May: Mother's Day, 4 months old, & Memorial Day

Mother's Day 2013, the view from here:

The Friday before Mother's Day, I went to Mother's Day Shabbat at Natalie's school. Actually, I arrived at Natalie's school that morning at 6am to help out with the school rummage sale. So by the mid-morning Shabbat assembly, I was pretty tired. But it was still fun.

And here's Natalie holding my Mother's Day present (skittles in the shape of a butterfly). As she reminded me, "Friends share, mommy. Friends share."

That week, her school had been studying community helpers (police, firefighters, etc.). As part of that, the kids were asked to think about what they did to help. Here's her response:

Saturday morning, I woke up to home-made baked pumpkin donuts. Decoration courtesy of Natalie, natch.

For Mother's Day itself, we hosted Mike's newly graduated thesis students and their parents for lunch. Mike made the pizzas, but I tried my hand at a chocolate cheesecake for dessert. Whenever we do these parties, my thing is to try and make the students' favorite dessert, so, well, um, I'm learning a lot! This was actually my first attempt since my cheesecake approximation that I made while we were living in Japan. This time, the cake was actually a little overdone, resulting in a firmer cheesecake - maybe something more like truffle pie. I also made some strawberry sauce to go with the cake - the sauce worked perfectly!

 Mother's Day also marked 4 months old for Jacob!

He's such a sweet, happy baby! He smiles and makes sounds and kicks his legs all around all the time. 

Lately, he's been making the motorboat sound, which is totally adorable. He's also been sucking on his hands a fair amount and drooling a lot, but no actual teeth have appeared just yet.

That's not to say he never cries. Check out this series:

And that, my friends, is four months old, all in a nutshell. If that doesn't simultaneously strike fear and love into your soul then, well, um, look again?

He still adores Natalie. She's like his rock star.

(Bit of an unorthodox outfit for the pediatrician there, but, well, you know healthcare these days. What can you do?)

He's also rolling over - not consistently, but definitely, absolutely:

And then he ends up on his stomach and he is So! Mad! because he hasn't yet figured how to roll back. So then we roll him back and then the game begins again.

He's much more aware of the world around him. He'll often beam at us with big smiles (and even throw in an occasional giggle). Here he is with Rachel.

And here he is trying to get a little snack from Mike.

At least he's a glass-full sort of optimist, right? What I love best is his crazed, determined look.

In all seriousness, Jacob is actually pretty interested in food. When we eat, he watches us and moves his mouth. I think we'll probably be starting a little infant cereal in the coming weeks.

 

Here is Jacob attending his first TCU baseball game and taking his first swim in the TCU pool:

He loved them both, clearly.

At his 4 month check-up, he was 13lbs, 4oz and 25 inches long. Big boy is growing!

 (I have clearly not mastered the art of the selfie)

We also had our good friend from Seattle, Meh, in town for Memorial Day (or Meh-morial Day?). We had fun together! Natalie, however, kept referring to her as "Auntie Claire" instead of "Auntie Meredith."

In other parts of the country, I'm told that Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer. Whatever. Natalie's got summer relaxation down.

A parting shot of the bathing beauty: