Seth's 1 Year stats

Toot toot! Seth to the rescue! (taken on his birthday with his new toy)

Today was Seth's 12 month (1 year) check-up at the pediatrician. He has grown so much in the past 3 months! He was due for 2 shots, one of which was a chicken pox vaccine. He did great; he cried during the shots themselves, then was fine.

STATS:
Weight: 22lbs. 12 oz. (50th percentile)
Height: 31.75 inches (90th percentile)

Considering that at 4 months he was in the 10th percentile for weight, he's come a long way! Again, the doctor had nothing but a good report for Seth and said he was great. We are to continue introducing table foods and can now introduce whole milk instead of formula. He also can start a cup with a straw or a sippy to transition from the bottle. We'll see how that goes, Mr. Seth can be rather particular with his food. I'm sure he'll get the hang of it eventually. The Dr. said that no one goes to college still eating pureed food...so there's hope!

Seth has 8 teeth and I think more are on the way with the constant drool and chewing lately. We're working on clapping hands and he still can walk around the table while holding on. He likes pushing things along the floor such as his new trucks...but tends to get frustrated easily when they tip over or get stuck. Guess we could have a patience issue on our hands...or a very anal-retentive son. Either way he gets it honestly. Overall Seth is still a great and happy kiddo. Constantly discovering new places to go and new things to get into. Keeps me on my toes!

5 Years

To Evan:
I can't believe we are celebrating five years already. I would still walk down that aisle today if given the opportunity. I am so blessed to be living along side my best friend – to wake up in the morning and at night rest my head next to the best partner anyone could ask for. We make a great team and I don't know what I'd do without you.

And now, a son...who wakes us up every morning with his cheerful talking. What a joy it has been watching you be such a wonderful and loving father to him! He is so lucky to have you as his daddy – to show him the ropes and work and learn beside you. He loves you so much and I know you can tell when he flashes you a big grin. We thank you for going to work each and every day so that we can have all that we need.

We love you so much! I look forward to the next 5 and the next 5 after that. Thank you for being the hard-working, Godly man of integrity that I dreamed about.

Back from D.C.

Yep, we're baaaack. D.C. was great and exhausting all at the same time. It was Evan's first time and he was impressed with the grand-ness of the monuments and enjoyed seeing everything we walked to see.

Seth survived too. To make a long story short regarding Seth's schedule on vacation: turns out that the day went smoothly if we let him catch 30-minute snoozes in the stroller then trying to hike back to the hotel and MAYBE catch a nap. He was exhausted, but on the first 2 days of trying to incorporate a daytime nap, he cried much more when it was time for bed at night (waking up during the night as well). The second two days, after cat-napping in the stroller, he went right down for the night after his bottle. In fact, on Wednesday night he fell asleep drinking his bottle. There was a perfect nook for his pack-n-play in our hotel room that was out of sight of Evan & I. No need for blankets or anything extra. Overall, went well.

A few pics from our trip...


Side story for Ryan & Jenn Gates (because I think you're the only two who will find this amusing/interesting): this photo above was taken in Dennis Kucinich's office after our staff-led tour of the Capitol. Yes, we had to go in there. After all, he is the rep. of our congressional district and as Evan put it, we'll put our tax dollars to work. We were led on our tour by a young intern named Loren. He was a nice kid and had only met Dennis once. I asked him if he got to choose who he worked for (thinking would anyone of sound mind choose to work for Kucinich?) He said not really. Each office is a separate contract. So I suppose his resumé got put in a pot and each rep's office picks people out of the pot. Evan gave him a very diplomatic overview of the overall take on Dennis. Basically, we don't align ourselves with him, we don't know how he keeps getting re-elected...but Clevelanders must view him as "one of us" because he has a large following (I guess). Loren found that interesting and would like to visit Cleveland some day. He is from L.A. and has never really been to the midwest.
So anyway, after Seth charmed the entire room of Kucinich staffers...and had them on the floor, we said our good-byes. We asked them if Dennis ever brought them Malley's from Cleveland. They had never heard of it. We explained about the chocolate and told them they need to tell Dennis: People from Cleveland were here, told us about Malley's. Why have you never brought us any? I'm sure Dennis will appreciate that.

