Dear Jonathan

Dear Baby Jonathan, (big 'on, nosy rosy, johnny p... you pick the nickname.)

You are growing so incredibly fast. You are a man on the move, let me tell you. You are crawling at absolute warp speed and can pull up and cruise all around the place as long as there's something to hang on... you've even stood by yourself for a few seconds. I know you'll be walking before we know it. Unbelievable.

You are such a sweet snuggly little guy. And SOOO happy! You have 8 teeth now and I just love your little cheesy grins where you show each of those cute little teeth to whoever will look!

For some reason, you've been on a little bit (no strike that - a complete) of a bottle strike these days - it's freaking me out a little, but maybe you're just ready to move on to the next big step - sippy cups. We've been trying to give you as much milk as possible in cereal, but I'm still a little worried. Don't grow up so fast, kiddo!!!

You continue to admire your big brother and love every second of attention he gives you - even if you get hurt in the process. :-) Not that he would do anything intentionally, but.... no one can make you laugh the way he does. It is a really neat relationship.

You are the best little baby - I love you with all my heart little bug. You are so curious and sweet - I hope that never goes away!!

Love you,
Mommy

Dear Jacob

It's time for themonthly insallment of my sentiments to my sweeties:

Dear Jacob,

How in the world are you already 2 1/2 years old? You are so grown up and I'm so proud to be your mommy. You make your daddy and me laugh at least 15 times each day. You are so smart and have a near perfect memory (especially when it comes to a treat you may have been promised.)

I'm amazed by your love for music. It is really precious. You have 4 guitars and play them all every day. You share with whoever's around too so we can sing songs and dance and be really silly. You have a great little voice - it's so cute. You like to sing he ABCs, Jesus Loves Me, How Great is our God, Famous One, and all the Imagination Movers' songs. You don't always know all the words, but you sure have the tunes down. we wonder if you might be the next Chris Tomlin...

I love the way you smile and play with your brother. Just last night, you sat in front of him and "read" him some books. Memories I will have forever include your first moments really playing together.

You have turned in to quite the picky eater (I have no idea where you might have gotten that from by the way...) - you don't even like pizza most days. oh my, what will we do? Good thing you LOVE "macanoni" - we eat it almost every meal.

We're still struggling with sleep issues in our house - you have your daddy wrapped right around your finger when it comes to nite nite time - your convinced that he has to lay down with you til you fall asleep...hmmm. We can't wait until you and your brother choose to sleep together.

We love you little man - you are a unique and funny little person. You are one of our best little friends ever!
Love,
mommy

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentines Day to the love of my life and my very best friend in the whole wide world!! I feel so blessed to have Billy by my side through all the fun times in life (and not so fun times too). My awesome hubby arranged for my wonderful in-laws (really - they are wonderful - have to b the BEST in-laws on the planet) to baby sit the boys for us on Friday night and we went to dinner. We tried to make a rule not to talk about the boys, but all you parents know that's just not possible - but, we did manage to make it through without calling to check on them one single time. :-) It was a fantastic night - I'm so thankful for the man he is and the awesome daddy he is to our boys. No one could ask for a better role model! That's why God gave us boys, I'm convinced, so they might imitate their sweet daddy!!!!

Oh - as a bonus - a really big bonus - we got each other a laptop for V-day! Yippee - so now as soon as I can find my camera cord, I'll get to blog some pictures. We are so blessed - I love you crockels!!!!! You are and will forever be my very best friend.

My good friend Rachie passed this charge along -so I'll try to fulfill her request - to impart 10 pearls of wisdom about myself...okay maybe not ten pearls, but 10 honest facts, so here's my feeble attempt. I realized I'm not nearly as talented as my Rachie - no rapping for this chic! :-)

1. My weakness - BROWNIES!!! I have (on more than one occasion - and not just when I was pregnant) made brownies and eaten the WHOLE pan by myself sans the edges. I hate the edges. Poor Billy - he lifts up the lid or foil and to his surprise, they're all gone. yikes...

2. I hate the edges on anything - brownies, toast, anything really. Except cornbread - I only eat the edges on that stuff. weird, I know.

3. I have been out of the country three times- one trip logged more than 20000 skymiles - all the way to Zimbabwe, which is one of the most memorable times in my life and also when I realized I was madly in love with Billy, even though we'd only just met.

4. Once, in high school, my three best girlfriends and I were on America's Funniest People.

5. I had really big hair in the 7th grade (and 8th grade, I think). The kind of hair that you curl the bottom of your bangs down and flip the top part up as high as it would go.

