Adios!

Hola friends. Mommy and Daddy are teaching me a bit of Spanish because they just returned from Cozumel. In the past two weeks, I have had to say, "Adios" to a few things. First of all, it was my last music class two weeks ago, which is kind of sad, since I really like singing and playing the fun instruments. On our last night of class, we sang a song about bubbles and I had so much fun trying to pop them, that Mommy went out and bought some bubbles for us to play with. We are going to sign up for music class this summer again.

Playing the bells... well actually, chewing on them

I chew on the rhythm sticks too. All these instruments are delicious!

Playing with bubbles in music class

Adios Mommy and Daddy...My parents "chose" to leave me for 5 days with the Grandmas. They went to Cozumel for a little vacation. Little did they know that everything went just fine as I was spoiled by Grandma Carla, Grandma Lois and by aunt Judie. Just to be sure that everything went smoothly, Mommy wrote a short novel on how to take care of me and she packed a suitcase that had enough clothes and toys for a month. I think she forgets that both Grandmas raised three kids each. Anyhow, I went on a lot of stroller rides since the weather was so nice here. Cousins Lexi and Sam were staying at Grandma Carla's too because Auntie Stef and Uncle Bruce were in Hawaii and left their children too. So we abandoned children just played and had a few sleepovers together. Mommy forgot to ask the Grandmas to take pictures of me when they were gone, so unfortunately, we don't have any coverage of this. Here are a few pictures of Mommy and Daddy having fun on vacation without me, sniff, sniff.

Those drinks sure look better than my milk!

I wish I could have eaten some of that sand!

Mommy and Daddy said they missed me so much and that they thought and talked about me a lot in Cozumel (reason #1,258,776 that they should have brought me with!) Here is proof that they were thinking about me there!

The good news about their trip is that I got a cute little t-shirt and some musical instruments!

Mommy wonders if these toys from Mexico are lead-free!?!?!? P.S. The reason I am not wearing my helmet in this picture is because it was air-drying after being washed. No worries, I do wear the thing 23+ hours a day!

See, helmet is back on.

I have a new silly smile, where I smile with my eyes squinty and show my entire mouth. Mom says I look "extra special" with this smile and my helmet on. I don't think she means that in a good way. At least everyone cracks up laughing when I do this silly smile! Notice that my tooth on the bottom? The second one is coming in too! Adios gummy smiles!

Finally, I learned how to wave "bye, bye" but of course, I wouldn't do it entirely for the camera, so here is a mini-wave for you! I am loving my parents being home (and they are happy to be home too) and we had a great weekend catching up for lost time. Hopefully they will take me on their next vacation!

"Put me in Coach"

Well, it's official. I now have a helmet on my head. Mike, the orthopedist, fitted my helmet today. I have to say I like the animal print on the helmet. They want me to wear the helmet for one hour on and one hour off tomorrow, followed by two hours on, one hour off the next day and so on. By day 5, I will wear this thing 23 hours a day. I already apologize to Sara, my daycare provider, for having to put up with this! Daddy still thinks my head is perfect and wonders why I have this thing on. Mommy says it will be all worth it in the end. For the whole two hours total that I wore it tonight, it really didn't bother me much. I was very hot and sweaty under it, which was the only downfall. Here are some pictures and a short video of my new helmet. Daddy says we will have to have a family picture wearing helmets just to make me feel better!

If you look closely, I do have my first tooth sticking out of my gum (on the lower left side of my mouth). This little bugger hurt and I was not the happiest camper last week!

My pacifier makes everything seem so much better!




Here are my deep thoughts about my new helmet (click on the video clip above)

The Cabin...

As you probably can recall, we didn't have the best weather last Thursday for our trip to the Berlute's cabin. We risked it a bit and ended up staying in Duluth overnight.

Who would have guessed by this beautiful picture that the night before was a blizzard!


We stayed in Canal Park at the Comfort Suites and we had a nice view of frozen Lake Superior. Mommy and Daddy reminisced about their college days up there but we didn't have time to drive to St. Scholastica to check it out. Not enough time in the day!

This is what the cabin road looked like as we drove up... ah... winter bliss!

Finally, we made it to the "cabin!"

The weekend ended up being bitterly cold, so the girls mostly stayed in and watched us kids while the boys froze their ? off snowmobiling. This is as close as I got to snowmobiling.


Mommy took me on a really short sledding ride down the driveway.

The Berlutes and the Klay's on our last day

Playing with Lauren and Abby

I turned 9 months old, as you can see on my t-shirt on Feb. 27th. I am getting SOOOOO big! I have my first tooth, I now eat lots of intesting foods, and I scoot all over the floor to get where I want to go. I rock on my hands and knees and can scoot backwards but I haven't figured out forward motion this week YET!

I am now practicing with my lion walker. It's just a matter of time and I will give my parents a run for their money!

