St. Patty's Day and Makinley's birthday party

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, and Jacob celebrated by sporting his Mr. Lucky t-shirt and ignoring me while I was trying to take his picture. These are the best 3 pictures that I got, out of probably 100.









Don't be fooled and think he was 1/2 smiling at me in this picture. Yo Gabba Gabba had just started and he always smiles at that!

Yesterday was also Makinley's 4th birthday, so we headed to Austin to celebrate and party at her gymnastics place. Jacob was an angel in the car. He watched some shows (you guess which one) about half of the way there and just played and chilled the other half of the way. To make the 2 hour (ish) car ride more comfortable, I didn't put his shoes on him. So, as soon as we get there (already a few minutes late), I have the bright idea to put his shoes on him. O.M.G....he had the biggest meltdown we have seen so far. It was just NOT working to put his shoes on while he was in his car seat, so we assumed he had just been in there too long. We decided to get him out and have Randy hold him while I put his shoes on (in hindsight, having him strapped into the car seat, where he could not flail about as much was a better strategy). This didn't go very well either, but I finally got them on. Randy sets him down and he continues the meltdown. Including sitting down in the middle of the parking lot, screaming, flailing about and crying. Juice did not help. More Yo Gabba Gabba did not help. Holding him did not help...nothing. An older couple walked by and just gave us that "We've all been there" look. Once he settled down a little, I was able to wipe his face (tears and snot galore) and we headed into the party. Like I said, we were already a little late, and the absolute first thing we hear is "Take off his shoes and come on in!". Really? Ugh... He was a little shy and red faced for the first 5 minutes or so, but we let everyone know it was just a meltdown and he'll be fine. And he was. He had SO much fun playing in the gym. He was most likely thirsty after the screaming, so Randy decided to teach him how to drink out of the water fountain. I'm not sure how much he drank, but he had a great time getting his face wet...



(He looks so sweet an innocent in this picture like he didn't just lose his mind.)


There were lots of aunts and uncles and cousins there, but I somehow only managed a picture of Logan while playing. This was the first attempt...



So, I had to beg him to stop and smile for me...



Isn't he handsome??? And so grown up!

Jacob also liked to play on the trampolines like the big kids (our gym does not have trampolines).










But his favorite thing in the gym had to be the little car that goes over the ramp that you ride. At first, I commented to Randy that we could/should get one for our backyard. After I put Jacob on it 78 times, I decided that I didn't want one...






He got to enjoy some quality time with M too...while riding, of course.



And this is what he looked like if you didn't push him back and let him go again fast enough...



I got so many pictures of him that were blurry, that I was so excited for every one that wasn't. So, I'm not sure what he is doing here, but he wasn't blurry!!



And right before it was time to go eat, we let him get into the foam pit. The problem is that it's like quicksand. If you don't really know how to get out and just keep squirming, you sink lower and lower.






Daddy had to come to the rescue.



Here's the sweet birthday girl when it was time to eat...



And Jacob, more than approving of the almost endless amounts of juice on the table...



He ate a little bit...



And really enjoyed the part where we sang Happy Birthday. If you remember, it was last year, at Makinley's party, that he first lit up for that song. And one year later, we're still singing it to get him to smile.



After the party, it was back to the hotel for us. He enjoyed looking out the window but he had to stand on the AC to do that. Seems safe, right?



Don't worry...he never fell. But when I changed his diaper, he had a little bit of a rash, so I wanted to let him 'air out'. He choose to get up on our bed to watch MORE Yo Gabba Gabba and even censored himself in this picture.



He had a bit of a rough time falling asleep in the hotel, but we think he was just over tired. It wasn't bad though...not nearly as bad as the crying in the parking lot.

Happy Birthday Makinley! We're so glad we were able to come celebrate with you!! We love you!

~ Nancy

Happy Pi day!

Happy Pi day to all you math nerds out there (like me!). If you're not a math nerd (you don't know what you're missing), but pi is 3.14 (approximately, of course) and today is 3-14. It's a good day to run in circles or eat a lot of pi...whichever you choose.

Jacob is celebrating by wearing his cutie pi shirt. We had a photo shoot here last night to get these pictures. That used to mean propping him up on the couch and singing to him. Now, that means Randy has to chase him, and I have to follow with the camera. Much more of a workout!!








Have a happy pi day!!
~ Nancy

Houston Rodeo and other happenings

We definitely have a new word around here. It's "Nooooooooooooo" and is approximately 4 syllables and 3 seconds long. It's the cutest thing ever. However, I have to re-word every question I ask him since he spent 6 months saying "Yeah". On that note, ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) came out to assess him and his lack of speech. He is not behind enough to qualify for their program (which is great) and is really only a few months behind on speech. As for motor skills, he is scoring at a 30 month old range!

A few weekends ago we went to eat lunch and he was looking especially cute...see for yourself.






