Jacob's 2nd birthday

It is unbelievable to me that my "baby" turned two years old last week. It seems like just yesterday, we were announcing his arrival! Now, he is talking and walking and has really grown into a little person. He is independent, loving, sweet, full of energy, cheerful, fiesty, determined and has a great sense of humor. I just love him more than words can ever express!!

His birthday this year was certainly a long celebration!! He got to eat lots of cake and he blew the candles out five different times. He got really used to receiving presents (and actually still asks to "open more presents" everyday). He was one spoiled little boy this year. I hope he doesn't remember all of this next year because I am pretty sure this won't ever be repeated!

Jacob's first celebration came on May 29th at my grandmother's 80th birthday party in Rochester, NY. "Nana" surprised us by having a cake for Jacob at her party. He enjoyed everyone singing to him and watching him blow out the candles. He also enjoyed eating the yummy cake!

The second celebration came on June 1st at my grandma's house near Rochester. We were still up there visiting my extended family and everyone came to her house for dinner. We had an inpromtu birthday party for Jacob with cake and presents courtesy of my grandma and my aunts. My aunt Julie brought a yummy ice cream cake for us all to enjoy. (Note: We did not write on this cake! This "beautiful"job was done by the woman who was working in the bakery at the grocery store. We all agreed she should NOT be decorating cakes! haha)

(Another note: my grandma did not have any birthday candles so we had to resort to using these multi-colored taper candles. Yes, they are quite large...but Jacob didn't mind a bit!)

The third celebration was on June 4th at Keith's aunt's house in PA. We left NY and traveled to PA to visit with his family for a few days. More of the same....cake and LOTS of presents!!

The fourth celebration was on Jacob's actual birthday - June 7th. We traveled back from PA that day so we were in the car for most of the day. By the time we got home, it was late evening and we hadn't really planned anything. Keith ran to the grocery store and came back with some cupcakes. We lit two candles and sang Happy Birthday to Jacob. Then, he opened up two presents from us.

The fifth celebration was this past Saturday, June 11th. We had a family birthday party with my immediate family at my parents' house in Richmond. I made a cake - nothing fancy, just confetti cake with chocolate frosting, but it was a hit! And, Jacob got spoiled more with lots of more great presents.

We were able to get the third, fourth and fifth celebratory "Happy Birthday" songs on video and I put them all together into this one:

Happy Birthday sweet boy! Mommy and Daddy love you very much!!

"The View from Here": April 11-17

This is over two months behind, but I had already uploaded the pictures so I am going to go ahead and publish it.

Monday, April 11

Playing outside with chalk and tricycle

Tuesday, April 12

Playing basketball

Wednesday, April 13

Jacob had his yearly appointment at UVA Urology. This was follow-up to the Hydronephrosis that was detected when he was in utero. Thankfully, Jacob did really well. He had a great ultrasound technician who was fast and very friendly and Jacob didn't squirm that much. He also did great when the nurse took his temperature and his blood pressure.

Unfortunately, as it always seems to happen at the UVA Urology office, we had to wait a LONG time to see the doctor. The ultrasound took about 5 mins and then we waited over an hour to see the doctor!! Jacob got a little stirc-crazy sitting in the small exam room for that long, but overall he did really well. Here we are goofing around while waiting:

The good news was that his kidneys look fine and the doctor thinks that the issue is resolving itself with time. He still wants us to come back in a year, but hopefully that will be our last appointment!!

Thursday, April 14

Nothing like opening a box of Cheese-Its in the grocery store to keep a little boy quiet! Jacob LOVES "cheese crackers" and he would sit and eat half of the box if I let him!

I have started allowing Jacob to wash his hands in the bathroom sink. He uses the step stool/potty and is able to reach the faucet to turn on the water.

Friday, April 15

First of two birds' nests that appeared in my hanging plants. I guess our front porch is a good place to "raise a family". haha

Saturday, April 16

We went to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate my niece's 3rd birthday. Jacob had a blast riding the rides and playing the games. The grownups enjoyed it too!

Keith and Jacob playing skeeball

Riding the horsie

Up, Up, Up he goes!

