a n u p d a t e . . . f i n a l l y

The Haackes are doing great. The new year has brought many news and for Jeremy many firsts.

1. Jeremy started eating food. It all started when we went out to a restaurant and he just went nuts. He wanted our food not his "gross" bottle. Heather and I had to take turns taking him outside and walking around while the other one quickly ate. It was like clockwork, every time we brought him inside he could smell the food and would go nuts. So we started off feeding him rice and oatmeal, you know the normal baby formula stuff and he liked it for about two weeks, now he hates pureed food so we feed him bits and pieces. He is starting to become a much better eater but he takes after his mom and is a picky eater. However, if you make him a grilled cheese he can almost eat the whole thing.

2. Jeremy started to talk. His first word was "good." Heather would tell him that he was a good boy and he would mimic her. He didn't know what he was talking about but he could say it. Spencer claims he has my southern accent but I think that is wishful thinking.

3. Jeremy's first Halloween.

This was kind of fun. At our church we do a trunk or treat. Everyone comes and dresses up and decorates their trunk. We decided to do a football theme. Heather ran across my old football jerseys in my stuff. Heather and I went as football Players and Jeremy went as the football. We made goal posts and hooked them to our car. it was quit fun and everyone loved Jeremy's costume.

4. Christmas was a wonderful time. We traveled to Virginia to be with Heather's Family and Jeremy loved it. He had so much fun opening new toys, but the thing he loved the most is all the paper. He is obsessed with paper. It was fun to see him ignore his toys and go for the paper. He got tons of hats because his grandparents are afraid we live in the middle of the tundra and they're right.

5. He is now walking, Jeremy is consistently taking 4-5 steps right now but he has walked across the whole room. Heather and I will toss something he wants back and forth and he will walk back and forth between us. We are mean parents, we play keep away from our 9 month old. He loves it though. When he first started out his head was his landing gear, but he is getting much better and has learned to catch himself with his arms. In addition to being able to walk, I think he is going to be a mountain climber. He is climbing a bunch of things now. He doesn't get too far, but he is still going through the motions. Here is a picture of him climbing into a box.

6. This is his first winter and I have to admit that it has been a kick in the face with a steel toed boot (Spencer's elegant phrase). Well, maybe not that bad. Here in Iowa for a couple months in a row it has been consistently below 20 degrees and often found its way into the negatives. Heather and Jeremy rarely go out because it is so cold. They sit at the window and watch me shovel the drive. (I make note now, that Heather did come help a few times when J was down for a nap).

7. Waive Bye Bye - Jeremy is starting to wave bye bye. Whenever I go to work in the morning I will waive bye bye to Heather and Jeremy. Heather would show him how to do it. It didn't make sense to him for some reason. Finally, while we were at church it connected. At ward conference we were sustaining the leaders of our ward, stake and general church leaders and we would raise our hands in support. He thought everyone was waving and he started waiving with us, but he was doing the open and closed hand like we do when we say bye bye in the morning. He was just waiving to everyone even after the sustainings were over.

It is such a blessing and joy to watch all of his new achievements.