Isaac walking

And he's off....

Isaac's 1st Birthday

Check out this great video of Isaac enjoying his 1st birthday cake and first real taste of sugar! Special appearances by Andy, Jack and Alicia Elbert, Aaron, Shefa and Jonah Sharkey, Lea Rominquet and Daddy Marc. We're so proud of our little boy and can't believe that we now have a toddler... my god! This past year has been crazy and I feel like the whirlwind is yet to come. Isaac has grown sooo much in this past month. It seems like he changes a bit more each day. You can see him become more aware of himself and the world around him. I love seeing things through his eyes and feel this strong sense of responsibility to show him as much of the world as I can. Phew...

Balloon curiosity

Balloon curiosity, originally uploaded by urbanbrat89.

Love this picture of Isaac, taken at our friend Gia's 2nd Birthday Party. He's getting to be such a big boy and is curious about everything... including balloons.

I love how he just studies something new so intensely. Today we had our pre-op appointment for Isaac's debumping and he was facinated for about 15 minutes with the LPN's mouse with a red tracking light. They also gave us a little oxygen mask for him to take home and play with. He loved watching me put it over my mouth and then placing it over his mouth. I hope he's just as interested on the day of the actual surgery.

More on that soon...

Almost One

Can you believe it?  We have almost hit the one year mark and in the last couple of weeks Isaac has hit some important milestones:

• First steps
• Standing on his own
• Clapping 
• Things go in things
• Here take this (handing Mama different objects)
• Words like Dada, Mama, that and yay (those last two are still intelligible to any one else but Marc and me)
• Sign language ~ more
• Dancing... the kid has rhythm!
• Temper... especially if he is hungry or tired
• 6 new teeth ~ 4 on top and 2 new ones on the bottom for a total of 8 chompers.
• Sleeping 11 1/2 hours each night... thank GOD!

Isaac in the Kitchen

Isaac loves to hang out with us while we cook or do dishes. He has a cabinet and a drawer that has a few items that he can pull out and play with. As you can also hear he's gotten to be quite the chatter bug. He's pulling up and standing on his own more and more. He also is beginning to understand what we are saying to him... not that he pays much attention to our warnings. We have been having fun at the YMCA pool and swimming once or twice a week. I'll try to get some pictures or video of that posted soon.

Happy Holidays and a Fantastic 2009

Once again the holiday season caught me by surprise and again it flew by just as quickly. We had a wonderful first Hannukah and Christmas with Isaac. I'm working on a seprate post about these two holidays and what they each mean to me. In the mean while I've added a few of my favorite pictures of Isaac over the last couple of weeks.

Little Boy

When I went to the sitter's place this evening to pick up Isaac I found that the baby that I dropped off this morning had morphed into a little boy. I walked in the door and he was standing in his apparent favorite spot at the corner of the coffee table and the couch. He was inching his way to his intended target, his yellow and orange striped toy cat. Remember I said he was determined... Anyway, he looked up and gave me the BIGGEST grin and giggled in pure delight. What an awesome way to be greeted at the end of a long day!

Isaac has a lot to say these days.

Also, I've been solo parenting this week while Marc is in the ATL... Hotlanta that is. In the meanwhile it has gotten quite chilly here! Check out Isaac in his get up this morning.

Ha Haaaaa Mamma!

Who me? I'm sooo innocent.... just ignore the mess ;)

I can take things out of things...



Ummm... just ignore me.

Here... let me move these around a bit.

After scattering my diapers all over the floor I decided to cruise the ottoman.

Check out the mischievous smile on this kids face!

Isaac giggles

Isaac had a giggle fest the other night at dinner time...

Where the heck did this year go?

2008 will end in just a few weeks and it has me wondering where this year went! It makes my head swim to think back to this time last year. I was 5 months pregnant... looking a bit like this.

Now I am the mother of an 8 month old! It is almost too much for my little brain to comprehend. The woman in this picture really has no clue as to what is in store for her.

Isaac is so active, lovable, funny, determined (I think I mentioned that in my last post), curious, and has a strange love of electrical cords and generally anything else that is dangerous around the house. We are in major child proofing mode and have had to tape, plug, hide, sweep, vacuum and build fortresses around anything hazardous. Try crawling around your house and you'll be surprised to find booby traps everywhere! He's been pulling himself up to standing for a month now and is starting to figure out how to cruise the furniture. He particularly loves my dresser and seems to want to climb up it... if he could only figure out how?!?

