I think this is my all time favorite picture of Seth so far.
Tomorrow morning, very early, we head up to Chattanooga to celebrate our niece Willa’s baptism. My sister Austina is coming up with her family so we will get family from both sides this weekend. Hopefully, my sisters and I will be able to sneak off for some much needed sister time. I honestly don’t remember the last time just the three of us did something together.
When we get back next week Nat heads back to work and hopefully life will find some normalcy.
Nothing much else to report from our end of the world, but I figured I had to share this picture.
August 6, 2009
Awww, summertime!
July 27, 2009
6 months!
Well it has been 6 months since Seth was born. On one hand I can’t believe it has already been 6 months and on the other I must say, really is that it? He is still a very pleasant little boy. He loves to roll around to get what he wants and anything that comes to his hands also makes into his mouth. He drools a lot so his shirt is always soaked at the top. He loves to laugh and usually anything Genevieve does will get him laughing. He is sleeping through the night but wakes up at 5 to eat. I have started feeding him rice cereal to help him sleep through the night but if I could only cut out that 5 am feeding and make it 6 or 7.
He is definitely showing us he is not his sister because where G asks to go down for her nap he screams to fall asleep for his nap.
He is a great eater (which makes for a very tired Mommy), in fact his size is the thing that most people comment on when they first see him. He is a big boy with lots of pinch-able rolls. He now wears one size smaller than his sister in diapers.
We are enjoying the moments we get with just Seth more and more because he is that fun stage where he is starting to play with us a little bit and anytime you get him to laugh it totally makes you day better.
So we made it half a year and now can’t wait to see what comes in the next 6 months!
July 15, 2009
Which one is Genevieve?
They stayed like this for a bit and talked away. It was so cute. Abi can talk very clearly and I would love to know what she thought of Genevieve’s gibberish.
July 14, 2009
Happy Birthday Esau!
At the beginning of my senior year of High School (1999), my parents were faced with the fact that their favorite daughter was going to be leaving home soon and there would be a void left in their lives that I once filled. (Ha ha). My Mom had always wanted a red-long-haired dachshund that she could name Esau. So in an effort to fill the impending void in their lives my parents decided it was time to find their Esau. Ten years ago for her birthday my Mother received her little dog, a miniature dachshund, from a breeder who said, “Don’t worry his hair will grow long” (it never did, she lied, he is a short hair dog).
I remember when my mom picked me up from school one afternoon with a little wicker basket containing a VERY tiny puppy wrapped up in a blanket. At first she took him everywhere with her because he was so tiny (he even fit in the palm of my Dad’s hand). My parents hired a puppy trainer who came to the house and trained my parents on how to train the puppy (it didn’t work). As he got a little bigger we realized that he is really good at jumping, he could jump and climb over the baby gate that was used to keep him in the mudroom at night. So then my Dad had to put some plywood up. I had to use chairs to climb over this improvised gate when I came home from work at night. Esau did (for a very brief time) sleep in my bed on a pillow above my head. He loves to burrow and when he got in bed with my parents the first time and burrowed down into the foot of their bed my Mom was convinced that he was going to suffocate. He loves to swim and loves loves loves to chase anything that is thrown.
But, ten years later he is still around even after numerous threats of being sent to a cushy animal shelter in Utah. Not only is he still around, he still barks like crazy at anything that moves and pees when he gets excited, just like when he was a puppy. He has kept my Mom company when my Dad is deployed, survived grandchildren torturing him (my favorite is when he stopped answering to his name because Fuller said it so much), moving from the desert to Germany to Ohio to Texas, and even survived when he peed on the zipper of my wedding dress bag.
So happy birthday Esau and thank you for helping my parents cope with the loss of their baby (that would be me).
July 10, 2009
5 months!
While we were in Maine Seth turned 5 months. To me he seems more like the size of a 9 month old but yes he is only 5 months. He is so heavy, so many times I have just wished I could put him down and let him walk himself to where we are going. Since he can’t even sit up on his own very well I think the likely-hood of him walking anytime soon are pretty slim. He is now up to a size 4 diaper (only one size behind his big sister) and is almost sleeping through the night. I have started feeding him rice cereal in the evening in hopes of him sleeping longer and it has worked for the most part. I really shouldn’t complain because he sleeps from 8 pm until 5 am but I am trying to make that 5 more like 7 am. We shall see.
He did great on his first plane trip, no complaining about being held the whole time. Poor Nat though because he was sitting on the aisle and I was by the window he had to change all the diapers on the plane. (If you know about me and public restrooms, esp. airplane bathrooms, you know this is a good thing for me.) But all in all Seth and Genevieve did great and got some compliments from fellow travelers on their way off the plane.
Seth still smiles and laughs a lot and has started taking his pacifier more. Now that he can roll around to get where he wants to go I can’t wait to see what he learns this month!
July 9, 2009
Maine: Where the Wild Things Are
Well we are home. It seems like it was such a short trip but 10 days isn’t really short.
