Happy Birthday Granddad

Wyatt's granddad turned 58 today to round out our third holiday celebration this week. We woke up my dad this morning with a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" and capped off the night with dinner at Jay Berry's and another cooking experiment of mine with a double chocolate cake with homemade chocolate frosting. While it looked nothing like the picture in the cookbook, it was a hit and I'd certainly make it again.

We also had a wonderful Easter with Ross' sister, Julie and her four children coming over for dinner, along with our dear friend (Josh) Wood. Despite my macaroni and cheese concoction tasting more like plain pasta with cheese chunks and my cheddar cheese biscuits looking more like flat pancakes, we couldn't beat the company. Luckily for us, the ham turned out great and well as the artichoke spinach dip so we didn't starve.

The weather was storming so we had to scrap the Easter egg hunt but my mom passed out the candy filled eggs at the end of the night and the kids didn't seem to mind the ease of filling up their Easter bags. Mom had sent up a few dozen plastic Easter eggs, including Spider Man and TinkerBell themes, along with pencils and whistles (sorry Julie) and dad spent Saturday afternoon filling all the eggs with candy. They were too cute. Wyatt on the other hand was content with an empty egg and kept reaching for the baseball egg over all others. I can't say I'm surprised...

Wyatt is getting more mobile by the minute and is crawling around the house like a mad man. He is also getting better at pulling himself up into the standing position and we are really enjoying watching him explore his surroundings.

He has recently rejected the bottle after not using one since Christmastime, and will not take a sippy cup, so we are letting him drink from a real cup. This probably isn't unheard of for a 7-month old but I feel like I have the smartest little boy on Earth.

My folks head back to California tomorrow and we will be sad to see them go. It's amazing how quickly Wyatt became attached to them. He reached for them to hold him throughout their visit and was always quick with a smile for Nana and Granddad. I will miss the 4-to-1 adult-to-baby ratio for sure and their great company.

Nana & Granddad Are Here

My parents arrived Wednesday and we are having a great visit. Mom celebrated her birthday yesterday and said spending the day with her grandson was the best birthday present ever.

We had Denver omelets for breakfast before heading to Seattle to pick up her new wedding band (her gift from my dad) and getting dinner at ZTajas. It's the same restaurant we ate at for our wedding rehearsal dinner so that brought back a lot of great memories.

Wyatt has been pulling himself up to stand nonstop since Wednesday and Ross lowered his crib mattress last night to keep our baby boy safely in the crib and off the floor. This is a big milestone and I know he'll be in a toddler bed before we know it (or are ready for it).

My parents have been taking turns feeding Wyatt his meals and they have been cracking up over his "Don't Shoot" posturing. He gets so excited for the next bite that he throws his arms straight up in the air and they tremble with anticipation.

We are heading out today to buy Wyatt a new wardrobe as his 6-month sized clothes are getting too small. I'm sure we will also pick up a few new things for my sister's little boy who is due to arrive in July.

We're In Trouble Now...

I have been using a playpen in the living room to corral Wyatt for a few months now while I prepare meals, take a potty break or pretty much do anything else that requires two hands. All this time I've been at complete ease knowing that he is confined in a safe place. That is until today when I saw this...









We are heading to the airport to pick up my parents here in a few minutes but I plan to get his crib and playpen lowered TONIGHT before he takes a tumble.

WAY TO GO WYATT!!! You're going to be cruising around in no time.

Wild Boar & St. Patties

We've had a fun and busy last week and a half with both Ross' brother Nick and sister Lily visiting from California. In that time, the back fence was torn down, we made a trip down to Lacey to the Cabela's store, I experimented with two new recipes (macaroni and cheese with diced ham and chocolate chip pancakes- yum) and we attended two birthday parties for Auntie Julie who shared her 31st b-day with St. Patrick's Day.

We kicked off the week with the fence demolition but the weather has not cooperated since and we only have new posts set in concrete in the backyard with no cross beams or posts.

With the wet weather, we decided to head to Cabela's, an outdoor lovers paradise, so Ross and Nick could use the gift cards they received at Christmas. We spent 5 hours looking at everything from fly fishing rods, to fire arms, to the enormous stuffed animal display and aquarium. We stopped for lunch at their cafe and introduced Wyatt to his first taste of meat. Instead of going the usual, I'll say boring route of chicken we decided to give Wyatt a unique "first" and started off his love of meat with some wild boar. He had a few nibbles from Ross' wild boar sandwich and he seemed to like it. It tasted just like black forest ham and the skeptic in me wonders if it really was.

Friday night we went to Julie's house where she hosted a little shindig with the whole family. It was the first time all four of Ross' siblings had been together in over a year and we all had a great time. Wyatt got passed around to the whole clan and had a great time playing with his cousins.

Last night, we met up with friends and family at The Ram for dinner and we got Wyatt dressed up his St. Patties Day garb that his Nana sent up. He and dad shared a beer (just kidding- that's just a taster and he wasn't doing the tasting) and we really enjoyed our first night out with friends since Wyatt was born.

Sleeping Standing Up

Today was warm and sunny so Ross and I took advantage of the nice weather and worked in the yard. We trimmed up some trees in preparation of a new fence we hope to install this week and Ross rented a log splitter to finally cut up about a dozen or so tree rounds that have decorated our driveway since last year. It feels great to get the yard cleaned up. Wyatt cooperated by entertaining himself in his highchair on the front lawn.

Ross and I attended a wedding yesterday for one of his co-workers and it was just the third time we've been away from Wyatt who will turn seven months old tomorrow. We had a nice time and enjoyed seeing a lot of friends we hadn't seen in months. It was also nice to hear the wedding vows and be reminded about our own commitment to each other. It seems like yesterday that we exchanged our vows on the shores of Lake Washington with all of our family and friends in attendance. That, along with Wyatt's birthday, are my two favorite days ever.

