The Counihan's Clan

King of Mountain Seth

2012-01-17T19:18:00.000-08:00

I'm surprised at how natural I can be at creating dinosaur and train characters and renactments using Seth's plastic dinosaurs and various Thomas the Train engines. Take Seth's bath time tonight, for instance.Seth is surrounded by a tub full of bubbles, an engine in each hand and dinosaurs floating around him. He remembers a scene that I created in his last bath time called, "King of Mountain Seth", and hands me his dinosaurs with a questioning look to me. I know what he's asking for and so I begin.Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. I stomp the dinosaur up the side of the tub until it sits with a penetrating glare at Seth with water separting them. In a most serious dinosaur growl, I say, "I must climb and conquer Mountain Seth. But first, I will jump into the sea between us!" Seth is captivated with a huge, serious smile. He knows what's coming. I splash the dinosaur into the tub water in front of Seth's belly. "Now, I will swim to the mountain!!" I make the dinosaur splash and flap around until I make the dinosaur land on Seth's arm and proceed to march the dinosaur up his arm until it sits on his head. "I have conquered the mountain!! I am King of Mountain Seth!". Seth erupts into giggles and he send the dinosaur sailing from his head to the water. And then we repeat the scene a few more times.I love it! My inner drama goddess is coming out. Thank goodness I watched such male classic movies like Braveheart and Last of the Mohicans to understand the manly nature that boys so often draw into at such young ages. I like to think I'm kind of cultivating this aspect of Seth's male nature. :)After getting Seth into his PJ's, we played with his hair. There was a bit of a concern in his eyes as I squealed over how adorable he looked with his hair messed up. I don't think he liked it and thought I might have been laughing at him. But then I took the camera out and exclaimed how handsome he was, giving him hugs and kissed. Don't you agree?

After the usual bedtime routine - a few books, prayers and a glass of milk - I rocked Seth to sleep in his chair. He was so relaxed, which made me so relaxed that I almost fell asleep. I took in the reality of the moment: rocking my little boy who is not a baby anymore, but still likes to be cuddled by his mama at night. Seth will keep getting bigger and older until there is a day where we won't do this any longer. So, I cherish every night that I put Seth to bed.

Living in the moment

2012-01-15T18:55:00.000-08:00

Living in the moment is not a new thing to me. I'm not talking about the kind of "living in the moment" perspective that throws caution to the wind and cause more harm. I'm talking about a different kind of living that was again brought to my mind when reading an email from Jill Savage of "Hearts at Home". Jill said, "We focus on what's next instead of what's now. We get caught up in the chaos, instead of the beauty. We long for what we don't have, instead of seeing all that we do have. "In the MOMent" is all about being fully present in the motherhood season that you are in. So rather than "wishing she would sleep through the night," thank God for the precious moments of quiet you have as you feed her each night. Pray for her future spouse. Notice her little nose. Moments like this won't last forever."I have an index card on my bathroom mirror that says not to wish away these young years because someday I will miss them. So, when I wonder what Seth is going to be like as a 10 year old or wistfully think about what it will be like to wake up in the morning without having to beckoned to the room next door to change a diaper or take a little one out of their crib, I think about all the things I will miss:- Spending 20 minutes every morning cuddling with Seth in his chair. Someday that chair will be moved out of his room to accomodate different furniture.- Changing the 5th diaper of the day and playing the Itsy Bitsy Spider up Seth's legs. Someday Seth will be too busy playing outside and totally self-sufficient where he doesn't need help. He will find other things that will make him laugh and he will think his Mama's humor is out of date.- Seth's innocent wide-eyed surprise at a ball that he is able to catch. Or a tower of blocks that he knocks over that makes a ton of noise. Or an "Uh-oh!" when the ball unexpectedly rolls right through his legs. - Seth's imagination and simple belief that Pooh Bear (on his toothbrush) and Thomas the Train (on his toothpaste) are so excited for him to come brush his teeth.I hope I never forget the wide-eyed look of surprise and open-mouthed "Oh!" when something catches him off-guard, delights him or surprises him. Can I brag a little bit that he recognizes words like "Mama", "Papa", and "Seth" when they are written out? He is learning his letters! It's amazing to see him digest these new things.It's hard not for me to wonder and imagine what this little boy is going to be like when he grows up - as a child, as a pre-teen and as a teen. Seth is so easy-going, delighted, compliant (for the most part) and full of happy fun. But I don't want to spend too much time and emotional energy wondering. I need to use this energy and time cuddling and hugging Seth, making him laugh, showing him new things and bringing new experiences to him.Oh, I love this little boy so much! Thank you, God, for letting me be Seth's Mama.

22 months old

2011-11-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

Seth, you are 22 months old! I can hardly believe that in 2 months, you will be 2 years old. What can I say about the vibrant, confident, excited, curious and happy little boy that you are? At 22 months:-You wear 18 month size pants (you have short legs like your mama)-You wear 24 month size tops, jackets, and shirts-You wear size 7 shoesYour blonde hair, long eye lashes and blue eyes kind of make you a magnet. You are friendly to people when we're out and about, waving "hi!" and "buh-bye!" at people that pass us at the grocery store. You flirt and are friendly to anyone who will make eyes with you. Morning time is your favorite and you'd stay in your crib for an hour if I let you. I come in to your room, say good morning, open the shades and turn your Kindermusik CD on. You point to the books that you want to look at. I put the books in your crib and you'll sit in your crib for an hour (if I let you!) just flipping through the books. I've been encouraging you to call "Mama!" when you need something and you're starting to do that more.You are such a fun little boy. Smiles on your face most of the time, with an occasional pensive look that you've been known for since you were an infant. You like to run around, do a happy dance with your feet moving really fast. You like to run, so we have many games of running up and down the hallway. You like to be chased and tickled. You are smart little boy too! I ask what color are your pants (or other clothing) and you can tell me if they're blue, green, orange or yellow. What do you like to play with right now? Balls, the yellow Fisher Price bus and airplane, your Melissa & Doug puzzles (especially the sound puzzle with the ambulance, car, train, etc), your car ramp, a music box and some blocks. You are getting into coloring, but we're still working on not munching on the crayons. :) In fact, your playing has changed. You are starting to sit longer and play with a toy, instead of hopping up and bouncing from toy to toy. You are a little helper around the house. You sense that Papa and Mama like to have the house in somewhat of an order, so if you're playing with the pots and pans, you will even put them away! Your verbal expression is increasing and now you always call for us, "Mama!" or "Papa!" You have the sweetest little voice. You are always saying "Uh-oh!" when something breaks, falls, gets hurt or isn't right. You are learning your colors and are saying the color of an object - blue, orange, purple and green are your favorites. You are doing well with listening to Mama tell you to put your hand on the car when I take you out of the carseat. You're walking when we're out and about, more so than the stroller. You finally bonded with Uncle Kyle. He is quite entertaining to you now. You just hadn't quite warmed up to Kyle's expressions and high-energy. But now Uncle Kyle gets just about as much attention and love from you as your Grandpa does. Here are some fun pictgures from your 22-month birthday:

Video of Seth getting into this birthday cake

2011-11-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

I know Seth is nearing his 2nd birthday, but I just ran across the video of Seth at his 1st birthday party touching his first birthday cake. It was so adorable and I just don't want to forget how little my little boy was.

Seth's 1 year old Birthday from Kyle Teichroew on Vimeo.

October weekend re-cap

2011-10-23T18:49:00.000-07:00

The weekend got started with a birthday dinner and celebration for Jenni at my parent's house. We had many laughs and a delicious dinner. Speaking of dinner - Mom made her now-famous french fries, which is the birthday girl's (and my brother's) favorite. We tease that it was really Kyle pushing for the french fries. We had a special dessert for the birthday girl and then presented her with gifts. That's the fun part!!!Saturday was completely random. We decided at 9:30am that we would take Seth to the Minnesota Zoo. Yeah - the big one about 45 minutes away. After breakfast and a little cleaning up, we hit the road to the zoo. What can I say but Seth LOVED the zoo. We went into several exhibits. The exhibits are great because they have little tunnels just for small kids where they can get a different view of the animals. Seth loved exploring the tunnels and caves. He got really excited over the penguins, birds, flamingos, beaver, and otter. But his favorite? The goats at the Farm. They have a little goat pen for the kids to pet and feed the goats. Seth went up to each animal and hugged them, squealing in the process. He tried to sit on the old goat sitting in the corner. He liked looking at the pigs too. Seth squealed with happiness when he was able to pet the cow's head in the barn. A polka band played music in the farm area, so given that we all know Seth loves music and dancing to music, is it any wonder he dropped a boogie anytime he got near the band?It was such a delight to see how Seth responded to the animals when he saw them for the first time. It was like seeing these animals for the first time. I love to watch Seth get excited over the things that I have taken for granted. I repeat. It was so fun to take Seth to the zoo! Seth missed his afternoon nap, but he was such a trooper and was totally content sitting in the stroller with a bag of popcorn when he was a little tired. At the end of the day as we walked out of the zoo, Seth just rested his head on Jason's shoulder and just hugged him all the way to the car. On Sunday, we visited a particular church in MG for the second Sunday in a row. After church and some relaxing in the afternoon, I had a fun photo shoot with a friend from work and her 3 daughters in downtown Anoka. We had a lot of fun! The weekend was complete with our small group coming over to discuss Crazy Love. It was a good weekend! I'm not ready for another week.:(

August week re-cap

2011-09-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

I know these posts are blog-world worthy, but I just had to jot all these fun summer times down so I can come back and read them later!

Every day I get so tickled that I actually got to stay home this summer. I don't know what the future holds, but I'm so thankful Jason worked it out for me to do this.

Our Mondays always begin with the roar and slam of the commercial size lawn mowers at our neighbor's house across the street. At 7am in the morning. That's fine for me because I get up at 5am, but not so great when Seth usually gets up at 8. Oh, well. Sometimes Seth sleeps through it, sometimes he doesn't. I've been tempted to go across the street and ask if they'll do our yard for free since they've woken my sleeping child. :)

After breakfast, blanket time and playroom time, we took a field trip to the store to pick up some baking supplies to make cupcakes for my Grandpa and Grandma. We stopped at one of our favorite playgrounds in MG where there were a ton of kids playing. It was so interesting to watch how Seth interacted with the boys and girls, who are at least 2-3 years older than him. There were a few instances from a few boys that did not like when Seth tried to play with them. My heart squeezed at my son's attempt to play with them and then getting pushed away. I saw an image of my son a few years older going through the tribulations of playground play.

After naptime, we went to Jason's softball game. What a gorgeous night. Seth got his fix of fresh air and running. And so did I! He had to touch each bat lined up against the fence. We counted and named the color of each bat. I just let him run down the path, to which I ran right after him. Seth constantly moves and so do I when we're at things like this. You need to keep an eye on the little ones so they don't run out onto the field. Seth is learning how to obey and listen - toddler steps!

On Wednesday, we hit the ground running and were out the door by 8:30am. After picking up some Melissa & Doug puzzles via a CraigsList posting, we brought coconut cupcakes to Great Grandpa and Grandma. They absolutely LOVE seeing Seth. Seth always gives them hugs when we get there and when we leave. He sat on the chair next to Great Grandpa while GG explained how he needed to sit still for a little bit because if he doesn't, he's going to loose all the energy he needs for later on. It was SO precious. Seth just kind of looked up at him with this awe of authority. Great Grandma took us to see the aquarium fish - actually, Seth spied them first with a huge squeal. He ran up to the aquarium and squealed and said his fish word, "Fee!". It's been good to see Great Grandpa and Grandma. It's important that Seth spend time with them. Hopefully he'll remember them later on when he's older.

After that, we had a little Mommy and Seth date at Caribou Coffee. Oh my word! We had such fun and it was so pleasant. I brought snacks for both us and sat in the back near the little kids table and chalkboard. Seth sat on all the chairs and played with the chalkboard. We found an awesome park on the way home. While it had two little play areas - one for the toddlers and one for the bigger kids, Seth gravitated towards the big kid play set. Seth had to climb all the way to the top, while I was one foot behind him the whole way. The slides were a little steeper, but he got a kick of the slides and squealed as he went down. There were a few where I had Seth sit on my lap on the way down.

Wednesday was a fun day for us. I took Seth to downtown St. Paul to have lunch with his daddy in the "big city". We talked about the big city all the way across town. I got totally lost downtown when we were trying to find the place to meet Jason. It was funny because we were in the car at a street corner and Seth saw Jason standing at the same corner and just squealed, "Pa!". He is so observant. We had a great lunch at an outside cafe. Seth got a special treat of a PB&J sandwich and french fries. Lucky him. :) Jason is really lucky to work at such a cool place like downtown!

On Thursday, after a very trying blanket time, we ran errands to pick up new library books, get some toddler supplies and on a whim, went to the towne green for a kids program. Seth did really well sitting in my lap during the program (for the most part) and squealed with excitement over the red-tailed hawk he got to see at the program.

We had Jamie, Paul and their new baby girl over for dinner last night. They're in town from CO and we HAD to see them! Seth was enthralled with the baby, but he got SO jealous when I was holding the baby. He also tried all sorts of tac tics to draw attention to himself when he realized the baby was getting more attention. Uh, oh! But he was a hoot and really loved Jamie and Paul. He ran up and gave them hugs.

Week Re-cap

2011-09-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

Try saying "week re-cap" three times in a row and it begins to sound like "reek re-cap", "reek re-crap" and "week wee-cap". I don't know what my week re-caps are going to come out like, but it will sure give me a way to remember these busy summer days!Monday was supposed to have a get-together with my Made to Crave book club girls and their kiddos. Seth had developed a little cold the day before, so on the safe side, we decided not to go. We picked up and dropped off Joyce at the car place and then went home for the rest of the day. This was the first day of huge thunderstorms. Seth was tired from his cold and he slept right through the huge thunder boomers! So....I started this post with the intention of posting a recap of each day, but as you can see, I never finished and it's kind of comical just to leave it that way.:)

Weekend Re-cap

2011-09-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was...well...kind of uneventful, in light of my Grandpa's homegoing to the Lord. It was good that it was uneventful. There was a lot of family time and I was fortunate enough to have a family photo shoot out in the country.It was Kyle's birthday on Friday, so the whole family (sans Jayson & Jen) took Kyle out to dinner at the new IHOP in town. We had a good time, just enjoying each other's company and having lots of laughter. We also arranged for Kyle to get serenaded by the IHOP crew. He was amused. I think Kyle would say that his best birthday gift was that Seth finally warmed up to Uncle Kyle. When we got to IHOP and saw the fam waiting for us, Seth reached first to Jenni and then reached out to Kyle. This was huge! Seth has been a little shy with him for the longest time, but I think now that he's a little older and loves to be teased, he found a good comrad in Kyle. Seth found himself to be so funny and entertained us the whole dinner with giggles, exclamations and a comic show. He is ~~going to be~~ already a ham!We followed up the dinner with dessert at home and then an enthusiastic game of Apples to Apples.I had a family photoshoot for a dear friend's sister in Long Lake. The most beautiful drive took me out to the country and even though I got lost (by about 8 miles), this dear family was so energetic, fun, sweet and so photogenic. The rest of the day had some relaxing and then a big bonfire at night! It was Seth's second bonfire, but his first to really pull up a chair and sit in front of the bonfire. He loved it! On Sunday we visited a local church that we're testing out. We had some good experiences in the service and are still prayerfully considering if this is the church that God wants us to be at. After naps, I did a little grocery shopping. I went to small group and Jason stayed home with Seth since he wasn't feeling well. It was a really good weekend!!

Hot tomales

2011-07-17T19:11:00.001-07:00

It's 9pm on Sunday night and the windows are all fogged up because it's SO hot outside right now (even at 9 at night) and it's cool inside. Just enjoying a long stretch of HOT and HUMID weather. I'm talking 95 degree F, 80% humidity!

After raining so much on Friday and kind of being stuck inside, Joyce had dinner with us. We played around with Seth in the living room and then it was time for bed. Seth's favorite time of the day. Kind of - not really. Once we get Seth in his sleep bag, he starts to chill out and sleepiness kicks in.

It's funny how much Seth avoids the inevitable cycle with what happens after he is asked to put his toys away. He knows what's going to happen next. "Let's go to the bathroom and brush our teeth". He runs in circles. After 2 tries, it turns into the option of whether or not he gets to walk to the bathroom on his own or Mommy picks him up and carries him there.

Seth was tired from all the activity and he fell asleep quickly. We watched the movie The Adjustment Bureau and then called it a night.

Saturday was super fun too. We packed up the stroller, lots of water, sunscreen and headed to our town's fair. Have I gushed how much I love our town? It has this old, main street feel to it with a big pond and amphitheater at the center. We walked up and down main street looking at the artisans of the art fair. Seth was digging the colorful balloons. He was in HEAVEN! Then, we walked around the lake to the food fair and ate lunch. Seth LOVED bopping his head and dancing to the live blues music at the food fair.

Later that night, we headed over to my parents' home for a barbeque and to visit with my grandparents, plus my other relatives that came up to visit. It was so fun to be around my family. Seth loved being the center of attention and really hammed it up for everyone, showing how we play ring around the rosie.

Sunday was low-key - church in the morning, nap in the afternoon and a little swimming in the evening.

Weekend Re-cap

2011-07-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

We had a good, low-key summer weekend. We lived it large and went out to Perkins on Friday night, with chuckles of amusement over how our dinners at fancy restaurants have shifted to kid-friendly restaurants. We wouldn't trade this time in our life for anything!

Saturday was great. Lazy morning with some good bluegrass music playing in the background. Leftover Perkins pancakes and breakfast potatoes.

Seth and I went grocery shopping on Saturday afternoon. Seth was a ham to the other customers. He's back to doing his attention-getting happy high-pitched scream. I learned by watching Seth happy-scream at various customers that he does this to get someone's attention as a way to say 'hi'. So now I say to Seth, "Little voice. Use your words and say 'hi!'".

When Seth went down for a nap, I was lucky enough to redeem my Mother's Day gift and go to the salon for a full-body massage. Woo-hoo!!! It was a fabulous hour and a half. Thank you to my wonderful husband and son!

When I got home, the boys were outside in the back playing in Seth's little pool. Seth loves playing in the pool.

We had a typical Sunday morning with ABF. Seth looked adorable in his madras shorts and white shirt. He is doing so much better with going to the nursery now. Seth walked all the way to the nursery while holding my hand and when we walked into the nursery, he reached out to put over the counter so he could go play. My baby's separation anxiety was short-lived.

We ended the weekend with playing in the pool in the backyard. Seth loves playing in the water. Oh, and he loves drinking the water in the pool. He stands and bends his face to the water and tries to get a drink before I'm after him for doing it.

Seth got over his fear of bubble baths, as you can see below. A month ago we were at Seth's friend, L's, home and we plopped the boys in a bath full of bubbles after they got super dirty while playing outside in the mud. Seth screamed and screamed because he'd never had a bubble bath. So, we've been gradually helping him get used to bubbles. Now, he begs for bubbles in his bath!

When Seth turned 18 months, I felt like he was old enough to watch a show. Now, I let Seth watch a "show", like Sesame Street or Curious George on the dvd player while I'm making lunch. Give me the bad mommy award this week for letting him kick his heels up on the table! :)

18-months

2011-06-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

Seth, you are 18 months old...a year and a half! You are such a fun, sweet boy. I love the summer that we are having together.

Your stats:
Clothes size - 18-24 months
Shoe size - 6
Weight - 25lb 4oz (45-50%)
Head - 18 3/4" (50%)
Height - 33 1/2" (75-80%); if you continue on this percentage, you will be taller than your Daddy!

We went to visit Dr. Lisa for Seth's 18-month check-up and she had great things to say about Seth, with no concerns at all. Seth was quite the ham in the check-up room. Happy, interactive and busy. He even pointed out the window at the cars in the parking lot and said, "Car!".

Seth's bank of words is starting to increase. His favorite word is "ball!" whenever he sees a ball or something that looks like a ball. But it always accompanies an exclamation point and wide eyes when he says it. It's the cutest thing how he gets so excited. He has also said "truck" and "rock" when he's seen either of those.

