37 Weeks

Isaac is now 37 weeks old!

Updates on the little man:

* Slowly getting back to feeling better after his cold and cutting his first tooth. Unfortunately, the runny nose has stuck around a little longer that I had hoped. I think that's related to teething and his 2nd tooth may be on it's way. Maybe.

* Clapping a lot this week! He'll clap along when I sing or when I say, "Yeah!!"

* Crawling both backwards and sideways, but not forward. LOL He gets around pretty well using a combination of the arm crawl and little scoots. If he sees something *really* intriguing such as the remote control or a dog toy, he get's very determined. Sometimes when I hear him grunting and working really hard to move, I know he's going for something he shouldn't have.

* Love, love, loves to be tickled... and it's so funny because he anticipates things now. I love to "nibble" on his tummy and dig my hands into his armpits. He also enjoys being flipped upside down.

* Said "dada" for Josh last night, TO him. That was a first. He's been doing it for me for awhile now... usually in a pitiful "mamaaamomomaaa" way when he's hungry. Josh was thrilled when he got a "dada" and arms reaching for him this morning. :)

* Enjoys listening to new sounds and is especially excited when I jingle the wine chime on our back porch. His face just beams as he watches it move and chime.

* Managed to pull himself up Josh from a sitting to a standing position. He also used the sides of the stroller to pull himself to a sitting postion. It's crazy how fast this is all happening! When we used to put him on the floor, he'd stay sitting. Now, when he wants to do his crazy kid crawling, he puts himself on his tummy.

* Still loves to play with water bottles... empty, half full, full, Ice Mountian, Aquafina. He's not picky.

Enjoy the new pictures!!

A view from the top, Isaac in his exersaucer
"Wheeeeee!"
He looks so grimy and sick in this picture... LOL I'm sure that's snot on his shirt. Even though has been sick, he still manages a lot of smiles!
Who is that playing with Winnie the Pooh? Could it be....
SUPER BABY?
Yep, it's Super Baby in his new Superman pajamas!
Chillin' with his daddy
Oh, he just looks like trouble in this picture!
Thanks for checking in... :)

Fresh, Please

I've been making Isaac's baby food. I carefully select fresh fruits and veggies, peel/pit/cut them, steam them, puree them, and serve. Our freezer has a nice stash of a variety of food for him because I freeze the puree in ice cube trays (and then place them in freezer bags). The trays are excellent for creating perfect portion sizes... just grab a couple of cubes and we've got dinner! The preparation does take a little bit of time, but it's super easy. The money I save by preparing Isaac's food and the fact that I know what's going in his food is worth it to me. I know why babies who taste "table food" don't want to go back to jarred food. Real food tastes SOOO much better!

Anticipating the next bite of pears! We're still working with the sippy cup these days...
and here's a pic of my prim and proper boy. LOL
I do have some baby food jars around *just in case.* One food item you're not supposed to make for your new baby is carrots (nitrate levels are too high for younger babies)... and so I bought some in a jar. But, the problems seme to be pretty rare and seem to be limited to just younger babies. Some baby food books don't even mention it.

Isaac was excited about trying the jarred carrots, nonetheless.
That is, until he tasted them.
Oh, my! What a face! I thought he was going to throw up, he hated them SO much.
So, I relented. I made "fresh" carrots for him later and they went over much, much better. I made Josh smell the jarred carrots and he was also disgusted. They didn't even smell or taste anything like carrots! Eww!
It's been fun feeding Isaac new things. Now that he eats more of a variety, I can mix foods together. I can sneak sweet potatoes in with squash and mix peaches with bananas for a yummy treat. Last night, he enjoyed some of the roast we had for dinner... just a few teeny tiny bites. If you look closely, you can see his TOOTH in this picture!

I'm Proud

Isaac has a new favorite show. It's on Noggin and is called "Play With Me Sesame." It's an interactive show with Bert, Ernie, Grover, and Prairie Dawn. Guess what his favorite part of the show is???? It's the part where Praire Dawn shows childrens' artwork! I'm not kidding. The art teacher's son is interested in art at 8 months old! Yippee! His face lights up when this part of the show comes up. Praire Dawn shows 3-4 drawings and then asks questions about them such as "What does this drawing look like to you?," "Who used yellow paper?," and "Which drawing has tall, green grass?" I'm thrilled.. not to mention proud! :) He has also been enjoying this cute cartoon called "64 Zoo Lane" with a main character named Lucy who lives next to the zoo. Very cute. :)

