A new Keiki

Most everyone knows by now that Mandy is pregnant again with our second baby. We went for the first OB visit today and got a dating ultraound and it seems she is now 11 weeks along so the due date will be in early July. It's too early to tell if we are having a boy or girl but so far we can see 2 legs 2 arms, a beating heart and a brain, all good things and it's still a pretty exciting thing to see the baby at such a early age. It definitely made the whole thing seem real.


This picture wasn't the best but it was the only one the tech handed me and everyone seemed to be in a hurry. I hope to get better ones at future visits.

Jake is feeling better now and back to his playful self. He even is taking his antibiotics without a fus tonight which is a great thing considering we nearly had to tie him down the first few times.

Some days are sick days......

We officially have a nanny now and we are very happy so far. Part of the reason for the nanny is to keep Jake from getting sick so often. Out of the past several months his nose seems to continuously run and at least once a month we had to scramble to find someone to watch him at the last minute. Unfortunately Jake had one more bad cold/flu left in him. Jake has been sick in the past but no matter how bad he got he always played and laughed between the fevers and puking. He seemed to get sick enough on Friday that we started him on Augmentin and we are glad that we did that. All day Saturday Jake was had high fevers and cough that made him puke and was generally miserable. If it didn't involve watching Nemo or drinking apple juice he wasn't interested. It took some serious coaxing to get him to take the medicine because it tastes bad and Jake pretty much likes everything. One cute side to the illness is that every time he coughed and woke himself up at night he would cry out "mommmmmy.....mommmy" This was too much for mandy to handle and even though he would fall back asleep on his own she would go downstaris to give him a drink (or poke me in the side until I did). Today he is at least playing some and seems to be on the mend as you can see from the picture he was more interested in playing with the laundry basket than helping fold the socks. (I can't blame him)

Tis the Season for Napping

Winter seems to have arrived here in Atlanta. Tonight we are supposed to see our first true freeze ith the possibility of snow and the days have been pretty cold (by our measure) recently. So far jake has not seen snow but if he doesn't see any by Christmas we may have to go up to Mount Hood for a day trip when we come to Portland. Jake at first would have nothing to do with gloves and hat but now wears them all the time when going out. Kili and Hobbes are taking every opportunity to get warm whenever we are around as you can see below. Even Jake couldn't resist sleeping on the couch with Mandy. We decorated the living room and tree today. So strange since this is our first Christmas on the mainland in 6 years.

Thanksgiving in Iowa

Here are some pictures of Jake helping TomTom with the flag pole, Jake helping Aunt Barb and Ava clean vegetables, and Jake giving Scooter a hug under the blanket. It was pretty cold and Jake learned to love his new coat, hat, and mittens:





We had a really nice time at Aunt Barb and Uncle Marv's house for Thanksgiving. We were able to see Great Grandma Sue and Great Grandpa Gary AND Great Grandma Weezie. Grammy Kris, TomTom, and Aunt Heather were there, too. We saw Adam, Kelly, Jacob, Luke, Katie, and Ava as well as Uncle Dan and Aunt Renita. It was a great, restful weekend. Here is a video of some Wii play:

Happy Birthday Jake

Jake had his birthday party today. We had a few firends and their kids over for dinner cake and presents. Thank you to all who have sent things for Jake, even the ones that make loud noises. Jake learned to open presents and blow out his candles as you can see. mandy took him for his 2 year appointment yesterday and he was 36 inches tall and 33.5 pounds (yes he has a lost weight from the week long gastroenteritis) I think this is the first time his height in inches exceeds his weight in pounds since he was a few months old.

The Nanny search is on...

Scott and I are finally at the end of our daycare rope. Jake has been sort of sick for the last 5-6 days and they've rejected him twice. Well, rejected is a strong word, I know, but still he is not wanted when he is sick. Understandable, yes. We're using Sittercity.com and we've found some good candidates, but the interview process is just beginning. We have a few friends who have Nannies and they've had good experiences so we're hoping for the same and not some scary person. If anyone knows of a Nanny in Georgia or wants to move to Georgia to become a Nanny, please let us know!

