Happy New Year!

As I'm writing this, I realize that some of you are already in a new year! Happy 2009! May you be as blessed in 2009 as we were in 2008!

Colorado Christmas 2008!

We have been enjoying the holidays with the Las Vegas Jacobsons! It has been busy, busy with 5 kids & another on the way for Beverly. On Christmas Eve, we enjoyed the Colorado Jacobsons tradition of KFC for dinner. Yum! Then we had fun taking pictures. It was fun for most of us...we spent a lot of time trying to corral Kenna! She's 22 months and busy, busy! These are some of the pictures we got!

We went to the kids service at church and instead of doing candles at the end, they handed out glow sticks. The kids LOVED them.

We were trying to get a cute picture of all 5 cousins on the ground, but Kenna was done with pictures at this point.
The rest of the kids were really cute!

Charis loved holding Anders!
She was very good with him & will be great with her new baby brother.

The "Las Vegas Jacobsons"

Boys will be boys, I guess. Or, brothers will be brothers.

All 5 cousins and Haiku, too!

The cousins, sans Kenna!

You're wearing WHAT?

There is also some new attire on another member of our family. Here's a couple of pictures. I know it doesn't look like much...it's actually not the outfit that I'm bragging or concerned about. It's the size. We're officially into 6 month+ clothing. This outfit happens to be size 6-12 months. And we're only starting month 5. Yikes. We've got a live one on our hands.

Officially a Mom

As if it weren't official before, it is now. I have entered motherhood. It has taken me a while to embrace this new role, but over Christmas, I have stepped off the edge and taken the plunge.

I am a proud owner of a brand new robe.

It's bright green. It's the softest thing you've ever felt. It's a great, thoughtful gift from Joel. I've wanted one for a long time. But it's completely unattractive.

It does nothing for the figure and makes me look much, much larger than I actually am (which doesn't do much for the post-pregnancy ego).

And there will be no photos. It is an at-home, private experience. Much like eating Oreos.

Galloping Jumperoo!

Way back in June my sister gave us this cute horse for a gift at my shower. This week we finally set it up (Anders is just now ready for it) and gave it a try. He seemed to like it, although I'm not sure he quite knows what to do yet...

I have a feeling that once he figures out what to do with his legs, we won't be able to stop him!

We're trying to come up with a good name for our horse. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Rice Cereal!

Towards the end of November and through most of December, Anders was sleeping really well for at least 7 hours at night. He was going at least 3 hours between feedings and life was great. I had more time during the day than ever before and more sleep at night!

However, in the last week or so he's been waking up at night, needing to eat, and barely making it 2.5 let alone 3 hours between feedings. So, we decided to try something new...rice cereal. So, today was the day! And of course, we took pictures!

He seemed to enjoy it...but adjusting to the spoon will be a challenge!

Catching Up...

I'm trying to get caught up on some things before the week gets away from me. Time has a way of moving on without me these days...

First of all, since posting the previous blog about the 12 days of Christmas, I learned that the story is not true. I'm bummed. However, my real question is, Who has time to make that stuff up?!?! You must have lots of time on your hands.

Secondly, I have a few cute pics of Anders & some of his friends from the past few weeks...Anders is really growing by leaps and bounds and he'll be rolling over, crawling and eating solids before we know it! Crazy!

The first two are of Anders in a Steeler's outfit. I must put a disclaimer with this picture, however. We are avid Bronco's fans. But, Uncle Gary loves his Steeler's. So, these pictures are for him!

He's not quite steady enough for his exersaucer, but we tried it anyway...he's really close! The next pic is of him after a bath, all wrapped up in his towel from Grandma J! Then there's another one with his friends Zachary and Ryan and one of him in the swing...he doesn't love the swing--I know some babies are totally dependent on it, but Anders does enjoy sitting in it while we work close by.

12 Days Song

I've typically been annoyed by the 12 Days of Christmas song. It ranks right up there with "100 bottles of...on the wall". Kids know how to sing it loudly and love to on long bus rides.

However, I have found a bit more joy in the 12 Days of Christmas in the past few years because I've played the accompaniment for it during our annual school Christmas sing-a-long. The kids singing it so excitedly is just fun. I also think it's fun when they come out with the annual prices for each item. I would make my students add up how much it would cost to purchase the 12 Days' worth of items.

And now I think I like the song even more.

I love little bits of trivia...the more useless the better. Even if this isn't true, I think it's very interesting and it's worth memorizing...

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership and Mercy.

The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.

The ten lords a-leaping were the Ten Commandments.

The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

Joel's Blog

For those of you who don't know it...Joel has his own blog. His blog is called "A Poetic Matter" and he posts lots of interesting ideas and thoughts on it. He currently has a poem posted on it--it's one of my favorite. Check it out and leave him a comment so he knows you've stopped by.

