Jacob's One Year Pictures

Oops - thought I posted this last Friday!

Hold your hats! It's a whole two posts in one week! And stay tuned next week, when we start the birthday count-down - I have a surprise for my faithful (and occasional) readers!


I'm posting some of my favorties from Jacob's Portrait Innovations pictures last Saturday. You can see the whole lot of them at http://www.jacobjones.shutterfly.com/, but here's a couple!

Father's Day & July 4th Pictures!

As promised: Link to lots more too.

And July 4th:

And one more of my handsome guy!

Patio furniture, July 4th, Snot, & Eczema

As I posted last week, my mom came up last Thursday and stayed with Jacob on Friday. I know they enjoyed their time together! On Saturday, Jeff and I did a marathon shopping trip - we got a new umbrella for the deck, as well as new chair pads. Then, on Monday, Jeff found a great deal on a set of deck furniture on overstock.com that is black metal. We ordered the six-top table & six chairs. The furniture was scheduled to arrive on Monday, but Jeff just called and said it just arrived today!

We had a great 4th with Chris, Nicole, Devyn & Megan. They came over around 4 p.m. and the kids all swam in Jacob's little pool. We got some great pictures that I'll post soon (with Nicole's permission of course!) They had fun splashing around for about an hour, and then we got them cleaned up and fed Jacob & Megan dinner, while Jeff & Chris grilled hot dogs, brats, burgers & portobella mushrooms. (You would have thought we were cooking for twice as many people, but hey, we like leftovers!) Jacob actually ate his first meal all by his big-boy self - he fed himself goldfish, about a half of a hotdog and about 3/4 of a banana, plus 2-3 animal cookies.

Thursday morning, Jacob sneezed about 7-8 times before we could get him out the door! He seemed to be pretty happy, and the drainage was clear, so we proceeded on with our day and dropped him off at Chrissy's. Jeff wasn't feeling well himself, so he stayed home from work. I told Chrissy if Jake seemed to not feel well to call. I ended up picking Jacob myself around 5:00 p.m. Chrissy said Jacob had just started seeming tired and not feeling good in the last hour or so, and she figured we would be there soon, so she did not call. He slept pretty restlessly last night and seemed pretty tired this morning. Jeff decided to stay home with him today. So, I have a sick husband and child at home today.

The other thing Jacob has had going on lately, is eczema on his legs, arms, back and torso. Through diligent use of Vasoline Creamy ($2.47 Target!) 4-5 times a day, we have the back, torso & arms under control, but his legs are still red, splotchy & dry. We are now trying Baby Eczema Cream ($8.59! ouch!), but I can't say it's worth more than 3 times the price of the Vasoline so far!

Randomness

This past weekend was the first Farmer's Market in Holly Springs. Jeff has been working on this project with some other staff now for about a year. Everything went really well. Since Jeff had to basically work 7 A to 1 P on Saturday, I got to spend the morning with Jacob, which was nice.

Around 9 A, Jacob and I went out to the Market and ran into some friends of ours. We bought new potatoes, strawberries, and homemade meringue cookies. Jeff came home later on with some shrimp. Everything was so good. The strawberries were very ripe & sweet. I must have eaten a half-quart just standing in the kitchen. I bought angel food cake later, and we hardly had any left!

Sunday was a quiet day around the house. Storms were predicted, so we did four loads of laundry!

Jacob has mostly been sleeping through the night 6:30 P to 6:00 A for a good month or so. Jeff and I are spoiled. Friday night, and last night, Jacob woke up in the middle of the night and cried/fussed for a little bit, maybe 10 minutes. Then, he'd be quiet for 15-20 minutes, and you'd hear him fuss for a minute or so. Repeat. For an hour and half. Both Friday & Monday nights. And he was up at 5:00 A and fussed for a minute or two. I'm not sure what is going on with him sleepwise, though we do think he is starting to cut two more teeth on top.

Jacob started eating banana chunks this weekend and arrowroot cookies. These are the first foods other than puffs or wagon wheels he has been able to feed himself really.

Lastly, I'm very excited about Jeff's Father's Day present. And, I'm proud of myself for planning ahead. It's already ordered and will be shipped later this week. I'd love to tell you all about it, but you'll have to wait! Now I just need to figure out something for my own Dad!

Memorial Day Weekend!

