Jake and Daisy

Over the past month and a half, Jake has become super interested in Daisy. His eyes follow her whenever she enters the room and he gets a big smile on his face. We have let him pet her several times and explore her ears and all that good stuff. Daisy has been really good with him, letting him explore without any objections...and sometimes giving him a lick on the nose! Well, about a week before Christmas, Stephen, Jake, and I were playing on the floor. Daisy came walking up, but instead of coming to Stephen or I, she walked up and plopped her head down in Jake's lap. It was precious and of course I ran for the camera. Jake was a little surprised at first, but then started petting away. Daisy even rolled over to her belly so he could get that too. I hope she likes him as much once Jake can start chasing after her in a month or two!

Daisy says "pet me please!"...Jake wasn't sure at first

...and don't forget my belly

We had to remind Jake to be gentle. When he gets excited his "pets" turn a little rough

Big smiles

7 Days of Christmas-Day3

Day 3 of our seven days of Christmas was very exciting, my mom "Grammy" got into town today! She was very excited to see Jake. We celebrated by going to dinner at Chuy's so mom could have some excellent mexican food. Stephen's dad, stepmom, brother, and niece also joined us. Jake got a little tired and fussy, but we had a good time. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at home so I don't have any pictures of it :-(

However, here is a cute video of Jake from this morning. He has been turning into such a talker lately. This morning he started saying 'mom' for the first time...he hasn't made the connection that I am 'mom.' He was actually watching Elmo on TV while saying it, even so, it was still really fun to hear him say it!

7 Days of Christmas-Day 2

Today Jake got to see someone he hadn't seen for a very long time...since the day he was born, his Aunt Dawn! Stephen's sister, Dawn, coaches women's soccer at Notre Dame...this job keeps her so busy that the only time all year that she gets to come home is Christmastime. Dawn got to meet Jake just an hour after he was born (she just happened to be on a recruiting trip to Texas on the day I was induced) but had to leave the next morning. We were all very excited to get to see his Aunt Dawn again! We met her at Cheddar's for lunch and had a great time catching up. Jake had lots of big smiles for his Aunt Dawn!

"I'm so glad to see you Aunt Dawn!"

"I'll have a cookie monster please"

Today's lunch at Cheddar's was also special because Jake sat in a high chair for the first time! He loved it, was reaching for everything and having a great time. He especially wanted my water glass. Over the past week, he's started taking sips of water out of my glass. He loves it and gets irritated when I take the cup away...good thing he's getting a sippy cup in his stocking :-)

I'm a big boy!!!

When we were leaving the restaurant, we got the best compliment. The hostess was a middle-aged woman, who stopped us and said, "I've been working in the restaurant business my whole life, and I have to tell you he is the best baby I've ever seen in a restaurant!" We were a very proud mommy and daddy!

7 Days of Christmas-part 1

Yesterday, we had Day 1 of "the 7 days of the tyler family christmas." We traveled up to Gainsville for Christmas at Grandma's, Stephen's mom's mom. This was our largest Christmas of the week, with close to 40 aunts, uncles, cousins, etc gathered together...most of whom were meeting Jake for the first time. Stephen and I were both a little anxious, a long road trip up to Gainsville, lots of unfamiliar faces for Jake, and lots of "pass the baby." Of course, Jake did so much better than we thought, in fact, he never fussed at all, went to anyone who wanted to hold him, and slept most of the way there and back. (which meant he was up and ready for the day at 6:00 this morning!) He is becoming such a social baby, he was 'talking' all afternoon to everybody. It was a great start to our week of Christmases!


Here are some pictures of the day...of course we got none of Stephen and I with Jake!

Grandma and Jake

Great Grandma and Jake

more of Great Grandma playing with Jake...he had lots of big smiles for her

Great Grandma Rohmer had a very special Christmas present for Jake, she made him a blanket. It has his name on it as well as all his birth stats, height, weight, etc. I love it! I still have a similar blanket my grandmother made for me and I'm so glad Jake will always have a special something from his Great Grandmother!

I took this picture this morning...he was too sleepy when we got home last night

A full view of his blanket


Here is a video of Jake playing with his Great Grandma

I Didn't Do It!

One of the skills Jake has developed over the past month is reaching for the things that he wants. When he gets really excited, he will wave his arms up and down...we call it his "jake smash" move. Yesterday morning he was eating breakfast and evidently I wasn't getting the job done quickly enough. He "jake smashed" his bowl of oatmeal, ALL OVER...himself, bumbo, the counter, and the kitchen floor were all covered. I don't know how 4 tablespoons could make such a big mess, but it did! And then my sweet boy started playing in it, smearing it all over the bumbo and his pajamas like paint. Of course, before I cleaned him up, I grabbed the camera first :-)

Picture One: "Uh, it wasn't me Mom, I didn't do it!"