His favorite game at a restaurant is to pull the straw out of the cup and put it back. It will keep him entertained for 30 minutes. :0)

Two weekends ago, we headed up to Livingston for our first boat ride at my parents house. We also had a great catfish lunch from what my Dad has caught recently. It was a quick trip, but it was fun!



This past weekend, we went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. We went on the only day we could, even though it had been raining all morning. We were there for a few hours (enough to wear him out) before it started raining again. Jacob had a lot of fun, but not necessarily doing the things we wanted him to do. He had the MOST fun when we let him out of the stroller and let him run around. That left one of us pushing an empty stroller (like a crazy person) and another one chasing a toddler (like a crazy person).

One of the first things we did was the pony ride. I thought for sure he would like it since we ride the mechanical pony at Toys R Us. Well, he didn't like it at all when the guy was strapping him in. I was right there and was going to walk the whole thing with him, but he just wanted his momma. The guy stopped immediately and gave me that look like "What should I do". I was that parent that said "Keep going, he'll love it" while Jacob was crying and throwing a fit. Once again, momma knows best because he LOVED it once it started. Here he is riding Little Red.









Never mind that very concerned face in the last one...I promise, he liked it.

Then, we thought he would enjoy the petting zoo. Boy, were we wrong. He wanted NOTHING to do with the animals.

Here is Dad showing him what to do...









(I don't think he's paying attention.)



Here are some of the goats trying to pet him...



Here he is trying to escape the petting zoo...



"You want me to do what?"



"Fine, I'll pet one."



"Can we leave now?"



"Finally...we're leaving!"



After that fun-filled experience, we had to ride some of the rides. He truly did love this. I rode the flying elephants with him...






Dad rode the carousel with him...






And I rode the bouncing caterpillar with him (in the end, his favorite)...








~ Nancy

19 months old

Yesterday, our little man turned 19 months old. Here is his "official" 19 month picture. I didn't get to take it nearly as early in the day as I have in the past, due to him acting like a monkey when I try to take his picture. I needed backup...so we waited for Dad. As you can tell, he is not looking at me but looking at Dad being goofy. Oh well, whatever works...



Before I tell you about all of his "tricks" at 19 months, I wanted to show 2 cute other pictures. Last weekend, we took Jacob to the Katy rodeo. There wasn't a lot he could do, but I felt like we HAD to take him. He did ride a kiddie ride with me and we took him through a haunted house kids ride because he likes to be scared. :o) Here he is, ready to go!



And you all know of his love affair with Yo Gabba Gabba. For Christmas, Carrie, Nick and the kids got him a stuffed Brobee. His favorite thing to do is hug Brobee, and make me hug him multiple times a day.



For his latest "tricks", I thought it would be cute to get a picture of him doing them. I mean, how cute would pictures be of him showing you his belly, rubbing his hair, giving high fives and pounding your knuckles? Well, Jacob was not in the mood. For all of you that think we ALWAYS have such a happy baby...here ya go...















These are just a few examples of what he looks like when he pitches a fit. I didn't get any of him on the ground, but you saw that one when he was in the street with Grandma while we were in Vegas.

So, on to plan B, where I just write about all of the funny things he does now.

-Still loves to show his belly. We all ate at the sandwich shop Potbelly last week, and could not figure out why he kept lifting his shirt. And then Randy and I realized we kept saying the name of the place!

-Will rub his hair when you ask where it is.

-Where is your nose and blow kisses looks exactly the same. He hasn't quite figured out that his nose is ABOVE his mouth.

-He's still mostly just saying Ma-ma and Da-da (actually Da-dee). But I swear he has tried saying dog, up, all done and bubble. It takes a little imagination to understand those last few, but I try.

-Doesn't say hi and bye bye, but LOVES to wave now. I think he's making up for lost time since he took so long to wave.

-Still claps for EVERYTHING.

-Will sorta 'pound' your knuckles when you ask him too. He'll even double pound with both hands!

-As far as noises go, he does like to say uh-oh and mostly uses it appropriately (like when he drops something for the umpteenth time). Sometimes he just gets stuck saying it over and over for no reason.

-After drinking something, he loves to go Ahhhh. Not sure how that comes across on a blog, but imagine drinking something cold after a hot day...it's that noise.

-Recently started doing a yum sound when he eats. Of course, followed by the Ahhh sound and then clapping. :o)

And, because I don't want to forget, we had our first "incident" report at Adventure Kids yesterday. When I went to pick him up, they told me that there was in incident and pulled out a long filled out form. Basically, Jacob was playing by himself on the train table and a little boy came up to him and pinched him on the shoulder. He cried and refused the ice pack (no surprise there). They told me it was red but not bruised or bleeding. They also explained, in detail, where it was located. I signed the form and was told that it would be placed in his 'file'. Needless to say, I could not find it when we got home!! I'm afraid there will be many more forms in his 'file' over the years...I just hope he isn't the pincher!!

~ Nancy