hazel's ballet recital

hazel had her ballet recital for january

her dance was to "stand by be"

it was really pretty

she did a great job

 chloe, hazel and her partner abigail

noah babysat henry at home which was great

the girls liked watching it

(i was a little heartbroken they weren't in it but there's always next year)

hazel loved her flowers from her dad

this is hazel's 6th year dancing

i'm glad she loves it so much

jude is three months

jude turned three months on the 3rd of january (a few weeks ago)

here's what i wrote on instagram:

jude at 3 months loves to suck on his hands, smiles a lot, has laughed a little,

takes a binky as a last resort, doesn't nap as much as a three month old should, sleeps pretty well at night, keeps his mama on her toes and totally in love

 i had a bit of a rough start with jude

postpartum depression, trying to adjust to six kids, messy house,

 hard to find time to cook dinner, he's fussy, 

wants to be held all the time and still fussy while i'm holding him,

 i wasn't very happy about any of it

but now that he's 3.5 months old we are doing much better

the depression has passed, he is less fussy and i am totally in love

i took these pictures a couple days ago

and i love them and him so much

he isn't suddenly way easier

he's still a little tricky

but i feel much more bonded to him than i used to

and now we're best friends

he is mine and i am his 

i love that he isn't allergic to milk so i can nurse him

and he usually only gets up once at night around 4:45 

between 9 or 10pm and 7 or 8am the next morning

and he has the cutest blue eyes

he is really sweet

his laugh and smile are my favorite

i am so grateful to be jude's mama

all the other in betweens

i had to go to jury duty

and i was all ready to get out of it because i'm breastfeeding

and instead the defendant plead guilty so they wanted us to be on call all week

so instead i had them postpone me until october when jude is a year old

 eleanor is obsessed with legos lately

this is us on a boat on our way to hawaii

 looking so old!

 jude's new sleepsack/swaddler

total lifesaver

 we love each other

 i love his tongue out

 throwing fits...

 and making messes

 science club (opening a diaper)

 sometimes we use the kids' toys

 catching marshmallows in his mouth

 hates story time but loves to have the toy room to himself while everyone else is in story time

 watching henry play

 sweet sleeper

 love this kitten

and fitting into my old favorite jeans

even if they were super tight

 love this baby

 eleanor gives me hundreds of check ups all the time

 she takes very good care of her patients when they're in her hospital

 sue the t-rex is at the discovery center so we had to go see her

 10 year anniversary of the day michael proposed to me

all our kittens

 my friend marla is moving so i threw her a going away party

it was a lot of fun

 cuties after church

 trying so hard to be a thumbsucker

 michael made the kids waffles for dinner

and i love seeing him balance all of it

such a good dad

 eleanor offered to blow my hair dry after my shower

 playdough is their favorite

 henry stretching with me after i ran this morning

 and the way i eat my lunch most days

with jude on my shoulder