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.