Just Living The Life

 Life doesn't get much better than this.

 Waiting patiently to go to the zoo.

Bunnies

 

Jacob was obviously excited to play with the rabbits.

 He decided to give the bunny a kiss.

I am not quite sure what face he is making here.  I am sure he was about to say something to me.  This little rabbit kept jumping up and trying to give him more kisses.  I have never seen such friendly rabbits.

 Watch out bunnies!

 He realized he was about to sit on two bunnies.

Jacob makes it a point to count everything now.  This was him counting the rabbits.

Sweet Face

Matthew took this picture of Jacob right before we rode the horses at the pumpkin patch.  I love this sweet face!

One More Day

I officially only have one day left with my one year old.  Although he has obviously been closer to two for quite some time now, and I have been saying for so long he is almost two; two is suddenly a number I don't want to hear.  I was rocking J the other night because he was sick and just wanted to be held.  He takes up my entire lap now and in fact his feet dangle off the side of my lap.  I am continually changing and shifting to help him find a comfortable position.  Just what seems like a short time ago I could hold him up on my chest and there was nowhere else he would rather be.  Now he finally gets tired of shifting and says "Momma, lay down."  Then he does just that.  Granted once he does lay down, he points to the bed and says "Momma, you."  Meaning he wants me to lay with him.  So I do most nights.  Just for a while because I know someday he won't want me anywhere near his room.  That brings tears to my eyes.

I was watching the students in the carpool line this morning.  They would bounce out of their parents' cars while their parents waved goodbye.  Unfortunately in many cases I was the only one that saw the wave.  The kids were already halfway to the building and could care less about what their parents were doing.  I know all children grow up, or at least we as parents hope they do.  Growing up is the natural thing.  I look forward to watching J grow.  If he didn't progress I would be worried.  The progression though is bittersweet.  I have seen how quickly these almost two (eek) years have gone by, and I know I can't stop the clock.

Jacob brings so much fun and joy to my life.  I look forward to him yelling for me first thing in the morning even if it is early.  His hugs and kisses are from Heaven above.  He has the best dance moves of any toddler I have ever seen, and I love his taste in music.  I wish we could all have the zeal for life that a toddler does.  When does that stop?  When do we stop enjoying the little things?  His excitement is contagious and I look forward to introducing new things to him just to make him laugh and smile.  His smile will forever be burned in my mind.  Thinking about his little laugh makes me melt.  I have been so very blessed and I praise God for giving Jacob to me.  I know his Daddy feels the exact same way.

Saturday will be a day of fun and excitement.  I am sure we will sing Happy Birthday a million times since that is currently one of Jacob's favorite songs.  In fact tonight we sang it to him while he was testing one of his birthday cupcakes.  He then wanted to sing Happy Birthday to Elmo.  When I was rocking him tonight he wanted to sing it again to Sammie (his all time favorite subject), Elmo, then to his cupcake.  So we did.  I think all in all I have sung the song at least eight times tonight.

I would like to say I am not always this sappy about J, but I am.  I cannot tell you how many times a day Matthew and I say, "man, I love him."  We are constantly watching for what he will do next. Honestly, even on the hard days, being a mom is the best job in the whole world.  I wouldn't trade it for anything and I mean that.  Am I the best mom, no probably not.  But I love my child with all of my heart and I always will.  I pray he wakes up every morning knowing he is loved so very much, and that no matter what our love for him will never stop.

Bread

Jacob has this thing with bread and french fries.  If one or both of those things are on the dinner table, that is all he will want to eat.  Last night we had Hamburger Helper.  Super healthy, I know.  Regardless, that was dinner.  With the HH we also had garlic bread.  Jacob would not even try a bite of the HH, he wanted the bread.  We resorted to bribery.  Matthew told him if he would take one bite of Hamburger Helper he could have his piece of bread.  He straight refused.

I typically don't work as a "short order cook" but we needed him to eat something other than bread, so I heated up some left over spaghetti.  Jacob loves spaghetti.  I knew this would work.  He would eat a bite of spaghetti then get his bread.  Not so much.  He continued to refuse his dinner and cried for that piece of bread.  Finally he got over it and just wanted down from the table.  After Matthew and I were done with dinner, Jacob went back over to the table and started to climb up to get none other than "his" bread.  Luckily I saw what was to ensue and stopped him before he reached his prize.

I wanted to give in so badly and just give him the stupid piece of bread.  We felt the need to hold our ground though.  He went to bed without eating anything (well he had already had a pretty big snack while at Sam's), and we felt terrible.  The kid can't just live off of bread and french fries. That just wouldn't do.  So, what is a mom to do?  I guess we won't be having bread with dinner for a while.

