Vroom Vroom !

So. . .who needs a ride?!  Just gotta figure out how to reach those pedals!!!

Some of Jacob's favorite things these days are cars, trucks, and things that go *vroom* or beep!  He loves playing with his toy trucks, reading his car/plane/motorcycle book, and sitting at the park and seeing the schoolbuses come down the street in the morning.  He thought it was especially cool when Grandpa Ben came over last week and he got to "test drive" his car.  He sat and played with EVERY instrument and dial on the dash, and even found the shifter and emergency brake.  Ben said that is one of his favorite things to do when he is at their house, to go sit in the car or go sit on the riding lawnmower at Didi and Dida's.  One day Nancy and I looked and looked and couldn't figure out where they were. . .and they were in the car in the driveway :) 

! Go Speedracer Go !

Happy Halloween

We brought a pumpkin home from our trip to the Red Barn patch, and we carved it on Saturday.  After cutting off the top and scooping out the seeds (which I saved to roast - yum!) we couldn't decide what or how to carve it.  After sketching out some designs on the newspaper, we decided to use Adam's drill and make a pointalism-style jack-o-lantern.  We drilled lots of little holes to let the light through instead of cutting out big shapes.  I wish I had taken a picture of him drilling it!!!

After pumpkin carving, Jacob and I went to his friend Helena's first birthday party at the neighborhood park.  He had a blast playing with all of the other kids, chasing balloons, and tasting the cupcakes.  They had a picture area set up and we took a couple cute ones, after Jacob got over his initial fear of the black cats! 

Sunday we got all set up for trick-or-treaters, but we only had two groups of kids come to the door by Jacob's 7:30 bedtime.  We decided to stay home and give out candy instead of trick-or-treating since he's too little for candy.  But. . .we still have a bunch of candy left over!  We also opted to not do a costume this year, and just got him a t-shirt with a spider web on it.  He seemed much comfier in it than if we had decked him out in a bodysuit or hooded getup!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween, bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!

Pumpkin Patch and Petting Zoo

This morning we went over to Red Barn to get our Halloween pumpkin and check out their fall festival.  They had a huge pumpkin display and we tried our best to get Jacob to sit still long enough to take a picture!!!  He really liked the petting zoo and was especially interested in the horse and donkeys after he got over his initial surprise at seeing them.  They also had bunny rabbits, ducklings, baby chicks, and guinea pigs but he wouldn't pet anything by himself.  He did like playing "giddy up" on the saddle and hay bales too!

Playground Pals

Jacob and I have a little routine where we go out every morning and start by playing at the park down the street from our house.  Then we jog a mile to the other playground and play there for a while.  Then sometimes we jog ANOTHER mile and play at ANOTHER playground in our neighborhood.  Sometimes he'll fall asleep in the stroller on the way home, but he's had a lot more energy since he started walking and wants to explore as much as possible.  We've been going to the playground two and three times a day these last few weeks!  Luckily the weather is finally cooling off so we'll be able to enjoy it even more.  Sometimes I think he likes just walking around and picking up rocks and sticks more than swinging or sliding.  Some mornings we'll meet up with our neighborhood friends and they'll have a playdate.  Ella is in these pictures and is 3 months older than Jacob, and we have another friend Helena that is almost 1.  They're all really cute together.

Sporty Superstar

We stayed in Steiner with Meems this weekend while Adam and PaPaw went on a hunting trip.  We had a good time at the park right up the street from their house.  We got to play some soccer, football, swing, climb on the playground, go swimming, and go for a jog --- a fun and busy weekend! 

Zhoos! (aka Shoes)

When Jacob started walking last month we got him a few pairs of shoes, but he didn't really like wearing any of them and preferred to go barefoot.  This was OK for inside, but we would have to force him to wear them to the park and playground, and he would always sit down and try to take them off.  Fast forward to this week, and he loves them!  He learned the word "shoe" but pronounces the "s" more like a "z" and also learned that when he wears them we're usually going outside or in the car to go somewhere fun.  Now he'll go and pick up our shoes and bring them to us like "OK, put these on and lets go out and play!"  Sometimes he'll also bring me his shoes and I'll put them on him, then he'll end up going to the front door and will bang on it and say "Out!".  He figures things out pretty quick!

Jacob definitely knows what he wants, but what he wants changes about every 5 minutes!!!  He is practically running now, and will zoom all around the house playing here and there with different toys, but not with anything for too long.  He is keeping us on our toes, for sure!

Red Wagon

One of the gifts that Jacob got for his birthday is a little red wagon.  He likes to get in it and have us pull him around the house in a loop, over and over.  A lot of the time he'll start out super-excited and then slowly get sleepy-eyed and then end up falling asleep! 

Jacob-Brody Tug-o-War

Here's a fun little video that Nancy took of Jacob playing with Allison's dog Brody.  He has so much fun at his Nana and BenPa's house!  Speaking of dogs, he calls all dogs Shishzzz Shishzzzz since we have Shiska in our house!  Too cute!

UT Football Game

We had a pretty fun and relaxing weekend.  Watched the UT game on Saturday and I had to pull out a picture from this time last year.  He was about 2 months old in this pic and is now 1 year and 2 weeks old.  Check out how much he has grown and changed!  He also cut a new tooth on the bottom left side for a total of 7, and I think # 8 on the bottom right is about to push through any minute.  He also now has a UT football and jersey to get even more into the Longhorn spirit! 

Birthday Boy

Happy 1st Birthday to Jacob !!!

