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.
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