February

Birthdays-
This is a busy month in my family. We celebrate 3 birthdays- Ed ( my eldest brother), Mom, and Becky (my youngest sis). Generally, we try to coordinate all 3 into a one day celebration. Mom however, has gotten more difficult over the years to pin down for the day since she tends to avoid her birthday. So this year we got a bit sneaky and had some of the family just "show up" at our house to celebrate hers. We had told mom we needed her to watch Seth for a few hours while we went out to a show, knowing she wouldn't want to pass up the opportunity for Keith and I to have a "date nite" and to spend time with Seth. We kept it simple with just a reeses peanut butter ice cream cake, that I have to say DQ did an absolute great job on, it got devoured. Later in the month was a party for Ed and Becky's out at the Wade Manor in Roy. Sounds like the whole family was there and had a great time.

That very day, Keith and I were attending a funeral for a friend.

McGrath Family-
Keith has known the McGrath family for quite a few years. In fact they've basically dubbed him their sixth child. I was introduced to the McGrath Clan- Bob, Maurecia, Sarah, Josh, Jody, Rachael, and Casey while Keith and I were dating. Basically, if Maurecia (their mom) approved of me, Keith had her blessing. ha ha ha. I instantly loved the McGrath clan, who couldn't? They reminded me so much of my own family with their stories, sarcasm, and constant "ribbing" of one another. Oh and the food Maurecia can cook. She cooks meals like my mom, enough to "feed and Army". You'd pretty much need to with five kids. And baking? She bakes cookies that would put both Mrs. Fields and Martha Stewart to shame. I would see Bob here and there over the years due to our opposite schedules. Well actually Bob's schedule was pretty much opposite of anyone's- he worked the graveyard shift at the Postal Center on Air Cargo Road. Pretty much anytime we were visiting, Bob was heading out for work. I can say this now....Bob and I had the hardest time remembering each other's name. It was funny really, we'd be having a conversation and we'd look at one another like we were trying to recall and couldn't. I remember one time I was dropping off Maurecia's Tupperware that we had borrowed. Bob accepted the Tupperware when he answered the door and said "Jennifer right?" and I said "Yes, Bob?" and we both laughed really good at that one. I will always remember Bob with his ruddy little cheeks and the way he'd laugh anytime one of his kids said something funny....it was always as if he'd never heard anything so funny in all his life.
As I sat in the pew that day Saturday, February 27Th and listened to each of the readings his children had prepared, I cried for so many different reasons- for Maurecia and the loss of her husband, for the kids and the loss of their dad, for his relatives, and that thing we so often try so hard not to think about- death. It's so scary. Funerals are a celebration of the life that has passed and for those that live on. They tend to give us a sudden "reality" check if you will and remind you of what's important and how fragile life really is. Some things that kept being said that day were to appreciate what you have, tell those you love- you love them, and enjoy each day you have. Oddly enough- I heard that song on the radio later that day...I don't know the title or artist but it's lyrics are something like "we've got to live like we're dying". I heard the word "proud" used so many times that day. They have so much adoration for their dad. I truly know how they feel. I cried as I thought of my own family and how much I dearly love each one of them, how blessed I am to be part of their lives and families like the McGrath's, and then for my own extended family Keith and Seth.....Life is Truly Good! We'll miss you Bob!

Christmas

Whew! Where is the time going? I can't believe we've already flown past Halloween and Thanksgiving. The only two holiday festivities I got involved with prior to Christmas day was baking cookies with my girlfriends Christina and Renee and a stroll to the mall to help mom with her Christmas shopping. Tree? Nope. We never put ours up. It just seemed futile by the time Keith and I both had a day off together...it was already 10 days before Christmas. I just wasn't in the mood. For Christmas, but not the process....carols (finally listened to Christmas music on Christmas Day as we headed to dad's), decorating, or checking out the Christmas lights in nearby neighborhoods. I did get Seth in to see Santa. Santa visited the Dash Point Metropolitan Market where daddy works. Keith called to let us know Santa's sleigh had pulled up and to get right over and get a pic with Santa. Oh and what a good looking Santa he was. He held a smoking pipe ...a bit odd, but years from now...we'll all laugh at that one and think "who smokes anymore?" I was having a time trying to adjust my nicer camera due to dark lighting (posing outside the store)...so luckily I'd brought the smaller one for the video. About the time that I was aligned to take a photo....Seth went from complete compliance to outright screaming. It was precious because one of his dad's photos with Santa, was doing the same thing. People around me were trying to cheer him up in order for me to get a "better" photo, but I loved the one I got.

