Time Flies!!

Wow.. I have a lot of catching up to do! Our little Jake-Man is going to be NINTEEN MONTHS OLD tomorrow! I totally skipped his 18 month post. I don't know where the time goes. Of course, I don't feel like there has been a whole lot to share b/c we've spent the past month passing germs around. We've had strep, stomach bugs, sinus issues, an ear infection, you name it. Our poor boy has been sick, sick, sick and we are SICK, SICK, SICK of being SICK!! We've got him on vitamins, probiotics, D3 gummies, Black Elderberry juice, extra vitamin C, you name it! I just have to remember that with each illness his immue system is getting a little stronger. It's tough when he is sick b/c we can't get out of the house and he ends up watching WAY more TV than I want him to. A habit that I then have to turn around and break :-P
Anyway, enough with the negatives, our Jake-Man is getting so big. He of course is still as active as ever and still runs everywhere. He's starting to talk more, so that's been exciting and entertaining. They are still mostly words that only G and I understand, but hey, it's a step in the right direction. Let's see if I can make a list (this is more for me to have written down somewhere)
Momma, Dada, Ball, Juice, Apple, Applesauce (appu-saw), Banana (B-ya-ya), More (Ma), Up (Up-a), Open (o-pa), Bubbles (bu-bue), Paci (BaBa), Bye-Bye, Book (boo), Ellie (E-wa), Blue, and PooPoo. He still does signs for car, airplane, open, blue, yellow, red, orange, help, blanket, outside, water, milk (while saying Ma), hot, cold, cereal, fish, and shakes his head yes and no. He is REALLY good at his non-verbal communication. It's very rare that we can't figure out what he's saying or what he wants/needs. Just this afternoon he was able to tell me he wanted a pillow in his bed just through all his signs and signals. Pretty smart cookie! I know he still gets frustrated not having all the words he needs to communicate, but he's getting better each day. He spends a lot of the time pulling us by our finger to show us what he needs.
We finally got him a sand box thank to some AWESOME friends(Ron and Rhonda) from church! He LOVES his turtle sandbox! He also got a little jump house out back that he spends a lot of time in. It's a great way for him to get all his energy out and get in lots of exercise. Outside is still his favorite place to be and he has recently really taken an interest in the goats down the street. He gets very upset when we drive by and don't stop to visit.
When trapped inside (due to the ridiculous wind here in West Texas) or illness, he still enjoys reading books and playing with cars. Recently we started playing with play-doh. He becomes a little more interested each time we play with it. We still get out paper and crayons at times but they don't hold his interest for much longer than 3-5 min, then he's off and going again.
We've pretty much just been here in L-town for the past few months. We did go out to the Apple Orchard the weekend of his 18 month birthday; he got to go on his first hay ride! It was a beautiful day! Jake is ADDICTED to Apples and Applesauce... no seriously... we have to cut him off. It's crazy!
Other than that we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior on Easter. Jake's favorite book to read at night is the Easter Story. We all get excited and talk about how Jesus is ALIVE!! He's NOT dead!!!
We kept our friends little girl for 5 days over Easter and had a great time. Jake and Ellie did WONDERFUL together. (They made having two, WAY too easy on us). They both played together well (though Jake started this bad habit of GROWLING when she, or any other kid, gets close to what he is, was or was intending to play with). We're trying to break him of that now. I had my friends tell me, it's better than biting or hitting, which I have to agree, it's still not very loving. So we've been talking to Jake a lot about what it means to be a good friend and how we need to love our fiends and others. (I really need to make a picture for him about that.... put that on the to-do list).
Other small facts:
wearing 18-24 mo clothes (mostly 24 mo. shirts and 18 mo. shorts)
shoes size 5-6
sleeping 7:30-7:00/7:45
One Nap 1:00-3/3:30
16 teeth (I-teeth FINALLY broke through)
18 mo. check up he was 25 lbs 5 oz and 35 1/2" tall

Okay... so here are a few pictures, which is why you even look at the blog anyway... right? ;-)