The latest...

Since the last posting Jacob starting walking! He's into everything now. He just got over a week long illness that I felt like was never going to end. He had it all and lost some weight in the process but is now back on track. He now says ball (very clearly I might add), kitty and book (we understand him but most wouldn't),Mama, Dada, Nana, and the latest bish (for fish) He has cut two top molars and handled it well because we had no idea until I was brushing his teeth and the angle I was at I was able to catch a glimpse. He is starting to sit still longer to listen to us read to him and throws almost everything. He hasn't grasped the concept that we can throw a ball but not books/toy cars/mega blocks, so we are working on that. He started using the signs for hot and eat amongst the others that he uses so well.
We had a wonderful thanksgiving (just the three of us), we missed everyone, of course, but did our best to make it feel as traditional as possible. I made everything from scratch and we enjoyed some outside time since it was really mild. This weekend we plan to get a tree and decorate for Christmas, should be interesting, since Jacob finds it entertaining and fun to play with everything but toys. Hopefully it stays upright...I'll post pictures of the tree once it's up!

One year old! :)

So as most, if not all of you, know Jacob turned one year old on the 15th, we cannot believe it, the year flew by. I made him his very own birthday cake, which we really enjoyed watching him make a huge mess with the cake. He had a ton of fun demolishing it. I took him to make a plate at a pottery shop not far from here and was able to get his 1 yr old handprints. Last saturday, we took him to get his very first hair cut. He really looks like a big boy now, it is amazing how something so little made a big difference in his appearance. He has now mastered the sign for "more" (in sign language). He has 8 teeth and is taking steps. You can tell he really wants to walk, but still is not completely 100% with mastering the task, it won't be long though. Other than that we are busy as usual, enjoy the pics I have posted.

Latest Accomplishments

I wanted to update everyone about new things Jacob has learned. He is developing more of a personality each day. The latest that he has learned is to shake his head yes and no. He is becoming aware of what he is not supposed to be touching (for safety reasons) and will start to shake his head no when he is getting close to the object(s) that are off limits for him. He is able to sign for milk and all done and we are teaching many other signs so he is able to better communicate with us. He loves to dance whenever music is on and he has a play cell phone and will put it up to his ear and start babbling like he is talking to someone. He also can throw a ball so I think we have a future athlete on our hands! He now has 6 teeth (4 on top and 2 on the bottom)and one more cutting through on the bottom. FINALLY Jacob said "Mama" (Oct 4th), I can't tell you how hearing him say this was such an amazing moment. It seems just as I stopped pushing him to say it he then said it and now he won't stop saying it! Don and I are super busy these days, he is pulling 12 hour days and working weekends if they need him, so never a dull moment for us. As most of you know, in just about a week Jacob will be turning 1 yr old, it's a little sad (a happy sad) feeling for me. I just cannot believe how quickly a year has passed. One year ago we were waiting for our little boy to meet us and here he is today, talking, signing, crawling and learning so many new things before we know it he will be starting school!
We really enjoyed Nana and Grandpa's visit last week. The weather finally started to cooperate toward the middle of the week and we enjoyed going to the Zoo in Columbia. Jacob also got a walker from Nana and Grandpa and has been making his way back and forth in the living room.

Updates!!

Okay so I know I have said this before but so much has happened in the past (almost) 2 months since I last updated everyone and I am sorry for the length of time in between posts, we have been busier than ever. So about one week after we got home from a well needed vacation in July (to Michigan) Jacob started crawling. He was "crawling" but didn't have his tummy off of the floor, he was throwing his whole body forward. Now he is an expert at it and gets around so quickly. Not only that but he pulls himself to a standing position on everything. We have put up a gate so that he can no longer make his way into the kitchen (for safety purposes). He also is waving, it's so adorable, when we are on our way out the door he waves or when we say we are going to go bye-bye he then proceeds to wave.
The latest milestone is that Jacob can feed himself soft foods. On the 4th of this month he started picking up food with his pointer finger and thumb and putting it in his mouth. I was so excited for him but this brings much more safety concerns because now every little speck (food or not) he comes across works its way to his mouth. So needless to say we have to watch him like a hawk. The nice thing about it is that he can eat more of a variety of foods. He absolutely LOVES cheese this is probably his favorite food at this point. As a result, it's the last thing we put on his tray at meals because that is all he will go for once he sees it. We have not found any food that he doesn't like which is great. Soft foods that he eats include sweet potatoes, avocado, cantalope, whole wheat toast, pears, bananas, mangos, peas, black beans, scrambled egg yolks, and green beans.
He still has yet to say mama...I am waiting patiently, every time I say mama to him he replies back dada.
We are having a blast with him, it's so exciting and fun at this age. I think back almost daily to the day he was born and how fragile he was, it seems like just yesterday. I guess you don't really realize how quickly kids grow up until you have children of your own, it amazes me each and everyday and we are so thankful for a happy and healthy child.