6. I'm still a daddy's girl - always will be I think!

7. When I go "home" my mom still cooks me my favorite breakfast - gravy and biscuits. YUMMY!

8. I lived within 5 miles of both my grandparents when I was little and I loved all of them so much - I still have my granny - she's really sick, but I'm thankful to still have her.

9. One of the best things about being a parent is watching my parents be "Pa and Grammy" to our boys - I seriously think they like the boys better than me. :-)

10. I am the world's worst dishwasher loader - really. Billy (bless his patient little heart) always has to re-do it. So, conveniently, now, I just don't even bother. :-) Funny how that works - it used to work when I was a teenager too - I wasn't very good at mowing the yard. I always ran over stuff -so finally, my dad gave up and said I didn't ever have to do it.

11. I'd give my right arm for a full night's sleep and to sleep in - by sleep in, I mean sleep past 6 am!!!!! (I love my boys - but sheesh, they make me tired!!!)

Okay - I know's 11, but the last one is a bonus. Enjoy!

Daddy's Big Mistake

This past Saturday Daddy did something he will never do again. We were on our way home from Jerry and Amy's house to get some clothes for Jacob. We had been iced out of our house for several days and we needed a change of clothes for the big boy. We arrived home and Jonathan was a sleep, so I decided I would wait in the van with the boys. As mommy went inside to get Jacob some clothes, I unbuckled Jacob and asked him to go to the back of the van. For we were going to change his clothes so I figured I would give him a break and let him out of his car seat. He went to the back of the van and I asked him to watch me as I got the mail. I went outside, got the mail and came back to the van. Then mommy came out the front door and it was still very icy so I went to the steps to help her down. When we made it back to the van, Jacob was in the driver's seat with both hands on the wheel smiling from ear to ear. The van was running and the problem was, Jacob had somehow found the button to lock the van. Mommy and I both paniced for all the doors were locked. Daddy ran inside for the spare keys and ran outside and hit the unlock button, but I learned the doors will not unlock with that button while the van is running. At this point, Jacob had made his way over to the passenger's seat. Mommy somehow had Jacob push the button to let the window down and so mommy quickly unlocked the doors. Jacob thankfully loves buttons. This was one of the most panic-times I can remember, and thank the Lord everything was okay. I have never been so thankful for the fact that you have to have your foot on the break to get the van out of gear. You better believe I will never make that mistake again. Since then, I thought that I should have actually inserted the key into the van to unlock it, but at that moment in time, I was not thinking, not thinking at all.

Daddy's Big Boy

My boys make me laugh, cry and everything in between almost every day. A couple of nights ago it was Jacob's turn. It was time for our night-time routine, and as always it was time for Daddy to lay down with his big boy to tell him a good night story and to say night-night prayers. As I was beginning to pray, I asked Jacob to repeat after me. This is how it went:

Daddy: "Thank you for Mommy"
Jacob: "Tank ou for mommy"
Daddy: "Thank you for Daddy"
Jacob: "Tank ou for daddy"
Daddy: "Thank you for Baby Jonathan"
Jacob: "Tank ou for baby onathan"
Daddy: "Amen"
Jacob: "And Tank ou for Jacob"

It made me laugh and brought a tear to my eye. And I told him how much I loved him and what a blessing he is. Then we continued on with night-time routine, which usually means Daddy falling asleep before Jacob.

Inauguration Day

Today our country has a new president - good luck President Obama. We aren't avid followers of politics in this house - but we did watch today, along with most of America. Honestly, in our house, we don't watch much TV other than Mickey Mouse, the Imagination Movers - you gotta check those guys out - they are really cool, or Barney (yes, we've given into the pressure: Jacob watches Barney). I really have a philosophical dislike to that weird purple dinosaur-type creature, but my boys both really light up when he comes on. And I have to admit hearing Jacob sing "i love you, you love me, we're a happy family..." is so cute!!!

But anyway...this is not a post about weird purple dinosaurs. Jacob said the cutest thing yesterday. We were in the living room playing and I said, "Jacob, do you know who our new president will be?" He looked at me and smiled and said "Andy-tales." It was PRECIOUS!!!! For those of you who don't know, Andy-tales is our very good friend and mentor, Andy McDonald who lives up the street from us. He and his family are very special to us and Jacob absolutely loves them!!! It was so cute.

The fun never ends!

