More on Isaac

A couple new developments this week. First of all, Isaac is now crawling on his hands and knees 100% of the time. I don't think I saw him do the army crawl once all week!

When Isaac had a fever last week, I kept checking for teeth, thinking that may be the reason. I never felt anything and then Jacob and I got fevers too so I knew the fevers were sickness related. But then, earlier this week when we were playing outdoors, I was trying to fish a leaf bit out of Isaac's mouth and got poked! There is a tiny bit of tooth poking through on the bottom. His first tooth!

Isaac has been pulling himself up to stand next to everything lately, but this morning was the first time I found him standing in his crib. No pictures of that since it was at 5:00 am, but here are a couple pictures of him playing with Mr. Potato Head by the chest of blankets.




For the past couple days Isaac has been a total Mama's boy and won't let me out of his sight and wants me to hold him all the time. If I go into another room he starts crying and crawling to find me. He does okay with Alan if I am not around, but if he catches sight of me, he starts trying to get to me. Not sure what this is all about, but its kind of wearing on me. I can't get anything done! Hopefully its a phase that passes very soon!

Here are a couple pictures of Jacob doing a couple of his favorite things, just so he doesn't feel left out this week since I mostly posted about Isaac.

Sitting at the computer. He loves to just hang out in this chair and bang on the keyboard or watch my screensaver pictures pop up.


This week he discovered that getting into the toy box and emptying it is great fun! Isaac loves it too, as long as he doesn't get hit in the head by flying toys.


One evening I could hear all kinds of racket coming from the playroom. When I came in I found Jacob cleaning up the toys. I asked Alan if he asked Jacob to do that and he said, 'Nope. He just started doing it himself.' Awesome!

Isaac's world

Last week I did a big ole post about Jacob and all that he is up to, so I thought today I would do a big ole post about Isaac. :)

He learned how to get up on his hands and knees to crawl and now does that about 50% of the time. He reverts back to the army crawl when he is tired and/or cranky.

Here he is showing off his new skill


Isaac says good-bye to baby purees! I've been feeding him solid foods for a couple months now and he just never seemed all that interested. Most of my attempts to feed him were met with tightly closed lips. It was frustrating to keep trying and trying and then just end up throwing the food away. And this was the good stuff! I wasn't trying to give him jarred food. This was fresh fruits and veggies, many of them from our own garden. This weekend I decided to just try some finger food with him and gave him Cheerios and diced avocado. He loved it! He is still not all that adept at getting the food in his mouth, but he is very receptive to me feeding him the pieces. At one point he grabbed my hand and shoved the avocado in his mouth! Now mealtimes are much more pleasant.

We are in the middle of sleep training Isaac and it is just oh so fun! I'm being sarcastic, but really it hasn't been too horrid. A few weeks back he started getting up to eat every 2 hours. At first I thought he was just going through a growth spurt, but when it continued, I knew he was getting into a bad habit and it was time to get tough. I was pretty tired! After a week of weaning, I've got him down to nursing just once during the night and most of the time if he wakes up he is able to put himself back to sleep in 10-15 minutes. Its those other times when he cries for much longer that are very trying. We'll get there, though.

We keep trying to get Isaac to take a bottle, with no luck! We took a little break from it just because it is frustrating and time-consuming. Yesterday it took Alan over an hour and a half to get Isaac to drink 2 ounces and I am guessing a lot of the milk ended up on his bib. Within a half hour of drinking the last of the bottle, he was hungry again. I guess we'll keep trying, but I don't hold out a lot of hope that he'll ever take one.

Even though there are struggles with bottles and sleep and eating, Isaac really is a pretty easy baby. He is generally a happy guy and will sit and play by himself for quite a while if Jacob isn't around to torment him. And even when things are a little rough, all he has to do is give me that sweet, dimpled smile and things seem better.

Love this sweet little boy!

The sickies strike again

Last week both Isaac and Jacob had low-grade fevers and I came down with a yucky cold. Fortunately, the boys' only symptoms were the fevers and I am the only one with a stuffy nose, headache and now a gross cough. I hope nobody else gets it because I feel pretty rugged.

This was taken the day before Isaac started with a fever. He was pretty clingy and crabby that evening and after dinner he just laid on Alan's legs.


