The Great Catch-Up: May (4/7)

May sprung upon us with flowers, warm weather and Peter's ever-expanding awareness.  He started eating dirt, pulling plants out of pots, and giggling at darn near anything.  

My first official Mother's Day was truly magnificent.  Jason not only gave me some amazing flowers, but also a hilariously sincere card with velvety boarders and gilt writing in Spanish.  It was definitely worthy of a picture.  

We also graduated from feeding Peter on the floor in a bumbo seat (which was great for hip flexibility, but not much else) to getting a real life highchair.   Late night baby shopping at Amazon resulted in a fantastic purchase of a space-age highchair.  Jase and I are both astounded at how excited we got over a  hipster highchair, but I guess this goes with the territory.  We're still excited about this darn thing every time we clean it up (so, every 8 hours or so)

And THEN we went to VEGAS!!!!  When planning our trip (conference for me, vacation for Jason, world-broadening experience for Peter), the thought of taking on Vegas AND a baby was a little intimidating, so we brought in reinforcements.  My cousin Lysne was an amazing vacation buddy and Peter loved his cousin time.  

Peter's giggles got more predictable and more hilarious-- his favorite thing in May was to be gently socked with pillows and rolling around on beds-- as seen in the above video. 

Loving cousin Lysne

We went to see white tigers, dolphins, hipster hotels, and every theme hotel on the strip!  Peter's eyes got even bigger!!

And he started standing.  Amazing.  

Jason and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary by having an adult night out.  We did the whole Vegas thing... grown up slushies on the way to the Stratosphere, death-defying rides over the edge of a huge hotel (see below) and late-night noshes and beers at some ridiculously cheap and delicious Irish bar (nachos made with potato chips sounds gross, but really are manna from heaven).  

This one spins.

This one has a little car that rockets out to the end of the ramp, which then abruptly falls down over the edge of the hotel... almost.

Midnight fountain show at the Bellagio.   We tried to go all night but... we are parents now and too darn tired.  

Gratuitous cute pictures of Peter.  

Standing was the newest most amazing thing.

Seriously.  I am the luckiest woman in the world.  

He got really REALLY good at staying up past his bedtime.  

Amazing pinwheels.

Family hike!  

Peter started allowing other folks to hold him again (he had 2 months of severe stranger danger), and he hung out with some lab buddies.  Above, his babysitter Becky.  

Gazing deeply into Wendou's eyes.

This is simply the best video known to man.  We'd post it on YouTube but we're above that... we don't need a viral video to know that we have the cutest child on earth.  

Next up:  June!  these will get more poetic eventually... right now we're going for utilitarian cuteness.

The Great Catch-Up: April (3/7)

April was a busy month, full of fun and friends.  Our friends Jen and Marc flew out with their daughter Sage (nearly 2 years old), and then we each had our own fun for Easter weekend-- Jase and Marc went for a 3-day bike trip on the White Rim Trail, and Jen and I stayed home and had a quintessential Easter time with the kiddos-- Easter cookies, Easter Eggs, a bunny trail, even an Easter Egg Hunt (though my poor planning landed it in the hot afternoon sun and smack during Peter's pre-nap freakout).  After the guys returned, bikes in tow (and unfortunately, Jason's bike had a wheel that looked like a taco shell), Jen and I were treated to a half-day at the spa to get our groove back.  It was definitely an even trade!

White Rim campsite... damn it looks hot.

Jason's taco wheel-- on the first day, too!

Marc and I also fit in a little skiing, too.
Pure Utah-- skiing and mountain biking on the same weekend!

Easter defined.

Sage and Peter-- they actually got along
quite well, but Sage is guarding her newfound
toy friend-- it's Peter's glowworm.

Jen and Sage on Easter morning

Sage making Easter cookies

Jen and Sage making Easter cookies

Dyeing Easter Eggs

Neighbors Alexander and Lindsay at the
Easter Egg Hunt

Strong women on a hike

Strong woman and a tiny man

Peter and Sage even got to have bath time fun!