Picture Two: Yea, I did it...and I'm proud of it!

Sitting Up!

In my last blog, I said Jake was working hard on sitting up...well, I think it is safe to make it official, he is an independent sitter! Over the past few days, the amount of time he was able to sit up increased, as well as his ability to move and play while sitting. This morning was the first morning I felt comfortable in his ability to sit so I could take pictures without worrying about him falling to one side or the other. Every now and then, he still leans and falls over, but he is easily able to sit for an extended amount of time and play. And we can tell he is very proud of himself!

Look at me!

Such a big boy!

Yep, I'm sitting all by myself!

And here is video of him showing off his skills!

Something New Every Day

Over the past two weeks, it seems like Jake learned something new every day. He's a totally different baby than he was a month ago, and I know even bigger changes are ahead in the next few months. I love watching him learn all these new things and how excited he gets. His personality is emerging so clearly...he is able to express what he wants and doesn't want, what he likes and doesn't like...playtime is so much more interactive between us now.

One big change is his hand and arm control. He can pick up toys on his own now. We just lay several out on his blanket and he picks what he wants to play with, puts it down when he is done, and picks up a new toy. He can pass his toys from hand to hand as well. He loves banging his toys against each other. He has also learned that if he drops a toy, we will pick it up for him...and this is his new favorite game. :-)

Jake also now reaches for what he wants...toys, Daisy, or Mommy and Daddy. There is no better feeling than to see his face light up and those arms reaching for you to hold him!

Here he is reaching for the parrot on his jumparoo

He is a very good eater...he loves his veggies, except for peas! We mix those with carrots though and he will eat them. His favorites seem to be sweet potatoes and carrots. He prefers his veggies to cereal now and eats them more than cereal. And over the past few weeks he has also started going back to his old sleeping habits, hallelujah! He doesn't sleep through the night every night, but at least 3-4 nights a week. Plus, his naps have started getting longer again...the past two days he has taken a 90 minute nap at some point during the day, a huge improvement to his 30-45 minute naps of the past two months! Today, he took such a good nap in the morning, that he only took two naps for the day, and was still his happy self! I'd hoped he would start moving to a two nap schedule and it looks like he starting get ready for that to happen.

Here is a picture from tonight just before bedtime, only 2 naps, but still a happy boy!

I couldn't decide if I liked it better in color or b/w so I posted both :-)

Just another cute picture before bedtime tonight

AND...the biggest change this past week, SITTING UP! We aren't totally there yet, but are SO close! He can sit for about 10-15 seconds on his own and then tips over like a weeble-wobble. He does better when he is holding onto a toy, I think it helps him to balance better. I'm hoping by Christmas he will be a sitting pro!

Sitting up all by himself!

Here is video from a few nights ago of some attempts to sit by himself

...or not because blogger is being dumb and won't upload the video, sorry!

A Case of the Sillies!

I don't normally post two entries on the same day, but Jake had the his first case of the sillies this afternoon, and I had to make an entry about it. He was playing in his "car" as we call it...it's like an exersaucer that has a steering wheel and makes fun noises, and it was almost nap time. Lately before naps, instead of getting fussy, he gets really silly. Today, he had me cracking up. He was making the funniest faces and talking non-stop! Here are the pictures and video I took to capture the moment. Usually he stops doing whatever it is I want to take a picture of once I get the camera out, but today he was hammin' it up bigtime when he saw the camera.

This is the face he kept making...not sure what to call it yet, but he's too darn cute!

he loves to drive with his mouth...i keep telling him he'll get a ticket if he does that when he gets bigger!

more fun faces!

my two babies: jakey and daisy!

introducing: silly jake...you might want to turn the volume down :-)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Yesterday we got the BEST surprise, SNOW IN TEXAS! I was so excited to see what Jake thought of it. I grew up in Chicago and snow is absolutely one of my favorite things in the world, and one of the things I miss most about home...especially having a white Christmas. I knew there was a chance for snow in the area, but I didn't have my hopes up because usually all we get is ice. Well, right as I was making Jake's breakfast, huge, beautiful snowflakes began to fall. I wanted to take Jake out in it so badly, but we were both in our jammies so instead I opened the back door and let him watch, he was mesmerized!

surprisingly the snow actually stuck...but melted less than an hour later

Jake was hungry so I opened the blinds by his chair so he could watch the snow while he ate his oatmeal. He just stared and stared. That snow is some pretty cool stuff!


