The new things Jakey can do

Jacob can sleep in his own bed. Jacob no longer uses a pacifier. Jacob loves to kiss mommy's belly and tell his brother that he loves him. Jacob's new hobby is climbing and manuevering furniture to get what he wants. Jacob is learning how to pedal his tricycle. Jacob has learned how to read a few words: cat, dog, elephant, gorilla, tiger, baby, mouth, nose, eyes, wave, and reach. Jacob has picked up on a lot of new words, such as oh no, i want that, i want this, that's funny, mommmm pleeeaaasssse. Below are pictures of him taken from last Sunday before heading to church. He likes to say, cheese when he sees the camera.

Jacob reading.

We are having a.......

...well, let's put it this way...we won't have to change our nursery and buy tons of new clothes because we are expecting another baby boy! We are beyond excited...sooooo happy!! Jacob is going to have a little baby brother! Hooray!

Growing up fast!

Jacob amazes me. He's had a big month...from no more bottles to sippy cups, to sleeping in his own bed, to taking away milk in the middle of the night...he's done all of that in the last 3-4 weeks. He transitioned very well and we were so worried, but he was ready. The next step is taking his wubbanub away, which is going to be hard. We'll give him 2 more weeks and then it'll be bye bye to his pacifier. We've also been prepping him for potty training. I'm not sure when to start. We'll see.

Jacob can say lots of words, make lots of sounds, and can read three words! He can read the words; cat, dog, and clap. He's very smart! His favorite hobby is playing GAMES! If you say the word, "game(s)" he'll go nuts! He'll jump up, scream, laugh, run in circles, and wait by the hallway for me to get up to play the games with him. Games that we play are puzzles, peg boards, stringing beads, stacking cubes, building blocks, card games, and books! It usually takes us at least an hour to play everything. He will not give up until ALL games have been played.

Jacob also loves to pray. He's knows when to fold his arms and sometimes bow his head. Just this last Wednesday, he said his first prayer. He said (with my help, of course), "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for my family, I love you, In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." We were so proud of him. The next night, he said it again. Now, he does it every night...that is after we read his two favorite books at the moment...The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Sometimes we try to convince him that we'll read it the next day, but he won't let us pray until the books are read.

As you can see, Jacob has grown a lot...becoming somewhat independent. However, with all that energy he has, he is a handful. He likes to be kept busy. He likes all of the attention. If not received, he will definitely give us a hard time, such as ripping keys from the laptop, giving Gracie toys to chew, throwing toys on the floor or against the wall, etc. Having mentioned all the great and not so great things, we are truly blessed with a healthy 2 year old boy who continues to help us believe in miracles and the blessings that comes with being obedient.

Progesterone Shot

Today's appointment went well. We heard the baby's heartbeat and was able to get an ultrasound. I feel so much better. I also received my first progesterone shot and it went a million times better than I had imagined. The needle was thick, but it was not painful...just a small pinch. I will get the same shot every week for four months. It's really not that bad. I guess I can sleep better at night now since I know what to expect each week.

We have successfully weaned Jacob off the bottle for a week and a half now. The transition was so smooth! We are now working on getting him to sleep on his own THOMAS bed. =) After we accomplish that goal, the pacifier will be taken away. That will be difficult for us because he's so attached to it. Lastly, we've got to get him potty trained before the next baby and get him ready for preschool next August. WOW...Jacob has a big year ahead of him. We've also started him on the Your Baby Can Read program. I think it's a great investment and we definitely enjoy the quality time that comes along with teaching him new words and new skills.

Our babysitter is awesome, she has a lot of patience with him and diligently works with him. We were so happy to come home and see his art project posted on our fridge. We are lucky to have her with us.

Jacob is 2 years old!

Jacob turned two today! We were really fortunate that one of our good friends gave Jacob a set of 15+ Thomas and Friends trains and a complete set of tracks with all sorts of fun stuff. That saved us at least 250.00! Jacob has been super busy the last few days playing with them. So, for his birthday, we decided to buy him a train table to go with it. After putting him down to bed, Jeremiah quickly put the table together. However, it took the both of us about two hours to figure out how put the tracks together. It was so funny. We were trying to make it fancy and nice. We finally went to bed and I couldn't sleep at all because I was too excited to surprise Jacob in the morning. Well, we woke him up and he wasn't too thrilled about that...a few tears, but when he walked into the family room and saw the train set...boy, was he happy! He didn't want to show his excitement right away, but after a few seconds, you can see him grinning ear to ear! He must have had a busy day because when I got home at 11:30 today, I saw both of the boys sprawled out on the couch, fast asleep!

