Pacifier Cache

T drops his Pacifiers behind the head board of our bed.


If you're wondering why the wall behind our bed looks like it's under construction ... it's been patched twice. The pipes for the guest bathtub are on the other side of the wall and we discovered mold when removing the base boards right after we bought the house. We hired someone to deal with the mold and when they opened the wall they found the sub floor and wall support 2x4s were mostly rotted through. They also found (and removed) a family of dead rats. Scott replaced the sub floor, shored up the wall supports, and patched the wall. We actually re-textured and painted it.

About a year later we noticed a terrible smell in our bedroom. After much investigation we determined that something had died behind the wall again. Scott removed the patch and found a stinky dead mouse. We haven't re-textured or painted. Who knows when we'll have to open it up again.

I can't believe it's been a whole year

It seems like just yesterday I brought my 7 lb 3 oz baby boy home. He had the cutest squeaky cry, a head full of silky dark hair, and a snugly little body. Yesterday was his first Birthday! He's very good natured and doesn't cry much, but when he does its still cute even though he's lost his squeak. All his dark hair fell out and was replaced by soft dark blond hair that sticks straight up in back. We get may compliments on his natural punky hairstyle every time we go out. He is still very snugly and small, but not the tiny peanut he was a year ago. We had a small family celebration with Mom, Dad, Oma, Uncle Steve, Aunt Erin, cousin S, and cousin A.

Our little family poses for a picture with the Birthday boy!


Birthday dinner .... yummy!


I bought a white cake with vanilla custard filling from Costco. It was buried in frosting and had a frosting dinosaur on it. Torin helped pick it out. He thought it was fun to stick his fingers in the icing when we lit the candle and cut the cake, but when we gave him a slice, he cried and didn't want to eat it. He wanted the WHOLE cake. Remember, this is a Costco cake. We had so much that I sent some home with the cousins and still had a plate in the fridge and two large containers in the freezer. I know he has big eyes, but they are defiantly not bigger than his stomach.



T didn't seem to like the frosting on his tiny piece, so Dad cut it off for him and tried to hide it. Once T actually tried the cake he decided he liked it. Especially the custard. Did I mention that the cake packaging boasted 2 lbs of vanilla custard?



T gets ready to open his presents. He didn't really understand this party of the party. Why should he? Everything is his anyway, isn't it?


The loot.


T looks guilty as he makes off with a ball from one of his new toys.


Everyone wants to play the cool Pat Bells from T's German relatives.


Melissa and Doug Bridges from Grandma and Grandpa Swenson. This go with the starter train set the Swenson Grandparents gave T for his first Christmas.


Another fun music toy


Do these couches make my butt look big?
T tries to escape they party, but gets wedged between the couches. It must be time for bed.

The Force

The Halloween cram! I may not have much time, but I couldn't let T spend his first Halloween in a tacky store bought costume. Poor The Scoot didn't get a costume this year. I'll be starting his for next year right after I'm done with Christmas ... yeah right.

Little Jedi, complete with stuffed tissue lame light saber. It's Halloween morning and T is just about to head to school where he gets to participate in the Halloween parade. The cream "shirt" under his tunic is actually a onsie that I made. If I ever find the time I'll take a picture of it. It would have been perfect if I'd added some interfacing before inserting the snaps AND if I hadn't put one of the snaps in backwards. Oh well, it only had to last a day.


Only the cutest little Jedis get warm fleece robes to wear trick or treating. This cute hooded robe is fully lined for extra warmth.


T bundles up in preparation to go Trick or Treating.


T and his cousins head out to score some candy.


The kiddos had a blast and T brought home a ton of candy for The Scoot and I. I stayed home to pass out candy to the 10 children that bothered to ventured into our cul-de-sac. Those lucky 10 kids were thrilled with the handfuls of candy bars we dumped into their various candy receptacles. There were a lot of kids on the main road. We really need to figure out how to lure them in next year. Its bad for my figure to be left with so much Halloween candy. Luckily we offloaded about half of what I originally purchased at a Trunk or Treat on Saturday night.

