It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We visited Trader's Point Creamery again on Saturday, this time with Gramp and Uncle Thom, and Beth, Ross, and Annabel. It was snowing and looked like a winter wonderland, and we visited Santa and had hot chocolate. Jude was indifferent toward Santa, as he seems to be toward most things! (I think he gets his "go-with-the-flow" attitude from his daddy!) I think we might make it a tradition, since we all enjoyed it so much:)

It was a busy weekend. I'm part of a new book club and we had our first meeting on Saturday morning. I'm really excited about it, since I've wanted to be in a book club for forever and never felt like I had time when I was working. I don't know what makes me think I have more time now that I have a child....I guess he goes to bed early, though! We also went to our neighborhood Christmas chili supper Saturday night. I love our neighbors. We have such a little community on our street, and lately I've been thinking about how much I appreciate that, and how rare it is these days! Since it was snowy, Ted zipped Jude up in his coat so he would be extra-cozy while we walked over....it was so cute, he was just a cold little face and a pair of boots sticking out of Ted's jacket! Our aunt Nancy and Tom were nice enough to come over and babysit for us so we could go out on the town that night. We haven't really been OUT out since Jude was born, well, I guess even since before I was pregnant. That's a long time! We made it til a little after 11pm....not exactly like the old days, but we took a stab at it. We met our friends Sam and Missy out for drinks, and before we went I made Ted promise to steer me away from any Jude-related conversation, since this was our chance to be kid-free. One drink later, I've got my phone out, showing Missy recent pictures and jabbering away about the kid....it figures;)

Ted took his friend Dan to the Colts game on Sunday. Yes, I was jealous, but he definitely deserves some "guy" time! Other than that, we've just been enjoying our Christmas decorations, smelling our wonderful tree, having lots of fires, and my new thing: making REAL hot chocolate:) Oh, I almost forgot. Jude's 6 month checkup went great. He did not cry during his many shots, he just sucked away on his fingers and ignored what was happening to his poor legs! My big strong man. He hasn't gained much weight lately, he's 15.2 lbs., but he's growing taller, at 27.25 in. now. I'm worried he'll outgrow his carseat soon, and I'm definitely not ready for that. He's still working on sitting up for extended periods of time, although he can sit and play with a toy without tumping over a little longer now. I think crawling is still several weeks away, but he's showing signs of trying desperately to wiggle and scoot on the floor. He pushes up on his arms and kicks like crazy, and can sort of pivot around like that, but can't really inch forward. I try to demonstrate by crawling in circles around him, but he just looks amused, like I'm his personal jester (which is mostly true). Here are a few pictures from the past week or so, batting around his first sippy cup and taking in his first snow:)