Andy & Jessica

I had a really fun weekend.  Andy was busy with a church conference so Jude and I went to Litchfield to visit my mom, who just a re-do of her knee surgery from earlier this summer that didn’t go so well.  This surgery appears to have gone great.  Katie and Ivan were also visiting.  Katie and Ivan, Mike and Jude and I went to a really cool farm that had llamas, camels, pigs, sheep, goats (and kids), chicks, ducklings, puppies and kittens.  Jude and Ivan went on 2 pony rides.  Jude just loved riding the ponies.  When we were watching, waiting for another turn, he kept trying to run into the gate to get another ride.  Jude also really loved my parents’ car collection.  He would run into the basement storage room that leads to the tunnel that leads to Garage Mahal.  He liked sitting in the cars and always managed to find the keys.  One of these days, he’ll probably figure out how to start a car.  Maybe he’ll even get to drive the Shelby COBRA before me.

Becoming an attorney is so easy compared to what it takes to become an architect.  Andy has been working towards becoming a licensed architect for way too long now.  He had to get a 5 year degree (which he got in 2001, I believe).  After gradation, the internship process begins.  The internship process takes between 3 and 10 years.  Interns have to accumulate credits in all the various areas related to architecture.  Here’s what Andy said in his recent email to me:

One step closer! I think all that’s left is that they have to actually send my record to the MN state board, who will turn around and tell the testing people that I can test. Then the testing people will send me a test authorization number that I use to schedule tests. Travis thinks I could be allowed to test as soon as October 1.  Tonight I should try to find some good study materials that I can order and start studying.”

The sad thing is that all this work to become an architect does not pay off.  Architects are probably the lowest paid professionals.  I wish Andy had gone into computers instead!  But, it is good to finish what he started.

Check out the Online Photo Albums link for some more recent photos of Jude.  He’s quite the cutie.

Every morning when I walk from my downtown Minneapolis bus stop to my work building, I see the most disturbing sight.  The abortion clinic that is adjacent to my building often has a clinic worker waiting to escort pregnant moms inside to kill their own babies.  I have come close to being able to hand out a bible tract to one of these women, but the escorts are so fast at shuffling them inside.  I am always pleased to see a guy with a newsboy cap and duffle bag standing outside the clinic, near the escorts.  That guy hands out pro-life literature and he attempts to talk the women out of killing their babies.  I finally stopped and talked to that guy today.  It turns out that I was right that he is a Christian.  He told me that the abortion clinic next to my building (called, ironically, the Midwest Health Center for Women) is the second busiest abortion clinic in the state of Minnesota (the busiest is apparently in Regence Hospital, I believe he said).  He said that his group has saved 50 babies this year.  That’s great!  But, I can’t help but be disturbed that I personally saw two young women go inside the clinic this morning, presumably to kill their own babies.  I know, from experience, that babies/children are the most wonderful blessing.  I cannot even imagine the control that someone or society has to have over a women to convince her that it is okay or even a good idea to kill her own child.

I have some exciting news to report.  No, I’m not pregnant.  But, my sister is.  Last weekend when Katie, Phil and 15-month old Ivan came to visit us, Katie and I each took a pregnancy test. I failed, but she passed.  She’s barely pregnant, just about a month along.  I’m very excited for them.  They make very cute babies.

Jude loves his Veggies. Unfortunately, I’m not talking about the green, healthy kind that some people like to eat.  I’m talking about Veggie Tales.  Jude is obsessed with them.  This morning, I was sleeping with Jude in the twin bed in his room (he only lasted in his crib from about 9:30-midnight).  At about 4:30 a.m. he woke me up, jumped out of bed, opened the door and ran into the master bedroom and starting pointing at the t.v. while making some noises.  He wanted to watch Veggie Tales.  I took him back to his room, laid down with him, and breastfed him back to sleep.  It was his fourth feeding of the night (which is about 4 too many nighttime feedings for a child of his age).

Andy and I have been neglecting this blog a bit lately.  To generate some excitement, we’ve decided to make any future pregnancy announcement here first.  In other words, if you would like to know any news before John and Dee, Mike, Katie and Phil and Kim, Robyn and Adam, keep checking back.  I’m guessing my mom is going to become quite a local blog reader if she catches wind of this.

 

Jude is getting quite mobile. I transferred him to his crib at about 10 p.m. last night after he had fallen asleep in my arms. At some point in the night he cried and I went to rescue him and slept with him in the twin bed in his room. At about 3:30, he was screaming while snuggling with me in bed. I think he wanted his milkies, but I’ve been refusing to breastfeed him until at least 5 a.m. because I want him to start sleeping through the night. He screamed for 20 minutes or so in my ear so I decided to put him in the crib to let him get even more mad and hopefully more tired out. I went across the hall to the bathroom and hung out there for a minute or two before rescuing Jude again. I snuggled back down with him in the twin bed, expecting him to be so happy to have me back that he’d go to sleep without milkies. No such luck. He kept screaming so I decided to put him back in the crib. I explained that it was “night night time” and “no noise.” I left his door and our door cracked open and jumped in bed with Andy, determined to let Jude cry for a few minutes just to tire him out before rescuing him again. While I was waiting, Jude continued screaming, more mad than I’ve ever heard him. Then I heard a thud and then a door creak. I didn’t think much of it. I decided to check on him. I’m glad I did. Little Jude had jumped out of the crib, walked down the hallway (all the time screaming) and was inches from plunging down the steps. I scooped him up and checked him over. No visible injuries. I relented and gave him his milkies. After he finished eating the milkies, he threw them up all over both of us. We stayed up together for awhile, read stories, and then he screamed some more. It was quite the night!

Jude started walking a couple weeks ago. He was quite good at it from the start. He still sometimes crawls and walks on his knees. I’ve been so proud of Jude for walking. I’ve been telling everyone I come across about this accomplishment.