Tonight, Jacob did it again. He made us laugh at a totally inappropriate time...During dinner, he ate spaghetti - only he decided to drink his. Literally - held up his bowl and flat out started drinking the spaghetti. Needless to say, he was a total mess, so after dinner, we opted for an early bath time. After bath, he was running around naked as he could be and made a big show out of sitting on his big boy potty - we're not officially potty training, but we do have a potty and we talk it up a lot...anyway, we were sitting in the boys room during trip number 10 or so to the potty and Jacob came running in with a BIG smile and said "me peed." Well, we, being the excited parents that we are, jumped up and said "show us, show us." So we went to the bathroom and Jacob went into the spare bedroom and said "lookie - me peed in baby's room." Sure enough, he'd peed right in the middle of the floor in our spare bedroom right beside the baby's pack and play. Billy was quite composed and even disciplined appropriately....I on the other hand had to turn around quickly so Jacob wouldn't see me laughing. Oh how I love these moments. They far outweigh the no-so-great moments of mommy-hood.

Dear Jonathan

Dear little friend,

Hi baby boy, it's mommy. I love love love love love you! You are getting so big and it's so hard for me to realize that you aren't a little baby anymore. You have acquired a new little nickname - "Nosy Rosy." You are interested in every little thing that you see. You break your neck to see someone or something new. It's hilarious. I know you're just learning and learning so much because you are so inquisitive. I certainly can't predict the future, but if I had to guess, I'd say you'll be one of those sweet little children that ask 200 questions a day. I'll be interested to see if I'm right.

You are a very pleasant and sweet boy! I do have to say though, that you get your feelings hurt pretty easy too. :-) I love watching your personality blossom. You are my spunky monkey!

You can crawl so fast - I can't believe you're already crawling! Before I know it, you'll be running around chasing your brother. It's easy to tell that your brother is going to be your hero - you watch every move he makes and he makes you laugh more than anyone else.

You are eating all kinds of real food now too - you are so cute sitting in the high chair waving your arms as I feed you. It's precious. I learned one thing though - you hate green beans. You've loved everything else, but you spit green beans right out of your mouth.

You are a very snuggly baby and I feel like I have a very special bond with you. I love nursing you - those will be very special bonding memories for all my life. I especially love the last time I feed you each day. You fall fast asleep and snuggle on my shoulder for as long as I let you. I could stay like that forever.

I love you so much little bug. You are one of my very best friends in all the world!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Mommy

Dear Jacob

We've been doing this for a while in a journal, but I seem to find less and less time to journal these days, so I'm going to add these to my bloggy page. I try to write letters to my boys once a month so here's the first one for 2009:

Dear Jacob,

You are a very sweet little person, my little friend. I love you more than I ever thought it possible to love another person. You bring your daddy and me so much joy. You have a very spunky personality - full of life and wonder. Your eyes and ears are so observant - there's not much that you ever miss! You are very smart (not just because you're mine - I really mean it - you are SMART!!!) You can do big people puzzles like it's no ones business and you can carry on full conversations. Your sentences now have 8-10 words each and you are very good at telling what you want or need. I love hearing you say "I wuv oo MORE" and "Friend Ever" and "I wuv oo bubby/daddy/mommy."

Jacob, I appreciate that you are working on learning manners and you try hard to say "please, thank you and yes ma'am" when appropriate. I also love that you remind us to pray every time we sit down to eat. It's really quite funny the way you clasp your hands and squint your eyes to talk to Jesus. It's hilarious and heart-warming at the same time. It's amazing and a little scary that the things you are learning now are shaping the man you will become. I pray for guidance every step of the way as your mommy. I know I'm never going to be perfect, so I ask you to be patient with me as I try to follow Jesus and let Him lead me to be your mommy.

Oh - one more thing...that big boy bed of yours - IT'S FOR SLEEPING, for crying out loud!!!! 2009 is going to be the year for you to sleep in your big boy bed again, I just know it!!

I love you little noodle - you're one of my best friends in the whole wide world!
Love,
Mommy

Merry Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve - we have so many reasons to celebrate this season. Jacob is super excited and Jonathan is perfectly content playing with all the shiny ribbon. We've been counting down the days until Jesus's birthday and it's almost here. We're making cupcakes for Jesus and Uncle Jerry - HAPPY BIRTHDAY JERRY!!! I think we'll leave one for Santa tonight. Hope he likes cupcakes...

