We're Back!

I am going to try to catch up on all the events of the last two weeks. There were TONS. Lots and lots of firsts for Lon! and for me too!
Lon's First Plane Ride
Lon did GREAT I was very impressed. When we got off the plane there were a few people who said, wow, I did not even know there was a baby on the plane. Can't get a higher compliment than that!

This was taken when we landed at Reagan. 3 hours 59 minutes chuck to chuck.

I think I was more tired than Lon when we arrived. Our luggage was waiting for us when we got to baggage claim. This amazes me as the airport in seattle takes about 1/2 an hour to even start to think about taking the luggage off the plane. We got our luggage, one suitcase for each of us. Karen and Kent arrived in two cars to meet us. We put all our stuff in the Jeep, including the gate checked stroller and loaded Lon up in the car seat. We hugged Karen and Kent and we were off to Fredericksburg. It was a fun drive. Just about an hour away. Of course Mom was waiting up for us when we arrived. Okay, us might be a reach. Waiting up for the little man. It was good to see Mom. The next morning....

Curious and Curiouser.....

We woke up early the next morning to get ready to go to Matt's THIRD birthday party! at 9;30am we all met up at the Ballston Mall movie theater to see Curious George the movie! What great fun that was! We had cake and bagels and sweet rolls and coffee for the adults. The cake was so cute! Of course it featured a monkey. I made matching outfits for Miss Ingrid and Lon. Matt had a fleece jacket out of the same fabric.

Waiting to see the monkey

The cousins with Grandma! I had to make a special outfit for Lon's very first Movie. Ingrid's too. It worked out well. Lon had a romper outfit, long pants. Ingrid had a sleeveless dress trimmed in red rickrack. Each of them also had a hat, Miss Ingrid had a floppy sun hat, also trimmed in rick rack and Lon had a baseball cap. I thought they were super cute. After the movie we got to take a nap! My sister has the greatest feather bed ever! It was so nice to sink into, I could have slept for days. I think if I had that bed I would get even less done as I would never want to get out of bed!

Teatro Goldoni

After our nap and freshen up we went to dinner. I think there needs to be a different word for what we experienced. It was not just dinner. It was an experience, an fabulous culinary adventure. We had a tour of the menu. Amazing. Goldoni is Karen and Kent's favorite resturant. It is a wonderful place and if you are ever in DC and thinking, hmmm, I would love to have an extaordinary meal. This is the place! (it is on K street) We started off with Calamari sauted in cappucino and porcini with a quail egg. I had never had calamari any other way but fried. This was melt in your mouth wonderful. Then there was the tuna tartar pizza. Topped with a carrot salad. It was carrots and greens in a vinagarette on top of the tuna, which was on a brick oven flat bread. Next up, on our SEVEN course tour of the menu was Rigatoni Bolognaes. (I can not spell and I will come back and fix this later) The sauce was sublime, and rigatoni has always been my favorite pasta. After clearing away every last atom of that we had Lobster Risotto. That is Kent's favorite. Of course, it was perfect. At this point I am thinking it can not get better than this. I was, of course, wrong. The Mahi Mahi was the best fish I have ever eaten. Roll my eyes up in the back of my head good. The fish melted in your mouth. The next to last course was steak. It was sliced, in a poccini balsamic vinegar reduction. oh yummy! I took some off Grandmother's plate! (she let me, honest!). Then came dessert. A flourless chocolate cake with espresso gelato. We had espresso also. The wait staff was flawless, there was never an empty glass of anything, water or wine. It was the best meal I have had all year. Lon came too. He had some espresso gleato. Just a taste. He did not like it, I think it was the cold. He slept mostly through dinner. There were 17 of us at dinner and we had the same compliment as on the airplane, I did not know you even brought Lon. What a good baby. People were looking at us carrying out the car seat, wow, there was a baby here?

Our table at the great Goldoni!

Sleeping baby boy.

