My Smiley Pants

Dear Jacob

The weekend went by too quickly! We all slept in this morning, and when you woke up I picked you up and brought you into our room and laid you on our bed. I love how cheerful you are in the morning. As soon as we come to get you out of bed we are greeted by Mr. Smiley Pants. We sat in bed and played with you for a while, and then mommy and daddy got to work. I cleaned up the bathrooms and worked on the inside of the house, while your daddy mowed the lawn and worked outside. You kept me company inside the house, and I’m lucky that you are such a happy, easy-going baby. That way I can still keep the house clean and get stuff done when I’m not playing with you. Later you came with me to the store to get more formula, and then we worked on making salsa. Soon it was already after 4pm. So we decided to go out to eat and go shopping. We went to Chili’s, and you were good the whole time. I fed you a bottle while we waited for our food, so it worked out perfectly. We had a good time, and after we went shopping we went home and watched a movie.

Sunday was the first time that we have had choir practice since you were born. Your daddy took care of you while I led the choir. We must sound pretty good because you fell asleep listening to us. After church we spent the rest of Sunday together. I love the weekends because I get to be with you all of the time. It always makes me sad to go back to work on Monday.

This week we have caught you sucking on your thumb. You still shove your whole fist in your mouth, but sometimes you manage to find just your thumb. I think you just like having something to suck on, and when you loose the binky then you decide that your hands are the next best thing.

You can now hold your head up really well. I remember that when you were first born you couldn’t do that at all. You are getting good at holding your head up when we put you on your tummy. You don’t really like “tummy time” very much but I’m sure that will change as soon as you figure out how to crawl and roll over.

Another thing that you are getting better at is baths. The first month whenever we tried to give you a bath you would scream so loud! You did not like to be naked, or all wet. Now you have figured out that bath time is kind of fun. You don’t splash around in the water yet, but I can get you to smile at me and be happy in your little baby tub that we put in the sink.

This weekend we will be going on our first family trip. We are going to visit Grandpa and Grandma Heiner in Star Valley Wyoming. We have never stayed overnight anywhere except for home since you were born, so this should be an adventure. Grandpa Heiner can’t wait to see you again, and I’m sure we will have a good time.

Jacob Grows

Dear Jacob,

You are starting to outgrow some of your little clothes. When you were born you only weighed 5lbs 14 ounces, so most of the clothes were way too big. You were so tiny, but my how you’ve grown! You will be 15 weeks old tomorrow, and you weigh about 12 pounds now. So you are almost 4 months old, and now some of the 3-6month clothes are starting to fit you. I can’t believe how fast you are growing and the amazing things you are learning.

This week you are also starting to try to laugh. You haven’t quite gotten the hang of it, but you make the cutest noises. I can’t wait to hear your first real laugh. Daddy and I have taken some fun videos of you this week. Joe took some video of you playing with your mobile while I was at work, and we took a couple at night when we were both home. We were trying to make you laugh, and you were being so cute… until we turned the camera on you! But we managed to get you to do it a little more for the camera. Then we also caught you crying on camera, which is also really cute. Daddy has imported the video into his computer, and we’ll have to put them on a DVD sometime. I wish that I had more pictures and video of me when I was little. You definitely won’t have that problem because we have tons of pictures and videos of our precious little boy.

I am also amazed at how good you are getting at manipulating things with your hands. The funny thing is that you keep trying to put all your toys in your mouth. I guess it is just your way of exploring things right now.

Jacob Journal

Dear Jacob

Your daddy and I agree that you are the cutest baby on the planet. Maybe we are slightly biased, but we are frequently told by people we meet that you are adorable. We are also very lucky because you are also a happy baby. You love to smile at mommy and daddy, and talk to us. Your favorite thing to say lately is ah-goo. It is so fun to talk to you and have you talk back. During the past couple of days you have learned how to buzz your lips, so sometimes instead of ah-goo, it has become ah-bbbbb. You also have started to blow little bubbles with your spit on occasion. It is so cute.

We are lucky parents because you don’t cry very much. The only times you get upset is when you are hungry, tired, or wet/poopy. The rest of the time you are content to sit in your bouncy seat and play with your toys. Sometimes you complain that no one is paying attention to you, but then you are all smiles when we come to talk and play with you. The other great thing about you is that you sleep most of the night. On good nights we put you to bed at 9:30pm or 10pm, and you don’t wake up until 6am or 6:30am. That’s pretty impressive since you are only three and a half months old!

We frequently catch you putting your hands in your mouth, and we keep taking them out and giving you your binky because we don’t want you to end up sucking your thumb. We figure we can take the binky away, but you’ll have your fingers with you forever. I guess your fingers must be pretty tasty.

Your daddy and I have lots of cute nicknames for you. One of our favorite things to call you is Mr. Pants. You are Mr. Happy Pants, Mr. Soggy Pants, Mr. Smiley Pants, Mr. Poopy Pants, Mr. Silly Pants, etc. We also call you Bubby or the Bubby. I think that one may have come from the fact that your Grandpa Devereaux calls your Dad “Bub” sometimes.

This weekend you “helped” daddy when he was working. You helped him wash the gold car and work on fixing the white car. What a good boy!

Your daddy and I love you so much! We are happy that you have come to be part of our family.

Right now “the daddy” (Joe) stays home with you most of the day while “the mommy” (Deborah) goes to work. I work at the UVSC Library, and I go to work early in the morning so I can spend the afternoon with you. Around 3:30pm Joe brings you to UVSC so he can go to work. He works part-time for the computer science department and is looking for something full-time. When Joe brings you to work we trade cars and I take you home, and we spend a couple of hours alone together until he comes home. Hopefully daddy will find a full-time job soon so we can spend more time together as a family, and I can stay home with you all day.