Jude's First Birthday + First Haircut!

Haaappy birrrthdaaaay, deaaarrrr Juuuuuu-uuuudddde,

Haaappy birrrthdaaaay tooooooooo youuuuuuuuu!

Can you believe little Jude (aka: Big Jude) is a year old already? What a joyful year it's been for us! Jordan and I love this little guy so much. People in the grocery store (or wherever) often tell me, "There's a future linebacker right there!" and I just laugh and think to myself, "Yeah, right." Jude is my big softy! He's gentle and mellow and cuddly and agreeable and shy and so so sweet! But then again, who knows what the future holds, right? ( :

Jordan's work schedule has been so rigorous lately that we didn't want to try to make any big birthday party plans. But we had a cozy little family celebration for Jude... We spent another fun day at the lake (I'll post pics later), had cupcakes, and opened presents!


If our camera battery hadn't died, I'd have some cute shots of Jude crying... He reached out to touch the candle (shortly after this last shot was taken) and ended up being too upset to eat his cupcake! I guess he figured it was all a big conspiracy against him... You know, kind of like when grown-ups gang up on you to give you shots and stuff like that. He didn't trust us or the cupcakes for the rest of the evening! But I tried again the next day (without the candle) and it turns out Jude LOVES birthday cupcakes! ( :

Here he is opening one of his presents...

What a fun birthday! I just wish grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc. could have been here to celebrate with us. We miss you guys. Thanks to the grandparents (and great-grammy!) for the cards, gifts, and birthday money!

Alright, now for the second half of this post... Jude's first haircut! First off, we'll begin with a few "before" pics. Here's one that illustrates the fact that the hair was getting too long and out of control. (ps. Jude likes lasagna.)

Here he is at the salon, waiting his turn for his haircut. You can see that I'd been doing my best with the scissors at home to keep it out of his eyes, off the back of his colar, etc. Unfortunately, it was resulting in a nerdy-looking "bowl cut" - which, let's face it, is not the best look for a kid with a large head. (Yes, Jude does have a large head, but he's well proportioned so it's okay!)

And here he is in the chair! Looking a bit stunned. ( : I really like the lady who did it (her name is Jasmine). She was patient with my centimental picture-taking, hair-saving, etc. She kept raving about what a GOOD baby he was - which is true- but I think Jude may have just been too shy to show his true feelings.

This is my absolute favorite picture! I love how he's watching it all in the mirror and how his cute little bare piggies are sticking out from under the smock! She had him sitting up on 2 boosters to get him high enough. Adorable.

And heeeere's the "after" shots! Doesn't he look sharp? He's holding his prize that I bought him afterward at the dollar store for being such a good boy (a little ball that lights up when you throw it).

Although it definitely makes him look older which is kinda sad, I wish I'd got it done sooner! He looks so handsome. It makes him look even more like his daddy, don't you think?