In the words of my sweet little Jacob "nanny pimpus" - that's merry christmas in his world. It's so strange - most of his words are so close, but he's been saying pimpus since the beginning - we have pimpus trees, pimpus presents, pimpus lights...it's really cute!

NANNY PIMPUS everyone!

conversations with a two year old

Jacob is getting so big. He can carry on conversations now and it is just precious. Here's a recent example - one I want to remember forever. We were laying down getting ready for nite nite time (yes, one of us lays down with him for a while now...part of our ongoing struggle to get some good sleep in this house!) and the following conversation ensued:
mommy - "Jacob, you know how much mommy and daddy love you?"
jacob - "oh yes, I wuv oo more." followed by a big smooch
mommy - "thank you, that was sweet."
jacob - "oh yes"
mommy - "you know who else loves you? Jesus loves you very much. On Christmas we'll celebrate his birthday."
jacob - "make cake"
mommy - " sure we can. Good idea. Did you know that Jesus can live in your heart? One day when you get big and big, we hope you will ask Jesus to live in your heart."
jacob - lifts up his shirt and says "Jesus mine heart."
mommy - "that's right - when Jesus lives in your heart, He helps you make good choices and be a good boy and love other people."
jacob - "jacob good boy. Jesus in heart. Santa bring Mickey sheets good boys." (earlier we had talked about Santa bringing him special Mickey Mouse sheets and a pillow for his bed if he is a good boy.)

This was the most precious thing - he worked so hard to put all the words together. What a special memory. I really do pray that he chooses to ask Jesus to live in his heart one day and love Him with all his heart, mind, soul and strength.

I'll always remember

Being a parent is one of the toughest jobs in the world...once upone a time, I was a part of a group that did a PSA and that was our tag line. Back then, I was pregnant with Jacob - now, that I have two little critters, I really know how true this is. We're still struggling with our big boy at nite nite time. This past weekend was HORRIBLE! Thanks to Katie for keeping me company last night and being my moral support. :-)As bad as it is, I feel like God is teaching me something BIG. Don't know what it is, but I know it's something. I feel so selfish - Jacob has refused to go to bed the last three nights and has wound up in our bed. We just call it quits and turn off all the lights. Not that him being in our bed helps - he sleeps, but we don't. He's got to be the most restless little person on the planet. The no sleeping thing is really wearing me thin and I complain that I can't get anything done - I can't wrap presents, I can't make blankets (yes, I'm making some of our Christmas presents), I can't just veg out and watch TV, I can't spend any alone time with my husband, I can't snuggle... boy, there's a lot of I's in those statements. God reminded me yesterday that life really isn't about me or my agenda - it's about putting Him first and serving others - even my children. I found my self in the church nursery watching all the little kiddos - it wasn't even my week to volunteer, so at first I was grumpy, but then God showed me how selfish I was being and reminded me to smile to show the love of Jesus to those precious children.

I had the best reminder of how great it is to be a mommy this morning - I was holding Jonathan and Jacob crawled up in my lap and brought me a book and said "mommy read me." Well, for you sappy moms like me, you'll understand...the book was "Love you Forever." If you can honestly read that one without a tear in your eye, you're my hero. I read it, choked on most of the pages and had a big tear in my eye. Jacob looked at me and said "why mommy sad?" I held him close and whispered "mommy's not sad, mommy's so grateful that I just get emotional." I'm sure he didn't understand that, but he gave me a big smooch and hurried about his business. I was sitting there thanking God for speaking to me through the smallest creatures and the pages of a wonderful book about never-ending love.

I love my kids. I love my husband. I love my life. I love my God. Nothing else in this world matters!!!

Never ending fun!

We had our annual "Hanging of the Greens" service at church on Sunday. Billy and I both really love this service. We decided to take both of our boys this time - Jacob usually goes in the nursery, but we wanted him to hear the music and help light the church tree. He was so cute - a little loud (which embarrassed me a lot - but everyone told me it was cute.) At one time, after a song, he said "WOW" really loud. Then, he was working on a puzzle I'd brought for him and he said "where's this piece go mommy?" really loud.

The cutest thing he did was during a prayer. We told him it was time to talk to Jesus and he closed his eyes really tight and clasped his hands and was squinting. Words really don't do it justice...he almost looks like he's trying to grunt real hard or something. It is SO funny. Amy, Jerry, Lauren and Taylor went with us and we were all laughing so hard our pew was shaking a little!

Jacob couldn't be out done though. Jonathan was pretty content. He loves paper so we gave him the service program. We looked down and a big chunk was gone - slobbery remains were all that was left. I sure hope kids can't get hurt or sick from eating paper! (and I hope Social Services isn't reading this blog.)

