Something Old, Something New

Last night I was going through Jacob's bins of clothes to see if he had any bigger summer clothes. I found these.



These are vintage pants. They were worn by Alan or his brother, Randall, or both.
If you look closely at this picture, you can just barely see Jacob's tooth popping through on the bottom.

Here's a pic of him last night in the shorts. He wasn't wearing a shirt so I think he looks like a little white trash, Huck Finn baby. We should have unlatched one of the straps to complete the look.



So, that was something old. On to something new. I just bought Quick Zip sheets and am absolutely loving these things!! Why, oh why did I not buy them sooner? I loathed putting sheets on the crib mattress. It is such a tight fit and after ripping 2 and being down to just one sheet, I decided to give in and buy these even though they are a bit pricey. Worth every penny! And these things will be a dream with a baby! When they spit up in the night you just zip off the top and zip on another. What could be better?!?

I bought the complete set in ecru which includes the base and one top sheet that zips on. You put the base up and over the mattress from the bottom, but it isn't all tight like a regular fitted sheet. Since the entire mattress is enclosed it doesn't need to be. Then you zip on the top sheet. I also bought 2 extra top sheets, one in blue gingham and one in green gingham. They look super cute in Jacob's farm nursery. :)

This is what they look like for all you visual people.



I bought mine from BabyCenter.com in case any of you mommies are interested in checking them out. I HIGHLY recommend them!

Danger Baby

Jacob is quite the climber! The other day I was laying on my stomach next to the coffee table playing with him, when he decided to climb on my back and use me as a step so he can get on top of the coffee table. Last week he tried to climb on top of his activity table. He had both feet off the floor!
Here is a pic of him crawling up the couch so he can look out the window (don't worry, Alan was sitting right there - I just cropped his hands out of the picture).


I call him Danger Baby.

Yesterday I gave Jacob one of those biter biscuits for his snack. Here is the messy result. I especially enjoyed getting the nasty goo from between his chubby little fingers.
Homer got the first one I gave him. Jacob dropped it on his lap and Homer swooped in. Naughty, naughty!


This morning Jacob and I got run off the sidewalk by a runner! The sidewalk was wide, wide enough for 2 people to pass easily without either having to go on the grass. This lady comes running toward us up the middle of the sidewalk. You would think that as she got closer she would move to the other side. No. I could see she wasn't going to budge so I moved off into the grass a bit. Then when she was almost to us, she swerves toward us! I quickly veered off farther into the grass to avoid a collision. I said something like, 'Geez, lady', but she didn't hear me. Guess she was in The Zone or something. She was running awfully hard, but man, you need to be a little more aware of your surroundings. Like when you are about to run up the wheel of a jogging stroller! Anyway, that was our excitement for the day.

SPLASH

Today the church had a SPLASH event with a slip-n-slide, wading pools, dunk tank, bounce houses and a bunch of other stuff for families to do. Jacob was really only old enough to do the wading pools, but that was fine because he had fun.



He wasn't too sure about this pool. It had water shooting from it and he got drenched.


His favorite was the water table. I think he would have stood there all day playing with the floating toys.

Weekly Update

Looks like I haven't posted for a week! Oops. Guess time just slips by. :P

Yesterday I took Jacob over to my parents' to spend the day while I did some serious cleaning. I've decided that I am going to do this once a month. Jacob was so good for my parents and they had a blast with him and I got a ton done. I was pretty pooped at the end of the day, but felt so good after accomplishing so much.

My dad took Jacob for a run yesterday morning


I was rewarded last night for my day of cleaning with a mom's night out with my Stroller Strides friends. One of the girls went to culinary school and did a cooking demonstration for us that we got to eat at the end. We made beer chicken (aka beer butt chicken), grilled asparagus, zucchini and red peppers with a balsamic vinaigrette that we made into quesadillas with Gruyere and Monterey Jack cheeses, and a salad with mandarin oranges, feta, onion and topped with toasted, sugary almonds. For dessert we made blackberry truffles. YUM! It was a really fun evening, great to see all of the girls again.

