Slowly but surely....

I'm finally getting some photos up. I am still working on photos from Christmas Day and random photos from the trip, but here's some that I've gotten up so far:

A few random pictures from December at home:



Pictures from our December Trip to Bellingham:



Pictures from Christmas Eve at John & Marilyn's:



Pictures from the PAR-TAY in Flemington:



Pictures from New Year's Eve:



I am still working on getting the rest up - I have to sort through to weed them out and decide which ones to put up. Hopefully I'll be able to get to it in the next couple of days. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's 2007 already. This year went by so fast - I think that's the way it's probably going to be from now on. Me watching time fly by and wondering how Sam has gotten so big and learned so many things when I remember just yesterday we were taking him home from the hospital and not knowing things like... how often do we wash him? How much should he be eating? Am I giving him enough tummy time? I can't even imagine what my parents think when they look at me and I have a baby of my own!

First off, I wanted to post this picture I took today. We were in Seattle yesterday and stopped at the Army & Navy Surplus store for something that Leela needed to get for her boyfriend, and she bought Sam this little camo shirt. Well, we took a few pictures, and I just love this picture. I set it as my background on my computer and I just keep staring at it, so of course I had to share it. I'll post a better copy on my photo page on Flickr later too. I'm working on getting all of the vacation photos onto my computer and sorting through them so I can upload a bunch of them to share!

So, the rest of our trip to New Jersey was great. We spent Christmas Eve at John and Marilyn's (Helene's brother and sister-in-law) and that was a lot of fun. The days before that Emmy came and stayed with us in Flemington, which was great. I am so glad that we got to spend so much time with her. Out of all of my cousins, she's the one I'm closest to, and I think she'll be a cool 'Aunt' for Sam, even if we don't see her much anymore. On Christmas, Kira, Sam, Justin and I drove into Philadelphia and had brunch with my Mom, Uncle John, Aunt Becky - and Aunt Becky's new FIANCE, David! That's right, we will be traveling to Atlanta in July for the wedding. It's so exciting, and we really liked him, he seemed really nice, is into computers, so of course got along with Justin, and to top it all of is handsome. After that we headed over to my Uncle Charlie & Aunt Gayle's house for Christmas with my Dad's side of the family. We had a great time, and it was nice to see everyone! Justin and I got a much appreciated break that night when Helene and Lianna decided to stay the night there and keep Sam with them! We went back to Flemington and our heads hit the pillow within 1/2 an hour. We got to spend the next day just hanging out and doing a little shopping and seeing a movie. The other big event was on the night of the 28th my Dad had a big party at his house. Half of a local band he knows (3 guys) came over and played music (mostly Phish covers) in the dining room and we all danced and had a lot to drink and hung out. It was really a great time!

Now we're back in Washington at home settling in. The weekend we got back Mom also flew back and stayed here a couple of nights, and we went to a New Year's Eve party at Kelly & Michael's house. We had a great time hanging out and seeing everyone again, and watching all the kids play! It's really fun to watch Sam and Micaela together since they're so close in age (they were due on the same day, but Micaela came early!). I can't wait until they get old enough to really start playing together. Kelly had a genius idea and we all celebrated New Year's Eve "East Coast Style" - we rang in the New Year when the ball dropped in New York at 9 PM! It was a genius idea for all of us parents with little ones. My head hit the pillow before midnight, but I still felt like I'd celebrated!

On Monday we headed up to Bellingham to take Mom back home, and she took Sam overnight while Justin and I had a little mini-vacation up in Canada. We stayed in a hotel with a Jacuzzi tub (I think I need one) and went to the Colossus Theater up in Langley and saw "Eragon", which I highly recommend. Since then we've just been settling back in at home and I've been working on getting everything we brought home with us put away and cleaning up things like the pile of mail I needed to sort through, and working through many many loads of laundry!

Sam is still doing pretty great. He turned 8 months old on Tuesday, and I can't believe how much he's growing and changing every day. I think now is the time that I'm starting to see just how much I would really miss if I was working full time. Sam started crawling while we were on vacation! He started with a lot of time up on the hands and knees, and rocking back and forth. Then he progressed to army crawling, but that didn't last long before he got up on all fours and really started moving. He's still a little wobbly and not too fast yet (which is fine with me!), but he definitely likes being able to move around on his own! Last Saturday, less than 2 weeks after he started crawling, he pulled himself up to standing for the first time! I was amazed that he is doing that already. He is crazy. He loves to stand up every chance he gets, and he doesn't have much balance yet, but he will take steps if you help him out. I can't believe how much he can do on his own now.

