The ray of sunshine...

So, it is not just me and Ryan and the family and friends that love Jude, it is also EVERY teacher at daycare. They said that he is always so happy, and just a little ray of sunshine in the room. It was really nice to hear. (nice that the teachers like him, and nice to know that he must like it if he is so happy). Jude is definitely a walking machine now. And so far, so good. He was already moving pretty quickly just crawling, so I think we were already pretty good at getting up to chase him around. He is loving his sippy cups (thanks Auntie Shelley for the Ellen one!), and eating away. I swear, the boy can eat more than I do for dinner sometimes. Other than that, we are all just sick of the cold and snow, but hoping that things will start warming up a little... 30s at least!?!? Here are some good pictures that we just took. Ryan submitted him for a cute baby contest with Regis & Kelly (thanks great auntie Kim), and we will let you know if he gets picked! :)

Jude goes walking... after midnight....

Or Jude's boots are made for walking... or because Jude's mine, he walked the line.... (Okay, Ryan and I have to sing a song everytime Jude walks) But, as you can see... JUDE IS WALKING!!! The best is when he walks up to me (or Ryan) with his arms stretched open and gives us a hug and crawls in our lap. Just melts our hearts. I can't wait (sarcastic) until he really gets comfortable and is running and can grab anything and everything. We already are having a hard time with all of the baby proof stuff. I think I finally have the door under the sink down (that I don't rip off my finger tips when I go to open it, and it shuts back on me because of the lock). Daycare is going really well- they are always doing projects, working on sign language, and even doing baby yoga! Show us a downward facing dog Jude! He is loving his squeaky shoes from China, but we take out the squeakers as not to annoy the teachers (we just let him squeak at home). We are going to have to look for some tie shoes, because Jude the Dude has mastered kicking those things off. In addition to the walking, Jude could climb and climb. I looked into padded blocks online and those things are expensive!!! If anyone has an idea of what I can get him to climb on, let me know.
I got a couple pictures of him walking and will try to post those soon.

Oh yeah....... GO OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone had as great of a Christmas as I did. We were able to go to my parent's house in Minnesota and see all of my family! It had been a while since I had seen my nieces and nephews -oh yeah- and Jeff, Amy and Shelley :). And of course, they were all excited to see Jude (and me and Ryan). The kids are all getting so big. Jude LOVES walking around with his Tonka Truck or moving along any piece of furniture he can get ahold of. He would probably walk on his own if he could muster up the courage. Jude is also starting to become much more vocal. Which is good and bad.... He was trying to say "Stitch" the other day which was cute, but he also knows how to scream REALLY LOUD! That little stinker! I have a feeling the word "NO" will become quite popular in our house. He has always loved monkeys- and now is definitely becoming a Curious George of his own. The other three little stinkers we got to see during Christmas are amazing as well- Aislinn (who is only 9 months) is already standing by herself, Garrett made my day when he loved the giant chocolate Pee Wee the Penguin I gave him as an extra present on Malia's birthday party day, and Malia (who turned 3 Christmas day) lit up the room with her smile. She had a Mickey and Minnie Birthday Party the day after Christmas and loved the singing, cakes, and presents. Although she asked for a football at the last minute, the big hit was the real camera and real cell phone (old ones that aren't being used/hooked up). She cracked us up when she put the timer on her camera (not really) and would run to the other side of the room to take a pictue with her mom and say "Cheese!" after she saw Grandpa doing that to take the big family picture. She just didn't understand why her camera wouldn't flash.
Oh- one last good Jude story- I answered the phone the other night and said hello- I looked down at Jude and he put his hand up to his ear and said "Mmmmhhh?" (hello- with a pacifier in his mouth). Definitely the son of two actors...

Jude is 1, and Christmas is only two weeks away- time is flying!!!

