11 months on the 11th

My baby turns 11 months on June 11th. I can hardly remember the time when he was a skinny little baby with chicken legs. Back before he was "the load", before he had teeth, before he liked to ride shotgun in the car seat (standing up facing the front of the car, only while loading and unloading of course), before he could hold his head up and crawl up the stairs and wrestle. But he's always been a yeller, and a biter...

socks are a favorite,

as is my arm

and shirt

He loves getting into stuff, and clearing the decks

messin' where he shouldn't be messin'

here's a couch shot from our Centering group. Remember when they were all propped up on the couch at like 3 months? Bruisers now. Not pictured is the instant before this when Hugo bit Max (to his right) on the tushy

clearing the decks again

yeah, it's lock down around here

Had some fun visits with the family.

the babies

biting again, I mean hugging

Not so sure about cousin Dan

playing the piano with Grandma Ohsiek and Aunt Sonja

checking out Uncle Chris

chillin' with Gramps, and the canes!

getting cozy with Kayla and Aunt Cheryl

Teo giving Michael some love

making music at Grandma Rank's house

hanging out on the Troll with cousins (as Teo puts it, rather than 'the' cousins) and Uncle Rhen

Then there was the time Joe participated in The Big Climb to fight luekemia, and climbed to the top of the tallest building in Seattle and helped Team Ezra become the number one fundraising team

Emptied out the big camera and this is what we got...

the nanny is really good at doing face paint

got the foam padding for the fireplace just in time
not to worry, I don't usually stand by and snap pictures while Hugo gets hurt, this was just a serendipitous moment

one of his favorite activities

the bibs don't do much to prevent messes, they just provide another vehicle for spreading food around

favorite pose - resting on one elbow...

with a slight twist through the hips

eating flowers for Easter

we got all fancy with the eggs again this Easter

a lot of effort and mess goes into making these eggs, but they look so pretty

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

It's a lovely sunny day so Hugo and I went for a walk. He actually kept the hat on for most of the trip.








We've all been sick for about the last 3 weeks so it's good to finally get outside and move. Speaking of sick babies, the first time Hugo got a stuffy nose was around 5 months and I could never get anything out with the nasal aspirator. I thought either I wasn't using it right or it's ineffective, or both. Turns out I just had to wait until he had lots and lots of runny, gooey green snot. It's so satisfying to hear the "sschhrrllooop" and know that you've got something good. Not so fun, though, to hear him coughing up phlegm and struggling to breath.

Hugo's gotten really good at picking up bits of cereal and getting it into his mouth. I occasionally will also give him a teething biscuit and watch the mess unfold. They start out hard and dry but quickly turn into sticky slobbery goop that gets all over the face and clothes. They're tricky to hold onto, much like a wet bar of soap, and get chased around the high chair tray, dropped out of the mouth onto the floor and make for a lot of clean up, but it keeps him entertained and self sufficient for a good 10 minutes.

peas schmeas

Of the many solid foods we've tried, peas definitely are dead last. Here's how they rate:

rice cereal -mmm!
oatmeal - not bad, it'll do in a pinch
mixed cereal - not unless you want to deal with a crying baby all night long
sweet potatoes - more please
applesauce - pretty darn good
bananas - no thanks
peas - keep your stinking peas

Here's the pea progression:

ha ha let's eat!

what's this green stuff? I'll give it a try

meh

something's not right here

no more for me, thanks

well maybe just a little more

bbbbbpppppttttllleeeeccchhh!!!

*gagging*

busy busy

We've had a busy couple of weeks. Joe took the week off after MLK day and we went skiing a couple times at Stevens Pass.



Then Joe got to (had to) represent Washington State pathologists in Olympia, testifying before a state senator and state representative on direct billing legislature.




