Happy Birthday, Punkin'!

Jacob just turned 1 on Sunday, October 26th! Can you believe a year has gone by already? It feels like yesterday that he was just in my belly trying to kick his way out.

As I reflect on this past year, I keep thinking of just one word to describe how we feel: utterly and totally blessed. What more can we ask for? God has blessed us beyond anything we could have asked or imagined! Many of you know how we yearned for a child, but what we got from our Jacob is more than we could have ever thought it could be. I may sound a wee bit corny, but he is absolutely the sunshine of my day! He is such a happy and fun baby, and Derek and I just love to laugh at (I mean with, of course) him. He is such a ham and truly captivates us. And he really is such a lover - he loves to cuddle and hug and sometimes kiss, although he plays it cool with me. He only kisses me occasionally, but he freely doles kisses out to everybody else!

What amazes me the most after having Jacob is the revelation of how much our God really loves us. I mean, if Derek and I love Jacob so incredibly much, this tells me how much our Father in Heaven loves us. He loves us so much, even those of us who want nothing to do with Him. That breaks my heart to think about . I couldn't imagine Jacob not wanting anything to do with us one day. How does that make our Lord feel when His children turn away from Him?

I just pray every day that Jacob will love God and obey Him and follow His Word. I pray that He is molding the perfect, Godly wife for him one day, and that together they will do mighty things for the kingdom.

I love this sweet baby boy, and I am so excited for this next year to come! Here are just a couple of photos from his birthday party. We had a costume party since his birthday is so close to Halloween. I wish I could post more, but there are too many to choose from!

Pumpkin Patch

My, oh my, it has been so long since I posted anything! Life has been super busy. I can't remember what all has happened since the last time I wrote, so I will just start with what's gone on recently.

For starters, Jacob is in a new play group that meets every other Thursday. He loves playing with his new friends. We got to go to the Pumpkin Patch last week and we picked out a pumpkin to take home. He really enjoyed looking at all the animals. They had cows and goats that we got to feed. Here are some pictures we took:

First Haircut

Yes, we did it. We finally cut Jacob's hair! I have to admit, I am a little sad to see his locks go. I really loved his curls, but it's all my fault that we had to cut his hair. You see, I made the horrible mistake of making a silly comment at dinner the week before last. Derek, Jacob, and I were sitting at the kitchen table when I swooped Jacob's hair over to the side and said, "Look, hunny! If Jacob had a barrette in his hair, he would make a really pretty little girl"! Big mistake. Huge. Derek came home the following day and said we were going to cut his hair. He said he couldn't get the image of Jacob in a dress out of his mind!


So, we took our boy to Cool Cuts inside Toys 'R' Us, and they did a fantastic job! Jacob was such a big boy. We were absolutely so proud of him - he didn't cry or flinch one time! However, I got teary-eyed watching his hair get cut. I know, I'm such a bawler, but I can't help but think that we were moving a step beyond babyhood and entering little boy territory. I don't even want to think of how I'll be when he starts school!


Here are some photos of our big boy. I know, Grammi T., you are probably so sad to hear we cut his hair! I'm sorry, it's all my fault. =)

It's been a while since I posted anything. Life has been super busy lately. For starters, I have started a part-time job. I go in to work 2 days a week, and then I work from home a couple hours the other 3 days of the work week. Jacob has been staying with my mom on Mondays and Wednesdays, which has been a huge blessing! He loves his Mimi. =)

Derek is getting ready for the big move to his new office this coming Monday. Our house still hasn't sold, so he will be making quite a commute to work. Everything is in God's timing, though. We truly believe that if we are supposed to move right now then everything will fall into place.

Jacob just keeps growing and growing. He is in the 90th percentile on height, believe it or not! This is hilarious because his daddy and I are not the tallest people around. He got some serious recessive genes! He is such a sweet baby, and I am so amazed to just watch him and see how he develops every month. He is mimicking everything we do right now. He can do "touch down!" (with his arms), he can give high-5s now, he can wave bye-bye now, too! We are so blessed by our sweet son and ever grateful to our Lord for inclining His ear to us by giving us this child.

Here are some more recent photos of our boy. Thank the Lord his hair grew out from that terrible trimming I did! It's super cute now.

Jacob, Dixie, and Buster

Jacob has discovered how entertaining our dogs are. This realization came about while I was cooking dinner and I heard him laughing hysterically in the hallway. I couldn't see him because there's a wall that separates our hallway from our kitchen, but I could hear him. I turned the corner and I could see him playing "peek-a-boo" with our little dog, Buster. Buster likes to play this game where he'll run around the hallway walls trying to make you catch him. He'll dart around real fast in fun. Well, he was playing this with Jacob, and Jacob thought it was the funniest thing ever!

I didn't get to capture that one on camera, but he played with both dogs a few minutes later and here is what we got. It's pretty funny, so make sure your volume is turned up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClcZQmp2Lvk

Oh, Mommy!!

