Well, I have a new blog .... I do love blogdrive, but this one is easier to post pictures and since my little guy likes to attack the laptop anytime I have it out, I think this will make it easier. Unfortunately, no more email notifications though.

So here's the new one:  www.atwistofkate.blogspot.com

C'mon over!!!

Jacob is a year old, so hard to believe! The little guy is such a part of my soul at this point, I'm just lost - but in a good way. All those cliche'/cheesy things you hear parents say is so true. His one year appt was today and it went good. He's 32" tall (98%) and 27.5 lbs (95%). We were nervous about switching to milk and he got his first taste of whole milk today - so far so good. No welps. I fed him a bottle of his formula as we were waiting for the doctor to see us -- could that really have been his last bottle?? Kind of sad -- but at the same time, we will be getting a raise by not having to buy anymore liquid gold/formula!! He did make some "this is yucky" faces, but kept drinking it out of his sippy cup and putting him down to sleep without a bottle didn't cause any issues. Could it be that easy for us?? (must not jinx) Our big boy still wakes up once a night for a feeding - doc says it's still normal because of his size and activity level. I feel in my mommy heart that he's right - he's genuinely hungry, and that's what I'm here for. But if the Goose is ever drafted to the NFL  - he better pay momma back! And so speaking of a year - it's been a year since I had a baby. I remember when I was pregnant someone told me to give myself a year before even trying on my pre-pregnancy jeans. And I thought, "whatever, I'll be a triathalon winner by then and fitting into my skinny jeans." So here it is a year after and no triathalons, biathalons or athalons. And the jeans? Well, let's just say things are better and they no longer cause physical pain.... but I really wish I had taken that girls' advice and not put so many expectations on things. Yes there are those girls that are blessed with genes that make them lose all the weight 2 weeks after giving birth and there are those women that can actually survive on a piece of toast all day --- but I think next time around, I'm going to give it a year before taking inventory on the ... uhm..... excess damage.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving/Jacob's birthday in Austin with my dad/Trish, my sister/Keith and the girls. Jacob did really well and loved the turkey. I'll post pics later.

Here's a few things that he's been doing:

- I haven't been good at documenting his progress, but he's walking everywhere now. Been walking for a while, but it was selective. Now he prefers it..

- Loves the fake cough. We were in Target the other day and he heard someone cough, which he saw as an opportunity to demo his fake cough.

- Eating so much right now. All of a sudden he started doing great with his table food - hope it stays.

- Likes to give "fives" if you put your hand out. Only low fives though.

- Loves peek-a-boo. Sometimes he forgets to remove the blankey from his head because he starts laughing so hard.

- If I say "want to read a book?" - he'll immediately sit in my lap, it's so cute.

I know I'm forgetting some.

Testing out some old video ....

Jacob's 1st birthday cake was a hit! His actual birthday is on Thanksgiving, so we decided to celebrate with family today. He loved all the attention -- and really loved his great grandmother's walker. We did a pirate theme, luv them pirates!

A few family photos .....

The cake .... compliments of Kroger.

Aaaarrrgghhhhhh!

And so here's the good stuff .....

So clean and innocent looking .....

Yummy!

Jacob after his bath to wash off the cake. He's pushing his g-greatmother's walker with Regan.

Random pic I found on the camera .....

We hosted playgroup yesterday and as always, it was a great time chattin' it up with the ladies. Each of the kiddos is on the move now. I learned that I am NOT a diet coke addict and I in fact should start drinking MORE!  Silly me only provided one 2-litre of diet coke .... big mistake! Makes me feel good about myself to know I am surrounded by fellow over indulgers of diet coke.

I stole this pic from someone else. I was a little nervous to put Jacob on the couch, he doesn't "stay" very well. None of them "stay" very well anymore, so this is probably our last couch photo:

How did I let this happen?? I'm 32 today! On election day - how exciting. I'm hoping election day goes my way since Tech beat UT this past weekend - what a game.

Thirty two years. Best time in life? I'm thinking right now's pretty good! Speaking of, Jacob has slept really good for over a week or maybe even more - what a difference I feel. This might sound harsh, but it's much more enjoyable being a mother when you get good sleep. If it sounds harsh to you - then you're not a mother who's had to deal with 4- 5 wake ups every night! My attitude is so much better, thank goodness because I was starting to irritate myself. Jacob's birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year, so it'll be extra special. In the midst of the sleep depression, we decided to keep his party simple and family - which means their will have to be zoo animals at his 2nd birthday bash. I've got some pics to post of the house ... but only a few because our kitchen is messy and I don't want to clean on my birthday! And, I'm too lazy to go upstairs and snap pics .... so I'll get some more next time.

But first .... here's some pics from the patch last week. I didn't get as many pics as I would have liked - J was on the run (crawl) quite a bit!

With all the cuties from playgroup (L to R): Hudson, Callie, Keely (turned around), Jacob and Gates. You can see Jacob plotting his escape.

Making his escape!

Finally, I'm free!

