Oh so funny:)

Jakub has a new-found love of noisy plastic. I just love his laugh!

Old video and new pictures...

So, I have an old video to share. I'm sorry it's so old and I'm just now getting around to posting it. I figured some of you would still want to see it:) It's nothing too exciting, but it's of Jakub at 5 months and when we had just bought his highchair. He was practicing sitting in it:) He had also just learned to blow his lips and to make the "b" sound. On Father's Day he began making the "da-da" sound and now he repeats it all day long. It's so sweet to hear and it's interesting to watch him learning to work his tongue with the noise he's making. It makes me even more excited to hear the "ma-ma" sound some day. Since I'm making you watch an old video I'm also including some up-to-date pictures of Jakub from this week:)

One more new thing he's doing is pushing himself backwards and up onto his knees. He doesn't hold it for long, but he's definitely getting around the living room well with all of these new moves. I'm going to have to baby-proof soon!





Grandma recently sent us some new toys! Thank you Grandma!! :) We LOVE them. All of the new books are excellent, too. One of the best parts of my day is reading to Jakub before he sleeps. I hope he'll love reading on his own one day as much as I do.



He really likes to "crawl" (scoot backwards) under things and around things now. He likes to use the object nearest him to push himself around. Today he had fun under his high-chair, which is in the living room for now because we're painting the kitchen.




He's really pushing himself up and around now! A couple of days ago he was playing and I left to do some laundry and when I came back he had pushed himself all the way under the coffee table with just his little head poking out. He was stuck, but he thought it was funny:) I'll be glad when he can go forward as well as he can go backward right now!


He's also decided he loves to explore and peek around corners and doors. He always wants to see everything going on and where any noise might be coming from. Josh was working at the table and Jakub could hear him on the computer, so he was peeking around at him. I love watching him explore and discover new things. Whenever he's interested in something he gets a serious look on his face and raises an eyebrow. He'll have to teach me that eyebrow trick one day. :)



And, we've finally finished his room! Now we've just got to rearrange it and decorate it. These are the things we had so hoped to do before Jakub arrived in this world, but that's what he gets for making a sudden and unexpected entrance into our lives:) That, and we only moved 4 days before his birth... Oh well! He'll never remember all of this and now it's just what we wanted it to look like:) I'll put up more pics of it once we complete everything.

Happy 7 Months!

Happy 7 months to our sweet little boy! This last month has been full of so much change and fun and joy. We've loved being with you and watching you experience so many new things with such excitement and curiosity. You have become even more social, talkative, and interactive and it's awesome to witness. Here are some pictures and thoughts to help us remember the last month.

- You are willing to try any food with an open mouth and, so far, you have liked everything but apples. Still, you eat the apples, but with a funny look on your face:) Thanks for being such a good eater! To date you have had cereal, carrots, avocado, zucchini, potatoes, broccoli, green peas, bananas, apples, apricots, pears, and blueberries. You've also had a couple of bites of cheerios and vanilla teething biscuits. You don't seem to like the hard, crunchy stuff yet, but you pick it up well with your fingers! :) You're also drinking really well from the cup now.

- You've mostly slept really well over the last month, as is normal for you. Usually from 7 to 5 without waking. Then, you will usually sleep after eating at 5 until 7 or 8am. Over the last week you've woken at 11/12 and 4 and then again around 630. Thankfully, last night you returned to the 7-5 schedule. I'm hoping it was only a growth spurt or teeth and that you're back to normal now. :)


- You push, pull, and turn yourself all over the floor with your arms and it's so neat to see. You're like a little inch worm. You're starting to kick and move your legs a lot as well. On Wednesday, two different times, you pushed yourself backwards and up onto your knees, then you fell down and used this as a method to scoot backwards across the bed. It was so cool to watch. I really feel like you'll be crawling on those knees very soon. You sit up really well to play and rarely fall over. You also love to stand and bounce on your legs while we hold your hands.


- You don't have a check-up this month, but I think you weigh around 9 kg or 19 lbs 13 oz. That's my guess. We'll know more at your 8mo check-up. You also seem taller recently, and your feet seem longer and skinnier. You're growing so quickly!


- You take baths in the big bathtub now- sitting up. It's much more fun this way and you love to play with your toys in there. You don't mind when Daddy pours water all over your face while playing with you. You also love the water at the pool and you kick your legs like you're swimming. I love it! You also don't mind going under water. You take the best naps after swimming. (and look at all those fun, chunky rolls and big tummy- so cute!)



- You can put in, take out, throw away, go after, retrieve, and put back in your own pacifier now:) In fact, you like to throw a lot of things. This is a cute, but bad habit. You like to throw your sippy-cup (sp?) off of the high-chair, too, and that's not so cute. These are the first moments when we're having to tell you "no" and explain to you what we don't like about it. I'd rather just laugh and throw things with you, that's more fun:)

- You still hate to watch us leave the room and you cry about it. It's one of the only times you cry (also when really sleepy) and it's endearing, but also annoying:) We try to just let you cry and continue with our chores or work, but you don't break so, after a while we usually do. You are very stubborn in this way and you don't give up!

- You've started laying your head on my shoulder when you get sleepy and I really like this. You enjoy snuggling until you are ready for your bed and then you can't get comfortable until we put you there. I like that you want your bed to sleep in- makes it easy on us!



