Vasquez Adoption Experience

Just woke up, but not what you're thinking

2011-03-08T20:03:00.000-08:00

Something just dawned on me. Granted, it's probably not the first time I've thought what I'm about to reveal to you, but it's the first time it stood in front of me cloaked in reality. It was almost the polar opposite of the fictional dark caped crusader Jakob and I watched for the um-teenth time tonight. This one was just as eye opening, but real.

So get to the part where you tell us, right? Okay. I didn't mean to build it up as much as I probably did. Now I'm just stalling or perhaps pandering like Kirk Douglas during the Oscars. I don't want to be that guy. I'm getting there. Really I am.

Years ago, believe it or not, I was a little bit of something while attending Northwest Missouri State University. Yes, the best (and only) Division II school that would allow me acceptance. I started out misguided and while I'm not sure I ever really recovered, I found a niche. I was good at Forensic speech. Now, before you call me something off-color or lump me in with those debaters (bottom feeders) let me tell you that I learned more about public speaking and the wonderfully bittersweet moments of life in that short time while I was on the team. Each weekend we competed I felt alive and it fed my ego.

I won't lie to you, I've got a ton of trophies and plaques from various competitions I don't even remember attending. Most of them have survived the test of time. Some of them are engraved with my name. I'm sure that others were lost by my mother during one of my many moves to and from my parents' house but I can't prove it. In the event you think that when my mother reads this that she will be appalled, you need to know that she knows I'm kidding and any sense of humor I have is a result of her and my father's influence. So blame them.

So these trophies and the point of this story. You were promised that before. They are in the bat cave on a shelf that reaches high up almost to the ceiling. If you've been in my basement, you know it's not THAT high, but you get the idea. Lots of space. Lots of awards. Tonight, I was getting one of my favorite beverages out of the fridge (Pepsi One), and after I opened it I set it down on the shelf to plug in my laptop. It's a Dell and vastly superior to any Apple junk, but that's another story.

I returned to get my drink and noticed that I had placed it on one of the plaques that happened to have my name on it. That's when it dawned on me as to how things change. This isn't one of those "these things are really meaningless and what really matters is friends and family" stories. Sure, those things do matter, but these awards did too. Now they're just above coasters (except for the one I used as said coaster).

This is really more about transitions and how I can walk seven feet from my college awards to the leather couch where my 3-year-old and I sat closely together and watched the Justice League. I can sink down into the cushion and when I ask my son who the caped figure on the television with a black bat on his chest is he points to himself. He then points to Robin and says, "That's you daddy." It sure is buddy, and I couldn't be more proud.

In typical situations, the dad would probably be the hero with the son being the side kick, but if anything, he's taught me more than I'll ever teach him. Sure, I'm charged with helping him with girls and life and God, but he has the power to build me up or crush me with just a few words. He's not a trophy from some competition. Sure, we chose him and I shutter at times at the "what might have been" moments. I don't so much think of what his life would be had his birth mother decided to keep him, but rather how empty my life would be without him. I know deep down I would have known that somehow. There are no amount of trophies that can fill a small, endless hole like that.

So, once again I've woken up to something I didn't even know I was asleep to. Not a bad way to spend a random Tuesday evening. I'm looking forward to less days of "I don't want to daddy" and more filled with "Smell my hands daddy. See, I washed them."

Holy cow it's been a while

2010-06-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

So, after looking at the dashboard of our blog's main login page it became clear that our lives are probably way, way too busy. Last post. . . April 3. Yuck. That's terrible, and it's not fair to you, the fans who check back in to see how things are going. Where would we be without your love and devotion? We tend to blame Facebook and Twitter. Social media is not only addictive, but the tools they provide for pictures and updates are just soooo stinkin' easy to use. Fortunately, this blog feed is now going to our Facebook account so whether you're reading it from there or the Blogger RSS feed you've got options. Sort of like Obamacare. Wait, no not like that crap at all. Think the opposite.

So, since our last "chat" a lot has happened in our lives. Just when it seemed like the school year would never end, Kim finally went from one day being done with the regular school year to starting summer school the next. Thank you mother nature for dropping tons of snow and cold weather on us this past winter. You're officially on the B list of people we invite to VIP events. Because of all the snow days it made for running from one position right into the next. She also attended Special Olympics with her students in Springfield (complete with a trip to Lambert's Cafe) and had a great time seeing the kids exceed all expectations and do well in each of their events. Kim has also joined Marc's addiction to P90X and while she's not quite sure if she loves it, she doesn't totally hate it (yet).

We said goodbye to one of Jakob's teachers at daycare who has literally had him since our first day. She's staying in his old classroom and he's advancing on to the next. It was probably tougher on her and us than Jakob. All he kept saying is, "I'm going to the Zebra room with two slides!" He's more than just a little excited, and we heard from his teachers that he's been the best at adapting to his new surroundings with no problems. They may tell all the parents that, but we don't care. In addition, his musical talent continues to increase. He's officially in love with the drums and it's become a force we cannot stop. He doesn't know it, but he's getting a toddler trap set from Nana and Pape and us for his birthday. Tonight, I had on a Jonsi song that has a ton of drums and he literally "air drummed" correctly in beat. This is happening faster than we anticipated.

The hardest part has been seeing his independence grow. It's not that we don't want him to have a mind of his own and begin to race out into the world to greet all of it's wonder, but we still miss the little guy we held in the hospital almost three years ago. I find myself treasuring the times he will sit still and drink his juice or milk on my lap while we watch the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, or holding him in the morning when all he wants to do is sleep and cuddle. As a parent I want to hold on to him and protect him but I know he'll have days where he wants to learn the hard way. Heaven help us on those days.

Last night, I watched him and his friend Makel play outside at our weekly small group get together and I could see his personality and his vocabulary on display. I have told a few of our friends and family that Jakob and three of his friends from daycare (including Makel) are like a junior "A-Team" with Jakob as "Face" because he's so charming and gorgeous and Makel as BA because he's always got Jakob's back. As proud as it makes me, I know he's moving into that time where each day he'll need me less and less. Sure, that's what every parent needs, but it's easier said than done.

The other day I took stock in all the past parenting my parents gave me as well as the tips and tricks others who had children before us passed on (advice both wanted and unwanted, ha) and realized that there hasn't been any blueprint with Jakob. He's as predictable as he is an enigma. At times, that's exactly what we love and other times we're left clueless on what to do. Hold on, I'm being asked to sing:

"Hot dog! Hot dog! Hot diggity dog! If you've got ears it's time to cheer! Hot dog! Hot dog! Hot diggity dog! HOT DOG!"

Okay, the Mickey episode is over. It's already June and that means before we know it Jakob's third birthday will be here. We will be posting his first video which contains footage of him when he was in the hospital. It was before we were on Facebook and it serves as a helpful reminder, when he's quite the bear, of where he came from and how innocent he really is. Sometimes. Course, right now I need to help him understand that it's not the best idea to take the toilet paper all completely off the holder and scatter it around the bathroom. Like George Costanza he's probably going to say, "Was that wrong? Because honestly, I'm going to have to claim ignorance on that one."

More soon.

Imperfect perfection

2010-04-03T15:13:00.000-07:00

Kim has left for nursery duty at church and Jakob is still down for a much needed Saturday afternoon nap. What does that mean? The clock is ticking, and if I want to get this blog post done I'm going to need to do it quickly. You're going to notice this post is teaming with one overwhelming truth - the more I learn about Jakob, the more I learn about God.

Many of our loyal followers have more than likely seen Jakob's recent exploits in Branson, MO, in living color photos and video on Facebook. His mind continues to dream up more and more ways to meet adventure head on.

While we were in Branson with my parents, we had sort of a "Dickens'" time. It was the "best of behaviors and the worst of behaviors" for Jakob. There's so much he wanted to see and do and at times that was not the same as what we had scheduled to see or do. You can imagine how that went over.

It must be something wonderful to see the world through his eyes. The hotel we stayed in must have been like a whole new world to just play in, and he took in every part of it. We had a balcony that overlooked a small water pond where ducks would fly in and out of during the day. That balcony became one of two "rewards" which helped us get him to do what he's supposed to when he's supposed to do it.

The other was the pool. I can't remember what it was like when I first swam in a pool, but I do have other than fond memories of being dunked under when I went for a mother/son swim when I was his age. Last summer, Jakob slowly gained courage enough to go from being super close to me in the water, to holding himself out to kick his legs, to sometimes walking down the stairs into my arms and now finally enjoys jumping from the side of the pool into my arms. This makes for a great workout that usually ensures he sleeps well at night and also leaves my arms tired but feeling like we both had fun.

Kim is a total rock when it comes to times when Jakob has become frustrated. Also on vacation, we went out on the Ducks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUCW) which was something he had been looking forward to specifically for the part where they allow anyone to come up and drive (once you're out on the lake). Many kids went and it came time for Jakob's turn. He and I went up and he drove like a champ. When our turn was done Jakob was not and let me, the Captain and the other 38 passengers in close quarters know it. He was only yelling, kicking and screaming for about seven minutes, but it seemed like an eternity. All the while, Kim was trying to console him and all I could think of was whether or not the lake water would calm him down. . . if you know what I mean. :) My parents later tried to help me understand that he's in that stage where he's headstrong and needs to understand that while we love him that he's not always going to get his way. Again, the more I learn about Jakob, the more I learn about God.

Later, we went to the kiddie areas where they had all sorts of rides for little guys and Jakob was less than thrilled. Makes us think perhaps we're raising Speed Racer. We headed over to the adult and bigger kid go-carts and found out they had two seaters for parents with little tykes. That all seemed perfect. I purchased two rides and took Jakob to the car. As we walked to the car I tried to explain that he would have a good time and how it would need to work in order to have fun. I put him in the passenger seat and started to buckle him in. When he realized he was not going to be driving, he started yelling and thrashing trying to get to the driver seat. I did get him into the seat and we went for a great ride. Once we got back we got in line again and I explained that we were going to do the same thing again and it would be fun and we would both have a great time. When it came time for us to get back in the same car, Jakob exploded and tried to get in the driver seat again, but this time he was too inconsolable. I looked up at the teenage kid who, by just the look in his eyes, was pulling for me to make it work and said, "I guess we're done." He refunded our ride, I took Jakob over to Kim and then I walked away feeling crushed.

For the record, it should be known that Jakob didn't know he was crushing me. He has independent thoughts and hopes and wants just like anyone else. He didn't realize in that moment that if he would settle down and put his trust in me that I would have guaranteed the most exciting (and safe) ride he could have ever imagined. Again, the more I learn about Jakob, the more I learn about God.

As I'm writing this, I'm looking around the room seeing four different balls, a sock monkey jack in the box, a few Little Tykes vehicles and then the wall we've devoted to various photos of Jakob. The photos and images are all framed and I can honestly say I hung them all. I say that because they're all crooked. Well, one or two of them are straight, but against the others they look crooked and the others look crooked against the two straight ones. This is the truest example of imperfect perfection I can think of to write about. A few weeks ago, Kim and I thought about what our lives would be like if little things in the course of getting Jakob hadn't happened. It appeared that all roads, while we didn't know it were a perfect plan that led to Jakob. There were times when we were that screaming kid in the passenger side and God strapped us in and took us on the ride that led to Jakob.

I'm glad we trusted Him because I like my house better with generic breakfast bar crumbs on the kitchen floor, a request to watch Kung Fu Panda for the fourth time in one day and the clutching onto me for security when he's scared that no other person can provide. I'm thankful for moments like this evening where everything stops and I get the chance to bask in them. I drink them up and savor them just like God does with me. The more I learn about Jakob, the more I learn about God.

Tomorrow, our family will be here and there will be a house to clean, eggs to hide, food to make and a whirlwind of activity to try to tame. But for now solitude, peace and the peeking in on a little boy sleeping.

More soon.

Jakob Marcus!

2010-03-11T09:54:00.000-08:00

It's pretty exciting that the weather is changing. This is of course bittersweet because one day it could be totally nice out and the next either rainy or breezy. The little boy does not understand this and feels that no matter what the weather is like outside he should be. . . outside.

It doesn't help that Santa brought him a brand new kick-butt wagon and he occasionally sees his Batman four wheeler in the downstairs office. It's technically "up on blocks" sitting on top of papers and the other clutter we've amassed in this catch all area so when he sits on it and revs the engine (all 10 amps of it) the wheels go but he doesn't move. He thinks it's pretty funny (mommy does not).

The title of this post is "Jakob Marcus!" for one very good reason. He's been hearing his first and second name a lot lately and for many of you who grew up with parents who said yours you know its not a good thing. Jakob is still the perfect junior superhero any parent could ask for, but his other side has begun to show. Spiderman dealt with the black suit, Batman with his past, the Hulk with tailored shirts. For Jakob it has to be stubbornness on steroids.

Jakob likes to play a fun game where we ask him to do something or give him a choice on which thing he would like to have/do. Lately, he has been picking a third option which was not part of the original two OR not responding at all. This leads us to then pick for him or leave said area without making a choice (we choose to LEAVE Target), and as you can imagine chaos ensues.

The saving grace at home is that if we want Jakob to do something and he's not moving when we ask him to, we just throw up our hands and say, "Okay, Daddy (or Mommy) do it then." This is met with, "No, NO! MY do it!" We know it's only going to be a matter of time before he figures this out and then begins to try to outsmart us again.

Speaking of that, he is quite clever. He came into the living room the other day with a gallon of milk and a cup and said, "Milk Mommy?" One more thing for us to watch out for that this surprisingly strong boy can do. He's also very sneaky about how he goes about getting what he wants. He will take your hand lovingly and walk around with you getting you closer and closer to the stairs. Then he will lead you down the stairs and say "downstairs" in this sort of "well, we're already half way down and there's so much we COULD be doing there. . . why not just go, right? I mean the XBOX isn't going to play itself, right? And don't get me started on the guitar and drum!"

So, some days we're learning as much as he does. The good news is that he's still the best looking, smartest kid in his class, a charmer, kitchen dancer and one world-class cuddler. After a long day of bad, all it takes is "see me Daddy" and my day rocks.

Next week, we're on vacation to Branson with my mom and dad. Should be fun and it will be nice to have a little time off.

More soon.

Dreams and heaven

2010-02-28T08:26:00.000-08:00

This morning, I woke up freaked out about a dream I had. Normally, I would remember those dreams because it was the kind that took place after you've been woken up but then go back to sleep. The morning's interruption at 7 a.m. was the usual variety that happens at that time on this day of the week. Jakob loves juice and milk and when he wakes up with a "rumbly in his tumbly" (Thanks A.A. Milne) he wants one or the other.

Afterwards he decided it would be a good idea to stay in bed with us. Conventionally, I love this because it's one of the coolest things seeking him sleep. I think mostly it's hard to believe something with as much energy as a twister can come to be that still. This has worked out in the past; however, since I was up late last night finishing a game on XBOX, I really wanted him to sleep in. Needless to say, he had other ideas. After a stint of tossing, turning, jabbing and kicking, Kim had enough and got up with him and said the music to my ears, "C'mon Jakob, let's let Daddy sleep." So I did, and I dreamt.

Like I said, I don't remember what the dream was, but I woke up worried about Jakob. I don't like worrying about him. That sounds silly. What parent likes worrying about their child? Well, my grandmother (God rest her soul) did make it an Olympic event to worry about my brother and me, but that's one gene I didn't want replicated. But, when something pushes me into reactionary mode, I forget his whiny voice, his defiant "NO!" and the times he's crying so hard when he's earned two minutes on the couch for acting out. (I even put aside the fact that he is totally wound up and loud right now even as I'm writing this post!)

I think a lot of that stems from the part of me, and it's a large part, that wants Jakob to enjoy that pure and innocent part of life for as long as he can. When he gets bitten by a classmate at daycare, falls down and bumps his head or endures something that takes him away from being in that heavenly pure place it kills me. I'm guessing most first time parents use these experiences to blaze the trail. Kim would tell you this is the reason first-born's dislike middle children so much, AND why middle children can't understand how they don't get away with more they think their parents' will never suspect. I just wish the advice I've received from other parents telling me it's natural for my son to experience hardships to toughen up would sink in.

The older he gets the more I know my days holding him, dancing in the kitchen and playing guitars in the basement are numbered. I hate that part, but then there's the other part where we run in Target and he's yelling, "C'mon daddy!" that makes up for it. Perhaps that's indirectly what he's trying to say. "C'mon daddy. Don't you know? I'll be fine. Just love me."

And I do. More than he probably knows.

But right now, I've got to go. Another "rumbly" has surfaced and Jakob is in need of some juice.

More soon.

Happy Christmas Jakob

2009-12-25T18:57:00.000-08:00

"So this is Christmas. . . and what have you done?"

John and Yoko asked that question at Record Plant Studios in New York City in late October 1971. This has been an interesting year, and believe it or not we have an answer to the question above.

Now before you switch off and head elsewhere, this is not just another Christmas letter. In fact, it's not a letter at all, but more a reflection . . .nay a mission statement. Okay, not a mission statement.

