An Extra Day

As I mentioned, Kevin took today off so that I could go to the dentist this morning (oh, the joy)--it was really nice to have him around for an extra day.

As I was leaving the dentist, Kate texted saying that she was meeting (Ironman) Christina and her husband, Ryan, for lunch right up the street from our house and invited me to join...sooooo, I went home, pumped, and grabbed Lewis for lunch and to congratulate Christina for completing the Ironman yesterday! We had a great time--Lewis, you don't know it, but you just had lunch with an amazingly dedicated and talented athlete (unlike your mama...hahahaha). :) But seriously, I'm so happy for her and for what she accomplished yesterday. Her time was 15:17. Amazing.

So, we have been feeding cereal once a day for the past two weeks, gradually feeding more and gradually making it thicker. We decided it was time last night to go ahead and bump it up to twice a day and to add his first vegetable in with it--carrots!

What is this, mama?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I don't like this. I might just puke on you (he did lurch a few times).

My first sippy cup, too?!?!

(I felt bad and thought it might help him wash down the nastiness.)

He still seemed displeased with it this morning, so this evening I gave it to him with oatmeal mixed in instead of rice cereal, and he happily took it all! So maybe it was just the rice/carrot combo that he didn't like?

I had a nice pocket of time this afternoon when Lewis was napping to work on the yard sale slide I found on Saturday. I had to remove a few old stickers, wipe it down well, and tighten down some screws, and now it is ready for Lewis action! We already had a workout mat that fits perfectly at the end of the slide for now while Lewis is still young and less in control of his sliding capabilities. :)

Whee!

I think he will have a lot of fun with it. I hope so, at least. We plan to spend a LOT more time in the basement (where the slide is, where the carpet is) now that Lewis has mobilized. Upstairs we have hardwoods, and he gets into electrical cords, the firewood stack, dog toys, dog hair, etc. Downstairs is definitely a more Lewis-friendly area. The dogs agree.

Peter likes it...

As does Hattie Lou.

We spent some time down there today. Here is Lewis, working on the belly crawl (he's getting fast!). At the end, I caught him doing what he's been doing lately--heading teeth-first into the coffee table and then gnawing little scratches all along in the wood. I don't mind the scratches, but I don't want him to knock out his teeth in the process. :/

And here are Lewis and Kevin racing...Hattie interrupts, of course, but you can still see most of the action, I think. And the strange noises at the end are Peter and Hattie wrestling in the background, in case it isn't obvious.

Mama, I am SO sure.

(I saw this and figured I will see it again in 13-15 years. Lord, help me.)

So that was our wonderful, extended weekend! This week is the mega and awesome consignment sale...yay, yay, and yay. We are heading up to my parents' house next weekend for their Labor Day picnic. Then the following week, Lewis and I are Boise-bound! Wahoo! Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

The Freakin' Weekend, Baby

I actually hate R. Kelly. Ever since the whole sex-with-a-minor allegations, he has totally given me the heebie jeebies. That song just came to mind when I was thinking of a title.

Carrying on, we had a great weekend. Saturday morning, Lewis and I had plans to walk to a yard sale while Kevin went for a run (a 7 mile run, I should say--he's training for another mini in November). Lew and I initially set off for a sale advertised as the '2nd yard sale in 35 years.' I thought that meant it would be extra special, but that it was not--it was extra dated. The listing said 'baby/kid stuff'...she should have specified 'from 1973.' She LITERALLY had a huge box of Highlights magazines from 1973-1974 and just a handful of other baby/kid things. Bummer.

However, all was not lost...on the way there, we ran across another sale by a young couple who had a LOT of great kid stuff. I found a small wooden play cube with a slide that will be great for Lewis to enjoy in our basement, plus an activity book and a Melissa & Doug puzzle and a toy...all for $12 (slide included!). So exciting.

After our walk and Kevin's run, I took off to see The Help and to have lunch with Kate and her mom, Lynne, while Kevin and Lewis did manly things. It was great to have some girl time--we all loved the movie (and the book!) and had a nice lunch at Panera. The movie was longer than I anticipated, so I had to cut out a little abruptly in order to get home in time to feed Lewis before we headed out for our next planned outing of the day--his first baseball game!

