Our little helper

Freddie looooooves helping William and I out with just about anything. He likes to do laundry, sweep the floor, put his toys away, cook dinner and bake cookies. He also (literally) jumps for joy when we get the vacuum out. Actually, I think vacuum was one of his very first words. With the rate he's going, I'll never have to clean the house again! :)

He is also very curious whenever we get the tool box out to fix something, put something together (Ikea!) or, more likely, to get the screwdriver out to replace the batteries in one of his toys. We are so impressed with how much he 'gets' things- even just from seeing something in a book. He knows the motions for using a hammer, screwdriver and saw and likes to imitate us using the tools. Here are some pics from our latest project- putting together a small table and chairs. We couldn't have done it without him!

He takes his work very seriously.

Insisted on moving BOTH chairs by himself.

I'm heading to Seattle tomorrow morning for a visit and while I'm very very excited to see my whole family, I don't know what I'm going to do without Freddie around! This will be the first time I've spent a night away from him since he was born. I'm sure he and William will enjoy their 'Bachelor week' but I'm really going to miss them!

Happy New Year!

As we are approaching the middle of January (!), I will say Happy New Year to all my wonderful readers. Apologies for the lack of posts lately. I will mostly blame work and lack of sleep but really, I was just incredibly lazy over the Christmas and New Year period. But, now that I am caught up on my favorite TV shows, I can resume blogging. :)

We had a wonderful Christmas in Edinburgh followed by a week in Ireland with family. Freddie was so excited to see all his toys from Santa on Christmas morning it took us all day to unwrap everything. He did take the time to look away from his loot for a quick second to spot a half of a cookie Santa left on his plate and downed it in two big bites. I couldn't really say anything since I was eating a cinnamon roll myself. Mmmmmm.

Freddie loved following his older cousins around in Ireland. It was like Christmas all over again when we got there with more presents and, of course, food. At home (Seattle), my family always gets together with other relatives on Christmas Day to have dinner and we dine on a variety of dishes, be it seafood soup, fresh crab or lasagna. In Ireland, they FEAST. There's no other way of putting it! Tradition has it that you have a big meal on Christmas Day (for all the Americans out there- think Thanksgiving-ish), complete with multiple kinds of meat (turkey, ham, etc.), multiple dishes of potato (mashed, roasted, croquettes), veggies (peas, carrots, brussels sprouts), stuffing and gravy. And don't even get me started on the dessert options!

And though we missed the meal on Christmas Day (that being said, William did make the three of us a delicious dinner in Edinburgh), we were in Ireland to catch a repeat of the feast on St. Stephen's Day (the day after Christmas) and New Years Day. That's right, they do it all again! Let's just say the "baby" grew a LOT that week...perhaps an explanation why my bump is measuring slightly ahead of schedule?

Here are some pics of our family's first Christmas staying in Edinburgh: