Exciting Sign!

Basically since Jacob was born, we have been doing a few sign-language signs to help him be able to communicate before he can say words.  He is fantastic at saying 'all done' when he is finished eating and saying 'bye-bye'.  Yesterday he walked up to me with a very determined look on his face, did the sign for 'eat' then proceeded to walk to the pantry and say "cracker".  He did this a couple of more times after he finished his cracker and again this morning when he was ready for breakfast.  I was really beginning to think that he would be stubborn and not do the signs, but he has made me a very happy mom!  It is so hard not knowing what they need/want.  

Awesome Thanksgiving Weekend!

Over Thanksgiving weekend Tony, Jacob, and I took a trip to Las Vegas to visit the Boyacks (Tony's sister, Lisa, and her family).  We had a weekend full of yummy food and lots of time for Jacob to play with his cousins.  Jacob played really well with both Brooklyn (3) and Owen (almost 5) and loved doing whatever they were doing.  However, Jacob kept stealing poor Ava's (3 months) binky!  We really had to watch the little thief because he would grab the pacifier away from Ava in the blink of an eye!  Ava was a good sport about it, but Jacob will have to watch out when she gets old enough to defend herself a little.

Yummy Thanksgiving food!

Jacob playing with the big kids.  He loved the slinky!

While we were in Las Vegas, we went out to Red Rock to try and get some pictures of our two families.  The kids were really good sports about the whole thing and Jacob was entirely entertained because he kept eating rocks.  I swear that kid probably swallowed a pound of dirt and rock material.  He didn't seem to mind the taste.

I LOVE EATING ROCKS!

If I run fast enough, they can't take any more pictures!

We also went out to the Mini Gran Prix track to celebrate Brooklyn's birthday.  We raced around in the go-carts, went down the giant slide, played some video games, and the adults drove the speed cars.  It was really a lot of fun.  

Our last night there we all went out to eat at a Japanese restaurant.  The kids were great!  Jacob had his first taste of Japanese food and loved it.  He ate everything we put in his mouth including gyoza, tempura vegetables, and udon noodles.  It was really amazing to see how open he was to eating anything. 

We had such a great trip!  Thanks to Lisa and Nate for letting us stay with them and being such great hosts.  

Busy Jacob

It has been a busy few weeks for us and Jacob.  Jacob got his first haircut (middle picture). I think that now he looks like a real little boy instead of just a baby.  Over the past weekend, Jacob decided to start walking pretty much full time.  He crawls only to get himself to something that he can pull himself up on.  Jacob has also discovered how to "pet" Abby and Max and loves to pat them all the time.  Abby is really good with Jacob and lets him crawl all over her.  Max, on the other hand, is constantly trying to avoid Jacob.  Max isn't mean or anything, he just doesn't want to be bothered.  

Here are just a few pictures of our busy guy.

Clean Hands

I took this video a few weeks ago and I couldn't resist showing all of you Jacob's favorite way to clean his hands after a meal.

Walking fool

Jacob started walking.  He has been taking a few steps since early September, but now he can walk pretty well...that is, when he wants to.  He seems to walk the best for his Grandma Peterson and has even walked all the way down her entry way hall (about 82 steps).  He walks the best when he has someone to cheer him on, but I know it won't be long before he is cruising around the house and getting into more mischief than he already does.  I'll post some pictures soon.

Yesterday, we took him to Target and let him walk around (holding our finger).  He thought it was great to try and grab everything off the shelves and be (somewhat) independent.  

What a crazy cute kid.  Also, he is doing really well.  He hasn't had any wheezing for about a week and hasn't shown any other symptoms.  Hopefully, he is over whatever was bugging him. 

We love being home

Many of you know that Jacob was in the hospital again from Sep 22-26.  On Sep 22 he started the day with a slight wheeze and by 5:00 pm he had blue lips and was being transported by ambulance from our pediatrician's office to Primary Children's hospital.  I went in the ambulance with him and was slightly disappointed that they didn't use the sirens to get us there faster.  Jacob was stable, but I still would like the full experience.  Anyway, after a very long night in the ER and in his hospital room, Jacob finally started to improve.  The next few days were just a blur of doctors, nurses, little sleep for anyone and a very tiny room. 

Jacob is improving and his official diagnosis was that he had a virus (could be the same one he had before) that made his lungs go haywire.  We hope that it never happens again or to anyone else.  Needless to say we are very happy to be home.  

What? I am sick?

Poor little Jacob spent 48 hours in the hospital this week.  On Wednesday, his breathing was really labored (thanks to Shannon for calling us and letting us know) and he just wasn't himself so we took him to the ER at Primary Children's Hospital and had him checked out.  They couldn't get his breathing to be much easier right away so he was admitted.  They tested him for all the normal 'bad' viruses, took xrays of his lungs, and constantly monitored him, but were unable to definitively tell us what he had.  Basically, it seems he had some kind of virus that caused his lungs to go haywire and make it difficult for him to breathe.  Happily, we are now at home and he is doing much better.  We still have to give him albuterol treatments every four hours and he's not allowed to leave the house until at least Tuesday, but at least we are at home.

While we were at the hospital, he truly charmed all the doctors and nurses with his happy smile and incredible level of activity despite not breathing well.  If you didn't listen to him breathe, you would have never guessed he was sick.  He moved around in his crib like a little monkey and was constantly getting tangled in his tubes and wires.  He was such a good sport despite all the people poking him and literally vacuuming snot out of his nose.