I made it home, fed Lewis, put him down for a nap, and then we headed out to see the Louisville Bats vs. Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, who just happened to be coached by Kevin's all-time hero, Ryne Sandberg. Lewis napped a little later than planned, and we hit construction traffic, so we got there much later than planned. Sandberg was still signing autographs when we got there, so Kevin and Lewis got in line--unfortunately, he stopped signing and posing for pictures just about 10 people shy of Kevin. Such a bummer. I did get close enough to snap a few pictures of him, but it sucked to be so close! If only we hadn't hit the construction traffic...oh well. We were only able to stay until the top of the fourth because we had to get Lewis home for bedtime, but we had a nice time the hour that we were actually there (and thanks for the tickets, Curtis!).

Ryno! Over here!

Just after Ryne had stopped signing...they were so close!

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack...

Go, Bats, Go!

Sunday morning, Lewis and I went and met Kate to watch a Waycross friend (Christina) compete in the Ironman race here in town. We caught a glimpse of her somewhere just past 6 miles into the bike portion. Kate followed her all day, and I planned to meet up with her again later. I was trying to feed Lewis and get him down for his afternoon nap, and Kate texted saying that Christina had picked up her pace on the bike and would be to our meeting point sooner than anticipated, so I did not make it in time. I went to another intersection just in case I could catch her, but soon after I arrived, Kate texted saying she had already reached downtown. Oh well--I did get to cheer on some strangers!

In between the Ironman viewing attempts, Kevin, Lewis, and I went to a used book sale at Locust Grove (the old home of George Rogers Clark's brother, William, and a place where Lewis & Clark stopped off after their expedition out West). It was half-price day, so most books were only 50 cents. What a steal! I found a neat old cookbook from a place where my friend, Rachel, works (from the early 1950s) and two books by a Kentucky author I like (Barbara Kingsolver--I loved her Prodigal Summer). We didn't actually pay to tour the home itself--we just saw it from across the property. It is just about 10 minutes from our house, so we'll have to plan a tour sometime. It seemed like a nice, peaceful place.

After the book sale, we decided to go ahead and do our grocery shopping for the week and picked up a few things for a picnic lunch. We stopped off at Paul's up the street to get some tasty sandwiches and headed to the park. Luckily it wasn't too busy, so we were able to get a picnic table in the shade with plenty of room for a blanket for Lewis to crawl around on (which lasted about 10 seconds before we had to go remove a leaf from his mouth or put him back on the blanket). Eventually we gave up and just let him explore. I think he liked the feel of the crunchy leaves and the slick grass.

Still on the blanket...

Venturing off into the wild...

Our little explorer

Hooray for bright sun and blue skies.

We hit the swings for a little while and then headed back home. A great weekend that wasn't over yet! Kevin took today off because I had to get a filling redone at the dentist this morning, so we had an extra day of fun. To be continued...

Boring Updates

Peter's Liver

After six months of experimentation, we have finally seen positive change with Peter's liver! Finally! After trying special liver chews from the old vet (no change), chews and meds (no change), meds and special food (some change), and just food, we finally have made good progress!! His values were in the 320s and are now in the 240s--a drop of 80 points in a month's time! Finally. He still isn't where he is supposed to be (the normal range is 0-100), but the vet was very encouraged by the 240s. She said that she will check him again in 6 months to see how he is doing then--no more monthly blood draws for the big guy.

Oh, and the official diagnosis, thus far, is chronic hepatitis.

The food is pricey, but if it is helping him, we can manage. Plus, I found it online for cheaper than what the vet's 'cost' price is, so she said she'd sign off for me to order it that way, which will save us about $15/month.

Silence
Speaking of pets, the Pet Tag Silencer has restored baby/dogs/mama peace in our house. It is a small neoprene pocket in which you put your pet's tags, and it prevents them from clinking, clanking, jingling, and a-jangling.

I have become acutely aware of Peter and Hattie 'shakin' it out' more recently, usually right next to Lewis's door as they walk down the hallway. Although they haven't woken him up yet, it was really starting to cause me some tension during Lew's naptime. I decided to order these puppies (ha) after seeing them at a pet shop in Maine last month, and so far, so good!

Adding to the 'problem' is the fact that each dog has to wear four tags (name/phone number, rabies, microchip, and their animal services' licensing tag), so they are really, really loud just walking normally. Not anymore, thank goodness. I found them on eBay for $6 each (they were closer to $12 each on amazon). Definitely worth the $$.

UPDATE: Peter hates his Silencer. He is walking around all freaked out, either a) because of his own silence or b) because he is afraid Hattie will sneak up on him. Who knows...he is totally freaked, though. Hopefully he'll get used to it soon. :) Might have to come up with a new solution.