Each year, like other parents, we try to introduce Jakob to new things, and this year was no different. Sure, our methods are unorthodox and he's definitely gaining cool points by the second, but that's not important. What is important is that he's slowly becoming more and more aware of his surroundings which is fun to see and a little scary. His inner wheels are turning and also his independence is growing. There was a time when he wanted us for everything. If his "spidey sense" went off even remotely, he wanted up or to be held by mommy or daddy. Now, he wants to walk everywhere and is continually telling us "No, I do it!" He also speaks about himself in third person citing quips like, "No, Jakob's mow-mow" or "Jakob's monkey." We've noted that for the most part only boxers and hip hop artists do that. We're hoping he turns out to become neither.

When we take him to the zoo in Omaha or a Royals game or even just to the pool two doors down he's taking it all in. When we go to church he has to go into the side auditorium to see the stage, guitars and candles. Those Kindermusic sessions at daycare are working out just fine. We're hoping one day his charisma and talent takes him places involving a stage and guitars (candles optional). His memories are in full foundation mode and they are shaping him. Everything he sees he wants to experience and everything he hears he is repeating. The spelling phase is officially upon us.

This summer we had a little trouble explaining that there would just be some things we do/like/possess that will get him flack from his friends. Things like the fact that Marc is more than just a little bit of a Star Wars junkie and Kim's favorite band is Def Leppard.

To combat that we have tried to start him early. He loves to hang out in the basement with daddy and play guitars together and watch the Lego Star Wars game on XBOX. He also loves to dance with us in the kitchen and make cookies with mommy. He's also amazingly talented at chasing and being chased/tickled.

So, another year is over and he's only getting smarter, cuter and more amazing. Hopefully, you've seen the movies which are evidence of this. If not, check out his YouTube channel. It's been critically acclaimed by the Sundance Channel as the "feel good little tough guy movie series of the year" three years in a row.

The funny thing is that we're learning just as much as he is. It's been said that the trick to parenting is just showing up. That's true with Jakob. We know there will come a time when he doesn't want us to be around and just wants to hang with his friends or spend time alone. We know he will tell us what's cool and how we're not (all the while we'll reminisce on doing the same to our parents when we were young). We know one day down the road he will even leave us and go to college, get married and be something great. And as proud as we will be of him, we'll miss these times.

We'll miss holding him in the NICU three years ago and the freaked out feeling of knowing our dream of getting him was finally realized. We'll miss keeping track of all of his baby/toddler firsts especially the Mother's Day when he said "dada" all day. With him running around at full speed all the time now, Marc will miss the mornings when Jakob lays in his arms at dawn sleeping peacefully. It's those days that it's hard not to call in sick.

So, what have we done this year? We've learned right along with him and we hope by next Christmas we will have learned even more. Next year, Jakob will be ready to ride rides at theme parks, potty train, go to the movies and usher in the beginnings of "big kid" things. It's going to be awesome.

More soon.

"No" means "2 minutes on the couch"

2009-11-08T14:43:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween Jakob was Max from Where the Wild Things Are which is both a favorite book of ours as well as something extremely timely with the movie having just come out. When we took Jakob to his daycare Harvest Fair we noticed something about his costume from this year as well as last year (he was an ewok last year). We walked in and found there were four little ones dressed as ewoks. We also received a lot of "Oh that's so cool" and "He looks just like Max!" Jakob looked at some of the "ewok impostors" with a "that is SOOOO last year" face. We were left with two feelings. On the one hand, we felt like we had unwittingly helped Jakob become a trend setter, and on the other hand we couldn't help but hope we will always have the ability to help Jakob feel special.

Like his Max costume, and thanks again to Marc's mom for again coming through and making something amazing for him, Jakob is anything but "off the rack." As his parents we have found ourselves trying, in the most healthy way possible, of giving him reinforcements that he's the next best thing to sliced bread.

With that mission, we've also had to help him understand structure, discipline and rules. Jakob is clever and finds new wonder in every moment of every day. With that also comes his testing of every boundary possible. Many of those situations end him up for two minutes on the couch with a few tears. But, we hope eventually he will understand that we don't put him there because he's a "bad kid" (because he's far from it) or because we don't care about every atom of every molecule that makes up who he is. That's been hard for us because we don't want to disappoint him, but at the same time don't want to spoil him.

Juggling discipline and happy moments has not been easy and when our parents said, "this is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you" we completely see where they were coming from. [Editor's note: Marc is pretty sure he heard his dad say at one point or another, "this is definitely going to hurt you more than it's going to hurt me." :)]

But back to the Harvest Fair. We tend to cling to the feeling that every parent wants to have their child be the one in the spotlight, and between Kim's organization and Marc's creativity, we've had success in helping Jakob enjoy the limelight. The most interesting part of that is that even as much as we've tried to do (with a lot of help from God), he does so much on his own. He's a good looking kid and while we joke about him eventually becoming the world's first lawyer/band front man/model, we'll do everything we can to help him understand the possibilities are endless. He can do anything and he will do so much.

His dependence on his dwindles each day. Sure, there are times when he's overwhelmed or feeling over stimulated and he raises his arms and only one of us holding him will do. But, there are more and more other situations beginning to come to light where he wants down or wants to "do it" on his own. It's great to see that leadership ability coming through, but it's also a sign of things to come. It's a signal that eventually he'll want to practice the ball or instrument on his own, or go do something with just his friends or want to take the car keys and go it alone. That will be bittersweet.

So, we say all of that to say that so much can be summed up from just a Halloween costume, and it truly is the little moments that mean the most. Well, that and the fact that he's singing to songs, asking for original things (some of which we don't know how he knows about), making decisions about food and clothing and understanding just what "I love you" really means. That's not too shabby either.

More soon.

Who is this big (little) boy?

2009-10-05T18:09:00.000-07:00

One of the things that is hard to fathom is how much Jakob is changing. We see him every day so his growth seems to blend together. We sometimes forget he was 4 pounds when he was born, that he could have died if his birth mother hadn't have come in when she did and that we worried we would break him just by holding him.

The other day, Marc's screen saver was on at work (which is loaded by a feed of more than 2,000 photos and Jakob is only 2 years old) and when he touched his mouse it went from a screensaver image of Jakob's tiny self to his current form of 27 pounds (Marc's wallpaper photo). Wow. How could this have happened?

Jakob is a Leo which means he's going to be a leader, compassionate yet stubborn and opinionated. He's going to be someone his friends look to that will listen and want to help. Wait, we did say "will be" and "going to be" right? He's actually there now except for that listening part. Not a fan so much.

He sits on the couch a lot for two minutes (one minute for every year in age) and while we don't know if he's understanding why, we're trying to be consistent. We'll see how it goes.

There was a time when daddy could do no wrong. Jakob wanted to be with Marc over anyone. That has changed and he prefers mommy when we're at the house. HOWEVER, when we go to Nana and Pape's (Marc's parents) or they come to see us, no one outshines Pape. All the way there we hear "Pape's truck? Pape's truck?" He loves to hang out outside with Pape pretending to drive the Blazer.

We're pretty sure Marc's dad taught Jakob how to say "Hey baby!" but we can't prove it.

Marc and Jakob went to the Liberty Early Child Development Center's Daddy Event "Rev Your Engines" last Tuesday. The event was fun and while Jakob had a blast with a tunnel, rocket ships, Matchbox cars and a parachute, he didn't realize he was actually learning and giving us ideas for Christmas.

Sunday, we spent the day with Marc's parents celebrating Marc's dad's birthday (early), and while Marc's dad got a present from Jakob, the real present was most likely time spent with the little guy.

The hardest thing right now is when he wakes up scared and we can't console him, or when he's completely upset as a result of having to be disciplined. He gets so disoriented when he's still in that not quite awake not quite asleep mode. We just hold him and tell him we won't let anything get him. When he acts up, in one vein we want to keep it so he understands boundaries, but in another it's so hard not to feel like we're being the bad guy.

Kim's heart melts every time he says "Rocka momma" wanting to be held one last time. There will come a time he'll have long forgot that so Kim indulges him every now and then. Mornings and weekend nap times are amazing because he likes to be held, and after he drinks his juice he falls asleep in our arms. If we look closely, he has that little one look he had when he was first born, and it's better than anything. It's the kind of situation where you want to call in sick to work or cancel your afternoon plans. In those moments, he's perfect.

But, right now he's running around the basement screaming to keep from getting tickled, and he wants to play guitars with daddy.

More soon.

New direction

2009-09-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since our last post. It feels like the more we plan for things, the less time we tend to have. Jakob continues to grow and advance and it seems he's hell bent and determined on becoming his own person. He's testing the waters in every aspect and has begun outsmarting us on many levels.

We've entitled this post "new direction" because we're trying something new. Some of you will be reading the RSS feed of this from Blogger.com but now more of you can hopefully chime in via Facebook. We've found the directions on how to get this to link up with it and it seems much more worthwhile now.

As we explained in a previous post, with Twitter, email and Facebook, Blogger tends to get lost in the mix. It's not that Jakob's story isn't worth continuing on here, it's more a time constraint. Here's a brief glimpse of what we've gone through since August 6, the date of our last post:

- Jakob turned 2 and after much planning, we were able to host the second most amazing party ever
- Marc has been asked to be the 2010 Kansas City PRSA Membership Chair
- Kim has been planning lunch/movie days for this year and Special Olympics for her kids at school
- We took Jakob to see "Big Trucks" on display at Liberty South Valley Junior High (photos on Facebook)
- Marc is on the Kansas City PRSA PRISM Awards Planning Committee
- Kim serves on the nursery team at church
- Marc went to Asheville, NC, to attend a Vineyard Worship Leaders' Retreat
- We finally finished Jakob's Bat Cave new big boy room and moved him into it (photos on Facebook)
- Kim and Jakob went to Iowa to help her parents move into their new home, approximately 100 feet away from their old home, :)
- Marc had his second gastric scope to see how his acid reflux medication is doing
- Jakob had his first overnight vacation at Nana and Pape's house

So, as you can see, with all of this and work on top of it, we've been swamped. We have the best intentions of being more faithful to this post, but we have to wonder, are people really reading? Most bloggers want to know what they're writing about is interesting, and while we feel our boy is the next best thing to sliced bread, we hope you all find his life interesting too.

The latest news is that Jakob's competitive side and possessiveness has kicked into full swing. He's used the infamous "no," "mine" and "I do it!" on a regular basis. It should be known that he's both teething and still suffering from having 4+ sided tonsils (based on a scale of 1-4), but he still has it in his head that when he wants something or doesn't want to do something he makes it known. Thankfully, he's still doing quite well in daycare and his teachers love him.

But, sadly, we've been stricken with a fatal flaw. We love him. We love him like no other and he means the world to us. We reassure him when he acts up and has sat on the couch for his "2 minutes" that there is nothing he could ever do that would make us love him any less and he is always forgiven.

So, we'll keep you posted on how things progress and add photos here and there in the hopes there are a lot of you who care. . . :)

More soon.

Calling Tyra. . .

2009-08-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we're not really calling Tyra Banks to get Jakob in for an America's Next Top Toddler Model spot, but is it bad that we're actually researching contests and modeling exposure for him? We went to Portrait Innovations Thursday and got his 2 year pictures taken just in time for his birthday this Sunday.

Take a look at this beautiful boy God has blessed us with. The world needs to see him too on covers everywhere:

More soon.

Superhero in training

2009-07-31T08:24:00.000-07:00

Our son is on his way to being a vital member of the Hall of Justice. Here's proof: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN8WihvmsZg.

We gotta get to this more!

2009-07-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

This summer is proving to be busier than most and we've left you out in the cold. Sorry about that. With this July proving to becoming one of the second coldest on record, it's just not right of us to add fuel to the fire.

Therefore, we're going to cut down on the chatter and increase the photos. It's been a few weeks since we last posted and a ton has happened. We're pretty excited that the little boy is plenty more mobile and talking up a storm. The only problem is that he's listening more and repeating so we definitely have to watch what we say around him Pape (Marc's dad) we're especially talking to you. HA!

First, we went to the Deanna Rose Farm and learned that animals are fun. . . at a distance. Jakob felt this was nice, but the real fun was the gigantic slides and outdoor metal jungles the farm had.

The Royals stink so why not head to the T-Bones game? Turned out to be a great evening with Nana, Pape, our friends the Fields and Kim's coworker/friend Christy and her daughter Grayson. The T-Bones smoked the other team from some other town 15-0. That's a baseball game! It was military recognition night and Jakob got to see some of our finest up close and personal. Very cool.

Kim had been waiting since March to head to see her favorite band Def Leppard at the Sprint Center with her sister Jill and her friend Christy. She got to see them along with Cheap Trick (no jokes) and Poison. They had a blast and while the photos are a little blurry, you get the idea that the stage rocked and I'm pretty sure there were some mall bangs, fringe jackets and pinch-rolled pants in the audience.

Last weekend we went up to Omaha to meet Kim's sister Jill and Jakob's cousins Becca and Daniel to go to the Henry Doorly Zoo. It was great weather, but it was also free day and the park set a new attendance record. So, we saw a few things, escaped before they could keep Kim and headed over to the Old Market for a great dinner at the Spaghetti Works and shopping. The next day we got to see Marc's roommate and good friend from college Scotte Hansen, his wife and their new great looking boy Lane. Plus we got to eat at Qdoba!

The little boy is growing up fast and we've graduated to a big boy bed. BUT, not ordinary big boy bed will do for our guy. We got him a Little Tikes bed, painted it black and we're working on getting a Batman emblem for the front. As you can see, he's somewhere between Adam West and Michael Keaton in terms of quality superhero.

Next weekend, Jakob turns 2 and we will be celebrating his birthday. It seems like only yesterday that we got the call during Mad Men on AMC that he had arrived. He's one amazing kid and we couldn't be happier.

More soon.

Catching Up

2009-07-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

In an effort to provide you with a better way of getting the complete update of Jakob's spring and summer (so far), we've created a new YouTube video.

Check it out at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-HK2suiER0

More soon.

1.21 Gigawatts of power please

2009-07-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

Okay folks, it's time to jump into the only stainless steel car ever made and head, as Kim's favorite singer Huey Lewis said, "back in time."

In order to effectively tell this story from the beginning, we need to head back to star date May 25-28, 2009. On those days, Jakob spent some much needed time with his Grandma and Grandpa Law on their farm in Churdan, IA. While he was there, Great Grandma, Aunt Jill and his cousin Becca came down to spend one of the days with him as well. Cousin Daniel was MIA.

It was great for Jakob to get a bigger taste of farm life than when we go up for a weekend event or holiday. Now that he is older, he was able to enjoy more of what the farm had to offer and enjoyed getting the full tour from Grandma and Grandpa. We had been rehearsing it for weeks, and when he was up there he was able to say "Grandpa," "Grandma," "Aunt Jill" and "Becca."

Grandma and Grandpa had their own "buddy" which Jakob calls a vacuum. They also spent a lot of time outside. The pictures below do better justice to the good time he had:

More soon!

Having a multimedia society is hard

2009-07-04T07:58:00.001-07:00

Hey guys, we are so sorry it's been a long time since we've talked. With hectic schedules coupled with having to update our Facebook, email and Twitter accounts, it's really hard to keep up with Blogger too.

BUT, having said that, we have a new update for you this morning, and we'll have one more tonight and tomorrow to get you caught up. Don't leave! We'll be better. We promise!!!

To wet your appetite, here's a start. The video premiere of "Jakob Marcus: Father's Day" debuts at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NktsboW8lgk.

More soon!

Holy cow time flies!

2009-06-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since our last post. Don't worry. For all of you who are like Marc and have ADHD, there are more pictures than. . .

Sorry. Got sidetracked. More pictures than text. The big news is that we are in full start of our next adoption. We're working on the initial requirements and the paperwork to do our home study follow up is on the way. Kim has been reviewing our paperwork stacks from last time and set the date of the end of summer to have everything completed to go. We're excited and hopeful to have a great adventure like we did with Jakob. We will keep you posted on how things go there, but so far so good!

We've uploaded two new movies to Jakob's YouTube channel:

Jakob Marcus: Knock It Down! - www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgKre1cE5K0

Jakob Marcus: Tool and Dance - www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHzHhBrRApY

Marc just got back from Chicago on a work trip. While he was there he got to see his friend Jeff from college. The hotel accommodations were pretty amazing:

Over the weekend on Friday, Jakob got his third haircut. In an effort to go bigger and cooler (if that's possible), we got some hair color for special occasions that washes out. He wasn't happy when we left the haircut place because he wanted to stay in the little Hummer car and also wasn't done walking around. Nice. We then went to the Italian Festival at Zona Rosa on Sunday and got a ton of compliments. After we got home Jakob and daddy cooked out on the grill and he kept trying to pull his pants down. We're hoping he doesn't decide to become a plumber. Not that there's anything wrong with that. We just don't want him making a career choice based on what feels good pants-wise.

The summer is finally here and Kim is out of school. Now she's working summer school at the middle school and enjoys it. She has good hours so she's able to have a little bit of time to get things done, exercise and be on her own before she goes to pick up Jakob. Summer school will be up at the end of June and then she'll have July to recharge and get ready for the fall semester.

We are also working on a great follow up party for Jakob's second birthday. Kim has located the coolest monkey elements and Marc is working with one of his coworkers to get invitations printed. It's gonna rock!

