It’s hard to whisper in duck

That is the rebuff Chris said to Jeremiah when Chris was trying to be quiet for babies and Jeremiah made fun of him. Quote of the year for me.

This is a big long update, but it could be longer, so count your blessings.

Isaac turned 1! I can’t believe he’s so old! We had many birthday celebrations that turned his birthday into a three-day long affair. He got his cake on Sunday but would not touch it. Monday we went to the Magic House, which was a big hit. We went the day before his birthday because they start charging at 1 year. I’m so tricky. On Tuesday, his birthday, we went to the Tower Grove fountains. I think he had a great couple of days and loves all of his presents from his grandparents. We didn’t buy him anything.

My brother Nathan drove through and spent the night here with his “friend who happens to be a girl”. It was great to see him and his crazy hair.

My brother Chris was nice enough to fly to St. Louis and drive up with me to Chicago to see my brother Jeremiah and Megan and baby Hannah. Poor Chris drove the whole way because Isaac wasn’t okay with the stranger in the car. We stopped in Springfield on the way, which made our trip two hours longer. Probably not the best idea we’ve ever had, but it was cool to see Lincoln’s house and the old courthouse and his law offices and his tomb. It was a totally awesome trip, though I got little sleep, and though the bathrooms were off the bedrooms which were unavailable after babies went to bed. Isaac had a tough time adjusting at first, but he hit his groove on Saturday and started exploring and talking to people and noticing Hannah. He said “Hi” for the first time, probably because Hannah says it all the time. She called Isaac “Isa”. So cute.

Blake took his first board exam and started a surgery rotation. Blake looks so cute dressed up to go to “work”. Is this what real life is like? I need to start putting Isaac to bed at 7 as opposed to 6 so that Blake can actually see his son once in a while.

I’m tending little Owen two days a week. He is little-brother-in-training for Isaac. So far, so good. I can totally do two babies. (For 8 hours a day, 2 days a week.)

And I feel like I can finally say Isaac is walking! After two days with Owen, Isaac decided he could walk on his own. Now he putters around the house by himself. On Tuesday, he shocked me by actually going out of the room that I was in. He always wants to be right next to me. I'd better get used to it, I guess.

Birthday boy! (the one in the red)

Still deciding if I like it. Is it too pastel?

Isaac has been doing this for the past two months but I'm finally posting a video. He still wants the security of a hand to hold but sometimes will forget he needs me and will walk across the room to whatever desirable (usually dangerous or breakable) object he sees.

On politics

If it's boring, which it probably is, skip to the picture of Blake and Isaac.

I heart Ron Paul. Fascinating read. He says...

“For most people, in fact, the Fed is a complete mystery, its operations incomprehensible. That seems to be just the way the Fed likes it. We are supposed to be bored by it. We are supposed to treat it as a given, like the air we breathe. We are supposed to have confidence in it..."

This is how I have felt about government in general. I have been bored/intimidated by politics. As I grow older, though, I realize I have a responsibility to pay attention to what my country is up to. I grabbed this book at the library on a recommendation by a friend and it was so good! I’m still thinking, but I agreed with most he had to say. It explained many of the current issues in layman’s terms. If nothing else, it was an interesting beginner’s look at economics. Here’s another quote for you.

“The federal funds rate rises when there is too much demand from banks looking to borrow and too little supply from banks willing to lend. For reasons we shall see in a moment, the Fed often wants to prevent the federal funds rate from rising. ...The way it pushes the rate down is by buying bonds from the banks. That gives the banks more money and therefore more reserves on hand to lend to banks that need it. Funds available to be lent to other banks are now less scarce, and a correspondingly lower federal funds rate reflects this. There does the Fed get the money to buy the bonds? It creates it out of thin air, simply writing checks...If that sounds fishy, then you understand it just fine.”

Other subjects of interest: empire building, blowback, decreasing privacy, increasing presidential power, drug laws, heathcare...you name it.

Ok, back to a regular old post.
Isaac is becoming too smart and independent. He will walk up to the desk and let go of my hand and whine. That means to lift him up so he can play with my laptop. If the laptop is closed he will pound on it and cry until I open it.

He loves doors. Medicine cabinet, dryer, dishwasher, cabinet, and bedroom doors. He will swing them open and shut open and shut while I make sure he doesn’t get his fingers caught. He does the laptop trick with doors too—he will walk to one and drop my hand and pout until I open the door so he can play with it. He thinks the hall in our condo building is part of our house and fair game to explore.

Just in case you all didn’t know, health insurance is such a pain! I had to switch to private insurance after Isaac was born and after my work insurance ran out. Anthem quoted me a certain price for it. Well, in our application I mentioned that Isaac had taken some reflux medication. He was a very fussy baby if anyone remembers and we tried acid reflux medication for two months to see if it would help. It never seemed to really do anything and Isaac’s fussiness went away by itself at about 3 or 4 months. (or did it? I swear he still whines all the time!) Our insurance decided that that was grounds for increasing our rate $30/month. I fought it, and I have never fought anything! Whenever anyone tells me to pay something I blindly swipe the credit card. My mom stopped sending me to the grocery store because I would always be overcharged. Anyway, it has been a four month process, back and forth back and forth. I think it’s silly that just because we tried some medicine and it didn’t work, I have to pay an extra $400 a year in health insurance. A few weeks ago I was issued a new card and rate. They dropped our rate $5, so now our rate is only $25/month higher than I was quoted. Thanks.

