23 weeks. 5 1/2 months. 161 days. That's how long we've known this boy. Seems hard to believe that there was a time when we didn't know him.

It's 2:30 am...I am starting to notice a trend here...I have a really hard time sleeping on Tuesday nights. Maybe it's adjusting to a day at the office after four straight beautiful days at home with The Boy. My mind races and I can not sleep. Or maybe it's the handful of chocolate chips I ate at 11:00. Go figure.

Sunday we drove to Holland (Michigan) to see Jacob's great-grandmother and celebrate her 90th birthday. This is the first time Jacob got to meet Grammy, and they seemed to really hit it off. It was weird to be among so many members of Tim's family and realize that they are all related to my son. I might not have any blood ties to them, but we have this one little boy in common.

We're starting to get ready for our first week-long vacation together. We leave for Elmira on Sunday. We're talking about leaving Jacob with his grandmother for a day so his dad and I can have a date and drive to the baseball hall of fame. We'll see if I'm able to leave him for that long!

When we get back from Elmira, we're hoping to go to a Tigers game with our friend Chip from D.C. Gotta see a baseball game before they strike, and while the Tigers still have any players we recognize.

Windy at daycare says that Jacob really really wants to crawl, and gets really really frustrated when he can't get his legs coordinated. Poor Junior Mint. With his determination, I bet he gets it together within a month.

The Boy is sick again. Miserable and congested and unable to sleep for more than a half hour at a time sick. He wakes up in a panic, not understanding why he can't breathe well. And by now he's so tired that we can't fully wake him up to comfort him. It's heartbreaking.

He had a good weekend, though. Well...mostly good. He had a doctor's appointment on Friday and got four shots, which made him pretty sad. We found out that at 18 lbs, 6 oz and 28.5 inches, he's in the 75th percentile for weight and the 97th percentile for length. Go Jacob, go!

Saturday we went to Frog Island Park with our friends Kate and Steve (and baby Devon) to people watch at the Michigan Elvis Fest. High point: the Comeback Special Era Elvis in head to toe black leather. Low point: the Garth Brooks impersonator (?!) who complained, "If I had the body and the hair for it, I'd be up here doing Elvis songs for you. But I'm stuck doing this fat bald guy."
We were approached about entering Jacob in a beautiful baby contest. No thanks. We already know Jacob is the handsomest baby in the state!

21 weeks old. Where does the time go??

The Boy is getting better at focusing on things. Unfortunately, one of the main things he likes to focus on is getting a good grip on the hair on both sides of my head and jamming my nose into his mouth, where he can gum it to his heart's content. I feel for the poor teething boy, but OUCH! That hurts!

He's also better at paying attention when we read him stories. We can point things out on the page, and he seems to pay attention to them. It's so amazing to see him grow up.

He seems to be developing those gross motor skills very well too. He pushes himself up onto his elbows and loves to look at the world from that new perspective. He desperately wants to figure out how to coordinate his arms and his legs so he can get mobile! He occasionally checks to see if his mouth needs to get involved -- after trying to claw his way across the bed, he'll go face down and bite the sheet beneath him, like he thinks that he can pull himself along by his gums.

He is now aware of when I get home from work. I always get a big grin when he sees me or hears my voice. I'm not looking forward to the day when he starts crying when I leave. It's hard enough to leave him every morning to begin with!!

A fun week last week for The Boy.
Monday he came to work with me and was serenaded by Tuck & Patti.
On Wednesday, Shannon came over and played with us for awhile. Jacob really likes Shannon, especially when she waves her hair in his face.
On Thursday, I picked Jacob up early from "school" (which is what we have decided to euphemistically call it) and drove to the Power Center for a sound check by The Manhattan Transfer. He seemed to enjoy the music, but really enjoyed flirting with Janis and Cheryl. Cheryl danced around the stage with him for a song - he didn't even mind that she was leading! After the sound check, we all headed down to the vomitory passage (eeuw!) for some dinner. Jacob sat on Janis's lap and drooled all over her glasses. He also kept lunging for a steak knife - not sure what that was about!

Friday we took him downtown for dinner at Sabor Latino. Once again, he was a big hit. The waitresses decided he had good taste, since he seemed to be dancing to the music. We also stopped in at the Firefly club to say hello to Susan.