First Haircut

It was definitely time to say goodbye to the long hair that was always in his face. I was hesitant to get his hair cut because everyone told me it would take his baby look away. They were right, but he is such a handsome little man now!

17 Months!

Our baby is 17 months old today and we're left trying to figure out where our baby went. He is definitely a toddler now!

In addition to the 4 words we started saying earlier in the week, yesterday he said "bye-bye" and this morning he said banana, which came out "nana". He gets so proud of himself when he says real words :)

Other than the new words, not a lot going on with him. He's starting to act out a little more so we've been having some rough days. We're trying to stop the behavior now before it gets worse though. It's nothing terrible, but he thinks he always needs to be the center of attention. If Cody and I are trying to have a conversation he will start screaming over us so that we have to stop talking and talk to him, which is totally unacceptable! We all know he's not deprived of attention, that's for sure!

He's also very impatient. When he decides he's hungry, he expects food to be ready for him immediately. So, as I'm preparing his meal he'll hang on to my legs and scream until it's done. Again, not acceptable.

So, the last few days he's been a little cranky, but overall he really is a good little boy. We often let him walk when we go to the store instead of putting him in the cart and he is really well behaved. He doesn't touch stuff he's not supposed to and when he is allowed to touch something he is really good about putting it back where he got it when we ask him to.

Some of his favorite things right now are books, of course, and anything that's not actually one of his toys. He loves playing with "grown-up" things. He spends most of the day carrying around a frying pan. We'll ask him to fry an egg and he'll put the pan down, wiggle his fingers around in the middle of the pan and make a sizzle sound. Apparently he pays a lot more attention when we're cooking than we realized!

Up!

Other than mama and dada, of course, Jacob's first word was up. We've been thinking he was going to start spitting out words soon because he appeared to be trying to mimic things we were saying but they just wouldn't come out.

Then, finally, he wanted in his highchair so he was trying to pull the tray off and he said "Up". Now he wants "up" on everything. That was the start, now a week after he first said it he says "down", "ball" and "book" as well. Of course the last letters don't get pronounced most of the time, but it's obvious what he's trying to say.

Happy Halloween!

This year for Halloween we didn't do much but we did buy a costume for Jacob. We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to "trick or treat" and to see Ed, Dani and Erik. It was fun seeing the boys together in their costumes. Jacob was a pirate and Erik was the Greatest American Hero. We just let them play there for a while and then we walked down the street to visit Great Grandma. It was raining so we didn't make any other stops.

We had dinner then headed home to hand out candy at our house. Jacob got some toddler-friendly treats and had fun playing with Erik. Maybe next year we'll let him trick or treat at the mall, but this year we didn't want him to have the candy anyway, so we skipped it.

I was a little disappointed I didn't get better pictures but here are the ones I got. Enjoy!

Need A Corona?

Earlier this evening Cody took the garbage out. That's not very interesting, but what he found when he took it out is. The garbage can had been out on the street since it just got emptied, but earlier today Cody brought it back up to the side of the house. When he opened up the lid to throw the bag of garbage in he was surprised to see the can wasn't empty. Instead he found a small black plastic bag with a brand new, unopened 6 pack of Corona and a pack of Marlboro Lights in it.

What do you make of this interesting find?

He Thinks He's A Cow

Jacob can't really talk, well not in words the rest of the world would understand, but he knows the meaning of so many words now! One of his favorite things to do at home is to look through all of his animal books. We can ask him where an animal is and he will find it in the book. He also has just started to be able to relate the name of an animal with the correct picture and make the sound the animal does. It's the cutest thing ever!

He can point out cows, goats, chickens, owls, elephants, dogs and cats. It seems there are more that he knows, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment! He can make the sounds of a cow, chicken, elephant and owl. All day today he was walking around the house mooing and bringing me all his toy cows.

Unrelated, but he also is getting really good at following simple commands. I can tell him to go put on his hat and he will stop everything, go find his hat, put it on and then resume what he was doing. It's funny because he tends to scatter his toys in every room of the house but if we tell him to go get something specific, he knows exactly where it is!

He's becoming such a big boy!

Bridge's Pets

As I've mentioned before, Jacob loves animals. He has several books about animals along with animal toys. We always talk to him about different animals and take him to see them in person when we can. We went to the pumpkin patch last week and we plan on doing that again before the end of the month, but we found a new place to go that is open year round........a pet store!

