Wait! What is that Orb?!

Hello from the end of a wonderful weekend. We had a great two days with family. I made the epic "Oh She Glows" Kale Weekend Salad (my go-to salad for everything now - it even has Goji berries. I know! You're sold, right?!) and Grandma and Grandpa Faiola contributed by making an insanely weird/cool Ricotta Carrot Quiche (trust me, it worked). I also made an (epic?) Browned Butter Butterscotch Pie that will get its own blog post. Grandma and Grandpa Faiola were, as usual, completely over the moon about their only Grandbaby and got up two mornings in a row at 6 a.m. so they could spend extra time with their Jamisen and Chris and I could sleep in (heaven and thank you!).

We visited Otion where Jamisen had fun with soap.

It was especially lovely to see the great job Kat and crew have done at the full remodel of the store (new paint, new set up, new carpet, new flooring). Read more about their remodel here.

Since it's starting to show some sun in Bellingham (wait, did I jinx that?! I'm pretty sure it just started raining!), we did get to go outside. Jamisen was excited about the new sight of a big yellow orb in the sky.

We also had our first play date. Jamisen LOVED Ms. Eliza Rose (who is an older woman at almost a week older than him). This is the kitchen cabinet drawer that we have just for Jamisen to play with. He was happy to share his toys and tools with Ms. Eliza. Also, as an older woman, she is walking. He crawled extremely speedily after her all over our house. It was adorable.



He shared his cracker with her which elicited "Awwwwwws" from all of the adults in the house (yes, that's why his hands are shoved inside her mouth, perilously close to her teeth). He was quite happy to share his toys which made me extremely hopeful for future play dates.

We were SO delighted to have Ms. Eliza and her Mama over and we're hoping we can do a repeat play date next weekend. Since Jamisen is an only child (for now!), we really want him to play with other children as much as possible to get some socialization skills. First play date was an unqualified success!

Ms. Eliza Rose's Mama is my friend Rachel. We've been in book club for over a decade now. She and I got pregnant right at the same time, went to the same yoga classes and are now enjoying sharing parenting stories and milestone stories. Ms. Eliza Rose seems to be hitting the major milestones about 6 weeks ahead of Jamisen so it's nice to have a preview of what we're in for!

Baby Needs a Haircut

We've also had a splendiferous week at home. Jamisen is just starting to really acknowledge that the gibberish coming out of his parents' mouths has meaning. The video below is a twofer: he appears to understand English and he shakes his little baby booty.



Jamisen is also well past 10 months old now so I've been remiss in not sharing his 10 month photo shoot photos with you. Behold our rapidly growing little person. Yes, I recognize that his hair is getting long but seriously, how do you cut a baby's hair?! No really. That seems like a disaster and/or missing ear waiting to happen.

He is just as happy as ever though has added a new facet to his personality: impatience. If we don't feed him fast enough, we hear about it. If we don't let him play with our cell phones, he tells us in no uncertain terms that he expects to play with cell phones and not those silly kids toys. Luckily, he recovers quickly and with a small distraction, he's back to his normal, smiley self - cell phone or no cell phone! This month, I'm excited to start up family sit down evening meals again since Jamisen's finger food abilities have improved so rapidly in the last 30 days. If you have any thoughts on hair cutting for babies, I'd love to hear them - it seems fraught with potential peril!

Baby Giggles Just For You

Jamisen loves Peek-A-Boo (as well he should because judging from the video, it's clearly hilarious).


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Email subscribers, you need to click through to the blog to watch the video. It's totally worth it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our little red-haired leprechaun.

We only had three chances to take this photo. He pulled off his headpiece the second he realized it was on (which was about six seconds after we put it on his head).

We finished with a a little 'Let's Crawl All Over Grandma' game. Notice the green props all over the rug? Jamisen pretty well decimated them within about 4 seconds after the shoot was done.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Happy Birthday Chris!

Here are a few more photos from our family surprise birthday party for Chris. Notice Jamisen eying the cheesecake? The kid knows where the good stuff is!

Uncle Erik valiantly tried to teach Jamisen to walk. He was pleased to have the attention but was equally puzzled as to why Erik was so excited. For the record, he did not show any signs of walking.

Grandma and Grandpa Faiola were pleased to have another excuse to spend time with their happy grandson.

We had so much delicious food and we all felt thankful for the presence and support of our family. We are extremely rich in family and are grateful for our many blessings.

Grandma and Grandpa Time

We were so happy that Kelly and Winston (Grandma and Grandpa Renoud) came over to celebrate Chris's (age redacted) birthday.

They brought the *best* nesting toy that Jamisen is fully entranced with. He's using it as a Hide'n'Seek game but he'll eventually figure out how to do the nesting thing.

Jamisen was puzzled by the beard Grandpa Winston was sporting.

We were happy that Aunt Anamarie came as well. I know that in the future, we'll be thrilled that she's 16 and can drive because she is the most responsible child we know (and that includes everyone from ages 9 to 19). Baby sitting time, t-minus 5 years.

Happy Birthday to Chris and thank you Grandma and Grandpa Renoud for helping to make the day so special.

Cute Photo Alert

 

He'll be walking in no time! Our freezer is the perfect height for him to pull himself up on, dance a little and proclaim, "Ah YAH yah YAH!"

Are You Still Hungry?

Note: Photos have zero to do with this update. But, enjoy the cuteness anyways.

Chris thinks he had a breakthrough with Mr. Jamisen tonight.

Apparently, Jamisen only ate half of dinner. Chris caved and still gave Jamisen dessert (freeze dried yogurt and dried fruit).

They started playing games after dinner and at one point, for some reason, Chris asked Jamisen if he was still hungry.

Much to his surprise, Jamisen let out a very loud and very clear "YEAH!"

So, Chris fed Jamisen the rest of his dinner. So sweet! And um, is that a major communication breakthrough? It sure seems like it! Our little boy is growing up.

Swimming with Grandpa

Though we flunked swim classes, Jamisen delights in the water. We were so thankful to have some reinforcements to help out with some remedial swim lessons. We might just have a chance of passing next time!

Yay Grandpa Faiola! We are sure with his extra help, Jamisen is sure to pass his next series of swim lessons.

He even got his first taste of the hot tub. Oooooooh! Warm!

Someone is looking pretty delighted (and seriously, how adorable was that little barrel tummy?!) with his swim time. Thanks Grandpa!

Mr. Beaver

See the beautiful piece of custom made furniture? It resides in my parents house (AKA Grandma and Grandpa Faiola) and happily has done its duty for six years, unobtrusive and solid.

That is until the little red-haired Jamisen came its way.

Behold what thirty seconds in Jamisen's presence did:

From here on out, please refer to Jamisen only as "Mr. Beaver".