last night...

 as i'm putting jake to sleep (as we do EVERY night), i'm laying next to him and he's pulling my face close to his so that it's touching his.  even if he moves, he comes back my way to make sure that our faces touch again and he just holds my face in his hands as he falls asleep.  i'm so in love.  

and the funny thing is...i've struggled lately with feeling as though it's time for us to put him in his crib, shut the door and let him fall asleep on his own. we do that for his nap time, which i thankfully just mastered since on summer vacation, but bedtime is a different story.  one of us lays down with him until he falls asleep and then we put him in his crib. he takes longer to fall asleep at night so sometimes we can be in there for 30 minutes, which can be frustrating.  but you know what...after last night, i'm not so sure i want to change a thing.  

representin'...

like father, like son

"look at me"...and at mommy's heart stopping

with cousin james

watching cousin lohia's game

with uncle jason 

simple pleasures...

the fourth

we celebrated the fourth of july with my family.  a bunch of them rented rooms at a hotel and then we all came to hang out down at the pool and watch the fireworks.  jake spent most of his time in the jacuzzi with the cousins.  he fell asleep before the fireworks but we woke him up to see them.  he was pointing at them and loving the show.

with uncle jason and auntie mita

with cousin toreka and uncle jason

auntie teri was playing the ukelele and jake was so fascinated by it that he kept trying to strum the strings with her.  he also bobbed his head while she was singing samoan songs.

good night

fun with the pua family

lupe, lole and their kids came to visit and stayed with us.  it was so nice to see my good friend who moved to texas 3 years ago.  jake had a blast with her kids and i had a great time hanging with my girl.  he was chasing them around, playing, swimming and just loving the company.  i might need to get going in the sibling department.

jasiah, elijah and nila with matt and jake

matt trying to get jake's jeri curl hair under control

night out at yard house 

daredevil

so matt got exactly the kind of son he hoped for.  healthy and handsome of course, but also bold, daring, fearless and tough.  take a look at what jake is doing now at 16.5 months.  he figured out how to put his chair close to the hutch to use it as a step stool to get whatever it is up there that he wants.  matt caught him for the first time a few days ago and even though he fell when he turned around and saw matt, he still does it every chance he gets. God be with him me.

summer begins...

i love summer!  not only does the sunshine do something wonderful to my soul, i get to be off with jake for two months.  the feeling of waking up with him every morning and leisurely deciding what we'll do for the day is the best.  

pooped

  

art class

gymboree offered a free art class to the kids so of course grandma jeanene made sure he was the first one signed up.  it was for 16-23 month olds so jake just made the cutoff age.  he had a hard time sitting still to do the projects and was more interested in running towards the door to get outside to the play gym.  picasso he wasn't into most of the activities except the painting.