Friday, March 30, 2007

9 month doctor visit

Lewis visited the doctor this morning and was just below average in weight at 19 lbs., 11 oz. His length was average at 28". His iron was also just short of normal so we get to give him some drops mixed in with his cereal which should take care of that. Otherwise, everything looked good. The doctor seems to think his lower teeth are about to come through. It feels like we've waited forever for that one! We won't go back again until he's a whole year old.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

summary conclusion

DAY 4:

Sunday morning we went to church with Beth at Evanston Bible Fellowship. Lewis endured most of the worship time, but would not sit still so he went to the nursery. He didn't seem to mind, thank goodness!

The afternoon involved a lot of fun with balloons. Beth happened to have a helium tank in her closet much to Lewis' delight. He played until he wore himself out for a nap.



































Lewis loves his balloon


































That evening some friends, Gabe and Megan, came for a gourmet meal prepared by Beth. Gabe is an old friend from college who lives in Chicago so it was swell to get to introduce him to Lewis. Lewis liked them both very much. He also entertained us by gnawing on a roll.




























DAY 5:















Monday we got up and drove home. We took one last picture of Lewis and Aunt Beth before hitting the road. We did 8 hours of driving in about 12 hours time. We stopped for a while at the outlets in Edinburgh, IN. If you're driving through there, we recommend checking it out! We were going to stay in Louisville with Ellen, but decided that it would be so nice to wake up in our own beds so we drove on. Lewis and his daddy had a sweet reunion. I've never seen Lewis so excited in all his life. We had a great time, but we're glad to be home!
nine months!

Lewis turned nine months old yesterday and celebrated by taking 4 1/2 hrs worth of naps (2 long naps) and going to Wal-mart. He also hit a big milestone in our world by rolling over from back to belly on Tuesday. He did it several times while reaching for a toy and then immediately rolled again to his back. It will probably be a while before he figures out that he can really get around, but we are excited that he's making progress. :)

Back to our trip summary:

DAY 3:

After a lazy morning at Beth's, we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Lewis slept through most of our time there, but we did get a few pictures.

Lewis and the gorilla ignoring each other















Lewis and Ellen with a fake gorilla















Lewis and I with some camels in the background. He's starting to get really sleepy at this point.















It got really cool and foggy at the zoo. You can see the fog behind Beth and Ellen. Lewis fell asleep while watching some fish swimming around. They had this nice music playing in that exhibit.















We rested for a while after the zoo experience and then headed out to a spice store and shopping center. We had a lovely dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Lewis nibbled on a book while we ate. The book was the only thing he was interested in at that point. It is not in the best shape now, unfortunately. Here he is when we got home around 7:30 p.m. He was worn out!! We were too.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

safe and sound

Lewis and I are back from our trip! We are tired, but we had a good time. We logged a lot of hours on the road, and saw a lot of people. I'm going to attempt to chronicle our trip by posting pictures from beginning to end so you can share in our fun a little bit. We are most happy to be home with "da da," who Lewis talked about the whole time we were gone. :)

DAY 1:

On Thursday, we stopped in Louisville to see my dad and step-mom. They enjoyed some time with Lewis. They took him out for a walk around the neighborhood, while I stocked up on baby pain relievers. We proceeded to my sister Ellen's condo, for what turned out to be a short night of sleep before our journey began.





















DAY 2:

Friday morning, Lewis woke up at 5 a.m CST, probably because I woke up at 4, and could not get back to sleep. When he realized I was there he started grabbing my nose and laughing so we went ahead and got up. He watched a lot of Baby Einstein DVDs while Ellen and I got ready and packed up the car.















We drove on to Indianapolis where we met David and Yulia Beatty for some coffee. Yulia is a friend from Belarus who is temporarily residing near Indy with David's family. They have a super-cute baby boy who is not quite 3 months old.















We drove all the way to Evanston after that, stopping once to feed the car and Lewis. Lewis really wanted to drive the last leg of the journey, but we decided he'll have to get a little taller before he gets behind the wheel.















