Saturday, June 28, 2014

Funny things he says

I want to remember these forever, so I'm writing it down...

Jacob refers to himself as "Jakey"...so cute!
"No, Jakey do it."
"Jakey all done!"
"Jakey and daddy."
"Jakey nite nite."

Jacob calls the iPad an "ice pad"...
"Don Duck ice pad."
"Chip dale ice pad."
"Mow mow ice pad."
"Ice pad, pleeeeeeeeeez!"

Gah, I love this boy!!!!

And a picture from today, because I can. 

Thursday, June 26, 2014

"Ring test" tutorial video

Hey guys! 

I've had a few friends ask about my "ring test", so I thought I'd do a quick video. It's much easier than trying to explain via text or email. 

If you try this, let me know how your results go! I'm dying to see if it works for y'all. Good luck!!


Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Baby #2 - 16 weeks


How far along? 12 weeks

Total weight gain: 2lbs. Hooray!

Baby is the size of a: Avocado

Maternity clothes? Not yet! Just long tank tops, running shorts, and maxi dresses!

Stretch marks? None

Sleep: Much better now that Josh is home. He was traveling last week, and I don't think I slept more than a couple hours each night.

Best moment this week: Jacob did SO GOOD at swim lessons yesterday. I could just cry! This is his third week without me in the pool; the last 2 weeks he's screamed and cried the entire class. Today- NO crying, he was actually laughing and enjoying himself, and I even got to sit on the bench and watch!

Miss anything? Wine, and energy.

Movement: None yet.

Food cravings: I have been craving Sonic cheese sticks for a few days now, so I finally caved and got some yesterday. They were delish. 'Nuff said.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing specifically making me queasy, but I still get a little nauseous towards the evenings.

Gender: I have no clue! Although, I did the "ring test", and it said boy!

Labor Signs: Nothing

Symptoms: Bloaty/burpy after eating, huge sore boobs, exhausted, nauseous in the evenings, baby brain

Belly Button in or out? In

Happy or Moody most of the time: Mostly happy!

Similarities/differences between last pregnancy: I'm starting to feel very similar to last time.

Looking forward to: Our next OB appointment on Friday, and CABO!!! Woohoo! :)

Friday, June 20, 2014

Our bath/bedtime routine + products we love

Our bedtime routine has been virtually the same since Jacob was about 6 weeks old. The actual time we start everything varies, depending on what we're doing that evening and how Jacob's nap was, but for the most part- everything else is exactly the same.

Jacob has always been a sweaty, busy boy, so we bathe him every single night. At the beginning, we wouldn't use soap every night, but we'd still put him in the sink/tub and splash around.

So, here's our routine and rough schedule based on an average night:

6pm - dinner
After dinner, we usually go outside and play or go for a family walk.
7:30pm - wind down while watching Bubble Guppies and drinking a smoothie
8pm - brush teeth and take a bath
8:15pm - dry him off, apply butt paste, put on a night diaper and PJs
8:20pm - read a bedtime story
8:30pm - sing "Jesus Loves Me" and put him down for the night

Since we weaned and sleep trained Jacob around 11 months, we have had NO PROBLEMS with him falling asleep at night. He hardly ever whines or makes a peep, and it usually takes him ~5 minutes to get comfy and fall asleep. I believe we are blessed in this department, but let me tell you- it took weeks...MONTHS...to get him there, the first 9 months of his life were brutal.

In terms of bath and bedtime products, here's a quick rundown on our favorites.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Baby #2 - 15 weeks


How far along? 15 weeks

Total weight gain: 0 lbs

Baby is the size of a: Navel orange

Maternity clothes? Not yet!

Stretch marks? None

Sleep: Okay. I'm waking up 1-2 times to pee, and it takes me forever to fall back to sleep.

Best moment this week: Father's Day was a lot of fun, and so relaxing! We needed a lazy weekend. My best friend came up to stay with us for a few days this week too, so that's just plain good for the soul. 

Miss anything? Wine!

Movement: None yet, I don't think. Although there's been a few times when I thought I felt something. It's too early though- right?!?!

Food cravings: This week I've been loving caprese paninis and cottage cheese with pepper and salads! Yummy!

Anything making you queasy or sick: This is actually starting to tapper off, which I'm so thankful for!

Gender: I have no clue!

