Isaac at 4 months

Isaac at 4 months

This last month has just flown by! I was just looking back at Isaac's 3-month pictures, and it's amazing how much he's grown! I haven't weighed or measured him in over a week, but the last time I did he was 27 inches long and about 19 or 20 lbs! He's already outgrown some of his 6-9 month clothes! It's a little depressing to be putting 12 month clothes on my 4 month old! He's just growing so fast!

His teeth seem to be giving him a break, but I'm sure that we'll be reminded of their presence soon enough! Because he hasn't been as fussy, though, we've rearranged our evening routine a little so that we can work on our language lessons when he's awake! He enjoys listening to the native Spanish and French speakers, but I think he finds it more amusing listening to us try to pronounce the same phrases! We've also been able to move our dinner back to a normal time - no more eating at 8 or 9 at night! Of course the great thing about that is being able to go to bed when he does - every night this week we tuck him in, and then climb into bed ourselves! Getting a full 8+ hours of sleep every night has been SOOOO nice!

It's gotten hot, and for those of you who don't know Austin, that means that it's already over a 100 degrees every single day! So, needless to say, we haven't been walking much. Now that we're going to sleep earlier, I should get up and walk in the morning before Isaac wakes up, but I just haven't been motivated enough to do that yet. Sleep always sounds so much better at 6am!

We have been swimming almost every day, though, and he's learned to splash. I don't mean a little accidental splash. I mean entire-body-thrashing-around-and-getting-everything-within-a-5-foot-radius-soaking-wet kind of splashing! Unfortunately, now that he's learned this new skill, he's decided to do this in the bathtub as well. Last night I think he had more water outside the tub (including all over me) than he did inside! Of course, it would probably help if I could keep a straight face while he's doing it. Maybe then he wouldn't be encouraged to continue, but he just looks so darn cute, and very, very pleased with himself!

This month we've had some visits from family and friends, and he has been a trooper through it all. He just loves people, and so, of course, the extra attention was right up his alley. I'm hoping that he does as well during our trip to San Francisco! We're leaving tomorrow, and I'm a little nervous about how he'll do on his very first flight! At least it's a direct flight from Austin to SF - I'm not sure that I'm ready for that layover at DFW! I told Michael the other day that our 30-minute layovers are history. I can't imagine carting Isaac, the stroller, and all his other stuff around even in a 1-hour layover!

The other exciting development this month is that we've just started him on solid foods. It took him a few days to really get the hang of it, but now he's really enjoying it! I can't wait to introduce him to all of that yummy homemade baby food I've been making for him!

That's about it this month. Enjoy his 4-month pictures from this last weekend! I'll make sure to post again about our trip to SF once we get back.

Nick and Kara Visit Austin

Nick and Kara Visit Austin

Nick and Kara, our friends from Kansas City, took their family vacation to Texas this year. They were able to stop by this weekend, and we're so glad they did! It was great to see how much Jack has grown since we saw him last summer! I should have taken more pictures of the three of them together, but Jack just seems to steal the show. It's so easy to get wrapped up in him and every cute little thing he does - I'm sure his mother understands, huh Kara?

We also loved getting to play games with them. It's been a while since Michael and I were able to play games at all, so it was so nice to have some grown up time after the kids went to bed!

I'm so glad they were able to stop by - we had such a great visit!

Billy and Nicole Visit Austin

Billy and Nicole Visit Austin

Billy and Nic were here with Brent and Dani last week. They took their summer vacation to Texas, and really had 3 mini vacations all in one. They stopped to see Lyndie on their way down, then spent a few days at our house before going to San Antonio for Sea World, The Alamo, and The River Walk. It was a busy trip for them, but I'm so glad that they were able to spend a few days visiting with us. It was so fun to play with Brent and Dani and see how much they've grown. Of course, it was also nice that all 3 kids are on the same nap schedule, so we had 2 hours of quiet grown up conversation every afternoon!

I loved seeing how excited Brent and Dani were to meet their new cousin. It was so cute to see Dani point to Isaac and say, "That's a baby." Brent was very adamant about Isaac being his cousin. At one point Nicole was holding Isaac and Brent told her that she couldn't hold HIS cousin.

Isaac loved all the extra attention, of course - entertainment from the kids, hugs and cuddles from Aunt Nickie, and rockin' good times playing funny sounds and faces with Uncle Billy. For some reason he thought Billy was hilarious...although, now that I think about it, I guess I can understand that! :-)

We explored a cave, played outside, colored, went swimming, and Michael even stayed home with ALL THREE kids one morning so that I could take Billy and Nic on a drive around Austin...and they didn't burn down the house! They actually had a great time decorating bags with stickers, and playing chess with "Uncle".

I know it was a long trip for them, but it was such a great time. Thanks for coming to visit guys! We had so much fun!

Isaac at 15 weeks

Isaac 15 weeks

The past week has been a busy one for us. Since the hail storm a couple of months back, pretty much every house in our neighborhood, ours included, needs a new roof. Unfortunately it's hard to convince your child to sleep when he hears the constant banging, and nail guns all around him. So, we just got out of the house - every day! It's not easy being away from the house all day when you have a little one, but we managed just fine. It was good to get out and get a few things done that I've been putting off for a while.

On Friday we met up with Angie and Gaby to check out the Blanton Art Museum. We didn't get to see everything, though, so we'll have to go back and see it again. Angie and I had a nice visit sipping our coffee outside the cafe while the kids slept - it was such a beautiful day!

Over the past couple of weeks we've introduced a 5-senses activity with Isaac. We show him a picture of a fruit, a card with the name of the fruit printed on it, show him the actual fruit and let him touch it, then smell it, and finally we use a Q-tip to let him just have a little taste of the fruit. We do one fruit for 3-5 days, just to make sure that he doesn't have any type of allergic reaction, then we move on to the next one. He has really enjoyed this activity. So far we've done apple, banana, grapes, and orange. This weekend we started pineapple, and I had to take a picture of him checking out the pineapple - so cute!

With Michael's help, I was also able to get some pictures of our little fish in the water this weekend. He always has such a good time swimming, but he rarely has a good time when we have to get out of the water. I think it's a combination of him getting tired, getting cool when we're out of the water, and generally just being pissed off that we don't get to swim any longer! Once he's wrapped up in a fluffy towel and cuddled for a few minutes, though, he's much better.

We had a great weekend just hanging out at home. I made 6 weeks worth of baby food to put in the freezer! YAY! I'm so excited to start solid foods with him soon! I also made Michael a birthday cake, and Isaac and I gave him his presents a day early so that he could enjoy them on his day off.

This week I need to stay home more and get some things done around here before Billy, Nic, Brent, and Dani arrive on Sunday. I'm looking forward to their visit, just not looking forward to the almost 100 degree temps they're forecasting for the next week and a half. Oh well, just another great excuse to swim, and I'm sure Brent and Dani will enjoy that as much as Isaac!