Wednesdays

I am sure I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again.  Wednesday is my favorite day.  Last week, we met for our moms/babies group at my friend Marielk's house.  It was a lot of fun to see the older boys (Isaac and Henry) playing with Jackson.  Jackson's about 6 weeks younger than Isaac, but he's learning a lot of the same skills that Henry and Isaac are mastering.  Pretty nifty!
They are all learning to roll to get somewhere.  Henry's pretty much an ace on this:

Jackson's not far behind, though:

It's also good because the boys generally get in a little nap at some point during our meetings, but the mommies are still able to hang out and talk.

Unfortunately, a couple of our members have recently returned to work.  One of these members is Marielk, who hosted last week with her sweet little Christopher.  This week, we were back to Stephanie's house, which is always a fun place to gather (since I take over the biggest, comfiest chair)!  Isaac was "bullying" Henry for the toy Henry was using by trying to beat him up with another toy.  It sounds like all of the boys are teething now, too, which makes for some interesting playtime.

They did eventually get better... Or maybe we just decided to separate them after a few little encounters.

Cash showed off some of his new dance moves:

And Henry crashed for a really long nap.

All of the "original" group of boys are able to sit up now.  The other girls were able to get a few shots of Isaac, Henry, and Cash all sitting together, but I wasn't quite as quick with the shutter as they were.  Here's a quick glimpse of Isaac and his pal, Henry, though.

Godparents

Isaac was baptized on November 7, 2010.  My sister and brother-in-law agreed to be Isaac's godparents.  They arrived for the blessed event late Friday night.  They immediately set about spoiling him rotten (not that they weren't already doing that with their nephew)!!

Isaac wore a sweet little linen outfit that Judy and I found.  It was just perfect because the rector's (priest's) assistant had called to tell me not to put him in a hot, satin gown for the baptism.

The baptism itself was a wonderful event and the service was beautiful.  Isaac was baptized by Susan Barnes, the same priest who conducted our premarital counseling 8+ years ago.  Todd and I were happy about this because we've felt a stronger connection to her over the years (even if we haven't been regular churchgoers).

After the service, we had a shindig at our house with enough food for an entire army.  Dave Baum stepped up to the plate as grill-master and the food was great!

In a fun twist, Dave and Kristin were supposed to leave for Virginia on Monday afternoon.  As it turned out, a bird flew into their airplane as it was landing in Austin, so their flight was delayed and they ended up staying another night.  What a great bonus!!!  They got a little more time to spend with Isaac and then left Tuesday morning.

Teeth!

Isaac has been a little more needy for the last couple of days.  I honestly attributed it to having 6 adults doting on him instead of just the usual 2.  Yesterday, we couldn't do any activity for more than about 15 minutes before he started getting fussy.  I was actually much more patient with this than I normally would have been, though, which is good.  I didn't even get a shower until Todd got home about 6:30, though...  Anyway, last night (as well as the night before), Isaac woke up about 45 minutes after I'd put him to bed and would *not* go back to sleep.  Both nights, I rocked him and nursed him and played a little, but nothing would get him back to bed.  So he ended up staying up a couple of extra hours both nights.  Finally, around 10:15 last night when I was doing a final attempt at getting him to bed, Isaac leaned back from nursing and sort of stretched.  I put my finger in his mouth and felt his 2 bottom teeth coming in!  No wonder he's been so out of sorts!!!  I'll see if I can get some pictures with the Moms' Group meeting today.

Games with Grandparents

We had a wonderful visit with Todd's parents as they were in town for the last week and a half.  They left yesterday morning to get back to Maryland before heading up to Pennsylvania.  Isaac had lots of fun with both of his grandparents.  Todd's dad introduced Isaac to a tickling spider:

Isaac also mastered sitting up while Todd's parents were here.  What a difference a week makes!!!  We couldn't believe his progress.  It's now much more interesting to try to give Isaac a bath because he wants to roll over and/or sit up in his little tub.  (He also wants to roll across the counter when I set him on it post-bath to apply some lotion and put his diaper on).  He is able to sit unassisted for a minute or more now, but not long enough that I can actually take his little butt rest out of his tub.  Maybe in a few more days...  This is his must-get-out-of-tub testing yesterday.

Anyway, he sits better than this now, but here's a fun little video from Saturday where he was just getting the hang of it.  (And let's face it, video of him sitting still isn't nearly as fun).  It's now possible to see measurable differences in his skills from one day to the next.  Unbelievable!

Grandpa wasn't the only one who got Isaac giggling, either.  Grandma also got in on some play time and some sweet snuggles:

Finally, Jackson also got some attention from the grandparents.  What a relief!  The poor pets have been so neglected over the last 7 months.  It was good for them to have a little love lavished upon them.

