The Continuing Adventures of Our Little Fami-Lee

Sledding with Jake

2010-02-08T19:12:00.000-08:00

Dec 19th brought us the Snowpocalypse. On Feb 5th came Snowmageddon. Today, we decided to take Jake out sledding.

Knowledge base

2010-01-20T08:03:00.000-08:00

So Jake now knows what a phone is. Today Andrew told him "Go get your phone" not expecting him to know what he was talking about. To our surprise, Jacob toddled over to where his cell phone was on the floor and picked it right up. He is learning faster and faster each week. He now does the signs for "food", "more", and "ball". He also sometimes does the sign for "milk" but we don't know if he fully understands what it means.

He has been really fussy the past few days. Yesterday Rachel discovered that he has 2 new teeth coming in! Both are upper molars.

2010-01-08T14:19:00.000-08:00

Baby sign

2010-01-07T22:10:00.001-08:00

Jacob is learning more and more signs in sign language. We've been teaching him Baby Sign which is a somewhat simplified version of American Sign Language. Today he learned "cracker" which is where you knock on your elbow. He knows "dog", "more", "food", and kind of knows "ball."

2009-12-03T17:11:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-23T09:39:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-19T12:17:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-19T11:45:00.001-08:00

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!

2009-10-11T13:32:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-08T12:39:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-09-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-15T06:16:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-09-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

Here we are out at the Lake of the Ozarks, for the Smith Family Reunion (Andrew's grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary!!), and we're having a blast! Our little guy was quite the trooper, remaining in fairly good spirits through all of the celebrating. Of course, having any number of loving relatives on hand to hold, comfort and FEED HIM CHEERIOS probably helped too!!!

Jake crawls a lot more on his hands and knees now, using his army-crawl for when he has to get someplace fast. He loves scooching off quickly, and then throwing a "come hither" look over one shoulder, in the hopes that Daddy will come "chasing" after him. If Andrew obliges, Jake squeals and slithers off. Cutest thing ever.

He's pulling himself up like a champ now, and occasionally even letting go to clap for himself, or grab for something- he can stand unsupported now for a few seconds at a time. This evening he let go of the coffee table and slammed his face into it on the way down, splitting open his lip. He cried a lot, but was quickly distracted with ice to suck on and some cheerios. Notice a pattern? This little boy loves to eat!

He'll also get up on his hands and feet, and push his bum straight up in the air. I think it's only a short time before he's standing on his own. When he does things like this, I get a little weepy. Some days it's hard to believe that he's only been with us 9.5 months... other days it seems like yesterday that I was pregnant with him. I CAN NOT believe how much he's grown and matured in the last few months. Just to see him playing with a cup and a ball, and knowing that the ball can go into the cup, is so amazing. It's so hard to remember that 2 months ago he didn't understand "inside" and scale and whatnot, and now he's putting those two things together.

Still no real words yet, although there's been a few amusing possibilities (he pointed to a water gun this week and said "gun" but since "gun", "dah", "dun" and "ma" are his favorite 'words', I'm not making too much of it). I'm determined to teach him "duck", and yesterday when I showed him a green rubber ducky, he said "duuuh", so I think that's a positive sign. This morning Andrew carried him into the bedroom and said "Show mommy the fan" and he pointed right to the ceiling. Not surprising considering he seems to be obsessed with fans (two weeks ago at home he had a hard time napping, and Andrew told me it was because he was scared of the little fan we'd just turned on. I asked him how he knew and he said to Jake, "Show Mommy what you're scared of" and he pointed right to the fan.).

He constantly amazes me. I sure do love the little dude.

Here's some cute recent videos of Jake

2009-08-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

Here's our little guy "helping" Nana Muz pack down in SC.

Probably my all-time favorite video of Jake. He's SOOO intent on what he's doing, and so serious: "Hmmm... does this underwear belong on the floor? Maybe? Yep!" and down it goes!

And here's him dancing (unprompted) to James' music (he does this a lot now):

He's started pointing at things a lot now, and I don't know if it's intentional, but I've noticed him saying "gat" when he points. I've chosen to believe that he's asking "that?" and I tell him "That's a tree" or "That's a book" or "Dat's Mammy's nose, pleath moob your finga".