Seth is starting to become an affectionate little boy. When we were at our friends' home the other day, we were leaving and I encouraged Seth to say good-bye to his little friends, K and N. He went up to each child and gave them a hug! I couldn't believe it. He also tends to wrap his arms around my neck when we're sitting in his nursery chair and when I'm changing his diaper. He just squeals.

Seth is not afraid of strangers. He goes to church nursery so easily now. There was a period of 3 months when I'd drop him off at the nursery and he'd just scream at the top of his lungs. He's definitely gotten better the last two times we've taken him there. When we see strangers out and about, he'll do one of two things - study them with his serious look or flirt. It's so cute to see him flirt. He always gets comments on his long eyelashes and blue eyes. Oh, dear. This will be a girl problem for him when he's older!

Seth is so playful. While I was sitting on his bedroom floor folding clothes, he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulder so he could have a piggy back ride. He also loves to be chased, thrown up in the air by his daddy and loves to dance to music.

Rocks are Seth's favorite things. When we walk outside, he goes straight to the garden edging and picks up a rock for each hand. Jason laughs when he mows the yard, because he's constantly picking up a pair of rocks scattered around the yard and he knows exactly where they came from.

This next part is really my own notes for what our days are like right now as Seth is an 18-month old. Seth sleeps until 8am-ish, then we wake up and have breakfast. Seth loves my special concoction of toddler oatmeal with applesauce. He also has either pancakes or fruit. Then, we play for a little bit and most days we run out on errands. Either we go on a playdate, grocery shopping or just errands. He's a trooper and a fun little companion.

Then, we always make it home by about 11-11:30am for some playtime outside and then it's lunch. I've started letting Seth watch Sesame Street, so this is his special treat while I'm making lunch. He gets to sit in the highchair and watch 15 minutes of that show. He giggles, laughs and squeals over the show. It's so cute.

After lunch around 1pm, Seth takes a nap that lasts 2-3 hours. He so needs it and typically never fights it. I busy myself with cleaning, organizing and more cleaning and some dinner prep. I try to sit down and relax a little bit during that time.

Nap time ends around 4, so I get Seth up and we play outside for a little bit before I start dinner. While I'm prepping dinner, I let Seth play on the upstairs deck with his picnic table and toys. He loves it. It's nice for me because I can see exactly what Seth is doing, so I'm okay with letting him play there. It has a sturdy gate, so I have a little security know he won't go down the deck stairs.Well, there you have it!

Sleepy mornings

2011-06-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

Quite honestly - these are the days that I was praying for and it is only by God's provision that I am experiencing them. I'm going into my second week of being a stay at home mom with Seth. Someone asked if I missed work.

Nope. Not at all. Sure, I miss my friends at work, but I really do not miss the heart struggle of wanting to be home with my son and taking care of our home. I really feel that I am in my element now that I'm home. I like being able to get the home stuff (like laundry, dinner prep, organization) out of the way so we don't have to do them on the weekend. This past weekend was great because I was able to get my chores (grocery shopping and laundry) done on Friday, so we just did fun family stuff over the weekend.

I've kept up my normal of routine of waking early, going to the gym to work out, showering and eating before Seth gets up. I've also added in the time to read the Bible and read some devotions.

This morning I had a little extra time because my sweet son does not want to get out of his crib and start his day! Seriously - I'm looking at the video monitor and here Seth is, just cuddling with his blanket in his crib. Not a care or desire to start his day. Oh, well. He can have that. :)

It's hard to say good-bye

2011-06-11T19:38:00.000-07:00

To good friends that are moving out of state! Our friends, M & K, are friends from Jason's Bethel days. They've been so dear to us over the years - during college, standing up for us in our wedding, visiting Jason in the hospital. They have a big adventure awaiting them in Texas.

Tonight we went to their open house to say good-bye, to reminiscence, see each other and just plain visit. It was a gorgeous summer night and such a perfect outing. There must have been 20 kids running around M & K's fenced backyard, which is like a forest with paths and trails all over. Seth was in heaven! He played alongside other little toddlers and started learning the concept of sharing with his little friends, Kayla and Alec. Oh, it warmed this mommy's heart to see how Seth interacted with the other little toddlers. Sometimes he would just go off and explore something, like a corner of the patio or the sandbox. Other times, he'd follow the other little kids to see what they were doing.

We sat around the kitchen table to eat dinner and Seth clearly remembered that's where the food was later on, because he found his way back to the kitchen where all the goodies were and asked for food! Aww - a child after my own heart. He knew exactly where the treats were!

Seth got the obligatory, "He's so intense - look at his furrowed brow!" Yes, at times when he's around lots of people and he's getting a lot of attention, he would rather study the person instead of showing off.:) I love that Seth is so observant.

The rest of our weekend so far has been soooo perfect. Our babysitting swappers watched Seth on Friday night, so we went to a movie at the cinema grill. So fun to go out to a movie!

Saturday morning was perfect. We slept in till 8am, had a delicious pancake breakfast and went to the park before Jason went to play soccer.

I'm so thank for days like these!

Our Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-08T05:27:00.001-07:00

It was so nice to have a 3-day weekend! We kicked Friday night off with dinner at Perkins. Saturday was a beautiful day, so we used it to work around the house and yard.

We visited with Brian, Kay and their son, who is the same age as Seth. Those boys know how to play! We spent much of the time in their backyard where they're working on an addition. A huge mound of dirt was perfectly placed in the backyard, perfect for two little boys to play on. We had not been in the backyard for more than 5 minutes when Seth tripped, landed all fours in the mud and proceeded to eat a handful of mud! Oh, dear.

I knew at that moment that as mommy to a little boy, I had two choices: 1) bemoan the fact that I'd need to give my boy a deep cleaning, or 2) say, "How was that mud pie?" and laugh it off. I choose #2 and proceeded to enjoy watching Seth conquer the mud mountain. After dinner and more play, we gave the boys a bubble bath and got them clean. Seth's dirty clothes are still wadded up in a plastic bag waiting to be cleaned. :)

We had friends over from church on Sunday night. Seth was so energized having two of his friends, K & N, visit. I loved the scene playing out in our home: the adults gathered around the kitchen table while the kids were playing back and forth between the living room and Seth's bedroom.

Memorial Day was a fun day. We tried out the bike trailer and went for a bike ride to Joyce's house. It's debatable if Seth liked it or not. He did NOT like his helmet, as you can see below.:) It was fun just to get out and go for a ride. I'm looking forward to many more of these rides this summer!

What made this weekend so great was that it was leading up to my last days of work. It would be the last long weekend of mourning the fact that I'd need to go back to work.

5 more days

2011-05-26T04:29:00.000-07:00

until I get to stay home and play, teach, love on this little boy without having to wave goodbye each day while I head off to work.

5 more days until we have a summer of picking rocks, climbing....things, exploring new things with this little boy.

One raspberry on my floor

2011-05-22T11:30:00.001-07:00

There's going to come a time (years and years from now), when the significance of a raspberry sitting under the table on my dining room floor is going to spur on the tears.

There is, in fact, a raspberry sitting on the dining room floor right now. I'm not quite rushing to pick it up, even though I'm taking a risk that it will not stain the floor. I'll let it sit there for a moment while thinking back to the cause of events that led up to the lone raspberry sitting where it is.

It was lunchtime and Seth was sitting in his usual highchair at the kitchen table. I placed a plate on his tray with some new fruit for Seth to try: blueberries and raspberries. He LOVED the blueberries and they were inhaled within seconds.

The raspberries, on the other hand, sat un-eaten on Seth's plate. They were poked, but not eaten. And then, I heard a giggle. I looked up from plate to see a raspberry hanging precariously on Seth's pointer finger. Giggles, giggles and a proud little boy. Beyond being a scrumpcious and tasty fruit, there is a purpose to raspberries!

The raspberry was popped into his mouth and after an unsuccessful attempt at his trick again, he got a little frustrated. Mommy stepped in to help. :)

And this is how Seth came to like raspberries - first on the tip of his finger and then into his mouth.

And apparently one raspberry didn't make it.

Main Dish Recipe - Cranberry Pork Tenderloin

2011-05-20T11:52:00.001-07:00

I could probably have Cranberry Pork Tenderloin three times a week. The bonus is that it's a crockpot recipe and it's a reasonably healthy recipe! My mother-in-law introduced it to our family and we were forever hooked.

CRANBERRY PORK TENDERLOIN
You need:
(1) Pork tenderloin
(1) Can of cranberries
(1) Packet of dry onion soup mix
Crockpot

Directions:
Mix the dry onion soup mix packet and the can of cranberries with about 1 cup of water. Spray the bottom of your crockpot with cooking spray. Put the pork tenderloin in the crockpot. Pour the onion soup mix and cranberry mix over the pork tenderloin. Make sure there's about a half-inch to an inch of liquid that the tenderloin is sitting in. Turn your crockpot on to cook for about 6-8 hours.

We usually serve this with brown or a mix of wild rice. I always cut up the pork tenderloin, serve it on plates and drizzle the onion/cranberry gravy over the tenderloin and rice.

I haven't had this in a while - it's going on next week's dinner list!

17-months

2011-05-19T04:47:00.000-07:00

Seth, you are 17-months old! You are looking more like a little BOY, then you are a baby. I have reservations about this because you're growing up so fast!

You love your crib. When you wake up in the morning and come in to greet you, you're all smiles and you hold up "Pooh-Bear" (your lovey) to me, so I say "good morning" to
Pooh-Bear too. Then, you point to your books and I put a handful of books in your crib. I pop in your Kindermusik CD and you'll sit in your crib for a half hour just looking through your books.

This month has brought a whole new play world for you: OUTSIDE. You would play outside all day long if you could. Picking up rocks, touching plans, swinging in your swing, strolling around the perimeter of the yard. You love playing with rocks. There are little groupings of rocks all around the outside of our house. You pick up a few rocks, then gift them to me or your Grandmas. Sometimes you just clutch two rocks in your hands as we take a stroller walk to the park.

At one particular playtime at the park, you clutched one rock in your hand the entire time you were playing on the playground set. You wouldn't let it go. But then it dropped under the equipment, you looked at it to see where it went and then you were on your way again. So, you're not super attached to your rocks, but it's important for you to have a few in your hands. :)

You are learning to take Daddy or Mommy's hand if we are walking someplace. This will be important for us this year because you are getting big and we're not able to carry you for long extended periods of time when you were only about 15 pounds! You do this better with Daddy than with Mommy. I think you're a little proud to be holding Daddy's hands. :)

We celebrated your new use of sign language "please" and the way you say "please" is so cute! You wave your right hand back-and-forth, kind of like how it's supposed to be done but in a very exagerated way. It's adorable and now you use it all the time - not just eating, but anytime you want something. You also sign "help".

It's hard to say, but you seem to have a bit of a compassionate heart. Whenever you are near a baby that cries, you go over to the baby and stand there, looking back and forth between the baby and his/her mama to make sure she's taking care of the crying baby. But you are also very aware when adults are sad or not feeling well.

You haven't always been the super cuddly little baby who would be content sitting in my arms for long periods of time, but you definitely are affectionate. You give open mouth kisses and are starting to learn how to hug. When I hold you before going to bed, I say, "Rest your head on my shoulder" and you nustle your head on my shoulder. It just endears me!

One morning on my way out the door to work, I was holding you and prepared to do a hand-off to your grandma. You wrapped your arms around my neck and burried your face into my shoulder. I was about ready to call in sick!

In the last month, you have NOT liked being dropped off in the church nursery. I thought I was one of the lucky parents whose baby was completely content and happy to be dropped off in the nursery with no separation anxiety at all. Heh, heh, heh. Well, a few months has changed that and you CRY and CRY when I drop you off. But, I'm always told by the (super kind, sweet and loving) nusery workers that you eventually settle down and play.

Your hair is starting to get long in the back and you're turning into quite the blondie. It's still too early to get it cut, unless it starts to be a mullet. Your bright blue eyes and long eye lashes always get commented on.

Here you are at 17 months!

Mother's Day

2011-05-15T12:34:00.001-07:00

I love Mother's Day! I love being a mother and I feel so blessed that God has given me a wonderful son. Being a mommy is unlike any role I've experienced. Jason and Seth made me feel very special all day.

I am so lucky to have two wonderful women in my life, my mom and my mother in law, as great examples of being a mom.

The day started out really pleasant, so while Jason headed to church early to help out with the service, I let Seth take a little nap before getting him up and dressed for church. I needed to get Seth up by 10am and out the door by 10:20. Seth probably fell asleep 10 minutes before I needed to get him up. Bless his heart - I went into his room, opened the shades, rubbed his tummy and he would not budge! He was deep asleep. So I did what any other mommy would do. I grabbed my camera, because I have no pictures of my active little boy.

After a great sermon at church about Lydia and the working-out-of-the-home mother (Pastor Rick did a great job with a touchy subject among evangelical circles). I was really encouraged about being a diligent worker as I'm finishing up my career
at my company, but also how to be diligent in my new responsibilities as a stay-at-home mom.

We had a relaxing afternoon. I had a little treat of reading my commemorative edition of the TIME book on the Royal Wedding.

My parents, grandparents and Joyce came over for dinner and dessert later in the afternoon. Seth was tickled that all of his favorite people were together. I'm sure he thought they were all over at our house to play with him. Ha! He had a blast getting chased by my dad around the house.

It was such a great day!

Toddler Musings

2011-05-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

Oh, boy. I have really slacked on writing on our family blog! These are such fun times with toddler Seth that I really don't want to forget about the funny and amusing times of the Counihan household....well, in our eyes, it's pretty amusing!

Indulge me for a second while I spew the tender and amusing times of living with a toddler!

If only we knew what was racing in Seth's mind while he lay down in his crib for an afternoon nap. After I rocked him his chair for a few minutes and he was poking my mouth that produced a round of giggles, I laid Seth down in his crib. He was giggling and giggling to himself for a good five minutes before he conked out for an hour and a half.

Weekend re-cap

2011-04-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

We started the weekend off just right with a visit from our good friends, B and K, and their 22-month old son (and Seth's first buddy), L. It was so fun to watch the boys play together, but kind of not play together. They're still at the age of playing alongside each other, but not together. At the end of the night when they were leaving and it was time to "give each other a hug", Seth got his first buddy hug. Cute, huh??

On Saturday, Seth and I took a long walk to Target to get a few things. Walks are so fun because Seth points and squeals at everything. I get to see birds, kids playing baseball, dogs for the first time again, but through the eyes of my child.:)

After Seth's nap, we dressed up for my grandma's 90th birthday party with all my family. It was at my uncle's VFW where there's a big party room in the basement for the party and a huge room upstairs for the kids to run around. Seth had a blast running around the basement, except when the kids when upstairs to play tag and then he had to follow them to see what was going on. He apparently thought he was 10 years old because he wanted to run around with the kids too. He'd run back and forth, stomp his feet a little. Seeing the kids run around brought me back to my own days of chasing my cousins around. I'm so happy that Seth will have cousins to do this with soon!

We carried the party back to Aunt Patty and Uncle Ray's house for dinner. The weather was nice out, so the ladies took Seth for a walk over to the park. Seth was acting like such a big boy, with one hand in mine and the other holding onto the gym set, he climbed all the way to the top and took his very first solo slide ride. He was THRILLED! The look on his face was exhilaration - huge, wide smile and big eyes. We did this again and again and again!

It was so nice to spend time with family. Boy do we feel blessed to have such great people to share life with.:)

April weekend recap: could this get any better?

2011-04-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

I don’t want to brag. I really don’t. But we just had one of those perfect Saturdays that I want to remember.

Seth slept until 8:30am. This is unusual. As unusual as it is for ME to sleep until 8:30am. Seth and I are very similar in that we go to bed early, wake up early. He usually wakes up at 7am, which is fine because I’m usually up an hour or so before he is. But this Saturday was different. After laying around and surfing the web, Seth announced he was awake and called for us to hang out in his room.

This little boy loves his crib. Jason sat in the chair while I sat on the floor. We giggled. Seth jumped up and down in his crib. We tossed stuffed animals in Seth’s crib. He threw them out. Pretty soon Jason declared, “I think it’s a Perkins morning!”

I got Seth dressed in 10 seconds flat. I love me some Perkins. Seth loves being out, batting those long eyelashes and sparkly blue eyes….and getting fawned over. It’s a win-win. Pretty soon we were happily situated at Perkins with Joyce, who joined us last minute. It’s nice to have people who you can call up last minute at 9am on Saturday morning with a, “Hey, wanna go to Perkins? See you in 15.”

After a trip to Target and lunch at home, Seth had a long nap and this momma got to work. The cleaning bug gave me an itch, so pretty soon the kitchen, the living room and floors were cleaned.

After dinner, I went to babysit at our friend’s house and watch their sleeping babies while our friends went out before their 3rd kiddo arrives in a few weeks. We started a babysit-swap with these sweet college friends and it’s great because they live in our neighborhood too!

Sunday was equally relaxing with church in the morning. I got the organizing bug that afternoon while Seth was napping, so pretty soon I had re-organized some kitchen cupboards and made Seth his very own cupboard in the dining room. When Seth got up, I brought him out into the dining room and told him he could open the previously forbidden cupboard. I’ll never forget his expression when he opened the door to see some of his favorite toys and a few new little goodies: his eyes got huge, he looked at me to be sure it was true and his jaw dropped to the floor while he started digging into the cupboard. It was so cute!

It was fun when Seth’s grandmas came to watch him during the week. I’d say, “Seth, show your Grandma where your special cupboard is”. His eyes would get huge and he’d race over to his cupboard in the dining room, while looking back to see that they were following him. He was so proud!

The weekend was finished off with our friends from church coming over for our Small Group get-together on Sunday evening. It has been a while since we’ve had everyone over for small group, so we just took time catching up. We all marveled while sitting in our living room overflowing with little toddlers and babies how much can change over the course of a year! Who knew our group would grow from 8 adults to 8 adults + 6 kids!

Seth was so funny on Sunday night with the other little babies and toddlers. When two of our friends brought their babies in their carseats up to the living room, Seth immediately had to check out the tiny babies. He stood right next to the babies and watched their mommies take care of them. He wanted to press the car seat button to get them out of their seats. He was so gentle with them!

It was a great weekend…..

The Sickies

2011-03-26T19:05:00.000-07:00

Friday night after work did not come soon enough. I got home first, picked Seth up and we made it to the bank in time, before heading over to Noodles & Company for dinner. Jason would be meeting us there after he was done with work.

We had a fun dinner with Seth, but he was becoming a little whiny and not his happy self. We made a stop at Babies R Us. That's when we knew something was up with Seth. We were standing in the checkout line and all I remember was looking down at a slouching, tired little baby boy. Poor Seth - it must have just hit him. He was warm, tired and starting to get that sick zone in his eyes. I've never seen Seth like that.

Upon getting home, we took Seth's temp and sure enough, he had a small fever 99.8. A little infant acetaminophen, some cuddles, a bottle and bedtime. We were praying that God would help Seth fight whatever virus his little body was taking on.

Seth slept until 9am in the morning. Wow. I couldn't believe he needed so much sleep. Poor buddy was so warm this morning. His fever got up to 100.8. Seth barely had anything to eat for breakfast and I was trying to get as much liquids in him as possible. He just wanted to be held and cuddle his Pooh bear. He was starting to yawn around 11am, so I put him down for another nap. He slept until almost 2pm.

His fever got up to 101.6, so we called Triage just to make sure we were doing everything right. Thankfully we haven't had many instances in which Seth has been this sick in his little life, so this was a little sudden and I wanted to make sure I was doing the right things. We were.:)

Seth took another nap and when he got, his cheeks weren't as red and his fever had broke. He was a little more himself and even had some food for dinner. We knew Seth was getting back in business when while he was sitting in his highchair, he started to blow raspberries when he knows he shouldn't and giggled when he tooted.

This is how Seth looks when he isn't feeling the hottest. Seth is always such a happy, spirited little boy, so seeing Seth like this makes me feel for him. Bad momm for taking photos of my sick baby.:)

Made it

2011-03-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

Jason is finally home from training in Denver! He got home on Friday night after being gone for two whole weeks, plus a short weekend home and then another week in Denver. I missed Jason soooo much and the evenings were lonely.

While it was nice to have a lot of just me and Seth-time, not everything got done around home because I was still working during the day. I'm so thankful that my mom and mother-in-law offered to take on additional days for watching Seth during the week.

