On Friday we took Jakob to a new doctor for his 18 month check up. A friend from church told me she really liked this place, and they have a clinic (which is about an hour and some change away from our house) which is open 365 days a year. Knowing there's someone who could see Jakob no matter what day it is makes me feel alot better than knowing if the doctor here in town cannot see him he has to wait 2 or 3 days or go to the emergency room. The new doctor is still in the next town over, so it's a long drive, but I think definitely worth it. While we were in the waiting room another couple came in with a little boy who looked a few months younger than Jakob. We chatted for a few minutes and found out they were from the same town as us! This is going to sound crazy but they are the first people I've really met (besides a couple neighbors) in my town. There's not really anything going on around here where you'd have a chance to meet other people (and a lot of people are not really friendly either). They were called back soon after we met, so we didn't get to talk that long. I am hoping that I run into her around town sometime. Jakob weighed in at 24 pounds and I think he was 33 inches tall. The doctor said he's 50% for his weight and 75% for his height, which is long and lean...a good combination. Jakey got his last shot until he is 4 years old, I'm sure he appreciates that. Jakob is maturing and learning so many new things right now it just blows my mind. He has finally taken an interest in people's faces, so he pokes your eyes really hard and says iiiii and tries to stick his fingers in your nose. He copies just about everything you do. He's babbling and thinking he's having a long conversation with you. The other night he was sitting on the floor with his finger pointed telling somebody what for. It was so funny. We do have one dilemma going on in our house. It is now 83-85 degrees outside every day. Yesterday I got Jakob up for church and really didn't have anything for him to wear to church. I'm going to have to go ahead and put all his long sleeved shirts away, because he won't be needing them anymore. I had a small box of 2T stuff in his closet, so I got it out but everything was way too big on him. I washed it all yesterday afternoon thinking maybe it would shrink some and fit him, but the shorts just barely hang on to his skinny little body and the shirts swallow him up right now. I know in a few months when summer is actually here they will fit him fine, but in the meantime I'm going to have to get him some clothes and I guess I'll have to get him 24 month stuff? I'm thinking maybe it's for a little bit smaller child than the 2T? He also needs some sandals because I am not a shorts and tennis shoes kinda momma :) He has outgrown all his sandals from last summer. Anyways, that's what's going on with us right now. We have a growing boy on our hands. Today I'm going to try taking him to the potty every hour...it may be futile, but I figured I'd try :)

How my handsome boy went from this...

....to this

I was making lunch for me and Jeremy the other day and turned around and Jakob looked like this (lol) He had rubbed food all in his hair and somehow his shirt had become a bolero jacket. I started laughing and then I think he got embarrassed because he just looked at me and kept blinking his eyes (that's what he's doing at the very start of the video) this child is so crazy!

Portabella Pizzas...

I was grocery shopping yesterday and noticed that there was an extra coupon on the portabella mushrooms so I bought some to have pizzas for dinner. They turned out really good, and even though the recipe is a work in progress I thought I'd share it with y'all:

• Wash the mushrooms thoroughly and then pat dry with dish cloth/paper towels 
• Brush both sides of mushroom with olive oil 
• Place on baking sheet (I line mine with foil so that I don't have to scrub the pan if cheese or other stuff falls off)
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes
• Add spaghetti sauce, (we don't eat spaghetti sauce right now because of all the sugar, so I just dice up fresh tomatoes and put it on top) chopped onions, garlic powder, italian seasoning, oregano, and black pepper
• Top with mozzarella cheese and toppings of your choice (last night I used pepperoni and bacon) 
• Put back in the oven and *broil* for 5-10 minutes, long enough for the cheese to melt and pepperoni to get cooked a little

We had a salad and some baked broccoli with this meal, the good part was I cooked the broccoli in the oven  while the portabellas baked. It's a simple meal and fairly low fat. Even though there's bacon and pepperoni on top the mushrooms aren't that big so you don't use that much of them

My doctor's visit went very well yesterday. Dr. W says that my thyroid is over-active, but it's not at a really bad number. He recommended that I take a low dose thyroid med that will help slow it down. Alot of times if you can get the thyroid to slow down it will continue that way and you can wean off the medicine completely. Of course I am hoping that's the way it turns out. I don't like taking medication if I don't have to. He doesn't think I have PCOS. He said that my build does not fit the "PCOS" type, he thinks I may have a blockage in my adrenal gland which is causing more testosterone to be produced than actually should be. We will look into that when the thyroid is taken care of. As of right now I take the meds and will see the doctor in a month or so for a check up and blood work. A funny story (or two...)

