Another week gone by

Sleepy little girl



Hanging out with aunt Jena last weekend

Showing off her belly to Gracie

Finally getting to try out the "big kid toy"

Jacob had some helpful hints for how to play.
Once again, I have only pictures of him sans pants. We've been doing this more lately in an effort to keep the potty training going. It seems that if we're at home, chances are he's not wearing any bottoms. Whatever works.


Here are a couple of videos of Mariella playing. She's got the hang of it already!

Such a pretty face (or: 16 weeks old)

Purely by coincidence, I found a good time to take some photos of Mariella on Tuesday. I don't keep track of weeks anymore, so I actually had to count them on a calendar. A couple of news worthy items on her:
She has discovered a new sound. It's a nice gurgly sound in the back of her throat. She's been experimenting with that a lot recently. She is also (finally) sleeping in the crib. It took a long time for me to admit that she really is too big for the bassinet. The transition was seamless. So far, no changes to her waking and sleep habits, which is fine. The last thing is that her eyes are turning color. They seem to be staying light, and also seem like they will turn the color of Daddy's and Jacob's eyes. It's hard to tell from these pictures, but if I could ever get some good ones outside (Mariella not squinting) you would see it. I guess Mommy will be the lone brown-eyed person in this house!

I am going to eat this blanket!

Squeezing her fingers as hard as she can

This is one of my favorites. Such wide eyes, little tongue sticking out, and thumb in her mouth.

Father's Day (and a rainbow)

Here is a rainbow that I encountered while I was out getting a photo printed for Tom's Father's Day gift. I was that weirdo taking a picture out the front window of my car (I was in a parking lot at the time, not driving).

Father's Day at the Schoenbauers: Mariella on the right, cousin Hannah on the left
I also didn't realize until we got home that I didn't get any pictures of the kids with Grandpa S. so we might have to "steal" some from your camera.

Jacob showing off his cool swim trunks and even cooler hat. He kept the hat on all day, even in the pool. (Cousin Abby on the left)

Getting out of the pool

Grandma B's requested crop picture of a classic Jacob expression

Abby and Jacob playing "Monsters" with Tom, who is being very careful not to spill beer on Grandpa S's nice grass

Piling on to Uncle (and Daddy): Libby, Abby, and Jacob

Attack!

Lunch on Father's Day at Red Robin

Jacob on the way home from Red Robin

Mariella with Grandpa B.

Jacob and Grandpa showing off lots of teeth

Celebrating Grandma S's Birthday

These pictures are actually from a few weeks ago, but I kept forgetting to put them up.

Jacob and cousin Libby sharing a chair

Mariella and Uncle Mike sizing each other up

A miracle! Grandpa and Grandma S with all the grandkids (for those who don't know everyone): Mariella, Jacob, Abby, Hannah, Libby

Busy Girl

We're not sure who Mariella thinks she is, but she has been very busy lately. She has a great giggle/laugh that she gives for something different every day. She's such a silly girl. Those little hands are usually either in her mouth, or grabbing something to put in her mouth. She's starting to enjoy chewing on toys. I've noticed some swelling where her bottom teeth will come in, but hopefully that is just very early swelling and will be a couple of months before they actually work through. Jacob got his first tooth at exactly 5 months old, so I guess it could be just as early for her.

After figuring out how to roll, she's set her sights on moving. She does this mainly through her leg-lifting and kicking exercises, and somehow scoots herself several inches away from the blanket or burp cloth that is usually underneath her. Here are some action shots:

Already scooted off her blanket, deciding maybe she should roll back



Made it onto her tummy...now what?

She decides to start pulling her legs up

This is what she does when she's on her tummy now, and is already trying to figure out how to scoot. We are going to be in trouble.

This is her favorite spot in the whole world these days

Another first, sitting in the Bumbo. She really likes sitting up like a big girl. Look at that crazy hair! It just won't go anywhere but up.

