Thursday, June 25, 2009

11 month update

Isaac loves his Grandad!

Gran lovin' on her little man.

Gran-gran loves the little guy too!


Daddy and me hanging out on 4th of July..."I love this beanbag."

Fun in the sun
These are my favorite kind of toys..things that are not really toys, but I can carry them around all day. (Oh yeah, he loves playing with fly swatters...interesting).
Mommy and me
It's an airplane. Isaac loves airplanes that pass over our new apartment. This is his classic face expression. So glad we captured it on camera (notice the arm up and mouth in an oval).
Sweet boy
Isaac looks to be up to something here. He loves to chew on the Tylenol bottle.



What's new with Isaac? Well, he is even more active this month. He has very good motor skills. We even notice him standing on one leg at times. He loves going to the park, going to the pool, and splashing in the bathtub.
Verbally, he is saying "dada" now and says it to Adam. He started that on Father's Day. It is ironic, because he said "mama" for the first time and meaning me on Mother's Day. The only other thing he says is "baba" usually referencing to bottle or ball.
He still loves to push his stroller and spin any wheel he can find. He is doing much better at playing by himself now. He does not have to be entertained by us quite as much. He is starting to understand things better and is able to follow many one-step commands, such as "look out the window, get the ball, find your stroller, etc." It's so neat being able to talk to him and seeing that he understands us a lot of the time. He loves to grab our toes and noses, and he expects people to say "honk" when he squeezes their nose.
With undressing he will grab the bottom of his shirt to pull it off. With eating, he is doing much better, but this is still our greatest area of challenge. In order to go to daycare (because there are no baby spots available), he has to be completely off a bottle and be able to feed himself table foods. He does pretty well; however, he still likes his bottles (sippy cups with water are fine, but sippy cups with milk are a struggle for some reason). When eating, he always lets me know when he is finished (usually by throwing food, playing with his food, or spitting it out). He wants to be in charge, and he does not want to be fed, but wants to feed himself. Grilled cheeses, mashed/baked potatoes, bread/crackers, and mac n cheese seem to be his favorites. It's a challenge getting him to eat protein and veggies (which is odd, because he loved baby food veggies).
Isaac has been sleeping very well at night until we moved to our new place. He hit a spurt where he would wake up a few times a night, but this is finally getting back to normal (thank goodness). He also seems to be transferring from 2 naps to 1 nap a day; although, naps are still somewhat inconsistent.
Isaac's favorite thing to do is wave. He is social, and just loves to wave at everyone he sees. He no longer waves with his entire arm now, it's all wrist action. His fine motor skills are progressing. He enjoys playing with strings attached to toys and cords. He seems to find every piece of lint, bug, food, or anything else that happens to be on the floor.
He now has 6 teeth, and tends to bite at times. This is definitely a habit he needs to break soon.
It is just so much fun watching him grow and develop. He is a busy little fella, but I wouldn't have it any other way. He has officially gotten the nickname "Isaac Bopper," which seems to fit him since he constantly bops around.
Finally, one last funny thing Isaac has been doing....he loves to bring us our shoes and grab our hand, so we will take him outside. We even have to spell "outside" because he constantly wants to go there, and tends to get upset when he is brought indoors.
That's all for now.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Tribute to Zach's and his graduation from high school

Zach graduates from high school. Congratulation Zachary!

Definitely watch in higher quality by clicking on the blue "Tribute to Zach" link on the video.

Also, the song with the video doesn't fit but was as close as I could find on my hard drive to work, it's a bit melodramatic.

Anyway good job Zach attack!

Tribute to Zach! from adam coats on Vimeo.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Zach Attack, the graduate!!Yeah, I'm really just showing off my bike in this picture.

Bike Trolley
What's going on?
My boundary, the doorway.
Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez!
I've got some growing to do to dunk the basketball!

Isaac practicing free-throws....starting early
Grandmama lovin' on Isaac


The Vandenbrink's proud of their graduate


Grandmama Bathing Isaac Bopper


Chef Steph

Friday, June 12, 2009

Traveling Adventures

Isaac has not been on a road trip since he was about 3 months old (when he went with me to Memphis). So we were excited on Memorial Day weekend to visit Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Eric in St. Louis. We spent time hanging out with family, had a cookout, went to church, and just enjoyed being together. It was a fun, relaxing trip. Isaac loved playing with their huge exercise ball. He just pushed that ball all over the place. He also enjoyed playing in their backyard and exploring his new surroundings. He seemed to really have fun on his first trip to Uncle Eric and Aunt Steph's house!



Our second trip was Isaac's first time to fly on an airplane. We went to Austin, TX to visit Adam's family. I have to admit, he did much better than I expected him to do. He is so busy and does not like being confined at all, so I was really nervous he would just want to run up and down the aisles the entire flight. On the way down to TX, he kept wanting to pull the guy's hair in front of him. He was tired, but since everything was so new to him, the overstimulation kept him from sleeping. The flight back home was a little easier because we had Grandmama to help out too. He did well. He just stared out the window during the take-off and during the descent prior to landing. He was so curious about the world around him! He just takes everything in, and always notices new things. While up in the air, he just rotated from each of our laps. He was very entertained by the trays and a plastic cup the flight attendant gave us. Funniest moment on the flight: Isaac was attempting to eat some little potato bites (kind of like hashbrowns); although, he was just licking them and then throwing them down. Well, I bent over to pick up all the potatoes he threw down, and noticed that some of them were stuck in between the sandal and foot of the lady sitting behind me. I was so embarrassed. I turned around and told her what happened and she said "oh, so that is why my shoe feels so mushy." I felt really bad, but at least she was a good sport about it. Grandmama and I still laugh about that!
We had a wonderful time in Texas. We attended cousin Zach's graduation from high school. This was also the first time Isaac met Zach and uncle Mark. He really seems to favor men. Zach would sneak around and startle Isaac, and little Isaac just cracked up everytime (even though he knew it was going to happen). Isaac would just stare at Mark. Even though Isaac seems to favor men at times, he just loves cousin Abby. He just smiles and snuggles with her (and believe me...it's hard to get him to slow down enough to snuggle with anyone). Isaac got to spend some quality time also with Aunt Joy, Auntie M and Uncle G, Grandmama, and Nanny. He had a great time playing in his little baby pool that his Aunt Joy got him. He spend a lot of time pushing his own stroller and spinning it's wheels. He is just all boy and so fascinated by wheels! They did have a couple small dogs, but Isaac was really scared of them. He slowly warmed up to them, but still did not seem comfortable being close to them; although, he really wanted to touch them. We had a great trip, and enjoyed our time with the family.