Out of Hand: December 2011

Friday Night With Daddy

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Monday, December 19, 2011

Friday, December 16, 2011

Time with Daddy is the best way to start the week!

Grandma Helen's birthday was on Monday:

Isaac is holding his head up higher and longer:

Unfortunately, he came down with a cold mid-week. So he's been sleeping A LOT.

And he's been displaying more and more signs of being right-hand dominant, but we'll see if that continues...

Don't look at his nails. I need to cut them. FYI: They grow really quickly!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

He gave her a three-month-old hug and a big sigh like he'd had one of those days.

Heidi and Isaac.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

We are teaching the iBoy how to roll over. He rolled as early as 5 weeks, but can't do it on command yet. He is very good at going from his tummy to his back. But it's more of a challenge going from his back to his tummy. Daddy was working with him here. We have a rythm: rock, rock, rock, and ROLL! Here he is trying to do it on his own:

Christmas Is Children...

Otherwise entitled "I need a new camera."

We enjoyed Christmas treats, visits from Rudolph and Santa, a gingerbread house, lots of lights, Christmas trees, and horse drawn carriage rides this weekend. The girls and John were very excited about the carriage rides. Anne Marie was so elated that she didn't speak for practically a half hour before we got in the carriage. We all fit in one. Here are some shots:

Next year we'll bring the iBoy too!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Mr. Isaac is three months old today
and is doing all sorts of fun things:

Rolls to his side

Sucks his thumb

Smiles when you talk to him

Makes eye contact

Turns to face people and coos at them

Stares at the Christmas lights

Holds himself up in the playground swing (this is Daddy's doing!)

Grabs hanging toys that are close to his face

Lifts up his head and turns it while on his tummy

His next weigh-in is at four months. We'll see what the doctor says then. He is definitely much bigger than last month!

Monday, December 5, 2011

I love how responsive Isaac is becoming. He always talks to me in the morning. He will now start to coo when he wakes up ... or when he needs something. He's learning so much. When I talk with him, he studies my lips and tries to make the sames sounds. It is so precious!

All In A Weekend's Work!

Now that we are homeowners, we have to take care of home maintenance items like faucet leaks. Thankfully, Rich was able to diagnose the problem, make a few trips to the hardware store, and give us a bright new faucet by Sunday morning. Since we have a roll away dishwasher (our home was built in 1950), we attach our dishwasher to the sink faucet. This requires a special faucet mouth, which are STILL MADE, thank goodness! The dishwasher is still working amazingly well. Now our faucet is a single lever, which has much better water emission control. Our previous faucet splattered water everywhere if the knobs were turned much past the "off" position. Also, the water is much less cloudy now. Our whole kitchen looks better and shinier with this faucet!

On Saturday night, we took a tour of Mount Vernon by candlelight. This Christmas tour included live period music, a bonfire, hot cider and ginger snaps, and characters in period attire explaining the Washingtons' first Christmas at Mount Vernon after George's presidency. Here is Heidi with one of the hosts:

On Sunday we visited the cousins, who gave Isaac much love and attention. Here he is with his godmother, Aunt Theresa:

We also went for a walk around the National Mall and saw the White House Christmas tree. Isaac slept most of the time. It was a phenomenally beautiful weekend - sunny and around 60 degrees - though today we are back to cloudy and 50. I really love the weekends with my boys!

Over the River and Through the Woods

Across five states and through the hood ... to the Detroit Suburbs we go! Rich, Isaac, and I enjoyed a wonderful five-day Thanksgiving vacation. Oh, how relaxing! :) We decided to drive through the night because Isaac had been sleeping for twelve hours at a time pretty regularly! (Have I mentioned how grateful I am for this?)

We left at 7pm on Monday night and arrived at our hotel around 3:30am. Not too shabby for traveling with a baby!! Rich had been looking forward to this trip for a long time. He scheduled time to catch up with his family and friends and, of course, to show off the baby. This trip we had time to see some of the gems of the area - like the historic part of Birmingham. It is so beautiful! There are many sights around Detroit that I still want to see -- like the Ford Museum and the GM Factory -- but those shall have to wait for other trips. We had a wonderful time visiting with family & friends. Here are a few photos - several are courtesy of Grandpa Richard & Grandma Helen!: