Well, we apologize for the long delay in posting a blog update. You must have wondered what happened to us!

The end of the school year snuck up on us, we went on vacation, and Jason's server broke. He had all the content backed up, luckily, but not the format, so he is working on fixing our blog and our photos page.

So, in the meantime, an update:

Our little Seth is now 14-plus months old! It is hard to believe he is this old; he definitely is making the transition from baby to little boy, though of course, he will always be our baby! I am off work for the summer, so Seth and I have been having a great time together. Lots of visits from family and friends, and plenty of walks and trips to the library and the playground. We just started some weekly gymnastics classes called Tiny Tots. The class is for 1 to 3 year-olds, so Seth is on the younger end, but is still enjoying it. There is a bouncy floor, bars, balance beams, tunnels, mats, and a huge trampoline. It is quite the workout for Seth and for us as we do all the activities with him! Seth has also been taking swimming lessons. It takes him a while to get used to the pool temperature in the indoor pool, but once he stops crying, he has fun splashing, kicking, and blowing bubbles.

We spent two weeks in California at the end of June, which was wonderful. It was our first plane trip with Seth, and he did such a good job. We got his own seat for him on the plane, and he took his naps in there, which was great. We spent the first week of our trip with Jason's family in Lake Tahoe, all 14 of us! We had a great time and Seth loved hanging out with his grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins. We had lots of fun on the beach, in the pool, at the playground, and just spending time with our family.

The second week we spent in Mt. Shasta with my brother, my aunt and uncle, and my mother (who was visiting my brother). We had a great time - Seth enjoyed the lake, the animals at Brian's school, and just having fun at Aunt Emily and Uncle Stefan's house. It was nice to be able to have two family vacations in one trip! We had a great time! We are heading off to Cape Cod the first week in August with Chuck, Jenn, and Katie, which should be great!

Seth is doing so many new and fun things now. He is using baby signs now, which is so helpful to us to understand what he wants some of the time. He knows quite a few signs: help, more, eat, drink, all done, music, brush teeth, wash hands, put on sunscreen, phone, bath, "where is it," waving, rain, etc. It's so much fun!

He is also learning to say more words. Let's see, his list so far: uh-oh, mama, dada, ball, shoes, cheese, cherries, up, down, hi, bye-bye, bu bu (bubbles), Ba ba (for Papa), G (for Geema), dog, bird. He can do many animal sounds, and right now he is currently obsessed with cats, which he calls "maos" for meows. He points out the window and we walk up and down the street looking for cats! His receptive vocabulary is increasing, too, and he can run and get things we ask him for, identify his tummy, etc. So cute!

He is loving playing with his sand and water table and his slide, and going for rides in his red wagon. He loves playing with his toys - right now he is into stacking blocks and playing with legos. We just got him a doll stroller and a baby doll. He alternately pats and kisses the baby and drops him on the floor.

He loves bathtime now, which is great. He is sleeping much better, usually one long, two-hour nap in the middle of the day. Just in the past few days he has extended his nighttime sleeping from 9 or 10 hours to 11 or 12 hours, so we are glad he is getting all the rest he needs. Knock on wood, the past two days he has gone to sleep without his pacifier! His hair has gotten curly and wavy, and we just got his third haircut today. He looks so cute!

This is a snapshot of Seth right now. We love him so much and are having a great summer. I'll try to post more regularly now!