Walkin' & Talkin'

Well my little man is 11 months old now. The other night Mike and I were talking about how big he is getting and how next month he will be a year old... when all of a sudden I felt like I was about to have an anxiety attack! I'm not ready for my baby to grow up. I wish he could stay my little baby forever.

At 10 months and 3 weeks old Jacob decided that he was only going to walk, and has been doing so ever since. It's so funny because when his legs get tired from walking too much he still doesn't stop. Rather, he looks like a little drunk man waddling around the house.

Here's a video of Jacob walking:

He has also said his first word. And much to my surprise, it wasn't fan. It was "duck" or "uck". And no it wasn't the F-word. I don't think Mike says it enough in front of him for it to be his first word... We were playing with a duck toy in the bath and I kept saying "duck" and he repeated it!

Here's a video of Jacob talking:

In just a few short weeks he has quite a vocabulary now. It consists of: dada, mama, hi, buh-bye, light, quack-quack, duck, oooooh (when he gets excited about something), and lots of other baby gibberish.

A few weeks ago we went to the Wilson County Fair here in Lebanon. We went with my friend Mandi that I met up here, and her two year old daughter, Genesis. We had a pretty good time. Since it was our county fair the high school and local farms were participating in all kinds of livestock best in show competitions. We got to look around at all the animals that were participating and Jacob even got to pet a cow! They also have other contests that people can participate in. There were all kinds of different categories: photography, crocheting, knitting, sewing, stained glass, painting, drawing, etc... Mike & I plan on submitting some things of our own next year.

Isn't this the cutest baby cow? His momma was so protective!

Jacob looking at the ducklings.

Daddy & Jacob looking at a bunny.

We actually went on two different days. On the second day we went they had a crash em up derby (or something like that). Mike absolutely loved it! We got there kind of late, so there was no room for us to sit with a stroller in the stands (I'm telling you-- these rednecks love this stuff!). So I just told Mike to go ahead up in the stands without us while me and Jacob hung out and ate some snacks. He said he wished he would've brought the video camera to show everyone :)

Here we are in the photo booth at the fair! Jacob was more concerned with the flashing lights below the camera...


We've already begun to have some house problems... Seems our roof has sprung a leak! Luckily the house is still under warranty, so everything will be covered. But we already have some damage. Our ceiling is bubbling up in certain spots and there is even about a 2-3 inch crack in one of the bubbles. The contractor who built the house is supposed to come out here soon to evaluate the damage and repair it. We just had roofers out today com and fix the problem. So now there should be no more leaks...



We've been getting out of the house more often too, which is nice. I met Mandi on a online group for mom's who make homemade things (food, cloth diapers, clothes, etc...). Well it turns out Mandi lives in not only the same state as me, but she also lives in the same town! We never set up a place to meet or anything so it's a funny story how we ran in to each other. We were walking out of Wal-Mart and her family was walking in and she said, "Valerie??". Of course I turned around even though I don't know anybody here, and sure enough it was Mandi. She recognized us from online photos!

It was so great to meet her & we have so much in common. It's nice to finally have someone to have a one-on-one adult conversation with (besides Mike!). We've even been going to church with their family. Sometimes when we go to pick Jacob up from the nursery he's pretty upset. We hear it's because he's a major sympathy crier (if other babies cry, he cries with them...) It has been better the last few times though. It's crazy how much I miss him even when I'm only away for about an hour. Right after service I can't wait to see him!

Jacob on his way to church.

Eating at lemon at Cracker Barrel after church. That boy loves lemons!!

We've also been going to the park. We meet up with Mandi and another Mom LeAnn and their kids Genesis & Brayden (both are two). Now that Jacob can walk around he's having a lot more fun!

Here are my latest crochet products. I've even opened an Etsy store to sell some of my things. I don't have much up right now, but it's a work-in-progress...









Alright, I'm gonna get going. Jacob should be waking up from his nap soon and I want to get some more stuff done around the house. I'll post more soon!

Until next time,


Valerie, Mike & Jacob

Some more videos:

Jacob reading




Jacob playing with Daddy's nose

Wow, it has been a while since I've posted! Life has been quite crazy with the move! Also, we just got the internet two days ago, so we've been internet-less for 3 weeks. Well, more like I'VE been internet-less. Mike can check e-mails at work. I never knew how much I would miss google... I live on google!

