Sawyer at 9 months

I am 9 months old.
I weigh 18 lbs 15 oz. (25%)
I am 26.75 inches tall (10%)
I am one healthy boy...crawlin', cruisin', and babblin' away...

Lately I love:
-Water. Always have. L-O-V-E bathtime, it's so much Splish Splash fun! Good thing Mama is already planning for lots of pool time this summer!
-Eating. No, not those organic purees my mom makes for me - well, sometimes - but I prefer BIG BOY food! Yes, finger foods are much more exciting! I drink like a champ from a cup (can you believe I got away with NO bottle - my mom got her wish for an "exclusively" breast fed baby, I've never even tried formula. From what I hear it's not as good as my mama's anyway...)
-Getting into everything I can. I've started climbing, too. Which makes life exciting for all of us, it really keeps all of us on our toes! I'm glad my mom and dad let me be a grand explorer, but watch out for when I might get into trouble a little bit over my head - they always bail me out!
-I am an outdoor guy. LOVE the outdoors. Walks, trips to the park. Checking the mail. all of it. But lately, my favorites are the view from the jogging stroller - what a nice, smooth ride. Swings at the park. And my most recent discovery - the sandbox. We got a bunch of buckets and shovels and it's so much fun. Mama has to remind me not to eat it, but besides that, it is a blast!
-My new cupboard in the kitchen. It makes cooking and baking with my parents that much more fun.
-Pounding. On anything. But especially the big windows in our living room.
-Books. My absolute favorites lately are: The Wheels on the Bus, Goodnight Gorilla, Where's Spot, Where is Baby's Mommy? and Five Little Ducks (I'm kinda literary guy. Mama finds me frequently standing on my tip toes to pull my favorite books off the shelf, sit down, and turning the pages. I also really like the books on my parent's bookshelf: Teachings of the Living Prophets & for some reason they always end up in my mouth :)
-Babbling. I say so many things now! I am going to be a talker, well, I already am I guess all of you just don't quite know my language yet. I say Mama all day, but also Dada, Baba, Nana, Tha Tha, etc. My Mom isn't always sure if I'm really saying her name - but who else am I talking about when I follow her into the kitchen singing "Ma ma, Ma ma"?
-I am on the verge of signing back to my parents. I occasionally sign "milk" and have thought about "good-bye". I am AWESOME at giving High Fives! You should ask me next time you see me!
-Playing, cuddling, snuggling, singing, etc. with Mama and Daddy, of course!

I'm not fond of:
-Naps. Well, let's just say I'm so active and so curious (my pediatrician says it's because I'm so smart and mobile) that slowing down to take a nap is the last thing I want to do! I want to be where the action is! Mama gets me to take two naps, most of the time - but when she lays down and takes a nap with me - I know I'm not missing out - I sleep sometimes over two hours. Otherwise, my naps are of the cat-nap-ish variety. I sleep really well at night - my record is 8:15am. I still sleep a lot in my parents bed. We all like it (luckily). Sadly, we know it will have to end eventually if/when my Mama and Daddy decide to add another to our family.
-Leaving Mama and Daddy. It's a bit of that stranger/separation anxiety that kicks in about this age. I'll get over it eventually (really, it's not that bad...)

News: A tiny bit of one tooth is finally appearing. It looks like about 5 might bust through all at once! So far, no complaints - but wish me luck - I've heard teething isn't usually much fun.

Cheap Thrills

I'll let this one speak for itself!

Into EVERYTHING!

Sawyer is into EVERYTHING these days - and I LOVE it!!! I follow him around constantly while he explores. It is so fun to see how interested and intrigued he is in the world around him. Good thing I put locks on the cupboards!

Oh - he heard me sneaking up behind him...

Ah, there were some giggles, right before he discovered the toilet paper roll around the corner (so much for the locks!).

Oh, the joys of having a mobile baby! He is so proud of himself as he stands up and scoots around getting into things. I guess it comes with his adventurous territory, (he is, afterall, named after the mighty and mischievous Tom Sawyer - how can he help it?). These days Sawyer is usually sporting a bruise or two from toppling over or being overly confident in his motor abilities. Tonight, for example, we were at our neighbor's home eating dinner when all of a sudden we look over and he has climbed up a make-shift ladder and looked like he was in gear to climb his own Mt. Everest. Jacob caught him just as he turned to hear us gasping and let go). He climbs, scoots, crawls, cruises, tugs, topples, and keeps on trying (mostly, successfully) to get into...EVERYTHING! We love our boy - 100%!

Us // Second Anniversary

Today, we have been married for 2 years! It seems like we've been married much longer than 2 years...in a good way :) How the time does fly when you are having fun, and are busy working, playing, and creating and managing a family together. We got married exactly 1 year and 1 week after our first date, so every year we celebrate by having our first date over again. It was the first weekend of January, so it's a great way to start off the year. I remember always wanting to get married in the Summer - my favorite time of the year. I never dreamt I'd get married in the dead middle of Winter - but, surely, I would not have changed it! We still had our reception on the beach - we just never thought we'd be on the beach, with both sunshine and snow in the middle of January. It was truly a unique and special day, one we treasure. It's wonderful to reminisce about that day.

On Saturday, we went and celebrated a combination of our first date and our anniversary. Our first date was at a little Italian restaurant in Columbia City, called Tutta Bellas. We enjoyed great food and conversation - and a Brazilian guitarist. Afterward, we went to a Contemporary Art Exhibit at a gallery on the street we now live on. Since that first date, Tutta Bellas has opened 2 new locations. Last year, we went to the one in Wallingford, and this year, they opened one in our Westlake neighborhood! As we were sitting there, juggling babyfood, napkins, toys being dropped and re-dropped on the floor, etc. I wondered if Jacob wished we could just be alone for our date and celebration of our anniversary, afterall, it was my idea to bring Sawyer along, even though it was past his bedtime. At one point, he just looked at me and said, "would you have imagined 3 years ago on our first date that you'd be sitting here, married, and with a son right now?" He said it with so much fondness and love, such blessed amazement. Yes, children do change marriage. But love is something that just seems to grow and deepen with time and the right circumstances. We are certainly blessed from heaven. The two things I wanted most in life are mine: to be a wife and a mother. There is nothing else I need.

We concluded our celebration by stopping by Whole Foods on our way home to pick out some dessert. We put Sawyer to bed, and then enjoyed some incredible cupcakes, herbal tea, and couple time. This past year seems to have flown by. The first half was spent enjoying the wonders of expecting our baby boy, and the ills that came with my pregnancy. Then, we welcomed Sawyer to our family. We have spent the second part of the year in somewhat of a sleep-deprived daze, yet enjoying each moment of life with each other and wondering what we did to deserve to be the parents of such an amazing little son. It is a little more tricky to get "alone" time but we sure try to find a few moments and make a few moments for each other when we can. Life is good. No, life is great! Happy Anniversary, Jacob! Here is to many many more wonderful and exciting years together!

Homemaking // Homemade Organic Babyfood

I must admit that I don't much care for Winter. I do love about a week of snow, and I love it all leading up to the holidays...but after that, Winter feels long, cold, dark, and wet. Hence, my quest for projects to keep me busy until Spring decides to, um, spring. :)

For Christmas, I got a wonderful Williams-Sonoma cookbook, Cooking for Baby. I have had my eye on that book for quite some time (thanks, Santa!) as it includes recipes for baby from first food purees, to toddler foods that will please the parental palette as well (ie. edamame & yogurt puree, chicken & mango quesadillas, buckwheat crepes, pumpkin pancakes, etc.) I was so excited yesterday to give some of the recipes a whirl!

Purees, of course, are quite simple. I started with a variety of organic fruits and veggies, and did some chopping, peeling, roasting, boiling, and steaming.

Then, wah-la! The puree. There was only one thing I didn't puree, which was the blueberry sauce. Oh-my-oh-my-goodness! What a treat for little tastebuds!

It is amazing how different fresh babyfood looks. Even when I buy the organic babyfood, it just doesn't compare to the bright, fresh colors, textures, and flavors of homemade food. Not to mention, the price! Here is an example:

Generally a 2.5 oz jar of Earth's Best Babyfood costs about $1.05 at the market. Well, 2 bags of organic carrots at Trader Joe's cost $2.78 and made the equivalent of 22 jars, which means it ended up costing about .12 cents per jar. Or, you could say if I bought 22 jars it would have cost me about $23 dollars, instead of under $3. Pretty sweet deal, eh? Well, of course I should factor in the time it took. It took the better part of the day to do all the food. FUN, should also be factored in, though. I had a great time listening to music, dancing with Sawyer in-between steaming and pureeing, and felt so satisfied and happy with what I had done at the end of the day.

After the puree was done, I put the food in ice-cube trays and let it freeze. Later, I transferred the ice-cubed food to a labeled freezer bag (it is good for 3 months frozen, or 3 days fresh in the refrigerator). I am stocked up for at least a month!

I also saved some of the containers I had from store-bought food to reuse. I froze some food in the containers to take with us if we're on the go or out and about. They say to feed your baby the "colors of the rainbow" and certainly, this food is colorful!

Best of all, was when I sat down to feed Sawyer his "dinner". He had organic carrot puree, and organic brown rice cereal with a swish of blueberry sauce mixed in. For a moment I thought "what if he doesn't like it?" But right away, I could see that even he could tell the difference between fresh, homemade, organic food and food from the store. What a delightful meal, he opened his mouth for every single bite and make happy sounds as he ate his meal. I couldn't have been happier!

We are so glad to finally be feeling a bit better. Sawyer still has a bit of a cough and a tough time sleeping well with such a stuffy nose, but all in all, we are feeling much better! Sawyer is such a good crawler, too! I can't believe how fast he is already! He crawls around and gets into EVERYTHING! He is so busy, he even works up a sweat! It's so fun to watch him explore, and so sweet when he crawls right into our laps for snuggles.

Next winter project: Babyproofing!