13 months

Two exciting things this month, we took away the binkie and Isaiah's taking 4-5 steps on his own! Last Thursday he was exhausted from being at daycare all week. I was home the next day and we didn't have any plans for the weekend since Brian was on call. I laid him down for bed, covered him up with his blanket and said goodnight. He was a little confused and opened his mouth for his binkie and cried for a few minutes when I left, but fell asleep within minutes and slept all through the night. Since then he hasn't had the binkie at night or naps and has done great. Today was the first day at daycare without it, so hopefully it went as well there as at home. As for walking, he started to gain more and more balance when we walked around the house with him. He's been holding onto one hand for a while now and standing on his own for a few weeks, but as soon as he knows you've let him go he'll plop down on the floor. Now he'll walk 4 or 5 steps before he looses his balance and falls. Brian started working with him a lot last week, but the funny part was the more he worked with him the more Isaiah started thinking it was a game. Brian would stand him on his feet and Isaiah would get jello legs, fall, and laugh so hard. Hard to make any progress after that point!

Beach House

We went to our beach house for the weekend to get away and spend some time as a family, but also to get some chores done at the house. It rained all weekend, so we decided to take the kids to the Newport Aquarium Saturday after lunch. It worked out really well since it's about an hour drive, the kids took their nap in the car on the way there and Isaiah another nap on the way back. I've been to the aquarium in high school when the "Free Willy" whale was there. Although he's not there anymore, the aquarium hasn't changed much. They've done a really good job keeping it up. My favorite were the jelly fish. Ashley was pretty cautious with everything she saw and of course brother leaned forward to try and touch it all. They have a "tide pool" that the kids can stick their hands in and touch the sea anemones. No way would Ashley get close, but Isaiah loved it! He's the adventurist. The best part was we got to see the seals and sea lions get fed and do tricks. It was such a fun thing to do as a family!

They had two underwater bridges that you could walk through, this one and one that was filled with sharks and sting rays. Pretty cool to be so close to those swimming over your head!





waiting patiently for breakfast to be served.

1 year stats!

Ashley at a year!

Isaiah had his 1 year checkup and here are his stats... height 30 3/4 in (78%) and weight 20lb 7 oz (15%). Ashley was 30 inches (60%)and 20lb 1 oz (24%) at her one year checkup. Pretty similar in size, but when comparing pictures look so different! Isaiah is growing up so fast, I just want to keep him at this stage forever. He loves to cuddle and is a mama's boy! He opens his mouth really big to give smooches and blows kisses by holding his hand up to his mouth blowing on it. It was fun to see him watch and learn to do it. He loves to roughhouse with Papa and cracks himself up thinking he is so funny! He's now in the little lambs class and loving it. They have a slide with three stairs leading up to it that he goes up and down all day. They eat in little chairs at a small table and he's always the last one to go down for a nap because he's still eating! Sometimes they have to cut him off. He's down to one nap a day, sometimes 2 when I'm home with him for about 2 hours. He's still eating a ton and drinking milk out of a sippy cup with no problem. No more bottles! Pretty soon we'll take away the binkie since all four of his top teeth are now in. We'll see how that goes. He has a blanket that he snuggles with in his crib, so I'm hoping that will help him and he's not depended on it during the day. It's just so hard to make the move because he's sleeping so well. I guess this is where we as parents hold our children back. We think it's going to be such a hard transition so we put it off and they end up adjusting with ease. He's been practicing his walking getting more brave and holding onto one hand. He's taken a few surprise steps on his own, but falls down once he realizes that no one is holding onto him. He has been doing the bear crawl which seems really awkward, but it does get him places a little faster and it's funny to watch! He makes a "funny face" (cheesy smile) when we bring out the camera and loves to have his picture taken. Almost all the his pictures I have to get rid of the "red eye" due to those big blue eyes. Our next camera will have a really good setting to get rid of this before the picture is taken. We're due for one any day now! He also makes a really funny noise to get our attention that sounds like a seal pup. It's really funny and makes us laugh so hard when he gets going. He's learned baby signs, but that doesn't get our attention when we're not looking... so he's developed this sound and repeats faster and faster depending on the urgency. This could be for food he wants a toy and especially the phone or remote when he catches eye of it. He's been sick a few more times than Ashley, mostly low temps and runny noses, but nothing that has kept him down for long! We're having so much fun watching these two grow up to be amazing little people!