Tactics

The lengths I go to ....

Go about your business Mommy, I have this covered, October 14, 2011


Mom Makes lunch while T plays in the kitchen jungle gym.


Go about your business Mommy, I'll clean out this cabinet for you, October 12, 2011


Mom Makes dinner while T searches for hidden treasures.

Aviator

Bablefish

Help! I need a translator! Over the last couple of weeks T's babbling has diversified. He's making a wonderful variety of articulate sound combinations ... most of which sound like complete gibberish and are totally adorable. The only actual words I've recognized are "dada", "mama", "all done", and "blue". The only letters I haven't heard now are 'j', 'q', 'r', 'x', and 'z'. It astounds me that he can string so many little sounds together so quickly. I'm sure he's talking, I just don't know what he's saying.

Despite my slowness in interpreting his astounding barrage of verbal cues, we had a huge breakthrough in communication this month. Three weeks ago, T began to point!!! Yay!!! He points all the time now. He even sometimes points when he's nursing and half asleep in the middle of the night. I love it. He loves to point at lights, and balloons, and other things he wants to touch and hold. If we follow the finger we can usually figure out what he wants. Last week he pointed me all the way from the bedroom to the drying rack in the kitchen where he retrieved a clean pacifier and put it in his mouth. When he wants something he points at it and says 'GA' ... sometimes repeatedly.

It hasn't been that long since I last blogged, but we've had so many new developments in just a few short weeks. T has been playing peek-a-boo for a while. He like to hide behind things, show his face, and say 'Haha!' I posted a video of it last month. Now he hides his eyes (or other parts of his face if he misses the eyes) under his tiny hands and pulls them off quickly just like I do. We get the 'Haha' when he does this too. What a cute little sense of humor. T's petite female friend has started imitating his deep throaty 'Haha!' The teachers were very amused when they told us about it. He's obviously a favorite among the staff. He charms people wherever we go. I know my baby is cute because complete strangers tell me so all the time. He's very accommodating to award them all with a very winning smile. He's such a flirt and he hasn't even hit a year yet. What am I going to do?

T's most recent skill is waving. He's been doing so for about a week and he waves bye quite consistently now unless he sees something he needs to point at instead.

I purchased an Educo Wonder Walker a few weeks ago and he loves it. It's super sturdy and has lots of gadgets on the frame for T to play with. As I watch him pull himself up and zip down the hall all by himself it's hard to believe that just a few short weeks ago we had to walk with him to control the speed. The walker doesn't swivel, so his next task will be to figure out how to turn it. He pulls up on everything and spans short distances between objects. He also lets go and stands on his own briefly. It won't be much longer before I'm chasing a running boy instead of a crawling baby.

Tossing Cookies

Poor T lost all his lunch and dinner around 10:30pm last night. He got a shower, new sheets, new PJs, a snuggle, and some milk before going back to sleep. Sometime around 1:30am he returned the milk (I didn't want it back) and once again got a shower, new sheets, new PJs, a snuggle, and more milk. During "more milk" take two, the milk was returned resulting in mom+baby shower, new PJs, and another snuggle. Sometime after 3am he tossed more milk (minus cookies). The mess was considerably less extensive so he just got a new sheet, new PJs, a quick face/hand wash with a wash cloth, and a snuggle. We skipped the "more milk" part. About an hour later the last of the milk was returned. This time he got a new sheet and snuggle. I don't think he even fully woke up. Somehow he made it to morning without sharing any more food or beverages with his crib and what's even more surprising is that he woke up in a fantastic mood!

He didn't appreciate the middle of the night showers, but other than that, he seemed hardly phased by the vomiting. In fact, I think after the first episode or two that he would have just kept sleeping if we hadn't heard him and insisted on cleaning up.

This morning he is getting milk in frequent small increments. I hope he decides to keep it this time.