On the horizon, we will be celebrating our 11 year wedding anniversary in July. It's Kim's year to plan things so it should rock. We're planning a long weekend that weekend to have some fun! Also in July, Marc's mom retires and he is planning a party to commemorate the event.

In September, Marc will potentially be going to Chicago for work and then Asheville, NC, for the Vineyard Worship Leaders Retreat. Today, he had his annual review and it rocked. Because of the way things turned out, his bonus is more than anticipated so we have extra money to put toward adoption expenses. Pretty cool! Praise God on that!

But tonight, we are leaving the little boy with a sitter and heading to Em Chamas to enjoy some great food and time with some friends from church. So, the next time we talk we might be covering exercise topics. haha.

More soon.

"May" we share about Jakob?

2009-05-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, bad joke. For those of you who don't get it, it's a reference to the month of May coupled with the use of the word "may" in a manners question. Yes, it's a bit of a reach, but that's what we do.

First, if you're on Twitter, check us out at @vasquez007.

This month Jakob continues to advance in communication skills. He's learned to say "no" when he feels like being obtuse, but he's also shaking his head with it. He's also developed the funniest laugh that's a bit more high pitch. He's pointing out "bus," "caw-caw," (bird) and every four-legged creature is either a "woof-woof," "meow," or "moo."

We like to watch "Deadliest Catch" on the Discovery Channel. Everything I know about coiling rope or hoses over a railing I owe to the guys on the Cordilia Marie.

To recap, on Mother's Day Marc co-lead worship at Vineyard and then we decided to see how the other half lives and went with Marc's parents to The Elms for a killer buffet. The weather was great and we all had a fantastic time celebrating Kim's second Mother's Day and Marc's mom's 35th. :)

Jakob has decided that his name is "buddy." We can't imagine where he gets that from. Oh wait. I could be because we call him that ALL THE TIME. He now says, "mama," "daddy," "buddy." Nice. Project Jakob-is-my-name reprogramming will commence soon.

With the weather turning warmer, we decided to fire up the grill only to find that due to the lack of large trees in our area BIRDS had built a grill-sized nest inside. This came complete with five screaming baby birds. Because Marc is more than a bit of a germophobe and Kim thinks it's . . . well. . . gross, Jakob sprang into action. He went comparison shopping at Lowe's and Home Depot and bought daddy a brand new awesome grill.

Next week, Kim and Jakob will be heading up to Iowa during Kim's week off from school before summer school starts up to spend some quality time with her folks. The first week of June Marc heads to Chicago for an event site visit. This weekend is Memorial Day and we honor those who have fought before us and who are currently fighting to protect our freedoms. Thanks especially to our dads.

More soon.

Changing every day. . .

2009-05-06T21:02:00.000-07:00

We knew it would only be a matter of time before Jakob put together that shaking his head from side to side would signify that he didn't want to take part in something. This has now been compounded by one little two letter word that he completely understands and enjoys using on a regular basis. . . "no."

It's not all bad. That coupled with him pleading with us and saying (and signing) "please" have made for one demanding little boy. Here are a few scenarios:

Us: "Jakob, do you want to go night-nights?"

Jakob: [shakes head side to side] "Naw, naw."

Us: "Jakob, we're going to go eat now."

Jakob: [pointing downstairs vigorously and signing] "PEASE! PEASE!"

The latter would be due to one amazing discovery Jakob has found a new love for. . . the Lego Star Wars game on the XBOX. He's not ready for his own controller yet as he only stays engaged for a short while and he can't quite play the game yet (hey, he's only almost 2). BUT, that didn't stop Marc from buying an old, used controller, snipping the cord and giving it to Jakob to use during Father/Son game time. Worked like a charm. . . until Jakob realized his was not white and pointed to daddy's controller pleading, "PEASE! PEASE!"

Yesterday, we went to a daycare educator meeting to get an update on Jakob's status. His teachers continue to rave about his progress. He's not only one of the smartest kids in class, but very well behaved. His language and motor skills have shot through the roof over the last few weeks. His teachers know he's going to be full time in the next room soon and they're going to miss him. They also reinforced that they really appreciate us as parents and that we're doing a great job in trying to incorporate what they're doing there into our home routine. It was super cool.

Later, we went to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, or as Kim thinks the anniversary of the Mexican revolution (haha), up on the square with Nana and Pape. There was a huge crowd so Jakob was clingy, but that's fun and Nana and Pape can't get enough of it.

Lately, Jakob has enjoyed spending time at the windows looking for dogs he can "woof, woof" at or birds that he can "caw, caw" at. He's also developed a new fear of the vacuum cleaner, but loves his toy one still. In fact, he doesn't call it "vacuum" but "buddy" instead. We may never know why. . .

Jakob knows who he is and picks himself out of photos. Pretty funny to see him point at the photo and then at himself.

Today, Kim and Jakob saw a full arch rainbow. It was Jakob's first so they got a photo of it. Pretty cool stuff!

This weekend is Mother's Day and while it's Kim's second, we're still cherishing every one of them because of the miracle Jakob is. We're heading up to see Nana and Pape to go to the Elms Resort. Hopefully, soon we'll be on the road toward a sibling for him which will bring a new set of challenges and positive experiences for us and for him.

More soon.

Each day a little more happens

2009-04-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to report a few pieces of news from Jakob. First, each week he's spending a little more time with the next room up from his current one and will soon be transitioning fully. This will bring new challenges for him as he continues to develop. We're excited because his educators said his development took a huge increase over the last 10 days. He's talking more (lots of babble, but more words have emerged) and growth milestones are becoming easier for him.

This week, our Parents as Teachers mentor came to see us and was very pleased with Jakob. She had him color paper which we folded and then he problem solved how to get into a pretend mailbox and retrieve it. He's stacking objects and recognizing himself and others when he sees photos. We love how well he's doing!!

This week Jakob started saying "Dude!" as well as knowing that the number "2" comes after the number "1" and we're pretty sure he's saying "Chechnya" (yes, like the country) but we're not sure why.

In a few weeks we have an update meeting with his daycare educator to talk more about what they're doing and will be doing so we can reinforce it at home.

We're planning a few trips to take place this summer and spring. One with our friends the Irwin's (http://www.itsallaboutbella.com/) to the Deanna Rose Farm and another hopefully to Omaha to see our friends Scotte and Annie and their new baby (she's due in a few weeks).

But for now, we'll settle for the amazing amount of sun, sandals and super fun with the little boy.

More soon.

Double duty

2009-04-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

Well, we promised you the photos of Marc's birthday party and here they are. There are a lot of things we could say to either explain them or to add insult to injury, but it's so much better to just wonder, isn't it?

In addition, the little boy is a full-fledged KU fan thanks to his Nana and Pape as you can see below.

Jakob also has the ability to move objects with his mind. Is this child limited by anything?!?!

More soon.

Clean cut. . . on the outside.

2009-04-09T18:42:00.000-07:00

Oh the little boy. He'd become quite a shaggy fellow and Kim thought it was time to do something about his hair to make him look a little less. . . well. . . homeless. Marc loved his curly locks but still to Sheer Madness they went on Wednesday to get the boy his third official big boy haircut.

We took before photos just after he woke up that morning to have a reference point. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best time to take them:

Then, after he sat silent in the chair watching television, the finished product emerged:

Is it possible to improve on perfection? They may have done the impossible. . . made the most amazing little boy look even better.

Tomorrow, we head out to spend good Friday with Marc's parents. Have a great Easter this weekend.

More soon.

A day in the life of Mr. Mischief

2009-04-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

Although Jakob is only 20 months, today we feel like we ushered in the beginning of the terrible two's. We made the mistake of letting him sleep in to try to catch up on his sleep from having rotavirus last week. Oh yeah, did we mention he had rotavirus? He did. It was awful. . .

Today, while he slept in, we completely rearranged our bedroom in the anticipation of our new Serta memory foam bed arrival. We got about halfway done when our little Mr. Mischief woke up and came in to join us.

At first, everything seemed to be fine. Then the getting into everything started. This was followed by whining when we didn't get what we wanted. Lather. Rinse. Repeat for most of the day.

The bed did arrive and we're very much looking forward to sleeping on it and our new sheets tonight. You've got to get new sheets because the mattress is officially six inches taller than our previous one. Size does matter.

As you can see, one of Mr. Mischief's quests was caught on film:

Here I am!

I probably shouldn't touch that.

Let's close the door first so I'm not disturbed.

Into the bathtub!

What do these knobs do?

Mmmm, these candles should be mine.

Earlier this week Marc turned 35. There will be quite a few photos of our time at Joe's Crab Shack in the days ahead. This next week Kim is on spring break and will have some much needed down time. She was sick for a lot of this week with a variation of what Jakob had. No fun either. Marc is going to take a few days off to spend a few movie days with Kim and then we're all heading out to Marc's parents' house on Good Friday to celebrate Easter.

On Wednesday, Jakob will be getting his third official haircut. Marc likes it the way it is, but Kim has decided his curls are a little too much to handle so big boy haircut here we come!

We'll keep you posted on how things progress with Mr. Mischief's further adventures.

More soon.

To the Bat Cave!

2009-03-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was awesome! We got to get outside with the caped crusader to try out his new Bat-Cycle.

Check it out here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc90LH2XhQ4

This weekend is daddy's birthday weekend so we'll probably have some photos soon of all the festivities!

More soon.

JJLA

2009-03-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

In addition to most likely having Wolverine's healing factor, Jakob recently decided to continue his multi-talented crime fighting in the Junior Justice League of America through another famous superhero. . . Batman. Yes, our little boy is now an official caped crusader compliments of his costume benefactor, Marc's mom.

Jakob couldn't be happier and he wouldn't dare cover up that amazing face and head of hair with a mask. It's all part of his charm. He's his own dynamic duo. . . looks good in the suit like Batman with the charm of Bruce Wayne.

Tomorrow if the weather stays night we're going to take his Bat 4-wheeler outside to give it a real test run. Neighborhood criminal masterminds beware!

With spring now officially here and hopefully summer on the way, we're excited to be able to take him more places without his bulky coat or hat. He's become very active and is ready to say "bye" with the intention of going bye-bye even if it's just downstairs.

Soon there will be swimming lessons, soccer and college. . . whoa. Wait. Not yet.

More soon.

Fear grate

2009-03-19T21:12:00.000-07:00

Just for fun, check out the below photo. Kim is deathly afraid of floor or sidewalk grates and avoids them at all costs. So, to freak her out, Marc and Jakob have a little fun for posterity:

More soon.

Restless nights

2009-03-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

Since we last met, a lot has gone on with our family. This year has started off rather stressful for our family, and it's only March! As you probably know, we've been feeling the pressure of things with our jobs like meetings and being overwhelmed for Kim and lots of travel and too many projects at work for Marc. That coupled with the untimely death of Kim's grandmother and a lot of little appointments and meetings in our personal lives has made for a very busy beginning to 2009.

Jakob continues to amaze us as his personality and intelligence grows. He has mastered two of the baby signing books and it's come in handy for him to help communicate until his vocabulary matures. That said, he's also learned to say some things he used to only motion. He now waves and verbalizes "hi" or "bye" when he does it. He also shrugs and vocalizes "Don't know" when we ask "Where's daddy?" or "Where's mommy?" Probably the coolest thing he does, and from what his daycare providers have told us is quite advanced, is that he's eating successfully with a child metal fork. We've implemented it at home as well and he's quite the pro.

We found out this week that in the near future he's going to be heading into the next classroom. It's bittersweet for us as on the one hand we know he needs to move on as he's growing to be with his friends he's not seen in a while, but on the other hand, we really like his current teachers and the accolades they give him.

Jakob likes for us to build things with blocks and then he comes along to crush them down to which he then yells out, "Ohhhhhh nooooooooo!" Check out his latest YouTube additions here:

Jakob Marcus: Attack! - www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAIRxR0v6Qs

Jakob Marcus: The Belly - www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJASrniy-Z0

Two weeks ago, Marc was unexpectedly hospitalized with an infection that turned into a 104 degree temperature. It was his first overnight hospital stay and fortunately he wasn't alone. Marc's mom works at Liberty Hospital and came by as well as his dad who is retired. In addition, his good friend Matt was able to stop by the house to pick up some clothing and shower supplies from Kim for him. While he was in the hospital, Kim was dealing with Jakob who had decided to get a 24 hour flu at the same time. All in all it was a stressful time, but we're all beginning to feel better.

Over the last week and a half, Jakob has been restless at night. We aren't sure if it's his teething, a cold or just growing pains, but he's frequently getting up and crying at his door for us to come get him. We usually only have to put him back in bed and tell him that it's time for "night-nights" and within a few minutes he's out again, but it's made for uneasy sleep for us and him. We're hoping he breaks this habit soon and goes back to sleeping through the night like before.

This weekend we have a church small group Rock Band party to go to on Saturday. We're looking forward to seeing people from our small group and individuals from other small groups that we haven't gotten to talk with in a while. Should be fun and we'll probably have some great photos of it to show you in our next post.

In a few weeks, Marc turns 35. Seems like only yesterday he was enjoying a weekend full of surprise parties as he turned 30. Kim said she has some great things in mind for what he hopes will be a 5 day long celebration. :)

This weekend rocked! Great weather and we got to go outside with the little boy. When we came back in Jakob threw a major fit letting us know he's definitely happier in warm weather!

More soon.

In memorandum and new word

2009-02-22T12:53:00.000-08:00

This week, we start with some bad news. Jakob's great grandmother Vera Fricke went home to be with the Lord. This past Wednesday and Thursday we traveled up to Gowrie, IA, for the receiving of friends and funeral services. Vera was 84 years old and while Jakob may not have a memory of her as he gets older, she got to meet him and spend time with him on numerous occasions and we have lots of photos/memories to share with him for years to come.

On the lighter side, recently Jakob began saying "a-she-she" and we thought maybe he had a new girlfriend. On occasion he would walk around and call out "Asheshe!" and we had no idea what he meant. We would repeat it back to him and he would laugh and say it again. This morning the mystery was solved. Kim pulled out the goldfish crackers before we went to church and asked Jakob, "Do you want a cracker?" He responded by putting out his hand and saying, "A-she-she," or what we now know as "a fishie."

Kim has parent-teacher conferences this week, and Marc will be in Rhode Island this week for work but back in time for the weekend.

More soon.

First it's warm then it's cold. . .

2009-02-14T19:12:00.000-08:00

So, last weekend it was awesome outside so we decided to take the little boy over to Zona Rosa. It was great because we got to walk around in short sleeves, get some ice cream in what could be deemed "ice cream eating weather" and look at the cool fountains that didn't have any water in them. They did have change still, so instead of finding a second job to help with our next adoption and in preparation for the economy to continue to die under this new pork bill passing, Marc might be making a few trips over there again at 3:00 a.m. Any extra milk jugs you have that could be donated to the cause would be greatly appreciated.

Sunday, we had a lunch date with one of Jakob's good friends Bella and her parents at Olive Garden. Olive Garden is described by Bella's dad Ryan as "cheap, imitation Italian food, but Marc was quick to respond that this is from the same guy that can recite the Pizza Street jingle.

What's the best part of a great weekend? Wondering when the other shoe was going to drop. For the younger generation, that's an expression that means "when the next bad thing is going to happen." On Monday morning, as we celebrated his 18 month milestone, we had a great time in our usual getting ready way and headed off to daycare. Later that morning, Kim called to say that Jakob's teachers had called to say he had a 102 temperature. Kim picked him up and they headed over to the doctor to find out he had strep. Exciting!

Tuesday, Marc worked from home to stay with Jakob so he would have a full 24 hours of antibiotics in his system before going back to daycare. He's much better now and we're glad he's okay.

Jakob's vocabulary continues to grow as well. He has started saying "cookie" (although he only likes one kind of cookie and only in moderation), "cheese," "thank you" and signs "please."

Yesterday, we went to have his 18 month photo shoot. As you'll see below, he doesn't take a bad picture. One of Marc's coworkers bet him that we wouldn't settle for the $9.95 package of one pose and a bunch of pictures, and she was right. At the zero hour we ended up going home with an extra 9 in that cost. You can figure out where it's at. . .

Today, Jakob spent time with Nana and Pape while we spent a much needed Valentine's Day date at Peachtree Restaurant down in the Power and Light District. Good food, good music, great dessert. Time well spent.

We got home to find out that Jakob had passed out for about a third of the time we had gone out. It's his own fault for not taking a nap today. He went down quickly tonight and hopefully he has a good night rest. We've started putting up the plastic gate on his door so he stays contained in the morning. A few weekends ago we found him crying in the basement wondering where we were. He's a little too clever for his own good.

This week Jakob visits the doctor again, but just for a check up. . . for now.

More soon.

Slacker Central

2009-01-30T20:04:00.000-08:00

Before you go on thinking we're slackers, just hear us out first. Sit back, relax, grab a can of Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi and we'll dive into the sorted tale of what has happened since our last post.

When we last met, the new year had started and Jakob was trying his hand at posting to try to keep things fresh. A few weekends ago Marc traveled to Orlando to oversee a few large events. One might think it would be nice to get away from the cold in January. . . but alas, while things went better than expected and all were excited about the outcome, it was cold. All but one day it was in the upper 30's/low 40's. Also, Jakob and Kim were both sick with bronchitis (Jakob also had pneumonia) making Marc feel miserable to be so far away. During this time Kim's mother also came down from Iowa to see Jakob.

