WetzelWorld's Xanga

17 months old - some of Jacob's favourite things and a couple weddings

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:04:22 GMT

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

Finally a few more pics of our little man..

So long for now...

16 months and Spring has arrived!

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:12:02 GMT

Jacob will be 16 months old on Sunday, and I couldn’t wait to upload photos.

Jacob is learning and understanding more words all the time.

Along with "uh oh", Jacob has increased his vocabulary to include "oh no" and "oh my."

He also says 물 (“water” in Korean) and signs for “more” when he wants a drink.

If you say “share” Jacob will give you some of whatever he is eating, even one of his beloved blueberries.

Our little man can blow kisses now (which he learned from his Grandma on Skype)

and he points to his belly button when we ask where his 배꼽 (Korean for belly button) is.

Now that the weather is warming up, we’re out by the beach more so Jacob can play with two

of his favorite things: sand and water. (His third favourite thing is cars, or anything with wheels.)

Here is our boy during his 15th month

Always signing for more food

We took Jacob to the Sydney Aquarium for the first time. Here he is (rather unimpressed) amongst the sharks.

One mean looking fish

Jacob sharing his biscuit

Apparently Jacob’s mate Toby is happily sharing his fingers

About to cry...not sure why

Back at Manly Cove

Jacob, 배꼽 어딨어? ("Where is your belly button?")

Jacob with a Southern Cassowary (an endangered and apparently very dangerous bird) at Wildlife World.

September 6 was Father’s Day in Australia. We had lunch at a café by the beach and watched the sunset over the water.

Jacob got his very first hair cut the next day. He sat very still on my lap the entire time and watched his hair being cut in the mirror.

happy with the results

Jacob playing in the water on the Corso

Manly beach

Another sunset

My favourite photo from the month.

Happy 16 month birthday Jacob :)

15 months and on the move

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:15:32 GMT

Jacob will be 15 months old tomorrow. He’s now walking everywhere, babbling and laughing all the time, and copying everything we do.

Some of Jacob's favourite things are:

-playing with cars, moving them across the floor and furniture while making a car noise

-putting phones (and remote controls) to his ear like he’s talking on the phone

-putting anything on top of his head, especially combs and brushes to try and brush his hair

-repeating "uh oh" (over and over and over) whenever he drops something (even when on purpose)

-pushing buttons on any toy that plays music

Here is our little man playing in his box of toys - why take things out when you can go right in?

Being crabby...

more crabby...

but quickly comforted/distracted by Sydney

We had a games night at our friend Hannah's place, and Jacob made himself right at home...

Jacob's buddy

Intently watching one of his favourite shows "Humphrey Bear" with his teddy bear

Back in the toy box

More cuddles for Sydney

Jacob loves carrying around his "briefcase" everywhere just like his daddy

Jacob also loves playing with my sunglasses and trying to put them on

Roaming around Manly Cove...

14 months old now

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:53:56 GMT

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

Guess that's it for now!

13 months

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:30:03 GMT

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)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB!!!

Thu, 21 May 2009 02:48:42 GMT

Our little boy is one year old today.

I can't believe a year ago this little man came out of my tummy.

What an incredible year it has been. Jacob is learning so much so quickly,

grabbing my brush to brush his hair, signing for food, dancing to

music, and laughing all the time.

Here are some of Jacob's 1 year pictures taken at a studio:

Here are also some pictures from Jacob's very first birthday party. We couldn't have done it without the help of Jacob's 이모's and 삼촌's Hannah and Daniel, Mike and Jane, and Gavin and Gloria.

Here is the 돌상 (birthday table)

The birthday cake

The birthday boy

Blowing out Jacob's first birthday candle (He looks rather unimpressed)

Time for the Doljabee - What will Jacob choose??

Jacob grabbed rice first, symbolising prosperity

and the calculator second, symbolising a future in finance (oh dear)

Then Jacob got to change out of his hanbok

into normal clothes

eating lunch

Finally we celebrated Jacob's real birthday today, 20 May, with 할머니 and 할아버지 in Arizona

We had a traditional dduk cake, and he loved the raisins on top.

So Happy Birthday our little darling. We love you so much!!!!

11 Months

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 05:50:06 GMT

Tomorrow will be Jacob’s 11-month birthday. He has learned so much in the past month.
Along with saying 엄마 (uhmma – Korean for mom) and dada, he also knows the word cat but it sounds like “dat.”
He loves chasing Sydney while yelling “dat.” When we go for walks, he says “dat” when he sees dogs as well.
I suppose he’s made his own word combining dog and cat. He also understands the word "ball" and waves
his hand when you say 안녕 ("hi" in Korean).
J-man just started clapping as well and starts clapping with a big grin when we praise him.
It’s getting so exciting watching Jacob learn new things.
He speaks in his own baby language and at the moment everything sounds like “dat” and “duck.”

Here were are around Manly

Then we all went to the Royal Easter Show for the very first time – I LOVED IT!!!

Jacob loved all the animals – he kept staring at the baby chicks and wanted to touch them

Then we went to the Dairy Farmers Barnyard Nursery where you can “get up close to over 1000 cute and cuddly baby animals.” Who wouldn’t love that??

