It's Christmas All Over

Well it was Christmas all over, and now it is all over! With 5 different celebrations and gatherings under our belt, it felt like Christmas all over, however it was probably the most relaxing holiday yet! This was mostly due to my reluctance to travel too far due to me being great with child. A special thanks to my parents who bravely fought the 400 traffic to come to Barrie (so I didn't have to). Here are a few snapshots from various celebrations.

Gazendam Family Christmas

Christmas Eve with just our family of three. Opening presents and dining on Chinese food, maybe some traditions in the making?

Christmas Day - headed over to Kurt's parents for dinner and a sjoelbok tournament. Jude was eager to learn the game. This is probably because he wants to follow in his fathers footsteps. Kurt has won two tournaments in his youth (and he would like the world to know he had the high score of the day).

Strikwerda Christmas on Boxing Day

Jude liked his presents so much he even hugged the clothes he got. Here he is using his new socks as a phone.

Jude the Dude's First Birthday

It's hard to believe that a whole year has gone by since Jude was born! Thursday and Friday we had a visit from my Dad and sister Naomi who just happened to have a tournament in Orillia - and managed to squeeze in some time for a birthday party for her one and only best nephew - Jude! Other guests of the day included Jude's Pops and Bepps, Uncle Rob and Aunt Ashley, and cousin Garret with his parents Trish and Terry.


Garret had to show Jude how the whole birthday thing is done, he is an expert since he had just celebrate his a few weeks earlier. They made a great team - Jude loved playing with the new toys and Garret was gaga for the packaging.

While lasagna dinner was a big hit (Jude's favourite meal), he really wasn't into dessert too much. But, we brought out the cake the next day and it was a hit! Saturday was his actual birthday and we headed to Grafton for the Strikwerda Christmas extravaganza.

Jude was spoiled by the greats - great aunts, uncles, and grandparents. He loved all the attention, new toys, attention, another birthday cake, attention, well you get the idea! Unfortunately he had to go to bed before we got around to the most rousing rendition of "Hey Jude" I've ever heard (complete with piano, guitar, and lots of voices). Amazingly he slept though his birthday song and all the Christmas carols and general revelry that followed soon after! All in all, a great birthday weekend.

Jude and Pops

Howdy y'all. kurt here with my first ever blog posting. lucky you. Jude is such a cool little dude. He often gets lost in a new game or toy and it is hilarious to watch him snap back to reality.

A very cool part of being a new dad is watching my parents with Jude. Jude and his Pops when put together = guaranteed laughs.

Enjoy the video.

Resisting the Season

So...I am having an incredibly difficult time not festooning my home with Christmas decorations. Every year I eagerly wait until the calender flips to December so I can bust out the stockings, nativity sets, and other twinkly decor. But this year I have a little one who happened to be born close to Christmas, and I'm trying to wait until after his birthday to bring on the Christmas cheer. Today though, Jude and I were out for a walk and the most delicate snowflakes were falling making it even more difficult to wait than it already has been! 9 more days ...at least I am slightly distracted from the fact that my baby is turning 1!

These days...

Now that Jude can pull himself up, he's started to cruise. One of his laps around the living room takes him past the stereo where there are oh so many inviting buttons. Recently I pulled out of storage my favourite records from when I was a kid - mainly Raffi who I love. No canned tunes just folky kid fun with guitars, banjos, and other wonderful I real instruments. Jude must like it because he always wants to turn the volume knob.

He also loves to stand at the window and watch the birds and squirrels in the backyard. Every time he spots one he points and his mouth goes into this little o shape, then he turns to me and grins.

Jude`s also become a reader. He loves to sit and flip the pages in his board books. Then, when he finds his favourite, he scoots over to me book in hand and presents it to me. The other day he wanted me to read `The Good Old Hockey Game`about 10 times throughout the day. Thanks a lot Stompin`Tom!

November - a time for cuddling

Jude has become a real cuddler after nap time these days. He loves to dive into his pile of stuffed animals and give them the biggest full body hugs. His little legs wiggle with excitement, he turns his head to the side to let them nuzzle into his neck, and he swings the hug from side to side. It is so adorable, it melts me!

Halloween

As a kid I loved dressing up for Halloween, the candy wasn't too shabby either.This year was Jude's first Halloween. We weren't going to take him trick or treating but we knew his Pops and Beps would love to have a little trick or treater (especially since they don't get any out in the sticks). So we put together a bootleg smurf outfit for Jude and we went trick or treating at their house;he was rewarded with some mum mums (thanks for not giving him chocolate!). We also carved some pretty nifty pumpkins at our house - one of them bears a slight resemblance to Jude...

Pumpkins and Toques - Too Cute!

See What I Mean? Snow...already!

