Jake~8 Months

Our little buddy is now a whopping 8 months old!  Although it doesn't seem possible, he's getting even sweeter with age.  His personality is really starting to show, and I'm constantly amazed at how different he and Cooper are, yet how well they go together.  Like salt and pepper or peanut butter and jelly, I guess.  They bring out the best in each other, and I love their interactions.  Jake adores Cooper, and everything Cooper does has the potential to make Jake laugh.  Cooper loves to make Jake laugh, and the sound of their laughter together is pure music to my heart.  One thing that's become pretty apparent recently is how easily embarrassed and shy Jake is.  He loves to tuck his head down on my chest when people talk to him.  He has a cute little grin he shows at that time, but you can tell he's a little embarrassed about the attention he's getting.  If he's going to stay this cute and sweet, he better get used to that attention!  He loves to give hugs and kisses, and trust me when I say he gives the best and sweetest kisses in the world!  He pulls you right to him, holds your face or neck, and plants a big slobbery kiss right on you.  If he really loves you, he'll keep 'em coming too!

As for our little milestones this month, Jakey has sprouted two little teeth on the bottom.  He sits very well and loves to play with his toys while sitting.  His favorite is probably to play with one of his balls or his tool set (do I have another tool man in the making?!).  He also loves his little tractor with the animals.  Balls are definitely the favorite toy for him right now.  He has now said mama, mmmmm (for milk), and dada, but I think "mmmmm" is the only intentional thing he says.  He isn't crawling yet, but he wants to.  When he tries, he either ends up flipping himself over while he's reaching or he just belly flops and flails his arms and legs around.  He does very well scooting and rolling to get what and where he wants for now.  Another milestone worth mentioning is that we finally ran out of the huge container of Dreft baby detergent we had bought for Jake while I was still pregnant.  I was sad to see it go (love the way it smells), but it'll be nice doing all our laundry together now.

He's still nursing, and we've reached the point where it is getting hard again.  He's curious and easily distracted and doesn't really want to waste his precious wake time nursing.  I know it's hurt my milk supply, but I'm pumping every other night to hopefully help with that.  He nurses pretty well when he's tired, unless he's so tired that it ends up putting him to sleep immediately.  We're working on it though.  If there is one thing I've learned about breastfeeding it's that it's a constantly changing challenge that requires a lot of patience and perseverance (okay, maybe that was several things that I clumped together to sound like one thing)!  He does okay with baby food.  He's a little picky about it.  We are trying some table food.  He loves bananas, toast, and rotisserie chicken.  He sleeps through the night most nights but occasionally needs a little snack during the night, which I can deal with.  My chunky monkey's weight percentile has dropped a lot in two months (down to 10-15th percentile...I'm having flashbacks of my feeding struggles with Cooper as a baby now!!!), which of course has me panicking, but the doctor assures me he is just fine and not to worry.  Easier said than done.  Especially when you're strictly breastfeeding.  I have no idea if he's getting enough milk from me or if I'm making enough at this point.  He told me he'll eat when he wants to eat.  I know he's right, and I know if Jake was hungry, he would let me know, but I worry.  It's what mamas do, right?!

Jake got to celebrate his first Father's Day with Karl this month and his first trip to the lake!  It was another wonderful month with our little sweetie!

Jake~7 Months

Our little buddy is now in that super adorable baby stage and is so interactive and fun!  Our months are starting to run together in my head, so it's hard to remember what's new and what's old (especially since I'm very late with this post again...), but one thing is for sure, I am so in love with this little guy!  He takes cuteness to a new level.  And sweetness.  Have I ever mentioned how sweet he is?! ;)

He is sitting on his own better and although he still tilts himself over, he can sit for longer periods of time before that happens!  We're practicing though!  He isn't army crawling yet, but he wiggles and rolls to where he wants to be pretty well.  He love his exercauser and would hang out in that thing all day if I let him.  He "talks" to it, bounces, lays his head back and rests, spins, plays, you name it.  I'm glad he likes it because Cooper didn't.  It's nice to get our money out of it now!

