Weekend Fun & New Pics Posted

Howdy from Washington! It's been a beautiful last couple of days here - we have gotten a break from the rain and it's actually been sunny. Last Thursday Brooke, Jill and I took our kiddies to the Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah. We had a great time running around and seeing all the animals, including the baby tigers (I think they're about 6 months old), which are adorable! I got an e-mail from Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle that they have a new baby Gorilla, so we'll probably be taking a trip over there when it goes on display!

Things have been okay, the last week has been really tough with Sam pretty much fighting everything. He doesn't like getting put in the car and I have to physically hold him down and struggle with him to get him bucked. He doesn't like having his diaper changed or getting dressed. And he especially doesn't like bedtime. There's been a lot of lying on the floor throwing little fits and it's tiring. We put a CD player in his room yesterday and played one of the Backyardigans CDs when he was going to sleep, which seemed to help a little bit. It also seems to help to play some music to distract him during diaper changes.

Yesterday we went to the 'Fall Fun Festival' at church, and Sam ran amok in his totally cute peacock costume. He had a little bit of a meltdown because he hadn't had his nap yet, but all in all he did well. Today was Brooke & Dave's annual kiddie Halloween party. He played a ton and we had a great time. Check out my photo album for pictures of these events!

I also finally posted photos from my Baptism and a few other events in September and October, plus some random pictures from those months. Enjoy!

Bedtime Bummers

In the last week, bedtime and naptime have become real bummers around our house. For months, Sam was going down to bed every night with no crying - we'd just put him in his crib and he laid down and sometimes he would be awake for up to an hour in there, but he'd just be hanging out, cooing once in a while, and eventually drift off. Well, that's not the case anymore. Every night he starts fighting as soon as he realizes we're walking towards his bedroom to put him to bed. He starts flailing around if I try to sit down in the rocking chair with him and crying. If we stand up and hold him and sing to him (Baa Baa Black Sheep seems to be a current favorite for some reason), he'll calm down and lay his head down, but as soon as we move to put him in the crib he get upset and starts crying again. It's not a whining cry either, it's a full on 'you're abandoning me forever when you put me in this crib, aren't you?' kind of cry. Every night. Even on the nights he only cries for 5 minutes, it sucks. It really sucks putting him to bed and listening to him cry. He's in there crying right now. He cried for a few minutes and stopped, but now he's started again. Sigh... I just want to run in there and pick him up and let him stay up and be with me. But I know that won't help him learn to be okay with bedtime. So I just sit and listen to him cry and hope that I'm not sending him to therapy in 20 years.

My Amazing Son

Oh jeez, I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted any news of the Heiner clan. Wow, I suck! But I'm back now and have tons to report, and hopefully I will get a little more discipline and update for you to read much more often! I'm going to work on getting pictures from the last month up too, and we have some very cute videos to upload once we get them converted.

So, Sam is almost 18 months old! Can you believe it? I can barely believe it. He's gotten so big and so old, it seems like every couple of days he does something amazing and impresses us.

Sam's favorite thing to do is just to GO! He loves to walk and run and I think he would just go for hours and hours. Mom and Paul took him to the arboretum in Seattle last Saturday and he walked and ran around for 2 hours straight. He has so much energy!

He still loves Blue's Clues, but he's also into Dora, Go Diego Go, and The Backyardigans. He loves balls and he likes his trucks and toy cars. I got him a sorting toy the other day with a circle, square and triangle so he can play with that, but mostly he just opens up the bottom of the drum and puts things in and out that way!

We had to put locks on all of his dresser drawers because he started opening them and taking his clothes out and spreading them all around the house! I couldn't put them away because there was no point since he'd just take them out again. So, now that problem is solved. He's in 18 month clothes now, the shirts fit, but the pants are still falling off him and too long of course. He's sort of in between sizes for pants, so there's a lot of rolling them up. He's also having to get used to wearing regular hard soled shoes. We love Robeez, but now that the weather has started to morph into the Washington Winter aka the monsoon season, he needs to wear regular shoes that don't get soaked with water. We have a little pair of tennis shoes that he wears most of the time, and he's gotten very good at walking and running in them!

