X-mas is over time to excercise

Thank you everybody for all of my x-mas presents. I have had a lot of fun playing with them already. My favourites at the moment are my balloons, caterpillar, lego blocks and deedle dudes. I am a very spoilt little boy with all of my gifts (am still waiting for one from you Mr Hawking). I have also been spoilt with all the new food I have tried. Dad has said that I have to now go out and excercise to get rid of the weight that I have put on.
As you can see I have decided to take up soccer as my chosen sport/excercise and Everton have already signed me to a contract bsaed solely on how cute I look in this oufit. Apparently Wayne Rooney used to wear this exact same shirt until he turned into a traitorous pig.

The only problem with how spoilt I have been is that now I am a little out of my routines, 4am seems like a totally appropriate time to wake up. Mum and Dad are using the Furber method on me which is starting to work..... damn them and their mind bending powers. Mummy can bend spoons with the power of her mind.

I have also realised that Mum and Dad sometimes eat in front of me. This is totally unfair so I asked TUFOB (the union for oppressed babies) what I should do about it. They suggested that if they are eating and I am not then I should yell loudly at them until they give me some food. I have taken up their suggestion and it seems to be working a treat.

Anyway I need to go and have a sleep to dream about all the places I have been in the last week (Hamilton, Rotorua, the Lake, th zoo, the botannical gardens).

Love Jude

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

As requested, here is the last blog before Christmas... Jude and Daddy are posing for the camera as usual. Note the matching stances and smiles upon their faces? Also, they both have the same amount of hair. (Sorry, there is no santa hat, as Daddy took it to work with promises that he would bring it home and failed to do so).

Jude ate dirt out of a pot plant the day before yesterday. I was out of the room for 1 minute and "sensed" something was not quite right - sure enough there was Master Jude with dirt smeared all around his mouth, a handful of dirt still in his little paw and happily munching away on some brown crunchy substance.

He also has ANOTHER tooth now - that's 6 in case you had lost count. He gets to brush his teeth every night with his very own miniature tooth brush before bed time.

Oh by the way - Nana & Poppa D - good luck bathing the boy when he's at your place. I'll let you discover the "joys" of Jude in the Bath for yourselves. Hint - you might want to invest in some PVC wet-weather gear and a back brace.

And look out Nana & Poppa T - Jude STILL has his eye on those Toby Jugs... but this time he might actually succeed in getting to them - he's very very wily.

OK, that's about it for now - so wishing everyone who reads this blog a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

Lots of love from
"Team Thomas"
xxx

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree...

Please let there be an end to all this talk about Stephen Hawking. The mere thought of him gives me the trots.

Here is a photo of Jude basking in the delights of the Christmas Tree. He absolutely loves it and I have to sing him "oh Christmas Tree oh Christmas Tree" everytime we pass it. He is looking forward to ripping into those presents (even if they are for other people)!!!

Last Sunday we took Jude to the Zoo. He loved the fish (Koi?) in the pond and the tropical coloured fish in the aquarium. Everything else could have been a large plate of cooked brussel sprouts, because he couldn't have cared less. Even the Howler Monkeys didn't phase him - he just looked at them as if they were idiots for making so much noise. I think we'll have to wait until he's a little bit older before taking him again.

Jude had his friend from playgroup over again this morning. Needless to say the bullying continues. It is actually quite embarrassing to be the mother of the child who is always stealing toys off other children. Perhaps that "white haired old man" won't be coming to visit Jude after all?

Jude just wanted me to tell you all (he can't type this himself as he was up all night penning replies to his fanmail and has writers' cramp) that he is looking forward to seeing all you Nanas & Poppas, Great Nanas & Poppas, Aunties and Uncles at Christmas and would also like to remind you all that he likes chocolate...

Who's a cheeky monkey then...

Don't ask me why every photo taken of Jude lately has his eyes shut. Obviously the flash is too much for our little monkey's sensitive retinas.

Here is Jude drinking from his sippy cup - he thinks he's pretty cool to be able to do it himself now - it is negligible how much water actually makes it into his mouth.

Jude went to his first Christmas Party yesterday. He got to feed a baby goat and a piglet. He got to pat a calf and see a pony (he is still a bit little to have a ride but don't tell him I said that). He was VERY VERY excited about the baby goat - he yelled and flapped his arms a lot.