After that great, wonderful, fabulous, extravagent meal, Karen and I told each other all we were going to have for the next week was a salad. One. we would split it. The valet brought our cars around and off we went back to Fredericksburg to get some sleep before we went back to DC to witness Miss Ingrid's Baptism. That will be tomorrow's post.

Lon had such a busy day. A first plane ride, a first movie, a first fancy restuarant. He did so well, I was so very proud of him.

Leavin on a Jet Plane

Tomorrow Lon gets another first. His first airplane ride. It is either going to be wonderful, or I will not want to come home in two weeks. I will try to blog his adventure in Virginia, the Capital and Connecticut. We are going to drive up for a couple days to see Mark's family in Connecticut. That should be fun. Lon did really well on his car trip to Oregon. Admitedly it was a shorter trip. This will add seven states to Lon's total of states, a grand total of nine. He will have Washington, Oregon, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. I still am missing one state and I will have been to all 50. Landing at the airport doesn't count. Of course, the state is Hawaii. Someday.
Time to give the baby a bath and get packing!

Pure Joy

Lon loves free flight

This afternoon, Mark tossed Lon lightly in the air. No where near the height my father acheived with me. Honest and I am not just saying that cause my mother reads the blog. The baby laughter filled the house. He was so excited about flying. WOW. It was the coolest thing EVER.

The Mission for Curious George

Lon checks out his breakfast dish.

Today, after the furniture in the living room got rearranged. I called every fabric store on the Eastside in a quest for Curious George fabric. I did not know there was such a thing as Curious George fabric. I saw some on ebay (of course). I would not get it in time if I bought it there. Every where I called, no I am sorry we are out. After 20 minutes on hold. One store said they had some but it was flannel. hmmmm. They were also very busy. It seems dead presidents equals a huge shopping frenzy. Miss Sarah, the neighbor, and Lon and I headed out. We were going to find some, at least enough to make the little guy SOMETHING. We showed up at Crossroads, which is an interesting little mall. The food court is the main thing there, (more on that later) and the giant chess board that always seems busy. We found the correct section, juvenile licensed fabric. NOTHING. Bubkiss. We kept searching. Miss Sarah found some *my little pony* fabric she had to have. (she is 15). I spotted something out of the corner of my eye, in the return trolly. There is was! YES! The last 3 yards of Curious George fabric on the eastside! Amazing. It was wonderful. It has now been washed and ready to go. Tomorrow I will start something. After my major trip to the Post Office.
The gown is done. Buttons, everything, even a new added feature. It needed some back detail, so I gave it some. Nice. The bonnet is done. With embroidery. The slip is done. I am letting it all dry (getting the blue out) and then in the morning it gets boxed and overnighted with beucoup insurance. I feel as though we accomplished something today. Moved furniture, found fabric, finished gown. A good day.
Okay, I read somewhere that when you blog you should try to avoid the cheese sandwhich type blog. As in, today, tuesday, I had a cheese sandwhich, it was good. The more I thought about it, the more that this is going to be a cheese sandwhich blog. Little things in Lon's life.

Ing's gown and slip

This is Ing's gown. and the slip too. I am going to go up and work on the bonnet in a mintue. I need to do the buttons, but I always have to do the buttons.
There are some detail pictures of the embroidery. I hope it is okay and everyone likes it, as it is almost too late to change it in any significant way. The slip is a little longer than the dress -- just the lace peeks out from under the dress. Like I said before, it is a *simpler* gown than Lon's but in no way did I skimp of the construction. The bodice is fully lined, (sleeves included), there is piping where the bodice attaches to the gown, (perfectly placed), the lace is of the finest quality. The seams are all frenched. Heirloom quality throughout. The slip the seams are all frenched also. No skimping allowed for my niece!
Gotta go do the buttons and the bonnet. No problem! The bonnet will also have the same embroidery and be fully lined.