Blue

The Scoot and I have been offering T choices. One of the most frequent choices is what color bib he wants to wear at meal time ... blue or yellow. Last week when offered this choice he said "blue." He only said it once, but it was very distinct so we gave him blue. Last night when offered the same choice he reached for the blue bib, but didn't say it. After saying "blue" for him several times, he started repeating it each time one of us said it. I doubt T has a full understanding of what blue is yet, but its fun to hear him say it. Last week we swear he was trying to say water melon (repeating after The Scoot), but it was pretty much just gibberish. Obviously some words are easier than others.

Sock Spitting

Cheshire Piano

Over the weekend I purchased an small battery powered mini piano that looks like a grinning kitty with keys for teeth. It plays different sounds and also plays per-recorded songs and rhythms. Scott and I have both observed T bopping to the beat when the music or rhythms are playing. Love it! He's already got a good sense of rhythm.

On a less happy note, he has a fever. It started sometime last night. The Scoot brought him to me to nurse and I noticed he was just hot all over. I stayed home with him today and he was a good sport all day, but I can tell he doesn't feel wonderful. I hope the fever breaks soon.

Little Imp

T was in an extra playful mood when we got home from daycare last Friday. He kept peeking at me behind the gate and saying "ha HA!" in an "I gotcha!" tone. It was so cute. I only captured this brief "ha ha" moment on video. T loves technology and as soon as the video camera comes out he stops what we were trying to record and tries to play with the camera.

After I put the camera away T started to crawl down the hall toward the bedroom. He looked back over his shoulder, gave me a very mischievous smile, and then bolted down the hall as fast as his little hands and knees would carry him. Adorable! I spent a good 5 minutes chasing him around on my hands and knees. I love it when he initiates serious play. What a fun little man and what a tease!

Ah Dah again, again, and again

Sometimes T forgets he know how to say "all done," but Saturday he remembered AND he applied it to three different situations in less than ten minutes. "Ah Duh" with his breakfast ... "Ah Duh" washing his hands ... "Ah Duh" having his diaper changed (in the middle of the change no less). It's nearly impossible to get him to hold still for a diaper change.

AAAAH DAAAAH!

T sometimes "says" things. Sometimes I think it's just my imagination, but then when I consider the context I believe he really is saying something. Last weekend he was eating dinner in his booster seat at his aunt and uncles. He'd been there for quite a while happily eating when suddenly he opened his arms wide and proclaimed "AAAAH DAAAA!" The Scoot and I always say "all done?" when we think he's finished and this isn't the first time he's said it - its just the most definitive moment of "all done" he's proclaimed. He also says "muh" sometimes when he wants more. He likes to babble ma ma ma, da da da, and many other sounds, but I try to pay attention because sometimes I believe he really is telling me something.

I've been offering him choices - usually in clothing. Last night he most definitely picked the yellow bib when I offered him yellow or blue. He also responds to frequently repeated commands like "lay down" .... sometimes. It's exciting to experience this new level of communication.

Domestic Diva!

I canned peaches last night. Thanks to Erin for loaning me her canner and for helping me can tomatoes over the long weekend. The peach canning took forever because the peach skins didn't want to come off nicely. I ended up with 5 jars of peaches and a huge mess in the kitchen. I over-filled the canner and ended up with fruity, sugary water all over the stove. At least we have canned peaches now. I bet T will love them.

All Terrain Radio Flyer

T and the cousins go off roading in the back yard.


T is a fan of the wagon. When its not too sunny he goes for long wagon rides.

Magnolia Park

T's day school was closed for intake on Friday September 2. We spent the afternoon at Magnolia park with Aunt Erin and T's cousins.

S swings!


T swings!


A rides!


T rides!


T plays in the water!


T tries to follow the other kids up the mountain.


T changes his mind.


S waits for the water to spray him in the face. T smacks the mountain.


S gets his wish. T watches.


T warms up in the sun and has his hair blow dried by the wind.


T is too cool for his pants!