When Marc got back both Kim and Jakob were feeling much better. The Friday after his return, we went to the movies while Jakob was in daycare. We both needed a Friday off so we decided to go see Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" and the latest installment in the "Underworld" movie series. Both were very good and it was easy to see how Mickey Rourke got the Golden Globe for best actor.

Two days later Marc got the flu and it hit him like a truck. He was home from work one day this week and miserable most of the others. This weekend will be nice for him to continue to recuperate.

Jakob continues to fill our lives with love, laughter and responsibility. He's now getting out of bed on his own and we found him in the basement on the weekend Marc got back (even before we got out of bed!). He's also a big fan of cruising up and down the carpeted stairs with ease.

He has really begun to mimic us in what we do and he loves to explore. As a matter of fact, Kim found him exploring the master bathroom and he definitely left his mark. Check it out at www.youtube.com/watch?v=nakehMXceH4.

We're looking forward to warmer weather this spring so we can get outside more and get him some of that tan back that he had last summer. It's been hard to stay cooped up in the house when he definitely wants to explore more outside. His favorite discovery is still the moon. He finds it instantly when we're outside at night, and sometimes mistakes the larger lights in our house for it, but he's definitely on the right track and it's fun to see him point it out with so much tenacity!

This weekend we're heading over to see our friends the Kilson's to watch what we hope will be the Arizona Cardinals upset the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl. We'll try to be more diligent in posting now that things are beginning to calm down and we're all almost well. . .

More soon.

New year, new personality

2009-01-05T19:47:00.000-08:00

First off, sorry for taking so long to get in the first of the year post. As you can imagine with recovering from Christmas and New Years plus the coming apocalypse from the Arizona Cardinals hosting the NFC Championship game, we've been swamped. Now, a news brief:

"However, Skynet became self-aware thus alarming its creators at its new found abilities. When the human operators attempted to shut down the system, Skynet defined all humans as its new enemy and decided to terminate all humans to protect its existence. Every nuclear missile in the United States under Skynet's control was launched at their preset targets and in the resulting counterattack of other nations' nuclear arsenals, three billion humans were killed in minutes as a result of the nuclear exchange." - Sarah Connor

Now that we have your attention, imagine this "self-awareness" on a much, much smaller scale and you have the little boy. Jakob's personality traits continue to grow and become more of his own. He's smiling more, laughing more, blowing kisses and showing more of these charming looks. He's become more fearless and while it still takes him a little while to warm up to new people, it's only a matter of time before he shows off his belly or gives a well-deserved high five. The other big news is that we took the side off Jakob's crib so it's officially now more of a day bed.

Words Jakob has now mastered:

Daddy

Momma

Oh-no!

Oh wow!

Awesome

Nana

and just this week. . .moon! They're learning about the nine (or eight) planets at his daycare and he now looks for and points at the moon.

Non-verbals Jakob has now mastered:

Smiling

Blowing kisses

High fives

Taking our hand and leading us somewhere

Dancing

Crawling up and down the stairs on his own

Getting off the bed/couch by himself

Clapping

Clicking his tongue

Shaking his head "no"

Signing "more"

Signing "all done"

Eating with a fork

For Christmas, Jakob got more quality than quantity. Some of his gifts include a table and chairs from Santa, a Batman 4-wheeler from Nana and Pape, Dancing Wubzy from his aunt and learning toys from Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grandmas. It was great seeing him understand this year and really get engaged in enjoying the time.

Although it's hard to see unless you turn over your monitor, you can see the boy in live action on the 4-wheeler at www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1PlpBLD2Mo.

Kim got Marc Guitar Hero and Jakob really enjoys watching daddy play songs he can dance to. Jakob also loves more and more time watching mommy cook and read stories.

This month Marc heads to Orlando to oversee a media event at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex and a few other client meetings. One of these times, we're just going to plan on moving down there. The weather alone is enough to make you want to never come back to the Midwest.

Kim has officially started the countdown. 19 weeks until summer break.

More soon.

Our 90th post is Jakob's first. . .

2008-12-15T13:56:00.000-08:00

This year we decided to let Jakob write the family Christmas letter. This is what he came up with:

New Year’s Eve I fell asleep. Mommy and Daddy took video of the day and of me asleep though. In January, Daddy went to Chicago and Orlando for work. I was sick a lot this month, but I got better.

In February, I turned six months old and my daddy’s car died. Not on the same day. He bought a new cool black one. I had “company” on the 14th while mommy and daddy went to the Hereford House. They kissed a lot that day.

In March, I went to the doctor again. I got to spend a whole week with mom while she was on something called spring break. It was fun. At the end of the month mommy and me celebrated my daddy’s birthday with Nana and Pape.

I got acquainted again with the doctor in April. My daddy started to help lead worship at Sunday morning church, and daddy and me went with mommy to Special Olympics to see her students compete.

In May, I experienced my first Tornado when it hit our housing addition. It was loud and scary, but our house was on the news. We went to court on May 5 and I am now officially and completely my mommy and daddy’s little boy! My mommy also helped at a Special Ed school dance, and later in the month my family and friends came out for a welcome home party for me! Mommy was done with school this month for summer, too.

I got to go with mommy to see daddy at work and have lunch in June. Daddy says that when mommy is off she may as well come see them because Days of Our Lives and Gilmore Girls isn’t on all day. We celebrated daddy’s heritage at an Italian Festival and I also went with mommy to her school to get our picture taken with all the other new mommies. Later, we were in the car for a long time while we went up to northern Iowa to see some of mommy’s relatives at an annual family camp out.

We celebrated Independence Day in July with family and friends from church, and later that month mommy and me started going to the library for story time. My daddy also went to New Orleans for work and he said it was hot. He brought me and mommy back presents. The weekend afterward mommy and daddy went to spend some time together for their anniversary while I got to spend time with my aunt and cousins from Iowa.

I finally had my first birthday and my first birthday party in August. I went to the doctor again. I got shots. They hurt. At the end of the month, I went with mommy, daddy and Nana to Santicaligon Days in Independence, MO.

We went with Nana to Kearney where my daddy grew up to the Jesse James Days parade in September. The following weekend I went with daddy back to Kearney to sit with Nana and Pape to watch daddy in the Homecoming Parade. At the end of the month, I got to celebrate the birthday of my friends from church Bella and Teagan who both turned one.

In October, I went to the Renaissance Festival with my parents and some friends from church, and on Halloween I went trick or treating with mommy and daddy in the ewok from Star Wars costume my Nana made.

My Grandpa and Grandma from Iowa came to visit in November. Grandma and Grandpa came to visit me because they missed me so much. I heard Mommy and Daddy talking that Grandpa wasn’t feeling too well, but he sure played a lot with me on the floor. I had so much fun when they watched me while Mommy and Daddy were at work. I got to see my aunt, uncle and cousin from Kansas and for the second year in a row I slept through Thanksgiving. Mommy says I do that a lot.

Now it’s December, and mommy keeps talking about how she’s so excited about me opening presents. I do really like the paper. Last week, I had surgery to get tubes in my ears. I had a good time and got to ride in a wagon. I feel much better now. I’m going to get my picture with Santa this weekend and then in a few weeks it will be Christmas. We’re going to see most of my family and I’m looking forward to it. Mostly, I’m glad to be in this family. My mommy and daddy tell me they’ve already got the best present ever. I don’t know what that means. None of the boxes have their names on them under the tree.

Oh well. . . see you next year.

Love, Jakob

Jakob does the spiderman dance: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE2BQyYc5Kw

Clever exploration continues into the ER

2008-11-30T12:26:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! This has been a very busy last couple of weeks. Jakob continues to continue to try to learn more and more about his surroundings. We held off on childproofing the house completely and just adjust as he grows. That means that Christmas will no doubt become interesting this year.

As Jakob's strength and super powers increase, we've had to begin pulling him away from the cabinets. Our sun makes his cells extremely powerful, more powerful than the average human, but they have not completely matured yet. That being said, he can pull lighter items out and play with them, but can only lift the heavier items out for a short period before BONK, they hit the floor. They also sometimes hit his feet. You can imagine how fun that is. Go ahead. We'll wait.

Done? Good. We went as a family to Hy-Vee earlier this week to get groceries for the annual Thanksgiving feast. We started Thanksgiving Day at Marc's parents' house to enjoy Belgian waffles. Later that day, Marc's parents came out to enjoy the big meal with us. They arrived just after Jakob continued his tradition of falling asleep 30 minutes before the big meal. Yes, he slept through it again this year. He woke up shortly after to have some fun with Nana and Pape. And for those of you keeping score, we did in fact feed him both before and after his nap. He didn't miss out.

Before we had Jakob, we would get up together and go shopping on black Friday, but now we've decided we will trade off so Jakob doesn't have to endure the "fun." Last year, Kim went and this year it was Marc's turn. We made a list in relation to store openings and succeeded in getting 90 percent of our entire list completed in one day.

Later that evening, while Marc cleaned up in the kitchen, Kim played with Jakob and turned around just in time to see him spin, fall and hit his forehead on the corner of the door frame between the living room and kitchen. This prompted MUCH screaming (by all of us), a blue goose egg literally the height of his forehead to show up and a trip to the Liberty Hospital ER to take place. After a short time in triage, they called us back and informed us he would need a CAT scan to ensure there was no skull fracture or concussion. That was fun. Actually quite terrible. Awful really.

Thankfully, the scan came back negative and his wound was only skin deep. On Saturday, he was a little sore and his balance was a bit off, but it didn't keep us from making it to Vineyard for the 4:30 p.m. service.

Recently, the big teddy bear in Jakob's room has become his nemesis and the two continue to battle it out. We recovered some rare footage of the two combatants clashing together:

Last night, we started putting up Christmas. Like we said, it's going to be interesting this year. We purchased a barrier that should keep Jakob's clever yet wandering hands away from anything that could hurt him. We got most of our decorations up and then this morning did the big tree reveal with all the lights and decorations for Jakob. It's truly amazing seeing his reaction to new things. We also got our first snow yesterday. Last year, Jakob got to see and feel snow, but he was only a few months old so it didn't make much sense. When we left church last night, it was incredible seeing the wonder in his eyes as the calm snow fell.

Tomorrow, it's back to the grind knowing that in two weeks we both have our work Christmas parties. It's going to be here before we know it.

More soon.

Something, but really nothing

2008-11-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

Now that Halloween has passed and the election is over, our conservative minds are a bit worried. We're going to continue to devote time to this blog until the Obama/Biden ticket wipe out free speech all together and bring about the new socialist order.

But today we're still good, so we thought we'd update you on how the little boy is doing. First a couple of movie clips for you to check out:

Jakob Marcus: I'm Gonna Get You - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82VT5g_reXQ

Jakob Marcus: Noisy Boy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5F52XEpVtI

Speaking of vocal, Jakob really enjoys making noises especially with his hands near his mouth - We were trying to get a video version of the photos below, but he wasn't going for it. The pictures are pretty self explanatory. Hope a chicken doesn't come sit on that bottom lip.

This weekend we didn't do a whole lot as Jakob continued to recover from his upper respiratory infection. We had been giving him breathing treatments and he LOVES those [sarcasm], but it's all paid off as he's back to his normal self. . . for the most part. We're unsure, but he is exhibiting the appearances of perhaps getting another ear infection. Awesome. Double order of awesome.

Jakob has also learned exactly what to do when his daddy's team scores a touchdown. Pretty awesome:

Tonight, we decided to take photos of each other with our eyes crossed. What we learned is that Kim can't do it unless her eyes are squinted. Otherwise, she looks like she's completely evil. Marc on the other hand somehow has the ability to only cross one of his eyes in a sort of "I grew up in Kearney" kind of way. Whoa.

Big month as the new 007 movie comes out, the Twilight movie Kim wants to see comes out, Kim's parents come to see us next weekend and Marc leads worship in our Vineyard Venue service. This all leads up to Thanksgiving then the mother of all holidays. . . Christmas. Pretty exciting.

More soon.

Backtrack then on to Endor and the Greek Islands

2008-10-31T10:32:00.000-07:00

Marc's mother provided us with other photos of our trip to the pumpkin patch. These have some great shots of him feeding a goat at the petting zoo as well as other ones from when he was an Ewok at his daycare harvest fair.

We also got some great photos of a fun time spent at Kansas City's best Greek restaurant Tasso's celebrating Kim's "29th" birthday.

This post won't be too long on text. We'll let the photos of the most amazing boy ever tell the story. Also, tonight we'll make the attempt to take him to a few houses to trick or treat. Since he's wearing a head piece, we'll see how that goes over coupled with the fact that he hates getting in and out of the car repeated times. Hopefully, that will change next year. . .

More pumpkin patch fun:

Kim's birthday at Tasso's:

Jakob's Harvest Fair at daycare, part 2:

A mouse in the pumpkin patch

2008-10-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

Last week, Marc was in Orlando for a business meeting and got to enjoy the warm Florida sun. Meanwhile, Kim and the little boy were back in Kansas City enjoying the erratic temperature changes that only the Midwest can bring. By the way, if you haven't seen the video of him walking, check out www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1IlVLaoL4I.

Marc did make sure to reward their suffering when he came back. While Jakob is still a little young for a visit to the world's most popular mouse, it doesn't mean we shouldn't get him started now. It's inevitable, right?

As long as we divert his attention, he forgets he's wearing his first pair of mouse ears and devotes his efforts to his first Mickey doll. If that's not enough, he's now got an official Orlando House of Blues hoodie to sport this spring (it's quite large on him right now).

Kim enjoyed parent/teacher conferences last week but this time around got to work in her room during the evening so it was a win-win. She met with some of her students' parents and got some much needed work done. She claims she's still buried, but at least the top of Everest can be seen again.

Last weekend, we went with Marc's mom to the local pumpkin patch. It's a full scale operation. Marc's mom got some great photos of Jakob feeding some very pregnant goats at the petting zoo, but we don't have those yet. He did also brave the big black tunnel successfully and the pumpkin pile his parents made him sit on for gratuitous photos. All in all a great day.

Sunday, we went to Marc's parents' house to see the grand unveiling of Jakob's Halloween costume. It rocks and hats off to Marc's mom Delene for some amazing work. We're not sure Jakob completely enjoys the part that goes on his head, but as long as we can get a few photos out of it, it should make for one heck of a second Halloween. We don't want to blow the surprise, but we'll have plenty of photos from his Harvest Event this Thursday evening along with Halloween next Friday.

This weekend is also Kim's 29th birthday (again)! We're very excited and Jakob has done his best to read his mom's mind in order to give her exactly what she wants. We'll have photos of the festivities next week as well.

It's cold again. Seems we skipped fall all together. Could the Chiefs BE any worse this year? :)

More soon.

The wait is over!

2008-10-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

Like most newscasts, we thought we'd open with a few things that we reported on in the past before we get to the juicy stuff that happened last night.

Here are more photos of Marc and Jakob at Kearney's Homecoming two weekends ago where Jakob officially learned how to drink from a straw. He's totally got it down pat now:

Also, over time he has developed this habit of taking whatever he has in his hands or has been given and puts it behind his head. This includes, burp rags, blankets, toys, food, etc. Nice. We caught evidence of this in the car a few nights ago. Hadji, as he is now known as, did the following:

This is just a random photo of Jakob's girlfriend, Bella, and her father Ryan who really is a good guy. Really. Seriously. He just looks upset in photos. Not sure why, but funny nonetheless:

Kim is trying to get Jakob to read. Yuck. Marc works on making sure his outer image is right, not that it's a hard job. The kid is a model/athlete/scholar in the making already. Kim takes care of his intellectual side. We're pretty sure he's going to be humming "Hail to the Chief" soon. We've started referring to him as Governor Jakob around the house. See below the natural progression of chewing, behind the head check, reading, getting disinterested and coming for the camera as it unfolds:

Now, the big news you've all been waiting for. . . as a result of the coolness of my parents' cat Boots, Jakob walked around like he'd been doing it for years. He wanted so desperately to get a handful of the top of the cat's tail that he broke free form the safety of our fingers to go after it.

Sadly, we did not have our camera with us. . .

Because of this revelation, we're going to head to Toy's R Us and find something remote controlled for him to chase. Less to clean up and Marc is allergic to cats and dogs.

Tonight we have dinner with friends at Cafe Italia, tomorrow small group and Friday Marc will attend the PRSA PRISM Awards hoping the project he worked on won an award. This weekend, we're heading to the Renaissance Festival with some friends and Kim will be taking part in Special Olympics bowling with her kids on Saturday. Next week Marc heads to Orlando for a business trip. Good but busy times ahead!!

More soon.

Holy smokes, it's fall!

2008-10-02T08:10:00.000-07:00

So, it's been quite a while since we last met and a lot has happened. Here's the agenda for this blog entry:

- Chiefs/Raiders Game

- Walking

- Bath time Update
- Sick/Cutting teeth

- Jesse James Days

- Kearney Homecoming weekend

- Bella's Party

- Renaissance Festival

You can click on one of the above links and it will take you directly to that article on here. Pretty cool. Have you tried it? Okay, just kidding. You can't really do that. But it would be neat if you could, right?

