"Hotel California"

On our drive back out to Berkeley, we stopped halfway in LA and stayed the night at "hotel Fuller", also known as Alecia, Tripp, and Elgin's home. We loved being able to see some original-NC friends this far west and Jacob adored playing with Elgin and his toys instead of riding in the car for 12 hours in one day! Thanks Fullers for the kindness and good time (and especially Elgin for sharing his ball-pit).

After we arrived back here in Berkeley (home sweet tiny home), Daniel and I decided to bite the bullet and try the Ferber method with Jacob. This involves much crying (or in Jacob's case, yelling at the door while jumping in his crib), but we are so happy to report that we all made it through the first really rough night...and are now all sleeping better. Jacob is now waking just once or twice a night- after sleeping anywhere from 7 to 9 hours at a time. But fret not(stubborn as he is) Jacob continues to fall alseep sitting up and we sometimes have to go "knock him over" ever so gently and cover him up. We love our silly boy.

Play Date fun.

So, as mentioned in the last visit, Jacob hung-out with his friend Colby (of the same age) last week. Not only did the two boys seem to enjoy the park time, but it was great for for us parents of similar age/ development level children to converse and feel reassured about some things- or just commiserate and laugh.

For example: Despite being night-weaned, Jacob still doesn't sleep. Apparently, Colby is of a similar mindset (sleep is last priority after eating, snuggling, laughing, being awake, playing with your toys like seen in the following picture, etc.).

Our conclusion is just that some babies/kids/adults just don't sleep through the night or need a ton of sleep. We know that as children, we didn't really sleep for long periods of time and neither did our siblings. Or our parents. So we're seeing a trend of high energy people here in our lineage....

I guess all this is to say: we've officially fully embraced the sleep-deprived reality of parenthood- not just during the 'newborn' stage. But, just so you all know, at one point when we were working on all cylinders, Daniel and I were pretty smart and ocassionally even witty!

*Side note: My thesis proposal went well and I've got the green light to crank it out!

Goofy Grinner and other random poses

While in AZ, I've been able to resume running (from pre-pregnancy...perhaps "resume" is an incorrect term after more than a year has passed...). Jacob has been graciously accompanying me as we make use of a hand-me-down jogging stroller that is too large for our Berkeley apartment. While on these runs he tends to groan and listen to his voice vibrate, space out until we pass other dogs, runners, trees, etc., or as you can see, sleep.

*note: in no way is the Cardinals gear intended to be a slap in the face for the Panthers. We love the Panthers. Jacob has a Panthers jacket that he proudly wore a few times a few weeks ago- and will wear again....likely after we return to Berkeley. But we're in Phoenix and Daniel (and family) is a ticket holder and proud Cardinals fan, too. Anyway, "Go Cardinals" and on with the pictures.

This photo, as you can see, was Jacob frustrated at me for even thinking about interrupting his music for a photo op.

And now for the goofy grins and snotty face shots. Little boy still has some mean congestion / cough from the first day of 2009. But, he still is mostly smiles and we're thankful to have seen all Jacob's cousins, germs and all.

(And Chells: like the onesie?)

Here's Jacob eyeing the dog and the pool - from safe indoors.

That's it for now- Jacob played with his friend Colby (they're less than a week apart in age) a few days ago and there are some humorous shots to post...but, alas, I do have to do thesis work. I'm proposing my thesis this Tuesday, for those who are interested. Wahoo! forward motion on being nearly complete with my Masters!

Happy 2009

Happy 2009 Everyone and Happy Birthday Dad (grandpa Jeff)! During the 'break' since our last post, quite a bit has gone on. There was Christmas with the whole Pugh clan, avoidance (for the most part) of a stomach bug shared by most every other member of the Pugh family, moving daniel's parents to a new house, and then bringing in 2009 with our friends Matt and Bri.

Here's a smattering of Jacob candid's from the past 2 weeks- laugh at will.

Jacob is thrilled with his big boy cups from the Taylor family (pugh connection= daniel's sister Traeci).

Jacob was beside himself with excitement about playing with his cousins- but Samuel wasn't sure about this little guy taking his toys.

Jacob's Aunt Traeci (R) with cousin Colby and Aunt Tally (L) with cousin Parker (daniel and my godson!)

The Chell Christmas package arrived and Jacob immediately 'claimed' the bag of Jelly beans. We had a good laugh at how much he enjoyed the beans until we realized it was because his sharp teethies had cut a little whole in the bag and he was sucking on a sugar-laden bean.

Jacob getting in touch with his musical side- the piano was his gift from 'Santa' and this little boy couldn't contain his excitement as we were just taking it out of the box on Christmas!

