April is...

the Birthday month!!! This month is crazy filled with birthdays in our family! Well since that is the case, Jacob decided he wanted to do a nice thing for everyone and get them a birthday gift.  Technically it is past every one's birthday, but hey he isn't even two months yet, so he can be a little late.  Well here are birthday wishes from Jacob!!

Uncle Matty's birthday came first on April11th.  Since my daddy didn't even call you on your birthday, consider this from both of us!!

Auntie Tori's birthday came next, April 21st.  I looked, so shocked in this photo because I had no idea it was Auntie's birthday when I saw her on Saturday! It's not my fault, mom just told me now.

Uncle Jon's birthday came right after that!! April 23rd! I am trying to give Uncle Jon a big hug through this photo because I don't get to see him very often, he seems to spend a lot of time at his gnome house in the stack.

Grandpa Shadd has the same birthday as Uncle Jon, April 23rd.  I wanted to show you how big I am getting in this picture, I can hold a piece of paper all by myself!!

Bagheera wanted to be apart of the birthday celebrating, so he left his own mark on all your signs ;0)

Happy Birthday Tori!!!

This past Saturday was Tori's big 28th birthday. Just like last year it was wine oriented...of course!! During the day we went wine tasting in Livermore. We only hit up two wineries because we all got a late start to the day.  That morning Sam and Tori did a mud run, which they looked super cute in their muddy tutus! I went and got my hair done for the first time in almost 3 months (let's just say it was a much needed appointment).  Anyways after wine tasting we went to Campo di Bocce in Livermore. That place is so much fun!! Of course all us girls got dressed up and looked fabulous!!

Okay so you may be thinking to yourself..."That above picture is missing Kimmy." or "Who had Jacob the whole day?" or "How in the world are you wearing a strapless bra Ashley?" Or you may not be wondering any of those questions and you would have been fine just to look at pictures here on out.  Well if you were hoping for the latter you can just skip ahead and view photos. For the curious folks out there...Kimmy stayed home until bocce started, considering she couldn't drink at the wineries. Mike had his first long day with Jacob!! 8 whole hours!! He did a wonderful job and managed to give him a bath and get him to take a four hour nap!! He's a great daddy!! And for the last question...my hair is covering the straps...lol.  Nice trick I know.

It was a great day to finally spend with the whole group!! Oh how I have missed my ladies!! But I must say I did miss the little man the whole time I was gone.

And They Meet Again...

On Easter Gabby and Jason were able to stop by for a bit, so Jacob and Melodie could be reunited. The first time they met Jacob was about a week old and punched Melodie in the face, Melodie was not very interested in Jacob at that time and I think that's why he felt the need to try and get her attention.  However, this time it was much different! Amazing what a month can do to young kids.  Melodie was much more interested in Jacob, where as Jacob could have cared less. 

This was the start of their meeting...

Melodie in her cute little Easter hat! She just wanted to pet Jacobs face...

Then we got them on the ground where they could be a little more independent.  Notice the size similarity here... they are five months apart!! LOL Melodie here is thinking, I think I remember this kid punching me in the face!

Yup she does remember!!! Let me at him!! LOL

Then she got quite upset when Gabby told her she couldn't attack baby Jacob.  In a few months we may have to have a rematch!

The happy mama's and not so happy babies!

And of course the proud daddy's!!!

And since I am such a good photographer here are a couple of treats!

I love this picture of Melodie!!! She is such a cutie!!!

The Annual Egg Roll Contest

So every year we do an egg roll contest, and this year was no different.  Baby Jacob did not participate due to the fact he was passed out on my dad's chest for two hours (my dad did not participate either...lol). This year was another tightly matched competition...okay not really.  Kimmy won again by a lot!!! I swear that girl has a calling to be the best egg roll competitor in the world, if she really works at it.  I was again the biggest loser, without winning one match up.  If you can read the trophy above, it only has Mike and Kimmy's names on it (Yup the rest of the family is that lame!)

Let's take a look at some epic battles...

Dayton versus the champ.  There was not much competition here, as you can see Dayton didn't even bother sitting all the way down on the floor.  He knew what was about happen.

