Two for Two

Jacob is two!! It's taken me a while to get this up, seeing as how he turned 2 on May 2nd, but better late than never right?! We'll start with a couple of pics from his celebrations.

Good morning Mommy kisses! I love this little man!

Pancake breakfast at IHOP.

A little playtime at Baylor when we picked Daddy up. They were a little excited about the fountain.

After having hot dogs, carrots, and oranges for dinner it was time for a celebratory cupcake.

On Saturday May 5th we celebrated again with the whole family at Baum Stadium.

Oh, how I love this boy!

Our attempt at a family photo.

One tired little boy after lots of playing, eating, prizes, and 7.5 rather warm innings of baseball.

 Jacob is just like any typical 2 year old boy, loves messes, dirt, outside, playing/ fighting with his big sister, spitting, cars, trucks, etc. But he has taken a special liking to mowers and cycles of any kind. For the past few months he's been crazy for anything that sounds like a lawn mower or looks like a bicycle. Fortunately, we already had the cycle covered, because he got a tricycle for Christmas. He has been riding it pretty much every day since about mid- February. He rides it inside around the island in the kitchen and outside on the patio. So naturally we got him a bubble mower for his birthday. He has mowed our backyard nearly everyday since. I'm seriously considering trying to find something that actually works to cut the grass for the boy to use. (Speaking of "the boy", that has become my term of endearment for Jacob. He is just such a boy, so different from Chaselyn. He just likes boy things. For example, this morning he woke up and asked to watch Cars and he is currently playing with the shake and go cars he got for his birthday. It may not come across as a term of endearment, but I've always thought that boys are weird. Jacob is showing me just how wonderful the other gender is.) We also got him a bubble blower (as in leaf blower.) Both things were a hit. He also got lots of other prizes too from the family and some extended family. Lots of fun toys including a scooter, a Cars 4-wheeler, a pool, little people, play-doh, movies, balls, other fun toys and too much for me to remember. We feel truly blessed to have such wonderful family that loves our little guy as much as we do! And we were so glad to be able to spend Saturday at one of our favorite places and see some people we haven't seen in a while.

Jacob is a skinny boy. He weighs about 25 lbs. and is about 35 inches tall. He still wears size 12 month shorts, sometimes he can keep on 18 month shorts, but they are usually too big still. Mostly 18 month shirts too. He still eats a ton. I guess he's just very active. Actually I know he's very active. (tiringly so ;-)) Like I've said, he is always on the move. Bouncing off things, riding things, running around in circles, mowing, etc. He's a man on the move. His vocabulary has exploded just over the past couple of weeks. He's in the repeating stage. He'll mimic or at least try to mimic anything you say. Chaselyn especially likes this new feature in her little brother. It is hilarious to hear her try to break words down for him. I think on the way to church yesterday she broke her name down into about 6 different sounds for him to mimic. One of Jacob's newest tricks is to grab your hand and say "mere", as in come here, or "mon" as in come on. This was very effective while visiting with the grandparents. He'll also pat the seat when he wants you to sit somewhere. He likes to ask about everybody we've seen in the past couple of weeks. He goes through the list periodically throughout the day - Daddy?, Papa?, Granny?, Ducky?, CrawDad?, Matthew?, Sean?, etc. He seems to ask about more boys than girls, go figure. He also likes to be watched as he falls asleep. This is extremely strange to me. But, he just likes for someone to be there. He is in the big boy bed now and can climb out with little problem. So if you leave before he is asleep, he will come find you (any suggestions are welcome to help with this situation).

So that's our little boy! Amazing isn't he?! One of my favorite features is on my sweet boy is his belly button. Sometimes he's an inny and sometimes he's an outy. I just love to look at his bare belly and navel gaze as he runs around and plays. It's so stinking cute! He also still has the most amazing eye-lashes. He's a very handsome boy all around. His eyes are not blue any more really. Some days they still have a blue hue, but they are never the same color from one day to the next. He's a chameleon.

Jacob, my dear sweet son,

You are an amazing little boy and I can't imagine life without you. You have brought such joy and blessing to my life and so many others' lives as well. I love your adventurous spirit, your unshakeable determination, your wonderful smile, but most of all I love the whole package of who you are. We are already seeing that God has big plans for you, but we knew this before you were born. In fact, God told me before anyone else even knew about you. I remember the exact moment that God told me you were going to join our family. God spoke to me and said "His name is Jacob." while I was washing dishes. Sure enough, later that evening a test confirmed that you were on the way. As I think about that special moment between you, me and God, it makes me realize that I am just a steward set in place to watch over you and try to do the best I can to help you learn to love God. But ultimately, you are God's child. He knows you much better than I ever will, but I thank him every day for blessing me with you and your amazing gifts. I pray that I will be sufficient and capable of sharing with you the amazing grace that God can provide for you. You are mommy's special boy. And though sometimes I may do things that you don't like and discipline you when you are misbehaving, I hope you can always see the love of God through all of our experiences together, good and bad, happy and sad. I love you! And you amaze me constantly and teach me new things all the time. But most of all, you have proven that there is no limit to how much love one can have in their heart.

Love,
Mommy