Valentine's Day in Duluth

Our 1st Valentine's Day as parents was perfect! As I shared before, we got a babysitting co-op going and I was the secretary for this first month, which means that I arranged all the sits. So, Nathan secretly went behind my back and found the list of sitters and called around to see if he could find someone to watch Isaiah so we could go on an early Valentine's day date (our 2nd date in one week...gotta love this co-op!). So, I came home from work, Nathan had picked out my outfit to wear and had Isaiah all ready to go to a sitter's house. We dropped him off and went to dinner at Va Bene, an Italian restaurant that has a year round balcony that overlooks Lake Superior. It was absolutely beautiful as the ice was beginning to break up and the sun was setting. Below is our view from our table. We enjoyed a lovely dinner together.

The next day, Nathan, Isaiah and I walked down to Bayfront Park for a full day of festivities to mark the first day of the Olympics. We had a beautiful day just moseying around by the lake and enjoying a crisp February day. Here is that awesome Lake Superior ice again...as I write this April 5, the ice is LONG gone!!

Babysitting Co-Op

Our group of moms continues to get together, which has been just a HUGE blessing in our lives. Especially mine, as motherhood can be challenging at times and I often question myself on the choices we make. However, to have other moms sitting in the same boat is a lifesaver.

We recently started up a babysitting co-op, which has also been a blessing. Nate and I were able to go on our first date in several months thanks to the co-op (I guess we're just too cheap to pay a sitter). So, instead of exchanging money for watching each others' kiddos, we exchange points. It has been excellent so far; it will be fun to see how the co-op expands and changes to see how our relationships with each other continue to grow.

9 months

Isaiah had his 9 month check up (although he is actually 10 1/2 months now) and here is how he measured up:

Height: 31"

Weight: 21 lbs. 13 oz.

His growing has slowed down quite a bit and he is now in the 80th percentile for height and about the 60th percentile for weight. Although, he is still comparable in size to some of his older friends.

Believe it or not, he is still not crawling...although, he does an incredible job of turning in circles on his butt, reaching for things and he is even beginning to get a little bit of an army crawl down (his Grandma Sam or Papa Jerry must have been teaching him that over Christmas). :) Just over the weekend he got clapping down, which is just SO cute. Every day is more of a surprise of what he can do. He is getting to look more and more like a little boy, especially when he smiles and you can see his little teeth (he has 6 now). Just like everyone says, parenting just keeps getting better and better.

Mexico, entry 2

We had an incredible hike on our day "off" in Tepotzlan. We started in town and hiked our way up a mountain to where we could get up close to the pyramid El Tepozteco. When we began our hike, we were assured that there were switchbacks up the mountain. We learned quickly that there were no switchbacks...indeed, just straight up the mountain! It was about a mile hike up from the base of the mountain and we made it up in about 1 hour. It was the perfect temperature for hiking and a pretty easy-going trail (although, I wasn't the one carrying Isaiah!). It was great to get out and do a nice hike.

Another day we had the chance to go on an outing as a group to some ruins. This was also very beautiful. Unfortuately, our translator wasn't with us this day and our guide only spoke Spanish so we didn't get to fully understand the story behind these ruins. It was a beautiful area though.

Overall, our trip to Mexico was a great success. We had a wonderful time and Isaiah did great. He was the best traveller we could ask for. We were told before we left that Mexican women love babies; in reality, I think it's safer to say they ADORE babies. I don't think it helped that Isaiah has blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin! :) Everyone wanted to hold him and play with him...it was really sweet and made us feel very welcomed. Living at the retreat center was the director's grandaughter who was born just three days after Isaiah (she, however, was MUCH smaller than Isaiah). Here are some pics from that:

Our trip to Mexico wouldn't be complete without an outside bath! :) Nate and I thought it was fun, but Isaiah didn't think so though.