News from Mom

Ok, see what you have done to me with the whole Bloggin' experience. I have fifteen minutes before I have to leave for Belly Dancing class (more on that later) and all I can do is show you these adorable shots of Otto in the tub. I ordered him bath toys from Target along with some sleep sacks. My order qualified for free shipping which really meant snail mail. Needless to say I was really excited when they finally arrived. I am hoping the sleep sacks will be here soon. Luckily Otto loves the toys as much as he loves his bath, which is to say TONS! They are particularly tasty. Oh yeah, you can also check out my adorable new do. At least I think it is adorable. More later, must go shake my booty.

Seriously Otto is the cutest kid ever.

I much prefer to let cruise control take the wheel.

Very few people have a rare Tibetan Urn Cat guarding their back door.

Here I am enjoying the delicious flavors of one of my favorite toys, the wooden clanker thing!


Too cute for words.

Check out my new ride!! This is my cool new stroller for when mom and I go for long walks. There is even enough room to bring Leo along for the ride. We have really been hanging out a lot lately. He is fun to chew on and makes similar noises to me. We also play with Henry quite a bit, he is two and SO COOL! Someday mom says I will be able to run around like he does, that will be great! In fact this past weekend we went to my first birthday party. Henry turned two. I got the coolest crunchy bag as a favor. It was delicious! I had so much fun that I fell asleep only two blocks into the ride home. Mom and Jen, Henry's mom, made cupcakes that looked like cookie monster for everyone to eat. Only Leo and I couldn't have any, poop.

Hello and greetings from the Dude. Things are going well here. I have been having a wonderful time trying out new things everyday. Sometimes mom gives me this "sippy cup" thing to play with. I understand the concept of it, sort of, but I am not totally sold on the water she puts inside it. I have also really been enjoying playing in my exersaucer. Dad calls it the exorcist but no matter the name I love it. I am really getting good at throwing my toys from the higher vantage point. Now I know that when I throw them they aren't really gone, I just have to wait for mom to pick them up. I have also mastered sitting up on my own. The best part about sitting is it is a much better angle to play with your toys and to grab the cat. I have really been having a lot of fun lately. Everything is so interesting!

the Dude

Perhaps you have noticed that ever since I was born mom and dad have been calling me "dude". If you have seen the movie The Big Lebowski then this will make perfect sense. If you haven't seen the movie, rent it tonight. You will be glad you did!

my new high chair

So now that I can really sit up and am starting to "eat" more cereal and veggies mom and dad got me a high chair. It is so cool. I think mom's favorite part is the pneumatic lift. Dad like the fact that it is on casters and we can zoom around the kitchen. I think the best part is banging on the tray. Here are some pictures of me in my space age seat, complete with dinner.

cart break through

So today we reached a major milestone. Otto can now sit in the cart all by himself at the grocery store! And, he loves it. Yesterday I tried it at the fabric store since they have those little carts I thought it might work. It was a success so I tried it in the big cart today. If I had the camera along I totally would have taken a picture like the crazy first mom I am. Let me just say it is adorable, as you can well imagine.
I should say that the little adorable one really gave me a run for my money yesterday by refusing to sleep and crying from extreme exhaustion instead. I would just like to send out a big "I am sorry" to my parents for my lack of sleep as a child. Maybe Otto will have a child that does not sleep. And if he gets a sleeper I will have to resist the urge to poke the baby!
-mom

