New Pictures - Yea!

My poor child was starting to suffer from camera neglect. I did my part to save him from this awful affliction tonight. Captured photographic evidence of crawling, eating, and two new teeth. And the adorable outfit and new shoes mama got him...because apparently mama doesn't have anything better to do with her money...

My little sumo wrestler all bundled up for the cold weather - tee hee



His tiny slobbery fist



LOVE this one:




Accepting food from a spoon (rice cereal mixed with applesauce - not his favorite).



Hilariously deciding not to accept any more food.



Crawling on his hands and knees. Ruth is smart to stay out of the way on the couch...not in her nice bed that I spent a half-hour cleaning the other day - there it is empty in the upper right hand corner.



Two shots of him 'feeding' himself. The spoon becomes a chew-toy.





The new teeth on the top! Look closely - very closely. They're there. Seriously.

Manic Monday

Yes, I am guilty of not posting for a while. The world has been a crazy place lately. Just trying to figure it all out... I would like to ask everyone reading the blog today to say a prayer for the Graves family, who are laying sweet Noah to rest today. I noticed that we have had more visitors than usual to the blog lately. I'm glad to see more people reading, and I welcome anyone who may have made it here from reading other blogs I have commented on.

I guess the most exciting thing that is going on is that Jake is finally crawling on his hands and knees, instead of the previous method of scooting in a military crawl. We were at the doctor's last week for his 9 month well-baby check-up...and flu shot. I always hate to see my baby get shots! :( He is now 9 months old, weighs 22 pounds and is 30 inches tall. Ruthie now outweighs Jake by only one pound!



Well, this morning I narrowly escaped a big fat scary speeding trap, in which I most certainly deserved a speeding ticket. I am an admitted speeder, and as much as I have tried to slow down in the past few years, and I have slowed down, I still find myself pushing it sometimes. And on mornings when we are running late and I am trying to make it to daycare ontime (or else Jake will be turned away for the day - don't get me started on that rule!), I have almost no choice but to make up the time on the highway. So this morning with all the fog, I figured the cops wouldn't bother setting up their usual speed traps because they wouldn't be able to see anything. Stupid assumption on my part. I still don't know how I didn't get pulled over, but I am darn thankful for it. The Lord has been hearing from me A LOT lately. Maybe I should begin to pray that my ears will work well enough to hear my alarm clock, and for my body to get the heck out of bed on-time in the morning!!!!



So Jake also got a new pair of shoes this weekend. I wandered down to Payless while Ralph was at Hair Cuttery and found a pair of $3 sneakers! How could I say no to that??? Very cute, especially now that he is trying to stand more and more often.



Jake had a nice time with Grandma and Grandpa Valentine this weekend, and he tried to console Uncle Danny on the Eagles loss. Ralph was kind enough to pack Jake's Eagles sweatsuit that Unlce Rick and Aunt Jackie gave him for Christmas... even though Ralph is still mourning his Giants loss.

Prayer Request

Noah Graves and his big sister, Emily



Dear Friends & Family,

I am hoping you will forward this prayer request to your friends and family, for the family of Noah Graves. This is a family that I have mentioned here before, and we have a link for the Graves Family Blog posted at right. Noah and his family are in need of lots of prayer. After spending 5 months with their little boy in the hospital in Colorado (they are still not sure what is wrong with him, or how to treat him), they decided to take Noah off of life support as of this friday. The family has reached thousands of people with their incredible faith in God through the whole process, and it is an inspiration to all who read it. Please check out their blog at www.noahsteven.blogspot.com.

Keep them in your prayers as they are dealing with an incredibly sad and difficult situation. Thank you, and please pass this on.

Arggghhh....

Just when I am finally starting to really get along with the ladies at daycare (evil witch is no longer employed there - woo hoo!), they do something else to make me furious. I go in at lunch to drop off some bananas for Jake and spend some quality time with my little guy and end up leaving the place wondering why I let him stay there day after day....

