You think Jacob is growing okay?

Makinley and Jacob Four months ago:

Now:

Jacob is now officially out of control with the shrieking. He gets excited about something, starts flailing around, and shrieks at a deafening decibel level. Sometimes it's about every 30 seconds. Like when he's watching Go Diego Go, his favorite cartoon. Here he is watching it in our bedroom:

Sometimes, he just busts out laughing, all hopped up on goofballs. Here is a tame version of that:

And another one in his jumperoo:

Christmas on New Years

We had the always entertaining Wiltshire Family Christmas on New Years this year, and it was fun as usual. Because our "Christmas Eve" fell on New Years Eve this year, we added fireworks to our list of activities. Although I did start a small fire, we did manage to shoot off the aforementioned fireworks without anyone losing an eye or burning anyone's house down. But I'm not gonna lie...we came close in both cases.



The presents were plentiful, as they always are. And I hate to see how many presents Jacob gets once he actually starts caring about Christmas. Scary thought.



I think my family thought I was exaggerating about Jacob's mad spitting-up skillz. But they are doubters no more. Everyone had at least one regurgitated baby food/formula stain on their clothes by the time we left. Logan, Brynna and Makinley all got to hold J-Dub, and they all thought it was great fun until he unloaded on their hands, clothes, and hair.


As I told you before, Jacob has had to go to a specialist for a flat spot on his head. After the last visit, Nancy has been increasing his tummy time and doing some stretching exercises to try to keep him from having to wear a helmet. They went to the doctor again today, and she said he was much, much better and will not have to wear a helmet! Nancy did such a great job fixing him, that the doctor even said she should teach a class. As much as Jacob HATED the stretching, I'm glad she was able to stick with it. And oddly enough, he loves tummy time now.



We finally found a food that he doesn't like. Avocadoes. Nancy mashed up some fresh avocadoes the other night to feed him...his first non-baby food food. He made such an awful face when she put them in his mouth, that we had to get a picture. It was hilarious, but unfortunately the camera ate the photo. I mean he was literally gagging with each bite. We haven't tried them again.


On to some pics:


Goofy Brynna



Logan



Brynna chewing on fireworks, which is oddly, not at all surprising. And Makinley




Nick double barrel Roman candle action




Scott making roman candles bounce down the street

Me shooting a roman candle at something, or someone

Logan lighting a firecracker tank

Howdy, pardner

Laura and Makinley

Jacob looks almost as big as Makinley!

J-Dub and Brynna

Logan loved holding baby Jacob, and Jacob loved him

Pa and naked Jacob

dressed up in the "fancy" clothes that his Grandma Doris made him.

Smiley, as usual

More Christmas

A few pictures from Christmas so far:

Brooke, Grandma, and Tyler

Jacob with Grandma and Grandpa




J-Dub and Grandma




Holding his own bottle

Family Picture

Happy, as always, in his bouncy chair

Notice the spit-up stains

Learning to drive his new Christmas present. Again, note the spit-up.

Learning to sit up. He's getting the hang of it.

Sitting in his boppie

Merry Christmas Part Deux

Jacob has started this thing where he gets really excited and squeals/screams/shrieks. Last week, it was reserved for when he was on his favorite changing table looking at his favorite tv underside. But today, he was doing it a lot. We managed to catch some of it on video:

Finally got some pictures of Jacob with his grandparents. It took us several takes because someone was not cooperating very well. As you can see from the pics, it was not the five month old.

This year has been an amazing year, with lots of ups, a few downs, and never a dull moment. More than anything, it has taught me to be thankful for all the blessings God has given me. There are so many things that I am thankful for that I can't list them all, but here are a few:

1. I have the most incredible wife in the world. But I already knew that. I also knew that she would be a great mom. But she has blown me away. She is not teaching right now, but she definitely works...and she deserves a raise. How she does what she does amazes me, and I know there is no way in the world I could do it. She is an incredible mom, patient, selfless, tireless, and above all, she does it all with a smile on her face. Jacob and I are very, very lucky to have her.

2. Speaking of moms...I also have the most amazing mother. Despite a setback or two this year, she is as strong and selfless as ever. My dad is pretty great himself. They are both crazy, of course, but that is part of why I love them. I am looking forward to spending Christmas on New Years with them this year, and many more Christmases with them in the years to come.

3. I have the most amazing son in the world. Just over 12 months ago, we found out that after a little preheating, our little bun was finally in the oven. To watch him go from a blurry black and white blob on an ultrasound screen to the little guy asleep in his bed right now has been nothing short of miraculous. He is the sweetest, funniest, cutest little creature I have ever seen, and I don't know how we ever lived without him. Even after the longest, most terrible day at work, seeing him smile at me as I walk in the door makes it all disappear.

4. The list goes on and on... awesome in-laws, great job, great employees, great friends, great home. Blessed for sure.

When you have a baby, they don't send a manual home with you, much to my surprise. Between Google and good old fashioned experience, I now know a lot more about babies than I did 6 months ago.

