1 month old

"To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there."

Baby Jacob Edward is 1 month old today. Amazing! He is starting to make more eye contact - really checks people out. Gives little smiles when you talk to him. I took Jacob shopping last night, bought him a few outfits. (Love the clearance racks at Kohls - plus I had a 30% off coupon.) I am trying to get used to buying little boy outfits again. I'm so used to buying dresses and pink clothing. It was fun. I am looking forward to raising another little boy. His brothers want him to dress really cool. I got him a little denim jacket, Tony Hawk pants, camouflage clothing,...I'm sure his sisters will have some input too.
I just saw a preview for New Moon - the second Twilight movie. Looks really good. I can't wait to see it. I enjoyed all 4 books in that series. Fun to read. And our son happens to have the two main characters' names, but that's by coincidence :o)
Noah had a baseball game today. He just isn't into baseball. Coach has to keep saying Noah's name to get him to pay attention to what's going on around him. Oh well. At least he "kind of" tried it. We'll find something he is passionate about. He loves to draw like our oldest son. Maybe Noah will be artistic like Brandon. Brandon loved karate when he was really young, then tried soccer and baseball and in Jr. High did wrestling. I'm hoping Ethan or Noah want to try wrestling since we now own all the gear :o) Brandon is an incredible artist. I hope he can find a career using his wonderful talent. Ethan has a great time playing baseball and basketball, but wants to spend more time writing stories. He enjoys Goosebumps and wants to write books that are a little creepy. It's so hard to know what to sign your children up for. I want them to have a chance to try many different things, but in reality, that's expensive and it's impossible for me to take everyone to everything.
After Noah's game we played at the park again. Love our park! Our children played on the big hillside slide for a long time. We decided it was time to leave when the "grumpy" parents showed up. Goodness. I kept telling my children not to stare, but they found it hard not to. One mother started yelling at all the children on the slide trying to find the "bully" that took her child's wax paper (it helps you go down faster when you sit on it.) Then another father ran up the hill to yell at all the children to find who pushed his daughter and made her cry. Well, I believe they were both looking for and yelling at the same little boy. He was probably about 3 years old. As a parent, I would have been more upset at these adults yelling at my child, but I think this little boy's poor father was embarrassed or just to the edge of his patience. The whole park could hear this little boy cry as his father took him away from the slide to put him in "time out." Soon the father could also be heard across the whole park yelling at his son while holding him down. It was sad. One moment they're having a great day at the park and next it's just a complete meltdown for both of them. Tom and I told our children it was time to go. Just a bit uncomfortable at the park - they didn't argue, I think they were feeling uncomfortable too.
We ran to the store to buy Brandon some new shoes - the boy is growing! And then to another store to get Ethan's birthday gift. Went home and made everyone get in the shower or bath - Rachel, Leah, and Sarah were covered from head to toe in dirt from the park :o) Then we had pizza and watched a movie together. I love when we are all together. Every week I receive emails with prayer requests - makes me realize how much I have to be thankful for.