The only downside to his pulling up, which of course I am very proud of, is that it has caused minor setbacks in the bedtime department. We lowered Sam's crib as soon as we got back from vacation since before we left he could already pull up onto his knees. Well, the last few nights when we put him down, he starts crying (really crying - not just tired whimper crying) immediately and it's taking a lot longer for him to go to sleep and at least 2 trips back in to put him back to lying down because when we go in he's standing at the side of the crib wailing. It's really hard. I guess we were lucky before, and while we were on vacation he would fall asleep with a bottle or in the car a lot since we'd be out late, so he didn't have to go into his crib awake. It's really hard to have to go in and calm him all down knowing he's most likely going to start crying again as soon as I walk away, and to listen to him cry from the other room. At this point I know it's the right thing to do, because I don't want to teach him that if he cries he'll get picked up, and he is always tired and even drifting off during his bottle/story time before bed. Anyhow, I'm hoping it won't take too long for this to improve and maybe get back down to the 5-10 minutes that it was taking him to fall asleep before vacation.

We're still doing the bedtime routine with a bath and books and bottle before bed, and I think it's a nice routine to be in. Our favorite books right now are "Kiss Good Night" (the main character is named Sam!), "I Love You as Much" and "Love You Forever" (even though it almost always gets me teary).

Sam is eating more foods now and it's really fun feeding him different things. Sometimes I can't believe how much he can eat in a sitting! The other night I went over to Brooke and Dave's and he ate a giant spoonful of beans with corn and some guacamole plus a whole jar of baby food. He has eaten beans, mashed potatoes, a little bit of salmon (maybe a little early but it was just a little), guacamole, watermelon... it's so fun to watch him eat new things. He's not that great at chunks and chewing yet, but I think we're going to start giving him cut up fruit soon and start to get him learning how to chew up his food. He does LOVE the Gerber finger food puffs, and he usually gets some of those in his high chair before every meal while we're getting his other food ready.

We've also been trying a little juice and I'm starting to teach him how to use a sippy cup. He doesn't really understand it, and since they all have valves you have to suck a significant amount to get anything to come out the spout. Sometimes I'll suck it a little for him and sometimes I can take out the valve to get him to understand the juice comes out there. If I do that, I just have to make sure I'm watching him because it also means that if he tips it it will spill out all over the place!

Well, that is pretty much all I can think of for now. I'm going to go hop in the shower and get ready for the world while Sam is napping. I'm going out to a movie with Brooke later, and maybe stopping by the bank to finally open Sam's bank account since we got several gifts for him over Christmas that we want to actually be saved for him. On Monday Justin, Sam and I are going to head down to Olympia to visit Brie and the twins since they're both home now! I can't wait to actually be able to hold them - Sam is going to seem so huge compared to them! I will take pictures and get them up here. Also, like I said, I am working on getting our vacation pictures sorted out and hopefully in the next 2 days I'll have photos up online. I will definitely post here when I have them up because I definitely want to share them!

I'll be back again soon!

Photos will be better than ever!

I just set up my flickr account, which is where all of my photos are going to be posted from now on since I'm posting on the new blog. Here is a link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachael1013/sets/

You can also get to it by going to the right hand side of my blog and clicking the 'photos' link under 'Cool Stuff'. I will make sure to include it in my post when I add new pictures. The pictures are better quality and I'll be able to put more up, so I'm excited about that! I wil post pictures from my New Jersey trip as soon as I get unpacked and get them organized, and will post another blog entry about the rest of the trip!

Feliz Navidad!

Hello! This is my first real post on the new blog. I don't have any pictures to post right now, but when I do, I'll make sure to leave good instructions on how to access them. It will also be easier for me to post links for people on this blog.

I'm writing this on Justin's laptop in the dining room at Dad and Helene's house in Flemington, NJ. Emmy is sitting across from me writing some tips for Kira and Mom when they go to D.C. next week, Dad and Kira are working on putting the lights up on the tree, and Justin and Sam are upstairs taking a nap. It's been a pleasant day so far, and tonight we are going to the Shaker Cafe around the block for Mexican Night. Dad goes there every morning when he's in town to get his daily egg sandwich.

