Happy 8th Month Birthday Jake!

Jake turned 8 months old today. A few updates:

• Still not crawling. He gets in the position, and can slide backwards, but cannot crawl frontwards. Putting something in front of him doesn't encourage him, it only makes him mad he can't get to it. Then he just drops to his stomach, starts rolling & crying. Oh well, I figure there will be plenty of time for him to crawl. Might as well enjoy it while he is not too mobile. He does love to stand up though, so maybe he'll walk before crawling?!?! I hope not!
• Still loves to eat. Last week we fixed him chicken/eggplant/potato. I don't know if I'm embarrassed or proud that he eats better than me?! He has started eating puffs too. He is so funny to watch. He can feed them to himself. It takes him forever to pick it up and get it from his hand to mouth. But he can do it & it is a great way to keep him entertained. He has 6 teeth (2 on bottom & 4 up top).
• Still such a happy baby. He loves other kids and animals. His face just lights up. He loves for people to talk to him & give him attention. And he loves to snuggle in your lap. He is my little teddy bear.
• New things: he is clapping now. Sometimes his hands miss each other which is funny, but he is doing it more regular now. He is also blabbering all the time. We just love to hear him "talk". On Friday, I picked him from daycare. He didn't see me when I first walked in because he was playing in the floor. Then he looked up & saw me, and then mouthed "ma-ma, ma-ma". I was pretty sure I saw it, but didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to be 'one of those moms'. But then his teacher said, oh my gosh, he just mouthed ma-ma! I was just glad that someone else saw it too!

Happy 8 months!

Clapping

If mom is too slow, I just grab the spoon & feed myself

On Friday we took Jake to his first high school football game. We went to see Robbie's old high school, McCallie play. On Saturday, we met up with my sister Lindsey & her husband Brooks. We shopped during the day & then stayed at their new house that night. We had so much fun!! Thanks guys for letting us hang out!

Happy Birthday Princesses!

We spent the weekend in Birmingham. On Saturday afternoon we went to Madeline's 2nd Birthday Party and on Sunday afternoon we went to Anna James' 1st Birthday Party. Both girls were so precious!! They looked so cute, I just hate that I didn't get pictures of them in their birthday tutus. I forgot how annoying traffic is in Birmingham, so unfortunately we were 30 minutes late to both parties. I do not miss Birmingham traffic!! Therefore I missed the good shots of the girls. We had so much fun though at both parties and loved catching up with our friends. On Saturday evening we went to a surprise birthday party for my friend Brooke's husband. Throw in some shopping (the girls) & golf (the guys) and it was a busy, but fun weekend!

Jake riding on Granddad's shoulders

Robbie took this picture in the Auburn store, not me. Jake did think that the tiger was funny though.

At Matt's surprise party. Miranda, Brooke, Allison & Hayley are all friends from college.
Jake enjoying a bath in Mimi & Granddad's big bath tub

Getting swept away by the jets

I tried to get a good picture of Anna James & Jake. Neither would look at the camera & Jake kept taking Anna James' paci.

Turtle

Jake moved up a class in school on Monday. He moved up from the Little Lambs class to the Turtle's class. He has had a good 2 days so far!

1st day of school

2nd day of school. Sporting his new kicks. In his new class, they have to wear soft shoes (I'm not sure why. He still can't even crawl yet!)

Thanks Stephanie for his shoes! Jake loves them! He laughs every time I put them on his feet. I guess they feel funny on his feet. He kept looking at them & admiring them. Too funny!

I was feeling bad because I haven't updated Jake's baby book since he was born. While I was pregnant, I could not find a baby book that I liked. So for some reason, I decided to make Jake's. It was working out fine until Jake came & work became a madhouse. Because I made his baby book, I have to write the pages, print the pages & then fill them out. I was thinking that I could go back and use the blog as a reference for when he reached certain milestones. Then I got the bright idea to just print out the blog and insert it into his baby book. So if you see longer journal entries on some posts, I'm just knocking out 2 tasks!

The best children's advice that I have received came from my mom via her mom. She has always told me to enjoy each phase of your life. Don't rush it forward looking too ahead into the future or get stuck in the past. Just enjoy each phase in the present. It is especially true with children. You find yourself, on edge pushing for them to reach the next milestone while at the same time not wanting to let go of the past. But Jake at 7.5 months is really in a great phase right now.