He's started making that adorable funny face that babies about this age make.  He squishes up his face and breathes hard (almost a snort).  I love it!  He loves to make his funny face for Karl, and Karl encourages it by doing it to him every time he sees him.  It's just one of the little ways he is becoming more and more interactive and fun.  He calls for Sadie by yelling, grunts for others to pay attention to him, laughs and squeals constantly at Cooper, and babbles to me when he's eating.  He likes to have his family close by for sure, and while he's still hesitant with people he's not familiar with, he warms up fairly quickly.  He's not outgoing, but he is social.

As much as I love the older baby stage, I'm not a fan of the baby food stage.  It was not fun with Cooper and also led to him weaning.  It has not been fun with Jake either, but for a totally different reason.  He doesn't like it either, and he prefers his milk for sure.  And then there's the whole break-out-in-hives thing. I'm going to make a llllloooonnnggg story short, and just say that after having an "allergic reaction" to carrots by getting red welts on his arms on Easter, he got worse welts, which some might describe as hives, after eating peas (which is the only food I absolutely will NOT eat and think is terrible,  and now with good reason :)) on a Friday evening, which happened to be the night before I was supposed to go out of town for my best friend's baby shower.  We called the on-call nurse to see how much Benadryl would be appropriate for him to have in case the "hives" got worse.  FYI-Don't say that h word to a nurse over the phone or she might make you go to the Children's Hospital After-Hours Clinic.  I overreact to everything when it comes to my children, but even I knew this wasn't that big of a deal.  Clearly he was having a reaction to the peas, obviously I wouldn't be giving him peas after that for awhile, and more than likely I was going to take him to the doctor on Monday to discuss this welt/hive reaction he was having to his food.  Well, we got sent on a Friday night at 9:00 to the clinic with all kinds of sick kids.  And low and and behold, it was just a reaction to the baby food, and after two long hours, I finally was told how much Benadryl he could have should it get worse.  Which it did not.  And I didn't even end up giving him any Benadryl.  Sigh.  It was exhausting.  The next day I talked to the pediatrician's office, and they said to hold off on everything he's had a reaction to and not to give him anything new for a month.  For whatever reason, he just wasn't ready for real food yet.  After continuing to get eczema-like spots on his arms and legs despite not having any new baby food for a couple weeks, I took him back to the doctor, and he said it could be heat related (which is what I was thinking), and that I could slowly start re-introducing new foods.  Thank goodness, we have not had any more hives!  He doesn't love his baby food and gets upset after a little while because he really just wants to nurse, but we're making progress.  He has baby food for lunch and dinner, but just milk in the mornings.  By the time he's done nursing and has played, he wants a nap, so I haven't pushed getting him to eat anything then.  As far as napping goes, he takes a morning and afternoon nap, and probably a late-afternoon nap 70% of the time.  It's short and sweet if he does take it, but some days he needs it to get through dinner and to bedtime.

Overall, this was a big month for our little guy.  He had his first Easter, first trip (and hopefully last trip) to Children's Hospital After-Hours Clinic, first beach trip, and we had our first Mother's Day together.  It was a busy month, and our little buddy just makes every single thing in our lives better than it ever was.

We are so thankful for this sweet baby!

