Jack update

Jack is now 10 months old although all of these pictures were more around the 9 month mark. The biggest change is that he is constantly on the go now. He started crawling on his 9 month birthday, albeit very awkwardly. He still tends to drag his curled up left leg under him and push forward with his right foot. The end result is that it's very easy for him to go from crawling to sitting up on the left leg whenever he wants to stop and check something out. He gave us quite a scare a couple of days after he started crawling. We were rushing around getting the house picked up before guests arrived and both of us thought the other was watching Jack. At that point he was still pretty slow, or so we thought. Next thing we know we hear a distant scream and my heart sank immediately knowing what had happened. He had managed to scoot all the way to the other end of the house and fall down the length of our basement stairs. He was just sitting at the bottom bawling with no obvious injuries and was comforted within seconds. Whew! Phil put a gate up the next day.

Days later he began pulling up on everything and now is cruising along furniture with ease. Other new skills in the last few weeks are clapping, waving hi and bye, and lots of pointing.

Phil and I are amazed by how well he entertains himself for long periods of time (second child characteristic probably) and also how he will sit in his high chair for a long stretch at home or in a restaurant and eat anything and everything--very different than Sasha. We are almost off of baby food altogether. He is still waking up one time at night for a feeding but otherwise sleeps 7pm-6:30 am and takes 2 good naps. At his 9 week check-up he weighed a scant 15 lb. 9 oz but is average for height.

Memorial Day in Sedona

For a little getaway we took a road trip to Sedona, Arizona for the long holiday weekend. What a gorgeous place that rightfully earns it's nickname of "Most Beautiful Place in the America". We did some challenging and ultimately very rewarding hikes with breathtaking views--perhaps a little more than we should have with a 3 year old and a baby--but they were both troopers. Sasha loved scrambling up all the red rock. Jack chilled in the Bjorn. On one of the hikes we foolishly left our drinks in the hike backpack that we had to abandon halfway up because the crevices became too narrow and awkward for it. It was super hot and we were all very, very thirsty by the time we came back to it. The picture at left shows Sasha thoroughly enjoying her first IBC Root Beer at the end of this hike. She kept talking about "beer" meaning "root beer" the rest of the trip. "Just one more sip of beer before bed." and "When we get back I'm going to drink all of the beer." It sounded so wrong!
We spent the mornings kiddie poolside at the hotel going between the pool and the hot tub. Jack loved the water and was a great traveler for the 7 hour trip thankfully.

Gymnastics

Sasha has been taking gymnastics off and on for the past 2 years so I thought it was time to formally document it with a few pictures. Until this last summer session either Phil or I would always be with her to guide her through the routines, but this last class she was deemed old/mature enough to do it on her own and we would wait in the upstairs viewing area.


These classes have been wonderful for teaching her to follow directions from "coach", how to wait in line for her turn, and they have pushed her to try physically challenging moves that she wouldn't have thought to do otherwise.






Sasha giving us the double thumbs up.










The obstacle courses resonate well with her rough and tumble daredevil attitude. She especially loves the days when they have the rope and hanging rings out. I think we'll continue with these classes next year although I sometimes wonder what the end point is for all this....cheerleading?! HELP!