Tragic Autumn

I think that it is almost tragic that Fall only lasts a sporadic few weeks. I think I have come to the conclusion that it is my favourite season. While it is sad to cut back the garden in preparation for its wintersleep you do so surrounded by the vibrant changing leaves and engulfed in that crisp autumn air. I love heading out for a walk with only a sweater on (no need for bulky winter jacket, hat, mitts, scarf, longjohns, wooly socks, etc.) and letting the cool air bring roses to my cheeks. It is such a delight to watch Jude enjoy the crunch of the leaves for the first time, or watch him smile with delight when the wind picks them up and blows them around. Anyways, I love love love this time of year and for the first time can truly enjoy it as I am not swamped with report cards!

The Tripod

Jude starting moving on his own for the first time yesterday. I wouldn't call it crawling exactly, more like "tripoding". The fastest he moved was when the neighbourhood cat came to our back door. He scooted so fast over to the door, good thing he has no idea how to open those sliding doors or he would have let that cat in!

Simple Joys

I've always tried to appreciate the simple joys in life. Things like crunchy autumn leaves, hot chocolate, a delicate flower growing out of the sidewalk crack. You know, things that just put a smile on your face. What is even better than coming across a simple joy is watching Jude take such pleasure in the simple things around him which often result in a squeal of delight from him, accompanied of course by a hand clap. Here are a few things from the past few days that have brought joy to Jude: the neighbour mowing the lawn with a push mower, the neighborhood cat that comes to our back deck and walks back and forth in front of the glass door, any ball, when I toss and catch things in the air, dogs, kids in the park, spraying water, when we pass people on the sidewalk, when the neighbour kids stop to play with him, bicycles and of course when Dad comes in the door after work. Thanks Jude for pointing out all the awesome things in life that we big people tend to overlook.

Yeah for Yogurt!

Yup - he ate some and asked for more, halleluiah!

Food Fight

So the food battles with Jude continue. It started out from the day we brought him home - no latching, 8 hours of screaming, finger feeding, etc. Things only got worse despite many visits to the lactation consultants and physiotherapists for my shoulder/neck that was thrown out of whack by my valiant efforts to feed my little dude. After more than two months of round the clock breastfeeding, herbal supplements by the truckload, drugs, tubefeeding, pumping, cleaning the tube and pump equipment, repeat, repeat, repeat, oh and throw in a tongue clipping for our poor little hungry guy I was forced to throw in the towel and tearfully feed my little guy formula. Once his little body finally adjusted to formula, and he began to act a little more like a sane baby and I thought that was the end of the food battles.

Well, guess again! He now refuses solids - homemade, storebought, smooth, chunky, finger foods, doesn't matter. Oh, except for cheerios (actually 'toasted cereal o's). Those he will eat one by one, followed by a cute little hand clap for each and every cheerio that he manages to get in his mouth! Oh Jude you can be very difficult, but so so so adorable!

Geocaching

Geocaching is this navigational game where you try to find these different locations by gps. Kurt had heard of this old bridge that was a geocach out in the Minesing Swamp, along the Nottawasaga River that he really wanted to find. So, this past Saturday we went geocaching. After scrutinizing a few maps Kurt figured he knew where it was, and off we went in search of the old McKinnon bridge. Turns out there was a trail, but the grass was about knee high, or higher. We kept at it even though the trail was so faint. If the trail didn't run alongside the Nott we probably wouldn't have continued for fear of getting lost, that and Kurt had spent so much time on google maps trying to find this elusive bridge. Eventually we found it -hooray it really does exist!

Auntie Naomi

We were so lucky to have Naomi come to visit for a few days before school started again. Jude sure got spoiled by her as she lavished all her attention on him - carrying him, reading stories, feeding him, playing with him, making him giggle, etc. I don't know too many eleven year olds who want to be woken up at 6 in the morning to cuddle with a baby, but she was a keener! Thanks for the fun and helpful visit Naomi!

Belated Wedding Pictures

Peter and Devon looking stunning on their big day.

The whole Gazendam Family - so glad to add another girl to the mix Devon!

Birthday Celebrations

For the first time we were not camping on Kurt's birthday. Thank goodness too because it poured rain all day! Still, we had a great bbq with Kurt's family and the rain stopped long enough for the boys to enjoy some beers and grilling outside. We kept things low key because next year...the big three - oh!

Jude helped Kurt open a few presents.

Pops teaching Jude how to splash in the puddles.

Jude and Uncle Bob (well Rob, but we would really like it if Jude would call him Uncle Bob)

Story time with Jack by the grill.

Jelly Bean Up Close

Went for our second ultrasound today. This time they let us look at everything ( at our 12 week ultrasound they don't tell you anything, let you look at anything, or let your husband come in with you - terrible). It was very reassuring to see the little legs kicking and heart pounding away. The baby kept putting his/her hands in the way, and in his/her mouth! We might have a thumb sucker on our hands. It's amazing all the activity going on inside me that I can't feel. The flutters I feel must be really big kicks because today the baby was squirming all around and I couldn't feel a thing. I love having these pictures and videos so I can watch them over and over again.