A lady at work told me about Bridge's Pets in Snohomish. She said it was the best pet store and told me I needed to take Jacob there, so we did. Wow, she was right. That place is huge and Jacob was so excited! The middle part of the store is stocked with tons of merchandise but the perimeter of the store is set up to house the animals. They even have separate rooms for the reptiles and fish. In the reptile room, along with the reptiles of course, they have a TV set up with a sitting area. The Jungle Book was playing and they had a huge stuffed gorilla and lion on the floor. Jacob would go and "crash" on the stuffed animals when he needed to rest after running several laps!

The fish room, or Water Garden, was definitely his favorite. The room was fairly large with a ton of different tanks. The bottom tanks were at floor level so they were perfect for Jacob to get a good look. The tanks are around the outside of the room and the middle part is full of waterfalls and greenery. Jacob ran laps in there looking at everything for almost an hour. By the time we left we could barely even stand up.....he was worn out!

We will definitely be going back there!

Pumpkin Patch

Jacob absolutely loves animals, so we thought it would be fun to take him to Carleton Farms today. Most of the activities are only open on the weekends, but he is too little for them anyway so since the weekdays are less busy it was perfect for him. Admission and parking are free so today's outing didn't cost us a thing, yet Jacob thoroughly enjoyed it!

They have a full pumpkin patch, a store with fresh grown produce and of course, farm animals. He had so much fun that he broke down into a complete tantrum when we tried to put him back in the car.

Cuddlebug

Anyone that has spent any amount of time with Jacob knows that he is a busy boy. Always moving, trying to figure out how things work and making mommy chase him throughout the house. Lately though, we have developed a routine when he wakes up. When I get him out of the crib, whether its morning or after a nap, I take him into the living room and sit on the couch with him. He'll usually sit with me with his head on my chest for anywhere from a few minutes up to 15-20 minutes. It's my favorite part of the day!

15 months!

Jacob had his 15 month well child checkup today with Dr. Lester. He now weighs 21 lbs, 8 ozs and is 2'7" tall! I was a little surprised at how small he is compared to other boys his age. His weight in only in the 10th percentile which means 90% of other 15 month old boys weigh more than him. Not a huge deal, but I was surprised. Normally doctors are pretty concerned with a lack of weight gain, but she could tell how active Jacob is just by the way he was buzzing around the room. She said as long as he is meeting developmental milestones, which he is, then his actual weight isn't important. His development is the best indicator of whether or not he's getting the proper nutrition, so no need to worry!

Flight Lessons

Jacob can't stand to be cooped up in the house all day. Normally we just put him in the stroller and walk over to the store and then back home, but today we decided to try out a little park by our house. It's across the street from the store and well within walking distance. There's not much there but there is a swingset, which Jacob we found out he loves. Most Sundays when Jacob stays with Cody's parents while I work, Grandpa takes Jacob over to the park by their house for his "flight lessons" on the swing. It has become a normal part of his Sunday routine, but we figured he would enjoy it today too...........and he definitely did!

Random Cuteness

I have a video of Jacob walking, but I can't seem to figure out how to post it. Can anyone help me out?

So, until I figure that out I just have some random pictures to share. Enjoy!

 

And this is his "You're the meanest Mommy ever" face (caused by not letting him play with the camera):

Walking!

Our big boy is walking! He has been taking steps for a few weeks, but only a few at a time and always just from person to person. Within the last week he has been taking many more steps and often unprompted. He still doesn't have it perfected and prefers to crawl quite often, but he does have the ability to get anywhere he wants to go via his feet!

Milestones

I've said in the past that I am using this blog to keep track of things Jacob does, so this post is purely for that purpose. I will be listing his accomplishments up to this point and using the label feature I will label it "Milestones". Some things I post might be of no interest to anyone but me, but I will be including it in case I want it for later. Going forward, each time I write a post about something new Jacob is doing I will label it in the same way so that I can click "Milestones" and everything will be neatly organized and accessible! Now, I just have to keep my posts current.........wish me luck!

• 2 months - Smiles
• 4 months - Moved from bassinet in our room to crib in his own room
• 6 months - Started baby foods
• 6 months - Rolled over
• 6 1/2 months - Slept 12 hours through the night for the first time
• 7 months - Able to sit up without support
• 8 months - No more night waking...YAY!
• 8 months - Started supplementing with formula
  
• 9 months - Pulling up to standing
• 9 months - Started crawling
• 9 months - Says "Mama" and "DaDa"
• 10 months - Weaned from breastfeeding
  
• 10 months - 2 bottom front teeth
• 12 1/2 months - Completely weaned from the bottle
  
• 14 months - 2 top front teeth and then several others including bottom molars

This post will be edited with anything I think of later that I forgot!

