14 months old

When Jack was born we called him our "little man" and now he's really beginning to look like it!  Here is an update of our 14 month old little man:

• He's wearing size 18-24 month clothes and a size 5 1/2 shoe
• He's talking and says "garga" (garbage), dadda, "eeeeease" (please), cheese, YaYa, car and can make animal noises for a lion, tiger, elephant, cat, cow, fish and turkey.
• I stopped using sign language with him months ago but he recently started using the signs for "more", "all done" and "milk" - apparently he was paying attention when I was trying to teach him and just wasn't ready to use them yet :)
• Jack is kind of obsessed with garbage and the garbage truck.  When he finds garbage on the ground he immediately wants to throw it away (I'm definitely not going to stand in the way of this new skill), points out every garbage can we pass, saying "garga" and stands glued to the sliding glass door watching the garbage truck when it comes down the ally.  
• His newest "tricks" include stomping his feet, covering his mouth when he coughs, and splashing in puddles (daddy taught him that one).  He can also point to his belly, ears, tongue, teeth, head, and feet. 
• He has become a slightly more picky eater than he used to be but still eats well and likes bananas, oranges, graham crackers, pasta, bell peppers, hummus, eggs, yogurt, cheese, frozen peas and carrots (yes, he prefers them frozen) and is always willing to try whatever we (especially Paul) is eating.
• He sleeps like a champ, taking 1 nap a day with bedtime at 6:00pm, sleeping through the night and usually waking up around 7:00am.
• Most importantly he's happy, healthy and a constant source of joy and entertainment! 

Penguins!

Jack's favorite part of the zoo is the penguins.  I don't think his favorite animal is a penguin, but the exhibit allows him to see the birds up close, swimming through the water and I'm pretty sure he could stay and watch them for hours!  This particular morning we showed up as they were being fed so there weren't as many in the water but Jack was still quite entertained.

Stopping for a quick snack with Sean before heading on to see more of the zoo

Jack's first haircut

Jack's hair was beginning to look rather "mullet-ish" so we decided it was finally time for his first haircut.  Paul and I were in agreement that we wanted to do it at home rather than take him to a salon.  I remember looking at pictures in my baby book of my first haircut - I was eating spaghetti in my highchair and Dave was doing the trimming - and I wanted that memory for Jack, too. 

Here are the before pictures:

During:

And after:

Paul did most of the cutting, but I got in a few snips too (I was so grateful that Paul wanted to do it because I was a little scared I'd accidentally cut his ear or something).  The next night we evened it out with the clippers which proved to be far easier than using scissors.  What a great memory we made!

BFFs

Whether they like it or not, Cameron and Jack are best friends and will be forever.  Laura and I are, so our kids have to be too, right?  Yep, that's the way it will be. 

With busy lives and jobs, we definitely don't hang out enough but I love the times when we do.  I can't wait till the boys actually play together - right now they just play next to each other except when Cameron is eating snack, then Jack follows him around and eats what he drops.  :) 

Family time

Apparently we've had a busy month because I haven't posted anything since Halloween, Oops!

Dad and Charlene came up for a visit.  They brought my nephew Cole over one night and Jack immediately took a liking to him (which is odd because he is usually in full "stranger danger" mode with new people).  It was so cute to see him hug Cole! Grandpa even got a hug too :)

Then story time with Grandma before bed...

It was so good to spend some time with Dad and Charlene, I can't wait until Jack is old enough to remember them better in between visits.

Halloween

What did Jack dress up as for Halloween?  Well his first social function was a PEPS party and he was a giraffe.  This is our attempt at a group photo.  I'm pretty sure Jack thought we were going to leave him as soon as we set him down, hence the crying.  All the other kids were pretty concerned, what good friends!

Yes, he did calm down as soon as he realized that we were staying at the party with him.  It also helped that there were lots of toys to distract him, including a slide - yes, it's meant for toy cars but Jack was positive it was for him.

The next event on Jack's social calendar was his cousin Maddie's party.  Thanks to his cousin Cohen, he got to dress up as a turtle (good thing because everyone knows you can't wear the same costume twice). 

The "pumpkin patch"

About twice a year Paul and I will find that we have nothing planned on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and we hardly know what to do with ourselves.  We've always been busy people and at one point we thought that having a baby might slow our life down a little but alas, it did not.  I do enjoy staying busy because it means we're out having fun - seeing family and friends, going on trips, participating in runs, etc - but there are so many things that I want to do and not always enough weekends to get them all done. 

One such thing was the pumpkin patch.  I wanted to take Jack to a pumpkin patch and let him run around in the field, get dirty, choose a pumpkin, take a hay ride and all the fun fall activities that a pumpkin patch has to offer.  I would of course have my camera and capture every moment...maybe even a family shot for the Christmas card??  That did not happen.  We have been looking for a house and recently found one that we thought we were going to buy.  So our only free October weekend was quickly filled up with packing our townhouse and figuring out how to find renters.  We ultimately decided not to purchase the house but now our only free weekend was over and we had missed our opportunity to go to the pumpkin patch!  Luckily I was raised by an amazing mother who never failed to make any situation a positive one.  So what did this Edler family do?  We went to the "pumpkin patch"!  Yes, I was the crazy lady with the camera at the local Fred Meyer positioning my kid among the pumpkins, making sure not to get the price sign in the photo.  But you know what?  Jack loved picking out a pumpkin and had no idea that he wasn't in a field or on a hay ride.  Maybe we'll go next year...

