the life of baby jude

Last Saturday (while Mama napped- some life!), Meema and I made a pizza. As you know, I am most helpful in the kitchen. But Mama and I are usually baking sweets or pancakes. Pizza is fun. We even put pesto on it, which gave me ample opportunity to like my fingers! I mentioned previously that Meema got me an apron with my name on it for Christmas, but Mama left it at home. So I had to wear this pink one that came with my new kitchen set. Don't people know that some of the best chefs in the world are men? Geesh! No matter, though, I'm secure enough with myself to wear pink! Anyway, the pizza was so much to make. It was some of the tastiest pizza I have ever had. And I've been eating pizza for nearly two years, so trust me, I know my pizza! What a great idea, Meema!

The Giants are going to the SuperBowl! Although, Gaga (a devout Bills fan) was not pleased to hear about this tee-shirt, Mama felt that as a resident of NJ, I had to root for the Giants this past Sunday in the NFC Championship Game. And they won! Now all they have to do is beat those vile Patriots next Sunday (Mama's words, not mine! She and Gaga seem to really have a problem with those Pats!)Anyway, I don't know much about professional football (besides my love of the touchdown dances), but I do think it's pretty exciting that our local team will be playing in the big game. This picture is from Aunt Arlene's house. We watched the game there and it was tons of fun. I mostly played with trains and ate brownies. You know, the usual.

Then on Monday, Mama took me a Knicks game in NY. I had never been a professional sports game before and it was so cool to go to Madison Square Garden. I love trips to the city! Mama's friend Uncle Brodie had two extra tickets and he offered them to us. It was really fun- there were snacks, lots of action, lots of clapping and my new favorite thing-- the JumboTron! Man, I have to get one of these for my bedroom. Imagine Thomas on *that* screen. I spent the majority of the game on Mama's lap because I'm not quite heavy enough to weigh the seats down at the stadium; something that Mama thought was most amusing. The day was capped off with a trip to Starbucks, where I played trains with every young lady in there.

I have another new friend! He was actually born a month ago, but as you know I was on a bit of a holiday blog hiatus. Anyway, his name is Parker and his mommy is one of Mama's bestest friends ever-- Auntie Michelle. She's a friend that Mama loves very dearly. They met in Buffalo when they both worked at Vin-Chet Pastry Shop. I think they can both agree that meeting each other was the best part (if only real good part besides all the cookies they ate) of that job! Anyway, Parker was born on December 16th. This, however, is a recent photo. I think he's growing to be quite the cute little man. I can't wait to meet him. I sure do hope Mama takes me to Buffalo soon.

Also, another one of Mama's friends just became a parent! Talk about a baby boom. Mama's friend Matt is a new daddy to Olivia Peyton, born December 22nd. Stay tuned for a pic and more info about her. I guess new parents are pretty busy. I mean, really, what's so hard about having a newborn? ;-) Just kidding!

BGM #2 is here! On Monday, January 7th, Greta Maria entered the world- and with the exact stats that yours truly was born with! Here's a picture of her and Evie. I gotta say, Evie is pretty darn lucky to have a little sister. Then again, Greta sure got a great big sister in the adorable Miss Evie. I can't wait to meet her. Welcome to the world, Greta and congrats to Katie, Florian and Evie. YAY!

My Christmas this year was the best yet. I got to open so many presents that I still ask Mama & Gaga for them most mornings, hoping that maybe it's not over yet. Sadly, I think it is. I was on a bit of high between the gifts and the all the family visits, that now I have to find other exciting things to fill my day. Luckily, the New York Botanical Garden had a Holiday Train Show that was still going on last weekend. Mama's friend Brenda (Cooper's mom) told Mama about it. I gotta say, that's kind of sad- Cooper lives in London. Why can't Mama find about these things on her own? Anyway, last weekend was the final weekend and in honor of that, Thomas & Sir Topham Hatt were there. So Mama figured there was no greater way for us to spend an afternoon. Not wanting to battle a toddler in the Bronx alone, she invited Meema and the three of us went for an afternoon of "Choo Choo!" fun.

