Jacob's 2nd Month

Jacob's 2nd month has been a lot of fun.  We got to spend Christmas and New Year's with a new baby in the house, and Josh got almost three weeks off of work to spend with us!  Jacob is growing a lot.  At his two month appointment, he weighed 13 lbs. 2 oz. and was 23 1/4" long.  He had to get three shots, which was not fun, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Hannah's two month shots.  



Jacob started cooing (Dec. 23rd) and smiling (Dec. 28th) this month which is a lot of fun.  I love to hear his "voice" and see his smile.  I look forward to more smiles to come!



Jacob LOVES his new bouncy chair. He naps the best during the day sitting in this chair (or in my arms!).



Jacob is getting good at lifting and holding his head up!



One night, we were desperate for groceries and it was extremely cold outside, so I decided to leave the kids with Josh and go to Wal-Mart.  Jacob was five weeks old, and it was the first time I had left him.  I thought I was going to start crying when Josh pointed this out.  He really wanted me to take him with me, but it was so cold out and I had a lot of stuff to return and purchase.  I figured it would be easier to do alone.  So, I fed Jacob, got him to sleep, and hurried to Wal-Mart and shopped as fast as I could.  However, it's in north Danville, so it took me over half an hour just to get there.  Josh called as I was leaving the store and said that Jacob was crying and that I needed to hurry home.  Josh sounded pretty nervous and upset on the phone, so I made it from Wal-Mart to home in 19 minutes!  Yes, I broke the law a little, but I figured it was way too cold for any officer to want to pull me over!  After all that, when I walked in the door, Jacob was completely content in Josh's arms. 



The only other time I have left Jacob so far is in the church nursery, and I don't know if that really counts since I was in the building.  But, you can tell it's my second baby because I left him at 7 weeks for the first time.  I think Hannah was closer to 7 months before I left her!  I really didn't want to leave him, but Josh had a class full of grade school kids, while I had a class full of toddlers, so I didn't have much of a choice.  He's been in there the last two weeks and did just fine.  He's too young to realize that I'm gone.  But, I probably won't leave him unless we are both teaching at the same time.  We'll see.   

Jacob had his acting debut in our church Christmas program, as he played Baby Jesus and Josh and I played Mary and Joseph.  We also played the same parts in the Christmas Eve service.   Jacob did great in all of his "performances."  He slept through two of them and was wide awake in two of them, but he never cried.  There seems to be a "club" of moms who played Mary with their baby as Jesus.  Many moms, young and old, told me that they remembered doing that with their baby, and it was such a special time for them.  It was a really touching part of the program, and I had to try to think of funny things so that I would not cry.  All I could think of was how Mary must have felt that day as she cared for her new baby in a stable.  The Christmas story takes on a new meaning once you are a parent.  A mom will do anything to protect her child, and I can't imagine how hard it must have been for Mary to know who her Son was and the troubles that he would face.  The sacrifice that God made is greater than any I can imagine. 

  

Hannah is still doing well with Jacob for the most part.  She really seems to like him.  She always says "Hi baby Jake, hi!" in a cute southern-like accent.  She also likes to hold him now, but we have to keep a very close eye on her because she goes from being very gentle to very rough really quick.  I pray that they will always have a close relationship, especially as they get older.  I love being close to my brothers and sisters and hope they have a similar bond.