Jakob drinking from a cup, he is getting so big and I am really proud he can almost do this without spilling-most of the time.
Jakob is so funny. Tonight he put on mommys houseslippers, slipped his book case over his shoulder like a purse, walked over to the door, and proudly yelled "Bye bye". Luckily my camera was close by to capture this foolishness.
This is the latest bite Jakob has recieved at daycare. There's one kid who is notorious for biting everyone, but it seems like it's always my kid. He gets bit at least once a month. It really kind of pisses me off. I don't want Jakob to be mean or aggressive, but I wish he would haul off and knock this kid out next time.
As promised by the weather services, we finally got a break from the triple digit weather. It rained alot today, and when I picked Jakob up, the thermostat in my car said 84! I was so excited, I made a beeline with him to the park, and let him play for about an hour. He spent most of the time on the swings, which he loves, but there was also an abundance of "balls" to be played with. The trees had been droppping crab apples everywhere, and I am almost positive he picked every single one up and gave it a good toss. That's my 100% boy!
Assuming I make it to 40 weeks, today I am officially halfway through this pregnancy. I realized I had not taken a pic of my belly since 9 weeks, so i figured I should do that. When I compare it to my pregnancy with Jakob though, I am shocked at how big I already am. I know they say you show sooner with second and subsequent pregnancies, but gee whiz. I can only imagine how enormous I will be when it is all said and done. I am also carrying very differently with this baby, much higher, which I think makes me look bigger. Instead of a gradual slope, it startts right under my bust and is just wham, out there. 
Though I have been back at work for a week and a half, attending meetings and preparing my classroom, today was the day kids came back. It was as exhausting as I remember the first day being, and by the end of the day my throat was killing me from talking, and my back from walking. At least it gets easier from here on out. This is one side of my classrooms before the kids arrived to destroy it.
Sunday Jeff's Grandma and Aunt were in town, so we went to his parents for a short visit. Debbie wanted to take a four generation picture, but Jakob didn't seem to want to participate. This was the best shot we could get, and he had to be bribed with a cracker for it!
I found this gem at the salvation army for $3. It was exactly what I have been looking for to start timeouts with Jakob. He thought it was pretty funny when I sat the chair up, but not so much the first time I put him in it. I expected a long battle, but the chair kind of flips over when he tries to get out, so that seems to be working in my favor ( he stays put for his minute). So far, about half the time I warn him he is about to go in the naughty chair, he stops whatever it is he is doing that he is not suppose to be doing. The times he can't seem to help himself though, usually involve climbing or standing on things that are not safe, like end tables and such.
This week was restaurant week, and Jessica invited me to go with her and Juan, Juan's son Adam, and Mom to the Mercury-also known as Jeff's restaurant! I didn't order off the special menu because I knew the ribs were to good to pass up. I was right too...man are they mouth watering good. It was kind of hard to watch everyone enjoy their wines and desserts, but I actually had a really fun night in spite of that. And best of all, I didn't have to pay for it...thanks honey!
I don't know which of these pictures I like better, but I know I love them both! The first is Jakob's serious side, but the second, I asked for cheese, and he gave it to me. =)
I made my first purchases for our daughter today, who we decided to name Ashlyn Gail. It was fun but overwhelming, and somehow felt wrong looking through all the pink stuff. I think it is still kinda sinking in that we are actually having a girl!
Today I managed to get in a few good hours of scrapbooking with my sister. I only got two layouts done, but was happy all the same. It was fun, and always rejuvenates me and makes me want to scrapbook more.
Although it was a Saturday night, I decided to take Jakob on a date. We went to the Cheescake factory. While we were waiting on a high chair, I let him sit in the booth. When the chair came though, he of course did not want to sit in it. So I let him sit in the booth to see how he would do (and no, he was not in a booster seat). He only tried to get down once, and when I told him no, he actually listened. We ate quickly, but amazingly, made it through dinner without a tantrum.