"Funny face". This is the smile you get when you bring out the camera. You can see the funny way his teeth came in too!


At the Dr's office. I thought I would keep Isaiah warm by bringing this bathrobe, which ended up being way too small, but it did serve it's purpose! Ashley didn't have an appointment, but she did have to get the chicken pox vaccine. It finally caught up to us that we hadn't vaccinated her for it yet. We got a letter from the county saying she couldn't attend daycare until she received it!

RIP Whitie

Our 1987 Chevy Nova died last Thursday. It was a sad, sad day. My Dad bought that car for me my junior year in college. I had been home for the summer, but needed a car because I was moving in with roommates off campus. I was away for the weekend doing the Portland to coast walk with my mom, so my Dad took it upon himself to pick out a car for me. I think it was listed for $1500 and as my Dad is walking around the car checking it out not saying anything the lady anxiously says "I can't take anything under $1200". He was ready to buy it at $1500, but after hearing that he wasn't going to argue, it was a great price for that car. I never had any trouble with it, besides running the battery low from leaving the lights on (I got pretty good at jumping the car). After Brian and I got married and started traveling my brother got the car for a few years until we came back and we needed two cars. We've had it ever since and it just kept going... until last week. Brian was trying to pick up the kids last Thursday and it quit a few blocks from their daycare. He couldn't go anywhere because the car was blocking a lane, so I picked up the kids, Brian got pushed by a cop to a side street and we ended up towing the car back to the house which was one of the scariest things I've done. He was in the 4-runner, me in the Nova with no brakes because it was dead and unable to see anything because the Nova is so low. I felt like he was going 50 mph and whenever there was any slack in the rope, I tightened my grip and just held on as I was jerked back to being towed. We only had to go about 8-10 miles, but it felt like eternity. My heart was pounding and I was so glad to be out of that situation when we got home. I really hope I never have to do it again because it gives me nightmares just thinking about it. Brian ended up buying a Subaru on Friday, so whitie has been replaced but she served us well!

Bend

We had our timeshare in Bend the week of Isaiah's birthday, so we decided to celebrate a long weekend in the snow! Turns out we had to drive up to the mountain to play in the snow because it was a balmy 60 degrees while we were there! Isaiah spent most of the weekend recovering from a fever, cough, mild wheezing, and runny nose. Poor guy was miserable, I felt so bad for him. His fever broke on Saturday and he was feeling better by Sunday, so even though his birthday was on Friday the 21st we decided to wait and celebrate. It just wasn't fair to make him do anything he didn't want to in his state. We left Friday morning, not a fun 3 hour car ride for a feverish kid! I was so worried about him, I kept taking wipes and holding them against the window to get cold and then put them on his forehead (we get creative when we have to!). That calmed him down enough to let him sleep. When we arrived he took another nap, but that night was a long one. Luckily Ashley was able to stay with Grammy and Grandpa at their condo so she wasn't waking up every hour too, but Gram stayed with us so we were all a little tired the next day. Saturday he felt well enough to go for a stroller ride around the complex. It was sunny and warm, it felt great to get outside. After naps Grandpa, Brian and I took Ashley swimming and the Grandma's watched Isaiah at the condo. That night we went out for pizza in the old mill district. Isaiah had a really hard time and wasn't feeling well, but hung in there as we took turns carrying him around the restaurant. Sunday after nap is when we did cake and presents, nothing like a cupcake at 10:30am! He had fun squishing it and playing with it, but not much appetite for putting it in his mouth. I think he was still recovering. He got some really great books, clothes, shoes, a stand up push toy, and a toy train and football from Papa and Ashley. The best part was the wrapping as every kid loves! After gifts we packed up and headed to the mountain to go sledding. Again another gorgeous day! It had rained the week before so the hill was really slick. It was great because you didn't have to climb all the way to the top to get a good ride! We all went sledding and had a blast. Luckily no one got hurt! We brought stuff to make lunch and ate outside out of the back of the car. After sledding I took the kids back to the condo for a nap, two nights of no sleep were catching up to me, so I was happy to go back and lay down with them. Brian went skiing for the afternoon and we all met up for dinner back at our condo. We left Monday after lunch and stopped for ice cream half way to break up the trip. All in all it was a great trip and fun memories for Isaiah's first birthday!
