Things I love about this phase in his life:

1) It is so cheap to entertain him. His favorite things to play with are his feet/hands and a sheet of paper. That entertains him so much longer than any toy you can buy in the store. And takes up less room! If we really want to excite him, we throw in an old remote or old cell phone. We try to get him to play with actual toys, but they just don't occupy his attention long enough.

2) He sounds like a baby dinosaur. He makes the funniest noises. He likes to hear his voice & we love hearing it too!

3) He is so friendly! That personality trait reminds me so much of Robbie! Jake loves people, especially children. We started noticing it when Gary & Summer were up. Jake would just watch Henry and die laughing. Then this past weekend at my parents, Jake was in love all weekend with Maddox. He is fascinated with children. His teachers talk about how friendly he is at school with the other kids. When I dropped him off this morning a new boy in his class was who is new to daycare was crying. I sat Jake beside him. Jake just kept smiling at him. (I feel like he was letting the little boy know he was his friend, not that he was laughing at him!) Jake gets very excited when people stop & talk to him and he loves to people watch.

4) He discovers something new every day. I love to see his eyes get wide when he discovers something. He watches his wrist move, he concentrates on trying to crawl, he surprises himself with the noises his mouth makes. He makes the smallest tasks seem like such big tricks! Today it was fun watching him finally figure out how to feed himself puffs. The first day I let him try feeding himself, he just knocked them off the tray. Then he figured out how to pick them up, and how to bring his fist to his mouth, but he couldn't move the puff from his fist to his mouth. Finally today he got it. It takes him forever to eat one, but it is so funny to watch.

5) I love that he is old enough & big enough that I don't feel like I'm going to break him if I pick him up, but he is still baby enough for me to cradle him & rock him to sleep. I wish I could bottle up the feeling of having that sweet little baby asleep in my arms. It's the greatest feeling that I have ever felt.

Things I could live without:

Teething! The mood swings, the pitiful cry, the fist shoved in the mouth. He finally had the top teeth break through. He now has 2 bottom teeth & 3.5 top teeth (one has broken through just a little). His mood has improved so much! We are going to enjoy it until the next round!

Biggest lesson I've learned:

They grow up so fast. Our good friends Zach & Kimberly welcomed their sweet baby girl Addison Taylor "Addie" to the world on Friday. We stopped by the hospital on our way out of town. She is so tiny & precious. I just can't believe that 7 months ago, Jake was that size and we were in their place. I truly try to take each day and at the end of it, think about and remember the things that are most important to me - my Savior, my family & my friends. This life is full of ups & downs, and it goes by so quickly, but those are the things that I cherish most. I need to take more time to let those 3 groups of people know how much they mean to me and how much they touch my life. Because in the blink of an eye, it seems as if we are off to the next chapter in life.

Weekend

We were in Prattville for the weekend. We took a family photo Saturday morning and then we had Maddox's birthday party that afternoon. Busy weekend, but lots of fun!

The Birthday Girl - Maddox

Marrell & Jake The Birthday Cake

Jake & Aunt Lindsey

Blowing out the candles

Opening gifts

Maddox & her dad riding the go carts

Jake & Nana

Maddox, Lindsey & Isabella in the bumper boat

Sweet baby Jackson

Trying out the pool - take 2

Jake playing with his cousins Maddox & Marrell

After church

Visit from the Vaughan's

Our good friends from Auburn, Gary & Summer and their 18-month old son, Henry came up to visit us. We had such a great time!! They were our first out-of-town visitors with a child, since we had Jake. Planning around feed time, nap times & bed times certainly makes it more interesting. The best time though was just hanging out on the patio with great friends having fun with 2 little precious boys! Of course I wish that I had taken more pictures. The one picture I have of Jake & Henry, my camera lens was foggy. I also never got a group picture of us. Either Jake was sleeping or it was pouring down rain, each time we had the opportunity. At least we have the great memories! Thanks so much guys for coming up! Also below are some random pictures of Jake.

Henry by the water (Jake was asleep)

Jake & Henry

At the choo-choo downtown

He finally lost enough tummy for his foot to reach his mouth!