9 Weeks

Nine weeks is such a short amount of time - yet so much can happen in that amount of time. In nine weeks my little guy will turn 1. One! How is that even possible?! I feel like there is so much left that I want to "accomplish" with him before he turns 1. I would love for him to drop the 1:30 AM feeding, be a more consistent solids eater, and a heap of other things. However I know that the world will not come to an end if we don't accomplish these goals by his birthday. So, I plan on fully enjoying these last 9 weeks of my little guys infancy and hopefully they will not go by too quickly.

A Love of All Things Swiffer

Ephraim has become quite the Momma's Helper and has a total love affair with swiffer products.

Here he is helping us at Colleen's house.

This is my swiffer duster. He moves it from room to room in our house. My house is less dusty since I always know where to find it.

Surprise!

My mom called me Friday morning and asked if I wanted to go to Wyoming. I said "sure!", not really knowing if she was truly serious. When she showed up at my door on Friday night I knew it was for real.

We left Saturday morning and made it to Jerome, ID before we stopped for the night.

It was foggy and cold the entire drive on Saturday.
Ephraim taking a break and driving at one of our many stops. Ephraim did fantastic on the trip. I was preparing for the worst since he typically hates his car seat. My back up plan was to have my mom drop me off at the Boise airport and I would fly home.
Ephraim and Nana.
We made it to Jackson by 2 on Sunday afternoon. Ephraim had become tired of his car seat by then and I pacified him with a teething biscuit. What a mess!

Colleen was completely surprised when I knocked on the door as she had no idea I was coming. We screwed up naptime that day, but I think the Wachobs thought it was worth it.

He Might Have Inherited It From Me:

As Ephraim gets older I have noticed that he has developed a slight leaning towards being melodramatic. I have no idea where he got this from as I did not yell at my husband early one morning this week because he told me he had let the dog outside. Ephraim will occasionally cry big tears when I have the audacity to leave the living room and go to the kitchen.

He also has a stubborn streak. He will look at me, hear me say no and then take off. Or he will refuse to eat. The other day he literally fell out of his bumbo (it was on the floor) trying to avoid a spoonful of oatmeal. I have never been stubborn so this must be from Forrest.

He laughs when I try to discipline him. My dad liked to tell me that I received the most spankings out of all 4 kids and would also laugh at my parents when they tried spanking me. Ephraim has begun biting while nursing. I have tried pulling him off, giving him a firm "no" and flicking his cheek. He looks up at me, giggles and then goes in for another bite.

I suppose that since I gave my parents all sorts of trouble that I deserve what is coming to me. I am sure it is bound to be an adventure. (In defense of yelling at Forrest - It was 6AM and I had just put Ephraim back to bed for the 5th time. I was exhausted and did not want to get back out of bed in 10 minutes to let the dog back in. I wasn't coherent enough to explain that to him so all I got out was "NO! Let him back in!" I have since apologized and been forgiven.)

Latest Shenanigans

Ephraim is learning new tricks everyday and continues to amaze me with his sweet personality. He loves to chase the vacuum cleaner. Yesterday I finished vacuuming and turned around to see this face.

He then proceeded to do this:
Don't worry - I took the cord out of his mouth and gave him a stern talking to about the dangers of eating cords and electrocution and I am sure he understood all of it.
I finally caught a picture of him bear crawling. This is all he does now.
Cruising between our windows. Check out the back rolls!
This is what happens when you let Ephraim try to feed himself. He didn't get much in his mouth because he doesn't like to use his thumbs. Five minutes after this picture he fell in the bathroom - bit his tongue, bruised his chin and was bleeding all over me - but that is a story for another post.

Busy Beaver

Now that everyone has received their Christmas presents - I can share what we gave them. For some silly reason I decided that I should make the majority of the presents we gave. It was a bit overwhelming but I got everything done before Christmas.
Elisa wanted a pink bracelet and a necklace to go with it.
These ribbon blankets were for Ephraim. I used scraps from some other blankets I have made. He loves the small one.
These blocks were for Sadie - but I made Ephraim some too but instead of purple I used blue fabric.
This is a table cloth I made for Colleen. I actually made a total of 5 table cloths but did not take pictures of the rest.
Some more letters. I also made some that said Peace -but didn't take a picture.
I think I am most proud of this lap quilt that I made for Michelle. It was the most time consuming, but I think it turned out well.

You Know You are Not Getting Enough Sleep When:

You wake up at 1:30 in the morning to close the baby gate at the top of the stairs so that your child doesn't fall down the stairs. Completely forgetting that he is sound asleep in his crib. And your husband asks you if he can open the gate so the dog can go downstairs and get some water.

