Checking out the new backyard

Today was a very busy day. This morning we went up to visit my new backyard. Mummy got me all bundled into my mucky clothes so I could walk around and check things out. I found out that my new yard is very, very muddy and mummy said that hopefully by the time we move up there we will have some grass planted so that I don't end up covered in mud everytime i step outside.
I also found out that I have my very own tire to swing on. Of course I had to taste it to make sure that it was safe to use and it was so mummy let me go for a swing.

I think I might like this new place once it's all done. There's all sorts of things that I can get into up there.

Then this afternoon we went shopping and I got to help mummy and daddy look at doors and windows. I was being very good so mummy let me out of my stroller to walk around and i met all sorts of friendly people when i was pushing my stroller into them. It was a very full day so I had a very late nap and now I'm raring to go all night long.

My friend Brooklynn came to play

On Monday, my mummy babysat our friend Brooklynn who is almost 2. We got to play together all day and even played in the park on the slides. I taught her how to come down the stairs backwards and she taught me how to lick the coffee table (and the garbage can at the playground but it looked too cold to try this time around). Of course she wasn't sure that she wanted to share her toys or mine with me but then we discovered the boot tray and so we decided to have a sit down and chill for awhile. After lunch, mummy gave us a special treat - Cheesies! they sure are tasty and they make your fingers a pretty orange colour. We had a very good day and I can't wait for her to visit again

A few of my favourite things

Well mummy has gone back to work for real now and so I get to spend three days with my Grandmas and it has been lots of fun. They come over to my house and then we get to play together or sometimes I will go and meet my one Grandma at my cousins house. That's fun too cause I get to walk to school with them. Anyway, while mummy has been gone I have been learning a few things such as the sounds animals make. I especially like the "MOO" animal and luckily they are everywhere in my house. Sometimes I even moo at the cats to see if they can make the same noise, so far they only meow. I am also working on "woof, woof", "quack","neigh", "he-ha" and "cluck, cluck". I figure I should have all the animals covered so that if I ever meet some live ones I can talk to them.
I have also come up with a very entertaining form of play. I will find a container or bucket and put it over my mouth and face and wander around the house very quickly and try not to walk into things. My parents find this vastly amusing so I will continue to entertain them.
My other fun thing to do involves mealtime. To keep mummy on her toes and to see if she is paying attention I like to put food into my mouth and then spit it out all over my chin and then take the rest of the food off my tray and drop it one by one onto the floor. She is usually giving me a funny look and saying something that sounds like "Brat" (but i say it like Bwat so I'm not really sure if that is what she is saying). I can do this every meal and it never gets tiring. I really like to do it to foods that I have been known to like cause then mummy and daddy never know what I will eat. I have even tried this out on my Grandmas!
I have also discovered that in town there are some really big bathtubs that tons of people can swim in. Mummy and Daddy and I went to one last Sunday and I even got to keep my clothes on in this bath. Mummy also brought along a really fun seat to sit in so I could float and kick my legs without getting my head wet. They also have lots of different tubs in this place and one of them takes you on a ride. I liked that one and so did mummy and daddy cause they were having a squirt toy fight with water over my head (sometimes they missed each other and squirted me)
Mummy told me that today I get to try out another fun thing called Skating and she really hopes I like it cause she plans to take me every week.

Feeling better, now on with my playing!

Both me and mummy are starting to get over our respective sicknesses and mummy even took another sick day to make sure that she is really better so it's time to get on with playing with my new toys. I got some really cool BOY toys for my birthday and I can finally play with them. I had a big party on Saturday and all my family came to sing me songs and watch me demolish some cake. Mummy and daddy were extra brave cause they didn't put any protective coverings on me and I got to smear pizza and chocolate cake everywhere and then I got to touch everyone else with my messy fingers. This was way fun! Grandma made me a cars cake and that seemed to be the theme for all my cool presents too. Mummy and daddy gave me my very own peanut car and once my legs are big enough to touch the ground I'm sure that I will be zooming around so everyone watch out.
I got all sorts of cool things like a wagon full of blocks (my cousins even thought it was fun cause they pulled me around in it), a big soft stuffed puppy that is as big as me, a cool soft touch piano and a musical book, some spiffy new duds, some winnie the pooh letters and numbers to spell my name and age out with and a cool dump truck and loader. Mummy has promised that when we move that she will let me play in all the dirt and that I can help daddy cause now I have the right equipment.
It was a very nice party and mummy said that we get to have another party with my baby friends too. I think I like turning one.

