New friends in Tennessee, Georgia, & S. Carolina -- Round 1

We're halfway through a two-week vacation in the Southeast whose main purpose is to introduce Soren to his great-grandma in Tennessee -- but that won't happen until this coming Easter weekend. Meanwhile, we've been visiting other family and friends in a driving loop through Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina (where we are now). We're averaging 50 mpg in the rental car, since we got upgraded to a Prius!

OK, first stop was Chattanooga, Tenn., where we flew in and were hosted by my cousin Jamie and her husband Louis and kids Emily (7) and Jack (3). Three blondies! Jack was pretty hot on Soren until we all had to ride in the car together, which brought on Soren's inevitable yowls of protest (he still doesn't like to be confined to his carseat, too bad for all of us). With fingers stuffed in ears, Jack demanded, "Turn him OFF!" If only we knew where that button was...! We brought the kids a stuffed orca whale from Washington, which is shown in the PJ picture below.

Then it was on to Monroe, Ga., a perfectly lovely small town about an hour east of Atlanta that we discovered on our 2006 road trip. We stayed with our friend Chad, a 33-year-old community organizer dynamo and realtor/developer (of the good kind) who has founded a nonprofit called Friends of Walton County and serves on Monroe's Downtown Development Authority, the Walton County Quality Growth Committee, and a YMCA steering committee, among others. Our kind of guy! He had a soft spot for Soren and is shown here assisting with some first steps on the full-length pine floorboards in his restored 1906 Craftsman.

Soren and I took a day trip to Suwanee, Ga., to visit my childhood friend Erin and her 3-year-old son Joshua, who is the most amiable toddler I have met. Anything Erin asked of him ("Would you like to show Soren your train upstairs?") was answered with a cheery, "Oh, yes, please!" And when he answered me, it was "Yes, ma'am." "We are in the South," Erin explained. "It's a common courtesy."

Lastly, I will list among friends made this fellow we met briefly in Abbeville, SC, where we stopped for lunch yesterday. Turns out he is a member of a rhythm-n-blues/soul/funk band called The Flying Clouds. We found a video of the band from 1999 on YouTube (click here), and he is the singer who comes in at 3:00 bouncing up and down with incredible energy -- which is sad, since recently he broke his leg and was hobbling around with one crutch and a cane. But his spirit was strong.

We're now in Charlotte, NC, headed tomorrow to the Asheville area, and we'll report on visits with those friends in Round 2!

Crafty mama makes "sleeve warmers"

I really should be giving credit to my sister Jill in this post. She's the one who convinced me to buy a $4 sweater at Goodwill and cut it up to make a chill-day baby-carrier ensemble.

The impetus for this sewing project was that it's not practical for me to wear a jacket when I'm carrying Soren on my back, as I am doing more and more these days. I can't pull one on over him, and if I put it on underneath the carrier, I run the real risk of sweating profusely as I trek up and down Port Townsend's hills. Plus, if I'm headed for an indoor destination and he falls asleep, I can't take the jacket off, etc., etc.
As you can see, we cut off the sleeves (the tops tuck nicely under the straps of the carrier) and used extra fabric to make a stocking cap and a scarf. We even made Soren a pair of matching leg warmers. It was super simple, because the fabric we chose didn't need hemming and we could just count wales instead of measuring width.

Brrr! Here I am without my sleeve warmers and other accessories. Not a happy walker.
So thank you, Jilly! We've had the pleasure of two visits from her in March. Here she is showing how crafty she is, finishing a hat she'd brought to knit with pencils because she'd forgotten her straight needles for the crown.
And here she is with her favorite (OK, only) nephew, who is entranced by a bit of ribbon. And by his Auntie Jill, no doubt.

Just 7 months old, and he's keeping house

We think Soren is starting to get the jist of "pretending," as he has been quite content to "play house" lately, in an abode just his size. He likes that it's his space -- that we can't fit in! We pass him toys and he arranges them in the corners, and the other day we had a "tea party" with me sipping my cup of tea on his "outdoor patio" and Soren pretending to drink out of an empty cup.
When Soren's friend Blake came over, we made a duplex!
Yes, Soren is growing so fast he's growing right out of his hats (and other clothes -- yesterday we noticed his big toes had poked two holes in the feet of his pajamas!). This photo is misleading, by the way: Soren no longer has patience for looking at books, he just likes to stuff them in his mouth.
But he's not too big for the Moby Wrap. At least, I still find it comfortable, and he still manages to fall asleep in it every so often.
And we'll sign off with this photo, taken on Soren's 7-month birthday on March 27. Happy birthday, our not-so-little boy!

He's a towhead!