Here’s Jacob feeling the lamb’s ear

He decided his own ears were more interesting…

feeding the baby goats

playing drums on the calf

feeding lambs

Then of course we couldn’t leave the show without our very own showbag.
Jacob got the Sesame Street one, with a little duffle bag, lunchbag, ball, slippers and sunhat. Sooo cute!
I can’t wait to see which showbag Jacob picks out next year when he can choose on his own.

As it got darker, Jacob loved all the lights from the games and rides

I was sad when the day ended. I can’t wait until next year!!

Keith and I had our 5-year wedding anniversary last Friday, 17 April.
Since Keith had to work we celebrated yesterday and I made French toast with hearts

That night we had a sitter come after Jacob went to bed, and Keith took me out for a date.
After driving an hour away from civilization, we drove a few kms through this dark, narrow, windy road,
and Keith parked the car on a small road with no lights, restaurants, or anything around.
If I wasn’t married to this person for 5 years I would have been pooping my pants with nervousness.
(probably not the best pick for a first date). I later realized that Keith parked by a tiny dock and we took a
little boat to the restaurant, which only has access by boat – the stars were so bright from where we were!
It was an incredible night with the most beautiful dishes and flavours.
It’s the first time I finished every dish except for dessert. I never thought it possible!

Here we are just off the boat

We married exactly 5 years ago on 17 April, 2004. (I took a pic of the menu because it had our anniversary date on it)

The last course...

Keith – where’s your dessert?

So thank you my darling husband – It has been the most incredible 5 years!

Back to our little man, Sebastian from our mother’s group started the 1st birthday parties off, since he’s the oldest in our group, born on 20 April.
It was the first time that the dads got to meet up in one of our mothers group gatherings.

Here’s the birthday boy and his mum Jen

The party was a pirate theme, and Seb’s dad made this birthday cake! Looks like it's ready to set sail ...

Here are the dads and boys (Seb was taking a nap)

Jacob playing at the party

with his mate Toby

He loved Seb's rocking horse

Guess that's it for now. We have a big month coming up.
The rest of the bubs from mothers group will all be turning 1, including our very own Jacob 정현 Wetzel!!

10 months today

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:48:23 GMT

Our little man is 10 months old today. He's learning more and more by watching and following.
He waves his hand to say hello and can throw a ball to you or into a bucket placed in front of him.
He's also monkey crawling now, on his hands and feet (instead of his hands and knees).

Happiest first thing in the morning

Cruising along his playpen:

Ready for his swim lesson

At the playground with his mate Toby (Go Badgers!)

Jacob loves to swing!

Monkey crawling

What up ladies

We took our pledge and officially became Australian citizens on Wednesday 18 March:

Finally Jacob waves goodbye for now - "안녕!" (by the way you might want to turn the volume down before pressing play..hehe)

9 Months

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:40:21 GMT

Jacob turned 9 months old last Friday. He already looks more like a toddler and less like a baby.
He’s crawling everywhere now, standing up against anything he can and cruising along the playpen.
Our little man still loves eating and gets excited whenever we sign for food.
He’s learning to eat with his hands now, and it’s amazing to watch him develop his fine motor skills.
I love watching him eat blueberries. I put some on his tray, and after examining them for a while,
he proceeds to grab them all at once and stuff the blueberries along with his entire hand into his mouth.
He gets so excited and smiles with a mouthful of blueberries.

He loves his aquarium (probably not as much as I do in the mornings)

Jacob in his adorable outfit from 외삼촌 and 외숙모 (uncle and aunt)

Trying to eat a carrot stick

Our little Mozart

Bathtime with Daddy

Playing in his playpen… guess which one is his favourite toy?

The empty box!

Visiting Play Planet with daddy

Jacob and his mate Joshua

At Lollipops Playland with his mates Joshua and Joshua

8 Months already – where does the time go!

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:56:57 GMT

If I thought time flew by before, it’s moving at the speed of light now. It’s been a big month,
with Jacob celebrating his first Christmas and New Year’s. Also he took his first step forward on 15 January
and is now crawling away. Unfortunately Jacob seems to take after mum, chatting away all the time now.
Everything is “mamam “ or “dada.” I get the feeling he’s upset when he gets quiet for a long time.
Little J-man is more independent now, sitting up and playing with his toys by himself but he still loves
his cuddles from mum and dad.

Jacob got a second chance meeting Santa – still wasn’t a huge fan

He was more interested in the balloon Santa gave him

Mothers group Christmas party – again Jacob wasn’t too happy

in a better mood

Our Santa’s little helper

On Christmas Day, St Matts had 3 men dressed up as wise men riding on camels. This wise man had some fancy sunnies and sneakers

Opening presents!

MJ and Hanneli adopted us into their family for Christmas lunch at MJ’s sister’s place

Reading with daddy

Jacob found a funny article

More reading

Our little lifesaver

Sleeping at the mall

Happily making a mess in his playpen

At Mothers group, we captured evidence of Jacob being a bully. I just love the expression on his friend
Sebastian’s face during this sequence of events

I gave Sebastian Jacob’s blue horse to play with instead

He clearly was not happy with me

Swinging away

Mothers group the next week

With a new bully in town

How YOU doin?