First, in Week 2 of the regular NFL season, Jakob and daddy got to watch their first Chiefs/Raiders rivalry game together. Jakob was decked out in his red Chiefs jersey and daddy had on his silver and black sweatshirt and pants. As they sat in the basement and the Raiders ran up the score, Jakob did what he does best, fell asleep. Marc said, "Lazy Sunday afternoon, sitting in the basement watching the Raiders winning over the Chiefs, holding my son who is sacked out in my arms. What's better than this?"

Jakob continues to attempt to walk, but his feelings about it change from time to time. Some days he's really excited about walking and is very upset when we try to hold him. Other days, he doesn't want to walk at all and feels crawling, like air travel, gets him there faster. We'll keep hoping he takes more than five steps very soon.

We are pleased to report that after some home therapy of sponge baths and bathing in the tub with him for a couple of days, Jakob is back and again loving to be in the tub on his own. As a matter of fact, now he can't wait to get in and almost jumps out of our arms! Good news all around.

For the past week and a half to two weeks Jakob has been sick. He's gone from having a diaper rash to coughing and sneezing to being tired and cranky and everything in between. We know he's cutting two more molars as our fingers can report when trying to get something out of his mouth! He's taken all the anxiety of bath time and it now comes out when we try to change his diaper. That's exciting. Bathing can be changed up a bit, but we can't go without changing him.

A few weekends ago we went to Jesse James Days in Kearney and watched the parade with Nana. First we had pancake breakfast at the VFW followed by a fun time of loud music and sirens, marching bands walking through horse poop, election coverage of candidates and lots of candy thrown our way.

Last Friday, Marc walked in the Kearney Homecoming parade with the alumni float. Jakob got to see it with Nana and Pape then afterward they all went to the local great Mexican restaurant La Fuente. When news of this lunch outing reached Kim she was not happy as it's one of her favorite places to eat. :)

Last Saturday and Sunday we had two party invites for Jakob's friends. On Saturday, we went with him to visit his friend Teagan who turned one and then Sunday we went with him to see his friend Bella who also turned one. For more on the Sunday party, check out www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHFqYNRFf4A and see below:

This week Marc was able to finally get our new laptop hooked up to the wireless router at home so now we have a network our laptop and Kim's work laptop can use at the same time anywhere in the house!! Today our new extended server/mass storage device should arrive so we won't have to house any of our movie, music or photo files on the laptop hard drive. Yeah!

This weekend we will be visiting one of Marc's coworkers whose son is turning three on Saturday. We got him a plasma car and it rocks. We're definitely getting one for us one of these days. Do a Google search for it and you'll want one too. On Sunday, Marc will lead the Venue service with his friend Tanya at Vineyard Church.

Next weekend, we're going with some friends to the final weekend of the Renaissance Festival which should be interesting and we look forward to see Jakob's reaction.

More soon.

Stunt man television star

2008-09-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

Jakob continues to obtain notoriety through any means necessary. We have started a new daycare and while the change wasn't the easiest, Jakob is doing quite well, learning a lot and on his way to becoming more and more of a "big boy" each day. A few weeks ago, Jakob's photos were featured in a gallery showing at Marc's work with plenty of "oo-ing" and "ahhh-ing."

The best part is the cost. We were under the impression that we would need to pay the difference of what the state of Missouri wasn't going to pay for his weekly fees. Turns out they're covering a certain amount and that's all that is required. So, we're paying nada for daycare and that's a huge help financially. In addition, God continues to bless us with unexpected money. We received a few checks to help cover the legal fees we incurred for Jakob's adoption which not only helps out with that, but also gets us back on track with savings for anything that comes along later.

The little boy was AGAIN on the NBC Action News segment "Birthday's with Brent." This time it was to celebrate his adoption date anniversary. It was interesting seeing again how far he's come. To see the clip from the show, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ3agbqJRyY.

Jakob is cutting his first molars and you can imagine how much fun that is to be a part of. He has also decided that when he's getting his diaper changed or clothes put on it's time to scream and roll around to try to get away. Good times. A few days ago he decided he no longer likes baths and screams as soon as he gets in the water. As a result, he tried to stand up and get out leading to the following photos of a head bruise when he fell down and bumped his melon:

One of the greatest things a parent can see at their daycare is a sign that announces that foot and mouth disease is running around the kids. We kept him home today thinking last night that he had gotten it. After a quick run to the doctor, he deducted that Jakob is in the clear without the dreaded kid sickness. Yahoo!

Jakob's eating habits are changing as well. He's off the bottle completely now using only a sippy cup and we're feeding him predominately table food or anything we eat. It's also challenged us to eat more healthy so we're not encouraging child obesity. In addition to this great food, Jakob has found that a steady diet of mischief and facial tissues is just what the doctor ordered:

He doesn't walk yet, but is crazy strong and as mobile as most G.I. Joe toy aircraft and tanks. Simply put, the kid's en fuego. He's "gentle" with things he touches, but thankfully, we haven't had to replace anything. We are going to make a conscious effort to move to the next step in childproofing this weekend as Jakob has figured out that he likes to open every drawer and cabinet possible. Exciting.

In a few weeks we hope to introduce him to a homecoming weekend, the Renaissance Festival and Jesse James Days. This week Kim went on a field trip with the kids to go bowling and next week Marc will be featured in his hometown newspaper on a recent award he won at work.

If you keep tuning in, we'll keep providing news.

More soon.

A Festivus for the rest of us

2008-09-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

So, needless to say, we rocked it out over Labor Day weekend!

Sunday morning, Marc helped lead worship at our church's Venue acoustic service. Afterward, we loaded up the little boy in Nana's van with her and Miss Tracy and headed over to Independence for Santicaligon Days.

It was hot, but the little boy loved it. He went back and forth in mommy's arms, then the stroller for a while then into daddy's arms. He also did another first. Granted, it wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, but he did drink very well little by little from a big boy water bottle. Daddy shared his water with him and occasionally it went onto his shirt or down the wrong pipe, we can tell he's getting smarter and smarter.

We followed Nana and Miss Tracy into one vendor tent and out another. The day also included visits to get the typical "good for you" carnival food including, pork tenderloin sandwiches, fried potato chips, curly fries, steak sandwiches and corn dogs. We were going to get a turkey leg and fried candy bar, but it was so hot we concentrated on drinks and sun screen instead.

On Monday, Nana came over for another visit to spend some time with Jakob while mommy and daddy went to see "The House Bunny." It was totally funny. Kim is looking forward to October when Saw V comes out. Just kidding.

Yesterday, we had our orientation at what will soon be Jakob's new daycare, Creative World. We are really impressed by the staff, facility and program they have there and the best part is that it is state registered so the subsidy we have for Jakob will pay for the majority or all of his tuition. Pretty exciting.

Tomorrow, the NFL regular season begins and we will be watching. Last year, Jakob was able to watch games with daddy, but he was asleep during them as he was only a few months old. This year, we hope he will get into it although as before mentioned, he really just enjoys being on the leather couch. :)

This weekend, Kim will be enjoying a baby clothing sale which will most likely glean Jakob quite a few outfits for the fall and winter, because as you can see, he's in desperate need of a shirt (or two). In a few weeks, Marc will be going with his buddy Mark Bond to Vineyard for the Jeremy Riddle concert. Should be a great show and he's looking forward to it!

More soon.

Image management

2008-08-30T22:50:00.000-07:00

Now that Jakob is officially one, it became obvious that it was time for us to help him along in what we're positive is going to be a quick road to stardom. The first thing we did was make sure to get him on television to ensure his story was told.

While the audio isn't the best, and we recorded it from DVR to digital camera, you've got to check out our latest YouTube clip. Jakob appeared on the "Birthdays with Brett" segment during NBC Action News's Midday edition. Brett meant to talk about the fact that he was born on August 9 [2007] and adopted on September 5 [2007], but mistakenly said he was born on both days. He's going to show the photo again on September 5. To see the short clip, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=4af5RKJdBnc.

With that completed, it was then time to move the little boy's hairstyle into something a bit more appropriate for the "big boy" strides he's been making. On a tip from one of Marc's coworker friends, we made an appointment last night at Shear Madness over at Zona Rosa. Shear Madness is a kid-friendly salon complete with car chairs, kid movies and lots of colors. Prior to going, we gave him a bath so you could see just how long his hair had gotten:

At Shear Madness, Jakob first seemed excited to have his hair wet down in the Hummer he was "driving":

Things quickly went downhill as the stylist continued cutting. This photo was taken shortly before the cape went on and the tears began a' flowin':

But in the end, we were left with a cool experience and a little boy who now looks like a little man. The session came with a before and after certificate we signed along with the stylist and a baggie of his first hair locks. Good news though. Even after cutting his hair, he still retains his strength (Judges 16:17).

Once we get the okay from his doctor, we'll move to putting product in to spike it up. Perhaps a faux hawk is on the horizon. . .

Tomorrow, we head over to Santicaligon Days in Independence, MO, with Nana and Miss Tracy for an afternoon of carnival food, carnival fun and. . . carnivals. Should be a great time and the weather is supposed to be perfect. We'll be sure to upload photos from our trip.

We'd also like to share some amazing news. The power of prayer and God's faithfulness really came to light again for us this week. We have been literally agonizing over what to do about permanent daycare for Jakob. Our current daycare provider is moving next spring to Overland Park, KS, where her husband works due to rising gas prices. While we love her (a ton!), she's not state-licensed as well and if we go to a state-recognized daycare, the state will pay for it through Jakob's subsidy. Every little bit counts. One daycare investigated near the square in Liberty had an opening but we weren't sold on it completely. We were praying along with our small group and church that God would provide us with another opportunity, specifically one closer to home and one we would feel was safe for Jakob.

On Thursday afternoon, we received a call from Creative World, the daycare we had hoped to get in at and they reported having an opening for Jakob. They are state-licensed as well and he can start on September 8. The same day after the call, we received a prayer card in the mail from our senior pastor Fred saying, "Today we prayed that God would provide you with a safe and secure daycare for Jakob that you would feel at peace with." There's no way that's a coincidence. Powerful stuff and we're really thankful.

More soon.

McCain/Palin 08'

Jakob Marcus: Year One

2008-08-18T21:29:00.001-07:00

Okay, so with this year's summer hit "The Dark Knight" going on, we thought we would borrow a title for the best baby in the world, from one of the greatest superheros ever to grace the pages of a comic series.

And we looked up and the little boy was one. Lots of reflection came with this startling revelation. We looked at one of the other many, many videos from his YouTube channel including the ones where he was smaller that our forearms and thought, "How did he get so big so fast?"

We felt like last weekend he was going to walk. He's been flirting with it for a while and cruises with the greatest of ease. His birthday weekend was as close to perfect as it gets. All the A-listers were there and he was surrounded by friends and family that love him. We tried the demolish the little cake idea again and it met with similar results. After a quick back and change of clothing Jakob began opening his presents. At one point he got bored and left the room long enough for his good friends Tegan and Bella to join in on the fun. He quickly returned and continued.

[Sarcastic tone] We'd like to specifically thank everyone who gave him something that makes noise. The silver lining in this is two fold. First, they have a volume toggle switch which is easy to keep low and second, it is continuing to develop Jakob's love of music. Marc couldn't be happier about that. [Compassionate tone] But seriously, thank you to everyone who came out and for the great gifts. We really appreciate you making time for us and this event wouldn't have been the same without you.

Last Friday, with Jakob's birthday under his belt, we got to head over to the doctor to get his booster shots. Now that Jakob has become more self aware, it's big fun to try to help him make sense of how something that hurts is going to help him in the long run. A few crocodile tears later, he was fine and spent the rest of the weekend doing what he does best. . . get pampered by mom and dad and slept on Marc most of Saturday afternoon. No complaints were made by Marc or Jakob.

Baseball has become unseated by a little thing called the NFL as the national pastime and Jakob loves spending time with daddy watching the games. And by that we mean that he enjoys being in the basement crawling, jumping and yelling on the leather couch. He does eventually lay on daddy and watch some of the game, but for the most part it's just good spending father/son time together. Baring a lack of enjoyment of football, we hope to make this a regular occurrence for years to come.

Tomorrow, Kim begins another year of teaching. With each year she continues to learn and grow. Perhaps one day she will actually realize that not only is she good at what she does, she's making a difference in the lives of kids others have decided won't make it in society.

Now that Michael Phelps has won his gold, the Olympics, like the election television ads, can't end fast enough. We're especially excited because Jakob's photo is going to be on the NBC Action News "Birthday's with Brett" once the games are over. We'll make sure we record it in case you miss it.

This week, we're going to be making a decision on what may turn out to be a new daycare for Jakob. We're not completely settled with the idea, and we're praying God will provide us with either another option or peace on making the decision to begin taking him there. We'll have more on that next week.

More soon.

One down. . .

2008-08-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Jakob's first birthday, and this morning he was up early so he got to climb around in mommy and daddy's bed for a bit before Marc had to get up for work.

Kim made an observation which was interesting to try to comprehend. Today, Jakob is exactly 364 days old. In that time he has experienced Christmas, the birthdays and anniversary of his parents, summer swimming, fall leaves, cold winter bundling up and spring tornadoes. Not too bad for his almost first year on Earth.

To see the broadcast debut of Jakob Marcus: Year One, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyaNz0X3V90.

Last weekend we had Jakob's photo shoot with a photographer Marc works with at a nearby studio. It solidified we officially have the most ridiculously good looking kid on the planet:

Tomorrow is Jakob's birthday and we will have pictures for you later in the weekend. Should be a celebration so incredible, later school children will study it.

More soon.

Long time, no see

2008-07-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been a while since we last met. Believe me, we've been thinking about you. Really, it's not you, it's us. WE'RE the bad friend. You shouldn't beat yourself up so much.

With that out of our system, let's proceed to the latest news on the Jakob front. This kid is so smart. He's into everything in a good way. He's also gaining teeth by leaps and bounds and proving he knows just what to do with them! Sure, he gives us a few scares here and there, but he continues to develop his intelligence and personality. Fantastic stuff. We've got a few new YouTube clips you might enjoy:

Jakob Marcus: Don't Stop! - www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UMgBWtF_e8
Jakob Marcus: High Flying - www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKwfzOSPKIE

We celebrated the first Independence Day as three and Jakob had mixed feelings about it. He loved the attention from friends and family at the annual party, but wasn't much on the loud noises fireworks make. Also, we got home to find out he was running a 101 degree temperature which explains why he had been so groggy. After about 7 days of irritability and TLC, he's better now. He did make sure to pass on a mild form of whatever he had to his parents. He's so good with the sharing.

Kim is still trying to locate a day care provider for the fall for us that is state licensed and in or near Liberty. We know things will fall into place, but it's getting closer to when Kim heads back to work and we have still not found what we're looking for. The ones we do like don't have any openings so we're on their waiting lists hoping.

Last weekend, Kim kept the home fires burning while Marc headed to New Orleans to host a client media event at the New Orleans World Trade Center (www.raysoverneworleans.com/photos2/main.php?g2_itemId=55). While the event as well as the other things he was a part of at the convention went well, it was hot, sticky, humid and hot. Did we mention hot? Needless to say, he's glad to be home.

This weekend Kim's older sister Jill and her kids will be in town to spend some time with us. While they spend time with Jakob, we will head to see The Dark Knight and Hellboy II: The Golden Army followed by dinner at the Kona Grill and a night's lodging at the fabulous newly renovated Aladdin Hotel.

Next weekend, we have Jakob's one year photo shoot. Can you believe it? Yes, one year. One of Marc's coworkers at the agency is a photographer and will be taking his photos. People, US Weekly and Adoptive Families Magazine are already requesting copies. Pretty cool. The second weekend in August we will celebrate his actual one year birthday complete with everything a little boy needs. Still waiting to hear back on whether or not Miley Cyrus will be able to sing.

More soon.

More than just a test of the waters. . .

2008-07-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

When last we met, the little boy had started crawling and standing on his own when we would place him on the carpet. Yes, once again that doesn't seem to be enough. He's now crawling with an intensity and is pretty much the Speed Racer of crawling. In addition, Kim found him standing in the middle of the living room next to the Tonka riding toy all on his own. He's begun testing his legs without our help to see how long he can stand. Tonight, while Kim and I had supper, he stood holding on to the rocker and periodically let go to stand more with this look in his eye like "walking is coming." Scary.

Last Saturday, Marc decided it was time to finally pull the trigger on moving forward with immortalizing Jakob in ink. With his best friend Matt, he went to the Illustrated Man on North Oak in Gladstone and a few hours later returned home with this on his upper left arm:

Unfortunately, now he has "the itch" and can't wait to go back even before kid number 2 comes along and he adds more to his right arm.

On Sunday, we took the little boy up to Kearney to celebrate Marc's father's retirement at a party at Marc's parents' house. We grilled out an introduced Jakob to one of Marc's parents' cats. It didn't go so well. Check it out at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdixu5TGz2U. More on this cat later in the broadcast.

Monday, Marc, his brother and mother went to the VA Medical Center in Leavenworth, KS, to be part of Marc's dad's last day at work and the party they had for him. There were many colleagues who provided him with gifts, awards, well wishes and of course humorous moments.

