Thursday, September 10, 2009

A break from the silence

1 comments
We've had a super busy summer. I'll do a quick recap. We spent the first week in Seattle for Baxter's birthday. While there Baxter had TWO birthday parties, we had family photos taken, and we went to the zoo. While in Seattle my beloved laptop somewhat died. It may be fixable, but not by me. We came home for a day then went to Chelan to spend time with friends and their two boys. Baxter learned a ton, ate a lot of grapes, and fun was had by all. So this entire time I was accumulating photos and had no way to upload them! THANKFULLY I had backed up my laptop before we left, just in case. When we got home from Chelan I ordered myself a spiffy new iMac. The goal is to have Dilley Dally pay for it. If it's not going that direction I may finally get a business license so I can claim a loss this year. Fun times.

We had some down time where I caught up on a few things and attempted to get photos up and so forth. I'm happy to say Flickr is fully updated, and there are pages and pages of photos to sort though! Well, I take that back. I have a few more to upload from recently...

Then over labor day weekend we went to Seattle. We had friends visiting from Virginia who we going to PAX, a giant nerdy video game conference. Baxter and I went on Saturday, and Jason went on Saturday and Sunday. Then Geoff came up to visit on Monday night and went home yesterday (Wednesday) morning. Sadly Jason, Geoff and Janet all contracted what is being known as "PAX Pox" - AKA Swine Flu. So far only Janet has had it confirmed with a doctor, but there was quite an outbreak at the conference. Jason is home sick, and Baxter and I are staying clear. We're feeling fine, but now we're on self imposed quarantine :(

So some of the new things Baxter has been doing.

He learned how to eat with a spoon and fork, and now all meals require them even if he doesn't use them.

Everything is a phone, including his hands and occasionally a foot during a diaper change.

We had our first experience with disposable diapers (yuck!) and Jason declared that except for an upcoming exception lets not buy them again because they STINK and leak. We had to buy them because Baxter had a terrible diaper rash caused by too much fruit and pooping during naps and in the middle of the night. His poo became acid and burned his little bum, and the prescription cream would ruin the cloth diapers, so we sucked it up and bought a pack of sposies. We'll use them again when we go to Canada in two weeks, but that's another post.

He started to say words on accident. He said "kitty" twice (but never again) and today started to say "hi" and "hello."

Cats are his most favorite thing ever. He waves, says his "ahhhh" (which is a high pitched sound approximating hi) and then squats down so he can try to kiss them on the nose. He's good with gentle pets though, and has never been scratched or bitten.

He learned how to turn the tv on and how to change the channels. His favorite shows to stop on are Animal Planet (where he waves at the tigers and tries to kiss them through the TV), daytime courtroom shows like Judge Judy, and The Golden Girls. He mostly ignores cartoons.

He's really into giving kisses, and will sometime do it on demand. But kisses only go on mouths. Never cheeks or on tops of heads. We asked him to give his cousin Riley a kiss while he was doing tummy time on the floor, and Bax had to squat down and try to get Riley to look up at him before he would attempt a kiss. It was ridiculously cute.

Baxter likes feeding other people, and has started to have an opinion on food. He really likes some things now, and it's different from what it used to be. Sometimes he will have 3 bites of food and be done, and other times he will eat a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, a whole banana, and a slice of toast (like he did for breakfast today). He tends to eat the most in the mornings.

Baxter loves sprinklers and splash pads, but can't stand bodies of water or bubbles. Lakes, pools, large bathtubs and bubble baths send him into hysterics. But he will play for a really long time in a sprinkler or at the splash pad.

Baxter is still breastfeeding, but never asks for it. Mostly if he's fussy it's how I distract him. He also nurses before naps and bed.

He's sooooo close to sleeping through the night (and by that I mean more then the "technical" definition of 5 hour stretches). He goes down around 7 then wakes up from 3:30-5 to nurse then goes back down. He's up for the day between 6:30 and 7 usually. If he dropped that last night feeding I would be sooooo happy! At least until I had to wake up multiple times a night to feed a new baby, but hey, it's bonding right? Baxter and I are plenty bonded now :)

Ok, I'm running out of things to say, so I'll just end this with some photo highlights. Because I know you want them.

Baxters First Birthday-97
Mmmm, birthday cake!

Baxters First Birthday-104
Feeding me some of his birthday cake *swoon*

Chelan-40
Splorin the Chelan house yard

Chelan-14
My attempt at artsy flower photos getting a lovely background surprise

Chelan-8
Sprinkler!

DSC_1526
Loving Spinapplemeal - spinach food processed down and combined with applesauce and oatmeal so it's thick enough to stay on an uncoordinated baby spoon.

DSC_1550
A funny and cute capture in low light and high ISO, but I'm digging the graininess, at least with the black and white :)