Wednesday: Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Isaac learned a new trick...standing in his crib.  Needless to say, it's hard to sleep when you're standing.

We visited Dad so we could show off the shirt with more physics books and a physicist.

This shot is a bit random, but a few weeks ago a big black spider suddenly dropped down in front of my sewing machine.  (Although not as big as the one shown.)  It freaked me out a bit.

Isaac went to visit all the great-grandparents in his Halloween costume.  I forgot to get one of him by himself. Maybe tomorrow.

Tuesday: 10 months and waves

Today Isaac turned 10 months!

Here is a video of Isaac talking.  Ben played it for Isaac a few times and he would talk back to himself. :)  But I'm not sure it'll be interesting for anyone but Ben and me.


We also drove to the beach to see the waves from Hurricane Sandy.  There were tons of people that had the same idea.  The waves were large, but possibly not large enough to have warranted a trip.  The wind was cold, so we took some shelter in the lee of a little building.

Sunday: naps

One reason I love the weekends are because Ben lets me take long naps.  Yesterday it felt like I slept the morning away with a 2.5 hours nap.  (Although before hand I did get groceries and put them away.)  Today's wasn't quite as long, but still about two hours.

I've been taking my naps in the morning if possible lately.  That way if something happens in the afternoon and I don't get it, I've still taken my nap for the day.  (Or, periodically, if Isaac doesn't sleep long during his first nap there is still a chance for a second nap.)  It often feels weird going back to sleep around 8:45am, but I'm just going with it.

I often feel like I might be napping too much, but if I compare how much sleep I got pre-Isaac and post-Isaac I'm still not getting less now.  Which is fine...it helps justify all the naps that I take. :)

Saturday: basement

Weird happenings in the basement today.

1) We were getting a few more things arranged and unpacked, and we were deciding were to put the dart board.  We decide the ideal location and start measuring.  Then we notice a bunch of random holes in the wall...apparently we weren't the first to think it was a good place for a dart board.  (We'll be putting cork behind it though.)

2) Ashlyn brought over some puzzles for Isaac to play with and one of them makes sounds when you put the correct piece in the hole.  Neat.  Ben and I played with that one a while trying to figure out if we could make the wrong pieces still cause a sound.  Isaac played with it a little longer, leaving some of the pieces out.  As we were leaving the ambulance went off.  Weird.  Then Ben came out into the basement room.  As he left I turned the light out again and the ambulance went off.  And again.  And again.  Apparently one of them is extra sensitive and likes to make noise.

Friday: Weeks 41-43

Week 41:

Week 41.5, taken by Cheryl

Week 42

Week 43, the hardest week to get pictures yet.

Thursday: Isaac

Today we have a random collection of things about Isaac...and a lot of pictures.

Yesterday I got together with Betsy.  We dressed up our kids again. :)  They're pretty nice to put up with us.

Isaac does a lot of crawling in the basement.

It was a beautiful day today so I raked a few leaves.  Isaac did not seem to enjoy the leaf pile nearly as much as I thought he would.  I don't think I got one smile out of him, and usually he seems to enjoy leaves.  Maybe there were too many.

People often ask what his favorite toy is.  While he plays with lots, I think the red heart from the puzzle my dad made is the favorite.  I watched him move from thing to thing to thing this morning, but the red heart stayed in his hand the whole time.

(And an artistic shot...on accident, otherwise he would have had two eyes at least.)

He also really likes Flurry.  Flurry is not as fond of Isaac, but sometimes lets him get surprisingly close.

Books are a new favorite too.  And I can semi-confidently say that he won't put them in his mouth.  He still will once in a while, but for the most part he'll just turn the pages.

Today he started pulling himself up on the dishwasher and playing with the clean plastic spoons.  So we stayed here for about 20 minutes while he went up and down and up and down.  When the silverware was dirty he threw a fit because I wouldn't let him play with it.  He seems to be doing that more often.  Is 10 months too early for little tantrums?  At least he is still easily distracted.

Wednesday: a blast from the past

In eighth grade, we had to keep a daily journal for our English class.  I've kept some sort of journal/blog on and off since then, but once in a while end up pulling them out.  I found them again as I was unpacking this week.