The highlight of yesterday's wedding was when the flower girl, who was probably 2 or 3 years old, began to visibly tremble at the sight of the candles lining the pews and shouted "Fire! Fire!" the entire way down the aisle in total fear. I felt so bad for her and wanted to scoop her into my arms but feared I'd terrify her even more and that she might shout "Stranger! Stranger!" and make it even more of a scene.

Wyatt has really begun to master the art of bouncing and loves his bouncy seat. I had him in it a couple of nights ago while I got some things done around the house and when I checked back on him he had completely fallen asleep with his head resting peacefully on his hands, on the tray. It was so adorable but I felt bad that I had missed the cues that he was sleepy and he was forced to sleep standing up.

We are still working on our bathroom renovation and had a guy over to the house twice this week to re-glaze the tub. Wyatt and I were sequestered in our bedroom both days as the house filled with strong fumes from whatever chemicals he was using. We snuggled in bed, crawled around on the floor and played in front of the floor length mirror to pass the time. I also watched The Karate Kid while Wyatt napped in my arms which brought back a lot of memories. Apparently my parents found my lip marks all over their TV after I first watched that movie as I had my first kisses with Johnny the bad boy. Looking at him 25 years later I wonder what I ever saw in him...

Ross' brother Nick is in town and is going to help us with our fence project this week. I feel so bad that we put him to work every time he visits. If he's not installing a new vanity or entry door, we have him chopping and stacking wood. It amazes me that he even comes into town to see us anymore. Thanks Nick! Oh, can you help install our glass shower doors this week too?:)

Squash Splatter

Wyatt and I got out of the house today so I could buy a dress for a wedding Ross and I are attending this weekend. Thank goodness for Ross- Dress For Less and their dress sale. I got out of there with a cute number for only $32. Not bad...

Wyatt entertained me, and himself, the whole ride home by blowing spit bubbles in the backseat with exaggerated sound effects and all.

Speaking of spit bubbles, Wyatt has also started to do this while eating. He either blows out just when the spoon reaches his mouth, shooting splatters of cereal, fruit or veggies everywhere, or he takes the food in his mouth and blows out really hard before he swallows, actually spitting globs of food- tonight it was squash- all over the highchair tray. The whole tray was covered tonight and I made sure to get it on video because it was HILARIOUS. Unfortunately I didn't get any snap shots for the blog but I'm sure I'll have more opportunities. Any advice on how to get him to stop this?

When we got home from shopping, I was going through the mail while Wyatt practiced his crawling. For some reason this boy loves mail, really paper of any sort. I made a pile of junk mail that needed to be tossed and he made a bee-line for it and began to play, I mean rip apart like a mad dog, every piece of paper in sight. Then he proceeded to roll around in it like it was one hundred dollar bills or something. I couldn't stop laughing. Who knew something so silly could make both of us so happy?

On a side note, I've recently stumbled upon another blog that is worth reading called Confessions of a CF Husband. It is about a man whose wife has cystic fibrosis and is in need of a lung transplant and their daughter Gwyneth who was born 17 weeks premature and is fighting to get well. It is a truly inspiring read and worth bookmarking so you can follow along on their journey. Reading stories like theirs really puts things in perspective and makes me so thankful for all I've been blessed with. Please pray for this family.

Danger! Danger!

Wyatt is really beginning to get the hang of army crawling and is scooting himself all over the house. My days of leaving him alone are long gone as are it seems my days of just turning my back on him.

In the last few days I have caught him grabbing a screwdriver and paint brush from our bathroom renovation stash, trying to put his fingers in a light socket, playing with a plastic bag, chewing on an electrical cord and sucking on the end of my hairdryer. You'd think I was leaving this kid home alone with the most dangerous items I could imagine but in fact I thought I had put all of those things safely out of reach and I was in the same room for crying out loud!!!. I guess I'm going to have to rethink my version of "out of reach." The good news is I have put all of my chemicals and cleaning supplies in a storage cabinet four feet off the ground behind a set of doors so we can hopefully avoid any calls to poison control.

Ross and I have been busy working on the front yard landscaping as the yard was completely ignored last summer with Wyatt's impending arrival and our bath renovation, which dare I say may get finished this month!! Unfortunately for the junipers, Ross' version of landscaping as of this moment is what many of you would refer to as demolition. Think "clear cutting." His favorite landscaping tool is the chain. That's right. Whereas most people might choose the rake or shovel as the number one gardening tool, Ross thinks there is no landscaping project that can't somehow incorporate the chain. Or should I say the chain/ Ford F250 combo? He has been throwing that chain around every innocent, albeit overgrown and yes, ugly, plant in sight and ripping it out of the ground with a good punch to the accelerator. Hopefully we will be just as efficient in thinking up a way to give life back to the yard after we strip it down to the bare bones, I mean soil.

Wyatt has been talking up a storm lately and we do make out "Mama" and "Dada" or at least things that sound very close to those words and I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt. This morning I left him strapped to his changing table while I stoked the fireplace and I could hear him talking and singing away in his nursery. When I went back into his room to thank him for being such a patient little boy he was so enthralled in his little song that the sound of my voice scared him to death. If it hadn't been for the changing table strap I'm pretty sure the poor guy would have hit the ceiling. Not only did the arms and legs take flight but he actually let out a scream. Can you believe that?! I was practically in the floor laughing. I know, I know, that's not very nice but you would have laughed too.

He is such a wonderful baby and he brings unmeasurable joy into our lives every day. I can't imagine life without him.