I kind of felt like a working single mom. When I got home from work each day, it was a juggling act to spend time with Seth, make dinner and do other typical evening stuff like a little playtime, storytime, and baths.

On most nights, we were able to Skype with Jason after he was done with training class. Seth got a kick out of seeing his Daddy on the laptop. I'd set Seth in his highchair right up to the table and set the laptop on the table. Jason would talk, make faces at Seth and Seth would just eat it up, squealing over his Daddy.

Seth and I had some fun bonding moments. On Wednesday nights, I'd bring Seth to Noodles & Co. for dinner for a Mommy and Seth date. He'd get a kick out of all the other families and little kids. We'd go to church afterwards. It was a fun time, plus it made me really confident in handling a pre-toddler out in public. :) But Seth is so easy-going that it's an easy job. :)

Here are some fun pictures.
One night while playing after dinner, Seth would head to his bedroom and we'd hear him rummage around his room, mumbling to himself. He'd run out of his room with a stuffed animal and deposit it on my lap. He did this 3-4 times. He was so happy to share his animals!!

This is either "So big!!" or "Touch down!".

15 months

2011-03-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

Seth, you are 15 months! You seem like such a little boy. When we came home from Mexico and saw you for the first time in a week, it seemed like you had grown two feet.

In two weeks we go to your pediatrician to make sure you're "on track" with your height and weight.
Weight:
Height:

You never stop moving. I repeat. You never stop moving on your feet unless I am rocking you to sleep before you go to bed or you are sleeping. I am a little bewildered by how busy you are!

First, you play with your blocks. Then, you're flipping your green dinosaur upside down to spin its wheels. Then, you're carrying a toy to your room and back out to the living room. Then, you're kicking a soccer ball down the hall. Then, you're pulling your bag of diapers out into the living room. Then, you're climbing onto the little stool in the dining room. Then, you're throwing your blocks down the stairs. Then, you're running around the dining room table. Then, we're reading a book. You are so busy!

You just started climbing onto the couch. Oh, dear. You're learning how to slide off the couch too.

One day, Grandma found you kneeling on your knees on the piano bench banging on the piano. You had flipped the green dinosaur upside down and used it to climb on the bench.

You love to dance. When an upbeat, bouncy song comes on, you stop what you're doing and start bouncing to the music. You shuffle your feet and slide to the left and then the right. Sometimes you turn around in a circle. When your favorite Kindermusik songs come on, you stop what you're doing and run to me or Jason because you like to be danced with, since it reminds you of the dance we do at Kindermusk.

You are good at communicating to us, plus you take in so much and remember it well. We show you the animals in books and the next time we read those books, you point out the animals when we say, "Where is the ____?" You can also point and touch our mouths and noses when we ask you, "Where is Mama's nose?" We're working on getting you to touch your nose and mouth. Every morning while I'm rocking you in your nursery chair, I unzip your sleep bag and we play the game "Find Seth's Feet". I say, "Let's find your feet. Are they in here?" Then, you rummages around the bottom of your sleep bag until you find your feet and then we celebrate.:)

You point and "Mmmm" for something that you want. I'm trying to teach you how to sign "Please" and "More", but we're still working on that. Sometimes I don't guess the thing you wanted, so sometimes it can be a guessing game.

Your box of words just started expanding. For a few months now, you've said "mama" and "dada" here and there, but not necessarily to our faces. You try to repeat easy words back - it's cute because you think you're saying the word.:) Just the other day you repeated "doll" which came out like "Daw" and you said "ama" for "grandma".

You love to read and look at books. Your favorite books are the Winnie the Pooh Encyclopedia of Animals, Biscuits Goes to Sleep, the World in 7 Days book, the Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Vikings book and the Nursery Rhyme book.

You have even had your first.....tantrum! Are the terrible two's starting early? I'm not sure....you've had a few little crying fits, but I think it's mainly because you're frustrated with not being able to communicate.

Being your mother is such a joy. You're my little buddy and I love seeing the world through your big, ocean-blue sparkling eyes. I've seen the moon for the first time all over again. We sit rocking in your nursery chair before going to sleep and you play with my hair and touch my nose. Sometimes we just giggle and giggle.:)

Seth, you are a fun, spirited, sweet little boy and I'm glad God gave you to me and Jason. We are blessed that you are healthy and growing right on track. I enjoy every moment of these sweet days of your little world. Enjoy these moments, Seth.

Dancing King

2011-03-07T19:14:00.001-08:00

Who doesn't love watching a little baby dance?? Seth has been taking cues from his mommy and daddy and is perfecting his dance routine: spin around in a circle with arms wide out, shuffle to the left and shuffle to the right, bounce up and down.

Seth's favorite song is "Skinnamarink" because we also played and danced to this song at Kindermusik. When I play the song on his CD, he stops what he's doing and comes over to me to be picked up and danced with.

Guess what little gem I found? Hand motions from a 1980's Canadian children's show that put hand motions to this original song:

Guess what we'll be doing soon??

Back from Mexico

2011-03-04T18:39:00.000-08:00

Jason and I were blessed to go on a trip to Mexico. By ourselves. For a week. Happy dance! Our parents were UBER generous to watch Seth while we were gone. We will owe them for a while. Seth stayed three nights at the Teichroew's, then he stayed three nights at our home with Mom Joyce, then another night at the Teichroew's and his last night at home with Mom Joyce. We left on Feb. 20th for the sunny, white-sandy beaches of Playa del Carmen. We were able to stay at an all-inclusive resort - I had never stayed at an all-inclusive, so a week of not preparing meals was one of the best treats ever! Jason and I really didn't do much except lay on the beach, swim in the ocean, grab some cocktails and eat. We walked the cobble-stone streets of downtown Playa del Carmen one night. Our biggest decision each day was deciding where we would be - the beach or the pool! The beach had a perfect, white-sandy beach. The waves were just big enough to jump through, but not so big where I'd feel out of control swimming through them. A few weddings took place on the beach that we peeked on. Each night we'd go to the main resort court where they'd have caribbean or latin bands, karoake and other festivals. There was nothing better than walking around the resort and along the beach at night in 70-degree weather. It was so fun! I was so hesitant to be away from Seth for seven nights. Not because I was concerned about the care he'd receive while we were gone, but because I knew I'd miss Seth alot. We saw quite a few young families at the resort and it would make my heart hurt seeing them, thinking how fun it would be to have Seth with us. At the same time, I kept reminding myself that it was equally as important for Jason and I to have extended time for just the two of us. By about the fifth day that we were gone, I was really missing Seth. By our last full day, I was ready to go home. When we flew back to MN and our parents, along with Seth, met us at baggage claim, it was a happy and tear-filled reunion. My dad was holding Seth and when we got 10 feet from Seth, it registered to him that it was us. The look in his eyes and face was one of panic, "Where did you guys go? Why did you leave me? You're here now!" He couldn't get out of my dad's arms fast enough to get to us. Seth was so happy! Seth did great while we were gone. He enjoyed his time at my parent's. Sunny and Molly made peace with having Seth around. We are so lucky that Seth feels so comfortable with his grandparents that he can be away from us overnigth (if needed). It was so nice to have a get-away with Jason and really just focus on being a wife. Jason was patient with me as I worked through missing Seth and my mommy responsibilities.

12-14 months

2011-02-12T11:33:00.000-08:00

I'm a little behind on writing about this last month and what Seth has been doing. He is now almost 14 months! The last two months have been quite the whirlwind in Seth's life. Nothing catastrophic, but so many new things.

The orthotist finally gave Seth the clear the last week of December that Seth no longer needs to wear the helmet. Yay! It is like we have this new little baby in our home. A little tow-headed blonde baby boy is toddling around our home now.

That's another realization I've had over the last month. Seth is a toddler now! Since Christmas, Seth has been an official walker. When he turned 13 months, he graduated from having to crawl over to a steady item to pull himself back up and walk on his way to using his own legs and arms. Now, he'll bend over and place his hands on the ground and bounce!

Seth points at everything! It's fun to try to figure out what he's trying to tell us. Okay - sometimes it can be frustrating too, because there have been times when we're just not getting it so Seth will get frustrated that he can't communicate. So, we do a lot of, "Show me, Seth. Is this what you want?"

He picks up on new things. Now that it's gotten warmer and the moon has been in the night sky, I've taken Seth out on the driveway and shown him the moon. It was so fun to be a part of person's new experience with something. I took Seth out onto the driveway one evening when the moon was out. We stood there and I pointed up in the sky to the moon and said, "Seth, that is the moon. Do you see it? It's high in the sky and it shines so bright!" We went out onto the driveway the next few things to look at the moon. Seth knew to look up in the sky and point to the moon. Now, when we're reading books and come across the moon, he points to it. I love seeing how he connects things in his world.

Seth loves nursery rhymes. I play "Wee Willie Winkie" on his Kindermusik CD. He stops what he's doing, looks up like he's just on the edge of his seat waiting for the sound effects in the song and squats at the "upstairs, downstairs in his nightgown".

He LOVES books! Right now, his favorites is the nursey rhyme book, the Minnesota Twins book, the Creation book. Seth will go into his room, sit down in the middle of his room and flip through his books. Some of my most favorite moments are times during the day when we snuggle in the fuzzy brown blanket in his nursery rocker and just read. He likes to flip the pages, so we don't always linger long in the books.

One day at the end of his afternoon nap, Seth was found in his crib flipping through a book that he had grabbed from the bookshelf by his bed!

Seth also has quite the opinion on what he should have. When he wants something, he'll cry for it! I can't believe how my sweet, little non-resistant little boy has changed to a little baby boy who is quite determined to have something he wants (whether we want him to have it or not). Here comes the part where we delicately balance the development of his will. Ha! We are teaching Seth how to share by showing him how to give Mommy or Daddy something that they ask for. It's rewarding to see when Seth obeys and listens to commands.

Right now, Seth still takes two naps each day: a 1-hr morning nap and then a 2-hour afternoon nap. He goes to bed around 7pm. He has 10-11 teeth. We can always tell when he's teething because he drools a lot and he has more restless sleep.

Trial Run

2011-01-23T17:55:00.000-08:00

We had a big weekend. It was the first time that we spent the weekend at my parent's home. We're trying to help Seth feel comfortable sleeping in a bed that's not his own while Jason and I are gone in February.

The plan was that Seth and I would spend Friday night at my parent's house so Seth could get a feel for sleeping over in the "grandchildren's" room at their house. I was to stay over on Friday night, so I could put Seth down to bed and be there for him when he woke up. Then, we'd spend the whole day at my parent's, during naps and all mealtimes. Seth would spend Saturday night with just my parents. My wonderful husband was home repainting our living room and hallway.

I have to admit that I was really nervous about the whole thing. I worried that Seth would protest at sleeping in the pack and play at night or that he'd wake up in the middle of the night terrified and confused at where he was.

I tell ya what. I worry way too much about stuff.

While Seth was initially scared at being in a pack and play in "his" bedroom on Friday, I sat with him until he fell asleep in my arms (okay, I loved this because Seth moves so much during the day, that I love these cuddle moments!). It took about 40 minutes for him to get to sleep. Then....he was out, for the rest of the night! He didn't make a peep until at 7am Saturday morning. My mom, Seth and I had a leisurely morning in our jammies and ate Belgian waffles. Seth packed half of a banana and 1 1/2 waffles somewhere in his body.

After lounging around in our jammies and playing with (i.e. patting) Sunny, Seth took
an hour nap in his pack and play. We went to a used children's clothing store and found some nice shirts for Seth, plus an adorable Old Navy coorderoy jacket for next fall. In the afternoon, I had a baby shower to go to so mom and Seth went back to their house for lunch and an attempt at putting Seth down for a nap. It was an attempt. He just rolled around and cuddled with his blankie for an hour.

I came back to my parent's house to hang out a little bit before leaving Seth at my parent's house for the night. THE BIG TRIAL. Jason came over, dropped some church clothes for Seth and then we gleefully left Seth with my parents for the night. We went out to dinner and a "I spent $10 on that?" movie. It was kind of hard to really let go of my mommy mind of constantly caring for Seth, knowing that he was being fully cared for by my more than capable parents. Jason and I got back home and stomped through the house and talked loudly since Seth wasn't there....oh, and wistfully stood at Seth's open door wondering how our little buddy was doing at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Seth was doing fabulous. He went to sleep for my parents and didn't wake up at all. Yay - success!! I feel so much better going for a week away and leaving Seth with my parents and Joyce.

When we went to pick Seth up at my parent's church the next morning, Seth just started crying when he saw me. I think he just didn't realize that he missed his parents until he saw us. :)

On some other notes, I'm capturing some stories about Seth so I'll remember them....

Seth has become more attached to his nighttime and nap blankie. On his own, he's walked out of his room holding his blanket in both hands out in front him - so much that he's nearly tripped himself! Seth has even gone into his room, pulled his blankie from his crib and laid down on the floor with his thumb in his mouth. Translate: naptime!

Over the months, we've been diligent reading books to Seth, whether it was before naptime, before bedtime or just when Seth seemed to want to slow down a little. When Seth was little, like 4-5 months and we'd read a book to him, he would bat his hands and arms on the pages of the books. Now, we say, "Seth, would you like to read a book?" and he'll walk to his room, pick out a book and bring it to us! It's so fun to see him so excited over something that seems so adult.

Seth is also really into pointing at things. When we wake Seth up in the morning and we open his bedroom door, he points to the hallway light and we let him turn the light on. Jason says, "WHere is mommy?" Seth points to me. Or, if I say, "Seth, can you find Daddy?" He goes to where Jason is.

It's been a fun month!

Toddler or no?

2011-01-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

I cannot even keep track of all the little things that make up Seth's unfolding world as a toddler. In fact, I was surprised to learn at Seth's 1 year appointment that his first 1-year molar had popped in. It boggles my mind of all the things Seth is learning and picking up on a daily basis. So, this is just a mish-mash of little stories that reflect his budding personality, his will and what happens in the day of a 1-year toddler.

We put new ceiling lights in our entryway, hallways and family room last weekend. Seth wasn't around when Jason was putting them in, but he immediately noticed the new lights when we came in the room. He still points at the new lights.

Seth does so much pointing. He points and we say, "Show me. What do you want to see?" We also made progress during mealtime. Just a week ago, Seth would whine for something he wanted. I showed Seth how to point at what he wanted instead of us guessing and now he just points at what he wants. We're still working on the sign language "Please" and "More".

Seth has been more expressive with waving and blowing kisses. It's so cute. We're not sure who taught Seth how to blow kisses - he just sort of started!

A week ago, Seth and I visited my girlfriends at Caribou. Seth was flirting with one of my friends - shy-ly dipping his head, batting his eyelashes and smiling at her. It's so funny to see him flirt!

The other night, we gave Seth a bath. We were all in the bathroom and Jason started squirting me with one of Seth's squirt balls. Seth got a kick out of me squealing and getting soaked. He laughed and laughed. But then he got really concerned because I was screaming. I think he thought I was getting hurt. We stopped that really quickly!

These are the best days of my life - being a family with Jason and Seth. We have such a good time. THere is always so much laughter in our home. What's funny is that I can tell when Seth is really laughing at something because he honestly thinks its funny.

2011-01-05T17:38:00.000-08:00

Seth is new to walking. It seems like every day he is experimenting with his new walking ability. I get a kick out of Seth's little walk. He sticks his chest out and he toddles on his legs, with his arms up in the arm. It is soooo cute! Seth has moved on to walking from one room to the next room - all without stopping, dropping to his knees or tripping. It's like something pops into his mind, so he takes off walking to go get it.

These legs were made for walking

2011-01-02T17:07:00.000-08:00

....and that's what Seth has figured out these last few days. He went from a half-walker/half-crawler to a walker. It was just last week when he would walk in a straight direction across the room about 7 steps.

Now, Seth walks down the hall into our bedroom. He turns one direction, then another. He walks in circles around the dining room wall. He walks and with one hand holding something to support himself, he bends down to pick up a toy. He does more walking than crawling. I think it's official. Seth's a walker!

It's bittersweet to see Seth grow so fast. I said to Jason tonight, "How is Seth walking? Wasn't he just 1 month old yesterday???"

We had such a fun New Year's weekend. I had Friday off and with the rainy, sleet snow-mix, we just stayed inside and played. Jason and I ordered delivery chinese food from our favorite place. After Seth went to bed, we played Five Crowns and Skip-Bo, while watching the Dick Clark New Year's show and funniest home videos. It was low-key, but we had a good time!

On Saturday, we slept in until 7:15am (yawn!) and later that day, Jason's mom and my parents came over in the afternoon to visit (i.e. play with Seth!) and have appetizers. We played games ater Seth went to bed and snacked on yummy treats. I resolved that those treats were the last I would have for a long time!

After church on Sunday, we played for a little bit. Seth had a ball in the church nursery. He does fine being handed over to the nursery workers. We were able to go to a church service because ABF was canceled. It's been a long time since we were in a church service just the two of us.

When we got home from church at 10:45am, I thought for sure Seth would be tired and begging for a nap. Nope! We gave him a snack of pears and peas. He gobbled them up and then we played a little until Seth went down for a 2.5 hr nap.

Seth is such a hoot when he plays. He is in CONSTANT motion. He's learned how to dunk the basketball in the 18 inch high basketball hoop. He is learning to bring us something when we ask. He also is trying to put two separate MegaBlocks together.

Seth is also a big chatterbox. He will talk and jibber/jabber about something. He hasn't said "Mama" or "Dadda" yet, but he does say, "Ba!" towards his ball and "Da!" to his yellow duck.

I still pinch myself sometimes to grasp that Jason and I have a son!

The week of Christmas

2010-12-29T09:02:00.001-08:00

When the week of Christmas, I get giddy like I'm sure so many people do. It's probably my favorite week of the year for several reasons: 1) traffic to work and back home each day is so light, 2) the Christmas music is full force, 3) there are lots of goodies around the office, 4) people are generally cheery, 5) I get days off from work, and 6) most importantly, I get to spend those days with my husband and son!

Having survived Seth’s big 1-year birthday party on Sunday, we were ready for the Christmas week. We got what seemed like the 1,000th snowstorm this season so far on Monday. On Monday and Tuesday evenings after Seth went to bed, we wrapped the last of the presents and I made my chocolate rum balls, all while we watched Christmas movies.

Dave and Carrie got into town on Wednesday night and stayed with Joyce, so we had them over on Thursday afternoon so we could visit and have dinner together. Seth a.d.o.r.e.d his Aunt Carrie, flirting with and smiling at her. They bestowed a puppy Pillow Pet that Seth LOVES! He lays his head down on the pillow and squeals. It’s so so so soft. After the little mister went to bed, we played card games and watched the movie Eat, Pray, Love. Eh. It was okay – but that’s coming from the girl who fell asleep for the middle half hour of the movie and occasionally woke up, making points about the movie so as to appear she didn’t actually fall asleep in the movie again (“Is that a baby elephant?” or “This music would make a great soundtrack”).

Jason and I started a family Christmas tradition a few years ago. We go to the Original Pancake House for a big breakfast on Christmas Eve morning. It’s our special go-to breakfast place when we feel like spending a little extra money on breakfast. They have good German pancakes! We each ordered pancakes and Jason had a yummy baked omelet. Seth has a hollow leg at breakfast time and manages to pack the food in. He had two pancakes, eggs and milk. This was even after his nursing in the morning! He is a child after my own heart. Seth did really well in his highchair at the restaurant and he loved looking around at the servers and hostesses that passed him. He seemed to keep one eye on our server at all times, as though he knew she was the one bringing the food – ha!

Another Christmas tradition is staying over at Joyce’s on Christmas Eve. After Seth’s morning nap that ended a tad early, we packed up our entire house for the one night and headed to Joyce’s to spend Christmas Eve with Joyce, Dave and Carrie. We hunkered down in the cozy family room and played games, while we tried to get Seth to take an afternoon nap. He was so wired with all the activity of being with everyone that he didn’t take a good nap.

Nonetheless, we dressed up in our Christmas finery and went to a 4 o’cock Christmas Eve service at a church nearby us that Joyce attended not too long ago. We didn’t go to our church just because it was kind of a drive and we wanted to maximize our time together.

