I AM 2 MONTHS OLD TODAY!

Jake is 2 months old today! His new favorite toy is his activity mat that we got this week. It has music and lights at the top, which are 2 of his favorite things right now. He will lay and look at it for the longest time! He smiles at it over and over...we love to watch him play! He has almost laughed at it once or twice too. I attached an extra link to the toys that hang down so he can reach them. He likes to beat up the duck best right now. I took plenty of pictures and video as we played this morning and Jake put on a big show of course.

Here is our beautiful boy!

He loves to watch the lights

BIG SMILE

Anything with music makes him smile

Even bigger smile

And here is Jake in action smiling at the lights and music.

Week 7

Here is the "Jake update" from week 7, I'm a week behind again :-) I am still working on managing taking care of Jake and balancing everything else now that it's just me and the little guy at home during most of the day. So as I am writing this, he is exactly 8 weeks old today! And our milestone for the day is that Jake took his first nap in his crib upstairs! We decided we are going to slowly begin the process of moving him upstairs to his room. Some mom friends have giving me the tip of napping in his crib first to help him get used to the room. We have tried it twice before, but it didn't work...today it did! His nap was much shorter than usual, but he lasted 40 minutes, which counts as a success to me! I tried to take a picture, but the room was too dark and I sure wasn't going to turn on the light just to get a picture :-) He is super close to sleeping through the night, once he has that down we'll be moving on up to the nursery.

Here are the latest Jake adventures:

Jake had discovered the TV, he especially like gymnastics and baseball. Daddy set him up here last Saturday morning...Jake looks super comfty! But no, we don't park him in front of the TV all day :-)

Jake got to see Auntie Seana this week too

Daddy playing with Jake and his bouncy seat friends

Jake still LOVES his bouncy seat toys! His face lights up into a HUGE smile whenever I attach them. He especially likes the music that it plays. One time he gave an almost laugh as he played!

This week Jake also got to meet two of mommy's cheer girls. I was so excited for the girls to meet him! These girls were on my JV squad 2 yrs ago (back on varsity this year!) They were in my classroom almost every day to pat my stomach and ask about the baby. Sweet girls!! They even brought Jake a baseball blanket made by Kristie and her mom.

Kristie and Jake
Stevi and Jake

PLAYING WITH MY TOYS

Jake reached another milestone yesterday...PLAYING WITH HIS TOYS! Over the past week he would hold toys if I put them in his hand, but there wasn't any intentional interaction. Well, last night while we were waiting for Stephen to get home from practice, I put him in his bouncy and attached the toys that go across it. I had tried this a few days earlier, but Jake wanted nothing to do with them and got fussy pretty quickly. However, last night was a different story...he loved them and started batting at them and smiling. The first time his hand hit one of them I thought it was just a coincidence, but I kept watching and realized he was playing with them! I got the camera and started recording as quickly as I could. Poor Stephen missed it all! So now Jake has 3 new friends...hippo, lion, and monkey :-) And another fun trick at the end of the video...that one is truly a coincidence, but pretty darn funny!

He liked hippo the most...or he is going to be right handed :-)

He also liked the lion because it played music

WEEK 6!

I'm a little behind on blogging, Stephen started two-a-days this week and it's been quite the adjustment for both Jake and me, my spare time has definitely decreased! With two practices, film, and coaches meetings, Stephen has been gone from about 5:30-9 every day...meaning Jake is asleep when he leaves and asleep when he gets home. Jake definitely misses his Daddy! The first day he was gone, Stephen got home just as Jake was falling asleep...Jake's face lit up when he saw his Daddy and smiled super big! It was precious!!! Yesterday and today he's had a break in the afternoon and has gotten to come home for a few hours, which helps Jake and Mommy too! We can't wait to take Jake to his first football game!

On Sunday, Jake went to visit Grandpa and Granna...the boys had fun doing tummy time! And Jake put on quite a show, hamming it up smiling and sticking out his tounge for Grandpa and Granna. It was a really nice visit!

3 generations of Tyler men playing!

Auntie Seana also came over last week...she got to see one of my first smiles! Even before I had gotten him to smile :-) We love Auntie Seana!!

Okay, this one is just me playing and posing him for pictures...I'm sure he's going to get tired of the camera soon, but I just can't help it!

Taking a nap on my Daddy!

The most precious face in the world! We both love when he falls asleep on us...he is such a little mush-ball!!!

MY FIRST SMILES VIDEO

Today we got some great video of Jake smiling. He has also learned to stick out his tounge and loves to do this too, especially when mommy or daddy do it first. We are beginning to think Jake thinks sticking your tounge out is how you say "hello" to someone because he is doing that a lot more often than smiling right now. He will start by sticking his tounge out and then bust out in a big smile! He has kept us laughing with his new "tricks!" I am also posting the picture of Jakes official "first smile." We finally figured out how to get it off of Stephen's cell phone and onto our computer :-)

I love the expression on his face because he looks so proud of himself, "look what I am doing!"

Here are 2 videos we took today of Jake showing off his new skills. The second one is a little blurry b/c we imported it off of Stephen's cell phone, but you still get the idea :-)

I CAN SMILE!!!

