10 months old!

Yeah...so i'm pretty late at posting this....That's right, Jake is 10 months old!....and a week....*cough* today.  I can't believe that he's been longer outside of me than in me, but then again I can.  My pregnancy feels like a speck in the past and it's hard to remember what life was like without a kid-I feel like he's always been around even though Code and I enjoyed 2 years of marriage without kids.
So what does our lil man like to do?

Eating

 Well he eats a jar of baby food 3 times a day.  He LOVES any kind of fruit though he still eats the vegetables/meats (except turkey) and also seems to especially like sweet potatoes.  We've started giving him bits of bread and stuff to play with/eat during dinner which keeps him happy which keeps us happy.  He mostly plays.  Hasn't quite grasped the concept of finger food but he'll get there.  He still has 4 8oz bottles every day too.

Teeth:  He has 2.5 teeth now with a 4th on the way.  He has his two bottom middle teeth and one front tooth coming in with the other close behind.  Needless to say we don't let him suck/chew on us anymore.

Skills

  While Jake still isn't really crawling up on his knees and everything, he is scooting/army crawling and can get places pretty quick.  His favorite thing to chase and track down are our phones or any kind of remote...or our DVD towers....i'm telling ya our entertainment center needs to become available quick!  He doesn't really pull himself up on anything...though we don't really own a ton of things that are at his level that he could pull up on...but if we stand him up holding on to the couch he likes it and can last a few minutes before falling over.  He mostly babbles with "bah" sounds with the occasional "Guh" and f/v sounds/wet raspberries etc.  He technically has said MAMA but didn't know what he was saying so it doesn't count in my book.

Sleeping/Naps: He still takes two naps a day-one is usually longer 1.5-2 hours while the other is just an hour.  Every now and then he'll not sleep very long during his naps for a few days and then have a mega nap one day.  Jake goes to bed at 8 pm and gets up around 7:30ish am.  He used to always sleep til or past 8 am but lately he's started getting up earlier which makes me being able to get ready for the day first impossible, but it's all good.

Favorites:  He loves to go and see the animals at a local farm and laughs his head off when we feed them grass.


He is warming up to the splash pad-I think it's the cold water he doesn't like, but he loves splashing-which he continues to do in the bath every other night.  The excited mad/screamy voice that he does in this video is a good example of how loud and crazy he gets when he's excited, bored, frustrated, you name it...my ears are ringing most days.




Jake continues to be a smiley happy kid.  Everyone comments on how cute/happy he is, and he still loves to look at and smile at older girls around him.  We've started going to laptime at the local library to get him exposed to other kids and he responds more to kids now, but he still seems to prefer adults-I guess that's typical of your first child.  Jake loves being in the middle of the action though.  When he was younger he would start to withdraw when he was in a loud noisy group/overwhelmed etc.  but now he loves it.  He loves going to primary with us and seeing all the kids/listening to all the songs, and within 2 minutes of holding him in sacrament the family behind us starts laughing and interacting with him.

This was the half-hearted photo shoot I attempted earlier today...as you can see it fell apart quite quickly to where I had to resort to a tickle fight to get some smiles...

"no! don't tickle me!"

THERE'S the keeper...

We love our big boy and can't believe that before you know it he's going to be a year old

WE LOVE YOU JAKE!

it's a small world at the watering hole

For some reason yesterday was a hard day for me and jake.  Half way through he got bored/frustrated and his vocal chords let me know it.  When I laid down to sleep last night my mind was racing between jake's screeches and 3 intense episodes of the amazing race.
But today my day started out on a better note...literally haha when I found the following on my mirror. That's enough to start anyone's day on the right foot if you ask me.  

Also, Jake didn't start calling for me til 8 so I had time to work out/get ready for the day (it's amazing what a difference that makes).