What a great weekend we all had!

We went down to Wilmington on Thursday morning, so I could go to a mediation in Jacksonville that afternoon. Jeff stayed at my mom's with Jacob and Jacob truly wore him out! He's into everything! We semi-babyproofed mom's house using pillows to block off the dangers. On Friday morning, I had a mediation in Wilmington, and Jeff took Jacob down to see his mom in Ocean Isle Beach. Jacob had a lot of fun with his Grandma and Jeff reports he liked riding their black lab, Sissy. Jacob was so dirty, Jeff had to give him a bath before he brought him home! I had to put stain stick all over his outfit before we washed it!

On Saturday, Jeff and I went over to my dad's pool and swam for a bit. It was a nice and relaxing afternoon. That evening, we went to Heather & Jed's for a cookout. We had some wonderful steaks and baked potatoes! It was like eating at a steakhouse, but better! Thanks guys!

On Sunday, Jeff and I had planned to meet some friends at dad's pool, but Jacob had other plans to nap during that time. He slept the morning away, and finally we went over to dad's for around an hour to let Jacob swim a little bit. He loved it. We'll post those pictures soon!

Sunday night, Jeff and I checked into the Wilmingtonian. It's a quaint all-suite hotel in downtown Wilmington. We last stayed there on our wedding night. We didn't have the exact same room (it was booked), but we did have the room right below it! We did some walking around downtown that afternoon, and to our surprise, Front Street Brewery had reopened. This is one of our favorite places to grab a beer, and we haven't been in two years. In the meantime, they had closed for 8 months and just reopened last September! We love the Raspberry Wheat ale! After a little browsing around downtown, we found the Little Dipper, where I REALLY wanted to eat dinner. It's a fondue restaurant, and the menu looked wonderful! We made a reservation, and went back to our suite to rest up and shower. We went back for dinner around 8 p.m. and started with wine on the deck overlooking the river. Then, our table was ready, so we moved inside. We had a Tuscan Sun-Dried Tomato cheese fondue, which our waiter aptly described as "pizza-dip." It was very good. We both had the chef-salad, also very good and rather big! For dinner, we shared the Dinner for Two - Surf N Turf, with filet mignon, shrimp, and lobster-stuffed ravioli. It was so much food, we could not finish the filet mignon! For dessert, we had the "Half-N-Half" - one half smooth peanut butter and one half dark chocolate. This was the best chocolate fondue I've EVER had. They even give you a cinnamon-sugar-graham cracker mixture to dip your dippers in after dipping in chocolate. Delicious!!!! I can't wait to go back!

On Monday, we leisurely slept in until 8 a.m. How wonderful! We went back to mom's, and had planned to meet the Prince William Tall Ship. My dad is the President of WHET in Wilmington. He and other WHET members have been working for a couple of months on getting the ship to stop in Wilmington. About a week ago, the captain of the boat invited my dad and other WHET members, as well as the media to board the ship in Morehead City on Friday and to sail around for the weekend, arriving in Wilmington on Monday. The ship arrived around 12:30 p.m. We made it downtown a little after 1 p.m. and met my dad and his wife. After spending a little time with them, we headed on home.

It was a great weekend all-around. The best part is, we kept Jacob on a great "sleeping schedule". He slept great at my mom's in the pack-n-play. Jeff gets a lot of credit too for putting Jacob down for naps in the pack n play right away on Thursday! Her house is just two bedrooms, so Jeff and I actually set up camp in the living room, so as not to disturb Jacob's slumber! It worked though!!! For several weeks now, he's been sleeping 10-11 hours a night! Knock on wood!

Peace College Reunion Weekend!

This past weekend, May 19-20, I attended the Peace College reunion with my 3 roommates from Peace, Kim, Heather & Jenna. We had such a wonderful time! This is Peace's Sesquicentennial (150 years, founded in 1857) Year, so the Reunion weekend was much grander than usual. They offered alumnae the chance to stay on campus, but it was rather expensive, so the girls, at the suggestion of my husband, opted to stay at a nearby Embassy Suites. I'll try to post a few pictures of us as soon as I can get them downloaded from the camera!

