We are excited to have Randall (Alan's brother), Lila and Sam visiting from Austin. Jacob was a little shy at first, but it didn't take him long to warm up and start running around with Sam. They are having a great time together!
Friday night we had a bbq and played outdoors for a while.
The kids had fun playing with the chickens
I think this is the closest Jacob has let the chickens get to him. I was surprised that he was sitting in the pen letting them walk all around him.
Enjoying his nightly milk in the chicken pen. Hee Hee
The chickens enjoy eating greens from the garden and the kids had fun feeding them
Jacob's pool from last summer sprung a leak, so he was in need of a new one. My parents got him one as an early birthday present and brought it over last week. Good thing they got one when they did. They were going like hot cakes last weekend when the temps were so high.
Jacob had a blast splashing around
He wanted Isaac to come in SO bad so we let him dip his feet in. Here Jacob is trying to show Isaac how to splash with his feet. He is such a good big brother!
The water was a bit chilly and Jacob's lips were a little blue, but he didn't care!
Drinking out of the pool with Homer. GROSS, but boys will be boys, right?
I went on the hunt for a new hat for Jacob since his hat was getting a little small. There weren't many to choose from, but we found one that works.
Isaac in Jacob's old hat. Jacob wanted Isaac to wear his sunglasses too. :D
Jacob has always loved books and now Isaac enjoys looking at books too.
Friday evening we went over to the Whitman's for grilled pizza. We brought over a salad made with greens and veggies from our garden and for dessert Cecilia served chocolate cake and ice cream. Yumm-o! The kids had a blast playing together. Jacob enjoyed exploring their playroom and discovering all their cool toys. He especially liked pushing around the doll stroller and even put a baby in it (upside down). He also piled all the dolls on top of Isaac in his car seat. Such a silly boy! Isaac didn't seem to mind, though. He just sucked on the head of one and batted the others away.
Saturday evening we had dinner with Alan's colleagues. The physics department has a new faculty member this year and the dinner was so everyone could meet each other. We had grilled pork and sweet potatoes, we brought another salad (we have a lot of veggies!) and for dessert we had chocolate cake and fruit from the farmer's market. Jacob played with Evan, the four year old son of one of the faculty. They had a ton of fun playing with the toys Evan brought and then they discovered the backyard and all the lemons. They were throwing them, squishing them, kicking them and Jacob was biting into them. Did you know that kids don't taste sour until they are around 2 years old? That explains why Jacob would bite off the end of a lemon and it wouldn't phase him. By the end of the evening he was a sticky (but fresh smelling) mess. He went straight into the tub when we got home. :P
This afternoon we had lunch with my parents and brothers. Jeff grilled us up some delicious chicken and I brought a pasta salad with zucchini pesto. For dessert we had - you guessed it - chocolate cake! This was chocolate zucchini cake that my mom made using some of our zucchini. So good! After his nap, Jacob had fun playing with his uncles and making a huge mess of Grandpa and Grandma's house. Isaac tried out the exersaucer and loves it!
He also took a nice nap on Grandma's lap. He was really tired and didn't want to be held any way my mom tried. He was just agitated and thrashing around. She tried this and it worked like a charm. He settled right down, just laying there very calm until he finally fell asleep. I am going to try laying him like this the next time he gets thrashy.
We took the exersaucer home and Isaac enjoyed playing in it some more this evening
This picture was taken earlier in the week and it is a bit blurry, but I just love how the boys are cuddling on the floor together. Jacob is into blankets lately for some reason. He is always lugging around these four blankets and bringing them to Isaac. If I ask him to play 'night-night', he'll lay down and cuddle with the blankets. That's what he is doing here.
With all the chocolate cake I ate this weekend and more to eat this week since my mom sent us home with a giant hunk of the chocolate zucchini cake, I need to really crack down at Boot Camp this week.
Isaac turned 4 months old yesterday and next week Jacob will be 23 months. Where did the time go?
We moved Isaac to his own room this week. Its really just a temporary room until we get Jacob's new room done. Then we'll move Isaac into the nursery where Jacob is now.
Here are his new digs - Alan's office. Its pretty cramped, as you can see from the second picture with the desk chair wedged in between the crib and the desk, but it works. Its actually nice because the office is right by our room, so if I leave both doors open I can hear him stir without using a monitor.
