Hoping for a Healthy Week

My goal for the week is for Jacob to make it to daycare each day. We kept him home from daycare Monday through Thursday last week until he was past the contagious stage of the Hand, Foot, Mouth virus. He was so lucky that he only got a mild case of it with just a few blisters and no fever or discomfort. He basically acted like his normal self all week. It was a real treat to be able to spend "bonus" time with him at home! It turns out that the virus was just contained between Jacob and his "girlfriend" at daycare. We've been told that he and this other girl spend a lot of time playing together and have been titled the couple in the room. So cute.

Just when we thought Jacob was healthy again, he spiked a 103 degree fever Friday night that lasted until Saturday afternoon. Jacob has been through lots of illnesses, but this is the first one that really brought him down. The poor kid couldn't stay awake and even fell asleep standing up while leaning against the couch waiting for his milk :( It turns out that he has an ear infection which is what we suspected since he started a new cold last week. His immune system was probably shot from fighting the other virus. Anyways as of last night, he was back to his old self and even fought us going to bed last night.

We had to cancel family visits this weekend, so it has turned into a very quiet weekend. We kept him home from church because we're following the "fever-free for 24 hours" rule before exposing him to other people. We're taking him to get a Halloween costume this afternoon and probably a trip to the shoe store to get his first pair of shoes. I am so excited to see how he does in them and maybe even take him outside to play for the first time!! (That is if we can tolerate those little black bugs that bite. All of our neighbors were complaining about them yesterday.)

Hopefully the next post will be a video of Jacob walking in his new shoes!!

Backlog of Posts

Well, I have several things to post about and instead of doing one long post, I decided to break them up into several ones - all below.

I have some extra time on my hands right now because Jacob is home from daycare for at least a couple of days due to having the Hand, Mouth, and Foot virus. We just discovered it yesterday, but he has probably had it for a few days now. This is a new one to me and all I could think of when he was diagnosed with it was Hoof and Mouth disease that animals get. He has been fortunate so far and really hasn't been affected by it too much. He never got a fever and he only has a few blisters on one of his hands, one on his foot, and a few in his mouth. Luckily he isn't bothered by them and eats and drinks fine.

10 Months

Jacob's new Colts jersey from his Aunt Brenda.

It seems like Jacob just keeps changing each month more than the last. His personality is really emerging and we are so blessed to have such a happy child. He smiles and happy noises all the time. Here is a rundown of what he's up to this month:

*Walking!! He can travel pretty far now and has learned how to make a turn and regain stability while wobbling.

*Eating - he has transitioned to table foods majority of the time and has done really well. He loves most food, but some of his favorites are fruit cocktail, mac & cheese, muffins, pancakes, corn, grilled cheese, and rice crispies cereal.

*He now drinks mostly from sippy cups (thank goodness!).

*He loves making new noises and trying new sounds. I actually had to shush him today so I could hear the TV! His weird sound of the moment is a spitting noise from his throat (kind of like a hawking noise, yeah gross).

*His curiousity is in overdrive and he loves checking things out. Sitting down these days is a luxury!

Speaking of noises, here is a fun video from the other night of Dan entertaining Jacob while I was getting his bottle ready before bed.

Sand, Sea, and Me

Jacob attended his first claass last Thursday at the Children's Discovery Museum called "Sand, Sea, and Me". Jacob's friend, Natalie, also went which made it even more fun. I was a little nervous about the sand part, but he did great. He got to play with water (briefly), sand, sea shells, and play-doh. It was all discovery for him but I think he had a good time. His favorite part was the toy fish that were passed out at the beginning of the class. He spend most of the class seeking other fish to hold and mouth. It was interesting with about 15 children aged 9 months to 18 months!

Jacob was more interested in clanging the two shovels together than being in the sand

His favorite fish

Visting Family

Jacob has had visits from his Uncle Dallas, Grandpa, and Great-Grandparents Mesnard in the last few weeks. Here are some snapshots of those fun times!

Silly Uncle Dallas



Wagon rides with Grandpa

Playing with great-grandparents

Getting into Trouble

Now that Jacob is mobile, he gets into everything. We have been babyproofing as we go when we see what he gets into. Below are some pictures of his favorites. There is also a video of one night when Jacob decided that he didn't want to wear his shirt anymore. He has learned how to pull off his bibs, but this was a first!

On the hunt for food

Must be thirsty

Pushing his high chair

Playing with Rascal's crate

Tired of wearing his shirt

Too Excited to Sleep

Yesterday was a first for Jacob. When I pick Jacob at from daycare, I get a detailed report of what and how much he ate, how many diaper changes he had and what kind they were, and the times and lengths of his naps. Sometimes things are accidentally left off and I have to ask them to fill in the gaps for me. When I saw that he only had one nap yesterday - 9:15-11:15 - I figured the afternoon nap didn't get written down. Nope. Uh uh. This is a first for Jacob. Mind you, he is just now starting to skip his evening nap after dinner. He refused to nap last night either and didn't go to bed until 9:00!! You think that he would have been cranky, but he was super-hyper and happy the whole night. I definitely saw an improvement in his walking yesterday and he was much steadier standing by himself too, so maybe he just felt practicing his new skills was more important than napping!

I hope to have lots of pictures in my next post since it's been awhile, so stay tuned :)

Small Steps

Jacob took his first official steps last Monday (Labor Day)! We first thought it was a fluke, but then he kept doing it. Each day he walks a little better than the last, but he still has a ways to go before he takes off I think. The farthest he has gone is about five feet before falling. We try and work with him and encourage to walk to us, but he actually does his best when he lets go with his own free will and walks to his own destination. It is such a strange sight to see someone so tiny walk.

In other developments, Jacob crawled up the stairs for the first time this weekend. Although it was my idea, I'm not sure how I feel about it. Now that he's been exposed to the stairs, he has more curiosity about them. We are searching for a gate to put at the top of the stairs so we don't have to worry about any tumbles, but have yet to find one wide enough and convenient enough for us to pass through easily.

Jacob isn't very interested in his toys lately because he would much rather explore and look for trouble. We had to put a latch on our pantry because everytime we turned around he was in it. It is so exhausting chasing after him, but we are really enjoying this stage that he is in right now!!