In addition to purposely playing with Isaac, we played a great deal of Mexican Train (dominoes) while the grandparents, and then also godparents, were in town.  Isaac helped Grandpa by knocking all of his tiles down with one of his toys.

Give Peas a Chance

Isaac sampled peas for the first time today.  It was definitely more of a success than his last "green" food!  It sure beats avocado.  It almost makes me wonder if he can really be my child - I love avocado and I totally hate peas.


I apologize for the shaky video.  I set the camera on top of Isaac's high chair tray and he kicks the tray when he's excited.

Fun Weekend

Last weekend was super-busy!  First, Todd mounted Isaac's swing on Saturday morning.  Grandma and I kept Isaac occupied while Dad and Grandpa mounted the swing.

After the swing was hung, we all went to the Tour de Fat.  This is a beer festival hosted by New Belgium Brewing (makers of Fat Tire).  They visit several cities each year and Austin is on the list.  We haven't been in a couple of years.  The last time Todd and I went, we attended with our friends Kyle and Mo, whose daughter was only about 1 month old at the time.  Thankfully, we were able to meet up with them again this year for Isaac's first beer festival.  Isaac spent most of his time hanging out in his Ergo and even took a little nap on his daddy.

Once the festival fun was over, we headed over to Chuy's for some grub.

Then we went home and Isaac got to play in his new swing a bit more.  (Don't worry, Todd didn't let go of him while he was this high up)!

Sunday was the big day, though.  Isaac's first (and our 9th) Wurst Fest!!!  For those of you not versed in the awesomeness that is Wurst Fest, it's a 10-day celebration of sausage.  We had a great time!!!

Isaac was a little champ during Wurst Fest.  He napped on both Todd and me throughout the day.  He wasn't fussy and he didn't mind the loud music at all.

As evening turned into night, the weather got a bit cooler, so we put Isaac into his Halloween costume.  I added a hat to my own wardrobe, as well.  For warmth, of course...

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'...

Isaac has learned a new trick!  I have more to post about our Wurst Fest weekend later, but I had to share this video right away.

Isaac managed to roll over at least 15 times in a row prior to this video.  Actually, I keep having to jump up and move him back onto his blanket long enough to finish uploading onto the blog...  Things are about to get much more exciting in the Walter house!!!

Grandma and Grandpa

Todd's parents arrived in Austin yesterday.  We are so glad they are here!  Isaac is a completely different baby than when they last saw him at 2 weeks old.  Now, he is using his hands to grab his toys, he babbles, he rolls from his tummy to his back (and is trying to learn how to roll back), he is learning to eat solid food, and all sorts of other things.  Grandma is quite smitten with her youngest grandson and they had a little chat last night.  Isaac was laughing at Grandma quite a bit and he was all smiles while they caught up on the latest news.

This weekend, Isaac will be attending Wurst Fest for the first time.  This is great because we've been so many times and it's one of our favorite family traditions!  We'll be sure to get photos and video of Isaac dancing to some polka music.

Yum! Squash!

Isaac sampled squash for the first time on Wednesday.  He seemed to really like it!  (As a side note, he was much keener on avocado the second time around, as well, but he's only had it twice now.  We may wait to try it again in a few weeks).

Isaac also got in plenty of playtime with his good friend, Henry, on Wednesday.  Here's a quick shot of Henry trying to poke out Isaac's eyeballs.  LOL  This is why the mommies are never far away!!  It's neat to see the boys begin to pay attention to each other, though.  They are just beginning to interact more in the last few weeks, whereas before there was more parallel play.

Just Say No... to Avocado

We tried a new food today.  As you may have guessed from the title, it was avocado.  As you may also have gleaned from the title, Isaac was not a fan.  To give you a perspective, this is the carrot aftermath from yesterday:

Today, he wanted nothing to do with the avocados.  I think he ate less than 1/4 teaspoon.  I will try again tomorrow morning, but I'm not going to force the issue.  If he doesn't like them, he doesn't have to eat them.  We can try again in a month or so and see if he's changed his mind by then.  I have some summer squash in the freezer, so I am happy to thaw it and try that next.  This was today's attempt at avocados:

My friend, Marielk, brought her son, Christopher, to our Wednesday gathering this week.  Marielk held Isaac for a little while.  He really seems to like her.  I am trying to get him used to being with other people.  Next weekend, we are supposed to be leaving him with our friends Kyle and Mo for a couple of hours while Todd and I go out dancing with his parents.  Hopefully, separation anxiety won't have set in by then.

