He keeps growing and growing...

Jake had a NICU follow-up at Duke last week. The doctors and nurses said it's hard to believe he's a 27 week preemie. We agree. He's now 21.5 pounds and 29.5 inches, which puts him on the growth chart for both his actual age and his adjusted age. Pretty remarkable when you consider that we brought him home a little less than a year ago at 5 pounds and 18.5 inches - nowhere near the growth chart for a 3 month old and not even on it for his adjusted newborn age.

He's taken a few tentative steps on his own, and he's still cruising and crawling all over the place. He's saying a few words but they don't quite seem to be in context yet. "Mama" is said to just about anyone and seems to be an indication that he wants to be picked up. "Dog" comes out sometimes with the dogs and sometimes randomly. We also get lots of "Dada" but not necessarily with Jeff. And he's still blowing lots of raspberries and likes to make the "rolling Rs" sound with his tongue - maybe he would have more words if we were Spanish speakers. Yelling/screaming is another fun favorite as our friend Andrea discovered at dinner the other night (sorry fellow diners at Pei Wei).

Jake also took his first two trips last month - back-to-back in an unexpected twist. The first trip was up to our friends Lanier and Scott's cabin in the mountains for Fourth of July weekend. We had a great time with Lanier, Soott, Nate, and Hallie. Jake especially liked have two more dogs to chase around. And he loved the cold mountain water - the only one of us brave enough to get in...

It tired him out though...

The second trip involved his first plane ride (which went surprisingly well) but was sadly a trip to see my grandmother before she died. We made it back to Indiana before she passed, and I think she knew we were there. She had wanted to see Jake for some time but the inability to travel long distances on both sides made that difficult. I do wish she could have seen him when she was fully herself. She was almost 91 - a very strong and proud woman. If there is something positive to come out of it, it is that my sisters and all our children were together for the first time - three girls ages 7, 2.5, and 2, and two boys - ages 1 (Jake) and 2 months. Jake wasn't ready to keep up with the girls yet, but next time...

And finally, Jake's nursery is complete with the addition of his super cute name plates from Amanda and Ben. Thanks guys!