Favorties

I thought it was only appropriate to end the year with some of my "favorites" so here it goes:

Favorite things Jacob says aka "Jakeyisms"

• ice ca-leem (ice cream)
• lawn mow-ner (lawn mower)
• no paw-bla-lem (no problem)
• mama fix it
• super cool
• totally rad
• awe-some-a
• sa-lam dunk!
• you kiddin me? i tough! (Brian taught these to him at the same time so he always says them together!)
• it's aw-kay (usually to his sister)
• sings "Jenna Boo" to the tune of Jingle Bells
• sings along to all of the songs on his favorite Baby Praise CD, especially "Joyful ful ful"

Favorite things Jacob does/did

• "squeeze tight" when hugging
• "more, more, more" for 3 more kisses
• kissed my belly all the time when I was pregnant, then after I had Jenna he never kissed it again even though it was still really fat!
• reached up to hold my hand when he wasn't sure about something (like walking up/down stairs or when in an unfamiliar place)
• fake laugh at Jenna to make her laugh when then makes him laugh (a real laugh)
• checks on Jenna when she's sleeping and sometimes brings her a blanket
• brings anyone willing a book then plops down in their lap
• laughs hysterically at the dogs; also sits on them if they sit still long enough
• spins around on his back like a break dancer in the bathtub

Favorite toys

• lawn mower, sand box, swing set
• police cars/fire trucks/diggers
• crayons
• anything that makes noise
• trampoline
• basket ball hoop
• books, books, books, and more books (thank goodness for Mimi!)

Favorite Moments from 2008

• seeing Jenna for the first time...boy was I shocked to see such a big baby!
• watching Jacob run, run, and run some more at the beach
• watching Brian change before my eyes when he became the daddy of a GIRL
• watching Jacob grow up...I think he has changed more this year than ever before

Favorite present

• the charm bracelet Brian got me for Christmas with a little girl and little boy charm. Then for my birthday he added an "I love You" charm! Unless you count the gift of a beautiful baby girl that is.

I was going to post a few of my favorite pictures but seriously people, how can I narrow it down? I tried, but failed so if you want to see my favorite pictures you'll have to check dropshots yourself because there are WAY too many. In fact, my computer told me just today that I am just about out of free space. I am going to have to spend my birthday money on an external hard drive to put all the pictures on!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! May this year be the best one yet!

p.s. The new background is for my sweet Jacob. He still sleeps with his "bumble bee lovey" and paci but they paci's seem to be disappearing. Hummm.

Christmas Part 2

Here's Jacob blowing out Jesus' birthday cake.

The Alcorn gang: Hannah, Brian, Jan (Brian's mom) holding Jenna, Heather (Brian's sis) holding Jacob, and her hubby Doug.

So my dad got really creative this year when it came to a gift for my mom. He has been painting for the past several years (and has gotten really good). He takes lessons on Saturday afternoons. He had taken this picture of my mom holding Jenna to class and told his teacher he was going to paint it for my mom for Christmas. His teacher responded with "Paul, you stink at portraits! Let me paint it." So he did. He paid her a nominal fee and she painted it for him. He has had it hidden in the house all month. Everyone had seen it but her. While she was working in the kitchen, he snuck it up on the wall but didn't tell her. She came out of the kitchen once and didn't notice but the second time she came out, her jaw dropped. I wished I had my camera ready, it was great! This is her admiring it.

The Wilford clan: Frankie (my mom) holding Jenna, me holding Tito, Grandma (my dad's mom), Brian with Jacob, and Paul (my dad).

We had Christmas at my parent's house Saturday. We had a big lunch and discovered that Jacob LOVES pumpkin pie. That was my favorite dessert as a kid. I would ask for it for my birthday and my Aunt Cheryl would make me a bunch of tiny little pies. Speaking of my birthday, it's only 2 days away!

Christmas

We had such a fun Christmas this year. Last year I was miserable (pregnant but didn't know it yet!) and the year before that we were really poor after having Jacob so this year was really nice. Jacob had so much fun opening presents and playing with all his new stuff.

Brian's sister and her hubby stayed for a few days. Jacob loves playing his aunt and uncle and Jenna got tons of attention of course. We even got to got out to dinner with them one night without the kids!