Storytime Update

I was not really pleased with having only one storytime to choose from each week (felt too limiting), but as I was looking further last night I found a 2nd option that starts up next week! Maybe they only run it during the school year? Not sure, but I'm super excited--it is specifically for pre-walkers, and it is only about 10 minutes from our house.

So, with that new discovery, we have a little bit of extra flexibility built into our week, depending on the weather and any other plans that arise.

Monday - Grocery/Cook for the week/Clean-up from the weekend

Tuesday - Shopping Day - Target (if needed)/Goodwill/Other

Wednesday - Park/Nature Day or Storytime at the library (weather permitting)

Thursday - Storytime at the library or Park/Nature Day (weather permitting)

Friday - Clean-up for the weekend/Laundry

Solids Update

We have been feeding rice cereal once a day (in the evening) for about a week and a half now. We started with one teaspoon of cereal but quickly increased that to one tablespoon. The next step will be to add a morning feeding, as well, and start in with vegetables and fruits!

We have been doing one bottle feeding on the weekends so that I can pump fresh milk to mix in with Lewis' cereal (it stays safe in the fridge for a week). So far, it has been enough for our once-a-day feedings, but I will need to pump twice that amount if we are doing twice-a-day feedings to keep up with the demand. However, eventually, my little stockpile in the freezer will dwindle down with this method [Kevin feeds with a bag from the freezer--I used to be able to pump enough to replace the milk Kevin fed and give us a surplus, but now the milk all goes to the fridge for cereal], so I need to work out a better way.

That is all. Pictures next time, I promise!

Newport Aquarium and IKEA

We had a great weekend--errands and yardwork on Saturday and Newport Aquarium and IKEA on Sunday.

But first, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge an exciting find I had at Goodwill on Friday--a train/activity table (and quite a few wooden train track pieces, farm animals, trees, etc. that were left in the drawers) for Lewis for only $25!!! It's in good shape, structurally--I'm really excited to clean it up and give it a fresh coat of paint. I couldn't quite get it to fit in the Highlander with Lewis' carseat installed, so Kevin went out after dinner on Friday to pick it up. I'm so excited--it was one of the things I was going to look for at the big consignment sale in a few weeks. His Aunt Paula and Uncle Jim got him a train set, too, so we can just keep adding to it as we go!

Also on Friday, I put him in the Wranglers that his Auntie Em got him. I think he still has some growing to do to fill these out. Not quite the Wrangler Butt just yet. :)

To the weekend--Saturday we ran errands, had lunch out, and went back to the park to swing, go down the slides, and explore the grounds some more. There are some really great shady picnic spots and a shelter--perfect for a child's birthday party (outdoors) IF the child wasn't born in mid-February (like Lewis was).

Here is Lewis swinging, the wind in his hair:

And going down the slide with Kevin (I took video, but it was literally 3 seconds long because it was such a short slide):

Saturday evening after Lewis went to bed, Kevin helped me tackle (and finish!) taming the wildest and craziest (and crabgrass infested) flowerbed that I'd started a few nights before. It was out.of.control. It feels nice to have tamed it again, for now. We're going to try to thin it out and transplant some of the daylilies this fall.

Before

After

We spent about an hour doing yardwork most nights last week, and I feel much better about how things are looking. We still have some trimming back to do for the fall and some transplanting, but I feel like we are in a much better place. Plus, for me, there is (usually) something very therapeutic about weeding.

We finished weeding, Round-upping, and mulching the mess-of-a-flowerbed just as it was getting too dark to see what we were doing on Saturday, so we went in and watched Hall Pass and each had Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby for the first time. I think I'm hooked, unfortunately...luckily it is only carried at Meijer, 10-15 mins. away, and I never shop there. Maybe that will slow down my consumption of it.

On Sunday morning, we took off for Newport, KY, (across the river from Cincinnati) to meet up with the Okrzesiks for a day at the Newport Aquarium. We had a really nice time--we spent a few hours at the aquarium, followed by lunch. Then we said our goodbyes and headed to IKEA to get a few things.

The aquarium went well, I thought, for Lewis and Colin (he'll be 2 in a few weeks). There were a couple of large tunnels we walked through with fish and sharks and rays swimming above and around us, which worked well with the boys in their strollers. We also walked through the rainforest area and no one got pooped on and no birds were harmed (two thumbs up!). [I kept having a vision of Lewis reaching out for a bird and doing it harm, by accident of course.]