Friday morning I was busy doing chores while Isaac napped and Jacob played quietly in the playroom. Next thing I know, Jacob is napping on his couch. I knew he must not be feeling well because he never falls asleep that early. Sure enough, when he woke up he had a fever.

Later that day we played lots of 'night-night' games.

Jacob thought the library table looked like a pretty cool bed. First he laid down on the wooden stretcher and wanted me to put a blanket over him.


Then he decided that wasn't cushy enough, so he had me lay an afghan down on the stretcher, cover it with the rainbow blanket and then cover him with yet another blanket.



While Jacob and I played 'night-night', Isaac played doctor. Isn't he so cute in his thermal jammies? We spent most of the weekend in our jammies.


Oops. He'd had enough of that!



Hopefully this week will be better!

Look-a-likes

People ask who Isaac looks like and I think he looks a lot like my brothers. See for yourself.

Mike




Jeff



And a few of Isaac for comparison



Eyes closed - looks like Mike


Eyes open - looks like Jeff

Fall Break

Alan was on fall break yesterday and today and our original plan was to do something like go to the San Diego zoo, but since Alan really had to get the nesting box built for the chickens, we were sort of limited on how far and wide we could go. After Isaac's morning nap we went to Martha Green's for an early lunch where Jacob ate an entire pancake, plus some fruit. These are not small pancakes! We asked him if his tummy was full, so he pulled up his shirt, took a look and said, 'No'. He did say that those pancakes were better than mine. True, but in my defense, I don't make pancakes every day. If I did, maybe mine would be that good too. :P

At about 11:30 Jacob said, 'Hep me night-night'. Guess that full tummy and the fact that Isaac woke him up early this morning made him sleepy. I took him up to his bed and he was out for almost 2 1/2 hours. Isaac went down for a nap around noon and Alan and I decided we deserved a nap too since Isaac had us up at 4:30. Sleep training is oh so fun.

After everyone was up from naps, we went to Greenspot Farms. I didn't even know about this farm until I read about it on other people's blogs. What a cute place! Neither of the boys were fond of the animals, but I had fun looking at them. I didn't think Isaac would be bothered by them, but when a goat jumped up on the fence to get a closer look at us, Isaac made this funny, 'AHHHHHH! AHHHHHH!' noise and started to cry. Then he did it again when we looked at the llama and the horse. Oh well. Guess we'll just have to keep exposing them to animals and maybe they'll grow to love them too. While we were there we picked out a couple pumpkins for the boys and also got avocados and some of the farm's honey.

Of course we took a load of pictures!

Jacob loved the kids' wheelbarrow


He thought the big tractor was pretty cool!


Our little lumberjack


Picking out some pumpkins


Getting a picture of the boys together was nearly impossible. It took a lot just to get Jacob to sit next to Isaac. He was much more interested in checking out all the pumpkins than posing for pictures. Go figure!


Jacob's worried look is because of a dog running around



Isaac loved the crinkly corn husks


We were about to leave when Jacob found the wheelbarrow again. We had some time before Isaac needed to go down for a nap so we just loaded our purchases in the car and let Jacob push the wheelbarrow around for a while.

Jacob's World

Here is just a glimpse into Jacob's mind and what he is up to these days.

Some evenings Jacob watches the last half of Sesame Street after dinner. There is an Elmo's World segment which starts with a little song, 'La la la la. La la la la. Elmo's World'. Its quite catchy and we find ourselves singing that little ditty throughout the day. This morning Alan was singing it, but saying, 'Isaac's world'. He then asked Jacob, 'Is it Isaac's world?' 'No.' 'Whose world is it?' 'Jacob's'. Oh nice!

Apparently we are all chickens, except for Jacob. Even Homey is a 'bawk-bawk'. And I am yucky, but nobody else is. Guess I am a yucky chicken!

Jacob can count to 5, but often skips 4. 'One, two, fee, fie'. We are trying to teach him the colors and sometimes he is eager to learn while other times, not so much. The other day he was coloring and I made some different colored shapes to quiz him. He wasn't interested. When my brother was little he said to my mom, 'Please don't make me learn.' Sometimes I think that if Jacob could express that, he would.

