We're Moving!

    It's official, we are moving! When James and I got married we moved to Carbondale and have lived here for the past 18 months. Before we had Jacob, we were both working full time jobs. Now that Jacob's here, and I've experienced what it's like to be home with him, I didn't want to go back to work! At least not full time and not right now. So we began the search. 
    At first we were considering EvErYtHiNg...like film work in California, editing in New York, or joining our dear friends in video work down in Houston. The search went on for awhile; we had some leads, but nothing that really grabbed our attention.
    Then one recent morning before James went to work he got a phone call about a job opening near STL. The position hadn't even been officially posted yet, but the man who called James is the husband of one of his former high school teachers AND the couple went to church with my parents for a few years. 
    James' 2nd interview with the company was this past Monday. They told him they would let him know soon... 1 hour later James got a phone call saying he got the job! I guess they figured they didn't need to call his references since they knew his father-in-law? haha His new title is Assistant Marketing Director and he starts on October 13th so we're making the move on the 10th. Though we will miss our church family & friends here, we are very excited about what is to come =)

Just Keep Swimming...

    Occasionally my husband has to travel for work. I usually go with him and we get to spend some extra time together. Then while he is working I'm on my own. But that wasn't the case this time! A few days ago James had a conference that he was going to be the "tech guy" for. So I packed our bags! This time, I would have Jacob for company while Daddy was working :-) 

    Jacob had a lot of firsts on this trip! It was his first time staying in a hotel & we stayed in a Holiday Inn. It was HUGE. Our room was great & they gave us a crib for Jacob that, well, wasn't so great. He didn't have much room to move around in it because it was barely bigger than he was. And when he would roll over, his legs would get stuck between the slats! (I should have snapped a photo, it was quite funny; but I was also worried!) I guess it was a good thing that our room had two beds, because at 2am Jacob was through with the crib & upgraded to a comfy bed. With me on one side of the bed and pillows on the other, he was safe & slept great the rest of the night! 

I love how he's wearing Nemo!

    When we arrived Wednesday, James had some equipment to set up & then was free until the next morning.   So we grabbed dinner at Krieger's, the restaurant attached to the hotel and talked about the day as people walked by smiling at Jacob :-) Afterwards, we got ready for the pool! I was so excited when I found out there was going to be a pool where we would be staying! So I went to the store and got Jacob some Little Swimmer's for the special occasion :-) In case you're not aware of what Little Swimmer's are...they're like waterproof diapers that don't swell up when they get wet. I wondered what Jacob was going to think of the pool. Was he going to think it was one big bath? Because he absolutely LOVES bath time! (and he always laughs when I wash behind his legs!) Or was he going to freak out & scream like I've seen other babies do before? Well, not much to my surprise, Jacob really enjoyed the pool! He was smiling a lot and kept staring at the water. We had so much fun with him! One time in the pool just wasn't enough, so we returned promptly the next morning :-)

                     

Seconds after Jacob was wrapped up all warm & cozy
he fell asleep :-)

Clockwork

    It never fails. 6am, 8am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm, bedtime. Every 2 hours throughout the day Jacob is hungry. So every 2 hours I need to be available to feed him. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind feeding him, he's my baby! But every mama needs a break every once and a while. Jacob is 3 1/2 months old now and hasn't had a bottle since he was a week old. We've tried FOUR different types of nipples in the past week! Finally, I got the idea to match up the nipple with his pacifier. He sucks on his NUK like it's going out of style, so I went out and bought a NUK bottle. 
    It was 8 o'clock friday night; Jacob just had a bath while his bottle was bottle was warming up in a pot of hot water. I rubbed him down with his calming lavender bedtime baby lotion and put him in his pj's. James sat in the rocker with him and I handed him the bottle...Jacob took it! It was that easy! We were so excited! I had to stop talking though because every time I opened my mouth Jacob was turning his head to find me :-) So I sat on the other side of him and watched with delight. 
    Now if I have to be away from him for longer than 2 hours, or just want go on a girls night out, Daddy can feed him :-)

That's the rocker my husband got me for Mother's Day :-)

Labor Day Weekend

As always, a trip back home is never boring! Labor Day weekend we got to see my family, went to a family reunion on James' side, and took Jacob to the St. Louis Zoo for the first time!

Sharon & Juile joined in on our family photo :-)

At the family reunion, it was perfect outside!

One of James' relatives playing with a critter his mom said NOT to touch!

Jacob & I at the reunion. He was the center of attention! I felt like I didn't have a baby for the first couple hours we were there because everyone wanted to hold him! Jacob was happy the whole time we were there, too. -Probably because it was outside, he loves the outdoors!

Jacob doing his Bible study & enjoying a cup of coffee in the morning before we hit the St. Louis Zoo!

Grandma Cichon playing the piano for Jacob. Maybe he'll be musical??

Jacob's first trip to the Zoo! I'm not sure how much he was able to see from the stroller, but he seemed to enjoy himself.  The weather was beautiful to walk around for the afternoon.