1,2,3 bake a cake with me...

Jakob helped his mommy bake a cake for daddy's birthday

He did such a good job pouring in all the ingredients

He took his job very seriously

Of course after you mix the batter you have to try a little taste :)

Mmmmm...

Back for seconds

The results of Jakob's hard work

Although Jakob can be a very picky eater these days he had no trouble digging in to his cake. I think our baking was a success (and Daddy liked it too :)

Tumbling down...

Oh my word y'all. If my child makes it into adult-hood it will only be because of the Lord's protection. His new thing is to pull out one of his drawers on his dresser and climb in to reach things on the top of the dresser that he wants to mess with! (kind of like using his dresser drawers as stairs) We are going to have to figure out a way to brace the dresser so it won't topple over on him. (As well as teach him not to climb his dresser) AAAHHHH!!!!

29...

So Jeremy is turning 29 on Tuesday. I asked him if he's going to take his birthday off and he said "no" like I am crazy or something. I've always wanted my birthday off from work. We are planning on going to dinner Friday to celebrate. I think we're going to eat Cuban food. Yum. I can't wait! Those fried plantains are calling my name already. I think Tuesday I am going to make this cake. It is really easy, the only thing I really have to make from scratch is the icing. I don't mind baking, but once for Jeremy's b-day I made him a chocolate cake, and I mean it was chocolate. I think it had ghiradelli chocolate in the icing and I even brought it to his work so he could eat it with his buddies and when he got home he told me it was "too rich." He also told me that no one ate very much of it. (I was a little heartbroken) I don't know about the rest of y'all but that killed my b-day baking for him forever. I told him I'm making a box cake for his b-day so if he doesn't like it he can complain about duncan hines or whoever :)

A few of our favorite things...

Lately Jakob is obsessed with Mickey Mouse. The only time he's really even seen him is at his hospital stay. He watched Mickey Mouse clubhouse. He does love everything Disney so maybe that's it? He freaked out at Target when he saw a Mickey Mouse picture, he kept saying "loo,loo" (look, look???) so we had to hunt down a t-shirt for him :) He kept hugging it and smiling/laughing.

So I was one of "those" people who thought I wouldn't let my child watch much t.v., who needs it? I learned very early on t.v. can help a mommy get things done. Thankfully there's dvd's like this that help my television obsessed child to learn his letters. Jakob now knows all his letters/sounds except maybe one or two. He loves his "lers ddd" (translated- letters dvd) The other morning he woke up and said "pee-pee", "lers", "ddd" so we did all three in that order :)

Another thing Jakob has all the sudden started loving is Veggie Tales. He used to ask for "wee-wee,bob" now he just says "deggie tales" He especially likes Madam Blueberry. It is so cute to hear him attempt to sing along with the "deggie tales" song.

Yet another new love. When we were home for Christmas Jakob saw balloons in the dollar store and said "loons!"We bought him one filled with helium and he had a blast playing with it. Since then he gets very excited when he sees balloons.

O.k., this is a bad one...Jakob loves coke. I've never really given him a lot of it, I will pour enough for a couple of sips into his glass. Now when we open the fridge he looks in the door to see if there's any coke in there. He asks for coke all the time. I think he is getting an unhealthy obsession with this drink so lately I have just been telling him no and giving him juice instead

Now for a few of my favorites :) Jeremy's mom got me the Ninja mixer for Christmas. We have been making sugar free vanilla/carmel frappucinos with it and they are soooo good. I have a blender, but it's never crushed ice very well, this thing does it easily. Now we don't have to spend 4 or 5 bucks on those other peoples frappucinos (though they are good)

 

 

I don't have much time for reading lately, but after Christmas I found a new trilogy by my favorite author and read book one. I don't know when I will be able to read the last two, but It was so good to read a new book. (In case you didn't know, my Amish obsession is still alive and well :)

This little black box may be my most favorite item I've received in a very long time. I got it for Christmas. It streams Pandora to my t.v. I don't know about any where else, but our Christian station down here plays the same 10 songs all the time. When new songs come out they ditch the last ten and play a new ten. It drives Jeremy crazy! Now we get variety but more of what we like to hear. I love this thing <3

 

Last but not least, one of my favorite songs at the moment. I am thankful for the random times when God gives me hope in his plan, hope for my future. This song means a lot to me at this time in my life.

Anyways, that's a few of our favorite things!

Week one...

 ****CAUTION...I'm going to talk about Poop. If you don't want to hear about it then you should probably skip this post****  :D