He's pulling himself up all over the place, and we've realized that no table is safe now. The house is wrecked, because he happily stands there and pulls everything down he can find (as witnessed by that first movie). The other day we heard a few loud bumps from his room while he was supposed to be napping, and snuck in to find that he had swiped EVERYTHING off of his changing table into his crib with him, and was happily sitting there with a box of tissues, methodically pulling them out one by one and shoving them into the corners of his crib. Pretty cute. :)

update from Andrew

2009-08-03T18:52:00.000-07:00

Tonight Jake fell off our bed headfirst. Then after he stopped crying he followed Rachel into the bathroom. He then proceeded to dive headfirst into the tub. Right now he is plotting a way to dive headfirst out of his crib. Updates to come as news breaks.

2009-07-25T18:09:00.001-07:00

Well, yesterday was Jake's 9-month birthday, and he's now officially been out longer than he was in, and that bums me out a little. I miss my teeny little guy sometimes (well, he was never teeny, but he was smaller). On the other hand, he is a lot of fun these days.

Here we are down on Edisto, and we're having fun with my family and the puppy dogs. Just in the last week, Jake's learned to kneel- he sits back on his haunches- and to climb stairs. We tried to teach him at home on the carpeted stairs, but he hasn't been interested. It turns out that what he needed was hardwood stairs, and ME to be upstairs to give him something to strive for! Also, he's started saying a lot more "g" sounds, like "gagagaga" and the occasional "goo". It's pretty cute.

He's the star of the island, no matter where we go. Well, that's understandable, he's probably the cutest baby ever. :D

9 month check up

2009-07-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

Jake had his 9 month check up last month, and is doing A-OK. He's down to the 75th percentile, with weight at 22lbs and height at 28.5 inches. Since that's only a half-pound more than he was three months ago and an inch and a half shorter than the last time we measured him, I'm going to call bunk. I know that he's moving around a lot more, but I think he's put on more than a half pound. And he's closer to 30 inches than 28.5. Phsaw, what do those "doctors" know, anyhow? :)

So yep, he's crawling everywhere, and climbing, and pulling himself up to get at things on tables, just in case there's anything to eat up there. He won't know until he tries! We're down in SC right now, having a great time, and he tried to climb the stairs today! And by "tried" I mean "succeeded". Thank goodness Muz was there to stop him! The little guy heard me talking upstairs and decided that he wanted to get to me- he got up 4 steps!

Our adventures continue!

2009-07-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

Jake has 4 teeth!

Some other cute recent shots:

2009-07-11T08:07:00.001-07:00

Well, we had to lower Jacob's crib mattress, since he now is a little standing machine! I also saw him crawling (for real) yesterday! I cannot believe how fast everything's happening with his development- I can't wait to see what the doctor says next week.

I swear, soon we'll get video of all this, I promise.

We had a scare the other day- we think Jake ate a screw. Well, he ate something bad (lots of crying, coughing, some vomit), and there were a few screws lying around... so we're watching him carefully, and so far he seems OK. Feeding him lots of little bread pieces and prunes! "This too shall pass"... hopefully. :)

2009-07-08T17:54:00.000-07:00

Jake's 9 month appointment is next week, and I can't believe how much he's grown. We'll find out the specifics next week, but he's certainly advancing well. His top two teeth are coming in gangbusters, and the little bugger *really* knows how to bite!! His pincher grasp is very advanced- between that and the biting, I have bruises all up and down my arms, no lie.

He's really crawling everywhere now, army-style. Well, I think it makes him look more like a baby lizard than an army guy, but he's definitely mobile. He's also putting everything in his mouth- "Don't eat that, please" is fast becoming our most-spoken phrase. If he's crawling around (like right now), and goes quiet for a moment or two, Andrew and I both jump up and run to him, assuming he's found something to try to eat!

He frequently gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth, although he's not crawling like that yet. However, he *just* started to use that position to sit up! We've caught him a few times doing it- he gets on his hands and knees, and then swings one leg under his butt, and ta-da! It's a big deal, but we'll have to lower his crib mattress soon, I guess. He's also really enjoying standing, and can do it with only one hand on the piece of furniture of his choice. Only once has he pulled himself into a standing position, but we know it's just a matter of time.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go figure out what he's got in his mouth, and then get him ready for bed.

2009-07-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

Well, so much has been going on lately, we haven't had time to post! Before I get into how JKL is doing, here's some recent photos of our cute little guy:

For Father's Day, Jake got Andrew a piano. OK, I'm kidding. Jake helped me set up Andrew's keyboard, guitar, and other instruments in the dining room, out in the open. We figured that if Jake saw Andrew playing music frequently, his own musical abilities would blossom. I don't know if it's working, but Jake sure does love pounding on his own piano while Daddy's playing his.

Here's a few of Jake making fantastic faces:

And one from our recent Lee family extravaganza: Jake with Nana, Auntie Laura, and his one and only cousin, the fabulous Sabrina!

