4th of July

We had a thoroughly enjoyable 4th of July. We didn't see any fireworks, but we still had fun. Both Leigh Ann and I had the day off. We took the morning to do some shopping and get out of the house. Unlike California, we weren't in a short supply of rain, and we made sure we had our umbrella ready in case we were caught away from the car when the next storm would hit.
Jacob decided to not take a nap, and instead spent about an hour in his room tugging on the curtains from his crib and talking to himself.
We headed off to spend the evening with our friends, the Bevans, where we had a great dinner grilled in their backyard (of which we are jealous, as Jacob loved playing in their backyard). We feasted on burgers (provided by the Bevans) and bratwurst and knockwurst (from our favorite, or at least my favorite, German restaurant, Schmidt's), along with various side dishes. Their daughter Abby (who is adorable, and we are thinking of planning an arranged marriage between her and Jacob when they get older) obeyed her parents and went to bed at a decent hour, but Jacob, in keeping with his refusing to take a nap earlier, refused again to go to sleep at their house. So for the rest of the evening, he alternated between sitting on their bean bag watching "Cars" and playing with toys. We were really surprised how well he behaved, and let us play two full games, one of Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit, and one of a new game (for us) called Time's Up (at least I think that is what it was called). We finally got home by a little after 11pm, with a very tired little boy who tried to pretend that he was awake as I carried him from the car to his crib.
So although we didn't see any fireworks, we had a really good time. I hope the rest of you enjoyed your holiday.

Ball!

I have been a bit delinquent with my postings, and I am sorry.
Jake has been growing and getting into even more mischief (if that is possible). His favorite pasttime continues to be playing with balls. He has also learned to climb up and down stairs, which makes it a lot easier not having to climb over a gate anymore to go up the stairs. I don't know how many times I have banged my knee trying to get over that stupid thing. Just in time, as well, as Jake, with all of his hanging on the gate, yanked one of the bolts for the gate out of the wall, so it hasn't closed right ever since.
Summer is upon us here in Ohio. While it has gotten pretty hot in the last couple of weeks, today it is actually fairly pleasant.
We had to deal with a pretty sick little boy last week. With fevers in the low 100's and a lack of appetite, Jake was not a happy camper. Before the fever subsided, he also developed some congestion, which means he also wasn't sleeping well at night, so there were a couple of times we were awakened in the middle of the night. But he is back to his hungry self, and all is now forgotten.
Life continues on here in Columbus. This month we are awaiting the arrival of the newest Harry Potter book and the newest Harry Potter movie. Leigh Ann got me hooked on the books, and I have to admit that they are really entertaining reading. I still cling jealously to my love of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but that will never change.

June 11

I know, I know, what an imaginative title for this post. To be honest, not a whole lot of new stuff has happened, but I felt an obligation to put something up. I haven't taken any new pics of Jake since the last ones I posted, so I can't fill up space with those, so you'll have to be content with my ramblings.
Jacob continues to entertain and frustrate us, all at the same time. As his skills increase, so does the level of mischief that he can cause. Lately he has discovered climbing, and has even attempted to climb the book shelves on either side of our TV (much to his mother's dismay!). Right now he has discovered a wonderful invention - balls. He has at least 6 that he is fond of, but each morning he arises he calls out "ball" looking for one very specific one. It is a rubber bouncing ball that has a plastic eyeball in it. It bounces the best of all of them, so it is his favorite. If he can't find it right away, he'll look at you and ask "Wheresit?" The search will continue until he finally obtains it, at which point he will yell out triumphantly, "ball!"
His vocabulary and speaking skills are increasing as well. Unfortunately, he has now successfully learned how to say no. Just last night Leigh Ann asked him if he wanted to go to bed, and he looked at her and said no.
My brother Richard moved from Kalamazoo, Michigan back to Salt Lake City last week, so now our nearest relatives are Leigh Ann's family about 8 hours away in Chattanooga. We did get an opportunity to go up and visit Richard once while he lived in Michigan, and we were able to drive over to see Lake Michigan (you can see it in the background of the picture of the three of us on the side of the blog). Unfortunately, Jacob developed two ear infections and a sinus infection, staying up all night crying and forcing us to head home early so we could get him in to see his doctor.
Summer seems to have finally come to stay, and we have been enjoying the sunny days. We try to cook on the grill at least once a week, and Jacob loves going outside to the point that you have to drag him kicking and screaming back into the house (literally).
Otherwise, life goes on. We are still working, still working hard to keep up with the exercise and diets, and still constantly searching for new ways to entertain ourselves.