Jacob's Birthday Party

We finally celebrated Jacob's 1st Birthday! We had the party on the 4th of July and due to it being a holiday, only family members were able to come. At first I was a little disappointed that many of the original guest list weren't able to make it, but then I realized that the smaller crowd was better anyway. It gave us a chance to visit with everyone and made it less chaotic for Jacob. He loves attention, but he can be shy in big crowds.

The weather was fantastic and we had a really great time celebrating!

This was about a week before his party, but Jacob opening presents from Mommy and Daddy:

 Cake:

Tired and not wanting anything to do with the cake:

 

Presents!....after his nap:

Jacob's 1st Birthday!

Today is my baby boy's first birthday! Unfortunately, due to Daddy's surgery, we didn't get to celebrate, but the good news is Daddy came home today!

Jacob's party was originally scheduled for next Saturday, June 13th, but we have decided to postpone it. Cody needs some time to recover and just isn't moving well enough. We could still do the party, but I would rather wait until he is able to fully enjoy it and participate. Stay tuned for new date.

Now for pictures....

THEN

NOW

Cody's Hospital Stay

As many of you have heard by now, we had quite a scare over the last couple of days. It all started about a week ago when Cody started to notice an extreme fatigue in his legs. He was thinking he was just over tired and dehydrated, but after a few days the fatigue continued, while he felt great otherwise.

He was unable to walk more than 100 yards with sitting and resting his legs. He described the weakness as the same kind of fatigue you get after going on a really long run. 100 yard walk should not have that effect, so after a week he put a call into his doctor. That was on Monday.

Tuesday, 8am: Appointment with his primary care provider, Dr. Jacobson. He ran several tests and found that Cody had virtually no pulse anywhere in his left leg. He called to make an appointment with a Heart and Vascular Dr. The earliest appointment was July 2, so Dr. Jacobson accepted it, but told Cody that he would work on getting something sooner, hopefully within the week. Within a short time the nurse called and told him to come in the next day at 4:30p.

Wednesday, 4:30pm: Appointment with Dr. Dash. He performed an ultrasound on Cody's left leg and confirmed that there was definitely a blockage of the main artery. He gave Cody all the necessary paperwork to be admitted and sent him to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital and within a short time were taken to the triage unit in the ER. The time line at this point is a little blurry but he was seen by a few different doctors who all came up with basically the same conclusion as Dr. Dash....Cody had a major problem in that leg. Unfortunately, they didn't have a regular room for him so he spent the night in the ER and I couldn't really stay with him. They put him on an IV and a blood thinner and I went home.

At this point the doctors thought they were dealing with a blood clot of some sort, but they weren't sure and they certainly didn't know why an otherwise healthy 31 year old would have this sort of problem.

Thursday, approximately 8am: Dr McIntyre performed an arteriogram, which is when dye is put into the vascular system and x-rays are taken to exam the blood flow. It was then that the problem was identified.

An artery has layers to it, consisting of 3 walls. The two inner walls of the major artery in his left leg had split, or dissected. There was also a large blood clot causing an 80% blockage of the blood flow. Only way to fix it was surgery.

At about 11:30am, he was taken into Pre-Op and I was escorted to the waiting room. He was taken into the OR at about 1pm and it was after 3 when I got the call from the surgeon. He had to perform a bypass of the main artery that was damaged.

Cody is doing amazingly well. We both feel so blessed that he is still here. We got a scary reminder of just how fragile life is. The doctors were amazed that he walked around with this condition for a week and can't imagine he would still be here if he would've waited much longer to be seen.

He is expected to make a full recovery, with little to no effects on his daily life from here on out.

Jacob's First Vacation

In early 2007, Cody and I purchased a timeshare package through Shell Vacations Club. We didn't get the chance to use it at all throughout 2007 and 2008, so we decided to make sure we went somewhere in 2009! Traveling with an infant is tough so I wanted to make sure and pick a place that was well suited to an 11 month old. After spending quite a bit of time looking over the Shell properties, we decided our trip would be to Phoenix and we would drive.

