It's Nana's Day!

In true Jace fashion, he would like to wish Nana a very happy birthday on Monday. He hopes she has a wonderful day and does something just for her.

Sidenote: Gone are the days of Jace HOLDING the sign. Many attempts at this picture were taken as Jace ate the sign. ripped the sign, crawled on the sign, etc, etc. Sooo Mommy reluctantly taped the sign out of his reach. It doesn't have quite the affect of Jace holding it in his birthday suit--but trust us, this is for the best (for Mommy's sanity and continued picture taking).

Jace's new skillzzz have Ozzy a little bummed. Jace is such a little booger and is CONTANTLY picking on Ozzy. Those of you who saw Ozzy in his 'mean' days are probably wondering 'how can this be'? We don't know but little Jace has really become a thorn in our 80 lb. dog's side. Jace follows Ozzy wherever he goes and proceeds to pull on his ears, his paws, his tail, and one other thing that looks similar to his tail. :) Ozzy tries his best to be a polite big brother and moves away a little at a time but usually Jace is persistent. This typically leads to Ozzy getting up and moving to the other side of the room. Jace then giggles and follows him and the process starts again. We keep promising Ozzy that one day Jace really will be fun!

This is Ozzy TRYING to ignore Jace.

Jace and Daddy have bonded doing some manly things together the last few days. They watched a car race in bed on Sunday--and napped a little in between. Daddy also gave Jace an introductory tutorial on Play Station 2. Jace loves doing 'guy' things with Daddy sometimes instead of playing dress-up and shopping with Mommy all the time!



One more big birthday wish for Nana---Happy Birthday!!

Do the Wave

So Jace learned to wave hi and bye bye a few weeks ago. In the last week he has been a waving MACHINE. Poor Grandma found out when they were eating breakfast together. Jace took a bite and would wave--so Grandma would wave back. Jace would take another bite and would wave at her again--so Grandma would wave back. This went on and on....and on. It got so bad that Jace was able to wave while taking a bite from the spoon--of course Grandma was ready with yet another wave!! Oh the things Grandma's do! :) When Jace wakes up in the morning he usually waves at Mommy, then Ozzy, then his crib, and his light, and his dresser, etc, etc---you get the idea! Even at daycare he spends much of his afternoon waving--sometimes at others and sometimes just at himself. That silly Jacer!!!!

He is waving in the pic---of course leave it to an 8 1/2 month old--he does it all day long until Mommy wants a good picture!!

Jace's latest

There has been much going on in the life of Jace. First, some of his newest milestones: He is pulling himself up on EVERYTHING! He is pretty proud of himself when he does it but sometimes freaks out when he can't get down. He did it when he woke up in his pack and play this weekend. He was so tired but determined to stand there. Finally he gave in and stuck his thumb in his mouth. The poor kid was wobbling all over one hand on the pack and play and one in his mouth! :) Finally he just kind of let himself tip over. :)
Standing at the coffee table--

Jace has also started saying 'mama'. He has been saying it for several weeks but we weren't sure if it was just more babbling or not. He is now saying it with conviction and after a confirmation from Grandma F we decided he definitely means it! He won't do it on command yet and only says it when he gets really mad or wants something. I must admit--it is pretty cute and usually works to get him whatever he needs.
Jace has also become a master tooth brusher--he LOVES brushing his teeth. He has to let mommy get his 2 teefers real nice and shiny and then he gets a turn. He would sit and brush those bare gums all day if we'd let him!

And finally Jace's diet has now expanded to include chocolate pudding. Jace and Daddy spent Friday together and Mommy came home to find evidence all over Jace!!


In between learning all these new things, Jace found time to go to Kansas City this weekend and visit Aunt Erin and watch his cousin Ryan play soccer. He had a great time and was a very good boy minus naps.
Jace and Aunt Erin catching up

Looking handsome after a night in the pack and play

Hanging out with grandma at Aunt Erin's apartment

Surrounded by the girls

And again!!!

And last but certainly not least--Jace would like to welcome his newest buddy to the world. Mikey D. Jr. (as Jace calls him) was born last week to Mommy's good friend Karla and her husband Mike. We are so excited to meet him!! He's a cutie!

Jace's newest interest.....

Jace has found something new to infatuate him---the ONE cord that is exposed in our house! It is all he can think about!!! What happened to crawling being cute???!!! He can't think about his toys, he can't think about Ozzy, he can't even think about making sure that Daddy is watching him at all times!!! All he cares about is this cord! We think we have a solution in place but the kid is smart so we'll see!
This is the 'I know you know where I'm headed' look

And this is how he giggles when he gets there!! ARRRGH! He laughs and looks over his shoulder the whole way to make sure we see him!



What Jace doesn't yet know is that Mommy is getting the last laugh on this one. Wait until she whips this baby out on his 18th b-day!!