Our baby turned one!

Dear our sweet baby Jack,

It is the evening of your first birthday and we just put you to bed, our amazing one year old.  One year ago today we were blessed with you, this perfect bundle of joy, more than we could have ever hoped for, more than we could have expected.

You were born to move from day one.  Even the nurses commented about how strong you were, you stood up in the sink for your first bath!  At 10 ½ weeks you were rolling over, 5 months you were sitting up, you crawled at 7 months and by 10 ½ months you were fully walking.  And now you pretty much just run everywhere :) 

You love anything with wheels – toy cars, trucks, your stroller – and you often turn them upside down just to spin the wheels round and round.  You also love, love, love books (which makes mommy very happy).  Every morning when daddy gets you out of your crib you head straight for your bookshelf and start pulling out books to read.  Even though you are constantly on the go, you will always sit and read a book or two.  Currently your favorite ones are any of the “lift-the-flap” books that we have. 

You love food and you are a great eater!  Your favorite foods are yellow squash, blueberries, grapes, yogurt, bananas, zucchini, and cheese.  You are always interested in what we are eating and will try anything we give you (even though it doesn't always stay in your mouth).  You especially love eating our cereal off our spoon (not your baby spoon).

You say a few words, including “dada”, “moma”, “dog” (more like “dah”).  Even though you don’t say much yet, you sure do understand a lot!  For example, if we ask you to put your bowl away, you will walk into the kitchen and put your bowl in the cupboard!  When we say “how big is Jack?”, you lift your hands above your head (so big!) and if we ask you how old you are, you hold up one finger!  You also know where your belly, head, and mommy or daddy's nose is.  You are so smart and we are incredibly proud of you.

You are more than we could have ever hoped for - a healthy, happy, perfect little boy who fills our day with laughter and definitely keeps us on our toes.  Happy birthday little man!

Love,

Mom and Dad

PEPS group party

One of the best decisions we've made as parents was joining a PEPS group.  I highly recommend this to any new parent, it is an amazing support group for the parents and a great group of friends for the kids.  We have had so much fun with them over the last year!

We decided to do a group birthday party for the kids at the Seattle Children's Museum which I must say is the BEST place to have party because the staff does all the clean up (and we had quite a mess to clean up).  We had snacks, cupcakes (and a "smash cake" for the kids), balloons, cute decorations and each family brought a present for a gift exchange.  The kids were so cute and we all had a wonderful time!

Jack was the first baby to make it to the "smash cake"

But as soon as he touched the frosting, he promptly started crying, turned around and ran to Paul.  And thus, his fear of frosting continues...

And THIS is why I would have another party at the Seattle Children's Museum - they cleaned all this up for us!  Any party that ends like this is a good party :)

Happy birthday Paul!

We have quite a few birthdays in our family (and extended family) in September and Paul's is the first!  He got to start his celebrating early with his side of the family coming over to enjoy dessert - this year he decided on peanut butter cheesecake as his cake of choice.

On his actual birthday he woke up to a homemade sticky-bun breakfast, then he got off work early and came home to open presents while Jack was still awake to help.  We had a wonderful evening out just the two of us (we definitely treasure times like this more than we did a year ago).  We had a fabulous dinner at Kingfish Cafe, a down-home Southern restaurant that brought Paul right back to his childhood with delicious fried catfish.

Happy happy birthday to my wonderful husband!!

So big!

Ever since Jack was born I've been asking him, "How big is Jack?" then raising my arms up and saying, "so big!".  Apparently it took him watching another baby (his PEPS friend Sean) to finally learn to do this on his own and now he does it all the time.  So much for my 11 months of teaching, next time I want him to learn something I'll just have him hang around another kid who can do it.  Hey, maybe that will work for potty training?!?!  :-)

For Ya Ya

Ya Ya (my mom) has always said that Jack has "very expressive feet" and here's one reason why:

11 months

Once again, I can't believe how fast our little man is growing up, less than a month until he's one!  What is Jack up to at 11 months old? 

• Walking all over the place
• Giving high 5's
• Waving
• Raising his arms for "so big!"
• Pointing
• Clicking his tongue and popping his lips
• Saying "dada", "dah" (dog) and "mama" (dada and mama are not always in the right context, but I'm counting it) :)
• Wearing 12-18  month clothes and 2T-3T socks
• Eating all sorts of food and beginning to use a fork

This little guy amazes me every day!  He is a great eater, wonderful sleeper and so curious about everything.  I just love him so much!

Here's another video of him walking that I took last week, I'm sure by next week he'll be running :)

He's on the move!

Here's our walker! (Please excuse the shaky video)


This was about a week after he took his first steps.  He's definitely not walking full time yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Summer fun

This weekend was the kind that you live for in Seattle!  Beautiful weather, outdoor concerts, hanging out with friends, and grilling on the BBQ. 