Again the champ versus J-Flow.  Notice J-flow has the same strategy as Dayton above.  I guess it was a good thing Kimmy could sit for a while on the floor because moving up and down is not the easiest for a 7 month pregnant lady.

Here are some stances people take to roll their egg...

J-Flow opts for a stand and squat.  Can't feel good on the back however.

Mike opts for the one leg tuck method... obviously not effective this year, but in years past this position has treated him well.

Then there is Dayton... the spread eagle method.  He has used this inappropriate method for many years, it has not brought him any wins.  But I guess he lives by the motto of if something doesn't work try try try try try again....

As usual it was a great night! Hopefully next year we can put a different name on that egg!! The ERQ (Egg Roll Queen) is going down!!

Easter Sunday

So it was the little man's first really big holiday!! I will start off that he made it to two different houses and only had one breakdown, which most people missed cause it was at the end of the day on our way home.  Not bad for a 5 week old.  We went to both Chris's house and Debbi's house. We had a wonderful brunch with the Wood family, it was great to see everyone again.  Then we went and ate more at the Burkholder house.  At Deb's house my family came also, so it was kind of a mad house (Like home alone house).   It was fun to actually get dressed up again... let's face it it has been a long time!!! I got my lovely green dress and belt thank to Tutu and Anthropologie...LOVED IT!  Minus it being a little difficult to breast feed in.  I haven't quite caught on to buying clothes that are breast feeding conducive. LOL. Anyways I thought all three of us girls looked fabulous!! Here are some pictures from that day...

Mike got super dressed up in board shorts and a t-shirt...LOL. I love this man!

Here's the happy couple and little one in the belly! Everett is almost here!!! I cannot wait!!

The standard awkward photo of the three boys...every year!!

Baby Jacob and his cute little outfit!! I love these overalls!!

The Jacob Family with Jacob!! Can you believe it four generations!!!

And of course Deb with Jacob...this was the end of the night.  Obviously Jacob was tired...look at that face!

Egg Dying

As I title this I am not sure if that is the proper "dying" word to use.  Anyways, this post is about coloring eggs, not killing them...lol.  The night before Easter, we all went to Deb's house to dye Easter eggs.  It was Jacob's first time experiencing this, well I should say witnessing it because he didn't do much.  In fact the witnessing was limited to considering he slept most of the time.  I swear the minute he gets into his Auntie T's arms he falls asleep!!

Here is our token mommy son photo...we both look a little goofy. I was doing my hair for the next day and Jacob is still working on neck control while sitting, so we both have good excuses.  This was the most awake he was all night....he was mostly like this:

Mike made Jacob his first egg...if you can't read it, that egg says "Jacob's first Egg."  Mike used it for the first round of the egg roll, but Uncle Matt demolished it!! Nice Uncle Matt huh ;0)

Here's a picture of some of our eggs...the funny looking semi-dotted egg is Kimmy's invention.  Didn't quite turn out the way she planned, but as Matt so lovingly put it "It wasn't a complete failure."

Jacob is 1 Month!!!

It's hard to believe that my little baby is already one month old (well really now that I am writing this he is over one month by a week).  Anyways, the time seems to have flown by!! I know every mother says that, but now that I have one of my own I can really understand the true meaning of this statement.  Over the last month he has accomplished quite a lot for such a little fella.  He is now sleeping in his bassinet, he wakes up about 1 time per night (if anyone finds themselves awake between 0330 and 0430 feel free to text me). He has mastered the art of breast feeding, (just the other day I was able to breast feed him in his ergo while walking around Target (yup super mom here ;0)). He is getting really good at holding his head up!! Okay now for the stats...at his one month he was 12 lbs 12ounces, well we took him back four days after that and now he is up to 13 pounds!! LOL He is our little tank.  He is now 22.5 inches in length (up 1 inch from birth), and lastly his head is in the 100th percentile. Of course huge!!!

To track his growth in photos, I decided on a basketball theme (weird I know).  So I am going to track his growth on Mikey's old college jersey...pretty clever I thought.  Here are some photos from that day...

It won't let me rotate it so enjoy the side view