Things to remember about turning 2

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Mdfrisco

If you remember when Jacob turned ONE, we went back to the location where I had my maternity pictures taken to do a little photo shoot to document the occasion. Well, I had to do the same thing for his second birthday, but I wanted to try a different spot.

For Christmas, Jacob got this great cowboy vest and chaps from grandma and grandpa, so we put them on along with his cowboy hat and boots and set out for the Rancho Penasquitos trail for some pictures.

This one has a lot of glare from the sun, but I still love it, especially the happiness on Jake’s face!

And here are a few things I want to remember about Jacob right now…

He has added some new words to his vocabulary and is still signing up a storm. Right now I have counted 150 words that he signs. I know there are more that I have forgotten and he is adding new words all the time. It is amazing how quickly he picks up on this and it is so great to be able to communicate this much with him.

Jake has always loved it when we sing to him. He always wants to listen to his music in the car and when he gets ahold of my phone he plays his playlist at full blast. That is always fun when we are in public since he knows how to adjust the volume as well, so if I turn it down he just turns it back up. Thankfully everyone within a 5 mile radius of us thinks it’s cute when they can hear the “Wheels on the Bus” or the “Hokey Pokey” or “If You’re Happy and You Know It” before they can actually see Jake doing the moves or signs along with the songs. Anytime we sing to him, he gives us a round of applause when we are done, then we tell him it’s his turn to sing. And he knows the tune and rhythm to the songs and will “sing” it back to us, and then proceed to give himself a round of applause when he is done.

He knows his colors and loves to tell me what color everything is. He is also taking an interest in numbers right now and can count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in order when you ask him. He especially loves to remind me all day long that he is TWO years old.

For a long time he has been fighting the stroller and doesn’t want to be confined in anything. But when he had the cast on, he knew he didn’t really have a choice and didn’t fight the stroller at all and for a short period of time after getting the cast off. But now we are back to not wanting to be in the stroller, so all of our walks are done in his little blue car that has a handle for us to push him around in. Right now Jake loves anything that has an engine, every kind of car, truck, tractor, motorcycle, airplane, etc… so he loves “driving” his car around and waving and beeping his horn as we go down the street.

He loves to clarify things that are “yours” and “mine”. When it comes to food or drinks or shoes, etc…He will say this is yours and this is mine.

He has already learned to be a backseat driver and tells us if the light is green or red and if it is red he signs stop and if it is green he yells GOOOOOOOO! He hasn’t quite figured out the concept of the yellow light yet and I am finding it difficult to explain to him that it is okay to make a right hand turn on a red light if no cars are coming.

We recently started soccer once a week and he loves it! It’s more like an outside social playtime activity that occasionally involves kicking a soccer ball. But it burns his energy and gives him a fun environment to run around in. Before he got his cast on he was just getting the concept of jumping, now that his cast is off and he is back to using both legs, and running at full speed he has picked up the jumping bug again and is starting to get some air in his attempts. So every time I turn around he is either jumping or climbing on top of something.

Last week I registered Jacob for preschool two mornings a week. Yikes! I have so many emotions that go along with that statement that it will have to wait for it’s own post.

I love you my sweet boy and happy 2nd birthday!

TWO!

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Mdfrisco

And then he turned TWO! How in the world did that happen?

The morning of his birthday, I took him to get some doughnuts.

After we filled our tummies, we went to the aquarium which has become one of our favorites places to hang out. Jake makes an immediate beeline for the large tank in the back. And he loves touching the sea life in the tide pools outside.

That evening when daddy came home from work he brought home a Spiderman balloon which immediately distracted Jake from his dinner so we moved onto the birthday celebration with cupcakes and presents.

There are times when Jake likes to make a mess when eating, but there are also times when he doesn’t like to get his hands dirty…This night he preferred to tackle his cupcake with a fork.

He also used the #2 candle as a spoon for the frosting

All day he would point at himself and sign TWO

And then he was giving mom and dad some cheers for surviving his second year

Our sweet boy!

We had Jake’s 2 year old check up two days after his birthday. He weighs 24lbs 14oz and is 2ft 9.78in tall. The circumference of his head is 19.25in. His doctor said he is in great shape and we talked about everything from potty training, transition to a bed, TV exposure, foods he is eating, etc…we have lots to look forward to in this next year. And he doesn’t need another check up until he is 3 years old. We are so thankful that we have a healthy boy!

And of course we had to document this 2 year milestone with the giraffe and elephant! We were bribing him with a box of raisins to get him to sit still, so the first few pictures were of him reaching for more raisins.

Then I got him to say he was TWO (with a mouth full of raisins)

After he chewed and swallowed, we got a smile!

Happy Birthday to our big boy!

Pregnancy update

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Mdfrisco

It’s been a while since I’ve done a pregnancy update and I’ve had a few appointments in the last month and a half, so here’s an update on our little guy.