Sam's still not talking with words all that much. He bables a lot and makes sounds. Every once in a while, he says words and then doesn't repeat them for a while. The other day while looking at one of his Blue's Clues books, he said 'Blue' several times. While watching Dora the other day, he said 'moo' a bunch of times when they were mooing and talking about cows on the TV, then said 'ball' when they started playing with a ball. He says 'go' a lot, but I don't think he knows what it means.

I am surprised every day by the things he understands. He now understands 'Do you want a bath' and runs to the bathroom and pulls on the gate. If you say 'Are you hungry'? He runs to his high chair. And at night when we let him watch a tv show to wind down before bed, when it's over he knows that it's bedtime and stealthily tries to sneak off down the hallway towards the living room. The other day, he indicated that he was ready for bed for the first time. For some reason he didn't take a nap that day, so he was tired. When his Blue's Clues episode ended at 8:30, he took Justin's hand and led him in to his bedroom and grabbed his crib and looked up at Justin. I just couldn't believe it when Justin told me about it!

He is starting to try and climb a little bit. The other day he somehow climbed up onto the bed frame and then pulled himself all the way up onto the bed! That's pretty impressive since the bed is several feet off the floor! He also likes to lead us around now, he grabs your hand and pulls on it and then when you get up he leads you to where he wants to go.

He's still such a great baby. He does throw some tantrums and when he doesn't get his way he goes down on the floor and kicks his legs, but it just comes with the territory. It could definitely be a lot worse! Hopefully he's starting to get it out of his system a little so that he won't be as terrible in the twos, but we'll see.

Sam's doing really well at the church nursery and also the nursery at the gym. He usually cries right away when we leave him there, but by the time we get back he's normally playing. He really likes to play with cars and trucks and to play with the play kitchens.

Another semi-big change for our family is that I'm working again! About six weeks ago my old boss and good friend called me to see if I might be interested in basically doing my old job again part time and working from home. I thought about it and figured out that I can get in at least 3-4 hours of work every day without really disrupting Sam and Justin's schedule too much. So, I've been back to work for a little over a month. I work during Sam's naps and after he goes to bed, and on Tuesdays I go in to the office in Seattle for 4 hours, from 11-3 so I can avoid the traffic. Some days Justin has to take care of Sam more because I have to do phone interviews, but I'll tell ya, the extra paycheck is nice! I've been working 22-25 hours a week. The first couple of weeks were hard, partly because things were so disorderly since they hadn't had an HR person in for several months. But things are back on track now and it's going well. It's nice to be using my brain a little bit again!

Well, I'll go for now, but I'll try to make it back a lot sooner this time!

New Pictures!

I have uploaded pictures from my book club trip to the beach in Washington and all of the pictures from our vacation to New Jersey. They include a trip to Ocean City, Lianna's birthday, and a couple of parties. Fun! Check them out. Sorry I didn't have time to adjust the redeye on some of them before I put them up. The above picture of Helene and Sam is one of my favorites from the whole trip!

More from the big NJ

Ah... it's now 10:12 at night and Sam has been in bed for an hour. He went down tonight without crying at all for the 2nd night in a row - wonderful! He only took a nap for a little over an hour today, so he must have been really tired. I spent the last hour with Lianna. She showed me her webkinz online pets and it's crazy and complicated and cool. Then she played a little on her new Quantum LeapPad and I helped her with spelling. She is a really cool little girl.

