Sunday: church and play toy

We went to church again today, and sat in the cafe area.  Ben and I both caught only about half the service because other people don't have to be quiet out there.  (But neither does Isaac.)  Oh well.  I think it is still good practice.  We also got the baptism video.  I'm trying to convert, trim, and upload it to YouTube but it is taking a long time.  Maybe it will be tomorrow's goal.  Along with getting groceries.

I also put together a play toy thingy.  The problem this play toy has is that it forgot that babies have feet.  So if I set it over him the correct way (so that he can see the mirror and the toys hang down), his feet bump into the green thing and he is too far away from the toys.  After a while I took the green thing out (which was easier than expected).  It can go in later if we change our minds.

Even before I took the green thing out, Isaac really seemed to enjoy it.

He even managed to hit all the hanging things with his hands.  Although I'm not sure if it was ever on purpose or if he was just flailing and then hit them.  (In the photo below his hand is blurry so you can tell it is moving by the toy.)

Saturday: grumpy

Isaac was grumpy today. At least he slept a lot too.

Friday: six weeks

Today Isaac turned six weeks old!

We went to Target in the morning with my dad to pick up the last of the items on the registry. I was not impressed. They had no cribs out to buy. When we found someone, she said that there weren't any in the back either. She suggested getting it online, since the registry I printed out said it was available online. I asked customer service if there was going to be a shipping charge and they couldn't tell me. (so obviously I couldn't get it waived if there was...that was one of the reasons we went with a crib at Target). I get home and look it up, only to find out that it is only available in stores. I called customer support because my coupon was good only for one day, and they were no help. Dad ended up going to a target closish to his house to get it. (In comparison, I was having problems with the Toys r Us coupon code, called customer support, and two minutes later had a better coupon code.)

Anyway, back to Isaac. He started crying when we left Target and when we got home I found he was overheated. So I put him on the quilt to cool down, and he became a very happy boy, even with a few smiles. (Ben and I have both thought we've seen some, and then Dad agreed.). So, we of course took lots of pictures.

He looks like he has a halo!

Getting more animal tails.

So he could meet the monkey.

And bite his nose

We played Dominion with Tony and Christian. We managed to still get two games in, even though both boys needed more attention. At least they actually saw each other awake this time. They're making progress as friends.

Thursday: flurry's new perch

Flurry has found a new favorite location. There is a waist high uh...bannister? by the stairs going to the basement. She can walk back and forth on it and see everything that everyone is doing.

In other news, Isaac has gone to bed easily two nights in a row. I probably just jinxed it. But it was awesome.

Wednesday: decipus

This afternoon, in the middle of a bunch of crying, I thought I'd see if Isaac's diaper needed to be changed. I got him on the changing table with his diaper off and noticed he was enthralled with my shadow on the wall. After putting a wipe over him to contain any mess, I made a shadow dog. I quickly realized how limited my shadow puppet knowledge is.

Next I made rabbit ears. Then a decipus. (like an octopus, but with all ten fingers.). When Isaac felt like it, he provided the seaweed for the decipus to eat. (you can see the start of one the picture.)

Isaac was also visited by Haroldette the mouse, daughter of Harold and Haroldina. That went over well also.

After the diaper went back on, Isaac continued to be rather fussy the rest of the evening. (not the whole time, but not his easy-going daytime self either.) I tried to get Flurry to deal with him at one point. She looked at him, he hit her twice, and she left disgustedly. He did go to bed tonight very easily though, so it might have been worth it.

Tuesday: a conundrum

This morning I was going to quickly vacuum the master bath because Flurry made a mess initial while she was stuck there. However, the motor sounded terrible! So I took the vacuum apart so I could look at the motor.

It was full of dirt and cat hair. But here is the conundrum: how do you vacuum the dirt from your only vacuum?

(Isaac was no help in solving that question)

I ended up taking a lot of clumps out by hand. Then I turned on the vacuum to see if it sounded better, and dust flew everywhere! Not really what I wanted, but it did help clean the vacuum.

Isaac was rather fussy in the late afternoon and evening. We moved some clothes out of boxes during this time. It may not have emptied the boxes quickly, but at least there was some progress. The picture looks uncomfortable, but it was the only way he'd be quiet.

