Pregnancy #2 and family Photos!

About a month ago, Jake, Isaac, and I visited my friend, Renee, in Alameda. While there, Renee was gracious enough to take a few photos of us as a family and then of me with my baby bump. After the family photos Jake left with Isaac and I hung out with Renee and our good friend, Stephanie. I have been best friends with these girls since 1993 (Renee even longer) and it is ALWAYS fun and full of laughter whenever we get together. Here are some of my favorites from the session...

The "goddess" pose!

Lastly, I got Renee and Stephanie to do a "hands heart" with me

I love these women. This is what long lasting friendship looks like!

Thank you, Dee and Ron!!

I LOVE homemade gifts and admire those who take the time to produce them. Before Isaac was born, I had a baby shower and some of his and my favorite gifts from the shower were the ones that either my Sweet Adeline friends or my work friends had made. Then yesterday, Isaac was blessed with yet another awesome homemade gift from his first cousin, twice removed (but for simplicity sake), his Great Aunt, Dee. :)

We got the package while we were finishing lunch. The first item I pulled out were 6 cars. Isaac loves cars and as soon as he saw them he got excited, so I opened the truck and let him hold it.

Then I took out the next gift- a quilted play mat with a carrying pouch!

I, of course, loved the play mat immediately and I was a little surprised how much Isaac enjoyed it too! He went straight to it and started to push his new truck around, saying, "Vroom vroom!"

And lastly, Dee made Ike a bedtime quilt!

I still am not sure who was more excited about the gifts- me or Ike. It's pretty close... :) THANKS again to Dee and Ron! Isaac is truly a very loved little boy.

Milestones

It seems like Isaac has been hitting all sorts of milestones within this last week. Verbally, he's been recalling more words and when we say, "You did it!" he responds with, "I did it!" so cute. In this video, he is climbing in and out of the wagon all the while (of course) holding his car...

Physically, Isaac has begun climbing up on furniture. He started with the couch...

And then after dropping Jake off at the airport, I left Isaac in the kitchen while I went to the bathroom. When I got back, this is how I found him...

EEK!

Thankfully, Ike is fairly cautious, so if he climbs up on the chair and the table is not near by, he fusses and waits for me to come over to help him down.

Isaac has also begun building! Sometimes he gets upset when it falls down, but he's getting better and better! Funny how these interests seem to suddenly appear!

For quite awhile he has LOVED his airplane, but would only push or pull it, never sit and ride it. Today he finally decided to sit and push himself! (it's the little things you notice as a mom ;) )

He loves drinking from a straw and I found this cup on sale so it's a win/win!

This isn't a milestone, but a typical Isaac move- he LOVES throwing balls (or really anything) and enjoys swinging sticks. This was one of the "sticks" he found near our fence...

This smile soon left, as sticks are not allowed in the house, and really shouldn't be allowed period, but I probably will become more serious about that once he hurts himself. :/

This last video is just a quick simple one. I asked Isaac to give me a kiss and he did it! Naturally, I got out my phone to see if he would do it again so I could send it to Jake and he did! So precious. love my little boy.

Birthdays

February is a very celebratory month for Jake and me. Jake jokes that February is an expensive month because of Valentine's Day and the many birthdays. It begins with his grandmother's birthday on the 7th, then his sister, Kate, on the 9th, his Mom, Betty, on the 13th, his sister, Sarah, on the 16th and me on the 25th. Twenty years ago I got a niece to join me in February (Suzannah Hasson, on the 23rd) and this year I got a late birthday present- Eden Elizabeth Feffer born at 6:44pm on the 26th. February is a very exciting month indeed!