The house is coming along very well. Things are finally getting back to normal, and I'm so thankful! It's very stressful wanting to feed your child and realizing important things in order to do this are still somewhere stuffed in a box. Jacob went about two weeks eating baby food from jars and wearing disposable diapers. It was just too nuts to try and pull off cloth diapering and making his babyfood. He absolutley HATES carrots and sweet potatoes from a jar, that's for sure. He wants the real stuff!

To add to all the mayhem, we decided to plan a trip to Virginia. We actually planned it a long time ago before we knew we would be living in Tennessee. It ended up working out though, Tennessee is a lot closer to Virginia than Florida is! And for that I am thankful! I hate being in the car for long periods of time-- especially with a baby. Jacob has driven from FL to TN twice and from TN to FL once. He has also flown to NY and than back to FL, and now he has driven back and forth from TN to VA. He is my little traveling man, and he's not even a year old yet! Not to mention when I was 7 months pregnant we were in GA, TN, KY, NC, and IN!

We had a good time though. We visited Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello, James Monroe's home Ash-Lawn Highland, and James Maddison's home. That's now four presidential homes we've been to. When we lived in Hermitage Andrew Jackson's home 'The Hermitage' was literally 10 minutes from our apartment. Jacob was not very interested in the tours, so one of us had to wait outside with him while the other went through the tour.

The car ride to Virginia.

Hey, you!

Uh, oh!

Here's the resort we stayed in.

Me & Jakey on the boat dock.

Morning Sunshine!

Little founding father.

Monticello.

Here we are in front of Monticello.

These cows were so close to their fence we stopped the car and got out to get a closer look.

The road on the way to Monroe's home.

Ash-Lawn Highland.

Don't worry.... Mike was close by ;)


Maddison's home.


Thank the Lord that tour is over!

Now on to the fun stuff... play with grass!!

We also got to visit a vineyard. We unfortunatley didn't get to go on a guided tour, but we walked around and snapped a few pictures. We also got to see and pet the horses at the resort we stayed in. Jacob loved it!

Now on to the fun stuff! Jacob is 10 months old now and is looking less and less like a baby each day! He has now taken 9 steps at a time and frequently walks from the TV to the coffee table all by himself! He waves "hi" and "bye" and is FINALLY clapping his hands! He will also mimick differnt noises, sounds, and gestures that you do. He is still only signing the word milk, but that is my own fault. We haven't really been working on any other signs lately.


He is such a good eater too! (*knock on wood!*) He loves just about anything you feed him, including brocolli and lemons, YES LEMONS! He makes a sour face when he bites down too hard, but then he goes right back for it. He's so crazy :) By the way yogurt has become a complete hit, and he eats it just about everyday.

He has such a personality. He is now "yelling" at his mommy too. He points his finger at me and yells "Ada-dah-dah-dah-dah!" which translates to "leave me alone mommy and let me do what I want!".

Speaking of pointing, he's been pointing at objects latley and almost asking with his eyes, "what's that?". He loves pointing at the fan and hearing you say, "fan". He smiles every time. Mike and I think it will be his first word.

Doesn't he look just like a little Mike in this picture?!

This is kind of blurry-- but it's Jacob's new thing. He loves to crawl like this...

A better shot.

Playing with his new goldfish. Fluffy & Sushi (don't ask, Daddy named them.)

Unfortunaley Sushi is didn't make it. He's in a better place now :)

Swimming in his new pool!

Say no to crack!

I've been trying to crochet a lot more latley to try and sell at a craft show and consignment sale. Here are a few of my latest projects:

Hot pink baby blanket with black fur edging.


Black & pink hat with a zebra star sewn on.

Adult size camo hat.

These I made especiall for Jacob. They're wool 'shorties' and they work like a cover for his cloth diapers.

I guess I'll cut this one kind of short. Until next time...

xoxo; Val, Mike & Jacob

Here are some videos that I keep forgetting to post. They are from aout 2-3 months ago. I need to upload some new videos from our video camera....

Jacob dancing:

Jacob laughing at his daddy: