Tag: Pets

Games with Grandparents

~ Heather Walter ~ Leave a comment

We had a wonderful visit with Todd’s parents as they were in town for the last week and a half.  They left yesterday morning to get back to Maryland before heading up to Pennsylvania.  Isaac had lots of fun with both of his grandparents.  Todd’s dad introduced Isaac to a tickling spider:



Isaac also mastered sitting up while Todd’s parents were here.  What a difference a week makes!!!  We couldn’t believe his progress.  It’s now much more interesting to try to give Isaac a bath because he wants to roll over and/or sit up in his little tub.  (He also wants to roll across the counter when I set him on it post-bath to apply some lotion and put his diaper on).  He is able to sit unassisted for a minute or more now, but not long enough that I can actually take his little butt rest out of his tub.  Maybe in a few more days…  This is his must-get-out-of-tub testing yesterday.



Anyway, he sits better than this now, but here’s a fun little video from Saturday where he was just getting the hang of it.  (And let’s face it, video of him sitting still isn’t nearly as fun).  It’s now possible to see measurable differences in his skills from one day to the next.  Unbelievable!



Grandpa wasn’t the only one who got Isaac giggling, either.  Grandma also got in on some play time and some sweet snuggles:



Finally, Jackson also got some attention from the grandparents.  What a relief!  The poor pets have been so neglected over the last 7 months.  It was good for them to have a little love lavished upon them.



In addition to purposely playing with Isaac, we played a great deal of Mexican Train (dominoes) while the grandparents, and then also godparents, were in town.  Isaac helped Grandpa by knocking all of his tiles down with one of his toys.


Doctor – 6 Month Checkup

~ Heather Walter ~ Leave a comment

Isaac had his six-month checkup at the doctor’s office today.  He was given a clean bill of health.  He is 26 1/2 inches long now.  He weighs 16 lbs. 7.5 oz.  I thought he would weigh more, but I guess not!  I was a little concerned because he has dipped below the 50th percentile, where he has been holding steady up until now.  The doctor said he is burning a lot of calories with all of the exercise he’s getting now, though, which makes sense.  He doesn’t tire as easily as he used to, so he spends much more time on his tummy and practicing sitting.  I suspect he’ll start picking up some more weight as he starts to eat more solid foods.  According to the little piece of paper on “what your child should be doing now”, they expect Isaac to be eating 3-4 little meals every day.  I don’t think I know anyone who was doing that at a mere 6 months, but maybe I’m wrong.  I’m not planning to rush him just because of this piece of paper.  We’ll get there when he’s ready.


Isaac was less enthusiastic about his sweet potatoes today.  I am not sure if that’s just because he was having an off day (it was before we went to the doctor), or because I didn’t mix in any water or milk with the potatoes, or because I put in some probiotics and they made him burp.  Anyway, I’m planning to start him on either carrots or avocados tomorrow.  I’ll try to remember to take the camera with me for the next meal.


Baby Boy was tested for lead in his blood because our house was built in 1977 and is currently undergoing a remodel.  I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry, but I doubt there’s any concern.  He was a champ for the thumb prick – he didn’t even bat an eyelash.  He cried for his shots this time, though.  Last time, he didn’t do anything until the third shot.  This time, he started crying with the second shot and he really cried for the fourth one.  Poor little thing!!!  :o(  He settled down after just a minute once I picked him up.  He was a bit of a handful this evening because he didn’t nap at all after we went to the doctor.  The appointment was at 1:50 pm and he usually naps for a couple of hours in the afternoon.  He wasn’t overly fussy, but he wasn’t particularly chipper, either.  He just seemed restless…  I finally got him to go to bed at about 9:00, even though I started the routine at 7:30.  They were supposed to give him a flu shot today, but I said that I suspect he may have an allergy to eggs.  I probably should have bitten my tongue, since I don’t know this for sure, but I’d hate to find out the hard way.  He was breaking out pretty severely after the weekends, when I would have eaten eggs.  That said, the days I had eggs, there was usually also some dairy that sneaked its way in…  The doc is going to check with her allergist and then give me a call back about what to do next.  Meanwhile, apparently I need to schedule an appointment with my own doctor to go get a flu shot.  The things we do for love!  LOL


To end on a high note, here’s a little video of Isaac and Jackson yesterday.  As you can see, Isaac is way more excited about this than Jackson is!  Enjoy!!!


Learning to Sit Up

~ Heather Walter ~ Leave a comment
I am doing the single-parenting gig this week while Todd’s doing a whirlwind tour of the Midwest.  Isaac is improving his sitting skills and is getting stronger and stronger.  He is able to sit on his own for brief periods, but not long enough for me to let go, focus the camera, and take a photo of it.  :o)  I’m sure that’s coming soon…  In the meantime, I took a few pictures of him sitting in front of me so that if he fell I could keep him from banging his head on the base of his portable swing, which he has of course done a few times now.
I also shot a few videos, but the best one has a lot of light coming through the window in the background.  If you’ll forgive the shoddy camera-work, you might enjoy this little video.  Todd’s boss, Jamie, gave Isaac this fun ball that he’s playing with.

Isaac continues, of course, to be fascinated by the pets.  He watches Nestle some, but Jackson is more exciting because he’s more enthusiastic about everything.  Nestle moves more slowly, so he isn’t quite as enthralling.  Jackson continues to mostly ignore Isaac, although every now and then he’ll make a little effort.  Those little moments make Isaac’s day.  I’d like to pet on Jackson to thank him, but every time I pet the dog and then touch the baby, Isaac breaks out where I’ve touched him.  I am happy to let Jackson lick him, but then I pretty quickly wipe him down with a wet wipe a few minutes later.  I guess he’s just going to have to get used to being broken out once he goes mobile because I won’t be able to keep him away from Jackson (nor would I want to do that).  Here’s a quick (okay, it’s actually over 40 seconds) clip from earlier today, after Isaac got tired of trying to sit up:



Tomorrow, Isaac has his six-month appointment with the doctor.  Unfortunately, this will mean more shots, including a flu vaccine.  Ugh.  Apparently the flu vax has to be given in 2 doses, so we’ll have to go back for the rest of it at a later date.  On the bright side, I can find out how long and heavy he’s getting.  As it is, I’m soon going to have to start leaving the car seat in the car because he’s getting too heavy for me in the carrier.  We’ll need to buy his next car seat soon, as the limits on this one are 22 lbs. and/or 30 inches.  I expect he’ll weigh too much to safely use this one by Christmas, but it’ll be a few more months after that before he’s 30 inches tall.

Jackson and Isaac – funny video

~ Heather Walter ~ Leave a comment

OK, so Isaac is cute, but Jackson totally makes this video.  I was trying to get a few shots of them playing together because Isaac keeps reaching for Jackson.  Jackson thinks this is fun and licks Isaac.  Isaac thinks *this* is fun and laughs.  Instead, this is what I got:



It’s amazing that the camera-work isn’t shakier because I totally cracked up laughing.  You just never know what you’re going to get with a dog and a baby in a video…

Nestle to the Vet

~ Heather Walter ~ Leave a comment

I took Nestle to the vet this morning.


A few months ago, he started peeing on a section of carpet in the den area.  We attributed this to Isaac’s arrival for two reasons:  1)  Nestle very rarely got any attention because he already refused to be in a room with Jackson and now didn’t want to be near Isaac, either, and 2) we weren’t great about cleaning out his litter box.  So…  Todd pulled up the section of carpet in question and replaced the padding and will hopefully replace the carpet once the hardwood floors are installed.  Nestle was locked in the bathroom for 3 days to get reacquainted with his friend, the litter box.  I tried to clean out the litter box every morning.  Nestle got over some of his avoidance of Isaac and would come around so I could occasionally pet him.  Then, I got tired of Jackson “helping” us clean out the litter box, so I turned the box to make it harder for Jackson to put his head in it.  Theoretically, Nestle should still be able to get into the opening and should like it because it’s more of a confined space now (which he generally likes).  In actuality, the shower curtain partially covered the opening.  As Nestle doesn’t particularly care for using the box anyway, he decided to use the carpet in our office instead of the litter box.  <>  This earned him another couple of days locked in the bathroom with his food, water, and the turned-back-to-its-original-position box.  That was last week.  We have had the office door closed so that Nestle can’t get in to further soil the carpet.  Two days ago, we found ANOTHER spot on the den carpet that Nestle recently used.  This one is across the room from his original location.  More carpet cleaning, plus 2 more days in the bathroom until there was time to take him to the vet.  Today, they are checking some things and looking for an infection via some urine samples and blood work.  The total for this is going to be in the neighborhood of $300.  Add that to the cost of carpet pad, the little Feliway refills I have purchased (it’s like kitty Prozac in the form of a Glade plug-in), and the amount of therapy I’m going to need from the stress of having our cat destroy the carpet in ANOTHER house…  I am thinking I will ask the vet if they’d like to keep him.