A New Year almost here!

Jakey walking like a champ at the park on New Year's Eve:

Joe is still a big kid in his batman shirt on the playground!

Jakey LOVES to slide!

turtle-ly fun

quack, quack

Jakey and Daddy playing on the rock wall

peek-a-boo



This was the photo I posted exactly 1 year ago on December 30, 2009:

It is truly amazing to see how much Jake has changed in a year! It is crazy to think that at this time last year Jake could not even sit up on his own, and now he is a walking, talking toddler! I cannot believe it has almost been a year since Jake's baptism, and almost 2 years since I found out I was pregnant!

I made 3 resolutions for 2010, and now it is time to reflect on them...

The first one was my ban on deep fried foods. I did amazingly well on this one, but unfortunately did not make it a full year. I blame Vegas! I played the "I'm on vacation" card and had french fries AND nachos! And then when I came back I figured I had already cheated so I may as well lift the ban completely! Vegas was at the end of November though so I did make it almost a year. 11 months is pretty darn good if I do say so myself! And it's not like I eat fried foods every day, but boy did I miss those tortilla chips! My deep fried food ban and my increased activity due to daily walks helped me lose my pregnancy weight and then some...yay! But I am not depriving myself of french fries and chips in 2011. It is just too damn hard. Everything in moderation, right?

My second resolution was to spend more quality time with Jake. Check. It was a BIG adjustment when I stopped working at the end of March. But it was the best decision I have ever made (I am allowed to say that now that I have been working for Jake for 9 months!) I was an emotional wreck last year struggling to cope with the fact that I was dropping off my child at a cesspool of germs every day! Why did someone else get to hold and feed and play with my baby every day while I was at work making money to pay for child care? I was miserable at work wishing I could be at home with my child. My job wasn't getting my complete focus and neither was my baby. It was not a good situation. I am an all or nothing kind of girl. If I couldn't give my full self to my work and my child, they would both suffer. It was hard to say goodbye to my old job, but I LOVE my new job! Staying home hasn't been easy - financially or otherwise. But it has been SO rewarding and SO worth it! Jakey is thriving and is so much healthier since we removed him from daycare. I get to be here to witness all of his firsts firsthand. I get to be the one to hold and feed and play with him! We have had to make A LOT of financial adjustments so that I could stay home, but it is amazing how everything just works itself out. We didn't know if we could make it work, but we just did. Tim Gunn would be proud :)

My third resolution was to "not sweat the small stuff." This is the one that I have struggled with the most. Having Jakey in general has actually made me more relaxed (unusual, right?) and staying at home has made me a lot less stressed but I still have my moments! I still find myself worrying about small things (that seem big at the time!) sometimes. But I guess worrying is part of being a mom. This resolution will just have to be a work in progress!

This year, I am not making any resolutions. I am going to try to eat healthy-ish, keep up with the walking, and continue to work on worrying less. Those things seem very doable, but I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself.

I started this blog entry on the 30th but am finishing it on January 1st so I can now say that we had a nice, quiet NYE. We spent the day going to lunch with my parents, and then taking Jakey to the park where he had so much fun and walked A TON. This was a big step because before this he would only walk at home! Joe and I had fun at the park too! Later on we went over to our friends Janice and Erik's house and ordered take out for dinner. Jakey had a great time playing with their twins Kyra & Dylan (and all of their toys!) We put Jakey to bed there and then stayed up with J & E drinking wine (ok, the guys had beer) and watching movies. We all actually made it 'til midnight - a big deal for 4 tired parents! It was a very relaxing night and although very different from the wild NYE's of our pre-Jake past, still fun times.

I wish you all a Happy New Year and cheers to 2011! We can't wait to see how much Jake grows and changes this year and look forward to continuing on this crazy journey as first-time parents!

Christmas 2010!

Santa Jakey!


caught in the act (of walking!)



