Beer, Bread, & Baby: October 2014

With a baby due in early September we decided our family vacation this year would be to Sunriver. We knew we would be spending several long weekends down there, but we wanted to make a point of Brian taking a full week off and us making a real trip out of it. It turned out better than we could have imagined and is one my top vacations of all time. We left to spend the July 4th weekend down there and Auntie Steph and Uncle Sammi made last minute plans to come to Portland, which became Sunriver too! It was such a treat to have them there, not knowing the next time I was going to see my sister I was so excited they could come. My parents were there and the house was full of lots of laughs and celebrating of Stammi's recent engagement. After a fun long weekend everyone left except the 3 of us. We spent the week golfing (Brian), riding bikes, going to the pool, playing in the dirt, looking for fancy rocks, scooter riding, squirrel and deer hunting, bubble blowing and everything in between. We visited breweries for dinner, sat on the deck to relax during nap time and made it feel like a true vacation. One of my favorite nights we rode bikes out into the meadow on kind of a warm stormy evening. We took Jake to the stable and the airport, both of which he found less exciting than a practice putting green…and then ate burgers on the lawn in back of the lodge while Jake played. It was simple and special and great end to our time together.

At the end of the 10 days I wasn't ready to come home so Jake and I spent another week there, the last few days of that with my Dad who then gave us a ride home! Jake and I then came home for a week and headed down for one more week of fun with my parents. We had the best time and Jake was in heaven every second. Jake and I had our little routine…every morning we would go out and look for the rocks (that I would hide the night before), then around 9:30 we loaded up the bikes with the chariot with all of our pool stuff and ride down to the SHARC for their 10 am opening. We played in the toddler pool, the sand area, the fountains, and the shallow end of the big pool. As the Summer progressed Jake became more and more confident in the water, less afraid of getting splashed and more eager to "swim." He still won't get his face in the water, but we started with a simply lean over to Mama from a sitting position to "jump" into the pool to him backing up for a running start to jump to me by the end of the Summer. We had a snack at the pool and then rode home for a nice long nap (Jake) and then more play and dinner. We had an awesome time and we got a great tan too…especially my little bronze baby.

I am so grateful to have these memories in the Summer before we became a family of four. I know it won't ever quite be like that again and it really was a special time. I am so grateful that my parents bought this house that we can all spend time together in, so grateful that Jake can wake up and see deer out the kitchen window, so grateful that we can all sip wine on the deck in the sunshine, so grateful we are in the mecca land of breweries, so grateful to make memories in a place that has always been so special to me.

Jake at 21 Months:

All About Jake

Jake didn't like it when we added the chalkboard…he wanted the spotlight all to himself.

Height: 35 1/2 inches

Weight: 29 lbs 6 oz

Jake's sleeping habits are:
From 18 to 21 months Jake went through a bunch of different sleep patterns. He pretty consistently took a nap everyday, most often 2 hours in length, but as long as 3 1/2 or as short as 1 a few times. The only day he didn't nap that I can remember was Mimi's birthday, he wanted to celebrate. Jake still goes to bed early and gets up early, although around 19 months started to consistently make it to 6 am or later…which basically feels like mid-afternoon. When he was close to 21 months old he had a major sleep regression. It started at the end of our Sunriver vacation. We started our two weeks there with the whole family and slowly people started leaving and soon it was just me and Jake. My guess is this made him uneasy and as a result became super clingy, sleeping with me in my room several times while we were there. When we got home he cried a lot at bedtime and didn't want me to leave until he was asleep. He got the stomach flu for the first time at the end of July. This didn't help, especially since a cold followed. We just kept going back to our principals on sleep and I knew this was a pretty typical milestone. Soon we were back to no tears at bedtime, but bath still seems to be a battle some days. One day he just decided he didn't like baths and especially getting water poured over his head. We never stopped taking baths although we resorted to sponge baths in Sunriver for a while and soon he got through this stage too. He is a toddler and he is asserting himself and it can manifest in crazy little ways. We all made it with our good habits still in tact and happy and well rested boy on our hands.

Jake's favorite foods are:

Jake is becoming less selective on his foods. He will at least try mostly anything that we put on his plate. He gets really excited to have dehydrated Mangos or pretzels as a snack. He loves cereal and although it is a little messy, he does a surprisingly good job of using a real spoon to eat a whole bowl. He eats less than he used to, especially throughout the day because there are just too many other things to do. We spent much of these few months outside so he would have lunch and sometimes dinner at his picnic table or on the deck in Sunriver. Jake loves smoothies…or "smoovies" I should say…his favorite being milk, banana, peanut butter, and yogurt…kid after my own heart. Jake is nutty about berries this year. Blueberries are by far his favorite and he can eat them by the pint full. They make for some nasty diapers, but he sure loves them, the other part is really only my problem.

