Jacob's first word: Schlep

No, that's not his first word, but it should be.

We just bought Jacob his first backpack with his name embroidered across the top. He doesn't like the feel a cap on his bald head, but he doesn't seem to mind the loose straps draped over his shoulders. We'll see what he thinks after we load a few dozen rocks in it.

Without the use of a rapid-fire camera, it's very difficult to capture a photo of him standing still because it does not happen. He's like a wind-up car. As soon as you release your hands, he's off until something stationary distracts him.

Hopefully his backpack will last until he gets to preschool.


Jacob is going to love carrying our stuff.

Fun in the sun

What's the difference between a boring summer and a fun summer? About 50 miles.

Ever since we freed ourselves from our little townhouse in Clarksville and moved to La Vergne (house pics to come later; still unpacking, er, decorating), it's become much easier to find family-friendly activities around the area, spontaneously take a trip to Nashville or simply go outside.

In La Vergne, we're 10 minutes from Murfreesboro (where I work) to the south, 20 minutes from Nashville to the north, 20 minutes to Franklin (wealthy part of Nashville) to the east and plenty of other stops along the way.



In Clarksville, we were 40 minutes from Nashville to the south, 70 minutes from Murfreesboro even farther south and right on the border of southern Kentucky (what the hell were we supposed to do there?).

Simply put, there is much more to do as a family near our new home, and we are taking full advantage of it before the dog days of summer arrive and Erin goes back to work. We've made an effort to get Jacob (and Dolly) out of the house every day, whether it's going to a specific place or just playing outside for a few minutes in the backyard or in the cul-de-sac.



And of course Erin plasters a thick coat of SPF 5,000 all over Jacob's ghostly body.

Here are a few of the things we've done thus far:

• Became members of the Nashville Zoo (have already been three times)
• "Swam" in the inflatable kiddie pool in our backyard
• Splashed around the splash pad in Smyrna (adjacent to La Vergne)
• Attended Books and Babies at the Smyrna library
• Went to the Science Center in Nashville
• Went to a free after-hours Father's Day session at the Discovery Center in Murfreesboro
• Shopped and walked around The Avenue outdoor mall in Murfreesboro
• Play with Dolly in the backyard. Jacob loves to laugh at her fetching tennis balls.

Activity details:, One of the best part about living in La Vergne is we're only 15 minutes from the zoo. It's not the world's best zoo, but it has a lot of room for growth and improvement. We decided to buy a membership. We've already paid it off and then some. We've been three times, although the second time we had to cut it short because of an unexpected storm. But, hey, that's when memberships come in handy. The past two visits were spontaneous. We just decided that morning to pack up the baby bag, let the dog out and head down to the zoo. Jacob enjoys looking at the animals and we get exercise. We've had to start in a different spot each time because Jacob falls asleep about half-way through. One day he'll get to see everything in the same trip.



Murfreesboro is a great town. It's smaller population-wise than Clarksville, but there's so much more to do. The Discovery Center is a building full of hands-on exhibits and learning stations suited for little kids, including Jacob's age. There was a firetruck, an early 1900s pickup truck, music stations, coal mining, arts and crafts, reading circle equipped with rocking chairs, tire-changing station and more. I tried to learn something from that last station long after Jacob lost interest. There's also an area called Tiny Town where little ones can go grocery shopping, build and paint at Home Depot, play music and climb in a tree.









The Avenue is this ginormous, beautifully developed outdoor mall. It's great to walk around on a nice day. Erin's already obsessed with it. In front of Maggie Moo's ice cream and Great American Cookie is an open turf area for kids to run off their sugar high. Jacob was no stranger. Man, that little squirt must run on Energizer batteries 'cause he keeps going and going and going and going... Just outside the 'Boro is the Renaissance Festival fairgrounds. Can't wait to feed Jacob his first giant turkey leg next May!



This blog post was paid in part by The Avenue, Maggie Moo's, Great American Cookie and Energizer batteries.

We moved in

I can't believe that we haven't posted yet about the new house. Nate was living in the new house starting April 5th. We closed on April 2nd and Nate's new job started right after that. Ever since we have closed on the house, we have made this house our own. We started with the guest room, painting it a pretty yellow. My vision is to make it a Beachy room so we can finally hang up our frames and art that we bought in Jamaica. We currently have a full size bed in it. Thats it. Its currently storage for boxes that w are too lazy to unpack right now.
I have not done a lot to it but this is what it looks like now.