It's been a while since Seth has sat in a church service with us, so we weren't sure how it would go - especially since the scooter didn't have an afternoon nap. When the pastor called for all the little kids to come up to the front to listen to a Christmas story, I jumped up and nearly ran to the front with Seth. Okay - he's only one and doesn't get that this is story time, but I have always wanted to bring our child up to the front to listen to the Christmas story. Thank goodness the story was only 2 minutes - ha! After a minute, Seth wanted to crawl around and I wouldn't let him. Back at our seats, Seth pointed and waved his hands to the Christmas music. He made it all the way up to the message but he got fussy because we wouldn't let him crawl around, so Jason took Seth out in the hall to walk around a bit.

After church, we went back to Joyce's and feasted on yummy appetizers. We all hung out downstairs, got in our Christmas jammies and then exchanged gifts. We let Seth touch the Christmas tree and he was very gentle with it. He liked the shiny Christmas boxes and got a kick out of the gold garland. Seth was blessed with some wonderful toys that are perfect for his age!

We had such a fun time with Joyce, Dave and Carrie. Family time is so treasured. It was fun to experience Christmas through the eyes of a one-year old!

Christmas baby

2010-12-19T18:24:00.000-08:00

This is such a beautiful video. When I gave birth to our baby boy a year ago just a week before Christmas, I felt like I was going through what Mary, the mother of Jesus went through when she gave birth to her son. The awe and heightened emotion of giving birth. The momentum of labor resulting in the quietness and precious moments of a newborn baby boy.

Only...not really. Because she gave birth to Jesus, Emmanueal, God with us, the Lord Most High. And, she didn't know the big impact of how we'd celebrate His birth and make it a holiday over 2,000 years later. And, she had the added pressure of how to care for this Holy baby, who just so happened to be one-third of the Holy Trinity. So, I guess I can't really identify with her by saying that we both had Christmas babies.

Yet...yet. I can still share in the moments that we both probably experienced as a brand-new mother, holding our new babies and the wonder of seeing God's newest creation.

I remember driving Seth home from the hospital after he was born. We made a stop at Jason's office to pick up some paperwork so Jason could work from home the next couple of weeks. I sat in the car with Seth while Jason was inside. This song came on the radio. I started crying over the words "You're here, I'm holding you so near...." because that's exactly how I felt holding our new baby boy, whom we waited for over 9 months for. The baby that I waited my whole life to have and he was finally here.....

Every time I hear the song, it brings me back to the moment when they first brought Seth to me after I delivered him. He was swaddled in a blanket with a blue hat. Seth was so alert and he would not take his eyes off me as though he had been waiting as long as I had to meet his parents. Besides my wedding to Jason, the best moment in my life.

The 2010 Christmas Letter

2010-12-16T19:44:00.000-08:00

Dear Big People:

Merry Christmas to everyone I look up to! Which is everyone taller than 25.5" high.

I know what you're thinking. How can a toddler like me be typing this Christmas letter at such a young age? Well, everyone says more and more kids these days are become technologically-savvy at an earlier age. At one year old, what more can you expect?

Christmas means more to me this year than it did last year.

Last year, at 9 days old, everything was a blur. Not because time flew by, but because everything I looked at really was blurry! I didn't see much and I was only awake for what seemed like a total of 4 hours. There were lots of big people trying to see me. I was still adjusting to being outside of a warm, cozy womb for 9 months.

This year, Christmas means a tall, green tree in my play area that keeps poking me when I toddle by. It means shiny boxes under the tree with glossy bows that I try to pick off and put in my mouth. It means sitting forward in a new car seat and watching glowing houses with bright and twinkling lights go by when we're driving in the car. It means Mommy plays really cheery music on the piano while I try to climb up on the bench to bang on the keys beside her. It means standing at the window watching Daddy push a big, noisy machine up and down the driveway that spits out snow across the yard. I bang on the window to let Daddy know I want to be out there with him.

Daddy, Mommy and I were busy this year. I was busy growing from a 6lb, 14 oz little baby to a 22lb toddler. There was much to accomplish this year: learning how to sleep through the night at 8 weeks old, rolling over from my back to my stomach at 5 months, sitting up all by myself at 6 months, crawling at 8 months, cruising at 10 months, pushing 7 teeth through my gums (ouch, that hurt!), babbling and typing on the laptop. Now I'm practically walking across the room by myself! There are several things that describe me: I like to happy scream; Daddy really makes me gut laugh - especially at dinner; I get so excited when Mommy comes home from work that I usually cry when I see her; the third thing I love most (after Daddy and Mommy) is my thumb; I like it when my grandmas read me books when they watch me while Daddy and Mommy are at work; I can get crabby when I get my PJs put on because I'm just tired.

While I was growing this year, Daddy and Mommy helped me adjust to this new world and all the Big People in it. They brought me up to Grandpa and Grandma Teichroew's cabin a few times over the summer, where I rode in a boat (and yelled loudly because the boat yelled loudly) and learned to love being in the water. We spent hours (and hours and hours) in the car to visit Uncle Dave and Aunt Carrie in Door County. They have the best dogs and I LOVED it when they gave me kisses. We spent more hours (and hours and hours) in the car to visit Great-Grandma Inge and Daddy's uncles, aunts and cousins. I felt so loved by them all. We even got to visit Mommy's uncle and aunt and Mommy's college friend in Illinois, who has two Little People that I liked to play with. One day in the spring, we went to Uncle Jayson and Aunt Jen's house while everyone was there except Uncle Jayson. He walked through the door and we yelled, "Surprise! Happy 30th birthday!"

Daddy and Mommy took me to church every Sunday and we always see the same nice Big People. They're happy and make Daddy and Mommy laugh. I like being around them too because most of the Big People also have little people that are more my size. We have playdates every Sunday night while the Big People, Daddy and Mommy talk about Big People stuff.

On Father's Day, Daddy, Mommy and I stood at the front of the church sanctuary. Big Person Pastor Rick held me and prayed over me, then asked all the Big People in the audience to help my parents teach me about Jesus.

Which reminds me of something.

Christmas means another baby. Baby Jesus. Daddy and Mommy keep talking about baby Jesus. We read books about this baby born many, many years ago around the same time I was. They tell me how important He is and how much He means to them.

I hope they don't plan to replace me with this baby.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas!
Seth (and my parents)

P.S. I stood in line for a long time to sit on this Big Person's lap, but all he did was talk alot. I didn't even get to keep the candy cane he gave me. Mommy ate it.

Seth - 12 months!

2010-12-15T18:08:00.000-08:00

Seth, our one-year old son. I'm sitting on the family room couch, computer on my lap. Just like I was doing exactly one year ago, the night before giving birth to our baby boy. My, oh my. How a year changes!

(Apologies for the large, LARGE pregnant belly picture.)

Seth, you are now a one year old! You are no longer an infant. You no longer stay in one place. The fragility of being a newborn is a distant past. Excuse me while I wipe the tears.

You are a mover, always moving from the chair to the couch to the bench to the toys on the floor and back again. Only a few weeks ago, you crawled everywhere and when we tried to encourage you to walk, you'd drop to your knees thinking that crawling was faster. Now, you're walking 5-6 steps across the room on your own. The look on your face says, "I'm walking - I'm really walking!"

When we're cooking in the kitchen, you want to be right alongside us. You'll stand next to us - one hand on our leg, the other waving in the air or your thumb in your mouth. Sometimes you let go and then you just stand by yourself, practicing your balance. You don't even realize you're standing by yourself.

I'm waiting for the big one-year appointment at the end of December to get the true facts, but our scale at home says your 22lbs.
Height:
Weight:
Clothes size: some 9 months, some 12 months
Shoe size: 4

Favorite foods: black beans, chicken, bananas, pears, pancakes, cheese, oatmeal with apples and yogurt. You really like food and have become very independent in feeding yourself. You like drinking out of a cup, but not a sippy cup despite our attempts at many styles of sippy cups. We haven't given juice to drink, just water or Mommy's milk.:)

You like to play games with us. One of your favorites is when Daddy says, "I'm going to get you!" and you turn around with a grin on your face and look for the nearest thing to crawl under or hide, like the piano, table or Mommy's lap.

Another game that you and Daddy play at the dinner table is when you both stare at each other and then you both start laughing at the same time. Daddy sure makes you laugh.

You've started giving Mommy toys when she asks for them. I practice signing and ask out loud at the same time, "Seth can I please have your toy?" with my hand outstretched. He gives me the toy and then I give it back to him. It's becoming a game now.:)

Seth takes two naps each day - one two-hour nap in the morning and one two-hour nap in the afternoon. He has even crawled to his room, stopped in front of his crib with his thumb in his mouth and waited for us to put him down for a nap. Seth goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up 7am. We rarely hear a peep from him at night. Sometimes he'll cry out for a second, but he's back to sleep so I'm not sure if he's had a nightmare.

As for the blue helmet Seth wears....the orthotist has said that he'll likely not need to wear it past the new year! Yay!! His head has been reshaped and looks SOOOO good. We are so glad we decided to have Seth wear the helmet.

It has been such a good, fun year filled with the blessing of growing, taking care of, loving and playing with Seth. We thank God for the healthy little boy He has given us to love and care for.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2010-12-02T18:36:00.000-08:00

I was so excited for Thanksgiving weekend. It's like the perfect kick-off weekend to the holidays. Not only that, but this was Seth's first-ever Thanksgiving dinner! I think I was more excited to give him his first big dinner than I was eating it myself....and that says ALOT!

We kicked the weekend off with a big dinner at Pannekoken to celebrate Dad's 60th BIRTHDAY - wahoo!! Mom, Dad, Jason, Seth and I had dinner together. It was a snowy day, so we were nearly the only people at the restaurant having dinner. Seth ate.so.much. It's like he had a hollow leg or something. First, he brocoli and cauliflower, then bananas, then half of my German potato pancake, then a bowl of applesauce.

Seth seems like an older baby now. He sits great in a highchair at the restaurant. He loves the commotion of being others and being out and about. He was enthralled with the pretty waitress and secretly touched her painted finger nails when she placed her hand on the table next to him while taking our order.

On Thanksgiving Day while Seth took a morning nap, Jason and I watched the Thanksgiving Macy Day parade. We headed over to my parent's house to celebrate with my parents, Joyce, Aunt Millie and Uncle Bruce, Grandma and Grandpa Teichroew, Kyle and Jenni. While we feasted on the big turkey dinner, I gave Seth his first Thanksgiving dinner:

Ha - ha! Seth didn't have the whole turkey drum. He had small bites of turkey, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. After dinner, Seth took a short nap while the adults sat upstairs, talked and played games.

Kyle made us play one of his crazy games he's always coming up with. It's never dull with him!

It was a big day for Seth - not only for experiencing Thanksgiving Dinner, but also because he started walking across the room - with help of our hands. :) We've been trying to encourage Seth to walk while we held his hands, but something about having 10 people in the audience encourage you really made a difference for Seth.

In a matter of minutes, Seth was walking across the room to me and then we'd turn him around and he'd walk across the room back to Uncle Bruce or Jason. I have a feeling he's going to be walking by the new year!

On Friday, Jason brought out the Christmas decorations and tree. Jason set up the tree while I decorated the rest of the house. It was a lot of fun and I love having the house all decorated, especially since we didn't decorate last year.

We celebrated my dad's 60th birthday on Saturday with a big birthday party. Alot of my extended family was there, along with Jayson, Jen, Kyle and Jenni. We had a lot of fun just being together.

I took Monday off so I could work on Seth's birthday party and his one-year baby book. It was nice to have the day off!

11 months

2010-11-17T08:42:00.001-08:00

Seth, you are 11 months old! When I look at videos of you when you are 11 days old, it's amazing to see how much you've grown. You are such a different little person!

Weight:
Size: some 12 months clothes, some 9 months clothes; size 4 shoe

On your 11-month birthday, Jason and I think you said "ba" in reference to the ball you were holding. You babble alot. Some days your babbling are the "ba-ba" 's and sometimes your babbles are "ma-ma" 's. You grunt, growl, squeal, and happy-shriek ALOT. A few times I hear you "chatter", which kind of sounds like you're saying a sentence, but they don't resemble words yet. I wonder what you're chattering about!

You are a social little boy and enjoy when people come to visit at our house. Every Sunday night, our small group comes over and you sit in the middle of the group, then crawl up to each lady and try to pull yourself up onto their laps. You seem very energized when there are lots of people around.

You like to touch hair, especially when it's long hair belonging to Mommy and Mommy's friends. When you nurse at night, you play with Mommy's hair probably because it calms you and then ends up making Mommy fall asleep too!

You love to read books! Which makes Mommy really happy. I love reading you books before going to bed. You're so cuddly when we sit in your nursery chair and read "Goodnight Moon". When I read you the Pooh Bear encyclopedia of animals, you squeal and tap the pages of the animals.

You really love animals! When we take a walk and see a squirrel, cat or dog, you squeal and kick your legs.

You eat more and more finger foods. Pureed foods are soon becoming a thing of the past. You like to eat chicken, peas, bananas, pears, potatoes, turkey, and beans. You love apple oatmeal and pumpkin pancakes in the morning. You still have two bottles during the day, but you're still not keen on drinking out of a sippy cup. You do it, but not out of necessity.

You are an affectionate little boy, giving me hugs when I pick you up out of your crib in the morning and burying your face in my hair when we play on the floor. You also give "kisses" on my cheek and chin, which really is you putting your open mouth on my cheek and kind of nibbling me.

You have almost 6 teeth! You show them off best when you crinkle up your nose and bare your front top and bottom pearly whites. In the last 2.5 months, you've gotten 3 new teeth.

In the last month, you became a master cruiser - cruising everywhere. From the couch to the loveseat to the piano bench to the dining room chairs to the kitchen cabinets. At 10.5 months, you started "walking" with the assistance of my two hands. On Nov. 6th, you took two no-hands steps to me! I predicted that you'd be walking at your 12 month birthday and I think you just might be taking those first few steps on the big day.

Your nights have calmed down a little. From 8 weeks old through 9 months, you slept through the night and RARELY woke up in the night. For the last two months, you've woken up and screamed on occasion during the night. I think they've been nightmares or because of big developments. You've been very busy during the day with crawling to cruising to beginning to walk.

In the last two months, you have become a regular at the church nursery. You always join the nursery with a happy demeanor. You play and play and play right up until I come to get you after our ABF. You don't seem to even notice that I leave you for a bit.

We started taking music classes at Kindermusik with Miss Melanie. Oh, you love this class. You like to crawl around with the little babies and you're not shy. You crawl right up to another baby and look at their toy. You'll crawl and cruise around the room for a bit, then crawl back to me to "check in" and get a little reassurance, then you're off again.

You are typically independent, but you definitely can be clingy with Mommy - especially in the evening after a day of being apart. You are very aware of where Daddy is. You notice when he walks into the room and when he leaves. You have to see what he's doing.

Weekend Wrap-up November

2010-11-13T12:24:00.000-08:00

Our first snow! Winter came today - in a big way. We got ten inches of heavy snow starting early Saturday morning. It's so beautiful!

We had a lazy Saturday morning. I attempted to go run an errand, which proved to futile. I got stuck in the parking lot and some nice fellow pushed my car out. Seth had a good nap and then we had some cuddle and reading time.

Our friends, Brent and Kari, came over for Chinese dinner and games. We were supposed to go downtown Minneapolis to listen to a Cuban jazz pianist at the Dakota, but we didn't feel like braving the yucky roads.

After church on Sunday, Seth and I ran some errands to get more shoes for Seth's growing feet (oh, and because I lost one of his shoes this past week!). We wandered through Babies R Us for a bit, then we hit up Old Navy where we got some adorable baby boy shoes. Who said boy's shoes aren't cute!! They're very preppy.:)

Pet Smart was right next to Old Navy and because they had a cat adoption day, I thought it would be fun for Seth to see the cats and kittens. Oh, my. When this little boy sees a cat or dog, he goes crazy! (Poor kid doesn't know yet that he will not be able to have one of his own while he's living at our house because of Jason's allergies. If he was smart and didn't want his parents to always come and visit his own home, he'd load up on the animals - ha!....wait a second!) Seth squeals and kicks his legs. The adoption owners let Seth pet the kittens. That was before he literally grabbed a chunk of one kitten. We'll have to work on the "Be gentle" direction!

We had small group on Sunday night. Seth gets a kick out of all the people in our group that come to visit. He is Mr. Social and likes to be right in the center of the busyness. He'll sit in the center and look around at everyone, then crawl up to the ladies and pull himself up on their knees. Seth is not a shy baby, that's for sure!

Please pass the pumpkin pancakes!

2010-10-30T12:44:00.001-07:00

Fall. Pumpkins. Foliage. Apples. Long shadows. Ah, fall is my favorite time of the year! I love pumpkin-anything: pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, etc. I had a gluten-free pancake mix from the Black Barn Bakery that I bought at the farmers market, so I decided to make pumpkin pancakes out of the mix for Seth's breakfast this morning.

"Hmm - I'm not so sure of this new taste. Let me try more."

"MMMM - I love pumpkin pancakes!"

Weekend Wrap-up - October

2010-10-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

After several busy weekends, we had a low-key weekend at home. Friday was still pretty nice outside, so we had to have our last bonfire of the season.

But before our bonfire, we went to an open house for the North Metro Midwive group at the new hospital. These were the midwives that took care of me while I was pregnant and also delivered Seth. The main certified nurse midwife that owns the group hosted the open house to introduce the two new midwives. Lord willing, if we are pregnant again in the future, I would love to go through that midwife group again.

It was like going to a family reunion, seeing Kathrin and all of the other families who have had babies delivered by the midwives. It was like going to see your favorite teacher from your previous school year. She is very passionate for all the women she sees and the babies she "catches". I'm so glad I came across this group. As usual, Seth warmed up after we had been there a while and then he entertained us with squeals, fake laughs and copy-cat screams.

On late Saturday afternoon, the three of us went to the mall just to get out of the house. It was so much fun! We walked around. Seth people-watched. We sat in the rotunda and fed Seth his dinner. He got a kick out of his echo in the rotunda, so he kept squealing and happy-screaming. We ate a quick dinner and then we were home in time to put Seth down to bed.

After church on Sunday, it was a lazy day of hanging out at home. Seth had a good time in the church nursery. He really enjoys himself and keeps so busy with all the toys. The church nursery girls always comment how busy he is playing with all the toys. He never screams when I leave him at the nursery!

Weekend in Door County

2010-10-19T04:56:00.000-07:00

We finally made a trip to Door County to visit Dave and Carrie! It was Seth's first trip to their home. We couldn't have asked for a more fun weekend.

When it was just me and Jason making the trip to DC, it would take us just over 5 hours. With a 10-month old sitting in the back of the car, it took us over 6 hours to get to DC! Joyce came with us, so we had a fun road trip. We stopped two times - once for a quick rest stop and then a second stop that was longer to have lunch, feed and change Seth.

Seth is a trooper in the car! We gave Seth special toys that he's not used to playing with and then we took turns sitting in the back with him to play and talk. He had two decent naps.

We got to Dave and Carrie's home the same time Jason's Uncle Dennis and Aunt Marcia were dropping his Grandma Inge. Grandma Inge was also spending the weekend at their home. There was a full home with us, Grandma, and Dave and Carrie's "kids" - Gunnar, Allie, and Bucky. Jason's Grandma Inge asked, "What should Seth call me?" and I asked her what she wanted to be called. She thought for a second and said, "How about Oma?" So, Oma it is.:)

The dogs and Seth had a mutual love for each other, although I think the dogs thought Seth was a new toy every time he squealed or screamed. Seth would be standing with hands on the living room gate with the dogs lined up on the other side of the gate in the dining room. They hung on Seth's every movement. But, if any of the dogs got a little carried away with kissing Seth on the face, he just gave them the hand and pushed them away. He's a very assertive little boy.

Seth and I shared a room in the house, while Jason slept in the trailer in front of the house so his allergies wouldn't bother him. I love my husband, but boy - it was fun sleeping in their huge king size bed! Seth slept in his pack and play next to the bed. I was trying so hard not to make loud noise because Seth is such a light sleeper. He didn't wake up upset at all during both nights.

