Hi doggie

We walked to Starbucks for a late afternoon pick-me-up and Jake was
thoroughly entertained by the dog hanging around outside. Dave and I
are so tempted....

Coffee with Aunt Erica

I left work a little early to grab my monkey and spend some time with
him on a warm, sunny Friday afternoon. We started the afternoon right
with a quick visit with Erica, who was brave enough to deal with a
sick mom & her baby (getting used to the germs at daycare has been
rough in all of us!). We also got in a quick trip to the park. I'll be
happy when it doesn't get dark so early.

Going to 'school'

Jake wore a borrowed outfit from Jay yesterday... and pooped all over
it! Looks like my attempt to save money by borrowing clothes backfired.

We watched Jake 'crawl' all around tonight. What a hoot! He digs his
toes in and pulls with his arms but never lifts his belly off the
ground.

My teeth!

Can you see those little troublemakers?

First cookie

Thanks to Aunt Allison who taught me that my strict rules about what
Jake eats are unnecessary, Jake got his first 'teething biscuit' last
night. It was a hit! I really did not like the goo it left behind
though! Today he had his first cup of yogurt, too. Teeth are opening
up a whole new world! Hopefully he uses those teeth strictly for
eating... I was told he had a temper tantrum today when I picked him
up from daycare. Is there such a thing as the "terrible 8 months"??

Just try and put a diaper on me!

I know I'm out of shape, but I should be able to diaper and dress an 8-
month-old, right? See how he pulls the entire cover off his changing
table when he rolls over? At least I get a little workout twice a day!

Teething. Not fun.

Runny nose is still sticking around and the little guy hasn't been
able to sleep at night. I think I saw that both teeth have actually
broken through today so I'm hoping this misery ends soon. I've read
that the earlier babies get teeth, the easier it is on them. Doesn't
seem to be the case for poor Jake -- or maybe he's not "early" seeing
as little Thomas already has 8 teeth! What's in the water over in
Korea? Do they just drink straight calcium?

We had a fun weekend at Jay's third birthday party, and we got to meet
baby Deven (is it possible Jake was ever that small?). Jake's new
carseat was a success - he slept up and back to Sacramento!

I'm loving that spring is arriving and I'm one of the few out here
not complaining about the rain-- I am teaching Jake new words and
phrases like "green grass," "cloud," and "weather" (although I think
he learned all he'll eve need to know about weather in Mass. At
Christmas!).

First fever

Jake's still going through a rough teething stage. One has slightly
broken through and the other has tried to break through but a blister
has formed. Definitely not as easy as his bottom two were. I'm not
sure if it's related but he has cold symptoms and a fever of 100.7. :
( His first fever!

I knew for sure something was up when I brought him home from daycare.
That is play time for him - he wants his toys, the floor to scoot
around on, and that's it - cuddle time with me is out of the question.
But today he clung to me, laid his head on my shoulder, and fell
asleep. I was so surprised by it (and secretly happy to have my cuddly
baby back) that I took this picture.

Bang bang bang

Jake kept himself entertained and let Dave and I enjoy a nice lunch
this past weekend by banging away on the metal table. I'm not sure how
the other patrons felt about the 'music' - funny how I've quickly
turned into someone who doesn't notice/care what other people think.

In other big news, Jake is cutting his two front teeth. He's
definitely going to end up with his mom's honking teeth... poor thing
is having such a hard time his gums were bleeding tonight.

Cheers!

Murphy family happy hour. :)

First museum trip

Here we are in the infant room at the award-winning San Jose Discovery Museum. We went for the "infant activity" session, which consisted of sitting in a room the size of my bathroom with a million other infants and their parents. Then some crazy lady came in and screamed/ sang patty cake and handed Jake some sort of recycled tubing for him to play with. She took it back 5 minutes later and that concluded "infant activity." BOO. So not worth the twenty-something dollars!

Take a hike

That's exactly what we're going to do tomorrow with our friends. We're
slackers - this will be Jake's first hike. Our friends have a two-
month-old. They're also avid cyclers, campaigned for Obama, and are
doing cloth diapers. Dave and I always feel like schmucks after
visiting them. We went to the bookstore today to buy the baby a gift
and Dave said "We need 'My First Solar Panel' boardbook". Ha, it just
made me laugh again when I typed it.

Thanks to Jeanne, Mike, Allie and Jack for our backpack carrier!

Exciting changes

I'm more and more excited that Jake is starting out with Obama in office. Dave sent Obama's letter to his daughters, and I got a little teary-eyed.

Morning walk

This morning Jake and I took a walk downtown - something I miss doing with him each day so much. Luckily it's starting to warm up but it was still cool enough to wear this sweater that Jack used to wear. Yes, my nephew's name is Jack and I named my baby Jake... I'm never going to hear the end of that one! In other big news Dave returns to work tomorrow and Jake starts daycare full- time. Goodbye seven- minute commute, I'll miss you!

Singing

Jake has discovered that he has quite the set of lungs. He shows them
off by 'singing' as loud as he can. I caught a picture of it today
when we were sharing the back seat of the car. How can it be that his
new carseat is so large that it doesn't fit in my trunk (we had to
wedge it into the front seat)?

I'm going to be a big cousin

Jake's showing off his new outfit from aunt Lisa. Tonight we showed
him the ultrasound pictures of his twin, girl cousins. We can't wait
for May!

Big day

Jake starts day care tomorrow, or 'school for babies' which is how I
explained it to Allie. Dave's still home for another week but because
I'm not handling the whole day care thing very well, I wanted to
transition gradually. I shouldn't worry - the woman who will be
watching him is so nice and I just want her to love him (hard not to
do!). This is a picture of him busting out of his size 12 month jammies!

The counter

We started out the new year right by taking Jake to The Counter for
the first time, where we met up with Ashley and Brendon - two of our
favorite people who left the bay area for Vancouver. It was fun to
watch our shy-ish guy immediately take to Ashley. And with the way he
was eying the burgers, I think he's going to be ad big a fan of this
restaurant as Dave and I are.

Happy 2009

I think it's going to be a wonderful year.