Jake also loves all of the Christmas decorations, especially the lights on the tree and on the garland on the mantle. Christmas has always been my favorite time of year and this year it is going to be so special to celebrate Jake's first one. I remember this time last year thinking, "this time next year, the baby will be here (we still didn't know if it was a boy or girl)" I couldn't wait to show him/her the tree, lights, decorations, all of the things we are getting to do now with Jake. I already know the memories of this Christmas will be precious, precious ones.

Lots of New Things

I think this past week has been one of the busiest Jake has had developmentally! I feel like he was doing something new each day, it has been so fun! It's not just physical things, but his appearance is changing day by day. His hair is now coming in very blonde and in the past week has grown so much on the top part of his head. I look at his newborn pictures and can hardly believe how dark his hair was. And if it's possible, I think he has gotten even taller! He makes such fun new faces, his favorite seems to be sucking his bottom lip in as far as possible and then smiling...it's the cutest face and I LOVE it! The past few days have been even more fun because Stephen was off of work and able to here enjoying it all. Jake loved having him home and was quite the daddy's boy all week.


Fun new thing #1: Solid foods-he still loves his cereal and oatmeal, but now also loves trying to feed himself. After each spoonful, he puts his hand in his mouth and will also grab the spoon as I try to feed him. I am trying to let him explore (which I read in magazines was good to do as he started solids) but also balance actually getting some food into his mouth. He does eventually let me get the food in his mouth, but makes a big ol' mess doing it...which means the classic "messy eating pictures" have started! This past week we also started veggies, peas and green beans. He isn't too sure about them, but he doesn't spit them out so I'm pretty impressed. The face he makes is priceless though! He eats them very well when I mix them with his oatmeal or cereal.

Here's my little messy eater, check out his hands covered in ceral as well

Fun new thing #2: johnny jump up-we all know how much Jake loves his jumparoo. This week we decided to try a new toy, johhny jump up. I've had it sitting in the closet for a few months and wanted to wait until he got a little older before we tried it. If you don't know what it is, johnny jump up is very similar to a jumparoo, but it clasps to the top of a door frame...kind of like baby bungee jumping :-) He wasn't sure what to do at first, but he got the hang of it after a while.

Here is some video of it too: no jake's were harmed in the making of this film.

Fun thing #3- big push ups and swimming! Our little man is so wanting to crawl...I know he's got a few months to go before he puts it all together, but he is so active during tummy time now. He still doesn't really roll from tummy to back, but just this morning he did a 360 roll from back to back, so I think he is any day on that skill now. He "swims" with his arms and legs, he kicks so fast sometimes. And his pushups are so much higher now, he gets his stomach off the floor most of the time. He now also lifts his bottom up into the air and sometimes gets his knees under. All the pieces are there, he just needs to learn how to put them all together, and then mommy and daddy are in lots of trouble!

tummy time with daddy

jake practicing his big pushups


and here he is "swimming"



Fun thing#4-DAISY! Jake has found Daisy, and he loves his puppy! Whenever Daisy enters his sightline, she is all he wants to look at and follows her with his eyes all around the room. Daisy has warmed up to Jake a lot too. She will come over and sit by him when he's on our laps and let him pet her. We guide his hands for now so that we know he is gentle until she gets more used to him. One time he was too fast for me and got ahold of her ear really good, but Daisy didn't care at all. She has even given him a few kisses lately. I have a feeling once Jake starts crawling, Stephen and I aren't the only ones who are going to be in trouble, poor Daisy!


Fun thing #5-Daddy's boy! This past week has been full of Daddy time for Jake and he loved every minute of it! They already have games that just the two of them play...if I try it, Jake's reaction is nowhere near the same-they play beat up daddy, wrestle, upside down jakey, and Stephen gives him big kisses on his tummy before bedtime. Jake has even started trying to give him kisses back, but he doesn't quite understand, so all we get is Jake pulling our face in close and then he opens his mouth and licks our cheek. It's precious and I wouldn't trade those kisses for anything. (he has also started doing the same thing to his reflection in the mirror)

