Video #4: Walking with Help (taken 2/27/12)
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Category: Parenting
This is the area dedicated to our grand experiment of raising children. Check here for grand adventures, trials, and wonderful mistakes.
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Video #3
Video #3: Spying from the Doorway (taken 2/19/12)
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Video #2
Video #2: Jacob’s Birthday (taken 1/29/12)
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Video Unveiling #1
I’ve decided to make your week exceptional by releasing one new video every day for 8 days. The videos start from January and go up to present day (May 15th), so enjoy seeing the growth – I know I did!
Video #1: Jacob’s Birthday (taken 1/29/12)
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Hiatus adjourned
After nearly two months off the blog, I have lots of content to share with you. I’m sure I have lots of stories too, but honestly, I just can’t remember what has all happened since I wrote last.
We moved into our new house in the middle of March and have yet to discover some of our things in boxes. This was especially true since half our belonging were in storage, leading to a Christmas-like atmosphere upon opening some boxes. All in all, we don’t have too many boxes left and it’s been a nice slow settling in to the new place. (Of course we were delayed by two weeks waiting for carpets…but that’s a whole other story).
Right now Elise is wrapping up the school year (7 days left!) and preparing for summer vacation, where she will spend lots of time in the backyard with Jacob! She has requested a small kiddie pool as her oven is back on (translation: we are expecting our second child)! The due date is September 24th and we are excited to welcome a new member into our family.
As we start to prepare for number two (which will again be a surprise), number one is making great strides. Over the past couple of months, Jacob has gone from an unsure toddler to an unstoppable force who gets a kick out of moving things 3-4 times his size (chairs, couches, playpens). He is becoming very independent and his favorite word seems to be ‘no’, although he knows a few others:
- mawmaw = I want
- mawm = mom
- buh-buy = bye
- hullo = hello
- eh, eh, eh = You’re not giving me what I want
- Oh! = wow/look at that! (not real sure on that one yet)
In the meantime, Jacob has had his 15 month checkup where he received a few more shots (only a few more to go until age 3). The doctor said his growth was tracking very nicely.
Other activities that we’ve been up to, include:
- Hosting the Degen’s (Larry, Mary, and Laura) for Easter
- Hosting the Werth’s (Fred, Cathy, and Teresa) for Mother’s Day
- Going on hikes through the woods
- Riding bikes
- Visiting a wine bar
- Fighting with home insurance companies (don’t use Liberty Mutual – again, another story).
So now that we’ve found our video camera again, I will be posting a number of videos of the (not so) little man walking and making noise. When I find the other camera, I’ll hopefully upload some photos 🙂 Happy spring!
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New House: Week One
We have now been in our new home for one week. While not too much happens during the weekdays, this past weekend was a fruitful one! However, I should probably back up a week:
Last weekend (March 16-18), both immediate families came down and helped out with the big move. Elise, Jacob, and I were to pack our belongings and move to our new house. We were blessed with good weather (and lots of help) which led to a productive weekend. Thursday, Mary and Larry (along with help from the cats), finished painting the upstairs and helped prepare for the move. Friday, we were able to pack up the apartment, put it in the U-Haul, drive to Iowa City, unload, and drive back down to retrieve the items in storage. While the necessities were unpacked on Friday, Saturday was helpful in preparing the rest of the house. Fred and Cathy painted the basement while others unloaded the U-Haul storage run and/or raked leaves off the already blooming flowerbeds. Saturday night and Sunday were a little more relaxing with small projects being completed and all the guests heading for home.
This past weekend, Elise and I continued to unpack boxes and organize the clutter :). We were able to get a large amount of yard work done, such as mowing the lawn, installing our first rain barrel, and putting down some fresh mulch. There’s plenty left undone, but it has made a significant difference.
During the week, we continued to meet and be impressed with our new neighbors. It is a great neighborhood with a number of young families and some ‘older’ grandparents at the other end of things.
Jacob has made leaps and bounds in the past week, developing his confidence in his ability to walk. He can now freely walk by himself for 10-15 feet. I will post a video soon of his travels!
All in all, the move has gone well and the family is adjusting great. The house has taken on new life and we are very happy in our new abode!
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Flowers and Fun
Elise got a hold of the camera one day and started taking some photos. Here is some of the carnage:
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Photos!
So…we have been slacking on the photo (and post) output on the blog as of late. There has been a number of changes recently that have made our lives pretty exciting. Some of these include Jon’s new position, Jacob’s first birthday, and buying a house. This is a post of photos taken in the month of January. I will be posting others soon, so feel free to check back in a few days.
As always, enjoy!
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One Year!
This post is in honor of Jacob’s first birthday. One year ago, I started this blog with the hope of keeping our friends and family updated with our growth as a family and parents. Today we are celebrating not only how much Jacob has grown, but how much Elise and I have changed over the past year as well.
One year ago, Elise and I were living in our house in Coralville. Elise was on her second year of teaching and Jon was working through grad school. Since then we have sold the house, moved to Kalona, Elise studied PLTW, Jon graduated, we bought a car, Jon got a full-time position, and last but not least, have enjoyed our wild adventures with the little man. Indeed a lot has changed!
In conclusion…Happy Birthday to Jacob and make sure to check out this post: Jacob Arrives. (I particularly enjoyed re-viewing the video of Jacob in the NICU.)
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Fun around the House
Jacob has been having lots of fun moving, grooving, climbing, and <any other motion verb>-ing. Elise and I enjoyed a relaxing – well, that’s maybe not the best word – Sunday at home with the little man. We broke out the camera and took some good photos of his activities: