Hello Again Backyard

Colorado has the best skies!

The weather has been so lovely in our neck of the woods. I try and get Isaac out of the house when we are lucky enough to have temperatures in the 50s in January. Most of the time we make our way to the park or I strap him in the stroller for a ride. Sometimes we go walking to the mailbox and then I let him play in the front yard because it gets more sun. But today I thought he should get reacquainted with the backyard.

After he was done playing with his hat he finally started to explore...

PS. In February I am going to do a photo a day challenge. Heard of those? Well, you can probably look forward to a daily posting of at least one photo, maybe a few words, and I'm sure, plenty of Isaac. Should be fun. And interesting since I'm no photographer.

See you on Wednesday!

15 Months

This sweet little boy is celebrating 15 months of life. "How does one celebrate 15 months of life" you may ask?

Easy: Chocolate Chips,

A lemon cookie,

and mom with a camera (aka loads of pictures)!

But come on, how could I not take so many pictures of this blue-eyed cutie. Seriously, his eyes are killing me with cuteness. And the cheeks. And the smile. And the curls in his hair. Oh, and his little personality too.

Here are the highlights of Isaac at 15 months:

• He loves to read. LOVES it. On most days he would be content if I could read to him non-stop. And mostly I am okay with that. We read a lot. The library is our favorite place. I have all the books we own memorized (mostly) and Isaac has some memorized too. He can say that a sheep says "baa" and three singing pigs say "la la la."
• Man can this kid talk! He babbles all day long but he also says a lot of discernible words too. My most recent favorite is tape. Adorable.
• Aside from reading he also really loves his baths and to eat bananas.
• Learning all new ranges in his voice = lots and lots of screaming. He also had the Sunday School class entertained last week with his deep man voice growl. He growls a lot too.
• Isaac has a great sense of humor and is laughing a lot more. He laughs at himself. The other day I went to get him from his nap and he ran across the crib mattress. I was turning of the white noise fan we run and heard the patter patter as he ran. I chuckled because it was a little bit funny and then he ran back and forth across his mattress for the next ten minutes stopping to laugh at each end of the crib. Hilarious!
• He has started to wake up happy from his naps and in the morning again. He had a stretch of grumpy wakings and I have really loved the return of his sweetness. He usually just starts jabbering and playing with his blankets and teddy bear. Then he wants to share the fun when you go get him and hands his blankets and teddy bear to whoever is lucky enough to enter the room. This is all accompanied with a great big smile and chattering.
• As previously mentioned, he has had a string of sleeping difficulties. I blame a cold and teething. He is getting so many teeth and all at once. He got his 1 year molars (they are all mostly through) and is working on an upper tooth that was long overdue. Man I hope we can get a few months before he starts on his last set of 4 that are supposed to come in at 16-18 months. I love my sweet Isaac. Grumpy, teething Isaac is less fun.
• He loves to listen to music and dance. Jacob recently started playing the muppet song "Manamana," or however that's spelled, and Isaac loves it. He will ask for it by name. It's cute. He also asks for sesame street songs whenever he sees the laptop. He calls that "la la la" because of that obnoxious Elmo song. But I must admit that I often resort to sesame street if I am alone with Isaac in the evenings before his bedtime. What can ya do?!?

We have his well child check up on Monday and I am eager to see how much he weighs. Feels like a ton to me!

Happy 15 months Isaac! I love you!!!

Some Videos

Check out the family blog if you want to see some videos of Isaac. Some are old. Some a little more new. All are enjoyable.

At least I think so. But I am biased.

Helper

Isaac loves to help in the kitchen. Most of the time these days the only way I can get dinner made is by finding a safe place to put a chair for him to stand on. I love it most of the time though sometimes it just makes getting things ready more difficult. I guess having him happy and in one spot is better than whining and constantly under my feet with pots and pans and bowls and cutting boards strewn about.

Plus, he's a really cute little helper.

Martin Luther King Jr Day

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." - Martin Luther King Jr.

I saw this image on Facebook today. It triggered something in me. I loved it.

I did a report on Martin Luther King Jr in elementary school. I've always admired him. I hope that we are working towards becoming a country where his dream is a reality. I hope I am working on that. I hope every day I can become a little better at seeing others for the content of their character and not their outward appearance. Seeing others as the children of God we all are.

So, Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day to you all!

Welcome 2012, Randomness, and Jacob's Birthday

So, after being sick since Christmas an regrouping after Jacob's family left, we opted for a very "low key" New Years celebration. Our little family ate dinner by candlelight. Isaac thought it was interesting but seemed to have a hard time actually eating. Maybe he was just too distracted by the candles.

After dinner we played with Isaac and then gave him a bath as per our usual Saturday night routine. Once he was in bed the real partying began. Jacob and I spent the remainder of the night cuddled in bed watching tv shows on Hulu. That is until I fell asleep. I had two little naps before midnight. Jacob went downstairs to let me sleep and joined me at midnight. Happy New year!

Yeah, I'm getting old...

Funny note though. I was making a toast at dinner with our sparkling juice and Isaac lifted his banana to participate in the toast. It was awesome. Banana is his favorite thing to eat and favorite word to say. It started out as bada and evolved to ba-da-da. And now it's just manana. Cute.

This is Isaac helping us take down the Christmas lights. He now sees the camera come out and says "cheese."

He also climbs the chairs and tries to reach for anything on the table. That is why my living room is currently full of kitchen chairs. I don't like spending my day pulling him away from things he shouldn't be in to. But this particular day Jacob had left the chair by the table and had left a goldmine waiting to be discovered.

Yeah, he was pretty pleased with himself.

We also celebrated Jacob's Birthday this weekend. We had pizza and a few friends over for games. It was a fun night. We're just sad not everyone could make it to help celebrate.

And we ate cake of course. I made chocolate cake and peanut butter frosting. The cake was just from a mix, nothing special. But the frosting. I'd eat it off a spoon. In fact, I have been with the leftovers...I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit it. It is seriously amazing. It's a Barefoot Contessa recipe. Yum!

So Happy Birthday to Jacob! He's pretty much the best thing ever. Even better than that frosting.