Happy Birthday Seth!

We spread Sethie's birthday celebration over a couple days since Sundays are pretty busy for Jon. On Saturday Seth opened presents from Grammy and Grampy, Matthew, and us in front of the webcam. It was fun to have Grammy and Grampy share in the festivities. Then we went to dinner at McDonald's (Seth's choice).

On Sunday we celebrated with the extended Goodwin family. Given the circumstances and the challenges that we had with Elyse during the last couple of weeks my mom volunteered to plan Sethie's birthday party. At Grandma and Grandpa's house Seth opened more presents and we ate cake and pinkilicious (strawberry) ice cream.


Seth wanted a fire truck cake and I was happy to oblige.
Today, Seth had his 3 year doctor appointment. Here are his stats:

Height: 39.25 inches ~ 85%
Weight: 34.8 lbs ~ 75%

In a way Seth was a little disappointed that he didn't have to get any shots. He "knows" that you get a lollipop if you have shots. I tried to explain that our doctor gives stickers instead of lollipops. But he was still insistent. We had to get lollipop from somewhere else!

Birthday Card

Matthew decided that he wanted to make a present and card for Seth for his birthday on Sunday. The book is still a work in progress, but after raiding my craft closet this is what he came up with:

Translation: "I am excited that you are 3!"

I think he did a pretty good job!

Because she's cute . . .

We've been pretty negligent on the photo taking of our new little one. Likely because this little girl is still struggling to eat. So, between the time spent coercing her to nurse, pumping, visiting lactation consultants, taking her to the doctor for weight checks, and trying to get some sleep, we haven't been able to squeeze in any photo shoots. It doesn't help that his girl is a champion sleeper, which actually really compounds the eating problem. So, for now, this is about all we have. We're hoping that she gets better at eating soon!

Zoo Camp

Matthew spent this last week at a Zoo camp put on by Seattle Children's Theatre. He signed up with his friend Yutaro and they had a great time together. We had a hard time pulling out all the details of the his days spent at the zoo, but he really seemed to enjoy it and came home with lots of random animal facts. Now he can be our guide at the zoo; I doubt that there is a inch of the zoo that he didn't see in the five days at camp.

She's Here!

Elyse Ruth Isaacson

9 July 2011
1:04pm
6 lbs, 1 oz

19.25 inches

Happy 4th from the Lake!

Cougar Mountain

Now that the end of the year rush is over and school is out I've been wanting to squeeze in some hiking before the baby comes. Unfortunately, at 36 weeks I feel like I should try to exercise some caution and not try to go trampling all over the wilderness. So, this week we opted for an urbanish hike, not too far off a major interstate.

Not wanting to end up carrying Seth too far, I packed along an entire bag of jelly beans to provide the proper motivation for hiking. I also opted not to bring the backpack carrier (if I don't have it, it's not an option . . . although this line of thinking has been known to backfire at times). I don't know if it was due mostly to peer pressure, the jelly bean trail, a steady supply of walking sticks, or lots of slugs to look at along the path, but Seth was an all-star hiker. We probably hiked almost three miles and I only carried him on my shoulders for about a third of a mile total, mostly because his pace was killing me.

I've found that my kids do better with "destination" type hikes. So my challenge was to pick a destination amongst several in a park that I had never visited with miles of trails. Thank goodness for endless hiking and hiking-with-kids type blogs! I settled on a waterfall as our destination. While overall it ended up being a good choice, it would have been a little better if I have actually brought a change of clothes for Seth on the hike and not left it in the car. Next time!

A few iPhone pictures from the trail and falls . . .