Redhook brewery hosted PEPSapalooza on Saturday so we headed out there for a few hours of Casper Babypants music, beer and sunshine.  It's quite a new experience for us to take Jack to an outdoor concert.  I'm pretty sure he knew there was music playing but he was much more interested in trying to push every stroller that was within 100 feet of where we were sitting.  Luckily Laura and Cam brought their stroller (we brought the hiking backpack...bad choice) which kept Jack entertained for quite some time.  Beer, Casper Babypants, sunshine and friends = perfect Seattle summer day!

Then on Sunday we met up with our PEPS group for some "swimming" (standing on the outside and splashing) and grilling.  I can't believe these kids are almost a year old!!  They are so much fun to watch as they learn how to interact, it's so entertaining.  :)

This was hysterical!  Jack and Owen started pushing this toy together, then Owen would walk too fast and Jack would fall down, then Jack would try to hold on to the middle of the bar and push Owen over, and on and on and on.  I think we took close to 20 pictures and this is the only one where they're both holding on and no one is crying or falling down. LOL

Peek-a-boo

Jack's most recent form of entertainment is peek-a-boo, but he doesn't play by hiding behind his hands or a blanket - he likes to play it by opening and shutting the bathroom door.  Luckily he's figured out how not to close it all the way so he never gets "stuck" in there. 

Notice also that he's holding the dog bowl, our poor dogs think they're getting fed every time he picks up their bowl.  Such torture.

Good dog

Jack plays this game every day and so far, Zoe has put up with it. 
Jack crawls to Zoe's bed and wakes her up. 
Zoe walks away. 
Jack follows and laughs. 
Zoe walks back to her bed. 
Jack follows and laughs. 
Repeat for about 10 minutes. 
Good dog Zoe, good dog.

Need a giggle?

Need to brighten your day?  Just watch this video!  I have no idea why Jack thought this was funny but I am so very grateful for his giggles.

Donated

I've been growing my hair out for about 3 years not for any particular reason, just to have long hair.  It started getting long enough that I thought about donating it and then it got soooooo long and needed to be cut...but I was scared to have short hair.  You know what's scarier than short hair?  Cancer.  So I did it.  It's off my head and donated to Pantine Great Lengths and I couldn't be happier.

Before

After!

Small Paul

It makes me giggle that there's a line of clothes called "Small Paul".  Here's Jack modeling the pajama bottoms :)

A Northwest baby

There are many experiences that are unique to growing up in the Northwest, like fresh seafood.  What could be fresher than crab that your dad caught while diving? 

Jack thought seeing the live crab was super fun but what was even better was eating it!

Love him!

The other day I realized that Jack had been napping for longer than usual.  I checked the monitor and what did I see?  He was reading in his crib!  Ok well technically he was looking at the book but that's "reading" for a 10 month old.  Apparently he had reached over his crib to his nightstand, and picked out a book.  I just LOVE this little guy!

I wish I had a picture of him reading but as soon as I walked in there, he stood up and was ready to be done with nap time.

Bye Bye

Paul had to say goodbye to a dear friend...his Subaru. 

We recently purchased a truck to pull an RV and therefore had to sell the Subaru to pay for the truck.  It was a sad day for Paul and I'm sure somewhere in our future we will own an Outback again.  Until then...

Happy 4th!

This year for the 4th of July we spent the afternoon at my Gram's house for a BBQ and it was a GORGEOUS day!  We soaked up some sun...

And Jack got a real treat - a ride on the tractor!!  Ok, it's a ride-on lawn mower but we've always called it the tractor.  When I was little Pa used to take us for rides on the tractor (a much older version than this one obviously) so this may have been more special for me than it was for Jack.

Here comes the tractor!

And we're off!

The other special treat was a ride in the Jeep!  This sweet ride has been through 2 of my cousins, is probably 15 years old and is still running.  Jack is way too short to reach the pedals (and too young to understand how to steer), so that means mom runs alongside pushing the accelerator and dad steers from the other side.  It was a great workout for us and so fun for Jack :)

Happy 4th of July!!

Standing!

After seeing his PEPS friend standing on Sunday, Jack woke up Monday morning and surprised us with his new skill.  The absolute best part was that he clapped!!

Our big 9-monther

We went to Jack's 9 month appointment this week - 9 MONTHS!!!  He may look like Paul but he apparently got his build from me (sorry buddy).  At 28.25 inches long he's in the 44th percentile for height and his 21 pounds puts him in the 81st percentile for weight.  The doctor said he's developing perfectly (but we already knew that he's perfect, right?).

Here he is in San Diego on his 9 month birthday.  Is he standing on his own???  No, he was leaning against the wheel of the stroller but it sure looks like it, doesn't it? 

 What is our big 9 monther up to these days?

• Wearing 12 month clothes
• Wearing size 4 diapers
• Eating anything we give him - all fruits and veggies, eggs, yogurt, hummus, fish, chicken and turkey.
• Cruising all over the furniture
• Clapping
• Sitting in a "big boy" car seat (no more infant carrier)
• Babbling "bla", "da", "puh"