Christmas morning the 3 of us drove up to Dad and Laurie's for Christmas breakfast. It was absolutely delicious as usual. We had a few twist this year...It started at 0930am (normally it's 9am )Megan made the potatoe dish and Deb made a gluten free blueberry coffeecake- it was yum! I chipped in some Russian tea cakes. Not much, but they were buttery delicious. Seth got to visit with Great Grandma Betty and Edna, Auntie Debby, Uncle Don, Papa Hank, Nana Laurie, Cousins Drew, Megan and Megan's friend Chad. Afterwards, we headed south to visit with Keith's side of the family- Alice, Rich, Alicia, and Jessie. From there we dropped by mom's work to say a quick hello....here's where I step on on the infamous "soapbox". I was quite shocked at the number of people going into the grocery store...on Christmas Day! I watched in disbelief as a continuous stream of shoppers went from parking lot to store and vice versa.

NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO WORK ON CHRISTMAS DAY. NO BUSINESS SHOULD BE OPEN. AND NO ONE SHOULD BE GOING INTO ANY ESTABLISHMENT. WHY? BECAUSE YOU ARE THE REASON PEOPLE HAVE TO WORK THE HOLIDAY- BECAUSE THEIR COMPANY LOOKS AT STATS AND THINKS THAT BEING OPEN IS JUSTIFIED BY PAST PURCHASES. YOU COULDN'T GET THIS DONE THE DAY BEFORE OR AFTER CHRISTMAS? SHAME ON YOU! AND IF YOU THINK PEOPLE SHOULD WORK THE HOLIDAY- THEN WHY DON'T YOU VOLUNTEER?! OH YOU'LL GLADLY TAKE THE DAY OFF, GET PAID, BUT YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO WORK! GEESH!

So to say the least, it disturbed me to see mom working as families came and went with silly purchases like papertowels, canned goods, $1 movies from the vending machines, and Keith's favorite one.....people were lined up and scratching off lotto game tickets as soon as they were purchased.

We tiredly headed home where Seth went to work on opening his abundacy of gifts, Keith and I exchanged Christmas stockings left by Santa, had take-out Teriaki that we had purchased THE DAY PREVIOUS, and relaxed.

More Milestones

Well Seth still detest "Tummy time" but he's been moving along in his milestones. This month he's been sitting up all by himself unsupported ( we do leave soft blankets and the bobby behind him just in case he tips over to the bare floors), he got his 2 bottom front teeth in in time for Christmas ("All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth..."), he's been babbling away sounds like Mah and Bah, he's fascinated with the "feel" of textures, and now....drum roll please.....starting to hold himself up in a standing position when supported. No crawling. Loves bouncing.

A time for Firsts

First food! About 5 days before his 6month appointment...we gave Seth his first food- rice cereal. He did really well. More on him that in him, but still...it's a learning experience. We put him in Keith's old highchair. It's the classic 70's version with the metal tray that your mom would warn you over and over to lift your arms up and out of the way so that your fingers would not get pinched as she slide the tray into its spot. And the print is also classic 70's with bright colored bunnys and poodles in a circus theme. We had to roll up blankets and tuck them in on either side of him to prevent him from slumping over because he was too small for it. Over the next couple of days, we experimented with making the rice cereal a bit runnier or a bit thicker, heat it up,etc....trying to make it somehow more edible. Yeah, he was soooo on to us. After about a week of that, it was apparent that he was not going to eat plain rice cereal anymore. So we started by blending in small amounts of pureed carrots and then squash. He loved them. We're hoping that this is an early indication that he is not going to be one of those picky eaters. I'd also like to think that somehow the fact that I ate such a variation of foods while pregnant with him, that he will be more opt to trying different things.

So for the past how many months...hmm maybe 2...Seth has been chewing on his hands, dribbling up a storm, and basically giving us all the signs that he was getting ready to teethe...but no. It got to the point where we would just thrown on a bib with every outfit so as to prevent his shirts from being soaked by the drool. Then.......one night...09 November...he started acting fussier than usual and chewing on his gum line. So we gave him a couple of doses of baby orajel throughout the evening and that seemed to solve the problem. Next day, 10 November ,he spent the day with Nana Alice. When Keith picked him up, Alice asked if he knew about Seth getting his first tooth?! So that day when I came home from work, Keith showed me our son's first small nubbin' of a tooth. It looked like 2 tiny sharp ridges busting thru his lower front gum. I was soooo proud I teared up and then ...a bit of fear took over....I am still breastfeeding...suddenly all I could think of was "please don't bite me."

