Like a Fish

This Saturday Eddie had his first swimming lesson.  I suppose I should use that phrase loosely.  He's in a class for kids 6-36 months.  A parent/guardian has to be in the water with the child the whole time and really it's to help the child get used to the water.  Eddie happens to be the youngest kid in his class, but he sure had a great time.  This week Uncas was in the water with him, but I think I'll be taking over this coming week.  Here are a few pictures that I took.

Excited for class to start!

Ultrasound Results: It's a . . . .

BABY!

Did you really think I was going to tell you if it is a boy or girl?!  Sorry to disappoint you, but we didn't find out and neither Uncas or I have any clue.  The ultrasound tech didn't even look to see for herself.  So we'll all just have to wait until June!  As far as I could tell, everything seemed pretty good.  The baby has two arms, two legs, a nice beating heart and a cute little nose.  We're almost to the half way point (next week is 20 weeks!). 

Does it get any cuter than this?!

Seriously, how can our second child be cuter than this?!  He/She doesn't stand a chance!!!!!  This afternoon I had Eddie try on my sunglasses.  Surprisingly he kept them out for a little while.  I think he was fascinated that even though they were on his face, he could still see out of them.

18 Weeks and a Party

This week I am in my 18th week of pregnancy.  Hard to believe I am nearly at the halfway point.  By this point with Eddie we had names picked out for both genders.  Earlier this week, I just decided that I didn't like one of the names we picked out and we still go back and forth for the other name.  Edward David was by far our most favorite name, so how do we top that?! 

Yesterday I finally remembered to take a couple of belly pictures.  Uncas's company had their holiday party last night.  We got a sitter and got dressed up.  Our sitter, being the smart gal that she is, snapped a couple of pictures of us together, which rarely happens these days!

And in some very exciting news for this week.  My brother and his wife welcomed their second child into this world yesterday.  A little boy named Sebastian.  He looks quite adorable and his big sister Saffron is pretty excited!  Congratulations to them and their new bundle of joy!

10 Months!

Today little Eddie is 10 months old!  It's hard to believe that he is approaching his first birthday so quickly.  It's been a fast month with the holidays.  Let's see if I can remember what's new!

• Sleep continues to be going well for us.  He is on two naps a day and he sleeps through the night.  For awhile he was sleeping until 6:30 in the morning, but lately he has been waking up around 5ish.  We have started going up, changing his diaper and then putting him back down.  Some days, like today, it works well, and he goes back to sleep until 6:45.  Other days, not so much, but overall, it's going great.
• Crawling is still the preferred mode of transportation, but he can take a couple of steps on his own.  He also likes to walk with his walker or holding on to our hands.   But it must be TWO of our hands because today I tried to get him to walk with just one of mine (I was holding a cup of water with the other hand) and he was having a fit!  But he could walk holding with just one hand - he just doesn't have the confidence.  He stands on his own and will take a couple of steps sometimes, but his walking is slow going.  And that is just fine with us!!
• As mentioned above, he is starting to express his displeasure for things more and more.  Right now it's kind of funny, but I am sure it will grow old soon.  When he doesn't get his way, he tend to cry and carry on like it's the end of the world.  He is very easily distracted at this age, which is helpful.
• The dog.  Eddie is obsessed with with Sammy.  He LOVES the dog and finds him so amusing. He wants to pet him, but he's still pretty rough, so Sammy doesn't like it too much.  Eddie has also decided that Sammy's toys are way more fun than his own.  Fortunately Eddie seems to realize that they are Sammy's and often tries to offer them to Sammy.  Usually Sammy isn't interested in playing.  Most of the time the toys do not end up in Eddie's mouth, but yesterday I found him chewing on one of Sammy's rawhide bones.  So gross!  And he knew it was Sammy's bone!  Usually once during the day Sammy humors Eddie and will play with him for awhile.  It's surprising to me that Sammy has been tolerant and he often likes to be in the same room as Eddie and I during the day.
• Food.  Eddie is pretty much eating everything we are at this point.  There are a few things that he really doesn't like - like cottage cheese, but he'll try everything.  He loves fruit, grilled cheese, lasagna, pancakes, french toast, whole wheat bagels, applesauce, yogurt, string cheese, chicken, and the list goes on and on.  It's easier to find food for him to eat now, although meal times are much messier.  I know it's going to get worse before it gets better.  Sammy is starting to enjoy hanging out in the dining room because a couple of things usually end up on the floor (or put in his bowl if there are leftovers).
• Eddie's still waving, but doesn't seem to have much interest in doing much else with his hands, like clapping.  His wave also seems to be his own sign language for something that he wants or if he has had enough.  I have been working on signing with him, but like I mentioned, he really doesn't have much of an interest to do anything else but wave.
• He's starting to warm up a little bit more with strangers.  He will wave to almost anyone if prompted and if he is given some time to think about it.  The other day he was Mr. Friendly to the nurses and midwives at my appointment, so he can definitely turn on the charm when he wants to!
• He plays with his toys, sometimes, but he loves to read.  He likes to flip the pages and sometimes he will sit and flip through books on his own.  He likes books with flaps or touchy-feely books.  Pat the Bunny is one of his favorites and we read it daily.  He knows what to do on each page.  