Besides turning 6 weeks old this week, Jake reached another milestone...his first smile!!! We have been seeing him smile in his sleep for weeks, but Wednesday morning I left for my doctor's appointment...when I came home, Stephen pulled out his cell phone and showed me a picture of Jake's first smile! I was so mad I missed it! I took this picture yesterday morning...he was smiling at the ceiling fan!

Here's another smile, just not quite as big as the first.

On Wednesday, we took a family trip to the Arboretum. We were hoping to take lots of pictures, but Jake decided to sleep through most of the morning. He woke up towards the end and we managed to get in a few good pictures before he got too fussy with us. He wasn't so much up for all the posing, poor guy!

This is my favorite picture of me and Jake so far

Daddy and Jake by the Texas frontier section, or as Stephen called it, "Little Jake on the Prarie"

2 Texas Boys!

5 WEEKS OLD

Jake is now 5 1/2 weeks old and we can't believe time is passing so fast! We have definitely found "our groove" and while we still have tough moments, things do seem to be getting a little easier. We have gotten him on somewhat of a schedule, especially at nightime. Last night Jake slept for the first time "THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!" Bedtime had gotten a little tricky because Jake had started fighting going to sleep after his last bottle, which made night time ever so fun around our house. However, last night we flipped the order we'd been doing things...we gave him his bottle first, then changed into pjs, put on lavender lotion, read "goodnight moon" and he was OUT! Put himself to sleep, it was great...no fussing or crying! He went to sleep at 9:30 and didn't wake up until 4:30!" It was a beautiful thing!!! He got up, ate, and went right back down until 7:30...we can definitely get used to this!!!

Here is Jake this morning...still tired after a good night's sleep!

Me and Jake, with my "new mommy" haircut. (and my highlights back, yay!)

Jake is looking past me at the window blinds, he LOVES, them! He can sit and just stare at them for forever. We aren't sure exactly why he likes them so much, but it's funny to watch him look at them. I'd love to know what's going on in his mind, it always looks like he is thinking "hi guys, I'm Jake, what's up?"

Here he is, staring at the blinds...he will "climb" up to try and be as close to them as possible, and then get very upset when he can't get close enough to them!
Tummy time this morning...I'm so in love with this face!!!!

Here he is almost asleep and showing off his SMILE! Yep, he has started smiling, mostly when he is almost asleep...here he is "almost" smiling, he wouldn't let me get a picture of him grinning full out! Stephen has seen him smile several times, but I keep missing it!!!
Jake also got to meet his new friend, Tyler McKinney. Our good friends, Chad and Heather, had their baby this week. Here are the daddies and their boys...

...and here are the mommies. Jake thought Tyler was very cute!

THE BABY IN THE MIRROR

Here are the latest pictures of our boy...one new thing he has started working on in the past 2 days is his smile, he hasn't given us the all out, melt your heart smile yet, BUT we have gotten some half smiles and Stephen swears he has seen him come really close...I keep missing it! So we are thinking sometime soon we'll get to see that first smile, we can't wait!

For all the John Cena fans out there...Jake would like to say

YOU CAN'T SEE ME!!!

In the last blog I mentioned that Jake has started helping us "hold" his bottle. Well, we finally got a few good pictures of it. Here he is helping daddy keep things under control.

And here he is helping mommy

Yesterday we had a great tummy time...Jake was in a great mood and we played for almost 30 minutes. We had played with his little lion-mirror several times before, but yesterday Jake discovered "the baby in the mirror." He just layed there and stared and stared at himself in the mirror. He was fascinated!

Who is that guy?

All worn out after playing!

He has the cutest little feet!!!

More playtime this morning with his new best friend...the baby in the mirror :-)

Here is a video we took this morning of Jake playing with his reflection.



And here is a video of tummy time from a few days ago!

4-5 WEEKS

On Jake's one month birthday we planned a family outing. We headed out to Terrell, Tx to Ham's Peach Orchard. We were going to buy peaches and other fresh fruit goodies. We also planned a stop at the Old Navy outlet to shop for Jake..and ourselves :-) Stephen's mom went with us so we were hoping to get some cute family pictures at Ham's. Well, Jake slept the entire time we were gone! So, no family picture. He woke up when we got home, but grandma had already left by the time he was in the mood to have his picture taken, so we had to take a family picture ourself...it's not the best picture ever, but it will do for now. Jake keeps getting bigger every day. His newborn clothes and diapers are now too small, and we can fit most of our 0-3 month clothes. He is becoming more active and alert: he can track his toys and mommy & daddy with his eyes, he is starting to grasp objects briefly, but he can hold on really good to mommy's hair once he gets ahold of it! He is also starting to help "hold" his bottle during feeding time. He has started making "cooing" noises, but the funniest to Stephen and I are his grunts and growls! He "talks" a lot in his sleep, cooing, growling, and almost sort of "singing" to himself. It is hysterical and I am hoping to catch it on video soon! We also started putting him in footy pajamas this week, they make him look so big! Here are some adorable pictures of Jake from this past week.

Our first family picture:

he is one month old exactly

This is how he spent most of his one-month birthday!

Our first night in real pajamas, not t-shirts, or onesies:

he's too cute!

Here's daddy hogging the baby :-)

Look at those chubby cheeks!
I think that's the only thing he got from me :-) poor kid!

Daddy is so in love with his little man

Nap time:

he was too cute to not take a picture of him

He's just too darn cute!