One of Those Days

It's a rainy,yucky day today. Monday's are always difficult because Isaac and I are usually tired from the weekend. Just as I thought he was feeling better, he woke up last night coughing a few times and has a gross,snotty nose again today. I wish his cold would just hurry up and go away. We are both sick of Kleenex. Napping seemed to be out of the question today until finally he decided to go down about 1:30. Whew! The mutts are inside all day today due to the rain and that of course drives me nuts. I just want to kick them out to play in between rain showers. But, then with my luck, they'd get stuck in a downpour and then I'd have eight huge, muddy paws to wipe clean (Soph went to the vet Saturday and she weighs 80 lbs! LOL).

Anyway, sorry for the downer of a post. Our house is a big, messy disaster right now because of more painting and furniture-moving. Everything is just a little bit out of place or going just a little bit wrong and it's annoying. While I was changing Isaac's diaper just now, he PEED all over the place. That hasn't happened in forever! I had to change his clothes, clean the changing area, and everywhere else he manage to "water." I have to LOL at his face as he was doing it, though. (sigh, boys!)

*Updated to add: Thank you, Mom... for listening about my not-so-great day and for making me less stressed out. Thank you, Josh... for bringing home my favorite Chinese food for dinner. :)

Just A Few More

Oops. I forgot about these pictures I wanted to post.

Isaac giving his Grandma snuggles in the morning
Yep, she definitely had fun with her grandson!
Especially spoiling him with TOYS!
He got a kick out of this tricycle I found at a yard sale... $3!
My best find at a yard sale was this Sesame Street toy. He and his Aunt Chrissy giggled over the Cookie Monster part over and over!I thought this picture was funny. Everywhere Isaac turned, he had a smiling face to give him attention... LOL
"How big is Isaaaaac???Thhhhhissss BIG!"
What a happy boy! He loved spending time with my family... and guess what? They can't seem to stay away from this infectious grin! They've invited themselves to come visit this weekend. :) LOL Isaac will have a blast, I'm sure.

Lastly

The last weekend we were at my mom's, we went to her church's festival. Isaac and I got to go fishin' for ducks AGAIN!
By this time, he was a pro! :)
We ran into lots of family friends who got to meet Isaac, enjoyed some yummy fair food, and then danced to the band.
Sometimes the greatest pictures are when neither of us are looking at the camera! :)

A Quick Dip

While visiting Grandma A, Isaac got to go swimming! He was very excited..
and once mommy got him all suited up,
His Aunt Beckie took him for a quick dip.
He was very intrigued by the "big bathtub" and mommy's silly splashing.
"Hmm... is summer really almost over?"

Two Babies

As mentioned earlier this week, we went to visit Josh's brother Dan, his wife, and their daughter last weekend.

Aveline is our adorable 16 month old niece...
and unfortunately, Isaac was one big grumpy butt all weekend long! (Now it makes sense why- It wasn't just because of Aveline. He was getting sick and then there was also that "boo boo" incident.)
He was happy to see his Aunt Kristi (due any day now to have her second little girl!)
and Aveline enjoyed kisses from Soph.
But, Isaac... well, he whined and cried. Aveline was a bit much for him. She's much older and is VERY engergetic. I think he felt defenseless. It wasn't until the last couple of hours until he got the nerve up to even touch her.
The rest of the weekend went pretty much like this:
Before anyone comments... yep, Aveline's small for her age and Isaac is big. ;)
She got right up in his face to "talk" to him, "borrow" his toys, and/or walk and climb on him. LOL It was pretty funny. Isaac didn't think so. He started crying whenever I put him on the floor and she was within 3 feet!
Hopefully, the two of them will learn to love eachother and play better next time! Aveline is such a fun, friendly little girl... just a bit much for our little boy to handle.

A Tooth, A Tooth!

That's right, folks... Isaac has his very FIRST TOOTH!

Botanical Garden, Part IV

**SCROLL DOWN to start at Part I**

Purple flowers! I heart purple. :)
A tranquil fountain

The terrace had a neat pond
with pretty lilies.
While hiking through the Wooland Garden, we stopped to take silly pictures with this Medusa sculpture. I thought I just might be able to CLIMB it (hands-on artist that I am, LOL) and Voila!
A beautiful walkway...
and a very smelly herb garden.
Isaac at the end of our trip. LOL... In his sleep, he seems to be saying, "Whew, I'm pooped. Can we go home now?" He slept the whole way home, too. :)