Baby on the Beach

We made the most of our Memorial Day. While hiking to Clayton Beach, Chris and I told Jamisen all about Memorial Day (This is a moving narrative about the emotional costs of war). Jamisen listened quietly and seemed to appreciate the gravity of the message. After all the talking, he was delighted to be let down to crawl around the beach. It was his first experience wit the sand and he went for it - crawling all over and generally showing a fiercely independent streak. (Email subscribers, remember to click through to the blog to watch the videos). This video is the story of my life right now: There is lots of hobbly walking in our home. Guiding Jamisen around is rather fun though; it's pretty entertaining to see where he's going to go next. Jamisen has also mastered the fine art of stair climbing. Thank goodness for the baby gate! Jamisen LOVES his Bear Pillow from Jody Bergsma (thank you for such a sweet baby gift!) Such a sweet baby boy ....

Jamisen's First Year

PS - Best year. Of. Our. Lives.

Memorial Day. One Third In.

Having the best weekend thus far - and it's only 1/3rd of the way through! We hosted a wine tasting party last night and learned a lot about Washington State wines. Our experts actually made the Gold Medal 2012 Cabernet Sauvingon for Washington State so they had a lot of great information to impart based on real-deal experience. Before we filled our house with people, my Mastermind Group (or at least most of them!) got together for paddleboarding. It was such a great workout and absolutely a soul-enhancing time. My smart, business owner girlfriends have all got it 'goin' on' and they inspire me. Paddleboarding is all about the core - and I am SORE today! My legs hurt. My abs are wondering what hit them and my shoulders are protesting. We went to the park today and Jamisen absolutely hated his sun bonnet (or is it a manly cap? Isn't it all semantics?). He did LOVE the slide. He kept climbing up the slide (it's a small, slightly tilted piece of molded fiberglass) to his Daddy. Chris would turn him around and send him the 2 feet back to me. There was a lot of smiles, giggling and grunting. Jamisen loved it! And he took the LONGEST afternoon nap. All the climbing, walking (with Mommy's help!) and crawling tuckered our little boy out. There's no photo but we brought Mr. Jamisen to an afternoon party where I made salmon (fresh) en papillote and adult macaroni and cheese (cambozola cheese plus farmhouse cheddar) We're planning on walking the baby into Fairhaven tomorrow for Ski to Sea. He is going to be in his element with all the people (our baby is a people person!). Hopefully he'll sit still enough for a few photos. Also, I realize I was remiss in not sharing this lovely photo from last weekend. We took Jamisen to the sculpture garden and he loved the giant pieces of metal, rock and wood. Our baby boy is interested in everything. We're certain this is a clear sign of his genius and not just a normal developmental stage.

Videos of Jamisen

Jamisen saying 'Mama'. He's clearly a genius. Jamisen has become a real dare devil on the playground. Today, he went through all three tunnels and down the steep slide (in Mommy's arms of course). He also really wants to play with the 'big' kids but they are not very receptive. He did get a hug from a little girl today that was very sweet. Of course, the little girl's Mommy had to say "Gentle with his eyes!" a few times, in a panic-stricken, tight voice. Don't worry though. No eyes were harmed in the course of our playground foray.

Curly Long Hair

Jamison keeps getting mistaken for a girl, everywhere we go. I think it's as beautiful curly hair he's getting. We're still not ready to cut it. So imagine my joy, and today the grocery store and woman walked up to us and said, "Even though I have children of my own, I have to tell you that your baby boy is the most handsome baby boy I've ever seen." Not only did she figure out that he was a boy (something not very many people have been able to do lately), she thought he was handsome. What a nice complement.

Sunny Saturday Fun

We had an amazing day today. Chris had household chores to do at the lake house today. Jamisen and I spent the entire day together. It was a joy! We spent almost 5 hours outside (yes, he had sunscreen on). We walked to the Farmers market, and bought some yummy homemade spinach linguine. We also got orange rhubarb lemonade. I didn't dare give any of it to Jamisen lest he get addicted to sugar in one tiny taste.

Then, we went to the park where Jamisen played with some very big boys. They were probably four or five years old, and they were were irritated to have a little baby hanging out with them. They started kicking dirt close to Jamisen (in his general
direction - that pesky baby infringing on their space!) and I (with a friend on hand to provide back up moral support and lead the way) had to tell them it wasn't safe to kick dirt in Jamisen's direction. It was a momma bear moment.

Jamisen also saw a giant wolf dog at the park, and immediately took off at a fast crawl chasing after it. Thankfully the wolf dog was friendly and allowed Jamisen to squeal, drool and otherwise show delight in the general direction of the dog. But, he wisely stayed a few feet away from the dog and its long teeth.

Jamisen still is not walking. He is showing major signs of being close to it. I'm leaving on a business trip for next few days, and Murphy's Law says that he will undoubtedly walk on his own unassisted while I'm gone.

