The Weimer Chronicles: "The View from Here": March 7-13

Another super busy week and I am behind again. Oh well, better late than never! Here it is...our "View From Here" for Week #4:

Monday, March 7:

Jacob and I stayed in Richmond on Monday since Keith was not coming home from PA until Tuesday (which then actually turned into Wednesday). I was excited that Jake and I were able to meet my good friend, Trish, at Cracker Barrel for lunch. It was really great to see her and catch up. And, as you can see from the photo, while we were there Jacob found a new love for jelly! He was having fun peeling the tops off of the butter and jelly and then he asked me for a spoon and decided to start eating it. Strange and not so healthy, but it kept him occupied so Trish and I could actually talk a little without getting interrupted!

Tuesday, March 8:

After being in Richmond for almost a week, it was good to be back home. I shot this video of Jacob right before breakfast. He was singing his ABCs (which he can do from start to finish - and has been doing for about 2 months now), but as soon as I turned on the video camera, he refused to do it. This is a normal occurrence these days as whenever I get the video camera out he stops whatever "video-worthy" thing he was doing and will not do it no matter how much I ask (or bribe!) him. You will also notice the sort of "growl" that he does at the very beginning of the video - that is his new way of showing his anger or frustration. Oh, terrible twos...I feel that they aren't far away!!

Wednesday, March 9:

As I said last week, Jacob has had this thing where he wants to stay in his crib for awhile after I go in to get him in the morning. His request now is to have "Milk in bed" (as he says). So, instead of him drinking his milk cup on the changing table while I change his diaper, he wants me give it to him in his crib and he lays back down to drink it. Sometimes he even says "Mommy Come Back", which in Jacob language means he wants me to leave and come back a little later. Silly boy!

Thursday, March 10:

Thursday was a rainy, yucky day. We stayed in our pjs for most of the day and spent a lot of time looking out the window at the rain.

At one point in the afternoon, it was raining so hard that a small stream formed in our front yard. There was also a small lake in our backyard. Everything was overflowing!

Jacob spent a lot of time watching videos on TV that day too. This is one of his favorite things to do these days but most days I try to limit it to twice a day - while he is eating breakfast and after he gets up from his nap. His favorite videos right now are pretty much anything with Elmo or Sesame street characters and Baby Genius Sing-A-Long Songs. I have tried to get him to watch Curious George (just for some variety) but it doesn't usually keep his attention. I recently bought a few videos about trucks & constructions vehicles and he is asking to watch those now too.

Friday, March 11:

Keith decided to take the day off on Friday since he had been away and dealing with all of his Mom's stuff. He needed some "down time" and also wanted to spend time with Jake and me. Jacob LOVES when Keith is here (and so do I!) so we had a really fun day. We didn't really even do anything that exciting but I would still say it was a great day!

Jacob loves to wrestle and roughhouse with Keith so they enjoyed a litlte bit of that in the morning:

Jacob is becoming more interested in puzzles these days. My aunt gave us a bunch of really cool ones last year, but he is just now enjoying playing with them. Basically, he just likes to take all the pieces off and play with them, but I am also teaching him how they go back in and fit together.

Jacob's balance amazes me sometimes! He often likes to stand on this giraffe while he is watching TV. He is really good at standing on the little seat with his feet really close together. And, he rarely ever falls off! Maybe some balance beam gymnastics are in his future?!

Saturday, March 12:

Saturday was a good, but busy day. My sister, Katie, hosted a Tastefully Simple party at her house and we had a great time taste testing all the yummy food. Keith and Jacob spent a lot of time together - playing outside, taking a walk (with Jacob in the wagon) and just having fun - while I got ready for the party and was gone for most of the afternoon.

I did take this one picture in the morning - ripped books courtesy of my little book-ripper! As I have said before, Jacob LOVES books and we read often throughout most days so I do not understand why he wants to rip them!

He doesn't necessarily rip pages (although he has done that a few times), but he mostly rips parts of books with pop-ups, lift the flap or moving parts. The funny thing is that the ones that he rips are often his favorites - like Matthew Van Fleet's "Tails" and "Cats". Right now two of his other favorites are "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake" and "If You Give a Pig a Party" by Laura Numeroff, and thankfully he hasn't ripped those!

Sunday, March 13:

We decided to go into Charlottesville on Sunday morning and grab some breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast places - The Tavern. It is a small restaurant near the UVA campus and they are known for their great food (their Biscuits & Gravy are awesome!) and their very fast service (we got our food less than 5 minutes after we ordered it!). Breakfast is my favorite meal to go out for and we don't really have a breakfast restaurant close to us (other than iHop). Because of the time change, we didn't end up getting out of the house before until 10am, so it was really more like brunch!

Since it was such a nice day (upper 60s), we decided to go over to the grounds at UVA and walk around. We had a great time walking up the stairs next to Alderman Library (where Keith works) and just running around the Rotunda & the Lawn.

We took the opportunity to take a few family pics. Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone nearby to take a picture of all three of us, so separate Mommy and Daddy pics with Jacob will have to do!