The Train Show was really quite spectacular. They made replicas of all great NY landmarks and surrounded them with the coolest trains. I just stood there in toddler awe, waiting for the trains to come around. It was just so very exciting and neat. After that, we went to a very long line out in the cold to sit in Thomas and take pictures with him. Let's just say the line was really slow moving and then suddenly Mama mentioned something about Thomas having to go to sleep. So we said "night, night" to him, peeked in the tent he was in and left. I can't believe I got to see Thomas in person. And look, I even got my picture with Sir Topham Hatt (AKA- Sir Toppy Hatt). I love meeting celebrities!


The day was capped off with a delicious grilled cheese and some vanilla ice cream at the Suburban Diner in Paramus. I'm wondering what I could've done to possibly make this day ANY cooler.

I was sort of bummed when summer was over because of my love of berries. However, I have decided that winter fruits are pretty darn good, too. My current love is grapefruit. I like to suck on them and go, "Ohhhh, juicy." The other day when Mama took me to ShopRite all I could talk about was buying grapefruit. Sure beats mixed vegetables, I say.

While I was upstate, I of course had to go visit Peepa and Marion. Little did I know, that there were even more presents waiting for me! My goodness, this is getting insane, right? Peepa and Marion prepared a usual delicious breakfast. We had Marion's "famous French toast" and lots of delicious berries. We also had ice cream and cookies and cake and various other things, but let's not go there. Anyway, I got so many cool presents. My favorites have to be the Thomas play-doh set. You can make a real-life, 3D Sir Topham Hatt! I really like presents that combine two or more of my favorite things. I also go some really cool truck and tractor puzzle. Here's a picture of Mama and I diligently trying to put it together. Hey, Mama, I'm 2.5. What's your excuse? :-) I also got books and other Thomas toys and some PJs. But the best part, as always, was having a really fun couple of hours with my goofy Peepa. Love you and thanks for the great stuff!

I am very loved and extremely lucky. Most kids get to enjoy Christmast just once. I don't consider myself most kids, however. I had FOUR Chrismtases. That's right-- FOUR! My first Christmas was celebrated with Mama right before Gaga and I left for Las Vegas. Santa was kind enough to bring a bunch of presents a few days early so Mama could see me open them. I was sad to leave them behind when Gaga and I left, but sure enough, there were tons more presents waiting for me in Vegas. I got more presents from Santa and even some from Gaga and the rest of my VERY generous family! Aunt Jenny is still shipping stuff back!

The weekend after my return from my trip, Mama took me upstate so I could celebrate with Meema and Peepa. When I awoke at Meema's house last Saturday morning, I discovered that Santa made yet another delivery. I got all sorts of great presents- and from Meema, too. Meema mostly bought me stuff to bake with because I'm Mama's little helper. She even got me an apron and embroidered my name on it. Neat, right? Meema got Mama and I matching bowls for when we make our pancakes and cookies. I'm so happy I have all the proper equipment to help!

While we were there, Meema also had a party for all her friends that help her move. Uncle Lou and Aunt Lynnie came. I love them so much! I like to sit on Uncle Louie's lap and snuggle every time I see him. Too bad for him, I'm pretty into going pantsless lately. Actually, I'm pretty into showing off "my bumcakes" for everyone, I figured this party was a good opportunity for me. Luckily, no one seemed to mind. I like a party where I can run around half nude and eat Aunt Lynnie's delicious cookies!

All in all, I had the usual great time with Meema. As per usual, we did our exercises together. I think I'm really getting the hang of this yoga thing. Thanks for all the great presents, Meema. But thanks for your love most of all!

Wow, is my life exciting! Thanks for your patience, faithful readers. I got back from Vegas about two weeks ago and things have been so very crazy ever since. Since returning, I took a trip to visit Meema & Peepa and moved into a brand-new duplex! So as you can imagine, I haven't had that much time to blog. But Mama and I are getting our lives settled quite nicely and we look forward to much blogging in 2008. So get ready.

By the way, there's no shame in admitting that your life was terribly empty these last few weeks without your Jude updates. It's okay, really. No one is judging you.