11 Months!

Holy Moly, Jimi is 11 months old already!

Once again, Jimi was not interested in sitting still for a photo session....I'm thinking I may try to get a few more photos later this week.

 (Are you really going to make me sit here?)

 Gravity storm while walking

This helped distract him for a minute

Pulling off the sticker

This last month was a big one in milestones for Jimi. He got his first tooth and started walking!!! All pretty much on the same day. Both occurred just after I said on my facebook page that I was pretty sure he would be walking before he got a tooth, so he did both on the same day to prove me wrong. (I'm sure he's an avid reader of my facebook) We're still waiting for any other teeth to come in. I think he only have the one on his first birthday. 

My best friend Melissa, who is in her last year of Physical Therapy school, says it's not considered walking until they take ten steps in a row. Clearly whoever decided that wasn't a parent, because as amazing as it is to watch him walk more and more those first three, four, etc steps are the most exciting. It didn't take Jimi long to work his way up to ten steps though. Now I'd say he's walking at least 90% of the time we're at home and probably 50% when were out and about and he's able to.

Jimi's sleep patterns are still pretty much the same... going to bed at 8pm, up once or twice (occasionally more) before eating at 6am and up for the day between 7-8am. He still won't eat much real solid foods. It is always surprising what he decides to eat... He won't eat a piece of cheese but he ate pot roast and potatoes. He won't eat noodles but he'll eat bananas. He won't eat a blueberry but he'll suck on a lemon wedge. He won't eat bread but he'll eat a piece of lettuce. The list goes on.

As far as language development, I'm a little worried he's falling behind. He "talks" non stop jibberish but he only says a clear 'Mom', 'Momma' or 'dawg' (no I'm not using slang that's how it sounds) once in a while. We're still working on it all though. He has begun to properly use the sign for "more" and he is a pro a correctly waving 'hi' and 'bye bye'.

This month we took Jimi on his first couple of hikes. I found a great deal on a hiking carrier with a rain/ sun shield (which proved very useful on our hike today) on craigslist. Jimi likes watching everything from a higher perspective and it must be pretty comfortable because he spent the first half of today's hike asleep.

Oregon, Wedding and a Gig

This last weekend was quite the busy one for us. 

On Thursday James and I left for our first overnight trip without  Jimi to Forest Grove, Oregon for two days. For Christmas James' Dad and Step-mom gave us a trip to stay at McMenamin's (it's a chain of breweries and hotels, mostly in Oregon) and they would watch Jimi while we were way. Since summer is almost over and it'll be Christmas again before we know it, we finally decided to take our trip. James has stayed overnight away from Jimi before, but I have not. Needless to say, I was pretty anxious and nervous about leaving him. I know James' parents did a great job taking care of him and I'm sure Jimi had fun. 

On Thursday we met up with my friend Melissa and went to the Bridgeport and Deschute brewpubs. Then James and I enjoyed 'Field of Dreams' playing outside at the hotel. On Friday, we did numerous wine tasting, a sake tasting, and watched 'Bridesmaids' with Melissa and her boyfriend. The weather was great and so was the hotel. The only thing that could have made the trip better was if I didn't have a sinus cold.

View of Portland from Melissa's apartment

Story of Aldie Howard on our hotel room wall

We drove home early Saturday morning to attend James' Mom's wedding to her long time boyfriend, Jamie. James' walked his Mom down the aisle and played his saxophone for the processional. It was a very nice wedding and the weather was perfect for it! James had a gig that night with 20 Riverside at one of our favorite dive bars in Everett. I stayed home to snuggle with Jimi though.

Sunday, James' band 20 Riverside played at the 20th annual Hempfest in Seattle. This was my (and Jimi's) first time attending the festival. The band played great(!) and the park it was at was beautiful. Although, it was a little too hot and there was too much smoke (of every kind) for Jimi to be around.

Beach Bums

The Pacific Northwest has finally decided to join the rest of the country and enter summer (thankfully not the 100+ temps tough). To celebrate this sunny Sunday we went to Kayak Point, a nice beach and picnic spot. Despite the still frigid temperatures of the water Jimi was not afraid to splash around.

(Note his shorts are now off after repeatedly sitting in the water to pick up rocks)

10 Months!

Jimi is 10 months old!

I need a faster camera because it was once again nearly impossible to get any pictures of him because he is constantly on the move.

Jimi still has no teeth! About a week ago we were sure one was about to pop up because he was chewing on everything and drooling more than normal.... but we're still waiting. The only real solid foods I can get him to eat are bananas, pickles, different Gerber snacks and crackers. ...We've tried different cheeses, pasta, diced steamed carrots, bread and anything else we're eating that we don't think he'll choke on. I'm not sure what the trick is to get him to eat our food... Hopefully he'll just decide to do it (and soon!). Re-sleep training (see previous post) seems to be going well, at least last night and today anyway he only fussed for a couple of minutes. It's definitely harder this time around because Jimi is A LOT louder and much more pitiful about it. His memory is getting pretty good, so I always feel guilty in the morning thinking that he's going to remember I made him cry the night before. Other than 'Mama' and 'Mom' Jimi isn't really saying any real words. He definitely already has his own language though, he uses the same sounds repeatedly for different objects. As for walking, I'm not so sure he will be doing it early like everyone has predicted. He seems pretty content knowing he can get around fast crawling. However, he has been standing for increasingly longer periods of time unassisted and can take a couple steps at you when he gets help getting balanced. I wouldn't call it real walking though.

We took Jimi to the Seattle Aquarium:

Exploring in the 'Tide Pool'

Touching a Star Fish

Blowing the fish kisses

Shark bait

Watching the Seals swim

Also, we have a new nephew! My little brother's wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy
Wade Robert Wessels on July 28th.

We can't wait to meet him next month!