Saturday: lunch

We're lunching at Burger King. Isaac is laughing at everything (and a lot of nothing). I'm not sure I've ever seen him this happy.

Friday: lions

Isaac threw his lion. I said, " why did you throw your lion? Was it a lyin' layin' lion?"

Thursday: Liz's quilt

Our friend Liz quilted a quilt on my frame this week.  I was a little nervous at first...is the machine going to act up?  Is it going to take tons more time than I expect?  But it went really smoothly and she finished quite a bit faster than I expected.  Anyway, I took some pictures of her and since the camera was out, I took a picture of Isaac in what has become his normal place while I'm quilting.  He does play with the toys down there too, but it depends on his mood.

Then Liz took it off and was taking a few pictures of it and Isaac decided it was his favorite thing ever.  He was all over it!  We rolled it up at the end and Isaac tried to take it.  When Liz (gently) refused, he brought me over to the quilt to take it away from her.  I gently refused too.  :)

Wednesday: quilt show

Cheryl, Isaac and I went to a quilt show today.  It was a lot of fun and Isaac did pretty well.  He had his ups and downs, but they were mostly ups.

I liked several of the fronts.

But found myself paying a lot more attention to the quilting of the quilts and really found a lot of designs that I liked and would like to try and do.

There were also some quilts displayed on cars.  It was a fun way to display them, but...they were rather hard to see.

Hooray for quilts!

Wednesday morning: monkey wrestling

5:30am: Amanda goes into Isaac's room to calm him down, hoping he'll go back to sleep. It seems to work.
6:00am: Amanda gets up because Isaac is making a lot of noise and is probably ready to get up.
6:02am: Isaac demands to be put back in his crib.

Monkey wrestling ensues for the next half hour. Maybe next time he can do it more quietly.

Monday take 2: pictures

Balloons!

Although it's hard to tell from this picture, I do think he's having fun being one.

The people!

He had a hard time (at first) understanding that you were supposed to take the tissue paper out.  Then he had a hard time realizing that he couldn't play with the toy right away!

Near the middle he finally got it all figure out though.

Scissors!  Ben and I have heard him say scissors...it's one of his first "real" nouns.  I haven't heard it the past few days though.

Cupcakes are delicious.

Monday: 1/2 birthday

We had a 1 1/2 birthday party for Isaac tonight.  It was a lot of fun.  We have several cute pictures, but I think I'll post them tomorrow.  I'm kind of tired and think I'll head up to bed early tonight.

We decided to celebrate Isaac's half birthdays more than his full birthdays because his full birthdays are so close to Christmas.  It did feel a little weird this year, but I think that if we get in the habit it'll be a lot better.  A birthday party in late June is a lot easier than mid-winter because we can go outside too.  And I expect Isaac will someday thank us for it.  We'll still do something really small on his birthday, but it might only be a cake or something.  I guess time will tell.

I feel like I'm rambling.  I better head to bed.  I didn't take a nap today. :)

Saturday: "Bring this to Dad"

Amanda: "Hey Ben, did you read this card we got?"
Ben: "We got a card?"
Amanda: "Yeah...uh...hey Isaac, can you bring this to Dad?"  (Ben was on the couch and I was in the kitchen.)

Isaac does so.
Isaac comes back for more.

Amanda: "uh, here, bring this to Dad"  ...and hands Isaac some junk mail.

Isaac does so.
Isaac comes back for more.

Amanda: "Please bring this to Dad" ...and hands Isaac an oatmeal box.

Isaac does so.
Isaac comes back with a hat.

Friday: pool

Today Isaac and I met Betsy and Ethan at the outside pool at the gym.  It was a really nice pool...although the boys seemed to prefer running away from us.

(Thanks to Betsy for the picture)

There's also a nice eating area, so we had lunch together too. :)

Thursday: monkey

Not much exciting happened over here today; it was just a normal kind of day.

Well, maybe one exciting-ish thing.  The car was having a oil change so Isaac and I walked to the nearby greenhouse to see the monkey.  (I know, it seems odd.  It is odd.  But nevertheless, it is a real live monkey.) I remember feeding the monkey when I was a kid.  So today Isaac got to feed the monkey.  (I also remember the monkey being out of snacks by the time we got there. I was so sad.)