Also in the rainforest exhibit, they had some river otters that were running around and diving through their tank that caught Lewis' eye. Snakes, slow-moving fish, frogs, notsomuch, but the fast-moving fish, penguins, otters, and sharks definitely caught his attention.

Overall, it didn't take quite as long to go through as we all anticipated it would, but we had a great time!

I think these were Japanese Spiny Crab (lit by black light, of course).

They were big and pretty nasty-looking.

The penguins were probably our favorite. Lewis connected with one up close--it hung around for a few minutes and showed off a little for him. He seemed interested in it and probably would have loved to pet it and give it a big ol' hug. :)

Lewis' new penguin friend

Then at the end, there was a concave viewing window that Lewis could lay on and see above, in front, and below. I didn't really capture it with the camera, but hopefully you get the point--it was pretty neat.

Hello, sea turtle. Hello, fishies.

After lunch it was off for Lewis' first trip to IKEA. We didn't have any major furniture purchases to make--I just wanted to get some picture frames, look at toys/storage items for Lewis, and pick-up some random household items. It was pretty crowded but cheerful as usual. Kevin guessed it was probably a busy time for back-to-school shopping for the college kids (the desk section was especially busy). A successful trip!

Riding the gigantic elevator

Then it was back to Louisville for us! A great weekend.

Free Louisville

I have finally started researching free (or almost free) things for Lewis and I to do around town. Free, age-appropriate, and nearby. We tried a few out last week and I think it will be good for both of us to have a little more structure, enrichment, and interaction to our days.

Being the planning nerd that I am, I've started to formulate a weekly schedule of sorts to try:

Monday - Grocery/Cook for the week/Clean-up from the weekend

Tuesday - Shopping Day - Target (if needed)/Goodwill

Wednesday - Storytime at the library

Thursday - Park/Nature Day

Friday - Clean-up for the weekend/Laundry

Here are the free park/nature activities I have found so far:

• Metro Parks (5-10 mins. drive) - This is kind of a 'duh,' but we have never actually been to any of the parks near us. We visited one the other day--there is a nice set of swingsets (with 'baby swings' and regular swings) and a nice play area with slides, monkey bars, bridges, etc. There is also a small stream with shaded picnic areas--I'm excited to go back! Oh, and I saw a Great Blue Heron take flight as we were walking back to the car. We went back a second time this weekend with Kevin and I took some video of him swinging that I'll post later.
  
  

Wheeee!!!

• Louisville Nature Center/Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve (15 mins. drive) - This is located near the Louisville Zoo, with two main differences--it has native wildlife species and doesn't cost anything to get in! I've never actually been there before and have always wanted to go, so hopefully their hiking trails are doable with our all-terrain stroller and hopefully they have age-appropriate things for Lewis. They definitely have a bird blind (a shaded viewing window overlooking lots of different types of feeders to attract different birds, chipmunks, squirrels, mice, etc.). He'd probably enjoy that--he likes animals that move quickly, it seems.
• Henry's Ark Petting Zoo (20 mins. drive??) - This is in the next county from us--it is a private petting zoo (of Henry Wallace, former news correspondent, now deceased) that is free/open to the public. They just ask that you bring carrots to feed the animals--I think we can handle that!
• Salato Wildlife Education Center (Frankfort - 45 mins. drive) - This would be a much bigger endeavor, one we probably won't do too often. Salato is a really neat place--the state fish and wildlife department is headquartered there, they have free fishing for kids, and they have both indoor and outdoor wildlife areas, full of native Kentucky species (deer, wild turkeys, bald eagles, black bear, fish, turtles, snakes, owls, etc.).

I am also still trying to find the best storytime at the library for us. There is one downtown for 'Pre-walkers and Walkers' on Wednesday mornings, but I need to scout out the parking situation to see how much it costs before we commit to this one. There are other library branches in non-downtown locations that would have free parking that we might also scope out.

There are also a surprising number of museums (mainly art) with free admission, though I think it will still be a few years before he can appreciate those.

We'll see how it goes!

Workin' On the Crawl

Somebody has decided it is time to make forward movement! He isn't full-on crawling just yet, but the foundation is there. Seems like he gets more coordinated by the hour.

Apologies for the second one being so dark. I plopped him down and started recording before turning all of the basement lights on.