My first trip to the zoo!

Last weekend, we decided we would head to the cities for Valentine's Day. We thought it would be fun to go to the MN Zoo since we are proud members and have an annual pass (thanks Great-Auntie Lynda!) The best part of the zoo was the HUGE sandbox that I played in. Daddy was the "lucky one" to bring me in the sandbox to play. Cousins Lexi and Sam joined us and they had fun burying my legs in the sand. I loved the sand so much that I had to sneak in a little taste. Mommy found sand in every place possible for the next three days. Even after a bath that night, we still seemed to find lovely sand!!!

Another fun place at the zoo was the aquarium where I loved looking at all of the colorful fish and even saw a shark feeding. I think Mommy and Daddy need to take me to Cozumel when they go in three weeks, don't you? Since the Zoo was really a big ZOO that day, we were only there for two hours or so. The nice part is that we will have many trips back there, especially this summer!

If you look closely, you can see the big shark swimming past the window! Yikes, I would hate to see that thing in the ocean!

Last weekend was also Valentine's Day, so we celebrated by being with family, eating candy, and opening presents. I really love this holiday stuff. I had my first sucker... thanks Grandma Carla! Mommy wasn't as excited about this, but I really loved it and was able to have just a few sucks of it.

Grandma Lois gave me some biscuit treats to help my little teeth pop out (they still haven't yet). These little guys sure are tasty but what a mess!
This "lover boy" is a mess! These flowers were for my Mommy because I love her so much!

One of my favorite gifts from Mommy and Daddy was this Elmo. He blows kisses and says funny things. I am certain this will eventually put my parents over the edge!

In case you are wondering, my shirt says, "Single and Loving it!"


Another fun event around Valentine's Day was the party we had at daycare. We brought Valentine's for each other and had some fun. Ethan wasn't there (missed you buddy!) I got my favorite treats (Graduates) and some nice books!

Taking a break from rolling and "crawling"

I have been busy with practicing my crawling and I am SO close! I now rock back and forth on my knees. I really want to go places, so I mostly "log roll" to where I want to go. I can scoot on my tummy backwards and turn my body around. I still need to figure out how to move forward.

P.S. Mommy is not so thrilled about this picture of her. She made me write this so that you didn't think she was completely falling apart! It was an early morning and she was tired from the late evening out with Daddy and their friends.


Finally, I had my last swim class on Saturday and proudly graduated from "Skip class!" I am quite the fish in the pool. I love to kick my legs and scream really loud. We sing songs and practice jumping off the ledge and blow bubbles in the water. I was the youngest in the class, but I still was able to do all the things that were being taught. I am going to miss class, but Mommy promises we will sign up for summer swim lessons!

I am really excited to go to Lutsen next weekend to spend time with our friends. I am most excited to see my two little girlfriends (Lauren and Abby). I will have lots of fun pictures when I return! Have a great last week of February!

A helmet afterall....

Getting the mold of my head.. Plaster was EVERYWHERE!

This is the cast molding of my head (it is drying so they can send it in)

Well, as you many of you know, I have somewhat of a Charlie Brown look (block-head) and it finally came time to make "the decision." Mommy and Daddy decided to have my head fitted for the dreaded helmet. What was first explained to us as a helmet that would only need to be worn at night, will now most likely be worn 23 hours a day. The time frame for wearing this crazy thing is anywhere from 4-8 weeks on average. Since I am a little older and wiser, it could take a longer than this for my head to round-out. Mommy is a little more relieved that she won't have to try the repositioning suggestions at night, especially now that I roll all over my crib. Here is a picture of the little boy who is the model for OrthoAmerica, the manufacturer of my helmet. He is wearing the Safari Animals helmet, which is the one Mommy ordered for me too (Daddy wasn't too excited about the pattern).

It's not so bad, right!?!?

The helmet should arrive in a week to two weeks and I will keep you posted on how it is going for me! Onto happier news, I had my first haircut on Saturday at The Garage. I know it isn't the most manly place to go, but Mommy wanted my first haircut to be just right. I think Daddy would have preferred that I went to Sports Clips or a Barber Shop for just boys. Here are the pictures of my big day!

Waiting for my turn (you can now see my flat back of head here)

Before Picture

Wearing the cape

Cheryl is cutting my hair while Mommy tries to call me down (I didn't like sitting still for that long!)

After... SO handsome!

My Official Certificate and Lock of Hair (Mommy loves these little "trinkets" for scrapbooking!)

We also remembered the camera for KinderMusik this week, so here are a few pictures of me at music class.

Making noise with my girlfriend, Megan

Mommy and Daddy swing me (hammocking) for a lullaby and yes, I am still holding that silly little drum. I love that thing!

And finally, using the fun little shaker and STILL holding onto that drum! I am my own band!