So how am I doing? I haven't posted for quite some time about the pregnancy because I've been worried. Just last week, I experienced some sharp pains and cramps and tried to wait it out for my appointment today with the perinatologist. The pain got worst and by 9pm the next night, I finally called the nurse. She recommended seeing a doctor because of my history with pre-term labor. I went in and the doctor told me that he was going to do a cervical exam. I said, NO, but knew it had to be done to figure out why I was hurting so much. Well, it turned out to be some ligament pain, which the nurse on the phone said I was too early in my pregnancy to experience. Since then, I've had the same pains here and there, but not as bad. Last night, I finally cried, for the first time, during this pregnancy because of the overwhelming stress and worry I put on myself. I honestly don't know how to deal with it. I've put my faith and trust in the Lord, but sometimes I think about whether or not I would be able to go through what I did with Jacob again. It scares me. Jeremiah is definitely a blessing because he pulls me out of my lowest point when he sees how stressed I get. I just hope and pray that everything goes well with this pregnancy. I will try to video the sonogram today, if given permission, and post it for everyone to see. I also have a video of Jacob's surprise this morning...on top of the last sonogram picture. Geez, I'm so behind! :p Ohhh...and pics from our last trips to Monterey Bay, Six Flags, and of course his bday party at Grandma's house!

Okay, back from the appointment and it's a little past 6:30 pm. Didn't want to start a new post since today is such a special day for Jacob. According to Dr. Graham, pics from the sonogram looked good. (I SERIOUSLY DO NOT understand why the technician didn't let me see the baby on the screen. She was horrible and unprofessional. She dropped a sterile latex glove on the floor, picked it up, and placed it back in the sterile box! Like...seriously?!?!) Anyway, Dr. Graham was great...very nice. Since my preterm labor was an "unknown cause," my chances of a recurrent PTL is a lot higher. One intervention at this point will be progesterone shots, which will decrease my risk of PTL by 33%. I will get them weekly until 34 weeks. On top of that, I'll see Dr. Graham every two weeks and my regular OB/GYN each month. If they notice that my cervix is thinning or something like that, the second intervention will be to get a cerclage. I'm totally bummed that I did not get to see the baby today. I do not like this Kaiser facility nor do I like their staff, except for Dr. Graham...but, I love my family and I love that I'm pregnant! I'm so blessed.

No pictures yet

Today, I went in for my first prenatal visit with my OB/Gyn in Tracy. I was very nervous because I hadn't seen the baby for 3 1/2 weeks on the screen and on top of that, I recently switched doctors because I wanted someone who would be able to deliver the baby. I had a Nurse Practitioner before. Anyway, here is the update. I am 11 wks 4 days into the pregnancy and the baby is growing. I was caught in a big surprise and was ecstatic to see how active the baby was for a little 2 inch person. The picture was so much clearer than I've ever seen or remember seeing. The tiny arms and legs were sticking out. I can actually identify the head and the bum...it was awesome! The baby was still for the first five seconds or so, but after that...it was like WHOA! The arms were waving up and down and the legs kicking as well. Baby began to swim sideways and then wave the arms again. Nothing can describe the feeling I felt at that moment. I totally wished Jeremiah and Jacob was there with me, but I was able to bring home two pictures, not so very clear, to share with them. I just need some help scanning and sizing it for the blog and I'll post it later.

The Thomas Dance

We visited the Oakland Zoo again. We wanted to see the 'new' Australian Exhibit, but there was nothing new to be seen. Nothing changed, except maybe a recorded presentation by someone with an Australian accent. We weren't there for too long because the sun was just beating down on us and I wasn't feeling too well. Jacob was happy to have seen some of his favorite animals below and ride on the train during the short visit.

Below, you are going to watch a series of the "infamous" Thomas the Tank Engine dance. Once we hit the ON DEMAND button on the remote control, Jacob goes wild and would dance and prance around the living room. He recognizes the theme song from a mile away and will get super excited. On this particular day, we've just bought Jacob a new floatable swim gear and he just would NOT let me take it off. He wore it all evening and as you can see...it just made this video so much more fun to watch!! ENJOY!

Swimming!

Jacob's love for water is undeniable. He is unafraid and will hop in without reservations. He is not scared and believes he is invincible and naturally floatable. Well, that's not the case! So, we decided that bringing him to the pool and letting him experience a bit about what feels good and what doesn't would teach him how to be careful. Umm...aren't we naiive parents?? LOL...it was a nice try, but we found ourselves chasing after him every minute because he didn't care that he swallowed water or that he fell in half way. With that, Jeremiah doesn't feel comfortable allowing me to bring him to the pool myself or without a lifeguard because Jacob is just that FAST. You can tell by the look on his face that he loves playing in water and is not scared. Sneezing... Choking on some water, but it didn't stop him from swimming some more. Climbing out of the kiddy pool all by himself. Snacking after a long day of being in the water. We decided to get him a flotation device the next day.

First day of swimming lessons with Nicole Brown. She is awesome and does so well with Jacob. I'm glad he responds to her very well because he is so uncomfortable with other adults. Here, he is working on kicking his legs and holding his breath. The latter is quite difficult for him to do.