The other "interesting" thing going is on that Jacob has not been to Chrissy's since last Thursday! Her son, Evan, has been sick, and has even had two hospital overnight stays due to dehydration. (He is doing better now though.) Fortunately, Nicole kept Jacob 1/2 of Thursday, all day Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. Today Jacob is at Angie's, another friend who is a SAHM. She is the sister of my law school friend, Katie, but also a friend of mine for the last few years now. I'm so fortunate to have such great friends to help out! Tomorrow and Friday, Jeff had already planned to take off work because I have mediations for my work in Jacksonville & Wilmington, so we are all going to Wilmington on Thursday morning and staying through the holiday weekend with my mom. Jeff will probably take Jacob to his mom's on Friday and I imagine we may go to my dad's on Saturday or Sunday. Jeff and I are contemplating sleeping in my mom's living room and giving Jacob the guest room to try to keep some semblance of normalcy to his sleep schedule! He slept until 6:30 a.m. this morning! His sleep is WONDERFUL right now! Keeping fingers crossed this continues!!!

Jacob's first pool pictures!

Pool Pictures from this past weekend at my Dad's house!

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Good Monday Morning!

Our weekend went pretty well! Jacob slept great! He even let us sleep in until 7:30 a.m. on Sunday! Wow!

Saturday morning, Jacob and I went to March of Dimes' WalkAmerica at Nortel Networks. I ended up raising $230 of my $250 goal. Not bad! Our team raised $3,240 so far, and our goal was $3,000! We walked the 3.1 miles. Jacob was such a good baby! He didn't cry one time. I don't think he was feeling very good on Saturday - he was rather quiet. When we got home, he was running a little fever, but seems to have beat whatever he had. (Keeping fingers crossed!) Since he was running a fever, we skipped the birthday bash across the street and the wine festival. My mom ended up taking herself to the airport. So the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday were pretty quiet.

Last night, Jacob did not want to go to sleep. After 45 minutes of trying to get him to sleep (reading, rocking, back-patting), he still wanted to cry whenever he was in his crib. I finally gave up. We had to let him cry. From 7:45 p until 8:15 p, he cried off & on. For example, he would cry 6-7 minutes, and then stop for 5 minutes, then repeat until about 8:15 p. He did sleep the rest of the night without a peep. This morning, at 6:30 a, he was awake and cheerful.

Tomorrow, please keep Jacob in your thoughts & prayers. He has his appointment at Duke with Dr. Delaney, his pediatric cardiologist. Prior to seeing Dr. Delaney, he will have to be sedated for an echocardiogram. These appointments seem to get more difficult the older he gets, and I think that will continue to be true. I'm praying we continue to get the good news we've had at his last 3 appointments in September, November & January.

I've uploaded March & April pictures to shutterfly. They will be added to the collection really soon! I just need to do some editing!

T.G.I.F.!

What a week....

Sunday night, Jeff & I attended the A.P.A. opening reception at the Grand Hall of the PA Convention Center. The reception took place on two different levels and approximately 6000 people were there! They had lots of fun foods from Philly & a great band!

Monday, we recovered from Sunday night, and toured the U.S. Mint where they make coins.

Tuesday, I flew home and was so happy to see Jacob!

Wednesday, Jeff flew home, and I picked him up at the airport. After a quick BJ's run for diapers, formula, baby food (do you also run out of everything at once?), we went to pick up Jacob from Chrissy's. He was very happy to see his "da-da."

Thursday, first semi-normal day this week, except Jacob did not sleep well again Wed. night - he decided to be up from 11:30 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. when we finally gave up fighting and let him sleep with us. And, I had to go to Greensboro for work.

And, now it's Friday. The weather will be beautiful this weekend! Jacob slept great last night! He did wake up crying at 8:15 p.m., and for the first time, we let him cry. He only cried about 15-20 minutes and went back to sleep. We did not hear from him again all night! Around 6:15 a.m., Jeff went into his room, and Jacob was awake and said, "Hi Dada!" He says, "Hi," and "Hey" and adds in Dada too! He also says "ba-ba" and he means it! It's so precious!

Tomorrow, Jacob and I will be doing the 5K walk for WalkAmercia for the March of Dimes! In fact, it's not too late to contribute! www.walkamerica.org/jennimc1975 is my walker page! I think we can take contributions for a few weeks after the event. I'm walking for my friend Audra's twins, born 2 years ago, who did not survive; my coworker Vanessa & her 27 weeker, born in October, who is doing very well; my sitter Chrissy's twins who were 30 weekers and also doing well now. Another friend, Laura, is an aunt to a 32 weeker. So many preemies! And of course, I'm also pleased that March of Dimes supports congenital heart defect research, though of course, there focus is prematurity. P.S. - Thanks to all of you who have contributed already!!!