Beaverton Parade

On August 27 we watched the Beaverton Parade. A friend from work owns a home on the parade route kitty corner from the Beaverton City Park. He invited us (and many others) to gather in their yard for the parade. We had a great time. The parade was much longer than we expected, but T was captivated the whole time. We had front row seats in the shade!

The Scoot enjoyed the classic cars and T especially enjoyed the marching bands.


The Scoot was taking pictures ... more classic cars ;)


The Shriners on their tiny ATVs circling the intersection were funny.


Classic car, stilt walker, and cheer camp. Ra Ra Ra!


The "Get A Life" marching band featured the slogan "We Eat Better than We Play."


They Actually played pretty well ... "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga. This vintage group was by far the most entertaining group to go by. They came with whole battalion of seasoned ladies twirling, tossing, and catching batons in near unison.


More Classics and Ra Ra Ra with legs in the air!


What do elephants have to do with plumbing?

The Jogger

This is a short story about a cute girl I saw jogging last week, or was it the week before? It may have even been the week before that, but it was definitely sometime in August.

There I was, sitting at the light at 173rd and Walker ... waiting. It had been a rushed morning like usual and I'd just dropped T off at day care and was on my way home to pick up The Scoot to carpool to work. The light was taking forever - long enough for me to notice the little mom jogging with her two kiddos. I watched her cross the adjacent street as I slowed to a stop and continued watching her as she crossed the street in front of the car in front of me.

As I watched a number of things went through my head ...
"I have a Phil and Ted's tandem stroller just like that, but it's bright green"
"I used to have jogging pants just like that!"
"She looks a lot better wearing those jogging pants than I did."
"If I jogged I'd probably lose my last few pounds of baby weight."
"That toddler in the back seat looks older than T."
"What pretty curls! My niece has curls like that."

I watched her as she reached the other side and waited to cross and go back up the south side of Walker road and thought ...

"She looks like she has naturally curly hair in braids"
"no wait, that's just regular hair in messy braids. Cute!"
"Her braids must be messy from jogging - mine would be"
"That blue stroller looks really faded. I bet she uses it all the time."
"My sister has a stroller just like that."
"Hey! That IS my sister!"

I rolled down the window, yelled her name, and waved. I can't believe it took me what must have been minutes to recognize my own sister and the hand me down jogging pants I'd given to her the previous weekend.

Pirate Dog Rides Again

Pirate dog rides again! 8/7/2011

All About Me from A to Z

Somehow I got behind. I'd blame it on lack of sleep, but really I was just procrastinating. My sis sent me an online coupon for a free photo book from Paper Coterie and I only managed to submit T's customized "All About Me from A to Z" book 1.5 hours before the coupon code expired (at 10:30pm - way after my bed time). It's a very cute ABC book with a picture of T for each letter of the alphabet. I'll post pictures of the book sometime after it arrives ... hopefully not months after. Several of these ridiculously cute pictures of T were included in the book.

T is for Tickle! 8/4/2011


W is for Wagon. 8/14/2011


Z is for Zany. 8/15/2011

Adventures in Teething and Sleep Deprivation

I haven't blogged for a while, mostly because T is teething and I'm too tired to hang out on the computer after work. We worked so hard on our bedtime routine and it really seemed to be working. T was consistently sleeping 5-6 hours for his first stretch and even gave us 7 a couple of times and 8 once! I was chipper and well rested and thought things were headed totally in the right direction. My bliss ended when T's gums started to swell.