I am attempting to start some Christmas traditions so here's what I've got so far:

1. Christmas morning is for us only. You know, just me, Brian, and the kids. It keeps things a little calmer and we're able to focus on each other and not be distracted by company etc.
2. Home made cinnamon rolls! I am going to look for an easier recipe though. 3 hrs is a long time to wait for breakfast!
3. A birthday cake for Jesus. Our friends Sara and Robert (from church) came over for dinner on Christmas and Sara brought a little cake and sprinkles for Jacob to decorate. It was a birthday cake for Jesus. She even brought a candle and we sang "Happy Birthday." I thought it was such a good idea and a fun, easy way to keep Him the focus!
4. Jacob gets a snow globe every year and Jenna gets an angel.

I hope to come up with more next year. Let me know if you have any good ideas!

Jenna was fascinated by her new toy

A happy girl on Christmas day!

Here's a funny story from Christmas morning. Jacob had been playing with the tin my watch came in. Brian soon realized that the watch was missing so we started looking for it and asking Jacob where it was. We looked and looked. I went through the trash, looked in all the bags and boxes and still no watch. We finally gave up and figured it would show up eventually when Brian exclaimed "NO WAY!" I ran over and immediately saw my watch hanging on a bottle branch of the Christmas tree. Sweet Jacob thought it was an ornament and hung it back on the tree! He's so innocent. Gotta love that.

4 months & big boy

Jacob must hold Jenna's cheeks to make sure he kisses her right on the lips!

Jenna had her 4 month check last week. She was 14lb 7oz, 25" (both were 75th %). She is doing great and brings a smile to everyone that crosses her path!

spit bubbles in action!

Jacob is loving the "kiss-mus yites." We went driving around last week and he continuously notified us of "more kissmus yites!" I think he loves our lights the most. He will walk around and kiss everything we have in the yard (reindeer, snowman, penguin).

He loves to plug in the Christmas tree lights and to play with the Humpty Dumpty ornament. He also likes the M&M ornament Brian picked out for him this year. They are significant to his potty training which had been going pretty well until it got cold.

He can put his shoes (and everyone else's!) on well now and tries hard to dress himself. He loves to roll Jenna over, although she can do that herself now too! They still think each other are hysterical. I wonder how long that will last?

Brian had 6 days off, but he went back today. He will be off the 25-27th. His sister and hubby are coming for a couple days. So, things should be busy for a while. I am going to get back to my Christmas present projects now!

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK! GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

Spit Bubbles

Jenna has learned to blow spit bubbles this week. I especially love the sound of it. It's a mixture of singing and a farting noise. It's too cute.

Jacob has learned how to catch a football. He WILL NOT, I repeat NOT be a football player. Baseball maybe, or soccer but NOT football. I love watching football, don't get me wrong. But I will not EVER enjoy watching my precious J get squished and smacked and crashed into on a football field.

We had our first ice-ish weather this week. It wasn't pretty or fun or exciting. Just froze over the bridges and stuff. I had planned on going into work late that day anyways so it worked out.

I'm getting excited about Christmas. I'm FINALLY mailing cards out tomorrow (hopefully). We have a bit more shopping. One of Brian's presents came today. I love surprises. So fun. Guess I'd better go get ready for tomorrow. Happy Friday!

Santa

Jenna wasn't so sure about this guy.

Jacob's first real Santa pictures!

Brian took the kids to the RPD/RFD kid's Christmas party on Saturday while I went shopping with my mom. Jacob got to play all sorts of games and see Santa. He still doesn't really get Santa but he can sure recognize him! He also got to climb all in a real fire engine.

Jacob started antibiotic #3 Friday. His culture was growing a funky bug as always. Now that we are on the right drug he's doing a ton better.

He's doing very well with his big boy bed too, naps and all! The past 2 months his vocabulary has grown exponentially. He amazes me everyday.

My cuties

Jacob is so sweet to his sister. He loves to lay on the floor next to her and just talk to her. He usually says "baby girl!" and "Jenna Boo!" in his best baby talk voice. He also loves to sing "Jenna Boo" to the tune of "Jingle Bells."

My crazy boy was playing on the chair and the static was giving him a new hair-do. It was pretty funny!

Little Pink Jenna Hood

Jenna's new quilt Ms. Doris made her.

Things I Keep Forgetting to Blog

Jenna has been sleeping in her room for the past several nights. Here's how it went when Brian came home and noticed she wasn't in her pack-and-play:
Brian "Where's Jenna?"
Hannah "In her room."
Brian "WHAT? She's too little for that! You can't do that!"
Hannah "Well I already did and she loves it."
To that he darted off to make sure she was ok. He found her sound asleep in her big crib, snug as a bug!

