Jammin, big boy food, the 'lawnmower'....

In the past two weeks, we have seen some major developments with Emerson. He is sitting up on his own, eating big boy food, laughing a lot, is way more vocal and does 'the lawnmower.' See below.

Jamming

First taste of big boy food

"I ordered STEAK, not rice cereal!"

Emerson's first meal! 04 Dec 2011

The 'lawnmower'

Emerson is 6 months!

First professional photo shoot (outfit courtesy of Aunt Trace and Uncle Jessie)

We can't believe Emerson is already 6 months old! He is doing great and is as happy as ever. He smiles on cue and giggles a lot. He had a memorable first Thanksgiving. We had about 20+ people over at my mom and dad's house.  We even busted out the magic mic (which is always a crowd pleaser). I really enjoyed singing All Night Long by Lionel Richie. I think Emerson enjoyed my performance the most. If he could talk, he would SCREAM for an encore. Ok Now back to the fact that Emerson is 6 months! Here are some updates:

• He is about 27 inches (70th percentile)
• Weighs 17lbs (50th percentile)
• Sleeping on his tummy
• Sitting up by himself (even though he sometimes loses his balance and falls to his side)
• He is extremely ticklish. What gets him going is blowing on his tummy. Here is a video:

• He likes doing sit ups
• Got his first ear infection 
• On size 2 diapers
• Going to start solids in the next week (going to start on rice cereal). We will tape his first bite and reaction!
• He is not only grabbing on to everything in his reach, but also holding it, putting it in his mouth, throwing it, pushing it etc.  
• Babbles a lot (dah dah dah dah)
• Still enjoys giving himself knuckle sandwiches
• Loves being read to. He likes to slap the pages 
• Loves what Morgan and I call 'concerts.' Emerson sits on the couch and Morgo makes up a song about Emerson and plays guitar for him. 
• Enjoys nice strolls around the neighborhood while looking at the trees and leaves
• When he is restless, he makes a sound that Morgo and I call the lawnmower. 

Lobster to Chicken

Emerson experienced his first Halloween! Morgan and I love Halloween so we wanted to make sure E-man got the full experience. Our original plan was for Emerson to dress up as a lobster and have us be the chefs that cook him up. His costume was for a 6 month old so we thought it was going to be perfect. But no, our little boy is as tall as a 1 year old. We had to cut the bottom of his costume (his legs were sticking out). We were determined to document our brilliant lobster/chef idea, so we had Auntie Tracey come over and take some pictures of the 3 of us all dressed up. By the time Halloween rolled around (one month later), Emerson had fully outgrown the lobster costume. If Morgan and I were going to stick to being chefs, I had to find a costume that would still make sense! Oh the pressure. I found an awesome chicken outfit! It all worked out.

First, we went to Emerson's Daycare's party. He wasn't too thrilled. I mean, he didn't hate it but really couldn't care less. We also went to a Halloween parade. On Halloween night we went to our neighbors house to help give out candy. There were oh...... 5 groups that showed up. We have a lot of extra candy. Too bad Emerson doesn't have teeth yet!

Emerson's Five Month Check-in

Geeeeeeez, time is flying by. Halloween is just around the corner. In fact, tomorrow is a Halloween party at Emerson's daycare. Kataneh graciously signed me up for a half hour of face painting to earn 'parent points,' so I'll definitely be making kids look scary.

Here are some photos from the last few weeks:

 First girlfriend

 The innocent nose poking game

 Oysters in Tomales Bay

Running the biz

Emerson is still growing like a weed - no doubt about that. I think this is the first month he is as long as the skateboard. 

Ladies Man

Yesterday, my good friend Joan and her 10 month old baby girl, Kirra, came over for a visit. Emerson and Kirra had met once before but Emerson was only 2 months old.  Emerson and Kirra had some good times as you can see....

Embarrassed

Giggles

Emerson's first day of day care!

The time has come! Today was Emerson's first day of day care. I know it sounds cheezebally but I can't believe how time flew so fast. I don't go back to work until the end of the month but we had to start him a month early so he didn't lose his place on the waiting list to get into PalCare. At first I was kind of annoyed because we have to pay for the month even though I am not working yet. But, I think it is a good transition for me since I will be only a four minute walk away from him. Also, the time off will help me get some things done before I have to go back.

