Lesson Learned

I learned a lesson today. If I want to eat half a grilled cheese sandwhich I better make my own. Baron ate at least 3/4 of the grilled cheese today on top of half an avocado, a bowl of apple sauce and some of my soup! I think he is going through a growth spurt!

Attempt #1

We attempted to take our own Christmas picture tonight...what a joke! I guess the pictures shared a glimpse of our real life, but no one sends out "real life" Christmas pictures. Here is a preview:

Perhaps we will get a good family picture in time for a New Years card instead of Christmas Cards this year.

The Climber

Baron is a climber! He just has that natural drive inside of him. Over the weekend we caught him doing this:

I had not put a baby gate at the bottom of our stairs yet because 2 dining room chairs were working. However, Baron managed to move the chairs and climb up the stairs when we (or should I say Grandma and Grandpa) weren't looking!

He also decided to arrange these Christmas gifts so he could climb on them. Today as I was showing him the Christmas tree I decided to step back and take a picture. He tried his hardest to climb over the arm of the sofa. Now I wonder when the climbing drive will slow down and the walking drive will kick in.

Lazy Sunday

Baron loved sitting on the love seat this morning with Grandpa, Grandma and his bottle! He actually sat there longer than normal after his bottle was gone (you know - like 5 minutes!). Baron particularly liked listening to his Grandpa read him books about tractors.

Hard Pair of Boots to Fill

I LOVE this picture! Obviously Grandpa and Grandma Weber were here to play this weekend so Nate and I were able to get our Christmas shopping done and spend some much needed time together! Thanks mom and dad!

It Must Be Beer:Thirty

I've always thought that pictures of babies holding beer are tacky, but for some reason I still have them of my own child! It is a little more comical when Baron pulls them out of the fridge all by himself - especially on a Friday.

Flashback

No pictures of Baron today. Just one of those days where the camera never came out. I did spend a portion of today remembering how I felt last year around this time of year. It was a combination of excitement, fear, anxiousness and pure exhaustion. Here is a picture from 12/4/08 - almost exactly one year ago. It hardly seems possible that a year has past.

Practice

Baron and Nate were practicing for Baron's first birthday today. Nate gave Baron a little bit of pumpkin cake. Good thing he will get his own cake on his birthday because he was not about to share a single crumb! He definitely has my (or should I say the Weber) sweet tooth.

Treasures

I think Baron will enjoy a sandbox someday. Today he would bury his hands into this tin until they were covered.

Then with his body shaking and a growl (literally) of excitement he would pull his hands up and show me his treasures!

Disgruntled Elf

Baron really enjoyed the tubs of Christmas decorations because they were the perfect height to pull himself up on. Once he was standing he was able to find all sorts of treasures!
This discovery was not his favorite, but that is okay because it actually belongs to Gus!

Christmas Tree

Our tradition is to drive home from our Thanksgiving celebration (either from Maple Valley or Quincy) and unload the car as quickly as possible. Then we drive down the road a couple of miles to pick out our Christmas tree at a U-cut place. It was so much fun to do it with Baron. I have moments when I realize he must be wondering "what the heck are we doing?" Today was definitely one of those moments. I need to read up on traditions so I can explain it to him better in a few years.

This was my favorite part of the day. The person helping Nate tie down the tree had no idea what he was doing. I didn't tell this to Nate until we were going down the road and the tree started to slide off the pathfinder. Instead of pulling over and fixing it (it is really only a couple of miles from our house) my husband opened the sun roof and held onto the tree! Oh what a memory!

Apple Cup

We did it! We finally took Baron to his first Cougar game. Too bad it was in Husky stadium. His grandma was quick to point out that Baron has been in the Husky stadium twice and he still hasn't been to Martin stadium. It was a long day...Baron was tired from the entire weekend and at the end of the night (on the bus ride home) Nate and I decided that it is okay if we miss a couple of seasons...until Baron is a little bit older. Besides - it is so much nicer to watch from the comfort of your own home!

Ducks and Zebras

This morning started with a new book for Baron. It lead to a new song being stuck in my head, but it is a good one!
Baron didn't like the part about the ducks not coming back to their momma - he was quite concerned.

Later we ventured out to the mall (dangerous because it is black Friday). We stopped at the carousel. Baron was very interested in the lights and other kids riding it.

He was too young to ride on the zebra, but he was able to take a picture while the carousel was stopped. He loved it!

It was a good thing he didn't ride on the zebra because he was a little dizzy by the end of the ride. Here he is riding on our laps on the bench. In all honesty - the ride made Nate and I dizzy so I can only imagine what he was thinking. The best part was that he was genuinely surprised every time we would come around and he would see his grandma, grandpa, uncle and aunts.

Baron's First Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving. I have so many things to be thankful for. The first being my husband who works very hard so that Baron and I can spend our days together. The second is my healthy baby boy. The third is the amazing number of friends and family who love my little guy (and maybe love Nate and I a little too)! I guess it is not "things" I am thankful for, but it is people!

I think that Thanksgiving is Baron's favorite holiday so far. He LOVES to eat. He was growling with excitement over green bean casserole, turkey and stuffing! He wasn't sure about cranberry sauce, but it didn't stop him from having seconds. Much to his aunt Alyson's dismay - he doesn't really care for mashed potatoes. He also seemed to enjoy the pumpkin pie for breakfast!

Here we are at the Holstein house. Nate set up the timer on the camera to get all of us in the picture.

What Nate didn't realize is that it was on a continuous picture taking setting so it kept snapping and we sat in our seats not knowing what to do. It was hilarious.

We decided to set the timer one more time so we could do this! We are a shy group :) I think Fred wins the award. I wish I could post all 5 pictures from this timer in a way that everyone reading this could flip through them quickly like a movie...I think I just did that 5 times until I was laughing so hard that tears were running down my face.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Playing fetch

Baron isn't able to throw the ball very far so Gus just lays down and lets Baron swap one ball out of his mouth and then waits for him to put another ball back in his mouth. Gus is the most patient dog!

Fall Days

We have had beautiful weather this fall. It is hard to believe we are nearing the end of November when we are sitting outside on the deck playing in the leaves!

Concentration

Baron has a new passion for putting lids on everything. He will occupy himself for a long time (like 5 or 10 minutes - a long time for him) if he has some sort of container with a lid. He was working so hard on this water bottle lid that his tongue started to hang out and he didn't even notice he had rolled on top of Gus' tail!

Christmas Baking Weekend

I know - it is early to even say the "C" word, but this was the best weekend for the Prchal, Tuttle, Holstein and Weber families to get together to bake Christmas cookies. We had good intentions, but an active 10 month old, an adorable 3 month old and a tired pregnant woman (just joking - she isn't that tired, but it made it eaiser to tell her to take a break) make it really hard to get anything done! We did manage to get some baking done. I didn't take any pictures even though we were there for 4 days, but Sara took a few so I borrowed these from her.

Teething Pain

Baron's favorite way to ease teething pain is chewing on a piece of cold celery. With 6 teeth (well almost 6 - one of them is really taking its sweet time) he is able to bite through it a little more. Good thing he likes the flavor as much as the texture.

Flashback

We are going to see Baron's cousin Clinton soon. I wanted to remember what a 3 month old looks like so I looked back at Baron's 3 month pictures. I love remembering these quiet days - epecially on a day like today when I am exhausted from chasing a little cruiser. This picture made me laugh so hard. I am so happy to be home from work and have him in my arms...and he looks terrified or shocked. I also remember being excited about that very small amount of hair on his head.