Afterward, Marc had hoped to visit Michael Vick to find out when he would be out and again available to draft in fantasy football, but by the look of the place it appears they frown on visitors. . .

Being that Jakob is the most ridiculously good looking baby in the known universe, we continue to find ourselves with opportunities to share him with the world. Earlier this year, we placed his photos on Baby Gap's site for consideration for the 2008 Baby Contest. A few weeks ago, we submitted his photos to Parents' Magazine to be in a contest where the winner is placed on the cover. Today, we submitted his photos to Adoptive Families Magazine where he will soon be featured in one of the "real kids" sections. Now, if only we could get him to perfect "Magnum." (Only a certain percentage of people probably know what "Magnum" is. Jakob is going to be the ridiculously smart version of this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3b5Cg_HaKg).

As a side note to a story we brought you above, a special condolences go out to Marc's parents who found today that the beloved cat pictured in the above YouTube video with Jakob was in the middle of renal disease and FLUTD-related issues and the decision was made to not put her through any more suffering. Our thoughts go to them as they mourn this loss.

This weekend we would like to properly say a much needed thank you to all of the men and women who serve in our armed services both here and abroad defending human freedom against evil. You do not get the credit you deserve and without you we wouldn't have the ability to work, live, worship and prosper in the greatest country on earth.

And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. . .

More soon.

Exploration continues

2008-06-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took our first major trip with Jakob. The five hour trip to Storm Lake, Iowa, was met with many ups and downs. We found out a few things about Jakob and ourselves. Like his father, after sitting in the car for an extended period of time, Jakob is done and needs to get out and move around. The further into northern Iowa we went, the less opportunities we had to pull off, and Jakob definitely let us know about it! :) Marc used the new Garmin Jakob gave him for Father's Day and it was great to have it along!

On the way up, Jakob continues to "talk" with us about the things he sees and how he feels. It's pretty amazing that in the mixture of "ma-ma!" and "da-da!" both which are said with authority, he inserts noises and other funny words. After checking in to the luxurious Super 8, (if Jakob had been older, we would have stayed here: www.kingspointeresort.com) we headed to the camp site to visit with Kim's family.

On Saturday, Jakob had the first of two weekend baths at the hotel. After that in the morning, we spent the day hanging out with Kim's family and taking photos at the Lighthouse nearby. We're pretty sure Jakob will one day enjoy some aspect of aviation like flying, BASE jumping, hang gliding or parachuting. Any time the wind picks up and blows on him he totally gets excited. On top of the lighthouse was no exception and he loved it.

On Sunday, we left and headed back home. On the way, we were able to stop off in Omaha, Nebraska, and hang out with our friends Scotte and Annie Hansen. Marc was at Christian Campus House at Northwest with Scotte and they've remained friends ever since. We walked around the Old Market and enjoyed a late lunch at the Spaghetti Works. Great time!

This week, things had been pretty low key. Marc met our friends Matt and Jennifer Brunk at the airport to bring them home after a great trip to Italy and Kim got things ready for a garage sale over at the Heil home. Then last night (Thursday), Jakob stunned us. He let go of our hands as we helped him stand and stood on his own for about 15-20 seconds. He continued to do this throughout the night for our friends who were over for small group.

Again, walking is probably about one week away. We are in alignment with this also because his crawling and exploration skills continue to reach new heights each day. See www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlJbhrdluMo for confirmation.

This weekend we will be celebrating Marc's father's retirement and Marc is off on Monday for a nice day of vacation. Next weekend, Marc is off both Thursday and Friday from work so we'll have a nice four day weekend ahead of us. There will probably be a few movies involved. Oh, and FYI, take a pass on "The Happening." Not great. Medium rental at best.

In a few weeks, after Marc returns from a conference in New Orleans, we will celebrate our 10-year anniversary and Marc has a few things planned that are classified right now. We'll share them later.

The days keep getting better and better! We haven't done so in a while, but thank you all for visiting our blog on a regular basis. Also, those of you who use the RSS feed to your email, we'd like to thank you too.

More soon.

Wave bye-bye to our first Father's Day

2008-06-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been a while since our last post, but we have some major news.

First, a few weeks ago Jakob had been flirting with pulling up on things and crawling. Well, last weekend, not Father's Day weekend the previous one, he did it for the first time (crawl). For more on that, check out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Dv1NE95zA. It's pretty amazing and we're sorry we didn't get it out sooner.

Earlier this week, we decided to take Jakob to the pool. It was a bit cool when we got there and Jakob wanted nothing to do with the pool. We tried dipping his feet in and he went ballistic. Eventually, he was able to put his feet in the kiddie pool and sit with us looking at the water, but we're hoping to head back soon when the weather is warmer.

Last weekend, we celebrated Marc's first Father's Day and it was fantastic. The day started with heading to one of the local Liberty Square breakfast spots before hitting the 11:00 service at church. We got poured on by a huge rainstorm on our way out of church and Jakob (who hasn't felt rain before) couldn't figure out why he wasn't surrounded by porcelain and floatie toys. It's easily the fasted Marc has ever gotten him into the car, buckled with a toy and burp rag. Later that day, we went to one of our favorite restaurants with Marc's parents and got a few great photos, specifically a "Father's Day Generation" photo. Over the past visits, Jakob has decided he likes whatever Pape's goatee is made from and wants to mess with it all the time.

Later that evening, we got a serious hail storm and while it doesn't appear anything has been damaged, we're really just more excited that Jakob slept through it!

This morning, Marc held Jakob while Kim got a morning bottle ready and then came back for the boy. As she began to take Jakob away to the living room to eat, Marc waved at him. For the first time, Jakob waved back. Pretty cool stuff.

This weekend, we will head to Storm Lake, Iowa to visit Kim's family and take part in an annual family reunion. It will be Jakob's first time staying in a hotel. We'll have photos soon of our trip.

Next month, Marc heads to New Orleans for a conference and we will celebrate our 10 year anniversary!

More soon.

Farewell to May

2008-06-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

May was an interesting month. We had our final court hearing. We had a huge party with friends and family from all over the country. We celebrated a few firsts as well (first Memorial Day as three and a first family Royals game). God continues to bless us as the summer rolls on. Below are more photos and a video of one excited little boy. We hope you enjoy it:

I want the camera please.

I'm too sexy for my bouncy.

Hoping to get time off for good behavior.

At the Royals game Friday with our small group.
Our buddy is sneaking a peek from above.

It's not what it looks like. . . really.

It looks like they're riding a roller coaster, but it's just Royals game shenanigans.

Our small group has faith the Royals will turn it around.

Never mind the yahoo in the blue shirt that looks

like Cousin Eddie. It's just our friend Phil.

Saturday morning, Jakob decided he would show

that he can fill daddy's shoes. . . or socks.

Jakob Marcus: I'm So Excited -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmD5UHeCPMg

Also, Kim is now officially done with the 2007-2008 school year and looking forward to spending some quality time with Jakob. This week she's also going to be cashing in her 4-hour spa package so the next time you see her she'll be totally relaxed. :)

In a little over one month we will celebrate 10 years of marriage together. We've seen ups and downs, but thankfully God has provided strength, hope, forgiveness and support.

More soon.

Party Photos Part 2.

2008-05-26T06:58:00.001-07:00

If it wasn't for that silly "ffff" sound in the word "Photos," that would have been some killer blog post title alliteration!

Marc's mom took some additional photos and provided them to us last night so we thought we'd share them with you as well. Today is Memorial Day and we hope you enjoy it as we all reflect on the incredible contributions the men and women of the armed forces have done to help keep our country free.

Even though it doesn't look like it, our niece Becca did actually have a good time. . . :)

More soon.

Celebrate good times, c'mon.

2008-05-23T21:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we did it up Cool and the Gang style out at the pool house of a family friend to celebrate Jakob's official welcome home. We invited nearly 100 people from all over the United States and ended up having more than 70!

Everyone from old friends to new friends, clients to coworkers and of course family enjoyed the fun. Inside the room, we started at the door with the first photo we ever took of Jakob when he was born and in the NICU. The photos traveled around the room showing a timeline of his first 9 months and ended with a recent photo taken one week before the event. We also had balloons and decorations that matched the invitation along with a Mexican buffet, cake and champagne toast. It was a very touching and moving experience, and we hope the little guy knows just how special (and perfect) he really is. Yes, it's true. The news is out. He's the most amazing kid ever.

As a side note, Marc is finally learning to play guitar. Things have really fallen into place for it to happen and it's been a goal of his for quite a while. One friend has agreed to loan him a guitar to begin practicing on. Another has agreed to string it left-handed (because for some reason that feels right), and another friend who goes to church with us and is very well known in Christian music has offered to give him some lessons to get him off and running. The blessings from the people God has put us into contact with at Vineyard continue coming.

Marc's buddy Josh is leading worship in Lee's Summit and it's something he has dreamed about doing for quite a while. Josh sent Marc some great photos of some recent worship experiences and they are very cool. Josh is one of those few individuals who really looks like this is what he was meant to do. We've had our share of great worship leaders and a few really not so good ones. Josh is on the short list of people God has truly gifted.

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend and we've got some good plans, but nothing extravagant. Today, Kim got to go with her school kids to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. she said it rocks. She also reminded Marc that there are no more Monday's left in the school year and soon she will be off on summer break. Marc took Jakob to the doctor because it appears he has another slight ear infection. We've got him on antibiotics now and he's on the mend. Tomorrow, we're going to do our best to catch up on sleep before heading over to see some friends we haven't gotten to hang out with in quite a while. Sunday, we're planning to see Iron Man and then Monday head back to the movies to catch Speed Racer and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Thanks in advance to the Brunk's, Hatfield's and Cole's who agreed to watch Jakob so Kim and I can have a little RNR time! You guys rock! Monday, we have a going away party for some really great friends who have been leading our small group. While we're really (REALLY) not excited to see them go, God has really opened up an awesome opportunity for them and we're not going to be the ones that stand in the way. . .

Our next big quest is to find a new daycare for Jakob for the fall. Because of the ever-increasing cost of gas, our day care provider and her family are moving to Overland Park to be closer to her husband's job. We're sorry to see her go as Jakob loves going there and we love using her (it also helps that she's literally across 291 from us). God will provide though. We do know that much.

[Yawn] It's late. More soon.

Mother's Day Irony

2008-05-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

So, the little bear is ours finally and just in time for Mother's Day! With much admiration, Kim was able to finally celebrate her first Mother's Day and Jakob made sure it was a memorable one.

The weekend started Friday with us heading back to Portrait Innovations to get Jakob's 9-month photos taken. They truly are the devil because every photo they took of him came complete with a big smile and it was incredibly hard to narrow down the photos we wanted to have printed. See for yourself:

On Saturday, Jakob went shopping with daddy and then headed to Kearney to spend time with Poppa while Kim had a Tastefully Simple party at home. Because he couldn't wait to give her his present, Jakob watched as Kim opened a card that contained a 4-hour spa package complete with either a hot stone or deep tissue massage, followed by a manicure and pedicure with all the pampering a mom needs.

Sunday morning Jakob helped daddy pin on a Mother's Day corsage at church. He and Kim were there to watch Marc help lead worship in the Venue area. After church, Jakob gave Marc the idea to head to Olive Garden to get take out and bring it home so we could have a nice meal together. It was a great idea as every restaurant in the tri-state area was packed to the gills!

After the special lunch, we all three wrestled a bit on the big bed and Jakob decided it was time to officially unveil his first word. He said it clear as a bell and wouldn't stop saying it repeating it over and over and over again. The word?

"Da-da."

Yes, that's right. On Mother's Day, Jakob went on and on with "da-da." While Kim now hopes he says "Ma-ma" on Father's Day, she did say it was one of the best weekends ever.

This morning, Jakob did another first. Kim went in to check on him before leaving for school and saw that he was sleeping on his stomach. He's never really been a big fan of rolling over from back to front especially in his sleep so this was pretty amazing to see.

This weekend is the big celebration out in Kearney and it should be pretty amazing. We'll be sure to have photos on hand next week of the fun.

More soon.

Completed

2008-05-06T15:12:00.000-07:00

February 2006, this quest began. Today, May 6, 2008, with all of the t's crossed and i's dotted, "Baby Boy Rosell" is officially now "Jakob Marcus Vasquez." The last thing our lawyer asked us was "And you understand that after today you will be this boy's rightful parents as though you had conceived him yourself?" To which we answered, "Yes." Then the ward of the state, in his final comments said, "Just one more thing your honor. I have a recommendation that this boy be adopted by the plaintiffs as they are more than fit for parenthood." So, as you can see, we're now the rightful parents (wow) of the cutest baby in the known universe. We're going to have jackets made.

All in all, a very emotional day, and we toyed with idea of changing the name of our blog to something like "Vasquez Family Experience" or something like that, but we can't. We've decided that in January we will begin the paperwork again to get started on the second addition to our family, Jakob's sibling.

How's that for summer blockbuster movie sequel spoiler?

Again, photos speak louder than words, so here you go:

More soon.

We were lucky

2008-05-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days, we've seen the weather events of Thursday night on the AP Newswire and PR Newswire (specifically on the Today Show and Yahoo), but nothing could prepare us for driving down 291 toward the airport just yards past our house, or coming back toward our house in the housing addition to the west of us. The housing addition literally looks like a series of bombs blew up taking out windows, doors, walls, even one house's entire structure with only the front door standing. At one end of our addition sits an All State insurance mobile van and at the other an American Red Cross help station. It's literally hard to take in.

Thanks to our neighbor, who is not only a great guy but handy with tools, our patches are now covered with tarps as we wait for the State Farm claims adjuster make a decision on what is needed. We're hoping this comes out to be reasonably painless financially, but we're still not sure yet what's going to happen. The roof we have is not yet two years old, so we're hoping for some kind of warranty to kick in, but you never know what might happen.

Here are photos of some of the roof areas:

Yesterday, we headed out to Kearney to see Marc's mom and dad's new kitchen remodel (which is about 95 percent completed) and have a late lunch on the grill. The weather was so nice out we couldn't help but buy a swing for the little bear to have some fun in. He seemed to really enjoy it and we're so happy to be able to have him outside more often:

But probably the best part was when Jakob fell asleep laying in Poppa's lap:

Today is Cinco de Mayo. It's a big day for Marc's people. :)

In less than twenty-four hours, we will sit in front of a judge and Jakob's state ward and go through the final proceedings to make Jakob our legal son. We're excited, but nervous as well. In addition, Jakob's subsidy from the state begins this month, and we can definitely use the help with Marc's recent medical bills we've begun to accrue.

Also, we have begun the search for new daycare arrangements for Jakob to start back up in the fall. We received notice that our daycare provider and her family are moving to Overland Park where her husband works because of the high cost of gasoline. We're really going to miss her because not only is she great with Jakob, but the location is very convenient. Kim and I have been talking with individuals in the hopes of finding someone soon.

In our next post, we hope to have photos from the big day Tuesday.

More soon.

Hold on to your butts, because Kansas is going bye-bye. . .

2008-05-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

Holy cow. As many of you know last night the northland was rocked with a major storm like nothing seen in quite a long time. There have been conflicting reports on whether it was a straight line wind storm or a full on tornado. Based on how the entire earth shook us awake at 1:34 a.m., it felt like a tornado. Our power has been out since 2 a.m., and the only light we saw last night was from those using flashlights to look around their homes and the many police officers with search lights passing by to make sure no one was injured. Marc surveyed the area after the storm at 3:00 a.m. with our neighbor while Kim tended to Jakob's first storm experience. Later this morning, we had many news helicopters flying overhead, and since images speak louder than words, behold these taken of Highway 291 that runs behind our house:

In addition, Kim put Jakob in the outfit Marc got while in Florida in January and it fits just fine. He's officially our first "Thing 1".

More soon.

Fun with the little bear

2008-04-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

In the time honored tradition of "messing," just as our parents messed with us and most likely their parents with them, we enjoyed a little fun with Jakob over the weekend. That's our lead in, but first, more evidence that the young man has no interest in crawling, but walking:

Jakob is no longer sleeping in one position as seen below. As a matter of fact, this morning, we found him lodged in the upper corner of his crib between the bumper and stuffed bear. He had no trouble kicking the sea animals display on the other side when it would turn off to show it exactly who's boss.

Yesterday, Marc brought home some sour candy and tested the waters on Jakob. At first, the sweet seemed to be having the only effect, but then the sour hit the back portion of Jakob's tongue and his facial expressions proved to be hilarious. Kim had fun taking photos of his new revelation:

The weekend wouldn't have been complete without sharing with you a messy face photo and a new piece of video. He's quite the messy eater these days and we're excited to take him to his first buffet when he's old enough:

Also yesterday, Jakob decided it was time he not only learned how to remove the plastic toy chain links from his bouncy, but also to figure out their durability. Check it out here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnaBj4_TWf0

We are busy counting down to Jakob's final (yes final) adoption hearing one week from tomorrow. The time seems to be going slow right now, but it's only a matter of time before it speeds up and seems like a blur.

This week Marc is unexpectedly heading to Los Angeles for a focus group at work, but we're pleased to report after his annual review, he has been promoted to senior account executive at his company. Kim is anxious to get the school year done and only has a few more IEPs to go. We're in the middle of the countdown to summer.

