1st Christmas

I think this was one of the best Christmases for me this year. I didn't grow up celebrating Christmas and when we finally officially celebrated Christmas outside of Winter Vacation Presents (which really was almost the same thing) I was 16 and was so uncomfortable with the holiday tradition change that it took me at least another 5 years to feel relaxed enough to enjoy it fully.


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With Padon Christmas means that we get to start our own family traditions and this is such a wonderful prospect for me. He helped me wrap presents in his own special way and


like a baby stopped me in my progress by face planting himself in a humungous pool of spit up.

On Christmas Eve we packed up our presents and stocking stuffers and made our way down to my parents to meet family for appetizers and a viewing of a movie, "Little Miss Sunshine".

We arrived before everyone and so got to have dinner with my parents and Padon was impressed by my Dad's harmonica talents.



I had made everyone Christmas pajama pants and Padon and Gregory had full Pajama pant and shirt outfits with little yellow rubber ducks with ice skates and santa hats on with snowflakes falling around them on the fabric. I changed Padon into his before everyone arrived. When my sister arrived she changed Greg into his so we could get a picture but as Padon sat on the floor his too soft torso let him down and he fell over backwards hiting his head on the floor before we could stop him.

So we had a picture of him on my lap instead where it was safe and later again on the floor with Greg with a stack of soft pajama pants behind him.





Christmas Day was great! It even snowed!

It was so awesome to open Padon's stocking and gifts with him and to give Greg our gifts.

Padon did as all 6 month olds should and made sure the gifts were of the highest standard and sampled each and every one.




I think he was pretty pleased with the outcome.


He even recieved a gift in a box that was bigger than he was and just like a true baby he did his best to tear and consume, tear and comsume until the gift was unveiled.

The coolest gift; a toy alligator that turned into a pillow and then a blanket, it proved to be the best thing to sit down with and enjoy an afternoon bottle.

The day was full of such fun activities, wonderful family, and fabulous food it was sad to see the holiday end and know it was so far away before we got to do it again.

We can say unanimously, though, that this was a very wonderful 1st Christmas!!!

Urban Hiking

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I took the Friday before Christmas off to have a Christmas Day with Walter and Padon, just the three of us, but then last minute Walter and his best friend Chris got he chance to go Skiing and that left just Padon and I.
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I had been very determined to take Padon to the Seattle Aquarium to watch him watch all the colorful salt water fish and so I decided with or without Walter we were going! I also had planned on seeing my friend Claudia at her new and fabulous yarn store, called A New Yarn, in Northgate, so I decided the easiest way to travel during the last second holiday hussle and bussle would be to take the bus from Everett to Northgate (estimated 2 hr ride) and then from Northgate to downtown Seattle (another estimated 40 minutes).
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I packed up Padon's backpack with emergency outfits, diapers, wipes, plenty of formula, a bottle, water, lunch for me, Maya Sling for Padon, my Wallet, camera, an umbrella, and, of course, my coffee cup.
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We arrived in Everett at about 10:00 and right off the bat Padon made friends with a homeless guy who thought he looked really cute in his red hat and white converse with red trim. With all his cuteness he also pursuaded a grumpy looking guy to let us on the bus first and later he ended up talking to us beause he thought Padon was so cute as he smiled and looked around the bus as we made our way south.
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It took two buses to get to Claudia's store and a little hiking in the wrong direction and I got my answer to my previous question to myself...(To maya sling, or not to maya sling, that is the question....MAYA SLING!!!!!) After I hoofed it up a hill with my 16-18 LB bean in the wrong direction, and then got ralphed on because I ran across the street to the wrong bus, I realized and I think Padon had already realized, that carrying him in the sling would have been easier then passing him from arm to arm, jostling him around. We made it to Claudia's store, hung out, Padon had a bottle, played on the floor, took a short nap, and Claudia and I chatted about PACCAR, and I bought a way cool book about cable knitting and intarsia. (Sweet!)
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At 2:00 I was still very determined to take Padon to the Aquarium and so we hopped on another bus (this time with Padon nicely in the sling but on my hip) and made our way through North Seattle down to Westlake Center. The bus quickly became packed however and I had trouble containing myself, our big backpack, and Padon's ever moving limbs in our little 2 foot square seatting area. The gentleman next to me swore he was fine with Padon kicking his leg again and again and again, but I looked forward to getting off.
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When we arrived at Westlake Mall, in Seattle, it dawned on me that really Padon was too tired to make it worth the $15 for me to walk through the door at the Aquarium just to live vicariously through him. It would have been better had we gone straight from Everett to the Aquarium. So I called my friend Nick and Padon and I walked a mile to Real Networks where Nick works and hung out for a little over an hour. It was cool because Nick hadn't seen Padon since he was born except in pictures. It was too bad that Padon had to have a blow out in his office (hummmm tight maya sling, diaper squished against baby butt, and very full diaper equal?) filling Nick's office with a lovely baby odor that only a mother could love. Nick was cool with it though and led us to a bathroom that we could use to change Padon's diaper and clothes.
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At 4:30 Nick went to an office party and Padon and I made our way down Alaska Way to the Pike Place Market. The mile walk from Nick's office put Padon to sleep and it was such a bummer because the Pike Place Market was totally living up to is reputation. It was beautifully lit with Christmas lights and even at 5:00 was full of vendors and people shopping and browsing. I was bummed Padon was sleeping through this because there was so much to see. It even "smelled" like the Pike Place Market full of its foods and items and I would have loved to stay longer and just soak it in but I was afraid we might miss the last bus back to Everett. I did stop, however, at the Market Spice Shop (a must do) to get a free sample of their tea. Very hot and delicious it was worth it to elbow a women out of the way who was being an inconsiderate holiday shopper to follow long with my Pike Place tradition.

