Friday, February 27, 2009

Wasn't He Just Born?

So on March 13th, Preston will be turning 9 months old. Will has reminded me that it will be nearing the time when he will finally have been on the outside of my belly as long (and longer) than he was on the inside.

He's growing up.

It still seems like he was just born yesterday. It's so weird how sometimes we go to fetch him from his crib in the morning and we swear he grew overnight.

Here is a little trip down memory lane from the last 8 months. You can click on any of these to enlarge.











Some things that Preston digs:

  • He's learned to pick up Cheerios and feed them to himself. This in itself is an accomplishment because it is the first dissolvable food he has eaten, not to mention it takes a lot of hand-eye coordination to use his little fingers to pick one up!

  • He has been saying a lot of hard constinants, like "Da Da", "Ba Ba" and also some soft ones like "Ma Ma" "Hi" (that one is new within the last few days).

  • He is getting better at falling asleep without much assistance, and no longer needs to be swaddled (well, about 90% of the time) in order to fall asleep.

  • He is rolling all over the place. I think he has discovered this as a means of transportation and loves it!

  • When he is sitting up he can lean over to one arm and almost get into crawling position, but not quite yet.

  • Also, when he is sitting in his crib he can lean over and pull himself into kneeling position with the help of the railing (he loves to look out of his crib).

  • He now does this fake laugh. I think he picked it up from me because he really sounds like he is trying to copy my laugh. It is pretty cute.

  • He can shake his head as if he is trying to say no, but I don't really think he knows what that means.

  • He will grab ANYTHING put in front of him. We've had to pull plenty of things out of his mouth lately.

  • He is a super happy baby when he takes good naps. If he doesn't, then he is pretty high maintenance and cranky. On a good day,he will take an hour morning nap, a long afternoon nap (60 - 90 min if we're lucky) and then another short evening nap around 6pm. Bedtime is usually 8pm.

  • He does this cute weird squinty eye smile and tilts his head. It's quite charming and really pulls at your heart strings.

  • He LOVES to play the piano.

  • His favorite song is "Itzy Bitzy Spider". He can be having a crying fit and if you sing that to him, he will stop and look at you and smile.

  • He is just like his Dad in the sense that he loves to see and do new things. If he could be toted around in the Baby Bjorn 24 hours a day he would be in heaven. Will has taken him on a lot of outings and Preston just loves it.

  • Preston is very social and anytime he sees another baby he will do this sweet high little voice and say "Ooohhhh Ahhhhhh".

  • He has kind of started doing seperation anxiety when we hand him off to someone else but ONLY when he is tired and cranky. If he's had plenty of sleep then he is happy to have anyone hold him.

  • He LOVES watching Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, etc. LOL Seriously, he will sit there and just stare at the dancers. I think he likes the music and the bright colored outfits. This is actually great because we are sick of listening to Baby Einstein (Mozart). I don't know if I will ever be able to listen to Mozart again without thinking of Baby Einstein.

  • He FINALLY likes tummy time. I will often find him in his crib on his belly.

  • He FINALLY is taking a bottle. Hurray! But he still breastfeeds for about 75% of his meals. I hope to have him weaned by the time he is 12 months...wish me luck. He LOVES his Mommy's milk.

  • He hates to get dressed. Whether you're taking clothes off or putting them on, he puts up a huge fight.

  • Changing diapers is hard, especially when they are poopy, because he will reach down and grab his little man-goods and if it's everywhere...well...no need to say more than that.

  • His favorite foods at the moment are Cheerios, sweet potatoes, banana yogurt, and anything off of Mommy and Daddy's plate. He still hates any type of grain cereal (rice, barley, oatmeal).

  • I have to clip his fingernails at least twice a week because they grow so fast.

  • He weighs about 22 pounds. 2 more and he will be over the weight limit for his Bjorn.

  • He still wakes up about twice a night, but is better about going back to sleep faster than before.

  • He doesn't have any teeth yet but he is always biting his thumbs and he has blisters because he bites them so much. We need to find something to put on his thumbs that is safe but tastes gross so he won't bite them.

  • He still won't take a pacifier, never has and probably never will.

  • He is drinking from a sippy cup

Will, feel free to add anything that I forgot.

Anyway, thanks for enduring my huge long post.I think this was more for me to remember than for anyone else. We love our little Preston and everyday we always are telling each other how cute he is and how much we love him and are glad he is in our family.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Seattle Ship Canal Locks

Question: What do you do on a Saturday night when you want to get out of the house, but you have no money, and you have a little one with you?

Answer: You drive around and look at Seattle for an hour, people watch, and then finally stop by the Locks because it is a pretty cool place (and free) and you can watch the fish climb the ladder (and it's free), and you can watch the boats pass through the shipyard locks from Lake Union to the Pacific Ocean (did I mention it's free?)

So, Will and I actually came to the Locks a few years ago when we were just dating...awwwwe memories...

Here are Will and Preston underground watching the salmon climb the fish ladder.


Once we got back to the car we had a very antsy little baby, so we let him sit in Dad's lap in the drivers seat for about 10 minutes to get his wiggles out.





A Family Self Portrait:

And then on our way home we decided that a Papa Murphy's pizza was in order. I said "I hope soooooo bad that they have their chicken garlic pizza on special!" But of course they never do because it's one of their "gourmet" pizzas (and Will doesn't really like that pizza anyway). But sure enough as we drove up to Papa Murphy's they had a huge poster on their front window that said that their Chicken Garlic Pizza was on special.