I really wanted Jeremy to come to the doctor with me, but we don't have anybody who I'd be comfortable leaving Jakey with yet so we took him with us. He was a good boy for a long time (we waited to see the doctor for about 45 minutes after my appt. time) He played with his Toy Story toys and looked at magazines and even watched some Sesame Street on Dad's phone. When the doctor got there Jakob had had enough and was ready to go. The whole time the doctor is talking to me Jakob is running around in a circle. Sometimes he would run into the doctors knee and fall backwards onto the floor, then get right back up and run again. I had just told the doctor that some days I am so extrememly tired and he looked at Jakob and said "I have no idea why you would be tired" It was really funny. They said he was really hyper in the nursery last night too. I think he might have been over tired.

This morning when Jakey woke up I took him to the bathroom and put him on the potty chair. I really didn't think he would go because his diaper was really wet. He kept saying "BAF", "BAF" and I told him we had to go to the store this morning, then we could come home and take a BAF. Finally after playing patty cake, looking at Daddy's fishing magazine and singing a couple songs I knew he wasn't going to pee. I said "come on Jakey let's go eat breakfast." I grabbed his hand but he wouldn't get off the potty. He kept saying "BAF" and then grunting and pushing like he was trying to get some pee-pee out. I realized that yesterday I sat him on the potty before he took a bath and when he kept saying "BAF", "BAF" I told him to go pee-pee and then we would take a bath. I think he really wanted to go potty so he could take a bath :) He is such a funny little guy. Most mornings he'll go at least a little bit on the potty, but we have no real progress yet. If anybody has any suggestions on how to help potty train I'll take em!

Random cell phone pics...

Watching Monster's Inc. for the first time (Daddy says we gave birth to Pixar's greatest fan :)

New hiding spot

Monkey booty

Watching Sesame Street on Daddy's phone

Whoa! Really interesting

Trying to take a picture with an almost 18 month old...

He just won't look at the camera...

You can hold his head still, but he still won't look :) lol

God is more than enough...

We listened to a sermon -by Jim Berg- on contentment tonight at church. I am convicted quite often of my need for contentment. I have really been praying that whenever we do decide to try for another baby that I will accept God's will for our lives whether that includes adding another child to our family or not. I now see that I don't just want to accept God's will, but to be happy and contented with what he thinks is best. As he says in his lesson- grumbling, complaining, anger can all be attributed to our discontent with our lives and therefore with God and his will. Wow. Makes me truly want to keep a watch on my attitude. I honestly desire to be like Paul and to be content in whatever place I'm at in my life. I know it's not an easy task though. This sermon is only about 20 minutes, but I think it will encourage you if you have time to listen to it. You can find it at:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=324091154200

Jim Berg also has a book, which someone recently recommended to me called "God is more than enough" which I think I may try to get and read once I finish "Biblical Womanhood In The Home"

So, I'm going to the doctor today to find out what's going on with my thyroid...I am super nervous. We'll see what happens

Diet update...

While we were in N. Florida I still ate the way I was supposed to but I didn't lose any weight that whole week. Thinking back I don't really think I drank enough water and believe it or not I don't think I ate enough carbohydrates to lose weight. The second week when Jeremy's mom was in the hospital I ate kinda bad. I ate fried shrimp from the Boathouse (super good!) and I also ate some Danny's fried chicken one night (mmmm!) When I got home I weighed and I hadn't lost any weight, but I also hadn't gained any weight, not even an ounce, so I was glad about that. On Saturday we got back on the diet strictly and yesterday I had lost another pound. I now weigh 133 (yay! for weight lost) and I am thinking about changing my goal to 120 lbs. That means I need to lose another 13 pounds. Because I need to lose less than 15 pounds I think I will be switching to phase 2 of Atkins which means I can eat more carbs and some fruit, I am excited. It's really hard to eat enough carbohydrates with just salad and other veggies, I need some beans!  You can get pigeon peas, garbanzo beans, black beans, all the ones for spanish cooking pretty cheap down here. I started loving garbanzo beans right before I started the diet. Cook them in chicken broth and they are awesome! Can't wait to eat them. One good thing that has come of my change in diet is that I am no longer addicted to sugar, and that feels good. The other night at the super bowl party there was all kinds of food and yummy smelling desserts, but I can enjoy smelling them and not crave them or feel like I'm missing out on eating them. They also had hot wings, shrimp, spinach dip, stuff we can eat. (We brought Coke Zero, which I couldn't stand before, but love now just in case there was no diet soda.) I will eat desserts every now and then, but I definitely don't want to get back into eating tons of sugar. Anyways, that's where the diet is right now.

