Memorial Day/Papa's Bday/Clam-iversary BBQ

On Sunday we had a festive get together at our house. Not only was it Memorial Day weekend but it was Papa's birthday, Claire and Sam's anniversary, Ron and Lori were visiting... and the weather was PERFECT! Matt made some yummy kabobs, and everyone else brought along some delicious Mediterranean side dishes. It made for a great day!

Thanks for coming everyone.

Grannie comes to visit

Grannie and Grandpa Irv came to visit this weekend. We had wonderful weather! We went to a nice Friday lunch at Sea Salt and saw Minnehaha Falls.
They, of course, dove right into the yard work... they can't help themselves. They helped us get the yard cleaned up from the crazy wind we had here last week, dug-up our dandelions and added a few finishing touches to get us ready for summer. It looks great! Matt and Irv built some much needed storage in the "workshop"... it's going to be so nice to get it organized (we will post those pictures when we get to it)! The girls took Oscar out for some shopping... and we exhausted him (and ourselves)! Hopefully Grannie got in enough time with her little "boo-boo". He misses her already and is still recovering from the busy weekend.

*unfortunately we didn't take very many pictures this weekend so we are waiting on Grannie to share some good ones with us for the blog.

a few weeks of firsts

The past few weeks have been full of firsts for all of us. We celebrated our first Mother's Day last weekend with a family dinner at Sea Salt, a trip to the plant sale, lots of yard work and quality time with my little guy. We also planted a Lilac bush with the placenta; to honor Oscar's birth. It made for a very special day. It's hard to imagine but I learn to love him more every day and I feel so lucky to have him in my life.
Everyday Oscar is learning, trying, and experiencing new things. He has been continuing his good sleep schedule... averaging 13hrs a night (still with a snack or two). He has been practicing sitting up and is always trying to pull himself forward to sit-up while you are holding him. He's getting very strong! He has become more comfortable in the excersaucer and has even been able to reach more accurately in an attempt to play with the toys. He has been moving all over his crib at night. At first he would just wiggle himself up to the corner, then he would wiggle himself perpendicular to where we laid him down. Friday night shortly after his middle of the night snack he cried out... I went in to find him on his back after I had just put him down on his belly! This seems like a huge milestone. I am not sure that he realized what he had done, or that he was even awake enough to appreciate his triumph but I was sure excited at 3am. I am sure he will be doing more of that in the coming weeks.

Bumbo

Morning Workout

... caught on video

Oscar turned 3 months old this past Saturday. We were looking back at the pictures from the first few days, weeks, months... he has already grown and changed so much. He has gained more control of his hands recently and his most exciting new trick is giggling! The first time was while chatting with his Nana on Sunday. We have been trying since then to catch it on video (which was harder than we expected)... he has to be in the right mood for some good laughing. Enjoy!

Oscar was especially cute this morning in his summer outfit which happened to coordinate with his bed... couldn't resist.

funny conversation

So this morning Oscar woke-up at about 7am... just before Matt's alarm went off.
Oscar: crying
Jess: "I don't want to get up"
Matt: while getting out of bed "what should I do"
Jess: "change his diaper" -thinking, I'll be up in a minute
Oscar: still crying, getting more mad
Matt: after picking Oscar up, comes down the hall with him
"he was sucking his hand and farting... what does that mean?... and I can't find the pacifier."
Jess: gets up to help (we changed his diaper, I nursed him and he went back to sleep till 9:30)

What does that mean? I'm still laughing about this scene this morning. Did Matt think that the hand sucking and farting was secret code for something? And only Mom can decode this mysterious combination of signals. Just thought I'd share a funny glimpse into our daily life.

Well Rested

I don't want to jinx it... but it seems as if Oscar has started sleeping 12 hours at night! He does get up for a brief snack around 5am and then goes right back to sleep till 9am! We feel very lucky for this. I don't know what changed in the last week (last Monday night he got up every 2hrs!) but we are thankful. He's such a good little boy. I'm sure we have not conquered night time sleep but its a huge step in the right direction!


Last Monday we had a date with some of the other moms and babies from our Bradley class. It was nice to get together with other new moms and talk about diapers, sleeping, breastfeeding, traveling, etc... Everyone is dealing with the individual struggles and challenges. It's great to be able to get advise and share what we are learning as we go.



He took his first trip to the zoo last week. We joined Nana, Papa, Claire and Olive. Oscar ended up sleeping in the sling, like a pea in a pod, for the whole visit. We did become members so we will have more chances to visit all the animals again over the summer... and maybe Oscar will stay awake for more of it next time. It was fun to imagine him feeding the goats at the petting zoo, and getting excited by the fish in the aquarium next summer. (the picture is my view of him in the sling)



The Zabel clan got together Sunday to celebrate Levi's birthday. We unfortunately forgot our camera... but Claire got some good ones <Claire's blog> of Levi with all the kiddos. You can see how much Olive and Irene love there new cousin Oscar!


All and all another good week. Oscar has been practicing sucking on BOTH hands finally, as well as getting a work out in the excer-saucer. He also has more facial expressions using his eyes and eyebrows... it's pretty funny. He's getting bigger by the day... most of his 3 month clothes he has grown out of! We are trying to appreciate his thick little thighs, rolly-polly ankles and those extra rolls on his wrists and arms, while they are still here. Now that it's getting warmer he is able to show them off a bit.

Next week he'll be 3 months old already!

THE MUSCLE MAN & MAGGIE

SAUCERIN'

It's finally spring!

It really felt like spring this last week! Finally! Oscar has been joining me for walks along the river in his cozy stroller. He sits, quietly feeling the breeze, listening to the birds and just relaxin'. We spent some time outside working in the yard on Saturday. Oscar was supervising. Later that afternoon we took a walk over to Claire and Sam's to hang out with Olive while they went to the store. Olive helped with Oscar and she even let him take a nap in her new bed.

Be forewarned that this video may cause hypnotic trances.

Oscar has really gotten talkative this week. He doesn't care who he's talking to or who's listening. He has become familiar with his reflection recently too. He has a mirror in the car that he becomes fixated on. He can't tear himself away. On the trip to and from St. Louis we had to occasionally cover the mirror so that he could fall asleep. Enjoy the video of him in his swing having a chat with the cute guy in the mirror.