Tuesday: daycare and toys

This morning Isaac and I went to the daycare for a few hours.  We did it to time our morning routine and to bring all the supplies that he'll need.  And to just hang out and observe for a little bit.  I'm glad we went.

Also, Isaac scored a bunch of toys yesterday after going to Dad and Pat's house.  (Side note: I have decided to call everyone by their relationship to me.  So if I talk about Dad and Issac doing something, it is my dad, not Isaac's dad.  It gets a little confusing.)

A puzzle!

A whole bunch of rattles that Nathan and I must have used.  They all sound different.

Look at how strong Isaac is!  He can lift the dumbbell rattle!  (Actually, he held this one quite a bit.  I had to put it in his hand but I was proud that he kept hold of it.  He also tried to eat it.)

 More toys from our childhood.

This is Isaac with the rattle that I made him.  He can't hold it, but it makes a lot of different sounds, which makes it more interesting for Ben and me.

While unpacking I also found the sippy cup and utensils that I must have used as a child.  Needless to say, Isaac may be using them too because they don't do any good sitting in a box.

Monday: date night

Tonight was date night!  Ben and I went out to eat and then walked around the mall for a little bit.  Nothing super exciting, but it was nice to get out with just the two of us.

I also got a good nap in today.  It was very exciting.  Since tomorrow is my last day of not working, I'm hoping to get another good one in tomorrow. :)

Sunday: headaches

So remember those weird short but painful headaches I was getting a year ago?  They're back.  I remember them starting about a month before we moved and then they lasted through maybe part of April.  I'm wondering if it is an allergy of sorts.  The other times I remember them we were in Florida, and so that could have been in the March (or December) time frame.

Here is a picture of Isaac today.  We were trying to get Flurry to come close so Isaac could practice his petting, but it didn't work.

Tutorial: how to make a picture wall

Since this was my second time putting up a picture wall, I thought I'd share how I did it.  I learned a lot after doing it the first time.

.5) Obtain picture frames.  I would suggest getting more of each size than you expect to use in case you want to expand in the future or end up using more of one size than expected.  You can also optionally get the pictures, and again you might want to get more than you plan on using and then remove some if the shape doesn't fit well.

1) Get a large piece of paper or cardboard.  If you have a huge piece of graph paper that would be easiest, but I really liked using cardboard in the end.  It should be at least as big as the area you want to put pictures on.

 2) (No picture)  Figure out how to arrange the pictures.  It took Ben and I about three hours to do this the first time.  The closer you get the positioning to how you actually want it the better.  (For example, don't arrange the pictures with .5" spacing but then plan on putting 1" spacing between them.  It'll look different.)  TAKE A PICTURE when you're happy with it.  I didn't take a picture because I had the old wall picture that I worked from, but I referenced it a lot.  So I'll say it again.  TAKE A PICTURE OF THE ARRANGEMENT.

3) Draw the nail and picture locations on the cardboard.  This also takes a while.  Try to find a good place to start from.  Maybe somewhere in the middle.  Use a square to make sure that your lines are all straight and perpendicular.  Having good lines is going to be essential, so take the time to make sure they're square.  I started with one picture and then drew lines as required to find out where to put the nail for the next picture in relation to the previous picture(s).  Put the pictures back often to make sure everything looks correct.  I did the lines in pencil and then made little circles with marker where the cross hairs were for the nails.  I also did quick large boxes in marker to show about where the pictures would go, but didn't use the marker lines for any measurements.

This is the end result:

 This is a close up.  You can see all the pencil lines.

4) Hang the template on the wall.  MAKE SURE IT'S LEVEL!  We put one nail in and then used a laser level on some of the pencil lines to make sure it was level before putting a second nail in.

5) Put all the nails in the template.  Keep in mind that you'll be taking all the nails out to remove the template (although if it paper you might be able to rip it down).  The nails don't need to go all the way in.

6) Remove the template and put the nails back in the wall.

7) Hang the pictures!  You might want to refer back to your picture of where everything goes or template because it can be hard to tell...there seem to just be a lot of random nails in the wall.

