Jamisen's First Piano

Thank you Uncle and Aunt Erik and Cheriss for an amazing 1 year old birthday present! Can you see it in this photo?

 That's right, we have a maestro in the making. Check him out with the double handed playing - clearly, he is a baby music genius in the making.
 Jamisen came back and back to his new piano. It is a fully functional piano - it doesn't need batteries, it's made from wood and there is no plastic in this musical instrument. It's a serious foray into Jamisen's musical future.
 
Thanks Auntie and Uncle!

Adult Trikes

Chris and I had the great pleasure of attending the Boys and Girls club auction last night. We had a new trial nanny watch Jamisen while we are out. At the auction, we sat with a table full of friends that we love and enjoyed ourselves. There was lots of conversation and laughing. And, bonus, there was a live auction. And look what we came home with! 

Our Baby is SO Happy

Seriously, could this kid be any happier?

Pretty much no. He has such a zest for life. We are thankful for him every day.

Chris went out onto the roof this weekend to save the family from a nest of wasps. Go Our Hero!

We also went on a lovely walk - and what a great view of the Tin Lady on the pile of tin (really, it's a pile of tin from an old salmon can processing plant).

Jamisen loves (LOVES) cottage cheese:

Of course, it's only organic (duh!) and he gets it AFTER he eats his fruits and veggies. =)

Jamisen officially can climb stairs (go baby boy!) but doesn't know how to go down them yet. That will come ... eventually.

I probably should not have encouraged this behavior but it was so cute that I couldn't help myself (video - email subscribers have to click through to blog).

And finally, Jamisen is taking after Grandpa Faiola and Daddy Chris. He doesn't appear to like chocolate - go figure!? We love our happy baby boy and find everything he does endlessly amusing.

Jamisen is 1 Year Old

Since Jamisen is 1 year old today, I thought it would be nice to take a trip down memory lane to the month he was born - April 2011.

Thanks to our awesome friend Erin Baker, we have this video of Baby Jamisen right when he was first born! Video subscribers, click through to see the video.

Some more of Jamisen's greatest hits:

Video (click through to watch)

Another video showing how skinny our boy was!

And of course, Chris's favorite way to soothe Mr. Jamisen when he was little:

Look for photos of the birthday party later tonight. We had an old-fashioned barnyard theme that Jamisen seemed to appreciate.

Generous Easter Bunny

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Renoud for the nice visit from the Easter Bunny.

The Easter Bunny was very thoughtful about what he picked out for Jamisen's first Easter.

First, the Easter basket itself is actually a little walking guide. This Radio Flyer wagon has a limiter on it that allows it to go slower than a typical wagon would. Jamisen still hasn't mastered the art of walking behind it but he has shown a few moments of genius.

Jamisen really likes the stuffed duck. His supreme sign of "I really really like you" is to bump foreheads with you. Notice what he is doing with the duck? Thus far, he seems to like the duck better than any of his other stuffed animals.

Thank you Easter Bunny!

Baby Milestones

Jamisen has been very patient with me this week as I worked on the 'Keep Charlie Sheldon' petition and cause. I swear, I've been on the phone for oh .... 23 out of ever 24 hours for the last week. Baby Jamisen has been very patient. Is this kid adorable or what?! That shirt makes my heart melt.



We've been working on spoon skills (video below -email subscribers, remember you need to click through to blog to view videos):



Jamisen has also learned a new skill - some sort of chipmunk squirrel sound:

Weekend Fun

It's only halfway through the weekend and we've packed enough fun in for multiple weekends. It wasn't until after I had baby Jamisen that I realized why everyone looked forward to the weekend - play time! Pre-baby, weekends were for working, hiking and reading. And post-baby, weekends are for crawling races, hiking and reading. It's not all that much different except it's minus most of the work-work. Obviously, I still have housework with Mr. Jamisen loving to take things **out** of drawers but not so enthused about putting them back **into** drawers.

I spent part of the day (during Jamisen's nap times) at the Bellingham Farmer's Market gathering signatures for a public show of support for a wrongfully fired Port Director (local news coverage on it here). If you happen to live in Whatcom County and want to sign the petition, you can find it here. It was such a delight to spend part of the day outside, in the sun (one of the first days of sun in Bellingham recently) and then intersperse it with quality baby time. I can already see my freckles coming out with just a few hours in the sun.

Chris, Jamisen and I did over 5 miles of 'urban hiking' (glorified term that means 'pushing stroller on sidewalks'), got crepes for breakfast and did a quick afternoon walk as well (overindulging on sunshine is such a luxury). Jamisen has this fun little thing he does on our walks: he coos and sings most of the way to our destination. Notice that even with the sun, Jamisen is still very bundled up. It's not very warm outside yet.

Jamisen is such a happy baby. Chris and I are amazed at how fun and easy he is. There was a lot of laughing today!

We did his 11 month old photo shoot as well (I told you we packed a lot in a day!).

He sat still for a grand total of two photos. I am counting my blessings for these two photos because the rest of the photos were of the back of his head.

Easter Photo Shoot

So this is how our Easter shoot went yesterday. It was designed to be adorable - we're both wearing pastels, there are tulips in the background and the baby has a tie on.

First take:

Oh look! He's found his nose!

Let's try again.... and again .... and again ...

Needless to say, none of the pictures made the final cut but how hilarious is that final photo? He looks like he's scrunching and cringing at the same time.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from our family to yours.

Jamisen was absolutely WOWED by the little Easter chickees. He pounced on them like a little kitten with catnip. It was rather charming.

Yes, we know that Jamisen is a boy and this photo shoot might be a bit over the top (I'll admit, the pink ears aren't helping) but the Easter Bunny will hopefully forgive us (we can't say the same for Jamisen when he turns 13!).

We super-glued the cotton ball bunny tail to his diaper. Not to worry, no babies were harmed in the making of this costume. Funny true fact? The white eggs are real, raw eggs. No eggs were harmed in this photo shoot.

Grandpa Faiola had a fun time designing the set with hot glue gun, dollar store materials and some creativity.

Watercolor for Jamisen

I was so amazed, delighted and honored when one of Jamisen's fans (from Italy, no less!) saw the photo below and was inspired enough to paint a beautiful watercolor of the scene.

From the artist, Marisa Gabetta: “I loved this image at first sight, being a watercolorist I love dramatic light so I decided to give this wonderful ‘couple’ a try. The goal in this painting was to render the tired face of sleepless Anne-Marie, and the backlit kissing mother and son in a sort of magical aura. I also decided I’d change the background, artistic license, they say!”

Happy First Day of April

It's normal to dress up to celebrate the return of the sun with a sunflower outfit, right? 

We had a great time planning out this outfit - it was a team effort! Chris found the amazing pot, I bought the sunflower suit and Grandpa Faiola was the photographer.

Even though it looks like Anne Geddes showed up in our living room and that this last photo was professional lit, this is the natural lighting in our own living room and just a humble point and shoot camera.