Jamie off the diving board

We were in Atlanta over the weekend visiting family (more about that in a later post). One afternoon we went swimming, and Jamie got brave enough to jump off the diving board!!! We were so proud of him! 

 

Jacob at 5 months

New this month:

• According to our scale, Jacob now weighs 17.2 pounds.
• He is really filling out his 6 months clothes. It's probably about time to pull out the next bin.
• Jacob rolls over all the time. He can go both ways off his tummy but so far can only go to his left off his back.
• He has gotten extremely grabby.
• His nighttime sleep is a disaster though naps have been a little better than normal the last few days. 
• No teeth yet but definitely teething--lots of drooling, biting, and a nursing strike for a couple days. 

We were out of town on the 23rd so no "official" 5 month pictures. Here's a few random shots of our cute baby!

While I was trying to take his picture, he rolled himself up in the blanket and tried to grab the camera.

brothers in the bathtub

Jamie and Jacob had their first bath together a few nights ago. Jacob has gotten a little too long to bathe comfortably in his baby tub, plus he kept leaning over to the side or trying to sit up and grab his toes, so it was getting tricky to wash him in there. He's obviously not big enough to get in the big bath on his own, but we have a bath seat that we got when Jamie was little that helps babies sit up (and helps slightly bigger babies stay seated). We put him in that, and he did pretty well with it! He certainly seemed more content than in the baby tub, and Jamie loved having him in there. The first of many brother baths...

 
 

Legos make good baby toys?

On Sunday (the 17th) Jacob rolled over from his back to his tummy for the first time. He didn't do it again until Wednesday afternoon, at which point he started doing it over and over again. Each time, he was very clearly motivated to roll so he could get to the Legos lying near him on the floor. I had no idea he was so interested in them already!

 

He then rolled successive times and got himself this far away on his own. Look out, we have a mobile baby!

And a few more pictures, just because they're cute.

love these toes :)

Jamie in trucks

On Saturday we went to an awesome activity in Farragut called "Fun with the Fleet." Basically the city had a wide variety of vehicles that they opened up to kids. It was perfect for Jamie! He had a great time, and the timing worked out well since Grammy & Papy got to be there too!

tractor

dump truck

He LOVED the highway cones. Probably his favorite part.

SWAT team armored vehicle

tow truck

fire truck

exploring the back of an ambulance

sheriff's car

 

 

backhoe

weekend with Grammy & Papy

Thomas's parents came to Knoxville last weekend. We had a wonderful time with them! Our boys sure love their grandparents.

 

 

 
 

 

dinner at Tupelo Honey Cafe-- our favorite!

 
 

Thomas's last first day of school

(as a student anyway)

If his freshman year of college had been 1st grade, he would now be a senior in high school.

preschool

Today was Jamie's first day of preschool!

I had a hard time getting a picture where he was looking, smiling, and holding the sign so you could read it. He got tired of trying, so I told him just to be himself instead of holding the sign/posing. That resulted in this:

Such a goober. Anyway.

He is going on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for 3 hours. I have mixed emotions about it. I had no trouble dropping him off. He was so excited and totally ready for it, and it's for such a short time that it just flew by. Six hours a week isn't very much. But at the same time it feels like the beginning of the end: the end of Jamie being home with me all day, the end of no schedules, the end of being able to go to the zoo or library or wherever we want at the drop of a hat. When he was born, five years sounded like a long time, but wow have the last four gone by fast. 

next to his cubby

When I picked him up, he was full of excitement about everything he'd done and told me he wanted to go back every day. I'm so glad he enjoyed it, and we're all excited about this year!

these boys.

 

 

 

thinking about the future...

This school year is a big one for us: our last year of grad school!! Thomas has big plans to defend his dissertation in May and graduate with his Ph.D. in August 2015. One or both of us has been in school for so long that it's hard to believe the end is in sight!

With that end will come a new beginning for us, but we have no idea where that new beginning will be just yet. Most likely we will be in Knoxville for another year after Thomas graduates, but he has been starting the search for postdocs and jobs to apply for. They are all extremely competitive and the chances of his getting one are slim; still, it's fun to think about where we could end up. So far he is planning to apply for postdocs at the following four places:

• Dartmouth. He's actually applying to 2 different postdocs there. I so love the idea of living in a small New England town, especially since Hanover was recently rated one of the best places to live in America. Plus that's a part of the country I haven't seen much of, and I would love to have a chance to travel in that area. We would be only 2 hours from Boston and only 3 from Montreal! 
• The University of Illinois. My dad got his Ph.D. there, so that would be a really neat connection to have. I already know I love the Midwest and--huge, huge plus--we would be all of 4 hours from Kirksville!!! Close enough we could go home just for a weekend. After four years of living 12 hours away, I can't express what that would mean to us. And we'd be just 2 hours from Chicago, which would give us all kinds of opportunities for things to see and do.
• The University of Michigan. I honestly don't know that much about Ann Arbor, but some poking around on the internet has led me to believe it's a pretty cool place. And I know they have both a Trader Joe's and a Great Harvest, so I'm pretty sure I could live there quite happily for some time.
• Cambridge. Wow, would that be amazing. Logistically it would be more difficult than anywhere else, but it would also be a dream come true to live in England.

If any relevant job openings come along this year, there'll be more potential places to daydream about living. Like I said, though, far and away the most likely scenario is that Thomas will get a lectureship at UT and we will be here for a sixth year. Knoxville has the not-to-be-taken-for-granted advantage of NO PACKING or good-byes just yet, so we will be perfectly content with that option as well!