Today I took Jacob to the doctor because he has had a red, dry patch on his neck for a few weeks. Today it just looked bad, kinda raw so I decided the doctor better check it out. She took one look and said Eczema. She recommended some over the counter remedies and gave us a sample of Aquaphor wash. Fortunately, Jacob doesn't seem bothered by it. He never scratches at it, which is good because that can cause infection. Hopefully this stuff will do the trick. Poor baby!

Oh! He was weighed at his appointment today and is 17 lbs, 9 oz. with his clothes on, up from 16 lbs, 3 oz at his 9 month check up.

I think I mentioned last week that Jacob is now standing up in his crib.
Look how proud he is! This was the first time I saw him do it and had to grab the camera to document it.


At night he was still sleeping in his Sleep Sack, but I decided that is dangerous now, so he wears big boy jammies to bed. Not a big deal, but just another sign that my baby is growing up. ;P

Last night he woke up at 3:00am and was up until 4:30. Nice. I think he is getting another tooth in so that is likely the problem. He is having trouble getting to sleep for his nap now too. Poor guy!

The organic produce co-op that I was going to every week is no longer. Long story about how that happened, but there is hope that it will return. In the meantime, I am seriously bummed. Is it strange to be sad about veggies?

Best Buds

Many people ask me how Homer (our black lab) and Jacob get along so I thought I would blog about it and post a few pics of these two. I know I have talked about it before, but lately these two have been cracking me up.

Homer is surprisingly tolerant of Jacob and all he dishes out. Not that I thought Homer wouldn't like Jacob, but it just amazes me what he lets Jacob do to him! When Jacob was a tiny baby, he didn't really interact with Homer and Homer pretty much ignored him as well. But now that Jacob can crawl around and is interested in everything around him, he has become fascinated with Homer. He loves playing with his tags and Homer will just lay there while he jangles them.

I think Jacob was about to get licked here. Homer doesn't lick him nearly as much as I thought he might, though.


Okay, so a little tag jangling isn't that bad. However, the other day Jacob started gouging at Homer's eyes. I rushed over before things turned ugly, but Homer just laid there! And today he started pulling at Homer's toenails. Ouch! But Homer didn't seem to mind. He usually just gets this slightly annoyed look on his face.

And here is a picture of Jacob crawling over Homer's head. And again, Homey just laid there.



I think Homer already understands that Jacob is boss. He was trying to eat the other day when Jacob came crawling over. Homer moved away from his bowl. Ha Ha Ha I guess maybe he was just trying to share his meal with Jacob since he gets the leftovers that Jacob spills in his highchair. Homer waits until we take Jacob out and then he stretches his nose up and licks the scraps. Its a give and take relationship. :P

Best Buds


It is going to be so fun to watch their relationship develop as Jacob gets older (and more of a pest).

I think Homey deserves something special for all he puts up with. I just heard about a dog park in Loma Linda, so I think we should take him. He loved playing at the dog park in Holland when we lived there. :)

As much as I miss Maggie (my dog that we had to put to sleep last summer), I know that she would not have been as tolerant of Jacob and all the fur pulling, tail tugging, eye gouging, toenail pulling, etc. that Homer puts up with so well. I try to give him lots of praise and head pats to let him what good boy he is. :)

So, here's to Homey. Good dog!

Baby Signs

We have been trying to teach Jacob some sign language and finally all our repetitive signing to him has paid off! This morning Alan and I sat down to breakfast thinking we may be able to eat while Jacob played. Once we started eating, Jacob crawled quickly over to us, looked up at us and did the sign for eat! Of course there was much clapping and cheering. I swooped him up into his highchair and quickly gave him a little piece of peach so he knows that the sign works. Ha Ha

The 3rd of July

Alan and I BBQ'd last night in celebration of The Eve of the 4th of July. We made this month's Cooking Light cover recipe.

Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Mustard Barbecue Sauce (I made half recipe)

Ingredients
SAUCE:
2 bacon slices, finely chopped
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup prepared yellow mustard
5 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

PORK:
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 (1-pound) pork tenderloins, trimmed
Cooking spray

Preparation
1. Prepare grill.
2. To prepare sauce, cook bacon in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat 4 minutes or until almost crisp, stirring occasionally. Add chopped onion to pan; cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add mustard and next 5 ingredients (through 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin) to pan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 4 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring occasionally.