Saturday: bedroom and picture wall

Our bedroom is cleaned up and we finally got our new bed lamps, so I can show you pictures of another room!  Bed lamps have been on our "to buy" list for about five years now.  We finally got some because the lamp Ben was using is ugly and Isaac took the one I was using.  (Which, when I thought about it, used to be Nathan's.  I traded him a desk chair for it right before I left for college.)  They are three-way touch lamps and we're quite happy with them.

The yellow wall is the bathroom.  It is all cleaned up to, but nothing too special.  A toilet, a shower, two sinks, and cabinets.

I put the picture wall back up!  I missed it.  Issac got featured predominantly in it...in fact, if someone in our immediate family wasn't in the picture, it got replaced.  (Flurry counts as a family member.) (Except for some elephants, and I expect to replace them shortly.)

I would like to get a few more pictures with our extended families, but don't have any recent ones.  There is also one of Ben jumping into a pool that I want to get, but couldn't find the disc when I was ready to order.

(BTW, how do you distinguish the family that we grew up with from the family that includes aunts, uncles, and cousins?  Because now I'd say that our immediate family is Ben/Amanda/Isaac/Flurry.  That would make, for example, Dad, Pat, Nathan, and Liz our extended family.  But then how to easily specify the next level of family...i.e., my aunts/uncles/cousins?)

Friday: 9 weeks (or 2 months)

Happy 9 week birthday to Isaac!  Happy 2 month birthday to him too!  So...we had a photo shoot.  Again.  Oh, and it was blue day today.  He has a lot of blue in his life, so it was pretty easy to point it out.

This is a rather poor picture, but it is the only one of its kind where he stretched out.  Maybe he really did grow two inches.

Blue monkey!

I wore a blue shirt too! (Again, a poor picture.  It's hard setting the autotimer, arranging Issac, and getting a quilt over our lap.  I wasn't going to try again.)

Isaac got tired...a good time to use the quilt.

Tomorrow is going to be a post that isn't about Isaac.  I've been trying to do it most of the week, but kept getting side tracked.  I spend most of my time with him and find him interesting (hence all the Isaac posts) but this is still my blog.  Amazingly, I've done a few other things this past week too. :)  I figure that if I tell everyone tonight, I will actually do it tomorrow and not get side tracked.

Thursday: shots

Today was Isaac's 2 month well child checkup.

He weighs 11 lb, 10 oz (about the 50th percentile)
He measures 23.75" long (about the 60th percentile) (There is a chance that this should be 22.75...the nurse measured starting at the 1" mark and I'm not sure she took off an inch.  I don't feel like he's grown two inches, but maybe I'm wrong.)

And he got his shots.  Two nurses each gave him one at the same time and then he got a third.  At first his eyes got huge like "what just happened???????"  Then he realized that it hurt and he got so red with crying.  Poor guy.  He calmed down pretty quickly, but this evening he had a hard time not crying.  Ben finally swaddled him and put him in the crib around 6pm, and with the mobile that calmed him down for a while.  Then he fell asleep while playing the dice game right before bed, so we just stuck him in the swaddle again without putting on his pajamas or taking a dip.  I usually don't mind waking him up, but not tonight.

Wednesday: Leap Day

To celebrate Leap Day, Isaac wore hippos.  I know, it's kind of a stretch, but in cartoons characters always leap across rivers on the backs of hippos.  We just don't have any leaping or hopping creatures for Isaac to wear.

It was a really nice day out today (58 degrees) and so we went on a walk.  I was hoping to walk around the lake, but we only got a short third done before Isaac started getting cranky (i.e., seven minutes).  It was probably good though...by the time we got home I could tell that I haven't exercised in quite a while.

It was also real bath day.  (His little bath tub isn't working right now because it floats because he doesn't weigh enough.  I can't handle a squirmy baby and a floating bathtub all at the same time.  But this method has proven to work very well.) 

Tuesday: rattles and naps

Today I made a rattle for Isaac.  I was rather impressed by how the rattle thingy on the play thingy made him stop fussing every time I rolled it...but it isn't very mobile.  It involved putting seven pennies in a small water bottle.  It worked wonderfully.