Tuesday: getting up

Sometimes I think Isaac mainly gets me up because he has to poop. He might snack, but the main event is the poop.

Monday: relaxing

Today was a relaxing day. I did get a few things done, but not because I had to. I think I only emptied one box, although several other things got done too (the laundry never stops!)

I started a puzzle last night because I've really wanted to do one for a while but it just didn't work out.

Sunday: baptism

This morning Isaac was baptized. It is a commitment on our part to raise Isaac to love God as well as we can along with being a seal that Isaac is one of God's children. The pastor also always takes a moment to talk about each childs' name. With Issac he talked about how the Biblical Isaac was one the the great three patriarchs of the faith, passing the faith from generation to generation. (I'll admit, I forgot what else he said but I ordered a DVD so I will remember later.)

Here's Isaac in the back of church after being baptized and having a super wet and dirty diaper. It was really nice to be back at church, even if we were not in the sanctuary.

Afterwards family came over to our house for sandwiches.

The caption on this picture is a) how do we have no furniture but so many empty chairs or b) why didn't anyone come to our super bowl party?

Saturday: moving

Today we moved!

Here is Isaac in his moving outfit. Unfortunately, he didn't wear it while moving. I was trying to bring him to Allison's where she was going to watch him, but I got a late start nursing him before bringing him over. Then he peed on the outfit. Then he pooped in the clean diaper. Then I realized I didn't have a second spare outfit in the diaper bag, so had to go find the box with clean laundry in it.

Fortunately, things went much better after this. The uhaul did fill up, but everything got on in one trip. Then everyone pitched in to help clean the house, and around 12:45 we were pulling out of the driveway with everything completed at the house.

I picked up Isaac so that Allison and the girls could join us for pizza. Then we unpacked the uhaul, put together some furniture, brought in some stuff that was just sitting in the garage, and folded the furniture pads by 2:45. Isaac kind enough to sleep the whole time.

The rest of the day we slowly unpacked some things and relaxed. Isaac got his second real bath...this time we were successful in getting an entire bath in, but I'm not sure I like how it was done, so the procedure will have to change next time.

Friday: (mostly) packed

Today started out with Isaac's five week picture! The quilt also got finished this week. And we're wearing red and hearts to Raise awareness of women's heart disease

Most of the rest of the day was spent packing, although we did take a break for lunch and to buy some fabric. The good news is that pretty much everything is packed though. We forgot the microwave and there are some clean and dirty clothes still in baskets and a few random things are out, but everything else is in a box. It's rather amazing how many boxes it takes to get all the stuff that we had here. (my guess, though, is that everything will fill up about two-thirds of the u-haul.)

Thursday: packing

Today a lot of packing got done. And some unpacking got done. It is kind of like Christmas to open up boxes that were packed up last April and sitting in storage since then.

Isaac took his first pacifier today (twice even). It seemed to come out of his mouth fairly quickly, but still stayed in long enough to calm him down.

(I know it's dark, but it is what you get at 4am)

Wednesday 2: well child visit

Can you believe I forgot to report the results of our doctors visit?

Isaac weighs 10 pounds (up 3 lb since birth), grew an inch, has good color, and is very aware. The doctor was very happy with how he's doing!

Wednesday: a night conversation

3am
Ben: i'm afraid
Amanda: what are you afraid of?
B: oceans
A: why are you afraid of oceans?
B: they make my books wet.
A: are you afraid of hoses?
B: some
A: are you afraid of glasses of water...
B: and babies. Babies make everything wet
A: true

We had dinner with Ben's family...everyone was able to be there and so it was a little crazy, but in a very good way. Autumn tried teaching Isaac how to laugh, it didn't work. :(

Hunger Monster

Hunger Monster has been one of my nicknames for Isaac. Today it worked for us and against us.

Once again it was every two hours between feedings last night.

But...he also took his first bottle from Ben without any problems. Hurray! (Of course, there also wasn't enough in the bottle so he was hungry again 15 minutes later.)

Monday: one month

Isaac is one month old today!

He got dressed in his Animal shirt because it had been a rough night. He kept waking up.

Isaac and Flurry are starting to get along better.

I pumped for the first time! I had wanted Isaac to eat before an appointment, but my attempts at gently waking him up failed completely. Next up is actually getting him to eat from the bottle though.

