Happy FIRST Birthday, Jake!

Jake on June 20, 2006.

Dear Jake,

Today you are ONE. Your Daddy and I keep shaking our heads in disbelief and look at you with so much love. You seem so big and grown, yet still so small at the same time. You are such a delight... you have been happily chasing Theo around this afternoon, crawling as fast as your little hands and feet will allow. Your developing communication skills astound us... when you find a way to tell us what you want and we understand you, you shake your head to express how good you feel. We feel good, too! When you want milk you grab at my shirt (which I'm trying to teach you not to do...) and when I sign milk you give me this cute little chuckle. You are so curious, and want to explore everything. We watch you do new things, thinking to ourselves "Oh WOW!! and Oh no how are we going to deal with that!?" at the same time. Unfortunately there are some things we can't let you examine, and you express your disappointment. Even your frowns are so cute -- you squint your eyes at us and open your mouth to show your teeth and it's hard not to laugh. You also LOVE water, just love it! You are happy to take showers with Mama or Daddy, playing on the shower floor, letting the water spray you from above. You also love baths, helping us wash the dishes, and just a simple bowl of water in the backyard on a sunny day. Books are another favorite of yours, and we often find you happily sitting on the floor or on the bed, turning the pages, pointing to the pictures, and muttering to yourself. We got you two new books for your birthday, including Barnyard Dance, which is a favorite of your friend Ruby. You also got a new anamalz horse from your Daddy. Today we were laughing at how little hair you still have (which is still more than what you had when you were born), while hoping you'll have wonderful hair in the future. You have started kissing us more, still that open-mouth, full-on slobbery kiss that we love, that leaves us wiping our faces afterwards. Still, we welcome those.
We are looking forward to this next year, to you growing more, walking, communicating, and doing so many other things that will make us continue to shake our heads in disbelief, and feel so proud and make our hearts ache with so much love. We love you, Jake Carl.

At lunch with Mama and Daddy.
He really enjoyed eating this lemon! We laughed and laughed at him making this face. And he kept eating it.
Jake's new anamalz horse going giddy-up! A birthday present from Daddy.
At the playground.
So much fun!
Eating blueberries, which Jake LOVES.
We buried Jake's placenta (which had been in the freezer for a year) in our backyard, officially welcoming him earthside . We're a happy family!!