Emerson did great. I dropped him off this morning and he didn't cry at all. Furthermore, when I handed him off to his caretaker, he started giggling and laughing. I was kind of mad at Emerson. I wanted him to cry a little bit and at least pretend he was going to miss me. I went to check up on him in the middle of the day (I missed him OK?? Don't judge) and he was happy hanging out with his new friend Giovanni. My baby is all growns up!!!!!

Four Month Update

Today was Emerson's four month checkup. Everything is looking good. One stand out stat we received was his 75th percentile for height. He weighs about 14 lbs 7 oz.

Emerson pretty quickly rolls over to his left side when you set him on his back. He'll hang out on his tummy for a bit before getting upset. He doesn't seem to want to roll over on to his back, so we usually pick him up  or roll him back over. Related to this - he has excellent neck strength. Though he can't sit up by himself, he can definitely hold his head up just fine.

It's really easy to get Emerson to smile. He is making more laugh noises now which is also really fun. Another thing that gets him to smile without fail is the Super Man. I lift him up over my head with his body parallel to the floor. I look up at him and he smiles as big as he can. It's the best.

Let's see... what else? Oh, we found out he likes the pacifiers with the funky shapes. Nooks. That was a golden thing to figure out. It calms him, keeps the drool off his body, and keeps his fingers out of his mouth. After all, it seems next to milk, knuckle sandwiches are his favorite meal.

I suppose lastly is he now has more hair than his dad!

Emerson rolling over!

Surprise Anniversary Family Roadtrip

Last weekend, we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. To celebrate, I took the family on a surprise roadtrip. I'm good at keeping secrets, so no one knew!

Kataneh couldn't stop bugging me for clues as to where we were going. How do I pack? Is Emerson going? What do we need? We better not be camping? Do we fly there? etc

We started off by driving south. As we went right by Kataneh's parent's house, I think she thought we were dropping off Emerson. We zipped right past and headed on the 17 S towards Santa Cruz. 

Our first stop was the Monterey. Before going to the aquarium, we ate at Bubba Gump's. Not shabby! Finally, we made it to the coolest aquarium there is. It is a beautiful facility and we have been wanting to go to see their great white shark. The shark weighed 43lbs and was 4 feet 7 inches long.

Emerson slept most of the time, as he does when his is comfy and warm in his Ergo carrier. He did wake up to check out the jellyfish. 

Next, we headed south stopping off here and there for a picture in Big Sur.

Towards the south of Big Sur, we pulled over for a hike at Salmon Creek to see the waterfall.

After that, we pushed on down to Cambria where our good friend's parents let us stay at their second home. Thanks Loganbills!!!!! It is an awesome house with killer views of the ocean. Very comfy and a prime place to relax. We ate at Main Street Grill (great tri tip sando) and just hung out at the house.

The next day, we went to Hearst Castle. I didn't want to do the typical tour, so we got the 'Upstairs' tour where we saw bedrooms and the library. The last time I was there was when I got to swim in the outdoor pool! 

Pretty cool. It's interesting that Hearst separated men and women if they weren't married and closely monitored the limited amount of alcohol he served. While on the short tour, Emerson pooped twice. We laugh: Emerson said 'here's what I think of this place.'

After the tour, we went just down the road to the beach for Emerson's first beach experience. We dipped his feet in the sand and let him soak it all in. It was windy, so we didn't stay too long.

Next, we headed back to town, thinking we were going to regroup and head to SLO. We saw a wine tasting shop in town, so we did that and then didn't feel like driving far, so we just went back to the house to hang for while before dinner.

During this time, we sat on the balcony, watched the sun, chatted and witnessed Emerson rolling over for the first time. 

Once we were set, we went to a great dinner at Robin's in Cambria. It was perfect because Emerson slept the whole time. 

We went back to the house, laid low and went to sleep. All in all, it was a very relaxing weekend!

Is that a meth lab you have, or did you just have a baby?

Sometimes I wonder.

Labor Day Weekend

We had an amazing Labor Day weekend! We went to Big Sur and then Los Gatos to celebrate our niece's, Mina, 6th Birthday.

Our Ripplewood cabin

Last year we were invited to join my best friend, Kate, and her family to Big Sur. Every Labor Day weekend her family rents cabins up at the Ripplewood Resort. Her Aunt Catherine and her Uncle Doug got married at Ripplewood and have been going their for 30+ years. We were so happy to share this beautiful tradition with them and take Emerson on his first camping adventure.


