A Few Cute Videos

I've been utilizing my iPhone more for video taking lately since it's always handy.  I recently learned that I can directly upload videos from my iPhone to YouTube, and then I can directly post videos from YouTube onto the blog.  It's so easy that I thought I better share some with you...

Chris likes to say "there's something about a boy and his ball".  That's definitely true for this boy.

Who can make you laugh more than your daddy?  Isaiah's in a cackling mood in this one until a very sudden mood change.  I think this is right before bedtime.

This is just from yesterday.  Isaiah has really started enjoying his crib lately.  He's gotten to where he won't let us pick him up for a few minutes after he's woken up.  We usually realize he's awake when we hear the music from his toy elephant that hangs on the side of the crib playing.  We often walk in to him dancing to the music.  I haven't caught a great one of the dancing yet, but here's a happy riser nonetheless...

All grandparents except Pawpaw beware...this may make you green with envy.  Isaiah has recently learned to say Pawpaw (except it sounds like "Dah-daw").  We have a framed picture of Pawpaw and Mimi on the bookshelf, and he'll point at it and say "Dah-daw".  It's only fair payback to Pawpaw, who has had to endure Isaiah's cold shoulder a few times lately.  Your day will come Pawpaw (and perhaps it has)...

Atlanta Trip

For the last week of April, I took the week off as vacation.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, I took my USMLE Step 3 Exam (yes it is a 2 day test...as in 8 hour days).  Woohoo!!  I'm done with USMLE forever...well, that's as long as I passed (don't have my scores yet).  I wish I could say that was it for board exams, but I have the Dermatology board exam to look forward to, and then re-cert. is required every 10 years.  Oh well, I'll enjoy this while I can.

On Thursday, we drove to Atlanta to spend a long weekend with Chris' family.  They had originally planned to come to Memphis, but we wanted to use my vacation time for something outside of Memphis, and meeting in Atlanta was sort of in the middle for us.  We rented a 3 bedroom house in an older neighborhood close to downtown.  The location was great and we were able to get most everywhere without having to hop on the interstate.  The owner's cat was a tenant for the weekend (Leo), and Isaiah absolutely loved him.  He would laugh and point, saying "Dat, dat!!"

You know what Isaiah is thinking..."When can I eat?"

We went to the Georgia Aquarium on Friday.  It's a neat aquarium and definitely worth visiting, but it was SOOO busy that day.  There were a lot of school groups there, which meant masses of kids filing by.  Isaiah really loved the tanks that served as our ceiling.  I think the Baluga whales were my favorite--they really liked to perform.  God's creativity is so evident in the amazing diversity of marine life, and it was fun spending the afternoon glimpsing some of it.  For dinner we ate at Mary Mac's Tea Room, a great southern/soul food place downtown.  I went deep fried all the way--fried catfish, fried green tomatoes, and potatoe cakes.  Yikes!  Don't tell my doctor ;)

Looking into the two-story tank of the Baluga whales.

Milk break!

For Saturday, we'd bought Braves tickets in advance and planned to take Isaiah.  Unfortunately, things didn't go as hoped.  The game started at 1pm, so we were planning for Isaiah to take an early nap and then head on.  Clearly our mistake was when we planned for Isaiah to do anything according to our time schedule.  As tired as he acted, he absolutely fought the nap and didn't fall asleep until it was time to leave for the game.  Oh well, win some you lose some.  Chris, Carl, and Jason went and enjoyed the game, and I stayed at the house with the women and kiddos.  After his 3 hour nap, the ladies, kids, and I walked to an arts and crafts festival in a local park.  That night, we enjoyed some amazing ice cream from a place in walking distance from the house called Jake's...I think it's homemade.  Chris had red velvet and I had Key lime pie ice cream.  Isaiah had a good bit of both :)

We drove back to Memphis on Sunday, and got our second glimpse of some of the damage the tornadoes left just outside Birmingham.  We drove across the shorter cross-section of it, which was probably a quarter of a mile wide.  We couldn't tell how long it was, but it had gone right through a neighborhood and left absolute devastation.  It was really sobering to see.  Pray for those affected.

Easter

We spent Easter weekend in Middle Tennessee.  That sounds pretty vague, but we traveled a lot over Easter.  We originally had every intention of staying in Memphis for Easter; I really dislike being away from our own church on major religious holidays.  Nevertheless, I also hate being away from my family when they're all together, so family won and we left Memphis.  Leading up to the weekend, we got Isaiah's Easter basket down (a gift from Mawmaw).  It's a cute stuffed duck.  He learned really quickly what the duck says after that, and he proudly 'cack-cack'ed for everyone over the weekend.

