12 Months!

It really is hard to believe but Jimi is 12 Months (and 5 days) old already!

Weight: 22lb 5 oz (42%) Height: 31 inches (85%)

As usual, catching this little boy and getting him to stay still for a picture was quite difficult. It is amazing that in the little over a month he has been walking he has gone from a few steps at a time to full on running. He is still proving to be a picky eater, although his doctor doesn't seem concern since his weight is still maintaining the same percentile even though he's still active. Maybe once he gets more than one tooth he'll be more interested in eating real solid foods. Until then we'll just keep on trying....

Jimi still isn't sleeping through the night but the doctor said at this rate we probably shouldn't expect it until he gets his teeth in. That doesn't give me much hope for sleeping through the night for the next few years considering James got his teeth in late and Jimi only has one thus far. Sigh. I don't think my body would know how to sleep through the night anymore anyway. I haven't been able to do so since I was about 4 months pregnant with Jimi.

Jimi seems like he'll be speaking any day. He is definitely trying to make words and every day they become clearer and clearer. I'm sure some of the words are clearer to us because we see him everyday but even people who don't can understand what he is trying to communicate. Most of his words aren't clear pronunciation though yet. It is amazing to watch him learn and understand more clearly every day. 

This past year has been one of the most amazing of our lives to be able to experience all of the awesomeness that comes with being a parent. There are definitely challenging and frustrating days but overall it is the most positive and rewarding experience. I would sum up parenthood this far as every emotion bundled into raising one little person. There is so much joy, excitement, hopes, fears, frustration (with the occasional tears), and love. 

This once itty bitty baby.....

Is now this fun, crazy, energetic little boy:

The month has been very exciting around here. James start his position at Jackson High School in Everett and has had several shows with the big band MoJo and 20 Riverside. I ran another race with my father. This time one benefiting a local elementary school's PTA. We've also had several visitors from out of state for Jimi's birthday party and baptism (both on the same day). James' grandparents made the long drive from Alabama and my mom and step-dad flew out from Virginia. I'll write another post about Jimi's baptism and birthday party another time but it is late and I'm sure I've only got a few hours before Jimi is awake again...

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)

9 month check up

Jimi had his 9 month check up with his pediatrician today. He is now weighing in a 20lb 4oz (40.7 percentile) and is 29 inches long (70th percentile). Jimi only had to get one shot today and he took it like a champ. He only made a whimpering face for about 30 seconds, ate some snacks and was ready to go.

When we got to the doctors office they had me fill out a survey on Jimi's language development, problem solving skills, social development and fine and gross motor skills. Each area had a few different situations listed and I had to rank whether Jimi did the scenario frequently, sometimes or never. The doctor said he 'passed with flying colors'. She also said that he was where he should be developmentally and that he looked great.

Cruisin' along some benches at one of James' shows

In other Jimi news, he is now waving 'hi' (he hasn't really figured out 'bye' yet) to select people, took one try to figure out climbing stairs, plays 'fetch' with Penny, and most recently started clapping his hands. He also turns the page while reading a book. As my Dad pointed out, apparently we don't read as fast as him, as he flips through them pretty fast. It's already a struggle to get him to eat normal solid foods but the doctor said there is no rush. I think he's not a fan of most textures, except crunchy ones. He would eat puffs all day if I let him.

For some crazy reason I let my dad sign me up for the 'Yankee Doodle Dash' 5k in Everett on the Fourth of July. I've only been working out fairly consistently for about two months and most of that has been in the house using workout dvds, so I was a little weary of what to expect. My time was definitely not where it used to be but I did better than I excepted. I fully anticipated on utilizing the 'walk' option of this run/walk but I toughed it out and didn't embarrass myself too much. Now that I've run my first race since high school, I definitely want to start doing more of them. I've even got James convinced to sign up for one in the fall with me.

Jimi giving me a pep talk before the race

9 Months!

It's hard to believe but Jimi turned 9 months old today! I can tell that doing his monthly photo shoot is going to continue to be more and more difficult to accomplish. Jimi is on the move and he doesn't want to slow down, especially for me to take pictures of him. Here some of the best that I was able to get:

Are you really going to make me do this again, Mom?

I went and sat on the deck to try to keep his attention... it didn't work very well.

Between weddings, James' gigs, Mariner's games, birthday celebrations, and Father's Day festivities this last month was a pretty busy one. Jimi (and James) went to three Mariner's games this month! If he keeps up at this rate he might actually notice what's going on at the game by the end of the summer.

Sleepy boy at the game on Father's Day

Jimi is still crawling and climbing everywhere! He's also pretty good a figuring out how to manipulate things, such as, opening and closing drawers, flushing the toilet, opening his diaper champ and putting clean diapers in to it (we'll give him the bill for those ones when he's older). We now have locks on nearly all of our cabinets and drawers. We left the one full of pot holders open for him so he can feel like he's getting away with something. He's not walking yet but he is able to stand unassisted for several seconds at a time now.

Trying to fit himself into one of the storage baskets from his changing table

This month he got to chow down on his first real strawberry, orange slice and pickles. If we cut it up into pieces for him to eat he's not interested but he'll put the whole thing in his mouth. He absolutely loves pickles! I think the rubbery feeling feels good on his gums. He just gnaws on them whole and sucks the juice out. He is not a fan of sourdough bread. I'm going to work on giving him more "real" finger foods this month as Jimi is becoming less and less interested in us feeding him and more and more interested in trying to eat our food.

Mmmm Pickles

Eating a strawberry

In the great tooth watch of 2011, Jimi still has nothing! He has been chomping down hard and gummy on everything for the last 6 months but yet he still has nothing to show for his hard work and pain. I did just learn that James did not get any teeth until he was a few years old and they say it's hereditary. I really hope not for Jimi's sake! Jimi is now sleeping through the night pretty regularly. He goes to bed around 8 and sleeps until 5 or 6, drinks a bottle and then goes back to sleep for another hour or so. He is also FINALLY napping in his crib. It's great to be able to get stuff done while he's napping now.

Jimi had a cold that lasted almost two weeks this month. Poor little guy was wheezy, coughing, and full of snot. We took him into the clinic twice to have him looked at. His pediatrician is amazing and very understanding of worried first time parents. He has a 9month check up with more shots but not until July 11th, so I'll post and update after that.

Jimi and his friend Miles

Jimi and his friend Carmen

High chair sleepin'

8 Months!

On Monday Jimi turned 8 months old...

His monthly photo shoot did not go so well. He was quite aware that there was a sticker on his onesie and spent the entire time trying to and eating the sticker. Oh well, you can get the gist of how big he is.

Jimi is still quite the explorer. We have to keep a close eye on him or before we know it he's into some kind of trouble... putting something in his mouth he shouldn't be, getting himself stuck somewhere, pulling something on top of himself, etc. He is not a fan of laying still for diaper changes. He loves to feed himself. He is constantly "talking" up a storm. James is convinced he is going to say a real word any day, I know it'll be a while. Jimi has a little bit of separation anxiety when meeting new people. He'll give 'high fives' but usually only to me. He is still not sleeping through the night consistently but the last week he's done pretty good. Sleeping from 8:30pm-6:30am.

Hanging out with his Grampy for a Memorial Day bbq





Trouble maker

Jimi was helping unroll the toilet paper for us

He figured out how to flush the toilet