He loved his first taste of bread pudding. Naturally, it was made with whole wheat grains and blueberries. It was fairly healthy. He also enjoyed his Kale smoothie for breakfast this morning. He very much liked helping me sort his edamame beans for his vegetable snack today. He was quite industrious at the task.

Getting Rid of Binky

We have been trying to wean Jamisen off his pacifier. It's been a slow, gradual progression from no binky during the day, to none at naptimes and next is no pacifier at night (eeek!).

He's been finding other objects to use in the pacifier's place. A toy duck. The sippy cup lid. But this morning's choice of binky subs was a classic: the freezer latch.

I watched him try to suck on the latch on and off all morning (in between playing with the ice).

Mother's Day Weekend Fun

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there! We had a wonderful weekend (thanks to awesome planning by Chris). Between two hikes in the sunny Pacific Northwest, a lovely visit to a local sculpture park, visits to the park, bouquets of flowers and a new Nook (hello, Mother's Day gift from sweet husband!), it was an energetic, busy and joyful weekend. I am so thankful for my OWN Mother, who taught me about being kind, giving back to the community and being an intentional Mother. We're lucky to have TWO doting Grandmas in our family (and one great-grandma). All of that loving maternal energy directed at Jamisen is sure to make a positive difference (right?). At the very least, it means we have a lot of fun together! That's Grandma Renoud below. Jamisen is lovin' on her shiny earrings. I feel so lucky to have born into the family I was - and it's a wonderful experience to add to the family with little Jamisen. With all the family support, I'm a lucky daughter AND Mom.

Yes, I recognize that Jamisen looks like he has a giant third eye in the photo above. I think he is prone to frowning like me - which means lines and wrinkles as he gets older. Sigh. It was bound to happen. He'll probably have ugly knees (a genetic flaw of the Faiolas) and bad eyesight as well (Faiola + Renoud contributions!).

Jamisen Birthday Party

It's hard to believe but Mr. Jamisen is 1 year old. He went from this: To this:

In ONE YEAR! Seriously. How did that happen? He's like an actual little boy-person. Things that Jamisen can do now: pull himself up on chairs and legs to a standing position, 'scoot' around things, point, wave, clap, say: Mamma, Dadda, ba-oon (balloon) and hi and eat good sized solids. He has his own Twitter account for photos. You can follow him @bramblebump. I post photos every few days and my favorite right now are pages 16-20 from when he was teensy, teensy tiny! Everyone told me it would go quickly and it has - it's been like a blink of an eye from when he was just 6 pounds leaving the hospital until now when he is a healthy 22 pounds.

We make Jamisen his food from scratch and he has had refined sugar less than a handful of times in his life. Grandpa Faiola brought Jamisen his (Grandpa's) favorite, favorite dessert - Hostess Orange Cupcakes. Jamisen was mildly interested but didn't end up eating the entire cupcake. He was significantly more interested in eating the candle than the cupcake. It was heartwarming that he wanted to share his birthday treat with his Daddy. Jamisen got a rocking cow from his Dad and I. Grandma and Grandpa Faiola got him a balance-walking bike.
Uncle Erik enjoyed demonstrating it for his nephew.

Jamisen will get another chance to eat refined sugar in the next few weeks (lucky boy!). His other set of grandparents couldn't be with us today (darn that flu!) so we'll have a do-over birthday party! In the photo below are Aunt Cheriss, Uncle Erik and Grandma and Grandpa Faiola (plus the three of us!). It doesn't seem possible that it's been a year since Jamisen was born - it has definitely been the fastest year of our lives - and we can't wait to see what the upcoming year holds. Here's to more laughter, love and joy - for everyone! Happy Birthday Jamisen!

Videos of Mr. Happy

Jamisen LOVES balloons. I'm pretty sure his first non parental word (he's mastered 'Mama' and 'Dada') is going to be 'balloon'. Check out his adorable actions with this red balloon. At the ripe age of 1 years old, Jamisen is also getting to be quite talented with the iPhone. He can open it in about 20 seconds flat now. The other day, he got a hold of my driver's license (colorful with a photo on it). He kept turning the license over and trying to push and swipe to turn it on, just like the iPhone. It was endearing and adorable. Jamisen is starting to scoot around incredibly well. He can pull himself up on things and then slowly pull himself from piece of furniture to furniture. He slowly moves from piece to piece. We're starting to go to the park and I know he's going to want to do the 'scoot' trick on the awesome play toys at the park so we've started testing shoes. For the record, either I can't put baby shoes on (entirely possible) or our child's ankles are abnormally large (equally possible). The only shoes that fit him are these Crocs for 2 year olds. Notice how enamored he is with these shows. Jamisen remains a happy, easy going baby who laughs, plays by himself and interacts with people with alacrity and joy.