We spent Friday night in Waverly at Mom's.  With all three boys under one roof, it's always a bit unpredictable with different napping/eating schedule but we had a great time together.  Jordan and Meagan brought Sadie, their cocker spaniel, and after getting over his initial fear of her, Isaiah adored her!  Everytime he saw her he started cackling.  I think Sadie got weary of the attention, but she's really great with the kids.  I wish she could have given Frankie some lessons.  On Saturday, we had a professional photo session for the boys together.  It was hilarious...when we put all three of them together in front of the camera, Jude started crying, which scared Landon so he started crying, and Isaiah cheesed it up for the camera in the middle of it all the entire time.  My kid loves the spotlight, and I'm really not sure where he got it from.  I blame Aunt Lindsay ;)  The only time all three boys were happy together in front of the camera was when they all three had iPhones in their hands.  Scary, huh?!  No Isaiah, you cannot have an iPhone anywhere in the remote future!  I haven't seen proofs from the session yet but they'll at least be good for a laugh and fond memories.

Baby Einstein time!

 We spent Saturday night at Dad's house after a brief Easter egg hunt on the front lawn.  The boys weren't quite sure what to do with the eggs, but we enjoyed the beautiful weather.  This was the first time Dad had all three grandsons together, so I think it was a special treat for him.  Isaiah chased the dogs around the house most of the time...surprise, surprise.  On Sunday, we went to the Easter service at Dad's church.  Unfortunately our schedule was tight and we had to leave right after the service to drive down to Pulaski for lunch and Easter egg hunt with Mom's extended family.

Isaiah and Jude enjoyed playing in the expandable tube; Chase and Landon had some fun out of it too :)

I'm not sure what the boys are thinking here but Pawpaw is sure loving it!

It was our first time in Pulaski since Labor Day, so Isaiah had grown quite a bit since everyone had seen him last.  He enjoyed lots of attention and photoshoots.  For the Easter egg hunt, he was more interested in trying to climb in flower beds.  When Jude got there, we did a hunt just for the two of them.  They weren't much into it, but I'm sure they will be more next year.  The pictures below are from Meagan's iPhone hipstamatic app (makes pics look like from a former decade).

Must be nice to be pulled around in a wagon to do your egg hunting.  Pretty sure I did most of the egg hunting, actually.



Aunt Joyce and her great and great-great niece and nephews.  It occurs to me that Mom should have been in this to make it a true 4 generation shot.

Lastly, we drove to Lawrenceburg (next town over) where my grandmother lives.  The boys ran around the house jabbering and entertaining the rest of us while we visited.  Isaiah had to be bribed with snacks by Dad (Pawpaw) and my Mawmaw (Isaiah's great grandmother) to spend time with them.  Ah, the power of yogurt melts and graham crackers!  Today (May 15) marks the one year anniversary of my Pawpaw's death (Isaiah's great grandfather), so it was a bittersweet Easter as we celebrated it for the first time without him living.  He'd certainly get a kick out of these boys.

While I'm so thankful we got to spend time with family, in all of the busyness, it felt like we lost sight of the true reason for celebrating Easter.  A God who has every right to condemn us all that, in his great love and mercy, sent his very own Son to take our just punishment on himself.  It's unfathomable!  That truly has new meaning now that I have my own son.  Christ willingly died for me that I might live a new life to the glory of God as his adopted daugther.  I did a poor job of it this year, but starting next year, I want to do a better job of developing traditions for Easter that will point to its true significance...here's one idea I found: http://breezyacresfarm.blogspot.com/2011/04/diy-resurrection-tree.html

"Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."  - Ephesians 2:3-5

Remember last Easter?  http://starnesfamsaga.blogspot.com/2010/04/happy-belated-easter.html

I-SAI-AH

Isaiah can say his name, and I actually caught it on video in this little clip a couple of weeks ago.


He clearly understands most of what we say now by his actions.  Just this past week, Chris started telling him to bring him his Jesus book (short children's book about Jesus), and he knew exactly what he was talking about without coaching.
Here are words I can make out that he says:
Mama, Dada, Isaiah, dydy (bye-bye), dat (cat), dog, duck, sDot (Spot, as in the book series), hi, eye, heah (head), ee-i (that counts doesn't it? eieioooh)
He also barks like a dog and quacks (cack-cack) like a duck.  I've worked a good bit on farm animal sounds and names because he loves them so much, but he's still holding out on me.  He can recognize pictures of them though (when cooperative) if you tell him to point to a certain animal.
He can point to his (or usually my) head, eye, and nose, but that's about as far as we've gotten on body parts. 