And sleeping. He took two amazing naps during the day; I wish they were at night instead.

Ben and I were talking about how much he's changed in just a month. He's grown a ton...clothes that used to be way too big are almost too small. His head can stay up easily during tummy time. He can roll over (when he's in the mood). He doesn't sleep as well at night.

Sunday: socks and sheets

This morning Isaac soiled the last pair of clean socks that he had. (That fit...he had some that were too big and lots of pairs waiting to be washed.). So since he was going to wear socks that didn't fit no matter what, I thought he might as well wear some of Ben's.

We also went to the new house and put our bed together. Guess what we found? The bottom sheet from our sheet set! The movers hadn't taken it off, which is why I was unable to find it in April.

It also snowed ton this morning. Around 7 I don't remember seeing much accumulation (although I wasn't looking very hard) and by 11 there was about ... 8"? I'm bad at estimating snow depths, but it was a lot.

Saturday: moving part 1 and tears

This morning I saw isaac's first tears...one from each eye. He had just conked his head on my collarbone pretty hard and apparently it hurt.

We also have all the stuff from the storage building moved into the house! A huge thanks goes out to Bens dad, who we didn't expect to be there but helped a ton. But all the furniture is in the house and in the correct room. Well, I guess there are a few pieces left, but nothing big.

Friday: 4 weeks

Today Isaac is four weeks old!

(the quilt is almost done, too)

We also went to the new house to get a few thing ready for moving phase 1. In doing so, we got some pictures of Isaac in his new bedroom.

Thursday: a house, a date

Today we bought a house! However, I don't have any pictures right now. We'll be slowly moving in over the next few weeks. Isaac was great at the closing and slept right through it. While the process was somewhat stressful, we had an amazing mortgage agent who was one of the most responsive service-industry people i've ever worked with, and that was great.

Then tonight Ben and I went on a short, but very nice date. We left Isaac with Dad and Pat and went to a nearby restaurant. Isaac was apparently on his best behavior while we were gone...hurray!

Wednesday: post 2

So here I am, feeding Isaac, and find that I already wrote tonight's post. So I thought I'd write another.

A lot of cool things are happening tomorrow. It will be an exciting blog post. Actually, it might not be. But it will have exciting news.

My finger pads are dry. Not cracked, but a lot drier than they were before Isaac was born.

I pronounce the j in bjorn (buh-jorn). I think it is because I read the word fjord before anyone said the word to me, and the hard j stuck. I even think I read it in "a wrinkle in time" but would need to reread the book to confirm.

Following jess' example, i've been doing a lot of reading to Isaac from the book I'm reading. And I've found out that weird names of people and places are really annoying. I have no idea how to pronounce them, so stumble over them a lot. It's especially annoying when the name is only going tobe used once. When reading to myself, I don't think that I pronounce weird names, but look at the letters in the name and go with that.

Isaac seems gassy tonight. I wonder why. It certainly isn't helping him sleep.

Wednesday: pictures and video

Today the baby pictures were posted!  Woo-hoo...I love them.  If you want to see all of them, you can go here: http://www.pictage.com/1203102

But here are some of my favorites (copied by permission).  Christen did a great job, and you can see more of her work here: http://www.christenbphotography.com/ (and she is available for other photo sessions if you're interested!)

 I might have to expand my picture wall.  How am I going to have all the cute ones of Isaac and still have other memories and people on it?

Here is another video of Isaac rolling over because that's the only trick he currently has in his repertoire.  It takes him forever, but he does it.  Sound was removed.

Tuesday: in the hood

Last night did not really go all that well. Isaac did not want to be put down, so we watched a movie. Then he was hungry about every two hours. :(

This morning we both had hoodie sweatshirts on. Actually we both had them on all day, not just in the morning.

We also tried the Bjorne again. Yesterday it didn't work, but today I realized I had to put some straps through some loops. Once I did that Isaac calmed down. I was hoping that he would stay awake in it, but he fell asleep. I had a 12:30 appt and I was trying to get Isaac to start a nap cycle in the car, but it failed completely. Oh well.

Monday

Today Isaac was cranky.

Here he wasn't cranky for 15 minutes...

(ok, there were several other times he wasn't cranky. But as he is getting older he is getting fussier.)