- You still go to anyone who wants you and I love that! You recently let one of our summer interns hold you through church and you fell asleep on her shoulder!

- Your favorite books are still "Ježišek v Betlemě (about the birth of Jesus)," "If you give a moose a muffin," and "I love you through and through." You like to read about 3 books before naps/bedtime.

- You must be getting a tooth soon because you bite everything and the drool is just ridiculous:) You eat your feet, your toys, the blankets, the table, my face... :) Here's the proof:





And to Harper, my niece, thank you so much for picking out these adorable pj's. They are so cute on Jakub. I love them! You are the best. Thank you for thinking of us and for the sweet messages you wrote for me on my birthday and for Jakub. We love you very much!

Happy 7 months Kubi, we love you more than you know!

Our teens...

A couple of the teenagers who come to our weekly after-school programs took this photo of Jakub with their phone. We were in the park together playing Frisbee, which we usually do after school is out on Wednesdays. These teens have really loved being around Jakub and are constantly asking about how he is doing, when they will see him next, if they can play with/hold/walk him. It's been so sweet to see and such a blessing to have these kids in our lives. I want to ask for your prayers as we continue to offer these programs for the teens throughout the summer, as we get ready to host two camps for them, and as we strive to work with them and to be role models and good influences in their lives. We want so much for them and have really enjoyed getting to know many of them over the past 2 years. We're looking forward to a full summer with them and we pray we'll be blessings in their lives and that they'll continue to see God working through us. Please pray they see that and they see our love for them. Please pray our camps will be full of kids and that they will respond well to the Christian themes and messages we'll be sharing with them during those weeks. We can't wait to be at camp. Thank you!

Laughing...

I just wanted to share this sweet video with you of Jakub laughing at Josh. He has an infectious laugh, in my opinion of course:), and it's fun to find ways to bring it out of him:) Usually, some kind of throwing, dropping, noise-making game will do the trick. I couldn't get too close to his face because he stops laughing when he sees the camera. (For those who have been here: one day his room really will be finished and be painted the colors we want. One day... :)

Bonding time with Jakub...

I have a couple of new videos for you. They are from about 3 weeks ago, I think. We captured some of our quality, family, bonding time on tape. The first is of some precious father-son time. The second is of our first bowling experience with Jakub.:)


We went through a small phase where Jakub began waking at 630, then 615, then 555 and that's when I got the black curtains. Our sun comes up way to early for us these days:) During this little phase the only thing that would help Jakub back to sleep was if Josh got into the guest bed with him for another hour or so. Now, he's back to sleeping in his own bed until 730-8. If you've ever had this problem I suggest you give some dark curtains a try:) They seem to help some for nap-time, too.




(see below for our pictures from vacation)

Vacation! Yippee! Yeah! Hoorah!

So, we recently decided that we should take a mini-vacation before the summer work begins, which will really consume our time until our camps and camp follow-up activities are done around the end of August. We've greatly anticipated these events, and the coming of our 3 summer-interns, but we know the exhaustion that will come with all of the work and joy that will be these next 3 months. So, we quickly found a cabin in the mountains near-by for a 4 day weekend and we took off! We loved it there. It was isolated, beautiful, peaceful, and refreshing mentally, spiritually, and physically. We took around 200 pictures, so I'll let some of those do the talking for me:) Jakub had a great time meeting new creatures, sitting by the river, walking in the woods, chewing on some bark, grilling outside with Daddy, trying new foods, playing with and being spoiled by us:). We had a lovely time and arrived home safely, relaxed, and just in time to greet our 3 interns and a lovely little stomach flu. Josh and I have been ill all week like nothing we've encountered in a long time. I can't even talk about it, I'll just say we're beginning to get better now and we're so thankful that, once again, God has kept Jakub safe and strong despite the creepy germs we were breathing on him all week. Come on, even if you were terribly sick could you stop kissing this face? :)

And look at those eyes! He should always wear a hooded, blue coat, right? :) They are just one of the reasons we still can't stop looking at him, kissing on him, etc.



And then there's that smile...



Here's the cottage where we stayed. It had several small apartments inside. We rented one called "The Sunflower." You guessed the decoration theme. It was so cute and cozy and we loved it.



Here's the fire pit in the back yard for grilling or having bonfires. We didn't use it, but we did use some of the wood to burn in our wood stove. Yes, it's still cold enough here, especially in the mountains, to need warmth in the home:) We had fun going to sleep with the fire burning at night.



Here's the back porch with the grill and some seating. We did grill out and Jakub also enjoyed sitting in his stroller or on the bumbo seat and watching the trees and nature around him. Or watching Daddy play with fire:)



This was one of the most beautiful and fattest chickens I had ever seen. It was just out roaming free in the backyard around us.




There were snails everywhere near the river, so we had fun showing those to Jakub. We don't run in to these much in the city:)




Here's the river, which was also in the backyard, just down a small hill. You could hear it from our cottage and it was wonderful. We miss being near water and having the sound of rushing water coming through the windows was awesome. God's creation is awesome!


On to the inside...

So, that's it. Small, but cute, and had a fully equipped kitchen so we enjoyed our stay there very much.

More of Jakub and other vacation happenings... enjoy! :)










Wow. A lot of pictures. Hope you enjoyed them! I have more to come soon, including videos! :)