I thought it was just going to be a couple of teeth, but I found a couple of teeth had broken the gums last Monday and there is still no end in sight. He has two full bottom teeth from a couple of months ago, and one little nubby tooth on the bottom and one on the top. There are at least 3 more hugely swollen bumps in his top gums. He doesn't like it when I poke around to investigate so I can't say for sure how many are working their way through, but if they are coming in somewhat symmetrically I'm expecting six more before he's done with this round. I complain about my discomfort, but obviously he's got the real raw end of the deal. On top of teeth boring through his gums, he's also got a very runny nose. The congestion and/or pain had him up every hour from 7:30-10:30 and then he screamed intermittently from 10:30 - 11:30 while we tried to calm him and sooth him back to sleep. It's very unusual for him not to go right back to sleep with a little help. Exhausted from the ordeal, he slept for four hours. It's only like this when he's truly miserable. We're going on three weeks of misery and sleep deprivation and I'm starting to wonder if it will ever end. We're still carrying out our standard bed time routine, but we've abandoned the middle of the night "no cry" sleep training and just do what it takes to make him feel better. Poor kiddo.

Despite his growing pains, he really is a trouper. In general he's only slightly irritable with occasional break downs like last night. He still smiles and laughs plenty and has started clapping his hands. Last week he started making a really excited sound - a long intake of breath that sounds like he's just seen or experienced the coolest thing ever. Sometimes he follows this sound with clapping. It's so fun to see him communicate with something more than tears and laughter. Here are some of the things he's doing

• Clapping and making sounds to show excitement
  
• Rubbing his fist across his sore gums
  
• Pushing things away when he doesn't want them
  
• feeding himself really well with a spoon when we load it for him
  
• handing the spoon back for more (sometimes)
  
• reaching to be picked up or to go to the other parent
  
• responding to his name
  
• responding briefly to the the command "no touch"
  
• crawling like a pro and pulling up on everything
  

Yesterday I carried him with me to open the sliding door so we could get some air circulating in the house. As I started to walk back to the kitchen T started to whimper and I realized he thought I was going to take him outside, so I did. We played on the grass until The Scoot got home. When T saw The Scoot way at the other end of the yard he immediately started whimpering and crawling for him. The Scoot met him half way - it was so cute!

Sometimes T doesn't know which parent he wants. I'll pick him up and he'll reach for The Scoot ... then he'll reach back for me. Sometimes we hug him at the same time and sometimes we pass him back and forth really fast which makes him laugh. When he's in pain he reaches back and forth because he thinks one of us can fix it and when we can't he wants to try the other one... again. We hate not being able to fix it.

Flips and Giggles

These are some old videos that I didn't find the time to post when they were fresh, but they are too fun to leave behind forever.

Flips ... Circus Baby laughs again!


Wax paper ... the funniest thing in the world.

The 'A' says aaaaaaaaaaaaa!
My original design in apple green minky with felt.
More to come ...

The Blog of Eternal Stench and other woes

Oh goody! I created my own Bog of Eternal Stench ... read - a diaper pail FULL of water and stinky dirty diapers ripening for days (at least four) in our un-air-conditioned bathroom. Said pail has a lid and either doesn't emit an obvious odor when closed... or I have become oblivious to it. This is my excuse for letting it ripen so long. I simply forgot the stinkies were there waiting to be washed.

Last night, after a long day at work I longed to make dinner, eat, do T's bedtime routine, and crash on the couch, but first I had to put the diapers in the washing machine. I grabbed the 'wet' diapers (mostly dry by now) from the pail in T's room and grabbed the bog of eternal stench from the bathroom and headed down the hall for the washing machine. Scarcely had I stepped from the bathroom and onto the broad expanse of hall carpet when the handle of the of the stinky pail freed itself from its receptacle, dumping about of gallon (literally) of swampy bog water and diapers all over the carpet (and splashing all over me in the process). I'm pretty sure I screamed.

Why do all my best stories revolve around poo?

The Scoot juggled T and heated up leftovers while I got the diaper laundry started, sopped up the mess with several towels, and took a shower. After dinner he rented a carpet cleaner at Home Depot and cleaned the hallway while I put T to bed. I did eventually make it to the couch at 8:30pm ... just and hour before bed time. We watched about half of Voyage of the Dawn Treader. We'll finish it tonight ... baring any more unforeseen catastrophes.