Sorry it's been so long since my last update. The last couple of weeks have been a little crazy with celebrating Christmas with a few people, getting ready for our trip, and the big storm that hit Washington and Oregon last week and knocked out power for thousands of people, including ours for a while!

The weekend of the 9th was busy and fun! On Friday we went down to Tacoma and went to see the Zoolights at Point Defiance Zoo. It was pretty cool, and it made me wish that I had a better camera since that kind of thing is so hard to take photos of with an ordinary camera. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see more animals - although we did see a racoon in the trees while we were looking at the lights! After that, we popped over to Tacoma General Hospital to visit Brie and the babies and drop off some hand-me-downs and lots of bottles we're not using, and to see them for the last time until next year. That night and the next night Brie and Kyle were rooming in at the hospital with Ginny in preparation for her homecoming that Sunday! It's very exciting, she's been home for almost 2 weeks now and things are going well so far. Roman is not quite as advanced and is still in the hospital as far as I know, but they're still hoping that he'll be home for Christmas. On Saturday the 9th we headed up to Bellingham and went to Mom's Kulshan Chorus Holiday Concert, then on Sunday we all headed over to Rob and Susan's house for brunch and to exchange Christmas gifts. We had a really great time, and it was really wonderful to be able to spend time with Rob, Susan, and Mom all at once. I think I've been really lucky in life to have parents who value family so much and have such good relationships with each other. We had a really great time! Then that evening we got to spend some time with Leela, Esme, and Ty. It was a really great weekend.

Last week we spent a whole day over at Brooke and Dave's while waiting for our power to come back on after the storm. Brooke, Lorelai, Seamus and I decorated Christmas cookies and we had a cozy little Christmas gift exchange in the evening. We also had Laurie over for lunch last Sunday and she got to see how big Sam has gotten and hang out with us. It was really great to see her.

Now we're in New Jersey and looking forward to Christmas Eve and seeing our families that evening and on Christmas Day. Kira's looking forward to a short trip to D.C. with Mom next week, and I'm looking forward to lots of people passing Sam around and enjoying taking care of him while I have a little R & R! Woo hoo!

Sam is doing pretty well. He did wonderfully on the flight out here. He was a little fussy, but didn't really cry, and took a pretty good length nap during the flight. We did curbside check in again, which is very convenient with so many suitcases and a carseat and trying to carry Sam around and keep him happy!

Since we got here he has been a little under the weather. The last couple of nights he has had a pretty high fever (102.6 and 102.4) and has been a little fussy and clingy. We're not sure if he just has a fever because he's teething or if he has caught some kind of bug. His fever was definitely better in the middle of the night last night, but he did feel a little warm this morning when he got up.

The biggest change is that he's definitely army crawling now! He can really get going if you give him some incentive like a remote control or a video game controller. He can get up on his hands and knees and take a little crawl, but he hasn't gotten it down very well yet.

That's about all that's going on! I will definitely get back on during our vacation and post more updates and some pictures as our vacation goes on. I'm sure that Sam is going to get totally spoiled and there will be TONS of pictures of his first Christmas!

First Haircut!

Tonight I gave Sam his first haircut! It was slightly difficult until I realized that the key was to stick the bottle in his mouth, then it was pretty smooth sailing. I just cut it in the front and on the sides around his ears. It was starting to get in his eyes a little bit in the front. It didn't look too bad when we put him to bed, but we'll see what it's like tomorrow! See photo album for pictures!

Also, we just put Sam to bed after our bath, bottle, book ritual. And it literally took 2 minutes after Justin put him down for him to go to sleep. I looked at the clock, and he cried for 2 minutes, then silence. CRAZY! He's doing so great.

It's funny, I notice new things every day. Today he was in the exersaucer and his book fell over the edge and he actually leaned forward to look over the edge to see where it went. Wow. It's really amazing watching him learn and develop.

He is also really close to getting his top front teeth, and has been pretty fussy because of his mouth hurting. I think they'll come through in the next couple of days.

I Can't Believe How Fast Time Goes By

Sam is now 7 months old, and I can't believe how fast the time has gone by, and how much he changes every day. He's such a big boy now - that may seem silly, but anyone who is a parent will know what I mean when I say that I already have nostalgia thinking about how small he was just a few months ago.

