Jacob turned 17 months old last Tuesday. He's learning and developing so quickly now. I'm not sure how long we're going to sign with him, but it has helped quite a bit in understanding our little man. Jacob can now combine words, saying "more food please" altogether, and always signs "please" when he wants help with something. He also signs "all done" when he's finished eating (or right away when he gets something he doesn't want to eat, usually his veggies). It's actually quite fun learning sign language and using it to teach Jacob different animals and words Jacob can't quite say yet.
Here are some pics of Jacob and some of his favourite things (in no particular order):
1. Playing peekaboo
Where is Jacob?
Peekaboo!
2. Putting DVDs in the DVD player
Only thing is he thinks they go in underneath the DVD player - which was quite a surprise the first time we found a whole pile underneath
3. Jacob still loves cars, whether playing with them or riding in one
4. Mum's handbags - Although it may sound girly, Jacob is going to have a very strong right arm! He raises it up in the air and walks around the house with my bags
One day Jacob was sick and wouldn't let go of this brown bag from our friends Daniel and Hannah :) He cried when Keith made him let go to wash his hands and carried it in his stroller all the way to the doctor's office
5. Talking on the phone, especially with daddy! We call Keith while he's at work, and Jacob says "hi" and laughs when he hears the phone ring and hears Keith's voice. Other times Jacob babbles on toy phones or anything he puts up to his ear.
6. The beach
Here's Jacob at home and at the park...
but Jacob's all smiles at the beach! (here with his friend Ava) :)
And last but certainly not least...
7. Jacob loves his daddy! (Keith's very own mini-me)
We had the pleasure of going to two beautiful weddings this month.
Here's Jacob ready to go (again with my handbag) to our friends Chris and Jen's wedding.
Chuck Bass, meet Jacob Wetzel:
Walking to Shelly beach
Jacob's mate Sebby and his gorgeous mum walking down the aisle
Wetzel family photo
We went to another wedding the next week and decided to clean our little man up with his second haircut. This time a friend of mine cut his hair and did a lovely job! Again, Jacob sat very still the entire time...
Gotta love the mohawk
Thanks Kirsty!
Ready for Hermann and Grace's wedding! (by the way I totally copied the photo of the bride because I couldn't get a good pic from where we were)
Keith, Jacob and Uncle Mike
Another Wetzel family photo (with Uncle Mike as the photographer)
Gloria and I both mums now
With our boys...the Spratts and Wetzels - Little Joel is so adorable!! Gav looks like a giant in this pic..haha
Our baby boy is 14 months old now. We spent the first part of Jacob's 13th month with family in Milwaukee. It was so great to spend time with everyone, especially now that Jacob is a little bit older and can smile and laugh with his cousins, aunties, uncles and of course grandparents!
Our little man is laughing all the time now and dances whenever he hears music or when he's happy (usually when he's eating). By the way Jacob's absolute favourite thing to do is eat - he is constantly signing for more food while looking up as if he hadn't eaten all day. If I'm looking away, he signs bigger and bigger as if signing bigger is like sign-yelling. It's adorable but he eats or asks for food most of the time he's awake. Looks like Keith will need to keep up the long hours at work so we can afford to feed our child.
Here are some pictures from our family trip to the Wisconsin Dells. Keith's family organised a surprise first birthday party in our rooms, and Auntie Dawn even made a special 1st birthday cake without dairy or egg so that Jacob could have some!
Jacob's first taste of cake - he liked it!
Jacob's cousin Izzie (6 weeks older)
Izzie hugging Jacob
Hangin with the boys
Back in Milwaukee, we spent a day at a Children's Museum. So much to see and do!
We also spent a day with the Berralls - Here's Jacob with his girlfriend Amelia and baby Elizabeth (only 2 months old!)
always poking or pointing...
with the dads - Casey and Keith
Another day we went fishing! Well, we attempted at least. We got fishing licenses but unfortunately no fish. The effort was most definitely there. We woke up at 5am and drove about an hour away, got some little fish and live worms for bait, and hung out on a pontoon with a whole bunch of fishing poles. Keith and Chad got a couple bites on their line but no fish. I think it was too hot for them. We had a great time on the boat though. Thanks Dad - hope we catch some fish next time
Back at home, Jacob and Izzie were cooling off with grandma
Spending time with daddy
We also got to catch up with another one of Keith's high school mates Chris and his fiance Sadie
Finally our last full day before leaving back to Sydney, Jacob planted a Korean spice bush for great-grandma Loether in grandma's garden
Family picture with Chad, Katie, and Izzie
Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandchildren
We put Jacob and Izzie in their hanboks (traditional Korean costumes) since they both turned one this year. The incredibly weird thing is that Izzie and Jacob's other cousin Alyssa (my brother's little girl) have the exact same hanbok! Here are Jacob and Izzie - so cute together!
Sadly we had to say goodbye to everyone again... We had such a wonderful time
We're back home in Sydney now. Jacob did wonderfully well in settling back into Australia time. I need to make a habit of taking more pictures, but here he is back in winter-wear
Checking out a baby duck at a friend's 2nd birthday party
Jacob’s 12th month was very eventful. We spent most of the time in Arizona, and Jacob started taking his first steps during the first week of June. It’s amazing how quickly he learns to walk – He makes a huge smile that brights up the room, raises his arms up to the sky and tries to balance one foot in front of the other. He smiles the entire time and looks so proud of himself.
We also went to LA for Jacob’s cousin Alyssa’s first birthday party. It was a beautiful party as well, and Jacob and Alyssa got to spend the next day together.
My favourite people in LA:
big bro Andrew, sis-in-law Annie, and niece Alyssa
Susan and Audrey!
My longest friend of over 20 years Brent!
Oh yeah – and look who we saw...
That's Christian Slater on the right. (We tried to look inconspicuous by acting like I was getting my picture taken... turns out I'm just left with very zoomed in photos of myself...keke)
Alyssa’s first birthday party
We tried to put Jacob in a hanbok to get a picture of Jacob and Alyssa together in hanboks, but Jacob was getting tired and hungry
Jacob loved the balloon decorations
Out in LA with 할머니 and 할아버지 (grandma and grandpa)
Eric flew to LA for a day just to see us!
Cousins exactly 3 weeks apart ^^
I love this sequence of photos (taken in this exact order):
Drink..
Poke..
Drink..
Poke..
Drink...
Take that!
don't mess with this face...
Out for a walk in Santa Monica
Intently watching the ball go down the funnel-toy-thing
Back to Arizona… we didn’t take too many pictures. We did take this one though...
Notice the lower portion of the receipt mentioning “Amount Due $9.25”
For less than $10, you can get this:
Keith and I went back to the Arizona Biltmore for a night while grandma and grandpa watched Jacob. It was exciting to go back to the exact place we took pictures on our wedding day 5 years ago…
This is where Keith saw me for the first time on our wedding day
Back home, Jacob was happy eating and reading
He even did some yoga
Last night before leaving Arizona
That’s about it for our trip to the west side. (will post pics from Wisconsin on Jacob's 14 month birthday)
I think it was too hot for them. We had a great 
