First Hike

We took Isaac on his first official hike this weekend. The "hike" turned out to only be a 25 min out and back on the running trails around Cougar Mountain. Either way, it sure felt good to us! I am still trying to figure out the logistics of getting out between 3 hour start-to-start feeding times but we are figuring it out, slowly. Baby steps ...



Also, wanted to share a cute video of little Isaac enjoying some playtime ... squeaky!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all and happy 6 week birthday Isaac! Isaac celebrated his first Christmas Eve here at home with his parents. We made the traditional Hauge Xmas Eve dinner of brats cooked over the fire (or in our case, the grill), homemade baked beans, and potato chips! This tradition was started when my brother Kirk and I were little in an effort by my parents to keep us busy on the big night. I've always loved the tradition and plan on continuing it with our little family.

Christmas morning was spent trading the fussy baby back-forth between Nate and I so we could eat our breakfast feast and open presents. Thank you everyone for all the wonderful presents for Isaac and for the gifts for Nate and I as well! It was a lovely morning. Unlike Minnesota, we did not have a white Christmas in Seattle, instead, we had bluebird skies and 40+ degree temps -- a perfect day for a walk. After our Christmas day walk, we headed over to Nate's mom's house to celebrate Christmas with Dave, Yulia & Lynne. Here are a few pictures from the very Merry Christmas at Tutu's.

Isaac opening his presents (he got a onesie for his favorite NFL team -- Go Vikings)! sorry Nate ...

Auntie Yulia

Our family's first Christmas

Isaac enjoying Christmas dinner by the fire

This is so neat ... a picture of me burping Isaac and a picture of my mom burping me when I was his age. See the resemblance? :P

BIG smile :)

Isaac displayed his first BIG smile for Nate this morning!


We celebrated Christmas with Nate's family last night -- good times! Thanks Ian and Nicole for hosting!

Who's happier -- the grandparents or the grandchildren?

One month!

Isaac turned one month old on Sunday! He is growing up so fast and is so BIG already. We took him in for his one month doctor appointment and confirmed that he is over the 10 lb mark! Here are his stats:

Birth: 7 lbs 10 oz
Day 2: 7 lbs 2 oz
Week 2: 8 lbs 6 oz
Month 1: 10 lbs 9 oz

As you can tell by his weight gain, breast feeding is going well. He feeds every 2-4 hours during the day and every 3-4 hours at night. A couple of nights he actually went 5 hours which Nate and I enjoyed. Isaac readily took his first bottle from dad on Sunday; we plan to try again this week and make it a 3-4 times/week routine for now.

In the last week, Isaac's personality has really changed. He is much more alert and I swear I got my first smile from him yesterday (so cute!)! He notices the toys hanging from his swing and makes all sorts of new sounds when spending time chilling on his back. We also started tummy time to build up those neck muscles -- he's doing a great job but not so into that yet. ;)

In addition to becoming more active, he has also become a bit more fussy. His fussy bouts tend to occur mostly during the day versus in the middle of the night. It's made some of the days at home a bit rough for mom! Hopefully he is just reaching his "gassy/fussy" peak that we read can occur at 6-weeks and his fussy times will diminish soon (fingers crossed...).

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the last week:

First weeks on my own

I am in the midst of my second week on my own. Isaac and I are learning more and more about each other and each day is getting easier. Ohhhh ... he is so cute!! We are still trying to find a routine to get Nate into work before 10am ... gone are the days of waking up and being ready to leave for work within 30 min. ;)

We have been spoiled with sunny clear weather over the past week and a half so Isaac and I have been getting out for daily walks. The last few days have been cold by Seattle standards with a high of only 30 degrees. I hesitated for a moment about whether I should take him outside in the cold since he has only been out of the womb for 3 weeks but then I thought that I should start toughening him up to the cold ... his mom is determined to make sure he embraces his Minnesota roots. ;)

Here's a good "birth control" story that some of our friends may enjoy: The other morning as Nate was changing Isaac's diaper, Isaac let out a little gassy fart. Well, the gas turned out to not be gas but exploding, projectile poop that sprayed all over the carpet! In the shock of the whole incident, Nate jerked his hand which flicked poop even further around the room, including on our down comforter. Ahh, the joys of parenthood! I can only imagine what will come next. ;)

Some pictures from the week ...

Maria and Jasper came for a visit!

Our first family outing -- to a Xmas tree farm

"Drunk" off mama's milk

First pacifier

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Isaac's Grandma and Grandpa Hauge left this morning after a 2-week stay. We had a really great time with them and I can't express how much we appreciated having them here. I am sure I packed on a few pounds from all the food they cooked. But the best part about their visit was the hours of help and advice they provided -- we could not have gotten through those first two weeks without them.

Here are a few of the highlights from the first two weeks:

Isaac's first Thanksgiving (he also got to meet Great Grandma Riensche!)

Isaac's first walk

Tutu's birthday

Nate's birthday (what a great present for a CPA!)

A visit from cousin Mark from Massachusetts

This is just too cute

Thanks Mom & Dad -- we love you!