Sitting Up Now!

Jacob's trick for January was learning how to sit up.  Brett was especially good at helping him get lots of practice and the two of them have watched lots of baby Einstein while sitting up.  Jacob looooooves baby Einstein and would do endless tummy time and sitting up time if it meant that he would get to watch Baby Einstein.  He likes the "Leapfrog Letter Factory" but not near as well as Baby Beethoven & Baby Mozart.

Here he is practicing. . . still leaning way over :)

I've got to get those cups!

I love my daddy!

Mommy home for lunch on a teacher work day!  What a nice surprise!

Propping myself up with my hands!  In just a few short weeks, he is a pro at sitting up and can stay there for minutes at a time.  Our sweet one is growing up so fast!

A little about Jacob. . .

So, the first week in January Brett had an all week seminary class to take and we had to find someone to help keep Jacob.  We had a wonderful friend from our church offer to help us out.  Charee was great with Jacob (he loves her now) and Jacob especially enjoyed watching their two year old little boy Brayden as he ran around the house!  I wrote her a little letter explaining Jacob's daily schedule.  I'm including it here so that I'll have it in my blog book when I print it out this December.  I realize that not everyone wants to know his daily schedule!  So. . . unless you are Nana, Mimi, Papa Stan, or Papa. . . you might not care to read the following!

A Little about Jacob. . .

Thanks so much for watching him for us Charee!  We feel so good about having him at your house and know he will be so safe and have a great time with Brayden!   Here are some random tidbits about how we usually spend our days at home.  Do what works for you, I know you just wanted to know what he was used to.

Contact numbers:

KATHERINE CELL:  706-599-6103

BRETT CELL:  706-244-4646

KATHERINE WORK:  919-496-3975 (Just ask for Mrs. Sanders and let them know you HAVE to talk to me even though I have a class.  Otherwise, they will send you to my voicemail if I have students)

DAILY SCHEDULE:  Jacob usually follows a 2.5-3.5 feeding schedule during the day.  He wakes up, eats, has wake time, and then takes another nap.  From the time he wakes up (and starts to eat) he is normally able to stay awake for about 1.5-2 hours.  2 hours is the longest he ever stays awake.  Many days he won’t last over 1.5 hours for any of his awake times.  He will pretty much let you know when he is ready to go down by getting a little fussy.  We just repeat this cycle all day long!

FEEDING TIME:  We offer Jacob 8oz for each feeding time, though he might only take anywhere from 5-8oz of the bottle.  You can just throw the rest out.  He has gotten to where he doesn’t really need to burp until the very end, since sometimes he decides he won’t take the bottle back if we stop too soon to burp him.  He doesn’t spit up much at all, but we keep a bib on him during feedings and during the day because of all the drool!  When he is done with the bottle, he very adamantly refuses to eat more!  It is pretty unusual for him to do that before eating 5 oz though.  It’s funny though, because he will be eating away. . . and then is suddenly like, I’M DONE mom!

AWAKE TIME:  Here are some of the things he loves:  any kind of music, being read to, his cups, the exersaucer,  etc.  His favorite toy is the exersaucer.  He loves to be held standing up and will just walk around the house with me cleaning up and not get bored J  He likes that play mat that you were talking about with the stuff that hangs down as well.  We try to give him 3-5 minutes of tummy time each time he is awake and just put something fun in front of him while he does it.  He will let you know when he done with tummy time by getting fussy.  He doesn’t particularly love tummy time, but the dr said we should do it every time he is awake.

NAP TIME:  When he is ready to go down, I usually change his diaper one last time and then put him in his sleep sack to sleep.  He fusses for a 5-10 minutes (not really crying to bad, just whining).  He loves the sound machine on the rain setting.  He naps for anywhere from 1hr to 2 hours.  Usually it is closer to 1 hour.  He is almost always hungry when he wakes up, even if it has only been 2.5 hours between feedings.  If he really wakes up early, sometimes I can rock him back to sleep for a minute and he will finish the nap.  Normally, if he wakes up after like 30 minutes it is because he’s hungry.

It makes me laugh to see how much I told her!  She is such a great mom and didn't need any info. . . it was just for me!