We finished off the week with a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge, which is a hotel with an indoor, guests-only waterpark. Very kid friendly place, with Kid Kamp (yes, one of my biggest pet peeves: the detestable use of K in place of a C, like it's so much more fun now that it's Kamp instead of Camp - unfortunately many of you have heard me rant on and on about this before) kid themed rooms, lots of pizza and ice cream, magic wands (wolves and magic wands?), and of course the waterpark. Don't worry, I won't assault you with any swim suit pictures.



Joe's birthday was last week and Grandma Rank came up to help celebrate. We had lasagna for dinner and funfetti cake.




Friday we wore pink in memory of our friend Ezra Sherman who passed away one year ago.


Teo had a Japanese assembly at school where grades 1-5 each got to perform a play or something they'd learned over the past few months. The first grade recited something about open the window, close the window, open the BIG window, close the BIG window, open the little window... agate, shimate, agate, shimate. (Japanese speakers - gimme some slack, that's what it sounded like to me)



And now for some pictures of cutie pie

loves Grandma's leather purse

worn out

Food Glorious Food!

Tonight Hugo had his first taste of something other than milk or formula. He downed a whole bowl of thin rice cereal, slurp after slurp. We couldn't get it into his mouth fast enough. He had a little trouble with the timing at first -- when to open up, when to swallow -- but got the hang of it pretty quickly.

keep your eyes on the prize

here comes the airplane

no grabbing

Half birthdays

We've got two half birthdays this month - Teo turned 7 1/2 on January 1st and Hugo will be 6 months on the 11th. I never knew how big of a deal half birthdays were. You don't get presents (but doesn't hurt to keep asking, just in case someone changes their mind and is feeling generous) however you could be lucky enough to get cake. Teo's mom made funfetti cake for her - her favorite kind.

Teo's becoming such a big kid. First grade really changes a person. She's much more independent, graceful, works really well with her hands (drawing, knitting, cutting, chopping) and is quite resilient. This week she lost her 7th tooth-- accompanied by a lot of blood and trauma but surprisingly no tears. She's sleeping in the upstairs room on her own, helps out a ton with Hugo, has a whole repertoire of songs she can play on the piano and violin, is learning so much at school, and does her own hair in the morning and it actually looks good. Just the other day I was thinking back to when I first got to know her when she was turning 5, and what a tiny person she was. Now she's 6 months away from being baptized.

No blood, but definitely trauma (for me) and tears when it comes to Hugo's sleeping habits. Over the last few weeks we've had lots of excitement with visiting family and traveling, but also lots of colds and congestion. Poor baby gets just as congested as any adult would but he can't blow his nose. No amount of wiping, suctioning or q-tipping could relieve the stuffy nose. He wasn't sleeping well because he couldn't breathe and would wake up in the night crying. Long story short(er), he'd gotten to the point where would only sleep in our bed while being held, and still only getting a fraction of the amount of sleep he needed. So this week we're trying tough love, or rather, letting him cry a little before falling asleep. It's terrible to listen to your baby crying, but after a few rounds of cry/close the door/wait/rub his back/cry/wait he does fall asleep, I think because he's so exhausted. I know there are lots of different methods and approaches to getting babies to sleep, but for us, the best is to have him sleep in his own space. (Just about every night up to now, including last night, he spends at least a portion of the night sleeping in our bed because I can't bring myself to setting him back down in the crib when he wakes up, even when the crib was in our room).

The first night he cried I had to soothe myself afterward, so I got the camera out and downloaded all the cute pictures from the last month or so. He makes the funniest faces, sucking on his bottom lip until it turns purple. He loves the johnny jump up and can become quite hyper. He does these open-mouth-sucking kisses while pulling quite painfully on your hair. He's figured out how to roll across the room. He loves riding in the baby bjorn and seeing everything that's going on, and reaching for stuff while I'm trying to get dinner made (watch out for that knife baby!).

the tooth sitting at an unnatural angle

one of the few johnny jump up pictures that was actually in focus

cute little hat he got for christmas

chumpy face