Valentines Day

Our friends Brandon and Jenn watched Ian while Scott and I went out to celebrate Valentines Day last Friday. Once again, I was reminded how glorious it is to go out sans baby. We tried a new restaurant, and then made very good use of a gift card my sister and her husband gave us over Christmas. My new favorite ice cream is chocolate cake batter with graham cracker crumbs in it. So good.

Scott knows just how to help me celebrate Valentines Day -- really good chocolate! I think this was my introduction to the best chocolate in the world, and I hope to become very familiar with it in the future. I loved every single piece of it.

And for Scott, I surprised him by starting our wedding scrapbook! Turns out I really enjoy scrapbooking. And it also turns out I love our wedding pictures. A little cropping goes a long way, doesn't it? I have about half the pictures done, and will post photos of the pages for your enjoyment. I am pretty proud of the results.

And just in time for Love Day, our amaryllis bloomed. We got a total of three large flowers and it was fun to see the first one open on Valentines morning.

Ian also had a great day: He got an adorable Valentine from his grandma and grandpa Larson. He carried it all the way back from the mailbox and didn't want to let it go. Thanks for sending it grandma and grandpa!

Ian imitates more words every day. Most of the time, he only manages to repeat the tone and inflection of what you said, and usually with the same amount of syllables, but not so much the actual word. But on Tuesday he began saying 'cracker' with great regularity. And it actually sounds like cracker! To reinforce the word and it's meaning, I fetch a graham cracker every time he says it. It has made for A LOT of trips to the pantry. I love hearing him communicate. And check out those teeth! He currently has 7 teeth: four on top, three on bottom.

Naughty Naughty

Here is photo evidence of Ian's mischief. Thankfully, he hadn't fallen into the vacant space yet, because that is always especially traumatic for him. The blue bottom isn't solid, and has a network of bars underneath it, which becomes a tar pit for little Ian, where he flops around until rescued. While I was taking pictures, Ian was willing to demonstrate how he does it -- I thought he had been slipping his little fingers under the end and prying it up. He actually just yanks on the middle of the sheet and the end flips up. I think we can prevent this by just removing the sheet.... hope it works.

Another solution is to buy Ian a real crib, with a real mattress. This crib is my current favorite and is the only one I have liked consistently. I like that it has really simple lines and is Espresso color (though the picture looks blackish). It is convertible, but that doesn't matter to me. It has great reviews online, but I would love to hear from anyone else who has it. Or anyone who has opinions on this type of crib. What did you look for in crib? What do you love and hate about your own? I figure if we wait nearly a year to purchase a crib, we had better get it right. And that kind of pressure has made this process take months longer.

10 Months!

21 lbs. 9 oz., 50%

Our once rolly-polly baby went in for his weight check today, and thankfully he finally broke the elusive 20 lbs. mark! He weighed in at 21 lbs. 9 oz., which is up about 2 lbs. in the last month. He is now comfortably within the 5oth percentile, instead of the lower 25th percentile. Our pediatrician said that even in the 50th percentile, Ian is built like a line-backer, with broad shoulders and a thick chest. He tried to make Ian promise he would never play for University of Texas. I told him not to worry, that Ian was already a Cougar.

I feel great satisfaction in Ian's weight gain as I have spent the majority of my time during the last month preparing for the big weigh-in. I could often be found preparing baby food and feeding baby food and wiping off Ian's messy self. And Ian has spent most of his waking moments in his high chair this last month. But it has paid off. Whew!

Ian has been sick this week, and has been a very pathetic sight. The first day of the 'cold from heck', Ian wanted to snuggle and be held all day long. Pitiful as it was, I enjoyed snuggling with my normally unsnuggly boy. In the days after that he was mostly ornery, runny nosed, feverish, and didn't have much of an appetite. His fever has been gone for several days now, and he seems to be doing much better. Scott is also feeling much better this week. The Larsons are well on their way back to perfect health.

Ian currently loves pulling himself up on anything and everything, he walks along furniture, he waves bye-bye (including to his beloved bunny, who has to stay in bed when I get Ian out), he claps, throws balls to dad, has 5 teeth, throws his sippy cup and everything else off his tray, likes swings but doesn't like slides, throws his bunny and binkie overboard when he is supposed to be napping, and then cries for them to come back, and to my great frustration, he folds back his bed mattress and then gets stuck amongst the bars, which is not at all conducive to sleep. I will have to produce pictures of this last one -- it is a sad sight to be seen.

Ian is very healthy, is happy as ever, and is such a joy to Scott and I. We love being Ian's parents.

When Ian started to get over his cold, we walked to the park for some fresh air. He really enjoyed swinging, but mostly just wanted to be home in bed. Notice he is only slightly smiling in these pictures? We'll give it another try again soon.

Gorgeous Weather & Stuff

Just thought you all might want to know that it is 10:15 p.m., a perfect 60 degrees F and we have a slight breeze blowing in through our windows. Our windows are open! In February! The past several days have been just like this --- 70 degrees, a little breezy, and not at all humid. I have decided that February is a good enough reason for anyone to move to Houston. Oh! It is so glorious! I love the fresh, pleasant smell that enters through an open window on a night like this, and permeate the entire house. This is heavenly.

So, everyone, no more visitors in July. February is the new summer break 'round here.

And because I know grandparents and great-grandparents would leave here disappointed if they didn't get to see Ian, here are a few older shots that I forgot about. They were all taken in early January.

Here, Ian decided he was done eating, popped in his binkie, and then absentmindedly kept shoveling cheerios toward his mouth.

Some of Ian's friends came over to play and brought over loads of fun toys. Best of all was this basket, which Ian sat in for no less than 30 minutes, reading, playing, lounging.

"What's the big deal? Can't I get a minutes peace to read my board book, Ma?"

Ewww. Soggy, sloppy wheat biscuits.