Eden is my 7th niece, my sister's third daughter. When Ashlie became pregnant with her first daughter, Josephine, we hoped it was a girl partly because Ashlie and Adam were sure they were going to be blessed with boys. Then little Eleia Ruth came along and again most were shocked that it was another girl. In June, Ashlie became pregnant with her third child and didn't have near the morning sickness as she did with Jo and Lou (Eleia's nickname). Overall, she felt this pregnancy was different. September came and the ultrasound delivered God's desire for it to be another GIRL! Once again we were surprised, but blessed with a healthy baby. Now Eden has arrived, the heaviest of the three- 8lbs 8oz and 21 inches long. and she is a treasure. With their three jewels, Ashlie and Adam do have their three boys- Jo, Lou and Ed. :) Happy days at the Feffer homestead. SO thankful this girl has been born, as I had been waiting on pins and needles for the call to come to San Jose for her arrival. I truly love each of my nieces and nephews with a love that only an aunt can have. It is such a blessing. Welcome, Eden. Glad you could join the awesomeness of February. :)

First Full Hair Cut

When Isaac was a few months old he acquired what I called a "Friar Ike;" hair at the base of his head that refused to fall out. In April my sister, Ashlie, shaved it off for me and so that was Isaac's true "first" hair cut. Since then I haven't cut his hair and it has gotten longer and longer. Now, I hate cutting hair. There is too much subjective thinking going into it. My sister-in-law, however, is very use to cutting hair since she cuts my brother's and all of her children's. So this last weekend while I was in SLO, Auntie Kate Hasson gave Isaac his first full hair cut that involved his entire head of hair getting clipped.

It's fair to say that he didn't particularly like it, but he tolerated the grooming quite well. Jake and I LOVE it. I am a fan of a clean cut kid. Thank you, Kate!! They are moving to Minnesota next week, so we will have to make a trip out when it's time to cut Ike's hair again!

Strike and Ike

I had to tell Isaac at least three or four times this morning to not step on the cat. It is partly Striker's fault for putting himself in harms way, but Isaac is in the process of learning to be "gentle." We use the word often with him and the animals and us and even though there is definitely progress, there are still times when hitting or stepping on them creates such a fun reaction!

On the plus side, Isaac is beginning to truly enjoy and appreciate the animals lately. He smiles, says hi to them and does interact (not always negatively). Striker has always been the best with Ike and tonight I got a few pictures of Isaac hugging and head butting my cat...

Being an animal lover, it warms my heart to see Ike interact with my kitty like I do. And many times Striker seems to enjoy it as well. :)

Valentine's Day

Today was a food day, which means more to me than it would normally because I was feeling well enough to cook! For the last two months I've been exhausted and feeling crummy pretty much all the time, so preparing food has become my enemy. :( That's probably one of the reasons I feel like pregnancy robs me of who I really am; one of the downsides to growing a human. Thankfully, it seems like it's on it's way out when I have days like today! Granted, if given the opportunity I would have laid down and rested, but it wasn't like I had to rest, which has been the case MANY times.

So lunch was more like a breakfast lunch with scrambled eggs and bell peppers and onions and chicken sausage.

Dinner was the main meal I spent the day preparing for. I was really looking forward to having a Valentine's meal with Jake. He was scheduled to arrive in Sacramento at 5:30pm. Then a mechanical on the plane he was flying happened and they had to deice in Minneapolis. :( This meant Jake was going to miss his connecting flight and consequently not arrive to SMF until 8:30pm. I was so bummed. To lighten the blow, I shared some of the left over chocolate mousse (I had made for dessert) with Isaac. He was very happy to be part of my coping.

I didn't realize it at the time, but Jake had ordered me flowers AND chocolate (what a splurge)! He clued me to check the front door and there was the gift. So sweet.

Even though I'd like to be, Jake and I aren't naturally very festive, so doing anything special on holidays is pretty exciting. The flowers were beautiful and the chocolates surprisingly good! (I'm always a little weary of chocolates not purchased from See's or another reputable chocolate shop.) Sadly, as my life would have it, when I left to get Jake from the airport, my animals worked together to get the chocolates off the counter and ate about two-thirds of the box. Thankfully, no throw up and everyone is acting normal. I'm still bummed not to have the chocolates, but better for my health, right?

So before Jake got home I prepared salmon from a grilled salmon recipe, fingerling potatoes, and green beans. As soon as we got home from the airport, I put Isaac down and Jake put the food on the grill. Even though it doesn't look super pretty, it sure tasted good! Success!

Then for dessert, we had and a small red velvet bundt cake (mmmmm) and chocolate mousse with strawberries and whipped cream. YUM!

So it might have ended up being a late night, but it was wonderful to end it with my forever Valentine. :)