Bathtime or Wrestlemania

Lon really does like his bath, but now he is bored with just laying back relaxing. He wants to roll over, or at least sit up. His tub is not designed for sitting up. Rolling over is never a good idea in a tub. Yet, he tries. Gently, I keep him from rolling over. Then he pushes to try and sit up and I have to hold him up and gently put him back down. Once I did not get him soon enough as he was trying to sit up, he made a rather big splash. No damage as I got my hand behind his head before it hit the edge of his tub. He just is always moving. In his tub or not. His little blue tub sits in the big tub. I used to have it on the counter in the kitchen, but it takes up lots of room. Now I just have to get up and down from the tile floor. My back is not really all that happy with the change. But overall it is easier to have the tub in the bathroom.

He loves to read his book. We read the same book every day in the tub. Mimi's Toes. And he KNOWS what is supposed to happen. Mamma washes Mimi from her feet to her nose and then comes back and tickles Mimi's toes. If I do not read it correctly he gets this look on his face, MOM do it right! He holds up his foot when I get to *from her feet* so I touch his foot, touch his nose and then tickle his toes. So far he seems to think it is funny. I would love to be able to figure out how to make his laugh the ring tone on my phone. I love that sound. Is there anything better than baby laughter?

Lon Two Teeth

Lon got his first tooth, followed a day and half later by his second tooth. He is doing really well, not very crabby at all. Which still makes me think that he is going to come in with a broken arm one day and telling me his arm is a little sore!

On Monday, the family and the Godparents went to Pike Place Market, had a nice lunch at Ivars. Although feeding the seagulls freaked Lon out. They did get a little too close to his face, swooping, trying to get those Ivar's fries. Ivar's, for those that do not know, is a Seattle waterfront landmark. It is built on a pier. Ivar Hagland was a real person who started a fish restaurant. It is traditional to take your fries and feed the seagulls who gather there. They do get a little wild for those fries. After lunch, Mark, Damian (Godfather), Holly (Godfather's wife), Vasu (friend) and Young Peter (Godmother's son) went to the Locks. Carol (Godmother),Pete (Godmother's husband), Lon and I went to the Seattle Center. We looked at the fountain, it dances, not just fountains. We found the cutest little store, about the size of my living room. It is the Seattle Children's Museum Shop. They have some great books, and best of all they had a Dr. Suess Cat in the Hat hat for Lon. The red and white stripes, and very tall. It looks great on him! We will have to go back to that store!
We went up to the observation deck on the space needle! 41 seconds to go up 520 feet. The weather was not bad so the views were really nice. It was also no waiting. In the summer it takes a long time in line to get the elevator

Its all about the hat!

We had to get the photo taken, it was everyone's first time up to the Space Needle. I had never been to the observation deck. The views are wonderful. You can walk all around the Space Needle to see all of the Seattle area. Mark and company were waving to us from Gas Works Park. Lon got to see a float plane land on Lake Union. Unfortunatly, we had to go home after that. The dog needed to be picked up. For our large party, with so many children, we decided that it would be better for all involved if Bullwinkle was someplace else. Bullwinkle is not used to many children, and there were many people in and out and he would have been just too stressed. So we had him at the Vets. They love him, and he was safe. No two year olds to bang on his head, no one forgetting to shut the door and him wondering away. I called Mark, who made it home before us, and he got the pup while we were on the freeway coming home. Bullwinkle was happy to be home.

My favorite photo of Bullwinkle (taken in august)

I tried to fix the red eye on this picture, but then he just look possessed. Bullwinkle is a good dog. He is a rescue hound, and is 11 years old.

That ends Lon's great baptism adventure weekend. He got up early early on tuesday to help me take Peter, Carol and Young Peter to the airport. On the way down we had light traffic, so no need to take the carpool lane, however Lon was a huge help on the way home, when traffic was starting to stack up, I could use the carpool lane. I have such a helpful son.

Baptism, part two

The party after the baptism was a lot of fun. There were about 50 people in and out of my house. I did not get a chance to hold Lon very much, which was expected. He did so well with everyone. A smiling happy boy!

Hmm, what is in Daddy's glass?

Gathered round the punch bowl

My friend Linda with my super tall sister

My sister is a very nice, very tall person. We had a wonderful time together for the short time she was here.

The great grandmothers

Baby Central

Having a wonderful time

Most of, if not all of these photos were taken by my friend Dan. He is a wonderful guy! And he takes great photos.

FOOTBALL!!

This blog is mainly photos of the party. It was such a fun time. I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

Baptism, part one

Lon being Baptized

At our Church, babies are brought into the church naked, wrapped in a towel. You can keep a diaper on them, to be whisked off at the very last moment. Mom and Dad and the two Godparents each keep a hand on the child to show support, for now and later in his life. Our Godparents are Carol and Damian. Wonderful people. Carol is in Oklahoma and Damian lives in Connecticut. It is wondeful to have friends who are willing to come and share the big moments in life even though they live far away. Our church had four familes that baptized 5 children that morning. We got to be last in line. After we baptized Lon we went back up to the alter with everyone else, then all the families left the church to cloth the babies/children in their new white clothes.