He's very attached to Mommy these days, and we've definitely noticed a difference in how he interacts with us.  When I'm the only one home, he wants me to hold him A LOT.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love holding and cuddling my baby, but he's a big 30lb boy and it's tough to do for long.  He gets upset when I leave the room, even if he can hear or see me still.  He seems to be more prone to play on his own when Daddy is around.  I guess it's just one of those things.  I try to watch myself from wishing he'd play better by himself because I know one day I'll be wishing he'd let me hold him---ahhh, the irony of parenting :)

We've had a rough patch with bedtimes lately, and Chris and I have spent a lot of hours trying to get that stinker to sleep.  I think part of it has been teething and part of it seems to be he's more aware of his surroundings (dark room away from his parents).  "This too shall pass," we tell ourselves, and it is getting better already.

We used to be able to get by with a bath every other night for Isaiah, but his habit of playing with his hair (particularly during dinner) is requiring more frequent bathing.  Here's a before and after spaghetti night:

He got a panda Pillow Pet for Christmas from Mimi and Pawpaw, and he absolutely loves it.  Actually, at first he was scared of it, so I would treat it like a pet in front of him and he caught on.  Now we'll tell him to get get his panda, and he carries it around like below.  He hugs on him, and bites him, and wrestles with him...you know, all the typical little boy stuff.

March Updates

I've been on an elective this month, so I've had more time at home with my boys.  Spring has sort of sprung in Memphis--we've had 80s, and now we're back to the 40s.  Nevertheless, the Dogwoods and Azaleas are in full bloom and we've enjoyed a few outings to the zoo on nice weekends.  We learned good news recently that Frankie is soon to be adopted by a couple who has a female cocker as well.  He's currently in a "foster home" but doing well.  We definitely miss that sweet puppie, but life is easier and we don't have to worry so much with him around Isaiah. 

We're excited about a few trips coming up that we're actively planning right now: we'll be meeting Chris' family in Atlanta at the end of April for a long weekend and some Brave's baseball (I'm hoping to make a visit to Ikea too :); we're going to the Seattle area for 8 days toward the end of June--we plan to also see Victoria, BC, the San Juan Islands, and Mt. Rainier; I'm planning to go on a mission trip to Haiti with my church in August.  I can't even begin to imagine leaving Isaiah while in Haiti for a whole week, but I know he'll be in good hands.  The mission trip will have some medical aspect to it, so I'm excited yet quite nervous about this prospect.  We have a lot to look forward to and are thankful to God for allowing us these opportunities.  Please be in prayer for the mission trip!

Isaiah is now 15 months and getting bigger every day!  He's such a sweet boy, and lately he's become quite a mama's boy (which I love!).  He's a little lover in general--he gives great big hugs and smiles freely, especially to attractive young women (really, I'm a bit scared about this Cassanova behavior).  He's still not super verbal, but I think he understands most of what we say.  Isaiah runs pretty well now, and Ms. Margette (daycare teacher) tells me he can keep up with the "big kids" (near 2 year olds).  Here's a short video clip of him walking between us since some family members haven't witnessed it yet (we have tons on our camcorder but there are so many videos to upload it nearly shuts our computer down!):

He loves dogs from afar, but if they come too close he starts crying.  Whenever we see a dog, hear a dog, or talk about dogs, he starts barking.  Lately he's really enjoyed watching the one Baby Einstein DVD we have (thanks Pawpaw and Mimi!).  It has a segment on farm animals with the song "Old McDonald" playing, and now whenever he wants to see the DVD, he starts saying "E-I, E-I" (you know, e-i e-i-o in the song).  He likes to sing "E-I" along with us too.  I was pretty skeptical about Baby Einstein initially, but I really like it now, he's learning his animals, and I sometimes can get dinner started while he's watching it. 

Isaiah doesn't seem all that interested in most of his toys right now.  His favorite pastimes include reading (which I'm really thankful for), running around the house in circles, and going for rides in his wagon.  He's constantly bringing a book to us and then backing himself into our laps to read.  He's still a great eater, which is pretty obvious by holding him for longer than 2 seconds.  He has his 15mo doctor's appointment tomorrow, so I'll add his updated weight/height tomorrow.



Who needs hair gel when you can use food to style it?