Labor Signs: Nothing

Symptoms: Bloating, burping, gas, nausea (this is getting better, mostly just in the evenings), exhaustion, baby brain, sore HUGE boobs

Belly Button in or out? In

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy when I'm not tired or hungry :)

Similarities/differences between last pregnancy: I'm starting to feel very similar to last time.

Looking forward to: Our next OB appointment on the 27th, and CABOOOOO!!! Woohoo! :)

Monday, June 16, 2014

Father's Day

We had such a fun and relaxing Father's Day weekend. Honestly, I'm kinda jealous that Mother's Day wasn't as relaxing. Oh well!

Father's Day chalkboard

We started off the weekend with lunch at Hutchin's BBQ with my parents and sister. Saturday happened to be my parents' 40th wedding anniversary, so we kinda had a joint celebration.
 

 
After Jacob's nap, we went swimming and had Popsicles. Jakey loves his daddy so much. 
On Sunday I made a breakfast scramble (Josh's favorite breakfast) and Josh tinkered around in the garage. 

After Jacob's nap, he watched old school Donald Duck cartoons on the iPad while Josh and I watched some World Cup action. I'm kinda addicted to the WC this year!

 
Josh is such an amazing father, I just can't even imagine doing this whole "parenthood" thing with anyone else. He's so selfless, patient and fun. I love watching him with Jakey, and cannot wait til Baby #2 comes and he's a daddy again! 
 
 
So cheers to you, Josh! We love you so very much!
Father's Day gift idea

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Baby #2 - 14 weeks


How far along? 14 weeks

Total weight gain: 0 lbs this week? Weird.

Baby is the size of a: lemon

Maternity clothes? Not yet!

Stretch marks? None

Sleep: Okay. It takes me hoursssss to fall back to sleep after getting up to pee, which is a-nnoying!

Best moment this week: Jacob's birthday and party. THE best! Had so much fun!

Miss anything? Wine!

Movement: None yet

Food cravings: Nothing really? Everything that sounds delicious (hamburgers, hot wings, donuts) will make me burpy and bloaty, so I try to avoid most of it. I've given in to pizza a few times, which I've regretted every time.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Lots of things, most things actually! Ha!

Gender: I have no clue!

Labor Signs: Nothing

Symptoms: Bloating, burping, gas, nausea, exhaustion, baby brain, sore HUGE boobs

Belly Button in or out? In

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy when I'm not tired or hungry :)

Similarities/differences between last pregnancy: Like I said last time, these pregnancies have been so completely different! I feel like as I start to get my energy back and the nausea somewhat subsides, I'm starting to feel a lot like last time though.

Looking forward to: So many things, but up first- FATHER'S DAY! THIS WEEKEND!

Monday, June 9, 2014

Jacob's 2nd birthday party

We had Jacob's SECOND birthday party this weekend at our house, and I would consider it a success. My energy and motivation were seriously lacking this year (thanks preggo brain), so I went for a pretty low-key party with friends and family. It was so low-key that I completely forgot to bring out the fruit tray I prepared! Ack!
 
Anyways, here's some of the decorations and pictures from the party.
 
I sent a BUNCH (I think 90) Instagram pictures directly from my iPhone to Walgreens, had them printed and taped them to the wall in the number "2." I love looking at all the pictures and had such a fun time putting them all up and reminiscing. It's absolutely incredible to see his transformation over the past year!
 
 
And no party of mine is complete without a personalized chalkboard by moi. I was pretty proud of this one.


I always put the desserts on our buffet. It's kind of in a walkway/pass-thru to the kitchen, so people can walk by the cake and admire it. In addition to the cake, I also had a family friend make these adorable cookies. I somehow missed a close-up of the cookies, but they were sooo cute!
 
 
This year, I decided to make the cake myself. Which was fun, because I also got to destroy it too! Ha!


I used a few of Jacob's birthday presents (the construction trucks) on the food table as "props." We had Chic-fil-a nuggets (which I swear are my new go-to party food- so easy and everyone loves them!), queso, pretzels and cheese balls. Should've also had a fruit tray...oh well!



I quickly and cheaply made this wreath with a foam wreath form I had, and some caution tape I bought at HobLob (which I also used to wrap a pillar in our house). I think it turned out perfect for the day!


I leave you with a few party pictures, most of which include ME being WAY MORE excited than Jacob. Haha! Soooo typical!
 