Christmas Eve Day - me and my drool monster






playing with his new favorite toy! thanks Jackie, Geoff & Kyra!!

ready for church - Santa hat and all!

enjoying Christmas Eve dinner at Gran & Pa Pa's

family photo time

my handsome little man

goofing around with Uncle Mike:

Jake and Pa Pa

(Jake is pointing at the Christmas tree)

Jake giving Pa Pa hugs - so cute!

Jake's place card :)

Jakey with The Grinch (one of his MANY gifts from Gran & Pa Pa)



Jake hanging with Nana:

4 generations lookin' good!

Jakey trying on his new hat from Jenny & Uncle Mike!

in his Christmas PJs ready for his story (he looks so little in this big chair!)

"Twas the night before Christmas..."

Christmas morning:

Santa came!

is that doggie for me?

Jake likes his new Elmo book!

bubbles!

starting a pile of new stuff!

Jakey's new changer (remote control) so he doesn't mess with the real ones!

so busy with all of his new toys!

trying out his new rocking horse!

later that day:

checking out his new tent from Gran & Pa Pa

Merry Christmas!

We had an ER free Christmas this year! Hallelujah! Our 2010 Christmas was SO much better than our 2009 version. We started our festivities by going to Joe's office Christmas luncheon on the 23rd. Jakey loved exploring Joe's work and crawling/knee-walking like a mad man! He had his first walking related injury that morning (a bloody, swollen upper lip from falling on his face - poor guy - he looked like Rocky!) and he has been very cautious with his walking ever since. He is way more comfortable walking at home on his own turf. So he only walked a tiny bit at the luncheon - but he was still able to draw a round of applause! He loves an audience, this kid!

That afternoon Jackie, Geoff and Kyra came up to visit us. It was so cute to see Jake and Kyra interacting! Kyra is already a pro at standing and they were so adorable standing together at Jake's toy table. We went to one of our favorite Mexican places to celebrate an early Christmas/Jackie's birthday, and a good time was had by all.

On Christmas Eve we met Janice, Erik and their twins Kyra & Dylan for lunch at another local Mexican restaurant! The kids love Mexican food, and so do we! That afternoon we delivered cookies to friends and neighbors (Jakey wore his Santa hat for this), and then got ready for church. We had to arrive early in order to get seats so Jakey only lasted about 30 minutes into the actual church service. He was getting loud and cranky, so we decided to leave early and head over to my parents house for dinner. My mom made our traditional Christmas Eve feast - sausage and peppers! SO yummy! We had cannolis for dessert from a local Italian restaurant/deli called Roma. They make the BEST cannolis! Jakey had a great time playing with my parents, Nana and Uncle Mike, and we changed him into his Christmas PJs and put him to bed there so that we could stay up late and play poker - for nickels (another holiday tradition!) We left my parents house around midnight and Jakey went right back to sleep at our house without a peep. Such a trooper! And sometime after we got home Santa came!!!

The next morning was SO MUCH FUN! I have always loved Christmas morning (who doesn't?) but it is so much better now that I have a little one. Joe and I agreed that this was our best Christmas ever! It was so cute to see Jakey get excited over his new pile of toys and books. He even helped open some of his presents by tearing the wrapping paper. Too cute! And I can only imagine how much more fun it will be next year when he really knows what is going on!

We hosted Christmas dinner for my parents and Nana, and my Great Aunt Gin came over for appetizers. I spent all day in the kitchen - first making our traditional Christmas breakfast of eggs with leftover sausage and peppers, then making tomato sauce with pork and meatballs from scratch and then appetizers (including stromboli - yet another Christmas tradition). When my parents arrived we had Christmas #2! They brought over a ridiculous amount of presents for us and were way too generous as usual. And they totally spoiled Jakey with tons of gifts! My favorite present that they gave Jake is actually more of a present for Joe and I - a DVD player for the car! This will come in handy when we travel since Jakey gets quite antsy on long car rides. Not sure if we can hook it up until Jake is forward facing* though.