Last Day of Older 2's

Our family, especially Cooper, was so blessed this year by his amazing Mother's Day Out and his two incredible teachers.  I was not happy with the Mother's Day Out he attended last year, and he would get so upset and cry on days he had to go.  It was awful.  Last May when he got out for summer, I called the Mother's Day Out that was my favorite when I was teaching.  The kids from this place always did so well and were such great kids, and I knew this was where we would eventually send Cooper.  Since it was pricier than others, I was just delaying it.  Well, after our terrible year, I went ahead and called.  The director was great to talk to.  I told her he has a late summer birthday, and my husband and I had already decided we would hold him back a year for kindergarten.  I asked her if we could go ahead and hold him back now since we know that's what we want eventually.  Most MDO won't let you and go strictly by the child's birthday.  She said if that's what we wanted, then it was no problem, and they actually had an opening in the MWF class for the older two's.  Hooray!!!  It was a done deal!  In August we met his two teachers, and Karl and I both were so excited/relieved/overjoyed.  I told him as we walked out to our cars afterwards that I was already dreading the end of the year!  I had just met them and was already so in love with them!  They made every single day so wonderful and fun for these kids.  There was not a single day that Cooper didn't want to go.  He would sometimes pout on days he didn't get to go!  He learned and grew so much this year, and I am so grateful for his precious teachers!  

This was Cooper on his first day...

 As soon as he got out of the car that first morning and they shut the door, I burst into tears!  Literally just started bawling!  I was big and pregnant and hormonal, but I was also so scared that he wouldn't like it. We just couldn't do another year like the year before.  Karl called pretty soon after I had dropped Coop off to check on me and see how it went.  I didn't answer because I didn't want him to know I was crying so hard!  I prayed and prayed that Cooper would have a great day and that his teachers would love him.  God answered that prayer above and beyond my dreams!  His teachers made the first day so great that I don't think it is possible for Cooper to ever have a better first day of school!  And boy, oh boy, did they love him and take care of him.  When I had Jake, I emailed them to let them know that I had had the baby that day and that was why Cooper missed school that day but that he would be there on Wednesday.  On Wednesday evening when Coop came to visit me in the hospital, he came in holding a gift bag.  His teachers had gotten him a gift to give Jake and had gotten him a special big brother gift as well.  Coop was sooooooo proud to give Jake a gift (why didn't Karl and I think of that?!).  They had also brainstormed with the children in the class a list of ways Cooper could be a great big brother.  He loved showing me that list and was so proud of his new role!  His teachers had made that day so special for him and had given him the extra attention he needed.  These ladies were such blessings for our family!

Fast forward to May, and I once again cried when my big boy got out of the car on the last day!  These tears were happy, grateful, sad-it's-over tears.  It was truly a fantastic year.  I am so proud of the "big boy" my baby boy has become.  He loved school this year, and I hope that continues throughout his education.  His teachers made everything fun and special for the children.  I know what a big deal it is for a love of learning to start young, and I am so grateful to them for giving that to Cooper.  His flame is lit...I pray it grows now.

For comparison's sake, here is a side-by-side of September and May.

We are very excited about what's to come next year, but it'll sure be hard to beat this year!

It Was Worth It...

I complained about how much I had wanted that one great family picture on the beach, and then Cooper had a meltdown over a little scratch he got on his finger and then wouldn't let it go, but I forgot to finish that story.  While the sweet lady we met on the beach took pictures of Jake and me, Karl went over and talked to Cooper.  He talked calmly and kindly to our three year old.  He hugged him.  He made him feel all better.  I hope Cooper never loses sight of what a wonderful daddy he has.  I'm not as patient as Karl is, but seeing him in action with our children sure as heck makes me try harder.  He leads our family by example and makes us all better.  Once Cooper was back to his happy, precious, sweet little self, we tried again for that special photo of our special little family.  A priceless souvenir of our first family trip as a family of four.  

It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was a twelve year old girl falling head over heels in love with the boy next door, and here we are 18 years later.  Unbelievable.  

Beach Trip

Last weekend we spent our first ever trip away with just our little family!  We have always tagged along with others or had others tag along with us, and as fun as that is, it was really nice to just get away with just us.  We went to the beach and stayed at the same place we always do because it is just such a wonderful, nice, family-friendly place that we can't bring ourselves to branch out and try another place!  This was our fourth time here, and I think it just gets better each time!