Oh how funny! Seriously, though...I'm so thankful Jacob is beginning to learn about Jesus. We try to show them both how much Jesus loves them. We pray that we'll be good examples to them and that tyhe will learn about the never-ending love of our Savior and will one day choose to follow Him with their whole heart. That's our prayer for both our sweet boys!

Favorite Things

Being a mom is a true joy. Now, I know I complain about not getting any sleep - it's bad - so bad...but, I love being a mom. Here's a few of my most favorite moments with my boys:

* the moment right after Jonathan finishes eating his last feeding. He falls asleep nursing and is so sweet and content laying on my shoulder. I could hold him and listen to him breathe in my ear all night.
* when I walk into the nursery on Sunday mornings to pick up the boys - Jacob has the biggest, most sincere smile and runs right into my arms
* the first moment I see Jonathan each morning - that smile he gives when I pop my head over his crib is priceless
* singing songs with Jacob - he fills in words as I sing - it's so cute. Here's an example:
I sing "you are my" and Jacob says "sunshine" me - "my only" Jacob " sunshine" - it really is so cute. He does it to the alphabet song, twinkle twinkle, How Great Is our God and Jesus Loves Me.
* watching Jonathan trying intently to conquer something - picking up a flat toy, reaching something just a little to far for him, getting something right to his mouth the first time
* hearing Jacob say "friend ever" - he says this when I ask him if he'll be my friend forever

Big Boy Bed = Big Bad Trouble!!!

Of all the milestones we've faced so far in Jacob's 2 years, the transition to the big boy bed has most definitely been challenging. I mean awful, terrible...you get the drift. Jacob showed readiness for a big boy bed back in August when he successfully became a climbing money and could get out of his crib in about 1.5 seconds. Seriously - he could get out of that thing before you reached his bedroom door. So, we took the plunge and bought him his very own big boy bed. He loves his bed - thinks it is so cool. He talks about it constantly and loves to jump on it. I know I know, he shouldn't be jumping on the bed, but that's a battle I choose not fight. I digress... So, he loves it, right??? He loves to everything in it BUT SLEEP. I mean for crying out loud, it's driving us crazy. Bless his heart - he was doing fairly well. Getting up a few times each night, but all I had to do was go up and say it's still nite nite time and he would do great. Now, however, the last week, he's not done so great. He's been up for several hours at a time and screams. I mean that boy can flat out wail. It is heartbreaking. We just don't know what to do. We've gone in and checked on him several times, get him calm, say some prayers, sing some songs, scratch his back...and then as soon as we walk out the screaming begins. So, we have let him "cry it out" - which has lasted 15 minutes, 12 minutes and less than that last night. It stinks!!! Then he falls asleep in the floor by his door. YIKES. So, if you're reading, please pray that we'll have patience and keep in mind that this too shall pass!

Beep Beep Chugga Chugga Big Red Car

Okay - you haven't experienced Rupp Arena until you experience it with 5000 or more 2-5 year olds!!!! We took our little noodle to Rupp to see the Wiggles in concert. The Wiggles are these 4 Austrailian guys who sing funny kids songs. Jacob was in awe - he just sat in our laps and stared the whole time! He danced a little, but mostly, he just stared at all the movement and laughed at Mommy and Daddy and baby Tay for dancing silly! Taylor ("tato") is Jacob's big cousin and one of his favorite people ever!

Jacob's favorite Wiggles song is "Beep Beep Chugga Chugga Big Red Car." What fun!

It's such a joy to experience these things through the eyes of your child. Never in a million years would either of us think we'd be going to Rupp for a Wiggles concert. After all, Rupp is ONLY for the BIG BLUE fans and just doesn't seem right without basketballs, cheerleaders and loud fans. But, I can honestly say that I wouldn't trade the Wiggles experience for anything in all the world. I feel so blessed to be Jacob's mommy and I'm so glad he has opportunities like this. Go Wiggles!!!

I want to blog too!!!