Marielk's son is about 10 weeks old.  I can't believe how small he is in comparison to Isaac!

Speaking of size comparisons, our friends Arves and Tica had a little girl last night.  She is exactly the same size as Isaac was at his birth.  She's 20 inches long and weighs 6 lbs. 10 oz.  (Isaac was 6 lbs. 9.5 oz.)  We went to the hospital tonight to see them.  I can't believe how small their little Emily is!!!  It was odd for Isaac to be the biggest baby in the room.  Tica's mom didn't seem to mind, however, and she was happy to hold our big boy the second I handed him over to her.  He really likes meeting new folks.  Let's hope he does well staying with "new" people for a couple of hours next Friday...

Swinging

Last night I was able to hang Isaac's Johnny Jump-Up in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room. How exciting!  There's a door frame!!  Todd hung it with extra nails so I could hang our child from it!!  But I digress...


Isaac had a great time "hanging out" in his new toy.  He hasn't quite figured out the jumping part.  He kicks his feet when he gets excited.  He gets excited in the Jump-Up.  So he kicks his feet.  Which twirls him in circles and bounces him around a little bit.  Anyway, I think this will be what helps him to figure out the bouncing feature of this new contraption.  It makes me laugh every time I watch him do this!

I know that this next video is someday going to cause me to look back and say, "My gosh, I was so young!"  I hope you can see how smiley the mini-man is in this video.  He was having a ball!

Finally, Daddy was not to be outdone and had to get in on the action while I went back to fixing our (awesome) chicken jambalaya for supper.

I am so glad that I ordered Isaac's swing!  I can't wait for it to get here!  We went to a park with my friend Samantha and her sons, Connor and Mason, today.  Mason was born on Isaac's due date, so he's just a few days younger than Isaac.  The smaller boys had fun playing on the swings with their mommies while Connor ran around and played with a couple of older boys.  Here's a quick shot of Isaac having some fun.

Johnny Jump Up Fail (and Win!)

We tried to get Isaac to bounce some in his Johnny Jump Up today.  He still hasn't quite grasped this concept, but he did manage to turn in a bunch of circles.  Always in the same direction...  Perhaps how he managed to get the cord wrapped around his neck 5 times in utero?  When he started to get tired to "walking" and turning, I grabbed his feet and pulled them toward me.  In case there were any doubts, he's definitely my son.  (For those of you who don't know this about me, my two favorite things in the world are swings and rocking chairs).  He got a HUGE smile on his face!  I decided to play with it like a swing for a little bit and I can't tell you how happy he was.  I couldn't resist making a little video of it.  I know it's crummy camera work, but you won't care when you see how sweet this is!

After making this little video and seeing how much fun Isaac was having, I promptly went online and ordered him a swing for the back yard.  I hope it has shipped by now - I ordered it like 2 hours ago.

My friend, Samantha, has invited me to her house later this week.  We're planning to walk over to a nearby park to take Isaac and her son, Mason, (born on Isaac's due date) to play on the swings while her older son, Connor, plays on the bigger kid toys.  Now that I've seen this, I can hardly wait!

In other good news, I got a message from Nicole that our photos are up online!  You can check them out here.  I am so excited!  She got some very good shots.  Enjoy!!!

Downstairs Bathroom

Oh, happy day!!!  Todd finished our downstairs half-bathroom yesterday!  It was just in time, too.  Our very pregnant friend, Tica, came over for dinner.  It was nice to be able to send her to a restroom downstairs instead of trekking up the steps.  Todd did an awesome job on it, (of course).  You have seen the vanity before, but now there's a towel rack.  Naturally, I added my seasonal hand towels - I have a slight addiction to hand towels...

The toilet is finally in place.  We hung the "picture window" up in the downstairs bath in the new house, just as we did in the old house.  That picture was taken up in the Appalachian Mountains the weekend Todd proposed.

The door frame will be repeated throughout our downstairs.  We decided to get a little fancier, plus it's so common to see stars when in the Lone Star State.

Today, Todd has started mounting the door frame for the coat closet.  He is also hoping to hang the door frame between the dining room and kitchen.  Hopefully that one will be easier because there will be no actual door to mount.  Bear in mind that this idea is written by the one who has no idea what goes into mounting a door frame!  LOL

Costumes

Isaac slept great last night!  He went to bed around 9:00, but slept (once I popped in the paci at 11:15)  until 2:00!  He then woke at 4:00, 6:00, and finally 8:30.  I know this sounds like a lot to most people, but it was so nice to get 2 hours between wakings instead of only one!!!  To start our day, I did not give Isaac his morning dose of Zantac.  Hopefully that won't be a mistake.  The doctor and I talked about weaning him off of it, starting with the morning dose.  Here's hoping I'm not going to be making for a week's worth of miserable days...  I also gave Isaac his first taste of carrots today.  Understandably, it's hard to tell the difference, visually, between carrots and sweet potatoes, but they do taste quite different.  Sorry that my hand is in the way for most of this video.  I was mostly posting it so you could see Isaac visibly shudder from the carrots.

