Jacob lately

I think the fact that Hailey will be arriving soon is making me more sentimental about Jacob and more dedicated to get some blog posts done before I get a little busier... Jacob is 2.  I know this is supposed to be the "Terrible 2's" but so far I love 2!  Now trust me, I know I'm not even halfway through age 2 and that lots of trying times are coming but for now I'm enjoying it.  He has developed such a personality that is so fun.  Jacob is one goofy, playful, happy, smiley kid.  He loves to dance, sing, jump, run, swim, play with cars, read his books, and make Mom and Dad laugh.  

 Just recently he has started making some goofy faces and they just crack us up.   He makes a face at me when I'm getting on to him that makes it so hard not to laugh.  I know he is imitating what I look like to him.  Of course I haven't gotten a picture of that one since he's usually in trouble when it happens.  But this face in particular is new, plus then he laughs at himself:

Jacob's vocabulary has greatly increased and he expresses his wants and needs more clearly.  He tells me when he's hungry, wants a snack, or needs more drink.  He will tell us what book he wants to read and which songs he wants to sing which both of these seem to be the same ones over and over for a week or so. Recently he looked at me and Micah and said "come on, lets go" which made me laugh out loud.  When he wants you to stop doing something like tickling or stealing kisses he says "alright, alright"  which is super cute.  He says so much more but that might take a whole other post. 

He still loves to read his books.  I was worried this habit would stop with the change of his room since he no longer has a rocker but this is what I found the other day:

Jacob and I still attend My Gym classes.  He likes to do the activities and is better about behaving and waiting his turn but his favorite thing is still just to run free. 

Of course Jacob loves anything to do with water. Our compound recently rented a big water slide that slid down into the pool.  Jacob loved going down the slide but Micah had to carry him up for him to do it so Micah got a nice workout in.   

We also went to the Intercon Hotel for a fun beach/pool day with our friends Dawn, Ali and Tilly.  The ocean water has finally cooled off enough to be enjoyable.  I never make Jacob wear his swim vest in the ocean since salt water is more buoyant but he always wears it in the pool.  However, during our transition from beach to pool Jacob decided to run and jump in the pool with only arm floaties.  I really thought it wouldn't go well but I was completely wrong.  Turns out this boy no longer needs his swim jacket!  He swam the whole rest of the day with only arm floats!  We also decided to introduce them to the swim up bar with a nice Strawberry smoothie.  I had a hard time getting Jacob to share with me.  We had a fun day with our friends playing and swimming.  

Jacob also has some new games at home that he loves.  He has learned how fun our couch can be.  It is difficult for me to decide what he should/shouldn't do.  It has so much fun it's hard to make him stop.  His new thing is crawling on the back of the couch like Gizmo used to do. 

 One time I did catch him sitting on the desk which we had to have a talk about that being a definite "no no". 

We still have a nightly game of chase around the house with Daddy and enjoy riding the plasma car around the kitchen.  He has become even more obsessed with his cars and particularly "kachow" aka Lighting McQueen from "Cars".  Jacob wants to watch "Cars" daily.  When he does get to watch he doesn't typically sit and just watch but he plays with his cars while it's on.  If he's not crawling on the back of the couch, the back of the couch is the car racetrack.  

Another cute almost nightly activity that melts this Mom's heart is taking out the trash.  Almost every night I ask Micah to take the trash out and he has started getting Jacob to help.  I have to separate some trash into a smaller bag so that he has something to take out too.  So cute!

It is so much fun being this boys Mom. I can't wait to watch him be a big brother!

Jacob's Big Boy Bed

Once we found out we were having a baby, we decided it would be easier to keep the nursery room the same and move Jacob to the other room that already had a twin sized bed.  I have to admit that I was dreading the transition of Jacob from the crib to a big boy bed.  To make it more exciting I bought some cute bedding, Star Wars sheets, and fun car rug and pictures to hang on the walls that I knew he would love!  After our summer trip to the USA and getting over jet-lag, we decided it was time to make the move. 

For the most part, the only thing I was really worried about was him staying in his bed at night.  Micah and I got his room all ready, read him a book about big boy beds, and then held our breathe the first night.  Everything went exceptionally easy!  He loved his room, enjoyed laying in bed to read and seemed excited about the new bed.  He fell asleep within 15 minutes and slept all night.  I couldn't believe how easy Jacob made it on us. 

 

To this day he still loves his room.  He has never once asked to get back in the crib or acted like he misses his old room.  Not once has he climbed out of his bed.  He always waits for one of us to come get him even in the mornings and after nap.  It's amazing.  We did have a couple nights of him falling off the end of the bed but I put some pillows under his fitted sheet and that has solved that problem.  He is one happy boy in his new bed. 

37 Weeks- 2 Weeks-Hailey's Room

Today I am 37 weeks!  This means that Hailey girl is possibly coming any time now.  That is both an exciting thought and scary.  Of course Micah and I are praying for at least 2 more weeks because that's when our Mom's will be here.  Only 2 more weeks until we have both Nana and Grandma here to help with Jacob and baby!  I'm really excited to have them both here.  They were both in Saudi with us when Jacob was born and it was wonderful.

Here in the Middle East we get ultra-sounds at every single appointment which is amazing.  However, for the last 2 months Hailey has been hiding her face.  Finally today we were able to somewhat get a face picture.

I definitely hit the "nesting" mode and suddenly felt the urge to have everything done.  I've washed all the clothes, blankets, and bedding and mostly finished setting up Hailey's room.  I love how it turned out.  I plan to take out the chevron paper in the frames and replace it with Hailey's newborn pictures once we have them.

 Here I have the pack-n-play ready to go plus the car seat is all washed and ready.

Houston- Final Days

Upon arrival in Houston, we only had 4 days to really enjoy our time in the USA.  Of course some of that time was spent doing last minute shopping and lots of packing but we did fit in time to go to the splash park.  

Our last full day we decided to go to the Houston Zoo.  Jacob still isn't really that interested in the animals at the zoo but we still have fun.  We were occasionally able to get him to look at an animal. He does love feeding the giraffes and the petting zoo part.  Of course he loved the playground and the little splash park area.  It was a stinking hot day but we still had fun.

 I feel like I never take enough pictures when we are at my parents so I tried to take some more but still didn't really succeed.  Sorry Nana and Papa!  However I did get some cute pictures of this game Nana and Jacob were playing on the bed. 

 Friday evening we got on the airplane and headed back to Doha.  It was sad to leave the USA, family, and friends but I was ready to get back to a "normal" life.  Plus it was time to get ready for the arrival of our baby girl!