My first hospital stay

I've had my first hospital stay and all before I turned one. My grandma Popham was babysitting me on Monday when she phoned to tell my daddy that I wasn't feeling very good and I sounded like a bad car starting up. Daddy rushed home and he phoned mummy so that she could leave work and then daddy drove me to the hospital (mummy was there when we got there- she was very fast). The nice nurse lady took us right in and then the cute doctor (mummy thought he was nice looking) came and looked me over and put the cold breathing listening thing on my tummy and back. He said that I sounded raspy and my poor tummy was having to work hard to breathe. Then the hospital visit turned bad because the cute man and nice nurse made me put a big scary sounding mask over my mouth and nose and told my daddy to keep it there and make me breathe in the smoky stuff. I didn't like this cause I couldn't make my happy noises into the mask and I couldn't get it off my face. Finally that ended and then the doctor told my parents that they needed to see my tummy on TV, so they stripped me down and put me in some weird box and stuck my hands over my head and then mummy and daddy left while the TV took my picture. That wasn't too bad but I don't like to be in boxes without a way out. After being in the hospital for a few hours I was starting to get bored so my parents tried to entertain me by giving me piggyback rides. That was fun but I liked to watch all the people in the hospital too. Finally another lady doctor came to see me with a really cool light spinny thing and she told my parents that I was very sick (bronchial virus) and that I would have to stay in another hospital (this made mummy very sad). So I got all bundled up and mummy and daddy drove me to Abbotsford. When I got there I had to wake up and see some more doctors and have them listen to my tummy and then they made me wear the mean mask too. But they were even meaner cause then they decided to stick a big tube up my nose and it really hurt and made me cry really hard. Then if that wasn't enough they decided to tape a smaller plug on my face and put plugs up my nose and blow air up it . I did not like this and I kept trying to pull it out of my nose and pull the tape off my cheeks. Finally they let me go into a room and tried to get me to sleep in some very scary prison crib. I didn't like that either and so mummy had to hold me all night while I tried to sleep through all the face mask interruptions. Daddy couldn't stay with me the first night cause they didn't have a bed for him, (he could have used my crib cause he couldn't fall out of it) but he came back in the morning. I wasn't allowed to leave my room so mummy and daddy tried to keep me happy by putting on some funny movies and giving me a bath and playing toys with me. Grandma Hatzl came by to play with me later that day too. The good thing that day was that mummy convinced the nice nurse to take the tape thing off my face (that was not fun cause it made my cheeks bleed). They kept putting the face mask over me every three hours and putting a glowy thing on my thumb but I was starting to accept the face mask if mummy or daddy held me and we watched a video. That night daddy stayed with me and mummy went to a friends house to sleep (apparentaly she didn't sleep for 37 hours and was very tired). Of course I slept much better that night cause daddy also brought me my own playpen to sleep in and the nose thing was off my face. By Wednesday I was feeling a bit better so the doctor said I could go home later that night. They also let me out to play in the big room and I had fun playing with all the cool toys. I didn't like the food they served me though and my parents said it looked like something the cats barf up. That night at 7pm they sprung me loose with instructions to take some mask medicine when I go home. I was a very good boy and when I got home I slept in my crib for 3 hours before I woke up coughing and throwing up. I was trying to get rid of the guckys in my tummy and I made my bed all messy. Mummy thought I was all done so she gave me a bottle of milk (yup, BIG mistake)I threw that up all over her leg, the carpet and into my daddy's hands. Finally mummy took me into a nice steamy shower and at 1am I finally fell back to sleep in my crib. I am very happy to be home, but I still have to take the mask medicine and I don't really like it unless my parents let me do it myself so that I can take the mask off and pretend to be Darth Vader.

My first year in retrospect - Part Two

I have had many fun events to celebrate this last year including Mother's day, Father's day, many family birthday parties, my Baptism in late April, my sister Taylor's grad (I went to my first formal dinner and dance), our trip to Disneyland (got to meet Tigger), my first swimming experience in both a pool and in the lake (wasn't too fond of that one), my first hospital stay (jury's still out on that one) and now I get to have my very own BIRTHDAY PARTY. TURNING ONE IS FUN!!!!!