Saturday morning was really sweet. I cuddled with Seth in the big king-sized bed before he had breakfast. After Seth played with the dogs, he took a nap. In the afternoon, we took a gorgeous drive up to Sister Bay to stroll the annual Sister Bay Fall Festival. Carrie was working at the Door County Humane Society booth all day, so we made sure to visit her at the booth. Seth was entertained by Doorie, the Door County Humane Society's mascot. He just studied Doorie and tried to figure him out.

It was such a BEAUTIFUL fall day - in the mid 60's and sunny. It seemed like everyone and their uncle was at the festival. Seth got a kick out of watching people. He just squealed and laughed out loud. He really enjoyed himself. So much so that he took a nap on the way home.

After dinner and after Seth went to bed, the adults played a card game and then we all kind of konked out.

Sunday morning was leisurely and after Seth woke up from his nap and ate, we got back on the road. We even sat in a gas station someplace in Wisconsin and fed Seth his dinner. We were listening to the Vikings game on the radio. We'd say "Yayyyy, Vikings!" and wave Seth's left hand when they did something good. Seth caught on and before you know it, we'd say "Yayyy, Vikings!" and Seth would start waving his hand with a big smile on his face.

Seth became a Viking fan before he learned how to wave. Yep, it's true - I've been trying to teach him how to wave good-bye to me before leaving for work. But teach Seth how to cheer for the Vikings and he's got it down in no time! Maybe he's in denial when I leave for work. Yep, I'm sure that's what it is.

As we got closer to home, Seth was getting to his limits. He wanted to be out of the car seat! We couldn't agree more - the drive seemed longer on the way home.....or maybe it's because I didn't take a nap on the way home.:)

It was really fun to just spend the whole weekend with everyone.

Crinkle nose

2010-10-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

Seth crinkles his nose when he's not happy or doesn't want to do something.

But as quickly as the crinkle comes, just as quickly does it go.

Weekend Wrap-up: October

2010-10-12T04:36:00.000-07:00

Whew - it was a whirlwind weekend of family and friends! I was excited the whole week because Jamie and Paul were coming into town for the weekend. We had to have a "cousin's get-together".

Our "cousin's get-together" included Josh, Becky, Jamie, Paul, Jayson, Jen, Kyle, Jenni, Jason and me. Since we were the cousins that grew up together, with the exception of our spouses :), we love to all get-together, tell stories of our growing up years and act silly. Because it's what we do!

We had a very long dinner at Cooper Pub, that fun new Irish Pub in the West End. We had so much fun - lots of goofy laughter, usually at the expense of one another. There were no little kiddos, but Jason did have to stay home and watch Seth since we couldn't find a sitter. Boo!

Jamie and Paul spent Friday night at our house. We chatted up late until our eyes were too heavy. Jamie and I got up early to take Seth for a walk up to Starbucks and get our favorite Pumpkin Spice Lattes - yummy, yummy! It's kind of a tradition for us to go walking around the lakes in the fall and treat ourselves to a Pumpkin Spice Latte, so this was pretty fun to get to do this.

While Seth took his morning nap, Jason and I got ready for our fall photo shoot with JS Photography at the Maple Grove Arboretum. We had family photos taken in the GORGEOUS fall foliage. Seth was dolled up with a cute brown sweater, but at 11:30am it was already 70 degrees! I think we got a lot of good photos because Seth had a ball playing in the foliage. Sonja was really good and interactive with Seth - she caught his attention!

Waited for a husband & a job, waiting to be a SAHM

2010-10-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

The point behind this post is about how I waited for my husband and a job. Now, I wait to be a SAHM.

Like Kelly at Kelly's Korner and her blogger friend Amy, I wanted to get my 'CLICK' moments down on paper. It's how I'm getting real about how God is in control of my life in these areas for two reasons: 1) as a reminder to myself during this waiting mode, and 2) to encourage others.

Waiting to get married:
I married Jason when I was 28, which at the time seemed SO OLD and LATE. My joy to be married to Jason was (and is!) overwhelming. He is exactly the man that God wanted me to wait for. Boy, am I glad I did! There were no reservations, only a fulfilled and long-awaited joy. I still receive blessings for waiting.

What I wish people said to me then:
1) You are exactly where God wants you to be right now.
2) I am proud of who you are – not what you do or what your “status” is.
3) Your job right now is to bloom where you’re planted. Tell me about your job, hobbies or your involvement in church. (Stay away from asking if I'm dating anyone.)
4) I’m not going to lie and promise that you will find a husband because that’s the desire of your heart.

What I wish people hadn't kept repeating over and over:
“Just wait, God will give you the desires of your heart.” I desired to meet a godly man that would be God’s chosen husband for me, get married and start a family. Those were great, noble desires, right? So, why did God not bring them when I really wanted them? Sometimes I felt like that Bible passage was taken out of context. I didn’t want my waiting experience to reduce my view of God that He was a genie in a bottle. I believed that God enjoyed giving gifts to His children, but it was hard when I saw that He was giving those gifts to my friends and not me. For a few years, I dated a handful of potential men, but something didn’t feel right and I knew the Holy Spirit was leading me to move on.

“You’re such a quality, beautiful Christian woman that I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until you meet the right one”. So, as time went on, did that mean I wasn’t a quality Christian?

Why I’m glad God brought my DH and my baby son into my life when He did:
1) I learned tangible ways of waiting on God and how to deal with disappointment early in my life.

2) I have experiences and memories that I may not have been able to have if I had married at a young age:
- I’ve traveled around the world, lived in another country and have friends in other countries. Sure, I may have been able to do these things after my kids are off in college, but maybe I will not have the money then I'd rather use our money to help send the kids to college or be around to help aging parents. If I'm really honest, at 20 years old, I was more physically able to climb Long's Peak instead of waiting to be 48 years old and maybe not as physically able to climb Long's Peak (or have the desire to!).
- I’ve been a bridesmaid in 14 weddings. Who can say that other than Katherine Heigl in 27 dressses? If I were married, I may not have had the money to buy those dresses or time to be in those weddings!

3) There is SO. MUCH. MORE. JOY. in experiencing a long-awaited gift.

4) I've been told by other younger women that I've been an encouragement to them as they wait for their own husbands.

Waiting for a job after being laid off two times:
The first time I was laid off from a dream job, I immediately drove over to my husband's office and had a good cry - well, a few days of a good cry. The second time I was laid off, I immediately drove to my favorite coffee shop and enjoyed a nice fall afternoon.

I tried to speculate God's reason for letting me lose my job both situations. At the time, I couldn't see the reason. I have come to see that my next positions enabled certain things to benefit my future situation. I believe God orchestrated those positions for those times. Let me explain...

Layoff #1: Two months after being laid off, I found a position at a company that would later prove to be super flexible with me 6 months later when my father-in-law was diagnosed with stage-4 glioblastoma brain cancer. My boss let me work from my laptop at my in-laws' home most days of the week so my husband and I could be close to his dad and mom. They let me have quite a few days off, no questions asked, as we had many hospital visits. My previous job involved a lot of travel, so it would have been very stressful to travel a lot and be gone from my father-in-law and be a support to my husband. When my father-in-law passed away, I was given extra bereavement days off.

Layoff #2: A few months after my father-in-law passed away, I was laid off from that position and two months later, I found a position at my current company. This job has provided excellent health insurance for a major brain surgery that my husband unexpectedly went through in August 2009. He had trigeminal neuralgia, which is chronic pain that felt like a bolt of lightning through his jaw and head. He underwent a very successful microvascular decompression surgery and had no complications or regressions whatsoever.

Going through these layoffs has benefited me in these ways:
1) It has helped me to not rely on my employer, but God as my provider.
2) There is no guarantee that for any job loss in the future, I will always find a job within a month or two.
3) I can take advantage of being off from work by doing special things I couldn't do while working: taking walks in the middle of the day on gorgeous days and having coffee with a friend in the middle of the day.

These experiences are now helping me in my current period of waiting. I'm waiting to be a stay at home mom to our baby boy. My heart longs to be home solely nurturing Seth, teaching him and helping him grow, while taking care of our home. I feel like it's what I'm meant to do. But it's not that easy for me to just quit my current marketing job because I am the sole income provider in our family.

Jason took a step of faith and quit the mortgage industry last June when he felt like he was being led by God to pursue something else that would allow him to be the sole income provider. He is now exploring new career options and trekking on the job search trail. I am so. very. proud. of my husband to do something bold like this. He has organized our financial situation so we don't debt except for our mortgage while we wait for his job.

I can see that my current job is needed because it provides the income we need to pay for our mortgage and living expenses, so Jason can find the right job to provide for our family.

And, yet.....I still struggle to wait. I ask the same questions that I asked when I was waiting to meet Jason: why would I have such a noble desire, but God has not brought it to fruition? Am I disobedient to God's calling for a mother if I have to work while Jason waits for his job?

So, despite the fact that I've experienced many blessings from waiting, I'm still learning the value of waiting for God to bring about His plan for us.

My beautiful rewards for waiting.:)

September Weekend-end Recap

2010-09-20T04:54:00.000-07:00

It was just me and Seth for most of this weekend because Jason went on a church men's retreat in Northern Minnesota. He was gone Friday night, so Seth and I toodled around town on Friday night.

Seth had a physical therapy appointment with Melissa on Friday. In his PT appointment, Seth pulled himself to a standing position for the first time. Melissa had placed a toy on top of the bench to see if Seth would pull himself to a kneeling position. He did that and then proceeded to pull himself up to a standing position. Seth got the toy, but then it fell to the other side of the bench. He wanted to get that toy and so badly wanted to crawl over the bench! He was trying to pull his legs up over that bench.

After PT and then a short nap, Seth had dinner and then we went to Babies R Us and bought Seth's Halloween costume and his first winter jacket. Seth isn't ready to share who he's dressing up in yet, but I can tell you that it has something to do with Winnie the Pooh.:)

Saturday was a very busy day - I felt like Seth and I were running around town and barely at home. Which was true! After breakfast, we hopped in the car and drove over to my parents' home to feed Molly while they were up at the cabin.

Then, we went to Seth's first ever music class at KinderMusik. The class' teacher was Miss Melanie and she is like Mary Poppins in person! She has a beautiful voice and enterjected jingles into her conversation. Seth was captivated by Miss Melanie. When she spoke, he whipped his face to her and just stared at her with big eyes.

There were just two other babies in the class and we all sat on the playmats. We'd sing songs and let the babies grab the egg shakers and bells. Seth would shake the shakers and bells, then stick them in his mouth. We'd help our babies clap their hands, wave their arms and shake their feet to the music. I could tell Seth enjoyed it because he wanted to stand up and bounce! Then, he'd squeal or make some loud grunting noise. Seth was highly amused by all the music and interaction.

At one point, Miss Melanie told the parents to lie down on the mat, close their eyes and listen to the music. She wanted the babies to see their parents listen to the music and let me explore. She'd keep an eye on the babies so they didn't get into any mischief. I put my head down on the floor next to Seth and kept one eye open. I could not stop shaking in laughter when I saw Seth crawl over to another mommy and start tapping her head and trying to pull her hair.

We are definitely going to go back to music class in November. Our schedule is too busy right now.

Seth had another nap after music class. We went to LifeWay Bookstores to pick up a book and we ran another errand to Marshall's. We made it home in time for me to put a tired baby down for his afternoon nap.

After Seth got up and we had dinner, we picked up dessert and went over to my grandparents' home to wish my Grandpa a happy birthday. Grandpa turned 94 years old! I love taking Seth over to see them because they love to play with Seth. It warmed my heart when I looked over to see my 94-year old grandpa make silly faces and noises at Seth, who was sitting contentedly on his lap. Seth wanted to play with his mustache and tug on his cheeks. I turned around to help Grandma with the dessert and when I turned back, the sight I saw made me just giggle. Grandpa was on all fours on the ground next to Seth. It was the cutest sight!

Jason came back from his retreat on Saturday night, so we all went to ABF on Sunday morning together. Seth went to the nursery again and he did great. I'm glad that we decided to start bringing Seth to the nursery because it gives him a chance to be around other little kids.

After having a relaxing afternoon, we had small group at our home that evening. Three of the couples brought their babies. Two of the babies were playing on the opposite sides of the music table that Seth was playing and I could tell that Seth was energized by the other babies because he would squeal really loud. While the men were upstairs discussing their study, the ladies were downstairs talking and playing with our babies. It was a fun night!

Oh, what a fun weekend too. It went so fast. :)

9 months

2010-09-17T04:47:00.000-07:00

Seth - you are 9 months old!

Stats
Height:
Weight:
Head circumference:
Teeth: 4 (two on bottom, two on top). Your top two teeth came in within one week of each other starting Labor Day weekend.

You wear some 6-9 months clothes and mostly 6-12 months clothes. You wear size 4 shoes mostly....when you wear them! You are very interested in your shoes, especially when they have cute little lion faces on them.

You mastered the army crawl three weeks ago and started knee-crawling up at the cabin. Now, you'll knee-crawl about 8 steps and then drop to your tummy to army-crawl. You're beginning to realize that knee-crawl gets you faster to your destinations.

And destinations do you have to go to! Wherever I am, you crawl to me. Where your daddy is, you crawl to him. If you see me go into my room, I here you huffing and puffing to get to where I am. And you move quick!

You like to crawl under the piano and if me or your Daddy is in the foyer, you crawl under the piano to peer at us through the chair rails by the stairs. When Jason or I get home from work, you hear the garage door open and know it's one of us, so you come crawling to the gate at the top of the stairs to watch us come through the garage door. It's so cute!

You also like cords way too much, so when I hear you crawling fast like you're on a mission, I know it's because you've found a cord. Teaching you not to chew on the cords is our first test of discipline that we have with you.

On your 9-month birthday, you accomplished another first - pulling yourself up from a crawl to a kneeling position! Two days later, you decided to pull yourself up from a kneeling position to a standing position. You can stand by yourself by holding onto your musical table, sofa or anything that is the perfect height for you to hold onto.

Your favorite foods are: pureed carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, peas, sweet potatoes, strawberries, pears, apples and bananas. You LOVE your morning breakfast oatmeal with apples. You exclaim, "MMMM!!!" with every bite. You occasionally have Cheerio and Puff snacks, but we're still trying to help you get the experience of finger foods. I think you'd rather just have Mommy and Daddy feed you!

Nursing is still going strong. For the last 4 weeks, you would rather just get the nursing done and over with so you can be on the floor and play with your stuffed animals. I really have to focus you by getting rid of all the distractions - low light, door shut, fan on so it drowns out background noise.

You are always making some noise. Whether it's happy screamings, motor boat lips, blowing raspberries, "Hmmm!"ing. You babble "mama" and "baba" alot, but you only seem to do that when you're sitting. When you're exploring, you'd rather stick everything in your mouth instead of babble.

You play a laughing game with us. First, you laugh. Then we laugh. Then you laugh. Then we laugh. This goes on back and forth for a few minutes. We just laugh and laugh! I hope that's what our home will always be like as you grow up - love and laughter.

Right now it's seems as if you found your tongue. You keep running it over your four teeth and stick it out over your lips.

You consistently take 2 naps - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Rarely do you take a catnap around dinner time. You still go to sleep at 7pm and sleep until 7am, but two times this week you have woken up screaming. We haven't figured out why, but I've read about these "wonder weeks" in which babies have big developmental leaps and things can just get a little off. So, I'm hoping that's what it was! But, I do have to admit I loved cuddling you back to sleep when you did wake up late at night.:)

This has been such a fun month so far. You are growing so fast and exploring everything. I'm so happy at your happiness when you see something new and exciting. Your daddy and mommy love you so much!

And then there were four

2010-09-17T04:33:00.000-07:00

I was awakened at 4:30 this morning to Seth's piercing scream and then some whimpers. I laid in bed for a few seconds to see if Seth was just dreaming and perhaps drift back to sleep, but he began to cry so I got up to see what was going on. Seth's door was creaked open, so I peeked in to see what Seth was doing.

I always wondered about the sweet moment of walking into my baby's nursery with his hands on the top crib rail and his cherub smiling face peering over. I even envisioned the cute picture I was going to take of this sweet sight.

I just didn't think it was going to happen at 4:30 in the morning. It was supposed to happen after his nice two-hour morning nap.

I saw Seth take a little tumble as he was trying to figure out how to get himself back on his back in the crib, which made him cry more. I walked up to Seth's crib, peered in and what did I see?

Yep, one of the balls hanging from his sports mobile had been freed by Seth. At 4:30 in the morning.

Dern mobile. It was up on his crib one night too late. I should have seen the signs. Seth is fascinated by the mobile and trys to grab it anytime we walk past it. And two days ago he figured out to pull himself up to a kneeling position at exactly the right height. Waking up at 4:30am + pulling himself up = grabbing the mobile.

Rainy Day

2010-09-15T17:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a rainy, rainy day today. Lots of down pours, some lightening and thunder. Seth, Jason and I just took it all in the comforts of our home. Seth was thrilled over the rain racing down the window, just squealing and shrieking over excitement.

Weekend Wrap-up

2010-09-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

I'm just coming off the high of having a wonderful, relaxing weekend. Although, as I recap what we did, it sounds just a little busy. Maybe having a baby has mellowed me out.

Yeah, right!

Jason took me and Seth out to dinner to Pittsburgh Blue for dinner on Friday night. Dinner at a sit-down restaurant with an infant can be tricky. Timing is everything -especially when your baby is typically only up for 2-3 hours in between nap times and dinner can take about an hour and a half, plus the 20 minutes to get to the restaurant and home again, which only leaves you a half hour to eat your sit-down dinner. Dining with a baby is different, but I don't want avoid it and I'd rather help Seth get through it because going out to a restaurant every once and a while is something our family does. Maybe I'll change my mind when Seth is 18 months old and wants to tear through the restaurant dining room.

Nonetheless, Seth did great. He sat on my lap, while playing with his various toys and spoons. While we ate (er, while I scarfed my meal down), he sat in his car seat. Seth always gets a lot of attention with his helmet, so of course, we got lots of visitors to our table.

On Saturday morning, I took Seth for a quick jog in the stroller. It was a little cool, but Seth was bundled up so we made it a quick jog. Afternoon naps and resting were had by all.

My friend, Cassie, and her two little sweet children came over in the afternoon for some playtime at the school playground. We cooked dinner afterwards, during which it was confirmed again what a poor cook I am. I mean, really, how can a person botch up a batch of pre-packaged refrigerated French rolls? Digging in to dinner, Cassie's 5-year old said, "Mommy, I can't bite into this bread". A few seconds passed when Jason and I both started to roar with laughter over the deep-seeded truth to that comment. Yes, dear child, you are not the only one.

We went to ABF on Sunday morning and after 20 minutes, we decided to bring Seth to the nursery. I dropped him into the nursery worker's arms, who put Seth on the floor. He started crawling around, looking back at me just to make sure I was still there until I waved good-bye. I came back 45 minutes later to pick Seth back up and the worker said he did great. Crawled around and explored. I think we'll try the nursery again!

Sunday afternoon was our football draft party for our ABF fantasy football league. We had 16 people over and it was a blast! Seth was a little frustrated because he wanted to crawl around the floor, but I wouldn't let him because there were computer cords galore. We sat on the deck and chatted until it got a little dark. I put Seth down for bed around 7pm and then we started a beautiful bonfire and enjoyed the fire until 10pm.

Monday was another great day. I discovered Seth's 3rd tooth! His top left came poking through and if I had to guess, I think it probably popped through a day or two before. I just don't always feel around Seth's mouth for more teeth - he doesn't particularly enjoy my prying.:)

It was a crisp and cool morning. I went for a run and it was perfect. Lots of couples and families out on the trails. After Seth got up and ate, we went to Joyce's home to do a little photo shoot. Seth sat in his grandma's toy rocking chair. I can't believe he sat up in it! I remember when he was just a little peanut, thinking how far into the future it would be until he could sit in it. He loved the chair and started to figure out that it would rock!

Seth took an afternoon nap and by the time he woke up, our friend Joe stopped by to hang out. Seth would not crack a smile for him! Ha! But, he warmed up to Joe after a while.

It was a great weekend and so hard to go back to work! But, these weekends give me perfect memories!

