First Word- "Hi!"

On my last post I mentioned that I was pretty sure Jacob said his first word "hi" and now I'm positive! He says it several times a day on his own. He says it when he sees a new toy, when he looks at the computer he says hi whenever I pull up a new page or video for him to look it, and one time he said hi at the same time that I answered the phone and said hello. He will say hi back if I say it to him but I have a hard time getting him to say it for other people. Luke has heard it now but still isn't sure that Jacob knows what he's saying, but I caught it on video so see for yourself and let me know if you think it counts!

Another Jacob update- 11 months

Jacob turned 11 months today- so that means in only one month he'll be one year old! I really can't believe how fast it's gone so far, because he still feels like my little baby. But he is definetly moving around a lot more...

Jacob has quickly become a stair master. He started crawling up the stairs in December and only a month later he learned to go down the stairs too! I never even had time to buy stair gates, but it's just as well- he loves playing on the stairs! He especially loves playing peekaboo through the railing along the stairs!

Jacob also loves playing with all his little toys. This one is still my favorite- it's so fun! But I imagine we'll get him some fun new toys for his birthday too.

And of course Jacob gets into everything now! Naturally he's always pulling things down, ripping things up, tasting everything in his mouth..you know how it goes. This is him "helping" me fold the laundry as he takes everything out for me! :)

And I am so glad that he has gotten to finally be a good eater. For awhile he wouldn't take any finger foods or anything, but he's made quite a turn in the past few months. He loves to eat table food now, especially whatever and whenever mom and dad eat!

And he's been able to drink out of his sippy cup for awhile too but only recently did I try letting him do it himself- and I think it's so cute when he lays down to drink his water :)

I thought this picture was cute too. He was playing with our friends' dog but kept hitting him and then the dog would hit back, haha! Coco was actually very patient with Jacob as he checked him out. But as cute as little Coco is, I don't think I could ever manage a dog!

One thing I have been really excited about ever since we moved in is that there are several babies Jacob's age! And there are four of us at church that are new moms and all of our babies were born in March, so they are literally days apart in age. So we started a playgroup and it's been so fun so far! They don't really play together much yet but it's so funny when they take each other's toys, or try pulling each other's pants off or race up the stairs together- I love it!

Another thing we did recently in the first week of February, Luke's work treated their team to a Nuggets game in Denver. It was actually really nice because KPMG has a suite there so we had our own kitchen and free food and drinks and our seats were blocked off so everyone could just talk together. And it was Jacob's first game so it was fun to be able to go too.

Jacob loved being able to watch the game and dancing to the music at halftime!

Actually, dancing is Jacob's new discovery! He loves bouncing to a good beat and waving his hands to the music! Luke and I find it pretty hilarious. We caught a good video of him dancing to his favorite pop song- that seems to be the only kind of music he really gets into- girly pop! Anyway you can check out this video and see for yourself!

Jacob has also gotten very vocal lately, making lots of sounds and sometimes he gets very close to saying words. Actually, I swear he had his first word on Valentine's Day. He waved his hand and said "hi" very clearly, twice actually. Luke doesn't believe me but it gave me chills because it sounded like he knew what he was saying- I feel it counted as his first word! And a few weeks before that after Luke left for work Jacob waved his hand and said "buh buh" so that was really close too! Anyway, it's just kind of exciting watching him learn and grow a little more everyday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a nice Valentine's Day weekend this year. We mostly celebrated on Saturday and Luke and I were able to go out to dinner that night and got a REAL babysitter for Jacob! This was kind of exciting for us, even though we have to pay a real sitter rather than letting friends watch him, I'm excited because our new sitter lives just down the street and goes to our church so I think it's going to work out great! And not only that, but her parents knows my family because they used to live in Maryland when I was little- so it's kind of fun that they're our neighbors now too!

So on Saturday I got up and made Luke breakfast which I have NEVER done! I'm not sure why, he's just so good at making breakfast he's always done it. And somehow I burned the bacon, but I was able to make the eggs the way he likes it! Haha I'll have to keep working on it. And Luke and I went to take Jacob on a walk because it seemed like a really nice day but by the time we made it outside it had gotten overcast and windy, so it was a short walk but fun spending time together.
And then our babysitter showed up an hour early so we headed for dinner. Luke found out that there was a brand new Cafe Rio just south of Denver and it's the first one here in Colorado, so we went there for dinner Saturday- and it was goood!
Valentine's day morning we woke up to a beautiful few inches of snow on the ground and trees, and these beautiful flowers for me :)

Sunday mornings I always have to wake Jacob up for church but I hate to because he just looks so cute and peaceful when he's sleeping!