Daddy and Jacob driving a car

The three oldest kiddos (Sierra, Jacob, and Pierce) got to pick out prizes using the tickets that everyone won.

The Stank grandkids

Pierce (4), Sierra (3), Jacob (22 months), Reid (18 months), Chyler (13 months)

"The View from Here": April 4-10

Oh my goodness, I have been so busy lately - working every day during Jacob's nap and then again most nights after he is in bed. Add in three weekend trips to Richmond over the last six weeks and I have had NO time to blog! Obviously, I am WAY behind on posting these posts from April but I have had them in the "Edit Post" category for awhile so I am going to publish them. At the very least, it will give me something to look at years from now! Here is our "View from Here" for Week #8:

Monday, April 4

While we were visiting my parents' house, Jacob was enjoying playing hide and seek with their front door. He says "Where are you?" while he is hiding and then he'll say "There you are" as he appears. It is really cute!

Since we stayed in Richmond until Monday, I had an opportunity to meet up with my good friend Lisa. Jacob enjoyed playing with her two of her kiddos (her oldest was in school and the littlest one was napping). After we played outside for a bit, we went through the drive through at Chic-Fil-A and then had lunch at a local park/playground. It was a lot of fun catching up and having the kids play together.

Tuesday, April 5

Jacob likes pulling the suitcase around the house. In this instance, it had been emptied the night before from our trip to Richmond. He was helping me take it back to its storage space in the garage.

Wednesday, April 6

On this particular day, we made a trip to Walmart and I bought some burner covers and new drip pans. I was tired off stuff getting on the burners and the old dip pans looked awful! Before I replaced everything, I decided to give my stove & oven a really good cleaning. Not fun, but now it looks a million times better.

Looks shiny & new!

Thursday, April 7

Unfortunately we don't have a lot of grass in our back yard. But that is ok when you have a little boy because he is content with turning our beach sand toys into "dirt" toys. He loves to shovel up the rocks and dirt. I am hoping that he enjoys the sand this summer just as much.

We got our patio set late last summer so we weren't really able to use it that much before the weather got cool. This year, we have used it a ton! Most days when I tell Jacob that I am making dinner, he says "Deck...eat on deck". It is definitely more work to take everything out there and then bring it back in, but he loves sitting out there. We sort of live on a corner (the corner lot is not developed) so he is able to see lots of vehicles going by. We are also able to see plenty of birds and squirrels and sometimes even a deer!

Friday, April 8

On Friday, I hosted playgroup at my house. I also watched my friend, Kathy's son, Luke for a few hours in the morning. Luke and Jacob are very close in age (Luke is one week older) and I hope that they will grow up to be good buddies!

Doesn't Jacob looks so huge next to Luke? I often forget how big he is until he gets around other kids his age. I wonder if he will always be on the tall side - only time will tell.

Saturday, April 9

Jacob got a "Tickle Me Elmo" for Christmas from Uncle Mike & Aunt Blakely. And, even though he was loving Elmo around that time, he really wasn't too interested in it until recently. He now thinks it is hysterical when Elmo "laughs" and shakes and he will press on his stomach to see it happen over and over again!

Sunday, April 10

On this particular Sunday, we attempted to go to a new church in our area (the church isn't new, it is just one that we hadn't been to). Unfortunately, it didn't go well...AT ALL! Not long after arriving, Jacob expressed interest in going to the nursery to "play with the toys" (he had been in the nursery at a different church a few weeks before this and did fairly well). I was hesitant to put him in this nursery, just because I didn't know anyone there and I was certain that he wouldn't do well since he still has A LOT of stranger anxiety and doesn't like to be away from us.

Well, we decided to try it and see what happened. About 10 minutes after taking him down to the nursery, Keith returned to our seats saying that Jacob was not happy when he left. I told him that I probably wouldn't have left him if he was that upset, but we would just wait and see. About 5 minutes later, our "number" flashed up on the screen at the front of the church alerting us to come to the nursery. Within seconds of that happening, I could hear Jacob crying very loudly from the lobby of the church (I am pretty sure everyone in the service could hear him!!). Keith went down to get him and I followed about a minute later.

