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Jake celebrated his birthday last Friday with a visit to the New England Aquarium. Alex and I both took the day off so that we could spend the day as a family, celebrating our little man. We both have birthdays in the summer and know it's really cool not to have to go to "school" on your birthday..so we hope for this for Jake for the next 18 years!

We started our morning by treating the little man to a "cold one" from DD. Whip cream and all! It was a kiddie coolata..very small but delicious all the same.



We spent the rest of the day watching the seals ("BIG" Seals"), turtles ("BIIIGGG Turtles") and fishies at their home in Boston.



I have to say, I was a bit surprised that he wouldn't touch anything in the hands on part. He loved looking at the crabs and star fish, but had no desire to touch them ! There was even a bronze statue of a turtle at one point and he was afraid to touch that as well! So cute.







We were able to walk Faneuil Hall after the visit to the fishies. Here, Jake got to ask Red what happened with the Celt's NBA Finals loss the night before...Red had no response. Typical.



Lunch at the Aquarium did not satisfy this Birthday Boy.. Frozen Yogurt topped it all off.










In all it was a great day..and a tiring one.


Happy 2nd Birthday Jake!

I know it's been said before...

.....but WHERE does time go? My "baby" will be two years old tomorrow. My b a b y. Two years ago tonight, I spent the night cleaning the house, taking a trip to Marshall's to shop, cooking dinner, comforting my stressed husband, counting minutes between contractions, and watching the Celtics win an NBA championship before heading off to the hospital. After going 5 days over my June 13th due date, I was SO ready to give birth! It was June, I was large and it was hot. I was also SO ready to be a Mom and meet this amazing little baby boy!

The past two years he has brought his Daddy and I more joy and happiness than we could have ever imagined. Although, the day he was born, I wish I could say was blissful and without mishaps. It wasn't the birth I had planned, but thankfully it was the happy ending we prayed for. I was sick, very sick during labor. After 24 hours of labor, 3 hours of pushing and much pain - Jake ended up being born with the umbilical cord around his neck. For a few moments (which seemed like an eternity) although neither of us admitted it to each other at the time, we weren't 100% sure he was OK. Pediatrics came running in and Jake was whisked away..Daddy didn't get to cut the umbilical cord and Mommy didn't immediatly hold her baby. These plans were replaced with him being taken away for "help". Apparently he was not well.. but thankfully the nurses and doctors gave him the "help" needed and we heard a quiet whimper and then not too long after, a nice cry. At those sounds, I lost it! I've never experienced tears of joy as I had at that moment. The flood gates opened. I'll never forget the nurse telling me "he is OK"..I said "I know, thats why im crying!!" Joy.

Sure, there have been stressful days since- nights holding a vomiting toddler, chasing him up and down the stairs countlessly, the first dreadful drop off days at not one but two daycare's, the one year mark that meant the end of nursing, the day he got tubes (I cried the most), his first burnt fingertips, crayon drawings on our dining room walls...but they are nothing compared to the days he has simply amazed us!

Just tonight Alex asked him if he saw the "digger" as we drove by it. Jake corrected him by telling him it was a "tractor". Whether it is the sound of his belly laugh when he ASKS us to tickle him, the way he holds your chin with both hands and plants a wet one on your lips, his requests for "big hug"s, his dance moves, his bed head with all the cow licks, his need to wear his "bip bops (flip flops) every day, the way he asks you to smell his feet (lol!) his nightly requests for "chicken nuggets, hamburgers, donuts, munchkins and ice cream" just minutes before he knows it's bedtime....there is A LOT to love about Jake.

Tomorrow we will celebrate his big day and head to the New England Aquarium. I can't wait to enjoy this special day with him! Next week, we will celebrate with a family/friend party. After all, we need more than just ONE day to celebrate this little boy.

Happy Birthday Jake man!

Vocab U larious!

Jake's vocab is getting pretty large and we love hearing his little voice say new things every day. My favorite, of course, happened just a few minutes ago.. Daddy was taking Jake up to bed, so I said " I love you, Jake". His response " I low, Mommy". He says love w/e the v and it melts my heart every time! He is very inquisitive and asks where people went, over and over. "Where Daddy go?" Where Titty (aka Zak the Kitty) go", "Where Bella go?" Bella is his FAVORITE dog, owned by Auntie Shelley and Uncle T T.
He is still very affectionate and randomly hugs and kisses us, all the time! His favorite song is Barney's "I Love you" song. While, I used to be very annoyed by it, pre-Jake..its adorable to hear him sing it! He has the alphabet song down pretty well too, and can count to 12 with ease.

