Louis is 9 Months Old

I can't believe how much of a personality Louis has gotten this month! He has opinions about EVERYTHING! In the middle of the night he must be fed before he has his diaper changed - and if I insist on doing it the other way around he will scream and wake his daddy up! If I bring him into the bathroom but don't give him a bath he will start to cry and reach for the bathtub! If I try to take something away from him or move something unsafe out of reach he will cry.

But despite all of the opinions he is still so much fun! He has just started pushing up onto his hands from his tummy and when he tries to scoot forward to reach a toy he ends up pushing himself backwards (which makes him very mad). He also can gracefully move from a sitting position down to his tummy! - so we have less falls! Louis can also roll over onto his tummy now (he still has a little trouble getting his arm out from under him) and he loves to do this when I change his diaper making diaper changing a chore! Overall, though he is happy to sit and play! It has been so hot here and (90' - 100) and since we don't have air conditioning we bought Louis a baby pool which he LOVES so every day after work we let him play until bedtime (mommy and daddy like to get in his pool too to play!)

This past month the sleeping hasn't been going very well, (he has been back to waking 2 times per night and hasn't slept through the night once!) probably because we took a few small trips and messed his schedule up and then it has been so hot - but my goal for this next month is to get him sleeping through the night!

Louis still loves eating and eats anything we put in front of him! He love cheese, yogurt, chicken and any fruit (although he still eats his veggies). He has pretty much stopped taking bottles and daycare has started giving his milk to him in a sippy cup the past few days! He loves to babble mamama, and bababa amongst other cute noises. He still loves his cat and his daddy! This month we are going to work on childproofing the house to get ready for his crawling days!

Pictures from the month!

Olympic National Park

So...After taking Louis to the doctor, we packed up and headed out to Forks Thursday evening. I made sure to bring the "Twilight" book that I had been reading in preparation for our trip. "Twilight" is a saga that is set in Forks and the book has vampires in it. As we were driving through town I was shocked to see the ENTIRE town taken over by Twilight...Posters from the movie in every store window, signs advertising "Bella Shops Here" or "Get your Twilight Gear Here", Twilight Tour Buses, and 2 stores that sold only Twilight Gear!! Our Hotel backed up to the Forks High School and there was a string of tourists taking pictures by the sign the whole time! In fact, when were were checking, in a couple girls with "Twilight" shirts on were looking for a room and the front desk told them that there were no vacancies in the entire town!

Friday morning (after a rough night with Louis - he slept in my bed, while Mike got his own bed) we headed out to Cape Flattery which overlooks Neah Bay. This is the most Northwest Point of the US! We stopped at Slip Point for a view on the way. The hike out To the Point at Neah Bay is 3/4 of a mile with awesome views along the way. After the hike we drove to a beach for a picnic Lunch. We got back to the hotel in time for a swim with Louis and dinner at the only Pizza Place in Forks!

Saturday morning (Louis had a better night and slept in his pack-n-play) We drove to the Hoh Rain Forest and hiked a small (but beautiful) trail called the Hall of Mosses. We then drove to one of the most beautiful beaches in Washington - Ruby Beach for a picnic and beach time. We had to hike about 1/2 mile to get to the beach but we managed to bring our blanket and umbrella to shield Louis from the elements (the whole time he was trying to pull the blanket up to get to the sand!) Saturday night we ate at the diner across the road from the hotel (Denny's probably would have been better) and then we all played Scrabble!

Sunday, we got a early start out of town. But we had to make one last stop to take a picture of the "Forks" sign (there was a whole string of Twilight Fans stopped to take pictures). To our dismay our car wouldn't start back up! To make a LONG story short, our car was towed to the only repair shop in town (which wasn't open because it was Sunday) and we had to get a room at the Dew Drop Inn and hang out in Forks in 90 degree weather without a car!! Mike's mom started Twilight and I started the second book in the saga. We spent all afternoon laying out back in the grass behind the hotel and walking up and down the town! We couldn't stand anymore dinners out so we picked up some chicken from the deli in the grocery store across the street and hung out in the hotel!

Monday morning we found out we had to get our car towed to Port Angeles. Mike road with the tow truck driver and Nancy, Louis and I took the bus to Port Angeles. We ended up having to wait 4 HOURS for Mike to come get up with a loaner car from the dealership but at least we were on a shaded park bench overlooking the water!

Wednesday Morning we had to say good bye to Mike's mom, which was very sad because we had so much fun with her in town but hopefully she had a good time too - and she is coming back in November so we have that visit to look forward too!

Pictures!