This smile was half self-pride, half "about to spit up." About 3 seconds after I took this, she spit all down her front. I wouldn't expect anything less.

One other thing I wanted to point out is the blanket behind Mariella. Sometimes I put a blanket in the background of her pictures just to make it less distracting. Jacob saw me pull out the camera yesterday, and grabbed that blanket and put it behind her like that. He's so helpful!

Jacob and his friends

Backing up a bit, Jacob has been very interested in playing with his friends. He knows the names of all the kids in our playgroup, and even learned a lot of names of the kids in our ECFE class. Every time we are going somewhere, he asks which of his friends will be there. It's very cute to see them having fun together! In no particular order, here are some pictures of Jacob with the kids he knows:

Himself, of course. He was kissing himself in the mirror after seeing how pretty he is with a bow in his hair!

This is Jacob with my friend Kelly's son, William. We met in Rochester over Memorial weekend to let the boys play at a park, and to see each other's new daughters (they are about a month apart). The boys were more interested in running around than playing together, but Kelly managed to get them to stand near each other for this picture.

This is with his playgroup buddy, Brody. Sometimes if I don't pay attention, I mistake one of them for the other when they are running around!

And of course, Jacob with his friend Scarlett. This was at the truck display last week. They were splashing in a puddle left by the big water spraying truck. I'm not sure of the truck's actual name.

Jacob's Best Day Ever (part 2)

Jacob has done a great job in his first week of real potty training. He's pretty good about going when we say it's time, and the only thing he's not doing is telling us when he has to go. That should come pretty quickly once he gets in the habit of it.

We had a small incident earlier this week, in which the "deflector shield" of his potty seat was flushed down the toilet. Jacob was pretty concerned, but after a trip to his favorite store, he was in possession of an even better potty seat. This one has Disney's Cars on it! Maybe it was just meant to be. We made sure right away that the same fate would not come to the new seat. This one is better designed so the shield shouldn't fall in. I'll spare you all the picture, but if you come to our house you will surely get to see it. He is extremely proud of it.

Anyway, he's been earning a sticker every time he goes potty. He decided to put them in a notebook. When he gets 25 stickers, he gets to pick out a new toy car (he doesn't get what 25 means, but he knows he needs a lot of them). Today, he reached his first set of 25 stickers! We made another trip to his favorite store, and he chose a set of 4 cars from (surprise to no one) the movie Cars. I let him get it, with the understanding that he only gets one at a time. He was OK with that. Here are some pictures of his excitement:

Jacob with his book of stickers, and his new King car on the right

Even the stickers are Cars! (Notice that he's already well on his way to his next car)

He looks mad here, but it's just his "cheese" face

One other big piece of news: today, for the first time ever, he woke up dry after his nap. I still put him in a diaper for sleeping, but he went to the potty right before and right after nap. It worked. Way to go, Jacob!

Jacob's Best Day Ever (part 1)

Today may have been the single most exciting day of Jacob's young life. We'll start at the beginning. This morning our local library hosted a "Big Rig Show and Tell" featuring large trucks that belong to the city and county. There was no way we could miss this event!

First up was a fire engine. Jacob got to climb inside and check out all the switches, buttons, and equipment.

He looks pretty small standing next to a uniform! At one point during the event, the fire engine got called away and had its lights and siren going. Jacob thought that was very exciting. It blew its horn as it went through an intersection, and now Jacob likes to imitate that in addition to his siren sound.

After that, we moved on to a cherry picker truck. Sadly, they were not giving rides in the best part of the truck, but Jacob still got to "drive" it.

Continuing the tour of trucks that are unidentifiable in my close up pictures, this is Jacob driving a snow plow.

Riding a snowmobile, which I've never seen in use around town but I'm sure has a very good purpose.

One of Jacob's favorites: giant lawn mower

Standing in front of what Jacob calls a "big tractor"

Sitting in the wheel of the above big tractor

After almost a half hour of mostly patient waiting, Jacob finally got to drive the big tractor.

Getting a good view out of that high up window