Seth Turns 1!

Bring on the chocolate cake!

Today was the big day – Seth's first birthday. It was a perfect day to be at the park. Seth was good even when he got pretty tired at the end. He was blessed with many great gifts and I know he'll love playing and wearing everything he got.

BUT, I know what you all really want to see is Seth and his first cake experience. We made him a mini cake by using a jumbo muffin size tin. It was more than enough. I think he's following in his parent's footsteps. The kid likes chocolate!

As I write this, Seth is napping (after a big day) and Evan & I are pretty exhausted as well. We're off to Washington, D.C. tomorrow and we haven't started packing. Hopefully Seth will like it: first chocolate cake...then the White House!

Here are photos of Seth and his cake...and some shots of us and Seth's grandparents. Enjoy!

No nap = Fussy Seth

Seth and I at the Lesch Family Reunion

Seth is always a good traveler. Yesterday we put him to the test, though. He didn't get an afternoon nap and that led to a tiny melt down at the family picnic. It figures. Some of these people were seeing him for the first time...and what do they hear? A crying, fussy child. I know, most of you who read this are thinking: Seth? Fussy? But it's true. The kid needs his naps.

I should have known it was going to happen considering:
1. His morning nap was cut short due to us having to arrive at church early for Evan to prepare for his FPU announcement.
2. Fed Seth his lunch after church during Evan's FPU interest mtg. Was hoping Seth would then fall promptly to sleep for the 1 hour drive to Norwalk. As luck would have it, Seth fell fast asleep...as we arrived in Norwalk! Again, had to wake him up.
3. We forgot to bring his stroller a.k.a. place to sleep. For the next couple hours he was being held by someone and getting more and more hot and fussy.

There you have it. Recipe for a melt down. Granted, the crying didn't last long. He eventually snapped out of it and ran purely on fumes of playfulness and pleasantness. He managed to take a brief nap in the truck while Evan ran in to get his hair cut at his sister's house. I stayed in the truck with him with the A/C running. He stayed asleep even upon arriving at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Eventually he either woke up or we woke him up to eat his dinner. Then played and crawled all over their kitchen floor. He slept most of the way back to Lakewood and went promptly to bed. Ugh.

Both naps today have been around 2 hours long...I think he's making up for yesterday.

Seth shots...finally!

Seth turned 11 months on July 30. He is on the go and getting into everything. He has 6 teeth and still very happy. He loves to laugh and even makes himself laugh sometimes. Crazy kid. He is pulling himself up to standing all the time, even flushed the toilet the other day! He's been getting into potted plants and eating some of the dirt. He likes to play in the dirt, it gets on his fingers...which eventually end up in his mouth. Yes, it's gross, but he's a boy and a curious one at that.

August: A busy month!

I stink. I haven't had a new post here for awhile and sadly, I haven't had a chance to even take photos of Seth to post here either. I've been so busy and unfortunately, I'm going to remain that way at least until September. August is a very busy month.

Seth will have his first birthday this month. I have a few pages yet to go on his scrapbook and I don't even know when I'm going to get it done. I have absolutely no pictures of 11 months so it may not be represented in his book. Aah!

A bridal shower, a wedding, three family picnics, trying to remember gifts for my dad's birthday and nephew's birthday, and planning Seth's party has me busy on the social level...then work has been keeping me busy most weekday evenings. Then our tenant downstairs moved out so we're trying to get some touch-ups done down there. So I need to do some cleaning...oh yeah, and my apartment too! We host our church small group twice a month too.

All this and still trying to do my treadmill time every weekday morning, keeping up with laundry, and taking care and running after Seth.

We leave for our vacation the day after Seth's birthday, so somehow I'll have to find the time to get packed while preparing for Seth's little party. Lord, help me.