Goings-on

2009-06-28T07:05:00.000-07:00

Jake's entered the phase where if he's hanging out with someone and they leave the room, he goes nuts, screaming and crying. Which means that I've had to modify my activities to include him, at least in the room, so he doesn't get too upset. He's in the way a lot more, but he sure is cute. Here's Jake helping Mommy make zucchini bread:

He's also quite the little explorer. The other day I heard some banging coming from the library, and thinking he'd discovered more electrical wires (his favorites!), I went in....

...only to find him looking innocently up at me. He'd somehow managed to pull the cover off of the vent, and was happily eating the dust out of it. I love the look on his face here, like he's saying "Hey Mom, have you tried this stuff? It's great!"

And finally, here's a picture of our front yard this season. I'm particularly proud of the wisteria (on the porch), the cilantro, and the impatiens, which I grew from seeds!

2009-06-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

I swear Jake must be taking cute pills- he's more and more adorable each day. We're having so much fun 'round these parts, preparing for Andrew's first Father's Day!

Andrew turns thirty tomorrow! His parents and I hosted a big party for him last weekend, luau-themed, of course, and I think he really had a fun time. Here's Andrew and Jake looking Hawaiian:

Jake and Papa matching!

And me with the R2D2 cake I made for Andrew (yep, that's all cake!):

Jake is clapping now

2009-06-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

He is so cute!

Jacob crawling for the first time

2009-06-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday June 3rd, 2009 at 12:43pm we caught Jake crawling for the first time with Andrew's new video camera. Andrew took Jake's diaper off and found that he had greater range of movement with his legs. He ran and got the camcorder as soon as Jake started going after the harmonica a few inches outside of his grasp.

I had such a hard time not giving in to his crying and giving him the harmonica, but Andrew wouldn't let me, and it was for the best. (All of these nice, safe plastic toys around, and he wants to put the sharp metal toy in his mouth?) A big day for all of us!

Full video hosted on Youtube.com

Some pictures

2009-05-23T19:45:00.001-07:00

Hello! Things are getting exciting around here in the Lee household as Jacob has really conquered "rolling" and has moved on to "scooching". It's about the cutest thing ever, to watch him move backwards like an inch worm. Not too fast or far yet, but it's only a matter of time. He's getting cuter by the day, and SOOO much fun to interact with now! Here's him practicing his standing- he's getting better and better doing it alone, but of course, he can't pull himself up yet.

Eating is becoming more interesting too! Jake is VERY interested in what we're eating, and can't stand to be relegated to the high chair with nothing to chew on, which has led to some disagreement between his parents about what kinds of foods are big enough for him to pick up, but still small enough that he won't choke. We're still keeping up with the baby food, and we recently introduced prunes. Jacob loves prunes, apparently. He was adamant that we let him feed himself. The results are below.

Those who know me know that I have zero musical talent, but Andrew certainly does. I've long harbored hope that our children would inherit it from him, and to that end have saved the small wooden piano Beka and I played on as kids. Now that Jake can sit up on his own, I pulled it out and scrubbed it down (removing all of the "Rebecca" stickers!), and Jake LOVES making noise on it.

This one is my absolute favorite, because he really seems like he knows what he's doing.

Take a look at that finger work! He's a maestro!

another trip to SC

2009-05-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

The Tuesday after Mother's Day Jake and I flew down to Charleston, where we celebrated the holiday with my mother for the first time in about 10 years. That was really nice and special. I made her a book of baby photos of myself and Jacob, interspersed with reflections on becoming a mother- she really liked it. Being on Edisto Island is always nice and relaxing. This trip was a little different, because Andrew wasn't there to share baby-responsibilities, but my parents and sister were thrilled to have him all to themselves.

We took the little guy to the beach and we went swimming in the river behind our house... he seemed to like the salt water just as much as the pool! (bonus: He didn't have to wear a swim diaper!) I think the little shrimpies nibbled at him, because he got tired of swimming soon enough, but he loved splashing.

He also ate lots of different things- corn cobs seem to be a favorite (after we've eaten most of the corn). They're big enough for him to hold, but small enough he can fit them in his mouth and chew on them; since all the big kernels are gone, he can suck on all the small bits of corn left.

I didn't bring a camera down, but had the small video camera. Here's a cute video of him playing on the floor. We left him down there for a few minutes, and when I came back I saw that he had scooted himself over to the coffee table and pulled out all of the magazines and was chewing on them. So cute! Bonus: a good shot of him rolling from his tummy to his back!