We went in for his check up and vaccines on Friday and he's 18.9 lbs and 27 1/2 inches long now. He's eating 3 meals a day and is 100% on formula. It's made me a bit sad to give up breastfeeding, a disappointing side effect of going back to work. I'm grateful that I was able to give him 7 months of the good stuff. I'm pretty impressed with his willingness to try new foods and so far we've only had one allergic reaction... spinach. Guess we'll have to wait for his Popeye imitation.

I have uploaded a ton of pictures from November, if you get a second check them out http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CZtmLlw2bMX1A .

More to come VERY soon!

November 5th...A New Era

Well, last night we as a nation came together in a way that we have not in years. As Isaac slept soundly upstairs, I sat with my family and watched Barak Obama's acceptance speach as the President Elect of the United States. I have never felt my heart strings be tugged so strongly as they were listening to him speak. The words of my father earlier that day rang in my ears..."Now my grandson can run for President." It also means that some day our daughters could be president. Maybe our first Latino or Asian or Gay President will happen in my lifetime or in Isaac's. I have always envied the JFK generation, what it must have been like to be alive during that time. But now, we have our own hope that things can change. Maybe we can stop burning out our planet or being afraid of our neighbors or being at war or our financial wellbeing. It gives me something to pray for...

Things they are a changin'

Isaac is really developing a great personality. He's a pretty laid back and easy going kid, unless he is tired. He's very curious and determined which has him developing a little faster than most kids his age. He's crawling on his belly and starting to use his legs to propel himself forward. He loves to stand, with our support and is great at sitting up by himself. Thankfully he has his fried Ceclia, who is a month older, and cousin Aaron to keep him motivated to keep up. He's proving to be as active as he was my belly. I will need to get in much better shape to keep up with this kid. He loves to smile and laugh...not surprising he is a pretty social kid. Though he does well playing alone too.

I really hope we don't screw this kid up!!!

He's sleeping really well right now, though I would love it if he would wake up at 7 instead of 6 every morning. During the week I really need that extra hour before he gets up so that I can get organized and ready for my day. I am having to learn how to be more disciplined about going to bed at 10pm and not 12 am, just to feel a bit rested. I'm tired of just being ready to collapse mentally and physically at then end of each day. Going back to work has proven to be a bit challenging, but all in all things are coming together. Especially since I have just been back to work a month. It is a bigger transition than I realized. I have been given a bit more responsibility by my bosses and have moved over to sales engineer. Which means that I will be callig on electrical contractors, and dealing with their issues. Should be interesting, especially given the current state of our economy and our nation.

Wow! I really am too tired. On that note here is te link to the October pictures on Shutterfly http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CZtmLlw2bMXxQ .

Sweet dreams to all!

Isaac's First Halloween

Halloween has come and gone already!?! This year is just zipping by...what else is new? We made a trip down to San Luis Obispo to visit Aunt Reen and Uncle Mike so that we could start the festivities off right. Aunt Reenie, Isaac and I made a trip to the local pumpkin patch and he got to choose his first punkin (with a little help from mom). He also gave them a sneak preview of his costume. It was such a great visit. I hope to make it an annual pilgrimage.

The Saturday before Halloween we attended the Piedmont Ave parade with Jonah, Shefa and Bob the Builder(aka Aaron). Finally, on Halloween we went to my office for a spooky party with all of my co-workers. Thre were some great costumes, who knew engineers were such a creative bunch? Isaac was a big hit as the littlest ninja. Then we joined our Mom's Group friends for a parade in Montclair. A very FULL day.

Simon Lev: A Story

If you have not taken a moment to read our friend Simon's blog please start with this story, it is absolutely beautiful. Simon is 5 days older than Isaac and has spent the last couple of months at Children's Hospital in Oakland with a heart condition. He is a sweet and special little boy with two beautiful moms. We feel blessed to know them. Their blog is so touching...

Simon Lev: A Story

Ella

Isaac with Ella and Maya

We are so lucky to have found an amazing woman to care for Isaac while we are working. Ella is from Eritrea in Northeast Africa and has been in the US for 26 years. She greets us every morning with a huge smile and big hugs and kisses for our son. She spends the day playing on his level and encouraging him to learn about the world around him. She is patient and loving and I most importantly, I trust her. As a first time mom, being able to have peace of mind that my son is being cared for by the best possible person is incredibly important. She adores our son as if he was her own. I couldn't ask for a better person for him to spend his days with.

