Giant-Headed Nekkid Baby!

Ralph sent me this cell phone picture of Jake before his bath tonight. (I am burning the midnight oil on deadline here at work). The cell phone is obviously making the proportions kinda funky. He sorta looks like those older tadpoles - you know, when their legs come in, but they aren't a full-blown frog yet, so their heads are still all big and funny.... LOL

Jake Eats!

We FINALLY found something that Jake will willingly put in his mouth that (1) is not dangerous, (2) does not make him gag and vomit, and (3) actually provides a minimal amount of nutrition! Woo-hoo!

Meeting Santa Claus

We had a special treat after Thanksgiving dinner this year - Santa Claus himself (aka Uncle Don) stopped by to wish us all some holiday cheer!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and spends the day with the ones they love. I can't wait to see my little guy, who has been having a great time up at his grandparents while we were in Vegas. I am also looking forward to a photoshoot I will be doing with my cousin Kristen's daughter Madison, who is 2 months younger than Jake - and a total cutie pie. You can check out Maddy's blog here.

The full Vegas report can be found on my photo blog.



My cell phone is still acting up and absolutely refuses to forward my Mario Lopez picture to my email or to Ralph's phone or anywhere else. ARGH! I hate Cingular. I've tried 845 different times to send it and it won't work. (I forward cell phone pics all the time - yall have seen them on the blog so you know I can do it!!!)

CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS

So last night we were at the Caesar's Palace (in Vegas) - and there were celebrities EVERYWHERE! From HBO's Entourage, we saw Kevin Dillon and Adrian Grenier! Then Ralph spotted David Spade, hanging out in a corner with his buddies - wearing a baseball cap - I don't think anyone recognized him. Then - coolest of all - we actually MET Mario Lopez!!! He was just walking on the street in front of Pure Nightclub at Caesar's. There was a group of girls ahead of us,and they started screaming "Oh my god! oh my god! We love you!" And Ralph and I were like - "Okay, that's got to be someone famous." He turns around and we are shocked to see who it was! The girls took a picture with him (and tried to get him to hang out with them - his buddies were like - "Uhhh... come on Mario, time to go.") and he started to walk away with his buddies.

I caught up and called his name - he turned right around with a smile and was happy to take a picture with us. OF COURSE I DID NOT HAVE MY NICE CAMERA WITH ME!!! SO I took some horrible cell phone picture and you can hardly see a thing. But I am hoping to photoshop the bezeesus out of it once I get home and you know I will post it!

So more about Mario... ;)

We were shocked to see how short he is!!! Maybe 5'8"? But he is sooooo cute in person. Oh those dimples, that smile....mmmm. And let me tell you - he smelled soooooo good! Ok, enough gushing. Don't want to make Ralph jealous! tee hee. So Ralph and I both told Mario that he should have won on Dancing with the Stars (we didn't vote, so we can't really complain), and we told him Jake was very disappointed that he didn't win. I even showed him a picture of Jake on my cell phone - ha! And do you know what he said? "Awh, he's CUTE!" Mario Lopez thinks my son is cute!!!!

I promise the picture is coming soon. My cell phone is totally dead, and I couldn't get it to send to my email address or anyone else. Argh... Trying to find a cell phone charger somewhere in Vegas...

Jake "crawling"!

Feast or famine

So you guys either get three posts a day or three days with no posts at all. Not sure which is better...

Well, since I have not given anyone an update since Friday, I might as well post some of my favorite pictures from the last seven months that you may not have seen. I recently posted a whole bunch of photos on Kodak Gallery, but I am not sure how I feel about posting the link on the internet. If you are interested in getting copies of any of your favorite blog photos, email me and I will send you the link.

Two from the beach in August - first is Grandpa Jim holding Jake:





Funny eating picture:



Jake with a temporary tattoo (from our friend's save the date announcements) on his butt:



Jake and his Mommy:



Jake and Uncle Danny:





Cool Man Jake:



The full version of his new tooth picture:



Jake in his "bucket" (a make-shift playpen that he actually LOVED while we carved pumpkins):



Just a hilarious picture of what I fear is to come...



I love these two of Jake & Ralph. There is something so cute about a baby's little head!!