Sleeping...and wide awake!
We're overdue on an update from Soren-land, so here are five photos from the first half of the month of March showing off our cute-as-a-bug six-and-a-half-month-old. Please note that his hair is filling in nicely. When we can't see that brown freckle on his scalp (visible in top photo), we'll know his thatch is thick enough, but for now we're loving his white-blond wisps.
Ah, today is the official first day of spring, but we've had some lovely warm days in the past weeks (interspersed with hailstorms!). Here Soren sports his first shorts of the season and an adorable new sunhat.
His newest trick is sticking out his tongue when he wants to say hello, or just when he's happy.
And I am thrilled to be finally wearing him on my back. I waited until he was six months old to shift him from front to back, and it's opened up lots of new opportunities for my free hands. It's also a more comfortable way to tote around his nearly-20 pounds. This is our handy Ergo, my current carrier of choice, but alas it doesn't fit Jeff's frame.

Auntie Jill is visiting us right now during her spring break, so there'll be photos of her posted soon!

All wrapped up and tied with a bow

From my mom's birthday gathering at the Space Needle last weekend, here's some too-cute pix of Soren playing with a ribbon from a present.


If you're not plugged into Soren's blog as well as this one, read about his take on the trip to Outer Space here. He's well on his way to wanting to be an astronaut when he grows up!

Have tooth, must eat

Soren's first tooth broke through on Sunday morning, two days after he turned six months old. After two months of heavy drooling, the lower right front tooth popped out anticlimactically. He slept even better than usual the night before! But ever since he has been gnawing frantically on whatever's at hand, and he has also figured out how to squeak his rubber spoon against the new bit of enamel. No, he hasn't bitten me yet while nursing, but I'll let him know that's NOT OK when he does.
These photos were actually taken on Feb. 17, when we tried feeding Soren solid food for the first time. It was pureed steamed carrot, and it didn't really count as his "first solid food," because I don't think any of it made it down his throat! He did enjoy playing with the spoon, however.

This is his newly acquired highchair, a "hand-me-round" from Zia and the Peters girls before that. It has wheels on all four legs and Soren likes to sit in it and be wheeled around the main floor while he plays with toys on the tray. Recently he has been fascinated with dumping objects out of a container and putting them back in, only to repeat the procedure again and again.

This week, on March 4, Soren did eat his first "meal" -- about a teaspoon of mashed ripe banana. He licked small portions off my finger and smiled and wanted more. We kept it up until he got bored and started gumming the highchair tray. Maybe the new tooth helped.
And then I just had to share these photos (from Feb. 9) of Soren in his new bathtub. He graduated from the infant tub, which kept him in a reclining position, to the inflatable duck, which allows him to sit up.
Sore enjoys bathtime so much it has become a part of our nightly routine. We parents enjoy it for the chance to admire our baby's bare bum! Doesn't he look like Calvin (of Calvin & Hobbes) from the back?!
Click here to view a C&H cartoon and see what I mean!

Our first visit to Anacortes

Believe it or not, Soren didn't make a trip to my hometown of Anacortes until he was nearly six months old! Papaw Bill and Grannie Annie have made lots of trips to Port Townsend to see us, but this was our first time traveling north. (One excuse we can trot out is that there was no car ferry service for the month of January.)

We visited lots of friends, including my high school friend Amber (above). We are holding each other's babies! Her little girl Avelyn is two days younger than Soren.
And here is the family of Nat, my friend from way back in elementary school! He just moved back to the area and it was good to meet his new son Timmy (far left) as well as reconnect with his older boy Frank (whom we had not seen since he was first born) and his wife Diane (holding Soren).
Our friend Barb brought Soren a Rubbermaid container, labeled on the lid as "Soren's Toy Box." But we soon realized it could be used for all sorts of fun games!
Of course, the real attractions in Anacortes are the grandparents. Here's Soren with Grannie and Papaw on his six-month birthday. I was worried about two aspects of our trip: 1) that Soren would be fussy on the 45-minute car ride, and 2) that he wouldn't sleep well away from home.

Well, my first worry was just unfounded. He napped all the way there and only whined part of the way back. My second worry was alleviated by the fact that we brought with us his hammock, his blanket, his stuffed animal, his humidifier, his radiator, and even the inflatable bathtub in which he bathes right before bed. So he must have felt pretty much at home, because he slept better than he usually does! I hadn't slept in the same room with him since he was three months old, and was surprised at how little noise he makes. I slept soundly, too. And then my parents played the role of Jeff (who was back in PT working) and took over at 6:30 a.m. when Soren was wide awake so I could get a little more sleep.
A really fun thing was an "open house" my parents organized to introduce Soren to some of their friends. About a dozen people came, and it was quite the party. Soren was a cheery lad and allowed himself to be handed around and generally charmed all present. As you can perhaps see in this photo, it snowed that afternoon (a bit unseasonably for the Northwest), and by the end of the day, four inches had piled up!

As my mom exclaimed, "Soren, if we'd known what a fun houseguest you would be, we would have had you over much sooner!" Agreed.