I'm tellin' you- it must have been my lucky night! All my favorite things - My two special guys that I love so much, the ocean, boats, Seattle, and chicken garlic pizza. YES!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

My Inner Suzy-Homemaker Confessed.

Okay. I will make a confession now.

As long as I have always NOT wanted one of these because I feared I would turn into Suzy Homemaker, I have now changed my mind.

I want one.

Not to make quilts and blankets, (well wait maybe someday), but the reason behind wanting one is because I want to design and make my own versions of these:

I have been sketching dresses since I was a little girl.

Whenever I have an event, I come up with dresses in my head and then I go shopping for them and am disappointed that the store doesn't have what is in my head.

I love to find cute dresses that are too short and make them into long dress shirts or over-jeans tops. Or I will find sleeveless/lowcut dresses and add pieces onto them so they are wearable and not too showy.

I also find dresses and add beadwork or trimming to dress them up or change/update the style.
I sketched and designed my album cover dress, and have already designed my next album dress.

I want to WEAR the outfits in my head.

Okay next confession:

Someday, I want to devote an entire day to making these:

Freezer meals. Perfect for me when I'm lazy, perfect for Will when I'm not home or he doesn't want to cook, perfect for when we're sick and don't feel like cooking. Just perfect.

My problems:

I don't know how to sew.

And I have no idea where to start or how to make freezer meals. Do I freeze them raw or cooked? Do I use tupperwares or do those expand?

Someday I will conquer these.

But for now, just call me Suzy Homeamaker Wanna-Be.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Two Happy's.

We are celebrating two "Happy's" this weekend.

First, Happy Valentine's Day everyone! We are hitting the Cheesecake Factory tonight as a threesome (it will be our first group Vday date -hee hee).

Just a little trip down memory lane...

This was our very first Valentine's date in 2004. We were not quite boyfriend-girlfriend yet, but had been dating for a couple of months. That night we made it exclusive after a romantic date and a kiss by the lighthouse. Will, I still remember you brushing my hair away from my face and pulling me in for that picture-perfect kiss. I totally melted.


In 2005, we were a month away from getting married and Will was finishing Grad school. This picture isn't from Valentine's day, but it is pretty close to around then. That year I snuck into his room while he was at school and I "heart attacked" his room. When he got home late that night he called me super excited to find the love notes everywhere.

In 2006, again I don't have any photos from Vday, but this one was shortly after on our 1 year anniversary where we went to a cabin. But for Vday itself, Will took me to a very quaint little Italian restaurant on the Kirkland waterfront.



2007, Will made me a romantic candelit dinner a home. I was very impressed with his skills. The photo below was us out to dinner and the symphony about a week later.

2008 I was 6 months pregnant. We went to our friend Joe's Italian restaurant (can you tell I love Ialian food?).

We always make homemade cards for each other every year, these were the ones from 2008...


This year we get to celebrate Valentine's Day with someone new...

Happy Valentine's Day Preston!! We are so glad you get to join us this year. We love you!

And speaking of Preston, here is the 2nd "Happy"....

Preston turned 8 months old yesterday. Oddly enough it was Friday the 13th and he was actually born on Friday, June 13th.

And look what I got to see this morning as I looked over at him from the computer (while typing this blog actually)...



Yeah, he actually pulled himself up and was kneeling and looking out of his crib. He was SOOOO proud of himself!! We might not have a crawler yet, but we've got a kneeler.



By the way, we are actually starting a new tradition this Valentine's Day. Will got the idea from the Ensign. Instead of making homemade cards, we are buying little "love books" for each other - something that we can both keep on our nightstand next to the bed. Whenever we want to write a love note for the other person, we will go to their book and write it there. This way it is stored in one place and will last hopefully for a lifetime. It will be something special that we can both go back and read on those days where we just need a little extra love. :)

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

If you want to hear another sneak peek from the upcoming Lullaby Album, head on over to my MySpace Music page and have yourself a listen.

Here is my blog about it (click on the word blog).

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

And then there were two.

Photobucket

We took a mini-vaca last weekend to Orcas Island.

There were...


And Dads. Of course.

There were babies...

Okay not really. But there was definitely...




Once we were on board, there was:

And then all of a sudden there was the...



Which created...




There were also...



And...



There was also

Once we arrived on Orcas Island, there were...


And just plain cute gazes.



Once we arrived to our cabin accomodations, there was:


Later that evening, there were...





And some...




Here were...




Where we witnessed lots of:

Inside the cabin at night, there was lots of:



and also lots of...






The next morning, there were...




and there was Will...



A few hours later there were...

But cute spectators:




After climbing 2,000 feet (Will by foot, us by car), we ran into...

And eventually, there was...

Later that afternoon, there were...




I waved bye-bye to my baby as G&G caught a ferry home and watched Preston for the night.




I cried as I waved goodbye to the ferry. I only gave Preston 15 kisses. It wasn't enough.





That's right. Our very first overnighter without Preston.

There was...



We found...




We also found...




There were also...







There were...


And...


There was also...

Sleeping in.
Napping.
Snuggling.
Smooching.
Hiking.
And more.
The End.