Teeth, crawling and more

We're back! I know I have neglected to post the latest with our family but I have a little extra time and thought we would share with you what has been happening the last month since our post. Well Jacob has two bottom teeth that have poked through. June 11th was the first I had seen and felt the teeth, he did so well with cutting these first teeth that we had no idea. I was giving him his bath and wiping his gums as usual and had felt that they were coming though so no more toothless grin for him.

He can now crawl, if you want to call it that, he gets on all fours and throws his whole body forward and gets from place to place this way. He also just started on June 26th (about 8.5 months old) being able to go from laying down to a sitting up position all by himself. So he is getting quite strong. We have now found Jacob in the morning and at nap time able to sit up and turn on and hold onto the animals that hang from his mobile so we have since moved his mattress to a lower setting so the mobile can stay for a little longer. This was discovered when on the monitor when we heard a constant clicking noise (due to him holding on and not letting the mobile spin) and discovered him with a big grin and a handful of mobile animals in his closed fist.

He sure has a lot to say...Da-da, Ba-ba and Va-va sounds no Ma-ma yet but I keep trying. He gravitates towards anything that has a wire/cord and anything in which we don't want him to play with. He still very much enjoys bath time and splashing around. We took him to the beach for the 2nd time time past weekend and I put his feet in the ocean but he wasn't all that thrilled with the idea of that, not yet at least.

His legs are definitely getting stronger by the day. He will stand for a short period of time against the seat of the couch with little or no assistance. Most recently, last night in fact, I put him in the glider rocker his bedroom and he proceeded to move his upper body back and forth and found that he can rock when this happens. He is really figuring out cause and effect and this happens to be another one of his findings. He giggles everytime.

I am using this blog as a virtual scrapbook, since I don't have time for a real scrapbook this is the next best thing that is why I have put actual dates for my own knowledge. Oh, and the best part of all is we leave for MI in 2 Days, I am beyond excited so most of you will see everything I am typing for yourselves next week!!!!

First official illness

Well to say the least.... we have had quite the week. Jacob officially has had his first illness and it has had many stages. It started off Monday morning that Jacob woke up with a fever, I gave him continuous doses of Tylenol which only seemed to calm the fever momentarily. Tuesday morning his fever was still raging around 102 and about a hour after he had his breakfast it all came right back up, all over the floor and on Don. We took him into the doctor that morning, as soon as they opened and the MD diagnosed him with a "stomach bug" and said it was probably going to last 3-4 days, not what I wanted to hear at all. Wednesday morning same deal, he woke up with a fever and instead of vomiting we had diarrhea, not fun for Mommy or baby. I thought for sure this thing had run its course by now....but no, it gets worse. Thursday morning he still is running a fever and now his face is covered in a rash, this rash appears to be getting worse by the hour. By 9 am it was covering most of his face and working its way toward his chest, wonderful right? I was wondering what else could possibly be happening to this poor child. I took him back to the doctor to find out what in the world was going on now. Well he has something called "viral exanthem". This is a rash that develops from a viral infection. I have posted a few photos of Jacob and his rash, he seems to feel a little better today, he has been a little perkier today than in the days prior. I am hoping the rash disappears soon for him, the doctor did say it could take up to a week to go away.