one of jake's favorite things: standing on daddy

trying to "kiss" the baby in the mirror

Fun thing #6- Razzberries! I saved the best for last! Jake has learned to make a razzberry and I think it's the funniest thing he has learned to do yet! Two days ago we were driving in the car and +Jake was talking to himself in his mirror like always. Then we started hearing the "razz" noise and I look back, sure enough he was doing it! And he hasn't stopped since! He sounds like the Tazmanian Devil!!!! This new skill has also led to him making the "mmm" sound a lot now too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is very easy to think of reasons to be thankful this year! I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful and healthy baby boy, families that love us, and friends that are always there for us. And of course this year is even more special because it is Jake's first Thanksgiving. Typically, we have always spent Thanksgiving with my family in Mississippi. However, this year we started mentally thinking of all we would need to pack for Jake and ourselves and realized it just wasn't possible. I was still excited to spend the holiday here in Texas with Stephen's family...I am so blessed to have the most amazing in-laws, they have treated me like a member of their family from day one! We had a wonderful day; lots of food, family, and football...it can't get much better :-) Jake did SO good...he loves to be out and about, but he still won't nap or eat well away from home...so today I was anxious to see if would take a nap at Mimi's house, because if he didn't we might have to leave early. Well, I had nothing to be worried about, he went right to sleep in his pack-n-play in mimi's room. He only napped for 20 minutes, but it was enough to get him through the day. He took his bottle and ate his cereal like a pro...and would go to any family member that wanted to hold him. Just more signs that our little guy is getting so big!

Here are our pictures from the day:

He woke up in the best mood this morning! This beautiful face is the reason we are most thankful this year. We have been blessed with such a happy and healthy little boy.

Jake watching his first Macy's Thanksgiving Parade:

I think he liked it

Grandpa and Jake...he was checking out all the yummy food in the kitchen.

We told him he had to wait until next year for the good stuff!


Playing with Granna

Tummy time with Grandpa:

anybody see a family resemblance here? :-)

Mommy and Jakey

Daddy and Jakey, watching the Cowboys game:

Cowboys were winning, thus the big smiles from my boys!

Jake gets his thanksgiving dinner:

Just a bottle and cereal this year :-(

Happy boy after his nap!

Our family:

So then, just as you received Jesus Christ as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians 2: 6-7

5 Months Old

Jake is 5 months old!! I know each month I say it, but I can't believe how fast time is flying by. Each month he changes more and more and learns more and more new things. One of the books I was reading says he should have doubled his birth weight by month 5, HA! let's try almost tripled with my big boy, but he has also grown over 7 inches since birth as well :-)

This month Jake has become a pro at rolling onto his tummy...he still has zero interest in then rolling back to his back :-) I really think it's not that he couldn't do it, he just loves being on his tummy and working on crawling that he could care less about rolling the other way. His legs are so strong, probably because he is in love with his jumparoo and spends so much time in it! He has really taken to solid foods, he loves his oatmeal and eats his cereal really well. His favorite thing now is to put his hands in his mouth while eating and try to help hold his spoon, it's really cute, but it makes such a mess! (Pictures of that coming soon) He loves to be on the go...daddy's games, the grocery store, walks, etc. He still doens't eat or nap well while we are out and about, but we are working on it. He nightime sleeping has gotten a lot better, he still wakes up for one feeding, usually around 3-4. However, he celebrated his 5 month birthday by sleeping through the night for the first time since he was 3 months old! I'm hoping we are close to going back to his normal sleeping through the night!!! He started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks, I never realized how lucky we were! His naps, however, are still super short :-( He takes 3 naps a day, each one about 45 minutes...sometimes only 30, but sometimes I get lucky and he sleeps for a whole hour! It definitely makes it harder for me to get a lot done during the day, but I'm adjusting. My favorite time of day with him is when he wakes up in the morning, and from each nap...the minute I stick my head over the side of the crib, his face lights up into a HUGE smile! When Jake smiles, those big blue eyes light up...you can tell his whole heart is smiling :-)

I have a new toy...I've seen several friends' blogs that have made video montage's so I decided to give it a try this month...I'm sure I will get better at it as we go, but here is my first attempt...looking back at the past month of Jake's life!

And here are pictures from this past week:

Jake says "I'm going to eat this duck for Thanksgiving dinner!"

cheesin'

love love love this face

okay, i finally got some good shots of "the bill cosby face"

He loves sucking in that bottem lip!

happy boy!

and here is yet another jumparoo video, sorry! he's just too darn cute when he gets going...in this one he is showing off his "mariah carey" impression, he screams when he gets excited and it is super high pitch!

We are very excited for month 6 and all the new things that are coming soon: Jake's first Christmas, learning to sit up, and learning to crawl!!!