We left on May 8th and returned in the early hours of the 22nd. It was a long trip, but we couldn't have asked for it to go better! The first day was long, but surprisingly, Jacob was such a trooper. We left our house at 5am and drove throughout the day until we reached Reno, NV at 10pm. Our first stop that day was for breakfast and we decided that it was the perfect time for Jacob's first McDonald's experience.

So once we got to Reno we stayed the night there and then left early the next morning to continue our journey. Next destination: Las Vegas. Once again, Jacob tolerated the trip very well as long as we stopped every 2 hours or so for a snack and some playtime. We stayed in Vegas for the night then continued onto Phoenix the next day.

We arrived at the Legacy Golf Resort and wow, we were impressed. Each room on the property is a condo, varying from a studio to a 2 bedroom. We had picked a 1 bedroom condo and it was perfect! It was very spacious and allowed Jacob plenty of room to play after such a long trip. The kitchen was fully stocked with everything we could have possibly needed. A full size refridgerator/freezer, dishwasher, coffee pot, hand mixer, plates, bowls, cups, silverware, cooking utensils, pots, pans, can opener....everything we have in our kitchen at home! It also had a washer and dryer, full sized dining room table, patio,  and jacuzzi tub in master bedroom.

We stayed in Phoenix for 8 nights and we were busy everyday! On Monday, we took Jacob to his first baseball game to see the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was so neat to be able to go to a different ballpark. Cody and I both really enjoy baseball, but have never had the opportunity to visit another team's stadium. Jacob even got some autographs and to meet Baxter, the mascot.

Tuesday, we hung around the resort, went to a presentation for our timeshare and spent some time at the pool. Nothing too exciting, but it turned out to be a fun and relaxing day.

Wednesday, Jacob had his first visit to the zoo. For attending the presentation on Tuesday, we were given free passes to the Phoenix Zoo. It was incredibly hot that day and poor Jacob was miserable within minutes of walking through the gate. Daddy ended up wetting a burp cloth we brought and draping it over Jacob's head to keep him cool. After that, he was much happier. Unfortunately, due to the heat many of the animals were in hiding, but they did have a petting zoo, which was definitely Jacob's favorite part.

Thursday, we drove to Oro Valley, about 100 miles south of Phoenix, to visit friends we met while working in Lynden. We spent most of the day there and it was really nice getting to visit with them.

Friday, we went to the Out of Africa Wildlife Park. Again it was really hot, but this place was so neat, we had fun anyway! It is similar to Northwest Trek that we have here in Wa, but instead of Northwest animals, they have African animals. We started the day on the safari, which took us into an area where the animals were free to roam. We saw several animals up close and even got to feed a giraffe! After the Safari, we walked through the rest of the park. The setup was so much better than a zoo. At most zoos, the animals covered shelter is quite a ways from the viewing point. Here it was just the opposite. They had the shelters set up directly in front of the viewing points. We were so close that we could have touched many of the animals, but of course didn't!

Saturday we drove into Glendale and saw some of my family. Family I hadn't seen in years! Uncle Steve and Aunt Jessica moved to Arizona shortly after we moved to WA (1994) and I had only seen Uncle Steve since that time, none of the rest of the family. Aunt Debbie also drove over from California to spend the weekend so I got to see her for the first time since 2000. We spent a few hours hanging out at their house visiting, went to lunch and then visited at the house some more until Uncle Steve had to go to work. That night when Aunt Jessica got off work, we went to the casino while Kourtney babysat Jacob. We originally only planned on visiting them 1 day, but we had such a good time that we ended up going back on Sunday for a while. I didn't know when we would get the opportunity to see them again so I wanted to spend as much time there as possible.

We left Phoenix on Monday morning and once again made stops for the night in Las Vegas and Reno. On the way back we also were able to stop in Eugene and spend a few hours with Amy and Kayla. Then we headed home.

It was a long trip, but went very well!

Entering the Blog World........Again!

So my first attempt at this was a major failure, so I hope to do better this time! Even though I'm starting this new blog, today, August 29th, I'll be adding posts and making the date reflect when the events I'm talking about actually happened, so there will be entries for days before this blog even existed.

This blog is mainly for my own records, but I will try to make it entertaining for you all to read. I think many parents will tell you that they don't remember when their child did certain things and all of them regret not keeping better notes. I don't want to have that regret and this is my way of preventing it.