I also have had a terrible time getting any sort of decent nap since Isaac has been born.  Often Isaac will wake up (it will be the time he decides to take a short nap).  Sometimes the phone will wake me up.  Sometimes I can't get to sleep.  Sometimes the toilet doesn't stop running.  It doesn't seem to matter though...something always manages to interrupt my nap. :(

Here Isaac is sitting on the couch.  Right before this he was sitting all by himself and looked like a very tiny adult. 

Today was much better than yesterday...things were back to normal.  For example, Isaac showed us how he really feels about tummy time.

But he also listened to Alice's advice and got his head up nicely.

We tried a different configuration at the play gym so that Isaac could sit up while playing.  It doesn't work quite as well, but I figured I should at least try because he has a slight flat spot on the back of his head.  We played with the yellow spinney thing with balls in it for about 20 minutes.  Any time he started to get fussy I just started rolling it again...I think he is intrigued by the sound.

Oh, and I finished the master bedroom and bathroom today!  No pictures yet because we're waiting for two lamps to show up.  But Isaac helped to model the last of the socks I'm getting rid of.

The whole day exhausted him.

Sunday: uff

Today didn't really work quite right. It started last night...I'm not sure if I was sleeping more soundly or if Isaac woke up an extra time, but I did not want to get out of bed at all. He almost missed getting fed at 2:30 because I was throughly convinced I had fed him around 2.

Anyway, Isaac didn't nap well all day, Ben and I had headaches, I was super tired, and Isaac was crankier than normal. The good news is that even though Isaac didn't nap well, he was still content to be in his swing...maybe not as long as a normal nap, but it was still very helpful.

We'll try again tomorrow.

Saturday: dice and dips

Ben rented a game kind of like shuffleboard (but with dice) for the week.  Isaac can play!  We played two games as a family.  Ben won one and Isaac won the other.


Also, Isaac pooped during his evening dip.  I was wondering how long it would take until that happened.  We used the kitchen sprayer to rinse him off and then Ben got him ready for bed while I cleaned the sink.  Speaking of dips, Isaac has three toys...a whale, a cowboy duck, and a normal duck.  Here is the normal conversation...

Amanda: what sound does a whale make?
Amanda: (whale noise.  I think I'm pretty good, actually)
Amanda: what sound does a duck make?
Amanda: quack quack
Amanda: what sound does a cowboy duck make?
Amanda: quack quack

I always feel like that last line should be a punch line, but I can't come up with anything.  Any thoughts?

Friday: eight weeks!

Isaac is eight weeks old today!  I even managed to capture a smile.  (It is a smile.  It's hard to tell sometimes in single photos).  However, I didn't get a lot of non-blurry shots...he kept moving!

The nursery is all put together!  Here it is from all four corners going counter-clockwise from the door.  (Don't miss the solar system hanging from the ceiling in the first one!)

 I have a print that I want to hang up, probably on top of the white cubes, but I couldn't easily find it.  So it is on the list of missing things, along with the hammer, a DVD of pictures, some hand-me-down-and-possibly-imaginary clothes for Isaac, and our other bedspread.  The drill was found today.

It was star day (he was wearing stars and there are so many stars in his bedroom) so we read Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for the camera.  It's a really cute book.  And read might be exaggerating a little bit.  We briefly looked at the first page this time.

Isaac realized that he wanted a head shot like Alice.  Of course, the only one with his head high like that was blurry.  But it looks like he's smiling!

Thursday: giraffes, Flurry, and socks

Today we learned about giraffes.  Did you know that Isaac is only slightly longer than a giraffe's tongue?  We also played with his two giraffes, Mabel and Geoff.  Mabel is in love with Isaac.  You can see it in her eyes.

Flurry had a good day exploring boxes.  It's always fun to suddenly find her in a new box.

And lastly, I decided I needed to get rid of some of my socks.  My problem is that I've only gotten rid of them if there is a hole.  But if they don't fit right or there is almost a hole, I tend not to wear them.  So I decided I would document them and then get rid of them.  Isaac helped show them off.

