Happy Birthday Abe!

Today was Abram's 2 month birthday.  To celebrate we spent the morning taking care of loose ends, like bills and finally ordering Abe's birth certificate.  In the afternoon we tried to go to the neighborhood health center to get H1N1 vaccines.  But, because we both put that we have asthma, we were unable to get them.  Apparently the nasal spray (which is all they have up here currently) cannot be given to people with asthma.  Oh well.  In a few weeks they're supposed to get the shots.  

This evening we had Kari and Jarred over for dinner.  We had spaghetti--Old Spaghetti House style, with mizithra and browned butter.  And I made a caramel apple cake, which I found the recipe for in a costco magazine.  The cake was to celebrate Abe's birthday.  We put candles in and sang.  Abe celebrated with a celebratory nurse.  Neil got a little carried away with the video camera and after videoing some of tonight's festivities decided to show our guests some our home videos.  I'm not sure if they were that entertained by all of the footage.  

Some pictures for the masses

We still don't know where our battery charger is.  But fail not - we can take pictures with our video camera now.  

Today Neil raked up the leaves in the back yard.  It is kind of nice that there isn't snow on the ground yet.  Neil also went to Costco to pick up a humidifier for Abram.  It seems like Abe has picked up Neil's cold, and has had a pretty stuffy nose the last few days.  The nurse said that the humidifier should help him out.

We're making some soup for dinner tonight.  Should be tasty!

"Whoa, I'm tippin' over!"
Abe looks so big compared to when he first came home from the hospital.
Almost two months and already cracking smiles.
He sure loves to smile now and then.

SaanZai

It's been brought to my attention that we haven't made any blog updates lately.  So, here goes.  One of the problems is that we can't seem to find the battery charger for our camera.  And how can you post a blog without the cutie patootie?  Well here goes...

Today I made my return back to the pool.  It was nice to be back at swimming, and without a big beach ball dragging through the water.  One thing that I had to be careful of was the flip turns, however.  I didn't need to use nearly as much muster to flip over as I did while Abe was on the inside.  

After swimming I went to costco to drop off a prescription (grr...the costco pharmacy sucks), and picked up a pepperoni pizza for lunch.  They happened to be 3 dollars off!  After lunch we met Margaret, Ryan, and Sophie at the prospect point trail head.  Out little child of the mountain made his first trek into the mountains.  He did great!  I wore him in the baby bjorn.  He was really cute, because he just laid there and sucked his thumb!  So much for the ting ting.  He's a thumb boy.  The hike was great!  It was a gorgeous fall day out and it was really clear out.  We hike up for about an hour and you could see all of anchorage and out over the water.  Banjo had fun too.  Sophie brought her dog Riley, and the two of them raced up and down the trail the whole time.  Afterwards Banjo was extremely tired and muddy.  He walked through this big muddy area and it looked like he had black socks on.

We ended the day with a great dinner--bbq steak (left over from Clave and Ruth) with some grilled veggies (eggplant, onions, red peppers and mushrooms) and rice.  We're putting the finishing touches on cleaning up our place.

Abram

Last night we opened the presents from Abe's baby party. (Despite the fact that it was a "no gifts" party, he made out like a bandit.) This is one of my favorites--a dragon outfit. It's too bad halloween weren't just a few more weeks away so that he'd have some more time to grow into this. There is also a tail on the back. Quite adorable!
Here's Abe with his grammy. Today he's wearing a 6 month size outfit. And to think I was worried that he wasn't growing.
Abe on one of my baby blankets putting in a little tummy time. He's getting stronger and stronger. He has quite a bit of head control now.

Abram's Baby Party

On Sunday we had Abram's baby party. It was a lot of fun! We had the party at South China Restaurant, which was where Hannah and I both had our baby parties (although the restaurant has now moved from it's location on beacon hill to bellevue--to make room for the new light rail). There were over 100 people who came out to see little Abe. In addition to the standard South China buffet we had a roast pig, red eggs, pigs feet, and tiny little tarts with lemon and strawberry. We all hung out for a few hours and got to catch up with friends and relatives. And what kind of family get-together for Abe would be complete without a song in Abe's honor, written and performed by Great-Grandmother Jeanne? She belted out a great tune for Little Abe.
GG dying all of the dozens of eggs for the baby parth.Hopefully Abe doesn't spend too much time in places like these until he's 21.
That's one lage pig! It sure was tasty.
Ballons + one tired baby = a great party.

Meet Abe

It seems like everyday Abe is meeting new friends or family members. Here are a few pics from the past few days.

Auntie Patsy with Abe at his baby party. (Notice the purel that my mom put out on all the tables for people to decontaminate before holding the baby.)
Auntie Joyce with Abe. I think he slept through his entire party!
On Saturday we went over to Teresa's house for dinner. Here she is with the little guy.
The Thayer's were nice enough to drive up from Vancouver for Abe's party. Here they are with their daughter Ellie and Abe.
Margaret with Abe modeling his cool new hat and mittens. This will come in handy when we get back to Alaska!
Although Abe hasn't yet met his great aunt val here he is sizing up his new jacket that she got him (along with several other cute big boy outfits).
Steph with "Hulk Abe". When this boy hasn't been fed, look out!
"Check me out," says Anthony.