Standing Proud

I have been meaning to post this picture forever and I finally got around to it! This picture was taken one evening while Jarod was at school so Jacoby and I headed down to the Lake for some Mommy and Jacoby time. We laughed and played and just enjoyed each other. It was a wonderful night with my sweet baby.
While we were playing I caught a glimpse of our shadows and it was so Jacoby that I had to take a picture. When you hold Jacoby, if he is not in the mood to cuddle, he sticks his chest out and puts his arms back. He doesn't help you hold him very well and it looks like he is so proud of himself and just happy to be here.
I sat there in that moment and told him, with him looking at me like I was crazy, that I hoped that he would always stand as proud as he does now. I hope he is always just happy to be here. I hope that it will give him confidence to know how much I love him. I hope that he will always stand firm in who he is with his chest out and his arms back with those beautiful big blue eyes and smile!
And then I kissed his beautiful face and he grinned and laughed at me like he got it and I hope that he did!

My Little Man

I downloaded some of my pics of my phone and loved these three so I thought I would post them!!

He is just so full of personality and love! I just love him!

Jacoby and Nella

We were at a play group on Monday with lots of babies from our neighborhood but Jacoby has been quite taken with his little friend Nella!

The poor little girl! He would not leave her alone.

He started touching her hair and grabbing her face. Nella didn't mind a bit she was having too much fun with the water bottle.

Then he moved on to grabbing her head and trying to give her kisses. It was so cute!!

He kept doing it and going at her head with his mouth wide open. We thought it was adorable and were egging him on...

so we could get this cute picture of him kissing on Nella!

They are so cute together and we are so lucky to have them live so close and that Nella's Mommy stays home too.

Obama Sighting

Today I got a text message from my friend Lindsey that she was standing on the corner waiting to see Obama drive by near my house, so of course I wanted to go out and see the motorcade as well. How often does the President of the United States drive by? Lacy, Jacoby and I headed out the door around 3:30 and it was sunny and beautiful. We walked and found Lindsey and her daughter Nella and hung out for a while. President Obama was suppose to go by around 4-5 on his way to a fundraiser in my neighborhood that the tickets started at $30,000. So we settled in and were busy neighbor watching while we waited.
There was a little boy around 4 that had these cute Obama cookies and he was offering them to everyone waiting for the parade. One of the many police officers asked him if he made the cookies and he said, "nope, my chef did" without missing a beat. Yep, his chef made them! This little boy was there with an entourage that included his chef, his nanny and another lady that I am not sure what her job was but she was taking pictures. Maybe he already travels with his own paparazzi. We thought it was hysterical!!
On the other corner there was this cute white dog that had this very fancy collar on and leash. The lady started talking to us about our babies and how cute they were and we spoke to her for a few minutes before she started up a conversation with another lady by us about her dog taking piano lessons! Yes, her lap dog plays the piano and even takes lessons!!
Oh I have interesting neighbors!!!
Then it started to rain... I mean pour down on top of us so we found a tree and tried to keep the babies dry while we still waited and waited.
After waiting for over two hours, he was delayed due to the perfect game by the White Sox and the weather, Obama and his 40 car motorcade went blazing by us as we stood and watched from the side of the street drenched and then we had to walk home in the pouring rain.
It was an interesting day but at least I can say that I saw Obama and I can add it to Jacoby's baby book.

FIRST CUBS GAME!!!!

Jarod has been dreaming of the day that he got to take his own child to a Cub's game for years! Every time we would talk about kids and what we were looking forward to doing with them this was very high on Jarod's list. That dream came through on July 5 when the Chicago Cubs took on the Milwaukee Brewers and Jarod was able to take his son to the game! Jacoby wasn't sure what he thought about Wrigley field when we sat down and his eyes were huge but he warmed up immediately and LOVED it!!

We had great seats on the first base side in the shade for the munkin.

Jacoby was so funny and thought everyone was cheering for him!! He had huge smiles and was watching everyone clap intently. Before we knew it... he was clapping! Jacoby learned to clap at 7 months at his first Cubs game!!!

We were having a blast and the Cubs were giving us a lot to cheer about.

Jacoby was very interested in our Cubs hats and thought he needed to wear one.

Jacoby saw his first home run at Wrigley field by Jake Fox. We thought it was very fitting that another Jake hit the first home run. He liked it because everyone went crazy!!

He really enjoyed watching the vendors walking up and down the aisles and he made friends with everyone around us. He is such a social little guy!

Daddy and Jacoby singing the 7th inning stretch! Jarod had been waiting for this moment. It is Jacoby's favorite song and plays quite often in his Cubbie's nursery.

It was so much fun to watch Jarod and how excited he was to be there with Jacoby and I am so glad that Jacoby loved it just as much!! I love this picture!!!

We were also relieved that the Cubs won at his first game. The Cubs beat the Brewers 6-2 and we even got to sing the Go Cubs, Go!! song.

What a great day and I am so glad that it was everything that Jarod thought it would be and more. I have a feeling this will be the first of many Cubs games that Jacoby attends with his Daddy.

All American Boy- Happy 4th of July!