 Then I decided that Jake and I need to have one activity a day that takes us out of the house whether it's playing on a blanket in the front yard or actually driving/walking somewhere-we just need to get out.  I may be a home body but Jake is not.  Once we're out and about and around other people he really doesn't fuss/be crabby-is just interested in what's going on around him and it's infinitely easier to watch him.  Weird (to me) but true.

So Jake and I went to the splash park again today.  He was more into it today but for a shorter time span.

As we were walking up to the splash pad I met some ladies from our ward-one of them even being my visiting teaching companion (small world) so that was fun.  Then I was trying to pick out a spot and after setting down my blanket I look up and who is five feet away?  Our cousins Trystan and Jeter again haha.  They were just leaving but it was cool to see them again.  Then Celia came with Eliza and we hung out for awhile.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised when I run into people I know in a small town on a hot day at the only splash pad :)

YNAB

So  i was thinking lately of how much I love our lil app for keeping a budget, and thought maybe someone out there would benefit from it.  So here's the shpeel:

 So, when we sort of luke-warmedly tried to start a budget we tried many things.  We tried simple excel spread sheets (way too much hassle/work in keeping it up to date-we'd always forget to open up the computer once we got home and put our amounts in etc.), we tried mint.com but for some reason we weren't in love with it....maybe cause in order for it to download your bank info etc the bank was wanting to charge us a certain amount every month?, etc.  Also a lot of different budget systems didn't really carry over from month to month for example: So at the end of the month we'd look at our totals in our different areas and go whoops- we went over in date night....darn, oh well, better luck next month.  If we were doing that regularly from month to month it wasn't really helping us to save-no consequences for going over etc.You get the idea.

So we finally found something that seems to be working for us.  It's called: YNAB (short for- you need a budget-and it's in the apple app store).  Here's what I love about this app. There's a ONE TIME fee which if you use the following link will get you some money off- the phone app is free but for your computer it's 60$.  I know, it seems like a lot for something like this, but trust me, I think we will use this for the rest of our lives so it's money well spent.  and again, it's a one time fee.

discount

Now, why I like this app.
1. It's easy to use.  you sit down and create all the different categories you want: groceries, kids' needs, household needs, gas, electricity bill, netflix, rent,car payments etc etc and allot what money you need for each for the month.  Then once you have all the "have-to's" figured out, you have a better idea of what you have to spend/save every month.  Then it gets fun.  You can make a restaurant section, date night, entertainment, whatever...a general slush amount that you each get every month so you don't have to ask each other-hey, I found this that or the other and I want to get it.  etc.  The main ideology behind this method is that you can do fun stuff you just plan for it.  I think for a long time I associated budgets with having no fun just saving everything. Which you could, but you can do fun stuff-you just need to plan in advance for it.  It's the impulse spending that kills you in the end.  For example- code and I are slowly putting money away for a trip for our 5 year anniversary-just a lil each month but by the time we get there we'll have a lot and hopefully will be able to do a really cool trip.  See?  Planning.  We're already saving each month for Xmas.

The self-proclaimed goal of this app is to help you to be living on LAST MONTH's paycheck-have a lil cushion/not be living paycheck to paycheck.

2.  The amounts carry over from month to month!!! So if I go 10 dollars over in groceries this month I will get my new month's allowance the next month minus 10 dollars-helps me make up for it/has consequences which I like otherwise it's pointless and just reinforces bad habits.

3.  The app is really handy.  It's on my smart phone and the second I've paid for my groceries I can enter the amount in the proper category-you can write where you bought them/ what you bought-if you really want etc.  Now that I'm used to it I'm always reaching for my phone to log in the amount of whatever I bought-makes it much easier to see your spending habits and be more conscious of them.  Plus it sinks up with the program on your computer and code's phone so we each see what the other is doing/buying.

Towards the end of every month we sit down and look and see how we did (of course we already know cause we've been tracking all along but still, good to comunicate right?) and we talk about our needs for the next month: Jake needs new clothes etc so we can reallocate money where we need and maybe do less in another category etc.