The newly baptized

Getting the baby dressed

After we all proceeded back into the church, finished Mass and had some great family photos taken with Father Steve.

The family

We went from the church back to the house for a wonderful party. It was not raining. Usually, at parties I take the TVs and hide them. (after one party where someone watched a stupid sticom at a party, I just hide the tvs) However, not only was sunday the baptism, but it was the playoffs. Steelers were playing the early game and Seahawks were playing the second game. I hide the remotes and had the games on. Every so often I would sneek downstairs to the family room and check the score and report back to Grandmother Presken. Grandma, Steelers are winning. They are still ahead. She was happy they won. By the time the Seahawks were on the party had wound down enough that most of us were in the family room watching. Lon was watching his team win! Lon loves football. He doesn't seem to have the build for the game though, tall and lean does not really equate to a football. I am thinking track. hurdles.

anyway, back to the party. We had a ton of food. As usual. We did break down and buy the cake, we just ran out of time! But it was okay. The biggest hit was the rice krispie treats. My brother in law, Kent, loves rice krispie treats. When he came to the house the night before the big party he asked if I had made any. Um, no, did not really cross my mind, but what a great idea. It takes about 5 minutes to make them. why not? I had all the things on hand. I was going to make them and send them out to them later. I had about 10 mintues so I made them. As I was melting marshmallows, butter, and the secret ingredient that makes my rice krispie treats better than anyone elses. My sister came in and wanted to know if Kent asked me to make them, her tone made my mind scream LIE LIE NOW OR WE ALL DIE. No, of course not, I was going to make them and this was all one big coincendence. Kent then also lied, but of course Karen can see right through him. For someone who lives in DC you would think he would be better at lying. Rice Kripsie treats were the biggest hit of the party. They were gone within 10 minutes of us arriving back at the house. Poof. They evaporate. And it was not just the children who ate them.

My nephew Matt is a very cute, very smart boy. He will be 3 (!) at the end of february. When we were watching the Seahawks win we had a plate of brownie bites on the table. He was pretty impressed that grownups liked brownies too. So he walked around handing them to the grownups. He handed one to me and said, grownups like brownies too. I looked at him, very seriously, and said, Matt, I want you to remember this, Aunt Suzy might be an adult but she is not a grownup. okay? He looked at me for a minute and then handed me another brownie bite! Smart boy.

Matt, his Granmother, GreatGrandmother & sister

We did not get many pictures of Matt at the party, he was all over the place, in constant motion. I have a feeling that is what I have to look forward to ! That is going to be so fun!

Contests

I entered Good Morning America and BabyTalk's most beautiful baby contest with this photo. The 8 semi-finalists will be given a trip to New York, a spot on GMA and a bunch of other things. I think Lon is beautiful. The finalists are announced on Lon's birthday. How cool would that be?

The GOWN

This is why I have not blogged in a couple days. I finally finished the gown! Just in time for Lon's Baptism on Sunday. A clean house, food prepared, those were all secondary to getting the gown finished. I got most of the embroidery done before Christmas. Measured Lon, measured the pattern, ooops! I was able to enlarge the pattern sucessfully and it is now done. Whew! I am very pleased with how it turned out

Detail of the coat embroidery. There are crystals in the center of each rose, and there are fresh water pearls. The main color has to be white. But there are blue, yellow and pink roses, three shades of green, the vines are lighter than the two shades of leaves.

On to other things, Lon's first tooth has finally poked through. I can feel a sharp little edge when he chomps on my finger. His drooling is a bit less. He is also working hard every day! He is playing on the floor with all his new toys. He is still tyring hard to crawl. He now can get up on all fours, but putting it into drive is still a not happening!

I will probably not be on till after Monday. Lon will be baptised on Sunday and then we have a big party at the house. I am looking forward to it.

Mom and Grandmother are already here. It is so nice to have them here. The rest of the family comes in on Saturday.

Teething and other things

Lon is getting excited about his grandmother coming -- TOMORROW. They are coming in from DC. They may get bumped for free tickets. Since the Redskins are playing the Seahawks, at 1:30 and the plane lands at 11:00, there may be some last minute fanatics that want to get out here. I know we will be watching the Seahawks win from the comfy chair in the family room.
I am finishing up Lon's Christening Gown. I have a week. It WILL be done in time. (or Mommy will go without sleep so it is!) He is finally getting baptized and we are going to have a wonderful party next weekend. I am looking forward to it!
Lon is getting a tooth. poor little guy. I am about to lose a tooth. When Lon was being born, I clenched my jaw so hard I broke my rear tooth. It is finally time to get it out, as it abscessed and painful. On tuesday the tooth comes out. I hope this does not get up a pattern, Lon gets a tooth, I lose a tooth.
Yep, that is a picture of me and Lon.