(Please ignore the blue curtains and green walls. Those curtains are going in Jacob's new room, but we put them in here because they are darker and block out more sun than the ones Alan bought for the office. ) Since moving him to sleeping in a crib (he was in a pack-n-play in our room before), he has slept so much better. He had been getting up every 2-3 hours to eat and would do lots of thrashing around, but now he sleeps 2-3 hours, eats, then sleeps another 5-6 hours before waking up to eat again. We should have moved him much earlier.
Isaac is all about playing these days! He no longer enjoys being held for long periods and even the bouncy seat bores him after a few minutes. He much prefers to be on a blanket on the floor, rolling around playing with his toys. He does like the Bumbo seat, though. Maybe it is because he is sitting more upright, or maybe it is just because it is different. We are going to pick up the exersaucer from my parents' this weekend and see how he likes that. I think he'll love it!
Here is a video of Isaac in the Bumbo and Jacob bringing him things to play with
Jacob has really started talking a lot! I counted over 30 words that he knows and then later kept thinking of more. Of course, most people wouldn't understand what he is saying, but we know!
He is really enjoying playing with the other kids after Boot Camp. Once a week they plan a little activity for the kids and this week was playing with shaving cream and blocks. It sounds strange, but he loved it! Yesterday he made a new friend, Noah, who is a year older than him. Jacob had so much fun running after him! Sometimes when there are a lot of kids around, especially older ones, he can act quite shy, so it is nice to see him find friends. Gotta love Boot Camp. Its like he has a play date every day!
While we were in Napa, Jacob's favorite thing to do in the hotel room was play with the desk phone. He would pick it up and say, 'He-whoa?' The other day he decided the computer mouse looked like a phone. Here is a video of him playing with it. I like how he shakes it at first like 'Hey, there's no dial tone!'
I absolutely love seeing my boys interact. It is so fun! Yesterday Jacob was bringing Isaac his tractors and I said that Jacob must really like Isaac to share his favorite toys. I then asked Jacob if he loved Baby Isaac. He came over and gave him a hug and kiss. So sweet! I didn't even know he had connected that if you love someone you give them hugs and kisses. Its so neat when your kids 'get' something!
So there are the heartwarming moments, but also funny ones. The other day we were playing in the playroom and I said that Isaac needed a diaper change. Then I hear Jacob pipe in from the corner, 'Yeah, I-Yi' (he calls Isaac I-Yi). The tone was just so funny! It was like he was saying 'Yeah, I-Yi. You stink!'.
Here is Jacob giving Isaac raspberries on his tummy.
Yesterday morning we headed over to the church for the annual pancake breakfast and enjoyed having breakfast while chatting with friends. Then we went to Lowes and bought some curtains for Alan's office, Jacob's room and our room. We struck out with the ones for our room and Alan's office - wrong color for both. Alan went back to return those and got some different ones for his office. I'm not really sure what I want for our room, so we're waiting on that.
We also bought an American flag. Jacob wasn't too interested in posing with it.
I think they were both watching the dog in this picture :P
After naps we went to my parents' for some burgers. I brought a bunch of zucchini and squash to grill and also some greens and veggies from the garden for a salad. Jacob had a fun time playing with all the trucks that Grandpa and Grandma have at their house. He barely ate any dinner because he was just itching to play outdoors. He was pretty bummed when we had to leave! After the boys went to bed, Alan and I attempted to watch the fireworks from his office. We would have had a great view if we didn't have the biggest tree in all of Redlands in our backyard. Okay, maybe it isn't the biggest, but it is ginormous and was blocking most of the show. Oh well. We drowned our sorrows (just kidding, we weren't that bummed) in some blueberry crisp and ice cream that my mom sent home with us.
Hope you all had a safe and wonderful Fourth of July holiday!
Jacob is quite the character. He is always making us laugh at the things he says and does.
The other day I turned around and saw this
I usually let him run around in his tee shirt and diaper after his nap if we don't have anywhere to go. If I ask him if he wants to get dressed, he says, 'no' and I figure since it is hot, it probably feels good to run around like that. Guess he didn't want his shirt on anymore either, but couldn't get it all the way off.
A side shot
He played all afternoon with his shirt like that. I could have fixed it, but it was just too funny, so I left it. :P
