Jacob 8 Month Update

Jacob hit 8 months on July 20.  We are now 2 days away from him being 10 months, and I am just now doing his 8 month update (not to mention his 9 month update, or Rebekah's birthday updates).  Does anyone even read these?  Doesn't matter.  :)  This is my way of doing a baby book since I'm not very good at writing in those.

Since it has been awhile, it is of course hard for me to remember specifics.  I just went back and looked at my little journal I try to keep of major milestones, and here is what I found:

7/9

• Adam found Jacob standing in the crib

 7/12

• Started cruising

 7/13

• 1st tooth! Felt it but can't see it yet...middle bottom his left

Those are some big milestones! And yet I feel like he has been cruising and standing forever.  I guess it has only been a couple of months!



Overall, this month, I feel like he was finally able to begin experiencing some of the fun things that he has only seen from the Beco, the car seat, or the stroller...

...like the shopping cart...

 

...and the Perot museum...

 

...and the Galleria play area...

...and Arturo's Nest at the Dallas Museum of Art...

And we had a few other firsts:

First night with the crib lowered down

(after we came in the room to this!)

 And first Rangers game!

This little boy is such a busy, moving guy - always exploring everything!  We are having lots and lots of fun with him!  You can check out the rest of the photos here:

2013.07.20 - Jacob Month 8

And the updated Racoon pics can be found here.  Enjoy!  And hopefully 9 months update will be coming very soon!

Jacob and the Raccoon

Jacob 7 Month Update

I feel like from 5/20-6/20, everything changed with Jacob.  He started eating solid food, progressed from sitting if he was put down, to scooting, to rocking on all fours, to crawling, to being able to push himself back up to sitting, and even starting to pull himself up on things.  I have become painfully aware of how big he is when I hold him to my chest or in my arms.  It just seems to have happened so quickly!  He is suddenly not an infant anymore, but a baby on his way to toddlerhood.

We had some firsts this month:

1st solid food.  (He really did not like food for the 1st couple of weeks.  It was quite a struggle, but we eased into it!) 

 

 

 1st time in the jogging stroller without the carseat.

1st time to volunteer (at Community Partners of Dallas with the NDECPTA).

 

1st time in a highchair at the restaurant.

1st time at the pool.

 

(Yes, he went to the pool in his pjs.  He had just gotten up from a nap, and I just didn't see the point in putting on clothes then changing again into swimsuit!  And, yes, those are Christmas pjs.  That's what happens when all your pjs are hand-me-downs - you get Christmas in the summer!)

And we had lots of fun times with sister!

But mainly, I'm amazed at how mobile he has become, almost overnight.  And most other people are too.  But when I go back and look at his sister's 7 month update, I'm reminded that we just have early movers in this house.  Lucky me.

This sweet boy is growing up before our eyes. Enjoy the album.  There are a few additional videos to enjoy as well.

2013.06.20 - Jacob Month 7

And the Raccoon photos have been updated as well:

Jacob and the Raccoon

Jacob Month 6

Well, once again, I'm almost a month behind on blog posting.  Oh well, that's just life around here I guess.

This little boy really started changing between 5 and 6 months.  He began to be able to sit up without much support, and definitely improved his mobility by flip-flopping and rolling all over the floor.  He started to be able to grab and play with toys and his paci.  We made it to 6 months on only breastmilk - yay!!  It was such a rough start for the first 10 (!) weeks, but we did it.  And as much as we try, he still wants nothing to do with a bottle.

We've had some fun times this month.  Now that I am officially home with both kids full-time, we spend lots of time just hanging out with sister.

Sometimes in the laundry basket.

(I went back and looked at Rebekah's 6 month update and I had a picture of her in the laundry basket too!)

Sometimes we play with friends.

We had a wonderful Mother's Day.

And we even had cupcakes to celebrate the half birthday (well, Adam, Rebekah, and I had cupcakes!).

One of my favorite shots from this month was from our monthly lunch visit with my Mammaw (the kids' Great-Mammaw)

Here's the album.

2013.05.20 - Jacob 6 month

And of course the Raccoon photos have been updated as well!

Jacob Month 5

It has been well over a month since Jacob turned 5 months (4/20 to be exact).  Things were super busy that day because we were trying to re-sod our entire backyard.  Digging up all the old grass and laying down 5 pallets of new sod.  But more on that project in another post coming soon....

I'll be honest, Jacob spends a lot of time doing things his sister wants to do...and just kind of tagging along.  Like going to see Sid the Science Kid at the Perot Museum, or watching her get her face painted at the Arboretum, or going to a Laurie Berkner Band concert, or dyeing Easter eggs, or just hanging out in the backyard.

It's a good thing he is a pretty laid back kid, and easy to take along everywhere we go.

He's really not on any kind of nap schedule, and sometimes that leads to him napping wherever he falls asleep.

We did have a few big events this month:
Easter...

Some requisite bluebonnet photos by my wonderful friend and neighbor, Ashli

And we had some big milestones:
1st time to sit with us at the table in the highchair

1st night in his own bed (a bittersweet experience for me this time around...)

1st time in a hotel room

And 1st baseball game (with Juice the Moose!  - Rebekah wanted nothing to do with this guy)

Blankets and playmats have become basically obsolete as he just rolls anywhere he wants to go.

And bottles have disappeared as well.  I spent 10 weeks working so hard to nurse this boy and wishing each day that he didn't have to take a bottle.  And now, he just won't do it.  It started right at the end of March when I was still working, and it just keeps getting worse.  So, he also tried a straw cup for the first time this month.  (That didn't work either...)

Mama, what is this???