It's been a good month.  Our days have shaped nicely into a routine.  I never thought we would get to this point.  It's really nice and we try and get out every day to run an errand or do something fun.  It's a little challenging with the weather this winter, but I really like being able to get out of the house at least once during the day.

Of course the monthly picture was a challenge once again.  I tried in the morning and then later in the day.  Neither time was particularly successful.

Finally I tried to bribe him with a Cherrio.

Some Cute Pics

It's been a long week.  It feels like it's been three weeks wrapped up into one.  I'm grateful for the weekend, but we are going to start on our basement re-do, so that doesn't mean there will be much break.  But enough whining!  I took some great pictures of our little guy this week and thought I would share:

Wordless Wednesday

Why bother buying him toys when he would rather play with Sammy's?!

Eddie with his Walker

Eddie really enjoys his "walker" on loan from Grandma Jo's house.  He loves going around and around, although he can't steer at all.  So, as you will see in this video, he'll just bump into a wall and wait for someone to help move him.

16 Weeks

I promised a belly picture this week and it's a pretty terrible one.  Next week I'll try and have Uncas take one of me.  I actually took this on Wednesday (or maybe Tuesday), but haven't had a chance to post until now.

It's hard to tell, but I am showing.  Of course since its winter in Minnesota and it's been very very cold, so it's even harder to tell because of all the layers and sweatshirts.  Pretty much I just look like I put on some extra weight.  Next week Friday I have my next midwife appointment, so I will try and update then.

Wordless Wednesday

Enjoying Mama's Lasagna for the first time

Outtakes

Even though Christmas has come and gone, I thought it would be funny to post some outtakes of our Christmas card.  My idea was to have both my parents armed with each with a camera and to just take as many pictures as possible.  The whole thing took a few minutes and we got quite a few pictures.  It was a little hard to choose the best one.  But there were plenty of not so great ones - especially when you have a dog and a 9 month old "posing" for pictures.  Enjoy!

Trying to get everyone ready

Clearly Sammy is bored by all the picture taking

Sammy giving Eddie some love

And we're done!

Blueberry Pancakes

We have been transitioning Eddie from purees to just regular people food.  So far he has been doing great.  He really enjoys being able to feed himself more and more, although with some things we are still feeding him with the spoon - like applesauce.  He has been trying lots of new things and Eddie started his new year off by trying some tasty Whole-Wheat Buttermilk Blueberry pancakes!  He sure found them tasty and nearly polished off a whole pancake himself.  They were a little messy with the blueberries, so I couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures.

Happy New Year and Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog!  I have been mulling it over for a little while now about moving to a new location.  I really don't like moving, but this move was far easier, as there were no boxes to pack!  The main reason for the move is that for a long time I felt like my Uncas and Sally blog was truly about my life with Uncas before kids came along (and in this case, I am not including Sammy as one of my children, although typically I do!)  I wanted a new blog that fully captured our whole family and not just Uncas or Sally.  I won't be deleting the old blog, however, I will no longer be posting to it.  Unfortunately this means that you'll need to update your bookmarks.

I'm also retiring my nickname (Sally), however, my husband prefers to remain Uncas.  The content of this blog will stay the same as the other - our life as parents, our travels, my baking, silly stories and of course our favorite dog Sammy!

Of course in keeping with tradition, I wanted to come up with some new year goals.  I decided that resolutions often don't last, but goals are something that I really can get behind.  I reviewed my "goal" from last year and decided this afternoon that it was a success.  It was to become a more patient driver.  I told this to Uncas and we both sort of laughed.  I contribute the sole reason that this was a success is because I no longer commute when going to work!  That means much less time spent in the car!!!! 

So - what are my goals for this year?  First, I want to continue baking my way (along with my best friend Lisa) through the cookbook You Made That For Dessert by Beth Lipton.  We started this year and it's been so much fun to bake and blog about.  Second, after baby #2 is born I would like to get back into shape again.  I sort attempted this past summer, but knowing that we were going to try and have another baby, I didn't really make it a priority.  And finally, I want to make sure that I am able to balance time with my kids, my husband and time to myself.  I know this is going to become very challenging in June, but I also know it's so important!

There you have it!  A new home and some new goals!  Hope everyone has a great 2011!!!