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"

First family vacation

Last week we flew to San Diego for our fist family vacation - an actual vacation that wasn't work or flyball related!  It was glorious!!  We rented a condo in Mission Beach with a deck right on the beach and a bustling boardwalk in front that was fabulous for people-watching.  The first thing we did when we arrived was rearrange the furniture so the loveseat looked out onto the ocean instead of at the television.  Paul and I aren't addicted to TV by any means, but most nights we do have it on...we didn't turn on the TV the whole time we were there, it was FANTASTIC!! 

Jack's first encounter with sand wasn't very positive and I was worried he was going to have some strange fear of sand for the rest of this life, but we tried again the next day and he loved it!  Someone had told me, "kids will eat sand but they'll only do it once"...that's a lie.  He ate sand the entire week.

We got to see some family while we were in San Diego too!  My cousin Annie lives down there so we met her at a GREAT Mexican restaurant in Old Town where Jack showed off his "I-can-reach-anything-I'm-not-supposed-to-have-on-the-table" skills  And my parents drove from Palm Springs and spent a night with us.

After watching the surfers for a few days, Paul couldn't handle it anymore and had to take a lesson.  He liked it so much that he took another lesson and seriously contemplated living the surfer life :) 

We also visited the aquarium, took walks on the beach, listened to Jack scream in delight at the waves and found some beautiful beaches.  It was the perfect family vacation!

Our Downtown Day

One thing we wanted to make sure we accomplished during this staycation was Jack's first experience at Pike Place Market and downtown Seattle.  So we packed up the camera, snacks and water and drove down to the market for a family outing.  Perfect, right?  Well...almost.  You may notice in the photos that Jack is wearing pajamas.  Why?  Right when we found a place to park I heard a very distinct noise from the backseat of the car.  Jack had thrown up ALL OVER himself.  No, not baby spit-up, actual kid throw up...with chunks.  After half a pack of baby wipes and a new outfit (emergency PJ's that I keep in the bottom of the diaper bag) Jack was smiling again and we were off to make memories.

We showed Jack the first Starbucks (yes, we know the snack tray is a bit too high on his stroller)

We watched the fish-throwers

Jack sat on the pig

And we smelled beautiful flowers (Jack tried to eat them)

Staycation

Ahhhhh....staycation, what a wonderful thing!  Paul is taking the next two weeks off of work and this first week is our "staycation".  We have a long list of things we've wanted to do with Jack around Seattle (the zoo, the arboretum, Pike Place, etc.) and an even longer list of things to get done around the house.  It will  be more of a productive staycation than a relaxing one but that's what next week is for.  Next week we are off to San Diego for our first official family vacation that doesn't have anything to do with flyball or work, woo hoo!

On our first day of staycation we took advantage of the glorious Seattle weather (which has been few and far between these days) and hit the zoo.  This was both Paul and Jack's first trip to the zoo and what a success!  We saw tons of animals, had a picnic in the grass and Jack loved being able to touch the animals in the petting zoo.  Good thing we bought a membership because we still have a lot more of the zoo to see!

Time for drawer locks

Now that Jack has figured out how to open drawers (and pull everything out) I think it's time to install the drawer locks.  We'll leave a few cupboards for him to open up and play with but I plan for those to be the ones that house things such as tupperware as opposed to skewers and cork screws.

Here's a look at those two bottom teeth!

Special visitors

Grandpa George and Grandma Charlene drove up from California last week.  It was great to see them and Jack got to spend lots of time with them, showing off all his new skills!

Jack even got to meet another one of his great grandmas (and lots of family members) at a family BBQ.  We are very lucky to have so much family!