I dunno, I just really like it and I HATE budgets usually.  so...there ya go.  Hope it gives you some good ideas.

splash park

Springville just recently put in a cool lil splash park where their old library used to be.  School isn't even out yet and it's already packed.  Trystan and Jeter came up to check it out with us.  I'm not positive but I think Jake liked it?  He kinda went back and forth between being into it and not liking it.  He didn't seem to like when I sat him in the deeper water parts-maybe too cold?  But if he could sit by a spigot and play with it on his terms he seemed to like it more.



It wasn't as hot today as it has been so I think that added to the cold factor.  It was fun tho, just to get out and have some adult chat time-thanks trystan!  Ya'll are always welcome to hang out up here :)



On the way out we ran into the Vaughn and Robbins clans enjoying the fun in the sun too.  I can't wait to hang out with those cool girls more and their cool families-a perk of living near where you went to school-old friends/roommates are usually around.



Here's Jake slowly getting into it...

 It's so fun to see these guys hanging out :)

not so subtle...I think he doesn't like it, but it's just a guess...

27 is heaven

This past weekend was ridiculously cool!  It all started Friday.  Code had mentioned that there was a special present coming that he had to be home to sign for.  So clearly this wasn't coming from amazon or something....then he said once it got here it would be impossible to hide it/keep it a surprise- translation?  it's BIG.  BIG=EXCITING!  So friday Code stayed home from work for the first half of the day.  Translation? it must be coming today!  So when they arrived (unmarked white big truck) I hurried into our bedroom to hide.  It was so funny/crazy to hear all the thumping and grunting as two guys hauled whatever it was upstairs.  Then code said It was safe to come downstairs once it was in the guest room.  They had to assemble whatever it was so I took Jake on a walk.  We were swinging in the swings when code called and said I could come home and see what it was.

 I'm sure Jake was annoyed that I so unceremoniously cut our swing time short, but dang it I was excited!  So I power walked home (code seemed surprised at how fast we got there haha).  I ran upstairs to find this beautiful thing:

Apparently Costco had had a sweet sale that included delivery and assembly.  I have always said that it was a dream of mine to own a treadmill.  I've had bouts of consistency with running in my life, but ever since jake has come on to the scene it's been extra easy to come up with excuses etc.  Now that it's a room away there is NO excuse why I can't start my day off right, and even if I sleep in or jake wakes up early I can still run during his naps/ or while he's awake with the help of his pack-n-play.  I also like that it has an incline option too which is cool.

Saturday was a beautiful day and we started out the day with some yummy birthday breakfast burritos:

next we checked out the holy cow boutique in pleasant grove.  It was pretty cool and we found a cool display of the 13 articles of faith- though the 4th one is missing a word ;/

Then it was back home for jake to have his nap and for us to chill.  Once Jake was up and fed we headed out again.  This time we went to Park City where we went to the outlets.  Lately I've realized that I haven't gone shopping to update my wardrobe since we got married PLUS since Jake, let's just say my old clothes don't fit like I want them to (thus the desire for the treadmill).  We pulled up to the outlets-my excitement growing, and Code said we were going to play deal or no deal. 

 (for those of you who don't know this show/game: there are briefcases with different ammounts of money all the way from 1$ to a million.  you pick one and then slowly start to open all the others and the more low numbers you reveal-the better chances of you having picked a higher number.  There's a banker who offers to buy your briefcase as you go based on those odds-the more lower numbers you reveal-the higher the offer/ the more higher amounts revealed the lower the offer etc.  Thus you have to decide deal or no deal and keep going.  Finally you are left with your briefcase and one other and the banker's offer.)

Code had a bunch of different envelopes with amounts of money written in them and I had to pick one.  He had actually coded an app to be the banker/give me offers as I opened all the envelopes.  We had played this game at the nicklecade and I had won us 100+ tickets playing it, but in real life I apparently suck at this game haha.  I picked one with 8$ in it.  But luckily code was nice and gave all the $ to me in the end to go shopping/update my wardrobe!!!!  I couldn't remember the last time I had shopped like that but it was fun and exhausting (I remembered why I wasn't a big shopper haha).  Code was great though, he kept jake happy and carried all my bags etc.  