Now, as a grown-up 9 month old (as of yesterday), Jacob has a few new tricks. He grins- not just smiles but outright grins with his eyes closed, head held back, and teeth visible for all to see. He knows its hilarious and does it often.

He claps for himself, he waves on ocassion, and he's starting to give high fives. He babbles all the time, 'sings' in the car, and every once and awhile he's trying to stand on his own. He'll lift his hands and stand for about 2 full seconds, then sit down and look around.

He's feeding himself pretty well, but slow to move past fruits and veggies. He's had a nasty cold since the 31st and didn't eat for about 4 days (thank goodness he's still nursing!), but he accepted avocado and pear when nothing else would actually go down. We're really gonna work on meats when he's less congested....we'll see!

Anyway, he's still extremely happy, high energy, and mischeviously adorable. We hope you enjoy the post and are having a great '09!

Ho Ho Ho

I know, I know, this picture melts your heart. It does ours as well. In his best "where's waldo" impression, Jacob blends in with the presents. Best present we've ever had!

Things are going great here in Phoenix. It's about 65 and sunny, and the Pugh family is starting to assemble for a Christmas season full of little boys, and lots of toys.

So far it has been just Jacob and his cousin Parker who are both awaiting their first Christmas. The other two cousins, Samuel and Colby, will be in town soon.


Here are Parker and Jacob with their Ya-Ya.
While Jacob and Parker await their first visit from Santa, we find ourselves looking back on a fantastic year. Thank you all for your love and support of our little boy in 2008. We couldn't imagine our lives without yall!

We are thinking of all those we love around the country. Stay warm and Merry Christmas!

OK, one more picture-present for ya.


See ya in '09!

8 Months

Here's a breakdown of our smiley 8 month old.

The Likes:

-Jacob still adores being in his birthday suit, especially if a bath is part of the plan. He even crawls to the bathroom and waits for us when he feels ready for a bath.

-He loves to stand, thrust his little hips, and wildly bounce in his crib.

-Jacob loves to put things into his mouth, the grosser the better. Things such as shoes, his own band-aid, noses, toes- I think you all get the point.

-Little boy loves gumming on the crusty part of bread and rice cakes- and he loves rubbing the gooey mess into the carpet. It not only tastes better but it's more fun all around that way (ha!).

-Where there's a camera, there's a smiling and posing Jacob. Honestly, there's no use in trying to get a profile of this guy because when he hears the camera turn on he's fast to seek it out and smile.

-Jacob loves making friends with both kids and adults. He loves to laugh at kids- who doesn't? And he loves to catch an adults eye and just watch them until they smile then smile or laugh with them.

The Dislikes:

-Our 'little' one is realizing that being told "no" typically isn't pleasant and is beginning to emphatically respond to hearing the word. (And on occassion this distracts him to the point of ceasing the undesired behavior.)

-In just the past week, Jacob has really begun to express his dislike for being put into his carseat or stroller as opposed to in our arms or free to play. Fortunately, he tends to chill-out after the initial transition...at least while in the stroller...

His true dislikes are really just the typical -whines about getting his face or noise wiped, wants his mom/dad in crowds, can't handle loud and abrupt feelings toward sporting event- kind of things. He's just really a typical mobile baby who loves to interact, mimic those around him, and today, sport dennis the menace hair.

He has two teeth which he tends to hide with his tongue but that he uses to mash up his avocado, apple, or sweet potato chunks and little bits of peeled grapes. He still accepts pureed foods, but not usually for a ful meal of foods.

I can't think of much else to include about this guy, but he is growing like a weed- and we think he's growing up more than out for the first time since he was about 2 weeks old! Needless to say, he's a cutie who brightens up each of our days adn we're so fortunate that he's in our lives!!!

Soo sleeeepy

The title of this post is not so much to indicate daniel and my usual state, but rather Jacob's new "hobby". But first, here's the back story:
Recently, I've been really working on keeping Jacob awake during his before bed nursing so that he's put into his crib awake and thus connects the dots on how to independently fall asleep. After a few minutes of crying and yelling at us from his crib, he tends to go silent. We give him about 5 solid minutes of silence before we check that he's actually sleeping, covered, etc. This is when we discover his newest hobby: sleeping in the sitting position. He either so badly wants to prove to us that he isn't tired or he just doesn't want to miss a thing (or he just underestimates his exhaustion level). It's absolutely hilarious because he jerks himself upright over and over again- similar to the head jerk we all experience(d) during those really boring classes.
And yes, I got it on camera. Because it was just so funny and I was home alone and needed to show Daniel. And now we need to share it!
Aside from the sleeping while sitting thing, Jacob is up to his usual trying-to-be-a-toddler antics:) We'll update more in just a few short days when he turns 8 months old!