{My Nanny}

Last month Judah and I took a last-minute trip to England for a very sad reason... my Nanny passed away. She had been unwell for a long time, several years really. There have been quite a few occasions when we thought the end was near, but she always rallied... so even though I knew it was unlikely that she would get better this time, I just always kind of thought she would. Because she's Nanny and she never gives up! Nanny was never one to be discouraged or downcast. She was always cheerful, although she suffered greatly for years and by the end of her life she could hardly move, riddled with painful arthritis and terrible sores on her legs. She was in hospital for a raging infection and caught hospital pneumonia on top of it all. Her earthly body gave up the good fight. She went home to heaven in the early hours on March 11th, a month ago today... finally free from her broken and suffering body.

Although we grew up in Africa and Nanny was in England, I never felt like she was far away. She sent us a constant stream of letters and cards and packages. We made home videos and sent them back to her. She was always very interested in our lives, and loved getting phone calls, letters, and pictures. She always remembered details like our favorite sweets and chocolates. She prayed for us constantly. We (speaking for myself and my brothers) all hated leaving Africa to spend our furloughs in England every 4 years, but we LOVED arriving at Nanny's house to big hugs and laughter, singing, roast dinners, tea & toast, and her cupboard of never-ending treats. Nanny was our home-away-from-home.

I am thankful for the hope that I have of seeing her again in heaven, but it is strange still to think of her no longer on this earth. She was one of the few permanent things in my often transitional childhood. No matter where we moved or how long we were gone, Nanny was always there to welcome us home. 

Nanny never forgot a birthday, and never let an occasion go by without writing a letter or a card. When I got to England, my mom handed me a birthday card Nanny had written for Judah's first birthday but hadn't gotten the chance to send it off before she went into hospital. 

The trip to England was bittersweet. It was a time to say goodbye to Nanny, and to her house that has been a home to us for my whole life. But it was also a time to celebrate Nanny's life and her legacy. And a time for Judah to see his grandparents, which happens rarely, and to meet his uncles for the very first time, as well as our cousins and aunts and uncles. It was nice to have Judah around, because toddlers are a never ending source of comic relief. I know Nanny would have been thrilled that her whole family... children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren... came together with much laughter and remembering to celebrate her life.

The following pictures are some of my favorites from our time together. Most of them are on facebook already, but I wanted to record them here as well.

 First time together since Judah was born.

Lots of good family catch up time

Lots of looking at classic pictures from the various generations.

Four of the six siblings... it was hard to get them all in the same place at the same time with everything going on!

Judah had lots of attention!

We made the most of our time as a family.

We had a big (for England) snowstorm, and Judah was fascinated with it.

Then he realized it was cold and wet and would prefer to watch it from inside, thankyouverymuch :)

Saying bye bye to Nana at the airport.

This about describes our trip home... hyper and excited Judah! With a tired momma chasing him around.

It was a whirlwind trip, very bittersweet, but I'm so glad we were able to go.

14/52

"A portrait of Judah once a week, every week, in 2013"

14/52 - This is the "seriously, mom?" look you often give me... You were not impressed at being strapped back into your stroller after being free to run around with the duckies. Neither were you very happy about having to wear a hat :) It was pretty darn cute though!

Linking up with Project 52 over at Che and Fidel:

Thirteen months old!

03/13/2013 - Thirteen months old! I know it's a little late, but I finally got all my 13-month-old notes about you transferred from my planner/journal into blog format.... phewsh!

A few pictures that perfectly describe YOU this month :)

The wide-open mouth excited grin you get when there are new things to explore!

Constantly on the go.

Found something to climb!

Studying the other kids on the playground.

Examining the mulch, picking it up... dropping it.

Taking the world in from Dada's arms

 One of your many attempts to escape the baby gate!

Size: You weighed 24lbs 13oz (diaper on) the day before your 13 month birthday... I took you in to the pediatrician to check for an ear infection since you were fussy and pulling at your ears, and we were going to be flying to England later that week! But you were fine, just a sore throat. You seem like you've grown taller too, but we haven't measured you recently. You are definitely "thinning out" and your baby rolls are going away * sob *... you barely have rubber band ankles anymore. Fortunately the rubber band wrists are still there, for now! Size 4 diapers, size 3.5W- 4W shoes, 12-18 month clothes.

Words (that you use consistently): water "wah wah", balloon "ba-boon", banana "ba-na-na-na-na!", all done "ah-dah", all gone "ah-gah", more "moh", milk "mih-mih-mih", mama, dada, ducky "duh-tee", Pingu "pa-goo", hi, bye-bye, diaper "di-puh", ball "baw", book "buh", belly button "bee-buh", outside "ow-di", bag "bah", bubbles "buh-buh", clever "deh deh" (this one you say because we're always saying "clever boy!" or "very clever!" when you do something well, clever... so sometimes now you will do something you're proud of and you'll clap for yourself and say "deh deh!")