More soon.

Happy days are here again

2008-04-21T10:45:00.001-07:00

Talk about a killer weekend! Okay, we will. So glad you asked. Sorry this post has taken so long. It's been a busy week.

First, headline news:

Jakob is well. Not just well, but as Mike Greenberg says on ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning, he's "back and better than ever." It's great to see him happy and enjoying what we're sure is going to be one amazing summer!

Thursday evening our friends Chris and Dianne and their kids graciously spent a little time with Jakob while we went out for crab legs with Marc's parents to Jumpin' Catfish. Kim, who does not like crab, had the chicken Cordon Bleu. Please do not think less of her. :) We love the little boy, but it was nice to have some adult time without him just for a few hours (not what you're thinking gutter mind!) haha. This would be the first night we would try to get the house cleaned. . . and fail.

Friday, we received a surprise invitation to have dinner with our friends Josh and Amy who live in Lee's Summit that we haven't seen in a while. They brought their girls and we brought Jakob and met at Mimi's Cafe. Good food. Good friends. Good time. This was the second evening we would try to get the house cleaned. . . and fail.

Saturday morning we went to Special Olympics in Lee's Summit and froze our butts off. Note to Kansas City meteorologists: we probably need to get a working definition of "55 degrees" because it felt like 15 degrees outside with the wind. We stayed for a little while and got pictures of Kim with her kids and then got Jakob back to the safety and security of the Northland, haha.

Saturday afternoon, much like the "nice little Saturday" Will Ferrell has in the movie Old School, we went to Lowe's to ordered storm doors to be installed for the front and back doors. We're hoping we will soon be able to have both doors open with a nice breeze coming through since we don't have an attic fan in this house. I'm sure we'll have photos soon of the little boy inspecting the installation and the quality of the doors.

Saturday evening, Jakob fell asleep early after we got home from Vineyard services so Kim elected to stay home with him in the hopes of continuing to get him back on schedule (which has been awesome now that he's well again!). Marc went and hung out with people from our small groups for a fun evening of playing the game Rock Band. Not only is it pretty addictive, but fun, fun, fun, and he came home almost hoarse from singing songs like Metalica's "Enter Sandman" (pictured below with buddy Ben), Weezer's "Say It Ain't So," Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive" and Nirvana's "In Bloom." Both the girl's and guy's bands rocked it out well. This game by far blows the Guitar Hero series out of the water and it's available on the best platform out there, the XBOX 360! This would be the third evening we would unsuccessfully get the house cleaned.

Sunday morning we got up leisurely and Kim made a great pancake breakfast. We enjoyed some time at home and then headed to the Pet Expo down at Hale Arena to introduce the little boy to the wonderful world of trade shows and one of Marc's client contacts. Jakob was quite honestly the most excited we've ever seen him at any given time and it was great to watch him take it all in.

After this, we spent some time with our good friends Mike and Cynthia working on our marriage mentoring tools and then headed to the Hereford House at Zona Rosa to capitalize on their happy hour prices. The weather was great and we spent a lot of time outside that day first on Mike and Cynthia's deck then at Zona Rosa. Good times again! That evening we came home and made a point to not even try to get the house cleaned! So there.

Monday evening the Charles Dickens classic line was the story of the evening: "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." We decided to use a new bristle tool to clean out the dryer and Marc ended up losing the long skinny end in the dryer lint trap. After making many futile attempts to get it out with hooks, grabber tools and duct tape he resolved that Tuesday night would be needed to start again by taking the back off and retrieving what had fallen in. The upside is that in the middle of all of this we did finally get the house cleaned. Yeah buddy.

Tuesday evening, Marc took the back off the dryer and in what has to be the most painless of processes ever and got the bristle piece out and the back on in record time. That's obviously a huge praise God. This evening Jakob went down early and we have almost finished the massive amounts of laundry we have piled up since the lint trap cleaning debacle began.

The next few weekends hold quite a few fun events for us with Marc hanging out with some friends to watch a bit of the NFL Draft this Saturday and working the Vineyard worship services, the first weekend in May we will finally finalize Jakob's adoption, the second weekend in May Kim is having a Tastefully Simple party and celebrating her very first Mother's Day and the following weekend we will host a party in honor of finally being able to "legally" call the little boy ours. That's going to rock!

In the meantime, Marc finished up his final round of spinal steroid disc injections Tuesday and will continue physical therapy for the next few weeks, and Kim is in the process of finishing up her IEP meetings with her students' parents and planning for the end of the school year as it rapidly approaches.

Side note: As more of our friends begin doing blogs of their own, we would like to share their happiness with you. To the right navigation on our blog page we've added Matt Brunk Convergence, Carver Family Blog and I'm not sure why it took so long, but James Nored's blog is there now too. All good stuff.

We continue to make strides in this thing called parenting and through it Jakob has provided us with some of the highest highs, moments of growth in patience and some of the most frightening times we never thought we would witness. But, we love him more each day (if that's possible) and can't imagine life without him.

People tell us all the time that he's lucky to have us, but we are the ones who feel blessed by him. We're blessed in knowing he adds another area of completeness to our lives and we love to brag about honestly perfect strangers who come up to us at restaurants, stores, etc. when we're out and tell us how beautiful he is. It would be different if we heard that just from family and close friends, but we really did find the child God had planned for us from the very beginning. That's quite humbling.

As usual, more soon.

That old familiar feeling. . .

2008-04-14T10:18:00.001-07:00

It seems like each year April rolls around and we expect the snow and cold to be over only to have Mother Nature chuck one more day or weekend in that reminds us of why we hate February. That was this last weekend. Snow+cold+sick Jakob=no fun. In addition, because of the paparazzi, we're having trouble getting him in and out of the house without a barrage of flash bulbs. All attempts to disguise him or keep him out of the press have failed (see above). Our worst fears are revealed. He is the cutest baby in the world. . . nothing can stop his tyranny.

We're feeling like bad parents because it appears Jakob never has enough to play with. We were able to get his "small" pile of toys that are in the living room in the shot with him so you could see the lack of options.

The bad weather coupled with the fact that Jakob has been sick made for a tiring but surprisingly productive weekend with a few silver linings. The little boy has had another first and we now have to watch our fingers as a bottom front tooth has appeared.

Also, we're pretty sure he has said on more than one occasion, and to Marc, the word "da-da." It's not extremely frequent, but this last weekend it became much clearer. Now if we can get him to say "ma-ma" we'll be in business.

Although atypical for a boy, Jakob is also testing to see just how clean he can become. From Saturday through Sunday he had a total of three baths. The reason? He is on a new antibiotic which lasts until next Tuesday, and for some reason it has united with his bowels causing frequent and ginormous "evacuations" the likes the book of Exodus hasn't seen. With the frequent baths he does smell good and not so much like a piglet and we like that. We're also posting these in an attempt to keep up with our good friends the Coffin Family (see blog on right navigation) who have some awesome bath photos of son Tyler. The faux hawk and horns picture is a must at this age.

On Sunday, Marc helped lead worship for the first time in the Vineyard Venue service. He was really excited to be part of it and looks forward to doing it again in a month or so.

Last night, Jakob took some time out from chewing on a plastic book and playing in his bouncie to talk on the phone with Poppa, and would have talked with Nana, but she was in the midst of finalizing taxes for the big April 15 deadline. Jakob did his best to reassure her that in a few days she would feel better. :)

We're looking forward to the warm weather this week so we can hopefully get him outside again to enjoy it. This weekend Kim will also be heading to Special Olympics with her students to enjoy a full day of athletic fun. Marc and Jakob will also head down to support Mama.

More soon.

Celebration Warm Weather Journey

2008-04-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

In our last post we recorded Jakob had been nice enough to share the nasty gastroenteritis that has been going around with Marc. For more information on this fun little virus, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastroenteritis. The day after Easter brought that number up considerably. He successfully infected six family members who came to our house. Sorry guys. Glad to hear you all are feeling better. We promise we've disinfected EVERYTHING in the whole house.

Last weekend Marc turned 34 and we celebrated by going out with Marc's parents on Sunday. Kim and Jakob got him a gift card to Kohl's, socks and two car license plate frames that say "Northwest Missouri State University Alumni." Pretty cool.

The following Monday evening (Marc's actual birthday) was spent doing things guys who are getting older do. Marc took a half day of vacation from work and his friend Matt took him to Liberty Hospital to get the results of his recent MRI on his lower back and to meet with a specialist from the Pain Management Center. While there he received two steroid injections in the herniated L4 and L5 discs in his lower back and this week began physical therapy. Just think what 44 will bring. . .

That night, we went to Texas Roadhouse to have dinner and so Kim could see Marc ride the saddle and of course capture it on video. Jakob was MORE than tired and other than happy with the loud and sudden noises an event like this brings. For more, check out www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1BAxwWeW-0.

This week was super busy for us. Monday, before we went out for Marc's birthday, our adoption case worker came for her final visit prior to our final adoption hearing. On Tuesday, Kim went to see The Other Boleyn Girl (two thumbs way down), we met with our marriage mentor couple on Wednesday for dinner at Granite City and Thursday we had small group at our house. Needless to say, we were pretty beat and happy when Friday rolled around to catch up on some sleep.

Today, we spent a lazy day enjoying the weather. Finally, some sun and spring weather descended onto us! We headed over to Zona Rosa to take the little boy on his second official outdoor stroller ride. He's big enough to not need to be in the car seat now, and he enjoys being able to look around.

We got him some rad new sunglasses, a cool pool hat with sharks on it and some choice new onesies from Hot Topic. We stopped off to have a quick bite of formula lunch and ran into one of Marc's coworker friends Angie who was with her husband and son. We follow their blog and you can check it out in the right navigation area (see Coffin blog).

Tomorrow we're going to play "clean this pit of a house" and in the evening Marc will be heading down to Overland Park with Matt to see our friend James give a message at a church in Johnson County. Sort of a "guys night" of a different kind.

Kim is excited because the countdown to summer has officially begun. She's finishing up her IEP meetings and has organized a monthly lunch and movie event for the kids. They're hoping to check out Prince Caspian next month the next installment of the Chronicles of Narnia series.

We're in the process of planning a party to celebrate Jakob's final adoption hearing which will take place next month. It seems like time is going slowly right now, but in the next weeks ahead it will most definitely pick up. Marc's working with some of his coworkers on invitations and giveaways, and Kim has found quite a few creative party additions which will be sure to make this a memorable event. That coupled with Kim's first Mother's Day make May a special month for us.

Jakob is excited his Nana's team won the game against North Carolina tonight and hopes Monday brings more of the same. We're looking forward to a killer night of worship at Vineyard on Monday night with our friends from small group.

More soon.

First Easter

2008-03-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

Ah, our first Easter with Jakob, and like other things our family does, it came with its share of hurdles.

Jakob is still getting over being sick Wednesday night and since he's good at sharing, he decided to pass it on to his dear old dad. Since Friday night, Marc has perfected the "keep nothing down or in" diet and lost nearly 6 pounds. Will summer ever get here?!?!

Jakob has had opportunities to hear and see the vacuum, but has never confronted the beast, until now. We were there to catch the action as Jakob faces the monster: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdvW0YSs5Ww

In addition, he has oodles of creativity including being temperamental when his song doesn't come out the way he anticipated. See more at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q8LRdhuJYk

As mentioned, we celebrated Easter with a great message at Vineyard Friday evening and then surrounded by Nana, Poppa, Great Uncle Wiley, Great Aunt Sandy, Cousin Gina, Uncle Nic and Aunt Lindsey. Since photos speak louder than words, check it out:

He's such a big boy now and he LOVES the great Tonka toy his Aunt Jill got him for Christmas.

One thing too that you'll notice is that Jakob has learned to wink. Or the flash is big from the camera. We choose to see it as winking. Thanks to Sandy and Gina for the great additional Easter photos from today:

Go Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders (where his cousin Tony goes to school)! Now Jakob is a Raider fan twice. . .blue and silver & black.

This week is going to be packed with our Christian Family Services case worker Susan coming to visit and then a small group workshop on Thursday, all leading up to Marc's birthday one week from tomorrow. Thanks for catching up with us!

More soon.

In sickness and in health. . .

2008-03-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

First, YouTube has finally updated itself and allowed us to upload our latest video. Please enjoy our technologically advanced son at www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rYiH05ymuE.

Last night, Kim was reading her book, Marc was downstairs playing Halo 3 and Jakob was (we thought) sleeping peacefully in bed. We were awakened to him crying and doing what can only be described as his version of the "pea soup" scene from the movie The Exorcist. This was accompanied by a "best supporting actor performance" by about three FULL diapers (over the course of the evening/morning).

We stripped him and his bed and gave him a bath. Afterward he continued this routine while we got his pack and play ready in our room. A little before 2:00 a.m., exhausted, he fell asleep and didn't have any spells again.

He has been fussy off and on today and we're trying to keep him hydrated. He's slowly getting into better spirits and we hope he comes out of it before the weekend.

More soon.

The boy's got personality, and personality goes a long way. . .

2008-03-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

We updated our email signature this week with the following phrase "If our son was in a band, it would be called 'Squealy Dan'" as a parody of the band "Steely Dan." It's easily one of the funniest noises we've ever heard. (Explanation made for the younger crowd who might not understand the true musical genius of lyrics like:

We hear you're leaving, that's OK. I thought our little wild time had just begun. I guess you kind of scared yourself, you turn and run. But if you have a change of heart, Rikki don't lose that number. You don't wanna call nobody else.

Last weekend, we put Jakob into the nursery at church and again got the kind of compliments we hope continue until he's out of our house and in college. One worker told Kim, "Jakob is so laid back. He doesn't cry or get fussy. He's just a good baby." While he does have his moments, you can imagine how proud we are of him.

Over the weekend we spent a little time with friends and just enjoyed more clues that Jakob is not going to crawl, but instead walk and jump. He's quite powerful in physical ability and temper. It's nice to see that he's taking after Marc in one way and Kim in another. . . you can decide which comes from which. And, he's crazy smart. He's already a problem solver. He adapts when we're playing games with him and knows to raise his arms when he wants up or out of something.

[We intented to have a cool video here, but YouTube is updating itself right now so it will have to wait until later this weekend. Whatever! Silly YouTube!]

Kim is in the middle of a much needed spring break and must be enjoying it as the smell of chocolate chip cookies was in the air yesterday. It's especially nice to have the house and our son smell like that.

Marc will be off with Kim and Jakob Thursday and Friday this week. This weekend we will celebrate our first Easter with the boy and hope to continue teaching him of the love sacrifice Jesus provided so we might have eternal life. We're going to have some quality time with Marc's parents, Uncle's Nic and Willey and Aunts Lindsey and Sandy and cousin Gina.

We'll have more photos next week of the family. If we don't see you this weekend, have a great Easter.

More soon.

Blog Prophesy

2008-03-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

It's always nice when something you can sort of see coming, actually happens. Not that we have the gift of prophesy (although we've been scary accurate on a couple of things lately), but it's something definitely cool. Just over one year ago, Marc went to Orlando and purchased a SpongeBob Square Pants 6-month old outfit at the Universal Studios Store. We didn't know if we would raise a boy or a girl so a nice unisex outfit seemed just the ticket. Well, it's come full circle. See www.vasquezaddition.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html and then look below:

Pretty cool. Actually, really cool.

Jakob will now sit up on his own and has graduated to taking baths in the tub without needing the mini tub and loves to splash. It continues to be fun seeing him try things for the first time and see the wonder and amazement that goes with simple things like making water move:

Last weekend, Jakob's grandma Peg came down from Iowa to see him and they spent all day Friday together playing and enjoying the day. Kim and her mom went to a baby clothes sale at Metro North Mall on Saturday and then went with Marc's mom Delene to the new Liberty Olive Garden to eat. Kim got sick in the new bathroom and ended up coming home with her food packed to go rather than enjoying it at the restaurant. This was great for Marc who then had a nice dinner that night and lunch the next day. (Marc would like to send out a warm public thank you to her) Kim spent the evening under the weather but is feeling much better now.

Our Vineyard small group has multiplied a few times and continues to grow. That same Saturday, Marc went with individuals from each of the new small groups downtown to Grand Boulevard to a church on 9th and Grand that serves the "sojourners" of Kansas City. While many are houseless, at this mission there are no homeless, because most find this church home and call themselves sojourners. We delivered food to the mission, worked doing chores, went on a walk around the area to see the parts of Kansas City not so pretty and then learned more about the mission. Before we left to go downtown, we all met together to have lunch and prepare ourselves for the work that lay ahead. Leah, one of our leaders, took this photo:

Jakob continues to wow us and keep us on our toes. We've decided that since his favorite game is now "Jumpy, Jumpy, Jumpy" in both his bouncy toy and on laps, that his powerful legs won't settle for crawling. He's going to walk. The time change on Saturday made for a rough going for this little boy. He was off his schedule Sunday and Monday nights and he let us know about it. Sure, the photos below are cute and make him out to be model material (mom's get your daughters in line now or face the mob later), but we'll refer to them as the "before" shots:

This week Kim is frantically trying to complete her IEP's, Map-Alternate portfolios, Summer School recommendations and Career Ladder before next week when she finally gets a break from school. We're hoping her Spring Break has good weather and provides a time of relaxation before the final days of school begin to stack up.