As for the other woes ... we all have colds ... the T, The Scoot, and I. On top of that two children in T's class have been diagnosed with Coxsackie (hand, foot, and mouth disease). They originally thought it was chickenpox, but one was Confirmed coxsackie. The incubation period is 3-6 days. I just hope T (and the rest of us) get over the cold before Coxsackie strikes. I think the poor boy spends at least as much time sick as he does well. At least he's usually a good sport about being ill.

Grass Hopper

Hopping through the grass with Mom! 7/21/2011


Hopping Down the Hall with Oma! 7/22/2011


I saw T crawl for the first time on Monday July 25th. It was morning, before daycare and he crawled three "steps". On Tuesday they counted 12 "steps" at daycare. He's crawled a little every day since then. Yay! Although he's finally decided to crawl, he's also decided that its a lot of work and he only does it to reach what he wants and then he plonks back down onto his cute little bottom.

T likes to do things his own way. Apparently walking is too mundane so he's decided to hop instead. I'd like to point out that we don't own a jumper, a walker or any other baby containing device where he can jump on his own. It's all us and it's a lot of exercise for everyone involved. We love it!

Slam that Chameleon!

It's not just the Chameleon - it's any board book that makes a cool slamming sound.


We're working on T's bedtime routine. I don't want to jinx my sleep tonight by saying it's helping, but I think it might be. We're working on putting him to bed awake. Neither of us like the idea of letting him cry it out, so we're trying methods from the "No Cry Sleep Solution." We read and/or sing to T after putting him in his crib until he goes to sleep. If he's having a tough time, we add some back patting and rubbing, but I'm working on getting father from the crib.

We had a little challenge last week when he learned to sit up on his own and kept "practicing" in the crib at bed time and in the middle of the night, but he's learned to lay back down again for the most part ... or else he gets drowsy and face plants. I can't believe it took us this long, but we finally put the crib on it's lowest setting. T is able to pull to his knees (and every once in a while his feet) from sitting, so now that he can get from his stomach/back to a sitting position on his own we had to make the change.

T has slept for 5+ hours in a row for three days!!!! Technically, that's sleeping through the night. Woohoo! He sometimes even follows that 5 hours by another 4. Unheard of. I've been sleep deprived for so long that 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep is huge! I really hope he continues to sleep for 5 hours at least once a night and that we can eventually stretch that 5 to 6 ... and 7 ... and 8 ...

Hugs

T recently started giving hugs! It's soooooooo much fun to have him actually squeeze back.

Another Mylar Balloon

The Scoot Received this one one at work for an achievement and brought it home for T to play with. He took it in to daycare when we picked T up. Both T and one of his little daycare friends, Paige, found it great fun with smiles and laughter. Apparently Paige doesn't laugh very often so her soft little haha was actually a big thing for a tiny little girl whose main concern is when her next feeding will be. Babies + Balloons = a barrel of laughs.

July 14, 2011


He reminds me of a Macy's Thanksgiving day parade balloon flying through the air like this with his adorable chubby little ham hock thighs

Bear Lake

July 6, 2011 - Keeping it real in the sand of North Beach. North Beach is the only beach left at Bear Lake with the super high water this year. I hear its the highest it's ever been. Even North beach is just a tiny strip of sand right now, and it can barely contain my little man and all this attitude.


July 6, 2011 - Showing off his awesome Hanna Andersson one old fashioned one piece bathing suit. T is on the cutting edge of retro fashion here ... all his cousins are still wearing trunks. I wonder if he'll ever forgive me for dressing him like this. I just don't think he could possibly be any cuter!


July 6, 2011 - Grandpa and Cousin Erin with the jet ski. Look at all that junk at the water's edge that we had to walk through. That's from the high water. It even contains a dead fish or two .... eeeeewwwwwwww!


July 7, 2011 - Helping Daddy play Pirates of the Caribbean Pinball at the Bear Hollow Lodge.


July 7, 2011 - Do we really have to leave?


July 7, 2011 - This airplane is almost as cool as I am!


July 7, 2011 - Bye bye Utah