Little Rascal

~Time to go to work at my command center!~~With a "cigar" in my mouth~

This is how I found him after this morning's nap...

~What?~

~Look, mommy I got it!~~Time to do some leg exercises~

We had a great day today. We left Jacob at Grandma's during the afternoon while we went to the gym. It's the first time in a while that I managed to get some mommy time. He had so much fun at Grandma's. When we came home he took an hr nap. Then it was play time with mommy and daddy, bath time and bed.

Clap, clap, clap your hands

We've had an awesome day today. Grandma came to visit us. Jacob had pears for the first time and absolutely loved them-- judging by a big smile and smacking lips. We went to Grandma and Grandpas in the afternoon. Jacob clapped his hands all by himself several times to a Polish nursery rhyme. It was just fantastic! Also, he has been waving "bye bye" when prompted and he looks up when you say "light" in polish. He has been busy practicing going down from a standing position-- very gracefully I might add. He is also getting into lots and lots of trouble. We affectionately named him the "cable guy" today- why? because he goes after any cable around the house. My parents have a computer cable under the couch-- and boy, oh, boy he couldn't keep his little hands off-- going splat on the floor and looking under the couch. He was successful a few times. Jacob added a couple of jokes to his repertoire-- when daddy says "hiccup" is drives him into hilarious laughter. Anyways, he was very tired at the end of the day. We are still working on the naps. Yesterday he took 2 naps that lasted over 1 hr each- and that is a rare occasion. Today 3 naps about 20 min each. He is a happy kid - so I'll take that any day. We have had lots and lots of snow so our plans have changed this week. We have plans to visit friends tomorrow.

Happy Time

We are happy to report that Gram came home yesterday. It was a beautiful day and Jacob, The Babe, and I went for a long walk. Also, I gave him real carrots for lunch and he liked them a lot. So, we are out with the Jar food and in with the Homemade goodies. Today all of us went for brunch at Max's home. Alex and Mel made delicious waffles and eggs. Jacob enjoyed playing with kids, jumping on the excise saucer (which he "christened" and soaked all of his clothes down to his socks), sitting in Max's highchair, and sleeping in Max's crib. Life is Good!

Let's Play

This week started of great. We went to visit Gram on Saturday and we are happy to report that she is comming home tomorrow. We went to see Grandma and Grandpa Monday and on Tuesday we watched the inaguration of Barak Obama as the president of the United States. Yesterday our plans changed and we ended up going for a Big Adventure to Stop and Shop. Jacob enjoyed riding in the shopping cart throughout the store. I lost the Only keys to our Toyota Solara, which was a bummer. Today, however, was an awesome day. Melissa, Max, Nell and Lily came over to play. Jacob was so happy and cute giving Lily kisses. He also enjoyed playing with Max.

7 months old!!!

It's incredible how one month can complicate things. Jacob has first learned how to sit up by himself and then he went from soldier crawling to actually crawling on his hands and knees. He has officially taken off! He also pulls himself up to a standing position all the time now. Scottie and I are on constant guard, although we know that he is not going to grow up without a few bumps and bruises. Aside from his incredible strength and drive to be mobile, he has been very vocal. Nowadays, he calls everything "ada." He says "mama", "dada", "ba", and "t" randomly throughout the day. Jacob is a happy and curious kid. He laughs, giggles, and smiles all the time. He has been making the smooch noises by smacking his lips. He follows the cat and the dog and is delighted when they sniff him or when he pets them by pulling out their fur (they are very tolerant animals I might add). He enjoys play time. One of his favorite Christmas toys has been the ball popper. He usually screams with delight and then pushes the big red button to start the toy. He also puts the balls in the opening after they pop out of the toy. We have been playing with star stacker and he is becoming a lot better at stacking. He enjoys crashing a block tower and chewing on the blocks, of course. Jacob explores everything through his mouth. We play the hat game, patty cake, trot trot, and peek a boo (one of his favorites). Jacob enjoys being with his friends and is very inquisitive about them. He is always interested in the toys that they are playing with and does not know how to share, yet. Jacob still enjoys bath time, witaminki time, and lots and lots of cuddles. We have started to give him solids and thus far he loves bananas (but they make him super constipated), likes apples, dislikes jar carrots and jar sweet potato. He can drink from a sippy cup all by himself (such a big boy!). In terms of his daily schedule. Well, we have different adventures everyday, whether they are big or small. We don't have a strict schedule that we go by. We visit friends, go shopping, go to Grandma and Grandpas, visit Gram, go for walks (when its not too cold out). We are so proud of him and proud to be his parents.

Oh, boy!