A few things I have learned in the past 4-5 months:

• What regurgitated baby formula mixed with carrots tastes like. I already don't much care for carrots, but this sealed the deal. A well-timed spit-up while going in for a kiss will do that to a man.

• Not to remove the diaper before the replacement is ready to go. Between his own personal water gun and unexpected hershey squirts, his mother and I have learned this lesson the hard way.

• A baby can spit up a volume 3 times greater than what he has consumed, and yet still be in the 90th percentile for weight. Nancy has given up on changing clothes when J-Dub covers her shirt (pants, hair, face) with chunky white creamy goodness. Now she just wipes it off and goes about her day. Otherwise, she would be doing five loads of laundry a day and not have time to sleep. By now a completely reflexive response, every time he burps, Nancy cups her hand under his mouth to catch the inevitible tidal wave that is coming.

• Every single word to that literary classic, Pajama Time.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

Nancy's parents are in town for the holidays. Yesterday, we all got to spend Christmas Eve with Brandl, Danielle, Brooke and Tyler. We hung out, opened presents, ate dinner and went to church. It was a great day. It is crazy how fast Brooke and Tyler are growing up. It seems like just yesterday when they were Jacob's age.

Next weekend, we will go to Lorena to celebrate Christmas with my family, which, as usual, will be chaotic, insane, crazy, and lots of fun!

I'll post some more pictures soon. That's all for now.

Merry Christmas!

Finally broke down and blogged

Jacob is a very smiley baby. He laughs, giggles, and shrieks at the slightest funny face, silly dance, or random song. But just as quickly as he starts to laugh, he can snap into Grumpy McGrumperson mode. It is literally like flipping a switch. One second he is belly laughing, and the next he is screaming like someone is pouring battery acid down his throat. Fortunatley, this doesn't happen but once a day or so, and the laughing far outweighs the crying. We try really hard not to laugh at him when he sticks his bottom lip out (he gets that from his mama). These pictures adequately capture the mood-switcheroo:

He went to meet Santa and tell him what he wants for Christmas on Wednesday. It was not a complete disaster. He didn't cry or spit up on Santa or poop on him. He just sat there looking at us like we were crazy while we acted like idiots trying to get him to smile. Of course, he smiled 2 or 3 times at Santa...he just wouldn't smile for the camera. Oh well, we still got a cute picture and, again, no bodily fluids ended up on Santa's beard or suit. Trust me, that is a tally in the win column.

J-Dub has started to really enjoy his solid food menu, now complete with rice, oatmeal, peas, carrots, pears, sweet potatoes, and applesauce. Shelby has also, for some unrelated reason I'm sure, begun to show more interest in him, especially at feeding time.

As I said earlier, Jacob is very much a laugher. But funny faces, silly dances, and goofy noises are all pretty hit or miss, depending on his mood. There is only one thing that will get him to bust out in a full-on, shrieking belly laugh every time. You guessed it: Young M.C.'s Busta Move. Not the actual song playing, though. Just one of us singing (err...rapping) it. His favorite part is:

Your best friend Harry

Has a brother Larry

In five days from now, he's gonna marry

He's hopin' you can make it there if you can

Cause in the ceremony, you'll be the best man

It is our go-to strategy for any time we want him to smile. Picture time? Busta Move. He's getting a little grumpy? Busta Move. I have no earthly idea how this started, but that damn song is now stuck in my head so much that I wake up sometimes thinking it is 1982 and I am a young black rapper wearing parachute pants and gold chains. Fo Shizzle.

The kid spits up so much that he has to change clothes at least 16 times a day. Every photo we have of him requires at least thirty minutes of photoshopping to remove the green regurgitated pea stain from the front of his shirt before I can blog or post it on facebook. It comes without warning, and each spit-up contains 3x the volume that he just consumed. It is a wonder that the kid gains any weight at all, let alone is in the 90th percentile. His favorite place to spit up is down Nancy's shirt, aiming precisely for her cleavage. We are seriously about a week away from just saying screw it, and wearing panchos all the time. It really is a good thing he is so sweet and cute, because he always reeks of stale, regurgitated formula and partially digested carrots. We'll even find crusty little bits hidden between his chins hours later.

He went to the head specialist last week to see if he needs to wear a helmet, since he flat refuses to face his head to the right, so he is getting a flat spot on his left side. So far, though, he is helmet-less. Nancy does have to put him through some stretching exercises, however. Those are fun. That is, if you consider... watching a four month old baby scream bloody murder for 10 minutes, three times a day, like someone is tearing him limb from limb, while his mother forcibly holds his head to the right while he flails about...fun. Glad I miss most of those "stretching exercises".

We have the best baby in the world, and are so blessed that he is happy and healthy. Used stomach contents down your shirt notwithstanding.

A few more pics:

Happy in his bouncy chair...his happiest of happy places:

Wearing some Christmas gear his grandma made him:

Rockin a few of his bibs. He gets a lot of use out of them.

Chillin' on my couch at work: