A post for Stasiu

Dear Stas,
We all wanted you to see the train we had running first on our dining room table, but eventually underneath the Christmas tree. We thought of you every time we heard it Choo-Choo. Play the video to see the train. You may need to turn your head sideways.
We love you. Uncle Tim, Mimi, and Isaac.

First Christmas and a lot more

The past 20 days have been too full to mention, so we have a lot of catching up to do. The first snow of the season came early in December. It was a light snow, but it made our new home look beautiful.
Next, we had a visit from Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Jim.

Then we had a visit from Nana. Isaac and Nana fixed the broken vacuum! YEAH!

Isaac likes to make funny faces at the camera, but otherwise a good photo. Merry Christmas!

Here is a picture of Tim and Isaac in Tim's new home office that he got for Christmas!

Another funny face by Isaac.

Relaxing with Dad.

Kisses for mom at the Waffle House, our traditional Christmas morning restaurant of choice. Everybody wore their flannel shirts for our first Christmas together!

Enjoying the new book Tim got for Christmas.

We hope everyone had a beautiful time with their families. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Decorating

Isaac helped me decorate the Christmas tree today with gold beads. We had fun playing with them.

Visit from the Crain's

Jody and Barbara Crain came for a visit and Isaac couldn't get enough of them.

First Christmas Outfit

Isaac's first Christmas outfit from Grandma Linda is sized for a 12-month old, but seems to fit him, at 9 months, just fine. He is playing with a toy his daddy got him on a work trip to Florida.

First Pony Ride at Old Mine Ranch!

Isaac had his first pony ride and hay ride today at Old Mine Ranch. He also liked to watch the pigs, goats, and horses!

Feelin' the music

My favorite new trait of Isaac is that he likes to dance to music he hears. Even if I am just clapping, he will start to rock back and forth with a smile on his face. Well, I was on the phone the other day with Tracee and I was able to catch it on video.

Giggles

Isaac had a fun time last night giggling at Tim. I had to share.

Look out Apples, Here we come!

For the first time outside of the womb, Isaac was able to join us on our annual fall family tradition of a trek up Carter Mountain in Charlottesville to get apples. It was a lot of fun to have him along....good thing, too.

One Step at a Time

Before our new home, Isaac had never been exposed to stairs. Climbing them is now his favorite form of exercise.

Catch a Wave

Isaac learned to wave recently. He has been waving at almost everything. Unless of course you try and get him to wave, then he refuses. But if it is a random time he will just wave and wave and wave.
Here he is waving in his exersaucer.

Since Isaac is now asleep, I am not sure why I am still up. Good night.

-Tim

Tis the Season...For Raking

It is fall. Well sort of. 5 days ago the highs were low 90's and today it was around 70. Along with fall comes a new thing for Isaac to play with.

Last night Isaac was up four times and the on time number 5 he started screaming. I was like it must be late in the evening like 4am or so. I looked at the clock and it was 1245a. What a long night.

-Tim

MMM Cat Food

I am not sure if there have been any studies to prove this, and in fact I am fairly certain it has no real factual basis. Have you noticed that groups of friends will all have babies of the same genders. At our church, everyone seems to have boys. Five out of six offspring of the former "Expecting Reality" are boys. Amanda met a lady back when she was pregnant who was shocked Amanda was having a boy because all her friends including herself were having girls.


Anyways to Isaac, whose name I always type Issac the first time before correcting it. He is of course crawling all over. He likes to pull up on things even when they are not sturdy. Sometimes he falls and he hurts his head. Sometimes he falls and it hurts his pride. He seems to have certain things he crawls towards. The thing he crawls towards the most is Charlie, the cat, who is so attention starved that he just lays there and accepts them as pets when Isaac yanks on his fur and/or tail. Isaac also crawls towards the cat food. He has not actually gotten to it yet before we have gotten to him, but he is getting faster so any day now he might make it if we are not paying attention.

Have I mentioned that Isaac can recognize the silver box that flashes and makes Mom happy when he smiles at it. Here he is enjoying a baby "cave".

A lot of money has been spent for toys on Isaac. Lately his favorite is the frisbie given to us for free in front of Target. Sigh.

-Tim

Getting Bigger... And LOUDER!!

Isaac stayed with us in church for the first 6.5 months of his life. Most of the time he would fall asleep in my arms midway through the singing. Well a few weeks ago we were in church with Isaac and he decided he wanted to play his little piano toy right in the middle of church. He almost never plays with this toy, but he wanted to right then. So Amanda brought him to the back of the church where I was running the slides. Well Isaac was perfectly happy for a couple until he started to squirm... right in the middle of a song. Needless to say the slides did not quite keep up for a moment. Then a little later he started babbling if I recall correctly. He has started babbling randomly and that could include in the middle of a sermon.

So we have started putting Isaac in childcare.

Having a seven month old can be very difficult. I often wonder if I am teaching him enough. Is he bored? Why is he more interested in crawling towards electrical wires than playing with me? Why can he entertain himself when I am ready to play with him, but when I am busy he is desperate for my attention? Oh well. I love coming through the door at the end of the day and having him smile at me. There is not much that can brighten your day like an Isaac smile.

And another Thing... Why doesn't he sleep well at night when he can sleep like this?

-Tim