We had a great 4th of July in one of the best cities! July 4 in Chicago is a lot of fun!! The city goes way out and there is so much going on. it is one of those days that I love where I live.
Connor and Laurel were visiting for the weekend so during the day on the third we hit the beach and enjoyed the sun and later that night we headed back down to the beach for the fireworks.

Lucky for us, Jacoby was in a festive mood as well. He took a really late nap so we were able to enjoy the festivities on the night of July 3. Yep, they have the fireworks here the night before. Not sure why but we were glad they did this year because it rained on the 4th and the 3rd was beautiful. Connor and Laurel headed down closer to the fireworks with the 3 million other people but we decided to have a little bit quieter of a night.

Jacoby was very interested in everything that was going on and really all he wanted to do was get his hands in the sand.

I wondered how he would do with the fireworks but the didn't phase him a bit. Granted we were a ways away so it wasn't too loud.

When we left our house it was really warm but it quickly cooled off and I was pulling every layer I had out of the stroller and diaper bag. We didn't make it all the way through the fireworks before Jacoby was ready to go to bed but it was really neat to be down there for a while.

As we were walking home, Jacoby saw his first firefly! He was much more impressed with that than any of the fireworks. I was so excited!!! I love them and was so excited that he saw his first one. It was a great ending to a great day!

The next day, we got Jacoby all dressed up in his Fourth of July attire. He was so excited and wanted to show it off :)

Jarod got dressed in his red for the day and we headed to the park to play some boccie ball with Laurel and Connor in the rain. We had a lot of fun. Jacoby was hysterical and kept tryinig to take the balls from his dad and put his mouth on them since he was in the Bjorn.

Later that night, we went out to dinner at Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba. It was really good and Jacoby was a very good little boy. We had to laugh though because the last time we were there he was tiny and slept the entire time. Not this time. We had to be careful where we were putting all the plates as they were bringing out the courses and we entertained him with straws. Wow, what a difference a few months makes at this age.

We had a great weekend and it was nice to be home for the Fourth this year! We are so lucky to live in a land where we are free. My thoughts drifted to my Grandpa a few times that day and all the service he gave to our country during his lifetime. I am so thankful for the men and women who fight for our country and sacrifice so much!!

7 Month Old Cutie!!

This little boy melts my heart!!! He is just the cutest and so full of personality! 7 months old- wow!!! He has changed so much in the last month it is crazy!! Here are a few things so I remember.

1. Loves his Mommy and my hair. When he is eating or falling asleep he makes big arm circles and twirls my hair and when he gets a handful he pulls it and puts it in his mouth. I can't believe that I am not bald by this point. I get so many kisses and sweet cuddles through out the day. I love it!!

2. He gets so excited when his Daddy gets home

3. Loves to eat!! He has liked everything that we have given him so far except for mashed potatoes?? His favorite right now is peas.

4. Can stand up on his own but I try to not let him because I know I am in trouble as soon as he is more mobile

5. Rolls every where and loves to sit up and play with his toys or in his excersaucer

6. Starts kicking his legs and gets all excited as soon as we walk out the door or as soon as we see the park. Loves to go on walks and hang out for hours in his Bob as long as we are outside.

7. His little legs are starting to get chubby and I love it!!

8. Loves going to swim lessons and playing with other kids

9. Laughs and laughs! He is a very happy little boy.

I just love him!!!

So Happy Together

Six Years!

Every year we go on vacation over our Anniversary and this year we celebrated our 6th year! I can't believe it! It was a little bit different of a trip to have our baby with us but we had a great time!

For our anniversary we went out for a nice dinner right on the ocean for seafood. It was great because Jacoby was distracted the entire time with everything that was going on so we actually had a nice meal and didn't even have to hurry.

After dinner, we headed down to the beach to try and get some pictures of our little family.

Jarod was busy snapping pictures of just me because we kept having to ask random people to take out pictures.

Jacoby was not cooperating and instead decided that he needed to be louder than the waves that were crashing behind us.

So we threw him up in the air...

and put him back in the sand to try and get some more pics.

He was so happy to be down and playing in the sand and I didn't even have him on a towel this time. He was in heaven.

Then it was back to taking more pics and he just kept longing for the sand.

I love these kisses! His new thing is to grab your face and open his mouth wide and give you big kisses! I love it!! It was the best anniversary gift I could have asked for.

I can't believe it has been 6 years since we got married. It has gone by so fast and they have been the best years of my life! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband who is such an amazing man and Daddy! I love you Jar! Happy 6th Anniversary!!

Destin, Florida

The next morning we headed to the beach really early to beat the sun for our white child. Jacoby was so excited to see the ocean until we got close enough that he thought we were taking him in. He didn't cry but he would bury his head in our shoulder and be really quiet like he was begging us not to take him out there. We of course listened

and let him play in the sand instead.

We kept trying to take pictures of him but there was too much going on to be bothered.

Even though Jacoby didn't want to get in, I couldn't wait!!

The water was 80 degrees and perfect!

The waves are big enough that you can body surf but there isn't much undertow so you don't get pulled back out. Jarod and I had a great time trading off playing in the surf and playing with our son.

After the beach, we took Jacoby to the pool and we found his new love!! He loved the pool and would have stayed there all day if we would have let him.