Sorry I haven't written much lately. Been pretty busy at work, and with Jude all over the place, the computer doesn't get out much at home. Jude is really starting to look like a big boy now- he has 4 teeth, with pretty much ALL of the other teeth coming in at the same time (yeah!?!?), he is standing and walking with the furniture like crazy (if Stitch is on the couch- he will be next to her in no time- he LOVES grabbing on to her tail- makes him giggle (side note: Stitch gets him back by eating all of the Cheerios he drops on the floor)), and eating, eating, eating. If the kid likes the food at that particular moment, you can't give him enough. A whole grilled cheese (with corn and pineapple afterwords).... half of mommy's Maggiano's ravioli (Mommy doesn't like sharing that much)... He has moved up to the "Turtle" room at daycare. It was a tough transition for the first week, but yesterday he did really well the whole day. I think he is starting to really like the bigger kids, and getting to move around and play more. I am sure he will be walking and talking in no time. I have to admit, as well, that I gave him a little haircut last night. His bangs were in his eyes, his ears were covered, and he had quite a fine duck tail working in the back. I should've tried to get a picture of the half-way haircut - short in the front and party in the back kind of mullett - HILARIOUS!!!! But now, as Ryan says, he looks like a 13 year old boy. It is really cute.
I will try to post more pictures soon. We just did a mini portrait studio in the Hall house the other day and have some really good shots. The family in matching "Ho Ho Ho" t-shirts. (we wanted to do matching sweaters and make it look like a family from the 50s - mom serving dad and child cookies and milk, etc, but we didn't quite make it that far this year), and we even got Jude in his outfit cousin Malia brought back from China for him. Good thing we put it on now, because in another month or so his "budda" belly would have kept it from closing! :)
Quick note on me and Ryan- we shot a commercial for a local carpet company - Luna. I will try to post that on here as well. It is quite funny- if you understand that a Luna commerical is supposed to be really big and over the top, of course.
All I can say is, I am really thankful that I have Ryan and Jude in my life!

Jude's First Birthday- November 21

Here are some funny pictures - I will write more details later. As you can see- he had a good time, eating mac and cheese, opening presents, wearing hats, and EATING CAKE!!!

Merry Christmas- I mean, Happy late Halloween, and Happy Thanksgiving?

I promise to add a picture of Jude in his pumpkin costume soon, but we just got back from the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's in Ohio, and have been busy every night since. But, I did get this picture emailed from a friend of Ryan and his family growing up. She had a boy a few months after we had Jude, and couldn't wait for them to play together now that they are a little older. Well, you can see from the picture how that turned out. Logan just reached over and grabbed Jude's Halloween shirt and he just started wailing..... He had a long day the day before- daycare during the day, traveling all night, sleeping in a new place, etc. He is still getting used to the daylight savings time change now too.... Used to wake up everyday at 6:00, but now it is 5:00. (no matter what time he goes to bed.... little stinker) . But he is pulling himself all the time now, and the doctor said that he lost the reflexes in his foot and that he will start walking any time now! Wow- we thought we were busy before, but I think it has just started.

Oh, yeah- one more thing- GO OBAMA!!!!!! This country (and world) needed a change, and that is what we got. We are so excited at the Hall household..... This is going to be amazing! (Jude even wore his Obama sticker at daycare all day yesterday to cheer him on.... and both Malia and Garrett called to say "Go Obama" - even the two year olds knew who the best candidate was)

It's almost Halloween! (or the beginning of Christmas with my family)

Well- only one month until Jude's first birthday! I can't believe it. Time is flying, although it seems like he has always been in our life. He is crawling and moving like crazy - our time of just playing on his little foam mat is over. Now it is on to better things, like finding the dog food, or discovering the little orange lights we hung around the window (Christmas is going to be fun!). Grandma and Grandpa from MN came in this last weekend. We had a great time shopping on Michigan Ave., popping into my work (and Ryan's) to show him off, going to the Lincoln Park Zoo, and shopping at Old Orchard (oldy but a goody). Then on Sunday after the took off for their car ride back, we met some friends at the good ol' Apple Holler. It was a lot of fun, but a little disappointing that they only had 2 rows of trees that had any apples left at the far end of the orchard. We just got some that had already been picked- but man, were they were delicious. Perfect crisp, sour but sweet apples. Apple Holla! We got a big pumpkin to carve and a little one for Jude to decorate. I think Jude wasn't quite sure why we put him on the dirt next to those pumpkins, but the photo op was too cute to pass up. I wanted to put him in his pumpkin costume next to the real pumpkins, but it got left in the car (which was good, since it was hard enough walking the 10 miles (it felt like) back to the car with Jude, a 16 lb pumpkin, 6 lbs of apples, a diaper bag, you get the idea...). But he will get a chance to wear it at Grandma and Grandpa Halls when we go there for Halloween weekend. Maybe we will make him trick or treat at the gas stations along the way!