Jacob is 6 months!

Well, our little baby is now 6 months old. I love getting to this milestone. You are half way through that hard first year. The second half of the year is such a great time for babies too. I love when they are little because they are snuggly, but it is so much fun when they are able to show more of their personality. It is like they are coming more and more alive as they learn to do things and communicate with you.

Jake is still a very pleasant baby most of the time. He loves to smile and laugh. He also loves to be held. It has been difficult to get things done because he likes me to be right there. For a short time he was rolling all over the place on the floor. Now he much prefers to sit, which he does quite well, or stand in his exersaucer (that thing has been a life saver. this family wouldn't eat withouth that thing. thanks to the Moose family!) Being the little brother, he gets dressed up a lot. Here he is above in some bunny ears. Cute, eh?
Here he is trying his first baby cereal. He didn't like it much. I just started that about a week ago. Hopefully he will like other baby food better. He still is nursing quite frequently, every 2 to 2 1/2 hours. I have tried stretching it out to three and occasionally with much patience I can, but usually it is a no go on the 3 hours thing. It is wearing me out. He also is sleeping LESS at night than he was, getting up 2 or more times a night (he got up 4 times last night!). I have started to wonder if he is not getting enough nourishment or something. He is gaining weight, though. He weighed 16 lbs. 4 oz. at his check up, which is still 3o%. He has grown in height a bunch to 26 3/4 inches, 60%, that's up 30 %. And of course with the Finch/Ebbert genes his head comes in at 93%!
I tried to take a bunch of pictures of him on his actual 6 month day. Here is one of those. They turned out OK, but not great.

I love this picture for some reason. Don't look too closely or you will see his runny nose. Everyone has been sick around here for weeks.

Lizzy is one of Jake's greatest caregivers. She is tirelesss in her desire to help him. She is such a help to me. She is the main reason I get to shower each day. She loves Jacob and is so funny and animated with him. She has really found her niche with Jacob coming to our family. It has been lovely to watch.

As you can see from the picture Jake loves to chew on his hand. He is the most slobbery baby we have ever had. He is constantly drooling and getting his clothes, and his poor little chubby neck, all wet. I have tried bibs some, but haven't liked that, so for now, I am constantly wiping his face and neck, and often changing his clothes. Oh how we love this baby! I am feeling worn out, but so thankful this happy, laughy, bouncy, rocking, drooling, razzberry spitting baby is a part of our family.

Anna's birthday--much belated

Well, Adam's birthday is coming up this Friday, and Jacob is six months today, so I figured I should catch up a bit with the blogging and fill you in on Anna's birthday, nearly a month ago, before I post about the more current things.


So, our Anna turned 7! I can hardly believe it. Just one more year until she is baptized. She is the sweetest thing ever, still. We often tell her what a great peacemaker she is, and she has really taken to that. She helps other people feel good about themselves. She knows, intuitively, how to solve a problem between two people, without ruffling too many feathers. I think she is a lot like her dad in this way. She is also very sensitive to emotions and spiritual things, having deep feelings, sometimes spilling out in tears. I think she gets this from me. She is really coming into her own this year. She is so much more confident at school and in her reading this year. She continues to make friends easily, and is friends with just about everyone. We are so proud of her. She really is a ray of light in our home.

Here she is eating her favorite meal off of our special birthday plate.





On her birthday we celebrated at home with a spaghetti dinner, cake and ice cream, and presents (she got Emily Bennett, the American Girl doll she has been asking for for months). We also watch High School Musical ( I liked it pretty well). The next day we had a little party at Jungle Bungle (it is sort of like Chuck E. Cheese, except better) with my brother, Todd, his wife Deanna, and their 2 kids Alia and Lawson. It was a lot of fun. The cousins love each other, and Jungle Bungle is always a fun treat, very loud, but fun.

Here she is with Emily.

We love you Anna!!

Breaking Barriers

I think I posted a video about my cousin Aaron a couple of years ago. He and my aunt and uncle were recently featured on ESPN. He's quite an inspiration!



I also did a google search for his name and found that Wikipedia has an article about him.