Ian is 1!!!!!!!!

Ian is 1 today!!! Woo hoo!!! We made it, he made it, everyone is alive, healthy, and happy (despite Ike's best shot at us). I can't type for long. Because of Ike, we have no internet access at our house (but we do have power, so I can't complain) and I am blogging at work for the first and last time. Here is one picture of Ian on his first birthday to hold you over until we get internet access at home and I can upload pictures, videoes, and stories.

Almost a Year

It's almost been a year. Amazing. Sometimes it feels like Ian was born just a few months ago, other times, it seems like the longest year of my life. Things have been going really well and Ian is hitting milestones left and right. He just started getting his teeth. He is a little late on this one, but apparently I got teeth really late so it wasn't unexpected. Every time he has been fussy for the past six months we blamed it on him getting teeth. Our pediatrician told us at least 4 months ago that he is only a week or two away. Now they are finally here and we are learning the true meaning of teething, which involves Ian not wanting to eat and a lot of diarrhea. Isn't parenthood nice?

Ian also started walking. One day we were at a store and Ian saw a toy he wanted and just sort of took off. Betsy quickly pulled out her camera/video recorder thing from her purse (what a great mother's day gift) and got to recording. Check it out, but turn your volume down unless you want to hear Betsy celebrating at the end:




Generally, Ian is really happy and such a good kid. Once in a while he is bad and knows it. For example, almost daily he tries to go eat the dirt out of our one remaining potted plant that he has access to (notice the impressive home made netting device to help keep him out of the dirt ... it doesn't work, but Betsy will still sell you one for $8.99):
It's a little hard to be mad when he is smiling and laughing the whole time. I guess he has already figured out how to avoid getting into trouble. One big toothy (or in his case, toothless) grin and all is forgiven.

Ian's birthday is coming up and I am sure we will have a lot of new pictures and stories, so check back soon.

Still Here?

Every time I post I apologize for taking so long since the last time. Betsy typically gets mad at me for apologizing. Now I understand why. It was a little like the boy who cried wolf. I hadn't really taken that long between posts. Now is really the time to apologize. The best part is, I have absolutely no reason for not posting for so long. My guess is you all gave up on me by now, but if you are still here, sorry, I will try to do better, plus if no one is reading, I can pretty much write anything I want, so maybe these posts will get a little more interesting. I should probably start doing this late at night after a long summer associate dinner where I drank a little too much wine, that might increase my readership a little. Enough about me, what about the Ian?

Ian is doing great. He has all kinds of new tricks. He crawls, he pulls up on furniture, he stands up without holding onto things for a few seconds, and he falls and hits his head and cries a lot. That last one didn't take much practice. He got really good at it really fast. Betsy and I sort of half-assed the whole "baby proofing" thing. Mostly it consisted of putting caps on the outlets and moving our coffee table out of the living room. That metal and glass coffee table should come with special warnings when you buy it. It almost seemed like it was specifically designed to hurt kids learning to crawl/walk.

Ian says "Mama" once in a while. The other day Betsy walked out of the room and Ian started crying and said Mama and crawled out of the room as fast as possible. That always makes Dad feel great. He did say something that sounded a lot like "Dada" once. He never said it again. He was probably talking to a Cheerio and not me, but that's ok.

Anyway, the kid is super-cute. We are having a blast. It seems like there is a first of some sort every few days. I will try to keep you (whoever my one remaining reader may be) updated a little more often.

I have posted a link to the newest pictures of Ian over to the right. Enjoy!

Hey

Hey there. Been a long time. How's it going? The Goldstein house has been a busy place. I have been working way too much. Betsy has been busy with lots of baby things and trying to cook food she can eat three meals a day. Ian has been busy with play groups, music class, and generally learning about life. Oh what the hell, I know you are really only here to check out the pictures.
There. Happy now?

Ian has had some exciting times lately. He now knows how to sit up (and generally not fall over). He rolls around a lot. He gets up on all fours and gets real close to crawling. He went to his first rodeo. Really, he did. Ask him about the pig races. He spent his first night away from his mom. Actually, that was a probably a bigger deal for his mom, but we had a wedding to go to in Austin. Sorry Ian, you weren't invited. Well, you sort of were, but not really.

Ian also started eating real food. He now eats rice cereal and sweet potatoes. Tomorrow he starts on carrots. For those without kids, you have kids start eating one thing at a time so that you know if they are allergic to something. Ian is allergic to so much that this is especially important for us. The good news is, he hasn't had a negative reaction to any food he has directly eaten.

I wish there was more to report, but we are really just doing the every day stuff right now.

Thanks for checking in and I will get another quick update up soon.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Boris and Jennifer! They're having a baby. They are almost exactly one year behind us. If they have a boy, they will be set with hand me downs for life.

So, what's been going on with our house?

Ian experienced his first Super Bowl. Betsy and I usually have a party and we were trying to decide what to do this year with a new baby. The Super Bowl starts fairly late for a baby, but too early for a baby to be in bed. So this year, instead of our regular party, we did a Super Bowl baby party. We invited friends from Ian's play group and had 8 babies in the house all under 6 months.

It really wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds. At the beginning of the game all of the kids sat in their dad's laps and watched the game. One by one, they ended up in their mom's hands. All of a sudden, Ian was the last man -- well, baby -- standing. I was proud of him, of course. But, even he had to eventually head into the other room to hang out with his mom.

We had a great group and a great game, at least if you were a Giants' fan. The babies came back to watch the game once in a while, but were generally scared off by one particularly raucous Giants' fan in the house. Last year, I famously made the new baby from down the street cry when there was a big play. I think I was rooting for Chicago last year, but I don't really remember. It was announced quite clearly at the party that there were obviously going to be problems if I ever was a dad. What no one knew at that party was that Betsy was actually pregnant then.

Fast forward one year and this time I wasn't the one making the babies cry. Phew.

In other news, Ian has some crazy food allergies. We can't really pinpoint what it's all about, but the most significant result is that Betsy can't eat anything. And I mean anything. She is eating rice, chicken, and a few vegetables. Mmm mmm. Eventually we will get this all figured out, but right now it's a bit difficult. The good news is, Ian is perfectly happy. His allergies or food intolerances or whatever it is doesn't seem to affect him at all other than some unusual poops. There it is, a baby poop reference.

On another note, a friend of mine who was a little offended, but not really, about not being invited to the Super Bowl party was told that it was only people with new babies. His response was, oh, don't want th be there, you are probably going to have to talk a lot about your babies' poop . He had no idea how accurate that comment was.

Which is which?

Baby Ian, meet Baby Gregg

Ian Walks -- sort of.