Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!



Here are some recent father and son pictures at the zoo from last weekend.

Dinner Time

This was my dinner show this evening

Underwater

In the beginning of June, we were invited to a friend's house to go swimming in their pool. Since Anderson seems to love being in the water, it didn't take us too long to say yes.

This time he got to float and kick on his own.



As well as with daddy.



And he even went underwater for the first time.

Seattle

For Memorial Day, we went up to Seattle to visit my brother. My parents also came in from Chicago so it was one big family reunion. The weather was absolutely perfect! Sunny and high60s/low 70s every day. My perfect summer. Most of the time was spent hanging out, watching Anderson play and figure out how to climb stairs (we have no stairs at our house), watching him throw balls and him chase after it.

One of the most exciting things (for us parents at least) was that he started cruising! He would walk back and forth along the couch as we would put toys on one end to entice him to come to the other side. It's a big accomplishment. He also learned how to climb up stairs, but not down. He still heads down stairs head first. So...we're working on that.

There was also continued talk of Anderson's hair, but this time is was how much it's grown! It's grown so much that we decided to style it and spike all of it up. (Too bad you can't see it)



We also got to meet Alex, my brother's girlfriend's nephew. Their family invited us all over for a lovely brunch and play time for the boys at a park.


We started off on the swings, which Alex loved. But Anderson...not so much. He seemed kind of indifferent to it, and then he looked sleepy. And then he looked like he was getting nauseous so we moved onto something else. The slide. At least it looked like he was starting to enjoy himself a little more.


Since it was pretty sunny all weekend, it was a struggle to get him to wear a hat. Usually, we'd have to quickly distract him with something else if that hat was going to stay on for more than 12 seconds. Here is a rare hat picture.


We had ideas of going to the zoo, but when we found out how expensive it was (and thought that most of it would be lost on Anderson) we decided to go see one of his favorite things. Trees. The kid loves trees. He loves trees so much that he will stand outside the window and just look at it blow wind. So we headed to the Washington Park Arboretum. It was really pretty and since it was such a gorgeous day outside, a walk in a beautiful park was a really nice way to spend the afternoon.

Could It Get Any Better??

The answer is....YES! A resounding YES.

For all you meat eaters out there, you must know that there are few things better than bacon. Yes, bacon. Add it to anything and it immediately tastes better. Eat it alone and it's fantastic. No seasoning involved. Just cook and eat. Perfection. Some might even argue that bacon is the best and tastiest food out there. I'm not going to argue you on that point.

But could it get better? Can bacon taste better than its original, pure form?

The answer is .... Yes! A resounding Yes.

My officemate at work has recently turned me onto a few food blogs in which we read them during the day and salivate over the pictures and recipes. Then we exchange stories about which dishes we made and how they turned out. (Just in case you're wondering, the best dish I've made so far is Chicken Tikka Masala. It was delish. Everyone loved it, including Anderson) I happened upon one recipe that was for waffles with brown sugar bacon inside. I know. That's craziness. Crazy goodness!!!

All she did was cook the bacon in the oven and sprinkle it with some brown sugar. I mentioned it to another coworker and he said that Martha Stewart also does the same thing. Hmm...so we tried it.

I put a wire rack on top of a baking sheet (probably best to line it with foil or some sort of paper - I learned this the hard way). I used a shelf from my toaster oven but I think I've seen some people using a metal cooling rack. Place the bacon on the wire rack so that when it cooks, the oil/fat drips down into the baking sheet. Sprinkle some brown sugar on top of the bacon. Pop it into the oven. Voila! Pure goodness.

I baked it at 400F until the bacon reached its desired crispiness (this is subjective because everyone likes their bacon different). Martha says it takes 30 min. at 350F. I think it took 15 min. at 400F. But again, it's up to you. You don't need that much brown sugar. Just a little sprinkle. Here is Martha's Official Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon. And here's the Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles.

Enjoy!

Let me know if you tried this and what you think.

First Tattoo and First Time in the Pool

One of the weekends in May, we were invited to a 3 yr old birthday party and BBQ. Here, Anderson got his first tattoo and got to go into the pool for the first time. Here are some pics.

Anderson showing off his fierce tattoo. Oscar the Grouch! Grrrr!!!


It was hot that day. 100! So dad decided to take him into the pool to cool them both off. He was hesitant at first. The water was actually a little chilly.

But he got used to it quickly and loved it. He even splashed around and tried to swim.

After some swimming, it was time to sit on the lawn and enjoy some delicious roast pig. Yup, you read that right. It was a pig roast! Did I mention that Anderson used to be afraid of grass? Couldn't even come close to it without screaming? Well, look at him now... He picks it up!

And then eats it for dinner

One last one of him looking tough in just his diaper and tattoo

10 Month Update

Oh my goodness. Where do I even start?! Things happen so fast these days and things change every single day. I guess the biggest news is that 2 days shy of his 10 month birthday, the little guy started crawling. He has a little car that he can ride on, or walk behind and he was trying to get to it. He was reaching for it when Wilson decided to move it just beyond his reach. And then....he just went for it! No struggle, just crawled! Now, he is everywhere. And I mean everywhere. He does not sit still. He is always on the move. Sometimes he crawls normally, meaning both knees on the ground. And sometimes he does this crawl/walk where he crawls with one knee and then walks with the other. Wilson calls it is Gollum crawl. (Gollum from Lord of the Rings)

Here are other observations/thoughts/developments:

• He can pull himself up to standing quite easily now. In fact, we've had to lower his crib down to the lowest standing because we found him standing up in his crib, peering over the edge one morning.
  
• He is so much happier now that he can move. He's always been a happy baby but he is just loving his new found freedom. One of his favorite things to do is to crawl over to the coffee table and take down all the magazines off the shelf.
  
• He's a clapper. He loves clapping. Seriously loves clapping. One time, I was helping him walk by holding his hands and wanted to get down on the ground. Why? To clap.
  
• He loves to laugh and smile. Even at strangers. He's quite the flirt.
• He's letting us spoon feed him again without a fight but still loves to feed himself. One of his new favorite snacks are Baby Goldfish. It's for him but I see dad sneak in a couple (okay, handfuls) at snack time too.
  
• Loves to throw balls (or anything) and then chase after them.
• Also loves to hold two objects (one in each hand) and knock them together. Each time he does it, he looks up at us for approval, which we gladly give him, and then laughs in delight.
  
• Now that he's crawling, he goes for Sammy quite a bit. Unfortunately, all he wants to do is pull on his tail which isn't the smartest thing to do. So far now, we've had to keep them apart. It used to be us yelling at Sammy to leave Anderson alone. Now, it's the opposite.
  
• He's starting to get quite ticklish
• Very vocal and talkative. He definitely says Mama and Dada, although he will babble dadadada throughout the day even when Dada isn't around. We also think he knows "dog" since sometimes when he's sees Sammy, he look at him and saw "daw".
  
• Loves trees and is completely fascinated by them, especially when the wind blows and they move.
• He's growing more hair!!
  
• And lastly, as I said before, he is on the go now. Constantly. Always on the move.

Here are a series of pictures for his 10 month update. It's getting really hard now to take a decent one of him on my own.