Jacob learned the song "Brother John" yesterday. I was singing it to him during a breathing treatment and to my surprise, he started singing it back! He sings it like this:
Are you seeping, Are you seeping
Brudder John, Brudder John
Ringing, ringing
Ding Dang Dong
Ding Dang Dong

He has also replace Sesame Street with Jack's Big Music Show during the 8:00 hour. He doesn't watch anything for more than 5-10 minutes but he sure loves it when they sing one of those really silly songs. He dances and spins around. He calls it "Jack Muenicks Show."

One more thing. I just found out my Grandmother's demenia is really bad. She had an appt with her neurologist today and couldn't remember any of the 5 objections they told her after 5 minutes. They don't want her driving (she only drives to church and the senior center) and I think they're going to start looking for a new place for her to live. My dad is taking it really hard.

Road to Recovery

Jacob is on the road to recovery, I hope! We went and saw Dr. Mandujano (one of the docs I work for) yesterday. We switched antibiotics and re-cultured his boogers. Hopefully we're on the right drug for whatever he ends up growing.

He is doing a little better. Less snot and only a rare cough. He is currently taking a nap in his bed for the second time for me! It took an hour but I won!

Jenna is laying on the floor trying to roll over. I thought she did it last night but then I realized that Jacob gave her that little extra push she needed to get all the way over. She has rolled from her stomach to her back, and I think she'll get the reverse very soon. She doesn't get to try as much as Jacob since the floors downstairs are all wood. I put a blanket down and lay her on it but it's still slippery and hard for her to do her thing.

I decided this morning that all stay-at-home moms should get a stipend from the government for a monthly house cleaning. I think it's only fair. We have seen what happens when parents aren't around to raise their kids. We should reward those who make the SACRIFICE to stay home (yes, I know it is also a HUGE privilege but it is also a huge sacrifice) by providing a good deep cleaning of their home. Ok, so I just don't want to scrub my baseboards, and they need it bad! Sorry for the randomness there; can you tell I'm tired????

Jenna's Hair & Jacob's Cough

This is Jenna's "fro" as we call it! Her hair is really curly when it's wet. So cute! When it dries, it is straight but very poofy. I'm not sure what that means for her future hair-do's.

Jenna is doing great. She took a nap in her crib today for the first time. I'm not sure that I'm ready for her to sleep in her room at night. I'm such a wimp. I'll be ready soon. It'll be sooner that the 8 months Jacob stayed in our room.

Jacob is sick again. Or should I say still? I think it's the same stuff he had 2 weeks ago that never really got bad. Well, now it's bad. Cough non-stop, tons of snot. I started him on an antibiotic Thursday. I still had the rx from 2 weeks ago...By the time his culture results came back he was symptom free so we never started it.

Last night marked 1 week of him sleeping in his toddler bed! This is HUGE. I lay with him at night until he falls asleep. Hopefully I can stop doing this soon. Nap time is a big struggle. In fact, he has only really taken one nap in the past week because he won't stay in his bed. And that nap was on a day Mimi was here while I was at work. Why do they cooperate for grandparents so well? He did fall asleep on his own today in his bed but after 40 minutes, he coughed so much it woke him up : (

He had been doing really well with potty training too, but since getting sick he hasn't wanted to go in the potty so much. No big deal. I'm sure he'll tell me once again when he is ready.

Brian got some of the Christmas decorations down from the attic before he left for work. Yea! I love Christmas SO MUCH. It makes up for my dislike of Thanksgiving! Jacob had so much fun at my parents house playing with their Christmas stuff. We went over to celebrate my dad's birthday. I made him a carrot cake and put a "55" in sprinkles on the top. I cut out a stencil and everything and guess what my dad did...he defaced my cake! He turned the first 5 into a 3!

I'm really starting to miss church. I doubt we'll be able to go tomorrow unless Jacob is healed over night. My poor guy. It brings me to tears to see him sick. I'm so glad I'm a pedi nurse. I feel like I at least can do everything possible to get him better. And he is lots better, but still not well. He's gotten to know lots of new cartoons while doing breathing treatments. He loves Barney, Dora, Diego, and Wonder Pets in addition to his favorite Lazy Town. Too much TV time! He'd better not get too used to it!