Oct 24, 1995  [Eighth grade]
It was cold today!  Really cold!  We had English the 1st two hours because Miss Bouws went with her homeroom to the power plant.  In gym we watched a short video about lacrosse and then played for about 15 minutes and I had a short sleeved shirt on.  It was freezing out!!  Everybody thought so!  In math we used a spreadsheet to find some answers, and it was really neat!  Band was boring  but we got fitted for our uniforms.  I think the scale is about 5 lbs off, or I gained 5 lbs in the last month   I had piano tonight and it went OK.  Also - there was an announcement today: "There will be no depantsing people."

Oct 24, 1996
No school today!! Mom was gone also.  Nathan and I (or at least me) had a bunch of chores to do.  In the end it wasn't that bad, though.

(The rest of the years managed to skip the 24th.  But I notice that I had an exclamation point problem.)

Tuesday: rain

Oh, it rained a lot this afternoon.  Down pour.  And then a heavier down pour.  It was awesome.

Monday: boolean

Ben: arg.  My  hair seems to have a mind of its own.  It often doesn't cooperate.  (or something like that...the transition to the next statement should have worked better, but I can't remember the exact wording.)
Amanda: Like a yes/no switch.
Ben: Yeah, a Boolean.  I have Boolean hair.
Amanda: Better watch out!  Flurry really likes bouillon.
Ben: Maybe that's what the wealthy style their hair with.

Sunday: Flurry or Isaac?

As a follow up to Friday's post, where I talked about waking up afraid Isaac was about to get hurt, I have a story from last night.

I was semi-awake and think I even petted Flurry a few times.  She decided that it was time to get down off the bed.  I rapidly sat up and tried to hold her on the bed so she wouldn't fall off, all the while trying to figure out why Isaac was so slippery.

Saturday: hmm...

I bought the Warcraft expansion and started playing today.  There were just too many white kittens that wanted me back.  I didn't do any leveling, but I did engage in a lot of pet battles. :)

I have a seven day trial...we'll see if I want to continue playing after that.  There are just so many fun things to do in life and not enough time to do them!

Friday: by some numbers...

...to show how crazy I am.

0: The number of times Isaac has slept with Ben and me in our bed.
0: The number of times Isaac has slept with just me in our bed.
2: The number of times Isaac has slept with me in a different bed.
84: The approximate number of times I've startled awake, realized that Isaac wasn't sleeping next to me, and almost freaked out because I thought he was about to suffocate from the sheets/fall off the bed/be squished by an adult.

Thursday: birthday

Today we celebrated Ashlyn's birthday at Chuck-E-Cheese.  It was Isaac's first time there and he had a lot of fun looking at things (and pretending to play the games).  Ben and I had a lot of fun too.

He's missing a sock because he took it off in the car and then dropped it in a puddle when I opened the door.  The restrooms didn't have the blow driers.

I got so dizzy in this ride.  Isaac seemed unaffected.  If there had been an emergency stop button, I would have pushed it.

Tuesday: migrating

The last several days have brought tons of geese (and one swan) to our lake.  This is what it looked like this morning...probably at least fifty geese (or more) (and one swan).  (Seriously, I think the swan thinks it's a goose.) (I swept after I took the pictures.) (Parentheses are pretty fun.)

In honor of migrating day, I moved all the chairs from the deck into the garage for winter.  I also let the turtles on the deck come inside to winter, since Mom always let them come inside and they didn't get a tough skin.

Monday: today

Today I felt like I needed to have a productive day; the to-do list has been piling up.  The end result was ok...I managed to accomplish things, but there's still a lot on the list.  Guess it means I need to have more productive days in the near future.

Vacuuming was done, laundry was started (although I managed to partially melt the mattress pad), the kitchen remained clean, I had a dentist appointment, the freezer was cleaned, dinner was made, and some emails were sent.  And took a nap and took care of Isaac.  But those aren't really chores.

Sunday: puffs

I've noticed that all brands of puffs say pretty much the same thing: "Your baby may be ready to eat puffs if they can eat puffs."  

