Grammy and Mamaw visit

This past week we were very lucky to have my mom and mamaw come to Texas from Chicago to see us...well, mostly Jake :-) Mom hadn't seen Jake since the week he was born, and my Mamaw met him for the first time. I will admit that growing up I was very spoiled, but Jake has taken my place! He is the first grandchild and great grandchild so Grammy and Mamaw gave lots of lovin' this past week, along with lots of clothes, toys, diapers, formula, and even groceries for us. I am so blessed!!! We had a great time going to the State Fair (pics in the last blog), going to Stephen's football game, shopping for Jake pretty much every day, eating yummy home-cooking every night (I'm a pretty good cook, but it's not the same as mamaw's cooking!), and lots of quality play time. I think Jake got used to having an audience around because today when it was back to just he and I all day, he kept looking around like "you're it?" Here are some of the pictures from this week.

Grammy and Jake

Jake loved sitting on Mamaw's lap

Jake and Grandpa at Stephen's game...I love this picture!!!

Grandma and Jake at the game

Grammy feeding Jake, it was a nice break for me!

Mamaw giving Jake a bottle

Mom in her "grammy" shirt that she found at the fair

Playing with Grammy

Grammy taught him all sorts of new tricks this week

Jake goes to the State Fair

On Sunday, we took a family trip to the State Fair of Texas. It was even more special, because my mom and mamaw are in Texas this week to see Jake. Mom has come to Texas for the fair before, but this was Jake and Mamaw's first trip to the fair. I was a little nervous about how Jake would do, he loves being outside...but we would be gone for a long time, it was TX-OU weekend, and he's a baby, so you just never know :-) He did FANTASTIC! The only time he fussed all day was when we passed a ride that made a loud noise and it scared him, other than that, he loved that fair. He kept staring at all of the food we were eating, I think he was a little jealous! Stephen and I told him that next year he would be able to eat the yummy fair food.

Jake in his stroller, ready to enter the fair...and since he it was Texas-OU weekend, Jake was representing proudly for the Longhorns, HOOK EM!

Stephen headed straight for the Fletcher's line when we got inside, we love us some corny dogs!

Jake was not happy, he wanted his own corny dog :-)

Grammy and Jake, shopping

We tried to take Jake to the petting zoo, but it was insanely crowded! Wall to wall people, not wanting to push our luck, we snapped one picture and left.

We brought Jake's baby bjorn with us, we had only tried it once before and Jake wasn't a fan, but I hoped he would like it more now that he is older, and he did! Stephen was an awesome Daddy and carried Jake for a while this way! Jake loved the front flap, he chewed on it the whole time, it must have felt good on his tooth coming in.

Jake and I after some corn on the cob and a bottle

At the auto show, me and a Chevy Traverse...hopefully, my next car

This is how Jake spent his time in both buildings of the auto-show, an exhibit hall, and lots of walking...he took a 90 minute nap, I wish he napped that well at home!

Jake and his first Big Tex picture!

Family picture!

4 Generations: Jake, me, Grammy, Mamaw

We saw Auntie Seana and Uncle Jason as we were leaving, Jake always has smiles for Auntie Seana

We are Teething!

Well, it's official, Jake is teething! He has been a little drool machine for the past 3 weeks so we suspected it was coming soon. Sunday night Jake was not a happy camper! Nothing would stop him from fussing, he just wanted to be held by his Daddy. I got online and googled "teething" for a list of signs so that we could confirm it or rule it out. The list I found read "drooling, coughing, wakefulness, irritability, chewing on fingers/hands, chewing bottle nipple"... Jake was the poster child for teething. We got out all the teething rings we got at showers, but he liked gumming his burp rag or a cold washcloth the best. After a dose of baby tylenol, he slept well. On Tuesday, I could see the white top of his tooth starting to poke through his bottom gums. He's been really good overall, he's had his moments, but I'm sure its not fun for him!

Here was Jake before bed tonight, gumming a cold washcloth. He's adorable, even when he's teething.

Here are a few other pictures of Jake I took this week. I felt like I hadn't take a lot of pictures lately, which of course isn't true...but I took a bunch yesterday anyways. He is getting so big...almost 4 months old now! He loves tummy time...now that he can roll, 90% of the time when I lay him on his back to play, he pops over within 30 seconds. Sometimes he gets frustrated becasue I think he wants to be back on his back, but can't figure out yet how to get there.

And here are a few videos from yesterday...I was trying to catch a new noise Jake has started making...it's hard to describe, but you should hear it a few times. Stephen calls it his "teradactyl noise." It's been so fun in the past few weeks to hear him experiement with his voice and all sorts of sounds that he can make. For the most part though, he is just having a ball in his jumparoo while I am cooking dinner...he still loves to be in the kitchen with me while I am cooking!

Fall Fun!

This weekend we started some fun Fall traditions. On Saturday Seana and I took Jake to Sachse's Fall Festival (Stephen had to work.) It was set up near the high school and had crafts, games, food, etc. We pretty much just did a lap around and went back to the car, it will be a lot of fun for Jake next year...the booths had different crafts for kids, games, a pet costume contest, dance classes doing routines, it was fun and nice to get out of the house! Jake wanted to be held instead of rolling in his stroller, but he still did really good. I think he got scared because there was a HUGE Great Dane that walked by and he instantly made the "pouty face" and started crying.