Mark

I have a husband, his name is Mark. He was wondering why he was not mentioned so far in my three postings. Now I have mentioned him. He is a nice guy. He is pictured on the first posting holding Lon for hampster practice. I will try to mention him every so often.
I have to get the little guy ready to go to the dentist. For me, not him, as Lon does not have any teeth yet. He is working hard on getting one, but nothing yet.

Crawling

Today Lon worked on crawling. I got the boxes moved out of the living room, (football won on Sunday!) so it is only his toys. LOTS of toys. Things that make noise, things that are soft, things that rattle, things that are squishy, things that move. They are great. He was able to get into the correct crawling postion, with his head UP! Before it was either his head up or his rear-end up. Not both. However, doing both took so much work, that he fell over. He is keeping at it. I am sure he will be crawling soon. Then watch out world! Since he worked so hard on the floor this afternoon, he fell asleep while having dinner (apples and rice). So I cleaned off his face, and put him in his sleeper blanket and put him to bed. I think he will be up soon, hungry hungry hungry! While I was watching him sleep, I put stars up on his ceiling. Those stars that glow in the dark. I wanted to put some on my mom's ceiling, it is dark blue in her bedroom, I thought it worked. But she does not. However, Lon loves lights. When I was making his room into his room, I got a new light fixture, the edge is stars, moons, and a cow jumping over the moon. The stars and the moon all glow in the dark. He just stares at that while I am rocking him at night. I think the stars will work well for him.
Tomorrow afternoon, we get to go to the oral surgeon to have a consult on when my broken, dead tooth gets removed. When Lon was being born, I clenched my jaw so hard that I broke the lower left rear molar. It took a while to die, then it started to get an abcess. Ew. According to my dentist, and the root canal specialist it is time to get it out. I have been on anti-biotics to get the infection down. but it still hurts when I chew on anything. It will be nice to be able to eat without pain.
Today Lon impressed the nice ladies at the Chruch. We had to go have our pre-Baptism meeting to go over the paperwork, make sure our names are spelled right for the Baptism certificate. Lon was all smiles, giggles and love for everyone. He even had his picture taken for the church. I think his new nickname is hambone! I think he knows he takes a great picture.
Talk to you all tomorrow. or the next day.....
P.S. The small black cat in the background is Natasha. yes, there is a bullwinkle (bassett hound) and a little grey cat named Rocky. Poor Boris, the giant Russian Blue cat has left us for the great kitty beyond.

Mangos

We tried a new fruit today. Mangos. They actually make jarred mango baby food. I got some to try it. After the peach fiasco, I was not sure. Jarred peach baby fruit is horrible. Increadibly sour taste followed by a mere hint of peach flavor. I did not blame the little guy for hating it. I hated it. The mango however was a hit. Someone told me just stick with the basics. Mangos can be basic. All the neighbor kids learned through the years that whatever I was serving they had to at least try it. Not just take a tiny bit and swallow fast, but a minimum of three bites. Most of the time they ended up liking stuff they would have never thought of trying. Greek, Lebenese, Roman, Polish foods, etc. I at least have to provide the same education for my son! When peaches come in season we will try peaches again. This time I will make them into baby fruit. I just have to figure out what to do with two jars of baby peaches.
Time to go and finish up putting away Christmas boxes. Everything is all boxed, I just have to get it moved to the crawl space. Our house is on a slight slope, so the crawl space is huge on one side. Tall enough for me to stand in. I use that for storage. We are the only house in the neighborhood that has room in the garage for a car.
It is either put the stuff away or watch football. Football might win.

First ever blog post

Hampster practice

I have decided to start a blog of my own. Mainly to instead of sending out a mass email about the baby, everyone who is interested can come here and find out how the little man is doing.
Lon is a great baby. He had a wonderful time at Christmas. We had hampster practice before Christmas with newspaper so he was ready to shred when the time came! He loved it. Lon is now just 6 months old. He is 28 1/2 inches long and weighs 15 pounds 4 ounces. That is the 97% for height and almost the 20% for weight. I wish that would be my ratio, but alas, it is not.

The magic of Christmas

That is one of my favorite photos. I call that my blind pig shot. as in a blind pig can find an acron once in a while.

Lon is doing well and getting ready for a visit from his Grandma and Great Grandmother. They are coming in a week for his baptism., so are his aunt and uncle and since he has two Great Grandmothers, they will both be here. Almost everyone he knows will be here! This is going to be so much fun.

That is all for the first posting. I will get back to this soon. I hope.