Jacob-9 Months!

Where has the time gone... my sweet baby boy is 9 months! Only 3 months away from being a year old... seems so crazy to me.

Jake is doing so great. He is growing and becoming more active and strong. He just started pulling himself up! I sat him up next to the piano and he pulled himself up to his feet :) I don't know if I can technically count it as pulling himself up on his own since I helped him to the sitting position... but we're close! He sits up great, but doesn't get back down the the ground very gracefully yet, so I have to sit right with him all the time. He's crashed a few times.... but we're getting there :) He just started waving too with his fingers... it is so sweet!

He is a great eater! Loves pretty much everything except for zucchini. If I hide it in sweet potato, he doesn't seem to mind. He recently started eating puffs, and he loves them!

Love my little man!!!

Claire is TWO!!!

Our sweet girl is TWO YEARS OLD! Hard to believe. It really is amazing how fast she has gone from a newborn baby to a very smart toddler with her very own little personality :)

Claire is a great talker. She will repeat anything you say, and she pronounces words very well. We have been working on potty training, but she doesn't want anything to do with it at the moment. We may take a break and try again in another week or so. She is doing very well letting Momma put in pony tails and hair bows now.... most of the time. It's amazing how much older she looks with her hair up in a pony tail! She LOVES reading books and learning new things. Quite a little smarty pants!

She is still a great eater. Doesn't eat a lot of food, but she isn't very picky. She loves eating fruits and vegetables (yay!!) and she especially likes "macaronis" :) She's had a few bouts of sickness this winter... last week she threw up in her car seat on our way to Harrison... all over. That was fun cleaning up! But thankfully it was only that once and then she was fine. She had a rough cold that lasted almost 2 weeks. It has been a long, hard winter... really looking forward to spring time and getting out side with the kids!

We had a very fun Mickey/Minnie Birthday party in the new garage. All of her cousins, aunts/uncles and grandparents were here. We had lots of fun and Claire got some great presents!

So very thankful for my sweet little girl. Can't wait to see what the next year holds!

Jacob-8 Months (and our trip to FL!)

A little late posting this one, since we just got back from our wonderful vacation in Florida!! It was so great to get away and enjoy the sunshine.

Jacob turned 8 months a couple weeks go! He is doing so great. He is making new sounds and "talking" by yelling back and forth :) He likes to do this with Claire a lot. He is army-crawling all over the place, and sits up pretty well on his own. He doesn't like sitting for very long, so I still sit behind him to avoid crashes :) He is eating great! Squash, zucchini, pear, apple, banana, cantaloupe, avocado, carrots... all of the good stuff :) He is still sleeping pretty well. He has been getting up at about 3 am for the past week and won't go back to sleep until I feed him. Growth spurt? I thought it might have just been a vacation thing, being in a different place... but he did it last night at home too. I'm guessing growth spurt, and hopefully it's a quick one because I'm tired! He is such an amazing baby boy... growing so fast. He loves to hear himself talk (yell) and isn't happy when Momma leaves the room. He was so good on vacation too!

We left on Thursday 2/28 at 9 pm for Florida with my parents and the Johnsons. There was a storm going on, so we left a little earlier than planned. Got down to Mammoth Caves Friday morning and met up with the Saxtons. Did a cool cave tour, then went to Nashville for lunch at Wildhorse Saloon. Ben's Uncle Larry met us there, and after lunch we walked around downtown for a bit then hit the road again. Drove to Atlanta and stayed the night there... then drove to Orange Lake in Kissimmee the next morning. Had an amazing pool day Monday when it got up to 82 degrees! Tuesday we went to Magic Kingdom and it was perfect! Had amazing weather and only had to wait in one long line. Wednesday we went to eat at T-Rex Cafe and walked around Downtown Disney for awhile, then headed back to the pool. Thursday we went to Animal Kingdom. It rained all morning, and then cleared up. All of the Yosts and Carriers were with us for the morning. Once it cleared up, it was much better. No lines, and we got to visit all of the big attractions. Friday was a little chilly (65ish degrees and windy) so we walked around the resort pools and shops and the guys went golfing. Left Saturday morning and got back yesterday morning, about a 22.5 hr drive back. The kids did SO good. We got Claire a blow up travel bed that worked great. They had a crib we could use for Jake and he did pretty well in it. It was so nice to be in warm weather, as this winter has been brutal. I'm ready for our next vacation already! :)

Claire turns TWO on Saturday! I can hardly believe it... We're doing a Minnie Mouse party for her here in our new garage! Should be fun :)

Jacob 8 Months

Us at Disney!

Jacob-7 Months

Our sweet little boy is 7 months! Ok... 7 1/2 months. I'm late at posting this. Have been super busy with these 2 precious babes! Jake is doing great! He is officially crawling now :) He pulls himself around with his arms... mostly on his tummy. Sometimes he gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. He sits up pretty well, but not quite fully on his own yet. He's eating great... lots of sweet potato (he loves it now!), carrots, pear sauce... not a big fan of the squash, but lately I've been mixing yogurt in with it and he eats it then. Both kids are sick at the moment... they both have stuffy/runny noses and a cough. Jake woke up with a fever after his nap today too :( Have him some Baby Ibuprofen and he seemed to feel better after that. Still no teeth! Heading to Florida in 2 weeks... and Ben finished the garage today! YES! So excited about that. Ok, short post again.... must get to bed.

Jake-7 Months

Garage!!!

Snow!!! :)

Jacob 6 Months, along with some other updates...

Ok, so I've been bad at updating this... truth is, I am a busy lady. We have 10 (well, now 9) chocolate lab puppies and my 2 little darlings keep me running. 

Jake is now 6 months (plus a little)... He is doing great! He's a tad on the small side for weight (10%) but now that he's eating solids, I think he'll catch up quick. I started him on solids I think 10 days before he turned 6 months. New recommendation is to wait til 6 months... but I only tried rice cereal a couple times before then. He did ok... He likes to lock his jaw shut and make me pry open his mouth with the spoon :) So far NOT a fan of sweet potatoes... but he does good with the rice cereal and pear sauce so far. Gave him some banana last night too and he liked that. Tried sweet potato again tonight and he was not impressed! Haha... his daddy is not a fan either :) Still nursing great. He's around 70% for his height and 93% for his head size haha! Just need to get him filled out on his weight. He's not quite crawling yet, but close. He rolls all over and kind of scoots. Close to sitting up on his own. Still loving the jumper and he's doing great grasping and handling toys. He's babbling too... Lot's of baba's and mama's :) Love this little boy so much!

Claire is also doing great. She got a new play kitchen and can spend hours just cooking away. She also just got moved into her own room and big girl bed! The transition went really well. We had her nap in the crib with the railing off a few times and then had her nap in her new room and new bed. She resisted a bit at first, but it only took a few days to get her used to it. Now she goes to bed great! She's a great little helper... she helps me unload the dishwasher. She also likes to try to scoop dog food and it often ends up all over the floor. She's eating great still and eats pretty much what we do. The other day I caught her feeding pizza to Jake. Went in my room for 15 seconds and came back and he had some pepperoni sticking out of his mouth! They sure love each other. They will lay next to each other and giggle... melts my heart :)

The garage is coming along great! I've been parking in there for about a month now, and we were able to move all of our "stuff" out of the spare room so we could turn that into Claire's room. So nice to have all of that extra space now. Ben has built the whole thing himself pretty much. He's had helpers come over a few times, but the majority of it has been all him. All he has left to do is the siding. Oh, he also mounted 5 deer this fall and is going to start on his bear soon. He's definitely staying busy this winter.

Last year I made a "resolution" to read the Bible in a year. I don't usually do resolutions, but this was a good opportunity for me to make the commitment. Finished up on Dec 31st and it felt SO good to read it cover to cover. I learned so much and wish I would have done that much sooner. God is good... so very good and loves us way more than we could ever imagine. I've realized that I need to work on always speaking with love and kindness... even if it's about something I don't agree with/feel passionate about. God loves everyone, even the worst of sinners. I need to do the same. I mean, I think I'm a pretty nice person most of the time, but I'd like to make more of an effort to intentionally be kind and loving... and engaging with everyone I interact with. Genuine. 

Ok that's a little bit of updating for now. Absolutely loving my life with my family and so grateful for everything God has blessed me with!

 Jake 6 Months

My little loves :)

Jacob- 5 Months

Our sweet little boy is now 5 months old! He's growing up so fast.