Mother's Day

2009-05-21T08:51:00.001-07:00

OK, this post is a little late, but I wanted to tell you all that we had a lovely Mother's Day around these parts. Much better than last year, when the basement flooded. I woke up to Jake crying in his crib (as usual), and found him chewing on an adorable card labeled "to Mommy". It was so sweet. Andrew had to work 'til 2pm, so Jake and I joined his family for brunch at the club.

Andrew came home with another card and a few gifts for me from him and Jake- a lovely set of gold and opal earrings (October birthstone) and pendant. That evening we all went out again with Andrew's family for some Peking Duck- my favorite!! I probably ate a whole duck myself! YUM! Jake sat in his high chair and had rice for the first time- just like a little Chinese boy should! We all had a blast!

2009-05-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Jake had his 6-month doctor's appointment yesterday- better late than never! He handled all of his shots like a champ- crying pitifully but calming down soon enough, even laughing in the waiting room while we scheduled his next appt. The doctor was very impressed by his development (She said he was "very advanced")- I think she meant his sitting, rolling, sleeping through the night, teething and whatnot. She also commented again and again on how sweet and mellow he was. We sure are lucky to have such a perfect baby.

He's in the 95th percentile for height (28in), weight (21.5lbs) and head circumference (18in), and his feet are pretty big too! :) Basically, a huge baby all around!

We celebrated his 6 month birthday a few weeks back, on April 24th, with a little BBQ for family over here. I made an adorable cake, which I hope to find pictures of soon to post (anyone have any?), and it was a nice, low-key evening. Jake, of course, didn't get any of the yummy chocolate ice cream cake.

He is eating other stuff though- we're trying to give him more solids- bananas, avocado, really steamed veggies... stuff that he can pick up but is still mushy. Very messy, as you can imagine. He doesn't like the little pouch with the food in it- he obviously likes his food whole and choke-able. :) I'll try to get some video of that adventure.

Meanwhile, here's a VERY grainy, poor quality video of Jake that we took last night. Andrew was teaching him to roll the ball (or at least, we were cheering when he'd accidentally drop the ball and it would roll towards one of us). I apologize for the poor quality, but the camera has trouble in darker rooms. But it shows off some of his wonderful new skills- Jake is sitting up like a champ, picking up the ball, etc., makes adorable raspberries (yes, that's HIM going "plllbbbt!"), says "mamamamama" and even waves there at the end! Hopefully we'll be able to get a better vid of all of these talents, but this should do for now!

2009-05-02T08:19:00.001-07:00

Jake shows off his new teeth.

Fam-Lee

2009-04-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

Well, we got our new license plate this week. Our SUV will proudly proclaim that we are "One Fami-Lee!"

...also, Jake can now roll over to his back again (thank goodness- it was getting tiring doing it for him!). We'll try to capture some video of this amazing feat.

the pool

2009-04-28T21:34:00.000-07:00

Last week we took a lovely trip out to Bethany Beach, DE.

The weather was terrible- thunderstorms every day!- but it was a relaxing time, and nice to hang out with Andrew's family. We took Jake to the indoor pool every day. He looked super-cool in his adorable swim trunks:

My two boys really had a fun time:

Jake took right to the water! He seemed to really enjoy "splashing", something I taught him in the bathtub. He now does it like his job; "Oh, water? Must be time to splash. Splash, splash, splash." He does this adorable thing when he's on his belly- he flails both arms and legs like he's doggy-paddling. It was too cute to hold him horizontally in the water and watch him do the same thing! He was totally "swimming"! I'm so happy that he likes the water so much, and can't wait to play with him more this summer!!

Here's a short video of his first adventure in the pool!

Easter

2009-04-13T22:34:00.000-07:00

Hunting for Easter eggs is probably my favorite Easter tradition; I've done it every year. This year, Andrew hid eggs for both Jake and me- here we are in the front yard finding the easy ones wish Jake. He was interested in the brightly-colored (contrasting) eggs; he seemed to be able to actually notice them when they were "hidden". I was terribly proud of him- continuing the tradition!

Here's Jake's two Easter outfits:

Not a fan of the carrots...

2009-04-09T23:09:00.000-07:00

Solid food experiments, day 2: Jake definitely prefers spitting the carrots on me (and rubbing them in his hair) to actually eating them. We're switching to bananas tomorrow.

mashed carrots

2009-04-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

Well, thanks to the two teeth pictured below, we decided it might be time for Jacob to try baby food. I was all for waiting as long as possible (I love nursing him!), but he's been really interested in our food for a few weeks now, so it was as good a time as any. We started with mashed carrots, not the ideal first food, but one he was familiar with after the frozen carrot adventure.

