Sunday: Happy Father's Day!

After church we went on a boat ride for lunch.  It was delicious.

Isaac is really starting to like Flurry.  Flurry is still tolerant of Isaac.

For Father's Day, Isaac took a wonderful nap for Ben while Ben was on-duty.  (I was taking a nap.)  Isaac started screaming once, so Ben put the pacifier back in.  I didn't hear a thing.  It was awesome.  I hate being woken up from my naps to put the paci back in.

Saturday: a wedding

Today we went to a wedding for Ben's cousin.  It was beautiful and fun.

We also fixed the sprinklers with the help of Larry and Cheryl.  It was neither beautiful nor fun, but their help was much appreciated as several of the heads were buried and/or needed to be replaced.

Friday: 24 weeks

Today Jacob and Ashlyn spent some time with us.  Isaac really enjoyed playing with them, especially since it meant he got to watch a video game for a little bit.

And we have some 24 week pictures!  I played around with some of the camera settings and could easily see that some were better than others, but now I don't know which are which.  Maybe next week I'll write down what they are.

We also had some pictures taken of the immediate family taken.  The two smallest kids were doing ok until the last picture of just the grandchildren.  They were both done by then.  We'll probably end up with one or two decent shots thanks to Photoshop, but we had to work hard for them.  :)

Thursday: salad

Today we ate a salad from lettuce we grew ourselves!  It was another first for me.

The lettuce

The pickers

The salad spinner

The baby and a pile of greens.

(The picture is really blurry, but I thought it was a clever play on "a pile of baby greens."  But now I'm not so sure that's a phrase.  Maybe that makes it funnier.)

Wednesday: Roar

Isaac was having a rather happy day; he was laughing more easily than normal.  Then I read a book to him and it kept saying "shhh, listen for the lion."  So I was reading it rather quickly.  Then ROAR!!  I scared him so much he started crying.  It took him a while to settle back down.

Oops.

Tuesday: why I felt like a bad person

Today I felt like a bad person because I was pulling out flowers with no reason other than I didn't want them.

Only bad people don't want flowers, right?  Good people want flowers.  So I gave five bushes a probationary period.

It isn't looking to good for them as I proceeded to sit in the hot sun for the next 10 minutes and try to get grass out of the middle of them.

Monday: Flurry and Isaac

Flurry and Isaac slowly seem to tolerate each other more and more.  As in, Flurry doesn't always run away and Isaac is noticing Flurry more.  (I'm quite sure he said 'kitty-cat' the other day.)  I even managed to get four pictures of them together in burst mode!  (Although to be fair, just before I got the camera they were sitting near each other for about a minute.)

This is the best one.  Flurry looks like she's about to eat Isaac.  Isaac looks scared.

In other news, there's a strong maybe that Isaac rolled from his back to his front.  It's only a maybe though because he rolled right back to his back again, making it very hard to tell.

Sunday: a list

I've thought of three milestones for Isaac that I feel are important but people don't talk about as much.

1. Grabbing...he does this now and it makes him so much more independent.
2. Returning the pacifier to his mouth...and then letting go of it. Alternatively, not taking it out in the first place.
3. Temperature control, such as moving to a new spot in the crib to cool off or putting a blanket over himself. (I know...I have a ways for that one. But I can still look forward to it.)

In other news, we swam in the lake for the first time. Cool but enjoyable.

Friday: Happy Birthday

For Isaac's 23rd week birthday, we'll start with a funny face.  But at least he isn't moving much.

He really wanted to show everyone his feet today.  They kept popping up.

He is getting better at sitting.

Happy Birthday to Dad too!!  Everyone got together to celebrate.

Wednesday: a nice day

Today was a lovely day.  Isaac and I went over to Cheryl's to pull weeds.  There were a lot of weeds, but it looked so much better when we were done.  After lunch Isaac and I both took a nap.  And it was a good one. Close to two hours, and Isaac only woke up once.  Sometimes he wakes up in the middle and has trouble getting back to sleep...and by the time he does, I'm too awake to go back to sleep.

The surprise of the day came at 5pm when I pulled the chicken out of the fridge where it had been thawing.  I thought I had pulled out strips, but got some cubed chicken instead.  I had been planning on putting on a "Roman Rub" that I recently got and grilling the chicken strips.  After much debate, and not being able to figure out anything else to do with the cubes at such late notice, I decided to put them on foil and grill them anyway.  They tasted delicious.

Side note

I just took off comment verification.  I had put it on because I was getting a lot of spam, but it's been a while so I'm going to try having it off again.

This means it's easier to post comments!  (Nudge, nudge.)