Signs: light, bird, duck, bath, more, all done, fan (a sign that we made up because you are fascinated with our ceiling fans... pointing up and making circles with your finger/hand), hot (another one I made up to teach you the concept of "hot".... making a recoiling motion with your hands over and over). Whenever you see steam/a coffee cup/a pot on the stove/a fire etc. you do the "hot" sign and try to blow on it... haha :)

New things:

- You've become very snuggly this month... I love it! You will clamber into my lap and put your arms around my neck for a big hug, or lay your head on my shoulder and snuggle in.

- You are talking up a storm! New words almost everyday now. You are mimicking sounds and words and trying very hard to communicate. You will use a combination of signs and words to ask for things... like doing the sign for "more" and saying "ba-na-na-na!" to ask for more bananas, or waving "bye-bye" and saying "ow-di" (outside) to ask to go outside.

- You love to share your food! One bite for Judah, one bite for momma... It's often the only way I can get you to eat well.

- You love to eat with a fork... You pick up your fork with one hand and a piece of food with the other hand, then you carefully spear the food with your fork and put it in your mouth! It's slow going but at least it gets you to eat!

- If you want us to do something you will come and grab our hands/shirts/pants and pull us over to what ever it is you want help with... opening the gate, putting Pingu on, getting something that you can't reach, getting a snack etc. Or you will bring a book/toy over to us and hold it out and yell "ah! ah!" like "read this!" or "play with this!". You also ask us to do things like play "This little piggy" by grabbing our hand and putting in on your toes, or "round and round the garden" by pointing to your palm and holding it out.

- You never stop moving when you are awake... You are just so busy! The only exception to this is when you are reading your books... Then you will sit still for a while, totally engrossed in flipping pages and pointing to all the pictures, and "reading" aloud to yourself.

- You wave to everyone now (at the store, on walks, at restaurants, anywhere we go)... It's your way of saying "hi!" and getting someone's attention. If they don't see you, you will start yelling " ah! ah! ah!" while you wave until you get their attention!

- You love to draw! Especially with momma's pen in momma's special book (my planner), haha :) You are getting more adept every day at holding a pen/pencil/crayon and making scribbles on paper.

- Your new favorite thing in the bath is to pour water from one vessel into another... you could spend hours playing with water... scooping it up with one cup and pouring it into another cup, or filling up a bottle and pouring it back out...

- You are fearless... you will run off to explore things completely unaware of any dangers. Because you are so very mobile, and yet too young to listen to "stop!" or "wait for momma!" very well (though you are finally starting to listen now!)... I have to watch you so closely. You love new places and new things and you will run around exploring while squealing with excitement. You are such a climber... you will climb up, up, up but then you don't realize you're up and you don't know how to get down, and if I wasn't there you would just fall. You are into absolutely everything and you are so. stinkin'. fast. Oy! Toddlerhood! I love it... truly I do... it just keeps my heart racing.

- You understand so much of what we say now. I can't even begin to write them down or I'd be writing all night. You follow simple commands like "bring Momma the ball" and "close the door" and "put the book back on the shelf". You pick up on our conversations and sometimes we have to whisper or spell things!


Other stuff:

- Still not sleeping through the night. When life settles down a bit after this month we will start work on that.

- Still very picky about solid foods... textures and tastes. Still going strong with nursing.

- No more teeth this month. Still four on top, two on bottom.



Well I said these updates would be shorter after 12 months, but it's still pretty long... I just don't want to forget anything! And you are just learning SO much every day. It's so exciting. I love getting to experience the world through your fresh little eyes - everything is so wondrous to you.

We love you Judah William - we love your hugs and kisses and your giggles and squeals. We love your bright little mind and inquisitive spirit. We even love the midnight snuggles, though we may be tired. These days will be over so soon and we are cherishing every little bit.

Easter weekend

We had a relaxing Easter weekend, and enjoyed spending time with Judah's Grandpa :) He has been studying hard for his medical board renewal exams, but he took a few breaks this weekend to have fun with us.
Thomas had Friday off work, so we went on a little outing to the Arboretum. 

Classic Judah stare.

 Judah dragged us over to the froggy fountains... he reallllllly wanted to go splash in the water but it was a bit too cool.

They had a petting zoo for the kids, which of course Judah LOVED.

I had to hold him back or he would have tried to climb right on the goat's back.

 He was moving so fast chasing a fluffy little chicken it was hard to get a picture of him.

Getting our hands sanitized on the way out of the petting zoo.

Taking Grandpa for a walk :)

A very handsome "Dada"

We had to keep a grip on him, because he kept trying to run at top speed down the big hill into the large crowd of people waiting for the concert to start.

Little studmuffin.

Can you say "tree"?

Close-ups with Grandpa and a slightly grumpy Judah!

The Dallas Blooms displays were beautiful... Thomas got some flower shots.

We gave Jude his Easter basket after church on Sunday... he was pretty nonchalant about it at first.

... and then he got a bit more animated when he realized there was a DUCKY in that box!

[Judah got some bath toys by Boon and Green Toys in his basket. I had to throw most of his old bath toys away a while ago because they kept growing black mold in them despite constant rinsing and cleaning - yuck! These toys are all super cute and have no places for water to get trapped and grow mold (and most importantly they are BPA, PVC, and lead/phthalate free... which many squeezy/soft bath toys are not). Bath time has become even MORE fun for this little bath lover!]