Sage put the Rocking Horse to good use

It was also a month of many firsts for Peter.  He had his first ride in a grocery cart, started to try to use a sippy cup (sort of), discovered flashlights, and got his first swim outfit.  He also had his first taste of brains-- er, beets-- and made an adorable zombie baby.

Braaaaiiiins!!!!

First grocery cart ride-- Sage is in the
 truck up front

Sippy cup trials

Most adorable swim baby outfit, courtesy of
GrandNan and baby catalogs

The Light from Within

Big Yawn-- you can almost see teeth!

It seemed strange to us that Peter's daycare had "school pictures"-- after all, these kids are likely photographed within an inch of their lives-- but we bit and I even dressed Peter up a little (i.e., no boogers or oatmeal smears).  We figured we'd have some killer shots, since Peter usually loves people and the camera.  Unfortunately, something about the situation didn't quite work out after the first frame... 

Apparently he kept screaming until he was
brought back to the nursery.  Maybe
it was the fake log?  

Peter also met our good friends Kathryn and Chris, and Kathryn got to experience the squirminess of bedtime stories.  Peter soon developed an irrational fear of both of them, I think because of the bicycle helmets that they frequently wore... we're working on it :)

The Great Catch-Up: March (2/7)

In just a month, Peter went from sitting with a drunken slant to solidly plopping himself down, reaching and grabbing whatever seemed interesting.  The second-hand exersaucer that we picked up was perhaps one of the best purchases we've ever made-- Uncle Nick promptly deemed Peter "The Captain" and his exersaucer "Mission Control."

Baby Carhartts... double-reinforced knees, even! 

Mission Control

The many faces of Peter

Shy for the first and last time

March was the also first time Peter and I flew solo when Jase went to a couple of science meetings.  Grandparents Laurie and Ken came and played with us (and picked Peter up from daycare, since my work hours are just silly), which was wonderful.  They even braved the outdoors one chilly morning, waiting for me to finish my first skate-ski 5K.  It took me longer to ski a 5K than it does to run it, but it's the effort that counts.  I wanted to show Peter that moms can be awesomely strong, even if it's just in their attempts :)  I did get a belt buckle for my efforts, since there were only 2 women in my age group-- whoo too!  There aren't any pictures of this event, and for good reason.  :)

Grandpa Ken and a happy boy.

Peter seems to need Grandma Laurie's help figuring out that ball

Happy Peter and Grandpa Ken and Grandma Laurie

One of his favorite toys-- gets kisses every day

Amazing what you can get away with for gifts when you have a baby

Bright eyes!

Solidly seated

We went on lots of hikes

First time swinging-- a mixed reaction

Look at those little fat baby feet!

 He also figured out what a camera was, and how to make us smile and laugh.  He was quite a ham by the end of the month!

Skyping with GrandNan

Learning how to kiss

Truer words were never written on a T-shirt

Bethany and Ada visited and brought muffins!!!!

Peter with his newborn outfit

Monster Peter

Peter continued his exploration of the wonderful world of solid foods.  Although he started off feeding himself right away (see February's post), then quickly figured out how much more got into his belly if he was lazy and let us feed him.  He was not a fan of carrots (video below)

Avocado is the best food ever!

March also got VERY busy very quickly-- I also added on another very part-time job in Hospice-- I’d always wondered if hospice would be a good fit for me, and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try it out—so far, I don’t like the time away from Peter, but I love the work.  It is fun, but unfortunately tends to take up more than the 8 hours I was hoping it would... just another excuse to not be blogging more frequently.  Jason was incredibly supportive, as usual, as I balanced my Midtown job and my Hospice job, and tried to find some room in there for playing with him and Peter.  Jase got his karmic due when we learned that he was approved for his big K99 grant!  This is a huge deal in the science world, and made him even more employable than he was before.  Peter and I were immensely proud and Jason was even more relieved.  We could now go into April with our sights set on the Great Unknown of Fantastic Science Jobs for Jason.  Stay tuned for Part 3/7 in The Great Catch-Up:  April!