After my shopping spree we headed back to SLC and dropped jake off at uncle eric's and aunt sarah's so we could go to dinner.  We tried this really cool Middle Eastern/ Lebanese place near sugar house.  I really liked the neighborhood-lots of small shops, pretty trees-there was a cool book shop next door that I want to check out sometime, but anywho...

called mazza

I know-you got fries at a middle eastern place? lame! but this dipping sauce was AMAZING- tangy, garlicky, spicy sauce (i'm craving it right now)

I couldn't tell you what we got but I got a breaded pocket of chicken and herbs/onions etc grilled together with a tangy garlicky sauce (yeah my breathe smelt great after this meal)

and code got lamb something or other....both of which were really good.  We're def going back some day!

After dinner we went to a nearby lake/park in sugar house that was really pretty.  Lots of ducks/geese and kids running around.  There is this one serious hill on the park too that must be AWESOME for sledding in the winter!  We laid out the blanket and opened presents (I know! like there should be any more at this point).

I got a pair of toms that says toms <3 moms over and over, some byu bball shorts for working out, and two books: life of pi and a book about the psychology/science behind sherlock holmes.  

We headed back to Eric and Sarah's to find Jake having a little separation anxiety, but he perked up once we came back to some birthday cake-thanks sarah!  It was a GREAT day.

and just today I got more presents from my parents and code's:

money(which will go to another pair of toms-it's a sickness), personalized mugs, and itunes card

jake liked the cards especially

Mother's Day (my actual birthday) was great too- I woke up to swedish pancakes and choc covered strawberries.  Jake slept in which is the best gift he could ever give me.

Code gave me my final gift- all of the pictures/videos we had taken since our first anniversary-the last time I made home videos (edited and put to music on dvd).  It is so sweet and fun to see how little jake used to be!  Church was as normal tho we got dove chocolate and some pansies to plant, and I got reese's from the bishop cause the primary gives out lil cards to get a treat from the bishop-being in primary has its perks.  We headed up to Draper to Mindee's house for a lil adams' family dinner for mothers' day.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we all chilled in the backyard.  Lindsee's Lilly was also there and she and jake hung out.

it was cute, for a lil while some of the older boys were playing with jake trying to build his block tower before he'd knock it over.

It was quite the weekend and I still feel all warm and fuzzy thinking about it.  THanks to everyone for making it such a nice weekend-I was def pampered!  Now it's back to the daily grind I guess but we're loving our summer weather!

my baby boy on mothers' day.

always on the move

Jake is happy when moving. He finally started scooting so I'm sure crawling is just around the corner.





And of course, as always, we enjoy bath time


Jake loves having things over his head and then finding his way out again.


Now that the weather is nicer we take advantage of the local swings.


We love our energetic boy who keeps us on our toes!

life is good

Beautiful weather, library, and family make life great these days.  Last week we went hiking up in hobble creek canyon.  Wow, what a beautiful area!  

Jake ALWAYS falls asleep by the end of the hike...it must be extremely relaxing to be carried around.

We went on a fun picnic in a nearby park/field area and jake loved it :)

hanging out at panda with daddy:

We've been frequenting the library of late.  It's been FOREVER since going to the library was a fun activity by choice and not cause I had to cram for a test etc.  We love the Springville Library-it's brand new so it's way nice and they have baby laptime every monday which jake loves and it's fun to be around other moms/kids.  Lately they had some baby ducks on display borrowed from a local ranch.

I know these pics make it look like there aren't many there but there really are.  

On top of fun lap times I've started chipping away at my "to-read" list that has been growing for a long time.  I just finished remarkable creatures by tracy chevalier.  It was pretty good/interesting- I liked it cause I used to want to be a paleontologist when I was a kid.  

Now I'm off to find the next one....feel free to leave suggestions!