Einar Lends a Helping Hand

We had a relaxing weekend at home after Thanksgiving which is a good thing considering the amount of sleep that we have been able to get this week. Einar's top two teeth look like they are trying to make an appearance and I sure hope that they come quickly and give him some relief.

Saturday night we went to San Clemente's Downtown Putting on the Glitz Christmas season kick-off. We wandered up and down Del Mar Avenue (the street with all of the little shops and boutiques as well as the community center and library) looking at all of the holiday displays as well as the winter fashions that were being modeled. There were people actually wearing winter boots, wool coats, scarves, hats, and such when it has been only in the upper 50's at night and in the 70's during the day! Of course we also saw folks wearing t-shirts and shorts too. The lines were a bit long for the santa pictures especially with a teething tot, so we just meandered and then came home for some tea and the last bit of the sweet potato cheesecake.

This morning, Einar was helping me by checking out my ski boots. I know I won't need them in San Clemente, but we are travelling to Seattle from the 19th till the 1st and Jared wants to bring along out ski stuff. He's been dying to hit the slopes this year. I guess after 4 years of constant snow and skiing during the winter, a winter in Iraq makes a guy yearn for snow.

The next pictures are of Einar helping Jared put away the dishes. He's intrigued by the dishwasher as well as what he can pull out of the bottom shelves in the refrigerator when the door is open.

Happy Turkey Day!

What a great day we had! Just hanging out at the house this morning so that Jared could teach Einar how to clap. We did some cooking for dinner and cleaned the place up a bit for our guests. While we were doing the latter, Einar and I were downstairs folding his laundry and he wandered out of his bedroom into the hallway. I had already shut all of the doors off of the hallway so that he couldn't go exploring things like the bathroom or guest rooms that aren't fully baby-proof. He'd been gone a few minutes so I went out there to check on him and he had his hands on the second step leading upstairs and his left foot on the first step. While he was looking at me, he kind of grinned and then pulled up his right foot. Einar climbed his first step on Thanksgiving Day 2005! After that, the babygate went up on his room. I'm not ready for stair climbing yet!

Later this afternoon, two of Jared's co-workers, Cole and Isaac, came over for Thanksgiving dinner. We had yummy turkey, green beans, broccolli salad, mashed potatoes, roasted butternut squash, and roasted sweet potato cheesecake for dessert. It was great. Einar was devouring the turkey. The guys took back a couple of plates for the marines on duty today.

Tommorrow we're going to go watch the Harry Potter movie in shifts. Since the movie theater is down the street, We'll take turns walking down there to see the show and the other one will stay home and play with Einar. Maybe there will be a trip to the pool too! It's still in the 70's down here, sorry to tell those of you who are bundled up in sweaters and wearing your jackets.

First Visit from Einar Friends

Lots of pictures for you tonight! The other boy in the pictures is Nathan and he is only 3 days younger than Einar. He and his mom as well as Kailani (3mo) and her mom came over to the house yesterday for lunch. The boys seemed to have a bunch of fun with each other and it was neat to see the two of them doing the same things since they are so close together in age.

Today we went to the grocery stores to get the last of our Thanksgiving ingredients. Einar not only slept well last night (!!!) but he had a nice nap this afternoon. He sure is getting around quickly now. I can turn around and then look back for him and he's on the far side of the room into something that he really shouldn't have found. WE've tried to keep the table project away from him by separating the dining room from the living room with the couch and two hampers. Well, it only took about 5 days for him to figure that out and now he gets through our barrier without any trouble at all. You can see that he is inspecting our handiwork--don't look too closely Einar!

The other pictures are from church tonight. Even after our Thanksgiving service they had treats outside! I just had to take a picture of that and of the turkey cupcake. I started the turkey carnage early this year. One turkey down, one to go tomorrow.

Jared is going to cook up a big turkey tomorrow and two of his coworkers are coming over for dinner since they don't have any family in town either.

p.s. The hamper as containment device lasted all of 30 seconds.

A Real For Real Babysitter for Einar

Last night the daughter of Jared's First Sergeant, Venita, came over and watched Einar for the evening. Jared and I went to a special fundraising event at the mall (hey, isn't every evening at the mall a fundraising event?) that they have every year before the holidays. Organizations like South Orange County Family Resource Center and NPR sell $10 tickets and they get the majority of that money while the mall gets extra business, has entertainment all night and raffle prizes, merchants have specials, etc. We certainly could have taken the little guy, but it was great to have Venita come and watch him while we cruised the mall.

Einar had a good time at home. He took advantage of the constant attention and needed lots of snuggling last night. He ate well and when we came home, they were on the couch, Einar finally worn out and sleeping soundly. His outfit is a result of him really not wanting to get dressed.

The table and chairs are coming along well. We've already done 2 coats of the stain and think that we'll leave it the color that it is now. Next is the top coat and Einar and I are heading to the store this afternoon to get a couple new foam brushes.

New Table and Chairs!

They finally came! Our new table and chairs were delivered on Friday evening and Jared and I have been rubbing stain into them all day long. We're hoping to finish the project before Thanksgiving since we've invited a couple of Jared's co-workers over for turkey dinner. Thank goodness it was delivered on Friday and not on Monday so that I can take advantage of a willing worker in Jared this weekend and not have to try and complete the whole thing by myself. It's looking good so far.

Our little helper, Einar, has been keeping busy with his Tupperware today and by trying to get past the hamper barriers into project central. He was such a good little guy today and even took some long naps. Before bed tonight I let him splash around in his bath a bit longer than usual as a reward. He stayed in the sink until he started putting the soap dispenser in his mouth--definitely a party-foul.

