Final Hurrah

Our Berkeley days are limited for this go around...we're headed out by next Tuesday headed to Phoenix. While we're excited about what this next year(plus) brings, it's sad to leave this beautiful community and location. In celebration of Berkeley and California, we're been visiting our hotspots and throwing some new ones into the mix- and Grayson has been here to be a fun part of the action! (For some reason I can upload pictures but only see text, so no captions for the pictures....just a random montage!) I believe this first photo is Jacob tucking in every single stuffed animal from his bed to the coach into their "new bed". It was a long and funny task to witness...

This one goes out to all the Moms

A happy Mother's day to all. Things are starting to wind-down here in Berkeley. With roughly two weeks till we move, every day seems like an adventure. And, despite the copious amounts of school work I have left, or the sermon I'm giving tomorrow morning, procrastination has gotten the best of me. What better way to satiate a need to procrastinate like blogging it up?

And now, for the photos:

Here's a photo series I like to call "watermelon head-shots".
Just like an actor would send in headshots showing off a wide range of emotions, I imagine this is what Jacob would look like if he were sending his pictures to an casting call for say, a watermelon advertisement (perhaps for unique method for eating watermelon?).
Enjoy!

We played Kickball tonight with students and faculty and Jacob loved it. Only hours after getting his cast off (Thank the lord!) he was running and playing. He is still slow to get it moving, but as I am writing this he is brushing his teeth with his left hand. Let's face it, we need as many Lefties as we can get.

Following the kickball, we returned home to get Jacob in the tub for the most necessary, thorough scrubbing thus far as a two year old! What did he do? He immediately got in and starting "swimming like a fish"- it was great!

After Jacob got in bed, we got the call that Jacob's good friend Olivia was getting her baby sister really soon and needed to come sleepover. This morning at 6:45 we had two of the happiest munchkins ever reported: upon discovering the other was present and awake there was laughter, squealing, non-stop chatter, actual jumping up and down, you name it. Adorable.

So we made a day of it and went to the playground, played with play-doh, ate a lot, read a little, and rode a steam train.

These two are just the sweetest things... We got to meet Olivia's baby sister, to whom both Olivia and Jacob gave some gentle pats and sweet attention.

It's heart-warming that Jacob like babies and other people so much as he's getting a sibling around Christmas time. What a 'gift' we're all looking forward to<3!>

Happy Mother's Day!

This really is one of the more random posts....

Our camera batteries were dead thus fewer photos /videos for a little while. Now that it's the last day of April, I feel I should post the various silly things we had on the camera before May happens!

This is Jacob being silly during his before bed snack a few nights ago. (To provide setting: this was Jacob's before bed-time-ish snack.) Notice he actually can use his right hand for the spoon....but the cast comes off next Friday, then his left hand gets back in on the action!

And this photo is from this morning, when Jacob decided he wanted to go outside wearing my shoes, pj's, and a goofy grin. I wasn't convinced, but we both got a really good laugh out of it!

Blue-armed boy

As it turns out, Jacob fractured some bones in his hand and the head of the humerus by his elbow (yikes!). We're glad they spotted the fractures. but it's pitiful to see him in such a huge cast!

Birthday and post traumatic birthday

We'll leave it to you, the reader, to judge Jacob's level of enjoyment at his second birthday party:





And then 2 days later, the daredevil tried climbing up the kiddie slide at the park, fell off the side, and ended spending the afternoon with mom and dad at the ER icing his wrist and getting x-rays taken instead of napping. It really wasn't that traumatic and Jacob was a great sport- even laughing for some doctors and nurses- we only had to wait 30 minutes to be seen and everyone was so kind.

His left wrist isn't broken (according to x-rays), but the concern is that he fractured his growth plate- which isn't dense enough to show-up on an xray- so we're being referred to an Orthopedist at the Children's hospital for an appt sometimes this week. Hopefully, Jacob can then have his huge splint taken off and be fitted for something more appropriate for his injury and body size!

We'll keep you all posted on the arm as things develop...

He is Risen!

Happy Easter Everyone!

We've been hearing from all angles that we need to post.

Today was Jacob's first true Easter Egg Hunt. He started out timidly, first finding a football-decorated egg and kicking it. The he started to realize that there were eggs everywhere. I followed behind him with his bag, and eventually he was pulling me by the bag to his next find. About two minutes into the hunt Jacob decided that I was dead weight. Thus, he pulled the bag from my grasp, and went to look behind a tree and out of my sight. They grow up so quickly, don't they?

Countdown to 2 has begun

Nine days until Jacob hits 2 years old. We've gotten the representative pinata for his day to re-enact last year (a big "2") and we've nearly finished the grocery and party 'shopping' (wahoo 99 cent store!). Additionally, Jacob is close to being able to hold up his 2 fingers when asked how old he is and he's asked us for birthday cake several times over the past few weeks; a sure sign that he'll be more interested in the cake this year over last year....

Closing in on 2, Jacob is becoming more hysterical by the day. He has become selectively more snugly where he hugs tightly and plants kisses all over your face and grins contentedly. He talks a mile a minute as he is an equal opportunity parrot and knows more words than we ever remember saying. He would have us read him books for hours if he got everything he wanted, and he can recite Dr Seuss' Hop and Pop all on his own.

He eats all the time. Seriously. All the time. We eat dinner- which he eats, too, though he is showing a bit more pickiness as he grows- then we go for a walk. When we arrive home, we hear, "Hungry-snack please. Jacob hungry. " And yet, this former chunk continues to loose his pants he's so svelte. Perhaps it's the running, jumping, skipping (more like wizard-of-oz skip on the yellow brick road), balancing on edges, organizing, and constant energy exertion.

(Organizing letters into a straight line...and the "Jacob" was there in the beginning, but he can verbally spell his name)

(Walking on the edge....as usual...big ol' cloth diaper bootie profile)

(Picking flowers for daddy on the evening walk)

Recently, we began the potty-training adventure. During this past week, Jacob has had numerous successes and actually asks to spend some time reading on his potty- usually accompanied by George.

We made it to the airport and back and to a small farm and back without accident (though, much to Jacob's delight, a flower or two on the farm had to drown). For the most past, he's wearing training pants (we call them big boy briefs), going free during naps, and wearing a diaper at night. He gets to pick a sticker to put on his door chart each time something happens in the potty and it seems to please him to no end!

At the airport, we rode the tram with daddy and (grand)Ma, whom we had just picked-up!

Jacob loved feeding the pigs, chickens, goats, and cows....but the goose nibbled his finger and he stopped feeding them.

Then we went to the zoo with Ma and snacked with the elephants. What fun!

The next few weeks will be crazy what with me completing and defending my thesis, Ma visiting (yay!), Daniel finding out about internship next year (FYI: we may be in Phoenix next year), and Jacob turning 2...so we'll do our best!