He did really well until we got into Chicago traffic. Here's Lewis playing in his captain's chair car seat:















Once we got into the city, we were starting and stopping more and he does not enjoy that as much. With the help of songs like "Pat-a-cake" he survived and was pretty exhausted and took a nap pretty soon after our arrival. Later on that evening some friends of Beth's who are like family came over for dinner. Jeff and Beverly Slater have four adorable children who also call my sister Aunt Beth. We had a really good time with them. Their youngest son is just 5 weeks younger than Lewis. Here are some pics from dinner:


Oliver and Lewis interacting
















Emmet, Haven and Oliver excited about dinner















Lewis and Cullen hanging out on the floor.















End of day 2! More to come.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

hitting the road

Lewis is taking his first long road trip this weekend. Aunt Ellen and mom are taking him to visit his Aunt Beth in Illinois. It will be an interesting time since he has been a little out of sorts this week. We'll see how it goes! No new pictures to post, but here are a few old ones we haven't posted yet.

Below: Lewis on his tummy (which only last a minute or two).















Corrie and Sophia at our weekly moms' group.















Lewis and Heather Morozov. They have kind of corresponding outfits! She was missing her little boy when we took this picture. He's come back safely from his trip. Yay, Val!


Thursday, March 15, 2007

giving kisses!

A little late for Valentine's Day, Lewis learned an important new skill this week. From the above title you may have guessed that he is now kissing, mostly on demand although inconsistently. So far he has sloppily kissed his mama and daddy, his Aunt Monica, his Grandma and his beloved Gloworm. He has spontaneously kissed me a couple of times which is incredibly sweet! But then again, he rejects us on a regular basis too. I guess we are too demanding sometimes. We are encouraging him to kiss on the cheek, due to the incredible amount of slobber involved, and just the general idea that mouth kissing should be reserved for those special women down the road. This is just our personal preference, and we will not be offended if other families do things differently!! Just keep in mind if you want a kiss from Lewis, shoving your cheek in his direction will help your chances. :)

The funniest part of this whole thing has been coupled with his new-found friend, Lewis, who he sees while standing on my dresser in the big mirror. We can now say, "Kiss Lewis!" and he leans in, laughing hysterically the whole time. We've got some photos of his fun in the mirror for you to enjoy.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

soccer hooligan

Hey ya'll... it's the baby daddy! I'm just checkin' in to let you know that intensive training has begun in "Soccer Hooliganism 101: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, The Basics."

As you may know, the quintessential soccer hooligan dresses at all times in the colors of his team. He is always ready to defend the honor of his favorite club, whether he's at the theatre or the pub. And he's always working out (note the toe-touches in the picture) in case of the unlikely event that his club calls on him to join up and help them conquer the futbol world.

Of course, young Lewis hasn't gotten to that "age of accountability" at which he'll pick his club. But we're practicing nonetheless, onward under the assumption that he'll forego basketball, baseball and cricket and pick the true sport of champions--played by men of valor the world over--as his athletic birthright.

--Jstn

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

no more squealin'!

My car is squeal-free thanks to the good people at Floyd's. Apparently there is some kind of glaze that is on breaks that causes them to make awful sounds and once they removed it, my driving experience took a turn for the quieter!! I can't explain how nice it is after listening to it for a year. Lewis, on the other hand, did some squealing of his own when he missed his midday nap and got overly tired this afternoon. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

A couple pics of Lewis having some fun with dad.

Monday, March 05, 2007

keeping up with the Joneses

We introduced Lewis to Tim and Glenda Jones this weekend. They were visiting from north of Chicago in Illinois. They are very animated people and Lewis seemed to appreciate their enthusiasm for animals. They'll make pretty good parents someday!

Due to my squeaky brakes, I was car-less last week and basically trapped at home, aside from some walks outside. The sad thing, while my car got a tune-up, there was nothing really wrong with the brakes. They assure me they can get rid of the squeal, but ran of out time by the weekend to get to it. I get to take it back tomorrow and they say I'll be able to wait while they take care of it. Let's hope so!! That should be a fun time.

We did get out to the 'Lil Angels Attic consignment sale this weekend and got Lewis some cute spring/summer outfits. Now we just have to wait for the weather to warm up. :)