Telecommuting Today

Well, its Wed night and I am pooped. Working from home can be a flexible perk, and with a sick baby...well, lets say it can be one long day. Jacob has an ear infection, teething (top) and a terrible cough. He has been struggling all day. Impromptu meetings have flooded my schedule and emails have been flooding my inbox today, yet I did manage to get a great video of Jacob in a good mood (Tylenol or Motrin cocktail must of helped + food). Ethan is practicing drums now and then we are headed off to basketball practice. Maybe we can sneak in a game of "Settlers of Catan" tonight after dinner!!

Great Saturday!

It has been a long week (school, work..lack of sleep)...drained...but nothing like a "great Saturday". This is my first contribution to the family blog, so I am excited to talk about chlorine, the planet of Hoth, and the importance of dating! We went to the aquatic center today with Baby J and Ethan. Jacob was neither happy or screaming...he just had a serious look to him for 40 minutes in the pool. Ethan was a little rusty, not swimming for a while, but at the end of it...I couldn't get him out. At home we played Star Wars video games (the planet of Hoth is our favorite, because we can be Luke or Darth Vader..fun!) did some chores, and wrestled a bit. This evening Suzi and I went to Portland Steak and Chophouse downtown for date night. We got all dressed up and had a great time. We haven't been there before, so it was a slight step down from Ruths Chris's but very nice. The prime rib was awesome and the Ginger Peartini and the Mango Mojito were our favorite cocktails. I cant stress the importance of a date night with your lifetime bride! It has been a while, and when you are doing it, you realize that you dont do it enough. Wild! Well, I just wanted to post the pic at the pool (yes I am looking chubby, but they say photos add like 20 lbs to you) and tell the world about the "Great Saturday" I had! I love my family.

More Pics...of course

Well, I can't resist the temptation to share cute pics of our boys. My mom has been begging me to get some pics done of Jacob somewhere professional, so when she was here we went for some pics. Jacob did so good, they asked if they could post some pics. So, now Jacob will be FAMOUS! (at the local photo place anyway - ha!).

Then I got fancy and made a slide show, thanks to our friend Tara Greer who is a blogging master! Take a look below!

I'm Back

Well, after 10 long days on the road and 4 Asian countries (Korea - a stop where we landed, but did not get off the plane, China, Hong Kong & Taiwan), I am home. Yeah. 7 days was OK, but 10 was too long.

This is a pic of a coastal town on Hong Kong Island

These are NOT rubber chickens!

While I was gone Jacob spent his time with Grammie and Dad. They all had a great time. So much fun he gained another pound, so now he's up to 19, can you believe it? I'm telling you, the kid loves to eat, it's amazing. He'll down 6-8 oz of real food a meal (and if you know 7 month olds, that's ALOT). It amazes me.

I forgot to mention before that he also has his front 2 bottom teeth now. He got them in Oklahoma, but by the time I got back they were fully sprouted, it's so cute. He's also found his tongue and loves turning it upside down to play with it in his mouth, so silly.

Grammie and Dad also worked on some sign language while I was gone and I must say I beleive he knows milk. He uses it for milk, bottle, and real food, but he's associating food to the sign so that's cool. Now we're working on food, more and please. He loves when we make the signs, so that's cool.

Ethan had his first Basketball game, and had a great time, they have now won their first 2 games. There are some TALL kids on his team, it's fun to watch. Jacob likes the bouncing ball.

Jacob graduated to his next step in the big boy bath progression - out of the baby bathtub, into the utility sink! Here is a video of us trying to get him to smile for pictures in his first sink soak!

Catching Up

Well, there is about a month or more that needs catching up, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to do so.

Jacob has his first food on Thanksgiving Day - pumpkin. I made a mix with milk and spice so he had is own little pumpkin pie. He loved it! He is a very good eater and is definitely loving eating lots of food now, he's had peas, green beans, pumpkin, squash, sweet potato, carrots and cereals so far. Next week is apples, so he's excited:)

Jacob is also great at playing around. I just love this big smile with his cheeks.

In Early December, Lisa, Jason sister visited us with her new baby Brody. We are so excited to have a nephew and Jacob is excited to have a cousin.

For the first 6 months, every Thursday, Jacob and I have been going to a Mom's group. He graduated on 12/20....very cute:)

Then we decided it would be great to get a 25 foot tall christmas tree...hmmm...maybe not the best idea we've had, but it really did turn out nice (after we got 3 neighbors help us get it put in the house and into the stand the boys made. We're not sure if we'll be repeating this feat. The tree had to be trimmed down to 18 feet to fit in the house:)

That brings us to christmas and all the wonderful times. We spent time with Jacob's 'Girlfriends' in my Mom's group. Time with Grandmas and Grandma-Grandma's at chrstmas Eve. Then we went to Oklahoma to see my grandparents. It was a great time - Ethan drove a tractor, we saw my cousins on both sides and spent some good time with my parents and grandparents. See below for some pics. Jacob sat by himself the first time on Christmas Eve (with his cute little yellow hat).

It's Begun

Well, after resisting a blog for a few years, I have finally decided to get one going for our family of growing boys. Jacob is 6 1/2 months now and Ethan is a bit over 9...time is flying. Jacob is sitting up and loving eating real food, he also has his first 2 teeth making appearances. Ethan is busy in 3rd grade and is taking drum lessons and is playing basketball. Tomorrow is his first basketball game...Yeah!

I am currently in Hong Kong on business travel. I was in Shanghai, China last week and will go to Taiwan tomorrow for 3 days, then back home to my boys. My mom came to Oregon play with Jacob and help out Jason - thanks Mom! Here is one of my dinners - can you guess what it is? Tastes like chicken:)

Here's also a picture of the TV tower in Shanghai - a bit more appetizing. The fog has been really bad, making our flight over 22 hours instead of 13 and my flight to Hong Kong 6 hours late, so I've had 2 all-night flying adventures.