We headed down on Thursday after lunch in hopes that the boys would nap on the way down.  That worked for about 30 minutes because we were all so excited that resting in the car was just not going to happen!  It was fine though.  The boys were good, and we only had to stop once for Jake to eat and Cooper to go to the bathroom and get a snack.  We got to our place around 5:45, and by the time we unpacked, we were starving!  The thing Karl and I love the most about this place is that everything you need is on site, so there is no need to leave once you're there.  They have people who can drive you around on golf carts if you don't want to walk too.  I love it!  Cooper passionately loves the beach.  I cannot emphasize how much the kids loves being there, so when I say he was reeeeaaaaalllly excited to be there, just imagine the energy and excitement of a three year old at the highest possible level, and that was Cooper when we got there!  Due to his over-the-top excitement, and the fact that we had been in a car for over five hours, we decided to just order one of the excellent pizzas and eat in our condo so we didn't have to worry about Cooper sitting still, being quiet, and using manners!  He could eat and be excited, and we didn't care!  After the pizza, we suited up and went to the dive-in movie.  The pool was pretty cold because of all the rain they had in the days leading up to our trip, so we just lounged and watched the movie.  There is something so fun about watching a movie at the pool!  

The next day Cooper and I went exploring while Jake took his morning nap and Karl rested a little.  This is kind of a Mommy-Cooper tradition, and is truly my favorite part of our beach trips.  We walked in the sand, collected seashells, played in the surf (and got our clothes wet), checked the water temp in all the pools, put our feet in the hot tubs, found frogs, etc.  I loved hearing his constant laugh and squeals as we chased each other in the sand and our quick pauses when we would find a good seashell for our collection!  When we got back to the room and got Jake fed, we headed to the outlets for a little shopping.  Even though the weather on Friday was pretty close to perfect, there were a few clouds here and there, and the temperature was lower than it would be the next two days.  Since the weather the rest of our trip was supposed to be absolutely perfect, we decided this was the best time for us to get our shopping done!  The boys napped on the way back to the condo, and then it was time for the beach!  We stopped by the pool to eat lunch, and then we headed to the sand!  Here is an overload of pictures to show our fun the rest of the day!

I love these pictures of Cooper getting his sunscreen on!

This little boy could not get enough of the beach and was squealing and laughing and running with pure joy!

I was nursing Jake in our little cabana, and all the sudden I heard others laughing and Karl say in a mortified voice, "What are you doing?!?!" I peeked out to find the first picture you see of my husband's back to me.  I noticed Cooper was in the hole...and that his bathing suit was in Karl's hand!  Apparently as Karl was digging a hole, Cooper decided he didn't like the feel of the sand in his bathing suit, so he just took it off.  Right there on the beach.  And Karl's first reaction was to just plunk him in the hole!  Once he got him dressed again, he had a little talk about not taking off his bathing suit, despite not liking the sand in it.  Then he turned around and gave me that "Can you believe our son just did that?!  He must get that from you because he certainly doesn't get it from me!" (even though he does not get it from me!!!)  look, and I was able to capture that on camera too!  It was quite a moment!

While Cooper was overjoyed to be in the sand, Jake was a little unsure of the whole beach thing.  He did end up really liking playing with the sand and even sampled a little before I realized what was going on!  After a very long feeding in the cabana (while Cooper went nude), he finally fell asleep for a little nap.  It was killing me to be closed up in the cabana while the sun was out and everyone was playing, and then when I finally got Jake down, I came out and it was quickly clouding over!  I was so sad!

For whatever reason, the tide was bringing in a ton of starfish.  When we would find ones that were alive, Karl would take them back out in hopes that they would survive, but we did keep a few that had died and were still in tact.  In these pictures, the starfish are alive, and we got to feel them trying to move in our hands.  It was interesting!

Once we got cleaned up, we headed to the clubhouse for a delicious dinner.  All Cooper had talked about that day was wanting shrimp, and he finally got his shrimp!  He ate every single bite of it too!  Once we were done, we rented Frozen because we hadn't seen it yet.  It was really good too!  I think I enjoyed it the most, but Cooper really liked it as well, especially that precious snowman!

