Jacoby's 1st Birthday!

Jacoby turned 1 on May 18. I can't believe it has already been a year! We just had a small celebration with my parents on his actual birthday, then his big party was on the 29th. Here are a couple pictures from his actual b-day.

On Saturday, the 29th, we had about 30 people over for a cookout for Jacoby's b-day.  Adam's parents were visiting and Great Grandma and Grandpa Rust were also able to make it.  Adam grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, and my wonderful mother and mother-in-law made every kind of salad you could think of to go with it. 

Jacoby had fun with his very own cake.  He got a bath when he was finished.

Then it was time to open presents!!

Jacoby loved the red wagon that he got from Mammy and Pappy.

More of March

Jacoby was 10 months old on March 18th!  I can't believe it!

He has discovered SpongeBob, and so has Adam!

Jacoby likes to push his shopping cart around the living room and unload it.

Jacoby loves his new swing!  It's temporarily hanging from our porch, but eventually it'll be hanging from the tree in our front yard.

The Zoo

This week is my spring break and Adam took some vacation time this week so we could enjoy it all together.  Monday was rainy and gloomy, so we stayed in all day and relaxed.  Tuesday was gorgeous, though, so we took advantage and took Jacoby to the Mesker Park Zoo for the first time.  It was sunny out all day and the temperature was in the 60s= PERFECT!  Jacoby loved it.  I think he really just enjoys being outside, and he definitely likes looking at people, kids in particular, but he also noticed some of the animals.  :)  The first part we went into is called Amazonia.  It's the newest part of our zoo and I've never seen it before.  It's like a rainforest in there!  I thought these weird tailed porcupines were adorable.

This is a Capybara.  It was a lot bigger than I thought it'd be.

Jacoby's checking out the turtle.

We thought this looked like a flamingo, but when it turned around, it's bill was like a platypus.

So my boys weren't being very cooperative with the picture taking.  Adam bit his lip in the first one and Jacoby was mid-blink in the next.  Oh well.

He's looking at fish- they were huge!

Jacoby's ride.

I was so excited that the giraffes were so close!

These monkeys were hilarious.  Jacoby was yelling at them.

Can you see the black bird with the yellow beak standing next to the fence?

Juice break!

These birdies were just out in the open!

Adorable sea otters!!

The prairie dog posed for me.

Jacoby had a shouting match with the peacocks.

So, the zoo was fun.  I think we'll be visiting it again this summer!

Here are some other pictures from March and late February, since I haven't posted anything in a while.  Jacoby had his first Valentine's Day, but he was sick that day.  I stayed home with him from church, then after church, Grandma and Grandpa came over and Jacoby got to open his valentines.

So excited!

Which do you think he liked better, Elmo or the tissue paper?

Umm, not a great picture, but it's the only family picture we got that day.

Jacoby got an alligator that rolls from Grandma and Grandpa.

Elmo is reading the card with Jacoby.  This Elmo blows kisses and says things like, "You're Elmo's sweetheart."  I thought he was appropriate for Valentine's Day.

Jacoby turned 9 months old in February.

He learned to pull up and stand.  The first time he did this, I found him standing in his crib when he woke up.

He also started to "snuggle" things that are soft.  Here he is snuggling his pony.

Since he was sick on V-day, he didn't get to wear his V-day shirt, so I made sure to take some pictures of him in it later.

We obviously need to invest in some gates since he can now climb the stairs.  In the meantime, though, these doors contain him in the living room pretty well.  He likes to press his nose and mouth against the windows.  I'm obviously going to have to clean these a little more often now.

Jacoby is Trying to Crawl

Here is a quick video of Jacoby attempting to crawl.  I taped this a couple weeks ago and he has since upgraded to "Advanced Army Crawler" status.  He still hasn't been able to actually crawl on his knees yet, but I have a feeling he will soon!

Jacoby's Surgery

Monday night after school, the three of us traveled up to Indy, hoping to get there before the snow- and we did!  We stayed at a hotel just 3 miles away from the hospital.  Jacoby was wired and didn't go to bed until about 9:30!  Hmmm... I wonder who got him so worked up...  The picture below is what Adam was doing to him.  Yes, that is a shelf Jacoby is sitting on.  He'd slide off, Adam would catch him and put him back up, and then they'd do it all over again.  This reminds me a little of how my dad always acted when we spent the night in a hotel.  :)

We got to the hospital Tuesday morning at about 9:30, got Jacoby back into a room where we dressed him in that cute little hospital gown, and then played the waiting game.  Jacoby hadn't eaten since 2 am, so we were trying everything to keep him busy and happy until the nurse finally took him for his surgery at 11:15.  (It was supposed to be at 10:30)

It was hard to let the nurse take him away, but at least HE wasn't crying- only me!  I don't think I could've handled him crying, too!  The whole surgery lasted about an hour and a half.  The wait was made a little easier by the fact that we were talking with another couple the whole time whose son was in for a very similar surgery.  In fact, there were about 8 little boys having some surgery of this sort there that morning.  That made me feel better knowing that this was so common.  The doctor came and got us when he was all finished and told us that everything went well, but he had to do a lot of work- more than he even expected.  A few minutes later, the nurse brought us back to see Jacoby.  I could hear him screaming as soon as I stepped through the door.  He was totally out of it!  They had just turned off the gas and he woke up immediately.  They said it's usually better if they sleep a little while longer, because then they're not awake for the "delirium" stage.  Well, he was obviously going through this when we got back there... poor boy!  He finally settled down and started acting like himself again.

   

He got to take home his gas mask as a little souvenir!  He loved chewing on it- it smelled fruity!  Here he is once we got back home and he took some Tylenol with codeine.  I'm sure glad this is all over!