This statement of course assumes that puffs are the first food that your baby feeds themselves.  Which seems to be the case for many babies.  Maybe this isn't quite as funny since I can't explain myself very well.

In other news, it's pretty much rained for the last two days.  I think there was an hour of sun and a few hours of just clouds.

Friday: cousins

Isaac got to spend some time with his cousins today. He has one that is seven months older than he his and she is such a giving person. She gave Isaac toys. She got Isaac more toys. She gave him the straw from her juice box. She gave him apiece of pepperoni since he didn't get any pizza.

It was pretty cute.

Thursday: Flurry

Flurry is still alive and well, even though she doesn't get mentioned as much.

Her new thing is getting up and standing over me in bed when Isaac is crying, telling me to turn the monitor off so that she can go back to sleep.

Wednesday: studying

Isaac and I were at the library today, and I had set him on the floor while I grabbed some books.  There weren't any books on the bottom shelf, so Isaac grabbed the next highest shelf and pulled himself up.  Hurray!  (He then tried to steady himself by grabbing books, including Jack London's Call of the Wild.  He found out that books move rather easily.)

This is one of the things on his test and something the doctor asked about yesterday.  It's good to know that 1) he's listening and 2) he's practicing the right skills.

Wednesday: isaac's first test

Today was isaac's nine month well child visit. He is still a well child. His weight is 17 lb 5 oz which is still small (15%) with a height of 28" (25%). But he's growing and following the same trend as the curves, so the doctor was happy with his progress.

But...he has an assessment test that we need to give him in the next month. The doctor said that we would pass based already on what she could see at the office. But I think we should try for an A+! So we have a few skills to practice. :)

Monday: to do list

Somehow my to do list managed to explode and it was extra long today.  So, as I normally do, I mentally figured out what absolutely needed to be accomplished.  Then I added a few things to the mental list (like take a nap).

I didn't even come close to getting the things that absolutely needed to be done done.  I did get a nap though.  And now I really, really need to get the remainder of the things done tomorrow.  It's a shorter list though, so I have hope.

Sunday: a package

We received a package on Friday!

Yes, I am once again posting about Chicken Enchillada.  We were super excited when we came to Holland to find a grocery store, that we even went to once in a while, that had it.  But I've now checked all the grocery stores (5) in the area and none of them have it anymore.  Ben suggested Amazon.  I was only going to order one, but ended up with two due to free shipping.  We'll use them eventually.  (We don't eat many helper meals, but this is our favorite.  And it doesn't require any thinking ahead.)

Having groceries shipped to my front door was rather nice.

Saturday: birthday party

Isaac attended his first birthday party today!

Dad had fun with the balloons.

(So did Isaac.)

He cared more about the fan than about coloring.

But did enjoy his pumpkin sticker.

Friday: 40 weeks

Isaac has now been in the outside world longer than in the womb.  Well, I guess he technically has been for a few weeks now.

It's getting impossible to keep him on his back long enough for pictures, so we might start switching it up a bit.  

He also started crawling backwards this week.

Thursday: clothes and rain

Today Isaac and I both wore grey and white striped shirts.  I didn't realize it until 1pm.

We also went for a walk with some friends as it was a beautiful day!  We got caught in a little rainstorm on our way home, but no one melted.  Isaac even fell asleep.

9 months/39 weeks

More pictures!

The standard two.  Isaac was feeling wiggly.

So I held him down.

Another monkey joined us this month.

And he was having way too much fun playing with his puzzle to look up.

We also took some shots with the white sheet.  They didn't turn out quite as well as at 6 months, but I'm not sure I tried as hard.  It also doesn't help that he moves more and he really wanted to play with the side of the sheet.

(As a side note, when I dropped him off at nursery today one of the helpers that was inside and couldn't see me said, "oh, it's the smiley baby!"  It's very true.  He's a rather happy person.)

Monday: pictures of Isaac

Today we went back to visit Grandma.  He wore a special shirt for the occasion.

Everyone always says that kids like the cheap "toys" the best.  Today I gave Isaac the plastic container from some cookies to play with.  It was loud and crinkly and he chased it all over the floor.