13 Months Old

Jude is now 13 months old. Here is an update on what he is up to:

  • He still doesn’t walk (he walks on his knees).
  • He only uses the word “bye bye” on a regular basis.
  • He loves to grab my pointer finger and make me point at things (e.g., things in a book, my body parts, etc.) and tell him what they are called. He’s been doing this for a couple months and it’s so cool.
  • He knows the names of a number of animals (bath toys, etc.) and can retrieve them for me or point to them when I ask where they are.
  • He still does not sleep through the night.

Andy and Jessica Radio

A week ago, Jessica, Jude, and I sat around the table and recorded a test episode for the new podcast I am planning to do at echozoe.com. It had a few minor problems (audio glitches), but overall turned out surprisingly good.

When we recorded it, we intended all along that it would be published here. You can listen via the simple player below, or you can download the file and listen as you see fit.

Let us know, via the comments, how you like it. If people like it, we may do an “Andy and Jess” podcast. It would be irregular, we’d just record them once in a while when we’re up to it, but it would be fun none-the-less.

What Andy’s Up To

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Here’s what I’m up to:

  • CAP – I’m in the process of joining the Civil Air Patrol. They’d say I’m a member already, but there are still things I need to do before I can excercise the priviledges of membership. I haven’t flown since before Jude was born (last Wednesday was his first birthday), and being in CAP should provide me with ample opportunity to fly and do so at much lower cost than by other means.
  • έχω ζωη – An ongoing project of mine is to update my main website, echozoe.com. Nothing is up yet, but I am working on some more formal writing (articles), theological in nature, as well as developing a new podcast. For those asking “what’s a podcast?” It’s basically a radio show that is produced for web download only. In other words, I’ll record episodes and publish them in mp3 format for people to download and listen to at their leisure. Right now the plan is one or two episodes per month, probably one to begin with. Tentatively I’m planning on them being about a half hour long, but the nice thing about the podcasting format is that they can be as long as I want them to be, they aren’t bound by traditional radio timeslots.
  • Miscellaneous Web Projects – I’m currently helping my pastor-friend with his website, Signet Ring Ministries. He’s starting out as a new ministry, I’m helping with the site itself, and am also looking forward to writing articles for it too, which I’ll cross post at echozoe.

    I’ve also volunteered to get a new forum up for our church’s website. There are people all over the world that don’t have local churches that use ours to get weekly sermons, etc. Be it bad churches or persecution, they have no local church to count on. We are hoping that a forum can provide them with some interaction with other Christians that they can’t otherwise get. I’m not sure how much I’ll participate in the forum once it’s up, but I am going to help get it running for them.

  • Republican Politics
  • – On February 5th Jessica and I went to the Republican Caucuses to support our candidate, Ron Paul. At the caucuses, we both got elected as Alternates to the next level, the Basic Political Operating Unit (BPOU) Convention. At that level, I was elected as a full Delegate to two higher conventions, the 5th Congressional District and the State of Minnesota. These are roughly parallel conventions, as both send delegates on to the National Convention.

    I’ve been working with other Ron Paul supporters to help move each other up each level. On Saturday, we succeeded in getting three Ron Paul delegates elected to the National Convention, as well as two Alternates.

    Yeah, he’s not going to get the Republican nomination, but at this point we’re still trying to get whatever we can. The goal at this point is to get him a chance to speak at the National Convention.

    Why did I do this? I’m very Conservative, and have been unhappy with the candidates that have been getting nominations for various offices for a long time. I tend to vote third party for President rather than take the poor candidates the Republicans give us. Other Republicans have been upset with me, and have been saying that if I don’t like the candidates they choose, I should get involved earlier on and work to get the candidates I do like nominated. So that’s what I did this time around.

    I also think that the whole process is a real joke, and by participating in it, I am getting a much better picture of just how right I am. For instance, a lot of people showed up on February 5th (Super Tuesday) to vote for their candidate and then went home. However, that was just a straw poll, it has no bearing at all on who will be nominated. It’s no more accurate than when the newspaper calls a bunch of people and asks who they like. In addition, the delegates (who do control the nominations) get elected with little or no information available to the people voting. It is very rare at any point for a candidate for Delegate (at any level) to share with the crowd who they support for President. This created some problems this weekend in the 6th Congressional District, where the party tried to intimidate anyone not supporting McCain and ruin their chances at getting elected to the National Convention. When one Ron Paul supporter skirted their efforts (arguably dishonestly, but no more dishonestly than the intimidation used in the first place), an hour long argument erupted, ending in the Convention attempting to bind him to support McCain. Fortunately that binding may be illegal, so he may not be bound at all (besides, there is no recourse available to them if he violates their wishes.)

    The other major business at conventions is to pass resolutions. What these resolutions are is changes to the party platform. It all seems like a waste of time to me because the candidates that end up winning political positions often disregard the platform. In other words, what’s the point?

