Jacob's favorite pastime

Showing me his best side


He loves swinging downstairs!

Showing his keen interest in books at a recent play date

I think we were due for illness

We survived the holidays and made it full swing back into the regular routine beginning of January. Mid January, Jacob caught RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) at a play date. (we estimate that one sick baby spread to at least 4 other babies and 4 adults by the time it was said and done. not much we can do about it though). He then developed 2 ear infections on top of that, plus more teeth coming in. Were we due? I don't know, but I had that intuition that something would be coming around the bend soon.


He's had this terrible cold going on since Jan 19th. I waited over 7 days before taking him to the doctor to see if it would run its course. They didn't officially diagnose him with RSV, but said there was a very good chance he had it since it had hit the community hard and is very contagious. He also said at the time, his lungs sounded perfectly clear. The doctor did however, put him on Amoxicillin for his ear infections. There is speculation now as to whether to treat with antibiotics since he could develop a resistance to them. So, we've lost quite a few hours of sleep and watched a ton of Baby Einstein videos as that seems to be the only thing that quietens him.


Other than that, he tends to be in a good mood in spite of everything. I've been able to keep him in out of the weather due to my new title of SAHM (stay at home mom). Due to enormous change, the exec. director being out on sabbatical and some misinterpreted comments, my time at Three Streams has ended. I cannot say too many bad things about them as a whole because I really believe in what they do; however, not everyone there carried out the Christian attitude that is supposed to make them what they are. Bill is taking on a new side job that should last several Saturdays, so that will enable us to make ends meet and allow me to stay home for a while. I can't complain about that! Especially when you have a day like this below!


I'm going to try to tap into this thing of selling on Craigslist/Ebay and go to a few mommy groups/story times at the local libraries. And.....try to post more happenings on the blog. :)


Oh, I forgot to mention, there were some adventurous cows that made it through the back yard the other day. Guess the grass was greener on our side!

WNC Parent - Holiday Edition

Get your own - Open publication

Gotta love this face

Shorts in late December!

We just had to get out for an afternoon at the park.

December Travels

I thought I'd have more time as Jacob got a little older to blog, but boy, was I mistaken! My job has taken away much of my spare time to blog and then there was the Christmas shopping and traveling season... I'll try to recap. At least this way, I'll try to hit the highlights.

December was/always is a very busy month for us. We have my birthday, our anniversary and Christmas. Throw in a trip to get the tree and a trip to TN to see family and we're done for! We started out going to Boone the first weekend in Dec. with Marcia, Alan and Breanna. We all fit into Alan and Marcia's truck. We quickly determined we needed 2 vehicles next year. We got a little off track right off the bat with "Gordon", the GPS navigator. Only because the street for getting to the cabin was entered before the street for getting the key for the cabin. That's ok, we forgave Alan for our adventure. It did however, put us at the back of the pack of traffic that was in town for the weekend's App. State game.

The actual trip to get the tree wasn't as good as we had hoped (the tree farm was a bit disorganized), but we did get to see a bit of snow and Jacob got to wear his brand new snow suit. He did a good job of filling an 18mo outfit. We rented us a cabin for the weekend instead of a hotel so we could spread out and cook (it saves $$$). The cabin was really nice. Lots and lots of seating, inside and out. A game room downstairs and we could even pull the truck in the garage. Washer/dryer to clean Jacob's messes. A nice view to watch the snow fall across the mountains. The winds were up around 30-40mph I'd say on Saturday night. It did get a bit cold for us downstairs as the fireplace didn't work and I think that combined with being in a new place made Jacob cry every time we put him down to sleep....so....he slept in bed with us. All in all, a fun adventure, good food and a nice getaway. Jacob squealed with delight for 2 days after arriving home. Who knew how happy home makes him!?!

Bill took us to Bouchon for our anniversary dinner. It's a very nice place to go for such an occasion. We both had different marinades of steak that were both tasty and I even ate a full serving of brussell sprouts!

And then in a blink of an eye, it was Christmas. Jacob didn't know what to think about everything at first - a bit overwhelming. But he quickly discovered his favorite thing was the tissue paper. He did rather well with all the fun, people and excitement. He even showed off a bit for his cousin, Regan, by repeatedly jumping up and down in his exersaucer when she walked over to him during our Christmas dinner. We took a weekend trip to see my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins in TN. We rented a suite in a hotel so we'd have plenty room to spread out and have enough room for Jacob's scooter and pack-n-play. He did surprisingly well sleeping at night - after Bill improvised by adding foam between his mattress and sheet. He even got to do a little swimming, which he really loved, other than getting a little chilly.

Jacob readily making friends with cousin Riley

Andy & sweet Maddie

Rhonda, Christy, her dad and the kids

Much to my amazement, Jacob has lept through the milestones in a week or so. He pulled himself up in his crib the day after Christmas and has hardly sat down yet. He loves to stand now. He has 5 teeth with 2 more coming in. (By the way, roman chamomile is the bomb! This stuff really works on his gums when he is teething. He even opens his mouth and lets me put it on them). I'm getting more and more into the herbal meds for Jacob. I'd much rather do that than prescription meds.

So back to the story, Jacob is starting to "cruise" around, is getting into at least 50% more trouble than a week ago, and is finally adding new syllables and "words" to his vocabulary. The other day he stood up in his pack-n-play, looked at me, smiled and said hi!

That's it in a nutshell for now. Be sure to check back in the new year for more!

Halloween Costumes

Sorry, but Snapfish doesn't allow us to copy pictures out of albums anymore, so you'll have to click the link below to see Jacob on Snapfish in his costume.

Pumpkin Outfit

Lion Outfit



Here is Jacob in his intended outfit. This was the beginning of Halloween week. Yes, it snowed!