Thursday, March 26, 2009

If it's not one thing, then....

It has been BANANAS around the Lurie household now for a few weeks so if you are wondering why I've basically fallen off the face of the earth, here's why...

1- Terri left her job in Maryland and within 2 weeks of her quitting she moved in with us. Not that she had a lot of stuff with her but the move was my catalyst to do some major house purging that I had meant to do before Julian was born but never really got around to doing it. Thank God for Freecycle because I was able to clean out a lot....of course it wasn't just unloading junk but I ended up taking a trip to the dump to get rid of paint as well as fixing the insulation in my storage area. Woo to projects that grow...

2- She moved in and we get all settled and of course I come down with a nasty head cold that Thad and Julian are both now trying to get over. Really, is there anything more sad than seeing a sick baby?! Anyways, we've gone through enough Kleenex in the past week to pad a moon bounce and I don't see an end in sight yet.

3- And of course, once I am finally feeling a little better, today the main pressure valve for our water intake pipe decided to burst and spray water all over our laundry room which then flooded and seeped water throughout the surrounding areas, including Terri's room, the hallway, and the basement living area. Fantastic!! I am dreading going into the laundry room....

So that's what's going on over here. Oh, and Thad and I just signed up for a Team in Training event TOGETHER, so please, can we pile more onto our plates?! :)

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Julian's Voyage of Self Discovery

No, this isn't about spiritual enlightenment....it's about Julian's inevitable discovery of...."down there." A couple nights ago during his bath we realized that while we bathed him, he would get this silly grin on his face with a far away look and while we giggled, we didn't think much of it. Until now he really hasn't made any attempt to grab down there when we changed his diapers, nor do his constant falls on the floor seem to hurt him in any way. Well last night I took off his diaper and his hands went STRAIGHT there! While he sat in the bath tub no longer do Mr. Rubber Ducky and the bubble thing keep his attention....all he wants to do is grab. Himself. A lot.

I guess we have this to look forward to? Wee, boys. :)

Saturday, March 7, 2009

First trip to the cabin

Jack and my mom have a cabin in Elkins, WV where they go at least every other weekend. It is about 33 acres of gorgeous rolling hillls and forest and it is really a nice place to escape, even if it's only for a few days. Last time we went there was last March for a mini-getaway before Julian's birth and I have been looking forward to taking Julian there ever since he was born. The dogs LOVE going there as they can bound and run off-leash to their hearts content and Scout can do some major deer and wild turkey watching. He still hasn't seen the bears yet and I wonder what he'll do when he does...

My cousins came up from Norfolk to go skiing at Snowshoe and my brother came out, as well, to hang out for the weekend so it ended up being a nice family weekend away. Julian did GREAT. The drive out was smooth (he slept almost the entire time) and he loved the fresh mountain air. The first night was a bit rough (unusual environment, I suppose) and he ended up waking us up a lot but otherwise he liked it. He also LOVED all the attention from his aunts and uncles! My mom went straight to the cabin after 10 days in Hawaii so she really enjoyed spending some quality time with Julian, too.

Here are the pictures from the weekend. Let me know if you ever want to go out there with us! It really is beautiful. And despite popular belief of 'rustic West Virginia cabins,' the cabin does not have an outhouse. :)



Cabin Weekend

9 month check up

Gee it's been forever since I've been able to write! I can't believe how fast our little guy is growing and I am just in awe each day of how amazing he is. Yesterday while I was driving back from getting some Starbucks, I glanced in my rear-view mirror to see how he was doing and he was trying to catch the sunlight in his hand. Could he be any cuter?!

This past monday he had his 9 month check up! Here are his stats:
  • Height- 29 2/1 inches. He is in the 75% percentile for height and has grown 8 inches total since his birth.
  • Weight- 22 lbs 9 oz. He has slowed down quite a bit with his weight gain as he is in the 80% percentile for weight now and has gained just under 14 lbs or so since his birth. Despite leaning out a bit and growing upwards, he still has those adorable chunky thighs.
  • Head Circumference- 17 3/4 inches. He is in the 50% percentile for his noggin.
Onto some more updates...

Julian loves to move!! He has been army crawling now for a while and while it doesn't seem like the most efficient way to get around, he certainly can motor. He is interested in just about everything that isn't safe for him (stairs and cords) and has a bizarre love of the vacuum. He loves to push things around and make them roll (his favorite thing to roll around is his high chair) and he loves knocking down block towers. He is pulling up to standing now and we think he isn't too far from walking. He doesn't understand why he isn't moving forward when he's standing, though...I've been trying to explain to him that he has to MOVE to go forward but he'll get there. We realize that the days of sitting down and playing quietly with our son are long behind us and I think I should have invested in some bubble wrap and put it all over the house. I can't wait until he's walking and we can go for walks in this warm weather!

Eating solids keeps mealtime very interesting for sure. His favorites are: sweet potatoes, rice krispies, sweet potatoes, corn puffs, sweet potatoes, sippy cup of water, and sweet potatoes. I had grave concern that he would be turning orange with how much sweet potatoes he eats but as of yet he's still pretty normal colored. Some days he eats a ton, others he could care less about the solids and would rather smash hisc cereal with his spoon. He definitely would prefer to feed himself than let me or Thad feed him and he gets a proud smile on his face when he feeds himself his breakfast yogurt. This past week was the first time we tried some cottage cheese (hated it, made him barf), cubed chicken (loved it), and those bizarre chicken sausages from Gerber Graduates (hated it so much he spit it out on me). While we're out to dinner we always try to give him some of our food and he LOVES salmon and barbecue sauce (not together). Thad gave him a taste of his BBQ sauce and Julian loved it so much he was squealing with delight! Mmm...BBQ.

I had no idea, though, that stubborness would start so soon! He's become much more, um, vocal when we do something he doesn't want to do. He has decided that he's too cool for diaper changes and I really just need to let him play with the computer cord because that's what he wants to do. He is great about recognizing signs (mainly "more" and "milk" and "all done") but he would rather fight me than try and communicate right now. Ahh, preparations for those terrible 2's! Thank God I worked in preschool for a while because I know what to expect (hopefully)......

Thanks for reading! We're certainly loving life right now with Julian and we are just so excited for the many more firsts that are coming up this summer with him. Hope you all are doing well and if you're ever around and want some Julian loving, definitely give me a buzz!

Here is a family picture from last weekend's trip to the cabin.