~Check me out~

Today Matthew and Thomas came to play. Jacob was so happy to fight for toys, listen to a book on CD, pop bubbles, and imitate his friends. He was in a good mood considering the fact that he took 3 naps (in his crib) that totaled one hour. In addition, he had a day full of injuries. He fell down backwards on the kitchen floor and bumped his head (ouch!), Thomas scratched him behind the ear (ouch!), he bumped his temple on the crib (ouch!), and a few more bumps and bruises...oh boy! I think mommy feels a bit guilty tonight. Well, let's concentrate on the positive... I got a bit impatient and offered Jacob sweet potato which he disliked a lot, so then I said what the heck.. let's see if likes banana? He LIKES to eat bananas. Yeah! Also, he rode in a big boy car seat for the first time today and LIKED it a lot. Yeah! So all in all, wonderful day with friends.

Let's re-cap the beginning of the week. We went to St. Brendan's playgroup on Monday, and Tuesday we went shopping at Target and then we visited Grandma and Grandpa. Jacob is pulling himself up constantly now. He pulls up on the fence, on the kitchen chairs, on his Bebe pod chair (it's a no no), on the stereo (a bigger no no), on the door frame (a huge no no), and on his crib. He is so driven to be upright, it's ridiculous and concerning.

Witaminki, witaminki dla chlopczyka i dziewczynki

~MMM...mouth watering candy called witaminki~ Pictures taken December 26, 2008

What goes in must come out!

It was a snowy day today. Grandma Marjorie went home to Ohio and we aleready miss her. We went to Grandma and Granpas for Chineese food and Jacob had his first vegetable -- Carrots!. He was extra hungry and ate a full bowl of rice cereal and four spoons of carrot.

~What goes in...~ ~Must come out...~ Yuck

~What's this now?~

~Yeah, rice cereal!~

On the go!

Jacob is doing much better with the cold. Gram has been moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center. We went to visit her yesterday and she is looking and feeling much better. The last few days we were home predominately. Scottie took my car to get new breaks-- apparently they needed to be replaced because they were making noise. Grandma Marjorie came to visit and we went shopping yesterday and she purchased toy storage and bookcases for Jacob's room. Jacob is unstoppable now and crawls around the house. He also has been pulling himself up, mostly to his knees. Scottie lowered his crib completely for the fear that he'll flip himself over. Jacob has been having a variable sleeping schedule when he was sick and hopefully we will get back to normal soon. I have been placing him to bed a bit early each day to see if his sleeping improves. Tomorrow Grandma Marjorie is going back to Ohio and we will miss her a lot.

~So Sweet~ January 7 ~I want to break free...~ January 8

~Maybe...~

~I can chew my way out?~

Rough Day

We had a rough day today. Gram went to the hospital this morning. She is feeling a lot better now and we wish her a speedy recovery. Jacob is feeling better. Yesterday we went for a couple of walks outside and over the weekend visited Grandma and Grandpa. Also, yesterday we went to the St. Brendan's group- only to realize that it was cancelled. Today we were in and out of the hospital visiting Gram. We hope and pray she comes home soon.

Sick, yet crawling!

6 and a half months and crawling... Jacob is just as surprised as you are

Jacob has been sick all day with an off and on fever, runny nose, sore throat, and sneezing. Again we medicated him with Tylenol. We gave him extra cuddles and he slept with me during nap time, not wanting to be put down. He was cranky one minute and fine the next. Yet, that did not stop him from actually crawling on his hands and knees! He is definitely becoming more sure of his mobility. Jacob was fascinated with our Christmas tree today. We have a Christmas ornament-- the Santa Clause --that Auntie Julie gave us a while back and when I was showing him Santa and saying "HoHoHo," Jacob was laughing and laughing. It was very cute! We stayed home all day and played. Scottie is feeling a lot better, so that's good news. We will probably take it easy tomorrow as well.

~HO,HO,HO~

6 month appointment

Today we went for Jacob's 6 month doctor's appointment. Jacob has grown 2 inches measuring at 29 3/8 inches and gain 1 lbs weighing in at 20 lbs and 11 ounces. He is in the 100 percentile for height and 90 percentile for weight. We were surprised that he has only gained a pound since the last time that we were at the docs. Dr. Sheff was very impressed with the fact that Jacob is sitting up by himself and almost crawling. Jacob received his 6 month's vaccinations today. He developed a fever and has been very cranky throughout the day and evening. We give him Tylenol every 4 hrs. He went to bed early and we will be monitoring him throughout the night and tomorrow. Poor baby has also caught daddy's cold :( I'll give everyone an update tomorrow.

New Year -- New Skill

Today Jacob has been sitting up on his own. It's just amazing! He has managed to sit up from the belly position a couple of times within the past three days, but today he has done it about 30 times-- thus qualifying it as a new acquired skill.

We said goodbye to Grandma Marjorie and cousins Katherine and Averi this morning. We were sad to see them leave. Jacob, Scottie, and I will miss them a lot. We have had so much fun! The house became very quiet so we decided to escape and go visit Grandma and Grandpa despite the fact that it was only 7 degrees outside. Scottie stayed behind because he has a terrible cold :( We hope he feels better soon:) Tomorrow Jacob has his 6 month doctor appointment and I can't wait to find his height and weight.

~Learning to Crawl~