South Dakota

Scott, Jacob and I were able to take a really fun trip to South Dakota with Scott and Crystal to visit some of Crystal's family. It was a lot of fun but a very very long drive and for this prego momma the 10 hour drive was not the most enjoyable part of the trip. Being only 6 weeks at the time we weren't really telling anyone yet and so I just had to try to hide all my prego symptoms... Later I learned that it didn't completely work and Crystal was suspecting by the end of our trip... It may or may not have been the excess amount of sleep I was wanting... Or the not sitting in the "adult" hot tub... Or Scott asking me what I'm craving every time is was time to choose where we were going to eat.... Luckily my nausea hadn't really kicked in to full force! I was still feeling sick, but it was definitely manageable.

Anyways back to the trip! We stayed at a RV Resort that Crystal's grandparents pretty much lived in the summer. It was way fun and relaxing. We got to go swimming everyday and play tennis (not really my cup of tea), mini golf and shuffle board. Jacob loves water and loved going swimming so much! He got so that he would jump off the edge and we would dunk him completely underwater. He even learned to close his eyes in the water as well as hold his breath! My brother Scott had a Go-Pro with him and took some pretty awesome pictures with it.

Look at that smile!

Jacob also got to experience his first brain freeze... I don't think he cared for it much...

We were also able to do some sight seeing on our trip and visited Mt. Rushmore. I have to admit... It was a lot smaller then I thought it would be. Or maybe I'm just further away from it then I thought I was going to be. Because my first thought when I saw them around the bend was. "They aren't that big... Not very impressive looking." It was still fun to visit though.

We also went to Devil's tower which was pretty sweet and did a quick little 1 mile hike/walk around the base.

And what would a Scott's and Crystal trip be without rock climbing and hiking! We did some rock climbing up a canyon and unfortunately weren't able to climb as much as we would have liked because a little someone with blond hair didn't want to cooperate and stay in the pack n play by himself... I guess maybe I don't blame him... It made me a little cautious after finding the rattle snake too.

We did our hike up to Little Devil's Tower. This was not our main plan... But it ended up working out. We originally wanted to hike up Little Devil's Tower but the hike was long from the trail head and I don't exactly remember why we were hesitant... But we decided to do this different trail instead I think to get a geo-cache... Well on our hike we forgot Jacob's pacifier and so he was being a little grumpy so after we got close to the geo-cache and the Scott's had moved off trail in search of it Crystal and I continued hiking up the hill in hopes of keeping Jacob more happy. Well on our way we passed a sign that pointed us toward Little Devil's Tower so we took the turn and kept on trekking. By the time the Scott's were trying to get a hold of us to find where we were we were nearly to the top so we just kept going till we made it! The hike we ended up doing was a lot shorter then starting from the trail head... So I'm glad we took this trail instead and we were still able to make it to the top.

The trip was a lot of fun and we are glad that Scott and Crystal invited us since our days of trips together are becoming limited with the second little guy on the way and not a big enough car for all of us to fit in. Now for more random fun pictures from our trip!

How Crystal spends the majority of the travel time

 Scott trying to catch me sleeping... I caught him first.

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One!

Jacob is 1 year old!

1 Year

1 Year

Newborn

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

 It's hard to believe he's that old. I don't know why but growing up I always thought of one year old's to be so grown up. Now that I have one I feel like he is still so little. Maybe the fact that he's not really talking much or walking has something to do with it... But he just still seems like my little baby boy. Jacob had an awesome first birthday party! We invited all the family over and I was ambitious enough to make him a monkey cake! Why a monkey you ask? Because Jacob has always been Scott and I's silly little monkey. And I think I did a great job at making his monkey cake if I do say so myself.... :) I think Jacob liked it as well. As soon as he saw it he started signing more, more, more.

Jacob loved getting his presents! Maybe more so playing with the wrapping paper and balloons. :)

Jacob dug right into the cake which didn't surprise me. He thought he was pretty cool sitting there in the middle of the floor eating his cake with everyone watching him. He's such a little show off already and loves to do things that make people laugh.

Scott and I decided to give Jacob a balance bike for his birthday and he LOVED it! He wanted to start pushing it around immediately and yelled "YA YA YA YA" over and over. It was great! He is still a little small for it but I hope with in the next month or two he will be able to use it.

