Celebrate Good Times

Another weekend has come and gone..why do they pass so quickly? Jake enjoyed a weekend full of birthday celebrations. Saturday he went to a birthday party for his cousin Hannah and enjoyed spending time with his family - grandparents, cousins and Aunts. On Sunday, we traveled up to MA to visit his Great Gramma Bettie for her ##th birthday. She hasn't seen Jake too much since he was born, so it was great to get up there and visit her and our uncles as well. Jake got to spend time with Ya Ya, Auntie Courtney and cousin Mia again, who just loves playing with him.

Mia loves having "baby Jake" around but inquired about getting her crib back from him because she would like to have baby of her own soon. I told her I'd talk to the Easter Bunny about getting her a baby doll for Easter..let's hope that keeps her happy!



With the weather going from cold to Spring-like and back again Jake's cold has stuck around. We hope the warm weather comes and stays for good soon and all the germs go away! He is battling a cough right now but hopefully it gets better. The good news is, he continues to take a bottle at Daycare, so we are thinking this is a sign that his ears are not infected again.

Just a few pics of him and his favorite ladies YaYa & Grammy..

Genes

First off.. Happy Greek Independence Day! Jake sported baby blue today in honor of this Greek holiday. Yes, he is Greek (there's A LOT to love about Jake..Greek, Irish, French, English etc...you name it!). His Greek heritage can be traced back to his Great Grandfather, James "Jake" Serfes, for whom he was named after.

Here he is showing his Greek pride and promoting the importance of taking your daily vitamins :



And..not only did he get his Greek genes from Great Grampa Jake - the full head of hair gene as well:




We spent the early part of our Wednesday at the Dr's office getting Jake's ears checked. Since he had a few ear infections they wanted to follow up to make sure they were gone. While the ear infections were indeed gone, there was still fluid in his right ear. He has had a cold this week with a runny nose so she thought maybe that's where the fluid was coming from. We will go back again in 2 weeks to make sure the fluid is gone. If he does continue to get more ear infections we will be directed to an "Ear, Nose & Throat" Dr and go over options then. Hopefully, there are no more infections! Genetics are not on his side, however. I had constant ear infections growing up and asked the Dr if this had any effect (or is it affect?) on Jake..she said it is hereditary because they are caused by your bone structure and how the fluid drains..what a lucky boy! Let's just hope this gene is not passed on!

Jake was a huge help around the house this afternoon, vacuuming the dining room for me. I walked by him as I was vacuuming and he latched right on to it. He had such a grip on the vacuum and was literally pushing it! He is so strong and was having such a great time, it was hard for me to get the vacuum back from him!



We better check RI's Child Labor Laws..


How do I get this thing into my bedroom?



After looking at today's pictures I have to say - it was a BAD hair day! Indoor and outdoors, I made him wear his hat today..blame it on Mommy!

Welcome Spring!

Hope everyone enjoyed their first Spring Weekend! Jake and I spent some time outdoors on Saturday at the St Patrick's 5K race and parade in Providence. Jake got to hang out with Sarah and her nephew Ben while Mommy and a few friends ran the race. In all, it was a fun day- getting to spend some time outdoors and having lunch after the race with friends was a great way to kickoff Spring.

Jake is just starting to go to restaurants more and more lately and does such a great job in a high chair keeping himself entertained. We keep him busy by feeding him solids or puffs..but for a majority of the time he will play with toys or survey the scene. He is such a busy body and likes to take everything in! I was a bit nervous after the race on Saturday, taking him out to lunch with the little energy I had after running the race..but thankfully he was such good little man!

Saturday night, Alex and I got to go to dinner with April & Greg and friends for April's upcoming birthday. I highly recommend Union Station Brewery in Providence - great beer & food! The little man got to spend some time at Grammy and Grampa's house and even got to sleep over. Amazingly, he is getting as big as the crib over there!



He is now sitting up in his tub as of a few days ago and now loves "tubby time" even more. It's cute to watch him splash like crazy and stop for a second as he gets water in his eyes..then he does it all over again. Here's a picture from tonight's bath time:




A shoutout to Jen Williams who finished her first ever race this weekend and did an awesome job!






The Gregsons welcome Spring and can't wait to spend more weekends outdoors!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy (belated) St Patrick's Day to you all! Jake enjoyed his first Green Holiday in style. He saved the Notre Dame jersey from Uncle Timmy for this very special day and wore it with great pride. After a long day at school he took his Mom and Dad to The Willows for some Corn Beef and a few drinks.

He was a hit at The Willows, smiling at anyone and everyone - sharing his cute Irish grin with the whole restaurant. He really loved all the action - the place was packed and he couldn't get enough of all the green and all the people. He especially had a grip on a few bottles..which made Mommy a little nervous.

** WARNING - There was no consumption of alcohol by anyone under the age of 9 months in the making of these pictures.


What are you drinking Mommy?



20 more years, really?




In other news....Jake's new favorite trick is clapping! If you say "YEAHHH" he will smile and clap for you. It is so cute to see. Today he was clapping a ton and also talking up a storm.. Dadda & Mamma being his favorite words, of course. We enjoyed our Wednesday together and got out for an hour for a walk down at the ocean with one of his favorite people, Dana and her polar bear dog. He loved the dog, and wants one for his 1st birthday. Please, do not buy him a dog. He also had a date with a few ladies tonight..one of them being Miss Sidney St Louis..they shared laughs over toys and had a great time!

