. Unfortunately, his habit of collecting anything on the ground turned into a dirty habit at the farm when he decided to pick up a piece of goose poop and hand it to me. Gross. I ran for the sanitizer.

 I think he could've pet this little horse all day.

It wasn't so nice today, so I had to come up with something different to do to keep the kids busy. I braved painting for the second time. It actually went quite well!

Nona's showing off her new birthday headband. Cutie!

Jude

I feel like it's been FOREVER since I actually did an update about Jude. Several months ago, we had Jude tested for food sensitivities. I expected gluten or dairy as he had a few symptoms. I never thought he'd have both plus eggs, soy, and peanuts. Since eliminating those 5 categories in January, Jude has made huge progress developmentally. He is far less irritable, more willing to try things I ask him to do and talking a ton. He is more focused and more responsive. His therapists are amazed! He is still having some major food "issues" and will be having another test this week (if he complies) to try to get to the root of it. His cheeks get red after he eats almost any grain (non-gluten) as well as random other things. He'll be getting the actual bacteria in his gut tested as well as a few other things. If he has a lot of the "bad" bacteria, we can do things to get rid of it, and that may make most of his sensitivities go away. That's what I'm hoping for anyway! So, if you think of it, please pray that he complies with the test and that the results are helpful.

 Overall, Jude is a pretty easy going guy. He takes a lot of "abuse" from Hazel (she dumps buckets of water over his head in the tub, she decides who gets what toys, etc.) and can usually handle those things quite gracefully. Only recently has he become a persistent limit tester and tantrum thrower, both of which things we're learning how to handle.

 Jude often likes to help. For awhile, he even helped me empty the dishwasher by putting away the things he could reach. He'd probably still do it if I asked him to, but he's usually too busy riding his car or reading. He likes to put his clothes in the hamper, will help pick up toys, and is ALWAYS willing to open and close a door for us.

He is even willing to give his sister rides on this tractor!

Hazel thinks Jude is totally hilarious. They fight like crazy but they also laugh together like crazy. They truly are friends.

I think Jude's favorite word is oatmeal. Anytime he cooks in his kitchen, he makes oatmeal. If I ask him what's in his oatmeal, he usually says, "wice bean" (rice and beans). He wakes up saying "oatMEal, oatMEal". He and Hazel randomly start saying, "oatmeal boom" too and think it's HILARIOUS. I have no idea what they're talking about.

Overall, Jude is doing really great. He's still "behind" physically and in speech, but is coming along well. We continue to pray that he will continue to thrive and be fully healed.

Flowers!

One of the benefits of spring around here are the daffodil and tulip fields! The tulips aren't in full bloom yet, but we saw huge daffodil fields and walked around some gardens. The kids enjoyed it and loved having a picnic at the park. Yay for getting out!!!

Jude took his job of sniffing the tulips very seriously.

Happy Easter!

We had a pretty relaxing Easter after Noel got home from church. The kids had Easter baskets and we spent some time throwing rocks in the water.

 Jude's examining his homemade gluten-free play dough! Success!

 Maybe someday I'll get all 3 to smile!

A cookie! Yes, we kept it pretty simple. The kids don't have a lot of snacks or treats, so an individually wrapped homemade cookie was quite a hit. And it was gluten, dairy, and egg free. And it was delicious! Jude also got some sunglasses and slippers to help stop the need to wear his sister's. Nona got her own pair of sunglasses too! She doesn't seem to want to keep them on though like her siblings. Maybe someday.