He has "I want" down pat, and will say please and thank you often as well. "I want elmo apple juice" is a favorite. If we give him sandwhich of any kind, he calls it "lunch" but with a cute almost french accent! Strawberries and Kiwi are among his favorite fruits, as well as "nanas". He also like "bars" in the morning..cereal bars but isn't a fan when they break in half before he eats them. On weekends he likes to be spoiled with "nonuts" and "muchkins" at DD. Daddy loves to spoil him...
Fire "cucks" and "cocker" balls are some of his favorite objects and he loves to help daddy "mow, lawn". Whenever we see a couple together, he points at them and says "Mommy, Daddy?" He thinks everyone is a mommy and a daddy!

When I am driving home from his school and come up a few streets away, I have been asking him which way to turn to go home..he loves this game and points away! It's not very far away from the house that we play this, but he has it down pat!



Side note - This is in NO way to brag about J man.. I am just writing all of this in this blog so that I can look back with him and reread this information!

Congrats Mia

Our niece, Mia performed in her very first dance recital tonight and did so well! She was adorable in her dress and her dance moves were even cuter! I was a tad worried as to how Jake would do at this recital, but he sat on his YaYa's lap until intermission just watching all the pretty girls. At intermission, Papa was kind enough to buy him a few brownies..needless to say, he did NOT sit still after intermission. He and Mia were in the lobby for most of it and she and him did splits and dance..quite entertaining!

I only have pictures on my phone, so i'll share when I upload.

Had to share

This is a video of Jake attempting to use one of those Skip it toys after watching Mia do it..





Disregard the "diaper only" look..he went through two outfits today, kiddie pools!

Long Weekend!

We had a great long weekend and even got some things accomplished around the house. The lawn looks a bit better, we have a grill and a table for the deck AND the piles of laundry were finally put away! It was quite long both Sat and Sunday as Jake just didn't want to nap. Actually, Saturday he did..in the car. Didn't give Mommy and Daddy too much of a break..but we enjoyed the 3 days spent together as a family, none the less. Monday we celebrated Memorial Day with a trip to MA to the Thompson's home. It was a great day spent in the backyard - in the kiddie pool and on the trampoline.








Bring on June and the SUMMER!

For Auntie Kim

Have a great day Ahnieee...you are up very early today, but just think - in a few days you will be relaxing pool side with my friend Sydney! Have a great week and I hope the weekend comes quickly!

Love you!

Jake man

Elephants, Gregsons, Zebras and Giraffs

...all things found at the zoo on Monday! We decided a few weeks ago that when the craziness of the semester was over, when and only when we were ALL done with our classes, we would take a family day. Monday was that day - we took Jake to Roger Williams Zoo here in RI. I am NOT a huge zoo person, but found it pretty cool that we have a lovely zoo here in RI. Giraffs and Elephants hang out next to I-95! Jake had a great day and had the look of shock and pleasure on his face all day..something like this:



He LOVED every minute of it! It was a beautiful day and we spent a little over 3 hours walking the zoo and exploring all it had to offer. We could have stayed even longer, but nap time could not be lost! Jake continues to talk about the zoo..today I asked him if he saw seals and he told me yes, the were "back" aka black, and were in "wahwah" aka water. He told me he saw puppies and they were going "nuh-nights", aka they were sleeping. He also told me he saw a "G raff" eat "dass" (grass) and stretchhhh its neck. This is all true and I was a bit surprised that he remembered!

In other news, Jake is adjusting VERY well to his new daycare and loves it. Drop off has become easier and easier the past 3 weeks. We are all very happy about this.


Here are a few shots from this week...

Picture this!

Just wanted to add some, finally uploaded...

Happy Mother's Day

Jake is blessed to be surrounded by some amazing women...he wishes you ALL a very happy mother's day. We celebrated the weekend in Massachusetts with a birthday party for Auntie Shelley on Saturday and then lunch with YaYa on Sunday. Jake hung as long as he could at the birthday party, and was a huge hit! We stayed at Auntie Shelley's and Uncle T-T's house Saturday night and Jake made Mommy's day on Sunday by sleeping until 10:15 am! It was a blessing to wake up on Monther's Day with him sleeping between Alex and I. The kid LOVES to move around and roll all over..but what better way to wake up on this day than with him clutching my neck.

When I was younger my grandmother had this activity for us where she would have Courtney and I make a list of all the things we were to people.. back when I was about seven it went like this: sister, daughter, cousin, granddaughter, niece, friend. I remember trying to rack my brain to come up with as many things as I could. Well.. from time to time I'll make a mental note of the changes.. the relationship at the top of the list now is: Mommy. I can't even imagine life without our little man. Following the all important title of Mommy is Wife. Times get crazy lately with work, Jake, school, and all the other things going on in our hectic lives..and I do admit I take that role for granted. I am blessed to have an amazing husband who is my partner in parenthood, marriage and all that life throws at as. He is a constant supporter of anything I do in life..and I take that for granted too much. Love you alex!
The list goes on..daughter, sister, friend, Aunt, cousin, niece, friend, best friend, BFF, teammate, daugher in law, sister in law, co-worker, facebook friend (ha!)..and I am VERY lucky to be able to take on these roles and be in relationships with those who surround our family.