I thought cabin camping was a good ease into real (tent) camping for Emerson. He loved it! When it got too cold we would put him in his seat in the cabin while we listened to music and chatted around the campfire. Each cabin was fully equipped with a kitchen, bathroom, and heater. Both nights we had delicious dinners (lasagna, tri tip, caesar salads, and ceviche for an appetizer). 

Amazing dinners!

On Saturday, Catherine, Maggie, Kate, Emilio and I went to Andrew Molera park and did a nice hike while the rest of the crew hung out at the campgrounds. Later we went to the Post Ranch Inn for some cocktails while Catherine and Maggie graciously watched Emerson. Kate and her family are all such wonderful and welcoming people and because of this, Emerson loved his first camping experience with the O'laughlin/Kilkenny family! 

Hike to Andrew Molera Park

Post Ranch Inn

Sunday, on the way back from Big Sur, we went to Los Gatos to celebrate Mina's 6th birthday party. The entire family was there including my cousin Bita, Halie Manijeh, and Amoo Shahi from LA. We had yummy kabobs and Mina had fun hanging with the fam! Her favorite gift was a Tinkerbell costume from Disneyland. She couldn't wait to try it on! I wonder if Emerson is going to be into dressing up in costumes like I am....

Tinkerbell

We tried

Emerson dancing.

I hope Emerson wont be too embarrassed to go dancing with his mom.

What things are like

If you haven't noticed yet, Emerson is growing like a weed!

In chatting with our neighbors who have a son just over half a year older than Emerson, they are constantly trying to remember what things were like (7 months ago) when their boy was Emerson's age. Here's an attempt to jot down some things we can look back on during Emerson's three-month mark:

• Emerson smiles easily when you catch his eye
• He follows objects and people with his eyes
• His eyes seem to have turned their given color: brown, surprise surprise
• Emerson loves being held
• He doesn't seem to care about bouncing as much as just being held
• He seems to like to eat about 6oz of milk at a time
• He sleeps through the night from between 8-10pm to 6-8am
• The car seat seems to bug him, he gets very hot
• He grabs on to things like hair and shirts when you are holding him
• He likes to look at everything around him - if you take him some place new, he is genuinely interested in exploring
• He fits into size 1 diapers.... almost ready to move on to size 2
• He doesn't suck on his pacifier too long before spitting it out
• He has rolled over from his tummy to his back
• He can roll from his back to his side
• Lots of coos and gahhhhs

We'll check back in to see how things change. For now, it's probably my most exciting part of the day to come home from work and get him to smile at me. I look forward to that more than anything else I can think of.

Babysitting Babies

Our excellent neighbors have been a tremendous help. The coolest thing is that they have a baby, LJ, who is about 6 months older than Emerson. It wasn't long before we started having LJ babysit Emerson.

This never ceases to entertain

Regal Gentlemen

Being the sophisticated regal gentleman that he is, Emerson enjoys being swung and fanned .......

Tummy Time

When I come home from work, Kataneh typically flies out the door to go workout and a get a break from E-man. Today, she handed me a task-list which I think will become commonplace. One of today's tasks was Tummy Time. Click below.

Janet and Jason's wedding

Emerson experienced his first wedding this weekend! He also got to meet his cousins, Langston and Khalil for the first time. We all went to Hopland, CA for Janet and Jason's wedding. We drove up with Grandpa and Grandma Friberg and stayed at a house in Healdsburg.

The wedding was held at an organic farm and vineyard named Campovida. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous. The ceremony was lead by a yoga instructor and was very spiritual. I loved how Janet and Jason passed their rings around during the ceremony so each guest can bless them. It was a pretty cool idea and got all the guests engaged and involved. The reception was beautiful as well; great wine, food, and people.

So how did Emerson do? He was amazing. Man I was nervous about having him there. I just envisioned him crying bloody murder right when the bride and groom were about to say their I dos.  I was soooo wrong. Right before the ceremony, I fed him and then Morgo bounced him. He fell asleep shortly afterwards and stayed asleep until the end of the reception when people were saying their good-byes. We managed to get one picture of the bride with Emerson!

Janet and Emerson! 

BBQ for the rehearsal dinner

After the wedding, we all drove up to Kelseyville in Clearlake to visit David and Ettie's friends from the Navy, Terri and Buzz.  We had a lot of fun 4-wheeling it around their vineyard and Langston and Khalil enjoyed swimming in their pool.  

First cousin meet and greet!

After driving back to Burlingame, Morgan, Emerson and I took Ettie and Dave out to dinner at Broadway Prime to celebrate their anniversary. The food was outstanding and we left with four doggie bags!