Jammie-jams

2010-09-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

The last few days have shaped out to be a precursor to what fall (late-Sept and earl-Oct) is like....cooler temps and the fast-moving clouds. We went from high-80s last weekend and early this week, to a cool 70 degrees and low-50s last night. Which meant...

....back to the zip-up, footed pj's for Seth. Or, as we call them, "jammie-jams". Seth hasn't worn these for over 3 months and about 2 inches ago. When he was smaller and still very much an infant. Give me a moment while I wipe tears cuz my baby is growing up at the speed of lightening. I zipped Seth up and he seemed like such a little boy. He looked at both cuffs on each arm and touched them as if to say, "what is this material on my arms??". Yes, my dear son, it's a little cold so these jammie-jams will keep your bare arms warm.

I love looking at Seth's arm rolls and the little elastic-band fold on his wrist. For that reason, I'm sad that fall and winter are approaching because it means Seth's bare little baby arms will not be quite as available to touch.

Nighty, Night

2010-08-25T18:02:00.001-07:00

It's 6:45pm. You rub your eyes furiously. You fidget while I put your night-time diaper on. I give you a toy to distract you for a few seconds and it illicits a short smile. You whimper. You are tired. It's bedtime.

You're awake when you begin nursing. Sometimes you play with my hair or slap your legs with your hands. Or you show how you can multi-task by nursing and kicking your legs. Five minutes later, you slow down. Your eyes shut. Your arms, hands and legs get relaxed. I rub your arms, legs and back. You are comfortable, relaxed and drifting off. You are so sweet.

You finish nursing one side, so I sit you up to burp you. You whimper because you'd rather be laying on your back, sleeping. You barely have enough strength to hold your head, so it rolls to the side. You're so tired that I need to hold you up so you don't fall over. A burp escapes, so I lower you to the other side to nurse. You eagerly start to nurse again as if to say, "Can I finish nursing so I can go to sleep?"

Eight minutes later and you've stopped nursing. You've fallen asleep, but you're still latched on. I look at you for a few minutes. You're cuddled up against me and you're softly breathing into dreamland. So sweet, so gentle and so completely trusting. Can we sit like this for a few more hours?

While you're still sleeping, I pull you to my shoulder to get a burp out from you. You stir, a little out of sorts because you've been sleeping. Your head drops to nestle your cheek on my shoulder. I pat your back till you give up a burp. You've drifted off to sleep again. Your arms and legs are completely relaxed and limp. Your breathing is soft and sleepy, right in my ear. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. I rock you back and forth as I stand in your nursery. I look in the mirror. Do I really have this sweet, adorable baby in my arms with his cheek on my shoulder and soft, sleepy breathing in my ear?

Can we stand like this for a few more hours?

8 months

2010-08-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

Seth, you are 8 months old!

You are such a joy to me and your daddy! Your seventh month has been very busy for you. You've had some big firsts:

- first long road trip to Lake Geneva, WI, for Seth's first Counihan family reunion
- first time to get up on all fours
- first army crawl
- sitting up by yourself without mommy or daddy hovering behind you

Your stats:
Height: Over 27.5 inches (which was your stat at your 6 month apt)
Weight: 18lbs 6oz

You have a very nice routine for your day. You wake up at 7am and nurse. You have oatmeal mixed with fruit before you play. After playtime, you take a nap at 9am and sleep about 1.5-2 hours. At 11am, you either nurse or have a bottle, then some yummy fruits and vegetables. You play or run errands with mommy or daddy before you take another nap at 1pm. You typically nap for another 1.5-2 hours. After you wake up, you nurse and then eat fruits, vegetables and rice cereal. You play or go for a walk. Sometimes if you woke up early from your naps, you get a little tired so you take a catnap around 5pm - right when I get home from work and just want to play with you!

We take your helmet off around 5:45pm after your nap. We play or you sit in your high chair at the table while we eat dinner. Because you're so easy going, you play with a toy and watch us eat. After that, I always wash your head - your head smells soooo good and your hair is so silky! Your blond hair is really starting to grow finally!

Your bedtime routine consists of washing your head, a quick change into your jammies (a onesie) and then you nurse. Most times you are so tired by the time you're done. I always pray for you before you go down. You lay your head on my shoulder and suck your thumb. I lay you down in your crib and zip you up in your sleep sack. It's like you know it's bedtime. You are so content when I lay you down. Sometimes you are wide awake and you chat for a few minutes until your room is quiet. I think you fall asleep pretty quickly.

Knock on wood - you sleep until 6:30-7am. I don't know what I'd do if you woke up in the middle of the night! Most days I hear you chatting to yourself around 6:45am. You call out for me if I haven't come into your room by 7am. You nurse and then have breakfast.

Lately, you are almost too "busy" to nurse or take a bottle. You'd rather kick your legs around, play with my hair, touch my nose, play with my necklace or coo. I have to work hard to keep you focused on eating, so I always keep your room quiet while you nurse.

You love to eat! How do we know this? You always say, "Mmmmm!!" after each bite....of the foods that you like to eat, that is! You love oatmeal mixed with apples or the fruit du jour. You like all fruits - pears, peaches, apples and bananas. You like peas and sweet potatoes. You used to like carrots, but now you just make a funny, disgusted face and let the carrots run out of your mouth. You tried avocados the other day. I don't know - the gagging sound you made after you squished it around your mouth probably indicated that you and avocados don't jive right now. It's okay, Scooter. I feel the same way about french green bean casserole.

At playtime, you've nearly abandoned your tried and true toys for the new world: the living room floor and everything in its path! You army crawl your way under the piano, under the dining room chairs, and under your bouncer. What is so fascinating about a piano's underbelly, I'll never know.

You also really like your stuffed animals in your room. I think you like them for their quishiness.

Here are some of your eight month pictures:

Cheeks

2010-08-04T06:38:00.000-07:00

Photoshop.com Album: Seth - July 2010 week 31

2010-08-03T18:23:00.001-07:00

Photoshop.com Album: Seth - July 2010 week 29

2010-08-02T08:19:00.001-07:00

Seth's Summary: 30 weeks (7 months)

2010-07-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

Seth is 7 months old! I cannot believe how big our little baby is. He is over the half-way mark to being one years old - not that I'm thrilled about my baby growing up so fast. Seth is such a sweet, good-natured little baby. He is so much fun!!!

But, do you notice how this seven-month old baby boy does not just sit there while his mommy tries to snap his monthly picture? I remember the days when Seth would just sit propped up in the corner of the chair. Now, he just dives for the football toy and I take the picture with one hand poised ready to catch Seth if he starts falling over!

Eating: Seth likes rice and oatmeal cereal. He says "Mmmm!" every time you put a spoonful of cereal in his mouth. He loves peas! Jason offered him pureed peas the other day and he loved them! Much to Jason's dismay. Now we switch up carrots, sweet potatoes and peas for Seth. He looks like a baby bird and holds his mouth open for carrots. It's so cute! I make all of his food at home. It has been so easy and cost-effective.

Seth does very well sitting in his high chair and does not try to squirm out of it. He doesn't try to grab the spoon and opens his mouth when he's ready for more.

I still nurse Seth two times a day during the week and then 4 feedings/day on the weekend. On the weekdays, he still takes two bottles during the day. He is growing bigger - I'm guessing he must be 19 pounds, since he was 17.5 pounds on his six-month appointment over a month ago.

Sleep: Seth takes two 1.5 - 2 hr naps each day and most days, he takes a cat nap at 5pm. By about 9am, Seth is ready for his first nap. He's had his cereal and a little hang out time with Jason before he goes down. For Seth's second nap, he goes down at 1pm and typically sleeps until 3pm. Many times I hear Seth talking to himself a little before I get him up. It's so cute! He just "who's" and "goos".

Seth still goes to bed for the night between 7-7:30pm each night. It's like he knows that he's supposed to go to bed because he gets a little fussy and cuddly, with his thumb in his mouth. It's so weird to me that Seth will go down for the night and then Jason and I have an hour or two of just us.

Playtime: Seth got a new toy this week - a musical table for him to stand in front of and bang buttons, keys and other little gadgets to make them light up and make music. He really likes everything and it's a great way for him to practice standing and strengthening his legs. But he does get a tired!

I always laugh when Seth plays with his Taggies books. Taggies are these fun kids toys and blankets that have "tags" on the toy that resemble tags because babies always seem to find the tags on the toy and just play with them. Despite the fact that Seth has a myriad of tags to choose from on his Taggie book, he always goes for the actual tag!!

We tried a new thing this week - playpen time. Seth plays with one or two toys by himself in his playpen for about 10-15 minutes two times a day. The idea is to encourage independent play and a chance for him to really focus on a few toys on his own. We believe that playpen time is not a way to enforce boundaries, but a way to encourage freedom for him to explore on his own without his parents or caregivers always offering entertainment.

Seth back-wards scoots and pushes himself to where he wants to go to. He often finds himself under the coffee table and then grabs onto the rungs and tries to pull himself up likes he's doing pull-ups!

That's all for this week!

Weekend Wrap-up

2010-07-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

It was a very satisfying weekend - and a very summer-filled weekend!

On Friday night when I got home from work, Seth was still taking a cat nap. We got Seth up and ran two errands, then picked up Chinese take-out and headed home. After nursing Seth and putting him down for bed, Jason and I sat outside in front of a bonfire. You know you're a new parent when you fall asleep in front of a bonfire. Or, as everyone knows me, that's just being Carolyn because I can fall asleep anywhere!

Saturday morning was bliss. After nursing Seth and giving him oatmeal, we went for a nice long walk and then Seth took a nap. That gave Jason a chance to sleep in. I'm not big for sleeping in, but I know Jason likes it and since I'm the early bird, I more than jump at the chance at getting up early and starting the day. Jason slept in until 8:45am! I don't think he's been able to do that since before Seth arrived!

I found a fun musical table on Craigslist that I had been eyeing for Seth. I met the gal at a nearby gas station and brought my new toy home for Seth. He loved it! It gives him the chance to hold onto something and play musical and push buttons. Basically, it's just another noise maker but those things don't bother me. I like to see Seth play around with pushing buttons. I think it's learning cause and effect.

It was 93 degrees and sunny, but Jason and I got a little selfish and dragged Seth to our town's annual fair where they have an all-you-can-eat corn feed. Did I mention it was all-you-can-eat....corn on the cob? We were so there! We parked a few blocks away from the fair and walked Seth in his stroller. He loves people-watching! He did not need any toys to keep him interested. Seth watched the guys steaming the corn. He watched kids that ran past him. He watched the people standing in front of us talk to each other. Sitting with our stacks of corn, hamburgers and soda, I felt so content. It made me feel so blessed with my husband and baby boy. My dreams have come true and God has indeed blessed me. I have a wonderful husband and healthy, sweet boy.

Jason and I chided that in a few years, Seth (and maybe a sibling) would be begging us to go on all the kiddie rides. We both remembered from our own childhood how we didn't go those fairs very often - probably because fair rides are not cheap!

We quickly scooted back home to put Seth down for a nap, but he was fighting the nap big time! I think he was over-tired and hot. So, he took a little half hour nap in the swing before he nursed again. We played for a little bit, then Seth took another catnap.

Our friends, Brian and Kay, said they were in the area so they came over with their son (and Seth's future best buddy!), Luke, and we ordered pizza. It was so amusing to watch Luke try to play with Seth and how Seth reacted to Luke. Seth was into playing with his toy, but when Luke came over to touch him or take his toy, he just looked at Luke as if to say, "What are you going to do next?"

Saturday night got really ugly. I mean, tornado warning/bad thunderstorm ugly. It was one of the worst storms that I've seen in a while. Thankfully nobody was hurt from the tornadoes. They were awfully close to us. We brought Seth down to the family room with us when it started raining and getting really windy. He just fell back asleep on the couch with us and when the storm was over, we brought him back to his crib and he went back to sleep.

On Sunday, we went to church and then came home. Jason had a soccer game and I stayed home so Seth could take a nap. We went over to Uncle Dennis and Aunt Patsy's home so they could meet Seth and so we could visit with them. It was really nice to see them. They are very sweet and caring relatives. I have fond memories of being at their home. My parents were over there too, so we got to visit with them as well.

Because it's been so hot and steamy, we've taken Seth's helmet off here and there so he doesn't get over-heated. Already I notice a different that his head is growing and starting to fill in.

Some fun pictures from this weekend:

Check the air on Sophie the Giraffe!

I found out that my dad has the same v-shaped "watermark" on his forehead right between his eyebrows like Seth and I do. I never knew my dad had one. Apparently, a few of my other cousins on my dad's side also have the v-shaped watermarks. They appear more prominent on our foreheads at various times like when we're hot or been swimming. Or, as my husband likes to offer up, when I get frustrated. Which never happens. Ahem. Jason just says, "You're a bunch of aliens". So, if you see the "v", you have been warned - ha!

My mom with Seth and my Uncle Dennis, my mom's brother.

This summer has been like no other summer. Having a little baby brings new aspects to summer. The pace is slower and we're not as busy. I like this pace. A baby's first summer is a fun summer for us all.

Seth's Summary: 6 months (27 weeks)

2010-07-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

I recently read a story about a couple whose baby boy passed away less than two weeks after being born due to a congenital heart defect. I cried for them because I cannot imagine the pain of giving birth to a beautiful son and then having to give him up, never to see him grow up on this earth. Life is so precious and you never know how long you will get to have your loved ones with you.

This makes me really look at Jason and Seth. I mean - REALLY look and soak up everything about them and every moment I have with them. When Jason was suffering with Trigeminal Neuralgia last summer and the "what if" questions tormented me, I had to stop and soak in everything about him. In the weeks after Jason's surgery, there would be times when I would just marvel that my husband is alive and he's making it through this.

I adore my son. When I think about this couple whose son passed away within days of being born, I think about Mary, Jesus's mother, and the pain she would have felt when Jesus was crucified. Oh, the love that a parent has for their children!

Okay - I need some happy thoughts. How about my cute son?

In the last few days, Seth's new friend is his thumb. It goes into his mouth constantly! When it's not in his mouth, his hands are grabbing whatever is within their reach - my hair, my face, your face, your glasses, the wall, the counter, yada, yada, yada! I love the instinctive reaction his hands have when there is something placed within reach.

Seth still sleeps like a log all through the night and he takes two good 1.5 - 2 hour naps and one 45-min nap each day.

We'll get some gut-laughs from Seth over the strangest things that Jason or I do. But my personal favorite is the singular courtesy laugh Seth gives - "ha!".

Seth started eating solid foods at 6 months. We have since tried carrots and he gave the funniest disgusted look after taking a few spoonfuls. He did not like carrots! But he does tolerate sweet potatoes. Up next - peas!!

Along with the thumb-sucking comes some very sweet cuddly moments with Seth and I am loving it! If it's early in the morning when I get Seth up or before bedtime, Seth will suck his thumb and lay his head on my shoulder. Sweetness that I just want to bottle up and look at 13 years down the road when he's a teenager!

Ahh, these are some sweet days and I'm oh so thankful to God for these sweet blessings!

The market

2010-06-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

I love the town that we live in. It has the neatest farmer's market at the community center every Thursday afternoon - lots of vegetables, baked goods, gluten-free baked goods, meat and flowers. The market is at the community center, which is next to what is now called Town Green - a lake right in the middle of town with walking paths surrounding it, a gorgeous new library and an outdoor bandshell where they have concerts and movies. I am so excited for when Seth gets a little older when we can keep him out a little later to go to things like that!

Seth and I went to the farmer's market for the first time this season. I was on the hunt for some carrots or sweet potatoes for making Seth's first vegetable. I found a bunch of carrots - with the stems still attached! I hung them over Seth's stroller and Seth got a kick out of the dangling carrot stems.

Seth gets quite the comments and coos from passers-by - especially now with his helmet. I think people are afraid to ask why he needs a helmet, so they assume something is really wrong with his head. Seth just soaks in the attention!

It was kind of hot, so we didn't stay for long. I can always tell when Seth is getting too warm because his cheeks get rosey!

Today was one of those days that I always anticipated before having Seth. I love taking Seth out to places like this so he can absorb new surroundings. I loved today!

Seth's Summary: 26 weeks (6 months!)

2010-06-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

The news is out: Seth really is a stunt man....er, stunt baby. That's why he needs to wear this:

Not really. :)

After meeting with a craniofacial surgeon and an orthotist, we received enough evidence showing how Seth's head had become mis-shaped (plagiocephaly) as a result of the torticollis condition Seth had since birth. We made the decision for Seth to wear a cranio cap to help re-shape his head to a nice, rounded shape like it's supposed to be.

So, we're just fixin' his noggin. Seth may need to wear the helmet for up to 4 months. But because he has a moderate case of plagiocephaly, we are hoping and praying that Seth will wear it less than 4 months.

Seth's Summary: 25 weeks

2010-06-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

What do you think this shows?
Yep - our little boy broadened his horizons this week and tried his first solids! Seth took to rice cereal as if he'd been eating for a long time already. He eagerly accepted the rice cereal from the spoon.
See how happy Seth is with this new food? He loved it!
"Mmmm....I want more!"

I think one of my favorite parts of the day is when I walk into Seth's nursery to wake him up in the morning. I always open his door and say really softly, "Good morning, Seth!" I peer over Seth's crib, he opens his eyes in little squints, raises his arms and breaks into a smile. Melts my heart every time!

We spent the day on Saturday at Jason's mom's home in Woodbury. There are only a handful of times we'll be over at her house until she moves to close to us. I've wanted to get pictures of Seth and Jason at Jason's childhood home. Because we were gone most of the day during Seth's naptime, Seth had to take a nap in his pack-and-play. He has only slept in it a handful of times and we wanted him to get used to taking naps in it for our summer trips. Seth took a 2-hr long nap in his pack-and-play at Joyce's home! Yay! I hope this means that Seth will be comfortable taking naps and sleeping in his pack-and-play.

Here are some pictures of Seth while hanging out at his Grandma Joyce's home:

Seth's Summary: 24 weeks

2010-06-11T19:34:00.000-07:00

It has been a week of more firsts!

Seth rolled over from his back to his stomach for the first time. We practiced and practiced. Finally on Sunday, Seth just had to get the toy that was just out of his reach and he rolled over!

A second tooth made its appearance. I love it when Seth smiles and his two little baby teeth sitting on the bottom just shine for the world to see.

We've also been quite surprised walking into Seth's nursery to check on him while he's sleeping or to wake him up in the morning. When we laid him down for the night before, his head was on the right side of the crib and he was facing the door. When we went in to get Seth, his head was on the left side of the crib and he was facing the window. I would have liked to be a fly on the wall watching Seth wiggle his way around the crib!

Seth also assumed a very adult way of sleeping - on his side! One night we walked into his nursery and he was sleeping contentedly on his side. This seems like a very adult and un-babylike way of sleeping.

Our small group met at our house and our friend's daughter, Natalie, wanted to play with Seth. Seth got a kick out of Natalie and just bounced up and down in his exersaucer and reached out to try to touch her. It was so cute!!

Seth's Summary: 23 weeks

2010-05-31T11:25:00.001-07:00

So, I know this is going a little out of order since I try to summarize Seth's weeks and I've skipped several weeks, but it gets a little hard to keep up with blogging in between getting home from work, sterilizing bottles, spending time with Jason and Seth, nursing, changing diapers, playing, going on walks, etc, etc, etc! And, it's my blog and I can do what I want....even if next week I'll be summarizing Seth's 20th week. He'll be getting younger, instead of older - ha!

What Seth has been up to:

- I think Seth is starting to learn his name, because when I try to get him to look at me, I repeat his name once or twice and he turns to me. Or, as Jason pointed out to me, maybe it's just that he turns to us when we keeping saying the same thing over again, "Seth....Seth....Seth!".:)
- Seth has taken to his sunglasses, but because he's also in the stage of grabbing anything anywhere near him, he takes his sunglasses off!

- Oh, and not only does Seth pull his sunglasses off, but now he reaches for my glasses and my hair! I dangle my hair in front of Seth and he loves to play and twirl my hair in his hands.

- With the warm summer air finally here, Seth hangs out in short-sleeve onesies with his chubby little legs easily accessible for spur of the moment squeezes and kisses.

