February 2009 - Crawling!

Edison has made his first move towards independence this past week. He finally put it all together and began crawling. It started with a couple feet here and there and now, a week later, he can crawl the length of the room. Tonight he came into the kitchen while I was making dinner & opened one of the drawers. This is very cute and it is always exciting when he reaches a milestone. But, now we have to be a lot more vigilant of his activities and of course, we need to baby proof.

Edison is now seven months old - can you believe it? He is a full-fledged infant - he can sit and play with a toy for awhile, then crawl over to another toy and investigate it. He gets giddy when a cat moves into a room - he tries to pet them, but they flee at his over-zealous grabs. I absolutely adore him and could just eat him up. His two upper teeth are now "cut" and are driving him nuts.




Thanks Auntie Marleigh for the awesome Nike track suit! Soon I'll be running in it.







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Thanks for the carload of toys from my Phillips cousins, Auntie Carolyn. It is perfect timing to inherit this scooter. (I call this Edison's snowboarding outfit.)




I dragged Edison along to a seven-hour swim meet this weekend. The place was packed and loud (middle school champs), yet he managed to catch up on his beauty sleep. I couldn't believe when someone pulled the fire alarm and we had to evacuate the building at 8:30 at night into 17 degree weather. Brrrrr~ luckily our car was close so we stayed in that until the all clear. Can you imagine 200+ middle school swimmers in swim suits heading outside - crazy!




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Here is the infamous Gorton Pond - you can see it has frozen over. We went out on it for a walk on Sunday. Our house is in the background (to my left).

Trying to Stay Entertained in Winter

Edison is now sitting up without assistance. This is fantastic for me because I no longer need to hover next to him waiting to catch him when he tumbled over. He also likes it because it is much easier to play with toys in this position. He can go from his back to stomach to sitting and back to this stomach all by himself. Yippi!






Edison is checking out a talking toy. It was a lifesaver on Sunday - we went skiing for the first time this season at a small area NW of Hartford. Eben & I took turns skiing and watching Edison in the lodge. Luckily Edison was quite entertained by this toy.









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Have you ever seen anything so ridiculously cute? I love how the goggles pick up the blue in his eyes.
We've been spending a lot of time at the pool - it is nice to go there and not feel like you're stuck in the middle of a brutal winter. We even go as a family on the weekends. Edison is very comfortable in the water, but not ready to get his head under yet.
What a fashion plate. A vest is quite a statement. Note his position - he just rolled to his front after being in a sitting position.

It's a Family Affair

We welcomed Eben's father for a visit this past weekend. He was attending the birthday party of one of his cousins in Mystic and we came along. It was quite an extended family gathering.
Edison and his granddaddy David.


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Below is a picture of Edison, the youngest descendant of Harry Phillips, pictured with James, the oldest descendant. It is well past Edison's bedtime and he was sure to remind us about that!
All three of us have been sick this week. Edison & I have spent a lot of time hanging out in the nursery just lazing around and trying to recover. I couldn't pass up this pose. Note the use of the teddy bear as a pillow.





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Snowy Days Here

We've gotten snow here for the last couple weeks. There is a high of 15 degrees here today and it has been cold for awhile. The pond across the street from our house has frozen. On Saturday we woke up to discover guys ice fishing on it. Later in the day came ice skaters and hockey games. Brrrr. We're having a lot of trouble getting up our sloped, dirt/gravel driveway which we didn't shovel because it is dirt. But now it is super icy. Once we're out of our driveway though the salt and plows keep the roads pretty clear. Needless to say, we just bought plane tickets to go to Florida for Eben's spring break!

This is a picture of Edison going stir crazy.
Here he is trying to escape the house. (just kidding - this was taken in the Connecticut River Museum parking lot on Saturday just as the snow started falling again -but it looks like rain in the photo, I know)
Edison LOVES this crazy buy toy bar. He sits peacefully in his high chair for over thirty minutes at both lunch and dinner because of this thing. Thank you Mike & Sabrina!




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All tuckered out in his carseat.

My mom just sent me this one from our Christmas trip to Seattle. Here is Edison with his great grandmother, Bestamor (Norwegian).

Adventures in Eating

You'd think Edison would be a "natural" at eating given his lineage and his physique. But alas, he still has a lot of learning to do. It looks like he kind of liked his first taste of carrots...


Edison reading from a book of nursery rhymes he got for Christmas.

We spent New Years Eve with friends in Clinton, New York. We dressed Edison up in a little Santa hat, better late than never!

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Edison with Wynnin, the youngest daughter of our New York hosts, Jon & Stacy. She was mesmerized by the baby and was very helpful at showing Edison the ropes in the household.
Has anyone seen my garden gnome anywhere? How about Pappy Smurf? Cookie Monster? The Keebler Elf?

January 2009 - Happy New Year

I love this picture of Edison on his Granddaddy's bed, with Granddaddy in the background. The light is gorgeous, lots of blue tones, and an interesting composition.
Edison with his cousin Sarah on the day after Christmas. She is so great with him, trying to keep him entertained and playing with him.He's lucky he's so cute. This is just after he pooped on my leg. (We're trying to do a lot of naked baby time so his skin can breath - but of course it has its pitfalls.)



This picture was taken just before the Patriots got knocked out of the playoffs - you can tell because Eben is still smiling.
My cousin Matt came to visit again and got in some good baby time. Unfortunately, Edison wasn't cooperating with the camera.



























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Christmas Week

We flew to Seattle on the 16th, anticipating an enjoyable week of family, friends, and skiing. But... that was not to be. The master bath at our house in Mill Creek was leaking water and needed to be overhauled ASAP before more damage could be done. So - we spent our vacation remodeling our master bath - new bathtub, new plumbing, new tile walls and our friend Matt will finish up the new floor and all the detail work we couldn't get done. I always wanted a remodel - but this wasn't exactly the way I planned it. Oh - the joys of home ownership!!! At least we were still able to see, albeit briefly, our family and some of our friends.

Edison with Nana on Christmas eve.




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Here's the new shower tile-
Edison with Granddad on Christmas eve. Look at those smiles!
The flight from Dallas to Boston on Christmas day was pretty empty. We had a whole row to ourselves and had a little Christmas picnic and card game.