Carkeek Park

Inspired by Kelly, Chris & Myrna, who play outside in any weather in Sweden, we decided to brave the sunny but cold weather this morning and go to Carkeek Park. It was too windy and cold for the beach, but they have a great kid's play area.  I thought little dude would love the swing... instead he was pretty ho-hum about it.  But he did like going down the slide with me, and riding Dad's shoulders around the park. There were a lot of other kids and families there too. I'm sure we'll have many more memories at the park over the next few months and years!

"The view is great from up here, Dad!"

"Let's do this, Mom"

weeeee?

Playtime, Sleep Update & Lots of New Foods

Isaac is at such a fun age right now!  He is so curious, playful and happy.  He is in love with the doggy.  Anything doggy-related is way more interesting than a regular old baby toy.  Unless, of course it is electronic. In that case it rivals the dog toys in baby-magnetism.

Isaac's sleep is going great again.  There have been some ups and downs.  By 4 months he was sleeping through the night, but from 6-8 months he started night-waking again.... We felt like we tried everything during those 2 months... letting him cry-it-out, getting up to console him, letting him nurse... eventually we stuck with a cry-it-out method, with occasional night nursings when it got really drawn out, or when I needed to be up early.... nevertheless it was getting tiring for all of us!  I am happy to report that for the last month or so, he is back to sleeping 11 hours at night (from 8pm to 7am) with only very rare night wakings.  SO HAPPY (Momma needs her sleep)!!  And, he is going down for naps without much of a fuss, and is on a very consistent nap schedule (much thanks to our wonderful nanny).

Also, Isaac is eating just about anything and everything (except for honey. just say no to botulism). One of his new favorites is peanut butter and bananas!  He also loves proteins: chicken, scrambled eggs, cheese, rib meat, pasta with meat sauce, etc.  He loves to feed himself, which we think is pretty great too.  He's starting to learn to use the spoon, but we need to pre-load it for him.  We're starting to work on a little baby sign language with him too, starting with "more" and "milk".  I love this photo because of the look of joy, and that you can see his teeth and gums.... And lots more photos added to our January Photo Album (click here).

Rockstar

Love this new Hoody from Grandma Jabbusch!  And, check out all that hair.

Photos from this Weekend

The Merhar clan joyfully invaded us this weekend! Lots of laughs and a couple of parent breaks (ie grandparent time!).

First Steps!

Isaac took his first independent steps on Tuesday! 

He's done it three times now (that I've seen).  It's been left foot, right foot... then down to his bum or back to holding on to something.  No video or photos yet, but we'll try to catch him in motion soon.  I'm just happy that I got to see it.  He is very quick at crawling, and at cruising around holding on to furniture, so we'll see if he takes to walking soon or not.  In all honesty, I'm not in any rush...

He has also found a new independence with his movement.  He will go explore other parts of the house, and even find Mommy when I'm in the bedroom or shower!  He loves to follow the dog around too, and is so excited to see him in the morning.   We have more baby-proofing to do this weekend, as he is now opening our heavy kitchen cabinets and drawers.

Needless to say, we've got our running shoes on!

Just a good little weekend

This weekend was (mostly) all about football!  Here is what little man Isaac was up to:

Lots of football-watching this weekend.  Yes, that's a baby in a bar.  One of our favorite watering holes, Sweet Lou's, allows kids during the day (yay!), so we met up with friends to watch the Seahawks get destroyed by the Bears.  At least the company and cold beers were good (the game was lousy).

Lots of outings this weekend: restaurants, football house parties, shopping, walks with the dog, etc.
Here is Isaac ready to go out to dinner Friday night (such a big boy!)

And, we had plenty of play-time at home, too.
Isaac's new favorite thing is to "help out" in the kitchen (Above -- my little sous chef)

"Helping" me undo the dishwasher -- he loves to pull things out, and move the tray forward and back.
Don't worry! I make sure there's only plastic utensils and non-breakables before he gets to help :)

Party time! Football & Rock-band party at Paul's House--- Isaac and I were guarding the artichoke dip.   

And, speaking of food... Isaac is now fully into finger foods and loves to feed himself! Cheerios, cooked veggies (like sweet potatoes and parsnips), bananas, cottage cheese and chicken are some of his favorites! 

Go Seahawks!

The Seahawks made it to the playoffs!  In an 'upset', they won a wild-card game against The Saints last Saturday. We cheered very loudly from home!

Ready to get this game started!

After a nap, of course

Go Seahawks!

Time to celebrate with a walk around the neighborhood!

OMG! Lil' dude had an epic #2. LOL.

I am not sure what parents did before text messages. They're an easy way to share updates through out the day, they're less disruptive than a phone call, and they're a nice way to stay connected.  I'm not going to lie, we texted a lot before parenthood, but now most of our texts involve BM's or 'firsts' or funny moments or sleep status or scheduling or just a fuzzy phone picture of the little dude to get us through the day.  Here are some funny ones I found saved on my phone:

Firsts and funny moments (from Isaac's nanny, "M", to me):
"a tooth!!!!" (sent from the other room when i was working at home...)

"Isaac picked up the blue spike ball & said something like 'bahl'. WOW!"
"Isaac has one of those little plastic bowls & is going up 2 the wall & using it to draw on it. too cute - future picasso."


Things we forget to share in our 'trade-offs':
("M") "he's eating cheerios I c"
(Me) "yup. He loves to feed them to himself.  and lodi loves it cause his accuracy's about 20%.  :)

poop and sleep:
"he's just gone down after having a huge poop"  (yup, it's a glamorous life, folks!)
("M") "wow a 2 hr nap!"  (mom) "oh wow! he was cranky this AM, must hv needed it."

When Dad is Working Late nights: (from Mom)
"Isaac's down for the night. I see a bath and tea in my future."

Speaking of bath and tea.... that's where I'm headed now.
XO
C

9 months: Weighing In

Isaac had his 9-month well-visit yesterday.  Here are his official stats:

• Weight:  21 lb  10 oz  (68% -- Only 2 lbs heavier than at his 6 month. Doc said he's probably leveled off  because he's so active)
• Height: 30" (93%)
• Head Cir:  46.5 (82% -- up from 66% at his last visit--woo hoo!)

Doc confirmed what we already know: that his gross motor skills are ahead and that he is doing great!

9 Months!

Isaac is 9 months old today! He continues to be more mobile each day.  He is standing on his own for a few seconds at a time, and enjoys practicing walking (holding on to our hands, for now.... we think he might start walking this month!?).  He loves all of his new Christmas toys and clothes, and he loves to explore how things work and open up (boxes, the dishwasher, drawers, etc). He's babbling a lot (though not yet saying dada or mama to the right person). And, when you tell him "bang bang" he bangs his hand on what ever is in front of him.  The severe mommy separation anxiety we saw at Christmas hasn't continued (phew!).  He has his 9 month appointment and shots this week.

Update:  Tonight we saw him go from a squat to standing, hands free! And back down to a squat, and back up to a stand... without holding on to anything!!