Jacob with his valentine pig- his first Valentine's day!

Mommy and baby love :)

Jacob didn't want a picture with his dad but he loves him too :)

me and Luke on valentines day :)

Hope everyone had a great valentine's day!

James is Home!

So for the past two years my brother James has been serving an LDS mission in Riverside, California speaking Spanish and teaching people about our church. So we weren't able to see him for two years, and he was only able to call home on Christmas and Mother's Day, but then he would send the family an email once a week, usually. So we missed him a lot but we were all soo proud of him and the work that he was doing. James always had a really positive attitude and seemed to have learned a lot and grown from his experiences.

Anyway, so I definetly wanted to make sure that I was home to be there when James got home from his mission. Especially since he had never even met his first little nephew!

So this is the plaque they had of James at the church, along with all the other missionaries from our ward. So before James returned home, Jacob was checking out the uncle he hadn't met yet.

Jacob and James

So the big day finally came! James came home late Tuesday, January 12, 2010, and his plane was late too and so we were all getting a little anxious. Here is the big sign that we made for him!

Everyone at the airport was totally staring at us, but some people were nice and were asking about our James, haha. And when we finally saw him come down past security we all were cheering for him and he was strutting down acting as if he couldn't see our huge banner! I think he loved it though- he said he wanted people to think he was famous when he got into the airport- so we did our best to give him a big welcome!

And it was so great to see him again- he looked so much more grown up! Amazing what two years can do...

Before and After!

One of the nice things about being home for this, was that we were all able to go with him when he got released by the Stake President the next day, and he said a lot of really nice things. And then the day after that we were all also invited to go with him as he reported to the High Council about his mission. And so it was neat to hear about more of the stories and experiences that he had and how he felt about those spanish people that he had served. This picture above was right before he reported, and once that was over he felt like he was officially done as a missionary!

So then James' first Sunday back we had an open house that evening so that family friends could come over to see him and all. These pictures were taken once the party was almost over, but before that, the house was seriously packed! There were a lot of people, and a lot of good food! And it was fun for me to be there with Jacob so that I could see a lot of people that I haven't seen in awhile too.

We used our airport banner as decoration

We put up some of James' missionary pictures on the sunroom doors

Jacob and Mason, so glad Jeremy and Leigh Ann came and so I could see little Mason again- I could just eat him he's so cute!

Our family! (minus Erika, Daniel, and Luke)

James' second family- the Kings. They have their own two missionaries out but they took a family picture with James as their replacement.
These are the two Kings brothers, James' best friends that are still on their missions.

Again, I had a great time seeing James come home and seeing how much he's changed and grown up! I spent a lot of time with him when he got home fixing up his resume and helping him find a job. He did finally get a job for the next few months until he'll be able to go back to BYU-I in April for the summer semester. And then Julia will be going out there for the Fall semester too! It makes me jealous- I wish I could be back in Rexburg with them! I loved hanging out with them while I was home and can't wait until we can all get together again soon!

Trip to Maryland!

So I wasn't able to go home for Maryland for Christmas but I had been planning for about a year that I would go home this January so that I could be home when James got back from his mission! So I'll write another post about all that went on with James coming home, but we did a lot of fun stuff while I was in Maryland and I had a great time seeing everyone!

Actually, a few days before I came to Maryland, my brother Daniel was flying back to school at BYU and happened to stop in Denver, so Jacob and I went to go visit him for an hour. He didn't realize I was coming though so I went through security and found him sleeping at his gate. Ironically the last two times I had seen him before that were at the airport too! So it was good to at least catch up and give him a chance to see Jacob. I'm hoping to see Daniel one more time though before he'll probably leave on his mission in the Spring once this semester is over.

So I was able to fly standby into Baltimore (thanks to Luke's mom!) and got in on Wednesday the 6th. And then my sister Erika had to leave for school at ISU early Friday morning so I only had just over a day to see her.
So it was just kind of funny that only a few days before James came home Erika and Daniel had to go back to school, so we couldn't all be there to see him come home. But I was lucky to be able to see everyone, just wish we could have all been there at the same time! It might be awhile until that happens since Daniel will leave soon for his mission!

Erika was happy to see Jacob though, all my sisters gushed over him as soon as we got in.