7 months old

Time is flying by...Jacob is another month older! He is doing well as usual. He loves all fruits and veggies that we have introduced to him. His favorite thing right now is to play peak-a-boo with anything he can over his eyes with...a burp cloth, stuffed animal, blanket you name it. He is so cute. He will cover his eyes and if you say "where's Jacob" he will giggle and then pull it off of his eyes and laugh when you say "there he is". Mother's Day was wonderful, we took a day trip to Savannah, GA, it's roughly 2 hours from us and enjoyed shopping and walking along the river and throughout the downtown area. It is a really beautiful city. It was the perfect weather conditions, 75 degrees and sunny with very little if any humidity. Now the weather here has started to really heat up and the humidity has gotten bad. The summer months are those that Don and myself dread because of the heat but we deal with it the best we can. We plan to make the LONG trip up to Michigan in July for a well needed vacation and so that most of Jacob's relatives can finally meet him, we can't wait!!! Jacob received some adorable gifts (handmade hats and a sweater that he can wear in another year or so). The white hat his Nana made and the blue knit hat was made by my Grandma Joanie and Grandpa Buddys' friend both are just beautiful, thank you to both :)

Updates at 6 months

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Jacob is doing really well as usual, he turned 6 months old on the 15th of the month and has started a few new things. He has begun to say Dada as of the 22nd. It is adorable. We are so happy that he is thriving and doing so well. He also can sit up, he tends to sit up for awhile then will fall back or to the side.

He is eating his baby food like a pro. He is not very fond of sweet potatoes, yet, but he loves carrots, winter squash (which he may have an allergy to), and peas, green beans are the next that we will try. He is drinking water from a sippy cup and LOVES his cup and water. He does great tipping the cup back and drinking the water out.

Nana made a visit out to see us about 2 weeks ago and we all had a wonderful time. Jacob was able to spend a few days with her, just the 2 of them. Me and my Mom took a trip to the Columbia Zoo with Jacob and he really enjoyed the fish and other various marine life. We had a great time celebrating my birthday, relaxing and catching up. My mom took a trip to Hilton Head to see my Aunt Julie and had a wonderful time chatting, shopping and walking the beach.

Cereal

Jacob has officially started eating solids (rice cereal). At times he was a little more interested in grabbing the spoon but he did really well with eating the cereal and seems to really like it. Just this past week he has started waving (bye-bye) it is really adorable. I have tried to capture this on camera but it is near impossible. He is so mesmerized by the camera and he doesn't wave all the time but hopefully soon we can get it on video. He also has figured out how to roll from his back to his tummy. He still doesn't have any teeth which I am fine with, he loves to take walks, being outside, reading and LOVES bath time. We are looking forward to a visit from Nana in a little over a week!

More Updates

Jacob is now a little over 5 months old. He is doing really well. I keep trying to get photos of him smiling (which he does a lot) but he becomes really interested in the camera every time we try to snap a photo. I took these photos yesterday. He is such a happy and easy going baby. He doesn't have any teeth yet but everything seems to make its way to his mouth these days.

Updates

What has happened over the last month since our last post??? A lot. Jessica and Nora came for a weekend (in mid-Feb) and Jacob was able to meet his Auntie for the first time as well as his cousin. We all had a nice time together, talking, catching up, visiting the aquarium and walking the streets of downtown Charleston. We crossed our fingers the night before that they would still be able to make the trip since we ended up receiving 5 inches of snow, it NEVER snows in SC, funny how things come up when you would least expect them to. Thanks to the warm sunny 50 degree day that follow it, it looked as if it had never snowed at all so everything went as planned. (We had lost power in the middle of the night on Friday and it ended up going down to 59 degrees in the house but luckily the power came back on after about 9 hours).

Jacob is thriving, he is sleeping great, 10 hours at night! He is rolling from his tummy to his back both ways now. He is laughing, smiling, talking, and learning so much, oh and did I mention growing..he is 19 pounds. He is one heavy boy. But he is every bit of healthy and we are so thankful for that.

As for Don and myself, we are doing well. I just battled some kind of bug, a fever for 3 days and no energy whatsoever, but now I am feeling great and staying busy with work and motherhood. Don has been really busy with work, business seems to be picking up (which is always good) and he is also working on studying to become certified in a few different areas within his line of work.

Another Milestone Reached

Today Jacob really surprised us. He rolled over today for the first time!! I placed him on his tummy for some tummy time and went to get the camera, I turned back around to see that he was rolling onto his back. Don was outside and said that he could hear my excitement from the driveway. I got the camera out and captured the second time that Jacob rolled onto his back. Enjoy!

Updates

Just thought we would post a few new photos that we took. We are all doing well and staying busy. Don and I seem to think that Jacob may be teething. He is showing many of the symptoms of teething. If he is, he does not seem bothered by it. I have included photos of one of his new toys that Nana and Grandpa sent and he is really having a blast playing with all of his toys.