Jacob got so many trucks and tractors. I swear every time he opened a new present, he was freaking out! It was so so cute!
 
And, a picture of our little family. I still cannot believe our sweet baby is TWO! I think I've had a harder time swallowing TWO than I did with ONE!? How is that possible?!
 

Friday, June 6, 2014

Jacob is TWO!

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! I'm feeling hungover this morning from all the birthday shenanigans that ensued yesterday. Birthday cake is appropriate for breakfast, right? ;)

If you follow me on Instagram (@KateSoko), then these pictures probably look familiar. I apologize. If not, enjoy! There's a lot.

We had such a blast celebrating Jacob's birthday yesterday! Josh took the day off, so we literally spent all day celebrating the little man who we love so so much!

We started the day with cinnamon rolls from Tony's Cafe. They were delish. Although Jacob was more interested in the squirrels playing chase outside.


Then we got dressed and headed to the Dallas Aquarium. You might remember, we went there last year on Jacob's birthday too.

This year, he was much more into it. So much that he hardly rode in his stroller, he wanted out to explore and see everything! He was pointing at all the animals and saying their names. It was so much fun, and he really loved it! Here's a bunch of pictures from the trip. 

 


 





After the aquarium, we came home, ate lunch and took naps. Then Aunt Carrie came over to eat cake and open presents. She pretty much nailed it this year. 


A leaf blower. 

 
And a "Cars" guitar. 

After cake and an intense jam-out sesh on the guitar, we headed to dinner at Jacob's favorite restaurant, Señor Locos. And to our luck/surprise, his favorite waitress was covering our table! I just can't with this kid. 





Alexis is so sweet with him, and they blow kisses to each other the whole time. It makes me jealous, not gonna lie, but I love that side of him!

On the way out, we snapped a pic with the motorcycle. Because...why not? He totally posed next to it and everything. Ha!


Phew! I'm tired just from typing this! Ha! I couldn't have imagined a better day, celebrating this little nugget. He said he had a fun day, too.

Happy SECOND birthday, Jacob! You are so loved!

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Jacob - 24 months

Where do I even begin with you, my sweet little boy??

Let's start with the obvious- how much your daddy and I love you. There are no words to accurately express the love we have for you, but let me just say that you are easily my greatest blessing and I cannot thank God enough for you. You are the greatest joy I've ever experienced and I thank you for that!

As you get older, your personality is really starting to blossom. I'll do a quick breakdown on your personality.
60% rambunctious boy - you're always playing with trucks, cars, planes, trains...anything that "goes." I often find you crashing your cars together, or lining them up for a race. It's wild how boys really are wired like that! You love being outside in the dirt, but you don't like your hands to be dirty for too long (totally get this from your mom). You also love animals, the movie "Cars", singing and dancing, and you've recently started bringing us books to read to you (this is new to us, as you usually can't sit still long enough).
20% goofy/silly/funny boy - you are always making us laugh! You do the silliest things, and are now saying the most hilarious stuff! Where you get some things from, I'll never know? If we laugh, or someone on TV, you instantly throw your head back and crack up. Which is just the cutest! 
10% compassionate boy - as silly and wild as you can be, you're also very quick to apologize when you hurt someone, and you offer kisses and hugs allllll the time. It really melts my heart. You hate to see people sad or cry, and will often give random kids hugs at the park if they get hurt. I just love this part of you! You've also started saying "luv you", which is easily the sweetest thing I've ever heard!!
10% terror/turd boy - you rarely throw a tantrum, when you do it's because we won't let you have or do something, and that's usually because it's dangerous or not good to eat cookies for breakfast. ;) We find the best way to deal with your tantrums is to talk you through it and let you know that we understand your frustrations. You quickly bounce out of it. There are, however, those occasions when you just won't stop doing something and that usually involves some tears and timeout. But really, I cannot complain in this department. 

You're also getting so so smart! It really amazes me! You learn something new every day and are always very proud to show it off. You know all your animals, sounds, colors, shapes, etc. You also love to tell people that you're "two!" You remember everything. If I tell you something the day before, I can assume you'll remember the next day now. Your speech is growing by leaps and bounds lately, too. You actually repeat things I say, which is making learning a lot easier! :) 

In terms of physical activity, you can RUN, like fast. You also love throwing balls, kicking soccer balls, hitting baseballs, hitting golf balls, swinging on BIG boy swings, climbing up ladders and sliding down slides. All of these things you can easily do on your own. You don't care too much about arts and crafts, and don't really like to color. Which I'm kinda ok with, because it ends up being a mess. :) You do like sidewalk chalk though!

