Mag Mile Light Parade

We took Jacoby downtown on Saturday night for the Magnificent Mile Light Parade. He was so excited from the moment we stepped out the door his little legs were kicking and he could not wait!

When we got there he was all smiles and loved all the attention he was getting from the crowd. Jarod put him on his shoulders so he could have a better view and Jacobes loved it! He stayed up there the entire time!

There were some pretty cool floats and the Plain White Tees were preforming. It was a little chilly but actually it was pretty nice for a November night in Chicago.

Jacoby loved the big balloons and all the lights! He kept going oooo every time something went by. One of the highlights was the ambulance that went by. Jacoby loves the sirens and everything stops in our house when they go by.

He was such a good boy and we had a great time!

Let the Holiday festivities begin!!

I Cannot Believe....

that I just sent this out!!! Oh my goodness I cannot believe how fast it has gone by! It makes me cry every time I think about it. I have tried to savor all of the moments with him and remember each phase but is it possible that I wish that I would have just stared at him for 12 months because it seems like he just grew up so quickly that some how I have missed it!
It seems like just yesterday he was a new baby and I was a new mommy and we were both trying to figure everything out. Wow, how much we have both grown in the last year! And oh how we love each other!!

11 Months Old!

Can it be that my baby is 11 months old! It makes me so sad that he will be one pretty soon! He is changing so quickly that in the last two weeks he is doing ever more stuff but I will write this like I was on the ball and did it the day he turned 11 months!

1. I love this little boy so much! He is such a love bug! He loves to cuddle and give slobbery kisses but he has added big bear hugs now as well. They are the best!! He grabs on tight, lays his head down on your shoulder and squeezes. It gets us every time!

2. He is such a mama's boy! If he has his mama he is a happy camper! It doesn't matter where we are or what we are doing all he needs is his mama and he is just fine.

3. Is talking up a storm! I cannot believe how much he can talk and he is very early on all of this so every time he does I am so surprised and don't believe he is actually saying it until the 12th time he does. At 11 months he says, Mama, Dadya (that is what he calls his dad so cute!!), uh-oh, ball. If you ask him what a cow says he says "mmmmmoo". He has to say "hi" to everyone on the street and if they don't say hi back he says it louder until he gets there attention. I think that was all he was saying at 11 months he has a few more now but we will wait until next month to post.

4. Takes 2 really good naps and is doing so much better at night

5. Loves to eat and his new favorite thing is blueberries! He cannot get enough of them! He also likes pizza, pasta, pancakes, peas, corn, spinach and pretty much anything else you give him.

6. Can crawl ridiculously fast with his little kick stand crawl. He stands all the time by himself but he isn't that interested in walking yet. He knows he can get there faster by crawling. Cruises around everything though including walking down the walls.

7. Is really starting to enjoy his books and likes to read the ones that have the touch and feel or the pop-ups. One of his favorite books right now is a Halloween book that has things you can touch but the only thing he likes is the black cat and he laughs every time. He also like the where is baby book where you flip it up and there is a baby hiding. He thinks it is so funny!

8. Knows all the hand motions to itsy bitsey spider, wheels on the bus and patty cake. I didn't know he knew patty cake but the other day I was changing his diaper and was singing to him like usual and he started doing it! I couldn't believe it!

9. Likes to pretend he is talking on the phone and starts the conversation out by saying hi and then just babbles.

10. Shakes his head no and will nod for yes but prefers no

11. Is our one tooth wonder! The second tooth has been sitting there for about a month and he got his first tooth on October 20. It is pretty cute!

12. He is such a good baby!

He is so much fun and keeps us laughing constantly!

Our Little Monkey

The Wednesday before Halloween we headed over to Oz Park for a costume parade! Daddy came home from work early to come with us.

Jacoby went as a monkey this year for Halloween. I left it up to Jarod to decide on his costume and Jarod thought he needed to be a monkey since he loves the monkeys at the zoo so much. We loved his costume and it was perfect for him!

Daddy and his monkey!

Me and my little monkey!

By the way, I want to make sure to point out that we don't have heavy coats on and it was the end of October! It was beautiful!!

After the parade all the kids went in to the park and played. Jacoby was having a blast watching all of the cows, super heroes, princesses and other animals run around.

He was very interested in what was going on.