An update from MOM

So, Otto is now 5 months old. I can't believe it. He is not officially twice as big as when he was born. He had a 5 month check up at the end of July. He weighs 16#'s and is 26" long. We are not sure how but he is in the 90% for height and 75% for weight. You wouldn't guess that by looking at eric and I. He is really doing great. He was rolling over when we were in Chicago but he stopped that. Although just this morning he started going from his back to his stomach. Really though he doesn't have much interest in being on the floor. He much prefers to be standing, with your help. He seems to be closer to walking than crawling. Now he can sit up on his own. He is still a little wobbly but he gets it. One of his favorite things to do is laugh at Grendel. She has been hell on wheels lately but we are keeping her around due to the belly laughs she gets out of Otto. He just loves her. She is also very good and doesn't seem to mind too much when he pulls on her. She keeps coming back for more. As you can see we have been working on his mohawk. It is coming along quite well. In fact when we were in the Seattle airport a 6 year old boy pointed to him and told his brother, "look that baby has a mohawk." That was without the gel. We have been having a lot of play dates with Leo and Henry which is good for all parties involved. Perhaps most of all the moms. With the weather being so hot we have been going to the pool. Otto loves to swim. He has recently mastered the art of splashing which he finds very funny. In fact he is so good at splashing I think his days in his baby bath tub are numbered. We have been bathing him in the tub on the kitchen table. If you look closely in the eating pictures you can see it prepped and ready in the background. Now after his bath the whole kitchen is wet. I think soon we will be moving the mess to the bathroom. We are also still working on food. Some days he likes rice cereal, but not most of the time. Oatmeal seems to be more popular. Baby food is not a favorite with the exception of prunes which he really seems to like. That is a good thing since we need something to keep the cereal moving through him. More than anything it is an exercise in finger painting. But hey, who doesn't like to finger paint. All in all he continues to be adorable and very funny. He is still teething like mad but there are no signs of teeth yet. He also hasn't made too much of a break through with sleeping. With few exceptions he still gets up every two hours at night to nurse. Sometimes he stretches to 3 hours and sometimes it is every hour. But I apparently did not sleep well either so I have no one to blame for that. This morning Eric let me sleep from 6 - 8:30, I think it was one of the longest stretches of sleep I have had since he was born. It is a good thing he is so gosh darn cute! One major development over the past few weeks has been his interest in the objects around him. Nothing is safe anymore. If he can see it he wants to put it in his mouth. Cell phones, magazines, remotes, it all looks delicious. I have to run to make some dinner, but I hope to have more info soon.

back in Northbrook

After our trip to Seattle we went back to Chicago for some more visiting. We had a lot of fun. I got to play with the puppy, Ouzo. Right now he seems mostly interested in eating my burp cloths, but soon I think I will be able to ride him which will be a good laugh. We also went to a park where I got to go swinging and my uncle Matt took me around on the equipment. We even went down the slides. There are a lot of fun things to do when we come to visit. I hope we can come back soon.

Seattle

So after the wedding mom, dad and I took a little mini-vacation to Seattle. Dad found a really great hotel right by the big market downtown and we set off to do some exploring. We went to the Seattle Aquarium which I LOVED! Watching fish is so exciting. We also went to the top of the Space Needle for a great view of the city. I fell asleep on the elevator up and slept through that, but you can see the pictures. That night we all went to dinner which I slept through as well. It was the closest thing mom and dad have had to a date in a long time. Overall we had a blast in our whirlwind tour of Seattle. We have decided that the Pacific Northwest is a part of the country we will have to come spend more time in.

the wedding day

The wedding day was so much fun! The first picture here is the happy couple enjoying the first dance. Then you can see me cutting the rug with mom and Grandmom. No surprise John and Ginny had a wonderful band and everyone was having a blast dancing. I had a bit too much and had to take a nap at one point. The ceremony was so sweet. I woke up from a cat nap just as it started so mom held me and I had a great view out the window which kept me quite entertained. It was wonderful to meet all of Grandmom's siblings, many who I had never seen before. I also met all of my mom's cousins. They all seemed to really think I was fun. Of course it helps being the only baby at a big family get together. That way you don't have to share any of the spotlight!

Bellingham, Washington

Ok, I know it has been forever since you have heard from me. But I am going to try to catch you up on the rest of my trip out west. After visiting in Chicago we headed out to Bellingham Washington for my great-uncle John's wedding. The scenery was beautiful. This was my first taste of big mountains. The last picture here is from the rehearsal dinner. The mountain in the setting sun was taken on the drive home that night. I got to pal around with mom's cousin Claire the next morning at breakfast. She is a real sucker for my stunning good looks. Bellingham is a really charming city and we had a wonderful visit with John and Ginny.