Tuesday: typing

Tonight Isaac got some typing practice in.  Hopefully it was a good story.  It looks like it was a serious tale.

Monday: theme day - stripes

Today we talked about stripes.

With a very short foray into camouflage.

Here you can see that not only are we both wearing striped shirts, we have striped socks.

Then we fertilized the lawn in stripes.  Hopefully.

And Ben joined in on the fun too!  (And, in case you're wondering, that is my third pair of pants for the day. The blue jeans got wet while fertilizing.  My brown pants split...and there is no repairing them.  I'm really sad, but they've been with me for a while now.  I haven't worn these green jeans in a while, but I was running out of pants since it was wash day.  They're really comfortable; I'm not sure why I haven't worn them.)

Cowboys and Aliens

Last night Ben and I watched Cowboys and Aliens (or Cowboys vs Aliens?) and had some chocolate fondue.  The fondue was excellent.  The movie was not.  We were expecting something funny or at least a light-hearted action flick.  Instead it was depressing with some really dumb contradictions.  (Like a gun not killing an alien but hitting it with a spear did.)

I would not recommend it.

Saturday: weed wacking

Today I had another first; I weed wacked.  It wasn't really as fun as I was expecting it to be.  It was fun to mow down the tall weeds, but the thing was rather heavy and vibrated a lot.  However, everything is looking a lot better now.

Isaac went the whole day without wearing a bib!  Usually I forget to put one on him while getting him dressed and remember when the drool is coming down, but I didn't really see much drool today.  I would be very happy if this continued...the bibs cover up all the cute shirts!

Friday: 5 months (22 weeks)

Yesterday I realized that I had completely missed Isaac's 5-month birthday.  I had been planning on waiting until to take his pictures anyway, but was surprised that it still didn't click on the right day.

He took the "A" out of the puzzle all by himself.  I was so proud.

Yesterday he also started trying to turn on his side in the swing.  We will probably have to buckle him in soon.

Thursday: sleep

Well, to start with, Isaac has the ability to sleep well in his crib.  Monday night was great!  Tuesday night was good.  Last night...not so good.  And the pacifier is starting to require more than just sticking it back in his mouth...it takes a minute or two before he calms down.

Then he went down for his morning nap and I crawled back in bed.  And he woke up 20 minutes later.  The same thing happened several times during the morning.  He did finally take a good nap in the afternoon though.  And since I wasn't sleeping I got a lot accomplished.

I had another first today...I bought a salad spinner for when our lettuce gets big enough to eat.  I put it through the dishwasher and then used the spinning feature to help dry it.  I thought that was pretty clever.  And if that doesn't make sense it's because I'm rather tired and trying to decide whether to shower now or wait until after Isaac eats.  Which could be any minute.  Or it could be many minutes.

Wednesday: a first

Today I had a first.  I used my steamer.

I got the steamer as a wedding gift.  (It was not on the registry. :)  )  My mom never steamed vegetables in anything that looked like this, so I thought it was something to make spaghetti.  I hope I didn't say anything out loud.

I was steaming cauliflower.  The amount that I needed seemed pitifully small for the container.

Also new was the green onion.  I've never bought any of them before.  I went to the farmer's market with Cheryl and Allison today.  It was a little cool at first, but the sun came up and it warmed up.

I made twice-baked potatoes.  Ben was a great sport and tried them even though they had cauliflower.  He didn't love them, but didn't hate them either.  I liked them.  Ben also grilled steaks for the first time on the grill.

Isaac just looked longingly at the food.  He didn't nap well at all during the day, so he got an extra special evening nap.  It did make food prep easier.

Tuesday: more gardening

Today Cheryl and Grandma H came over to my house.  Isaac and Grandma had a grand ol' time while Cheryl and I did some gardening.  We moved the flowers from the mailbox to the side of the house.  (I'm trying to get rid of some flower beds.)  We cleaned up the flowers and bushes in the front.

As we were slowly working our way around the house, we got to a nice looking yellow bush.  I was going to start trimming it down as it was way overgrown, but upon investigation noticed that everything inside the bush was dead.  So I decided we'd remove it.  As we did so we noticed that it really didn't seem healthy...the leaves had weird spots, the branches had something white on them, and there was a bulbous growth.  So we think it was a good decision, even if it was a little annoying to remove.  Well, we didn't remove all of it.  There is still a chunk, completely pared down.  The plan is to give it a year and see if it starts to grow again.  We can always take it out later.

I was going to take before and after pictures, but didn't take any before ones so I didn't take any after ones either.  Maybe next time. :)

Flurry is still good at telling us when it is time for bed.  I had wanted to trim up one more side, but she wasn't moving.  So I went to bed.