We had a wonderful day on Sunday celebrating Jacob and his first year --- wow has it flown by! We started the day with a long walk and stops at two playgrounds here in the neighborhood for some swinging and climbing. We ran into our friends Laura and her little girl Ella who is 15 months and Jacob walked up to her and gave her a sweet little hug and then a tap on the nose and giggled at her! Little flirt! Then we headed home to get a bath and lunch and a nap before the party.

We were lucky to have lots of family come over to help us celebrate and he is STILL finding new presents to play with two days later!!! Thank you to everyone who made it and especially to those who came from out of town! So far it seems like his favorites are his ball pit, toy lawnmower, rainbow basketball, giant stuffed tiger, and maracas. One funny moment while we were setting things up was when I aked Adam, "Hey babe, can you get the tiger out of the garage?" Ummmmmmm. . .never thought I would ever say THAT sentence, but we actually had a tiger in a box being stored in the garage so Jacob wouldn't see it before his birthday. Ha!

He got to have sugar for the first time and I made him a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and some vanilla ice cream. He stuck his fingers in the cake while we were still singing "Happy Birthday" and once he got a lick, he wanted more! He grabbed his piece with both hands and took a big CHOMP out of it and said MMMMMMMMMMMMM ha ha ha ha! By the time he was done it was all over the place and his hair was literally "caked" with frosting and standing straight up!

We had a great day and it really went by fast, just like this whole year has! One year ago today we were just walking in the front door about this time with our sweet little baby. . .

We had his check up today and he is now at 21 lbs 12 oz and 29" long. He seems big to me, but apparently that is only in the 35% for weight and 25% for length. I guess our super-size newborn is now on the other end of the growth chart! He is SO ACTIVE and SO STRONG I think he could make a baby workout video. . .if there were such a thing. . .ha ha ha :) Overall, he is 100% healthy and happy!

Just Plain Cute !

Jacob is looking more and more like a little boy and less like a baby, awwwwwwww! Guess that makes sense since his first birthday is just around the corner! My friend Emery came to visit this week and we had fun hanging out at the house and watching him play. Here are a few cute pics. . .and. . .drumroll please. . .

He has taken his first steps!!! We caught it on the video camera but I don't know how to upload that onto the blog, so I'm going to get a short video on the digital camera and post that soon. In the past week he has progressed from one step to about 8-10 at a time. So exciting!

He's Walking !

Look out world, Jacob is on the move! He started taking one and two little steps three weeks ago today, and then about 8-10 at a time, and now he can make it all over the house. It's so exciting!!! He can stand up from sitting on the ground and balance and hold toys and throw his ball too. One of his favorite spots to "take off" from is the step in our entryway because he can sit down and hang his legs off and get a little bit of a seat to stand up from. The video is from about a week ago, I finally got around to uploading it!

He is also able to balance by himself on his giraffe rocking horse and hold on to the handles and "giddy-up" on it. He is almost tall enough to climb on and off of it himself too! The other day he climbed into his baby walker by himself and scooted down the hall to find me --- I still don't know quite how he managed that one! He is one active little guy and has tons of energy and loves to play all day!

Playtime !

It's been a very active summer for Jacob, he is very curious and likes to explore and experiment with everything! He loves the playgrounds in our neighborhood, and still likes to swing (and will now squeel with excitement when he sees the swings and bang on his stroller!) He also now likes to crawl up the slide (with our help giving him a little push from behind) and go through the tube bridge and will walk around on the playscapes with our help holding his hands. The other day Shiska even followed us up to the top and slid down the slide after us, crazy dog!!! Me and Jacob both cracked up laughing at him, I've never seen a dog on a slide before! Since he wakes up at 5-5:30 in the morning, at least we get outside before it gets too hot!

To funnel some of his energy, we also started going to Gymboree classes a few weeks ago. He just LOVES them and has a blast. Some of his favorite things are the climbing ramp, the buckets of balls, and the parachute. He also liked the crawl tubes and so I got one for home. We like to roll the balls through it and he chases after them. The pic is of him playing in it.

Adam and I leave for San Francisco tomorrow, and Jacob will turn 11 months on Thursday while we're gone. I can't believe it's been almost a year! He is doing so many things now, seems like a new one every day, but here are a few of his milestones from the last month:

- Started to eat table food: likes chicken, salmon, beef, hummus, raspberries, blueberries, asparagus, tomatoes and just about everything we let him try. He is a wonderful eater with a diverse pallet!

- Balancing without holding on: Can get to standing from sitting down or step away from the table and balance for a good 10 seconds before sitting back down. . .he's gonna walk any day now!

- Riding in the big carseat: we upgraded his carseat and got a new stroller so he can sit straight up

- Likes swimming in the big pool: we've been to the Steiner Ranch pool and Barton Springs and he likes both crawling in the shallow end, dunking his face in the water, and going in the deep end while being held

- Drinking from a straw: he still uses bottles for milk, but will use a cup and straw for smoothies, juice, water

- Giving hugs and kisses: he hugs us back now with a tight squeeze around the neck! The kisses are open-mouthed and slobbery but the sweetest in the world!

Flying High, Flying Home

The weather was questionable when we were leaving --- 40 degrees and rainy --- but Matt is a pro and got us up and over the clouds into the smooth air. I don't really like flying in the first place, so there were definitely some moments when we had to go through the clouds and the sleet that I was taking some deep breaths! Just look how beautiful our view of the mountaintop was, though! And look at what a slick ride the plane is, red hot!!!

Cute and Random

Still going through the Colorado pics!!! These are just funny sweet little Jacob moments! (And don't worry, that is a NEW toilet that Adam bought and installed, ha!)