At the end of the day, you are absolutely perfect in our eyes and we seriously couldn't love you any more than we do. You will always be our little baby boy, even if you have a younger sibling and even if you're taller than us.

We love you, Jacob Monroe. Thank you for being you, and thank you for letting us be your parents, and thank you for loving me.


Age: 24 months

Height: 37.25" (100%+)

Weight: 32lbs 8oz (92%)

Milestones: I listed a lot above

Sleep: Still really good! He generally goes to bed around 8-8:30 and wakes up around 8-9. Depending when he wakes up, he takes a nap around 1-2 and sleeps for 1.5-2 hours.

Eating: He eating better now. I guess my expectations of how much he should be eating were a little off, so we just let him eat as much or as little as he wants, and leave it at that! He still doesn't like vegetables (which I hear is quite common at this age), but he loves most fruit, especially strawberries, blueberries, bananas, apples, pineapple. He likes chicken and hot dogs, and will sometimes eat red meat. He also loooves all kinds of pasta, bread and cheese.

Clothes size: 3T

Diaper size: Size 5 Cruisers, although we will be moving up to size 6 with his next box.

Teeth: 16 total- he got his 2 top canines!

Favorite toy: He is SUCH a boy- he loves all his trucks, Jeeps, tractors, etc. He also still loves his mower when he's outside. He also really loves the swingset we got him for his birthday. He can swing on the big boy swings, climb up the wooden ladder and go down the slide...all by himself! It seriously blows my mind!

Personality: I talked about this above

Best Moment: this month has been really fun, I can't think of one thing in particular.

Worst Moment: nothing, really...

Looking forward to: so many things- next week he starts a new level at swim class, which does not require me to be in the pool. Also in the fall, he'll be going to pre-school twice a week at our church. I'm sure lots of tears will be shed at both, but I'm so so excited to see him grow his independence!!

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Baby #2 - 13 weeks

Hello, second trimester!!! I remember this being the best, in terms of energy levels and overall comfort, so bring it on!! :)


How far along? 13 weeks

Total weight gain: 1 lb (this is according to our janky scale)

Baby is the size of a: peach

Maternity clothes? Not yet, mostly wearing running clothes that are a little looser, or maxi dresses.

Stretch marks? None

Sleep: Overall, my sleep is really bad. Ever since having Jacob, I haven't been able to sleep through the night. Although now that I'm pregnant, I would say I'm sleeping a bit better, but getting up atleast once to pee.

Best moment this week: I don't know about an exact moment, but I've been feeling better! Will get to that in a bit.

Miss anything? Get ready for it.......................wine. Red, white, rose...don't matter. I want it. Now. Its going to be a loooong 6 months!

Movement: None yet

Food cravings: nothing really, well besides wine. Ha! I am loving deli sandwiches right now, but that's kinda normal for me.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Everything! I couldn't even make a breakfast scramble the other day because the thought of combining the potatoes, egg and bacon make me sick. LOL!

Gender: I'm not really sure?!?! Some moments I think girl, but then I think we're boy people..? Soo..we'll just have to wait and see!

Labor Signs: Nothing, thank goodness! Too early for that nonsense!

Symptoms: Bloating, burping, gas, nausea, exhaustion, baby brain

Belly Button in or out? In

Happy or Moody most of the time: Mostly happy. If I get hungry or sleepy, I tend to be easily annoyed, but for the most part I'm ok! Hehe :)

Similarities/differences between last pregnancy: These pregnancies really couldn't be any more different. I remember at 10 and 11 weeks I traveled to New York and Pittsburg. While I was obviously more tired than normal, I was totally fine! There is no way in heck I would've been able to do that this time around! With the constant nausea and queasiness, I'm lucky to leave the couch! LOL!

Looking forward to: Jacob turns TWO on Thursday and I'm already preparing my little heart. It just doesn't seem possible that my sweet little baby can be that old already! It literally seems like yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital. I think this is also part of the reason I was "ok" with having another baby so soon after Jacob. It really does go by so quickly, and those miserable sleepless nights miraculously get wiped from your memory.