As many of you know, we've set up the blog to send the individual pages to visitors who sign up at the link on the upper right side. We hope this offers another way for you to get up-to-date information on Jakob's travels and new revelations.

Thank you so much for continuing to visit us. In the upcoming weeks we will celebrate our first Easter and Marc's first birthday with Jakob. Soon, May will be here and his adoption will be complete!

More soon.

New and improved

2008-02-26T20:04:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago we had Jakob's 6-month photos taken and he continues to force us to purchase many photos because he's so amazing. That same weekend, thanks to God's unfailing faithfulness, Marc said farewell to his old car and purchased a new (to him) 2006 Ford Fusion -

With the $200 we received from his old car, we purchased a new digital camera to replace the one that was stolen while Marc was in Florida. With it, we have been able to again capture Jakob's many different personality traits:

It also takes great video. See for yourself at Jakob's YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhMaq5gDvAM

Last week, we hosted a new church small group at our house and we are excited about how things are progressing. Last weekend, Marc taught the junior high Sunday school class for the first time and this week Kim has parent/teacher conferences.

Also, last weekend Marc's brother revealed some great news! In October, Marc and Nic's parents will have a new grandchild to love. Nic and Lindsey are expecting! More news to come as things progress this year.

More soon!

Wow, you're not going to believe this. . .

2008-02-10T21:04:00.000-08:00

This has been quite a weekend. First, the unthinkable happened: the NFC won the Pro Bowl. What's up with that?

More importantly though, God has once again been faithful to us despite our feelings of gloom and doom. As many of you know, Marc has been driving the same car since leaving college and it is pretty much on its last leg. With all of the adoption planning, getting him a new car hasn't exactly been top of mind. When the news came down a few weeks ago that the transmission was shot and it would now be dying a slow death, we started praying that God would help us figure out how to make it work. Keep that in mind. . .

Friday, Kim got a card in the mail addressed to Jakob from the Missouri Healthnet Department of Social Services. The letter states "We are sending you this card because the individual named on the card has recently been approved for MO HealthNet coverage." After doing some research, we found that the third and final subsidy we had applied for, the total longshot through the state of Missouri, came through. Jakob now has supplimental insurance and we will begin receiving checks to go toward this living, daycare and agency/legal expenses. We're not sure how much he will receive, but we couldn't be happier to know God has once again provided.

Saturday, our good friend completed our tax return and informed us of the amount of refund we would be receiving. To our shock, it is enough to pay off Kim's car, put a small downpayment on a car for Marc and still have enough left over for tax/title. God provided again for us when we didn't know what we were going to do.

Needless to say, this is huge news! Tomorrow night we will be attending our church's Night of Worship and we've definitely got a lot to be thankful for. This week is also Valentine's Day and while we're not doing it up as big as we have in year's past, we've got extra love to share with our little boy. We're not sure if dressing him in a cupid outfit is the right choice for his 6-month photos on Friday. We'll just have to wait and see. . .

As you know, our camera was stolen last month, and we're working on getting a new one that takes video so we can show you more of Jakob's personality. He's begun to spit when he eats and drinks formula. We couldn't be more proud. . . or soaked.

More soon.

Already one month in to 2008. . .

2008-01-27T20:27:00.000-08:00

Holy cow! We're already one month in to 2008 and it has been a whirlwind. Just after the New Year, Kim started back to school. It was fun for her to be off so long for Christmas but now the countdown for Spring Break and then summer has officially begun. The weekend after New Year's, and the weekend after that, Marc traveled to Chicago then Orlando on business. In Chicago, he got to see his friend Jeff from college and Jeff's wife Lauren. Then, one would think Orlando's weather would be great compared to Missouri in January, right? Wrong. It was rainy, cold, windy, cloudy, rainy (did we mention rainy?). Fortunately, the outdoor event he helped plan worked out well except for one thing. . . Shortly after the end of his event, Marc's messenger bag containing his personal camera (with photos of Jakob and the event) and company laptop was stolen. That's a nice taste of Florida hospitality!

We've been diligently giving new foods for Jakob to try and surprisingly enough the kid loves peas and squash and is just okay with green beans. Who would have thought!?!? He continues to amaze us as he grows and is quite the chatter now including squeaks, sighs, coos, yells, etc. He always makes sure we know he's there.

Right now we're anxious to get our taxes done to see how things are going to play out for us financially. We're hoping it works out for us to get a nice refund to help pay for Jakob's upcoming legal fees (finalizing his adoption in May), his current agency fees and perhaps a down payment on a newer car for Marc. We're also still praying about the two long shot subsidies through Shohannah's Hope and the state that we have filed for. Every little bit helps. Until then, Marc has taken a second job on Sunday evenings which will help as well.

This weekend started off well, but then had some ups and downs. Friday night we went out to eat and later that evening Kim started feeling more and more under the weather. We thought maybe it was something she ate, but she's been riding out a temperature this weekend and has called in sick for tomorrow in the hopes of getting better with some rest at home. In addition, our friend Leah from small group got news her mother passed away very unexpectedly and she and her husband Ben went home to be with her family. It's also Connect Weekend at Vineyard and our small group had a table up to help publicize the incredible things going on including the formation of a new small group. We are so excited about where God is taking us this year. Our group continues to grow so well that we're in a position of needing to split again! God continues to bring people to us and we're hoping that the new group we're a part of will be able to be at our house.

One week from today will be "Cheat Bowl I" and if there is any justice in the world, the New York Giants will take home the Lombardi Trophy. Sure, its most likely not going to happen, but one can hope for good things, right?

We're hoping to have a new video up of Jakob soon, until then thanks for continuing to visit our blog and his YouTube channel.

More soon.

Roley-Poley

2008-01-04T22:54:00.000-08:00

The little bear is getting better and is on his way to a full recovery from the RSV. So much that he even surprised us today by giving way to another milestone.

Check it out at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7soRt3CxxA

Marc thinks it's because it's the NFL wild card weekend and Jakob is so excited to see get to watch of his favorite AFC teams with daddy as they battle it out. Kim has other ideas.

Jury's still out. More soon.

Christmas comes, leaves RSV in stocking

2008-01-01T20:10:00.000-08:00

Well, we've got a lot to talk about so set your DVR, grab your favorite snack and saddle in for the end of the year Christmas update hosted by A Christmas Carol's ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

Ghost of Christmas Past:

Where to begin, where to begin. First off, if you haven't seen Jakob's latest movie, its been uploaded to his YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7M48Vn4MGY. We had a great time at our Christmas Eve service at Vineyard, and each service was packed with people. We passed the Christ candle at the end of the service and lit our individual candles with the house lights down. It was very moving to see all the lights as we sang "Silent Night" and "O Holy Night." After the service, we went to Marc's parents' house to spend the rest of the evening with Marc's parents' (duh) and his brother Nic and Nic's wife Lindsey. While Jakob is still too young to fully grasp the idea of opening presents, it was fun to get him interested in the concept. Later, we came home. put Jakob to bed (because Santa's watching!) and exchanged gifts by the fireplace. We reread the Christmas story from Luke and just enjoyed the evening.

The next morning, we woke Jakob up and filmed his first Christmas. We had breakfast together and opened his presents with him. Later, Marc's parents came over and spent the afternoon with Jakob while we went to see "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" and "Sweeney Todd."

The rest of the week was spent hanging out with Jakob and getting Kim's SUV ready to go into the shop. A few weeks ago, someone hit her vehicle in the parking lot of one of the local department stores and decided to spread some Christmas cheer by not sticking around to provide their insurance information. Merry Christmas guys, have fun paying your deductible, right? So, it went into the shop and we received a Dodge Avenger to tool around in until its ready this week.

Last weekend, we headed up to Iowa to spend time with Kim's family and the day we were leaving we noticed Jakob was slightly wheezing. We figured he was still just not completely over his cold and proceeded on to Kim's parents' house. The weekend was fun as we got to see a lot of Kim's relatives, including Jakob's great grandmas, and he progressively became more ill and was up most of both Friday and Saturday nights. We came home early Sunday and tried to soothe him as best as we could, but he had a tough night that night too.

We made an appointment with his doctor first thing Monday morning and after an examination, breathing treatment and chest x-ray, it was determined Jakob has RSV or Respiratory Syncytial Virus (www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/respiratory/rsvfeat.htm). Obviously, this is especially hard on him because he has no idea why he feels the way he does or how to tell us what hurts and on us because soothing him is difficult. He takes a breathing treatment every six hours (sometimes every three) and we're hoping he begins to show improvement. We especially excited because treating this is not cheap at all so Kim's flex plan is about to get a workout. (See photo below of Jakob's first at home treatment.)

We were scheduled to have our small group over for the main course portion of a New Year's progressive dinner; however, we ended up making the meal and delivering it to another house so we could tend to Jakob. Marc went to the final house to make an appearance and give an update about Jakob and then came home to watch the ball drop and usher in the new year with Kim over a glass of champagne. We looked back on 2007 and reflected on what a whirlwind it was and how we can move forward in 2008 learning from mistakes and capitalizing on successes.

Ghost of Christmas Present:

Today marks the official end of Marc's vacation and he will be back to work tomorrow. Exciting! We spent the day taking care of Jakob, shoe shopping, getting the house in order (as best we could) and taking in the Sci Fi Channel's full day of Twilight Zone marathon.

Ghost of Christmas Future (a.k.a. "Yet to Come"):

Tomorrow, Kim will take Jakob in for a follow up examination and hope that he's gotten better and not worse. We're afraid that since he's not eating regularly that the doctor might choose to put him in the hospital. While that's not ideal, with Kim being off this week still from school, she's able to take care of him at home without having to spend vacation days.

We're hoping he gets well soon as Marc heads to Chicago next weekend and Orlando the following weekend for two work events. While he's looking forward to seeing his friend Jeff in Chicago and the warm weather in Orlando, he's not looking forward to being away so much in one month. Weather permitting, Kim's mother will be coming for a visit while Marc is in Orlando.

We hope this post finds you all with good memories of the recent Christmas season and on your way to an amazing new year. This year we celebrate 10 years of marriage and are looking forward to the great things God has planned for us, our family and our friends. As always, thanks for visiting. Knowing we have support not just for us, but for this amazing little boy in our lives means so much.

More soon.

Death to Marc's website

2007-12-30T21:13:00.000-08:00

Marc has decided to destroy www.marcvasquezonline.com in the interest of doing three things:

1. Saving money
2. Creating a new personal blog which can do pretty much the same thing
3. Linking it to this blog for better viewing by his fan club

So, with that said, if you have not gotten a chance to read our Christmas letter yet which was posted on that page, please see it below. We will have a full report on Christmas posted New Year's Day.

“Stand in awe and worship. Raise a voice and worship, come adore
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

As many of you know, this year has been a year of rejoicing. To everything there is a season. In past years, it has seemed like we have had more times of despair than happiness. This year, God provided us with a landmark time of rejoicing.

In January, we hoped for a “child added” 2007, a new year began and Kim heading back to school at South Valley Junior High for the spring semester with her kiddos. Marc headed to the annual client conference his company helps organize events at which takes place in January in Orlando, Fla., the same weekend Kansas City was hit with its first major ice storm. Also that month we had a new addition come into our lives. . . with Marc’s father arranging for a new half bath to be installed in the basement.

In February, we watched as the Indianapolis Colts, having defeated the crappy New England Patriots, went on to win their first Super Bowl championship proving sometimes good guys do finish first. Marc headed to another client conference in Las Vegas to help launch a new product and execute a media event at the House of Blues and got to see the Cirque du Soleil show “LOVE.” Later that month we also took a baby care basics class in the hope of being able to use it soon and received the first of a few adoption opportunity “false alarms.” To help us feel better we went and registered at Babies R’ Us and Target.

At the beginning of March, we painted the nursery a new color that was a bit more pleasing to the eyes. Kim’s mom and Marc’s mom worked with Kim to complete crib bedding and nursery decorations. We had a Tastefully Simple couple’s party where we got to enjoy friends, family and food and Marc celebrated birthday number 33. In addition, we met with our case worker at Christian Family Services to discuss our situation and check in.

In April, Marc helped oversee a client symposium event in Miami, Fla., and yes, for those keeping track, that is two trips to Florida in one year for Marc. We mourned the death of our good friend Mark’s father, who left behind an incredible legacy of ministry, and Kim celebrated with friends and family at her first baby shower. We also began attending Vineyard Church and love it. It’s a place that has really helped us grow and use our gifts for God like never before.

May brought the beginning of the blockbuster movie season, and Kim organized the second annual Special Services dance at South Valley. The last weeks of school Kim prepared for summer school, her sister Jill and her husband Tony came down on their motorcycle for a visit and we hoped Kim would see her last Mother’s Day watching and waiting. . .

In June, our pool officially opened! The month also brought more bittersweet moments of wondering if we would ever hear back about being selected for the adoption of a little one. We also officially joined Vineyard Church and went through their 101 and 201 classes to get equipped for serving.

July was a big, big month. Independence Day in July brought a viewing of one of the best movies we’ve seen in years, Transformers. Also later in July, we celebrated nine years of marriage. We’ve had more than a few bumps and bruises, but we’re still on track. We went to Dave and Busters with Marc’s family to celebrate brother Nic and mom Delene’s birthday and also attended the Jeremy Riddle concert with Paul and Ann at Vineyard. Marc also attended a client conference in Washington D.C. to oversee a media event at The Willard InterContinental Hotel unveiling a new product to the media. That same weekend Kim’s mom, niece Becca and nephew Daniel came for a visit. This all was overshadowed by one major event. On Thursday, July 26, our prayers and the prayers of many friends and family came full circle. We received news that we were selected by a birthmother to become the adoptive parents of her baby set to be born September 25. We met the birthmother at Christian Family Services on Tuesday, July 31, to get acquainted and learn more about each other. It was a fantastic visit.

July was big, but August turned out to be bigger. On August 9, at 9:10 p.m., Jakob Marcus Vasquez came into the world, seven weeks early at 4-lbs, 1-oz. After calling everyone we could think of, we headed to the hospital to meet him and check on his birthmother. When we met him we both fell in love immediately with this perfect little boy. We ended up having to miss Marc’s cousin Tony’s surprise going away party which was that same weekend. Later that month both of our workplaces threw us a shower further blessing us with so many things for Jakob. The last weekend of the month Marc’s friends from Nebraska Scotte and Jason came down to hang with him and Matt for a guy’s weekend, and Marc and his friend Mark celebrated their birthdays late at the Rock the Light concert.

Beginning the Monday of Labor Day weekend we “roomed in” at the hospital where Jakob was at and took care of him under the watchful eyes of the NICU nurses. Later that week, on September 5, we had our initial adoption family court date. This month, Marc created Jakob’s first major motion picture to post on YouTube to follow up on the other short clips posted in August.

This of course spawned a Jakob movie sequel in October which was immediately posted on YouTube as well. After a short 6-week maternity leave, Kim headed back to school and Marc took a week off in an effort to keep Jakob home one more week. Toward the end of the month, with the support of friends and family, we took part in our church Child Dedication Sunday service at Vineyard pledging to raise Jakob with a Christian love that will hopefully lead him one day to make Jesus the central part of his life. Kim celebrated her “29th” birthday. . .again. Jakob started daycare and had his first Parents as Teachers visit the week of Halloween. On Halloween, Jakob went wrapped in silver material as a Chipotle burrito.

November found us getting more and more involved with our church small group and preparing for Thanksgiving. In addition, Kim and her friend Dianne celebrated their birthdays by heading to the Sprint Center to see Garth Brooks. This concert series was a Kansas City exclusive drawing individuals from around the U.S. to the sold out venues. Thanksgiving weekend we had Marc’s family to the house and it was a full day of football, catching up and enjoying being together. Jakob spent his first Thanksgiving. . . asleep. Kim also braved Black Friday and got 90 percent of the shopping done while Marc stayed back to take care of Jakob.

December is here and while we seem to become more and more busy with work stresses and things to do around the house, we’re trying to take every moment we can to focus on the birth of Christ. We’ve had cookie exchanges, dinner with family and friends and soon we’ll be around the tree exchanging gifts and introducing Jakob to Christmas Eve service and the Christmas story.

Next year will most likely prove to showcase more adventures with Jakob. In March, we will officially finalize him being part of our family. Even through the downs and especially through the ups, this year has been a real blessing to our lives. Finding a church home, rekindling relationships with family and friends and most importantly, adding Jakob to our lives gives us reason to sing praise.

May God bless you this Christmas season and into next year. Don't forget to check in with us from time to time in 2008 for updates and movies on Jakob as he continues to grow into his own personality.

“In awe of the cross I must confess.
How wondrous Your redeeming love,
and how great is Your faithfulness.”

Short but sweet

2007-12-18T21:36:00.000-08:00

This has been a whirlwind holiday season. Needless to say, we've been slacking on our posts. Sorry about that. BUT, we're making it up to you. Head to www.marcvasquezonline.com/xmas07.html to see our Christmas letter. We've posted it online so if you want to read it you can, and if not, you can just enjoy the killer photo.

". . .and then there was a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God saying, 'Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and goodwill toward men.' And that's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown."

- Linus from A Charlie Brown Christmas