Okay, so remind me never to trim Jacob's hair on my own ever again! His hair was getting so long that it always got in his eyes, so we decided it was time for a trim. Well...I got out my scissors and went to town. This is the result. It's not even and it's SUPER short!! Oh, well! Thank the Lord that hair grows!

4th of July!

For the 4th this year, we got to celebrate by going to Derek's sister's, Kim's, lakehouse. While we were there, we celebrated Derek's and Grammi T.'s birthdays as a family. We had so much fun!

Here's Jacob with his cousins, Grant and Audrey. He was suited up in a life vest for his big first excursion on a speedboat!
Our dearest friends, Jon, Kendall, and Logan, joined us at the lakehouse. I'm so glad they could come!
Daddy and Jacob getting in some relaxation time.
Blowing out the candles.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

This is a belated post, oops on my part! Derek celebrated his 27th birthday last Thursday on the 3rd. Jacob was so excited because he got to spend the night with his Grammi T. and Grandpa while mommy and daddy went out with friends.

I love my amazing husband and I hope he had a memorable birthday. He is such an incredible husband and dad and truly is my soulmate. Jacob is so blessed to have a daddy like him, and I know one day they are going to be the best of buddies. I pray that God equips Jacob with similar qualities as Derek in what it means to be a man: loving, patient, Godly, kind, confident, strong (both physically, spiritually, and emotionally) and honorable. I love my boys so much!

He Crawls!

Yup, our little man has started crawling! He started this new adventure almost a week ago, and is fascinated by his new discovery. It's so entertaining to watch him scurry to his destination with a look of determination on his face. So far, his primary goal is to gather up all of the dog toys and Dixie is not helping in that area. Dixie's our lab, and she loves nothing more than to play ball. So now that she has a miniature friend to play ball with, she is always tossing her toys at him. Really great....

So, I have a new workout regimen and that is to follow little Jacob around wherever he crawls making sure he's not eating the dog food or the dog toys. It's really fun, though, and I am so happy that he has reached this milestone. We praise Jesus for blessing us with this sweet boy - he is such an answer to prayer and the Lord knew exactly what we would need in a child. He has captivated my heart!

I would attach the video of him crawling, and I tried to, but it won't download for some reason. I think it might have too much memory. Oh, well!

Marital Bliss

Derek and I just celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary last Monday, June 2nd! The years have gone so fast and I am so thankful and very blessed by my wonderful husband. He is the love of my life!

To celebrate our anniversary, we took a family trip to San Diego, California. We were there for 4 days and had an absolute blast! What a beautiful city! Jacob got to fly on his first airplane ride, which he did fabulous for the departure flight (not so much on the flight coming home)! We also went to San Diego Zoo and saw the polar bears and panda bears, and we went to Sea World and saw Shamu and sharks. Jacob especially liked the sharks.

All in all, it was a wonderful vacation. We're sad to be away from the beautiful California weather, but it's nice to be home. We missed our dogs very much. (Well, I did. I can't say the same for Derek)!

Splish Splash!

After all these days of 90+ degree weather, we decided it was time to take Jacob for his first adventure to the pool. He had so much fun! He loved splashing at the water and playing with his pool toys. These are some photos from his day at the pool.

Day at the Arboretum

Yesterday we had so much fun at the Dallas Arboretum!

It was just Derek, Jacob, and I and we loaded up the car and made the trip down there. It's so far from our house, but definitely worth the drive. If we lived closer, we would be there several times a month.
We had a nice picnic on a blanket and just enjoyed God's creation all afternoon. Jacob had fun rolling around on the blanket. It was so funny because no matter how many times we put him on the blanket, he still managed to roll onto the grass!

What a Blessing!

This past Sunday I got to celebrate my very first Mother's Day, and I have never felt so happy. Well, actually, my dog "children" have honored me over the past few years, but this year was so special because I got to celebrate as a real mommy this time!

As deeply as I yearned for children while waiting for Jacob to come, I never knew what true happiness there could be by becoming a mommy. I feel so blessed by him - he is absolute sunshine and joy and I love him so unbelievably much! What a precious treasure and gift that God has entrusted to Derek and me.

Speaking of Derek, he did so good for Mother's Day! It started Friday night when we went out for a date. When he opened the car door for me, there was a gold-wrapped box sitting on my seat. I opened it and he got me the journey diamond pendant - so beautiful! Then on Sunday, I got to open the gift Jacob made me (with Daddy's help). They made a statue of Jacob's hand and foot! Derek set it up on a mirror and then attached it all to a wooden plaque that he stained. Then on the back of it, he has a poem as well as part of the Proverbs 31 verse. I love everything so much!

Here are pictures of the statue he made. I love this man so much. I could never have asked for a better husband!

My Sis

Here are some pictures of my sister Jennifer. Jacob, my mom, and I met her for lunch yesterday to celebrate her birthday.

It's a long story, but after almost 13 years of no contact with her, she came back into our family's lives in late December. It was such an answer to prayer to hear from her, and we are so thankful that God has kept her safe all these years. I am so happy to have her as a sister and Jacob just loves her too! He loves his Aunt Jen!