So we finished our first week of potty training. I really tried hard to stay home as much as I possibly could. Wednesday around 4 o'clock I put a diaper on Jakob because I was trying to fix dinner, get dressed and fix my hair/makeup for church. Friday Jeremy watched Jakob (and took over potty watch) while I went grocery shopping. Jakey played outside (with his daddy) for over an hour in undies and no accident! We also went to Fort Myers Friday afternoon, so a good part of the day Jakey was in a diaper. Today of course Jakob was in a diaper because of Church. When we got home tonight I took off his diaper and he sat right down on his potty chair and peed. That's pretty much how our week has been. Jakob has been very eager to put on his undies. He likes to dance and we sing pee-pee, pee-pee when he goes pee, then he eats some chocolate chips. The first two days Jakob didn't want to pee. I would have to pour a little warm water on him while he was sitting on the potty chair just to get him to go. I was wondering if maybe he was still not ready for potty training. Day three he started peeing on his own after 10-15 minutes of sitting there. By the end of day three he was sitting on the potty and peeing right away. He hasn't had more than two accidents a day and Thursday he only had one (pee) accident. Catching him before he poops is the hardest part. When he poops in his underwear he gets really grossed out and cries a little so I'm hopeful that that disgust will help him choose to use his potty chair. Do I think we're almost there? No, not yet. I am hopeful though that he is getting the idea of pottying. He also loves to wear his little toy story undies as well as his cars undies. He looks so cute in them too!  As of right now I feel like I am ready for the long haul and we will get this done. We'll see how next week goes :)

Trust and Obey...

God has really been speaking to my heart about my own faith. Part of the reason I can become so anxious about my situation, about the future, about most anything is because I don't have the faith in God that I should have. God has promised to supply my needs. He has promised to work all things for my good. I just keep taking that burden back on my own shoulders and carrying it as if God cannot or will not provide. I told you how my Pastor started teaching in Matthew 6 on Wednesdays. About fear and anxiety. The other day I was reading a devotional and the author suggested reading through (or even singing) hymns after having your Bible study. She stated how encouraging those old hymns can be, you know, the ones that have withstood the test of time. The very first hymn she suggested was "Trust and Obey" I just had to laugh to myself at how intimate God can be in our lives. Everything he's showing me lately is pointing me in one direction, and that's trusting him.

Trust and obey
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey

Take two...

So...we're attempting potty training again. I started Monday. We'll see how this goes :)

Since that night...

I think there is a trend in blogging. I think most people blog more for themselves than for those reading. Blogging has always been like therapy for me (and it's free :) Once I get something out of my head and onto a post I feel so much better. Writing about life since Jakob's choking episode is kinda weird. Sometimes it seems like my brain has pushed that whole night away and I don't even really believe it ever happened. Other times something will trigger my memory (like if Jakob's crying very hard and not taking a breath) and my heart will skip a beat (or two) and I remember all the feelings of that night. Once Jakob got home from the hospital he slept in bed with us for two nights. During the day we didn't let him out of our sight. If I hadn't seen him for more than a minute or two I would get nervous and run around the house looking for him. At my mom's house we put his little cot in our room at the foot of our bed so for 9 or 10 days I had my eye on him all the time. The doctors said Jakob was too young to realize that him picking/eating his diaper is what caused him to choke. Now that it's been 2 weeks I have to say I'm not so sure they're right. He has not touched his diaper one time since that night. There hasn't been one tear in it. He just hasn't messed with it. He's had an increasing number of times he wakes up and cries during the night. I have to wonder does he remember? When we walked into the house after returning from Niceville I felt like i was going to throw up. I kept thinking how can I stay in this house? All I could think of was my son lying on the floor turning blue. I know the house had nothing to do with his choking, but my body and mind put the two together. Thankfully the weather has been nice lately and I have opened windows and let the fresh air into the house and like I said the memory of that night feels like a dream to me now. The thing that has not gone away is the nagging fear that maybe he will choke on something else. Now that he choked on a diaper, something we never would have imagined we see a house full of dangerous things. At night I find myself lying so still and just listening to see if I hear my baby crying. The first night home I slept very well, I think mostly because of the exhaustion of driving and the long week we'd had. The next couple of days Jeremy and I have had trouble sleeping because we'll hear Jakob cry out either from a bad dream or just because he woke up and even though he quiets down I'm thinking, o.k., has he quieted because he's sleeping or because he's not breathing? I keep having to counsel/remind myself that God is in control of my little boys life. Even if I was the safest mother ever and had everything in this house child-proofed I could not keep Jakob safe on my own. I have to keep telling myself that God allowed Jakob to live and to be here with us. Then I thank God for letting him live and then I can rest. On Wednesday we went to church and the pastor taught out of Matthew chptr.6. For the next few weeks we will be studying it. He talked about being anxious or fearful of the future and how God told us not to be anxious, if he takes care of the birds and the flowers he will care for us. I am always so thankful when God confirms to me something he's already been teaching me in my own life. I know that the fear is not totally gone. Yesterday I was thinking about our anniversary in March and whether we would get a babysitter and go out to dinner and then I got really afraid. I thought no, a babysitter might get distracted and something bad could happen to Jakob. I know I still have some issues but I hope with God's help I will be able to trust him and give my fears over to him.

Christmas pictures...

Our little Christmas tree

Christmas at home...day after we got out of the hospital

On the road again...

Lights at Lake Defuniak

Christmas at Gamma's

Kate found uncle Jeremy's popcorn tin and dug right in. When will saw it was community property he helped himself too :) Uncle Jeremy said he would share his popcorn

Aunt Shauna and cheesy Kate (lol)

Cousins watching Pooh Bear together :)

Katie-Kate

More movie watching

Christmas 2011 (we had to take 10 pictures to get one where Jakob was smiling, still he was forcing this one) lol

Shopping Day :D

Turkey Creek pics...

Lincoln Park pics...

Lovin' on Aunt Abi :)

Pic with Uncle Dan and Aunt Kara