June 20

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Wow...  I am SO lucky.  I have the most amazing men in my life to wish a happy day to.

First, to my Father.  He gets first billing because he's been around the longest.  He also has had to put up with me in all of those very unflattering and ill-behaved teenage moments, and I had a LOT of those.  My Dad is not just the guy I go to when I need help, he's also one of the best friends.  I call him when I'm happy or sad, or when I have nothing to say at all.  He's one of those Dad's the everyone I know is jealous of, the kind who was never controlling, but also never too easy on me.

If you are a regular reader or if you know me personally, you know this year has been a tough one on my family.  I am forever grateful for my Dad in all of that, for a man who has EVERY RIGHT to completely fall apart, he has been inspiring.  The sadness does not rule him and that strength has flowed downhill to all of our family.

Dad, I love you more than you know, but I also have the utmost respect for you and the way you see life.  You inspire me.  Thanks for always just being there, even when I'm crazy!  Most importantly, thanks for being such a wonderful Grandpa to Jake, he is so lucky.


















Jess, thanks for being the most amazing "Da" to our little boy.  I knew when we got married that you were going to be a great Dad, but every single day you do something that is just spectacular, from your ability to put the BIGGEST smile on Jacob's face to the way that you care for him when he is hurt or sad.  I know that being a Dad has made you whole, we never knew that Jake was missing, until he came into our lives and changed them forever.

I appreciate that neither of us has to go at this parenting thing alone, we are true partners, which is funny since most of our parenting is done in opposite shifts.  I love how much you adore Jake, and how you never forget to adore me in the midst of our crazy lives!

Being that our 5 year wedding anniversary is just around the corner I am going to save the rest of my gushing for that blog!












Oh and stay tuned for the father's day gifts I made for Jess and my Dad, I can't show you them yet because Dad reads this blog and I haven't seen him to give it to him!

June 19

Can YOUR baby read?

Mine can! Well, sorta, kinda, not really.

He can, however, watch the Your Baby Can Read DVD's now!

A few months ago I found the Starter Disk of the set at Goodwill - SCORE!  I think it was $2.  Jake has been watching it off and on since then and really loves it.  He will do the motions and giggles at the dogs and everything.

So, while we were watching it on Sat with Lollie, I got an idea to check Craigslist to see if I could get the set for a reasonable price...

DOUBLE SCORE!

There was an ad for the whole set with extras for $65! Lollie immediately jumped on board and we loaded up into the car to meet the lady.  Guess what - the set was BRAND NEW - still in the wrapper!

So now that we have directions and know what to do - Jake is watching the DVD 2x a day and then in a month we'll move on to the next disk!

Stay tuned for updates....

June 18

We ended up at the pediatricians office today...  

Last night, when Jess was getting Jake ready for bed he noticed big white welts surrounded by warm red skin on our little boys thigh.  This pretty much alarmed both of us, but after taking pictures and sending them to a nurse friend we were assured that there was no reason to head to the ER, but that we needed to call the Dr in the morning.

By the morning he had them everywhere, but the ones on the thigh had gone away, so I called the Dr and was told to come in that afternoon!

Turns out, Jake basically had hives - the doctor called them something much more complicated, but basically he said to give him benedryl until the hives stopped coming back.

Talk about stressing a Momma out!

About 20 mins after a dose of benedryl the hives magically disappear - so I HOPE this doesn't last but a few days!  The benedryl seems to make him feel a little out of sorts... poor Boogie.

June 17

Today, I dusted off the old stroller and Jake and I headed out to the park!






This little boy is so much like his Daddy - he LOVES to just watch people... Other kids showed up and he was mesmerized...

June 16

Today we went to meet ANOTHER new baby!  Jake actually does pretty well with this, he gets a little jealous, but not too bad at all.

This is Decker at 2 days old...

Decker did not like it when I unswaddled him!

 Jake was also adorable today...

Daddy was outside mowing the grass and he climbed on his own into the kitchen window sill.

June 15

Jake also loves Layla!

In fact, every time he sees one of the dogs he hugs and kisses them - our dogs get more kisses from him than WE do!

It is adorable though!

Here he is hugging Layla's neck...  this was right after he smothered her in kisses!



Layla does not look amused... but she secretly loves it!

June 14

We discovered a new playground today!  Well, we knew it was there, but just never visited it.

Anyways, I think this is going to be great!  It's about 3/4 of a mile or so from the house, so I'm going to start trying to walk there with Jake in the stroller a few times a week.