He Sits Up!

Jacob just started getting the hang of sitting up on his own. It happened sometime over the past few days and we are so excited! He's still a little wobbly, though. If he leans too far back or too far to the sides, he'll fall over. So we stay very close for now, but he should be able to do it on his own pretty soon. He's sitting so good! He can stay in the position for a long time.

Answered Prayers

I am an avid journaler. I still have my journals from high school. I journal all the important and not-so-important things in my life. It's always been a way of release for me where I can jot down all my prayers and the different scriptures that have spoken to me.



Well, yesterday I became distressed and overjoyed all in the same hour! First, I was trying to find my sunflower journal, which is the journal I just finished filling up a few months ago. It contains ALL my journal entries from our entire pregnancy with Jacob. I cannot find this anywhere. Derek and I have searched the entire house, every nook and corner, every drawer, every closet, everywhere. It has disappeared! The only thing I can think of is that it got tossed somewhere in the midst of us packing up boxes. We even went to our storage unit and looked through those boxes of books but we didn't see it. I am so distressed over this and feel so sad because I truly want to share all those journal entries with Jacob when he gets married and is having his first baby. Hopefully and prayerfully it turns up somewhere. I just pray we didn't accidentally throw it away because then I would be devastated.



That was the bad news from yesterday. But something so awesome also happened and I had to share it! As I was distraught from failing to find my pregnancy journal, I came across my journal that I used while struggling with infertility, as well as during both of our miscarriages. I was so amazed at what I wrote during one of my journal entries. Here is a tidbit from an entry dated October 7, 2006:



"Last night my sister gave me a bunch of maternity clothes. I pray I will get the chance to wear them next summer. I truly believe we will conceive by February, and I pray this is true."



Wow!!! I found out in February 2007 that I was pregnant, and Jacob was born October 26, 2007. How awesome is our God?! When I read this, I was so amazed and so in awe. I forgot all about this, but looking back I remember when I wrote this. I remember telling a couple of my close friends that I just knew I would be pregnant by February, March at the latest. But somehow during the time I wrote this and January '07 I got so discouraged and doubtful again.



I think God showed me this so I could see once again how mighty He is and that he truly does answer prayers. He may not answer prayers in the timing we would choose, but His timing is perfect. This is very appropriate for the season Derek and I are in right now. We are waiting on the sale of our home so we can move closer in. We are just keeping our trust and faith in God and His timing. We know and believe that He will direct our steps and everything will fall into place as it needs to.

He Waves!!

Lately, Jacob has been mimicking a lot of the things we do with our hands. His latest is waving. I don't think he understands that he's actually waving, but I captured a little bit of it on video.

Yes, more pictures....

I can't help myself. I just have to take pictures of our little man at every opportunity! I was playing with our camera yesterday and finally learned how to use the black and white setting. I tried to make Jacob pose with Dixie (our labrador for those of you who don't know), but she, for some reason, refused to hold the pose! I kept trying to bribe her with treats, and she would hold the pose for a few seconds but unfortunately Jacob wasn't looking at the camera at those times. Dixie finally got frustrated and left the room, and there was no more coercing her to come back. So, these are the solo shots of the little guy.

Thought I'd throw in some color shots too.

Baby's First Tooth

Jacob cut his first tooth at 4-1/2 months old, but we never were able to get a picture of it. FINALLY, here are some cute recent pics we took of his toothy grin. A little late, considering he's almost 6 months old, but look how cute it is! Now he's working on cutting his second one.

We are moving!

For those of you who don't know, we are putting our house up for sale in the next week or so and will be moving to Plano.

This is very bittersweet for us because we have lived in our house for 5 years now. We have made a very close friendship with our next door neighbors and we hate to move away from them. I know we won't be very far, but it feels like we're breaking up! We also absolutely love our house. We wish we could just pick up our house and move it to Plano. There are just so many wonderful memories that accompany our home, so to leave it is very hard. I thought that I would enjoy moving, but now that it's happening it makes me a little sad.

The reason we're moving is because Derek's job location will be transferring to Dallas at the end of the summer. The drive will be very long and hard from where we live. It will be great also because we will be closer to our family.

We have prayed about this decision and have asked the Lord for wisdom and guidance, and we feel this is what we need to do. Prayerfully we will not have any trouble selling our home and will not run into any stumbling blocks on the purchase of a new home.

In the meantime, Derek and I went and purchased 6 gallons of paint last night and started re-painting our walls last night in order to get our house sell-ready. Anybody want to come over and paint?! Just kidding...no really, anybody? Ha ha!

Here are some photos of Jacob at 4 months old. Isn't he so handsome?

Superman to the Rescue!

One of Jacob's favorite things to do is fly, and he especially loves to fly when the background music is Superman. What can I say? We are a family of superheroes! My husband thinks he's Batman, I have a love for Wonder Woman, and now Jacob relates to Superman.