Jude had another tooth pop through mysteriously - I am not sure when it broke through as I only noticed it yesterday and it was already quite big. He now has 5 teeth and will soon look like that grinning fool from Sesame Street.

I love chocolate

Hello to all my adoring fans.

I have been very busy answering all of my fan mail recently. Many people have been reading my website and then writing to me to tell me how gorgeous I am. Of course I am vey good looking but I get much more satisfaction from the fan mail I receive from people who have read and enjoyed my book on quantum astro phyiscs. For those who have not read it I suggest you do, it is entitled "Stephen Hawking is an idiot, I have proof". It focuses on the singularity theory as the basis for the creation of the universe and its interactions with the chandrasekhar limit.
For those of you who are a little more simple than me ...... this means I have an irrefutable theory for creation and I also prove that Stephen Hawking is no match for my intellectual ability.

Anyway, now onto the real topic of today. I really do love chocolate. Please don't let the picture fool you, I do get most of the chocolate into my gob. I love the sugary rush it gives me after I have shovelled it in. This then gives me the energy to crawl madly around the house seeking out all cords and doors. This has lead me to my new mantra. Say it after me now.......

Close all doors!!! Close all doors!!! Close all doors!!! Close all dorrs!!!

Mum and Dad have said that if I am really good then a white haired old man will come and give me presents in about a week. I don't really understand this because I was naughty and Poppa Art gave me presents anyway. Parents, can't live with them, can't crawl away from them.

Nothing much else has happened in my world recently, just the same old stuff. I crawl, I talk, I smile, I try to rid the world of comic book super heroes..... same old, same old.

Anyway by for now. I hope to see you all real soon.......... except for you Stephen.

Love Jude

Caught on camera

...and here is our little escapee caught in the act trying to get out of his cot. It's a pity he fell asleep before he made it to freedom.

Jude had his 9 month check on Tuesday and now weighs 9.5kg (a hefty wee laddie) and measured 75cm long (the same as last time - we reckon the nurse got the measurement wrong). But the nurse reckons that he is probably due for another growth spurt so that could all change soon.

Jude has just been participating in some rather rough "play" with Mongie the cat. Mongie made the fatal mistake of getting too close and Jude grabbed aforementioned Mongie's tail from which his little fingers had to be prised loose and then proceeded to man-handle her and grab great hunks of fur from her poor little body. The funny thing is he starts off patting nicely and then gets overwhelmed with excitement and just goes too far. She's just paid us back by bringing a still-living bird into the house.


I put the Christmas Tree up today (which I was a bit loathe to do as I knew it would involve lots of "no Jude don't touch that") but I decided to anyway and he absolutely loves it - all those shiny baubles no doubt!! I will have my work cut out for me keeping him away, but it IS his first Christmas and I want him to enjoy it. I think he is going to be VERY VERY spoilt this year.

Dad: you will see in the above photo that Jude has a blue patterned quilt at the end of his cot - that is the one that Grandma Johnson made for him (not that you can see much of it - but it's really cute).

A Mouthful of Chompers

Jude has now got 4 teeth to brush!!!

As you can see from the photo, he thinks that the toothpaste should be milk flavoured and not pepperminty. I think he looks a bit like a dehydrated Mongie. But don't his jimmy jams look so very very cute?

Jude saw the Ocean for the first time in the weekend. We took him up to Orewa on Saturday morning and to our surprise he cried. We don't think he liked the sound of the waves crashing (not that there was much surf). But he didn't like it. We'll just have to take him back another time when the tide is not so high and try again.

Jude has got his 9 month Plunket check tomorrow so we will see how much weight he has put on and how tall he is going to be (I estimate a veritable giant at 5.10"). But seriously, it will be interesting to see if he has put on any weight at all due to the amount of crawling and other activity he has been up to lately - he must pretty much burn off everything that is going in to him at the moment. He only ever stops moving to sleep.

And lastly, a big shout-out to Uncle Jez and Aunty Debs in the UK - we got Jude's wee package in the post on Saturday and I just had to have a quick peek before wrapping it back up and putting it away for his Christmas stocking. VERY VERY cool. I can't wait to see him in his very own mini Welsh rugby jersey. I wonder how many people will ask me if Jude's name is actually "Brains"?