- Did I say how much Seth reaches for things now? It's not just reaching for a toy that's dangled in front of him. He reaches for toys on the floor beside him. He reaches for the toys hanging from all sorts of contraptions on his exersaucer and playmat. He reaches for the straps and netting on his stroller. I have a feeling this little guy is going to be in a lot of stuff when he gets mobile!

- Speaking of being mobile, Seth is not rolling all over the place.....yet. He rolls from his tummy to back and back to side. We keep teasing him with toys that are just out of reach to encourage him to roll over, but he gives up or gets disinterested.

On Memorial weekend, we didn't have a lot of commitments which made for a relaxing weekend for just the three of us. The weather was so fabulous, so we headed out to a nearby park to BBQ and have a picnic with our friends. Seth was so easy going and he just hung out in the front carrier on me with his cool shades on. It was right during the middle of his typical 5pm catnap, so the little mister just sacked out in his stroller for a catnap. There's nothing more relaxing than taking a nap on a blanket in the park with sounds of summertime all around you.

We are in a nice little groove of three naps each day: a two-hour nap in the morning, a two-hour nap in the early afternoon and then a short catnap around 5pm. Seth usually sleeps all the way through his naps and he wakes up pleasant nearly all of the time.

This little routine makes a great schedule for our days. Seth is able to be up for longer stretches before he gets tired and goes down for his nap. We can go for walks, run errands or have a playdate while he's up and it doesn't interfere with his naps.

Seth is also doing so well with sleeping at night. He nurses at 7pm, goes to sleep between 7:30-8pm and wakes up at 7pm. Knock on wood, Seth has not been waking up at night. I keep waiting for this to change, like when he's able to roll over from his back to tummy or gets his foot stuck in between the crib spokes.

It's hard to believe that Seth is over five months! I have enjoyed and treasured every stage that Seth has gone through. But I have to say that I really enjoy all the ways Seth's personality and development has been shining through in the last month or two. I just want to bottle it up so I'll never forget!

I love watching babies play with their feet. They are so flexible!!

Budding photographer??

Seth's Summary - 22 weeks

2010-05-25T04:34:00.001-07:00

What Seth is up to these days?

- Seth likes to touch my face and Jason's face. He wants to touch our cheeks, chin and mouth. I know when Seth is done nursing when he starts to play with my mouth and chin. It's so endearing!

- He's not so interested in sitting in his bouncy chair, now that he can bounce around in his ex,ersaucer. He definitely likes anything where he can sit up or be supported up, like the exersaucer and the bumbo.

- Seth will play with toys when he's on his back and if he drops the toy on the ground next to him, he'll reach for and pick up the toy from his side. If he dropped it before, he'd forget about the toy, but now he's realizing that he can pick it up.

- One of his favorite toys is Sophie the Giraffe. Oh, my - it's one of the easier teething toy that he constantly puts in his mouth.

- He's back to the shrieking. When we play with Seth, he gets this big, open-mouth grin and shrieks.

- It's hard for Seth to sit still in our laps, unless he's tired or feels like cuddling. He wants to be held up so he can push off with his legs.

Mother's Day

2010-05-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

Every week I come on here and document another first. Just when I think the first couldn't be big enough, another first comes! It's just so much fun to see this tiny little human being grow and do new things. But this week, I had a first.....Mother's Day!

My men were so sweet to me on Mother's Day. Every day leading up to Mother's Day made me more excited than before. I was almost more excited for Mother's Day than I was my birthday - that's not hard to believe because celebrating birthdays after 30 years is not quite as fun as before. Jason surprised me with a box full of chocolate-covered strawberries the night before. We had a little date night watching a movie and eating the strawberries.

Seth and Jason wrote me the sweetest cards and gave me an awesome surprise: a spa massage! Woohoo! I need that after carrying and nursing my growing baby boy.

We met up for brunch with my parents, grandparents, Kyle, Jenni and Jenni's mom, grandma and brother. My parents gave me a corsage to wear. I don't know why, but I always wanted to wear one on Mother's Day. After stuffing our mouths with a nice brunch, we headed back to our home for dessert. I know. Why go on to the next place for dessert when you're stuffed? Do you need a reason to have dessert?

I was listening to a podcast in which Dee Brestin was encouraging mothers. She said something that I never want to forget as a mommy: when you think that all you do is wipe snot and change diapers, never forget that you are nurturing an eternal soul. I love that. My objective as a mommy is that I'm nurturing Seth, an eternal soul. All the boogies, all the blowouts, all the fussy moments pale in comparison to the larger picture of being a mom to Seth - that he is not mine, but God loaned him to me and Jason to nurture his soul. Big gulp.

Right now this is easy. Soothing words and cuddles when Seth's gums hurt. Singing "Jesus Loves Me" and rocking him before a nap. Praying for Seth before he goes to sleep for the night. Cleaning him after a blowout.

I get a little nervous thinking that it is going to get harder as Seth gets older. I'm so glad it's not just up to me.:) Seth has a loving daddy and I'm so blessed that he is my husband. We're in this together.

I felt so proud and blessed on my first mother's day: I have a beautiful baby boy and a loving husband. These are the days that I dreamed about for so long. Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness and for all of these blessings in your timing!

Seth's Summary - 19 weeks

2010-05-07T20:18:00.001-07:00

We had a lot of big activities this week. Saturday, May 1st, was my brother Jayson's surprise party in southern Minnesota. I took Seth on his first road trip to Jayson's home where the party was, while Jason went ahead of me in the morning with my parents to meet Jayson for a morning of golf. It was the perfect day for a road trip. Seth fell asleep within 20 minutes of driving, so he had a nice 1.5 hr nap. Score!

Seth was loved on by so many people at the party! He did really well, even though he protested an afternoon nap in the pack and play at Jayson and Jen's house. Seth is a resilient little boy and did just fine. He just took everything and everyone in. It was fun to see how he was just gobbled up by his two uncles.

What was Seth up to this week?
- Seth has started to sit up on his own. He's still practicing, but we prop his belly between his legs and he can sit up without our help for a few seconds!
- From laying on his back, we hold Seth's hands and pull him to a sitting position and then a standing position. Seth has the biggest surprised look on his face and he opens his mouth wide like he's going on a roller coaster ride! It's so cute....
- One afternoon I had Seth sitting with his back to my legs and he began arching back until he realized his foot was touching his toy snail. He stopped arching his back and starting playing with the snail using his foot! He did this for 5 minutes -using his foot to push the snail back and forth so it would make music. He's got good foot/eye coordination - future soccer hopeful!
- Seth added a new sound to his vocabulary. he loves to scream! He does these high-pitched screams
- Seth is still sleeping through the night!

Here are some pictures from this week:

Here we are with the birthday boy! Uncle Ray doesn't miss a photo op!

Jen's mom, Marcia, is so sweet. I've had so much fun getting to know her and spend time with her. And she loves babies! Seth was quite content being held by Marcia.

Seth and his uncle. Someday they're going to be throwing a football around, but we'll make sure Seth's uncles and Jason teach him how and NOT his mommy!

Seth loves to reach for things that are dangled over him. I was explaining my Tiffany's bracelet to Seth and how it's important that every man with a girlfriend or wife knows the significance of the little blue box!

Choosing Seth

2010-05-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

Kelly's Korner is one of my favorite blogs to read and today she has a "Show Us Your Life" tour about why you chose the name you did for your child. And, of course, I can't resist talking about Seth!

Jason and I have talked about our kids' names for years. In fact, we thought for sure that our son's name would be Hunter, only because one of our favorite Minnesota Twins' players (at the time) was Tori Hunter.... not to say we were going to name our son after a baseball player.:) We just liked the name Hunter.

But then when we were actually pregnant and found out we were having a boy. It was very important to us to name our son after Jason's dad, Roger, who passed away in 2008 from cancer. We had told Roger that we would name our son after him. So, Hunter Roger didn't really have a good ring to it...."er" and "er"....er.

I'm not exactly sure how "Seth" came on the radar. I think it was on my list.:) But, we liked that it was a name in the Bible (Seth was Adam and Eve's third son, after Cain and Abel). It also means "appointed by God", which means to us that God appointed our son to be born to us at this exact time.

I love thinking about names. Confession - I already think about our next child's name! But, I prefer to keep everyone in suspense, so my lips are sealed for our favorite girl names.:)

Seth's Summary - 20 weeks

2010-05-02T14:43:00.001-07:00

We had quite a few firsts this week! Jason went to Door County to watch Dave graduate from Police Academy training, while Seth and I stayed behind to host a get-together with cousin Jamie, sister-in-law Jen, Jen's mom and my mom. Yes, it was just me and Seth for a few days!

By the second day, both of us were missing Jason so much! Seth didn't really seem like his normal chipper self. He really gets a charge out of Jason. But, he's been especially cuddly with me while Jason's been gone. This was the first time that one of us has been apart from our little family.

I stayed home with Seth all day Friday. It was so nice to have that extra day, because I just love staying home with my little buddy. We went to Seth's PT appt and I was so encouraged by what the PT had to say about Seth's progress with torticollis. He is doing so well and we'll only need to go to monthly PT appts.

Another first....my first Mother's Day! I have been so excited about this weekend since I was pregnant last year. I've wanted to be a mommy for a while and it's still so new that I love celebrating! :)

What was Seth up to this week?
- Seth's really started reaching out and grabbing things to touch them, make them move or play music. When sitting up and leaning forward, he uses his hands to touch toys in front of him to play music or move.
- Seth is easily engaged by adults who talk to him animatedly, make baby sounds to him or play with him.
- I have to work at making his nursing times free of distractions. He will stare off out the window or start playing when he should be finishing eating!
- It just seems that Seth is getting so big! His legs are getting thicker and he seems longer.
- Seth's head is so, so, so soft!! I love rubbing his head.
- I found out that Seth likes his arms being tickled, just like his mommy! He stops what he's doing and just holds his arm still while I tickle his arm.

- When is being held by another person and I walk up to him, he reaches out for me! Heart melter!

Seth's Summary: 16 weeks

2010-04-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

I remember when Seth was only SIX weeks old. Now he is SIXTEEN weeks old...it's amazing how time flies by and everyone tells you that, but you just don't want to believe it.

Naps: For the last week, Seth's naps have gotten longer to about 1-2 hours each. He doesn't wake up every 45 minutes like he used to. He also only wimpers a little when you first put him down for a nap. Then, he finds his fingers and he's content. Sometimes you can hear him talking to himself for about 5 minutes before he's out. Is it too soon to say we've turned over a new leaf in the nap department?

Night sleeping: Knock on wood. That's all I'm going to say. But can I brag just a tad with how well Seth sleeps at night? I keep reading about the 4-month sleep regression that so many babies experience. So, I'm going to say here and now what a good sleeper Seth has been. He has slept through the night (8pm - 7am) consistently without waking up since 8 weeks old. And even before 8 weeks, I had to wake Seth up for middle-of-the-night feedings. Seth's 4th month may be the end of our glorious sleep, but I'm going to enjoy each night until something changes.

Fun Seth facts:

- Seth purposely focuses on a toy placed in front of him, aims for it with his hands and guides his hands to grabbing the toy. It is so fun to see him reach out and grab things, when before he would wave his arms and hands around the hanging toys, but not always purposely grab them.
-He's "grggle"-ing his thoughts to us all the time! He coos, who's and now "grgg"-les.
- He brings objects up to his mouth and "gums" on them. It's typically the green frog or soft soccer ball.
- He has good focusing ability. When Jason throws a ball up in the air and catches it, Seth watches Jason throw the ball up and holds his focus on Jason's hand until he catches the ball. Pretty soon he's going to be catching the ball if Jason tosses it at him, that's how advanced he is. ;) Ha!

-He smiles and coos back when people talk animatedly to him. If someone just talks at him, he doesn't always indulge you with a smile but he'll just study you and wait to see if you're going to entertain him with an animated voice. :)

- He's started to play little "games" with me when I'm nursing. If I start talking while nursing, Seth stops, leans back and watches me with a stoic expression. Then, I giggle. I stop giggling and he continues to nurse, but then I can't stop giggling. Seth stops, leans back, gives me a sly expression and then dives back to nurse. We go back and forth like this for at least five minutes.

Seth's Summary: 15 weeks

2010-04-08T18:16:00.001-07:00

Jumpa-who? Jumparoo, that's who....or, I should say 'what'. Seth got a new toy this week - a jumparoo and, boy, does he love it! He sits in it, sucks his hands, and then flails his hands around and pushes his feet off the ground, sending him in a flurry of bounces.

"All hands on deck!" Seth constantly sticks his hands in his mouth and munches away. With the constantly drooling and hand munching, we know Seth is in for some pearly whites soon to come popping through his gums. We haven't seen anything come through yet, but I bet any day now Seth will get his first tooth.

Other fun Seth facts:
- Seth had his first....I mean, second official photo shoot with Jason's friend, Rich, who is a great photographer. Rich took newborn photos of Seth while we were still at the hospital and here we are 15 weeks later and Seth is over twice as big! Seth was a trooper, even though it was early evening and in the middle of his nap.
- We took our new stroller out for our first spin around Arbor Lakes. Seth was awake for the whole ride, except for our dinner at Potbelly.

My friend Talia's daughter, Vivian, turned 1 years old and here we are at her party.

Seth's first Easter Sunday! Here Seth is with my parents.

Our first family picture.

Seth's Summary: Week 14

2010-04-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

We had a busy, busy week! We made it through the first full week of both mommy AND daddy at work during the days. Of course, it was probably harder on mommy than it was on Seth.;)

The weather has been getting so nice. Jason and I try to take Seth outside whenever we can. We walk around the perimeter of the house. We sit on the bench in the front and watch the cars go by. We hang out on the picnic blanket in the back and listen to birds chirp and the wind in the trees.

Seth puts his hands in his mouth and just looks, thinks and takes it all in. I stood with Seth in front of the neighbor's wind mill on a particularly windy day. Seth was so enthralled with the spinning wind mill that he took his hands out of his mouth and just stared for minutes on end!

Seth has so much fun with Jason. And vice versa! Jason picks Seth up, raises Seth in the air and he just squeals and giggles with excitement.

Awww....here is a particularly cuddly moment for Seth and Jason. Jason loves cuddling Seth.

I'm just trying to throw you off here with Seth's coordinating sleeper and blanket stripe theme.:)

One of the first times we really "hung out" on the picnic blanket. Also one of the first times Seth got to see his mommy freak out over a spider that came dangerously close to our blanket.

Jason's mom hosted a get together at her house for the Grant side of the family, so Seth was introduced to a very loving family! Seth was completely enthralled with the vents on family room basement ceiling. He kept cooing and chatting at the vents.

Here is Jason's cousin, Tim, and Seth.
Jason's aunt, Wilma. I have an Aunt Wilma too! They're the best!
Jason's aunt, Judy. Awww...they're matching.:)
Jason and I laughed at this sight when we pulled up to mom's house. Seth's hat fell over his eyes and he didn't give a holler....he just decided to sleep. Is that all it takes????

Had to get a shot of the cute little froggy bum.:)

Seth's Summary: Week 13

2010-03-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

The biggest thing about this week is that we've been adjusting to me going back to work....probably me adjusting, more so than Seth! Thankfully, Seth has been used to being around my mom and Jason's mom, so having them come over to our house to watch Seth has been easy on him.

Eating: No change here, except I know Seth is getting the food he needs because he is gaining weight. If the scales are true, he is now 16 lbs!

Naps: Eh....Seth sleeps well for his morning nap, but his 2nd and 3rd naps range anywhere for 45 min - 1.5 hrs. Never consistent, but he probably gets about 4-5 hrs of sleep total with his naps. Seth still cries when being put down for about half of his naps. I read that at this age, Seth may enjoy his time playing with us so he would rather be up, than put down in his crib for a nap....even though he's been awake for a while. We're just trying to keep consistent with Seth's waketime so he doesn't get fatigued.

Nighttime: What is consistent is Seth's nighttime routine! This little guy sleeps from 8pm-ish until 7am! We're still enjoying it until something changes!

Waketime: Seth is up to 1.5 - 2 hrs of waketime between his naps. You can tell when Seth is reaching his max waketime, because he gets a little fussy, rubbing his eyes or gets the 7-mile look.

Other fun Seth facts:
- The drool faucet turned on! I find his drooling sweet.:) He's getting prepared for those baby teeth to start popping through in a couple of months!
- Seth LOVES walks in his stroller. He chatters the whole walk through!

Seth's Summary: 12 weeks and 3 months!

2010-03-12T07:52:00.000-08:00

Our 3-month old!!! Seth is getting so big and I can't believe that 3 months have flown by.

What is Seth up to at 3 months?

- He's discovered sticking his tongue out. We play a little game that Seth usually starts by sticking his tongue out, then I stick my tongue out and we go back and forth sticking our tongues out at each other. It's so fun! Of course, I'm sure there will be a day when I have to teach Seth "we don't stick our tongue out at people".

- We had tried giving Seth a pacifier weeks ago, but he never wanted to hold it himself. So, we tried a pacifier shaped differently and surprise, surprise - Seth takes it! We use it when Seth wakes early from a nap or is overly tired and needs something to suck on when going down for a nap. He sucks on his fingers, but when he gets overly tired, he'd rather shake his hands instead of put them in his mouth!
- I need to get the boy some shades cuz when we take Seth out for a stroller walk, he's practically blinded by the sun.....but he loves stroller walks - coos and squeals abound!

My favorites for Seth....blue, browns and stripes!

One of the fewer happy moments in his carseat. Seth has started to put up a fuss when he's put in the car seat...I think because he doesn't have as much access to swinging his arms around and putting his fists in his mouth.

Love the cheeky smile!! Seth has my chunky cheeks!

March 10, 2010:

Seth is sporting his first Viking shirt. I know what you're thinking....his first Viking shirt?? Yeah, we don't have a big stock of Viking threads....which I'm sure will change with this upcoming season.

Seth loves his daddy and gets excited when he comes home from work. They have a special time playing and chatting away.

March 11, 2010:

Seth and I had a playdate with our friends Jenny and Hayden. Hayden's 14 months old and Seth just got a kick out of watching Hayden. Hayden loves using his voice and walked right up to Seth chattering away. Seth just took it all in and watched Hayden like a hawk.

Seth absolutely adored Jenny. He smiled, cooed and laughed with Jenny for over a half hour. It was so fun to watch!

Seth got a taste of the Bumbo for the first time and I decided it was time for Seth to have his very own. He did well holding his head up! It is the perfect little seat for our boy that loves to watch the world around him.

March 12, 2010:

In the last two weeks, Seth really took a liking to the bouncer. He kicks his legs and pumps his arms, which inevitably hit the hanging toys and he gets so excited!

March 13, 2010:
We call this the "Zoolander" look.

I don't know who enjoys the Bumbo more.....Jason or Seth. We just bought the Bumbo for Seth and so far I can't tell if he likes it or not. He just kind of slumps over a little bit right now.

March 14, 2010:

Playing with a new toy....Seth loves toys that light up and make music.

March 15, 2010:

Feeding: No change! I'm still BFing and Seth is still quite the eater.

Naps: Seth takes a really good long nap in the morning and takes shorter naps of about an hour or so for the other 3 naps in the day. I've found that Seth's optimal waketime is an hour and a half, longer than that he starts to melt down.:) We started letting him use his new pacifier at the beginning of his nap if he is particulary fussy. Seth still does not prefer to have a nap in the early evening, but we try hard to get him to take a catnap around 6pm.

Nights: Seth goes to bed at 8pm, gets fed "in his sleep" around 10:30pm and then sleeps until 7am. It's proving to be a good routine....however long it lasts!

Playtime: We do Seth's stretches and positions to help his neck muscles. Seth has a lot of tummy time so he doesn't always rest on his back and head. He actually really likes hanging out on his tummy and does so for about 15 minutes during playtime. We try various activities like sitting in his Bumbo or playing in his bouncer for a few minutes. He does really well with independent play, either kicking his legs and pumping his arms over the dining room light to squealing over Sally the Snail that lights up.

Seth loves to be talked to and when you hold him, he prefers to be looking out with his back to your chest. Jason and I think he's going to be quite the independent, active little boy. He would rather be smiling, giggled and played with than being cuddled. Seth has his cuddle moments, usually when he's just woken from naps or we're winding down for a nap.