Also tomorrow, we have a belated birthday party at our neighbors for their son Gavin who turned one a few weeks ago, but was quite sick on his birthday. And, we are taking my mom to the airport - so she can fly to Texas to see my brother, and then we are going to the Great Grapes Wine Festival, which I won tickets to this week!

I will try to get more pictures uploaded here & to Shutterfly this week!
If you haven't checked it out - Jacob's Shutterfly link is www.jacobjones.shutterfly.com

Pictures of Jacob & Caitlin

Jacob meets Caitlin for the first time in 7 months...


At first, she's not too sure about him...


After much persistance on his part, she starts to warm up to him...



And, a little while later, even gives him a little peck on the cheek!


The truth is, this is about the 3rd kiss she gave him - we finally captured this one on film!

Good Morning from Philly!

Friday night, Jacob continued to improve! He awoke at 11 p.m., but went back to sleep in his own crib with his old pacifier as a chew toy until 6:50 a.m. I dare say that is the most we have slept in now in 8 months! Jeff & I woke up and went to check on him and he was awake and chewing on the handle end of his old pacifier! Whatever works!

It's quite rainy today!
Yesterday, the weather was just fine. Flight was good, took the R1 Commuter Train from the airport to downtown, and walked 2-3 blocks with luggage to the hotel. Not too bad actually. It was mid-50's and we got checked in, then walked to the Convention Center to get Jeff registered for the APA conference. Next, we walked on down to the Independance Mall area. We saw the Liberty Bell - security was tighter there than the airport! We walked back and went to the Independance Brew Pub (www.independancebrewpub.com) for dinner. Checked out the WaWa for snacks & soft drinks for the room... reminded me of an urban Sheetz without the gas station of course.

We called "Gram" this morning, who is staying with Jacob at our house. She reports that he slept 11 hours straight last night from 7:15 p.m. to 6:15 a.m.! I hope he continues because that is how he used to be!!

The weather is pretty rough here today. LOTS of rain and flooding forecast. I'm going to take a cab to meet Jeff for lunch at the Convention Center. Not sure how much sight seeing I'll get to do today, but I'm hoping to do this Philly Tour thing tomorrow. www.phillytour.com.

And I think we have an answer....

Last night, more of the same... but first, Jacob did eat really well - an entire 4 oz jar of Vegetables & Turkey plus a 4 oz jar of bananas and most of his bottle. He has a lot of formula during the day too. I'm glad he's eating more because he needs to fill out a little!


Anyway, he went to bed okay according to Jeff. But at 11:00 p.m., he started with his little whimpers. Those progressed and we finally went in and gave him a bottle (water again... no more formula in the middle of the night... bottle cavities and all); changed his diaper, etc. I actually got him back to sleep on 3 different occasions between 11:00 and 11:20 p.m., but within a minute of me stopping the back-patting, he'd wake up and whimper. Back to patting, stop, whimper. Finally at 11:20 p.m., I returned to the bed to find Jeff snoring. At 11:22 p.m. he was whimpering again. Then, it stopped. Started again about 11:30 p.m. Stopped again. Started again at 11:40 p.m. Got progressively louder and was now full out crying. Jeff and I got up again about 11:45 p.m. Gave him teething gel. (He had Ibuprofen before bed, so couldn't have more until 2 a.m.) Jeff spent another 10-15 minutes getting him settled and asleep. Finally sleeping and it's 11:55 p.m. But no. More whimpering by 12:01 p.m. Now that this had been going on an hour, I told Jeff I was going to just put Jacob in bed with us because I could not stay up any longer. We put him in between us, got him settled and he was sound asleep within minutes. He then slept 6 straight hours and did not awake until 6 a.m. This is particularly impressive since he is usually up like clockwork at 5:00 a.m. So, now the theory we have is:


Teething pain from the molars/sleeplessness + Separation anxiety/sleeplessness + crawling/developmental milestone sleeplessness = two sleepy parents and one happy infant sleeping between them!


It's not that we ever wanted to be "co-sleepers" but I'm just not going to try to beat all those problems on a Tuesday night!