9 month check-up

Einar is doing well at 9 months, but I could have told you that before we went to the doctor today. It was our first visit to the Navy Hospital on Camp Pendleton, but certainly won't be our last I'm sure. It was quite a rough visit for the little guy with an intrusive thermometer, tongue depressors, ear checks, and two shots. Then it was off to the lab for a finger poke to make sure that he's getting enough iron in his diet. We also picked up a prescription to help with some crazy diaper rash that is a result of loose bms all week. I'm not supposed to worry too much about the diahhrea and just keep him on a BRAT (banana's rice, applesauce, and toast) diet for awhile. Then it was off to another part of base to get flu shots for the both of us. My band-aid is pretty plain compared to Einar's Garfield and Tasmanian Devil band-aids. We also picked up the turkey for Thanksgiving and Einar was examining it closely before I put it in the fridge. Oh, he weighs 20lbs 6 oz which puts him about 50th percentile and he's off the charts for height. Still taking after his father.

Mommy Knock-Down

A hint to mom's of 9-month olds: if you're on the floor near the baby, watch out, he'll go for your face! Tonight after Einar and I had a little wrestling session after dinner. I think that he won. He's really getting around now and yesterday we noticed that he doesn't always resort to the army crawl anymore, he actually gets up off of his belly sometimes when he's crawling around! He also spends a bunch of time now sitting up on the floor. The tripod sit has been replaced by the legs splayed out straight back sit. He still enjoys a post breakfast nap and usually wakes up in time for lunch--quite the life.

Las Vegas Trip

We had a great time in Las Vegas this weekend at the Marine Corps Ball (a.k.a. Marine Corps Prom) and seeing friends of mine from Reno who now live in Vegas and have a son who is one month younger than Einar. According to Mapquest and Rand McNally, the drive from San Clemente to Las Vegas is supposed to take 4.5 hours. However, for us it took at least 6 both ways and a bit longer when we went on Saturday because we took the scenic Ortega Highway for a portion of the trip. Einar was a great roadtripper and slept most of the way in the car. The Mazda 5 had its first road trip and it performed beautifully. We still have yet to see another one on the road! On Einar's first trip to Las Vegas, he didn't get to walk the Strip or play the slots. We stayed at the Orleans Hotel/Casino which is West of the Strip by about a mile. He did get to hang out by the pool with me while Jared took a well deserved nap before the ball on Sunday. While we went to the Ball, Einar played with his new friend Braden and had a great time. He was sound asleep when we picked him up at Marni's around 10. The outdoor pictures are of Einar playing by the Date Palms near the pool. We also posed near the alligators inside the casino.

Those Little Legs are Getting Stronger

Einar can now pull himself up to a standing position! His little legs might wobble a bit once he's up, but the determination is there. He army crawls over to the boxes, swings one arm up and then grunts to get the other up and then it's just a matter of making those legs get him there. Tomorrow is going to be a bit more challenging for him, however, since I finished putting all of the boxes away in the livingroom.

He Can Wave!

Tonight after dinner, I was finishing up my apple crisp and Jared was rinsing some dishes while Einar was hanging out on the floor by the refrigerator. I was talking to him and waved and he lifted up his hand as if to give me a high five, but instead started waving. Then he did it again! We'll see if he remembers his latest thing when he wakes up tomorrow.

Still no new teeth have shown up, but today he was less fussy than he has been for the past several days.

Yesterday, Jared had the day off and we took advantage of free admission that Knott's Berry Farm is offering to military personnel and their families during the month of November. None of us had ever been there before and a Monday in early November was a great time to try it--not very busy at all. Jared rode a super fast rollercoaster alled the Excelerator. Einar just got a kick out of watching the ride and getting surprised by the noise and speed of the cars as it zipped by. Once we had walked around the place, it was about lunch time so we enjoyed an outdoor picnic of their famous fried chicken dinners. Einar even had some corn (which he loved) and some of the chicken (also a hit). He even enjoyed some of the Boysenberry sauce that was on Jared's funnel cake. After lunch, we rode a restored railroad train around the park and I went on a river rafting ride that was fun and I only got wet on my backside. Then before we left, the three of us tried out the log ride. It was a fun day.

Today was back to the normal stuff like laundry and home cooking. Einar and I also picked up our CSA basket for the week and we now have the following to work with and eat: lettuce, bananas, persimmons, cucumbers, bell pepper, spaghetti squash, winter squash, tomatoes, carrots, bok choy, spinach, potatoes, pears, broccolli, and cauliflower! We're eating like kings around here. Einar liked the veggie pilaf that I made tonight as well as the baked salmon.

Weekend with Dad and Mom

I woke up on Saturday morning with the urge to weigh myself. So while Mom wasn't looking, I sneaked into the bathroom and got the scale out. Now that I can sit without any help all I need help with on the scale is reading the numbers. Mom said that I weigh just over 20 pounds still.

Then I tried to crawl into bed with Dad and he read me a story. And mom wonders why I don't want to go to sleep in my crib easily these days. Who would if you got stories with my dad?

After lunch we walked to Pines Park which is down the hill from us and overlooks the ocean. We had our first family portrait taken there and we also took some of our own. Then it was off to tour the rest of the park, especially the playground. On the way home we went to another park nearby called Sunset Park. I looked for trolls under the bridge like they have in Seattle. Living in San Clemente must be similar to living in the Carribbean 'cause we found this car near Sunset Park that was very far from home.

We also got my mom's car back on Friday after a month and a half. It's great to ride around in the Mazda 5 again!

p.s. from Karla, I just looked at what I posted and I messed up the pictures. I didn't think I'd gotten so many reading ones. I'll try and fix it tomorrow!