Changing Seasons

Fall is here! This has always been one of my favorite seasons. I love the crispness in the air and the smell of the leaves as they change. It also reminds me of fresh starts, like the first day of school. This fall has been even more special because it marked Isaac's 6th month birthday and my return to work.

In addition, the fall brings the close of the Jewish year. This years High Holy Day services were more meaningful to me because I got to share them with Isaac for the first time. We attended both Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services at Chomat with Shefa and Aaron. I found myself moved to tears several times as we prayed, sang and danced together. Isaac even wore my tallis for a short while and played with the tzitzit. This brought back very moving memories of me by my father's side during services and wrapping the corner of his tallis around my shoulder and running the tzitzit through my fingers as I tried to amuse myself and be as close to him as possible as a child.

Isaac continues to change on almost a daily basis. After a few weeks of practicing today he remembered that he could sit up on his own and proceeded to show off his new skill several times this evening. One thing that I recognize about my son is that once he does something new, like rolling over or sitting up, he takes a couple week break and then one day decides that he's ready to do it all of the time.

We have an appointment next week with a plastic surgeon to discuss his bump and make a decision if and when it should be removed. I'm a bit nervous about the pain that it might cause him. However, in the end I am sure it will be okay.

I will post more soon... I promise :)

Morning Lessons

This morning I got up early to get a shower in and a little work done before Isaac woke up. I have figured out that being a working mom means very looooong days, made up of lots of tasks to juggle. I always felt hard pressed to get myself out of the house on time, but now there are two of us to organize. In addition, tomorrow Marc gets the privilege of getting Isaac to Ella so that I can make an early meeting in the city. Which has meant that I needed to get as much organized for him as possible. WAIT!!! How did I become the expert on only my second day of work trying to coordinate this transition???

Anyway, after my shower I discovered that Isaac was already up and starting to complain that he's still in his crib and getting hungry. I get him changed and dressed for the day and then set up his play area in the living room. Once he's settled, lying on his back and playing with his toys, I start to tick off the mental list of things to do in my brain and try to get a few things accomplished while he plays by himself. After a couple of minutes I realize that he's being VERY quite in there and peek around the corner to see what he's up to. To my surprise I find him sitting up playing with a toy... SITTING UP?!? Yep, just sitting there, looking more like a little boy and less like my baby. We've been practicing sitting up for the last week or so, but today was the first time that he sat himself up from a prone position. I called Marc over. He and I oohed and ahhhed over the advanced progress of our little boy. And then a voice in my head said, "wait... don't grow up too fast... I want you to stay small... my baby... time is going by so quickly."

Ooooo we're in trouble now!!!

Check out our little boy on the move...

Guess it is time to childproof the house!

Bump

Just a quick update on Isaac's bump. We saw the pediatric dermatologist who took a look and deemed it benign. However, she said that it should be removed, not only because it would draw questions from other children as he grew older, but because it may continue to grow and may cause him physical discomfort. Good enough reasons for me. We are going to see a plastic surgeon and schedule its removal sometime between 12 and 18 months of age. I will miss this special part of Isaac, it is unique, but unnecessary.

I also have to say, this little guy is quite the charmer, he will smile at anyone weather they are paying attention to him or not. The nurses and doctor kept commenting on his smiley personality... one nurse threatened to keep him. Back off lady and take a step away from my baby :)

Five Months Old!

On September 14th our little boy turned 5 months old. Time has gone by so quickly...unbelieveably so. The whole month of September has been a blur and next week I start back to work...what?!? It seems that since Isaac's birth there has been one new visit, milestone, or trip that has marked time right up to this moment. We've spent the last five months looking forward to the next thing until we ran out of things to look forward to. Now my time has drawn to a close and on Monday morning I drop him off with Ella, his nanny, to spend his days playing with her and Maya, the little girl he is doing the nanny share with. To say that I am going to miss our days together is an understatement. I don't think I can comprehend what a change this will be...just like every other part of motherhood so far.

This past month has been full of so many new experiences for Isaac:
His first plane trip
His first trip to Asheville
His first time meeting all of our friends in NC
His first time on the Blue Ridge Parkway
His first time driving through three states: GA, SC and NC
His first sip of water out of a glass
His first taste of sweet potato
His first taste of avacado
His first taste of peas
His first time staying with Ella
His first trip to VA
Attending his first and second wedding
His first time in a pool

I'm sure there are more...those are just off of the top of my head.

I have taken a ton of pictures and they are loaded on shutterfly.