26 Week Bump Date

How Far Along: 26 Weeks

(You can check out my 26 week post from when I was pregnant with Jackson here.)

Size of Baby: (According to babycenter.com) 26 weeks: Your baby is about the size of a scallion. Your baby, now about 14 inches from head to heel and roughly 1 2/3 pounds, may be able to hear both your voice and the voices of people you talk to.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I had a dr. appt. last Monday and so far I'm up 19 pounds. She is measuring 1 week ahead as she has been for a majority of this pregnancy.

Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity clothes.

Gender: Its a GIRL!!! Still nameless!!

Movement: Yes, she's moving around quite a bit now, and I love it.

Food Cravings: Still no real food cravings.

What I miss: Nothing really at the moment, other than just being able to do normal things without feeling tired or out of breath. I also miss being able to wear my wedding ring, which I haven't been able to wear for quite some time now. :-(

Sleep: Having to get up at least once a night to use the restroom and just can't seem to get comfortable sometimes.

Symptoms: A growing belly, and some sciatic nerve pain that seems to be getting worse, especially after I've cleaned the house. I'm also having a few Braxton Hicks contractions here and there and some pain under my right ribs, which I had with Jackson as well.

Best Moment this week: Getting our bathroom downstairs pretty much finished!!! I am so thankful to my dad for all his hard work. It looks great and I can't wait to share the finished product with you guys!!

What I am looking forward to: Our trip to Phoenix this week, deciding on a definite name for baby girl and getting her nursery ready. I'm also looking forward to my next Dr. appt. where we'll get to schedule my c-section and have a date to look forward to meeting our sweet Baby Girl!

Project 52 2014 - Week 4

"A portrait of Jackson, once a week, every week, in 2014."

Jackson taking a nap Saturday afternoon.

*Linking up with Practising Simplicity.*

25 Week Bump Date

How Far Along: 25 Weeks + 2 days

(You can check out my 25 week post from when I was pregnant with Jackson here.)

Size of Baby: (According to babycenter.com) 25 weeks: Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — 1 1/2 pounds — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I had a dr. appt. on Monday and so far I'm up 19 pounds. She is measuring 1 week ahead as she has been for a majority of this pregnancy.

Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity clothes.

Gender: Its a GIRL!!! Still nameless!!

Movement: Yes, she's moving around quite a bit now, and I love it.

Food Cravings: Still no real food cravings.

What I miss: Nothing really at the moment, other than just being able to do normal things without feeling tired or out of breath.

Sleep: Having to get up at least once a night to use the restroom and just can't seem to get comfortable sometimes.

Symptoms: A growing belly, and some sciatic nerve pain that seems to be getting worse, especially after I've cleaned the house.

Best Moment this week: Getting to hear my sweet girl's heartbeat at my Dr. Appt. on Monday. I'm also excited because my Dad has gotten a lot done on our new bathroom downstairs in the last 2 weeks. He's hoping to have it done, or almost done, by the end of the week. It will be so nice to have a second bathroom in our house and once it's done, we can move on to working on the nursery!! Yay!

What I am looking forward to: Our trip to Phoenix next week, deciding on a definite name for baby girl and getting her nursery ready. I'm also looking forward to my next Dr. appt. where we'll get to schedule my c-section and have a date to look forward to meeting our sweet Baby Girl!

Project 52 2014 - Week 3

"A portrait of Jackson, once a week, every week, in 2014."

Jackson hiding from me in the coat closet Friday evening. 

*Linking up with Practising Simplicity.*

Jackson's First Day of Pre-School

Jackson had his first day of preschool yesterday and it was a success!  When we got there, he wanted us to be right there with him when the teacher was showing him the toys, but he soon got distracted and we slipped out the door. There were no tears (though Mommy may have been choking back a few) and he even took a good little nap! 

His teachers are very nice and his class is nice and small with only 5 kids, (What's crazy is that out of those 5 kids, he is 1 of 2 Jackson's in his small little class)! He has a cute little classroom and they do all kinds of fun things including arts and crafts, playtime, story time and music/instrument time. He goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-3 through May and then they have a few summer camp programs we can look at getting him into. I'm so excited for him to make new friends and learn new things.

It's so hard to believe he's old enough for Pre-School already!! Time goes by so fast.

24 Week Bump Date and a Bumpdate Collage

How Far Along: 24 Weeks

(You can check out my 24 week post from when I was pregnant with Jackson here.)