This is still the first day. The second and third day of lessons, we didn't use the life jacket and he did very well. Second day was tough, but the third day he showed off his kicking skills. He is also very smart. Instead of holding his breath and putting his face in the water to pick up the rings, he'd use his toes and feet to bring them up to the surface and grab them with his hands. Swimming with Dad...

Swimming with Nicole...

Happy Hollow Zoo and Park

We are taking advantage of summertime and bringing Jacob to tons of fun places to visit! After we got back from the doctor's appointment last Friday(everything is fine with baby #2), we took Jacob to the Happy Hollow Zoo and Park in San Jose. It was a cute zoo, but the rides were awesome. He enjoyed the rides because he'd cry when Jeremiah would go pick him up. The rides were free with admission, so we were able to let him go on them several times.

I tried really hard to stick around this area for Jacob, but after I saw a goat jumping on a lady for some food, I immediately left the gated area. I'm glad Jeremiah was there to keep calm for Jacob because he would have reacted to my freaking out yelp.

Jacob is fearless around animals. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? He ran to this area and started making sheep sounds...it was very cute.

These are crazy lemurs. They were very loud and sounded like they were fighting for food! He had fun on this thing. His first big boy ride and he did pretty awesome. He didn't ring his bell and wouldn't look at us, but he didn't cry to try to get out either. Instead, he cried because he was taken off when the ride was over. We were so proud of him. Danny the Dragon ride which took forever to get on! Nonetheless, he enjoyed riding with his dad.

The Ladybug ride!! Oh we didn't think he would have made it out of this one. The guy almost stopped the ride, but Jacob stayed brave and courageous. The ride goes up and down and I think that scared him. However, when Jeremiah went to pick him up, he cried bc he didn't want to get off. How ironic?!? On the car ride again!

Visiting the sheep...

On the car ride...

On Danny the Dragon ride...

On the Ladybug ride...

Monterey Trip

Jeremiah surprised us with a trip to Monterey for three days last week. It was an absolute blast! It was so nice and relaxing,...except for when Jacob yelled during dinner and threw tantrums while shopping. Other than that, we enjoyed walking around, playing on the beach, going to the aquarium, and eating yummy food. Jacob's favorite part of the trip would have to be the day at the beach. He followed his dad around everywhere and was not afraid of the crashing waves or bugs or anything! After this trip, he has definitely bonded with Jeremiah and is quite attached to him now!

Our first day there, we decided to walk to Dennis the Menace Park which was like a mile and a half away. On the way to the park, we stopped to look at the sea lions sun bathing on the rocks. Jacob was so excited to see and hear them. He screamed and yelled every time we put him in his buggy to continue our walk.

Oh my gosh...if only you knew...he can be a handful! Jeremiah has concluded after this trip that Jacob has inherited my pouting skills. Hmmm...I'm not sure I agree.

Here we are feeding the geese. This is seriously...one of my top NON-FAVORITE thing to do as a mother. They come up so close and they poop everywhere! It took Jacob awhile to feed them. He kept munching on the popcorn himself. At one point, one of the goose came up and snatched the popcorn right out of his fingers when he wasn't paying attention. He cried because I made a hysterical yelp. Yeah...not something I would do again without Jeremiah there.

We finally get to Dennis the Menace park and the first thing Jacob sees is this huge train. He was thrilled to climb it with his dad.

The battery for our camera was dying (happens all the time when you're on vacay, right?) and I kept trying to videotape Jacob hanging off the bar and by the time the camera was functioning, he was way too tired. He's a pretty strong monkey.

We started the tour at Monterey Bay Aquarium with the penguin feed. It was super cute, but really crowded.

Jacob marveled at all the different ocean creatures he saw at the aquarium with ooohs, ahhhhs, wows, whoas, and yays! He was quite loud too!

Pictures of all animals are posted for Jacob.

The sign said to gently touch the starfish, but Jacob didn't understand that.

Jeremiah had just as much fun as Jacob at the aquarium.

Check out the new wubbanub. We ordered two new ones; a giraffe and a monkey. He ripped the other pacifiers and was sucking air because of the holes.

Spending time at the beach was one of the highlights of this trip for all of us. It was fun to see Jacob play and scream because of how excited he was.

He followed Jeremiah everywhere he went, even over to the rocks. When I went to get him, he'd run faster to catch up with his father.

Jacob did not want to leave. He yelled and kicked when I took off his shorts. He wouldn't even hold our hands while walking up the stairs or the pavement. He looks like a surfer baby, huh?

We were attempting the 17 mile drive, but I got car sick within the first 5 minutes. It was horrible, so we stopped for a bit and then turned around to come home. Can you find Jeremiah in this picture?

On the way home, we stopped by Case de Frutas. It was a small park. It was a nice stop for Jacob. He got to play with trains and even ride 'em. We saw peacocks and other animals too.

Jacob's new "TIMEOUT."

Feeding the geese at Dennis the Menace park.

Going down the 'big kid' slide.

Playing at the beach...listen to him scream in the beginning of the video.