"Buy Me Some Peanuts And Cracker Jacks"

Let me just say, if awards were given for being super fans, Jacob would win.  This kid never ceases to amaze me with his love for baseball and for the Braves.  We purchased his Prado shirt and Tomahawk outside the gate and he was read to go see his Braves (well them and the Chick Fil A cow).  Rather than have his face painted, we opted for an arm tattoo so he would be able to see it.  Mind you we were there two hours before the game began, we had to find things to do to occupy our time.  We played in the kids area then settled on a bag of kettle corn.  Our $10 tickets (thank you AUM student id) made for the perfect seats.  That is until Mr. Know-It-All showed up and sat behind us.  You know how I know he knew everything?  He talked the whole time.  Seriously.  The whole time.  In fact his first story started out, "I went to my first baseball game in 1951, I've been to thousands of games and never caught a fowl ball."  As you can tell, his knowledge of baseball was untouched and he was planning on sharing it with his friend in the seat next to him.  Maybe I was hot and tired, but he was on my nerves instantly.  If you know me at all, you know that isn't hard to do.  Jacob didn't seem to mind.  He was intent on eating my entire bag of kettle corn and getting on to me when I tried to eat some.  After sitting for a while J looked at me, put up one little finger and said "be right back."  Now, he has only recently started saying that.  After about three times of him saying this I finally figured out what he was talking about.  Luckily he pairs the phrase with a finger in the air.  I am the only person that understands him most of the time, but even this one took me a minute.  Now every time he does it I giggle.

After awhile he began getting sleepy.  To be quite honest, I am so proud of how he held up.  We had already been to the zoo today then topped the day off with a Braves game.  Don't call to nominate us for The Parent's of The Year Award just yet.  He had a thirty minute nap on the way to the game.  Ok, now you can call.  Really though, if it is something he enjoys, Jacob is quite the trooper.  He is so laid back and loves life.  After singing almost the entire song of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch, Jacob promptly turned to the cow and said "bye cow."  He then looked at the field and said "bye Braves."  We took our cue and made our way home.  The ninth from what we can tell from the radio was pretty eventful but they went to extra innings.  I am not quite sure how the game is going to turn out.  All I know is Jacob loves his team, and that adds to the many reasons why he is my favorite little boy in this whole world.  We love our new city and look forward to the many adventures we plan on having here.

Day Four

Today is day four in our serious potty training endeavor.  I say serious because we started talking a bit about the potty a few months ago.  On our last trip to Hunstville J started really showing interest.  I decided to get serious about it and buy him some big boy underwear four days ago.  Armed with about fourteen pairs of Thomas the Train and sports underwear, I determined that J would not put diapers back on after he woke up from his afternoon nap.  We "threw away" all of his diapers and started that day using the potty.  The first day and second day were a bit rough.  We had numerous accidents but would make it to the potty and he would finish there.  He figured out candy, stickers, and songs were involved and quickly became a fan of the potty.  Day two our friend Chris was there.  Now, I am not sure if he was just showing out, or if it just "clicked" but J looked at me and said "tee-tee potty." We rushed in and low and behold he needed to use the potty.  He got two skittles for asking to go.  I never thought I would bribe my child to use the potty, but it works so don't knock it.  The rest of the day he consistently asked me to go.  I was so excited.  We went to church that night and I was a nervous wreck but he didn't have any accidents.  We went to the Cookie Company to celebrate (really more for me than him, but J was excited about the prospect of a cookie).  So excited I guess he had to tee-tee.  Luckily the Cookie Co is right next to Motherhood Maternity which thankfully has a bathroom.  We rushed in but he was way to excited about the toilet paper dispenser, plunger, etc. to really go.  On our way back out to the car he had his first accident since early that morning.  Day three started off dry and we did quite well.  We went out to eat at Moe's and almost immediately he decided he need to go to the potty.  Again he got distracted and would not go.  I was a bit frustrated because I cannot stay at home forever but he really has gotten this potty thing down.  I didn't want to revert by going back to pull ups or diapers.  Finally after about trip three to the bathroom we had success.  I was so thankful.  We went to the library.  Again we had to potty and again we got distracted.  This time the potty got the better of us and he had an accident.  After getting home though, he stayed accident free the rest of the evening.  He wouldn't go before bed though and we were at a bit of an impasse.  He was really fighting me with the potty.  I finally broke down and put a diaper on him, then put him to bed.  He wouldn't go to sleep though.  I went back in his room and he frantically said "tee-tee potty."  We rushed to the bathroom and again success.  I then gave him the choice.  Did he want his big boy underwear or a diaper.  He looked for a minute, quickly picked up his underwear, and with a smile began to put them on.  I felt at that point that I needed him to make the choice.  All of this brings us to day four.  J woke up dry and went to bed dry.  Day four was a completely accident free day.  We even went out in public, and he stayed with a friend while M and I went on a dinner date.  I must say, today has been a good day.  Will we have accidents in the future, of course, but I am so proud of my little guy.  He is too.  I will leave you with J's favorite potty song.  A song made up at the spur of a moment, but has turned out to be quite fun.