My first year in retrospect - Part One

Today is my First Birthday and look how much I have grown.

I have had a very exciting year and have sure done and learned a lot of fun things.
To start with I was born on January 11, 2006 at 5:33pm. I was suppossed to be born earlier but I didn't want to come out of my nice warm home. Finally with some coaxing I popped right out and got to meet my mummy and daddy for the first time.
Then not too long afterwards I got to experience my first snowfall (I didn't care for it too much but look how much i like it now).

I gave mummy and daddy a pretty hard time because I liked to be held a lot and finally I learned to sleep through the night when i was 9 months old

When I was 4 1/2 months old I started to learn to eat solid foods and then over the next couple months I grew 7 teeth so now I brush them every day.

I have been very busy and here are some of my other milestones-

I gave a great big smile to my mummy and daddy when I was 5 weeks old. I learned that my hands were a great thing to put into my mouth at 3 months and that they can also be used to pick up things. At 5 months I learned that my feet were way more tastier than my hands. In April I showed how well I can laugh with a great big belly laugh. When I was 6 months old I amazed my parents with how well I can roll around (and right off a bed!). By August I was crawling around and getting into things like the cat's dishes. Then to make things harder for the parents I decided that I should learn to stand up (which I got so good at that i could even dance). I had my parents convinced that I would walk before I was 10 months old but I held out till the day after I turned 10 months. Now I am a holy terror on two feet. I learned that I can make mummy cry when I said "mumma" in October and by December I made daddy proud when I called his name. I have learned the stairs are fun to climb up, the crib is fun to try to climb out of, the highchair was a cinch to climb out of and the cats are fun to chase around and bodyslam when I catch them. I've learned that I don't like needles and that sometimes hospitals can be fun when they let you run around and not put masks over your face or things up your nose. I learned that no matter what I do and especially when I say things that I can make my parents smile and that they love me unconditionaly. I can't wait to keep on learning new things and getting bigger.

I've been given the cold shoulder!

So today was my second day back at work and I come home to find out that for both of those days Jacob has done very well and has pretty much had a fun time. Yesterday my mum and my neice babysat him and today Steve's mum. Both mornings he has woken up before I had to leave at 7:45, so I have had a chance to go in and play peek-a-boo when he wakes. Of course both morning I have cried on the way out of the house and this morning I blubbered in front of him so maybe that is why! I got home and Jacob was sleeping and didn't wake up till 6 so i go to get him and he is not interested in playing with me and actually cries when I try to change him. Then we go downstairs where Steve is making dinner and the little turd crawls all over his daddy's feet and won't give me the time of day. I even pretend to lay on the floor and cry and he just lays on the floor and smirks at me. I HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE COLD SHOULDER AND IT'S ONLY BEEN TWO DAYS!!!!!
Sure I have pictures all over my computer at work so that I can see my baby all the time and he had a great time with his Grandma's and then gives me attitude. This is my punishment and I'm sure to expect more from the little turkey as the years go on. What fun!!!!!

Boy in a bubble

Well, I should have seen it coming. First, I perfect the whole walking thing (check me out in this secret spy video) then I figure out how to open the baby gate,and finally, I try to take over the world with my hypnotic powers of cuteness. It worked on Santa so I figured mommy and daddy would be a cinch. But they must have got an idea from some crazy scientist 'cause they stuck me in a jar to keep me outta trouble.
Now, I'm a boy in a bubble and all I can do is make funny faces and try to get out. Oh well, I'm pretty sure they'll release me for my birthday or people will get kinda suspicious when I don't show up.

this Christmas thing is tiring

Mummy and Daddy said that Christmas was a fun time of the year but they forget to mention how tiring it really is. With all the new toys, paper and boxes to play with plus all the visiting it can really make a boy tired. It seems all I have done lately is get packed off into my carseat and travel to someone elses house. Mummy tells me that there is still New Years to come when we will go to Hope and play in the snow and stay at Aunty Kim and Uncle Franks house. i don't know about anyone else but all this excitement is too much for one little boy to take, it's a good thing that Christmas only comes once a year. Mummy also told me to not forget how to open presents cause in two more weeks I will be having a birthday party and i get to have a car cake with a candle in it to blow out. This sounds interesting so I will have to make sure I get enough rest before then so i can stay awake longer.