That's why I love the quiet mornings I have with Seth....because I know soon enough he will be too busy to cuddle with his mommy!

Seth's Summary: 11 weeks

2010-03-09T15:23:00.000-08:00

Our little chatter box is now 12 weeks old! But, as I've let on, Seth is revealing himself to be quite the talker. He is our baby boy....no longer an infant, but soon to be 3 months old!

Seth and I had a playdate with our friends Martha and her little baby girl, Lauren. It's so fun to hear the difference between baby boy and baby girl coos and chattering. Seth's sounds like a boy as compared to Lauren's little baby girl coos. I love it!

Eating: Seth is still eating well, which is evident in the weightiness that I've noticed in him the last week or so. I'm so glad I've been able to still BF Seth, so I hope it continues.

Naps: Seth has a good, long 1.5 hr nap in the morning and his subsequent naps during the day range from 45 min. - 1.25 hours. I was having a hard time getting Seth settled down for his naps, but then I found a nice little routine to help him get ready for his nap. First, we read a book in his nursery chair, then I sing a song to him for a few minutes. He calms down very well, but as soon as I turn his noise machine on and then lay him down in his crib, he starts to fuss and cry. I stay with him a few minutes while he finds his fingers to suck on. Usually he falls asleep within 5-10 minutes.

I laughed so hard this morning because Seth had a full morning of a bath and his neck stretches. He was nearly falling asleep in my lap just a little before 9am, so I headed for his room. I sang a song and lay Seth down in his crib. Right on cue, he yelled in protest but as I put his arms in his swaddle sack, he fell right asleep on me. That was a first that Seth fell asleep for a nap before I even stepped out of the room. I'm racking my brain for the magic trip, because I need to try that again!

Nights: Seth does so well at night! Our evenings and nights have been pleasant. Jason feeds Seth a bottle at 10:30-11pm and then puts Seth down for the night. He goes to sleep without a struggle and sleeps until 7-7:30am. I'm counting this little blessing, because who knows when Seth will change on us??

Playtime: I found that Seth's ideal awake time is really around 1.5 hrs right now, including his feeding time. After I feed Seth, I play with him in the living room on his play mat. Or, I'll do his neck stretches with some cuddle times in between the stretches because he does not like to have those stretches done!

My favorite thing is to go into Seth's room in the morning to wake him up or get him up from his crib if he's already awake. He is so happy! He giggles, squeals and gives me the biggest smile!

Other fun Seth facts:

- He is an absolute hoot on the changing table. It does not phase him when he gets his diaper changed. He squeals and gives happy screams.
- He laughs when I shake my head on his belly.
- He tolerates about 10 minutes of tummy time and has even begun to enjoy it somewhat....as far as I can tell, because he "who's" and sounds like an owl when he's on his tummy.
- When Seth is in a new surrounding or with a new person, he wears his inquisitive studious look: the furrowed brow. I laugh because everyone comments how he's so serious, but it couldn't be farther from the truth. He takes it all in and just watches.
- Seth consistently tips himself over on his back when he's doing tummy time. He gets so surprised when it happens as if he says, "How did I get here?"
- Jason took Seth on his first stroller ride outside last week and he liked it! Well, if you count falling asleep in his stroller by the time Jason finished the first block.
- Seth began physical therapy appointments for torticollis, which is basically a shortening of the neck muscle that's connected to your shoulder. We are doing stretches and positions to help strengthen the muscles on the left side of his neck and shoulder. He does not like the stretches, but we have lots of cuddles in between the exercises. We're trying to prevent Seth from having to wear a helmet if the shaping of his head does not improve from these exercises.

Here are some fun pictures!

March 3, 2010:
Wearing designer threads! I love this sweater. He was looking mighty cute for lunch with my mom at Panera Bread.

March 5, 2010:

Who puts their baby on the snow for a photo op! Seth clearly is a Minnesotan at heart - he took it all in stride.

I love how little babies look like penguins in their snowsuits. But putting Seth in the snowsuit was a chore. It's almost like you need to shimmy your baby's body into the snowsuit to actually get them in!

Seth has this look of "what is this thing?".

Seth sucking his thumb....sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't! I'm hoping he continues to opt for a finger or fist, because his requests for mommy and daddy to hold the pacifier in his mouth for doesn't quite cut it!

This is the "after" picture....Seth was on his tummy and then tipped himself over.

March 6, 2010:
Jason took Seth for his first stroller ride on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

March 8, 2010:
Tummy time: strengthening those shoulder and neck muscles!

March 9, 2010:
Seth batting Paulie the Polar Bear and Leo the Lion. He's figured out that if he keeps hitting the Paulie, the toy will make music.

More tummy time!

This was one evening when Jason had gotten home from work right before Seth had to go down for a nap, so I had to capture this sweet picture of Seth and his daddy.

It is my last full week being home full time with Seth before my maternity leave is up next week and I head back to work. I'm sad to leave my sweet boy, but he will be in good hands!

Seth's Summary: 9-10 weeks

2010-03-03T07:24:00.000-08:00

It's been a bit since I've posted, but that just means one thing....our lives are getting busy! Seth and I have been busy during our days together. I'm getting more and more confident taking Seth places on my own and figuring out how Seth does during a day with an activity. He does pretty well on our little outings!

In Seth's 9-10 weeks, we've been busy:
- Visited my company during the lunch hour on a Friday. Seth was dressed Friday casual with my favorite button up shirt.
- Visited with Seth's great-grandpa and grandma on my side. Seth was a peach and impressed his great-grandpa with how strong his legs are and how much he wants to stand up. Then, he took a long nap in his great-grandma's arms and boy, did she love that! He knows a nurturing little embrace when he feels it!
- While Jason and I went out to dinner at Benihana's, my parents baby sat Seth.
- Visited friends Jill and her baby Caleb for a play date. Seth seemed to take in what Caleb was doing as a 1-year old.

What Seth is up to these days....

Feeding: Seth is a little rock-star eater! He has six feedings a day and dropped his middle-of-the-night feeding during his 9th week. Wahoo! I think it was mommy who dropped the feeding, because clearly Seth was ready to give it a try because he didn't wake up hungry until sometime after 5:30am. Jason now feeds Seth a bottle of expressed milk at the last feeding of the day. We found that feeding Seth 5 oz was exactly what he needs to sleep through the night.....

Night sleeping: Seth is now sleeping through the night! Since we started giving Seth 5 oz instead of 4 oz at his last feeding, he sleeps until after 6:45am! Knock on wood, we keep telling ourselves. We never take these sleeping-through-the-night for granted, so we'll enjoy it while it lasts. In his 10th week, Seth now sleeps until 7-7:30am. I don't even remember when our last middle-of-the-night feeding was, but it seems like so long ago.

Naps: Seth has five naps a day, ranging from 1.5 hours to 1 hour in duration. Half of his naps he sleeps well for; half of them he does not. By that I mean that for all naps, he is now awake enough where he has to soothe himself to sleep. At most naps when I lay him in his crib, he cries for a little bit - even though he's tired, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He is learning to suck on his fingers or fist while he drifts off to sleep. I found a good routine for Seth that calms him down and gets him ready for a nap: draw the shades, darken the room with only one light, read a book, and sing some songs. After the songs, he is calm and relaxed. When I reach down to turn on his noise machine, Seth knows what's coming. He starts to whimper and whimpers more when I lay him in his crib. I turn his musical mobile on and help him find his fist to suck on. For now, this seems to work and he cries for about a minute before falling asleep.

During Seth's first 7 weeks, he had a fussy time anywhere between 6-10pm. It was difficult for him to take a catnap during this time. As Seth got older, we took out the cluster feedings in the evenings and he has had less fussy times.

Seth sleeps well during the evenings. At times we've been tempted to drop his 7:30pm feeding, because it's so difficult for Jason to wake Seth up for his 10:30pm feeding. If we let him sleep through the late evening feeding, he'd probably wake us up at 2am to be fed! He's still a little young to try to extend his sleep time from 7:30pm - 7am.

Awake time: Seth likes to be awake. In fact, he could be awake for 1.5-2 hours and not get crabby. He just loves to be up, looking around, sitting with his mommy or playing on his play mat. But, we try not to keep him up too long because he can easily get overtired. When Seth gets overtired, he does not nap very well.

Fun Seth stuff:
- His personality is really starting to shine through: content little boy, with a studious little look in surroundings outside of his home. He always gets the comment that he is so serious. And he is! Seth furrows his brows when he takes in his new surroundings.
- He is so happy, alert and giggly in his home with me and Jason. Seth will laugh, squeal or smile at us to get us to laugh and then he does it again. He's going to be just like his daddy - trying to get a reaction out of us.
- He sticks his tongue out when he smiles at me, which proceeds into a game between me and Seth: I stick out my tongue and smile, then Seth does. Back and forth we go!
- Seth wakes up in the mornings with big smiles and laughs. I love going in to wake Seth up because we're so happy to see each other. It's like - wow, I haven't seen you for a while! Let's play.

It is soooo nice outside and I'm itching to take Seth's wheels - aka, the jogging stroller - for a trip around the block. Pretty soon you'll see us jogging the trails!

I'll post some pictures soon!

Cuddly blankets

2010-02-20T10:42:00.000-08:00

Oh, I'm a sucker for soft, cuddly blankets and so happy that Seth has been gifted with so many. Can you indulge me for a moment while I lust after these monogrammed, super soft blankets? I would love to win one and one of my favorite bloggers, http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2010/02/product-review-ultra-personalized-baby.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ChroniclesOfABabywiseMom+%28Chronicles+of+a+Babywise+Mom%29&utm_content=Google+Reader, is giving a blanket away!

If I win, I would choose the "Molly's Very Own Herringbone" blanket in light blue and put Seth's full name, birth information, and the meaning of his name, "Appointed by God".

I hope I win!

Our two-month old

2010-02-16T14:36:00.000-08:00

Seth, exactly two months ago, you entered this world! You turned 2 months on February 16th! Wow - time has flown by way too fast! I can still vividly remember the day that Jason and I brought Seth home. I look through photos of Seth in his first few weeks and marvel at how tiny he was. And now, he's like a little boy! You made your entrance known with some fresh cries, but your personality shown through in those first two hours....intense and curious stares, wide blue eyes fixated on my face and your daddy's face trying to figure us out (as you still are!) and quiet confidence that this was where and when you were meant to be.

This is a summary of Seth's 8-9 weeks, when he hit his 2-month milestone.

At two months, gone is the newborn, scrunched up little face. It's been replaced with a calm, content and relaxed curious look. Sometimes you're "serious Seth" with a furrowed brow, which means you're quietly taking everything in and a content little man.

It has been a week of "goos", "coos", "ah-goos" and other little squeals from Seth. He is finding his voice and seems surprised that those sounds came out of his mouth.

Your wide eyes pop open when you've been surprised - the whites around your bright blue iris expanding as you try to figure out the new game Mommy and Daddy play with you. In fact, you abandon your furrowed brow and your eyebrows arch when you are very alert and in a playful mood, which I call your "active wakefulness". These times happen most often after your morning feeding, getting changed on the changing table and in the early evening hours. It's at these times that we get your most cheerful squeals, "coos" and "ah-goos".

You like it when Mommy or Daddy give you kisses on your cheek and neck or give you little raspberries on your neck. I started playing peek-a-boo with you by placing a burp cloth over your face for one second and then quickly pulling it away. You get excited and respond with a smile or squeal.

Light brown fuzzy hair is growing what seems to be an inch a day! Eyebrows are arching their way over your deep blue eyes. And those eyelashes make Mommy swoon when you bat them. It appears that you will have medium brown hair to match your eyebrows.

You shake your arms really fast when you're super excited. You pump your legs back and forth. Dr. Lisa (your pediatrician) says you have strong legs. You also have a little birth mark on your right leg.

At your two month check-up on 2.19.10, you had a recurring theme: 75th percentile! Go baby Seth!
Weight: 12lbs 14oz
Height: 23.5 inches

You also received two vaccines - one was a shot and one was an oral vaccine. You were pretty sleepy during the whole appointment, right up to the vaccine injections. When the nurse gave you the shot, boy did you wake up quickly and gave a big scream! But, you quieted after that and with some cuddles and hugs, you were fine. It seemed that your leg was sore for the rest of the day, because you were a little cranky. Mommy was happy to give you the cuddles and kisses you needed to be consoled.

There is no concern about whether or not you are getting enough to eat. You eat well, even if sometimes you fall asleep on the second side of feeding. Sometimes on the second side of feeding, you get really fidgety and slap your hand against my chest. Only half of your feedings do you keep your eyes open and stare at whatever is behind my shoulder. Do you get bored?

You like to touch and use your hands. You hold your hands and occasionally intertwine your fingers. You grasp onto plastic rings if they are strategically placed into your open hand. You touch and hold onto your ears and rub your eyes.

You are fluctuating between the 0-3 month, 3 month and 3-6 month clothing based on what clothing brand you're wearing. You almost seem to look for the 0-3 month clothing! I think it may be because you have a long torso, which make it a little difficult for your feet to fit in the footsies just right.

In fact, the few nights that I got up to feed Seth in the middle of the night this week, he would look up at me before feeding him in the nursery chair and just smile at me and "goo" at me. How precious! It was like he was saying, "Thank you for getting up for me, Mommy!"

It was also the first week in which I actually did not set the alarm clock to see how long Seth would sleep. The first night, Seth slept until 6:45am! The second night, he slept until 7am! For both nights, he didn't wake up crying for food. It was more like fussiness that he wanted someone to come in and get him because he'd been in the crib for so long. When I went to his crib, he stopped fussing and started smiling and cooing at me. He just wanted someone to come get him! We'll see how many more nights we can continue this nice tradition.:0

Now, I know one of the nice things about Seth learning to sleep until the morning is so that Jason and I can get longer periods of sleep. Wouldn't you know that I was the one waking up at 3am, 4am and 5am thinking that I heard Seth crying when he actually wasn't? I thought something might be wrong with him since he hadn't gotten up yet, so I'd sneak into his room to check on him. Little man was fast asleep! So, I was the one who didn't get a lot of sleep the first night Seth slept on his own through the night.

And now for the adorable two-month pictures taken at the Counihan home studio!

February 10, 2010:

Seth is able to hold his head up at a 90 degree angle for a good 10 seconds. He can tip himself over to his right onto his back.

February 11, 2010:

Seth really likes to be held facing out, with his back to your chest, so he can see around. He really liked being placed in the Jeep carrier for the first time. I walked around the house and he loved it! I can't wait to take him to the mall and walk around like this.

Valentine's Day, 2010:

Our little Valentine!

February 15, 2010:

It was Jason's birthday, so I dressed Seth up in a cute little "Daddy Loves Me" shirt and we made a birthday video for Jason.

I call this the "cha-cha-cha" photo, because it looks like Seth is doing a little salsa dance!

Seth likes being propped up in front of the window and stare outside.

February 16, 2010:

Seth's two-month milestone! He is no longer a tiny little peanut in his carseat like he was when he came home from the hospital!

Ha - I love this preppy little button-down shirt. When we found out we were having a boy, I told Jason that I would finally get to dress someone with cute preppy boy clothes, since Jason will not let me buy preppy clothes for him!

February 17, 2010:
The naked baby photo shoot! Seth happily compiled and even looked at me a few times as though he was unsure of why I would let him chill out without his clothes on.

Seth's Summary: 7 weeks

2010-02-05T14:19:00.001-08:00

It's the week of eyelashes and eyebrows! I'm convinced his eyelashes grew five inches and his eyebrows started to really come in. Do you know what this means? Someday those eyelashes and eyebrows are going to catch some lady's eyes and she'll be hooked.

It's also the week of Seth's first cold. He caught it from Jason, then passed it on to me! Poor little baby with a congested nose. It's affected his naps because he'll cough and wake himself up.

The other fun thing about this week and last week is that Seth has really become so much more alert and interactive with us. You can tell that Seth really likes something because his eyes get really wide, he flings his arms around and around and he pumps his legs back and forth. Sometimes he even smacks his lips! It is so, so adorable!

Feedings: we moved his feedings around a little so that we don't cluster feed (multiple feedings in the early evening) to tank Seth up for the night. He has a feeding at 7:30pm and then his late-night feeding at 10:30pm. Right now, I still set my alarm for 4am to wake Seth up for a feeding. Because I typically have to wake him up, I think he would probably sleep longer than 4am but I don't want to jinx it yet!

Sleeping: Knock on wood, Seth sleeps well in the night. We keep holding our breath for fear one night our baby will decide to do something completely different and keep us up at all hours! During the day, Seth averages four naps of about 1-2 hours. Sometimes he goes down easily for a nap, sometimes he puts up a fuss. Because he's had a cold, he has woken himself up from coughing and cuts his nap short. There have been a few days that he's only taken naps of 45 minutes at a time.

Awake time: we've been introducing more toys and books to Seth. I can tell he's interested in them because his eyes get really wide and he waves his arms.

Tummy time: Seth can push his neck and head up to a 90 degree angle! He holds himself up for at least 10 seconds and looks at himself in the mirror on his playmat or just strains to look at what's around him. Not only does Seth have tummy time on his playmat, but he likes to lay on Jason's chest on the couch and look around the living room.

Other fun and sweet things about Seth:
- He loves lights. He will stare at lights. Just when you think he's staring over your shoulder at some unseen celestial being...nope, he's just staring a light. As far as I know!:)
- He shakes his hands when he gets really excited.
- At night when I have to change his diaper and he's barely awake, I put him on the changing table and all of a sudden he realizes he's not in my arms anymore and doesn't realize where's he's at. I hold my hands out to his flailing arms for him to grab and I say over and over, "It's okay. I'm just changing you. Mommy's here." He settles down and then I (quickly!) get to business.
- Jason read a Sandra Boynton book to Seth and he loved it! Jason read it over and over and he just looked at all the pictures. I can tell he's going to be a reader!
- Seth goes to the gym with me.:) I feed him and then we head over to the gym, while Seth proceeds to fall asleep in his carseat and I get a little workout in on the eliptical machine. Works out terrifically!
- We went to both ABF group AND the service at church this Sunday. It was Seth's first service and he slept through the whole thing - sorry, Pastor Dave! I finally got to sit in the "mommy" section. I have always dreamed of being able to sit with a baby during the service. This time I got to show off Seth and feed him a bottle. This mommy had a lot of pride today!
- When I wake Seth up for the middle-of-the-night feeding, he'll lay in my lap, stare up at me and give me the biggest smiles and "goos!". It is SOOO sweet and totally melts my heart!

February 3, 2010:
Seth wanted to dress up really adorable for a lunch date with daddy! I bathed Seth and spiffed him with this cute winter outfit (as if he needs any spiffing up!) before we drove over to Jason's office. Seth was up long enough to peak around Jason's office, after which he konked out in his car seat. We went to Kahn's Grill and had the best lunch. I out-ate Jason....again. What can I say - I'm breastfeeding and need the extra calories!

February 4, 2010:
This is what Seth looks like when I'm trying to wake him up out of a nap.....I know, I know what you're thinking. Why wake a sleeping baby?? Because this little baby would sleep up to five hours in one nap during the day and I'd much rather have him sleep five hours at night.:)

This beautiful white and blue blanket was crafted by Joyce's friend, Deb. It is sooo soft and I love cuddling Seth up in the blanket.

Isn't this a fun soccer outfit! Compliments of the Terres family. Jason took one look at and said, "That's my boy!"

February 5, 2010:
Eyelashes that go on for miles and eyebrows starting to fill in!

February 6, 2010:

February 7, 2010:
With a little bit of strategic placement, Seth grabbed onto the playmat toy for five minutes, at which point he began to look a little confused at the toy wondering why his hand was attached to the toy. It's like you could read his mind, "How do I let go?"

Seth and his daddy taking an afternoon Sunday nap. Awww!!!!

February 9, 2010:
Seth is really getting into the hanging toys - you can tell by his outstretched arms! He'll swing his arms around and they occasionally bump into the hanging toys. He seems so proud of himself when he does that!

It's a snow day! I've started positioning Seth on the couch so he can look outside and he seems to like it! It's like a whole new world....

Have a great week! Can't wait to share about Seth's 8th week. He'll be two months in just a few days and he's already starting to look like a little man.:)