After getting him calmed down, we attempted to return to the balcony area of the church and went into the "crying room". Jacob did OK in their with us for about five minutes before he got really upset and started crying very loudly again. Since there were no speakers in that room (so we could not hear what was going on in the church) and it was clear that Jacob was not happy, we just decided to leave.

We ended up going to Lowe's (all dressed up in our nice church clothes) to get flowers and mulch for our front garden. After that, we went to our local Mexican restaurant for lunch. Jacob was much happier there and enjoyed eating his (not-so-Mexican) hot dog & french fries with lots of ketchup.

Condiments weren't really his thing until recently and now he can't get enough of them. Ketchup, mustard, salsa, and hummus are his favorites, although he loves anything he can "dip" into. I think he would eat them with every meal if he could. Today when I asked him what he wanted for breakfast, he said "Mustard". That kid is crazy!!

Bubbles & Contagious Laughter

Tonight, while Keith was getting Jacob out of the bathtub, I heard Jacob start hysterically laughing. I wasn't sure what was going on. All I knew was Jacob was laughing and laughing. I grabbed the video camera and this is what I saw:

Please forgive the shaking that occurs in parts of the video - that is me trying to stifle my laughter. Apparently, this is a game that Jacob and Daddy play with the tub bubbles while Jake is in the tub. Tonight, Jacob asked him to do it after he got out and it was obviously a hit! Jacob thought it was especially funny when Daddy would have to wipe his face off on Jacob's towel!

Isn't his laughter contagious?! I love my boy!

"The View from Here": March 28-April 3

Here is our "View From Here" for Week #7 (a few weeks behind!):

Monday, March 28

Jacob definitely loves to eat! And, like any little kid, the messier the better! On this day, he somehow got yogurt all over his face. Silly boy!

Tuesday, March 29

Remember, this post, where I showed you how Jacob was becoming very indecisive about what videos he wanted to watch? Here is a picture from a typical morning around here. He likes to look through all of the DVD cases and tell me what they are. Then he will tell me which video he wants to watch while he is eating breakfast. (Don't worry, I removed all of the DVDs from the cases so that they wouldn't get broken!)

A few weeks before Jacob was born, we were blessed with an awesome baby shower hosted by my mom, sisters and sister-in-law. The shower had a wagon theme and Blakely actually made the cake in a small wagon. That wagon was given to us and for a year and a half, it sat on a shelf in our garage collecting dust. Jacob saw it one day and asked to play with it. It is the perfect size for him to pull around. He likes to take lots of things for rides - mostly cars, trucks, and stuffed animals.

Wednesday, March 30

On Wednesday, my Mom's groups had a fun playdate at the Bounce-n-Play in Charlottesville. We have only been there once before and Jacob had a good time. He is still a little too small for some of the bigger slides (and Mommy gets really tired carrying him up the steep steps of the big slides!). He did however enjoy bouncing around and going down the smaller slide!

At the beginning of the year, a newly relocated family joined our Mom's group. The mom, Lauren, and I became good friends and I hope our little guys stay close throughout the years. They have a lot of similarities - both are named Jacob and both were due to be born on the same day (Jacob W. is just a week older than Jacob D.), and apparently they both love books too! Here they are checking out the selection at the Bounce-n-Play.

Saturday, April 2

On Friday, April 1st, Keith headed up to PA to spend some time with his mom while she was recuperating from her surgery. She had been staying with her sister and brother-in-law and he went up to help her move back to her apartment. Like we often do, Jake and I headed to Richmond to visit with my family while Keith was away.

Jacob has fallen in love with the book "The Missing Tooth" that is at Mimi & Papa's house. It is an old book (1988) and was most likely my brother's when he was a kid. It is a Step 3 book (one that is used to help kids read) and is fairly long, but Jacob loves it and wants it read over and over again. Here, he is "reading" it while he waits for me to prepare his lunch. I definitely think this kid is going to be an early reader!

Sunday, April 3

Jacob loves to take a bath in Mimi & Papa's big tub! There are times when he has to share it with some of his other cousins, so it is really fun when he gets it all to himself!