Julia with Jacob

Andrea and Jacob

It took Jacob a little bit to get used to my family, he still gets stranger anxiety and likes to cling to me like a monkey. But after a day or so he really warmed up! Andrea played with him a lot when she would get home from school everyday and so he started to really like her and think she was funny!

The first weekend I was out there we decided to drive around Annapolis. I had actually never been there before but it seemed like a fun place! It was absolutely freezing when we went though but if Luke and I are ever back in the summer we're definetly going to have to go back and check out Annapolis more.

Julia, Andrea, and me at the Bay


I loved all the colonial buildings

the state capital!

pretty spot at sunset

My first Sunday out there I went to go see Luke's side of the family- his parents, his Aunt Julie, and his cousins, Tyler and Ryan and Ryan's wife Jamie and their two kids Liala and Dax. We just had dinner and hung around together but it was fun for Jacob to meet Liala and Dax for the first time. The funny thing though was at the time Jacob was 9 1/2 months and Dax was 3 1/2 months but they were almost the same size!

Jacob let Grandma Brenda feed him

nearly the same height and weight!

Liala was really sweet with "John Jacob"

Jacob checking out Dax some more, kept trying to hit his face!

One person I didn't get to see that night though was Luke's Grandma Martha so I went to visit her a few days later when she got back from all her Christmas trips out west. I always have a good time going to visit Grandma- Luke and I lived with her the summer after we got married and we really have good memories of that time, so I always like going back to McLean to see her.

The last time we saw Grandma was when she came out with Luke's parents for Jacob's baby blessing a month or so after he was born, so he's grown up a lot since. And Grandma had so much fun playing with him!

Here's Grandma sitting on the kitchen floor with Jacob rolling a grapefruit back and forth, haha.

Jacob looooves remotes so Grandma let him play with her old ones just to keep him happy

Once James got home he wanted to do practically everything that he couldn't do on his mission- well within reason! But every night James and I would stay up way too late watching movies and stuff, and then by the time the weekend rolled around James said he wanted to have a dance party! I wasn't really expecting that from him, but I guess it was just another one of those things he couldn't do before and so we had to do it now. But it was actually soo fun!

Andrea hooked up her Ipod and blasted a dance mix and then we turned off all the lights and pulled out some glow sticks and flashing lights! Haha it was amazing! Even Jacob got in on the fun!

I couldn't let Jacob play with the glowsticks because he would bite them open so he played with this flashing light- he just liked biting it :)

Grandma sitting with Jacob

Halfway through and we were already exhausted- that's me on the floor, I think I'm out of shape because I was so tired! But then we kept going! We did get some pics with the lights off and our sticks glowing but they're not that great. But either way- it was way fun!

On my last day home in MD it was Martin Luther King Day and so my sisters were off school so we decided to go to DC and check out the American History Museum- it seemed fitting for the holiday! Too bad my dad still had to work, but my mom still took us kids down.

And it was Jacob's first ride on the metro!

I don't think I have ever been to this museum before, or at least I didn't remember it. It's crazy that I've lived in Mayland my whole life and there's so much of DC I feel I haven't really seen! So I was actually excited to see a lot of the exhibits. One fun exhibit was the one about the American Presidents. There was one spot where you could stand at a podium and look like you're the president with real presidential video clips behind you.

And when we first noticed this, we saw a little boy, probably 7 years old, and he got up to the podium and threw his hands up and shouted, "It is time for change!" Haha we were all laughing so hard! But then we realized there was also a screen on top where you can read real presidential speeches or whatever. So Julia, Andrea, and James all tried it too.

haha, Julia is so cute

Andrea reading her speech

nice presidential smile :)

And when we were done with the museum we took some pictures on the mall. For a January day, it was absolutely beautiful! It was a great day to be downtown!

And a couple other random pics from the trip...

Once James got home, my parents took James, Jacob, and I out to lunch. James and I kind of joked around that every time we went out and I was carrying a baby around people probably assumed we were a couple. At least one Target worker thought James was my husband, it was kind of funny, but weird at the same time haha.

Jacob was always trying to get out of this little chair and climb onto the table! This one was funny though because he kept putting his foot up and down, it didnt even look like his leg was connected, just kept popping up on the table, haha. Guess he's flexible like his mom!

Grandma was able to put Jacob to sleep our last day there, aww

Saying goodbye! James was nice enough to take me in to the airport. We were laughing when this lady took our picture because once again we knew it probably looked like we were a couple- but I did want a picture with my new RM brother! I'm so glad I was able to come home to see James and all the rest of my family- on both sides! I had a really great time- lots of fun memories already!