Jake is a pretty happy baby. Also a pretty fussy baby. He's happy whenever I am holding him... always. Many times when I lay him down, he starts fussing. If I put him in the swing to nap and he isn't quite tired enough to fall asleep, he will cry if he can't see me. If I sit next to him, he's usually fine... but the second I walk away, he starts screaming. Such a mamma's boy! He does pretty well when I put him in the jumper. He usually stays in there for 10-15 minutes before he wants out. I hold him a LOT. He is just as happy as can be when he is being held. Not so much while I'm sitting down on the couch... but standing :) My back has been sore lately... Trying to find other ways to keep this boy happy too!

He is growing great. He wears 6 months clothes now (and poops on them daily).  We are still exclusively nursing, but I think I am going to try rice cereal soon. We started Claire when she was about 5 months. The recommendation is now to wait as close to 6 months as possible... but just a year ago "they" said 4 months was fine. So I think we'll give it a try soon :)

Jake loves to pull my hair, and his sissy's hair when he gets the chance. He laughs like crazy when I tickle him :) He also loves when I lift him into the air, and give him lots of kisses. He has the sweetest little laugh :) Claire still gets along with him great! She is doing wonderful as well. Her new favorite things are eating dog food and taking off all of her clothes and running around butt-naked. She's talking so well now and can tell me what she wants most of the time. It's incredible how fast they learn!

We have 10 1-week old puppies in the house as well! They are so cute. A little stinkey, but so cute! We already have new owners for 5 of them! Loving having pups :)

Jacob 5 Months

Jacob- 4 Months

Jacob is now a happy 4 month old baby boy :) He is growing great and is pretty easy for the most part. We still aren't sleeping through the night... Usually 3-4 hours. A couple nights ago he went 5 hours, but right back to the 3-4 the next night. We have the babywise routine down perfect during the day... he just gets hungry at night. I'm thinking about adding a little rice cereal to a pumped bottle at night to see if that helps. He only takes bottles when he's away from me or when we're on the road, but he usually does pretty well with them. The doc said we could try it, even though they recommend waiting as close to 6 months as possible. I started Claire on it at about 5 months, so I think he'll be ok. Just need a little something extra to fill him up at night!

Other than not sleeping great at night yet, he's doing great. He started rolling over at 15 weeks. He first rolled front to back, and then not even an hour later, he rolled back to front! He's been a rolling machine ever since :) I think he has been capable of it for awhile, he just had to figure out how to get his arm out of the way. He can hold his head up very well now, and does baby push-ups too :) He smiles and laughs a lot... and he is very ticklish! He giggles like crazy when I tickle his sides. So sweet! He also thinks it's hilarious when I change his clothes :)

Claire has continued to do great with him. She often will say "HI BABY!" when she sees him... and she recently did it in church when we brought her up from nursery for communion. It was quiet, and most of the church heard and started laughing :) Lately, she has figured out how to take her pants off... and loves to do it. Of course, I always think back to the poopy crib incident last month which makes me want her pants right back on! We've been wearing jeans on her a lot lately, which are harder for her to get off :) She has temper tantrums once in awhile, but nothing too horrible. I can put her in her crib for a 5 minute time-out and then she's usually fine right after. She's a great little girl most of the time!

Ben is working hard on the garage! About half of the concrete has been poured. We will get 2 more loads, and then start working on the walls. I've had to help him a few times with screwing in 2x4s to giant 6x6 20' and 24' poles... and did some concrete work the other day. I guess I'm learning all about the construction process! Can't wait til it's done. It has snowed a few times already, and I can't wait to have a garage to park my car. Speaking of car, I've been looking to get a new one. Possibly a GMC Acadia. My mom has been looking on salvage auction sites where cars have been in accidents and they sell for cheap. A guy at her work fixes them up... so we're looking for one with not a lot of damage at a great deal. We could really use a vehicle with a third row! My Equinox is just getting too small, especially when we have it loaded up with stuff. Haley is due in less than a month! Pretty sure she is pregnant... She hardly ate for a couple days until I started putting canned dog food mixed in with her normal stuff. It's also looking like some milk is coming in! Can't wait for some pups!!

Jacob 4 Months