So, what's new in his world? He is now a champion eater, and enjoys breakfast, lunch and dinner along with his bottles every day. He still loves his yogurt, and usually gets a little with every meal. It seems to help with his digestion, and his spitting up is definitely improving. I think soon it'll be a rare event instead of a regular one! It's been fun being able to start giving him 'regular' foods like mashed potatoes and letting him try things like different flavors of ice cream!

He still wears bibs pretty much all the time, but the main reason for it at this point is the drool! He is a big drool machine. Right now he's drooling a lot because he seems to be getting more teeth. We think that the next ones to come in will be his front top two teeth, they're right there, but not quite coming through yet.

Sam is also VERY close to being able to crawl, and he can sit up by himself! It is amazing how much better at it he gets just day to day, but he can now sit up for long periods of time by himself and even catch himself sometimes if he starts to teeter over. He can also sometimes go from sitting to lying down without tipping and bumping his head. He can move around the floor now, and once he starts crawling he's going to be all over the place - I am sure going to get a workout chasing him around! He now gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth a lot, he even scoots a little bit, but he doesn't get the alternate leg movement quite yet!

The biggest change lately has been the start of establishing a bedtime routine for Sam, and teaching him to be able to put himself to sleep when it's bedtime. We currently start around 9:30 and get him into the bath - the great thing is that he loves the bath so much he can be in there for a long time, or if we're feeling tired or it's late we can just do 10 minutes or so in the tub. After his bath, we get him all cozy in his jammies and give him a warm bottle and read a few books to him. Then he goes into the crib (without a pacifier) to go to sleep. We haven't been doing it for long - just about a week - but it is going pretty well so far! The longest he's cried in the past few days is 15 minutes, but tonight it was more like 10. It's hard to listen to him cry, but it's also nice to know that he'll be able to put himself to sleep and that if we're really tired or need him to go down, he knows what the bedtime routine is and will start to understand what it means when it's bedtime. It's hard to know what advice to listen to, and which experts to listen to, and which methods to choose. But I think that what we're doing is going really well so far. He also sleeps through the night almost every night now, which is really nice!

We are having so much fun with Sam even though the teething has made him quite a bit more fussy than normal in the past week! Last night he went and spent a few hours with Brooke and Dave while Justin and I went out to celebrate our 7 year dating anniversary! It's amazing it's been that long... we just went to a movie, but it's always fun to get out just the two of us, and I think we've done a pretty good job so far of making time for us to spend together.

We leave on the 19th for our Christmas trip to New Jersey. Before then, we have some things to look forward to. This weekend we're heading up to Bellingham to see some people that we probably won't see again until after Christmas (Rob, Susan and Maggie, Esme and Ty, and Justin's Dad). We are also going to see Mom's Kulshan Chorus concert on Saturday night, and visit with Leela on Sunday. Then on the 15th we'll have our Christmas celebration with our friends before going on vacation. I'm looking forward to watching Seamus and Lorelai open their presents. It really gives me a peek into how fun it will be for Sam's first Christmas that he's actually more aware of! During our trip we'll get to see lots of relatives and have a couple of celebration dinners. I'm mostly looking forward to Sam meeting the relatives he hasn't met yet, and spending time with Dad, Helene, Lianna, and my cousin Emmy. We always have a really fun time.

In other news, my friend Brie found out today that her daughter, Ginny, is going to be able to come home from the hospital on Sunday as long as everything goes well! It's so exciting, she's been in the hospital for a little bit over a month since she was born at 30 weeks. Her twin brother Roman will have to stay in a little longer, as he's not quite as mature as she is. We are very excited for her to be home and to be able to go down and visit and hold her and really start getting to know her! The other good news is that my good friend Leela found out last week that after 1+ year long interview process, she's been accepted into the United States Border Patrol training program! It's a little sad because it means she'll be away from Washington for at least 3 years, but we're really happy for her too!

The other big news is that this month both Justin and I got Lasik surgery and no longer need to wear glasses! I am still in the recovery process - using antibiotics and LOTS of eye drops - I have to use them every hour. Justin is just using them as needed at this point. I'm still geting used to not having to put on my glasses in the morning and being able to wear sunglasses, and not trying to feel my contact lenses! And I'm definitely enjoying being able to see Sam and lie with him and play with him and not having to worry about him grabbing onto my glasses!

Well, I'm off to read for a little while before bed - the new Michael Crichton book came out last Tuesday! I will be back again soon to update!