At the beginning of December, I went in for my check up at 20 weeks (halfway!) and all looked good! I asked my doctor about what the “specialty OB” doc said about my baby measuring big. And he said, he could have grown a lot during this last growth spurt, and may not grow as much during the next growth spurt and could average out. It doesn’t mean anything and baby is healthy. Both the specialty OB doc and my doc said they wanted me to have a fetal echo done at 22 weeks to do more extensive check up on the baby’s heart. It is a routine test they do on frozen embryo babies and nothing to be concerned about. So I made that appointment and went on my way.

Here is a picture of my 20 week belly.

A couple of weeks later I went back to the specialty OB office for the fetal echo and they pretty much checked everything that they looked at last time I was there, but spent a lot more time looking at the heart. They checked the left side, right side all the chambers, blood flow, heart rate, etc… and all is functioning normal. The ultrasound tech kept saying that he was a very cooperative baby since she was able to see all the areas she wanted to check very well. Here’s to hoping he continues that trend once he’s born! I asked about his size since he was measuring big at my last visit and she said he’s within the normal range, actually to be specific she said he’s 1 lb 3 oz. She gave me some more pictures of our little guy to take home. Here he is with his left arm up by his face.

And finally last week I had another check up with my OB. All continues to be well. My doc said both baby and I look healthy and on track. It was a bit of a reality check when I was getting ready to leave and the nurse gave me the paperwork to “register for my stay at the hospital.” Yikes! It’s creeping up on me! I can’t believe soon I will be starting my 3rd trimester.

And here is my 24 week belly.

Reunited

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Mdfrisco

If you have been reading this blog from the start you know about the 3 of us who became 6 (even if you already read that post, you need to go back and look at the picture, wow!). I was pregnant with Jake at the same time as two good friends of mine who were pregnant with their little girls. While we have so many friends with kiddos, I think there will always be a special bond between our 3 families.

From the start of our pregnancies and still to this day the 3 mommas are always checking in with each other. First, about doctors appointments, ultrasounds, pregnancy ups/downs. Then came the baby arrivals and the checking in to see how we were doing, offering advice, sharing stories of the babies “firsts”, milestones and supporting each other. To this day we are still checking in with each other and sharing stories as our kiddos are embarking on the wonderful age of 2. The daddies are pretty close too and their bond has gotten stronger in their experiences over the last 2+ years. As much as I would love to say that these 3 kiddos will always live in the same town and would always see each other often, that just is not a reality. Due to a wonderful job opportunity the Haigis family moved to Idaho a few months ago. Thank God for technology, we are able to easily keep in touch with them and us mommas are still checking in with each other. They made a trip back to San Diego for Christmas and we were able to get together for a playdate!

So the challenge for the day was to get all 3 kiddos in the same place for a picture. I think we had a bit of success!

Love you all and can’t wait to get everyone together again!

Just because

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Mdfrisco

I don’t have any story to tell here…just some pictures of Jake helping grandpa feed the horses. I mean how could you not take pictures when he looks like this…

Superman pajama pants, a dinosaur hat and cowboy boots totally go together.

He’s telling me that he hears the horses

Then he proceeds to imitate the sound they make

I love my silly little monkey!

Our little elf

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Mdfrisco

Christmas Day was a pretty lazy, relaxing day. Well as relaxing as you can get with a toddler around. We started off with breakfast complete with the pecan sweet rolls! Our little elf opened more presents and rode around on his tractor for a while.

Then we started playing with our presents. Like this “drone” thingy that Jacob got, but really has become daddy’s toy.

When Jake went down for his nap we all got cozy in front of the fire and watched a sappy Hallmark Christmas movie, it was great! When Jake woke up and started watching some of his cartoons, he thought the tractor was the best place to do so.

And that was pretty much it for our lazy day. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas festivities

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Mdfrisco

We had a bit of a rough start to Christmas this year. A week before Christmas Jake was running a high fever for two days, then once the fever broke, he had a cold complete with a runny nose, croupy cough, no appetite, little to no naps, restless nighttime sleep, and grumpy mood swings. Jake has only had a couple of colds prior to this one and they only lasted around 3 days and he has never lost his appetite and his symptoms were never this intense, poor guy was hit with a doozy this time around. In the middle of all this Justin left to go to his parents a few days before Christmas to help them move into a new house, and my mom came here since we had planned to make my grandma’s pecan sweet rolls for Christmas morning, a family tradition, before leaving to go to my parents cabin to spend Christmas. We got the rolls made and Justin’s parents moved, but delayed going to the cabin for a day and a half hoping that Jake would get better (and that my mom and I wouldn’t get sick!). Even though Jake still was not 100% better we figured the worst (and most contagious) part of it was probably over so we loaded up the car and drove to my parents cabin. Over the next few days, we made lists, went shopping for food, continued to help Justin’s parents get settled, Justin saw some clients in the desert and one night we took a break from it all and went to the Living Desert for the Wild Lights. It was a fun night of sipping coffee/hot chocolate while strolling around looking at the lights, the village with the trains running through (Jake’s favorite), a giant Rudolph and a ride on the carousel.