He was so cute in his costume and he actually really liked it. He liked to suck on his tail and with his crawl he does he really did look like a monkey.

The next day, Lindsey and I took Jacoby and Nella to have their pictures taken. Jacoby was so funny having his done, you would think he was a professional the way he was posing for pictures. They turned out so cute!

Then on Friday, I took Jacoby in his costume to see Jarod at work. He was such a hit and Jarod loved taking him around.

On Halloween, since he had been in his costume for three straight days and it was really cold that day we decided to celebrate Halloween we would head down to Michigan Avenue and do some shopping! We had a great time!

Jacoby's first Halloween was so much fun! I wonder what our little monkey will be next year??

Carving Pumpkins

We were so excited to carve pumpkins this year because we knew that Jacoby would love it and boy were we right! We moved all the furniture around and threw down some newspaper stripped the boy down to his diaper and let him dig in. So fun!

Our little pumpkin!

He was very interested and it took him a few minutes to warm up to the idea of putting his hands in the pumpkin

He had to examine it and make sure it was ok, like he does everything, and once he decided it was ok he was so helpful!

He loves playing with the seeds and the slime. He thought it was hysterical when Daddy put the top on his head!

Then it was down to serious business with the spoon!

He couldn't even sit down!

Jacoby checking out the finished product.

He is so cute and I am talking about the baby not the pumpkin!

He thought it was really cool when we lit the candle. He kept going wooooo!

Our finished pumpkin! We called it our Jacobolantern! We carved it with two big eyes, a button nose and two little teeth on the bottom just like our little pumpkin!

Dow City and Omaha

In October we flew to Omaha for Jarod's cousin Katie's wedding. Before the festivities started we flew in and drove straight to Iowa to see Jarod's Grandma. It was so good to see her and show Jacoby Dow City, population like 100!

Then we drove back to Omaha to get there just in time for the rehearsal dinner. I didn't take any pictures of that but we had a good time. Katie and her husband Wes live in San Diego. I have to tell you we were a little disappointed they didn't have the wedding in SD but we had a great time in Omaha.

They had the wedding at the Creighton chapel. It was beautiful!

Her dress was amazing!! So simple and elegant.

I didn't see much of the ceremony because I was hiding in the back of the church feeding Jacoby.

The girls looked so cute! This is only three of them but a great pic of Cleo, Ava and Mia.

The wedding was in the morning and we had a big break until the reception that night so we went back to Dave and Betty's for some tailgating chili. They put Chili in a Frito bag- not even joking. I had never seen that before. I would love to tell you how it was but I am not a big Frito fan but the chili was good. We took Jacoby to the park and he even got a great nap in before we headed to the reception in downtown Omaha at a really cool old warehouse.

I love this picture of Jacoby!! He was busy playing with the kids in the window.

He was on the move all night long- whether walking with Daddy

playing with Cleo and the other kids

or dancing on the dance floor- his favorite!!!

He was hysterical on the dance floor! He didn't even have time to pose for a picture. I wish I would have gotten more pics of him out there dancing. He was doing the worm and was getting his groove on by rocking back and forth and clear up on his toes. He would crawl around in a circle then sit down and clap along. He was so funny! He had some moves and I know he didn't get them from his Daddy :)

Our very tired boy after dancing on the dance floor for 2 hours! We could not get him off!

The next morning he woke up and was excited to play with Trey! We stayed with Kara and Kyle and the boys had so much fun playing with each other.

We had a great time in Omaha and the wedding was beautiful!

Brayden and Jacoby

It is always so much fun to get these two little boys together and I am sure that they are going to love these bath pictures some day!! Jacoby ready to get in even though you can tell he feels like crap! His poor eyes!

They were so cute in the bath tub together

They splashed around for a little while

and then their dads attacked them with wash clothes while the mommies took pictures!

Jacoby didn't last very long though and he was ready to get out. He always has to look at his clean self when he gets out of the tub.

Brayden and Diego just chillin

until Jacoby showed up!

Brayden was very interested in Jacoby and watched him the entire time. Jacoby was busy exploring the house at the river.

Jacobes has a few inches on Brayden I would say but look how sweet Brayden is giving him hugs.

We finally got Jacoby to hold still for a picture of the two of them together! They are too cute and it is so fun to have them so close in age! I am sure next time we are together they will be chasing each other.