Size of Baby: (According to babycenter.com) 24 weeks: Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts her at about 1 1/3 pounds. Since she's almost a foot long (about the size of an ear of corn), she cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: At my 21 week appt. I totally forgot to pay attention to how much I had gained total. At 17 weeks I was up 10 lbs. I go back to the Dr. on Monday, so I'll know better what my weight gain is then.

Maternity Clothes: Yes, all maternity clothes.

Gender: Its a GIRL!!! Still nameless, thanks to my husband!!

Movement: Yes, she's moving around quite a bit now, and I love it.

Food Cravings: Still no real food cravings.

What I miss: Nothing really at the moment, other than just being able to do normal things without feeling tired or out of breath.

Sleep: Having to get up at least once a night to use the restroom and just can't seem to get comfortable sometimes.

Symptoms: A growing belly, a few Braxton Hicks contractions here and there and some sciatic nerve pain.

Best Moment this week: Just feeling baby girl move more and more.

What I am looking forward to: Having a definite name for baby girl and getting her nursery ready. I'm also looking forward to my next Dr. appt. on Monday. I will then be going every 2 weeks at that point! I can't believe we're that far along already!

A little recap of Weeks 6-24. ☺

Project 52 2014 - Week 2

"A portrait of Jackson, once a week, every week, in 2014."

My favorite picture from our snow day last week.

*Linking up with Practising Simplicity.*

5 on Friday

I'm linking up with the ladies above for 5 on Friday.

We have an interview with a pre-school next Monday evening for Jackson. It's a pre-school that my nieces and nephews went to and they all loved it. If all goes well he can start as early as next week. He would go 2 days a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's at a local church. I'm so excited for him and really feel like it will help with his communication and it will give him a little more structure. I just know he will love being around the other kids!

I'm so excited that in 3 short weeks from now we'll be in sunny Phoenix, AZ visiting a friend. I can't wait to get away from this cold, snowy weather, even if it is just for a few days. The friend we are visiting, works in the travel business and can get free tickets to the Waste Management Open, so Jake is pretty excited to go to that. It will also be Jackson's first plan ride, so I'm hoping that goes smoothly and he enjoys it.

 I'm loving the new Camera Coat that Jake got me for Christmas. It's so nice to have a way to transport my camera, without having to lug around a big extra bag. I know it will be great for traveling and fun outings with Jackson. I can now just put it in the camera coat and then put it in my purse or diaper bag and don't have to worry about it getting scratched, wet or broken.

 Baby girl has the start of a super cute wardrobe already. Her Maw Maw and Aunt Ashlee got her several cute outfits for Christmas and I've picked up a few things here and there too. One of my favorite outfits that I've gotten her so far is this adorable little romper! I love just about anything with whales on it and I love the mint green color. Gosh I can't wait to play dress up with her!

Since it's been so cold, and taking pictures outside is no longer an option at this point, here are some great tips to taking photos inside!

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

A Storybook Photography Photo Session - The Jacobs Kiddos

A few weeks before Christmas, I took some photos for a friend of ours. She was wanting some pictures of her kids to give as a gift to her husband for Christmas. It was freezing cold that day and there was snow on the ground, so doing an outside shoot with small children, just wasn't an option. So we decided to meet up at a local Mall that is rarely very busy, and try and find some great light. 

Thankfully we were successful in finding great light and we got some very cute shots of the kiddos. 

Annie, their oldest.

Noah, their only boy.

Clair, their spunky middle child. 

Violet, the oldest of their twin girls.

Caroline, the youngest  of their twin girls.

We tried hard to get a couple good group shots too.

On the Mall Carousel.

It turned out to be a great natural light alternative to an outdoor session!

Snow Day

This past Sunday, we got a ton of snow (around 10 inches) and Sunday night into all day Monday, the temperature fell below zero. So, needless to say, we were stuck at home those two days! We did manage to get Jackson out in the snow for just a few short minutes on Sunday, while Jake was outside shoveling our driveway. He really loved it, except for the cold snow blowing in his face, which I can't say that I blame him there. Ha.

Here are just a few pictures I took from our snow day Sunday. 

Some of the snow drifts were almost as tall as he was. :-)

A pretty pine tree across the street from us.

Our street.

After about 10-15 minutes, I took him back inside and got his wet clothes off. He was happy to be in the warm house again. :-)

Later that evening, after he woke up from a nap, I took a few pictures of him playing with his train table! He really loves it.