2014 in books & pictures {+ our first broken bone}

2015 will begin in T-minus 2 hours! Hard to believe, both because it is the year Marty McFly visited in Back to the Future 2 and also because it is the year Thomas and I will both turn 30. Yikes!

2014 was obviously a big year for our family, as it brought us the addition of our second baby boy. It was so wonderful watching him grow and develop this year. We also loved watching Jamie continue to develop, and it has been a joy to continue seeing him learn new things. He finished his co-op preschool and started regular preschool in the fall, he became a big brother, he has become more social, and his drawing, writing, and budding reading skills have improved like crazy over the last few months. Also this year, my parents left Kirksville, Thomas went to Europe twice, we had our first real family vacation, we said good bye to our first car and purchased our second, I lost my grandmother, and we had our first Christmas at home.

our year in pictures--January: saying good bye to my childhood home and Thomas's birthday // February: snow! and Valentine's Day // March: Jacob Wilder joins our family // April: family comes to meet Jacob and Easter // May: fire station field trip and Memorial Day in Atlanta // June: more family visits, Jamie's birthday, and swim lessons // July: vacation to Charleston // August: another visit to Atlanta and a fun camping trip // September: my birthday // October: Benj's visit, including a family day in Chattanooga, and Halloween! // November: Thanksgiving in Atlanta // December: my grandma's funeral and Christmas

And right as the year wound to a close, it brought us our family's first broken bone. On Monday, Thomas had an accident while riding his bike home from campus, and he broke a bone in his forearm. It's awful, but we are all grateful it wasn't any worse.

And because this represents how I spent nearly all of my free time, I'd like to review my year in books. Thanks to a certain baby, I didn't read nearly as many this year as I have in the last few years, but hopefully that will improve in 2015! Many were rereads, because, as my favorite Oscar Wilde quote goes, "If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all." 

Without further ado, these are the books I read in 2014.

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein

Birth Day by Mark Sloan

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them / Quidditch Through the Ages / The Tales of Beadle the Bard by J. K. Rowling

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay

MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche

Now I’ll Tell You Everything by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster

Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan

Austenland by Shannon Hale

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Dracula by Bram Stoker

I’m a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

As You Wish by Cary Elwes

Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris

Here's to a year filled with new books, milestones, trips, family visits, and hopefully more sleep than this year brought. Happy 2015!

9 months

Jacob turned 9 months old two days before Christmas.

According to our scale, Jacob weighs around 21 pounds now (he has his 9 month well check in about a week, so then I'll have an official weight).
He wears 12 month or 18 month onesies and 9 month or 12 month pants.
He's still in size 3 diapers.
He has 4 teeth.

At 9 months, Jacob can:

• crawl very well and very quickly
• pull up on everything
• cruise around holding onto furniture
• very briefly stand alone
• clap
• play peek-a-boo
• click his tongue
• make cute babbling noises
• sign "milk"

He loves:

• Mommy more than anything or anyone else
• pulling hair and grabbing glasses off your face
• tickles
• shaking his head
• being thrown in the air
• swinging
• playing with the dishwasher
• playing with water
• playing with things he's not supposed to have
• apples, bread, meat, and beans

He hates:

• when Mommy leaves a room, puts him down, or gives him to someone else
• sleeping
• diaper changes, clothing changes, and anything else that requires him to be held still
• having things taken away from him
• dairy products

His nighttime sleep, which hasn't been good since he was 3 months old, continues to be awful. He has a morning and afternoon nap, which generally go pretty well, though he frequently has a hard time going to sleep in the afternoon these days. Maybe he'll go down to 1 nap really early like Jamie did. That would be fine by me; I hate having to schedule things around 2 naps.

We quickly gave up on feeding him purees because he just wouldn't open his mouth for them. Instead we decided to try baby-led weaning, and we love it. We just put regular food on his high chair tray and he decides if he wants to eat it or not and that's that. I don't think he really eats much of it, but he has been tasting plenty, and it is so much less stressful than trying to get a spoon into an unwilling mouth. He still nurses all the time.

We love this baby!

More pictures from the last couple months:

He loves opening and closing this drawer and, now that he knows how, pulling up on it and flinging out all its contents.

 

 

 

broccoli face.

 

our books are definitely in danger now!

first time in the snow! There wasn't much, but it was November in Tennessee, so any snow at all was noteworthy.

at the library

Since I missed posting about it, here's his 8 month picture.

taco night :)

spaghetti baby playing peek-a-boo

He loves sticking these big Lego people in his mouth and crawling around with them hanging there. It's too funny.

our recent activities

Thomas left November 1 to spend 3 1/2 weeks in France {hardest month of my life}.

He returned home on the Monday night before Thanksgiving, and we left the following afternoon to go to my brother's house in Atlanta. 

My grandmother passed away on Thanksgiving Day, so we spent all of three days home together after Thanksgiving before the boys and I went to Utah for a week.

We got back to Knoxville on the 11th, and on the 13th Thomas's family came to visit us since we won't be going back to Kirksville during the holidays.

After a wonderful visit, they left to go back home yesterday morning. 

Now there is exactly 1 week until Christmas, and with all the traveling our family has been doing in the last couple months, we aren't as prepared as normal.

In case anyone was wondering why the blog has been put on the back burner recently, this is why. Eventually I will get caught up. I hope.