An excerpt from "Biblical Womanhood In The Home" Nancy Leigh Demoss- Editor

(Luke 1:26-38) -The significance of Mary's life was not based on any of the things our world values so highly-background, physical beauty, intelligence, education, natural gifts and abilities. It was Mary's relationship to Jesus that gave her life significance. We would not be reading this account today if it were not for the fact that she was related to Jesus. "The Lord is with you" the angel said. That is what made all the difference in this young woman's life. And it is what makes all the difference in our lives. You don't have to have exceptional gifts, talents, abilities, or connections. God specializes in using ordinary people whose limitations and weaknesses make them ideal showcases for His greatness and glory.
(I Corinthians 1:26-29)

Regardless of how ordinary and "unqualified" we may be, all of us as children of God can walk with Him and be used by Him-not because we are inherently significant, but because of our relationship with Christ. Our true identity is not found in a job, a mate, a child, a position, or a possession. It is our connection to the Lord Jesus Christ that gives our lives value and significance and makes us usable in His Kingdom.

At least 12 couples and at least 30 kids, that was our super bowl Sunday...Lots of fun and lots of noise :)

We're home! Our one week trip actually turned into two weeks. I almost didn't even make it to NW Florida in the first place! We got up at 4:00 in the morning on the 21st because I needed to be at the Miami airport by 6:00. We drove for almost an hour and then I saw police lights flashing ahead of us. All the cars were making a u-turn and driving the same way they just came from. They had closed the only road to Miami from where we live. We ended up having to drive almost an hour out of the way to get on the turnpike and take it to Miami. We have a few fines coming from the turnpike because we did not plan on using it so we had no money to pay. I made it to the airport around 7:00 got my bag checked and sat down in the boarding area less than 10 minutes before we boarded the plane. Thankfully the plane took off on time and by 7:30 we were in the air. Jakob really liked flying during the daytime. He just looked out the window and thought it was so cool. I brought a variety of snacks and thankfully (we forgot his cup in the car) they gave me a little bottle of water so he was so proud to be drinking out of a bottle his own size :) We landed in Ft. Walton at 7:55 their time and my mom and sisters were already waiting for us. When we left Miami that morning it was about 80 degrees. When we walked off the plane in Ft. Walton it was probably 50 degrees. It was so cold!!! I hadn't even checked out the weather, but I figured it was probably mostly warm up there so I only brought short sleeved shirts for myself. I did bring Jakob a few long sleeve shirts and a couple jackets. Thank goodness Kara's clothes fit me, so I had to borrow some jackets/shirts while we visited. Jakob had a great time with his Grandma's, Grandpa's and Aunts. We went to the park, shopping quite a bit, but mostly just hung out and Jakey got to play. We got to go to Panama City and see Shelly and the kids. I was sitting at the table in PC talking to Kymberly (when my Mom and Shelly had gone somewhere) and I just couldn't believe that my best friends daughter is old enough to have a real "grown up" conversation with me. She is a sweetie. We had a lot of fun. Jeremy's mom had been sick all week, and we really hadn't seen her that much so on the 28th Me, Jakob and Jeremy went to stay with them. On the 29th we ended up in the ER and Jeremy's mom had to have emergency surgery for a ruptured bowel. Thankfully they caught it in time because it is very toxic.  She is recovering, but it is going to be a long process, please keep her in your prayers. First thing this morning I set Jakob on his new potty chair and he peed. I don't think he had a clue he did it, but it's a start. I think this week I am just going to do it every morning, then we'll think about trying it all day long. Jakob has added a couple more words to his vocabulary- one is all my mom's doing. While we were there she gave him two baths a day. He now says BAF every time he eats, when he wakes up from sleeping, he wants a bath all the time :) He kept saying BU-- for buzz lightyear. This morning we were going to the grocery store and I said BUZZ and he looked at me and said BU..ssszzz. Jeremy looked at me with this huge grin and we clapped and screamed for him. He kept on saying it. We had a really good time visiting the family, but it is good to get home too. You can only live out of a suitcase for so long. Oh! We saw Jeremy's old boss at Cracker Barrell the other night, and his wife told Jeremy that just about every day he says he misses Jeremy at work and wishes he was there. (I think she embarrassed him by saying it, but it made Jeremy feel good to hear) Anyways, that's a long trip in a short story. I didn't take that many pictures, but my mom did, so maybe you'll see them on her facebook. Hope that you all are doing well, and have a great weekend! :)

A few pictures...