Yesterday Lianna turned 9! I can hardly believe it's been 8 years since we met Dad and Helene at the airport and watched them walk of the plane with this beautiful little baby - it was love at first sight. I remember holding her that summer as she slept against my shoulder and being amazed at what a wonderful feeling it was. Also one of my favorite things with Sam. There's just something about that closeness and providing a soft place and comfort to this little person. Anyhow, she's 9 now and in the 4th grade. We all went and picked her up from school yesterday and went to the music store to get her big birthday present - a guitar! She loved it and was surprised. I guess in this school district all the kids learn to play guitar in 5th grade so she'll get a head start. Kira and I gave her a CD, a DVD and some books, plus a kit to make a stepping stone for the yard. Kira cooked a vegan cake so we could ALL eat it together and it was delicious. I think the whole day was nice. Her birthday party is tomorrow - it's a roller skating party! Then we're having a party in the back yard where a local band is going to come and play, that should be fun.

Yesterday morning I went to the park with one of the neighbors who has a kid in 2nd grade but also has a 18 month old and a 3 year old. It was really fun, and we ran into another parent that I know who is a friend of my Dad and Stepmom. So, that was fun. Sam got up really early (6:45) so he fell asleep in the stroller on the way home. Last night he went to bed without even crying and slept the whole night in his crib again - he even woke up once and I managed to get him back in his crib, which doesn't always work when we're not at home. Today he got up early again (7:00) and only took an hour nap, so he was exhausted by bedtime and went to bed without crying again! He is just doing so well here, it's really great.

We had an exciting moment this morning! Sam walked into the dining room and there was a garbage bin in there with Spongebob Squarepants on it. Sam walked up and was messing with it and suddenly said "Bob. Bob bob." I was shocked! I said to my stepmom, I think he just said Spongebob! Later when I went upstairs to change his diaper I showed him a clock with a little Spongebob figurine on it to see if he'd say it again, and he did! I love it when he just pulls random words out.

Sam is really into eggs currently. This morning for breakfast he ate more than 2 eggs! He hasn't been very into the waffles this week, but he will chow down on eggs. Also last night we had spaghetti and fake meatballs and he ate the spaghetti too! I just cut it up into smaller pieces and he loved it.

Well, that's the update! Tomorrow is a big day, so I think I'll sign off for now! I won't be able to get pictures up tonight, but will try to get it done over the weekend.

Greetings from Scenic New Jersey

I'm back! It hasn't been long, but we've sure been busy. I've got lots of pictures from our book club trip and from our trip to New Jersey (so far) and I'm going to try to work on getting them uploaded tonight.

I'm sitting in the living room at my Dad's house in Flemington, New Jersey right now typing this on my laptop. Sam's been asleep for about 45 minutes, and he got up early today (7:00), so he might even nap for over 2 hours if I'm lucky! We're working on getting the house neatened up for the party tomorrow.

We have had tons of fun during this trip so far, and it's so fun to watch Helene with Sam. She loves him so much, she's such a good Grandma. We also had a loss in the family recently, Helene's mother died only a couple of weeks ago, so I think it's a really great time for us to be visiting and hopefully Sam is spreading some happiness. Lianna turned 9 yesterday and she is adorable with Sam. She helps watch him and plays with him and talks to him. This morning she was reading him a book, and it was really cute.

So, we arrived to the house at about 10:00 pm last Friday. Kira, Sam and I all flew together and had seats together. My Dad used frequent flier miles to upgrade us to first class, and boy am I glad. If we'd been in coach his car seat would not have fit into the plane seat, and that would have been really hard trying to keep him in once place. The first flight was Seattle to Minneapolis and Sam was awake most of the flight, but slept for about 20 minutes. We had a 2 hour layover so Sam was able to run around all over the gate area and airport while Kira and I chased after him and he could get some energy out. On the 2nd flightit was a little harder because even though the flight was only 2 hours, we sat on the plane for an hour before taking off because of mechanical difficulties. Sam was a little fussy during that time, but didn't scream or cry or anything. Boy am I glad that Justin bought the portable DVD player though. I wouldn't have bought one, but it really saved the day. He was so overtired by the 2nd flight I just wanted him to take a nap, and I was able to put on Blue's Clues for him to have him focus on something while he got sleepy.

