Rolling in the Grass

On Saturday, Bob and Elsa drove down from Dixon to visit. In the afternoon, we played outside in the grass.

Crawling

Soren started crawling last Thursday night. Until now, Maggie our dog has been able to keep her toys out of Soren's reach. Maggie has discovered that is no longer the case.

Auntie Cindy Comes to Visit

Our friend Cindy flew out for a few days to escape the cold Minnesota weather and, more importantly, to learn how to make homemade pasta. We had a lot of fun. Mike and Cindy took a day to go for a hike at Wilder Ranch State Park just north of Santa Cruz. In addition to making pasta, we had lots of good local eats: fresh fish tacos, crab sandwiches along the ocean, Vietnamese soup, and falafal. Soren stuck to veggies. But we gave him avacados for the first time. The verdict is still out. Soren loved the attention from Cindy and can't wait to see her again!

Hold on tight!

Reading his favorite book

Soren loves his book about dogs. We read it every day. It was a Christmas gift from his Aunt Pam, Uncle Mike and Cousin Andrew.

Swinging at Hester Park

Now that it's stopped raining in San Jose, we go to the neighborhood park a couple times a week. Soren loves to swing, go down the slide (not alone), and play in the wood chips on the ground. On a side note, today he started to move forward when on all fours. I wouldn't really call it crawling, but it's pretty darn close!

Soren's new mode of transportation

Soren initially wasn't too sure what to think of being in his new backpack carrier. After about 5 minutes, he was having a blast. He loves being up high during our morning walks. He can look over fences, see more plants and cars, and play with my hair. And given that he was literally busting out of the Bjorn carrier, I'm sure he's much more comfortable.

First teeth!

On January 22nd, Soren turned 8 months and grew his first teeth. Two little white shiners on the bottom. It's weird having the spoon scrape on something hard when we're feeding him. After learning how to manipulate the Cheerio with his tongue (causing a few chokes and gags) he loves eating Cheerios. We've also started to give him "real" bananas and squash - both of which he goes crazy for.

Bath time

After Christmas, Soren was now strong enough to sit up on his own in the bath. He likes to play, kind of, with his sea friends and cups. We bought some bubble bath, but he's not a real fan of it yet. Not sure why.

Christmas in San Jose

Here are pictures of our Christmas in San Jose. We had a little Christmas tree that Soren and I (Mike) bought at Target. Soren was in the Bjorn carrier and I slung the tree over my shoulder. It was a very precarious walk back to the car! We gave Soren a xylophone and maracas for Christmas. It was all nice. The last picture is Soren modeling his new exercise suit he got from Grandma & Grandpa in Minnesota.

Second part of Christmas Trip (in Texas)

On Sunday we flew out of Minneapolis to Houston with a layover in Chicago. Even though the weather was snowy in both Minneapolis and Chicago we made it all the way to Houston without a problem. We spent the rest of our trip at Steven's sister's house.

Once again, Soren was the center of attention and loved playing with his cousins (Dylan and Madison), aunt, uncle and grandpa.

The day after Christmas we flew back to San Francisco and drove home to San Jose. Soren went to bed early that night and slept 14 hours. Clearly he was tired from all the playing and traveling!!!

First part of Christmas Trip (in Minnesota)

We had a busy Christmas. First we flew from San Francisco to Minneapolis and then drove to Mike's sister's house. The next morning we drove the rest of the way to Mike's parents' lakeshore house near Clitherall, MN.
Soren loved all the attention from his cousins (Andrew, Ryan, Hallie and Logan), aunts, uncles, grandparents and great-grandmother. On Saturday night we drove back to the Minneapolis metro area in minus 5 degree weather and icy roads. Early Sunday morning we drove to the airport with our fingers crossed that the weather wouldn't affect the next leg of our trip.

Carrots are even better than cereal

Hoodies are fashionable for both dads and sons

Thankful for cereal

Soren was especially thankful at Thanksgiving since that weekend is when he started eating cereal. And he loved it! He was just way too excited over Barley - we felt a bit sorry for him. We just went to his 6 month check up and he is now 22 pounds 4 oz. and 28 inches long. Whew! No teeth yet, but the doctor said that all of his gums are swollen and he'll probably get a bunch when they do come in. In the meantime, lots of drool and chomping. Soren is laughing more and more - Maggie (the cat) and Charlie (the dog) chasing each other, Steven barking like a dog, and Ruby talking (a Macaw at the local pet store) are things he finds especially funny.

Halloween

If you hadn't guessed it, Soren was a tiger for Halloween. This was actually his third costume, as he outgrew each one we bought in preparation for the holiday ('thank you' to Susan for such a wide selection of costumes at Target!). I took Soren to Steven's work and had lunch with his co-workers and later that night we carved the pumpkin (smiley face with no teeth), took the photos, drank our nightly 9 oz. of milk and then bed. Soren had a cold and was feeling awful. He's just now beginning to feel better. Long nights! We've had a couple of other 'issues' that prune juice has since cured, thank goodness. Through it all, he's still been such a good guy. He's just the best!

Hanging out

Soren can't wait until he can be the one 'driving' the computer. He's pretty intrigued with the monitors and all the buttons.

Memories

We gave Soren his first 'haircut.' He had this residual tuft of his baby hair on the top of his head as his 'new' hair has been coming in. Before it disappeared, we clipped it and saved it. Unfortunately, we clipped a bit too close to his head and he has a bit of a bald spot. For now.

C'mon teeth!

The drip of drool seems to be a constant fixture these days! Soren loves to gnaw on his hands, our hands, our chins, our noses, toys, and just about anything that gives him a bit of relief from his pending teeth.