I thought it would be neat to document Jacob's height compared to our new tree in the back yard .... we'll see which grows taller! ;-)

Not the greatest light, but this is our kitchen nook. Jason's 83-year old grandpa re-did this table for us ...this table has been in my family for years and when he was re-doing it ... he found the certificate of completion from Pennsylvania (where my family was from) for 1935. He did an awesome job!

The Living Room ....Oreo was my furniture model.

And this is our side yard that Jason put together last weekend. Just Kidding!!!

Got our laptop back - Dell actually honored their warranty. I uploaded these pics in a lazy way, some of them sideways .... but one pic of the house. I'll take more pics of the inside this weekend.

Well gosh -- I should just start this blog thing over. So here goes, our move went really well. Unpacking is going  s-l-o-w-l-y. Jacob is just a cutie. I think I always say that in this blog, but he is - this momma says so. He's not independently walking yet ... but he'll walk a little ways if you hold his hand and he's taken up to 3 steps by himself. His mystery reflux appears to be gone .... no more waking up screaming and burping. So sleep is better, thank goodness. I just can't believe he's 11 months, can't believe it. Of course we're one month away from the dreaded MMR vaccination. Dreaded because there are so many mixed messages out there -- hard to know up from down on it. You can read up on it ... but there's equal articles saying the vaccine is fine and then those saying it's not. Oh, and don't feed your kid from anything plastic because you're poisoning him. Too late on that! Maybe all of these mixed messages were always out there but I didn't pay attention since I wasn't a mom. I don't know - guess you have to just mix personal opinion in with common sense and see what you get. Well I have a TON of pictures that I can't wait to post, really. I keep saying that, but truly -  I do. It's just that I spilled diet coke (my crack) on the laptop and fried it and now Dell is trying to fix it. So, because my crack started impacting our electronic equipment -- and I even tried to blame it on Jacob when explaining it to Jason, which is just pitiful -- I'm going cold turkey off my crack. No diet coke. This is the second day. Now, as a buffer - I am sipping on a Sprite (no caffeine). I just need a little carbonation to get me through the withdrawel process. I don't even like Sprite, so this is not cheating.

Anyway, I don't know if anyone is even still out there to read this .... but I will post some pics as soon as Dell fixes our laptop. I have some of Jacob in his Halloween costume, too cute!

Well it's been a while since I've blogged .... I'll have to save an update post for later when I can unload the camera. A lot has happened ..... little Jacob is a little boy now. Of course, mommy will always see him as my baby. We signed on the house last Friday - feels good to be homeowners again. We move in this Friday (I'll post pics soon).

Jason's parents have been beyond wonderful. I had planned on us being the kind of house guests that they didn't even know were there .... NOT THE CASE! I realize now this would not have been possible anyway with a little one .... but Jacob slept the longest stretch since we've been here just the past two nights. So, to put it in perspective ... he's been waking up anywhere from 2 - 5 times a night from July 29th ... until this past Tuesday night. Oh, and NO NAPS. We got an hour and 15 minute nap out of him twice ... but the average was one 20-25 minute nap/day. Didn't slow him down ... we had a newborn by night and a very active toddler by day. Notice I'm talking in past tense .... I'm hoping this isn't just wishful thinking! Of course we've had about 4 or so visits to the doctor's office pleaing with him to tell us "what's wrong????" and a few more calls in. We tried everything, EVERYTHING. So, after undergoing a swallow study that showed nothing, two acid reflux meds (Axid and Prevacid) that the doctor said we had to wait two weeks to see results with (are you kidding me?) - nothing was working. He was rejecting solids, only wanted his bottle. Was taking up to 18 oz. of formula during the night time wake-ups. Then this Monday - feeling greatly defeated and exhausted - I put yet another call into the doctor and he was of course concerned about the food rejection. He said he had one more med for us to try and that we'd see results in 3 days if it was going to work. If it doesn't work ... we have to go to a GI Specialist b/c something else is wrong. Oh dear. So, we gave him his first dose of his medicine two nights ago and he slept from 8:00 P -  5:30 A, which is incredible. He did wake-up at 10:00 P with a little gas, but went right back down. So, we're really hoping we're on the upside of this. I realize that was a lot of whining, but that's really why blogs exist. I already see an improvement in his disposition. He's such a cutie ... so curious and determined. Definitely got an explorer gene.

Well I'll provide more updates when I upload the pics, gotta get to sleep for our big move tomorrow. To my friends and family, thanks for having patience with me about not keeping in touch -- if this medication works, I'll be back on the social scene!

.....we had already earned our new parent stripes, apparently not! It's been a sleepless past couple of weeks - well month, actually. It's been kind of like the newborn days .... except I'm not on pain pills and I don't have the feeling of two melting volcanos on my chest. Who new teething could be this bad?? I certainly did not. We were making progress, one tooth started cutting .... then BAM - he's got a cold. Poor little guy.... it's just awful knowing your little one doesn't feel good.

I do have some pics to share, but am too lazy and tired to load the camera .... so maybe next time! Speaking of being tired .... I was too lazy to turn the TV channel earlier today and got stuck watching Tori & Dean's reality show ....and dangit, I liked it!