Well, my little brother told me a secret. He told me that mommy let him get on the computer last night to post a bloggy page, so I just had to do it too because after all, anything he can do, I can do it better. Let me tell you something - being 2 years old is way more fun than being 1. I mean, I'm so tall I can see just about everything. And boy, it is so exciting. It's really cool that I can open any drawer in the house - I especially like the one in the kitchen where mommy and daddy keep their keys, phones and wallets. I do love me some keys. You know what? They even have a button on their keys that when I push it, the cars in the garage go "beep beep beep beep" - how cool is that? Oh, and there is nothing better than a couple of cell phones. I like to call Ammie and Pa and Mamaw and Papaw. Sometimes, I really can hear them and they can hear me. Sometimes, I just push buttons and pretend. Can you tell I really like to push buttons? I like buttons - any buttons - they are just right for my little fingers. I like buttons on the computer, buttons on the tv, buttons in the car. I get all excited just writing about all the possibilities.

My life is full of fun right now. I just love to explore things. I also really like to dump things out of whatever container they are supposed to be in. I can unzip bags, I can take the tops of just about anything and I can empty a box of toys in about 2 seconds. One of my favorite things to say right now is "whoa a lot" - a lot of toys ,a lot of food, a lot of mess, a lot of cars... I'm really into quantifying everything.

I also am starting to put words together for sentences (that's what my mommy called them - I don't really understand that word though). I can say things like "mommy say no, no, no" and "wash hands soap" and "nite nite time in big boy bed" and "andy-tales house dark" and "go go go Nannys house"- I must say that it's cool to talk and be able to be understood most of the time. It sure makes like easier! I also know all my colors and some letters and numbers. Mommy and daddy quiz me all the time. I think that's a fun game! Sometimes, I think they just forget what the letters are, so I have to remind them.

I love my mommy and daddy and even my little brother most of the time. I even ask about him first thing in the morning. This morning, before anyone came to get me in my room, I was saying "baby, where are you???" I like to see him and I really like to make him laugh. He's a little weird - he laughs at the strangest things. Like when I shake my head or jump on the bed - he just thinks I'm hysterical. I think that's pretty cool.

Well, I better go before my mommy finds out I'm typing on her computer. I think I can find something fun to play with - maybe my legos? See ya soon!

I'm a guest blogger

Hi. My mommy told me to post a blog for her tonight. I know I should be sleeping, but life is just too exciting these days. I happen to LOVE LOVE LOVE my big brother and if he's up, I definitely want to be up. He's not, by the way - I can't hear him, so that means he's asleep in his room. I want to share a room with him so bad, but my mommy and daddy think I'll sleep better in the extra room for a while. For some reason, he likes to play in his room when he should be sleeping. I think it's supposed to be a secret, but it's really driving my mommy crazy!!! Really - don't tell anyone.

Let me tell you about life as an almost 6 month old little person. It is pretty cool! My mommy and daddy love me very much and any time I want something, they pretty much give it to me. Like food - my mommy is doing a great job feeding me. I have super chunky legs to prove it. My mommy and daddy both love to squeeze my big legs. I don't understand it, but it makes them smile, so I just laugh and smile in return. Oh - and I just love to roll around. I can get all the way across the room before my mommy even knows it. I'm super fast. One day, I'll be as fast as my big bubby. I also get really excited to hold on to stuff - anything really. I especially like me a hand full of mommy's hair. It feels really neat. I'm starting to like to put everything in my mouth too, so you better be careful what's in my reach. I don't have any teeth yet, but chewing on stuff sure feels good.

I have lots to say, but no one can quite understand me just yet. I learned to squeal just the other day. It really is the most fun sound. You should try it some time! Oh, I also learned to spit and make a buzzing sound - talk about advanced...

Life is good from my point of view. I make mommy smile all the time and I just smile right back because her face is so familiar and comfortable for me. I get super excited when my daddy's around too - I kick my legs and move my arms toward him. They don't know it yet, but I'm really reaching for them and saying "pick me up please."

We are a happy family. My mommy and daddy like each other a lot and they really like to play with me and my brother. I don't really know what this means yet, but we have so much for which to be thankful. I'm thankful for my mommy, daddy and my way-cool big brother. He's my best friend and he doesn't even know it yet - one day, I'll tell him just how much I admire and respect him.

Well, I really must sleep. Mommy thinks I need some sleep at nighttime - I guess she's right, but being awake is just so much fun!

Jacob does and says the most funny things. I was working today, and Daddy got to stay home. Daddy said he was in the kitchen and he kept hearing Jacob say "mommy say no, no, no." Daddy said he said it 5-6 times so he finally went in there to check on him. He found Jacob standing up on the red chair pointing to his "masterpiece." Yep, you guessed it, Jacob wrote on our wall with an ink pen.

He's right - if I'd been here, I would have said "no, no, no..." Always an adventure.