Wow that was exciting

Well the first Christmas has come and gone and it was a very busy one with lots of memories to store away. On Christmas Eve, we went to Church and Jacob did great. He was bopping up and down in our arms and tried to have a conversation with another little girl. Then he got to sit with his cousins for a while till communion when Grandma tried to give him some bread. After Church some of my family came over for dinner and visiting (alas Jacob had to go to bed so Santa could come deliver his presents.) We woke up earlier on Christmas morning than we had all week (must have been the excitement) and went downstairs to open the gifts. Amazingly enough Jacob didn't try to eat the wrapping paper. He was most interested in chewing on hard things and some that were quite difficult to get a good grip on. He received lots of nice gifts such as a vacuum and shape sorter dump truck from Santa, a giggle and shake Elmo chair, balls, books, clothes and keepsake ornaments. He had fun that morning vacuuming the floor and putting the shapes into the holes. Later that morning we went to my sisters for breakfast and Jacob had a nap. After his nap he got to open all his presents from his relatives with a lot of help from us. His favourite gift was the drum set from Grandma and Grandpa but he also got a real nice jacket from Disneyland, a helicopter, some texture and rattle balls and more clothes, plus a pirates hat and sword. He also enjoyed his cousin Meagen's karaoke machine.
Later that day we went to Steve's Mum's house for dinner with his family. And of course Jacob had another nap while we ate dinner (yes the poor kid did get to eat that day!). Then Jacob got to show everyone how talented he is with his new drum toys and amaze them with how fast he is walking now (he sorta looks like he is a drunk circus clown). Then we got to open more presents and Jacob came away with some very nice clothes. Finally he went to bed at Grandmas so that we could visit a while longer and then we later bundled him all up and took him home to sleep in his crib.
He had a very full and exciting day and now he can play with all his new stuff and make lots of noise.

There are Santa's everywhere!

Today we had our playgroup Christmas party and Santa was there. this is the third time that Jacob has seen Santa and he was having nothing to do with him. He cried when i tried to put him on his lap so later we both went up to Santa and Jacob was having no part in getting to meet him. Of course it was his nap time and he was a little clingy and Grandma said he had a fever so that could account for his behaviour. He has never really made strange with anyone but maybe he is starting to go through that phase.
Anyway he did manage to have some fun at the party, he even did some walking, climbing and toy stealing. I believe he even tried to share his carrot with Owen. Afterwards when we got home he was more than ready for a nap and hopefully he is not getting sicker than just a cold which he's had now for 2 weeks.

My first Christmas Stocking

This morning I went with mummy and Grandma to Fabricland to pick out material for my Christmas stocking. There was all sorts of sparkly material put Mummy said i had to pick a quilted one so I choose the one with the teddies, doggies and kitties on it.
When I got up from my very, very brief nap, there it was. It looks like a big sock! Mummy tried to put it on my foot but it was way too big and I looked like a merman. She says that on Christmas morning it will be filled with all sorts of toys and goodies and that everything in it is mine to have. I wonder if it will have boxes, ribbons and ornaments in it to play with?

Keeping them on their toes!

Ha ha I'm so smart. I have figured out how to open up the baby gate that mummy and daddy have across the living room stairs. Now whenever I want I can push open the gate and climb the stairs and boy am I fast. I am also really fond of getting into things and moving them around such as the laundry hamper, my toy box and the boxes mummy gives me to play with. I know how to tip them all over and climb on top of them to reach things that look fun. Lately I have also been walking more and ya know what it's almost as fast and as fun as crawling. Mummy and Daddy keep saying some words to me when I am just having fun and then they move me or take away my fun stuff. Like the other day I was playing under the Christmas tree when an ornament fell into my hands and i didn't even get to slobber all over it before mummy took it and hung it much higher. I think they are stunting my exploratory growth stage by taking away all the fun things.

P.S a note from Jacob's mummy and daddy- We have now attached a bungie cord to the baby gate so that he can't get it open and crawl up the stairs. Of course now we get to listen to him having a temper tantrum cause he knows that it should open.