Jake's favorite books are:
Right after Jake turned 18 months old and we came home from Palm Desert he went through a stage where he didn't want any books…at all…ever. I think maybe he was over it after we read the same 12 books for nearly 3 weeks in the desert. Every night he wanted to do his shape block puzzles. So for nearly a month at every nap and every bedtime we did one of the two or both the puzzles he has. As a result, he knew several shapes by 21 months, including triangle, square, star, heart, and circle. Once we got past the puzzle stage and went back to books there were a few distinct favorites over this time period. First, Jake loves the Carl books - all about a dog babysitter, there are no words, but he loves doggies and must appreciate my narration. Next, he loved the "Steam Train, Dream Train" book, or anything "choo choo" related. Lastly, he became totally obsessed with Curious George. We had 4 books that we would just rotate through. I memorized them and he LOVED them! He is almost 2 now and he is still in love with Curious George. One other book that the is still obsessed with is Richard Scarry's Word Book. It is so fun to see the inscription from my aunt and uncle in 1981 when they gave it to me as a baby and how much he loves this many years later, timeless. Some favorite pages are the playground, trains, and the big dinner.

Jake talks about:
At 16 months Jake started to babble non-stop, at 17 months this continued and he added several animal sounds. It was always clear he understood everything that we said, but he wasn't quite ready for his own words. By 18 month he had a few words under his belt and by 19-months he probably had 50 words, at 20 months those became two-word phrases that were funny like "eat doggie." and by 21 months it was more like 3 word sentences. During this time a favorite phrase was "seeyousoon", pronounced as one word and said to living and non-living objects upon Jake's departure from anywhere. He would say it to "Doggie" to "Mama" and to his taco when I cleared the dinner dishes. He started using Mama and Papa regularly during this age and it is still my favorite sound. Jake can count to 3 in sequence and knows many other numbers, but we can't quite get them in the right order yet. He says "Idunno" (I don't know) in a really cute way too, especially when asked "where did it go?"

Jake's new tricks include:

Jake changed more in these last 3 months than he has for several months. Not only did he transform physically from a chubby little baby face to a long, slender ( but sturdy) toddler boy, but his personality continues to take shape everyday. Perhaps I have said this at every milestone, but while this age has its challenges, it is such fun everyday to see what new connections Jake makes and see the little person he is becoming. Jake is a thinker. He is cautious with new things and likes to observe for a bit before jumping in. He has "stranger danger" and loves to watch people until they make eye contact with him and then he shuts down. He stays close to Mama, many times between my legs. Jake goes non-stop and his verbal development and physical growth most definitely define these months. No longer is it the chubby little baby I wanted so badly to just roll over.

Jake loves to:

Jake loves to play outside and he especially loves to play with water, the hose and his water table are favorites. We had a very expensive water bill this Summer so we will have to rethink this approach next year. Jake loves to wear his helmet whether or not he is even on a bike or scooter. Sometimes he won't be wearing much more than a helmet and a diaper. In Sunriver Jake started to learn to ride a scooter and showed he had some serious coordination at a young age. Grandma and Grandpa got Jake a lawn mower that shoots out bubbles and that was a favorite toy for a few months. We finished our third session of music class in June and for the first time in 9 months Jake hugged "Teacher Audrey" at the end of class. This was huge progress! Jake loves to take things with him to nap time or bedtime, especially any new toys. You can often find him asleep with Big Doggie and Little Doggie and a random toy, usually one that makes noise. Before bath and bed Jake loved to "play hide." He would mostly hide in the middle of his room and start laughing hysterically when Mama or Papa "found" him. He wanted us to hide too, but he followed so close behind us it was more of a chase. We tried to teach him how to hide behind clothes in the closet, but that wasn't very successful. Jake loves all of his little girlfriends. We see Sayla and Malia at least once a week and he is a little obsessed with Reed across the street. She is playing hard to get, but I can guarantee she will regret that someday. Older women can be like that. Jake has discovered stickers and those can keep his attention at a restaurant for about 3 minutes, which is like a year in Jake time. Jake loves anything with wheels - trucks, trains, cars. He likes to dump out all his matchbox cars and have Mama "make circle" with them all. Jake loves to snuggle be close when we are just relaxing. When I was sick at the beginning of my pregnancy with Bo I just wanted Jake to watch a cartoon so I could chill out for a minute. He never sat still for longer than 8 minutes. Now I think he would watch 8 episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in a row if we let him. Obsessed. Jake loves to brush his teeth…and by brush I mean eat the non-flouride toothpaste and suck on the tooth brush. He has about 10 different toddler brushes but still insists on destroying mine and Papa's. He knows he is supposed to sit down when he has a toothbrush in his mouth, often he sits on the toilet seat. He will walk there and ask for his brush.

Jake is a joy, a love, and a light. Days with him entertaining and happy. His laugh and smile are infectious and I am so proud of the little boy he is becoming.