Since we didn't get a whole lot of beach time on Friday, we had to make up for it on Saturday!  Once again, while Jake took his morning nap, Cooper and I headed down and set up the cabana and everything.  We got some good play time in before Daddy and Jake joined us.  The excitement of the previous two days, lack of good naps, and extra early morning rising was beginning to take its toll on Cooper, and he wasn't in the best or most cooperative mood this day, especially when it came to pictures.  Karl got him a hotdog and that seemed to help his mood some!  We played long and hard on the beach though and dug holes, played with our trucks, jumped in the surf, swam in the ocean, rode waves, and "relaxed" in the sun (is relaxing with children ever possible).  Jake got to put his feet in the water, and we couldn't tell if he liked it our not.  He would start kicking when the water hit him, but he didn't smile or fuss.  He definitely liked being in the sand and sun and was perfectly content to watch his big brother and daddy do lots of playing!

We headed back to the room for the boys' naps, and there were about ten wonderful minutes when Karl and I got to sit outside our condo in chairs on the grass (we stay on the first floor because it's just so easy to go in and out with all our gear), talk, and have a drink before one of the kids woke up!  Although it wasn't much, it was nice to have those few minutes as just us!  Cooper napped really well, and once he was up, Karl took him to get his free ice cream and ride the golf cart while Jake and I started getting ready because I really, really, really wanted to get some good pictures on the beach.  Well, I should have known this wouldn't go well.  Even though Cooper napped well, he was still in his I'm three and gonna be a stinker mood.  And, as any mama knows, it often seems that your children are determined to not do anything that you really, really, really want.  Ugh.  On the way to take pictures, Cooper even told me, "I not yike gettin' pictures because it's not fun for me."  I could already feel my blood pressure rising!  We started off good though.  I love the pictures I got of the boys on bench (these are just a couple...there are probably a dozen more that I really like).  Then as we made our way to the beach, I thought about how perfect the lighting was and how awesome these pictures could be.  So of course when we got to the beach and I told Cooper where to sit, he had a meltdown over a little scratch he got.  And the meltdown continued...and continued...and continued...

Amazingly enough, a lady came up to us and offered to take pictures of us all together and said she does photography on the side.  Between the lighting and a photographer being there, this could have been fantastic...but the meltdown continued...and my blood pressure and temper were rising!  I love the two pictures to the side where you can see me fussing, and I love in the two larger pictures how hard Karl is trying to not laugh.  I threatened everything under the sun because I so greatly wanted a good family picture, and what better opportunity than this one, and yet, the meltdown continued...

So finally, I told Cooper he didn't get to be in the pictures anymore until he could dry it up and smile (great punishment for a kid who has already made it quite clear he doesn't even want to be in the pictures), and we got some sweet pictures with Jake.  This wonderful lady probably took a hundred pictures of us.  I was so thankful for her being there even though this was not going well!

Karl had a talk with Cooper because he is the good, kind, and patient parent that I wish I was.  I'm so thankful our children have a daddy like him.

The sweet lady turned my camera back over to me, but then I decided I wanted some black and white pictures, but I couldn't ask her to take more, so I snapped quickly, and then Jake started having a meltdown, and Karl said no more.  

 I sometimes wonder if capturing these little moments and times in their lives is worth the headache of capturing them!

 Our checkout on Sunday wasn't until noon, so we decided on a little pool time that morning.  The pool was too cold for Jake, so the sweet baby just hung out in his stroller, and I had fun taking tons of pictures of his many precious facial expressions!

Karl and Cooper had their fun jumping in the pool, hitting each other with the noodle, and swimming around.  

We needed a little time away from the hustle and bustle and constant to-do list of home.  We needed to breathe in the salty air and soak in the sun.  I love this little family of mine with all my heart, and I love our time together.  I love the adventurous heart and energy of our three year old boy, and I love the easy going, genuinely happy personality of our baby boy.  I love the patience and thoughtfulness of Karl.  It was a special little weekend getaway.