The process of decorating

Well the folks needed my help the other night to put the decorations up on the tree and since I have discerning taste I was only too happy to help.
Here I am looking for the perfect ornament to hang.
p.s -I have been told that I resemble Santa Claus in this outfit!

Once you find the ornament you want you need to test it for durability.

Then you need to make sure that it is hanging just right.

Then once you are done you can stand back and admire your handiwork.

And hope that some of those presents are for you!

I'm getting big now

Today is Jacob's 11 month birthday and we went and had him weighed and he is 22lbs 3 oz. He has learned some new tricks the last couple days. One of them is how to climb into his bouncy seat and stand in it to reach books off the table. He also stands up on an overturned pampers box and waves his arms around like he is an ape. Right now he is amusing himself with a wrapping paper roll waving it around and hitting things with it. It's amazing how much fun kids can have with garbage!
Last night when Jacob had his bath he was playing like he normally does when all of a sudden he squats and drop a log. Except it wasn't a log but more like an explosion! We have been waiting for the moment when he would do a number two in the tub but this was more than we anticipated. Thankfully Steve was bathing him and he got to clean the tub and all the toys up afterwards.
Jacob has discovered the fun of nudity and whenever he can get the chance to go "au natural" he goes for it. Last night he was having fun again with the roll from the wrapping paper and playing in our duvet. There were a couple wet spots on the duvet from drooling or at least that is what I hope it was!

We haf a cood

Well we are starting the month off with another cold. We have gotten one every month since August and when one of us gets sick the other one gets it too. Right now it is Jacob's turn but I can already feel it coming on. The poor kid woke up at 11pm last night crying and snotting all over the place. We managed to get him to fall back asleep with a dose of dimetapp and he slept till 8am. Of course even though he is sick it hasn't stopped him from getting into trouble. I was taking my shower this morning and so I put Jacob in his bouncy seat and not 5 minutes later he was crawling out of it so I had to get out of the shower dripping water everywhere to make sure he didn't fall out. I get back in the shower hoping that I can get the soap out of my hair before he decides to do something else. Well his something else is to stand outside the shower door and pound on it and then when that didn't work he decided to try and pull the soap basket down from the back of the toilet, then it was taking the toilet paper off the roll. Let's just say I think i got the soap out of my hair and that Jacob ended up wetter than me from me jumping in and out of the shower. If that wasn't enough, while I was trying to get dressed he is standing under the cat perch stretching up to pull Sassy's tail. The kid doesn't know when to stop and i figured that he would be all tired and clingy today. Thankfully I finally got him back down for a nap with lots of cuddles. I wonder who's going to look after me when I get sick????

Yucky Food vs Jacob

Jacob didn't really care too much for eating his lunch today so I decided that since I was having no luck getting it into his mouth that he could do it himself. This is what happens when your child doesn't like what is being served!

I think he won!

Wow there are alot of Santa's

Today i went with my buddies to visit Santa Claus. Now I am a little confused cause yesterday I saw Santa with my kitties and this Santa that I saw today didn't look like the other Santa. So could it be true that there are lots and lots of Santa's and if so does that mean that we get lots and lots of presents from all these Santa's? I hope so cause I really like the boxes these presents come in.

I met the cat Santa!

Today we took my kitties to meet the "Cat Santa". My cats don't really like to ride in the car as much as I do so I had to talk to them to help them calm down. Mummy and daddy couldn't understand our secret language which sorta sounds like this meowwwwww mmm umm umm meow but the cats enjoyed having the company in the back seat. When we arrived at our destination we walked into a building that looked like it was outside but not as cold. Then we met the Cat Santa and mummy and daddy had to dump the kitties out of their houses (it looks like a fun trick and I can't wait to try it when I get big enough to lift the kitties). Whisper pee'd her blanket and then she had to sit on Santa's lap. Daddy held me and Frisbee but she wasn't cooperating so then Mummy gave daddy Sassy and she took Frisbee. Then we all looked at the camera and smiled. Mummy and Daddy said they have been taking the cats to see Santa since they've been married and that now I get to come along. As we were leaving I heard mummy say that next year we would be bringing a doggy with us, I wonder if they have a Doggy Santa too!