Before....and After.....

A little picture of Chris and Jake before deployment....and now that he is home!! Jake has upgraded from his boppy pillow to the laundry basket - lucky boy!!

Daddy and Jake's First Catch

Well, the moment we've all been waiting for...Jake proving whether or not he has the ability to sling the rock (no, not sell cocaine all you city-folk out there). Since he was born I've been trying to figure out if he's going to be a righty or a lefty...as that determines so many things about the baseball positions he could play. Catcher's can't be left-handed, first baseman usually aren't right-handed, etc. Also, if he couldn't throw well at all...that would determine if he could be a quarterback or not. As you can see, he is a little bit ambidextrous and only throws well part of the time...so he could play any baseball position so far or end up being like a Redskins quarterback (had to...I always felt so much underlying hate on the Eagles on this website, I'm sure most of you agree). Either way...not bad, but he needs some more work.

Jake ACTUALLY crawling...for real

I never really thought it would happen. Jake has been doing the "low crawl" for so long, I just assumed that would be how he chose to get around until he figured out this walking thing.... BUT, in the past couple of days, he has been doing a little more actual crawling - and today.....he just started taking off. You'll see in the video that he does end up back in the "low crawl", but he is moving further and further away from the "low crawl." He also has been saying dada all day long - trying to find Chris. Chris doesn't have to go back to work until Wednesday, BUT was pretty sick last night and still today (with the same thing Jake had), so he has kind of been closed up in another room :-) Lets just hope that I can keep from getting it, b/c after watching Jake and Chris go through it - that is ONE NASTY VIRUS - I have felt really bad for both of them!!!!!! I have also been spraying lysol all over the place - the pillows, the living room, the hallway, the couch....Chris at one point even smiled and said, "do you need to spray ME down?" I wanted to be like, "do you mind??":-)

From Chris

Hello, Everyone! Allison is currently walking me through this process and telling me what I can and can't say...and I believe she has corrected my grammar twice so far...she has set a high standard on this blog. Round of applause for her by the way, for setting this blog up...it did allow me to view pictures of her and Jake (although she was stingy on the pictures of her) on a regular basis. However, the real thing has been so much better, not that I have to tell any of you that. It has been SO AWESOME getting to see Allison and starting to get to know Jake all over again. I have been truly blown away by seeing the bond that the two of them have developed over the last few months and getting to see how much Jake has grown. I certainly look forward to spending time with Jake and teaching him something besides soap operas, pedicures, and whatever else he did with his mom, grandmas and aunts...just wait til I see Poppy and Papa Dee and discuss the lack of manly things he can do...for some reason, he wanted to watch General Hospital over a football game today. Ha. Anyway, I want to thank each of you for the thoughts and prayers over the last 7 months and for all of the joy you helped bring to Allison and Jake's lives while they were back east. We look forward to seeing you all in a few months. Take care.

Jake's new best friend!

Chris and Jake have played all day, but Chris fell asleep around 6pm tonight (he has been traveling for 3 days straight), BUT Jake wasn't going to let him fall asleep easily. He was satisfied playing with Daddy's stuff for a while, but when he got bored with that - he kept trying to wake Daddy up - for about 30 minutes :-) It was pretty cute! I guess playing with me just didn't cut it tonight - but that's totally understandable.

HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!

Aunt Jenn bought Jake that onesie, and Chris loved it!

Jake has played with the dogtags a lot today!!

Checking each other out.....

Well, Chris FINALLY got home :-) As I mentioned, he was supposed to get in at 1am this morning, but.....when I drove over there - they had been delayed and weren't getting in until 4:30am! SO - not much sleep last night, because I was too excited about picking him up! Jake ended up staying at the house and sleeping. Danika stayed with him, and it worked out perfectly. He was able to get a good night's sleep - and only woke up once around 11pm to be sick. He is doing much better today - but I'm definitely thankful that Danika came to help out, b/c as much as I wanted Jake and I to pick up Chris together, he really needed his rest!! Since Chris got home around 4:30am, I didn't get any pictures of the two of us (sorry)! :-( Everyone pretty much scattered right away, since it was so late/early. BUT.....most of you would rather see Chris and Jake anyway, and I have PLENTY of those, so here is our FIRST DAY TOGETHER after 7 months! It's so awesome to have Chris home safely - there are no words to even describe. Thank you to everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers and support during this deployment! They were felt - and appreciated very much!

Not exactly how I imagined....

I promise the next time I blog, there will be HAPPY pictures! OR....at least that is the plan :-) Chris is still getting in at 1am (it's now 10:20pm). So, 2 1/2 hours to go! SO EXCITED! The last 4 hours have been a bit of a challenge, though. About the time I finished my last blog - and right after Chris had called saying he was in the U.S., Jake threw up (maybe that was more of the reason for the tears in the skunk outfit). I was thinking maybe it was just a fluke....but 4 hours later and at least a dozen clean ups from the throw up later (and 6 outfit changes), he finally fell asleep, and hopefully will be able to sleep some of it off! Poor guy - he had nothing left to throw up. I talked to the doctor on call - and she told me to give him some pedialite (yuck), but he threw that up, too, so I do think sleep is the best medicine. This homecoming just isn't going to turn out exactly how I had planned over the past 7 months, BUT....it's still a happy homecoming nonetheless! I feel mostly bad for Chris, b/c he will be coming home to a sick child, but my guess is he will be just as happy to see him - even if Jake does throw up on him a couple of times :-) Kind of crazy that Jake hasn't been sick AT ALL for 9 months of his life, and tonight is the night the virus comes to get him! Just thought you'd enjoy hearing about my night. Instead of cooking a breakfast casserole and some cookies and some homemade chicken salad and all for tomorrow, I've been cleaning up after Jake (and it's so hard to watch HIM be sick). My friend Danika is coming over, though (I warned her not to, b/c I don't want her to get sick - but always happy to have her company), so that way.....when it comes time to go welcome Chris, she MAY stay here with Jake...or pick up Chris, b/c I hate to leave Jake since he is throwing up so much ....... it all just depends on if Jake has lasted that long without being sick again. Crazy, crazy night! Like I said, next time I post - you will have happy pictures, b/c even with a morning reunion between Chris and Jake, it will still be sweet!!