We had a nice, low-key Thanksgiving 'round these parts. Andrew's sister Laura recently had open-heart surgery, and needed some peace and quiet for recovery. We went over to the Lees' house and had a simple, no-fuss (but yummy, thanks to cousin Catt) dinner. Now we're loving preparing for Christmas. I LOVE this time of year, and Jake is so happy about all the lights and shiny ornaments.

Here's a little adorableness for you:

Halloween

Although a little later, here's some adorable pics our our Little Stinker's second Halloween. Jake LOVED trick-or-treating! We went with our neighbors, and little Chloe (2 years old) showed him what to do... and by the end of the night, Jake was toddling up the stairs, banging on the doors, and sticking his plastic punkin out to receive candy. He would even reach in to pick out a piece for himself. He also loves sorting through his candy, although he doesn't seem to understand why it keeps disappearing and Mommy and Daddy have chocolate on their fingers....
Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Our Pumpkin in the pumpkin patch:


Our Little Stinker:

Happy (very belated) First Birthday, Jacob!

On October 24th, 2009, our baby boy turned a year old. Andrew loves this stage with Jake, although he can't wait for soccer practice and playing catch in a few years. I, for my part, can't believe that my teeny little miracle is walking, babbling and a YEAR OLD ALREADY. I'll admit that I cried to see him growing up so fast. But it was wonderful to celebrate with family and friends that afternoon. Here are a few photos.

Jake's first birthday was teddy bear-themed:


Some photos of the cakes:





And the birthday boy:


Jake reeeeally enjoyed his first taste of sugar (esp. since it was chocolate):



Opening presents:





A few weeks later we had a big birthday party at the neighborhood playground for the three little boys (Tyson, Beau and Jake) who turned one at the same time (Tyson's 2 weeks younger than Jake, and Beau is 3 weeks younger). It's been wonderful having other little boys (and other moms!) around to play with over the last year, and it was so nice to celebrate with the little ones.

updates

Well, I cannot believe that it's been over a month that we've posted here. For those of you who aren't aware, Andrew and I have signed on to run a new business here in Fairfax, the Fun Bus (www.funbuses.com). It's a mobile kids' gym in a refurbished school bus that attends daycares and preschools for weekly sessions (and we do parties, too!). ANYHOW, that's why things have been slacking on the "look how cute Jake is!" end of things.

Not that he's not adorable. He walks everywhere now, although not always where we want him to go (and always with his hands held at shoulder height, for some reason). He's really fast, and LOVES to walk around outside, exploring things. I'll admit that it's nice to be able to put him down without worrying about him dropping to all fours and crawling through the dirt... of course, now we have to start finding some "good" shoes for him...

With his new-found mobility comes a lot of mischief. He loves to open and close the dishwasher and play with the knobs, and on more than one occasion he's set it to "timed wash" and we've woken up to hear the dishwasher going downstairs. Unfortunately the stove looks a lot like the dishwasher from his level, so we have to be extra-vigilant about that. He LOVES sticks or stick-like things, and he loves to hit things with them. Spoons, chopsticks, straws, brooms, mops, even toilet plungers (when our backs are turned) aren't safe from him... Luckily (or unluckily?) he's also discovered that you can sweep with a broom, so now he tries to help with that.

Still no real words yet, although "uh-oh" is a little out of practice. He definitely has a version of "hello" that he uses: "Eh-woo". He picks up anything that looks like a phone (and since our cell phones are small rectangles, that is almost everything) and tucks in under his chin against his shoulder and says "eh-woo" into it. If there's actually a person on the other end of the line though, he gets freaked out why his toy is making noises. He's also started using a version of "Thank you". It doesn't sound like thank you (more of a "dee-tah") but he says it whenever we hand him something.

I'm going to try to dig up some pictures from his birthday, so you can all share in that. We've been having a lot of fun over the last month, and our little boy is growing so much!

I think we're going to count Jake's first word as "uh-oh". It's the only word he consistently uses in context.