Fun With Food

Not that he has ever been the cleanest little boy when it comes to eating, but I thought I would show some of his dirtier moments when it comes to eating. The worst is usually when he has macaroni and cheese, or sweet potatoes. In fact, mac and cheese is the regularly scheduled meal on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which also happen to be his bath days. So far we have refrained from taking any bath blackmail pictures.
While he is not yet the biggest speaker, he is starting to make more sense. He now says dada regularly, but unfortunately uses it for both mommy and daddy. His other favorite word is ball, and it usually refers to one specific ball that is currently his favorite toy. When he can't find it right away, he will usually turn to one of us and ask, "Where is it?" And then, if you call for him, he'll usually turn to you and ask, "What?"
He particularly gets cracked up when you fake a really big sneeze. Just tonight, he started doing them himself. He would get himself all worked up, and then do his biggest sneeze, which mainly consisted of him spitting, but it was hilarious. This is what typically passes for entertainment now that 24 and Lost are done for the season.

First Haircut

We finally decided that Jacob's hair had just gotten too shaggy, so we broke down and took him to get his first haircut. Not that we didn't think that his bushy mop top wasn't cute, but it was just sticking up in every direction all the time and was starting to hang over his ears and into his eyes. So we got him an appointment at Cookie Cutters, a place that specializes in little kids' haircuts.
They get to sit in a little car that can be raised and lowered, and there are TVs for them to watch some movie. Jacob enjoyed watching "Cars" while he got his hair cut. At first he wasn't too excited about it all, but when the girl that was cutting his hair brought him a sucker, he decided maybe it wouldn't be so sad after all.
Below are a series of pictures from what he looked like before the haircut, a couple during the haircut (including my favorite with his hair put up in a mohawk), and the final product at the place, as well as a picture with him all cleaned up at home afterwards.
Jacob did remarkably well and did not complain at all during the whole ordeal. All in all, it was a pretty good experience, and he looks like a cute little boy again, not some homeless child.





Not much else new has come our way since I posted last. Work continues. Leigh Ann is starting day one of her three working days which will include Memorial Day. Such is the life of one who works in the healthcare industry. Sometimes you have to work a holiday. I am taking the opportunity to get caught up on John Wayne films (May 26 would have been the Duke's 100th birthday, so they have been showing a lot of his movies on AMC and TCM).

Candid shots

Well, sometimes you do whatever it takes to calm the beast down. Jacob has not been feeling well for the last couple of days, so we have been doing everything we can think of to get him to settle down. After breakfast, he was pitching a fit, so I turned the computer camera on him so that he could see himself, and I snapped a couple of pictures in the process. They aren't as high of quality as with our digital camera, but they're not bad.
Later in the day, to get him to calm down I gave him some apple Pedialyte, which he loves. That calmed him down enough that he was in better spirits, and then he really got lively when he learned how funny it is to pelt the cat with one of his balls. That got him hysterical, until the cat decided he had had enough, so he jumped the gate at the bottom of the stairs and fled under Jacob's crib.
Jacob got sick early Friday morning, or late Thursday night. We're not sure exactly when. All we know is that when Leigh Ann went to get him out of bed at 9am, his crib looked like something out of a horror movie, and you could see everything he had eaten the previous day. After washing him thoroughly and airing out the room, he finally looked like a little boy again.
Anyways, here are the pictures.

More Easter Pics

Here are some more pictures, including Jacob's first ride on a carousel.