A Weekend at Home

After much travel the last couple of weekends, it was wonderful to stay in town this weekend.

Friday: Farmers market and dinner with my parents:

We went to the Phinney Ridge Farmers Market to shop for dinner and made grilled porterhouse (local, grass fed beef), a roasted beet salad, sauteed beet greens and fresh olive bread with sheeps milk blue cheese.  And, we cracked open a good bottle of Zin---yum!

Saturday: we had a whole laundry list of chores to work on around the house.  Then we went for an early dinner at Wedgwood alehouse and did some shopping at U-Village.

As you can see from the photo of Eric and Isaac, Isaac is really starting to grab for anything in sight!

Sunday:  We finished up more chores around the house, went for a long walk with the dog, ran errands and enjoyed being all together!  I'm looking forward to making pumpkin ravioli tonight for dinner - another find at the market.  Here's Isaac just being cute, and working on sitting:

4 Months: Weighing In

Isaac had his 4-month check-up today.  Here are his 'official' stats:
17.0 lbs (85th percentile)
26.5" long (93rd percentile)
42cm head circumference (50th percentile)

He is a healthy, tall boy and doing GREAT developmentally!  He is reaching for and grabbing objects (and pulling them towards his mouth, mostly), holding his head up well, vocalizing & laughing (a lot!), eating like it's going out of style, flipping from his back to his belly like a pro... and even starting to inch along on his belly.  He is in size 6-9 months now (he fits the bigger sizes in length especially), and we are learning to look at the weight description on the clothes more than the age.  But this is probably all old news as we aren't shy in the bragging department....  He did OK with the shots... this picture was from yesterday--- he was snoozing after his shots this morning.

We are also happy to report that we have found a wonderful nanny, Mary, who has been taking care of Isaac for about 20 hours a week while we're at work.  We feel so relieved and lucky to have found such a great caretaker!

4 Months!

Happy 4 Months, Isaac!

I think this will be the month of 'movement'.  He is flipping quickly from his back to his belly, and starting to inch along.  He also loves standing and being in his jumper.  Here is Isaac rolling and moving:

We'll get the official stats at his check-up in a couple of days, but he's 17+ lbs.

Overnight with Grandma & Grandpa Merhar

Isaac had his first overnight away from the parents (or should we say, the parents had their first overnight without Isaac?).  We went to a riverfloat/camping trip along the Methow river and G&G Merhar watched Isaac for the night.  Photos from the riverfloat to follow... but in the meantime, here is Isaac Friday morning, ready for another long car ride:

Ready to hang with the grandparents:

  Hanging in his new Johnny Jump Up, which he LOVES!

Portland & Sounders

I was looking at pictures of our trip to Portland & Sounders game last night, pointing out the different people to Isaac, and this is how he reacted:



Our little man is growing up so fast!

Sounders beat Colorado 2-1. Go Sounders!!

Auntie Lisa :)

At the Portland Brewfest. Mmmm....good beer.




Andy & Michelle Spicer with us at the Waffle Window in Portland:

Andy is very excited about his waffle.


So is Michelle.

Sweet 16 (weeks)

Isaac is 16 weeks old today. He is talking up a storm, getting more mobile by the day, and sleeping 8-10 hours a night (in his own crib, in his own room)! He's consistently rolling from his back to his belly, although not yet from his belly to his back. He loves to stand (with help, of course) - and he is a drooling machine.

He's a MOVER:
Relaxed after a bath:
Taking a lunch break at Carkeek park after a hike:

3-Year Anniversary

Remembering this very special day 3 years ago today...

These photos remind me what I love about our partnership:

to live, love and laugh:

Photos by Debra Gerth (http://www.debgerthphoto.com/)

Cheers!

Expressions

Lots of new photos like these in our July album (click).

Lil Dude's Latest Adventures

I'm sure that my mom (Debi) is anxious to see a new blog post, as it's been a while since we've done one, and she checks it daily for new pics of her grandbaby. So, without further adieu, here it is.

Some pics from the Sounders friendly game this afternoon against Celtic FC, with Isaac sporting his new earmuffs:


Daddy wasn't drinking, but Isaac sure was knocking back a few:


We ended our Sunday afternoon with a lunch at Ray's down on the waterfront. Yes, Isaac is still hitting the bottle.


We went to the game with our friend Megan, who gives the view two thumbs up. Summer in Seattle just can't be beat...


We'll end with a pic of our little diaper butt in his 'bear-y' cute pants:

Weekly BBQ's

As many of you know, we have a weekly Thursday Night BBQ.

We alternate houses with our good friends Tony & Amanda, and every week between 5 and 30 friends get together to grill dinner, knock back a couple cold ones and connect with friends.

This is the 4th year we've held weekly bbq's and we have them every week from mid-April to mid-September (rain or shine).

As you can imagine, our group of 'bbq regulars' have become some of our closest friends. For such a regular event, we rarely take pictures and have never blogged about it! Perhaps it is just such an integral part of our weekly lives that we never remember to document it... but it is always a high point in our week, and a wonderful way to keep up with friends.

We hosted last night and it was BEAUTIFUL out. We sat outside until 10 PM! By my rough calculations we've had over 90 weekly bbq's over the years... so here is finally proof:

Here I am with Angela & Megan. They usually are the first to arrive :)
And Eric & Isaac:
And me with the lovely Amanda:
And with Amanda's husband, Tony:And with "Fluke" friend Julie:
And, of course, Isaac was the star of the evening!