Jakob really loves Riley and is constantly hugging on him and trying to ride him. Riley is so good and patient and usally just sits or lays there and tolerates it. I asked Jakob to give Riley a hug, and instead he gave him a kiss. 
Meaghan is leaving for Austin on Saturday for a few months, so she and Finn came over for a visit before they left. He has gotten so big and has the most adorable smile ever. Jakob of course would not let the pooor kid sit in his bouncer, so I tried letting him lay on the play gym. Jakob of course had to then get in too, and when he tried to stand up by placing his hand over Finns face for leverage, I feared for the life of my unborn child. I just know he is going to break him or her! Luckily, Finn survived though, so maybe our new baby will too.
I had to be creative with this picture, since I would be embarrassed for anyone to see how big these bad girls really are! My belly has officially made my underwear the most uncomfortable thing in the world though, so it was time to buy some I could pull over my growing abdomen. The funny thing to me is, they are not maternity panties-just regular ones! They come up a good three inches over my stomach though, practically reaching my bra in both the front and the back. Who the heck would where these if they were not pregnant!?! All I know is when I put them on I sighed in relief and delight. I never thought I would be so happy to have enormous panties!
After much careful consideration, we have decided Jakob is not ready for a toddler bed quite yet. However, I felt like he would enjoy some bedding (and is safely out of the woods for SIDS), so I gave him his very own pillow and blanket. He sure does love it-demanding every night that I tuck him in under the blanket. I think the pillow is his favorite part though. He looks so stinking cute laying on it too, he is really getting big.
Since we were home with no child, we decided to take advantage of it and have the ultimate date. We started out going to a movie-Despicable Me. Then we went to Dave and Busters and had dinner and played games on the midway for about three hours. This is the $100 worth of crap we got MOSTLY for Jakob. The candy we ate and the frame was for my desk at work.
Jeff and I decided to run off to Winstar for a couple of days to make our fortune. We dropped Jakob off at his grandparents house, and hit the road. When we got there, we decided to play Bingo, which to our suprise lasted about 5 hours. We didn't win, but the lady across from us won about $1500! After bingo, we went into the casino. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be, and we decided at about 3am to go blow the rest of our money and head home early (but not tell anyone we were home). Needless to say, we didn't win our fortune. It was still fun though.
I had no interest in buying another changing table, so I decided to try and spray paint it. $15 later, I think it looks pretty great! Much better than spending $150 on a new one. I may add some fabric to the shelves, and some decorations on the front of the drawer ,once we decided on a nursery theme.
Jakob has been needing another haircut pretty desperately, and today I finally had time to take him. He did great as usual, but was most excited about the dum dum at the end.
I am still in the process of unpacking Jakob's baby stuff, but when he found the bouncer he climbed right in it. He was so content to sit there ( although I thought for sure it was going to break), that I decided to put the toy bar on to see what he would do. He ended up sitting in it for almost half an hour playing with the toys and laughing. When I tried to rock him though, he started a round of "NO NO NO"s as if he remembered that is how we use to trick him onto going to sleep. Too funny! I don't know how interested he is going to be in sharing his old stuff with the new baby though.
Jessica invited us over to her community's pool today, and boy was Jakob excited. He loves the water, but managed to fall head first into it several times trying to scoop out acorns. It didn't seem to bother him too much though, and is getting better at holding his breath.
Jakob's kinda new room all finished with his big boy dresser! He loves it- especially opening and closing the drawers. The new baby's crib was also delivered, but it is still in pieces and may stay that way a bit longer!
Now that we got Jakob's new dresser, and cleared out most of the baby stuff into the new baby's room, I was able to turn Jakob's closet into a safe place, his very own toy closet! It really helped eliminate the toys that were taking over the house, and I smartly put the obnoxious toys (think ball popper-see it hiding in the corner?) in there. Although he does go in there and get toys out occasionally, he usually plays with them in his room, and believe it or not, he is pretty good at putting them back too!