This year for the parade our theme was Where the Wild Things Are after the Maurice Sendak book. We made amazing heads under the leadership of Liz, who made her’s first and taught us all how to make ours. Our float was built on top of a boat trailer under the leadership and design or Nat’s cousin Aaron. The four little kids wore crowns like Max and Josh M. wore a crown like Max’s from the book. The truck was supposed to be Max’s sailboat but that didn’t really work out. As the parade started down the road it quickly became apparent that the mast was to tall and about to hit some power lines (oops) so we had to stop (and everyone behind us) to pull it down. I must say we got really close to getting it right this year. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun and it was all worth it to hear people in the crowd telling us it was their favorite float. The float had stairs for easy access, two coolers with lunch and drinks for after the parade.
It rained all week leading up to the parade so we all had in the back of our minds that all this hard work might be for nothing if it rained. But we had great weather on the 4th and there was a big crowd.
The kids had fun playing together and as always it was a blast being with Nat’s cousins.
Some sad news though, because the Rock Skipping contest is always the Saturday after the 4th the Skippenator is not able to make it to the contest this Saturday. It is sad, even the owners of the candy store who do the contest every year were sad when they found this out. Oh well, hopefully next year.
There are lots of pictures from the parade so if you click on the picture to the right you can see them all including the masks up close.
June 27, 2009
My kids
Lately when G wakes up the first word out of her mouth is “Seth”, she points to his crib and keeps saying his name until we put her in his crib. She loves getting in there and cuddling with him. She is such a loving big sister!
Tomorrow we leave for Maine but to get there we have to get on a couple of planes. And like everything else with children under two it could either go really really well or really really bad, I don’t see there being anything in between.
See you when we get back!
June 23, 2009
Maine, the way life should be.
This Saturday we will leave for our annual trip to Maine. This summer I am a little sad because we will only be there for 10 days but in my hopes to be more content I am just trying to focus on the fact that we get to go. This year we will be flying. It is our first time flying as a family. Genevieve and I have take to plane trips together but never with Nat. Thankfully Genevieve has her own seat so we can put her in her car seat and she can have her own space.
I love our summer time in Maine, I have been telling people we go there for our “winter”.
In fact last year the week before we were supposed to leave I realized that Genevieve had no warm clothes. Thankfully our very good friend Karen works at Gymboree and let me into the back where the out of season stuff was. This year I thought ahead for Seth but he has grown so much I am having to scramble to find things for him. But thankfully I remembered the clothes my cousin Doug and his wife Samantha recently let us borrow for Seth have some warm stuff in there. In fact when they gave it to us I was looking at it all I thinking, is he ever going to need this stuff and be that big. But it is the right size now and will keep him warm. (Thanks guys!) So my kids have their “winter” clothes now I am just thinking about their costumes for the parade and wishing I had a pair of boots for G to wear when we go tide pooling.
For the past two years we have participated in the Round Pond 4th of July Parade. It is a lot of fun and each year we learn from the past and improve. There are even rumors that we will be on a float this year instead of walking, they haven’t been confirmed but I am all about riding on a float. But, to be honest walking in a 4th of July parade in Maine is rather pleasant compared to here so we can’t complain to much. The first year I was VERY pregnant with Genevieve so I drove the Prius behind everyone. Last year I was pregnant with Seth and Genevieve was in the stroller. This year I am NOT pregnant and can’t wait to experience this minus a baby belly. I don’t want to reveal our theme this year but it is pretty awesome!
So Lobster Dinners, swimming in the lake, fireworks over the harbor, taking the boat into town, bacon covered dates, hanging out and reading/chatting on the deck at sunset with Liz, cold mornings and nights, tide pooling with Genevieve, charades with the cousins and Jeff and Liz, making the things for the parade while wishing I had as much creative talent as Aaron, Carla, Anne, Liz, and Gloria have, and of course we can’t forget the return of the Skippenator to the rock skipping contest, and all the other things I can’t think of right now (there are a lot), here I come!
So I am a little excited but mostly it will just be nice for us to get away from our life for a little bit and take a break with some awesome people. But until Saturday I am still here and still have to get things done before we leave. First step, make my lists (you know how we love our lists!).
BTW, look at how Genevieve looked a year ago, man time flies!
June 22, 2009
Almost 5 months
Seth will be 5 months old on Saturday but he had his check up last Thursday so I thought I would share his stats. He is indeed a big boy weighing in at 19.2 pounds and is 26 inches tall. He actually just rolled over on his own (both directions) this morning. He loves to bounce and so I was able to trade his exer-saucer for this bouncy thing at church. He LOVES it, hopefully I can get a video of him bouncing soon. We can’t hang a Johnny Jump Up in any of our doorways so this is a great alternative.
He has gone to two weddings (even left his mark on one of the brides, with a nice hickey) and this Saturday we will be leaving for Maine! Seth’s first trip to Maine. It will be his first plane trip and our first plane trip as a whole family. I cannot wait to get up there to cooler weather. Stay tuned for parade fun, this year’s theme is the best so far! Here is a hint: Seth will be dressed as someone named Max (I think a couple of cousins will be dressed the same, I am not sure).
Right now Seth is working on either his first cold or his first tooth. His nose is runny and his voice is raspy. Poor little fella but Tylenol and teething tablets seems to help.
He continues to be a go with the flow baby and loves to laugh. He is sleeping through the night but wants to wake up at 5 and well that isn’t going to work for me. So I am going to start giving him some rice cereal at night in hopes of keeping him full until at least 7.
So this week we will be preparing to leave while recovering from the last two non-stop weeks. Let the good times roll folks!