Saturday morning we got all packed up and drove down to Ocean City to stay at my Aunt's beach house for a few days. On Sunday and Monday we went to the beach and Sam had a great time. Sunday he slept for a couple of hours on the beach, which was nice. Monday he just ran around and had fun. We both got a little burned, so we decided to just stay at the house Tuesday morning and hang out and take our time packing up to come back to Flemington. Sam's done really well with the time change and since the 2nd day we were here he's been going to bed at his normal bedtime. The last 2 days he's woken up quite early, yesterday at 6:45 and today at 7:00, but he slept in his crib all night both of those nights which was awesome because I got the bed to myself. Sam had a great time at the beach, and so did I! The water was just awesome, it was warm and the waves weren't too big. I got to float around by myself or with Kira out in the ocean while Helene and Lianna played with Sam. Sam loved the sand, although he just had to taste it every once in a while, and he went in the water a little bit, maybe up to his knees and then I also sat in the water with him on my lap so I could lift him up a little if a higher wave came. We also got to see Matt and Erica (just married cousins) who are expecting a baby in January and just found out it's a girl! I'm excited that someone else is adding a little one to the next generation of our family. We also got to visit with my other cousins, Laurie and Emmy, and see Aunt Barb, Aunt Ann, and Grandmom. We just had a good time, and I was so happy when Emmy and Ann came down for the day on Monday so we could see them since I didn't think they were coming.

Tuesday afternoon we headed back to Flemington. Sam was good in the car both ways, just a tiny bit fussy for the last 10 minutes of the trip home, no big deal. Lianna was in the back seat with him, so she helped entertain him and give him some snacks. Wednesday was Lianna's first day of fourth grade, and we just hung around. Kira and I walked down to main street and got coffee at a shop there and went into a few of the stores.

Oh, I gotta go - Sam is awake, way too early! More later on tonight hopefully.

Busy Busy Baby

Well, it's been a couple of weeks, but I'm back!

Last week was our book club summer trip. We had 6 moms and 8 kids ranging in age from 7 months to 5 years (mostly under 3.5). We rented a house right off the beach from Friday to Tuesday in Pacific Beach, which is maybe 30 minutes north of Ocean Shores. The beach was beautiful, we did have to drive to get there, but it was sandy and great. The first couple of days weren't as nice, it was really overcast on Saturday when we went to the beach, but Monday was BEAUTIFUL and we were at the beach for almost 5 hours. Everyone else left early, so at that point it was just me, Brooke, and our kiddies. Sam did really well, I had a pack and play so that I could put him down for naps and in bed at night. He woke up every night and came into the bed with me, so I didn't sleep that well, but it was good. After taking care of Sam by myself 24-7 in a non-babyproofed house with a bunch of other kids, I was exhausted and ready to be home! We have been planning a trip every summer for the last 3 years, and it's really cool to watch the kids grow up and their interactions with each other change and develop.

Sam, Kira and I leave on Friday (tomorrow) to go to New Jersey to visit my Dad, Stepmom and little Sister and see various extended family. We're going to go to the beach for a few days and this year we'll be there for my little sister Lianna's birthday on the 6th, and for her birthday party the weekend after that.

Sam is getting better at going down stairs, with help of course. For whatever reason he refuses to turn around and go down backwards, so the first time he tried to go downstairs he just sort of walked off the top step. I've seen him go down stairs at the playgrond using the railings, but he doesn't usually do that unless I'm sort of watching from afar, if someone's right next to us, he wants to hold on to both hands. He's slowly getting the hang of it, although sometimes he just lets his legs go or he tries to go down two at once.

Not much else is happening now - I'm a little scatterbrained because I'm rushing around trying to get ready to go to NJ for 11 days and take Sam on an airplane for the first time since he's started walking. Agh!