Nana and Papa brave the winter cold to come visit Jacob

Nana and Papa took some time out from their Big Move down to Portland to come visit Jacob (and I guess the rest of us) for a week this month. We had a wonderful time while they were here, getting coffees and going on walks and enjoying the neighborhood. We also went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Jacob was very entertained by/terrified of the statues)!

While they were here, we spent a weekend in Beacon, NY. It is a beautiful upstate artists' community, and although it was WAY too cold to do much walking around, we enjoyed bundling up in our cottage, eating very well, and spending a sunny day at FDR's home and presidential library.

It is hard living so far away from family, but we are very lucky to have people who are willing to trek all the way out here in the winter to spend time with the little Bean. Jacob was very sad to see them go!

Pretty much the main reason I decided to have kids...

...was so that I could bring them to the American Museum of Natural History and show them the dinosaurs. So we did that on a recent blustery weekend, and it was ALMOST everything I dreamed of, except that Jacob was fairly unimpressed and didn't appreciate all the ways we posed him to make it look like prehistoric animals were eating his head. But I have lots of dinosaur books, so I'm looking forward to another trip in the summer when he is maybe able to start distinguishing between Dinos and "other stuff that is bigger than Hank".

We've decided not to tell Jacob that dinosaurs are extinct, so shhh...... I want him to grow up thinking he could possibly run into one if he gets lost in the park.

Jacob was making eyes at a lady at the Saturday Market yesterday and she asked how old he is. "Almost nine months!", I told her. "Wow," she said, "almost longer out than in." I thought about it for a moment and realized that, due to his early arrival, Jacob has actually passed the point when he has been alive on the outside longer than he lived on the inside. I can hardly believe it. Time goes by so much quicker now than it did when I was pregnant.

I really liked being pregnant, and I miss it sometimes, but as much as I enjoyed carrying the little Bean around in my tummy, I'm so much happier getting to carry him around out here where I get to see his smiles and hear his little voice.

Happy Valentines Day, Jacob! I love you!

Delight

We went away for the weekend and brought our old 1970's SLR camera. You just can't get pics like these with a digital camera. Some are a bit out of focus because Jacob is a very quickly-moving target, but...enjoy!

Bathtime

All babies love nekkie-time. This one especially. I'd keep him in the bath all day long, it's so much fun. But after about 10 minutes his little fontanel starts thumping to let me know that he's cold and it's time to get out. Which is always a sad, sad time.

A Picture Puzzle

It's kind of like a "Where's Waldo?"...but more like "Where's Stella?"

Evening Giggles

These are two of my favorite videos of all time, shot during the last couple evenings. Jacob must be going through a growth spurt, because he is ready for bed earlier and earlier every week. This weekend, he was out for the night at 6:10pm one night! The closer it gets to bedtime, the loopier and gigglier he gets. It's adorable. He thinks EVERYTHING is hilarious, unless it involves running out of food, in which case it is TRAGIC. We are very lucky to have a baby that just gets funnier the more tired he gets. He also is getting very playful, and one of his favorite games involves putting things in Mommy's and Daddy's mouths, specifically binkies and biscuits, as you can see below.

Family Faces

Okay, folks. Here are a slew of baby pictures so YOU can vote on who Jacob is taking after...apologies to the uncles if I get the ages wrong.

Aaron(5), Zach(3) and Jared(6m):

Aaron (3), Zach (1):

Jared (6m):

Great Uncle Dave (6m):

Daniel (3m) and Steven (3m):

Daniel and Steven (6m)
Daniel and Steven (1):

Steven and Daniel (5m):

Lauren (6m):

Lauren (9m):

Lauren (1):

Lauren (6m):