Summer Catch-Up

We have had such a fun summer!  I've been a stay-at-home mom for about 4 months now, and I have loved every minute of it!  It certainly isn't exactly what I had expected, but it's definitely what I want to be doing.  I pictured a reverent little Jake playing with one toy, cleaning it up, and then pulling out the next to play happily with me, reading books between games, and picking out books quietly at the library.

Boy was I wrong!  I spend most of my time trying to keep Mr. Crazy alive!  He loves diving head first off of anything he can find.  He tries to push the screens out of our windows and climb on the window sills to escape (we're on the 3rd story!).  He's obsessed with the stove and turns anything he can upside down so he can get to the burners.  He fights any books being read to him, and the only time we can really get a book in is when I have him strapped in his high-chair eating a meal.  His favorite thing to do with his toys is dump them out of the toy box and use the box itself to climb and get to things he's not supposed to have.  He has figured out locking himself in rooms (and has caused me some stress trying to get him out).  He tries to pull the chairs over on top of himself and pulls everything out of all the kitchen cupboards.  Boy is he a handful!

We have had a lot of fun going to the zoo (and even meeting up with Andrew when he's done with work for the day sometimes).

We've spent a lot of afternoons hanging out at Zoombezi Bay, the water park attached to the zoo.

Jake loves playing at the park.

He also enjoys his time with the toys at the library.

And the kid loves bubbles!  He calls them "pa," which comes from us saying "pop, pop, pop" over and over again when he touches them.

Jake and Andrew went to their first Major League Baseball game this summer, too!  We met up with my mom's side of the family and had a blast eating hotdogs (dollar dog night), watching the Indians win, and seeing fireworks afterwards.  Jake LOVES fireworks!  That made the 4th of July a lot more fun, too.

Jake does not like haircuts, and his last one about a week ago was particularly rough for him.  The lady said little boys usually peak in their hatred of haircuts around age 2- so we might still have awhile before he's happy to get a trim.  Poor kid!

He has started liking movies, though.  That makes it easier for me to make dinner without any casualties in the kitchen.  It's also good for when a wave of pregnancy fatigue or just not feeling well hits me.  He is picky about his movies, but he likes Toy Story, Up, Tangled, and Horton Hears a Who.

One of his favorite places to be is the porch.

He also likes climbing below the chairs.

Jake really is our little wild child.  Andrew and I joke that his motto is "find and destroy."  I guess it's good we can at least joke about it :)  He might be quite the handful, but he is also so fun.  Never a dull moment, that's for sure!  We love this little boy to pieces!