Happy Halloween

Courtesy of Grammie Cuda we had a new costume for Jake this year. Unfortunately the pumpkin was too small and Jake wasn't willing to squeeze into it. With some convincing we were able to get him to wear the superman costume. It took some more convincing to get him to go and knock on a random door and ask for candy but after he found out how simple it was to get free candy for mommy he was readlly excited. I even let him have a few pieces of chocolate.

A Visit With Christine and Frank

Mandy and I went to the AAP together for CME and education this year. We brought Jake with us and stayed with Christine and Frank and Parker. It was a good time and we wish we had more time to spend with them and vistiting other old friends we have not seen in a while. It was a great time for Jake who not only has an old playmate about the same age as him but tons of new toys to play with. I think he might have at least learned what sharing is. Next step is to get him to share with other kids. Both Parker and Jake love cars but fortunately there was enough to go around most of the time. I am also pretty sure Parker influenced Jake to start using many more words. Jake is now counting to 3 with prompting and learned to say "no" among many other new words this weekend. I took some pictures and video of them together for our families and for Addie who I know would like to see them. Bobby and Bob got to meet Jake for the first time as well and we have several good pictures from dinner ar their house.

The videos are from today when Jasmine (the nanny) and I took the boys to the park and hen after lunch. I am not sure if Jake was trying to hug Parker or wrestle but it was pretty funny.

Oktoberfest....In Las Vegas

Our first vacation of the year drastically changed as soon as we left for the airport. Everyone tries to maximize their vacations and we are no different. We had plans to fly to Las Vegas on Friday night to meet up with Grandpa Tom and Grandma Kris. Unfortunately Mandy was running late at the clinic. No big deal, I went to go pick up Jake from daycare had him ready to go in the seat and unfortunately the Xterra wouldn't start. Our flight was scheduled to leave in just under 2 hours and Mandy quickly rearranged my flight until Saturday morning so I could stay back and get the car towed. I was able to get her and Jake to the airport just in time to make the flight and had already talked to the dealership about dropping the car off before they closed at 2000 but so far no tow truck. USAA covers an 11 mile tow radius and the dealership was about 14, no big deal I thought. I told the dispatcher that I could pay the 10 dollar overage fee in cash. Instead of sending the tow truck she had sent another few people in a ford explorer to get the cash first. I still could have made it to the dealership on time however the people in the Ford explorer decided to give the gate guards on base a hard time and were in the process of being kicked out. It took me a while to figure out that the tow truck wouldnt come until I payed the fee upfront becuase drivers for this company were not allowed to handle cash. Long story short I can't drop the car off becuase it is now too late, and eventually get the car towed back to our house that is in fact within the 11 mile radius late at night. At this point after meeting the drivers I am just happy to have the car back at home in one piece. I didn't find this out later but Mandy did an amazing job getting herself and Jake from the airport in Vegas to the hotel with all the luggage and baby gear. Thankfully Jake was a good sport and random people were willling to help her out.

After I arrived the next morning I found out that her Grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer on Friday. This caused another change of plans. We decided to all go to Iowa instead and spend time with the family instead of driving south. With the help of Orbitz and my laptop I arranged tickets to Iowa and another return flight to Phoenix (our return flight to Atlanta is from Phoenix). Jake got to fly to Indianapolis with Tom and Kris and then drive to Iowa while Mandy and I stayed in Vegas for one more night. Before we left everyone went out to the Hofbräuhaus in Vegas. Jake has grown into his Lederhosen from Wolfgang and Ellie and was an immediate hit with the servers.

Happy 22 months, Jake!