Conversation with D.W.D.P (dim-witted daycare provider) this afternoon went something like this:

D.W.D.P:Oh, I have a funny story for you!
ME, tired but in a good mood:Oh yeah?
D.W.D.P: Yeah, so... has Jake had french fries yet?
ME, cautiously: Uh, noooo...why?
D.W.D.P: Well, when I got my lunch today, Jake was very interested in my french fries! He came over and almost crawled up me trying to get to them.
ME, more stern now: Yes, he's very curious about things...
D.W.D.P: Yeas, so he seemed like he really wanted some of these fries...
ME, terrified silence
D.W.D.P: So I gave him one, and...
ME, freaked out: You GAVE him a french fry?
D.W.D.P: Oh yeah, he was really wantin' them!
ME, more stunned silence:
D.W.D.P: So he was just playing with it and playin with it, and then he chewed on it a bit and played with it some more. He's so funny!
ME: Yeeeaaah... I don't think he should really be having french fries yet. We are really trying to get him used to his baby foods, and our pediatrician recom--
D.W.D.P: Yeah, so then, I got my cheesteak out and--
ME, jaw on the floor, please dear god no...
D.W.D.P: But I wasn't going to let him have that since I was really hungry.
ME, trying not to let my head explode: Yeah, he's way too young for that.
ME, to Jake, trying to contain my anger in front of my child: No more french fries for you, Jakie!
D.W.D.P, still not getting it: I think he really liked them!
ME: Riiiight..... I think I should go back to work now.

Apparently I need to stop thinking that they will get my gentle hints about what my child should and should not be eating and doing. I need to go back to being a blatant... uh... (rhymes with witch). I do NOT think it is funny or amusing to feed an infant french fries, and I need to make it crystal clear to this woman when I go to pick him up tonight. Arghhh....

More eating progress!!!

[Eyewitness News Theme Music]

Breaking News!

We have confirmed reports from our sources in Delaware that Jake has eaten multiple bites of baby food. Sources close to Jake and his parents say he opened his mouth and tasted not only peaches, but also pureed bananas, late this evening. One eyewitness had this to say:

"Yeah, it was like, suddenly he was all receptive to it. He even leaned in for a few extra bites of the bananas, and called for them by name!"

We will keep you posted as the situation unfolds. Jake's parents told our reporters they want to try applesauce tomorrow, but don't want to push it after months of Jake refusing any baby foods.

Now, back to Chip at the Eyewitness News desk....

[Eyewitness News Theme Music fades out]

MAJOR PROGRESS!!!

Some very exciting stuff has been happening at the Vasami household lately! It's been insanely busy, so I am sorry I haven't posted more lately. I will try to do better in 2007! :)

1. Jake is talking more! He FINALLY said "MAMA"!! Yeah! He also says "Dada" "Baba" "Nana" and... "Eggo". Funny enough, Eggo might have been his first word - ha! He would babble it while crying with his binkie in his mouth - "eggo-wegga-wegga".

2. JAKE STOOD TODAY!!! He pulled himself up into a stand by pulling up on his new Baby Grand Piano that his grandparents got him for Christmas! It only lasted a second, but I was so thrilled to see him using his legs for once!!

3. Jake finally learned how to bounce! He is using his Jumperoo properly for the first time since we've owned it (5 months). He learned to bounce in the activity center at Mema Mary's house over Christmas. Now he can't stop bouncing in everything - crib, bed, floor, activity centers that don't bounce - etc.

4. Jake willingly took food on a spoon!!! This is the first time he has let me put a spoon in his mouth in MONTHS! He usually clamps his jaws together and turns away, refusing ANY baby food. Now, the good news takes a bad turn here, because all I had to offer him was peas. Bad move. Ralph hates peas, I should have known his son would too. So he took the peas, tasted the peas, spit out the peas, made a horrible face, gagged, and puked all over himself and his toy. Maybe I will go back to bananas....

Have a great weekend!

Christmas (Part Two)

Here's Christmas with the Guie family, including all of the 'new' cousins (you probably read their blogs too!)

All of the (local) great-grandkids: Madison, Brittany, Olivia, Ethan, Jake, Kyler, Brian, and Brett (Austin and Rachel live in Montana).



Jake goes in for a kiss on cousin Kyler (I got a pic of the kiss, but my flash didn't fire, I'll photoshop it and post later).



Brett and Brian are just too cute!



The 'new' little boy cousins: Ethan, Jake and Kyler.



Ethan's proud big sister, Olivia. Total cutie pie!!



Then, Jake opened presents with Grandma & Grandpa and Uncle Danny on New Year's Eve Day:



Jake loved the toy Uncle Danny got him!



Jake was very excited to get a "Drive-It-The-Car" (Uncle Danny's favorite toy when he was a little dude)



Ralph had a few of Grandma's famous chocolate chip cookies sitting next to him, and Jake reached around and pulled out a few cookies to nibble on. I guess he knows to go right to the good stuff - ha! (No, we didn't let him eat it)



Alllllll of the stockings



Grandpa Jim helps Jake open his Christmas stocking...



and 2006 comes to an 'end' (heh)...