Here is Jake playing before we left

Jake and I...before the big doggy scared him
walking around the booths

He was OUT when we got home...and sucking on poor doggy's ear

Today we took Jake to his first pumpkin patch. We tried to coordinate a time to go with Aunt Paige, Uncle Dave, and our cousins Mia and Mikaela...but the kids nap times conflicted so we weren't able to do it. We took Jake to a small patch in Rockwall in a field by the grocery store. Next year we will go to one of the 'fancier' patches with the hay rides, mazes, and all the fun stuff...but this year this patch was a perfect fit for us. It was a little chilly and Jake had napped in the car so he was just waking up as we walked him around. We got him his own little pumpkin and one big pumpkin for Stephen and I to share. The people running the patch were really nice and took a family shot for us.

The Pumpkin Patch

The Tylers! Jake wouldn't smile, he was still half asleep :-)

Chillin' on the hay

Daddy and Jakey

Mommy and Jakey (he is staring at his feet)

And back home again...Jake wore shoes for the first time to the patch! His super cute adidas sneakers from Aunt Dawn!

Jake Discovers His Voice

This morning I woke up to the sound of Jake talking very loudly to his animal friends on his mobile. Usually in the mornings he'll talk a little bit to them and mostly smile, but this morning he was so loud and just jabbering away telling one good story! Over the past few days we've noticed that he has started finding his voice, not baby cooing noises, but more of his actual voice. And now that he has found it, he spent the day talking to everything! His toys on his activity mat, the toys on his jumparoo, his reflection in the mirror...at one point, I think I heard him start to make the 'hard c' sound, which would be the start of his constants, but it was just once so I'm not making it official yet :-) Stephen got home and was cracking up listening to him. I got one good video of Jake talking to himself in the mirror.

Something else that Jake loves right now is standing and sitting on our stomachs. He loves it if we make him dance or just make silly faces, especially motorboat lips. He tries to mimic us when we do that, but all he ends up doing is blowing lots of bubbles out of his lips. He cracks himself up doing it though. He also likes it when we help him touch his toes as he sits on us...not sure why, but he is obsessed with his feet. Jake's other favorite is to give "head bonks" like mini headbutts. His ab muscles are getting so strong. We've been playing more with him sitting on the floor leaning against my legs. He wants to sit up by himself so badly. He leans forward but can't stop the momentum so I have to catch him before he leans all the way over. He has already pulled himself up when sitting on my lap, leaning back against my knees. He is such a strong little boy! On a softer side, Jake also loooooooves eskimo kisses and kisses on his tummy.

Here is Jake "dancing on my daddy"

He is really working on getting his chest all the way off the ground

I thought this one was funny because it looks like the ducky is attacking his head :-)

Here is our family at my birthday dinner last weekend...Jake was pretty tired by this point so it's not the greatest picture.

I CAN ROLL OVER!

When, I blogged yesterday for Jake's 3 month birthday, I knew he was close to rolling over, but I didn't realize he would do it so soon! This morning at about 7:45, Jake rolled over for the first time! I got to the camera just in time to catch it...I was so excited!!! He rolled from his back over his left side to his tummy! He did it again a few minutes later and I got that one on camera too. I was sad that Stephen missed it, but we were meeting him for lunch today at school today so I took the video so he could see it. I waited to post the videos so that Stephen could be the first one to see it :-)

(Sorry, for the angle on the video...I keep forgetting that if I hold the camera vertically, there isn't a way to flip the video...or if there is, I don't know how to)

Here is Jake rolling over for the first time...as you will hear, I was very excited!

This was Jake's 2nd time...this time I caught it from start to finish.

I'm 3 Months Old!!!

Stephen and I can't believe our little man is already 3 months old! Our lives have changed so much in such a short time, but we honestly can't remember what our lives were like before him. We are so blessed to have such a good baby! He has grown so much in the past 3 months and can do so many things. Here is a list of all of Jake's accomplishments over the past months:

Developmental Milestones:

*hold head 90 degrees off the ground during tummy time, pushes chest up most of the time

*brings his hands together

*smiles, laughs, coos, growls, and his new favorite "ahh" sound

*follows large and small objects from side to side

*grasps toys, blankets, and mommy's hair :-)

*bats at toys on activity mat and bouncy seat

*can hold head steady

*he can sit on the couch
*bears weight on his legs when held upright

*turns in direction of mommy and daddy's voices

*pulls legs up to stomach when laying on back

*sleeps through the night (10 hrs minimum) in his nursery

*drools, constantly!

*can scoot on tummy

Appearance:

*still his daddy's mini-me, they even have the same "thinkin' face"

*his eyes are GORGEOUS! Light blue with a dark blue rim, we get compliments on them all the time

*he's still a big boy! On Sunday at the doctor's office he was 16 lbs!

Favorite Things:

*loves his jumparoos

*bathtime, especially kicking his legs in the water and splashing

*window blinds...we still can't figure out why!

*watching football on tv

*watching paula dean on tv

*being outside!...especially for walks and football games

*being bounced on laps while you play with his arms and legs

*music...any toys with music, music channels on the tv, he's even "sang" along in the car with me

*mouth noises...lips smacking, tounge clicking, all that good stuff will get a big coo and smile

*his new favorite toys: his blue snuggy puppy and a spinny toy that has colorful little balls in it

*looking at himself in the mirror and talking to his reflection

*helping mommy cook in the kitchen...well, he watches mostly while I talk to him

Dislikes:

*his swing...he'll sit in it for a few minutes, but that's it...he is not a fan!

*bumbo seat...he's still a little young for it, but i've tried twice and he screams within 30 seconds

Skills we are working on:

*Rolling over...he is SO close! He can roll up onto his side and get his legs over, but he doesn't know how to get over his arm, and it frustrates him A LOT!