Jake is now 22 months old. Amazing. I say that every month as he adds to his experiences and skills. As we are well entrenched in our routine of work, home, and weekend activites here in Atlanta, the weeks just fly by! He has really added to his vocabulary this month. He has been caught saying phrases now: "Where is Daddy?"and "Please, more". He says random things that we've never taught or reinforced with him like: "MARTA" (the mass transit system here in Atlanta) or "Choo-Choo" in reference to trains. He says "Daddy", "Mama", "Jakie","doggy", "kitty" pretty accurately and appropriately. He's begun keeping an entourage of friends, which grows every day, but currently includes: 3 plastic bathtub frogs, 2 hot wheel Lightening McQueens, 1 beenie baby praying teddy bear, and 1 talking Junior Asparagus of Veggie Tales fame. This is all, in addition to his 2 blankies and 1 binky ("bee-bee" in his vocabulary). He keeps this entourage only for naps, bedtime, and car trips. The frogs he lines up around him in perfect order. Scott blames me for this OCD seeming trait. I just call it attention to detail! We are doing well and have enjoyed visits from Uncle Adam (x2 already) and Grammy Kris and Grandpa Tom-Tom this month. We are looking forward to a visit from Grammy Barb soon, as well. We're settled into a church, which is our only outside of home and work activity right now, but it's ok. Life is fairly simple right now. Sort of. Especially now that the last few boxes have been unpacked! I've been taking a few pictures with my new Blackberry and posting them on Facebook and Flickr. Take a look for more frequent picture updates!

Happy 21 months, Jake!

Here is a picture of Jake, Finn, Henry, and Milo. It is the first time we met Milo on our trip to Indianapolis to see everyone. Scott wasn't able to go because he was on call, but it was ok. Jake is closer to 20 months here, but close enough.

Here is a picture of Jake and I that is one of my recent favorites. He's really a great kid, this picture really shows his happy side, which is almost all the time. I'm grateful we only have occasional tantrums!

Amidst the busyness of working and unpacking our house, I've neglected the blog for too long. I don't know if we have any faithful followers anymore, but even if not, this is a good way to chronicle Jake's first years.

The Amazing things Jake does

Scott and I were making a list of the amazing things that Jake has learned to do in the last 3 months since I returned from Afghanistan. Some days, it feels like he is growing up right before our eyes. Here's the list we came up with:
1. He can hold a carton of milk, drink from the straw or straight from the carton. Along those lines, he drinks really well out of a cup.
2. He can say so many words. They all require great encouragement and repeating what we say, but he's adding new ones to his vocabulary every day. Today he said cucumber, which was a little garbled, but definitely understandable. He says hi, bye-bye, mommy, daddy, Jakie, kitty, doggie, please, down, up, meow, and other words that I can't think of right now.
3. He can climb anything. I mean anything. All the climbing ladders at the park are his favorite. He hasn't figured out that chairs help him climb at home. Or it might be that we only have 2 chairs in the entire house right now...
4. He spontaneously hugs and kisses Scott and I. Awesome!
5. He waves, hi and good-bye. He gives high fives and knuckles, which I figure Uncle James would appreciate.
6. He runs, jumps, walks backward, and gallops. I can't keep up with him!
7. He throws his trash away, puts his clothes in the hamper, and puts his shoes by the door. None of this happens without encouragement, but he still does it.

I know these are all things that a kid should be doing, but to watch Jake learn how to do everything for the first time is amazing!

Moving Day

We are finally going to move into our new home in Atlanta! As a result, we may not have great internet service for a few days. The place is pretty empty since our furniture won't arrive until August. Thankfully it is an older home with quite a bit of character so it will be ok. We are the first renters that this owner has had. She has lived in the house for 20 years and she's very attached to the house, understandably. Kate and I have discussed that renting is difficult for "nesters" like us because you can't ever feel really good about making significant changes because you worry about what the owner might think. For example, the walls throughout the downstairs living area are all very goldenrod yellow. Not a bad color, but too much for the whole house. I REALLY want to paint at least one of the rooms. I'm going to talk with her tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. Either way, we are going to be in a house starting tomorrow! Yay...no more hotel!

It's no Hotel Hana!

Daddy and Jake in a new park we discovered.

Mr. Blue Eyes playing on the bouncing bridge.

Mommy and Jake watching Cars for the 30th time in the hotel room.

