Lunch with the Aunties

Video of the Day: 6/28/12

Flashback! Grandma and Grandpa Basque Visit - March 22 - April 2

Three months late, here are some pictures and videos from Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Ken's visit to Chicago at the end of March.  Simon was about 9 months old then and had learned lots of new tricks to show off since the last time they saw him back in December.  One of the biggest things he started doing that weekend was initiating games (he would hide behind blankets or the end of the couch and pop out to play peekaboo).  He also started showing that he understood when one action would lead to another, and had fun with that anticipation while dancing with Grandma and being chased around by Grandpa.

More pics and vids after the jump...

Video of the Day 6/26/12

So many things going on that we're way behind in posts. But here is a Simon walking/waving video taken today by Jenn to tide you over.

So so tired, good day

These pictures were take a minute or two apart, he didn't move. We will do some full posts later, but I wanted to get a few pictures up for folks to see. 

Party and cake round 1

We made a ball pit out of balloons. Kiki blew all the balloons up! They were a huge hit across the board.

Also a picture of him eating cake. He seemed to like it.

Birthday cake!

We bought one a straw berry short cake cake for everyone to eat. The second cake I made for Simon to eat on his own, I put a layer of bananas in the middle.

Birthday Breakfast

Birthday breakfast with Grandma Kiki, Grandpa Bart, Auntie Colleen, and Jenn for the birthday boy! He even had his first meal ordered just for him and he ate almost all of it,

Night staining deserves a quiet night

I don't think we've put up a post that's not about Simon since construction on the house finished and we moved in last fall.  So to break up the baby monotony (I know you're all getting tired of it) I'll write about the house project I did yesterday.

When wood on the back porch/steps was put in at the end of October, it was too cold for Larry to coat it with anything.  That was fine all winter, but now that it's been getting direct sunlight for a few months the wood has faded from dark brown to light gray and was starting to warp and crack.  So it was time to put something on there to protect the wood.

Contractor Larry recommended Penofin oil finish to seal the deck rather than staining it.  The porch is made of some type of fancy rainforest wood (I can't remember the name of it at the moment) that looks really good on its own, so regular stain would just cover a lot of that up.  Penofin wasn't widely available in our area, but we found a store up in Evanston that would special order it for us.  We ordered one with a slight chestnut tint to it to help restore the color to the wood.  It was delivered earlier this week, so I took the afternoon off from work yesterday to get this done in time for Simon's birthday weekend.

More pics and details after the jump...

Picture of the Day: 6/14/12

After breakfast Simon goes back to the high chair and checks to see if he dropped anything in his chair. Today he found some lost Cheerios. Don't worry, he cleaned them up.

Picture of the Day: 6/13/12

At Toys R Us playing with all the toys! We didn't let him see the one we were buying for his birthday. 

First Swimming Lesson

Simon and I had a great time at his first swimming lesson yesterday.  It was a beautiful day out and he just woke up from an almost 2 hour nap so he was in an especially good mood for the walk down there.  The Y just completed a big renovation a few weeks ago and it's really clean and nice in there.  After dropping our stuff off in the family locker room, we joined the other parents (6 moms and 1 other dad) and the kids at the side of the pool.

I was expecting a little more instruction for me on how to introduce Simon to the water or some pool safety tips for babies, but it doesn't seem like that's really what this class is all about.  The instructor just told us to all just get into the pool, so I held Simon and we walked down the steps into the shallow end.  He didn't seem surprised at the amount of water or that I was in there with him... he just kept leaning over to splash just like he does in bathtime.   When everyone was in the water, all of us stood in a big circle to start the class.

More details (but sadly, no pictures) after the jump...

Picture of the Day: 6/12/12

Ready for swimming lessons!!

Picture of the Day: 6/11/12

Backyard Play

We had a great weekend playing in the backyard and with the sprinkler. The water is really cold though, so Simon's teeth chatter like crazy if he's in the water for too long - even on the 90 degree days. We have solved that problem by having Alan give Simon fly-by's of the sprinkler. I don't know how well it came across in the video, but  Simon is absolutely thrilled by the flying.

Three videos follow the break... including lots of walking, some crawling, some flying and more than anything else lots of water!

Picture of the Day: 6/9/12

Ribfest!

Video of the Day: 6/8/12

So sweet! 

Picture of the Day: 6/8/12

Makes you wish you were there...

Big boy lunch!

Cantalope and blueberry pancakes

Picture of the Day: 6/6/12

Yay Pool!

I'm kind of a big deal.

I

Video of the Day: 6/4/12

This is at Little Beans Cafe - where Jenn used to work. He's such a good little walker!

Simon's first night at Auntie Colleen's

On Saturday afternoon Aunt Colleen picked Simon up for his first night without either of his parents so Alan could take me out for my birthday. As expected, all went smoothly. Colleen is an old hand at all the stuff required to take care of Simon. The only semi-new part was sleeping/napping out of the crib and, really, he's done that at Colleen's before too. 

They had a great day of laughing, reading, puppies and food (those last two are separate things). We forgot to give poor Colleen a stroller or wrap, so she wasn't as mobile as she'd hoped. Park time just turned into back yard time, which meant they hung out with the puppy and little boy two months older than Simon from upstairs. We also don't have a portable high chair, so Colleen was stuck trying to feed Simon as he crawled all over exploring. It's so hard to feed him when he's not strapped into a chair! She managed and even tuckered out the little guy enough that he passed out right at 5 with no crying!  We will definitely be doing date night this way more often. Thanks again, Colleen!

Jump for pictures of date night... Crepe making class and then on to Chicago's Wine Riot.

First Steps

Simon took his first steps today!! With both me and Alan there!!! He took two or three steps in a row a few times. We even got one on video.

Jump for the full story...

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