The Lake

So this isn't going to be a real update as much as me just showing a picture that I fell in love with. I have no idea why I like it so much, considering you can't see either mine or Jericho's faces, but for that reason it seems to appeal to me an awful lot.

Our Very Own Lil' Kicker

This is Jakob's first year being old enough to do all the really fun lessons and leagues in the area. First we signed Jakob up with Lil'Kickers at SportsCenter481. They have great lessons and group building activities to help kids learn some basic soccer rules. So far, Jakob absolutely loves it... even though it means one of us has to get up early every Saturday morning to take him.

Then we heard about Eastwood soccer from a woman Bill works with. She's had her son with them for quite some time and recommended them highly, so we went ahead and enrolled Jakob in that too (for a significantly lower price than the Lil'Kickers!). We spoke with his coach, and his first practice is on Wednesday. His first game is Saturday morning! This means that we're going to have to switch him into the Thursday night Kickers class, because he's got practice on Wednesday and games on Saturday.

The cool thing about the games at this age is that there is no ref or point keeping, the kids just run and play for the fun of running and playing, while learning the rules of the game, and getting some teamwork practice.

Something important to note is that this, officially, makes me a soccer mom.

I want to play with big brother!

So Jakob fell asleep on the couch tonight after complaining of having a bad stomach ache (poor kid!). Jericho all of the sudden noticed him there and went over and cuddled on him, then started to mess with him to try to get him up to play with him. It was a very cute moment and we caught some of it on video! (Don't mind the Nancy Grace in the background or the state of distress of our living room!)

Easter Pictures!

I forgot that I uploaded all our Easter pictures to Facebook, but never uploaded any here.

The boys' Easter Ecosacks.



I can just hear Jakob's train of thought here. "Hurry up with that camera mom, so's I can get to my stuff!"



I tried to focus on getting a bunch of shots with Jericho since it was his first Easter!





This is one of those 'desperate times call for desperate measures' things. I couldn't find the perfect Easter/Spring napkin holders ANYWHERE. Finally, I went exploring in the little girls' hair bow area of WalMart, and viola! $1.99 for a pack of four :D



Jellybeans make for an awesome centerpiece.



Jakob and daddy (I love how Jakob is so dressed up and Bill looks like he just rolled out of bed).



Jericho looks like he's eating dead bodies. It's actually cherry cobbler.



Jakob with our surprise singlet kitten Lilly

A Year of Decisions

It's amazing to think that Jericho is almost one year old. Holy cow. Fifteen days and counting. It's hard to believe, since it feels like he just joined the family a few months ago. Of course, with his first birthday comes lots of decision making.

First and foremost- when to start plain old milk. With Jakob, we started him on cows milk full steam ahead, and got a rude awakening when we found out the severity of his allergy to cows milk. The poor kid suffered for days :(. Interestingly, he outgrew the allergy quickly and now can slam it down with the best of them.

With Jericho, since breastfeeding and I just don't work out, he's been on formula. The problem with the formula is that it makes him really constipated. To try to combat this, a few days ago we decided to start giving him regular milk, in tiny doses at a time to monitor for any allergies. He has done unexpectedly well with it, although at first he balked a bit. We've been mixing a scoop of his old formula with it so he's not totally shocked at the change. He's been doing great with it though. He's been steadily drinking less and less as he eats more and more. I'm happy to note that he no longer refuses to eat anything but avocado, in fact, he eats pretty much EVERYTHING.

Another big decision to be made is when to turn his car seat around. With Jakob, we couldn't wait to turn him, and actually did it a few days before his first birthday. With Jericho, we're a bit older, and I've done a LOT more research on the subject. We've decided we're going to go with extended rear facing for him. Basically, what this means is that he will stay rear facing until he reaches the height/weight limit of the rearfacing seat he's in. At which point we will turn him around until he hits the 60lb forward facing limit (Jakob is just barely 40lbs now, so we're figuring his seat will last him until he's at least six or seven).

Most people ask why we chose this route when it's a lot more convenient to have them forward facing. It's simple really, in all of the many hours of reading and talking to certified car seat specialists, I learned how unsafe it is to have such a small child forward facing. The 20lbs/one year rule is the governmental minimum. In actuality, babies that age still have a disproportionately large head, so in an accident, they are unable to hold their own heads steady the way an older child or adult does.

There's a great video HERE that shows crash test footage of a test dummy rear facing vs forward facing.

So yeah, there are the big decisions we've been thinking about the past few weeks with little mans birthday coming up, which brings me to the final big decision.

BIRTHDAY PARTY!

For Jakob's first birthday, we went CRAZY. I mean, really, we did. We got a pavilion, a Fun Jump, and ended up having well over 50 guests. This year we have decided that both boys will get a small immediate-family-only party on their actual birthday, but this summer when Kay and Kyle get to come home for a while, we're going to throw a big bash for all the family and friends. Not really a 'birthday' party exactly, just a big get together/BBQ type event for everyone to celebrate all the birthdays/graduations/new jobs/new houses/anniversaries/new babies/etc/etc/etc. As it happens, our birthday season starts in April with Kyle's birthday, then we've got Jericho in May, Jakob and Bill in June, Me, Kayleah AND our brother in July, plus Kay and Kyle and my parents have their anniversaries around those times. It'll be a jack of all trades sort of party. Once we get the dates K&K are coming home, we'll get some invitations out. If you're going to be in or around the Syracuse area, consider yourself invited!

Jakob has put in a request for the Apple Ponies, so we're probably going to have a repeat of his 4th birthday. Oneida Shores pavilion, Apple Ponies, Fun Jump, Swimming, BBQ, fun for grown ups and kids alike.

(Just an important side note for any friends and family that are drinkers- since 1. We don't drink and 2. it's a family party, we won't be providing any drinks harder than Sprite and ask that you leave the alcohol at home)

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