helping pack up

Birthday Cake

Here is the mister with his cupcakes. The first pictures are of the cupcake he had in Bend, his first ever. The last two were taken when Danielle came down to visit last weekend and brought S'mores cupcakes. You couldn't even see his mouth as he devoured this cupcake. He kept it up to his mouth and ate the whole thing. It had a layer of graham crackers on the bottom, then a layer of chocolate chips, chocolate cake, and a toasted meringue frosting. Ohhhh, they were delicious!



Steph made this wall hanging for Ashley's first birthday and every birthday we celebrate after. Eventually we'll have our names to attach to the bottom to say who's birthday we're celebrating.

Happy Birthday Isaiah!

Zoo Day

For MLK the zoo had free admission. Ashley has only gone to the zoo once when she was a baby and that was in San Antonio... I don't think she remembered it. So, when I heard on the radio that it was free admission we decided to check out our zoo. We met Uncle Dan there too, which made it really fun! I think our favorite were the sea otters, they kept jumping off the glass and doing flips, we even saw them get fed shrimp. The monkeys weren't very active at the time we were there, but we did see an orangutan get into his box and hide under the sheets. The hippos were out of the water and enormous, those are Papa's favorite. We were there for a few hours... until Isaiah told us it was time for a nap, but we'll be doing it again maybe when the sun is shining!

Skiing with Grandpa

It's not too often that I get to hang out just my Dad and I, so this outing was really special. We decided to head up to Mt Hood Meadows and do some night skiing a few Sundays ago. Sunday night is the night to ski, there was no one up there! We started at about 3pm and left at about 8:30. We stopped for an hour to fill our bellies, but then were back out on the slopes. 'Ol pop held up pretty well and was able to keep up with me. We're going to have to do this again soon because it was way too fun!

Christmas 2010

What a wonderful Christmas we had this year! My favorite part was seeing Ashley understand the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus. She only asked for white gloves "like Santa has" and couldn't wait to sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. Christmas Eve we went to mass at 3pm and then over to Selby's for appetizers (a tradition we've done since the early 90's when we moved to Portland). Janie and Scott give all the kids gifts which is really sweet. Ashley got a sticker book and Isaiah a dinosaur book, which the kids loved! After their house we drove around to look at Christmas lights (another tradition I grew up with), went home to open our new pajamas and then off to bed... us much later than the kids due to some assembling. Christmas morning was at our house. Everyone came over in their pajamas and we opened gifts and had breakfast. Then around 4:00 we headed over to my parents where we had dinner and celebrated Christmas with the family. This year we had my Aunt Martha and my cousin Monica come up from California and Arizona (a treat since we never get to see them), Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Al, Adam, and Lucas, Aunt Becki, Uncle Dan, and Steve and Steph. We feel grateful to be able to spend the holidays with our family all together. The best part of the night was everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus before the pies came out. I got tears in my eyes thinking about how this was really what Christmas is about. It was a moment that will last a lifetime, Isaiah even started singing!



Ashley relaxing waiting for brother to wake up.

Gram and Grandpa Timm

Uncle Dan and I

Aunt Becki and Gram Timm



My cousin Monica who is going to school in California. I haven't seen her in years, so it was great to catch up. Her and my aunt drove up to spend Christmas with us. The last Christmas they spent at our house, Monica was a little baby. I remember her sneaking candy canes behind the tree and by the time we caught her it was evident by the red sticky stuff on her face what she was up to!