First dinner out

Last Friday was Aaron's birthday. Spencer's Mom offered to watch Eric so Aaron and I could enjoy a night out to dinner. It was so nice for everyone. Sharen and Eric had fun and Aaron and I got to enjoy a yummy dinner at Clemetine. We can't thank Sharen enough for giving us such a great birthday present.

Sharen an Eric ready to hang out


All dressed up for our night out. I actually showered, did my hair, put on make-up, and removed my slippers.


Eric is doing lots of new things. He is working on rolling over. He has made it all the way over a few times. He is loving tummy time while he plays with his toys, alternating with his stuffed puppy and his rings. He really gets his "game face" on when he is working the rings or his rattle. He can't even be distracted. Judith, the visiting developmental nurse, said he get very intense while playing with his toys. She told that is genetic. Hmmm, yes, I think Aaron and I both carry the intensity genes. We are not quite sure what he is trying to do with the rings, but he gets so frustrated and upset with them sometimes that we have to take them away and give him something soft and cuddly to play with.

Eric knows how to kick up his heels and have a good time


Eric is trying to charm little miss Stella Steinbach. She let him hold her hand. Don't tell Daddy Ben.


Eric has advanced to level 2 nipples on his bottle and is chugging it down so easily. He also grabs at everything, your face, fingers, bottle, food....we are thinking he is getting curious about this food thing. He tried to pull the lettuce off my fork the other night. Eric is really strong too, it is hard to pull something away from him when he has a grip on it.

Our first family trip

We have proof that Mom & Dad have not become agoraphobics. We took our first trip with Eric to Lake Wildwood (LWW- where Aaron's parents live). It was Eric's longest car ride, 3 hours, and he slept most of the ride.

On the way there we had to stop for a milk break, but on the way back he snoozed while Dad cruised. On the way out of town we stopped by the Fay residence to meet the daughter of Bobby and Calla, Nolan. (I can't believe we didn't take any photos). Beautiful family.

It was so nice to be with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Terry, so rejuvenating. I got to go on a few runs. I didn't even take my cell phone with me. Aaron got out in the boat with Grandpa.

Eric is quite social and really loved having more people around. Grandma Linda and I went on a walk with Eric and met Mary Claire (neighbor on the lake). Eric and Mary Claire charmed each other silly.





Uncle Sean and Aunt Courtney drove over from Chico for the day. They had not seen Eric since early October and were excited to visit with him. This was Uncle Sean's first time holding a baby, a natural. Eric took quite a liking to his Aunt and Uncle. Rocky, S & C's new puppy, also joined the excitement. Such a cute puppy. Eric was very curious about the puppy sounds coming from the box on the floor.






Eric and his Great Grandma Ruth also had their first introduction. They gave each other lots of smiles. Great Grandma has been keeping up with the blog and was so excited to see him that she thanked Linda for a wonderful night as she came in the door (in case she forgot to tell her when she left).



So a great trip with lots of socializing. Eric actually seemed a little bored when he got home as if to say "where are all the people?" It is so nice to let people start to really hang out and spend time with us again.

More play time

Here Eric is sporting his cool hat hand knit by knitter, Beth Jordan. She also gave him the organic striped top. As you can see Eric is thrilled to actually have them on together.



Eric and Spencer have been pal-ing around some more. We took a trip up to Spence's house where Eric thoroughly enjoyed playing with all his gear and toys. Then we took a nice stroll in downtown Novato and grabbed some yummy salads (for the mom's of course) at a non-crowded outdoor cafe. So fun.









In case you were wondering. I am officially "off the pmup". For seven months I hooked up to the breast pump. Half of that time I pumped 7 times a day, every 3 hours, the other half about 5 times a day. It was tough to keep the supply up while Eric transitioned to more breast feeding with some bottle feeding and we were both getting a little frustrated to say the least. He got all that wonderful milk for all those months and now we have a lot more time to sleep and play together. He loves feeding time with the bottle and we have some great conversations and cuddle time over some Neosure baby formula. He was really starting to get a little perturbed at me for pumping instead of playing.

Socializing

Welcome to Stella Christine Steinbach. Eric is really checking her out. She is a cutie.



The Steinbach's are one hip family




Yeah - a visit with Aunt Susie and new cousin Maylin Grace. This was Eric and my first time meeting Maylin. So good to have the cousins together.








Another outing with Spencer and Sharen - doing some window shopping in Mill Valley. During lunch at the outdoor cafe the boys played off each other. One would hear the other crying and then the other would think they needed to cry. The spent most of the outing sleeping though