Hip Hoppin' Easter Fun

We had so much fun enjoying spring and celebrating Easter this year! This is way past-due, but we packed in a lot of fun this season!

A couple weeks before Easter, one of our sweet neighbors brought Cooper a surprise he absolutely loved--egg shaped sugar cookies with icing and candy for decorating! It was a little kit from Publix, and it was fantastic! Cooper loved decorating the cookies, and they tasted pretty good too. This is something I would like to become a new tradition for us! (Much easier and more fun than the sugar cookies he and I usually bake for Easter!)

The next day we went to get our picture made with the Easter bunny at the mall. Cooper calls him by his full name, Peter Cottontail, and did great yelling it in pure excitement as soon as we saw him. Then he got a little star struck when it was our turn. He just stared at him with the biggest grin on his face. He happily sat next to him, and I was sure Jake would cry when I handed him off to some freaky looking furry creature (it was definitely an odd and ugly looking bunny) since he tends to cry when strangers even look at him, but he did great too! After our pictures, we got lunch from the food court and sat where we had a good view of Mr. Cottontail. Cooper occasionally would holler to him and wave while we ate. Since he was so good and Jake was content in his stroller, we walked down to the toy store to play for a little bit. As nap time approached, we decided to head home, but we stopped and grabbed some Easter bunny shaped cookies to snack on during the ride home. It was a wonderful and special little outing with my two sweethearts; it couldn't have been better!

Next up was a community spring festival on Saturday morning. This was especially enjoyable for me because I missed last spring's festival because I'd just had my cerclage surgery, and then I was very pregnant with Jake (as in two days away from having him) at the fall festival. I love these festivals though! There were several activities for kids, vendors for shopping, food stations, and tractor rides! I only got pics of us during the tractor ride because it was the only time we were still! One of the food vendors who comes to the festivals sells these little sweet potato pies. They are scrumptious!!!!!!! I love them and look so forward to getting a couple! I actually couldn't even wait until we got home to eat the first one. I couldn't make it to the car either. I only made it a few feet before temptation got the best of me. I didn't even have a fork either. God gave us hands for a reason, right?! 

From the festival, we drove to an awesome Easter Egg Hunt my friend Kim was hosting at her house.  Cooper had a blast, and this might definitely have been his favorite thing of all.  I asked her if she would mind doing this every year from now on because we enjoyed it so much!

The following week was Easter week, which meant Cooper and I had to get  going on our crafts!  We love Easter/Spring crafts!  This year  we dyed Easter eggs in Kool-Aid like we did last year, and I love that!  It smells better, and the colors are brighter too.  Cooper enjoyed dying eggs this year more than ever before and even caught on to how to do half the egg one color and the other half a different color (I didn't think to try this with him until we had about four eggs left).  Once our eggs were dry, we put them on the dining room table to use as our Easter centerpiece.  Our favorite craft we did was making marbled eggs with cardstock though.  We put shaving cream in a jellyroll pan, added globs of finger paint (and learned later that drops of food coloring probably works better), and swirled it into the shaving cream using a fork.  Then you lay a sheet of cardstock on top, and push it in the shaving cream; lift it out gently; set it on the counter  for a couple minutes; scrape off the cream and paint with the flat side of a butter knife; let it dry, cut out an egg shape; and voila, marble eggs!  They were really cool!  We over-swirled our paint and shaving cream because we were rookies this year, but next year we'll know better.  We'll probably just do the food coloring too instead of finger paint.  Nonetheless, it was so fun, and we both loved it!  I strung the eggs up on ribbon and hung them on the fireplace to make a nice little banner.  I know the pictures of this activity came out small in the collage, but here is a link from where I found this activity if you want to try it too: http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/goaskmom/blogpost/10897326/.  