Jacob is now 19 pounds 10 oz and 29 1/4" long. Which means since his birth he as gained 10 pounds 7 oz and has grown 9 1/4" tall. This past month Jacob has gotten his 6th tooth and learned how to open the toilet seat and play in the water. He still isn't walking but can now stand on his own in the middle of the floor and will take 4-5 steps on his own without anyone being around him.

 He has great balance though and can stand and squat and turn his body all without falling down. Jacob loves taking bike rides in the bike trailer and throwing/kicking balls of any size. I think he's already showing athletic abilities and will be a sports player. He doesn't however like being told no and will throw little tantrums if we say it to him. His tantrums consist of gently (so he doesn't hurt himself) laying himself on the ground and then rolling around. It really just makes me laugh. When he's really mad he'll repeat the process 2 or 3 times. Jacob also loves being outside and going to the park. He loves climbing up the big slides like a monkey then sliding down all by himself on his tummy either going frontward or backward.

Jacob loves to smile and make people laugh. He such a happy little kid and we are so blessed to have his sweet spirit in our lives.

We love you Jacob!

Now for more pictures!

First horse ride!

Being just like Dad!

Love him!

11 Months

 I can't believe my little boy is going to be 1 in a month! This year has gone by so fast... But he is back to being his perfect little happy self again which means I'm back to loving being a mom! I've decided Jacob goes through insecurity fazes where he just wants to be held all the time and isn't content and just grouchy. This last one started at 9 months and lasted for about 6 weeks. This exact same thing happened when Jacob was 2 months old and lasted for the same amount of time. So I don't know exactly what causes them, but I know that they will end, and I will get my happy baby back.

Jacob is now 18 lbs 12 oz which means he has finally, officially doubled he birth weight! YAY! He has also been growing a lot and is 28 1/2" tall. I feel like Jacob's personality is really starting to show. He is such a people person, and even though he doesn't always want to go to someone, he hardly ever cries if someone he doesn't know holds him and he smiles at EVERYONE. I also feel like he is a problem solver. We got him a new little

tykes play set to climb on and no matter how many times he's lost his balance or gets in tricky situations he has never fallen. He always figures out a way to get out of it. I think it helps that he has terrific balance and such a strong core as well. I also feel like he is a fast learner (which probably all babies are, haha). We have started doing just the very basics of sign language with him. And haven't even really been that consistent with it, but he has already started figuring out what more means and signing it on his own. He is also starting to figure out all done and has signed it a few times. Although he isn't starting to talk at all I do think he is starting to understand more words. And he did say his first word about a week ago, "ball".

Jacob took his first steps a few days before turning 11 months old and will take a couple steps walking back and forth between me and Scott. He might be walking by a year old afterall! I really just thought he'd be walking by now.... He starting crawling so early that I thought for sure by 10 months at the latest he'd be walking. But he just likes crawling. He just doesn't see any benefits to walking. In his eyes walking is slow, and crawling is fast.
Jacob has gotten 4 teeth this past month which brings his total to 5. He also discovered he has holes in his ears and likes to stick his fingers in them and plays with his ears all the time. He has also taken to monkey crawling if he is crawling on hard surfaces or transitioning from one floor surface type to another. I think it's the cutest thing.

I feel like Jacob is starting to also pick up on everyday patterns. Like if I'm getting him dressed if I'm putting his shirt on he'll automatically just hold up his arm for me to put thru the hole then when that's done he'll hold up the other one. And when I'm putting on his socks he'll hold out his foot for me to put it on, then hold out the other one. I think it's so cute. He also knows the first thing we do when we come down the stairs in the morning is open the blinds.

Jacob's eating has gone from bad to worse. I really just don't know what to do about it. He has now stopped eating all veggies. Pureed or not. And will eat pancakes, rolls and fruit... He is still nursing 4-5 times a day so at least we have that going for us. On a positive note, as of about a week ago I'm pretty sure Jacob has starting sleeping though the night! YAY! He went about 5 days sleeping through the night in a row. Then he got sick with Roseola and that kind of threw things off a bit. But I hope he will go back to sleeping through the night when he is over being sick... I guess we'll have to see.