2009 October

Pumpkin Carving

Oct 29 2009

Growing up my family had many traditions that we have now incorporated into our traditions. My parents invited friends to come over and bring their pumpkins to carve. We covered the big dining room table with paper and went at it. In the end we would put them all on the counter to admire. After Jack was born we wanted to make this a tradition with our friends.

For the last four Halloweens we have gotten together with friends to carve pumpkins and let the kids play. Each year the kids are becoming more involved. This year they actually wanted to help carve, to bad they don’t make safety carving tools. The kids each made their choices about what they wanted on their pumpkin (most choosing a difficult one, thanks Jack).

One change we have made to our childhood carvings is the introduction of power tools. We have incorporated drills, jig saws and dremels. The first year one of our friends actually cut his finger on the jig saw, oops. It adds some new abilities, like shaving out designs. If anyone has any ideas of tools to add to our arsenal let me know.

As the adults carved, the big kids were in and out playing and Will was jumping. After an hour and a half of working we had carved (or glitter pen decorated) 10 pumpkins. I still had 3 more left to complete today. (Who is this all for again?) We lined them up for our annual photo and kid inspection.

After I completed the rest of our pumpkins the lineup included Jim’s Husky Icon, Will’s happy face with 2 teeth, Jack’s Transformer face, a spider, scary face, my scared face and the holey one. I think it is a pretty good looking group.

Filed Under: family, photos, traditions 1 Comment

We have a jumper!

Oct 27 2009

Will has turned into a jumper. He jumps in his exersaucer, he jumps in your arms, he tries to jump in the highchair and shopping cart and yes he jumps in his jumper. It took him a bit of time to figure it out, but now he is a pro.

Jack loved the jumper too. When he was little we found a new kind of jumper that was a bungee cord instead of a spring. It is much smoother and easier for the kids to use. Plus they are attached into the harness instead of sitting in a cloth bucket. So much better. It is called the Bungee Baby Bouncer.

Will loves to jump so much that he can be completely cranky and we put him in it then he is happy. A couple of times he has even fallen asleep in it. It is so cute, he will be jumping and then start to nod off. Then he wakes up a bit and starts jumping again. I think it gives him a sense of freedom in the jumper, like the big kids.

We have yet to meet a baby that doesn’t like this jumper. When my sister, her husband and my nephew Oliver were visiting when he was about 4 months old we put him in it and he started jumping immediately. His dad had one ordered before they left to head home.

I figured out how to upload video, so enjoy.

Will jumping

Filed Under: family, Jackson, video, William Tagged With: jumper 1 Comment

This never gets old

Oct 20 2009

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Will is a messy eater. Today was the best day yet. He had spinach for lunch, which ended up all over including in his ear, really in his ear (it required a Q-tip to clean it out.)

For dinner he had beets (first experience with beets and he seemed to like them). I promise those are beets on his face and he hasn’t been in a knife fight. (The photo should probably come with a disclaimer.)

He is a very enthusiastic eater, reaching for the spoon or various items on his tray. We are currently working on his chewing mechanics. He seems to be getting better at it, chewing in his biscuits or pieces of fruit or veggies.

We are also anxiously waiting the arrival of his two front teeth. One has partially broken through. We can see the white of the other one, but it isn’t through yet.

If only it was socially acceptable to look like this when we are all eating. I am sure we would have much more fun.

Filed Under: family, William Tagged With: solid food 1 Comment

What’s in a name?

Oct 15 2009

I have been thinking about names recently, not sure why, but I have. There is so much pressure when you name your child, so many people to please. You want to make sure that it fits with your last name, for instance our last name starts with D, so we couldn’t have a girl with a first name starting with D. I am sure it wouldn’t take much for a teenage boy to call her Double D, if it was appropriate or not. Next you want to make sure that it can’t turn into a funny nickname. Then there is the family pressure to carry on names and make sure both sides are represented appropriately. This doesn’t even take into account any ideas you as parents have.

For us we had a girls name locked for years before we even thought about kids. Unfortunately we never got to use Catherine Ann. Catherine after my grandma, Jim’s aunt and a good friend and Ann after Jim’s mom and sister. (We are giving it out to anyone who would like to use it since we will not get the chance.)

Boys names are so much harder. I think we both knew deep down we were going to have boys because we didn’t have our names figured out. With Jack, we both liked that name pretty quickly, but it took some time to be comfortable with Jackson. Once we decided on his first name the middle one was easy. Edward is Jim’s middle name too and they have the same initials (my dad and I had the same ones until I got married.) We made the mistake of throwing out Jack’s name during a brainstorming conversation with some family only to have it not liked. After that we decide no more, you will know the name when you meet the child.

With Will it was much harder. Neither of us liked the names we hadn’t chosen for Jack anymore, so we started from square one. (It was fun to go through the name books and read all the funny ones.) I wanted a name that was formal, but had a good short version, that way they could choose when they are older which name they would like to use. It wasn’t until about 10 days before he was born that we settled on William. His middle name, Stanton, is after my dad.

For Jackson, his short version was easy, Jack is really the only one that works. William on the other hand has so many variations (Will, Willie, Bill, Billy), however he is just Will or William. (Jack prefers to call him William.) Of course we have nicknames for both boys; Jack is Scooter and Will is Bug-a-boo. I know they will both be embarrassed by them later in life, but I am their mother and get that right.