    This is probably a one-time thing for me. I’ve enjoyed being part of an organized grass-roots movement to get Ron Paul as many Delegates as possible, but it’s probably not something I’ll do again.

Jude is a year old now! We had a birthday party for him on March 29th, the Saturday before his birthday – April 2nd. He’s doing very well. He is practicing his walking, and we expect him to be on his feet very soon (too soon really 🙂 ) He’s also starting to demonstrate that he understands some words. He waves and says “Buh-Buh” (bye-bye) when someone is leaving. He also seems to understand “Pop” (probably his Grandma’s doing there.)

Other big news: Last night he slept the whole night for the first time ever!! He woke up 8 minutes before the alarm went off. We are hoping this is the beginning of a regular occurrence, and not a fluke.

Birthday Boy

Today is Jude’s 1st birthday. Jude is so busy these days. Yesterday I called to check in on Jude at his Grandma Olson’s house. After I had hung up after speaking with Jude, Jude pointed at the phone and said, “mama.” Yesterday was also an exciting night because Jude walked on his own without support. I would stand him up a couple feet away from me and he would speedily walk to me. It was so cute that I got on the intercom and called Andy away from his computer to see Jude in action. We celebrated Jude’s birthday with a small party with my immediate family and Andy’s immediate family last weekend. Jude did not get a birthday cake. He got a corn muffin instead that he didn’t really like. And, yes, for those of you who know the story, I’m still upset that my Grandma Proper fed Jude cake when he was a small baby. That boy will be lucky to ever get sugar from me.

1 Year Old

Little Jude will turn 1 on April 2nd. It’s hard to believe our little guy has grown up so fast. Here is what he’s up to these days:

  • He sometimes parrots back what we say without perfect pronunciation.
  • He still suffers from separation anxiety. He cries often when I set him down and nearly every time if I walk out of the room he is in.
  • He still has never slept through the night. He gets up at least 3 times a night and I usually have to feed him to get him to go back to sleep.
  • He loves baths.
  • He loves books.
  • He does not like toys for the most part. He prefers to play with real household goods (e.g., a plastic hanger, an empty cereal box, a water bottle), etc.)
  • He does not walk, except while holding onto things.
  • He crawls really fast.
  • He crawls up stairs, but doesn’t go down them.
  • He drinks water out of a sippy cup.
  • He sometimes uses a pacifier.
  • He has 5 teeth and is working on #6.
  • He enjoys brushing his teeth.
  • He mostly hates diaper changes.
  • He mostly hates getting dressed.
  • He likes being thrown into the air.
  • He loves technology (e.g., phones, computers, etc.). He placed his first phone call a couple weeks ago. He called the UnitedWay.

I got Jude a LittleTouch LeapPad Learning System and a book for his birthday. I’m so excited to give this to Jude.

Jude and Rosie

I got Andy a vacuum cleaning robot for Christmas. Andy named her Rosie. Jude loves Rosie (Andy and I love her too, for that matter). Jude loves powering Rosie on by himself and he loves chasing after her and cornering her. Every time I’m giving Jude a ride in my arms past Rosie (who is usually on her charging base), Jude points at her and babbles about her. It’s so cute.

A Reasonable Valentine’s Request

Happy Valentine’s Day! Andy and I haven’t celebrated yet. We agreed back in the day that if V-day falls in the middle of a week, we would celebrate on the following weekend. One of the benefits is that we can buy each other presents on clearance (e.g., candy and flowers).

For V-day this year, Andy asked me not to get him a gift, but to instead go out on a date with him. Reasonable request, right? I know it’s reasonable, but I only reluctantly agreed to it. Since I work full-time, I feel I already am missing out on so much of Jude’s life. I hate the idea of leaving Jude for 2-3 hours to go on a date with Andy. But, as I said, I reluctantly agreed to do so. So, I’m stuck. It will be our first time out without Jude. I hope he won’t be scarred for life as a result of this abandonment!!! If he is, I’ll blame Andy of course.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: So, is he sleeping through the night yet?

A1: Actually, about 5 months ago this was a hot question. Now, I don’t hear it as often, probably because everyone assumes the answer is yes. Well, the answer is NO. Jude has never (I repeat, NEVER) slept through the night. He still gets up at least 2 if not 3 or more times a night. I lay down with him and feed him each time to get him to go back to sleep. I don’t make him cry himself to sleep.

Q2: Is he crawling yet?

A2: Yes. He has been able to crawl for at least a month and a half. He’s very fast. He likes to chase after the cats and the robot vacuum cleaner.

Q3: Is he walking yet?

A3: Not yet. He stands up and cruises around furniture a little. Maybe in another month or so.

Q4: Is he talking yet?

Q4: Not really. He babbles a lot. He said “mama” for the first time today and that was exciting, but I’m not convinced he was referring to me or just practicing. He’s been saying “dada” for some time now (and probably not referring to Andy).