Jacob's Fifth Month

Our sweet boy continued to develop the sweetest personality this month!  He is so pleasant to be around and pretty much only cries when falling asleep and when he is ready to move on to the next thing!  The best word to describe him is BUSY!  Those little hands are busy finding things to touch, his little mouth is busy tasting all the toys, and his little feet are kicking kicking!  We find ourselves laughing at all his new tricks all the time!

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Here he is in the middle of December in his camo :)

He is not really sure what to think about the Johnny Jump up.  It is the one toy in his life that he doesn't like yet.

Exersaucer time still requires a towel for now. . . but not for long!

Helping daddy watch some NFL games

Precious one!

At night after work, I sometimes would like to just sit in the rocker and hold him for the time in-between his early evening and late evening feeding.  Here, Brett caught us both sleeping.

Daddy likes to hold the sleeping baby too.

Sometimes I'm not happy and this is my MAD face!

Checking out my monkeys

Our sweet happy boy!

Jacob loves to have books read to him.  We probably read 4-5 to him every time he is awake between naps.

Hanging out with daddy at Kristi's rehearsal dinner.

Uncle Stan before the dinner.

Family shot--Brett was burning up in his big sweater!

Sisters and babies--Hannah soon to arrive!

Jacob loves Mimi!

Christmas at the Roberts

With two little ones running around the house (well one running, one sitting), things were BUSY at Mimi & Papa Stan's!  We were starting our day at 6am every morning with Jacob's bottle.  Normally, we could sneak him downstairs to eat without waking Emily up.  A couple of mornings though, she heard him and had to see "Baycup!"  She just loves Jacob & he loves her too!  They are going to be best friends!

He's not too sure about her right here :)

And then she's not too sure about him!

Papa Stan playing with the kiddos and Em's new Elmo

I took this pic to prove how crazy things were.  Dad, Steph, & Bert are working at the counter, Stan wayne is watching Em, Jacob is playing and Mom is setting the table.  It was a zoo!

Mimi playing with the new pinwheels that she got for Jacob.

Uncle "Tan" with Jacob y Emmy.

Aunt Lauren even came up for a quick visit!

Mimi & Jacob snuggles on our last day there.

Aunt Stephanie loves Jacob :)

So does Uncle Bert!

Jacob being adorable at the Supper Club Christmas party.

He loves his mommy!

Family shot + emmy on Christmas day!

The happy cousins :)

Jacob really liked this Elmo.  Maybe next year?  What a fun time it was with the little ones this year!  Next year we'll even have more with little Hannah (my sister's second baby--due any day now!).  What blessings these little ones are :)

Christmas with the Sanders

Christmas at the Sanders house began on Thursday morning before Christmas.  We woke up @ 5:30 am to pack the car and be ready to feed Jacob his first bottle.  After we had his belly full, we loaded him in the car and headed to drop Chloe off at Mrs. Joyce's.  With doggy gone and baby sleepy, we were ready to ride!

 Jacob was so happy at Nana & Papa's house!  He loved all the attention and did a great job taking naps in his pack n play.

 Here he is playing with his daddy!  Brett does the best job at making him laugh :)

Nana bought Jacob this cute outfit to wear to Kristi's wedding!  Jacob was sooooo handsome!

Jacob loved hanging out with his Papa.  Here they are reading a book about birds.  As you can see, Jacob is very interested!

Papa getting some feeding time snuggles!

Jacob is starting to LOVE his exersaucer around this time.  We toted it all the way down with us because it is such a fun part of his day!

Hanging out on the front porch with Papa.

Jacob liked being snuggled by Granny Martha.

Checking out the giraffe with Aunt Sandy.

Posing for a picture with my cousins!  It was hard to get little Clark to sit very still with his "fingernails" on!  Grady and Raelyn especially liked to hold little Jacob.  Grady had patiently waited his turn to hold Jacob after Raelyn :)  So sweet!

Jacob wasn't sure about the kisses . . .

But he already LOVES his cousins!

Saying hey to Uncle Clint

Opening presents with Mommy and Daddy!  He was so sleepy right here and ready to go down for the night.  I am sure next year he will be wide open!

Giving Aunt Rachel a hug

Christmas was so special with our little one!