Jake and Hunter...great friends already!

Jake and Josh went to play with Hunter and his Dad, Reed (Josh's great friend from undergrad) on Saturday, while I was at Lindsay's bridal shower. Apparently the boys just adored each other, and had so much fun! Hunter introduced the Jack-in-the-Box to Jake....he loved it!!

Growing Up!

Oh boy...there has been quite a shift in Jake over the last few weeks. We now officially experience tantrums on a daily basis, are commanded to come and go regularly and from time to time, get the cuddles and hugs that we used to get all day long. Our little man is growing up, and appears to officially be entering the "Troublesome Twos". It's definitely a rough patch to live through, as we've got to decide just exactly how to handle time-outs and discipline in general.

But, at the same time, he is now able to really communicate his wants and needs which is actually easier than just the tears that used to happen when we would guess wrong.

Today he told me that he wanted a apple...so I began to cut up an apple, and he told me "no". So, I handed him the apple and he proceeded to climb up on a "big boy" chair (no more highchair???) and just started chomping right into the apple, just like a grown-up. It was just crazy to watch! It's going to be an exciting and daunting year to come!

Cookies!

Thanks to Aunt Gail and Cousin Rachel, Jake had his first Girl Scout Cookies today!!! He's definitely a fan of the Thin Mints just like his Mama!

Soccer

Josh has Jake working on his soccer kick already, of course!

Rolling can be so fun

Silly Dada and Jakey:

Our Little Spanish Parrot

These days Jake is repeating everything that we say! It's funny to see which words he can actually say, and which ones he actually remembers to use at a different time. Josh is trying to use this time to team him some Spanish...and Jake is learning!
Spanish words that Jake now knows: Hola, Madre, Buenos Dias, Adios

Guitar

Auntie Erica brought Jake this blow-up guitar last week. He's having so much fun pretending to strum the guitar, as he sings "Old McDonald had a farm"....super funny:

Cheers!

Every night at dinner, Josh has been clinking his beer with Jake's sippy cup at the beginning of our meal. Well...Jake has totally picked up on it, and now LOVES to "Cheers" everyone near him at his mealtime. It's super duper cute how it makes him so happy!

Great Valentine's Day!

Yesterday was a great Valentines Day! Although we had to work, yuck, we still had a fun day. Both Josh and I made it to Jake's "Valentine's Day Tea", which was pure chaos, but super cute. The kids all dressed in red or pink, and learned about shapes (specifically hearts) most of the day.

Then we came home, and I made one of Josh's favorite steak dinners and we opened gifts (The Grandmas truly spoiled us all...THANK YOU!!!). Jake was on great behavior. What a great Valentine's Day!

The Grandmas gave Jake lots of great Caliou and Thomas the Train books...he loved them!

Above are the valentine card that Jake received from his classmates and from Tessa

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day Dear Friends and Family!!

Valentine's Day will forever have a special place in my heart, as 5 years ago today Josh proposed to me while at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay.

Here are the cards Jake is bringing for his classmates today. His school is having a special Valentine's Day Tea this afternoon, which should be a super cute celebration (pictures to come!)

Beach Day

Yesterday was a spectacular day in SF! Erica came up to play with Jake and I. We headed to the beach early, and spent nearly 3 hours there!! Jake had a blast, as there were tons of boats, doggies and airplanes to look at all afternoon.

The biggest miracle was that he actually fell asleep for an hour on the beach (as did Erica), so I had an hour of quiet time to people watch and read....such bliss!

Drums

Jake will make anything into a drum these days...it's amazing how much noise such a little man can make. Anyway, I found him doing this a few mornings ago. How he dragged this "drum" through three rooms on his own, I have no idea.....

"Helping"

Jake tries to "help" me out with chores these days....putting away toys, throwing away trash and...vacuuming!
Here is Jake helping Mama clean the carpets.

Weekend away

This past weekend was my Sister-in-Law's bachelorette party weekend to Palm Springs. Josh and Jake therefore, were left to have a fun boys weekend. Josh did a great job, although Grandma Lee Lee and Grandpa Bill definitely pitched in too. Poor Jake was/is fighting a bad cold at the same time, but Josh still had a much needed fun father/son weekend.
Lindsay's bachelorette weekend away was a blast in Palm Springs. I didn't get many pics, but we stayed in a gorgeous hotel, and spent much time at the pool, relaxing. Nearly all the bridesmaids were there, and they were all totally fabulous and fun. It's going to be a great wedding right around the corner in April!

Here's Linds in her Mrs. Hutner sweatsuit:
Here are the girls on Sunday afternoon, relaxing some more after a very fun weekend.

Little Bamm Bamm

We've got our very own Bamm Bamm Rubble from the Flintstones these days. Jake found the baseball bat that we had hidden for awhile, and now he can't have enough of swinging at everything. While most of the time he is swinging at balls, he does walk around the house slamming the bat into walls, chairs, ME, etc. Yikes!!!

Don't wake a sleeping toddler

Oh man...did I learn my lesson. Jake would NOT take a nap on Sunday, no matter how much I tried to get him down. I was up against a haircut appointment for him, so I finally put him in the stroller, and boom, he fell asleep. Well...we arrived at the barber and I had to wake him up...and boy was he mad! The hair lady didn't want to wait for him to wake up, and just started jabbing him with the scissors right away. Needless to say, he cried hysterically the entire 5 minutes that she gave us for the haircut. Because he was upset, he was squirming around erratically. So, basically we walked out with a HORRIBLE haircut...it looks like little chunks were just sporadically taken out of his hair!! I feel horrible about leaving him with this cut, but there are no real children's hair salons anywhere near us. He is going to have to keep this cut for two weeks, until I have time to take him down to the kids salon in Burlingame. Poor Jake! Never again will I follow Yelp's advice on children's salons!

I had to make him feel better after the unfortunate wake up call that he got, so we went to the park for a longgggg playtime while Josh was working, surprise, surprise. Here he was pretending to "drive the boat" without a smile (he has learned how to make me feel bad, and hold back his lovely smile when he is upset with me).