We also made a bunny puppet with a lunch sack.  I didn't think this would be very exciting or fun, but Cooper loved it and still is playing with that puppet!  He loves to chase Sadie around the house with it! :)  Later that week, we had practice Easter egg hunts around the house.  But to change it up a little, I broke the eggs in half, so he would have to find both pieces and put them back together.  It was fun because we would always end up with a couple half pieces that were different colors, and he would have to search more to find their match.  As he gets older, I can write capital letters on one half and lowercase on the other, and he has to match them.  Or I can write a number on one half and corresponding dots on the other for him to match.  The kindergarten teacher in me really comes out this time of year!  Or I could just let him hunt eggs like a kid likes to do with no learning purpose involved! After we were done hunting eggs (we took turns hiding them and the other one would then hunt...he would always show me where he hid each of the eggs though!), we picked a few different sizes.  We got one big, one medium, and one small and broke them into halves again.  We put each half in a different color bowl of paint.  I gave him paper, and he stamped the circles on there in different sizes and colors.  It was pretty cool!  He also brought home a ton of adorable Easter crafts he did at school during April.  His bulletin board in his room was full of beautiful spring artwork!

He also had an Easter egg hunt at school that week.  It was so cute seeing his sweet little friends run around grabbing those eggs!  I don't feel comfortable posting pictures of children whose families I don't know, so here is just one his teacher took of my little egg hunter and me after he was done.

On Good Friday, Karl was off work, and we met my mom for lunch.  Cooper didn't want his picture made because he was too busy playing with some Ninja Turtle stuff his nana had brought to entertain him, but Jake was somewhat cooperative!

Now onto Easter Sunday!  Despite all the crafts you've seen and our baskets, we really do keep the emphasis of Easter on Jesus.  That's what Easter is about.  Period.  We had fun, exercised our creativity, and got cool stuff in our baskets, but we worked very hard keeping the focus on Jesus and his resurrection.  I just felt like I needed to throw that in there right now!  Although we talked about the Easter Bunny, Cooper knew on Easter morning that this was the day we were celebrating the "tomb being empty because Jesus rose" as he said.  On Easter morning, he didn't even think about his basket!  Well, Mr. Cottontail had left a bag with a note inside it outside our front door to find when we let Sadie out.  The note told the boys that he had hidden eggs outside and to use the bag to collect them, but to follow a trail of eggs to find their baskets.  He also said he had put Cooper's favorite candy inside the eggs.  When I asked Cooper what that was, he said, "Jelly Beans!!!"  I looked at him kind of panicked, and then he yelled, "Skittles!" Whew!  Cooper took the bag and ran around the front yard collecting his eggs.  When he had them all, he said he didn't see a trail.  We told him maybe there were some more eggs on the other side of Daddy's truck.  He ran over, and sure enough, there was a trail of eggs that led to the screened in porch, and guess what?!?!  Inside the porch were the boys' baskets!  Each boy got a couple toys, some goodies, and matching bathing suits!  Cooper didn't surprise me at all and immediately went for the ninja turtle toys, but Jake did surprise me.  I thought he would go for the stuffed animal, but he wanted that little soccer ball!  It was a fun way to do the Easter baskets, and the Easter Bunny did a good job groggily hiding the eggs at 4:30 in the morning after she had fed the baby, if I do say so myself.  And yes, most of the eggs were just thrown around the front yard rather than strategically hidden or gently placed.

After the excitement of the baskets, we made our resurrection rolls and scrambled eggs as we do every year for Easter breakfast.  Cooper's amazement at the empty roll quickly turned to disappointment because he really wanted that marshmallow!  

It was a wonderful Easter.  I loved all the fun stuff that we did leading up to Easter, but that was really just to celebrate spring.  I really loved that Cooper seemed to have somewhat of a grasp on the Easter story this year.  I loved hearing him talk about how the tomb was empty and why.  As a parent Easter is my favorite holiday.  I love spring, and I love all the fun stuff we can do outside after being cooped up inside all winter and the crafty stuff we can make, but that's not what makes me love Easter.  As a mom, I love it because I know my children's future is safe.  It's been secured.  They have been saved.  I know where they're going when they leave this Earth, and I pray I'll be there to greet them with our Savior.  Because of Jesus, I'll get to spend eternity with my children in tow.  With a humble and grateful heart, I celebrate Easter.  

