iron man.

apparently i'm raising a future body-builder. :)

weighing in at nearly fifteen pounds at eight weeks old earned an exclamation of "breastfeeding seems to be working out for him!" from the nurse as we laid him on those cold little baby scales. and then with the measuring tape... 24 inches! it really hit me how big he was when i saw my grandmother holding him the other day. she looked even smaller in stature next to my big boy. and the thing is, he isn't all that chubby. just "solid" as my papaw put it. we actually have a hard time sizing him in clothes because everything for babies seems to be square where he is more rectangular. the past couple of weeks he has transitioned from size 0-3M to 3-6M. long and lean, that's my baby jude. and strong. he can already sit pretty well in his bumbo chair, with only the occasional head nodding and bobbing. and on his tummy he can push himself up until his arms are completely straight and his head is facing forward. and he's been doing that for a couple of weeks now. this morning i was holding him under the arms and letting his feet hit the floor and he was jumping off of the ground. it almost makes me sad to know he is growing so quickly. as terrified as i was at the time, i am starting to miss those really fragile first weeks. now when he eats, he is sitting in my lap instead of me holding him in my arms. sigh...

and as of today he is officially in size 2 diapers. i've been putting it off for a week because i didn't want to admit that he was really getting that big, but after being peed on while nursing a couple of times and nearly ruining about five outfits with poop that just wouldn't stay put, i have decided it's time. double sigh...

the only reassuring thing about his getting older are his responsive little smiles and ever-growing curiosity and attentiveness. and i say it every night while i am wrestling him to sleep, but he is such a cancer! emotional to the core. moody. homebody. momma's boy. empathetic. comfort-seeker. etc... it may sound like a bad combination, but in reality he is one of the sweetest and funniest little babies i have ever seen. he won't fall asleep unless we are cuddling or nursing, and is definitely a soothe-sucker. me, a bottle, or a pacifier (though he prefers momma) and his eyes shift to out of focus and close quicker than you can blink. anything less and he'll force himself to stay awake until the cows come home.

he's starting to get distracted at bedtime and when he eats by anything bright, moving, or any contrasting colors. it makes it increasingly hard to nurse him on a schedule because it may take 45 minutes for him to eat. he'll nurse awhile, then unlatch himself and stare at the fan, nurse, smile at the wall, and so on. it's terribly cute though. just like the thumb-sucking. as zachary says, this little boy has me wrapped around his littlest finger so he can continue to do whatever it is he is doing with his hands. i keep telling zach that he doesn't understand the meaning of manipulation and cause/effect for quite a few more months, but there is no convincing him, and sometimes i'm not quite convinced myself.

all i know is that i'm falling harder with the passing of each day.