Jakey had such a great Christmas and was so pooped from playing with all of his new toys that we put him to bed early and he went right to sleep! We finished our Christmas off with another family poker game :)

Jakey has been repeating several words lately. His favorite seems to be the word "apple." I love the way he says it, and he must love it too because he will say it over and over again. It seems like 15 months is the magic number! All of a sudden is walking and talking up a storm. Can't wait to see what he learns next!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! I wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2011!!!

[*The current minimum requirements on when to turn the car seat around are 1 year and 20 lbs. Jake is over 1 year and 24 lbs. but we still keep him rear facing. Why? We always get his car seats installed by the Fire Department. They offer this free installation service and are very thorough and informative. When we had his "big boy" car seat installed after he outgrew the infant car seat, the firemen who installed it were very adamant that we keep him rear facing AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. They explained to us how MUCH safer it is, and we believe them! Our car seat can remain rear facing until Jakey is 35 lbs., and we intend to keep him rear facing until he reaches this weight limit. Even though we have a tall child, it is better to keep him rear facing - he may have to start folding his legs soon, but it is so much safer for him to ride this way! For those interested, here is the link to a youtube video with further rear facing safety info including crash test clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo Just because you can turn your baby around at one year doesn't mean you should. Help spread the word!]

We have a WALKER!

BIG NEWS: Jake is FINALLY WALKING! It's a Christmas miracle :) I tried several times to upload the video, but Blogger sucks when it comes to adding video. You can see it on Facebook though! I am so proud of my little man. We have been waiting so long for him to walk that when he finally did it, I was actually pretty emotional. I now have concrete proof that my baby is no longer a baby. He is officially a toddling toddler. Makes me happy and sad at the same time.
Jakey turned 15 months old yesterday and he had his check up today. He is still a tall one at just shy of 34", and he now weighs 24 lbs. He is long and lean (probably part of the reason it took him so long to walk!) and looks even taller when he's walking! For now, he walks with his arms up to help him balance. It's so cute!

He is constantly asking "Dat?" and pointing to things to find out what they are. I only have to repeat a word a couple of times and then he remembers where/what it is. I feel like he is learning at such a rapid speed now! He is also trying to repeat more words lately. He says "tee" (tree) and "ba" (ball) and "wo, wo, wo" (row, row, row your boat) to name a few. I am still surprised at the amount of words he understands - we were in the grocery store yesterday and I always let him hold the list. This time I asked him if I could see the list and he handed it to me. At the doctor's office today I showed him the dolphins painted on the wall and he was able to point them out on both walls when I asked him later on. He is beginning to become a good helper and we are working on the "putting our toys away" concept. In Kindermusik, Miss Mary (the instructor) sings "toys away" when it is time for the toys to be put away, so we have adopted this method too. It works well!

Jakey received an adorable PBK wooden fire truck in the mail this morning from my mom's friend Jean, and he was obsessed with the cardboard box that it came in! He played with the box all day! And I couldn't resist the "Jake in a box" photo op:

Thanks Jean for 2 gifts in one! :)

This has been a very busy and a very rainy week. Rumor has it that "the sun will come out tomorrow" and I sure hope it's true. We are looking forward to seeing our friends Jackie and Geoff and their little cutie pie Kyra tomorrow afternoon/evening! We also have Joe's office Christmas luncheon tomorrow so that should be fun...and then Friday is Christmas Eve already! I am almost done with wrapping presents and hope to finish that up tomorrow night. I even managed to squeeze in a little Christmas baking this year! Two kinds of cookies and 4 batches of fudge (I'm very impressed with myself, can you tell?) Now I just have to watch White Christmas, and my pre-Christmas rituals will be complete.

We can't wait to see how Jake reacts on Christmas morning this year! He already loves the Christmas tree so it will be so much fun to see what he does when there are toys and presents under the tree!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!