First Halloween!

Dr. Christian made house calls tonight around our condo. We have an annual condo trick-or-treating ritual which is right up our alley: indoors, safe, and fast! So Mal and Didi came over along with Ev and Jeff (who Mal introduced to a neighbor as "My friend Jeff"!) and we made the circuit around floors 2 through 6.

Dad's going to have to show me how to use this thing

Earlier today, I met with a few moms from my Baby and Me group and we had a taco potluck with costumes. Poor Leelee. He was the only baby who could not sit unassisted. He was also the only baby without a puffy, animal or insect-inspired costume. He was, however, undeterred and managed to have a good time amongst friends. Here he is with Quinn, Olivia, Ronan and new friend Zoe.


Dae is back over in thriving La Grande this weekend taking call at their hospital so Leelee and I have had the house to ourselves. It sure will be nice come Monday once Dae is back...

Debilitated House

I finished my first Half Marathon today! I made it in 2 hours 37 minutes and I was happy (as my standards are lower than the average Joe) - anything under 3 hours I consider a roaring success for me.



Unfortunately I'm not the only gimp hobbling about our house. Dae has contracted something nasty and is basically out of commission, Theraflu in one hand and the remote control in the other. It's been a fun game to try to determine who is more useless. So we asked Leelee if he wouldn't mind taking care of meals and dishes today. He said he would think about it, but he did give us the green light to go ahead and skip swim lessons this evening. (That sneaky guy is probably jumping for joy inside!) So far we have had Nalley's canned chili for lunch, and I am sure dinner will be similarly upscale.

We drove to Seattle yesterday to see the Huskies get pushed around by the Ducks. My mom actually offered to watch all 3 kids at once and still seemed coherent by the time we picked them up at the end of the day - success!



Well, off to the couch...or the bed. Whichever is closest!

Swim Lessons, Community Center Style

Christian now takes swimming lessons at the Dishman Community Center in NE Portland. It's not so much a 'lesson' as it is free-swim time, but we view any chance to get him in that water a plus! Dae was game enough to take the plunge with Christian today. As you can see, it still takes him a while to warm up...

On the positive side, at least this week Christian had swim shorts on. Last week we thought a swim diaper was sufficient and Christian showed up the only baby with just a diaper on (albeit a swim diaper, but still). He was very embarrassed.

Growler

Christian's newest sounds are a deep, fierce growl. The nanny told us "he sounds very mad!" heehee

He also just loves pursing his lips and letting fly whatever saliva pools might have accumulated in his reserves. Whoever the lucky recipient may be at that moment (usually me) gets a nice, refreshing spray. Fortunately his breath is still quite dreamy.

And our latest quandary: TV and the baby. Dae and I decided we were going to try to dramatically curtail our TV intake (in front of baby) by 6 months age. Well, 6 months has come and gone. I'd like to say we are disciplined, regimented people, but as I type I believe the baby is staring at Monday Night Football at about a 2 foot distance (Jets-Dolphins tied 10-10). BIG sigh. So I've made an amendment to our rule: It's now going to be limited TV and absolutely no "Family Guy", Poker, UFC or anything of a similarly colorful nature. Will keep you posted...

Christian's First Publication

Just like dad, Christian has been pushing to get published. His dreams came true when our family made a (very) small appearance in the UW Dental Alumni News "Class Notes" Section. Not exactly Pulitzer-Prize winning stuff, but I guess you gotta start somewhere!


I made cookie-brownies last night per Dae's request and he has since proceeded to eat until he is borderline sick. I guess that's what you get when your average piece is a hunk the size of a small child's head!


I am training (if you could call it that) for a half-marathon at the end of the month and Christian has been my partner in crime. This morning I had to pull out the Arctic gear for our jog since it has gotten nice and crisp in the mornings. Once again, lovely lavender courtesy of Mallory!

Pumpkin Patch

Am not even going to discuss the Huskies (too upset).

No family album would be complete without the obligatory Pumpkin Patch shots. So we drove to Sauvie Island pumpkin patch and did the hayride and photos and ate caramel apples and kettle corn. Leelee had a great time but was slightly startled on the hayride when the tire directly below us blew out.

(Just like his mother, Christian startles very easily.) Anyway, we all recovered from the bumpy ride and enjoyed meandering about the pumpkin patch.

Not exactly true. We found our 'perfect pumpkin' at the Patch Market (so much easier! No hauling our pumpkin back to get weighed, no dirt, easy as pie).

My latest milestone is to get this guy to sit up on his own. I practice at every available opportunity but he seems intent on tilting to and fro. Dae blames it on his big head but really, his head is only 80th percentile and I know there are kids out there with larger heads who are sitting up just fine! Every time we place him in his Boppy he ends up like this:

(Maybe he's getting back at me for putting him in his 'women's-wear' legwarmers.)

I met up with my assistant Ann last week for lunch with her granddaughters - talk about identical! They certainly attract a lot of attention and with good reason!