As you can see in the next video, he likes to help me feed him.  He loves to play with the spoon.  He is learning to suck the food off the spoon as I put in his mouth, though, which is a step towards learning to eat on his own someday.  With the sweet potatoes, he made a little bit of a mess while eating.  After breakfast today, he actually had to have a bath.  There were carrots up his nose, in his eyelashes, and under his fingernails.  It's only a matter of time before Jackson starts to find Isaac at least tasty if not otherwise more interesting!

Today was another fun meeting day for our mommy/baby group.  Honestly, I could write a blog about just this amazing group of women and their incredibly cute sons.  They make me feel sane(r).  Partially because some of them may not be sane at all...  :o)

Today, we decided to torture our sons just a little more than usual.  We put them in their Halloween costumes.  Isaac is still not able to sit well on his own, particularly when his little legs are pulled together in a costume.  Candy, thankfully, took lots of photos on my camera, so I was able get a few chuckles from it this evening.

A few group shots of the boys:

Cash is dressed as a bear, Henry is a pumpkin, Nico is a monkey, and Isaac, of course, is Hot Stuff.  LOL  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Anderson as a tiger.  Stephanie has one on her blog, though.  You really must check out her story on this, I was crying with laughter!!!  (Mom, click on the underlined sentence that starts with the word "Stephanie" to go to her page).

Pro Pic

Blonde moment!!!  Totally forgot that I wanted to share.  Nicole uploaded this photo to Facebook and promised the rest are coming soon.  I'll let you know as soon as I get my fingers on them!

Doctor - 6 Month Checkup

Isaac had his six-month checkup at the doctor's office today.  He was given a clean bill of health.  He is 26 1/2 inches long now.  He weighs 16 lbs. 7.5 oz.  I thought he would weigh more, but I guess not!  I was a little concerned because he has dipped below the 50th percentile, where he has been holding steady up until now.  The doctor said he is burning a lot of calories with all of the exercise he's getting now, though, which makes sense.  He doesn't tire as easily as he used to, so he spends much more time on his tummy and practicing sitting.  I suspect he'll start picking up some more weight as he starts to eat more solid foods.  According to the little piece of paper on "what your child should be doing now", they expect Isaac to be eating 3-4 little meals every day.  I don't think I know anyone who was doing that at a mere 6 months, but maybe I'm wrong.  I'm not planning to rush him just because of this piece of paper.  We'll get there when he's ready.


Isaac was less enthusiastic about his sweet potatoes today.  I am not sure if that's just because he was having an off day (it was before we went to the doctor), or because I didn't mix in any water or milk with the potatoes, or because I put in some probiotics and they made him burp.  Anyway, I'm planning to start him on either carrots or avocados tomorrow.  I'll try to remember to take the camera with me for the next meal.


Baby Boy was tested for lead in his blood because our house was built in 1977 and is currently undergoing a remodel.  I guess it's better to be safe than sorry, but I doubt there's any concern.  He was a champ for the thumb prick - he didn't even bat an eyelash.  He cried for his shots this time, though.  Last time, he didn't do anything until the third shot.  This time, he started crying with the second shot and he really cried for the fourth one.  Poor little thing!!!  :o(  He settled down after just a minute once I picked him up.  He was a bit of a handful this evening because he didn't nap at all after we went to the doctor.  The appointment was at 1:50 pm and he usually naps for a couple of hours in the afternoon.  He wasn't overly fussy, but he wasn't particularly chipper, either.  He just seemed restless...  I finally got him to go to bed at about 9:00, even though I started the routine at 7:30.  They were supposed to give him a flu shot today, but I said that I suspect he may have an allergy to eggs.  I probably should have bitten my tongue, since I don't know this for sure, but I'd hate to find out the hard way.  He was breaking out pretty severely after the weekends, when I would have eaten eggs.  That said, the days I had eggs, there was usually also some dairy that sneaked its way in...  The doc is going to check with her allergist and then give me a call back about what to do next.  Meanwhile, apparently I need to schedule an appointment with my own doctor to go get a flu shot.  The things we do for love!  LOL


To end on a high note, here's a little video of Isaac and Jackson yesterday.  As you can see, Isaac is way more excited about this than Jackson is!  Enjoy!!!