Uncle Vasu

Mark met Vasu at work. Vasu is a good friend now.
Vasu is going to get married sometime this year in India and when he has his family, Vasu said he would teach Lon about Indian culture. That would be so cool! Vasu got Lon a new toy, it has balls that bounce around and really loud music to accompany the bouncy-ness. Lon loves it. It moves and has bright colors, the best thing ever!
Lon likes to spend time with Uncle Vasu. It makes the dog very jealous. Vasu is HIS friend and should ONLY be his friend. Tonight Bullwinkle kept getting between Vasu and Lon. Poor pup. It was nice to see Uncle Vasu, he came over for dinner tonight.
Honest, I am getting back to the gown!

My Funny Valentine

Mark took me out to lunch for Valentine's Day. Lon got me a box of chocolates and Mark gave me flowers. It was a very nice Thai lunch. Lon enjoyed the place too. Even though all he got was a glass of water! He loves to drink out of a cup. The sippy cup thing he thinks is silly. A regular cup is good, but someone else has to help. Yes, I made his little overalls. Snoopy is always a good bet for any holiday.
Ing's gown is just about done. I have to put the hem in and do the buttons. Buttons are always last. It is a elegant gown, simple lines, with heirloom sewing. There is embroidery, pipping and made of dupioni. I will get a photo up soon. I will get it overnight mailed to Ing on tuesday. I had all sorts of nightmares about the gown being lost in the luggage and trying to take it as carry-on with the baby and diaper bag would be difficult at best. SO since Monday is a holiday, tuesday it is going to be overnighted and insured.
Time to get the lace on the hem!

D.P. Gumby

Mark was thinking Lon looked like the strange man from Monty Python-- oh that narrows it down to a certain character doesn't it! I think the picture sort of tells you who it is. I have no idea what the character name is. Mark put the washcloth on Lon's head and he was NOT amused as you can see. (I changed the name of the post when Mark sent me the name of the character)
Back to work... slaving away on Little Miss Ingrid's gown! ;)

I know, I know

I know, I need to update Lon's blog. I am working hard to make Little Miss Ingrid's Baptism Gown! I need to have it finished by the 23rd, when we leave for her Baptism. Which is happening in Virginia. On the 25th of February. I will try and update this very soon, with photos!
Lon does feel that *we wuz robbed* at the Super Bowl. He thinks the refs showed their anti-west coast bias. He was NOT amused. Although he really enjoyed the company we had over.
Gotta get back to work!

Photo Shoots

Lon loves to have his picture taken. However, changing outfits is NOT among his favorite things. I put him in his new Seahawk outfit, took some photos, then changed him into a every day romper. I wanted the Seahawk outfit to look good for Sunday. Yes, he is going to wear this to church in the morning. My neighbor, Sarah, suggested he wear it. She said it couldn't hurt and it is super cute! I will not wear my shirt, I will save that for the game. Honest, Mom, I promise.

We are going to make him a valentine outfit from the same pattern. I have to get his quilt square made up first! I am taking some scraps from every outfit I make for the little guy and making an airplane quilt block. I have a permenant fabric marker, I will use that to write on the bottom of the block when I made the outfit, what he wore it for. The Seahawk airplane will be marked Super Bowl 40, 2006. I am not sure it is going to be for him or for me... I will have to see! I have started one for Matt, my nephew, from the clothes I made him. However, I slowed down on that. Maybe I will make it for my sister and use the material from both kids!

Silly Groundhog!

The groundhog saw his shadow. Six more weeks of rain. I feel as though we should be building an ark and counting the animals two by two. I am not sure my lawn can absorb any more water, there are puddles on the grass. Rain rain rain. There were some sun breaks on Lon's Baptism day, but pretty much it has rained since December. Maybe November. Maybe it just seems like forever.
I finished up Lon's seahawks outfit. They had no little man outfits anywhere in town. Youth small would still be HUGE on Lon. I searched all the fabric stores on the eastside and FINALLY found some seahawks fabric! They did not have much left, good thing it does not take a lot to make him something! The girl at the counter told me they had already sold 4 bolts of seahawks fabric. The other stores had sold even more. Now Lon has a little romper, a white onesie to go underneath. He will be styling. I will put a pictures up tomorrow.
GO HAWKS!

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.