Filed Under: family, Jackson, Milestones, William Tagged With: nicknames Leave a Comment

Fun at the patch

Oct 12 2009

A sunny weekend day in October needs to be taken advantage of, so we headed out to our favorite local pumpkin patch. The weather report says it is supposed to start raining on Tuesday and not stop for a while, therefore we weren’t the only ones who had that idea. It was very busy at the Fall City Farm patch, which has some animals, a hay maze for the kids and amazing doughnuts, besides great pumpkins. The only thing they could use more of are carts, but we have long since learned to bring our own cart (or this year wheelbarrow) that way we don’t have to wait in the parking lot for someone to leave one behind. Jim and I had a bet on how many people would ask for our wheelbarrow on the way out. I lost.

As we arrived, only 15 minutes after they opened, the parking lot was already almost full. After getting the boys loaded up (Jack in the wheelbarrow and Will in the front pack) we started our trek, which isn’t insignificant (no need to go to the gym today.) Once we traversed the farm we found a large group of pumpkins that had been pulled out of the field, great pumpkins, but we needed to search the field to make sure we had found our perfect pumpkins. I headed out in the field with Will strapped to my chest to turn over, pull leaves off and unearth our pumpkins of choice.

Of course it wouldn’t be a pumpkin patch visit if there weren’t staged photos. It was pretty bright, so it was difficult to get Will to look up at the camera in some of the photos. Will was interested in the stems of the pumpkin and some how managed to miss getting any pokes in his hand (pumpkin stems are prickly.) Jack searched the field for his pumpkin and also wanted to make sure that we got a “baby pumpkin for Will.”

Now, if you think we are a family where each person picks one pumpkin you couldn’t be more wrong. We came home with 7 pumpkins (all carvable size) and the fight will be on to see who gets to carve which one (remember right now there are only 2 carvers.) After a couple of bad experiences of having our pumpkins stolen off of our porch, they are now safely on the back deck where we can spend each meal looking at them and deciding what will be carved into them.

The fall leaves have started to turn and it couldn’t have been a prettier day. On our way out of the farm Jack did the hay maze while Will slept happily in the Ergo carrier. I think he enjoyed his first trip to the pumpkin patch. Next year will be even more fun with him walking through the field following his older brother searching for his perfect pumpkin.

P.S. – Of course, I will post photos of the pumpkins carved too. We get together with some friends to carve the pumpkins. More on that later…

Filed Under: family, Jackson, photos, William Tagged With: pumpkin patch Leave a Comment

Normal irregular head

Oct 10 2009

Will has a normal irregularly shaped head. YAH! The head CT didn’t find anything wrong. YAH! Finally a doctor with some good news for us.

The doctor and radiologist felt that his dent was a normal irregularity and would probably correct itself over time. His ears are not level, but there isn’t a reason that they saw for it on the CT. Everything else look fine too. So the bottom line is he has a normal irregular head, hopefully he will have a good head of hair to cover anything that doesn’t correct itself.

He was a trooper today, doing exactly what we needed him to do. They wanted him to fall asleep, so we didn’t have to sedate him (best laid plans, but this time it worked.) This morning I had to be the mean Mommy that didn’t let him have longer than a 10 minute nap and only a half bottle. My aunt Jane was kind enough to ride over in the car with us to keep him awake; then she played with Jack while we were with Will. They brought us back and we fed him a bottle and rocked him a bit and he feel asleep. I was even able to transfer him to the board without him waking up. The test took all of 2 minutes to run and he slept like an angel. I even transferred him back to the stroller after we were done. What a super star.

The doctor showed us the CT; it is really cool. You can turn it to all angles to see whatever side you wish. We also got to see his teeth and his front ones are right there ready to come in and some others that aren’t that far behind. It looks like he is going to have a big set of front teeth just like his big brother. Will he have a big gap like Jack too?

Filed Under: William Tagged With: Children's Hospital, CT Leave a Comment

Cousins

Oct 05 2009

Cousins are great. We just spent the last 5 days with my sister Steffani, her husband Paul and their little boy Oliver. Oliver will turn one on the 21st. It was so fun to have them here (for a visit and to celebrate my birthday) and especially fun to watch the three boys together.

This summer we spent a month in California. Jack and Oliver got to play together a lot. Will was really to little at that time to make an impact on Oliver. It was really cute to see Oliver’s face when he got in the car and saw Jack and then Will. Once we were home he was attached to Jack, following him around (he can walk now, it is the zombie walk as Steff calls it).

The new playroom was put to the test will boys in and out. Lots of banging around and even some jamming on the musical instruments. When Will was in his exersaucer Oliver loved to walk around the outside and dance to the music. The two of them speak the same language right now and would laugh and dance together. It was fun to see them interact. I really tried to get it on video, but each time I would bring the camera out they would stop what they were doing.

Oliver also loved Mulligan (the world’s greatest dog). She was very tolerant and he couldn’t get enough. Steff and Paul I think you need to get a pooch.

I wish we lived closer and were able to see them all the time. My children will be Oliver’s only cousins and I hope they are able to have a close relationship. I got to grow up with my cousins and we are all still close today.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be really fun. We all get to be together this year here and in California. Maybe Will will be crawling by Christmas, then everyone can play chase.

Filed Under: family, Jackson, William Tagged With: Oliver Leave a Comment

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