Learning to Sit Up

I am doing the single-parenting gig this week while Todd's doing a whirlwind tour of the Midwest.  Isaac is improving his sitting skills and is getting stronger and stronger.  He is able to sit on his own for brief periods, but not long enough for me to let go, focus the camera, and take a photo of it.  :o)  I'm sure that's coming soon...  In the meantime, I took a few pictures of him sitting in front of me so that if he fell I could keep him from banging his head on the base of his portable swing, which he has of course done a few times now.

I also shot a few videos, but the best one has a lot of light coming through the window in the background.  If you'll forgive the shoddy camera-work, you might enjoy this little video.  Todd's boss, Jamie, gave Isaac this fun ball that he's playing with.

Isaac continues, of course, to be fascinated by the pets.  He watches Nestle some, but Jackson is more exciting because he's more enthusiastic about everything.  Nestle moves more slowly, so he isn't quite as enthralling.  Jackson continues to mostly ignore Isaac, although every now and then he'll make a little effort.  Those little moments make Isaac's day.  I'd like to pet on Jackson to thank him, but every time I pet the dog and then touch the baby, Isaac breaks out where I've touched him.  I am happy to let Jackson lick him, but then I pretty quickly wipe him down with a wet wipe a few minutes later.  I guess he's just going to have to get used to being broken out once he goes mobile because I won't be able to keep him away from Jackson (nor would I want to do that).  Here's a quick (okay, it's actually over 40 seconds) clip from earlier today, after Isaac got tired of trying to sit up:

Tomorrow, Isaac has his six-month appointment with the doctor.  Unfortunately, this will mean more shots, including a flu vaccine.  Ugh.  Apparently the flu vax has to be given in 2 doses, so we'll have to go back for the rest of it at a later date.  On the bright side, I can find out how long and heavy he's getting.  As it is, I'm soon going to have to start leaving the car seat in the car because he's getting too heavy for me in the carrier.  We'll need to buy his next car seat soon, as the limits on this one are 22 lbs. and/or 30 inches.  I expect he'll weigh too much to safely use this one by Christmas, but it'll be a few more months after that before he's 30 inches tall.

Stairs Have Carpet

Todd finished up the carpeting on the stairs yesterday.  We keep remarking how much quieter it is now!  I had no idea than one simple thing would make such a difference.  I'm really glad now that I stuck to my guns on carpeting the stairs instead of using wood.  When I worked for a custom home-builder, I used to sit across from the girl who helped clients make their selections.  She always discouraged anyone who wanted hardwood stairs because she said it was incredibly loud in the house.  We've been walking on wood stairs since Todd rebuilt the staircase before Isaac was born and you could always hear what was going on in the stairwell.  This was a bit of a pain since Isaac's room is right next to/over the stairs.  I can't even hear Todd and Jackson go up and down the steps any more.  It's really great!  I think it looks terrific, too.  I will let you judge for yourself, though.

Professional Pictures

We had Isaac's 6-month photos taken yesterday.  Todd's co-worker (and our friend), Nicole, has her own professional photography business.  She came to our house and we took pictures in the back yard.  Isaac was remarkably cooperative through the whole process.  Nicole was wonderfully patient and it took us nearly 2 hours to get all of the shots we wanted, with plenty of breaks for Isaac's comfort in the midst of the shoot.  We had a really good time trying different poses and angles.  Nicole took about 200 photos throughout the visit.  Next, she'll apply some filters and do some light editing/cropping.  Once she's finished, she'll upload the pictures to her web site so everyone can order directly from her if they'd like.  Todd and I will also get a DVD of all of the pictures she took.  I can already tell there are a few that will be made into larger prints so we can display them around the house!


This is a picture Allison took on Wednesday of Isaac working on his sitting skills.  He gets a little stronger every day, so he'll be sitting on his own in no time.

6 Months Old

Isaac hit the half-year mark today.  There's a quote to the effect of "the days are long, but the years are short" that seems appropriate to the last 6 months.   I had no idea what motherhood would be like.   I am enjoying immensely the chance to watch my son grow and learn everything.  This month, he has nearly learned to sit unassisted, how to consistently roll front-to-back, and occasionally roll back-to-front.   He is learning how to eat solid food and likes sweet potatoes, (just wait until he can have my father-in-law's Kick-Ass Sweet Potatoes!)   He loves his baths and takes great pleasure in splashing as much as possible.   He watches for the dog to enter a room and then laughs and kicks as soon as he sees Jackson.   He has lots more hair than he did at birth, but it's still not enough hair to show up in most of his photos.  Isaac is an amazing blessing in my life.