It's no Hotel Hana, but our home away from home, The University Inn at Emory, has been really nice. Very homey, friendly staff, and great breakfast, coffee, and snacks. We've found and signed for a rental home in Virginia Highlands that we're pretty excited about. We don't move in until July 10th, though! We moved the cats into a kennel called Kamp Kitty. They are the only guests currently so are very happily the center of the owner's attention. At first I felt guilty about putting them there, but they are on Kitty Vacation, especially Hobbes from Jake. Scott has already started work. Long days, but off on most weekends, and no home call!!! What a huge improvement to residency life! I start this Tuesday and Jake starts in his new daycare, which is on post. This is the first time we've decided to go with the post day care option and we'll see how it goes, but they seem very nice and professional. I think it will be ok for now. We've been enjoying the nice weather in Atlanta. It was hot initially, but now much better. We're very grateful for the birth of our most recent nephew, Milo Patrick. Congrats Meg and Mike! We'll post some pictures when we have them of the new house. Our furniture won't arrive until August so we'll be in an empty house for a little while, but no worries, we can still take visitors!

Goodbye Hawaii and Aloha Atlanta!

Scott, Jake, Kili, Hobbes, and I took a red-eye flight on Tuesday night to arrive here in Atlanta, our new home, early Wednesday morning. We were able to pick up the Xterra right away so that was nice. I checked into my new unit and we visited a house we are thinking of renting. Wednesday was actually pretty productive! We are staying in a very nice little Inn/B&B just outside of Emory. It is small, but they have breakfast every morning, snacks and drinks every evening, and allow the kitties to join us! It's a good deal. Thursday and Friday, we've spent running various errands, getting paperwork done for work, and just resting. Jake has been sick today, which hasn't been easy, but he's ok and we're ok, too. Things are looking good for the house we looked at on Wednesday. For those of you who know Atlanta, it is located in Virginia Highlands, steps away from Piedmont Park and lots of cute shops/restaraunts. I will be sending out address change information as soon as everything is official.

Promotion and Graduation

You are seeing some pictures from our promotion and Scott's graduation. We are at the tail end of a busy week. We packed up the house, cleaned it thoroughly, have had Grammy Barb visiting, both got promoted, Scott graduated, had two big parties, and are now relaxing on Father's Day. Phew!

Visit to the Mainland

Auntie Heather and Jake at Aunt Barb's. They are watching fireflies!

Grandpa Tom Tom and Jake at a farm visit with Uncle Dan, Aunt Renita, and Grandma Weezie:

Visit at Aunt Barb and Uncle Marv's with second cousins, Jacob and Ava:

I can't believe how long it's been since we blogged! The last few weeks have definitely flown by as we've traveled around the midwest to visit family, to Atlanta to look for a new home, and back to Hawaii to outprocess and move our stuff. Even as we speak, the movers are packing up our entire house. The cats and Jake are a little mystified by the whole thing. Good news is, we've found a house! It's a long story, but we decided to rent for the short time that we'll be in Atlanta. We'll be moving to the Virginia Highlands neighborhood of Atlanta. It's a good, central location to all our work places and is a cute city neighborhood with parks, trendy shops, and hopefully nice neighbors! Best news for me...it's only about a mile from the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and a Caribou Coffee! I'll write more in the next few days as we prepare to leave our beautiful home in Hawaii and start our new adventure. In the meantime, here are some pictures of our travels.

Party Days!

Adam had his promotion ceremony this weekend and we celebrated with him. Scott and I were promoted to Major as of yesterday (Sunday), but we haven't officially "pinned" on so we aren't wearing the rank yet. Our ceremony will be 19 June. Here's a picture:

Thanks to Heather, Adam's mom, Nancy, Melissa, and Malia, Jake and I were able to throw a really fancy tea for our friend, Callie's, baby shower. It was a lot of fun and I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. I am going to miss living in this house with all the entertaining amenities. Jake is a great sport and enjoyed his first taste of sherbet punch, angel food cake, and brownies (at least that I know of!) He loved all of the attention. Here a couple of pictures:

Jake is saying a new word: tiger! In honor of his lunch box, which is in the shape of a tiger. Scott is traveling to Palau and we miss being there with him. We'll get a fun trip soon! We're looking forward to seeing everyone soon in order to continue the Party Days!

Happy Mothers day

Heather, Mandy jake and I went to the botanical gardens in Kaneohe today for lunch to celebrate mommy day. I grabbed some takeout from Boots and Kimo in Kailua to bring along. Kate and James can appreciate the macadamia nut pancakes that we all are so fond of. It was a really nice day with plenty of ducks for jake to terrorize and feed as well as many other new things to get into. Jake decided to start jumpimg off of things recently as you will see with one of the videos. The other pictures are of us in the park.

