This is my bike, yo

Ever since we got Jake the weeride, he has been obsessed with bikes. Joseph and I found a little tricycle for him the other day for $5 at a garage sale, and Jake was beyond thrilled!! It's pretty much all he talks about now. I have found that he's actually quite brilliant at picking out random bikes out of the middle of nowhere and exclaiming, "My bike! My bike!" We'll be driving in the car, or taking a walk, and all of the sudden we'll hear his excited voice yell, "This is a bike!" On one particular occassion, we were driving when he made this statement, and Joseph and I turned and looked all around to see if we could find the source of his excitement, but there was no bike to be found. Then we saw it: in the bed of a truck that we were passing on the freeway. All you could see was the handlebars. This one is definitely aware.

The newest lingo he's come up with is to add "yo" at the end of everything he says. In the morning, he runs to the back door where we keep his bike and says, "This is my bike, yo!" I'm not exactly sure where he came up with it, but we think it's hilarious.

Here are a few pictures of Jake on his tricyle. Sorry, they're a little fuzzy, but I didn't realize that until we were already inside. Come to find out, the source of this fuzziness was fingerprints on the camera lens...I wonder how that could have happened...

Just because

Isn't my husband so sweet?! He came home with these the other day just as a total surprise. Just because. My favorite, pink roses. *Sigh...*

Outing at the zoo

Today, my friend Jessica and I made a last-minute trip to the Niabi Zoo! I had heard that on Fridays during September they have free admission, so we loaded up the kids and headed off to the zoo!! It is a small zoo about an hour away that is just perfect for kids. It has all the big animals (lions, tigers, monkeys, giraffes, zebras, etc.) and it was all in close proximity so there's not tons of walking. I think that Jake had a love/hate relationship with the animals there. He loved them when they were fenced off and we couldn't get too close, but he didn't like the ones that you could go right up to, such as the goats in the petting zoo.

Here we are the with elephants:

Here is Jake with the goats. This is him before he started screaming when a goat got too close. You can already tell he's pretty worried...

Although he hated the goats, he LOVED the giraffes! He kept saying, "Whoa! Whoa!" with his mouth wide open like he was in disbelief. We tried to get a picture in front of the giraffes with all the boys, but he was so enthralled with the animals that he couldn't sit still in his stroller. He hopped right out and stared at the giraffes saying, "Whoa..."

Needless to say, he was very tired this afternoon and had a GREAT nap! Thank goodness!!

I'm outta here!!

Well, not for a few weeks anyway, but it's official! I got my plane ticket today and I'm off to Utah!! One of my best friends from college is getting married and I cannot WAIT to see her and take a momcation. That's right! Not only am I going to get to go out to Utah, but I get to do it BY MYSELF!! Sorry, for those of you who are out there who still have yet to meet Jake, but I'm just gonna let you know right now that there is no way that I would be bringing a toddler with me. Since Joseph is going to be in school, Jake and I are going to take a train up to Michigan, where I am going to drop off Jake and fly from there to SLC. Of course, I'll be spending some time in Midland before and after the Utah trip, so I've got all kinds of fun things to look forward to!

Oh my gosh, I'm getting so excited right now I think I might just pull a Jake and start running around in circles, maybe even run into the wall. I'm going to get to see these girls:

And these girls:

And hopefully all my ladies who are out in Utah. It's been so long and I miss you all so much!!

So, the plan is to be there for Elena's wedding, but I also plan on seeing all my friends and family who are out in Utah that I haven't seen in a while. I can't wait!!

Mark your calendars ladies, Oct. 14-20. It's gonna be a party!

A success? Maybe...

Another week in nursery, another epic tale (alright, maybe not epic, but it makes it sound so much better). We took a few more precautions this week: we talked to Jake about nursery and how exciting and fun it was going to be, and when we took Jake to nursery we made sure to walk in with all of his friends, and we had our pacifier on hand in case the screaming ensued. He was very excited to be walking toward the door of the nursery, and Joseph and I thought that it might be a good sign. However, as soon as we opened the door and he saw what was on the other side, he stopped, turned around as fast as he could, and tried to make a run for it while big crocodile tears all of the sudden started welling up and streaming down his cheeks. *sigh*

When we left this time, apparently he only cried for about 10 minutes. Certainly not the 45 minutes it was last week, but still about nine more than we were hoping for. But we'll take it! He had a good time, and when the nursery leaders came and got us about an hour later because of his stinky diaper, he was all smiles. That is...until we took him back in. The screaming and tears started right back up again.