Hope everyone is having a good week. I've been crazy busy at work and looking forward to a long weekend in Vegas that Ralph and I have had planned for a while. (No, Jake will not be going along - Grandma Mary Ellen is on babysitting duty.) It's a business trip for Ralph that has been postponed multiple times, and I am really looking forward to a nice break. Then - THANKSGIVING!!! Woo-hoo! Turkey Day can't come soon enough!!!

Professional Pictures!

I was so happy to see that Laura Novak had posted these sample pics on her blog of Jake and Ruth during their Halloween portrait session! Go check out all of the Halloween photos on her site!







These pictures are Copyright 2006 Laura Novak Photography, and should not be printed out or downloaded from this site. If you like these pictures, please go buy them from Laura. Laura kindly donated all of her studio session fees from the month of October to Operation Smile, an organization that performs surgery on children with facial deformaties. Her studio successfully raised enough money to perform surgeries for 14 children just during the month of October! Bravo to Laura and her staff!

Please pray for this family

Somehow, I clicked from my friend's blog, to another blog, to another and then another. I ended up on a site that made me cry my heart out. There is a beautiful little boy in Colorado, named Noah Steven Graves, who is very very ill. His mother has written a blog proclaiming her faith in God to heal her son. She updates her readers on his status from his hospital bedside. I have no idea how any mother can go through what this mother has, watching her son get worse and worse, and the doctors continue to scratch their heads, unable to do much to help this innocent five-month old. But somehow this mother still keeps her faith in God. She is an inspiration, and I hope that you all can send a prayer to her and her family, and baby Noah. I am going to warn you, the pictures on her site moved me instantly to tears. You may not want to visit their site while you are at work.

UPDATE: I wanted to add a little blurb regarding Noah's illness. From what I could gather on their blog, Noah was born healthy, but began exhibiting bizarre symptoms when he was 2 weeks old. All they know now is that Noah is unable to metabolize and process certain fatty acids, so they build up as toxins in his little body - basically poisoning himslef from the inside out. Noah has gone through multiple blood transfusions, numerous surgeries, and countless rounds of strong antibiotics to try to heal him. And he is only 5 months old. The doctors are baffled at how to help him at this point. I pray that his little body is not feeling much pain.

Jake gets a new set of wheels

Well, we finally broke down and got an SUV. At least it's red, has cool wheels, and it's a Honda. We just got back from the dealership where we got a great deal on a 2003 Honda Pilot with only 33k miles on it. Traded in my cute-but-too-small Mazda3. Now we have lots and lots of room for strollers, babies, dogs, diaper bags, and all the other crap I have to haul around these days. God I'm old.

Bath Time!

Someday, Jake will see these pictures and yell at me for taking them. Then, he'll find out I posted them on the internet and he'll fully hate me... Enjoy them while my son still thinks his mommy is pretty cool.









(Thanks to Grandma Mary Ellen who puts up with me shooting over her shoulder while I tell her which way to turn him to get the best light. The bath isn't important, mom - the images are!)

Jake Vasami, Baby Model

Some of you might recognize this picture of Jake - I took this picture when he was about three months old, and it was so well-liked that he was chosen by the marketing staff of a very large educational publisher to grace the pages of the inside of their new Infant/Toddler Catalog! And NO, it's not my company! ...Okay, it's the company Grandpa Jim works for... but still! How many babies can say they have been run on presses and sent out to thousands of customers??? Very exciting!



P.S. - If anyone can tell me what is slightly "off" in this picture (as in, different from the original that I took), you win the official Jake's Baby Blog Eagle Eye Award! And no - mom, dad and Ralph are not eligible!

New winter hat

Mommy always enjoys shopping at Old Navy - sometimes she even picks up something for the kids! Here is Jake's adorable new winter hat. His head is a perfect circle!



Jake's not feeling so hot this evening, I have a feeling someone is going to have to work from home tomorrow to take care of the little guy. :(

Halloween, Take 2

Mema Mary is trying to compete with Kelly to see who can take a million pictures of Jake before his first birthday. She might have won, but unfortunately we had a slight camera malfunction on Halloween night. Mema Mary managed to convince Jake to don the costume one more time (the next day) and she got some great pics. Here they are, for your viewing pleasure.

His big new laughing face



All dressed up and no place to go!



Mr. Innocent, batting his big lashes



I zoomed in on this one so you can see the elusive new TEETH!