Shoveling With Dad

It is very cold in Colorado today! It is supposed to be below zero over night! Crazy that last week it was almost 60 degrees a couple of days! Joel spent about an hour shoveling today--Haiku loved being out in the snow, but even she had to come in early because it was so cold.

Last week it snowed a bit but wasn't nearly as cold, so Joel bundled up Anders and took him out to shovel with him. We put him in the Baby Bjorn with socks on his hands and zipped him up in Joel's jacket. The were outside for about 10 minutes. Too cute!

St. Nick Day

Because my family lived in Germany for a number of years, we picked up the tradition of celebrating St. Nicholas Day on December 6. Germans put their boot (or shoe) outside the door and St. Nick comes by and fills it up with goodies overnight. Or, I've heard he also leaves coal for the "naughty" kids.

We've continued this tradition and still have presents on Dec. 6 (two years ago we got Haiku on this day!). Here is Anders opening his first St. Nick gifts in his new high chair seat!

A Boy & His Dog

We had a feeling that when Haiku really got to know Anders, they would be best buds. Joel & I often talk about "What if Haiku decides to go sleep in Anders' room (instead of ours)?" It would be kind of sad because although she doesn't sleep in our bed, we do like having her close by in the night...just something we've gotten used to over the past few years.

Well, we were right. Although Haiku doesn't sleep in his room yet, she does love Anders and often lays right next to him (sometimes a bit too close), but it's still sweet. Today she kept busting in the door where he was sleeping to lay down next to him. She is a bit too loud, though, and it startles him a bit. I'm sure that will change soon. Here's a cute pic of what they look like together...a great start to a great relationship.

Every boy needs a dog.

Four Generations

Before we left for Nebraska, we were able to visit with Joel's Grandma who was down visiting from Montana. We snapped a few pictures of four generations--a great-grandma, grandma, dad & son. Lots of fun. We also caught Anders starting to play cards a little young...

A Nebraska Thanksgiving

This year we traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska for Thanksgiving to visit our good friends, Garrett & Jordan & their daughter, Alianna (whom we affectionately call "Anders' future wife"). They moved there back in August and hadn't met Anders yet...and we really missed seeing them, so we got in the car and drove across the flatlands that is Nebraska to see them.

We had lots of fun--saw the campus at University of Nebraska, played a few games, ate some yummy steak for Thanksgiving dinner (much easier than Turkey!), did a little shopping, Joel & Garrett watched CU get beat by Nebraska, and we just had some great fellowship time catching up on life.

Here are some fun pictures from our trip:

Annoying

I have lots of things I need & want to blog about...like our great trip to Nebraska over Thanksgiving, some random thoughts that have been on my mind, and some other really great, positive & uplifting things that have been going on in our lives.

However, I must first get this off my mind. I'm really irritated. I have spent the last few weeks searching and searching and I am exhausted. It takes a lot of effort hauling a baby around (and he's getting bigger, let me tell you), especially in the cold.

And I still haven't found what I'm looking for. (I think there's a U2 song in there somewhere...)

What I have found is that everyone was right: there are twice as many little baby GIRL clothes as there are BOY clothes. Every store I've been in over the past few weeks (and it's quite a few) has had a double sized girl department and a closet sized boy deparment.

I've been looking for a cute outfit for Anders for Christmas. Something red & black and maybe sweater-oriented. I really wanted a sweater vest. Not possible. There are racks & racks of girl dresses and cute clothes for picture-taking. And very few boy clothes. Usually hidden somewhere in the back of the store.

I finally found a cute shirt & pants (I'm sure a picture will follow in a week or so) at an overpriced outlet store. But, at least it's off my list for this year. I'm sure I'll have another blog about boy Christmas clothes again next year.

Annoying.

Resemblance

I've had a bit of a revelation as I sit here at my desk. People keep asking us who Anders looks like, but we can't really decide. We have decided he has my lips--you can especially tell when you look at both of us from the side. But, besides that, I just can't quite put my finger on who he looks like most. Until now.

He looks like my dad. I have a big baby picture of my dad sitting here in my office and it looks just like Anders. The hairline, the smile, the eyes, the double chin...How cute. I love it.

I'm Addicted

I'm addicted. I can't funtion without it. I take it with me everywhere.

It's the Boppy Pillow.

My friend, Janelle, let me borrow hers when Anders was first born. I didn't like it at first. I think it was because I couldn't quite manage feeding Anders while he was laying on it.

But now I can't live without it. I use it for feeding Anders. Holding him. He likes to sit up in it. He lays on it. We love it.

Evidently Haiku does now, too.