Hewwoah??

Jacob is a little bit obsessed with telephones. Whenever he hears one ring or sees one, he puts his hand up to his ear and says "Hewwoah?" Yesterday, he actually picked up the home phone and had an entire conversation with absolutely nobody on the other end. We loved it.

Apologies for the darkness in the video. We weren't expecting to record him so we didn't have time to adjust the lighting!

A new place to roam

The landscaping in our backyard was finally completed last Friday, and we are thrilled with the results! The trees, plants and flowers look a bit skimpy right now as they were just put in the ground, but I know that once they start to grow and bloom, the yard is going to look even more fantastic. It's so exciting to know that we can put Jacob's climber and baby pool on the grass without fearing he's going to fall down and crack his head open! (We paid a lot of money for this peace of mind, but I assume it's better than a hospital bill.)

Take a look at our new backyard!

Another reunion

Jacob reunited with one of his old Chicago buddies yesterday in San Francisco. Lindsay, her mommy Jamie, and daddy Cary came out to San Francisco to celebrate Cary's birthday (Happy Birthday Cary!) and we were so excited to see them again. Jamie was a part of my Chicago mom's group and it's amazing what changes in a year. It was a little over a year ago that we all met in our host mom's house in the living room with all of these little infant car seats in a circle and all we did was chat about baby sleep and poop. I've never felt so relieved to know that I had a new circle of friends to bounce ideas of off and learn new things from.

Oh my gosh how much they have changed! Lindsay still has her beautiful red hair and now she is just chatting away like a little girl. Jacob LOVES little girls lately and is always trying to touch their faces. Lindsay would have none of it. Ha. Check out the cute pics from our visit.

Lindsay and her very yummy chocolate chip pancakes (which she kindly shared with Jacob):



Jacob's picture face. I can't get a good picture of him anymore since this is how he thinks you are supposed to smile for the camera. Lindsay's looking at him like "you're crazy":



Flashback to about a year ago. Jacob is in the middle (obviously) and Lindsay is to the left and Lauren to the right. I always giggle hysterically when I look at this picture. Jacob is SUCH a chunky monkey and Lauren is holding on to him for dear life. But just look at how much they've changed!



Me and Jamie:

Who likes to sit in poop?

A diaper battle occurs regularly in our house that usually goes like this:

me: "Jacob, did you go poopy?"
Jacob: "nooooo"
me: "Really? Because you are mighty stinky. Did you go poopy?"
Jacob: "Noooo!!"
me: "I smell it baby. Let's go change your diaper."
Jacob (running away): "NOOOO!!!!"

This video makes me laugh because he totally admits that he went to the bathroom, but has no desire to get changed. Who likes to sit in poop?

Somebody stole our backyard!

Well, not really, but it sure does feel like it. Mark and I have always felt that the only thing we'd change about our new house is the backyard. So, we got some estimates and before we knew it, the landscaper and his team were here digging everything up. It was crazy how quickly our deck and patio were gone and how big our backyard looks without anything in it! Jacob keeps running to the window, looking at the backyard and saying "uh-oh!, uh-oh!" Ha. No kidding uh-oh. It's all gone! We can't wait until the work is completed so we can see the final product.

Here are some pics of the backyard before demolition:





During and after demolition:

Happy Birthday Grandpas!

Mark and I knew we were meant for each other when we learned that our fathers shared the same birthday. Ok, maybe we knew we were meant for each other after all the Fuqua Fridays we shared together.

Happy Birthday Papa and Grandpa! We wish we weren't so far away and that we could spend your special day with you both. Jacob misses you and is sending hugs and kisses your way. Thanks for being such special parents in our lives always!

Never too much of a good thing

Jacob and I went to the fair again yesterday with our Wednesday playgroup. I guess we can never get too much of a good thing and entry was FREE before 3 pm (how cheap am I that I woke him up from his nap so that we could get there before 3?!) This time, I decided to ditch the stroller and just let him walk/run around. It's hard to say whether or not this was a good idea. He hates to sit in his stroller for any length of time so I was afraid of having to keep track of the stroller AND him for 3+ hours. So, instead, the time at the fair morphed into a grueling workout for me as I chased around this 31 lb. hyper-ball in 90 degree heat.

Another great time was had by all, and Jacob and I actually got to ride on something other than the carousel! I was allowed to ride on the Bee Ride with him which flew around in circles and went pretty high and he loved it! No pony rides this time around -- mommy substituted ice cream instead.

This is his new "Say cheese!" face:



I couldn't take the ice cream away for a second without him screaming!



On the bee ride -- it sure did feel higher than it looks



Jacob's doing his "say cheese" face again but this time with his eyes closed. How cute are Jaemie and Owen?!



That's a little better



We just love that carousel



Our adorable friends Millie and Emma and Marcia and Warner

A Prince and a Pony

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit this past weekend so we decided to hit the San Mateo County Fair which is luckily very close to our house. There was a huge kids area with tons of fun baby rides. After our incident at Happy Hollow, I didn't want to risk putting Jacob on a ride by himself again in fear of him having another meltdown. Unfortunately, there were no rides that they would let me go on with him (except for the good ol' fall back ride -- the carousel). One guy told me that if he let me on, it would break the ride. Um, that's quite the insult mr. creepy carny man. Thanks.

