Thankful

Yes, Thanksgiving was a week ago, but I have been basking in the joy my continued "thankfulness" rather than blogging...HA! We did have a great Thanksgiving, though. Jeremy's mom was here to celebrate with us and to help prepare the feast. I love to do up a big ol' Thanksgiving meal and this year did not disappoint. We decided that this year was the most relaxed that the holiday has ever been because we did a dinner instead of lunch, so we had all day to prepare. Some of our friends came over for dinner and brought their brand new, adorable, lovable, huggable, 5-day-old baby boy over, too. I could not get enough lovin' from that little sweetie either!!! We ate and visited and ate some more.

The next day we continued our tradition of going out into the forest to cut down our Christmas tree. We almost didn't make it because Jeremy had to work a little late and it was getting dark on us, but I insisted that we had to go that day, otherwise "the tradition would be broken forever," or something dramatic like that. So brave the forest in the dark we did. We found a beautiful tree, made lots of noise to scare the bears away, Jake played in a patch of snow, and Jeremy did the muscle work. I believe a great time was had by all, especially me because I did NO manual labor, even LeAnna took a few saws on the tree! The tree turned out perfect. The next day a very funny (or rather annoying) thing happened. As I was wading through my decorations and ornaments, I noticed that all the boxes of balls for the tree were empty, yes ALL of them. My dear sweet husband had put away the decorations last year and for some unknown reason decided that we didn't need all those ornaments. So I used what few nostalgic ornaments we still had, and then sat in despair gazing at my very naked-looking tree. We put up the rest of the decorations while the little man was napping, so when he woke up he had a fun surprise to explore. A couple of days later, my tree was all spiffed up with brand new ornaments, so it all worked out. So far we've only had one ornament casualty, and I think Jake is slowly learning to just look and easily tap the ornaments, so hopefully we won't have to buy all new ones again next year.

Tomorrow we are off to Texas. I am so excited to see my family and friends and to eat some authentic mexican food!! Jeremy and I were discussing this morning that this is probably going to be my greatest weight-gaining month of the pregnancy with all the eating plans I have already made! We have a very early morning, so I'm off to prepare.... HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Can You Slow Down for One Picture?

Finally, we're back on the blog track, but don't expect this to be a regular occurrence. I love keeping up with friends through their blogs, and I think this is a great way for all my distant loved ones to keep up with us, it's just that I have recently acquired a walker, runner, climber, and explorer, so I seem to not have as much time to blog anymore! I was thinking today about how easy it used to be when Jake would just sit and stare into space with the occasional hiccup or gas smile, content to just be comfy, but that is a distant memory! Now I can hardly even catch him to get a decent picture. I love the stage where he is now, though. It is so much fun to watch him learn and change and develop a personality all his own. He is definitely not lacking in the personality category either! That kid has got the best laugh I've ever heard. It's so pure and real and I LOVE IT! That being said, it's 7:30pm, I'm wiped out, and I'm already about to get into bed like an old MOM. Here are a few pictures of the wild man running around like a hoodlum:

Hi Granma

Granma,

I know you check this blog every day, hoping that there will be something new and maybe some cute pictures. I'm sorry I've been such a slacker!! We haven't really taken any pictures of the little guy since his birthday and I can't really say anything exciting has happened either. So for now, I'll just say hello! Love and miss you!

Love,

Jill

Birthday Party

Jake had a great first birthday! To start things off, we woke him up a little early so that he and Jeremy could open their presents (remember, they share a birthday!) before Jeremy had to go to work. Jake was more than happy to oblige the early wake-up call, and was bright eyed and bushy tailed as soon as the lights came on! We brought him into the living room where his new horse was already set up and presents were waiting. See how excited he was:He played for a few minutes and then we all had cinnamon rolls. It was a fun way to start the day.

The rest of the day was CRAZY! My mom was here to celebrate, so that was a life-saver having her to help. She mostly took care of Jake (and made a cake, and mopped, and did laundry, and did the dishes) while I ran around filling balloons with helium, decorating, baking cupcakes, and taking Jeremy lunch and cake so he didn't feel left out on HIS birthday.

That evening we had Jake's little party. It was cowboy themed and turned out really cute. We had a hayride, ate lots of cake, and just played and had a good time. Jake loved all the excitement. Oh, and he loved his cupcake! It didn't take long before he was trying to put the whole thing in his mouth. We all watched and laughed and oohhed and aahhed for a while, and then we all kind of continued on our merry way. After a few minutes, I glanced over at the birthday boy sitting in his highchair and he was happy as a lark, just eating away at that sweet cupcake. It was a perfect moment for a perfect day. If I had it to do over again, I would only change one little thing...I should have had a designated "picture taker"! I didn't even get one picture of Jake and my mom at his party or lots of other shots I would have liked. Other than that, it was the perfect day.