We walked with the crowds and I watched the holiday shoppers and we made our way to our bus stop. Pleasently surprised I found that our bus was coming every 30 minutes until 10pm and so we went to get a latte at Starbucks.

We passed the Christmas Carousel and I took a picture of the Star of David that they always hang on the buliding across the street. It looked so pretty and I was bumbed that my Camera just wasn't picking up the great colors.

About this time Padon woke up and looked around like a little gopher popping out of a hole. It was perfect timing because I was walking past the Carousel and so I asked a "Dad" to take a picture of us.

The line at Starbucks was atrocious though and so we went into the Mall to go to the bathroom and get a hamburger at McDonalds. Padon was happy to look around and while I was waiting for my burger to come up I made him a bottle and with it balanced on my shoulder and in his mouth I carried my dinner in one hand and we made our way back to the bus.

The bus we had planned to take I found had been about an hour late every night for the last couple nights and so we took the next bus that arrived and found a spot near the middle. With a full belly Padon let everyone know he was on the bus and he squealed and jabbered almost non-stop back to Everett. He was totally enamoured with the guy across the aisle from us and he couldn't stop smiling at him. We had four people around us that kept glancing over and smiling and people who were leaving that had to stop and see who it was that was doing so much talking.

We got home at about 8:00 tired, but happy. It was hard to come home because it had been a really good day. My hips were aching from carrying all that weight and walking all over the place but I really enjoyed it. It made me start to think where we would go next. I realized that I really liked the idea of Urban Hiking and preferred it over hiking in the woods. Oh how those words would make Walter shiver.

1st Santa Picture

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This was Padon and Gregory's 1st Christmas and 1st Christmas picture with Santa. Gregory's outreached gesture is misleading. He is laughing really hard and reaching out of the Elmo that was wiggling happily in his and Padon's face a second before the picture was taken. Rightly so, I think he was confused everytime the lady swooped it in to their faces. Both of them thought it was funny and Greg seemed to not understand why this time he didn't get to keep it.

Neither baby cried but seemed to enjoy their first time on Santa's lap.

Phew!

Miles Stone - Rolling Over From Back to Stomach

Geting Padon to roll over on his own when you are around is not an easy task. He would rather lay on his stomach and flail with his big head getting heavier and heavier by the second until all he can do is grind his nose into the floor and cry. It seems this is not the case when no one is looking however. So you can imagine my surprise when I went in to pick him up from his nap after hearing him jabbering away in his room; playing in his crib.

Low and behold he was on his stomach surfing the crib mattress. He seemed awfully pleased with himself and was jabbering on and on and was all smiles.