Six Months Old

Correction: I apparently misread Lewis' percentiles...a 7 was actually a 9, so he is, in fact, in the 95th percentile for head size, not 75th. My bad.

It feels like we were just at the five month mark! I guess this past month has gone by a bit more quickly, although overall I feel like he is where he is supposed to be. Not too fast, not too slow. We just had a pretty busy month!

Six Months

His stats:

Weight: 19 pounds, 5 ounces or 19.3 pounds (75-90th percentile)

Length: 27.5 inches (75-90th percentile)

Head Size: 18 1/8th inches (95th percentile)

BMI: 17.95

Doctor's appointment went well--though it took forever! I keep forgetting a) to expect to wait a while, no matter how early we get there and b) I need to eat beforehand and c) I need to time it so that he is far away from naptime/feeding time. We got there at 9:15 for a 9:30 appointment. We went back to the room just before 10am, saw the doctor around 10:30am, and were finally leaving just after 10:45am. That's ridiculous. He usually starts his nap around 9:15 or 9:30, so by the time it was time to see the doctor, he was getting pretty fussy, understandably.

He had an oral vaccine and two injections again, like at his 2 and 4 month appointments. The last injection seemed painful, but he fussed for just a few seconds. He's a tough one, that's for sure. We go back in November for his 9-month check-up, and the nurse said he only has to get one injection then.

What he is doing this month:

• Vocalizing (aka screaming/shrieking) - I've caught myself asking him to keep it down a few times and to use his 'inside voice.' He doesn't understand what that means yet, unfortunately. He usually isn't screaming out of anger, but rather joy, so I guess it's just a phase? I've had to take some deep breaths this past week. The boy is loud.
• He has started to roll with a purpose and is becoming quite efficient! He saw some small Rubbermaid-type storage boxes across the room the other day, and the next thing I knew, he had flipped, spun, and flopped his way over to them. (And subsequently put them in his mouth, of course.) He also scootches backwards sometimes and has lifted his butt up in the air just a few times.
• He has ridden in a shopping cart a few times now. Twice with the strap I bought, and once with just the provided buckled strap. He seemed to slide down at first with the buckled strap, but by the end of the spin around Target, he kind of got the hang of it. Kind of. :)
• He is back to sleeping well, for now.
• He is wearing mostly 9 month clothes at the moment.
• He loves to pet Peter! He would also love to pet Hattie, but she runs away. Peter will tolerate it for a little while--eventually he runs away, too (due to too big a handful of hair or Lewis pulling too hard). Lewis just lights up when the dogs come around, though. I love it.
• Speaking of, he can become very distracted these days during nursing time. Dog noises, Kevin noises, sirens, me turning the page of a book/magazine, the overhead light, a ceiling fan, dogs laying on the rug next to us, etc. He becomes fixated and takes a while to refocus.
• He has started to throw his toys. He will get a grip on a toy and jerk from straight arm to bent arm to straight arm and so on. Sometimes he bops himself in the head. Sometimes he lets go.
• Current Tooth Count: 2. I have a feeling that is about to change. He has been awfully fussy the past three days or so and drooling like a maniac and seems to have some sensitivity in his mouth, so I think the next ones are on their way. It has affected him at bedtime the past few nights (a little Orajel, a little extra nursing), but eventually he did go to sleep and stayed asleep. His naps haven't been the best the past few days either. I'm fairly certain it is all due to teething. Or possibly a growth spurt? This too shall pass. :)
• And, finally, we are starting solids! He has made it six months on nothing but breastmilk alone--unbelievable. If my 4-5 day postpartum self could read this now--I was so doubtful back then that I would be able to make it (breastfeeding) to 6 days, let alone 6 months. I'm pretty happy about it--we did it, buddy! We are planning to start out with cereal for a week or so and then start in with his first vegetable. We gave our first taste of rice cereal last night--here are some pictures and a video!

Ready for Rice Cereal!

Or not...

Eh, maybe it's not so bad.

We started with just a teaspoon of cereal mixed with four teaspoons of breastmilk. Even though he made funny faces throughout, he accepted it all. We will just try cereal once a day for a week or so, then think about introducing a vegetable once he seems to get the hang of the whole eating-off-of-a-spoon thing.

:)

Ready to see what new things he will learn and do in the next month!