Isaac is no longer 'I-Yi'. Jacob now calls him Isaac.

He still talks about his 'too-bah all gone. Toiwet' Translation: Toothbrush all gone. Toilet. I think I mentioned that a couple weeks ago he threw his toothbrush down the toilet and I couldn't get it back. Guess that was a pretty important event in Jacob's world.

He loves to help me with chores. If I get out the vacuum he runs as fast as he can to find his little vacuum while yelling, 'Vacu, vacu!' He really vacuums with gusto too! He likes to take dirty clothes to the 'launry' room and help me sort clothes. At the end of the day he puts Mr. Potato Head 'night-night', which means in its box and up on the shelf and put his 'trackys' (tractors) in the toy box.

It seems like every day he surprises me with something he remembers or things he says. Here are a few pictures of Jacob being Jacob.

He loves this blanket. It was made by my aunt for Isaac, but Jacob has adopted it as his own. He has a 'banket' in his crib too, but this is his downstairs 'banket'. He is always saying, 'Hep me. Banket' which means he wants us to cover him up in it. And heaven forbid we try to use the blanket! One day I was chilly and tried using it, but he kept pulling it off me and saying, 'No, Mama'.


Last week we went out to Cabazon to get Jacob some new shoes. I attempted to take a picture of him in them and this is the best I could get. Here he is with his 'necka' and messy hair, sucking on a potato masher and pulling on my robe.


We often find him in the toy box, but I have never seen him actually crawl in so I don't know how he does it. I am assuming he just sort of falls in. He is holding one of his favorite toys right now - a match box car. He also really likes this little John Deere lawn mower (not pictured). He carries those two toys all over and as soon as he gets up he is asking for his 'Ki, Ki' (car, car). He usually remembers right where he left them too. I wonder what the 'toy of the week' will be this week!

Outdoor Fun

I got a little camera happy this morning while we played outdoors. :P

Isaac is looking a bit concerned over what Jacob was doing. I think Jacob was using his gold clubs to whack at the bushes. Definitely a cause for concern.


Jacob and his 'socco ball'. I can't even count the times I hear 'Socco ball outside' each day.


Isaac giving the lawn mower a little tune up


I think he looks just like his Uncle Mike in this pic, especially the mouth


Look at that little tongue poking out :P


Jacob dusting dirt off his hands


Contemplating what he can get into next


Isaac loves leaves!



Mowing the driveway


For once, Jacob stayed fairly clean, but I had to strip Isaac down and change his clothes because he was filthy!

Thursday already?!?

I can't believe it is Thursday already! This week is flying by.

We have been thoroughly enjoying the cool fall weather! Fall is my favorite season and I am glad it is finally here. Now its time for hot cocoa, apple crisps, soups and all the other yummy fall goodies. Last night we had turkey chili and corn bread. Yumm-o!

We've been spending more time outdoors now that the afternoons are bearable again. The boys just adore being outside. Jacob likes checking for 'matoes' and eggs. We are getting 1 or 2 eggs each day. How fun is that? I just love it!

Last weekend Jacob spent a couple nights at my parents' while Alan was in Austin for a conference. I got a ton done around the house. It is amazing what you can accomplish without a toddler underfoot! It was pretty strange around here with just Isaac and me. So quiet!

I didn't pack warm enough jammies for Jacob. Who knew it would be so chilly when the weekend before was 108 degrees? Fortunately my parents are creative and put some of Oma's socks on Jacob.

That is one classy lookin' drummer!


Isaac is having a ton of fun exploring the house.


I think I mentioned before that we had to remove the doors off the boys' kitchen because Jacob was slamming them and driving us to insanity. Well, those cupboards are the perfect place to put toys for Isaac. He will sit there and play by the kitchen for a long time. We call them the hidey holes. :D



Danger Baby in training


Jacob has been a huge source of entertainment this week - as always!

The other night for dinner we had a stir-fry with snap peas. I cut them up for Jacob and he got creative and put them on his thumbs.



Last night I was folding laundry before Jacob went to bed. This is why I rarely fold laundry while he is around.

Putting underwear around his neck


Searching for some more


The finished look!


Jacob loves to dance! He also likes to play 'night-night' and list everyone who is night-night or should be night-night.