But life is good and it’s getting warm again! And tulips are my favorite flower! And thanks to everyone who posted on our April Fools joke--we didn't know so many people actually read this!

botanical gardens

rainy birthday at the zoo

some of our recent hike went like this

and some of it went like this.

One handed

Here's a video of Isaac walking with one hand for help.This is already outdated because Isaac has already taken some steps on his own!

Some news

Well, Blake has decided that medical school is not for him. He’s decided to switch fields and pursue a PhD in social work instead. This will require him to get another master’s degree and then continue on to the PhD. Just when we thought we had 2 years of school left, we’ll have 6 or so.

However, I’ve been pretty jealous of medical school so I’ve decided to apply in a year, after I’ve taken organic chemistry. We asked Wash U if we could count the 80k + we’ve paid for Blake’s tuition towards mine, but they didn’t think that would work out. Oh well.

This means that having kids will be put on hiatus until I’m done with medical school. Once I’m done, we plan on going on fertility in the hopes that we can have quadruplets to finish up our family quickly.

We went ahead and blew through the rest of our savings so that we could get on food stamps. We bought a Hummer (Blake’s dream car) and a house! It has five bedrooms and a swimming pool! Pics to follow.

Isaac is quite precocious—last week he learned the alphabet and this week he’s tackling differential equations.

The week in numbers (and photos)

One basil sprout that made my day! Fresh basil is so expensive to buy and pesto is so good and I hear basil grows like a weed. Hence my decision to plant a little pot of basil over a month ago which finally sprouted!

Two little blue crocs that Isaac wore for the first time on Sunday. His first pair of shoes! It was so nice out that we opened our door and walked with Isaac on the deck.

Three bowls smashed on the kitchen floor. It was my fault—I was cleaning out a cupboard and had some stacks of bowls on the counter. I walked past with Isaac and it was just a natural reaction for him to reach out to try and touch the pretty yellow bowls. The noise didn’t even scare him –I think he liked it.

Four people who have asked for recipes. Three were for salad, one was for bread. I always feel some pride when people ask for a recipe, but then I realize that all I did was combine the ingredients that the recipe required and followed all the steps. I didn’t do anything special really, it was the person who created the recipe who deserves the pat on the back.

Five teeth and counting. Isaac is growing teeth left and right! It has changed his smile so much. I think I got a picture where you can see his top teeth.

Our sixth visit to the pediatrician. Isaac at 9 months is now between 25 and 50th percentiles for both height and weight. 19 lb 6 oz and almost 28” long.

Independent Isaac

It’s really been a while. Blake and I took back our exercise bike that we got for Christmas so now we are trying to run in the evenings after Isaac is in bed. By the time I do that, I don’t want to head to the library to use the internet. And Blake downloaded a nifty gmail app that lets me view my email offline, so that’s further incentive not to make the effort.

I don’t know if it’s just cold, or if pregnancy did something crazy to me, or if I’m just getting old, or if I’m a wimp, but my joints just ache when I go running. Hopefully my body starts whipping into shape soon or I might be doomed to run a 12 minute mile for the rest of my life.

Blake was super romantic and got me...a babysitter for Valentine’s! We went on a real date to the Olive Garden. (Cute flower he got me below...)

We’ve had a couple of good weather days so I’ve tried to take Isaac for a walk in his stroller. He doesn’t like those few extra inches away from mom so if we go longer than 15 minutes, sometimes 10, and sometimes 2, he cries to get out. But we’re working on it, and I know some day he will be happy to go for a walk and sit in his stroller. He used to hate his car seat too, but now he will giggle when I put him in because he knows he will get to go somewhere new.

Isaac is still running all over the house with me as chauffeur. He is getting more stable and can stand if he’s holding on to the couch. He still refuses to crawl. One day this week I was kneeling as I held Isaac’s hands so that he could walk, as usual. I noticed that we had begun to turn in pretty tight circles. I realized that I was wearing some red crocs and Isaac was trying to get to them, but every time he moved, they moved!

He’s becoming more and more independent. It’s getting hard to steer him the direction you want him to go because he has a good idea of where he wants to go instead. He’s drinking half apple juice half water in a sippy cup so now he will take a couple bites of food and then refuse to eat until he’s had a sip of juice. I love my opinionated boy.

As a random thought as April 15 draws near, let me just say that taxes + one kid + paying tuition = awesome refund and an extra bonus!

Isaac trying to look at my face underneath the camera

He's discovered the cd tower. My sister told me three years ago when I bought it that my kids would soon make me regret my purchase. Wise words.

Don't let that smile fool you, he hates it! He won't eat anything green, including this, which is broccoli.

Standing all by himself (sort of)!

I'm in love with his chubby legs.

Isaac has also discovered the dresser. Oh, the everyday fun things to play in.