The monkey smiled at us a few times too...that was actually a little scary as the teeth look really sharp.

Wednesday: critters

Today we went to the Critter Barn again, but this time with Betsy and Ethan.

It was busier than last time, but it was still a lot of fun to see all the animals.  A lot of them had changed locations, which I found interesting.

I love this picture.

However, the boys seemed to love the non-critter things the best.  Ethan loved the water hose, Isaac loved all the rocks and the steps to no-where.

Most of the time they looked happier.

Isaac also came to show me his monkeys this afternoon.

I caught one as he was zipping away.  I know it's blurry, but I feel like that adds a lot to how Isaac is lately.  He rarely stops moving.

And finally, his first self-portrait.  Hopefully subsequent ones will be better.  And hopefully he'll be properly dressed in the future too.

Tuesday: colonoscopy

Today I had a colonoscopy.  I won't hold you in suspense; everything looked fine.

Actually, this prep even went better than the last one if I recall correctly.  The procedure was a little different and I had to wake up at 4:30am to drink the second batch of medicine.  But maybe because of that it was a little better over all.  I'm still amazed at the drugs they use to put me out.  You'd think that maybe I would remember closing my eyes, but I don't.  We were talking (or the doctors were talking) and then suddenly I was being wheeled back to my room.  Surprisingly, I do remember a lot after that.  The anesthesiologist said I should sleep for about fifteen more minutes.  The doctor said everything looked good.  Cheryl said I didn't ask too many dumb questions.

So, three cheers for a good result.  

Monday: a good helper

Issac was a really good (and cute) helper today.  I was folding the laundry and he grabbed one of my shirts.  After running around with it for a little bit, I thought we might as well run into the bedroom and put it away.  Isaac signed "more!"  Ok, I'm happy to let you help me with the laundry.  We didn't get the whole basket put away, but we did get most of it put away...one item by one item.  It was funny to watch him with the long sleeved shirts...he often had to stop and make sure the sleeves weren't dragging.

Then this evening I was on the couch complaining about a headache.  Ben offered to get me some medicine, which I gladly took him up on.  Thirty seconds later Isaac comes out with his arms full of old pill bottles that have been turned into toys and heads straight for me.  It was one of those sights that I never want to forget.  I'm not sure if he knew what he was doing, but it was super cute.

Sunday: Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

It was a pretty full day today.

So full, that I only got one silly picture of Ben and Isaac.  Oh well, they're both really cute in it.

It started out with Dad and Pat coming to church with us and staying for dinner.  I have a great Dad.  I might not tell him very often, but he's pretty amazing. :)

In the evening we grilled with Ben's family.  That was fun too.

Friday/Saturday: games!

Ben and I have played a lot of games this weekend!  First Euchre and Pinochle with some friends from Ben's work.  Isaac decided that he wasn't tired until 10pm, but he sat on my lap without being too distracting, so we let him stay up.  It was a Friday night after all.

Then Hand and Foot with some other friends tonight.  That one included root beer floats...yum.  The girls won with an awesome (and surprising) last hand.

Thursday: hmmm

Hmmm...today...

I ran the Roomba in the office.  It wasn't the first time that I've done so, but it still managed to pick up so much stuff!  I was actually rather surprised.  Where does it come from?

I'm looking for a daycare/childcare for Isaac in the fall.  I don't need a ton of time, but do need to pretty big chunks.  I went to one on Tuesday and came back with a *meh* impression, although I've heard it's good.  I went to one today and liked it a lot more, but it was also a lot more expensive.  I think I have a few other people/places to look at yet.  Luckily, it seems to be pretty easy to get Isaac a spot.  I think he will be old enough to not be considered an infant and won't need the highest caregiver to child ratio.  I'd still like to get it settled though.

