Thursday, September 24, 2015

Jacob at 18 months

Jacob turned 18 months old yesterday. I honestly don't know where the last year and a half went.


stats:

  • 25 lbs, 10 oz
  • 33.5 inches
  • 16 teeth -- He got 4 molars and 4 eye teeth in about a month and a half this summer. It was a crazy time and nobody (except Jamie) got any sleep.
  • still in 18 month clothes, but not for too much longer
  • just switched to size 4 diapers



At 18 months, Jacob can:

  • walk, run, climb, you name it
  • say about 15 words and sign another 20 or so
  • make lots of animal noises and also a few Star Wars noises (Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2D2) It is hilarious.

He likes:

  • climbing on everything
  • play-doh. Mainly he takes it out of the containers and puts it back in, but he wants to do it all day long.
  • books, especially ones with animals or trucks or Star Wars characters
  • phones and remotes
  • any and all vehicles
  • spinning in circles
  • being upside down
  • going outside
  • music
  • dogs
  • Elmo
  • running away from us at every opportunity
  • copying Jamie

He does not like:

  • diaper changes
  • teeth brushing
  • being apart from Mommy
  • being confined


Jacob is sleeping pretty well at night. He goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes up around 7. He's not a very heavy sleeper and will often stir in the night but usually goes back to sleep without our needing to go in. He is transitioning to one nap, and his naps have become much more unpredictable.

Favorite foods: bananas, grapes, meat, beans, sweet potatoes, cooked carrots, oatmeal, peas, apples, watermelon, strawberries, red pepper slices, cucumber slices, scrambled eggs, pasta, dried apricots
Least favorite foods: most dairy products, applesauce, broccoli

He still nurses a few times a day and won't really try cow's milk at all.

Jacob likes to have his own way and throws crazy tantrums when he doesn't get it! But he's also very sweet and showers us with snuggles and kisses. We love him to pieces.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

talk-like-a-pirate day 2015

pirate brothers!
...and pirate daddy! :)

just for fun: pictures from last year

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

a whirlwind trip to Virginia

In the less than two weeks between his summer class ending and the fall semester beginning, Thomas had about 7 days of various orientations. With hardly any summer vacation left, we decided to take advantage of the little time he did have off and squeeze in a super fast trip to Virginia. We left on a Thursday morning and came back Friday night. It was a lot of driving for two days, but we had a great time and saw some awesome places. Plus Jamie and Jacob crossed a new state off their lists. :)

On Thursday we drove to Appomattox Court House, the site where the Civil War ended. Last year we went to Fort Sumter, where the war began, and Jamie loved it. He is still talking about it. I had been to Appomattox before on a family vacation in high school and I knew he'd love it too. They have reenactors portraying soldiers and locals who were there at the time. They stay in character and make it a lot of fun. We had a great time.

the courthouse
the McLean house, where the actual surrender took place
 
Right before we took this picture, the lady was telling us about how this building is supposed to be haunted and how she had heard mysterious footsteps in it that very morning when no one else was there. So that circle in the middle... sunspot or ghostly orb? You tell me.
Jamie's favorite: the jail
chatting with a Confederate soldier
 
general store
and chatting with a Union soldier
the room where General Lee officially surrendered
 
Jacob loves to climb.
 
 

and just for fun... a picture from my first visit there back when I was 17

When we were finished there, we drove another hour or so to Charlottesville. My family lived in Charlottesville for I believe 8 years. They moved 2 months before I was born, so I lived there for 7 months prenatally. :) We made a quick stop by their old house.

Then we headed over to the campus of the University of Virginia, which Thomas Jefferson designed and where my dad used to teach. It's a beautiful campus and I loved showing it to Thomas and the boys, but there was one downside... the Rotunda is under renovation and it doesn't have quite the same effect when it's surrounded by scaffolding! After our quick tour there, we got dinner and went swimming at our hotel. We had so much fun, until bedtime. Sleeping with children in a hotel room is the worst.
Edgar Allan Poe's old dorm room
not the Rotunda's best look
 
Jamie running across the lawn
Jamie loved this amphitheater.
 We spent Friday at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. My brother Matthew drove down from Alexandria to go with us. We had a great time, especially because Monticello is extremely well equipped to deal with children. We went on a family friendly tour that was geared toward kids, and they had lots of activities to help kids learn about 18th-/19th-century living and Jefferson's home and innovations. We loved it!
 
Our tour guide brilliantly gave each of the children something to hold during the tour. I was really worried Jamie wouldn't be able to keep his hands off things in the house but this totally solved that problem.
 
 
trying out writing with a quill
 
Thomas with a wheel cipher
 
 
 
In the Discovery Room, where they had models of lots of the things from the house so kids could actually touch them and try them out. They also had a replica of a slave cabin, which was Jamie's favorite.
trying out the polygraph
and trying out the alcove bed
playing chess
Jacob got in on the action :)
view from the top of the mountain
exploring the gardens and orchards
sleepy baby
 
Last time I was there, there were still a couple of trees that had been there since Jefferson's time. They have since been cut down due to worries that they were going to fall on the house. Below, Jamie is by the remains of this tree.

 

And that evening we drove back to Knoxville! It was such a fast trip but very fun.