I was starting to doubt it would ever come, but today in the mail, I finally got my credentials!! I am a REAL teacher!
Seriously, I can't get enough of Jakob saying "cheese" for the camera. After a yummy continental breakfast, it was back on the road. Jakob was not happy about it, but luckily since we only had three hours to drive, I only had to hear his displeasure for the last hour instead of the last three hours. We even made it home before Jeff went to work, which was nice for them to get to see each other. Vacations are great, but nothing beats coming home to your own bed!
Jakob traveled so well on Monday, that we made it to Wichita by noon. We were going to stay with Danielle that night, but after the horrible experience driving to Kansas, I got scared about the five hour trip the next day, especially since Jeff had flown home and I would be all alone. Since he was doing so good in the car, I decided to just push through and get as far as he would let me. We made it about 45 minutes from OK city, which meant we had cut our trip the next day almost in half. I was really sad about not getting to see Danielle-and feeling a bit guilty, but I think it was the right choice. The hotel we stayed at even had a crib, so I didn't even have to get out the playpen and set it up again-that thing is a pain in the butt. They also had a indoor pool, and Jakob got to do some more swimming, which was a nice break from driving.
A genuine "cheese" smile in the morning.
We did so many fun things while at Elizabeth's. We got to play on their swingset, and spent hours in the pool, which Jakob LOVED! The boys played with chalk and bubbles, and got balloons at Perkins (insert Jakobs major temper tantrum here-we spent twenty minutes in the car while all our friends got to relax and enjoy brunch).
The last thing we did is give Quentin his birthday present. It was a big hit, and of course Jakob loved it because it had marbles. I can't wait to get him one when he gets older.
I was probably most excited this trip to see Jakob and Quentin together again, and how they played. Unfortunately, they played the way you expect a two and three year old to play. There was a lot of temper tantrums and fighting over toys, but thats to be expected. I can't believe how big Quentin had gotten, and wished he hadn't been so shy. Next time I see them, it will probably be Jakob that acts shy.
This is my absolute favorite picture of the trip, and I know, it's a terrible picture. I guess its because of the moment in time rather than the quality of the shot. The first night we were in Lawrence, I stayed up chatting with Elizabeth till almost three a.m. Needless to say, when I went to bed, I woke Jakob up while getting ready for bed. Instead of standing up or whining or anything though, he just layed in his playpen and stared at me through the mesh, grinning ear to ear. He smiled at me the whole time I changed, brushed my teeth, took out my contacts...and when I went to get in bed I couldnt resist the little bugger any longer. I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the forehead. He threw his chubby little arms around my neck and hugged me. Man does he know how to work me over. I figured, he was sleepy enough I could let him snuggle with me in bed and watch cartoons, and he would eventually fall back asleep. HA! He did lay in bed with me and snuggle and we watched cartoons...for two hours! At 5 am, I finally said this is ridiculous and made him go back to his own bed. While we were watching though, I asked him to "cheese", and this was the resulting photo. It melts my heart remembering how cute he was that night, every time I see this picture.
I didn't think these two would play together very well since Mason is almost 4 years older than Jakob, but they actually were really adorable together (when they were both behaving that is)! Mason loves little kids and was very tolerant and willing to play with Jakob, and Jakob adored him, following him and imitating everything he did. They played hot wheels for hours, and got in trouble for jumping on the beds. Mason also taught Jakob how to "cheese" for the camera, which is whats happening in this photo. It was so funny because sometimes Jakob would say "cheese", and flash a big genuine smile, but usually he says "cheese" and puts on this fake smile through clenched teeth. I loved it!
Honestly, I don't think he could have more food in his mouth. My little chipmunk face.
Seeing Lynzee was great, and I managed to arrive on her birthday, which was a fun bonus. This is the mosaic peace sign I gave her to celebrate, and she loved it!