Then we got to go to the fabric store!  Isaac is starting to enjoy playing with fabric...it rivaled the rock that he also had with him.  A friend and his young son joined us and I had the following (one-sided) conversation with the son:

Son, running at me: Dadadada
Me: No, I'm Mom.  Wait a minute, that's not right.  I'm Amanda.
Friend: laughs.

It's just so natural to say, "No, I'm Mom" when someone says dadada at me.

Tuesday: me

Lately I feel like my blog has turned into a blog about Isaac.  While I do like this, because I like Isaac, I kind of wish that it was a little less about him.  However, I spend most of my day with him.  And chores are (often) boring to talk about.

I don't think I'm going to change anything.  Although I have been thinking that in a few years I might make the blog hidden.  I think everything that Isaac does is cute, but I don't want his classmates to find it unless Isaac is ok with it.  I expect that I have a few years though...we'll see if blogging is even still around.

It was supposed to rain all day but didn't.  Well, it did rain for thirty minutes when I was hoping to be outside for library story time.  The weather people keep saying to expect severe thunderstorms so I'm expecting them!  And being let down.

We ate home-grown lettuce in our salads for dinner.  It's the first of the veggies.

Tuesday: traffic jam

Today I had a lawn mower traffic jam as my neighbor and I were mowing the same area of our respective lawns.

When's the last time that's happened to you?

Monday: beach

Isaac and I hit the beach again today with his cousins.  It was a grey day, and a bit cool, but I wasn't cold.  And they had a great time.  It took Isaac a while to warm up to the idea of playing in the sand.  He just sat with me for a while.  Then he found a stash of rocks, so he played with those for a while.  I put his sandals back on while he was playing with the rocks...I think the texture of the sand might have been annoying him. Then he slowly started playing with the sand.  He didn't make it to the water, but maybe next time.

More rocks!

Sunday: "ok, maybe that's fine"

Isaac often makes me rethink my "rules".  It's not really a good or bad thing, it just is.

For example, today he was playing in the water left in the shower.  At first I thought this was a bad thing to do and tried to persuade him not to.  However, when he went back to the shower rather quickly and I decided that maybe it didn't really matter.  There wasn't even enough water to get more than his hands wet and there wasn't anything dangerous in the shower.  He was happy.

But just so you don't think I'm a complete push over, I didn't let him open and close the sliding door when Flurry could have escaped.  This caused lots of tears.

Saturday: a parable brought to life

The Parable of the Lost Coin

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  Luke 15: 8-10 NIV (biblegateway.com)

Isaac had lost two coins from his piggy bank toy.  Ben and I have been looking all over for them this last week.  I found them this morning!  They were in the front of his bus toy...hard to see unless you're at the correct angle and the colors were the same, making them even harder to spot.

So today we celebrated!!  I know, it's not the same as having a person come to Christ, but it did remind me how exciting such an event is.  We started with donuts.

Then Isaac played so well in the morning while Ben was sleeping.  He probably played for about two hours with minimal interventions from me, which is a huge change from the last several weeks.  I enjoyed it with a lot of quilting time.  This afternoon we went the library, the new frozen yogurt place, and the Peanut Store.  After dinner we spent a bit rolling the coins back and forth.  Well, Ben and I rolled the coins.  Isaac yelled excitedly and ran around.  

(We still have all the coins.)

It was a great day.

Friday: creepers

Look what came in the mail!  A family of creepers.

Isaac really wanted to play with them.  Probably because his creeper was the happy one.

To protect the creepers (which, yes, does seem a little backwards to me), they got a place of honor by the sink.  I had one shelf left to fill, so this family is perfect for it.

(And it even looks like I have a clean kitchen!)

Thanks Zach and Jenny for such a fun surprise!

Thursday: this and that

Today was the last day of swimming lessons.  I think that they were really good for us...Isaac seems more comfortable in the water and I know some things to do with him.  Now we just need to keep getting in the water periodically.  It might be a little easier to do since he always takes a nap afterwards...there are some days that I just really want him to take a nap. :)

I was going to go grocery shopping today but didn't.  I've been meaning to go all week.  We'll go (for sure (probably)) tomorrow.

We went over to Dad and Pat's for dinner.  That was a lot of fun.  Isaac was cute and played well with us and the toys.

