Happy December all

Just got back from Las Vegas for Thanksgiving this weekend. Visiting the relatives was great: Karl and Leslie came over from Denver and we stayed at Auntie Michelle, Uncle Andrew, and Cousin Kash and Cousin Haze's house in LV. We flew over on Thursday morning so the airport was rather dead. Hadden was fine on the plane ride down except that he crapped himself twice. Not a big deal except that this particular Southwest Air 737-700 did not have any changing tables. So, we had to take him into the micro-bathroom, put the toilet lid down, cover it with a blanket and try and do it there. Not nearly enough room. The first time we rather well (I got lucky with that one) but the second time he apparently peed all over his clothes while being changed. After some time in the lavatory, the door opens and two hands pass out a near-naked baby with just pampers on. Yvonne cleaned up the mess best she could and Hadden switched to the backup clothes, which unfortunately were not as cute as the starting team clothes. Not surprisingly nobody sat next to us in our row.

The above picture is from a vigorous 1.5 mile "hike" we did on Friday in Red Rocks. It was sunny but very windy and, thus, quite cold. Mom and dad brought lots of warm clothes for Hadden except forgot that his hands might be cold. The make-shift "gloves" he's wearing are actually Uncle Karl's extra socks - they're a bit big. At least someone was prepared. Thanks Uncle Karl.

Hadden loves his relatives and especially likes watching his cousins motor around the house. Nothing more entertaining that watching Kash get into trouble. Haze really enjoyed saying "baby" and pointing to Hadden. It was more like, "bay-bee" in a really cute baby way. Kash also still calls him "Baby Cheese" but now can also recite his name, "Hadden". In case you missed an earlier post, "cheese" came about from when Kash was in Hawaii and saw me on a visit and called me "Uncle Cheese" (closest he got to "Uncle Steve"). That made us the "Cheese" family with Uncle Cheese, Auntie Cheese and Baby Cheese (or "Baby Queso" as Gena likes to call him). Uncle Karl was also a big hit in the Sasson residence as Kash found out how much fun Uncle Karl can be. Uncle Karl?

On Saturday the gals (Yvonne, Michelle and Leslie) went for a spa treatment at the Bellagio so the boys went to...Hoover Dam (now who could have chosen that destination?). Karl, Steve and Hadden drove down to the dam (about 1 hour counting the traffic jam the last 4 miles) and walked around. There was no Michael Jackson moment with Hadden dangling over the side - we experienced Hoover Dam as safely as possible. Below...the boys in front of the new Hoover Dam bypass bridge being built.

The flight home was relatively uneventful and we started the new week with our new Nanny - Angela. She's great, from Peru and speaks Spanish. Anglea's been doing fantastic with Hadden - took him to storytime at the local library today. Yvonne's new job is going well so far (Microsoft) and Steve is still teaching/researching (in the proper ratio to obtain tenure) away.

Tonight we went to a volleyball game - the Huskies were in the the NCAA tournament and play their first 2 games at home. They won tonight 3 games to 2 (VERY close) over Missouri and Hadden slept through about 2/3 of the match. Thanks to Mommy for holding him almost the entire time. He even stayed asleep as Dad yelled quite loud at a couple of bad referee calls and match point.

Hadden's sleeping, Yvonne is fixin' to so I'll sign off and join them.

TTFN,

steve

Manly man...boy

Well, here Hadden is at month 7. Hard to believe he was born 7 whole month ago. As our friends Dave and Jenny say, "they grow up so fast but each day is an eternity".

(Hadden looking like a manly "fisherman" after a jog with dad)

Lots has happened since October (last blog post). New skills:

• "B" sound. At first this was an unsophisticated full bottom lip sound but it's progressed to an adult "B" sound that requires little effort. We think he' gifted. :-)
• Sitting. Can sit with relative ease. He falls over infrequently when his big head gets going too fast in one direction.
• Peek-a-boo game. Hadden's been doing this for a while but now it's hilarious. At first I was hiding my whole body but then I realized that just hiding my face with my hands was just as funny. Apparently, dad has some peek-a-boo learning to do.
• Eating solid food. Mom has been making various purees (squash, peas, pear, carrots, millet, quinoa, yams) and Hadden LOVES them. He can't seem to eat fast enough. On the down side, this has made crapping a bit more difficult (if we were to spin it I guess I would say it's now more "rewarding").

Hadden's also gaining dexterity. It's fun to watch him play with objects now because he tends to twirl them slowly in his hands to see all the different aspects of a 3-D object. We got him a set of rubber blocks that I can stack (he knocks them over) and he can chew but his favorite toys are still kitchen related, including spoon (both wooden and regular flatware spoon), whisk, spatula and anything else out of the utensil drawer.

(Hadden being manly and driving a tractor with dad)

Today we went to a baby show put on by something like the Northwest mother entrepreneur association. They had baby legs (http://www.babylegs.net/) and other stuff there including some cool blankets and bags. Hadden slept through the whole thing (a good thing) but mom and dad spent some $. I am amazed at the engineering and art that goes into modern baby things. I doubt you could find anything this cool at Babies R Us. I was one of the few men at this event but that's not totally unusual.

In 2 weeks we will all be heading down to my sister's house (auntie Michelle) to see cousins Haze and Kash over Thanksgiving. Bonus, Leslie (Yvonne's sister) and Karl (husband, uncle and great guy) will be there too. Should be fun.

steve