Saturday: nostrils, take 2

According to the poll, 88% (15 people) breathe out of both nostrils

According to the internet, 85% of people breathe out of one nostril.

There is a discrepancy.  But a few people I've talked to are positive they breathe out of both nostrils.  If this stands true for everyone it means that for once I'm not weird; most of you are.

Friday: 21 weeks, couch

Here's the bib in the mouth that I was talking about yesterday.

And the 21 week picture.  We finally managed to get a smile.

Our new couch came today!  We were going to put it against the wall, but it looked terrible.  This way looks much better.

Thursday: laughter

As I was changing Isaac's diaper this morning, he stuffed his bib in his mouth.  While this is becoming a normal occurrence, it struck me as extra funny and I laughed.  Isaac laughed back at me.


I also helped Cheryl with some flowers and weeds today.  It was a beautiful day.  Warm with a slight wind.  And Grandma watched Isaac so that we could actually get some work done.  It was awesome.  I'll admit, I my favorite part is pulling weeds when there are a lot of weeds to pull.  I like seeing the difference between the beginning and the end.

Wednesday: mall

Today Isaac and I met some friends at the mall.  I had a great time...it was fun to catch up and watch the kids and just hang out.  But I probably should have left a little earlier.  I was exhausted by the time we got home.  Luckily, Isaac felt the same way.  He was up for just a short while longer and then we both took a very nice nap.

Tuesday: a problem

Do you see our problem?  (And only having blurry pictures isn't the problem.)

Apparently I didn't do wash fast enough this cycle, so the only bibs left were gigantic or not Tuesday.  I wondered how long it would take until I had to put the wrong day on, but I thought it would be longer.

My plants are growing.  The left two are beans and the right one is lettuce.

Monday: sleep

Last night Isaac finally decided he didn't need to wake up every hour, and it was wonderful.  The last week and a half or so has been rather rough.  He kept escaping from the swaddle so we finally just removed it.  Which helped some, but then every time his pacifier fell out he woke up.  Needless to say, Ben and I were both getting tired of it.  It's amazing how a few uninterrupted hours of sleep can make the day go so much better.

What did I do differently last night?

*He seemed very tired going to bed

*I put him in a onsie instead of pajamas.  It was warm out.

*He started sucking the palm of his hand.

*The stars aligned just right.

Hopefully tonight will go well too.  The beginning has gone well, so I'm going to take that as a good sign.

Sunday: busy fun day

Today was rather busy, but a lot of fun.

It started with my Aunts stopping by to see and meet Isaac.  Since Nathan was around they came over too.  It was really nice to see them.

In the afternoon, we went to Autumn's Birthday Party.  She's one!  There was a nice breeze, but it was still really hot out.  Isaac still seems to run on the warm side, so we didn't stay for too long.

Our next thing was canceled.  While it would have been fun, it was nice to be able to go home and relax.  However, I made a big pan of brownies about 30 minutes before we found out it was canceled.  I haven't decided if that is a good thing or not. :)

Then we played Dominion with friends.  Dusty and Laura joined us with Marshall, so we got to see him and hear about his birthday.

Side note: is there really no one else that breathes with one nostril at a time??? There's still time to vote.  Haha.  I was checking it again and it switched while I was checking.

Saturday: noses

Since Nathan and Liz were around, we spent the afternoon relaxing with them.

Of course, we started talking about family traits.  Sinuses brought us to noses.

All of my blood family only breathes through one nostril at a time.  I had assumed that there was a good reason for this and that it worked this way for everyone.   (For example, right now I'm only breathing through my right nostril.  It randomly changes over time.)

It turns out that this is not the case.  All of the non-blood relatives said that they breathe through both nostrils.  I tried feeling what Isaac does, but that didn't work.

What do you do?  I think I'll put up a poll for easy click response, since I'm really quite curious.

Friday: 20 weeks

I once again remembered to take his weekly pictures.  I'm afraid I'm going to forget sometime.

Dad and Pat came over in the evening as we waited for Nathan and Liz to arrive.  Unfortunately, Isaac had to go to bed before they got here.  :(  I was willing to keep him up, but his drooping eyes and cranky demeanor argued against me.

Thursday: dressing up

Ethan and Isaac both decided to get their Dutch costumes on so that they could have have their picture taken.  Getting both boys to look at the camera at the same time was close to impossible.  Ethan wanted a nap and Isaac kept looking at Ethan.  Thankfully the boys put up with their mothers pretty well.

Then at night we went to watch Jacob's baseball game.  He made it to third base, and their team won by seven.  Woo-hoo!  Isaac dressed up in his baseball shirt for the event.  (White with red stitching.)