"The View from Here": March 21-27

I'm behind again - two weeks this time! Oh well. I've been crazy busy with work, home, and everything else in between! Here is our "View From Here" Week #6:

Monday, March 21:

Jacob has moved from using snack traps to using bags for snacks. He would consistently take the top off of the snack traps and the food would go everywhere. At least with a bag, only the crumbs get tossed around sometimes as he tries to get every last morsel out. Here is a sampling of some "snack bags" that were sitting on the counter recently (and yes, three out of the four are cereal - mini wheats, lucky charms, and kix. Jake is on a cereal-loving kick lately!)

Tuesday, March 22:

On March 22, our Tuesday morning playgroup met at the Charlottesville Discovery Museum on the Downtown Mall. There were quite a few moms and kiddos there and we all had a great time. It was our first time there and Jacob enjoyed playing with all the neat things. Here he is playing with the train table:

They have this really cool contraption called "Amazing Airways". According to the website, "Puffs of air make balls and scarves fly through the Amazing Airways maze!" It was a really cool concept! The kids had fun putting the balls and scarves in the hole and watching them go through the maze and come back out!

Jacob and Reid "playing" Checkers

Jacob enjoyed playing with the wheels on the wall

Outside the Discovery Museum, there is a small carousel. It only seats seven and it is not mechanical, but it is FREE! and the kids loved it! Thankfully there weren't that many people on the Downtown Mall that day so our kids were able to play on it for a good while. Jacob would have probably stayed on it all day if I let him. I literally had to pry him off of the horse kicking and screaming!

I love this picture! He was having such a good time (as were Virginia & Wade who are in the background!)

Wednesday, March 23:

On Wednesday, I watched Reid for Katie while she and Pierce went to the dentist. We went to a friend's house in the morning for playgroup, but then the boys and I returned home for lunch and naps (for them, not me unfortunately!). Here are the two cuties enjoying their lunch (I love Reid's cheesy smile!):

These two are definitely "all boy" and they love to play with the cars!

Later that night, after his bath, Keith let Jacob run around naked. It was funny to see him doing "normal" things like reading books with no clothes on. He loved it though and wasn't too happy to get his clothes back on.

Thursday, March 24:

Thursday was a rough day for me. Remember, this post? I am still not sure why I was feeling so blah, but I know that I was definitely feeling better later that night! Four friends and I went to Ladies' Night Out at the Melting Pot and we had a fabulous time (we even closed the place down - we were talking and laughing so much that we didn't leave until after 10pm)!! I had a wonderful frozen strawberry margarita and we scarfed down yummy fondue foods! I am so blessed to have these awesome girls in my life and I cherish the fun times that we all have together.

Friday, March 25:

Fridays are usually lazy kinda days in our house as we normally don't have anything planned. We spend most of the morning in our pajamas just playing and hanging around. This particular day, Jacob kept taking his pajama pants off and walking around with them around his ankles. He was being overly goofy and finding it really funny! The more he laughed, the more I laughed - I wish I had gotten a video - it was one of those really fun silly moments.

Here is a not-so-funny moment that I did capture on video. Jacob's indecision lately is driving me crazy!

Saturday, March 26

I didn't take any pictures on Saturday. Probably because I was out running errands a lot of the day. Keith graciously took Jacob with him into town to the library while I did some local shopping at CVS and Food Lion (the only two stores that I can go to without driving at least 15 minutes). It seems like mundane shopping, but it was nice to be able to spend some time looking at greeting cards & shopping for deals instead of throwing stuff into the cart while trying to keep Jacob occupied! CVS had a great deal on the shampoo and conditioner that we use, so I stocked up for our Semester at Sea trip (4 months worth!). They also had Multigrain Cheerios (one of Keith's favs) on sale 2/$5 so I grabbed four boxes! CVS is one of those places where you wouldn't necessarily think to buy food, but they often have some really good deals if you time to look for them.

Sunday, March 27

We awoke on Sunday to a dusting of snow on the ground. Seriously?? Isn't it the end of March?? This year's weather has been so weird - in the 30s one week, 80 degrees the next and snow the next! I'm definitely ready for Spring and more consistently warmish temps (but not 80 just yet!)

This is a very random picture, but I was just amazed at the size of these boneless chicken breasts that we got from Sam's Club. No, they are not organic and yes, I realize that they were probably injected with something to make them this big!