"If you're dry and you know it shake your hiney, shake shake
If you're dry and you know it shake your hiney, shake shake
If you're dry and you know it, then your pants will surely show it,
If you're dry and you know it shake your hiney, shake shake."
(Sung to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It.)

Hello Water

During our last beach trip, the quote of the day was "a bye wa-her."  Jacob was afraid of the water and wanted nothing to do with it.  This trip was a whole different story.  He loved the water.  I will post a picture and video of this later.  He also loved the pool.  He can swim with just floaties and is a big fan of jumping in the pool.  J would count "2-4-8" then jump right in.  I think he gets this from the Thomas The Tank Engine theme song.  You can youtube that if you care to hear the song.  Anyhow, here is a picture of him enjoying the pool, one of us at dinner, and the other at the beach.

Just In Case You Were Wondering

At church, Jacob's favorite part is the singing.  His second favorite part is the Lord's Supper.  Up until a few months ago, those were probably in reverse order.  I think J is so entranced by the the Lord's Super because it deals with crackers, juice, and silver plates.  I mean really, they are just teasing little kids.  In Bible class, they work with the little ones in teaching why we go to church.  Jacob can tell you the four things we do, "We go to church to learn, to sing, to pray, and to give!"  They also practice giving.  Because of this, we always give J a dollar or our check for the collection plate.  I try to talk to him about why we are giving.  They also have a book they read in class that goes something like the following:
"Because I love Jesus, I'm giving some Money! The money buys Bibles for children to hear stories from God's word."  I am paraphrasing of course, but you get the idea.  Before J gives his money I always say, "because I love _________ (he fills in the blank appropriately), I'm giving some ___________!"  Well, apparently we still need to work on this concept a bit as you can see from the video below.




This video was taken at Shuckum's in Panama City Beach.  They have dollar bills taped to the walls from people that have visited.  J was pretty interested in them as you can see.

Changes

With J everyday brings something new.  With a move coming up soon there will definitely be some changes in all of our lives.  We will probably be renting a two bedroom apartment for a while.  I told Matthew I was concerned that we wouldn't have a full size bed for guests to sleep in if we only have two rooms.  My solution, move J to a big boy bed.  I called some friends to get some tips on the big step.  I quickly (that day) decided to head to the store to purchase some fun sheets that might entice J to sleep in his big boy bed.  I found some super cute ones at Ross for only $6.99.  After a quick wash and dry we moved just the mattress of our guest bed into his room.  I chose to only start with the mattress simply because J wiggles a lot when he sleeps.  I didn't want him falling off and I hadn't had time to purchase any type of safety railing.  Honestly I didn't even think he would sleep in the bed for a few nights.  I simply wanted him to get used to the idea.  Matthew and I took him in to show him his new bed and to say he loved it is an understatement.  He ran full force, jumped on (like a belly buster off a pool diving board), and yelled "BED!" He slept in it the first night.  I was so proud.  Within an hour or so though I heard a thud followed by crying.  I rushed in to get him re-situated and he never even woke up.  Around three in the morning we had another fall.  After that, I put a couple more pillows around him and he was set for the night.  He woke up a little earlier than normal and came running through the house to our room.  Sammie of course was not expecting him and greeted J in typical Sammie fashion.  Which consequently scared J meaning a few more tears.  Overall, we made it through the night in a big boy bed.

Naptime soon rolled around the today.  When I took him in for a nap J ran to his bed, jumped in, and was ready to sleep the afternoon away.  He stayed in place the whole time so again I was impressed.  Tonight was a little more difficult.  I think J was just having trouble settling down.  After a few more innings of the Braves game, a glass of milk, and singing Twinkle Twinkle five  fifteen times, he was finally ready to hit the hay. 

J has also recently shown an interest in the potty.  I will not go into detail but I will say we have begun potty training and are following Jacob's lead.  I am in no way pushing the issue and really don't mind if he is not potty trained for months.  He is however beginning to figure things out.  We just have to work on him letting me know he needs to potty.  Matthew will say potty training was my idea, but really J initiated it. One day while getting J ready for a bath I took a little too long to get him from the undressed point to the tub.  I figured while he was in proper attire for using the potty I would let him try before getting into the tub.  To my surprise, he had already used the potty without me even mentioning it to him.  Go Jacob!  The next day we were headed to Huntsville and had stopped in Morris to spend the night with M's parents.  I asked J if he needed to go, and again he went.  When we got to my sister's house, J climbed up onto her potty (the lid was shut so don't freak out) and said "te-te potty."  I let him try and it was a success.  Since that road trip (perfect timing right?) we have slowly worked on getting him used to the potty.  I am not really sure if I am going about it the right way but I am trying to not put any pressure on him because really there is none.  Now if he is 3 1/2 and not potty trained then we will revisit the idea of pressure.  We that or if I can no longer find diapers to fit him, which is a possibility considering  he weighs 32lbs.

One day I will have to tackle the paci, just not today...