Happy Halloween!!

Jake trick or treating on the square! This is one of the first businesses we went to, so he isn't quite sure what he is supposed to do :)



Here are our pumpkins we carved this year! Jason did the Ipumpkin and was clearly the winner.....I will get him next year though! I think the clincher was the white ear buds he put on his pumpkin. Jake and Daddy!!! You will notice that Jake has a sucker in his hand. He ended up eating 3 suckers over the course of the evening. The sticky drool from that sucker was unbelievable, but I think Jason and I had more fun than Jake did!! Here is our lil' dragon doing his thing :) We walked through the park on the way back to our car, and Jake had a blast shuffling through the leaves! This was the perfect way to end the night! Snuggling with my little guy before bed!!!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!!

Little Boy Heaven!!

Yep, that's right, a combine ride!!! Thank you so much to our friend Darcy for inviting us to her parent's farm to ride on a combine!!! Jake was in little boy Heaven! I think we have a future farmer on our hands :)

On the Go!

The summer is flying by so quickly!! Jake loves playing outside, and he is on the move constantly. He sprints around the house. Sometimes he will push or pull a toy along with him, but his stocky, little legs are always running :)

Moved In and Picture Overload!

So, we are finally moved in and most of the boxes are unpacked! I have set a goal for myself that by the end of this week, there will be no more boxes in the house....we will have to see if I can reach it! Jake and Reagan have both adjusted well to the new house. They love chasing each other in the basement, and Jake's new thing is running. He gets his little legs going so fast, I'm afraid he is really going to hurt himself. So far he falls gracefully, so we don't have too many bruises :)

Here are a few photos I have taken over the last month. We had a few really hot days in the 90's last week, so we got out Jake's water table. He loved splashing away and spent a good 45 minutes playing in it.

Jake has always loved his blanket and needs it to fall asleep, but recently he has also wanted to play with outside of his crib. He will drag it around with him for awhile until he moves on to a different toy.

Here are a few photos from Easter weekend. I missed getting photos of Jake with the Easter bunny as well as Easter morning...I have to do better next year!!

Here are some pics of Jake playing with Jason. Jake loves 'flying' with his Dad and he is starting to say 'Dada' in context. (He is nowhere near close to saying Mama....the lil' stinker) I love this pic of Jason and Jake! The look on Jake's face is priceless! He is so excited for what's coming next!!

Ok, only a few more pics :) At the old house we had an old, broken entertainment center that Jake loved to climb in. I snapped a few pics because he was having so much fun playing in it. Sadly, the entertainment center had to find a new home at the landfill.

Moving Update

Well, we are almost there! Most of our things are sitting in boxes in our basement waiting to be moved to the new house. Moving day is next Wednesday the 4th, and then Friday, 5/6, our house will no longer belong to us! I am super excited to move to the new house, but I did get a little teary eyed packing up Jake's room. We have lived in this house for 5 1/2 years....lots of memories :)

I have lots of pics to upload, but of course my memory card reader is packed somewhere. Once we get moved into the new house and unpacked, I will share them. We had a great Easter and enjoyed an afternoon family golf trip. It amazes me how much Jake LOVES to golf!! His favorite toys right now are his plastic golf clubs. It has to be genetic!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!!

Lunch Time....Well, at least for Reagan

What a circus! I guess Jake isn't hungry.

*I am going to have to start teaching him that we don't throw food, but I had to get it on video first :)

Our Tough Guy

Jake had his doctor appointment today. He was a champ! Four shots and a blood draw really took a lot out of me, but it only phased Jake for a few minutes. He is super healthy and right on track developmentally. Jake weighed in at 26.75 lbs (60th percentile) and 30 in (50th percentile) tall. I was excited because they put him on a regular growth chart and not on the preemie one!! I don't know why I am so excited about this, but I am :) Oh, and Jake still has a big head.... >95th percentile.Later in the day Jake was walking across the kitchen floor in socks, slipped and hit his mouth on the floor. His tooth cut his lip and it bled for awhile. Of course it looked worse than it was. He kept burying his head in my shoulder while he cried, so I had blood all over my white shirt. Pretty dramatic, but a few snuggles later and we were all good.

Birthday Bash!

Well, it's official....my baby is now 1! He turned 1 on Saturday, and I can't believe how fast time is flying by! Most of our family were able to visit to help celebrate! It was so nice having everyone here!! Jake is blessed to have so many people who love him! Cousins: Noah 2, Jake 1, Teagan 8 months. They loved playing together! He wasn't too sure about his cake at first. He was very delicate with his cake and never really smashed it, but he did LOVE the frosting :) The balloons were a big hit with the kids and provided tons of entertainment. It was such a beautiful day that we were able to spend a lot of time outside too! Jake loves being outside, but today was the first time he has ever been out there in bare feet. Needless to say, he was not a fan of the grass touching his feet :) He tried so hard to keep them off of the ground. This past year has been amazing, and Jason and I look forward to all the new adventures life will bring!

11 Months Old!!

Jake turned 11 months on Wednesday. I can't believe he will be 1 in a month...crazy!!! Over the last month, Jake cut 2 new teeth and had his first ever bout with the stomach flu. Between those two events, Jake became pretty dependent on me rocking him at nights. He started fighting sleep and waking up multiple times at night because he wanted to snuggle with mommy. I finally broke down and read Ferber's sleep training book. Jake has always been a decent sleeper until this last month, so we have never had to let him cry it out...EVER, and Jason and I were both terrified to do it! Well, the first night we put him to bed an hour later than normal at 8 (wonderful idea by Jason). Wouldn't you know it, the little stinker went straight to sleep and slept all night! No major crying!! He fussed for about 2 minutes to see if I would come in, and when I didn't he just rolled over and conked out! Ever since then he has also started really loving his blankie! I couldn't resist risking nap time for a picture because he is just too darn cute!! Jake cuddles right on top of his blankie to sleep!!

I have started taking Jake to Kid's Court at our Rec center twice a week! (Thanks Rachel for the info!) There is an area set up for kids to explore and play. Jake couldn't get enough of it!

On a sadder note, Jake encountered his first bully last weekend. We were all out and about last weekend, and Jason and I took Jake to the kid's play area in the mall. It was pretty busy. At first Jake was pretty timid but soon set out to explore. I was walking right behind him to make sure that nobody ran into him. A little boy, probably about 3 years old ran right up to Jake, made a karate sound and kicked him in the face. I yelled 'no' at the other child, who then giggled at me and ran away. Jason and I furiously looked for the child's parents and weren't that shocked that they weren't anywhere to be found. Jake didn't cry for very long, but he had a bruise on his forehead. Thank God that other child only had socks on and not shoes.

Just Cruising Around!

Jake just learned how to use his walking toy this weekend! Now he is playing with it constantly :) He walks around talking up a storm with a big grin on his face!

10 Months Old & A Snow Day!!

Jake turned 10 months old today! I had him at the doc's on Monday because he kept messing with his ears and tilting his head. I thought it was an ear infection, but he is just teething. He has 6 teeth now, and I'm sure there are more on the way. He weighed in at a little over 21 lbs. He has gained a pound in the last month. As you can see Jake loves to eat, and he has no problems begging for a treat :) I think he learned this behavior from Reagan! Jason was home with us today because of the blizzard. This is me in front of our stairs leading to the front door. It better warm up soon because I am NOT digging those things out from under the snow! It sure is hard work shoveling!!!