Love you & miss you, Gramma Bettie, thanks for the everlasting lessons you taught me.

Whether your list is long or short.. never take those around you for granted!

Birthday May!

Happppyyyy Birthday to some very special people in Jake's life. MiMi celebrated a birthday on Saturday and Papa on Sunday! We were very lucky to get to share in Mimi's celebration and hope to visit Papa REALLY soon!

Another month kicks off! Tomorrow starts a new chapter for Jake in his daycare chronicles! He starts at a local daycare tomorrow..after visiting it twice this past week, we think it's a great match!

More pics to come.. just wanted a quick shout-out to two of Jake's favorite peeps!

XOXOXOX to Mimi and Papa -- have a wonderful year!

Just Sayin'

While I have a few minutes i'll update with a few things that Jake can verbalize!

Where does an octopus live? "Oh Shin"
He can name all the animals and their noises.. my personal favorite "ew, ew, ah, ah" Monkey!

Yesterday I was teasing him and asking him wear his bathing suit was (knowing I was sitting on it)..Jake's response "Mommy have it". Today at school when a freind wasn't too nice Jake told his teacher (over and over) "Sue, he hit Jake" Sentences! Where did my baby go? "Honey", aka Hannah, is a friend at school and he loves to direct her: "Sit, Honey" "Read, Honey" "Book, Honey" This is his directing her at story time!

Favorites: Elmo & Barney, ducky boots and rain coat, goldfish

If he hangs out with someone and they leave "Where (insert name) GO? (again, over and over) If I ask him where Daddy is he says "work"..he loves trucks and yells BIG CUCK when we pass by even the smallest of "cucks". "Round, Rounds" are a favorite too (buses). Playing asketball, swimming, football (aka, "hot balls") and

As I type this, he is watching his new Elmo movie (thank you YAYA!), wearing his Ducky raincoat, boots, and pajamas all the while eating goldfish. Life is good..

Short

Has it really been THAT long since we updated?




Ok..so I am a bad blogger, does that make me a bad Mom? No - because I have been attending to other very important matters.. Jake, School, Work, Jake, School, Work and trying to keep up with other normal day to day things and family and friends. Easter was this month.. great weekend with YaYa visiting and a great day at MiMi's house. Not to mention we got up to MA to see Papa and family. Good times. Jake did not get a ton of candy this Easter, which was fab. Clothes, a basketball hoop (future MJ) and tons of Elmo stuff...he is loved and spoiled. Oh, and a GINORMOUS box of Goldfish. We will not be running out of snacks until about Christmas.

April = end of semester. I know I have a presentation looming over my head and I am sure Alex has stuff too. I try not to ask him, because just knowing what I have to do stresses me out. I can't stress for him too!


So...what can I update you on.. oh - Jake has is learner's permit and has started driving:

March Madness

Yet another month to fly by! We have been playing catchup up lately, it seems. Alex has had to work more hours at EHL and with the school year nearing an end (yah!!) I feel as though I've started the scramble to get stuff done. This month has had it's ups and downs..

Jake continues to pee on the potty, at times and shows a bit less interest but we are A OK with that! He did pee twice on it in one day last week at school. Apparently, he likes to keep up with the older boys and enjoys going into the big kid bathroom. This is not the only thing he likes to do with the older kids - basketball is his new love! The boys next door play and every day when we pull up to the house after school he looks over to their driveway and says "ball?". A walk outside now consists of walking to their basketball net and playing with their ball. It's so hard to convince him to play with his own (adult sized) basketball and not theirs. I have to say - I love the little athlete in him already! At school he longs to play at the big kid section where they have basketball hoop. Whenever I pick him up, as soon as we get through the gate he runs for the big kid area and wants to play with them. It breaks my heart to have to pull him away! Literally, PULL him away. Someday, Jake!

The stomach bug hit us all pretty hard last week..it was probably one of the longest weeks we have had. Thankfully, Jake had it for only a few hours (the vomiting at least) and was able to go to Sesame Street and see Elmo and gang! He was such a good boy, sat on our laps most of the time and a bit in his own chair. He loved the show!

April is fast approaching, as is Easter! With Easter comes a visit to MA to see some family on Saturday and some QT with Yaya, who will be coming to stay for a few nights. We are excited to see everyone!



Hugging Elmo

One person happy with all the rain.. loves his "quack quack" rain coat!







We're gonna keep on truckin'....




Will he go ??