4-month update

Jacob is now 4 months old! I can't believe how big he is getting. He now weights 16 lbs and 3 oz and is 27 inches tall! He is going to outgrow his infant seat carrier before I know it. Actually, he still has 3 inches to go, but I can hardly believe how much he fills it out compared to when we first brought him home from the hospital. He is still drinking only breastmilk; I haven't quite decided when to start with the rice cereal... He doesn't roll over yet because he still can't stand to be on his stomach (I'm a bad mommy for not making him do it more often!) but he does roll to the side a lot more. He has also recently found his feet and plays with them. Naps are still very short and not very often, but he still sleeps great at night--7 to 8 hours straight isn't unusual.

Here is a picture of Jacob in a bumbo. Go Boise State!

Christmases 2009

Jacob got to celebrate Christmas twice this year. First, we celebrated with my family on Dec. 23 at my sister's house in Ripon. The de Jongs were all there, so we had quite a big bunch--19 people! It was so nice to see everyone, especially Deb's kids because we don't get to see them so much. They hadn't met Jacob yet either, so that was really nice!








On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we went to Larry's parents' house. On Christmas Eve, we had a wonderful ham dinner and then played Rook. On Christmas Day we came back there after church and opened presents! We had a really great time! We even played bean bag toss inside the house! Overall, Jacob did pretty well, although now it's 10:15 the next morning, and he's still in his crib! I guess he was pretty tired from all the excitement!

McDonald's with the Van Duyn men

I thought is was time for Jacob to meet my Van Duyn cousins and Uncle Harold. Also, he needed to see his Great-Grandpa who is almost 98 years old! Every Saturday whoever wants to meets at the McDonald's in Ripon. It's usually all men, but I've gone a few times because it's a good chance to see all of them, especially my grandpa. Here is Jacob and one of his five great-grandparents.

Thanksgiving

We had two Thanksgivings this year--Thanksgiving day with my family at my sister Cindy's house and a Friday Thanksgiving dinner at Larry's parents' house. Jacob was kind of crabby at both of them because he wouldn't fall asleep. However, he was able to take this cute picture with his cousin Matijs. This was seconds before Tijs hit Jacob in the face and he started bawling. It is a cute picture, though. No, Jacob is not already sitting up--I am kneeling behind him holding him.

3 Months!

Jacob is now three months old. Here are a few pictures of the past few weeks...


Nov. 3 This is the ONLY time I put Jacob on his stomach that he didn't immediately start complaining. He absolutely HATES tummy time. I know I should make him do it more, but it's hard to see him so upset. He can lift his head up, though, and hold it up for quite a while.


Nov. 5 This is the first time I put him in the exersaucer. He can't exactly put weight on his legs yet nor does he have the endurance to stay in it very long. I put him in it for like five minutes, and he seems to like it. I can't wait until he can really enjoy it.


Nov. 21 Bath time. He seems to be okay with taking a bath, but it's definitely not one of his favorite things. At least he doesn't cry when the water gets in his eyes and mouth. He actually seems to like it!


Nov. 22 On his three-month birthday Larry and I drove to Sacramento to see Uncle Mike and Aunt Karena. Here the boys are cheering on the 49ers (notice the 49er colors) who ended up losing. Jacob was too intent on the game to smile for the camera.


Nov. 23 Jacob enjoys sitting up in Grandma Great's big chair. He is really starting to play with toys and enjoy looking at them. He has changed so much in the past few weeks. It's exciting to see him do new things!

Halloween

We didn't celebrate Halloween ourselves, nor did we pass out candy to the neighborhood kids, but I did put Jacob in a giraffe costume for a couple hours just because I felt like taking a picture. He got this as a gift. It's really a sleeper with a hood he got at a shower.



My aunt Jean also made Jacob a monkey "sock puppet" hat. Jacob didn't really care how cute he was and just wanted to suck his hands. I think he was hungry when I took this picture.

like father like son

I found an old picture of Larry as a baby, and it reminded me of Jacob. Even the hands and facial expression looks like Jacob. The only things I can say are from me are most likely the red hair and a dimple on one side of his face.

Two-Months Old!

Today Jacob is two months old! I can't believe it. We just got home from the doctor where he received three shots and had to drink something else. The first round of shots went okay. He did cry for quite a bit later, but after he fell asleep in the car he's been fine every since. Here are some of his stats:

Weight--14 pounds and 1/2 ounce (93rd percentile)
Height--25 inches (off the charts)
Head--31 cm (73rd percentile)

Other than that, things are going well health wise except for a little baby acne! He even got big-boy band-aids on his shots! I was impressed, but he didn't seem to care that he got a band-aid for the first time. They always made me feel better after I got a shot!

Cousins!

Today Jacob's cousin Matijs came over for a few hours. Jacob seemed to enjoy watching his big cousin play in the exersaucer and crawling around. Tijs kept looking at Jacob and smiling back at me. He also liked putting his mouth on Jacob's baby Papasan because he liked the vibrations! It was fun to have both of them here, but I know when they are older, they are going to be so much more work because they are going to get into a lot of trouble. They are only 8 months apart, so there will definitely be more play dates to come!