I was seriously disappointed. That is, until we found...the pony rides! Since I could walk next to the horse, I jumped on the idea. I fully expected Jacob to be thrilled to ride a pony since he 'neighs' at every horse we see. He was fine until the pony started moving and then he started whining to get off. With a little bit of encouragement though, he settled down and enjoyed the ride. My little Prince and his Pony.

Not so excited at first about the pony



Ok, I'm cool. I can do this.



They put him on the biggest pony in the ring!



And of course the good old standby ride...the carousel



Grandpa bought Jacob this adorable baby guitar. He loves it!



Feeding the goats again



Cutie on a tractor



With mommy on the train

Ya-ya's birthday

Have I ever mentioned Jacob's girlfriend? Hmmm. That's funny. I thought I had. I wonder if that's one of those things that Mom's block out of their minds when it comes to their little boys. I certainly cringe at the thought of him ever having a real girlfriend and I need to remember that we have lots of time ahead before that happens (I hope!) ha.

Anyway, I have neglected to mention 2 very important women in Jacob's life that he absolutely adores: Melissa and Maya. Melissa is our part-time nanny that watches Jacob twice a week while I work from home and Maya is her ADORABLE little girl. When I drop Jacob off at their house, he holds my hand as he walks down the stairs yelling "Ya-Ya!", "Ya-Ya!", then he runs to the door and knocks on it, all the while yelling "Ya-Ya!" (It baffles me that he can't say "Maya" since he says "Mama" so well and obviously has his "M's" down pat. Either way, it's super cute, and we all get a good laugh out of it each time.) He just loves his Ya-Ya.

Maya just turned 4 this past weekend and we had a great time celebrating with her at her birthday party at the park. Sleeping Beauty was there and performed magic, made animal balloons and painted all the kids faces! (I never knew Sleeping Beauty was so multi-talented!)

Thanks again to Maya and Melissa for inviting us to join in on the fun -- and for always taking such GREAT care of our little man!

Happy Birthday Ya-Ya! I mean, Maya!



Jacob still LOVES to swing -- especially with Daddy



Daddy was correcting Jacob's form



These slides were awesome

Bedtime at the Broxtermans

I rarely get the opportunity to give Jacob a bath or put him to bed since that is Mark's time with him when he gets home from work. So, I always learn something new when Mark is out of town and Jacob and I run through the routine together. Tonight I realized that he is just down right funny.

Tonight, I announced, "Jacob, it's bath time! Let's great ready for your bath!" As I was running the water, I hear him rummaging through the playroom. Thinking that he's ignoring me, I come out of the bathroom to take a look at what's going on. He comes running through the hall into the bathroom with an armful of cars and throws them into the tub. He then runs out again into the playroom and comes back with another armful of cars and throws them into the tub. I knew that he liked to take toys into the tub (in addition to the already filled tub of water toys) but I didn't realize it had become custom to bring every single car he owned into his bath. I'm starting to realize why Jacob doesn't share his cars. He loves them so much that he can't even take a bath without them. ALL of them. What baffles me most is that during the bath, he didn't play with ONE car. Not a one. He played with the strainers and squirt toys and the cup I use to rinse his head. But there was no car play going on. So, at the end of the bath, he hands me all the cars to dry off before he will get out of the tub and we have to take them with us to get dressed in his pajamas. Geez.

Once he's in his pajamas, we get the room ready for bed. We turn on the nightlight, close the shades, turn on the humidifier and get about 50 books down from the shelves so that we can read one page out of each (because his attention span is a milisecond.) We're looking at his "learn your shapes" book and he sees a banana and starts shouting "na-na-na!, na-na-na!" and wiggles off my lap onto the floor and points to the door saying "na-na-na!" I'm guessing he wants a banana even though he'd just eaten dinner. Who am I to ever deprive the poor kid of food, so I get out of the chair, go into the kitchen and peel him a banana. But he won't eat the banana in the kitchen. He takes my hand and pulls me into the playroom, where he sits on the floor ready to eat his banana. After 2 bites, he won't eat anymore (of course), puts his paci in his mouth and his attention is now on his cars (that I had dumped back into the playroom after he was dressed for bed.) I asked him if he wanted his banana and he said "no, no" so I said "ok then, time for night, night. Let's go into your room and read your books." Back in his room, we're in the chair reading a book when he all of a sudden points to the door and says "na-na-na!" You've got to be kidding me. I look at him like he's crazy and say "Jacob, no more banana, it's night night time." A strange expression came over his face , and do you know what that adorable kid did next? He pointed to his crib, so I said "Do you want to go in your bed?" He nodded his head, took OUT his paci, puckered up and gave me a kiss, and then waved at me and said "bye, bye". ha. Well allrighty then. I said goodnight, put him in his crib, left the room and poured myself a glass of wine. We've both been resting peacefully since then. :)

Where was that when I was a kid?

We joined a new class at a local gymnastics school a couple of weeks ago and Jacob loves, loves, LOVES it. We sing songs, dance, and climb on EVERYthing.

And then they break out the balls.

I don't think Jacob could get more excited. He chases after every ball and tries to fit as many as he can in his little arms.

The gym had a party on Sunday so the whole family got to go and play. The activities were much of the same as what we do in our regular class but THEN, they pulled out this blow up, bouncy runway and Jacob couldn't get enough of it. I'm going to beg the instructor to pull that thing out during every future class now. Man was that fun. Where were those things when I was a kid?