So it's been a while since I've posted.  My computer hasn't worked for a while, but now we are ready to go.  We've been busy getting ready for Christmas these last few weeks.  Jacob went to 3 birthday parties since our last post.  One for Aiden, Luke and Drew.  He had a great time at all of them. Of course he was Mr. Social Butterfly.  At least 2 adults at each party commented on how social he was.  At one party he even left the kids playing and walked over to where the adults were and gave them a huge smile and started laughing.  I guess he thought they needed a little entertainment.  This boy is a ham.  Then on Dec. 3rd, Jacob met Santa Claus.  I didn't think that he would cry, and for the most part he didn't  We went to Victoria Gardens and all the way there Jacob was singing and laughing in the backseat.  As we were waiting in the short line he was all smiles.  As soon as he sat on Santa's lap, the smile left him.  He looked up at Santa once with a questioning look.  Then he went back to looking at the camera, then one more look at Santa and the mouth turned to a frown, his lips began to quiver and a slight cry came from his mouth, but that's all it was.  He quickly looked away and the cry stopped. We did get a decent picture of him with Santa.

Almost every morning Jacob and I have attended Stroller Strides.  Jacob loves it because he can play with his friend Christian.  They are so cute together.  The other day they were passing their toys and books back and forth to each other.  ADORABLE!  he gets to play at the park after so he LOVES it.  He's been taking later nap because of the timing, but it hasn't seemed to affect him too much.  This week however he schedule is all messed up.  Yesterday and today he only took one nap for about an hour and half tops.  Today he was especially cranky toward the end of the day but hopefully he will sleep well tonight. 

Earlier this week we took family pictures.  The photographer at JCPEnney was terrible so we didn't get too many good shots.  Oh well, we only ordered two so we got off cheap. 

 Jacob loves his Christmas tree.  Each morning when we go downstairs the Christmas tree is lit up and he points to it and makes a "oohhh" sound.  So cute.  He loves it and has been really good about not touching it.  I even have gifts under the tree now and he hasn't touched one of them yet!  He does love to hang out in the living room at point at the tree, go and touch one of the branches and walk away.  he also loves the Christmas lights on the houses.  Last week we had some fairly warm weather at night so we put on his new flame beanie and jacket and walked our street to see the lights.  Nani and Papa were over for dinner so they joined us for the stroll.  He walked up the driveway of a couple of houses that really caught his attention.  If we are driving home and it's dark we drive slowly past the houses and it quickly becomes silent in the back of the car as he is just staring at the lights.   He also love wrapping paper.  He has gotten into my wrapping paper a couple of times now, so there are a few gifts with some crinkled paper, oh well!  Two days ago he reached for the labels and somehow managed to stick one on himself.  When he walked over to me I saw the "to, from" label stuck to his pant let and I almost wet myself I was laughing so hard."

Jacob's new favorite toy has become the cardboard roll from the celephane wrap I used to wrap Bill's employees gifts.  He walks around the house like a shepard with his staff.  He has also learned to throw his Mickey bouncy ball, so we play "catch" with the ball during the day.  he throws it to me and I roll it back.  He is really getting into putting things into other things.  I guess he's been doing that for a while now, but I've noticed it more and more.  If he has something in each of his hands he figures out which can fit into the other.  He is getting much quicker with his walking now too...in fact today I think he was running away from me at Kohls, good thing I had my athletic shoes on!  The dancing thing is hysterical.  Seriously, this boy has rythmn.  I know I've been saying that, but now when he hears music, he bounces as usual but now he has added a bit of a sway, his head moves back and forth and one arm also moves to the beat.  He really gets down, depending on the song.  The other night we were having dinner and we had Christmas music playing in the background (cheesy, I know, but I love Christmas music!!!).  Anyway as he was eating he started moving his head to the beat.  I was laughing so hard and of course Bill was encouraging him to continue.  One day this week when Bill got him out of his crib, he brought him to our bed and turned on the Disney Channel.  The Wiggles were on singing some dorky song and I opened my eyes to my baby sitting up against the pillow, eyes glued to the TV with his right arm swaying to the music.  Oh how I could wake up to that every morning.  If that happened, I don't think I would be grumpy in the morning. 

Today at lunch I had him attempt to drink from a straw.  He was somewhat successful.  He has the action down, he's just not sucking hard enough yet.  then he just started biting the straw, so we stopped and we'll try again tomorrow.

Okay, I am super tired right now and can barely read what I'm writing.  I only got a couple of hours of sleep last night becasue I was up thinking about who knows what.  Anyway, I'll write more tomorrow and add whatever I missed then.  so until next time...mommy and daddy love you!