Hope you all had a fun & safe St Patrick's Day!

Back to Jake

Thanks for all the well wishes..the little man is back to himself! He was pretty sick Thursday night and all day Friday. His fever seemed to "break" Friday night and Saturday he was much more himself. Friday, Alex and Grammy Deb took shifts taking care of him and cuddling the little guy back to health. Saturday I was home with him and he was so much more himself..walking around in his walker, bumping into every wall in the house and rolling around the floor searching for my cellphone.

Saturday afternoon we had a visit from cousin Mia and Auntie Courtney. Jake loved spending time with Mia and couldn't keep his eyes off of her. She was a big help - from helping at Jake's bath time to offering to "hold him" while I fed him before bed (now THAT would have been a sight!), she did it all. It is amazing that just a few years ago she was as tiny as he is. She is 4.5 years old now and just the cutest little girl ever! She loves to help and be the "big cousin". She also loves to ask questions about her own infancy and is so proud of the fact that she got to hand things down to Jake such as her crib and changing table.
Sunday the Gregsons hit Newport and Jake got to get out of the house for some fresh air! It was a treat for all three of us! Lunch and a little bit of shopping was exactly what the three of us needed!

Jake was back to "school" today after being out for several days and did very well. He hasn't been taking the bottle much for them - looking back now, it's most likely ear infections that caused this. Today he took two bottles and ate like a champ (he loves his solids!). He even napped for 1.5 hours in the morning - a huge feat for him! He normally naps great at home but at Daycare he is too busy checking everything out to sleep. He was more than ready for bedtime tonight (6:15 ish!) and went down like a champ.

So..we are extremely happy that Jake is feeling better! He goes back to the Dr. next Wednesday for a checkup of his ears. Let's hope the infections are gone and stay gone! Thanks again to everyone who checked in on him daily....and a BIG thanks to Grammy for all the extra TLC on Thursday & Friday.
Happy Monday! :)

Sick little man

We just got back not too long ago from the doctor. Jake was sent home from Daycare today with a 101.2 temp :(. He missed his date with Sidney last night (raincheck, Sid?) because he was a bit under the weather and it only got worse today.

He is a lucky boy and got to spend some time with Grammy who picked him up from Daycare and cuddled with him for a few hours before I got out. Alex met us and we brought Jake in tonight to the Dr..he has (another) double ear infection and had a temp of 103.3. The high temp is just so scary to me! Basically, they put him on a stronger medicine to knock the ear infections out. He had a double ear infection just 3 weeks ago, so they don't think he would respond to the same thing he was prescribed the last time. SO..he will take this new med and go back in two weeks to make sure they are both gone.

It is just so sad to see him this sick. His eyes are really glassy and he just isn't himself. He showed a few signs of the on the go guy he normally is today in his walker..but it didn't last too long. Hopefully, this stronger med kicks in quick and he is back to his non-stop self tomorrow! Alex will stay with him tomorrow and work a bit later and then Grammy will be back to hang out tomorrow afternoon.

Let's hope the nice weather comes soon so that all these germs and viruses go away! Bring on the sunshine and the outdoors!

Oh..he weighed in at 21.6 lbs...not too shabby!

Big Boy, Big Changes

In the past two weeks Jake has gone from his infant seat to a big boy car seat (a BIG thanks to M&M&H) and a new stroller! It took some time for him to get used to the reclining position of the infant seat to sitting up in the new car seat, but he is liking it more and more now.

His new wheels are great - he loves the ride. We brought him to the mall last week during nap time but he was too busy checking out the scene at the mall to nap! He loves strolling malls, and is looking forward to getting back to the beach this summer to walk the wall again. He has another sweet ride - an AWD Bob Jogging Stroller that we all can't wait to use once the weather cooperates. We have already planned to use this in May at: http://www.theraceforgrace.com/ in May. If anyone wants to join us, please let us know.

We are pretty new at this blog thing, so be patient with us as we test some things out! For now, while Jake naps, Mommy has some chores to do. Hope you are all enjoying this yucky Wednesday! Jake is resting up in preparation for his dinner date with Sidney tonight. What a lucky guy!

Trying it out

I thought i'd create a spot just for Jake.  A place for us to log his latest milestones, pictures and the happenings in our family.  It seems the past 8 months have gone by too quickly.  Each day I promise to document things, funny things he does or the dates of his "firsts", aside from jotting things in his baby book we haven't documented enough.  This will make it easier and even better - we will be able to share it with family and friends.

His latest milestone is finger foods. He has not mastered the whole "pick up a piece with pointer and thumb and insert food into mouth" trick, but he is trying. He loves to put puffs in his mouth and copy us by chewing on them as they quickly just desolve in his mouth . We have been helping him by putting the puffs in his mouth- but at a huge risk of losing our fingers. He currently has 8 teeth (yes, EIGHT) and can chew pretty well. We will probably move up to Cherrios soon, but Mommy just isn't ready for that!
He also has been driving around the house in his stylish new walker that Grammy bought him. It is a sight to see, and hopefully I can get a video of this up, with the help of Alex. Until we get a baby gate, we have put the stroller in the doorway to the kitchen to prevent him from going in there. He will plow his walker into the highchair, back up, plow into the high chair, back up..over and over until he has successfuly entered the kitchen. He is a human wrecking ball, but has loads of fun while doing it!