*****


The rest of the Easter wrap-up is that Saturday Jeff and I went shopping in the morning. Later that afternoon, we went to visit my dad. My dad got Jacob a baby float for the pool for Easter. Nancy (a.k.a. Nana) got Jacob a singing bunny rabbit. He sings "Bunny Rock Hop," and his ears flap up and down.... so cute!

Sunday, we went to Dad's for a breakfast of Shrimp & Grits.... Dad is a REALLY good cook too! Then, we went to church and introduced Jacob to Bob, the pastor who married us and who had been very nice to check on us several times when Jacob was at Duke. This church, Grace UMC, prayed for Jacob and had him on the prayer list for several months, so it was very special to be able to take him there and have the congregation see him in person finally! Jacob did fairly well in church. He got a little excited with bouncing in his dad's lap and giggling during the sermon, but that sure beats crying! After church, we went back to my Dad's for Easter dinner of pork tenderloin and other yummies! We finally made it home by about 4:30 p.m.

Sleepless Nights

Jacob was up from 1 a.m. until about 3 a.m. last night. He is cutting his top teeth and I think that is the reason for his restlessness. Normally when he awakes at night, he doesn't usually cry. However, last night, he started off fussing, and he got progressively louder. He doesn't go back to sleep without a bottle, so last night I decided we'd start putting water in the bottles instead of formula. He did not care one bit.

We finally got him back to sleep & resting about 1:40 a.m. By 1:52 a.m. he was awake and about to begin crying again. Jeff went in and rocked in for a little while and we went ahead and gave him infant Ibuprofen. I think that must have helped but it was another 30 to 45 minutes later before he finally went back to sleep. Then, he was up at 6:20 this morning, so none of of slept well last night!

***********

We had a good trip to Wilmington over the weekend. On Thursday night Heather brought Caitlin over to see Jacob. We realized we have not had them together since Jacob was one month old (Caitlin was 10 months then). They were very cute together. Jacob crawled right over to her and tried to get her pacifier. Now, he does like pacifiers when we've tried to give him one (believe me, there are actually times I wish he would take one!), but when he sees other kids with them, I think he thinks it's a toy and he wants to play with it, or chew on it.... Chrissy informed us that Jacob does the same things with her twins & their pacifiers.... not too thrilled about that... Anyway, back to the story. Caitlin and Jacob are now friends. Caitlin gave Jacob several "kisses". I'll have to get the pictures posted!

Friday, we went to see Jeff's mom! Jacob got a shirt, sandals, and a blue stuffed bunny for Easter, bringing the Easter bunny talley to two. We went down to the outlet stores in Myrtle Beach and just had to buy Jacob more clothes! He should be well dressed this summer! Of course, it's been so darn cold around here lately, that I'm running out of things to put him in that still fit him!

More later on our weekend!

Live from Wilmington!

Whew.... we made it here. Finally!!

Last night was a rush to do laundry, pack, in addition to all the normal evening activities - feeding Jacob, getting him to bed, etc. I didn't even have time to go work out! So, I planned to go at lunch today, but it was not to be... I'm on the criminal appellate brief rotation at work and I have a criminal brief due next week. I had to get things organized for that and ended up having to meet with my supervisor on the issue, etc., which took up the time I would have been working out at lunch.

Jeff came to the office around 3:00 p.m. and we took Jacob around to see my co-workers. This was the first time they have seen him since he was about 8 weeks old, except in pictures of course... many many pictures. We finally got on the road about 3:30 p.m. We brought both vehicles since I've got to go to Whiteville tomorrow. So, this necessitated stopping half-way on a two hour journey to feed the fussy boy. This turned into a THIRTY minute stop... So, a trip that should take 2 hours or less, took nearly 3 hours!

Jacob was very happy to see his "Gram-Gram." He gave her hugs and his open-mouth kisses where he tries to eat your face. Gram-Gram bought him the Hallmark talking bunny rabbit. He didn't know quite what to think of it. He slept the last 45 minutes or so of the journey down here, so he was full of energy and stayed up until 8:00 p.m. I honestly cannot remember the last time he was up that late. He's been pretty consistent with a 7:00 p.m. bedtime lately. Even at 8:00 p.m., he did not seem sleepy, but we knew he needed to go to bed. He's sleeping in his "new" Tot-Block that we bought last weekend. I'm sure Jacob will wake us many times tonight, since we are in the same room with him!

Tomorrow evening, my best friend Heather is coming over with her daughter who is about 16 months old. Friday, we'll go to Ocean Isle Beach to see the other Gram. Saturday, I think we are going to my dad's. Sunday, we'll probably go to the service at the church where we got married, Grace UMC. And, in the meantime, I need to find time to go work out, and to write this criminal brief!

Tuesday Ramblings

Jacob was up just before 5 a.m. this morning. He had poopoo on his Pooh (pajama) pants. It's such a great way to start the day! We changed him, fed him and put him back in his crib in just his diaper & pooh shirt. Fortunately, he did go back to sleep until about 6:45 a.m., so he was in a much better mood today.

Yesterday was rough for him. I think he has difficulty adjusting on Mondays! Don't we all! He was fussy at Chrissy's too, and he fell asleep in the car on the way home. We let him sleep for a little while, but I could tell he was getting really warm in his car seat, so I finally got him up. He ate about 1/2 jar of Carrots & Beef, then he decided he didn't like it. He had Pears & Raspberries, maybe 1/2 of that jar, and then was ready for bed. He made it until about 6:30 p.m. or so before passing out! He did sleep until 5 a.m., so I guess I can't complain too much!

Tonight we've got to pack to go to Wilmington!

Weekend!

Saturday morning, we finally got an estimate for painting the exterior of our house. We were pretty happy with the price and what is included in the price. We are thinking we will probably go ahead and use this guy. He's painted at least 4 houses in our neighborhood that we know of, and does good work. He was also very quick to get out to give us an estimate. I called him Friday afternoon & he called back Friday evening and came out Saturday morning. I am so excited that we will finally be getting this done soon!!!

Later in the morning, we went out to the Spring Fling community yardsale. When we went last year (or was it the year before?) we did not seem to find near as much stuff as we did Saturday. Then again, that was before we had Jacob. There were two particular sellers who had a LOT of baby boy clothes. One of those two really had very nice, hardly used stuff. We got Jacob the cutest zip-up style of baby Nikes, a little OshKosh bucket hat, and about 7 outfits + four snap type shirts from that seller. I offered her $15 for the entire lot of it and the seller happily accepted. That is one benefit of waiting until 11:30 a.m. to shop a yard sale! I would estimate these clothes/shoes would have easily cost us $50 at a Kid-2-Kid or Once Upon a Child type place. From the other seller, we got Children's Place 2 snap-shirts and 2 pair of blue jeans + a Graco square PNP for a total of $26. It's very similar to this one: http://www.specialtybaby.com/grtotblpanpl.html
It was a good buy because we wanted one to leave it at my mom's house since Jacob has outgrowno the travel crib.

Saturday afternoon, we went to Austin's 1st birthday party. There were two other babies Jacob's age and it was neat seeing them all together. One has the same birthday as Jacob, and was born just 12 hours later! We had a very nice time. They had a delicious cake, and Jacob got the cutest favor bag to take home with him!

On Sunday, Jacob woke up at 5:30 a.m., but we changed him and gave him a bottle and he actually went back to sleep until 7:00 a.m. Let me tell you, that's sleeping in for us! Later that morning, we went to the Target over by Southpoint Mall and played with the car seats. We also went to Babies R Us to check out their car seats. I was really not impressed with their selection of convertible styles. They had about 5-6 Britaxes, about 5 of the EB style Cosco's, and then just a few others. I thought Target had a better selection in different price ranges. I think we are getting close to making a decision. At Babies R Us, we did end up buying Jacob an Easter-type outfit, with a polo shirt, sweater vest and matching shorts. We also got him the cutest baby loafers.

Sunday afternoon, Jacob & I went to the Triangle Mommie's 2nd Birthday Bash at Umstead Park. It was fun to meet everyone! Here is Jacob at the party:
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u104/tmbirthdaybash07/?action=view&current=DSC02847.jpg

Jacob was very interested in this fellow's facial hair - in fact at one point, he seemed to be reaching for this guy because I think he wanted to pull his beard!
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u104/tmbirthdaybash07/?action=view&current=DSC02844.jpg

Incidentally, the baby that the guy is holding was born on Jacob's due date - Aug 11 - so they are the same age too!