This time, Joseph sat with him while he settled down and the kids ate their snacks, then snuck out. The nursery leaders told me later that he saw Joseph leaving and thought about bursting into tears again, but decided against it and continued to eat his snack instead. HOORAY!! Maybe this means that each time we leave it's getting easier and easier... Or maybe we've learned that it is not, in fact, his parents that calm him down, but food. Hey, whatever works!!

Nursery or bust!

Sunday was Jake's first day in the nursery at our church. Joseph and I have been counting down to this day for the past 6 months. As this has obviously been much anticipated, we naively assumed that things would go absolutely perfect. In my head I envisioned dropping him off, giving him a good-bye hug, and slipping out quietly as he enthusiastically did puzzles with his friends. Well...needless to say it didn't go exactly that way. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

When we dropped Jake off in the nursery, he did see the puzzles and made a beeline for them. He did sit quietly in his chair as he got started on one. I thought to myself, "wow, this is almost too easy!" And then I tried to sneak out. Suddenly, Jake frantically climbed out of his chair and came running for my legs. I took him back to the puzzles, but he was on to me this time. Not even seeing his friend Spencer coming in could fool him for long. When I left the nursery, I left my sobbing child in the hands of the nursery leaders. I felt terrible.

Here's the thing: when I was a preschool teacher I used to always see parents lingering while their child tried to adjust to being left at the school. I would say to myself, "come on, get a backbone, mom, little Frankie here will be just fine as soon as you leave!" Turns out it's much harder to leave when it's your own child that is having the issue.

Joseph and I went to Sunday school and after about ten minutes we decided to go stand outside the door to see if we could still hear Jake crying. Yep. Joseph handed Jake's pacifier to the nursery leaders to give to Jake...more for their sanity than anything else. They later said that it was the only thing that kept him quiet... ugh...we really don't like to use that thing unless it's an emergency...

Fortunately, the nursery leaders said that once all the toys were out and the kids were given snacks, Jake was fine - even without his pacifier. Unfortunately, it took about 45 minutes or so to get to that point. I really don't want Jake to be super clingy and needy, and I POSITIVELY don't want to be outside in the hallway with him ANY MORE!! Any suggestions on how to get past this??

P.S. - We took this picture of Jake right before church started. We got him dressed all handsome for his first day in nursery! Seriously, this kid melts my heart...

That's 100, folks!

Well, my fellow blogging friends, it may be hard to believe, but this is my 100th post here on blogger. It's quite exciting, actually, to think that I've made 100 entries since I started the blog a little less than a year ago. To be honest, I only got into it because a lot of my friends had them and I thought I might as well join the bandwagon and start one too, but I have found that I absolutely love it! Since I am not what you would call a prolific journal keeper, it has been a wonderful way for me to keep a record of events in our lives. Although I may not be incredibly entertaining as a writer, it has proven useful in keeping friends and family informed on our (often boring) lives!

It's also fun for me when people say things like, "Oh, I read in your blog you did such and such and blah blah blah". Actually, more often than not it totally surprises me because I think, "Really? I mean people REALLY read it?" I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, because let's be honest, I totally stalk other people's blogs all day long too!

And so, on this, the celebration of a blogging milestone, you might think that I would have something terribly exciting to write about and commemorate, but you would be wrong. The only thing that I have to say is that lately I have been finding Jake in this position in the bathroom:

Unfortunately for me, he is standing on top of the toilet instead of standing over the toilet (you catching my drift? No, I haven't started potty training yet...that will be the day). This new activity includes him putting the toilet seat down, climbing on top of it, leaning over, and turning on the faucet so that he can play in the water. Fortunately for us, our landlord pays our water bill. So I say, have at it Jake!

Isn't blogging great?!