First Road Trip

On Saturday, Larry, Jake, and I decided to drive down to Escondido. It was a spur of the moment thing (Larry had the next week off of school). We were talking about what we wanted to do that day, and I said I wished we could go walk by the beach. Larry said, "Well, we could go visit Rhonda in Escondido." I thought we were crazy, but I started packing up Jacob and getting everything ready. We left around 5:15 that night (I figured Jacob would sleep most of the way, and I'd rather him sleep when it's night) and stopped in Monrovia for the night. That left only a two-hour drive the next day to Escondido. We did go to the beach but it was more so just to see the beach. Jacob didn't even get to touch the sand. I forgot my camera, so I can't document the trip. Monday we stopped by Calvin Christian and saw my old students. Jacob slept the whole time! Then we drove back to Patterson. It was a VERY quick trip, but Jacob was fantastic and slept so well in the car and in his pack 'n' play. I think he was actually better on the trip than he is at home! (He rarely sleeps during the day except about ten minutes after I feed him...) He also learned to find his hand and suck on whatever fingers he can get in his mouth!

Six Weeks!

Jacob is now six weeks old. According to weighing myself holding him and then subtracting my weight, he should weigh around 12 1/2 pounds now! His pant size is still 0-3 months, but most of his onesies and sleepers are now too small. He even fits into some 6 month clothing. He is pretty long in his torso. Here are just a few random photos I've taken lately.



Bath time. I love his froggy towel. Jacob has no real reaction to getting a bath. He neither likes it nor dislikes it. I think he's still deciding. He just sits there and kicks his feet a little in the water.



I just bought Jacob one of those activity "gym" things. He really likes it and is starting to play with the toys above his head. He especially likes the part that plays music and lights up!



I'm a mean mom and wanted to go to the bathroom before I fed him. Apparently Jacob hasn't learned to be patient yet.

Baptism--October 4, 2009

What a busy weekend! On Saturday, Jacob had a baby shower at his Beppe Zylstra's house. There were so many people to hold him. He got some great presents which he and his mom are very excited about! Even his Aunt Rosaline, Great-Aunt Donna, and cousin Sarah came from Southern California. Then, on Sunday, Jacob was baptized at Trinity Reformed Church in Modesto. He complained through the whole thing because he was hungry! (He's always hungry about twenty minutes into church.) Anyway, it was another exciting day for him. After church, we went to Pake and Beppe's house again for a wonderful ham dinner which Jacob slept through (Mom was excited about this!). I guess he was pretty tired out from all that excitement.

Jacob was pretty tired by the end of the day as you can tell.

Jacob's first month

I can't believe that Jacob will be one month old tomorrow! Time seems to have flown by. People told me it would, but I thought the newborn stage would take forever. Here are some pictures of his first month of life. Hopefully you can tell how big he is getting.


This is a picture of Jacob in his crib at one week. He looks so much smaller than he is now!


Sept. 3--Almost two weeks old. He looks so peaceful. This is how he sleeps all the time. He looks uncomfortable with this legs like that, but as long as he is sleeping well I won't complain!


Sept. 8--All ready to leave the house in his car seat attached to the stroller frame. I think we just went and got the mail (about a three minute walk), but it was the first time he went out with the stroller.


Sept. 12--Jacob has been smiling a lot. Sometimes in response to us talking to him, sometimes just because he feels like it.



Sept. 19--Jacob and I went with Larry to mow the church lawn. Here we are in the church nursery playing. It seemed to take forever for Larry to be finished, but at least the church had one of those activity gym things he could lay on.

Jacob's first week

I got these flowers from my boys! It was so nice of them.


Jacob loves to eat. When he's awake and not eating, he usually has his hands in his mouth!


My mom came to help out, and I asked her to cut Jacob's really long nails. I was too nervous to do it the first time. My mom had a lot of fun. My mom also did some laundry and ironing for me (Yay, I HATE ironing!). She was awesome, and it was so nice to have my mom take care of me. My dad finally held Jacob when he was 4 days old (My dad was recovering from the swine flu!).

Jacob Hendrik Zylstra

Jacob Hendrik Zylstra was born on August 22, 2009 by a C-section at 6:28 pm. He was 9 pounds, 8 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. His head measured 36 centimeters. I'm told that is quite big.
Jacob spent a few days in the hospital with his mommy recovering and learning how to survive in this new world. Right when he was born, his daddy took a lot of pictures. Here are some:

Labor Story

Friday morning, August 21, Larry and I drove to the hospital and arrived by 7:00 am for the induction. However, things had not progressed as much as planned, and I had to go through three rounds (3 hours each try) to get my body more prepared to dilate. Finally, I was having contractions. At 9:00pm, my water broke and they then could begin to give me the pitocin to increase contractions. By 3:00 am, I was having intense contractions yet still not dilating anymore. I was in a lot of pain, so they gave me some medicine in my IV. Finally I could sleep (for 45 minutes until it wore off). They could give it to me every hour, but it would take the edge off the pain for less and less each time. At 6:00 AM, and after being at the hospital almost 24 hours, I received an epidural. Not a lot changed throughout the day. I laid in bed because I couldn't feel my legs very well, and I had a catheter. I couldn't feel the contractions, but I could feel everything else, including an intense pain as Jacob's head or something pressed up against my tailbone. At 5:15 that afternoon, I was told I had a 5% chance of delivering the baby the normal way. So, we began preparing for a C-section, and at 6:28 pm I was not only the mother of a beautiful little baby boy but also officially finished with about 36 hours of induction/labor!

Mike and Karena's wedding

On July 24, my brother Mike married Karena Kleiver. We are so excited to add Karena to the family! She is such a wonderful girl, and it's obvious how much my brother loves her. Here are a few pictures of the wedding. Yes, I put on a bridesmaid dress at 8 1/2 months pregnant (38 weeks), but I think I looked pretty good! Don't tell me otherwise...well, I did NOT look as good as Karena, that's for sure! We had so much fun at the wedding. It was so nice to catch up with some cousins we don't see very often. And, of course, there was plenty of Bon Jovi...