This will be a short week - we are heading to Wilmington on Wednesday. I am "working" on Thursday, but I have a mediation in nearby Whiteville, so it works out well!

It's Friday!!

Yesterday, Jacob and his little friend, Sam both wanted to play with the same rattle at Chrissy's house. They kept taking it away from each other. Sam is about 3 weeks older than Jacob, but outweighs him by about 5 lbs. That doesn't sound like much, but when you are talking about kids this age, it really is! Sam is a big boy! He looks like a baby version of Santa Claus when he is lying on his back. Apparently, his parents feed him pureed chicken & dumplings! Sam also has a lot more hair than Jacob. I hear that Jacob likes to eat Sam's hair.

Jacob did well last night. But, he wanted to get up at 5:30 this morning and did not want to go back to sleep in a little. I told Jeff it will be so fun to get up at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday! This morning before we left, I gave Jacob one of those Gerber wagon wheels. It's carrot & cheese flavored. He tasted it a little and did not seem to enthusiastic. I'm trying to broaden his finger food beyond puffs!

On tap for this weekend: the Holly Springs Spring Fling Community Yard Sale & Kid's Activities on Saturday; a birthday party on Saturday for Austin, who will be one on Monday; shopping at Babies R Us on Sunday to check out car seats; and the Triangle Mommies picnic on Sunday! Busy weekend!

Another Great Evening!

Jacob napped well at Chrissy's again yesterday and stayed up until 7 p.m. When I got home, Jeff was already feeding him cereal w/ strained peaches. I had stopped at Food Lion and had gotten diced peaches. They are very mushy-like. So we tried feeding him the diced ones. He was not too impressed. He made a very funny face at them. Then again, he may like them after we give them to him a few times. I seem to remember he made a similar face when we gave him puffs, but now he likes those pretty well. We also started the canister of Cherry flavored puffs - yum!

Jacob woke up at 2:30 a.m., but he must have gone back to sleep. I also heard him talking around 5:30 a.m. Jeff and I were up at 6:15 or so, and Jacob remained sleeping until almost 7:00 a.m.! He was in such a good mood this morning too. I wish every night/morning could be like that!

My friend Audra, who I've known for many years, gave birth to a baby girl, Hannah, on March 22, which is our anniversary! We are very happy for them!

The other exciting news is that it looks like I'm going to be able to go with Jeff to Philadelphia the weekend after Easter! My mom is going to stay with Jacob at our house so that I can go. Originally, we considered taking Jacob to Philly with us, but my mom has graciously accepted our request for her to stay with him and we are grateful! This will be our first trip away from him, so it will definitely be challenging for Jeff & I! I have no doubts that my mom can handle everything and Jacob will be in good hands!

A Good Night!

Jacob apparently napped well at Chrissy's yesterday because he was in a very good mood when he got home! He is like a different kid when he gets in a good nap! He ate his dinner and then played until 7 p.m. before he started rubbing those baby blues. I took him upstairs and read him a book, put him in his crib and he just went right on to dreamland. He pretty much slept all night. He did wake up about 2:30 a.m. and talked to himself for awhile. And he was definitely already awake when we got up at 6:15 a.m. It's so hard to know how long he sleeps at night!

Sleep Deprived!

Good Morning.

Jacob had an okay night. He was pretty tired by the time we got him home. He ate his dinner okay, but completely passed out right afterwards, so he was in bed by 6:15 p.m.! I often wonder if he naps at all at Chrissy's! He did get up twice last night at 10:30 PM and 3:30 AM. I am wondering if this is one of those things where he is not sleeping as well because he is just about to begin crawling. Apparently, sleep problems can occur whenever kids are about to hit developmental milestones. It is so tough because when he wakes up, he is usually not full blown crying, but rather just whiny-crying. It is enough to keep me awake though, so it is easier to get up and get him settled again with a diaper change and small bottle so we can all go back to sleep quicker! For the record, Jeff and I both get up and one changes him while the other gets the bottle, then we take turns who gets to go on back to bed. The truth is though, even when I go back to bed first, I am still laying there awake until Jeff gets back to bed, and then oftentimes, it can take me as much as an hour to fall back asleep! Fortunately, this night waking is not an every night thing, but it is happening more often than I'd like it to right now. I'd guess about 2-3 times a week.