3. To prepare pork, combine brown sugar and next 7 ingredients (through red pepper) in a small bowl, stirring well; rub mixture evenly over pork. Place pork on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill 20 minutes or until a thermometer registers 155° (slightly pink), turning once. Let pork stand 10 minutes. Cut pork crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Serve with sauce.

Yield
8 servings (serving size: 3 ounces pork and about 2 1/2 tablespoons sauce)

Tangy Mustard Coleslaw

Ingredients
7 cups finely shredded green cabbage (about 1/2 head)
1 cup thinly vertically sliced red onion
1 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
2 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

Preparation
1. Combine cabbage, onion, and 1 cup carrot in a large bowl. Combine white wine vinegar, sugar, mustard, mayonnaise, salt, black pepper, and red pepper in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add the mustard mixture to cabbage mixture, and toss well to coat. Cover and chill for 20 minutes. Stir before serving.
Yield
7 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)

Corn on the Cob with Smoked Butter

Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon minced shallots
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
6 ears shucked corn

Preparation
1. Combine the first 7 ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Cook corn in boiling water 5 minutes or until crisp-tender; drain. Brush butter mixture evenly over corn; serve immediately.

Yield
6 servings (serving size: 1 ear of corn)

And for dessert we grilled peaches, sprinkled them with sugar and cinnamon and topped with a little vanilla icecream. We don't generally have dessert with dinner but since the grill was going and we have bunches of peaches, we decided we HAD to. :)

YUM!!

Pictures

I think a couple days ago I said I didn't have any pictures to share. Guess there were some still on the camera. Oops!

Last Friday we watched Maddie while Mark and Jill went to see a movie. Jacob and Maddie had so much fun together! Its so fun to watch them interact. :)

Sharing a toy


I think Alan was juggling and they were in awe of his talent. I think it is funny that they have identical expressions


Patting Maddie's head


Frolicking Frog



Cheerio Bull

Chompers

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that Jacob is getting his first tooth! I noticed Sunday morning that there was a little bump on his bottom gum and yesterday evening we saw a little piece of it emerging. He was a little fussy trying to get to sleep last night, but after I put some teething gel on his gums he seemed better. Now he keeps rubbing his tongue over the little sharp piece sticking up. Cute!

Here's a lovely story from this morning. I got home from our walk, put Jacob down for a nap and was prepping his lunch when I smelled something foul. I checked the trash. Nope. The compost bin. Nope. Me. Nope. Then I looked over at Homer. He was wet on his back and face like he had rolled in something. I smelled him. Yup. He smelled like rotting fish! I went outdoors to tell Alan and he said he had just hosed out the trash can because it smelled fishy from the fish they caught. Guess Homer decided that was a nice place to roll and get icky. Dogs! So I gave Homer a bath and tried to dilute the nastiness in the grass. Fortunately the bath worked for Homer. Not exactly how I was hoping to spend my morning!

Videos as promised :)

Getting into the pool ~ I love his little wiggle squirm to get in!


Splashing in the pool


Jacob loves to knock things over! In true boy nature, he'll crawl across the room just to ruin something we just built.

Bad Blogger

I just realized it has been almost a week since my last post. Guess things have just been busy! We haven't even taken any photos, so no pictures to post. Sorry! I think there are a couple videos on the camera, so I'll have to upload those soon.

Monday Jacob and I went for a walk with my mom and a few friends. We have been doing that every morning and it is a great way to start off the day! Then after his morning nap we went to Bookworm Babies at the library. Jacob had a blast again. It is so cute! I think he pays pretty good attention to what is going on, for a baby. :) He loves the songs! I try to remember them to sing when we get home, but I often forget some of the words by the time we get home so I sing 'something' in place of the missing words. Some of the songs have a lot of 'something'. :P

Monday evening I went to a bridal shower at church and afterward my mom helped me set up for the craft time/pizza party for the Mom2Mom group the next day. She came and helped out that day too. Thanks for all your help mom! :) We had a great turnout - 34 people. We had babies up to 8 year olds. We set up a little area for the babies to play while the older kids did their crafts. I wasn't sure how the crafts would go over since there were varying ages, but everyone seemed to have fun. Jacob had a blast just crawling around exploring. He was so good! I hardly had to worry about him at all, so I was free to do my 'thing'.

Be back later with videos.......hopefully.