Jake~6 Months

Finally, here is Jake's 6 month post!

How does half a year pass by so quickly?!  My little pumpkin is growing and changing by the day.  Reaching those precious little milestones and then zipping on to the next one.  His sweet, tender personality is becoming more concrete, and we continue getting glimpses of the wonderful little boy he will become.  He is quick to smile and quick to make you smile.  His laughter is contagious, and I dare you to hear it and not smile yourself.  This baby boy of ours is a genuine sweetheart.

As you might notice in this set of pictures, he really likes to open his mouth really wide a lot.  That's not necessarily a trick, but it is pretty funny.  We take advantage of that big ol' mouth by planting lots of kisses in it all the time, each of which results in a big smile or giggle from him.  One of my most favorite things about him is when he initiates those kisses.  A lot of times when I pick him up, he'll grab both sides of my face or a handful of hair on each side of my head and dive in for a big, drooly kiss.  I think my heart nearly explodes with love for this little one each time he does it.

My other most favorite thing about him right now is how he laughs at Cooper.  Jake gets sooooooooooooo excited when Cooper is around, and sometimes all Cooper has to do is look at Jake, and Jake will laugh.  And he'll laugh, and he'll laugh, and he'll laugh.  At nothing.  But it is so funny, and it makes all of us laugh too.  The bond of brothers.  I love it.

Another one of my most favorite things about him (I could go on all day listing favorite things probably) is the way he crosses his hands like he's praying when he sleeps.  It is so sweet to go in and check on him right before I go to bed and look at him sleeping like that.
Let's talk about sleep for just a minute while I'm somewhat on that subject.  My baby doesn't like to be rocked.  Cooper would still like for me to rock him to sleep, but Jake will only let me rock him for a second, and then he wants to be put down in his crib.  That is if he's still awake after he's done nursing at night.  A lot of times he falls asleep during his "dessert" feed as I call it.  If he's still awake when he's done though, he wants to be put in his crib to fall asleep.  Jake still sleeps on his side for the most part, but sometimes flips on over to his belly.  Very rarely does he sleep on his back.  Also on the sleep subject, we're finally sleeping through the night!  Do you hear angels singing right now?!  Actually, my 3 1/2 year old likes to visit us often during the night for various non-legitimate reasons ("I have to tee-tee."  Then go tee-tee.  "I'm just checking on you." Cooper, it's 2:00 am; we're sleeping. "I can't find dog." He's in your bed where you're supposed to be.  "I woke up." Then go back to sleep.  Etc.), so I guess I should just say that Jake is sleeping through the night, not "we."

After he turned 5 months, we started putting him in his highchair at the table to get him used to sitting at the table during meal times.  I should have done this sooner because he loved it!  When he was just about 6 months, we started solids (rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, sweet potatoes, bananas, apples, carrots, pears), and I blogged about how great he was doing.  He's almost 7 months as I write all this, so look forward to a long story during his 7 month post about how I shouldn't have bragged about how well he was doing with solids...

He is somewhat sitting up  on his own.  He needs a little support after a few seconds.  I don't give him enough practice on sitting because he loves being on his tummy and playing with his toys.  He has really started showing an interest in balls and books this month.  

He's also very interested in us.  He loves to interact with us and watch what we are doing.  He participates by squealing and squawking, and it is hilarious!  He gets especially squealy and squawky when we pick Cooper up from school.  He loves seeing his brother and "talks" to him majority of the way home!  He just has the sweetest little personality and is such a joy!  He very rarely demands anything from us or fusses, and is so happy just to be with us.

I just love this little guy so much!  I love the way he curls his toes when I kiss his feet.  I love his many rolls on his legs.  I love his gummy smile.  I love him to pieces!

Happy 1/2 Year Birthday, Sweet Jake!