The next day my mom drove in to pick up Oma and brought her to the cabin and we started the process of cooking and baking to prepare for Christmas Eve dinner. At this point Jake was better but still trying to get rid of his cold, we were slathering him with Vick’s Vapo Rub, running a humidifier while he slept and trying to roll with his mood swings. On Christmas Eve Justin’s parents and grandma came to the cabin. It was a blustery cold day, at one point we looked outside the window and saw Apollo helping out by holding down the tablecloth on the table outside so it wouldn’t blow away.

Jacob is one lucky guy to have such wonderful grandparents who love him dearly and spoil him rotten.

But it really warms my heart to see him with both his great grandmothers. Jake loves his Oma and GiGi!

Jake is not really content just hanging out and playing in the house anymore, he is much happier when he’s outside so he can explore, especially when he knows grandpa has a tractor outside.

And he likes to kick the ball around for the dogs

To keep him busy inside the house we started letting him open presents

After we had dinner, we gave Jake a bath thinking it would be an early bedtime since he had not been sleeping well due to his cold and was getting a little grumpy. But after his bath he turned into his usual fun, giggly, playful self so we let him stay up for dessert and to open some more presents.

I’ll be back soon with more on our little elf on Christmas Day.

A little silliness

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Mdfrisco

Hope you all had a great Christmas! I have some catching up to do on this blog so I am going to start here…

Christmas is my favorite holiday and having a little one around makes it even more fun. Part of the fun is starting some new traditions. Last year we got some Christmas costumes from Justin’s parents and this year we added to them, got a bigger outfit for Jacob and took some new pictures.

I am realizing that even though I do love my camera, I do not get along with the self timer and tripod. Every time I use those two things the pictures never come out.

The main culprit it the focus…here we are a little blurry.

Then when we get a better focus the camera is not as secure on the tripod and moves down cutting our heads off. I bet Jacob had a huge smile on his face for this one too!

After fixing the camera so it is pointing up, we ended up being off centered.

Oh well, it is the effort that counts right. It was a fun few minutes and Jacob was surprisingly going along with it and having fun. Although I am sure the dog would prefer to be left out of this silliness, he doesn’t look like he’s having much fun.

We will see what happens next year!

Local Celebrity

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Mdfrisco

A few weeks ago when I was walking out of the bank I saw fliers on the counter for our community Holiday Celebration and we had so much fun at this event last year I didn’t want to miss it this year, so I grabbed a flier, stuck it in the basket under the stroller and continued on with my errands. When I got home I pulled out the flier, put the date & time in my calendar on my phone, set a reminder and pinned the flier on the bulletin board in the kitchen. The next night…I was cooking dinner and while I was stirring some rice on the stove I was looking up at all the things I have on the bulletin board and my eyes stopped on the flier. I kept staring at the picture of the little boy sitting on Santa’s lap…then it dawned on me that the boy was Jacob! I couldn’t believe it! I remember I signed a waiver after he sat on Santa’s lap last year because the photographer and other people working the event said he was so cute and so good with Santa they wanted to use the pictures for advertising. I signed the waiver and pretty much forgot about it. Until now.

It was kind of fun walking around the shopping center in the next few weeks and seeing his face on all the fliers in every store and the big posters outside. On the morning of the event I had some errands to run at the shopping center so I grabbed my camera so I could take some pictures of Jake next to the Christmas tree. It was the tail end of a big rainstorm (at least big by San Diego standards) so it was cool and still sprinkling.

The tree was of no interest to him, he was having more fun splashing in the puddles and sticking his tongue out to catch the raindrops.

Then it was all about the birds and he kept watching them, waving at them and waiting for one to land on the ground so he could chase it.

I was able to direct his attention to one of the posters he was in.

See mom…I’m right there!

That evening, we went back and listened to the carolers, waved at the marines who were collecting toys for the Toys for Tots foundation, watched Santa arrive in a firetruck and then we stood in line to sit on his lap. I really wasn’t sure what he would do this year. He didn’t cry, but just kept reaching out for me and saying “momma” the entire time.

I don’t think he will be on next year’s advertisement!

The Whites

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Mdfrisco

I have done several photo shoots at Old Poway Park and this is the 3rd year I’ve taken pictures for the White family, and I think these are some of my favorite pictures I’ve taken both at this location as well as for this family. Anytime we are working with kids, especially 4 young kids, it’s hard to get them to sit still, and get them all to look at the camera and smile at the same time. But I think we had a little bit of luck this time around, and it is only going to get better from here on out. Here are some of my favorites…