Flurry had an awesome pose during the above nap. She was trying to get my ham sandwich. Too bad my collection of water bottles joined her too.

And here are Ben and Isaac bonding before bed time.

Sunday: 5 diapers

Amanda removes a dirty diaper from Isaac (#1).

Isaac pees, soiling the diaper that is under him for such emergencies (#2).

Amanda gets a new diaper and wrap under Isaac. Isaac poops. (#3)

Amanda quickly removes the soiled diaper before it gets over anything. Isaac finishes pooping on the new emergency diaper (#4).

Amanda finally gets a clean diaper on Isaac (#5). Phew.

Saturday: one outfit

Today's big news is that Isaac managed to stay in the same outfit all day! Hurray!

Friday: 3 weeks

Today Isaac is 3 weeks old!

He also started using the next size diaper, which worked very nicely.

I put him down on the floor while I was going to the bathroom this morning, and made Flurry make a choice: get water but get close to Isaac or stay away from both. She decided to get the water, but stalked by Isaac very carefully and as close to the wall as possible.

Thursday: more rolls

We went out today and saw Christen and Samuel. And it was a lot of fun. It was nice to get out and see them and swap poop stories. (And a lot of other stories too.)

Then Ben was spending tummy time with Isaac and gently bonked him on the head with his head. And Isaac said "Ow"

 Then Isaac rolled over. We both saw it. Then he did it again. Then we got it on video.
 He just did it for a fourth time, and this time he didn't start with his arm under him but to the side.

Wednesday: busy

Today was another busy day, but good. It started with a trip to Grand Haven to get Isaac on my insurance and show him off to coworkers. He did an awesome job of being cute and sleeping while we were there.

Then Dad came over during lunch.

Isaac had his first real bath, but it didn't go very well and ended up being a half bath.

Then he decided to show his support for Hope College. (there was also a Hope/Calvin game tonight which I was completely unaware of at the time.)

(of course, he got it wet a short time later so I don't know if that is a sign.)

Then Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner and a game of bean farmer. It was fun, and the food delicious, but isaac got fussy near the end. Ben weighed Isaac on our scale, which is only precise to the nearest half pound, but he was at nine pounds.

Tuesday: trifecta

scene: changing a diaper on a plastic changing pad

Amanda: all right! The diaper is just wet!

Amanda puts diaper in hamper.

Isaac poops.

Amanda: the outfit!

Amanda scoops up Isaac, hoping nothing got in the poop as the watery part runs all over the middle of the pad.

Amanda: now what do i do with you?

Amanda puts Isaac perpendicular to her on one of the pad sides and starts getting the new diaper ready.

Isaac pees.

Amanda quickly puts the diaper over Isaac.

Amanda: oh, you got me that time!

Amanda gets the diaper on Isaac.

Amanda decides that while the outfit was mostly saved, it should still be replaced and takes it off Isaac.

Amanda picks up Isaac to check his back and the diaper.

Amanda: You could complete the trifecta and spit up on me too.

Isaac burps.

Isaac spits up all over Amanda's shirt.

Amanda: thanks.

Monday: fussy

Last night and today Isaac was fussy. I was up an extra time or two during the night and when I was up they were longer stretches. Now, I'm sure it could be worse; we weren't carrying an inconsolable baby or anything. But it was still annoying.

The fussiness continued throughout the day...kind of the same thing. Only one person was able to hold him in one position or he wasn't happy. Oh well, we made it through the day.

Well, here's hoping for a better tomorrow. Especially since Ben wont be around during the day.

Sunday: this and that

Today Isaac got to wear his crazy drummer Animal

But it was short sleeved, so he also wore the sweater from grandma.

I thought putting those two articles of clothing together was hilarious.

Ben also had Isaac doing a "trick" this afternoon. When I came over to watch, he wouldn't do it. Then he got huge grin on his face. (I know it was gas, but the timing was perfect.)

Saturday: snow and dominion

Last night Flurry joined us on the bed for most of the night. She also got up with me for all of Isaac's feedings, which was nice of her.

It has snowed nonstop here since Friday morning, and we've probably gotten around a foot of snow. It's beautiful.

Some friends came over this afternoon with their seven week old son. Our goal was to finish one game of Dominion. We managed to finish two because both boys took good naps at the same time.