9 Months

Ephraim turned 9 months old on Sunday. It seems as though this past month he has learned so many new tricks and every time I turn around he has mastered something new.
This is how he now plays with his exersaucer. I guess it is time to return it to Marisa.
He is pulling up on everything and loves to cruise around all of our furniture. Yesterday he actually stood by himself (without holding onto anything) for about 3 seconds. Right before Christmas he started to really crawl and no longer army crawls. He also likes to crawl with his hands and feet, so that his butt is way up in the air. I need to try to capture a picture of that.
He is now taking big boy baths and stands at the side of the tub waving excitedly as I fill it with water.
He is increasing his babbling, but has yet to string together consonant sounds that could possibly be words. He has started eating solids better - but still refuses to eat anything pureed. It is like he thinks he is too big to be eating baby food and would rather eat small chunks of vegetables.

He weighs 22 pounds, 3 ounces and is 28 inches tall. (I personally think he is taller than that because a month ago Forrest and I measured him close to 29 inches - but how can you really measure a squirming baby?)

We are still struggling with bedtime - but I am now starting to use the pick up/put down method by the Baby Whisperer and am finding it very helpful. I wish I had read it months ago.

Polar Bear Swim 2008

I contemplated having these pictures be apart of my Christmas post, but they really deserve a post of their own.

On Christmas Day we arrived at my mom's house around 3:30PM. Michelle was in her bathing suit. When asked why, she responded "Ryan dared me to jump in the river." Forrest quickly responded with "Yes!" So... all of us went down to the dock.

Here is the Willamette River on Christmas afternoon.
Looking down my mom's dock.

All three of them right before the jump.
Michelle contemplating if she really wants to do this.
Ready, Set, Jump!
They were screaming from the cold the minute their feet touched the water. Ryan and Forrest jumped out farther than Michelle, so they had to swim back.
Drying off.
Forrest casually walking back to the house. They all said that once they got out of the river it wasn't really cold anymore. I believe that they plan to make this an annual tradition.

Christmas Recap

We went down to Oregon for Christmas and had a fabulous time. First stop was my inlaws house.

I love how stockings have turned into stockings and the giant bag behind the stockings.
We then went down to my mom's house for Christmas dinner. I think the top of the tree looks like the horns the Grinch put on his dog to make it look like a reindeer. :)
Ryan and Forrest got in some double juggling. Do you see the blue and purple balls flying in midair?
Ryan and Ephraim hanging out. We took Ephraim to his first movie - Bedtime stories. He did really well and played with the straw he stole from my drink for most of the movie.

We spent two nights at Merrick and Hannah's. Drew and Marisa came over and the boys played Safecracker and Super Monkeyball on Merrick's new wii. On new year's eve we crashed the Elite 8 party at Justin and Melissa's for dinner. Forrest says that after we left they became the "Lame 8". We went to my inlaws and both of us were in bed by 11:30.

On New Year's day Forrest's extended family came over to celebrate Christmas. It was a lot of fun to see all of them.
On Friday we headed back home. It is great to be home, but we had a blast in Oregon!

Some Resolutions

I have been thinking about some goals I would like to accomplish in 2009 - nothing too crazy and hopefully I actually accomplish them. These are in no particular order:

1. Read my Bible everyday. I did really well at this when the girls in our couples bible study did a study that had us doing something everyday. I think I will buy myself a Beth Moore study - anyone want to do it with me?
2. Decrease my sugar intake. I gave up sugar for the month of September and felt great - it would be smart of me to try this again. I have lost all of my baby weight (plus some), but it won't stay off if I continue with my current junk food eating habits.
3. Exercise more consistently. This summer Ephraim and I would go on multiple walks every day. Now that it is raining, my slight seasonal depression makes me want to just stay inside and drink hot chocolate. I would love to have a race to train for - a 5K or maybe a sprint triathalon.
4. Do my hair everyday. I spend way too much money to get my hair colored and cut to then put it in a ponytail. Being a stay at home mom does not give me an excuse to not take care of myself.
5. Make a budget and stick to it.
6. Love Forrest better. I have been reading the book "Love Dare" written by the author of "Fireproof". The first two chapters in the book dared me to go 48 hours without complaining to my spouse. It was eye opening to the little things I can change to improve my marriage (which is fantastic by the way, but you can always make things better.)
7. Declutter my house and keep it clean. Easier said than done.

I think that is it for now - I'll keep you posted on how I am doing in a few months.