1 YEAR?!?!?!

So...Jake is 1...
Some of my favorite things that he does right now are:
1. Blows kisses
2. Dances when he hears a good beat
3. Hums to himself (in play or when he wants us to hum to him:))
4. Plays chase with us
5. Laughs at my silly jokes
6. "gets" us
7. wiggles his hands and feet when he's excited about a particular food
8. Says "oo-ah" when he's trying really hard to do something (ie close the dryer door)
9. When he sees us when he first wakes up he is SOO excited...like he's missed us SOOO much all night long...(even though lately he's been inviting us in for a party at his crib several times throughout the night...so he doesn't miss us as much as maybe WE wanted him to:))
10. How he crawls up to us and signs please with a cute little grin on his face until we pick him up.
11. Watching the things he does to entertain himself.


Some of the "words" he says:
1. Dad
2. Mama
3. Bah bah (Ball)
4. Bah tah (bottle)
5. Peez (please, which he signs also)
6. Pee-pez (peaches)
7. Pee-ka-boh (Peek-a-boo)
8. Duh-sta (Dusty...his spoon)
9. Moh, moh, moh (more, which he signs)
10. All done (sign only)
11. hi-ya (anytime he's being funny)

This was the best shot I could get of him with Morty...he's not so much into being still anymore... :) He is 31-ish inches tall and 30lbs 1oz...I was talking to our neighbor today...her 6 year old daughter weighs 32 lbs...:) HE'S A TANK!!!



So...please don't judge me on my first attempt at a kiddy birthday cake...I wanted to do a little froggy in a pond...and I wanted Alan to be able to see Jake dig in before he left for work...unfortunately those two goals didn't mesh well:) When we were approaching zero hour (when Alan HAS to be out the door or is late) I had raced through getting the "water" and half the lilly pad the frog was to be sitting on...so...in the interest of time I converted the lilly into a frog face...which apparently totally freaked Jake out becuase he was...not a fan...you can kind of see it in his expression :) He touched it once and then started crying. I tried to put some frosting in his mouth to show him that it was good and THEN he started screaming...I'm trying not to take that personally... :)

We have had B-E-A-UTIFUL weather all week so Jake and I ventured out to the park. This was only his second time in a real swing...He spent most of his swinging time in a trance..."i'm getting veeeeeehhhh-ry sleepy"....and the other half playing with me...I'd pretend he kicked me or would grab his swing and he would laugh and laugh...

One of Jake's presents was this Megablocks truck from Gma and Gpa Jones. He helped pick it out in the store and was just as amused today as he was in the store:)
Overall it was a really great day. We are blown away that we have a one year old...and have yet to get bored looking at him and watching him grow and learn new things. He is an amazing little boy...we didn't know how good life could get until he came into the picture...
I've been thinking a lot about parents and parenting and how truly HARD it is...so many things to learn and work out...I think I'm gaining some insight into how Heavenly Father must feel...watching us learn and grow...make mistakes and see our triumphs...It keeps making me laugh when we hear Jake "say" new things that only we would understand and I wonder how many times Heavenly Father has felt that about me:) It's a hear-warming picture in my head anyway... :) And I also think about how patient He is with me...and how much I have yet to learn in that department. We sure are lucky, aren't we?
So, anyway...here's to our boy on his birthday...and here's to many more just like them (minus the part about how he hates my cake:) )