Wednesday.

While reviewing the day in my mind, I found that there wasn't any one thing that stood out today.  It was a good day...weeding and then going downtown with Cheryl and fun times with Isaac.

So I'll leave you with a link about American English linguistic/pronunciation differences that I found really interesting.  If you choose to look at it, you may be interested in knowing that I fit into most of maps except as follows:
*Crayon (I say "cran", which would be the green color)
*Pecan (I say "Pick-ann", which would be blue)
*And I say "drinking fountain" and "water fountain" equally, not the deep blue of West Michigan

I'm a little sad that I didn't see one about basketball hoops, but maybe it is in the other maps that have been made.  I can't get the link on the bottom of the page to work.

Tuesday: talking

What do you say after you "accidently" throw your toy off the changing table?

 And the animal sounds...they didn't all come out great, but they're all there. There isn't really anything to see in this one.
 

edit: the first video didn't stay in for some reason.  I'm not sure why.  But it's there now...hopefully.

Monday: today

Nothing special happened today, so I thought I'd go through a fairly normal day.

Isaac woke up at 5:30am.  Well, that's not normal.  But I think he is teething.  We went back to sleep on the couch, although I had a hard time getting back to sleep.  We reawoke at 7:10, a much better time to wake up.  We helped Ben wake up.

I did some chores and Isaac played for a while.  He then decided he wanted to go outside so that he could drink from a water bottle.  I thought it would be too cold, but in the sun it was pretty nice.  He played with the water and his rocks for a bit.  Then I gave him some ice cubes to play with outside.  Those were fun too!  Until he wanted to bring them inside.  That caused a meltdown that lessened but didn't really go away for the next fifteen minutes.  Obviously, it was nap time.

He woke up too early, and ended up finishing his nap with me on the couch again.  Good thing we have a comfy couch.

Our outing today was to get some flowers and veggies.  I was going to just get a tomato plant.  I ended up with some green peppers too.  (BTW, I have some extra seedlings if anyone is interested.)  I also got some perennials - coneflowers and something else.  We also stopped at the hardware store to get some stuff to hang a quilt.

At home we watched Curious George, planted our veggies, and did some quilting/I-pad.  It's been a little hard to get some good quilting time in lately as Isaac often wants me to join him in whatever he's doing.  I suppose I should be happy he wants me around, but let's face it...the i-pad games that he plays over and over or the movie that he's seen a gazillion times are kind of boring.

Moving on...time to make dinner.  We had chicken Parmesan.  Isaac wanted to drink out of a water bottle and since we were inside I didn't give him free rein which caused quite a bit of sadness.  Luckily Ben came home soon after that.  Ben's arrival often changes the dynamic of the house (in a good way).  It's actually rather surprising how much it can change just by having him come in the door.  We watched MythBusters with dinner.  Isaac ate everything but the spaghetti.

After dinner I did a little bit of quilting and then put Isaac to bed.  I played some Warcraft (faction grinding for pets), helped Ben in Warcraft (that part was stressful, but we won!), and did some fabric cutting.  I'm currently listening to a book about President Garfield.  I should have started to get ready for bed about 25 minutes ago, but instead I didn't. :)  Getting ready for bed can be so annoying.

Good night!

Sunday: playing with food

Isaac was really excited about eating his lunch today. I gave him several things that he likes to eat.  But then, about half way through his beans he decided it would be more fun to put them in and out of the container they were in.  So I took away the container.  That didn't phase him...he just put them on top of his sippy cup and the shook them off.  Repeatedly.

Saturday: playing

Tonight Isaac spent some time on the deck.

He rocked some rocks.

I know, it's a bad picture.  But the only good-ish one of rocking rocks.

And played with the water bottle and rocks for about thirty minutes.  Why am I trying to get "real" toys again??

Friday: garage sales

Our neighborhood is having a garage sale this weekend, so Isaac and went to see what there was. At one house we got a rocking fish and two rocks Isaac picked up off the ground. I'm pretty sure the rocks were the most exciting purchase for Isaac.