Here's a (rather long) clip of our first adventure into real food. I love how he is really interested in the food at the beginning ("hmmmm... what is this?"), and then he suddenly decides that he doesn't like it at all ("Yuck, this is terrible!"). We stopped filming then, but believe me that we tried for a further 10 minutes. Jake had decided that mashed carrots were yucky, and we weren't changing his mind. His disgusted faces were adorable.

He did, however, enjoy feeding himself- he grabbed the spoon and put it and the food in his mouth. That was the only way he would eat anything, towards the end. I feel like he's growing up waaaay too fast.

teeth

2009-04-08T11:11:00.001-07:00

We have teeth! Yes, 'teeth' plural! Here's one of the few good pictures (ie- no tongue) of Jake's existing tooth... and you can also just see the next one breaking through the skin. He's been a little trooper, not fussing too much, but we can tell he's not loving this. Hopefully, the next teeth will take a while before they decide to arrive.

This is what happens when Andrew hangs out with Jake...

2009-04-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

I found this video on the camera, and have no idea when it was taken. Apparently this is what Andrew and Jake do when they're together. I love how Jake's so into the cars. Could he be any more of a boy?

Standing?

2009-04-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

Jake practices standing, and seems to enjoy it... until it's no fun anymore.

Ticklish baby

2009-04-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

Jake enjoys some time without a diaper. Andrew has a shirt that matches this one identically, and he too often wears it without a diaper.

I dare you to watch this without giggling. :)

Jake enjoying his new high chair!

2009-04-06T17:49:00.001-07:00

Frozen carrots are yummy!

2009-04-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

We peel and freeze whole carrots. They're hard and cold, obviously, but as they defrost, they turn rubbery. Jake enjoys the carrot juice, and they're impossible to bite through or choke on. The only downside is how messy he gets... Now we have special carrot-eating bibs: the orange ones from Halloween. :)

First Post!

2009-04-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

Greetings, friends and family!

It’s been an exciting five and a half months since Jake arrived, and our adventures up ‘til this point have been chronicled over at Flickr (click here). We decided, however, that it was time to find a home for our stories, photos AND videos, and a friend recommended blogspot. I’ll try to update this as often as possible, and will be sure to share any fun stories or cute pictures.

Here’s a recent update from the baby front:

Jake's able to sit up on his own now for quite a few minutes, but still wobbly enough that he takes frequent nose dives. He's getting really good with his tummy time- using his back muscles instead of his arms to support himself. He’s really good with the rolling over from back to tummy (he only rolls to his left, though), but no luck on the rolling back over (which means he cries until someone rescues him). He has a rather small repertoire of sounds (I think he's going to be an introvert): "mmmmmm", "mamamamama" and "nanananana" (doesn't seem to connect me to "mama" though). We've heard "d" once, and he's recently discovered a sound that's a cross between a raspberry and "p". And he LOVES to kick- between the kicking, the (amazingly powerful) punching and biting, and the occasional nunchucking with his plastic toys, we think we've got a real martial artist here. :)

We recently spent a week down on Edisto Island, SC with my family, and had a wonderful time catching up and introducing him to all of his southern fans. Jake was baptized in the small non-denominational Christian church down there, with our immediate families as witnesses- a lovely, small, intimate and meaningful ceremony. He also got to experience his first oyster roasts, although we didn’t let him taste any! The big surprise of the week came when we invited my old friends Nathan and Mell Bell down to hang out over lunch one day. Nathan is a professional photographer, and they did the pics of our wedding (which were just stupendous!). They were excited to meet Jake, and they did what they call a “family session” with us- a ton of AMAZING pictures of us, Jake, my parents, the Island (and the dogs, Lacy and Gin). Here’s the slide show (and an “album” that Nathan designed for us is linked below): http://www.charlestonportrait.com/#/lee2/ Make sure your sound is turned on! They’re so talented!

Jake cut his first tooth last week (front lower right)! He’s pretty young yet, but I apparently toothed really early too. We didn’t even realize it was there… and then on the afternoon of April 1st, he started screaming in pain. It was an uncomfortable few hours, but by that evening, the tooth had broken through the skin completely! He’s apparently blessed to be one of those babies who tooth really quickly and easily… I hope it continues with the other teeth! We can already see his next one (right next to the existing one), so maybe that’ll be through soon too. Jake is REALLY enjoying biting things, and I recently made the executive decision that that means he’s ready for solids. I love being able to feed him myself, but this biting ain’t cool. Baby food, here we come!!

Further updates as news warrants.