Halloween

Ok, so there's a bit of a story surrounding Seth's costume this year. Keith's sister Christina sent us a bag of clothing, a johnny jump up (that looks like Tigger- so cute....has his tail on the child's butt side- sweet!) , and a pumpkin outfit- all items Oliver has outgrown. Well right then and there, Keith had planned on Seth dressing as a pumpkin. Me? Not so much....it just seemed so typical. Hey, nothing against other moms out there...I just wanted to dress Seth a little bit different- no peapod, hotdog, or dalmation. I had big plans....and I won't talk about that too much since it is his "definite" outfit for next year. Let's just say he'll be green and munching on cars. Ha! So back to the pumpkin outfit. Well...we went to this year's consignment sale at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. Couldn't beat the admission price- a buck $. We went on Saturday so a lot of the sought after items like cribs, highchairs, and cloth diapers were wiped out. We did manage to find a few fun blocks, couple of books, and then Keith found the best item of all.....the skunk outfit! It was absolutely cute just sitting on the hanger. It was a fuzzy black outfit, puffy, white streak from head to tail, and simply the cutest thing. 5$. Well that was the moment Keith decided Seth was going as a skunk. We took him to the Commons (mall) on Halloween. All the stores pretty much close down while they pass out candy to the kids for a couple of hours. We like to go just to check out all the great outfits parents come up with and also to see what costumes are popular each year. No surprise that there were a lot of little girls dressed as Cheerleader Barbie, Hannah Montana, and princesses. For the boys..ninja, comic book heros like Spiderman and Batman, and pirates. We did spot infants dressed as lions, Carebear, and lambs....but none came close to how cute our little stinker was!

Seth also got to visit the pumpkin patch for the first time. We went down to the pumpkin field across for the Kent Dairy. It was a chilly day outside so we kept it brief. We'd dressed him in the pumpkin outfit which I thought was more befitting than Halloween. We took turns posing with him amongst the pumpkins and wooden cutouts of spooky cats and critters. Just so you know, we quickly put his jacket back on each time to ensure he was kept nice and toasty. We didn't buy a pumpkin this year since Seth's cousin Levi had given him a teeny tiny one while they were up visiting. Maybe next year we'll get one that he can finger paint.

4 Months Old

You know the old saying "they grow up so fast" ....so true. Seth just turned 4 months on the 2nd. Seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital (can't believe they let us), we were beyond sleep deprivation working thru his colic, and most of his newborn clothes were so big for him.
He's been making what we call owl sounds, starting to hold his head up more (still hates tummy time...and let's you know it), taking slightly longer naps than his usual 10min., and grabbing his feet. He's also starting to slowly warm up to the idea of bath time. And he's beginning to figure out different cries for angry, tired, hungry, and angry. Ah the angry one- he likes to throw his arms and legs straight out and ball his little fists.
So he had his 4month well baby check up today. He's 24 1/2 inches long, 12.1pds, drooling and chewing on a lot of stuff (even though doc says he's not teething). She suggested a few books for us to read to try to help with his lack of sleeping. Needless to say we went out and bought one. Ha ha.
In celebration, we went to the Evergreen Fair...that an to try to make him forget he just got stuck with needles for his needed immunizations. He seemed to really enjoy being outdoors and being in his stroller....as long as you kept moving. We checked out all the livestock, watched the lumberjack show and pig race, and of course had to have a bite to eat. There was so much to choose from....even a booth that offered a bunch of fried foodies like twinkies, alligator, and such. We passed on that one and instead indulged at the Purple Cow (ice cream). mmmm.
There were plenty of painted board cutouts where you could stick your face into it and take a pic ie. aliens, family, baby chicks,etc....all too tall to try to put Seth into....but another time.
The day was so memorable....and as a finale- Seth slept for 6 hours that night. yeah!

Blackberries

Today I did some blackberry picking- not the electronic type, the actual fruit one. You know the one that involves hours of being constantly stuck by thorns, under the hot sun (since this is the best month to pick them), and eventually...berry stained hands. Well, I came prepared. I packed a ladder, rubber gloves, and enough plastic containers should I manage to pick a gagillion berries. Well...several sweaty hours later....I washed my bounty to find I'd only picked 25 cups worth. Which means I'll need to pick a lot more before mom and I will be able to make jam. So Ill just freeze the little lovelies until Jam Day. Ahhh nothing like free fruit. Sorry no pic for this event...although I'm sure the image of my pasty white legs poking out from my cargo shorts, the sun beating down on me, and sweat from brow to pinky is a site none should witness. ha ha ha.