it's official...

We finally have official plans for next year...

Thomas will be defending his dissertation May 22nd. He will graduate in August and walk in December (there is no graduation ceremony in August). And for next year he has received a postdoctoral lectureship here at UT. He will probably be teaching 3 sections of world civ. We are very happy and relieved to have solid plans!

Easter

For Thomas's birthday I bought him tickets to see Guys and Dolls on April 4, which happened to be the day before Easter. We don't get to go on dates hardly ever, and with Thomas's dissertation defense looming on May 22nd, we haven't been seeing much of each other even with him in the country. So we were really looking forward to it. We went, and it was awesome, and we were having a great time, and then during intermission we got a text message from the babysitter saying that Jamie had just projectile vomited everywhere. He hardly ever gets sick and we hardly ever go on dates. What were the chances of them happening at the same time??

Anyway, we asked if we should rush home but she said she had it under control and we should finish the show, which we did. We arrived home to lots of cleaning and a boy who was acting normal and said he felt fine. That night, though, when Thomas was checking on a wakeful Jacob, he discovered that Jamie had thrown up in his sleep and hadn't even woken up. So we got to do even more cleaning and deal with a very grumpy boy who did not want to be cleaned and changed in the middle of the night. We made him a little bed of blankets on the floor in our room so that we'd hopefully be able to hear him if it happened again.

The next morning was Easter. I debated about whether I should even put their baskets out or just wait til the next week, but Jamie already knew it was going to be Easter so I figured that would confuse/upset him. He was a pretty good sport about not getting to eat any candy that day. We had a pretty low-key holiday. They got their baskets, we went on a walk, and I made ham and scalloped potatoes for dinner with cupcakes for dessert. We saved some of everything for Jamie for another day.

We had Jamie sleep in our room again just in case, and it was a good thing because in spite of seeming well all day, he threw up in his sleep again that night. Poor guy! It was another pretty miserable night for everyone.

Previously Jamie had also had an Easter egg hunt with his preschool class, so at least he didn't miss out on that. I'd been planning on dying eggs but it just didn't happen with the sickness. Not one of our favorite Easters, I'm afraid.

 
 

I made the cupcakes on Friday before anyone was sick or else they wouldn't have happened at all.

 
 

very uncooperative boys

Jacob at 12 months

Jacob's 12 month stats:

• 22 lbs, 14 oz
• 30.5 inches
• 8 teeth
• wearing mostly 18 month clothes, with a few 12 month hangers-on
• size 6 shoes
• still in size 3 diapers

At 12 months, Jacob can:

• walk really well
• climb 
• sign a variety of words, including Mommy, Daddy, milk, more, all done, food, shoes, hat, book, tree, ball, light, fan, I'm probably forgetting some...
• sometimes say "Momma" and "Dadda" and mean it, though other times it seems like he's babbling
• also try to say "uh-oh," "trash," and "tree"
• understand lots of what we say
• make cute monkey and dog noises (they sound identical)
• blow kisses
• get into lots of trouble

He likes:

• Mommy
• being held (until he doesn't want to be)
• stuffed animals, especially Daddy's stuffed badger
• monkeys
• dogs
• climbing!!
• going on walks
• cars, trucks, and trains
• balls
• toys that make noise
• shape sorting and stacking toys
• getting in boxes and bins

He does not like:

• being stopped from doing whatever he wants
• diaper changes, clothing changes, etc
• being confined for long
• holding my hand on walks

Jacob goes to bed at 7:30 and sleeps reasonably well at night but still wakes up occasionally. It has been worse since daylight savings time started. He always wakes up between 5:30 and 6 and nurses, then he sleeps til between 7 and 7:30. He still takes 2 naps unless the day's schedule doesn't allow for it. They haven't been quite as consistently good since daylight savings time, but he also may be moving towards just having one.

He is kind of a picky eater but in a weird way. He won't even touch some normal toddler foods like applesauce or yogurt, but he does like other foods that seem more unusual for that age, like red peppers, cucumbers, quinoa, and ratatouille. Other favorites include grapes, bananas, eggs, oatmeal, beans, pasta, green beans, cooked carrots, apple slices, crackers. He's not a very big eater overall. He is not willing even to try cow's milk, and he still nurses a lot.

Jacob is a lot like the little girl from the nursery rhyme, the one with the curl right in the middle of her forehead: when he is good, he is very, very good, but when he is bad he is horrid. At times he is the sweetest, snuggliest baby. He likes to cuddle and feel anything soft, and he carries stuffed animals around and blows kisses. Other times he is the king of tantrums. There are days it feels like he screams the entire day, usually because I have to keep stopping him from destructive activities. When he gets angry he violently arches his back and throws his head backwards. This often leads to him hitting his head on things (like my face, ouch) or losing his balance. He's pretty silly.

ratatouille for dinner

climbing dragon baby

Love this baby! :)