 

 

Isaiah's daycare had a Mardi Gras parade with the children.  I'm not too sure I want to promote Mardi Gras around here, but the kids enjoyed it and were cute.  Isaiah was pretty overwhelmed and stoic the whole time.  Here are some pics with him in the wagon with his best pal, Cole:

Here are some recent pictures from the zoo.  Two weekends ago, Mawmaw and Uncle Austin spent the night and went to the zoo with us.  I'm still not sure what Isaiah's favorite animal there is, but he seems to notice more each time we go. 



What a life?!



Jude is One!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET JUDE!!  We traveled to Mt. Juliet, TN last weekend to celebrate Jude's first birthday.  He had a "Baby Einstein" themed party that turned out so cute, and I think he had a great time.  The boys ruled the day--Jude, Isaiah, and Landon got to enjoy some quality time, and the only other baby there was Darren, a relative on Meagan's side, who is just a couple months older than Isaiah.

Once Jude got the taste of icing in his mouth, he dove right into the cake.  His hand was stained blue from the icing by the time Mom called it quits.  All of the cameras and attention really seemed to spur him on.  I wish I could say Isaiah was cheering him on, but he was more concerned with stuffing his own mouth.

Jude got lots of fun toys and cute clothes, and he was kind enough to let Isaiah "help" open them.  At one point, Isaiah found a silver bow on one of the packages, and went around to the adults in the circle offering it to each one individually and then immediately taking it back.  Hmmm... we'll have to work on that.

What the boys seemed to enjoy more than anything else was playing with the toys on this exer-saucer while Landon was jumping in it.  Many attempts were made to get a picture with all of them looking, but this is the best I could get:

One funny thing at the party is that when we first got there, I went and picked Landon up.  Isaiah immediately came over and wanted to see him.  I sat on the ground, and Isaiah kept hugging him tightly and laying his head on him.  It was so sweet and adorable until Isaiah opened his mouth and looked like he was about to take a bite out of Landon--sorry, we're teething!  Isaiah kept noticing Lindsay a lot and would walk to her with arms wide open, even when I was standing right next to her...that seems to be a trend, because he's been doing that a lot lately to our friend Emily.  He must like brunettes :)

Here's our attempt at a family picture, which is nearly impossible with these boys.  I'm not looking at the camera because I'm literally wrestling with Isaiah to keep him in my arms.

Weird sister coincidence: we both wore dark blue shirts with gray sweaters over them, skinny jeans, and boots.  We cracked up when we saw each other.  I like your style, sis ;)

Fourteen Months in February

Isaiah turned 14 months just a few days ago (25th), and it's been a month of important change...he's walking!!  Well, he's been walking for about 4 weeks now, but his ratio of walking to crawling is increasing more every day.  I think the major impetus was when he moved up to Nursery III (12-18mos) and all of the other kids were walking.  Talk about peer pressure!  It's been really fun to watch the process of him taking just a few baby steps to him walking circles around the house.  He's still fairly wobbly at times, especially when he's tired, but he's come a long way.

A few other cute things...  He LOVES the motion detector light for our security system--everytime we walk through the hall, he raises his hand up high to set it off and see the light flash.  He'd be happy to sit there all day, I think.  His car seat is now forward facing, and he jabbers a lot in the backseat now while pointing to things outside he couldn't see while rear-facing.  He does a funny little butt wiggle while sitting if he's happy or gets excited; quite cute.  We've been working on learning the names of body parts--nose, mouth, eyes...for a while he could get nose really consistently, but we haven't practiced as much the past couple of weeks so he's a bit rusty.

For Valentine's Day, his class had a party and they were supposed to wear red and white.  I sent him in this:

I had been debating whether to buy V'day cards to send to the kids at school from him, and I ended up deciding that they were too young to care.  The night before V'day, it dawned on me that the list of the kids' names in his class sent home a week earlier (entitiled "Nursery III Sweethearts") was for the sole purpose of addressing Valentine's cards.  I felt so stupid for not realizing it sooner that I rushed out to Walgreens (with all of the other procrastinors--the place was packed!) and bought a pack of Tonka truck cards.  I was relieved I had done so when he came home with a bag full of Valentines the next day.

We celebrated Valentine's by eating Carrabba's at home on V'day night (while Isaiah was taking a late nap), and then just the two of us went out to lunch to Paulette's the next day since I was off.  We've had to be creative to have dates without taking Isaiah along, so we've done a few daytime dates when I had a weekday off and Chris took a long lunch or part of the day off while Isaiah is at daycare.  Bright side: matinee ticket prices :)