(I think the black socks look like a colonial hat.)

(He wasn't as helpful of a model for the second set.)

I was working on getting pictures for the picture wall, and was having a very hard time capturing Isaac smiling (he doesn't do it very long or very often).  Then I thought I'd grab a still image from a movie, only to realize that the movie quality pictures are rather bad.  But I joined them all together so you too can see what Isaac looks like.


In other news, yesterday Isaac and I finished reading Song of Songs for our devotions.  I know he doesn't understand anything yet, but it was still weird to read it to him.  Really weird.

Also, I have come to truly loathe a lot of packaging.  I didn't take most of Isaac's toys and clothes apart until the last week, and those silly little white ...uh, bands?  the things that hold tags to clothing...are my new nemesis. Companies used them very liberally and they are annoying and sometimes hard to get out.  Not only do you end up with one little end that falls on the floor half the time, sometimes it was hard to remove them without cutting the thing of interest.  One company that didn't use them was Gerber; they used tape.  While it felt really odd to untape the clothes (and they used tape liberally too) it was a lot better than the white things.

Tuesday: our day

Last night Isaac did sleep well and almost even woke up one less time. (he woke up at 6:30, but happily he went down to sleep right away until 8am). We'll see if it works again.

Isaac's room is almost unpacked and put together. There are a few more things to do and then I'll be ready to post pictures.

I went and played Bunco with some women from the church tonight. The game itself is completely based on luck and really, rather boring. But at the same time it was nice to get out and do something.

I returned home just in time to give Isaac his dip. A dip is similar to a bath, but there is no soap. We do our dips in the sink, and I finally had the idea to put that no-slip rubber matting stuff under him and that helped a ton! Oh, he did get his gums rinsed out too as we're trying to improve Isaac's breath quality.

Monday: misc

Here is the baptism video.  I wasn't able to combine them without losing significant image quality, so you have two videos.  And the second one you may want to skip the middle section of the other babies being baptized.


3:15-6:04 are the other baptisms...while important, maybe skippable for the purposes of this blog.


Today our goal was to keep Isaac awake for an hour in between naps during the day.  The reason is that he has started waking up around 4am quite awake.  Ben and I usually go give him a pacifier once and that does the trick, but it is still not what we want to be doing.  This was a little hard, but we did it...and it seemed to work rather well even.  The real test will be tonight.  Oh, except for right before dinner, when even tummy time couldn't wake him up.

Flurry has found a new hiding spot under Isaac's crib, although it looks like she's in jail.

I set Isaac down in the non-swinging swing for five minutes to go move around some furniture and he fell asleep.  But he had been awake for a while, so it was rather understandable

Sunday: isaac's problem, furniture

Isaac: waah
Amanda: you don't have any problems. What are you crying about?
Isaac: waah
Amanda: are you crying because your problem is that you don't have any problems?
Isaac scratches his face. There's a small drop of blood.
Isaac: WAAH
Amanda: there was no need to go and give yourself an actual problem for my sake.

I also spent quite a bit of time putting furniture together. The crib is all done and he is sleeping in it tonight.

The dresser is almost finished. I really like how everything looks and it is good quality stuff, but the assembly instructions could use a bit of work. One thing was labeled incorrectly, some bars didn't have labels, and there were not unique identifiers between the pieces of furniture. Hence, I put on two "C" pieces and then couldn't find the rest. It turned out they were unlabeled and I had to undo work that I had done.

Isaac's good idea, bad idea

Good idea: eating when you are hungry

Bad idea: yelling at the food in front of you when you are hungry

Saturday: a surprise and cousins

This morning my cousin and her daughter stopped by to see Isaac and me...it was fun.

Then this afternoon I started putting the crib together and ran into a large surprise...it is really a crib, changing table, and small dresser. This actually stressed me out a little bit because I was happy with the expected layout of isaac's room and now I need to choose what furniture I don't want. I know, it was a silly thing to be stressed about, but at least I identified it.

At night we went to Dad and Pat's and saw Kate and Oliver!