Christmas 2 Front Teeth

We discovered Padon had two front teeth on the bottom on the 5th of December! He had, had a really bad cold and he sucks on his left thumb, right pointer finger, or right thumb so between the fever from being sick, the copious amounts of mucus being generated by his cold, our regular applications of baby tylenol to relieve the cold symptoms, and his gnawing on his hands we had totally missed that he was teething. It was so awesome to see him feeling better, smiling and two little pearly buds smiling back.

It is very hard to document such tiny pearls with a picture but we tried -
There really are two in there - tee hee!

Big Milestone - Rolled over from stomach to back

Yeah! My little boy is already getting so big! Padon rolled over from his stomach to his back in November! I was in the kitchen and heard a thunk (his head hitting the floor) and found him happpily on his back. Luckily I was able to get him to give me a replay that I could take pictures of. I haven't been so lucky since :).

Silly dog was totally oblivious to the great accomplishments going on behind her.

1st Halloween Costumes

It is very like me to have planned out a Halloween Costume for a baby that has yet to arrive so it was pretty cool that my 2 year long dream of dressing up as a Martini Glass with Walter as a vodka bottle, and our baby as an olive came true. Luckly we were invited to two Halloween parties so we got to wear our costumes twice and I was so proud at how they turned out. I'm especially proud of Walter's because his bottle costume was a recreation of an Absolut bottle of vodka and those have a lot of script on them. Using the last of my adhesive vinyl it came out awesome. I really love Padon's Olive costume. I hadn't seen it on him until we got to the first party (I had designed it based on a onsie he had) and I couldn't stop laughing. He could have cared less what he was wearing and let us pass him around in his foam lined costume.

The front of Walter's costume (made out of pleather) says:

Absolut

City of Stanwood

Beligerance

Stanwood Beligerance is made at home with a unique blend of alcholic spirits and distilled through the oral orrifice and processed through the kidneys and peni. The alcohol purchased in remote areas found in the greater Snohomish County offers a cornucopia of flavors developed and tested over a lengthy 34 year period.

Absolute Beligerance has been enjoyed under the Beligerance name since 1994.

40% Alc/Vol (80 Proof) Enjoyed 50 ML

Beligerance Induced Vodka

Processed and Enjoyed in Stanwood, Washington

Enjoyed by the Mouth Full.

The back said:

Government Warning:

Surgeaon Generals Warning: (1) Consuming And Relating Ones Self With Beligerance Vodka May Cause Irreparable Brain Damage, Impilcations Of Being Related to Illegitimate Children, and Years Of Personal Taunting By Friends Who Have Memory Of Your Most Drunken Moments. (2) Do Not Drive While Drinking Beligerance Vodka; Only Celebraties Get Away With Spending 2 Hours In Jail For A Hit And Run.

Pumpkin Patch

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Due to some procrastination and schedule conflicts I wasn't able to make it out to the pumpkin patch with Padon before Halloween so I was really disappointed when I drove out to the closest one to find it totally cleaned up and closed for the season. Walter had told me that QFC (Quality Food Center) had a really nice harvest display outside its front doors and I thought well maybe if we go there we can get some nice pictures. But it seemed with the end of Halloween, there was no need to hold on for Thanksgiving, everything that I would have construed as Harvest Decorations and bouquets of flowers were gone. It really did look quite bare. All that was left was a really large metal bin with various types of squash in side. I had a bit of an anxiety attack at the thought of a QFC person coming out to give me a once over for even thinking of putting my baby in the food they were trying to sell but then I grasped hold of one of my main mantras - "Do now and ask for forgiveness later." I layed Padon down on the squash wondering if he would cry because they were lumpy but he just looked at me like "what?!" and then smiled because, of course, I was smiling at him. And I started snapping pictures. Man! Did they come out good! We did draw a crowd of shoppers and QFC attendants but they all thought he was so cute and wished they had thought of it as a few of them had traversed the mobs of tiny tots at the pumpkin patch and found it more stressful then fun.

He was especially enamored with the red squash infront of him. He couldn't take his eyes off of it.

Sleeping in the Exe-Saucer

I think it's too funny that Padon can fall asleep in the Exe-Saucer. It is usually short lived but too cute.