Jacob is really starting to play with toys more and more and loves his toes.

My sister gave me all these toys!

And he has a smile that just takes up his entire face!!

We love this boy so incredibly much!  Hopefully I can get the 6 month update finished tomorrow!

Here is his little album for this month.

2013.04 - Jacob Month 5

And the Raccoon photos have been updated as well.

Jacob and the Raccoon

Rebekah 2 1/2 Part 2

I forgot that I've been doing a few things to help with my blog posts.  I've been keeping a casual "journal" of funny things that happen in our day-to-day life.  I also apparently wrote down a bunch of stuff right around the time she turned 2 1/2 because I knew I would forget what she was like at that exact moment in time.  Apparently I also forgot I had done this until after I did my last post!

Here are the journal posts between her 2nd birthday and 2 1/2:

10/15/2012

• First time rebekah climbed on our bed by herself. I walked in the room and she was just sitting in the middle of the bed!!
• Went to the arboretum. "I had fun music class mom"

10/21/2012

• I think Rebekah has outgrown the phase where she won't kiss me and says "no misses!" She now says "kisses mama happy!"
• She's getting really good with her colors. Seems to be naming them correctly most of the time.
• I looked out the window one day last week and Adam was throwing a ball to her. She caught it and got so excited!

10/24

• rebekah used a big girl cup at dinner tonight!

12/19

• We went to see Santa today and she wanted to tell him that she wants fingernail polish (or fingernails as she says). When I picked her up from Santa's lap she said "fingernails?" Like where is my fingernail polish? My heart just broke!! I explained to her that Santa would come on Christmas and leave fingernail polish for her and she seemed ok with waiting. :)

 
 And my notes from when she turned 2 1/2:

• Some of her favorite things: puzzles, stickers, coloring (she's actually getting pretty good at this!).  Puzzles, puzzles, and more puzzles.

• She loves to watch Sesame Street and Super Why.  It was Sid the Science Kid for awhile, but we seem to be on break from that.  We don't watch a lot of TV, but she often asks "watch tv while momma feeding Jacob?"
• We love playing games.  Zingo and the "Ice game" are her favorites.  We picked up a new one last week (5 Monkeys on the Bed), but haven't played it yet.
• She loves to give Good Morning and Good Night Hugs and Kisses, especially to her baby brother.
• We gave up the paci awhile back.  She was only using it for bedtime and it wasn't really a hard transition.  We talked about it a few days leading up to it, then it was just gone.  She asks for it sometimes then just starts laughing!
• I read this on another blog and laughed because Rebekah is exactly the same way.  "She remembers really specific details of various events but you always references them as happening 'last night.'" (In fact, we brought out the Easter basket the other day and she remembered it was for picking up Easter eggs.  She also recently told me specifically about eating ice pops in her hippo chair outside.  That was last summer sometime.
• Other favorite timing words "maybe later," "morrow," "after lunch/breakfast/dinner" (never the correct meal time)
• She loves her school.  She always talks about "My Park Cities School" and thought it was the greatest thing when Jacob started going to "My Park Cities School."
• She also started gymnastics classes recently and they are a big hit!  I sit and watch her through the window.  I love seeing her follow directions so well and listen to the teacher.  She is such a good girl in this class and I'm so proud of her.  And I am glad she loves it!
• She loves "peanutbutterjellysandwiches" and asks for one for every meal.

Even as I read these I'm sad because so many things have changed in just a couple of short months!  Hope you enjoyed the extra update!
 

Rebekah 2 1/2

Rebekah has been 2 1/2 for almost 3 months now (I guess that makes her almost 2 3/4??).  I just can't seem to make myself sit down and sort through pictures - we just take so many of them!  A fellow mom said to me today, "I feel like with each new kid, someone just hits fast forward on my life."  I'm finding this to be very true.

So what happened between August and February?  Well, other than having a baby, of course.  I just quickly went through all the pictures and I can't believe how much different Rebekah looks.  I did manage to do a blog post last Fall about our trip to the Arboretum and the State Fair.  And we had a wonderful little family photo shoot thanks to Stefani Marcus Photography (that I actually won from the DFW Cloth Diaper Group!).  And I guess I never did a blog about it, I uploaded a HUGE album of Christmas Season photos:

2012.12 - Christmas Season

So, the end of 2012 went by with a blur.  We also had some fun with Grammy and Grampy's birthdays, as well as a Seibold family trip to the Plano Balloon Festival

 
Of course, there was Halloween

We also took our first of many trips to Klyde Warren Park.

So far, 2013 has included many many pajama pics

Trips to the new Perot Museum and other museums with our Kids Club membership

And a new gymnastics class (that Rebekah loves WAY more than ballet we tried last fall)

I usually like to do a little something fun on the half birthdays, but Rebekah's half birthday is also her cousin Cadence's birthday.  Since it fell on a Saturday this year, we were too busy having fun with our cousins to worry about half birthdays.  Next year maybe we'll just have 2 cupcakes.

We also didn't have very much success getting many bee photos for her half birthday.  She just wasn't interested...

Rebekah and the Bee

I realize how hard it is to remember everything that happens.  It all changes so quickly, so I can't even tell you what she was like 3 months ago.  I know she's chatty chatty all the time, loves coloring, school, and puzzles.  She LOVES her little brother.  She's the absolute best big sister - beyond anything I could have imagined.  She's a happy girl (most of the time!).  And she loves her friends that she is making in our new playgroups. Even though I can't remember everything, at least I have pictures to remind me of this 6 months of her life!  So, here's the album of some selected Rebekah highlights from 2 to 2 1/2!

2013.02.23 - Rebekah 2 1/2