Buddies

I almost wrote "Best Buddies" as the title of this entry, but come on, would anyone really believe that Gilbert would be Best buddies with his arch rival, Jake? Gilbert was our pride and joy, our spoiled rotten pet before Jake came along. Gilbert had a Halloween costume each year (Elvis one year, a dinosaur last year), his very own jean jacket, a beautiful red sweater, and a plethora of toys. With the arrival of Jake last February, Gilbert was relegated to the position of "dog" in the family, and it has been a hard adjustment. He has been pouting for the last six months. The past few weeks he is tolerating Jake better...he lets him pull on his ears and tail and doesn't seem overly upset about it. Jake loves Gilbert...his favorite new past time is laughing at Gilbert. Hopefully, they will be buddies, and Gilbert will forgive Jake for taking his place. In the above pictures, the two are in Jake's float in the pool together and in the stroller after a walk. Gilbert gets too tired to walk the whole way so I used to have to carry him. Now I can just put him in the stroller basket for the last leg of our walk. We get strange looks from the neighbors, but everyone is happy this way!

My Outdoorsman

It turns out Jake loves playing in the grass as you can see from the picture. On Friday he and I went swimming for a bit and then I got him dried off and took him back outside to enjoy the sunshine. I put him in the grass for the first time and he sat there for a good 30 minutes pulling blades of grass and smiling. He's once again just like his Daddy...I'm allergic to the grass...it makes me sneeze! Ty loves the outdoors and in fact his favorite candle scent is Green Grass by Yankee. He only burns those when I'm gone :) Jake is growing so quickly and looks more and more like a little boy each day.

Carl's lesson at church yesterday was about persistently praying. He asked everyone to spend at least five minutes in prayer five days a week for the families and marriages at Grace Crossing. One of his points was that we should "pray through" situations...praying until we get an answer we can live with. Lately several people have told me how they continue to pray for Jake and his heart defect. Ty's cousin from Washington D.C. sent him a gift recently and in the card said her three girls pray for Jake's heart every night. We were at the Matthews' house this weekend and Greg said their 3 year old, Caden, prays for Jake each night. How wonderful that these parents are already instilling the importance of prayer in their children. I am humbled by all the people who pray for our Jake and I can see results as he is continually healthy and growing strong. We will continue to "pray through" for Jake until the time is right for his surgery.

Family Vacation

Ty, Jake, and I flew to Florida this past week for the McCathran family vacation. We've gone the past three summers to spend a week with his Dad and all of his brothers and sisters. Eric, Ty's brother, has a condo south of St. Augustine on the beach near Palm Coast where we all stay. This year there were 16 of us including Jake and his little cousin, Elsie Jane. Jake did wonderfully on the flight until we started the descent--he is his mommy's boy...those ears started hurting him and he cried a bit until we convinced him to take a bottle. My ears always kill me on flights, and I have trouble equalizing. We had a very nice week and I think everyone was very impressed with what great babies Jake and Elsie Jane were. They both entertained us all and were pretty low maintenance all week. The two of them definitely bonded! Elsie Jane is so verbal for her age--just 15 months--and is talking up a storm. Her new favorite word is "Jake", and she constantly talked to him and kissed him. You can see the bath photo we got of the two of them...blackmail for when they're older :) It was nice to have Jolie, my sister-in-law, there so she and I could keep each other company with the kids. It was so hot all week we couldn't take them out much. By the time you put on all the sunscreen and clothes and spent a few minutes on the beach, it was time to bring them back inside. They loved the pool at night though which we used to tire them out for bedtime. Jake's Aunt Destin is an OT and she worked wonders getting him to eat. She had him eating his baby food in 5 minutes or so and now he's all about those pears and green peas! She also loved playing with Jake in the pool and getting him to sleep at night. His family couldn't get over how much Jake looks like Ty. They called Jake "Mini-me" all week long. Ty went with all the guys and Casey and Destin fishing one day and they caught plenty of fish for dinner which was delicious. Casey's boyfriend, Jose, also caught an 150 pound shark...they say it looked like Jaws :) Ty also went wind surfing with Jason, Zachary, and Matthew one day at Anastasia State Park. All and all we had a great trip and I think Jake liked his first big vacation. Now, I've got to "unspoil" him and get our routine back. The pictures are of our family, Jake relaxing in the pool, Jake with Elsie Jane, Jake on the beach, and then Ty, Jake, and his brother Eric (Jake definitely looks like his daddy and his uncle Eric).

Six Months

As of today Jake has lived half of a year...he's six months old! I tried to take some cute pictures of him this morning, but as you can see he's a bit squirmy and doesn't sit still too well these days (but he's so darn cute!). His personality is coming out more and more everyday and he's developing a mind of his own. He smiles and laughs more than ever and keeps me smiling all day as well. We went to see Grandpa Al on Monday for some six months pictures, but Jake's teeth were bothering him so he wasn't quite himself. Al did get a couple of wonderful pictures though. I can't wait to get them back. Jake does have a bit of an ear infection that the doctor says is from teething so he's on some antibiotics and Tylenol. The really good news is the past few nights he has been sleeping through the night. Of course I panic when I wake up and I haven't heard him so I'm still getting up several times to check on him...We do have one of those motion monitors though which I know makes me sleep better than I would.

He had two of his girlfriends over today for a "swim date"--Clara and Claire. Jake and Claire looked each other over in the pool, pinched each other, held hands, and stole each other's pacifiers. All in all, a great first date :) Clara is a bit older and she was so sweet with them both, gently patting them on their heads. We managed to get a couple of pictures as you can see above.

On a different note, I was thinking this week about Proverbs 31 and went back and read it. I've been thinking about what a blessing it is to stay home with Jake and how spending the day with him is completely exhausting but so rewarding at the same time. I love when Ty gets home and we can all three have dinner together. After taking care of Jake, the house, the cooking, etc..., I do fall asleep more tired each night more tired than I did teaching (before Jake that is). So my question is...how did the lady in Proverbs 31 do it? The Bible says she gets up before daybreak, never has an idle moment, works in the fields, works in her home, cares for her husband and children, and goes to bed after dark (plus a whole list of other chores). Reading this passage as a child made me think of my grandmother who was a wonderful Christian woman who literally mopped the floor on her hands and knees,made homemade desserts every night for dinner, and faithfully read her Bible. How did she do it? My mom worked so hard in our home making wonderful meals, keeping the house extremely clean, toting us around to all of our games and outings and church events, entertaining us, and teaching Bible classes. Now that I'm the adult, am I supposed to leave this legacy for my children? When thinking about my Grandma and my Mom, I do think about all the "things" they accomplished while raising their children, but more than anything, I think about how they instilled Christ in us. I obviously want to do a wonderful job caring for my house, but more than anything I want to do a wonderful job raising Jake. I'm so thankful for my partner in this undertaking, Ty. We've got six months behind us and many exciting years to come!