We got back today from a weekend trip down to Gahanna. We were visiting Mike, Melissa, and their 6-month old son Eli. We had a great time even though we had to watch MSU lose to Iowa (I'm still pretty sure Mike jinxed them by calling for a loss when Iowa started to come back) and then later watch OSU beat Penn State. MSU needs to win at least one of their next three games (U of M, Purdue, Penn State) in order to be bowl eligible. On the bright side, as long as they get a win (preferably against Penn State since we'll be there), maybe they'll get an invite to the Motor City Bowl and we'll get to head downtown to see it.
While we were there, we also got to eat at Hoggy's. It was one of Michele's grand parents favorite restaurants while they lived down there. It was as delicious as we remembered it.
We had a great time visiting with them, and look forward to doing it again. We're hoping to do this at least twice a year, which is not as often as we'd like, but still better than once every other year!
Time sure does fly by once the Fall Season starts on TV. Work has been crazy for Michele and I as well, so we seem to alternate late working nights with picking Jake up from day care. We've got a few busy weekends ahead that should afford some more photos, so hopefully there will be a bit more regular posting in the near future.
Jake seems to be doing great besides having a cough that he can't shake. He's walking like he's done it his whole life. He's beginning to say more words. This morning, he heard the church bells, and without prompting, looked for the steeple and said "bell". While he's definitely improving on cute stuff, he's also perfecting his temper tantrums! He's begun head butting, even though we don't think he knows quite what he's doing, other than flailing around. Day care has gotten better. He tends to cry more frequently when we pick him up to leave than when we drop him off!
To, hopefully, make up for the lack of posts (maybe this is going to be the norm until Michele's home with him all day again in the summer) here are two more videos. The first is a little bit longer than usual, but the second is short and sweet. Enjoy!
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(Please click on the photo to see more pictures.)
Jake had his 18 month checkup yesterday. He seems to be doing exceptional in everything except the growth department where he is at least making progress. He is now 31 and 1/2 inches long, and weighs 22 pounds and 7 ounces. He had to get three different shots, but as you can see from the photos taken only an hour later, they didn't seem to phase him much.
He was in such a good mood last night, he even let us get a bit more video. Enjoy.
Tonight, we headed over to DLCnM's house for Colin's 4th birthday party. GnGT were there as well, but Bill and Joni (Colin's other grandparents) are travelling out of town and were not able to make it.
It was fun to see the kids and how active they all are. Maiya is crawling around with ease. Jake, is walking and coming close to running. And Colin, well, he can obviously get anywhere and do anything. He's still pretty good with the littler kids though, which is probably very fun for them.
(Please click here for photos from August and here to see our September photographs.)
So, it looks like it's been a month since our last post. Did you miss us? If you did, and you're one of our friends that supposedly has a blog as well, maybe it will give you something to think about!
Our absence was warranted as we had some computer trouble. We had our hard drive crash on us very quickly. I should know better, considering I work with computers all day, but I did NOT have adequate backups. It had been about two months since our last backup, so I had to scramble to recover data. Luckily, I was able to get dotPhoto's download service to function properly so I was able to get all of our photos back. Other than that, we lost a few videos and documents, but nothing as bad as if we had lost all those photos. Now, we have a redundant solution in place along with an easier, and continual backup system running so we shouldn't have to deal with this again. If you do not backup your files, and you care about them at all, I would suggest investing in an external hard drive or an online backup service. Shoot me an e-mail if you would like any suggestions.
In the past month, we have done a ton of things that you'll be able to see in the photos. It would take far too long to describe them all in detail, so just take a look at the photos above and you'll be able to get a pretty good clue about the fun we've been having. The biggest change has been Jake learning to walk. He went from taking about 5 to 10 steps before collapsing one weekend to walking everywhere the following weekend. He can now walk all the way from his classroom to the front doors at day care. He can easily find his way down the aisle at Church to find Michele after we wait outside to hear the bells ring. I've even taken him on a few walks around the block where he's been on his own (he doesn't want any help most of the time) for probably a third of the distance!
Jake has also started eating MUCH better. He's still on some baby food, but mostly it's just to get him to start on the real food that we've made for him. He really likes fruits like cranberries, raisins, grapes, and, as you'll see below, cantaloupe.
(Please click on the photo to see more pictures.)