Reptile Day and Retirement Dinner

This weekend, we went to Reptile Day out at the forest where I used to work! The totally under-used, under-appreciated forest. It's part of Metro Parks but is located pretty far outside the city. I hadn't been out there myself in about three years, so it was nice to be back and see familiar faces and places.

They had a handful of booths, a wildlife biology professor from U of L who spoke about tracking/monitoring turtles, a new (and amazing!) outdoor classroom for preschool programs, and the nature center that we walked through--Lewis seemed to enjoy the aquatic turtles the most. The snakes, frog, rabbit, and salamander didn't seem to delight him because they didn't move much. We had to skip out on the turtle races and a live snake feeding demonstration to get back to the house because we were having company over.

'See, there's a red-eared slider, a stinkpot, a beautiful (and big) softshell, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.' I hope Lewis likes nature so I have someone to blab to. :)

Next to the Black Kingsnake

There's that big softshell swimming by...

Intently listening to his first wildlife biology lecture

He luckily still fit in his 3-6 mo. Steve Irwin outfit that my sister sent him.

I couldn't resist.

The beautiful new outdoor classroom that kind of made me want to teach again, but not really, but kind of. In the woods, with maybe just ten kids at a time. Oh wait, that was the plan in 2004, too. :)

I also would like a wood burner kit so I can make cool things like these that they had posted throughout the classroom:

They did a really nice job with it. The 'leaves' on the arbor as you enter had words such as play, explore, listen, grow, wonder, believe, etc. Very sweet. The classroom has a few different stations: playing musical instruments, digging in the dirt, walking on stumps, climbing/playing in a tree house, and building towers out of natural materials.

Later in the afternoon, we had Kevin's parents and brothers over for dinner to celebrate Kevin's mom's retirement! The meal was great, but the power went out towards the end of the evening. Still, we had a nice time. Congrats, Sharon--happy retirement!

We have a few things coming up this month that I'm looking forward to: a trip to Newport Aquarium (and IKEA if we have time) with the Okrzesiks, going to see The Help with Kate in a few weeks, another round of my favorite baby consignment sale with the McKinley girls, and my first solo flight(s) with Lewis to Boise to see the Bergstroms!

It should be a busy month again, but I'm looking forward to it. My last-half-of-the-year resolution is to get out and do more, so this is a good start. I'm on a mission to find some free activities to do...so far all I have is story time at the library and going for walks, but I haven't really had time to look much yet. More to come, I'm sure.

Doctor's appointment and SIX MONTH post tomorrow...

Among Other Things...

Before we left for vacation, the forsythia bushes along our driveway needed attention. Upon our return, they were absolutely out of control. I knew it was bad yesterday when my natural instinct was to just drive through the yard. I had a bit of a hectic morning, so I decided to take out some frustrations with the electric hedge trimmer. Lewis was sweet enough to hang out on a blanket in a nice, shady spot while I worked it out.

Before

Even Hattie disapproves...

After the Massacre, Before the Clean-up

By this time, I was sweating and wanted to make sure Lewis didn't overheat, so we went inside. After he went to bed last night, Kevin helped me clean up the shrapnel--then he mowed and I went ahead and weeded (as best I could in the dark!).

The Morning After

Much Better Than Before

Now that is better. I will still probably throw down some fresh mulch where it is needed. The sad part is that I know it will all just grow back and I'll have to do it all over again (for a 3rd time this summer!) before winter. Oh well.

We still have a ton of work to do in the other plant beds. We have started our Fall To Do List, and I'm excited to get things under control again and to switch some things up. Today, Lewis and I are off to Home Depot for a few things for the outside and then JoAnn's for a few things for the inside (new throw pillows!). It is neverending...

Some New Firsts

First Teeth!

First Marketing/Promo Video

(for the Mom group that he and I have been going since he was born)

There is a close-up around the 2:07 mark.

Baby care from A to Z from Norton Healthcare on Vimeo.

First Time Riding in a Cart

(with some help sitting from a strap I ordered)

First Hotel Stay

(unless the Conference Center at Waycross counts...)

First Flight

First Time in Maine

First Time in a Lake (Lake Millinocket)

First Hike

First Time on the Appalachian Trail

First Time Seeing/Touching a Live Lobster

First Time on a Mountain Peak (Cadillac Mountain)

First Time Visiting a National Park (Acadia N.P.)

First Time in the Atlantic Ocean

And while I'm at it, here he is at lunch on our way to L.L. Bean, letting off some steam. It was a loooong car trip, but he was such a trooper!