Mike's Mom in Town

Nana arrived June 10th from Maine for a week and a half long visit! Louis (and his parents) were very excited to see his Nana! Saturday we let Louis get his naps in and then went to downtown Tacoma for the Blue's Festival. We sat on the lawn and listened to music for a while, but it was pretty hot so we headed home to make some chicken apple brats (which is becoming a tradition). Sunday, we were going to take Nancy to Rainier but it was overcast and a little rainy, so instead we ran some errands and then in the late afternoon Mike went kayaking while Nancy, Louis and I walked to meet Mike at the beach. While we were waiting for Mike to return we let Louis swing on the baby swings (which he giggled the whole time) and go down the slide! Once Mike got back he was rather annoyed that I forgot to bring the carseat with us - so he had to drive home and come back and pick us up : )

Monday and Tuesday Nancy babysat while we worked. I warned her that Louis has been boycotting bottles but she wasn't worried! When I got home from work she said "you have to see this..." She had Louis taking his milk out of a shot glass...and he was loving it!! Way to start him early, Nana : ). Tuesday, didn't go quite as smoothly as Louis was a little fussy and his afternoon nap did not last longer than 45 minutes. Nana wasn't bothered at all by this and said they still had a great day. Wednesday, however, I was home and we had the same problem...a fussy non-napping baby...who was not sleeping well at night either. (I, on the other hand, was very bothered and kept asking Louis who took my happy baby and what did they do with him!!) I was getting nervous on Thursday because we were leaving for Olympic National Park that evening, so I left work early to run him by the doctor to make sure he didn't have an ear infection. Of course his ears look great...but the doc said his gums were swollen, so it looks like teething was the culprit. We got back in time to pack up for our trip to Olympic National Park (which took longer than expected) but more on that trip in the next post.

Pictures!

To Yakima with Katy and Ed

This past 4th of July weekend we headed to Yakima with Katy and Ed. Katy and I spent the Wednesday before planning the trip - researching wineries, trying to get the best hotel at the cheapest price on Priceline and of course planning our picnic lunches. Saturday morning we met at Katy and Ed's house at 7:00am. The day actually started off pretty rough as we were late getting to Katy and Ed's (of course), I forgot my pump and baby bottle so lots of wine tasting was out, Louis was on nursing, and to top it off I didn't put the lid on my coffee very tight and it split all down the front of my white tank top!

We arrived at the first Winery, Windy Point around 11:30am. After a little wine tasting we parked ourselves outside with a bottle of wine and fruit, cheese, summer sausage and crackers and sat in the sun (it was 100 degrees!) After like 2 hours we headed to Piety Flats Winery where we did some more tasting, chatted with the workers and sat outside with a new bottle of wine and picnicked again. We then decided that we should head back since we wanted to walk around town. To our surprise the town was COMPLETELY shut down for the holiday. After sometime we finally found a coffee shop that was opened and I was really glad to get Louis out of the heat. I am sure I was being very annoying applying sunblock to him every 5 min - I was so worried that I had missed a spot. We ended up eating at a glorified Denny's for dinner since nothing was open and then stopped by Fred Meyer to buy a deck of cards. Louis had become so overtired that he was unable to fall asleep. I ended up laying him on the bed while we played Hearts. Finally, around 9pm he was looking pretty tired and Ed had the great idea to lay him down.

Well of course he falls asleep so who has to miss the fireworks? Katy and I since Mike HAD to go to take pictures of them. It was the first 4th that I remember not seeing fireworks (but Katy and I caught the New York and the Boston ones on TV). The next day we walked through the arboretum - which was technically closed and then went to one last winery - Sagelands and sat outside and played more Hearts (which is so fun!). Before heading home we ate lunch at this French Bakery which was NOT enjoyable because Louis seriously screamed the whole time (this is his new thing - its a happy scream but a scream nonetheless). Mike actually took him out of the bakery and I got his sandwich to go! We don't know why his cute little babbles turned to screams over the weekend but we hope the babbles come back soon!

We had a great trip and Katy and Ed are definitely fun to travel with - We can't wait to take more trips around Washington with them. (If they can put up with us of course :)

Pictures

Louis is 8 Months Old!

This month Louis has been working on his sitting skills! He can now lean and reach forward and side to side without falling over! Occasionally he falls backwards or leans a little too far and ends up on his tummy but this makes him mad more than anything. At the end of this month Louis rolled from his back onto his stomach a few more times but is not really doing it consistently probably because he dislikes his tummy! I keep encouraging him to push up onto his hands when on his tummy and he can hold the position for like 30 sec but he can't push up on his own yet.

Towards the end of this month Louis also started babbling - it is so funny sometimes he gets on a roll and talks for minutes at a time. He also has become a lot more generous with his laughs which is really fun. He can pretty much just look at his dad and start laughing - he just loves Mike, if Louis is fussing for me Mike will come into view of Louis and Louis will start smiling and laughing right away - It is so cute! I guess he is going to end up being a daddy's boy. Daddy comes first, but Mia definitely comes second. Louis will follow kitty around with his eyes and if I pick him up and bring him over to Mia he always laughs - Mia is pretty patient and usually lets Louis get one or two pets in (or handfuls of fur or tail) before she has had enough and walks away. Louis' favorite game is when I hold him and chase Mia around the house. We will hide around the corner and wait for Mia to come find us and then chase her around (Mia likes this game too). Louis can also play peek-a-boo now too! Louis knows his own name, Mia, Daddy and peek-a-boo! He is just starting to like books too - when I open a book he sits straight on my lap and likes to touch and hit all the pages and if I turn a page half way he will turn it the rest of the way!

Even though Louis is not moving around too much yet, it is so fun to see him communicating and playing games and smiling and laughing!

Pictures from the month!