January-Shanuary

Good day.

All is quiet in the house. After a long span of time in Indy, Jude and I are back in Atlanta. Nathan's grandfather, Jack (Granddad) Ehman passed away and we spent the last two weeks celebrating his life and then adjusting to life back at home. Nathan has been traveling with the Winter Jam

tour so I have been keeping myself busy with play dates, dinner dates, working out (can you believe it!?), and work.

Jude had begun pulling up a fair amount, but I think he was slightly deterred during all our travel. Now that we are home and in his familiar living room, he is exploring and climbing. He has also cut 5 teeth in 30 days. Literally - since the day after Christmas (a month ago today), his fangs, two bottom teeth and right top front tooth have cut. We are just waiting for one more top front tooth to cut and he will have a darling toothy grin. Right now, he looks like the Child of Dracula. Then maybe I'll get a break from the middle of the night Motrin doses!

Nathan and I spent a lot of time this week decorating the house. Jude's 1st Birthday is only a few weeks away, so I am trying to get the house somewhat prepared for its first "official" unveiling. During the redecorating process, I managed to use one of Nathan's guitars as a corner piece.

Jude has since discovered it and makes a break through the foyer any chance he gets! I snuck up on him the other day and recorded a darling video of him "strumming" his first tune... I will post that below. I am currently between projects and have taken advantage of the daytime to get healthy and plan Jude's first birthday party. Its so bizarre to imagine that we have been holding Jude in our arms for nearly a year. What a year it has been!

In the last several weeks, I have learned about the pregnancies of FOUR dear friends! It definitely gives me a tinge of the "baby flu", but that is quickly remedied by the 5 weeks of teething, colds, diarrhea (Jude's, not mine!!) - and nights where a 4 hour stretch of sleep is promptly celebrated.

Right now, Jude is napping (although it is late in the evening) and I am waiting for my deep dish veggie (no onion) pizza from pizza hut to be delivered. Niles is standing statuesque at feet, awaiting my inevitable migration to the couch where he will keep my lap warm. Fiona is already perched on her "throne", also known as Nathan's spot - which they frequently battle over.

As for the weather, it is most often 50 degrees and sunny. Although we do have days of high-volume rains, its RAIN and not SNOW!

Well, my pizza has arrived and I suspect I should wake Jude, if I have any intentions of getting sleep tonight...

Love you all. Here are some fun pics of our new decor and (suprise!) some art I created!