Jacob's room is almost complete. We threw away the Jacob letters that were above his bed and we are ordering other pictures to hang there. Also, we bought him a new and better crib because he other one did not make the move.





The guest bathroom/Jacob's bathroom is almost complete as well. Just waiting for a couple of pictures that i bought on Etsy.com. The color/theme was a hard decision. Should we do a nice and calm looking guest bath or a kids bath since its jacob's bathroom too. We decided to make it a kids bathroom since he will be using it more. I love monkeys so of course the theme is MOnkeys.


We have not painted our bedroom yet so pics to com later.

Our Bathroom theme is Blue and brown. We painted the room blue and have brown accessories. It looks really cute. Art and pictures will be hung up and we will be putting up a shower door as well.



When I get pictures and art up in the living room/hallway I will post pics.
My parents bought us a patio set for a house warming gift. I love it and its really comfortable even without cushions.





Jacob has adjusted very well to the new house. I was a little worried about him not sleeping well but we had no problems. He is a ton of room to run around and it tuckers him out quickly. Also, Dolly has a ton of room to run around outside and has already lost some weight.
We love this house and it is the perfect fit. Our neighbors on both sides are so nice and are second fathers to us (kind of). They help us with anything we need help with. They know that we are first time home buyers and we have no idea what we are doing.
More pics to come soon!

Zoo Fun

We took Jacob to the Zoo. It is about 15 minutes from our new house, so we became members. Jacob had a great time. He loved seeing the farm animals and the monkeys! Enjoy some pics!

Plastic cups

Jacob wanted to show everyone the first of his plastic cup collection. Now that we have the cabinet space, we're going to keep plastic cups we get from various kids meals for Jacob to use when he's older. This one is from Jason's Deli.



I think I'm as excited about living near a Jason's Deli again as Jacob is about his plastic cup.

New crib

I'd like to share a moment of silence for a dear member of our family.

Jacob's crib did not survive the cross-mid-state move from Clarksville to La Vergne. The crib made the 80-mile journey safely in the back of the truck, through the front door, around the narrow hallway, and that's where it stopped. It couldn't fit through Jacob's door.

Its time with us ended there, just across the threshold from its new home.

We decided to take it apart in an attempt to salvage the year-old crib. As we began to dismantle its delicate frame, the plastic clips that lock the drop-down side snapped off. Even if we were able to figure out how to reassemble the crib sans instructions, Reassembling it at this point would have left us with a faulty crib. With the recalls and discontinuation of these cribs, we decided to call its time of death at 5:30 p.m. and rush out to buy an emergency replacement before Jacob's bedtime.

It wasn't the best crib in the world, but it lasted longer than either of us originally thought. We never worried about the drop-down side collapsing — even with Jacob's constant banging and Dolly occasionally resting her paws on it to peer down at jacob — because we never used it for its intended purpose. We always simply reached over the side.

We weren't thrilled about having to spend the money on a new crib but ultimately we're happy we did. The new crib looks similar, but the absence of a drop-down side makes it much sturdier and leaves us feeling even more confident in its safety.


Jacob's new crib is much sturdier, and safer, than his old one.

Back-seat driver

No longer must Jacob look at where we've been, forced to talk to himself as he stares at the rear window.

Now he is a forward-facing toddler.

He clocked in at 19 pounds at his 1-year checkup -- a pound shy of the minimum recommendation to face forward. We decided to turn him around anyway. His legs were pressing against the Corolla seatback in the smaller carseat, and besides, we figured a pound won't make a difference.

It's a lot easier for us to tend to his needs when we can see what he's up to and we don't have to reach over the back of the seat to get to him. Plus, it's more fun for Jacob.

He loves having the ability to see us all the time. That's good for him, but bad for us. If we're not giving him attention, he knows what he needs to do to change that.

A week ago he was screaming nonstop. It was one of those annoying, albeit happy, high-pitch screams. I often wonder while eating dinner at a crowded restaurant which is more annoying: incessant, shrill crying or joyous screaming. Anyway, the screeching was so piercing that we were forced to turn around to tell him to stop. Played us like a fiddle. That's exactly what he wanted us to do.

Every time one of us turns around, Jacob would flash a sly grin. It looks similar to a ventriloquist's dummy. His head is cocked slightly to the side, his mouth open just enough to show his gap-tooth pearly whites and his eyes shift between Erin and me.

It's hard to get mad at that face, and he knows it.


Jacob loves facing forward, like a big boy, with his friend, Emerson.

He loves falling asleep now with the wind blowing through his hair...


Dolly, too, loves facing forward.