Jacob gets a haircut

I know some people are sentimental about their child's first haircut, but I am not!  Jacob was born with plenty of hair, and as it begins to fall out, he looks more and more scraggley.  One day I just got fed up with it and trimmed it.  I think it turned out pretty well for doing it by myself on a wiggly baby with two "helpers" right on top of me!

Doesn't it seriously make him look older?  He looks like a little boy now! So handsome...

Paige

Paige is so much fun to watch.  She has quite the personality!  She is so...Paige!  She is talking more and more, and is so opinionated.  She is intensely interested in things she likes, and boy do you know it if she doesn't like something. She loves to sing at the top of her lungs, and dress up - she has begun saying, "I goin look pritty" when she wants to wear a princess dress.  She watches everything Charlotte does and copies her- she wants to be just like her, say what she says, do what she does, wear what she wears.

She has decided that Jacob is okay, and now she has unleashed the fullness of her attention on him.  I caught her reading the Bible to him the other morning. (His face was holding the full weight of it!) When we are doing something for him, she wants to be right there.  Especially when I nurse...

She's starting to include him in her play, which is so cute (but so hard to understand sometimes!).

She has gotten into taking care of babies, and sometimes pretending to be a baby herself.  She thought it was awesome when she sat in her doll's stroller and Charlotte came over and played along!

Koby has begun saying, "She is a full-blown two year old," which really summarizes her right now.  She wants what she wants and there is no way around it!

We love little brother!

I really have a great set of big sisters in this house. The girls have each had their issues with a new baby in the house, but boy do they love him! I have never seen them direct anything negative towards him, which is wonderful.  If he's on the ground, half the time they are trying to show him a new toy, the other half they are singing to him and kissing him.  Here they were taking turns kissing him!  So sweet.

Paige used to be very indifferent towards him, but in the last month or so, she has really started paying attention to Jacob.  I don't know if she's just gotten used to him or learned from Charlotte's example, but she loves to dote on him.  She sings to him and brings him toys, and when he cries, she tells me he needs to eat. She also asked to hold him for the first time!  Every time I asked her if she wanted to hold him she said no and went off to play, so I stopped asking.  She came up to me this time!  It may be the most awkward looking hold ever, but I had to get a picture of it anyways.

Play time

What's the best way to spend a rainy afternoon?  Dressed up as a princess, of course.  We made a fort in the livingroom, which became the location of a super-cool birthday party.  Charlotte told me loads of details about it, most of which I have now unfortunately forgotten.  I do remember that the stacking stars were the birthday cake, and everyone had a plate and a piece of cake (represented by the blue ball and random plastic foods from the house).

This last picture is unrelated, but Koby looks so good in a crown.  Wouldn't want anyone to miss out on their chance to see him in it!

Women's Retreat

The first weekend of November Jacob joined me on our church's Women's Retreat.  It was the quintessential fall weekend.  Perfect weather, really.  Nice and crisp, out in the Piney Woods of East Texas.  It was held at a small retreat with dozens of wooden cabins, each of which had a lake view.  There were actual alligators in the water - I saw a big one and a medium one.  Very cool to watch - from a distance. 

Jacob did fantastically on the trip, and he was the star of the retreat, as he was the only baby.  There were plenty of hands to help hold him, and on Saturday afternoon I got to take a three hour nap.  Needless to say, it was a great weekend away!