Solid Foods

Jamisen is officially eating small bits of solid foods. It's a major milestone. He still chokes and will fill his mouth full like a chipmunk so we've got some work to do with the concept of stopping and healthy eating. He's learning how to chew and use his teeth. He really likes to eat whatever is on our plate and he is happy to eat that over anything we have prepared for him.



In terms of allergies, we carry around an allergy inhaler (it's in the diaper bag and needs to be sprayed through an empty toilet roll or in a bag so the baby can really inhale it) and have two epi pens at home. So far, knock on wood, this has been wholly unnecessary as Jamisen has had Peanut Butter 3 times, Almond Butter 3 times and eggs safely thus far. Chris is allergic to cantaloupe so we'll watch Jamisen closely when it comes time to introduce him to that.

Baby Loves to Read

I LOVE to read. I love to read so much that my parents had to make a rule at the table that I could not read during meals. I read through every major road trip (and continue to read). I read so much that I don't get carsick reading for hours as a passenger.

Imagine my extreme joy and happiness that Jamisen LOVES books too. His favorite thing in our home to play with (and he does not lack for actual toys) is his book box. He will sit for up to twenty minutes at a time, by himself, with no interaction with us, just taking his books in and out of the box, opening the pages and generally entertaining himself.

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Jamisen's New Crib

We are on a little family working vacation at Seabrook, WA (on the coast). Who knew that this window seat would double as a crib? Jamisen LOVES hanging out in there. Go figure!

It's the perfect place for him too because he's right in the middle of the action and he's safe in a controlled environment. When Chris put Jamisen into the little nook as a joke, we had no idea it would be such a wonderful play area for a baby who is just learning how to pull himself up on things. It's the ideal height!

Peeekaboo!

Playing Gravity

Jamisen's favorite game: Gravity (also known as "Mommy, Daddy, Fetch!)



See what I mean about Jamisen finding his voice? He definitely can and does express himself!

You have to watch the next video just for the last five seconds. Is that not the sweetest thing you've ever seen? He loves his Daddy!

Jamisen's 9 Month Photo Shoot

First, a little help from Daddy to get the sticker on straight.

This month, we've seen Jamisen's personality just blossom. He laughs all the time. He giggles. He smiles. He makes motorboat sounds. He is just starting to figure out how to wave; well, he mostly just lifts his arm a little higher than his shoulder and just holds his hand out. Right now, he looks like he's impersonating an infamous despot but we trust he'll eventually get the wave down. Until then, we don't encourage practicing this skill in public.

We are also trying to teach him to clap. So far, it's lots of watching us clap and lots of laughing at us but no forward movement towards actual clapping himself. Jamisen can now do a full on crawl (at rapid, rapid speeds) and he's loving pulling himself up on EVERYTHING. He balances, mostly precariously, on his tippy toes and pulls himself up on anything that looks even remotely stable (loose, baggy pants are his fave, which are less than ideal for the person wearing said pants).

He's also getting picky about his food. He still eats everything or just flat out refuses it (knock on wood: no spitting it out yet!). He does have quite the little opinion and will tell you, loudly, if he doesn't like his food or if you're not feeding him fast enough. He has officially found his voice.

We fall deeper and deeper in love with him more every single day and can't believe how blessed and lucky we are to have Jamisen as our son.

Dishwashing Soap instead of Dishwasing Detergent?

This is what happens if you accidentally put dish washing soap (like for hand washing dishes) into the dishwasher instead of automatic dish washing detergent.

For the record, I was not the one that made this error but we all had a wonderful laugh (for a long, long time) about it.

And the dishwasher is fine, for the record.

Trying Something New

Jamisen is a fan of this new crawling tunnel he received as a gift. He loves to crawl inside and "hide."

Jamisen, in Cartoon Form

Seriously, doesn't this look like our little red-haired Jamisen? The artwork is done by my friend Jess (want routine laughs? Follow her blog!) who is working on her own cartoon book (thanks to Kickstarter - check out her project here). How talented is she?! I backed her Kickstarter project and that was before she drew a remarkable likeness to Jamisen (grin).

See the resemblance now?



Jamisen is becoming quite the little squealing talker. He has this especially adorable quality of trying to crawl away when we walk away. This is precious if you're playing that game on purpose. It's less cutesey and more terrifying if you're trying to just grab something and leave him on the bed for a second. I just got back from a two day accounting course in Seattle and this is the video that Chris and Jamisen made to wake me up this morning. It helps to make the time away from home easier because I really do miss my boys. We shoot SoapQueen.TV tomorrow - and I must go review scripts. Here's to a wonderful weekend that is both productive and filled with many baby giggles and grins.

Happy Valentine's Day

We had the best time dressing Jamisen up in his Cupid costume. Since has has easily captured our hearts (without any arrows), he is the perfect cupid example for this day of love.

Our model wasn't so excited about being photographed (notice the scowl on his face) - not so cherubic now!

Grandpa Faiola made the bow and arrow from scratch. The bow string is from Chris's shoe. I wonder when he'll miss it?

Jamisen enjoyed getting out of his cherub costume and playing with the soap props we brought (but didn't use).

And then, he left us a little present. See that puddle on the floor? I sat in it later that day which provided excellent laughing stress relief for us all.

Kiss your loved ones today and every day and tell the how much they mean to you.

Playin' Motorboat

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Weekend in Victoria

We took a fantastic family weekend to Victoria, BC this last weekend. Jamisen loved being in control of the car. He was an amazing little easy going man on our trip - he smiled, he giggled and man, oh man, he wanted to be down on the grimy ferry floor. He's getting very active.

A little video of Jamisen faux-driving the car - notice he would like to be in control of everything, including the radio.

Chris and I enjoyed dinner out with friends while Jamisen slept at the hotel with the Nanny watching over him. We were both home safe by midnight. This makes two times since the baby was born that we've been out past 10 p.m. Just call us 'party animals'. We were so thankful that Jamisen's nanny, McKenna, was able to join us for the weekend.

We did a variety of business team building activities. Though you can't see it, Chris was also in the curling center but he was on another team. His team took the Gold Medal. Despite my heroic efforts, my team didn't even place. Chris on the other hand, my my, he has another potential career waiting behind the scenes.

Ah yes, that look of concentration DOES increase my frown lines. Whoops. Did I mention that curling is really cold?

Jamisen is quite the happy talker, especially around meal time.