My babybear has had a terrible stuffy nose for a week now, and it's getting prety bad now. He can't breathe through his nose, and I can't make it better. :(

Jake's first haircut

We took Jake to get his first haircut today. Bianca, at Patrizia's Salone in Vienna, VA, has been cutting Andrew's hair since he was 8 years old, so of course she was thrilled to give Jake his first trim. She was so good, too, getting around all of his squirmy fingers and keeping him distracted. Jake looks so different now, all grown up. My little baby is a toddler now!

Jake's out-of-control hair and other pictures

Well, Jake's hair is below his eyes, so it's time for a hair cut. We've got one scheduled for tomorrow, and he needs it, as you can see:




Here's a few recent cute ones too:

Jake playing in the packaging peanuts


Bathtime:


Getting ready for Halloween:


Having lunch with Daddy:


And finally, a preview of Jake's ADORABLE Halloween costume: My Little Stinker

first steps!

Hi all!
On Tuesday evening (Sept 24th), in full view of Andrew, myself, Nana, Pop and Nana Jean, Jake took 2.5 steps! Wow! So I think we can say that he's really starting to walk!
I also am continually surprised at how smart he is. You know, for an 11-month-old. He loves closing doors, and knows how to get around them and out of the way so that he can close them completely (and then gets angry when he can't open them so that he can shut them again). He also has figured out how to go down steps!! I love watching him do it, because we didn't teach him that, he figured it out by himself! He turns around and backs up... only problem is that he does that for everything now; he thinks he can get down off the bed and everything that way! It's made him more fearless!

gift registries

Hi all! With Jake's first birthday coming up, we wanted everyone to know that he's still registered at Babies R Us/Toys R Us (registry # 62213659) and at Amazon.com (search "Rachel A. Korpanty"). You know, just in case. ;)

(Alot of the same stuff is on each registry, just FYI)

Jake's first step?

Jake turns 11 months old today, and we finally caught on video this thing he's been doing for the last several days: sort of a falling, half-step. I don't know if we can count it as an actual step, but if it isn't, it's pretty close!

Here's the youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOqdI4ICWck

Hug

Have I mentioned that Jake can give hugs? Not all the time, but he's getting better about doing it when we say "Jacob Hug!" Right now, Andrew and Jake are passing a Pooh-bear back and forth, each giving it a hug and passing it to the other. They're so precious together.

I haven't posted in a while, and no new pics. I'll see about a video, later.

Jake is so really to walk! He stands up on his own now, no biggie... especially if there's music to clap and pop to. He's occasionally taken what we call the "falling step", where he takes a step towards something and then falls into it/them. So we figure it's only a short time before he walks! I'll admit that, while I'm dreading having a walker in the house (and I'll cry a little to think of my baby all grown up), it'll be nice to be able to put him on the ground and not worry about him crawling in the dirt, getting everything filthy and putting junk in his mouth.

We're getting ready for my favorite holiday- Halloween!- by picking out some costumes. Do not fear, there will be plenty of pictures! Also, he's ready for a haircut. I wanted to wait 'til he was a year, but he's beginning to be mistaken for a girl...

Very belated SC pics

I didn't post any pics from our trip down to SC in July, so here's a few very belated ones.

My three guys:

"helping":

Caught in the act:








This one requires some set up. It was time for Jake's nap, but he was being stubborn and wouldn't sleep. He was in bed, screaming and crying, and all of a sudden he got really quiet. We heard some noises from the room, but since he wasn't screaming, we just ignored him. I went in after about 15 minutes, and found that he had pulled himself up and swept everything off of the nearby table and dresser. Everything. Including the box of tissues, which he had swept into the crib with him. Then he sat down, and meticulously pulled out every single tissue, one by one, crumpled them up and shoved them in the corners of his mattress. So cute!

Ozark pics

We have so many photos from the recent trip out to MO, but here's just a few of us having fun.