This was our attempt at getting all the kids together for a picture:At least I got to capture Grammy putting him to bed on his first birthday!

Happy Birthday Jake!

My sweet Jake, today is your first birthday. What an amazing year it has been! You are the best thing that has ever happened to your daddy and me, and we couldn't love you more. You are the littlest man with the biggest heart, and we will cherish your first year of life forever.

As I sit here looking at your sweet face, I feel so lucky that God chose me to be your mommy! From the first time I layed eyes on you I knew my life would never be the same, but I could not have imagined how much joy you would bring me or just how much you would teach me. You always get so excited when you see someone that you know or love, and that has taught me to show others how much they mean to me. You have taught me to take joy in the little things. You have taught me to slow down and listen to what others need. You have taught me to love, unconditionally. You have taught me to forgive easily. You have taught me not to take things so seriously. Thank you for teaching me.

I can never ever express in words how much you mean to me or how much I love you, but I will spend the rest of my life trying to show you. Happy first birthday to my precious son. Jake, you have changed my world and have blessed me beyond my own imagination. I love you, buddy!

Jake's First Halloween

The festivities of Jake's first Halloween were short and sweet. A few days ago, the three of us carved our Jack-O-Lanterns, so that was already out of the way. On the actual day of Halloween, we got Jake all dressed up in his elephant costume, took some pictures, and went to the local trunk-or-treat festival put on by various churches at the high school gym. We met up with some of his friends from our play group, but honestly, Jake hardly even seemed to notice them. He just looked around with a slightly bewildered look on his face for the majority of the evening, starring in awe at the menagerie of superheroes, ghosts, and ghouls. He also took about a ten minute break from the hustle and bustle to hug a perfectly sweet and loving stranger. It was both odd and sweet. He must have had a hunch that she needed a hug, at least that's what his dad says. We did not do any trick-or-treating, and instead bought a bag of our own candy to eat. Then it was back to the house and off to bed for our little elephant. Grammy took over so that Jeremy and I could go out on our second date in just two days! Hmm, maybe a live-in nanny isn't such a bad idea! Hope you all had a great Halloween.

Changes

Life (well, Jake's life, that is) is changing so fast I feel like I can hardly keep up. In a little over a week my baby will be one year old. Yikes! But, we'll get to that in, well, in a little over a week. Back to the changes. Jake's personality is really coming to life. I don't know where he got it, but I think he has learned the definition of "Sike!" Jeremy and I always feel like we should say "Sike" for him because he loves to carry around a toy and bring it over to one of us, reach out his arm like he wants to share it, and then snatch it away and laugh and run away. It's hilarious! It keeps him busy for hours, well, minutes really, but it's still cute. Another not-so-pleasant change is that he really doesn't like to have anything taken away from him, and he has learned to express his displeasure quite loudly. This just started out of the blue (actually it started when we had another child over for a few days in a row and she took every cotton pickin' toy away from Jake until he reached his breaking point and "went off") and it's not his most attractive development. Hopefully it won't take too long for him to get over the fact that we're not always going to give him exactly what he wants the second he wants it. On the upside, another change is that Jake is done with pacifiers. We had been contemplating taking them away for a while, but wanted to wait until my brother was gone just incase it was a disaster. We had already only been giving them to him in bed for the most part, so the day after my brother left, we just stopped. I kept expecting him to wake in the night and not be able to go back to sleep, but nothing. He didn't ever even seem to care. I had read that 10-12 months was the easiest time to break the habit, and, scary as it was, it worked for us. That's one less thing for us to clean and pack every time we go somewhere! We also made the switch from formula to milk. Once again, I was all worked up and worried that something would go wrong, but it was no problemo. What else... Jake has learned that a cow says "moo" and he makes the cutest little puckered lip face and stretches out his neck when he does it. And today I asked him where his tongue is and he slowly slipped it out and pointed it at me! I am really loving this age! But boy, am I worn out!!! Jake has started opening every drawer and cabinet he can get his hands on. Jeremy chased him around the other night with the camera, and this is what he was doing: Forget about having a neat house anymore.

Sorry for the ramblings of this long winded post. There is so much I wanted to remember and document. I'll be back soon with a birthday update... Until then, look how sweet my hubby is, he baked me my favorite red velvet cake for my birthday! Yikes, look at all those candles! And look at Jeremy, he's even trying to help me blow them out, HA!