The first video is Jake jumping off the park bench (no I didn't push him)

This video is of Jake feeding the duck the leftover macadamia nut pancakes he seems to love all animals especially birds, dogs and cats.



Jake also now has a favorite activity in the pool. Sometimes he leisurely steps out off the edge and sometimes he is able to actually jump. The good thing is he does it over and over until he gets worn out which is good for us.

The Jake Gym

I don't always get much time to wor out but thankfully Jake is usually nearby willing to help with some basic exercises. James coined the term "Jake Gym" a while back and since then the exercise possibilties have expanded. He is now trained as you can see to provide extra challenge to my push ups.

He also helps with hiking occasionally. we took him with us to the lighthouse off Mokapu'u point. He didn't like the monkey on his back so much at first but eventually he got used to it.

Mom and Dad went to Disney World and all I got was this stupid hat!!

It has already been a few days and we are back to work already. Mandy had her annual FP conference in Orlando this year. I was able to tag along and visit with some old friends from medical school. We got Jake a hat and a few other things. He didn't seem to mind that we were gone for a few days.

Jake vs. Kili 2: Grudge Match

Jake and Kili scrap from time to time but Kili is geting older and Jake is just getting bigger. Yesterday they had a confrontation over who was boss of the window (usually only Kili and Hobbes fight over this) and decided to throw down. It wasn't too pretty, we missed the first few seconds where Kili got his sucker punch in but after that it was all Jake who is steadily improving his ground game. He even stopped a few seconds to taunt Kili in front of the camera.

Jake and Kendall's Play Date

Kendall came over to visit a lot over the weekend. We had a lot of fun at the pool and beach. We ate a great "Thanksgiving" dinner tonight complete with Auntie Addie's effort at making Auntie Christine's wonderful sweet potato casserole. It was really good! Here's a cute picture of the two of us. Eat your heart out, Parker...

My New Life

I've officially arrived! Not only do I have an actual Mommy and Daddy who are present in my life, I now have a big boy haircut! My before picture is above and after is below.
More pictures to come with Mommy and Daddy. We haven't been very photogenic all together since Mommy got home. Grammy Barb is still here so hopefully she can get some good shots!

Time to come home

Mandy has sketchy computer access now and should be starting her trek home in the next few days. She asked me to post the information on the blog so people know what is going on.

Happy Birthday Mommy

Happy Birthday to Mommy from Jake. I have been much more independent lately. I still like Grammie and Daddy to hold me but only for a few minutes. I can run really well now and even walk on my tippy toes. So much is in reach and I like to explore everyhting around the house and get into as many things as possible. I really like playing with my wood blocks as you can see even though I somethimes get frustrated when they fall down. Auntie Meg has been here for the past few days taking pictures of me so I can someday be famous.



Here I am getting rolled by a a Tsunami wave that got everybody wet at the beach today. Don't worry everyone including the camera is fine. Come home soon mommy I love you!!

All Pau

Before we had Jake I used to wonder what babies did to let you know they are full. Jake sometimes defies his size and eats what I think a 300 pound Samoan should and I used to worry we were force feeding him. Eventually I learned to notice what he did when he was truly finished eating, sometimes funny but always messy. The cats have learned to steer clear of him except when he is eating becuase if we are too slow to notice when he is done the food will start flying. Sometimes he actually tries to feed the cats or me if I will let him. In any case we say "Pau" for done here in Hawaii and I think he knows what that means now as well. This morning he had peanut butter toast, much of it was spread over his face.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines day Mommy from Scott and Jake. I have the weekend off but no new great pictures yet but I thought I would post a video of Jake soaring through the air. One of his favorite things to do.

Jake the Airborne Ranger

It was another nice day so went spent the afternoon down at the beach again. Jake Played int he water until his lips turned blue. After that we took him up on the beach and he warmed up for a while. He always loved the Jake gym (see previous posts if you forgot) and he also likes to to go Airborne sometimes. For all those concerned no I have never dropped him or even come close and I have to Grammies as witnesses, one with a camera. I am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow but another day at work means one more day closer to Mandy coming home.