In other news.......
Jace continues to expand at a rather alarming rate and seems to be busting out of his carseat. We will be purchasing a big boy seat very soon.

Jace was able to hit the bar (sports bar) with Mommy and Daddy on Saturday to watch the Iowa game. Unfortunately his lucky jersey seems to have failed. Jace and Daddy spent some time discussing failed lucky hats and jerseys. Jace did have a great time and really enjoyed the loud boys that were with us!!

Jace has been busy working at his new tool bench. He says he's building Mommy a new house with a ginormous new closet! What a sweet boy!

And this pic was just too cute to pass up. Jace just LOVES getting bundled up really early to run with Mommy!

Odds and Ends

We have some odds and ends pictures (in the over 1500 on our computer) from the last few weeks we thought we would share. Of course Mommy never thinks twice about showing off her little cutie.

Aunt Erin was in town last week and so we decided to take Jace to his first Wing Ding. If you have never been to a Wing Ding, just know that many, many chicken wings were consumed. Jace stuck to his old standby--green beans--although he did his best to steal some of Daddy's pop.

Also while Aunt Erin was in town, Jace decided to try Mac and Cheese for the first time. As you have probably already guessed, he did NOT like it. He gagged and groaned and moaned until he realized that Aunt Erin and Mommy were laughing hysterically at his reaction. Then he decided to put on a show and gagged and moaned while he smiled at us. We are so on to him!

It has been getting much colder here, especially in the mornings so Jace has been breaking in some of his big boy warm clothes. And yes, contrary to popular belief--he really is only 8 months old. We have had many people question this--one lady even told Grandma she had a grandson the same age as Jace--14 months!

One of our goals-especially in the cooler weather-is to get Jace to wear shoes. You can see on this morning, Mommy was successful with one shoe. Jace had the other one off before we could get him in his car seat!!

Success!! Shoes and a jacket!! Of course Jace will wear them if they are his cowboy boots!!

YEEHAW Cowboy Jace!!!

Jace attended his first rodeo this weekend and he greatly enjoyed it!! To be honest, he enjoyed the cowgirls a little more than the actual animals or rodeo but that's ok!!
On Saturday morning Jace got all dressed up in his gear to go to the parade. You may notice that Jace is sporting an Iowa jersey instead of a cowboy shirt. That is because it was SATURDAY and like Papa Cook's lucky hat--this is Jace's lucky shirt. It will be worn on every Iowa game day until a game is lost. Yay for Jace getting to wear it again next week!!!

Jace learned a few things during the parade including how to drink from a straw (the wrong way I might add) :). Jace's friend Marge taught him this and now it's all he can think about!!!

During the parade, Jace also met the first cowgirl he was making eyes at--Lilly. It is hard to see in the picture but they have matching hair!! Even though Lilly is several months younger than Jace, he finally met someone with MORE hair that stands up in MORE places than him!! We see a love connection in the making!!

Saturday night Jace got dressed up for the main event!! He looked pretty handsome in his cowboy duds!

Of course him and Grandma had time to share a laugh before we left!

The next cowgirls Jace found were the girls sitting behind us at the rodeo. We don't have any pictures because they were VERY into the show. Jace was unaware however and thought he had each of their undivided attention. He smiled and giggled at them the whole time. Whenever they would laugh at something in the rodeo Jace would get excited and do his 'huh huh' laugh cause he thought they were laughing at him. It was very cute. He did great through the whole performance and even did a couple little jigs when good songs came on. He finally fell asleep during the bullriding but said he DEFINITELY wants to go back next year!

Sunday, Jace had some time to unwind and share a few giggles with Grandpa.

Long Weekend Fun!

Jace had a great long weekend! On Saturday he got to watch his very first Iowa football game! He loved it!! He had some 'tailgating apricots' in his Iowa bowl and then settled in to watch the game.




Of course then, being true to his gender (sorry boys) he took a nap for most of the 2nd half!

Sunday, Jace had a visit from Grandma. He always loves it when she comes--as does Ozzy. He knows a treat is on the way and starts licking his chops when he sees her car pull up (that's Ozzy I'm talking about)!!
Jace went to Haley and Davon's house to grill out for Labor Day on Monday. He had a great time there as well and hopes he gets to see them again SOON!






Tomorrow Jace turns 8 months old-sniff, sniff. Mommy is sad to see her baby growing up so fast. In tribute to Jace's 8 month milestone, Mommy put a slideshow together. Being a seasoned (for 1 day) myspace user has brought new possibilities to Mommy's blogging skills!! The slideshow even comes with music--just press the button on the bottom left to start it!

Tomorrow is also Jace's buddy Preston's 1st birthday! Time flies!! Jace hopes Preston has a GREAT DAY!! We love ya P!