First Birthday

It is hard to believe that Jake is already 1 year old. It is truly amazing how much change and development has occurred with Jake this year. A year ago we came home with this beautiful baby boy who couldn’t even hold his own head up. Then a year later he is even more beautiful, walking, eating real food (we still haven’t found a food he doesn’t like), and “talking” up a storm. Jake enjoyed his birthday despite having an ear infection in both ears. Then on his actual birthday he got sent home from daycare because he had a temp of 102. He had been on medication for a few days so it was surprise. He ended up having a virus on top of the ear infection. Don’t worry he was still able to eat left over cake from the party on his real birthday despite having a virus. I guess nothing can keep Jake from his food. Jake received tons of presents for his birthday and we may need to build an addition due to the amount of gifts he got (I can only imagine what Christmas is going to be like). We are so lucky to have such caring, thoughtful, and generous family members and friends! I will have to edit the video of him eating his cake but alas I have some house work and school work to do first. So stay tuned for the video.
Oh yeah, note to self and any other mothers, red frosting is not a good choice for a one year olds birthday cake.

Watch Out

We have a walker. Jake is officially walking. He was taking a few steps at a time prior to starting daycare on Monday. Then within a few partial days at daycare he was without doubt walking. Oh, and about daycare…..Well it was a nonissue for us. Jake loved it from the first day. We made it through the week with no tears from Jake (I know that won’t last forever). He was able to nap there well. The first day he took a nap there, grandma came to pick him up at 3 and he was still sleeping!

Yummy

Here is a video of Jake eating his dinner tonight. This kid enjoys every bit of his food. I know it is no big surprise that Erik’s and my child loves food. Eating is surely one of Jake’s favorite things to do. Oh and he tends to make a big mess too (no shocker there either).

Feeding Myself

Jake is asserting his independence and likes to feed himself. He is good at feeding himself if we put the food on the spoon and then let him take over at that point. However the other day that was just not enough for Jake so we decided to let him just go for it. He was doing ok so Erik and I turned away for a second to eat some of our own meal and Jake managed to pick up the bowl that is suctioned to his try (I struggle to get this bowl off the tray sometimes when it is suctioned, so clearly Jake is stronger and smarter than me.). I guess that using the spoon was just taking too long for our boy who loves his yogurt. Jake just picked up the bowl and to dump the yogurt in his mouth. He was very proud of himself!


Piggy Face!



In other news in our house we were lucky to get a visit from Aunt Devon whom Jake loves to hang out with. Grandpa Ho was kind enough to drive Devon up. We even got a little girl time in and went to a concert and left Jake in the wonderful care of Grandpa at Erik's baseball game. I also got my first teaching job so we went out to dinner to celebrate with my Mom. Jake decided to use the time while we were waiting for the check to take a little stroll with Dad. As you can see from the second picture Jake is trying to walk alone. He has taken a few steps on his own but still picks crawling most of the time.

First Swim at Caz Lake

We took Jake for his first swim at Cazenovia Lake yesterday and he loved it. At first he was a little unsure of the sand on the bottom but once he got use to it he was happy as a clam to just stand and play in the water with his dad. It was a gorgeous day here and we are hoping for some more so we can take Jake back to the lake for some more fun.

Taking Steps

Jake is just over the 10 month mark and he is still our little wild man. He has four teeth and I can feel one more starting to make the move to pushing through. As you will see from the video he is close to walking. He is getting pretty good at pushing his truck around and can stand hands free for a good amount of time now. Erik and I are a little scared to say the least because when he takes a spill it doesn’t seem to bother him much. In fact last night when we were playing and he took a fall that made Erik and me nervous Jake started to laugh. So I am very excited that he is close to walking but I think I may have to ask my doctor to put me on blood pressure medicine. To all my friends out there with fearless little ones I welcome advice as to how to stay as calm as possible because you all know that I am by no means calm on a regular basis. Jake and Hank continue to be BFFs. We installed a gate in the living room to keep the dogs out and give Jake his own space (well I really wanted to have one floor that was easier to keep semi dog hair free)……Well neither Hank nor Jake could handle being separated so Hank is always in playing with Jake. Jake would shake the gate and Hank would wine and paw at the gate until I let Hank in. Seeing these two together is really one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Hank just puts himself right in the middle of Jake’s toys and hangs out with his little buddy. Jake also continues to “house” his food. Yes I know, no big surprise considering his parents. The only thing we have found that he doesn’t like is peas and I don’t blame him there. Jake keeps us busy, but life gets more fun everyday with him as he gets more active and continues to develop his personality.

Visiting the Reulands

We were lucky that the Reuland family made a trip to Corning so we could see them. Jake and Francie were very happy to hang out together. However, Francie is a walking (really running) machine so Jake couldn’t keep up when she was on the move. This was ok with Jake because he was happy to just watch her. Henry kicked my butt at memory (No I did not let him win). What a really smart kid! It was GREAT to see the entire Reuland family. A big thanks to Kris and Joe for letting Jake and I stay there.