Field Trip to the Field Museum

We are making our way through many of the Chicago museums--it looks like we may have all of the major ones covered by the time Hamilton hits his first birthday. Today we visited the Field Museum with Hamilton's friends Ella and Mira who showed us the really cool Crown Family Playlab.

Hamilton and Mira checked out the sounds and animals of the forest at this station. Mira showed Hamilton how to press the buttons to get the animals to make sounds. Here he is showing his excitement.

Then we checked out the rhythm room--which we will most definitely have to take Freeman back to (as Jenny has no rhythm).

Ella and Mira jumped right into the dinosaur nest...
...while Hamilton was a little more cautious.

Filling Daddy's Shoes

Freeman's Roadie

This is Hamilton checking out Freeman's amp (this went on for no less than 30 minutes). If Freeman ever goes on the road, there will be no one more qualified to be part of his road crew than this little dude.


Note: For those worried about the safety of this, Freeman has taken off all trachea-sized knobs, nothing is plugged in, and I have him in my sight at all times. Who says we don't babyproof?

Playing with a Ball

Hamilton has gotten much better at playing by himself.

Of course, it's still more fun to play with others!

Birthday Balloons

Aunt Kathy sent a darling teddy bear with colorful balloons to celebrate my birthday. It was Hamilton's first encounter. He absolutely loved them (though I have a sneaking suspicion that he was using the balloons to get to the camera in the last segment).

Thanks, Aunt Kathy!!!

Can You Clap Your Hands?

One of Hamilton's favorite songs from our library class is "Hello, Hello" by Super Simple Songs (view kids singing it here). Just last week, he surprised me by showing me some of the motions!

Since then, he has also figured out "stretch up high." But that's for a different video clip!


In other news, during today's nap I went in to check on Hamilton. What I found surprised me...


You see, all of those toys and things had been lined up on the edges of the crib and I put him in the center. And he had fallen asleep without making any noise (and I would know--since we live in a loft-style apartment). Apparently he wanted everyone else to go to sleep, too!

How've You Been?

I know...it's been a while. We've missed you all, too!

So, truth be told, the reason that there have been no posts is simply because I (Jenny) have perfectionist tendencies and was waiting for the best moment to create a great post. Then comes reality--so here are a few pictures to get the ball rolling again.
Here's Hamilton with his first spaghetti experience (can you take a guess who thought it would be funny to drape one on Hamilton's forehead?).

He's not walking...but he's pretty confidently moving around while barely touching the furniture. This particular picture was during a two-week period where he was sick (yuck!). The fun part though, is only apparent if you zoom in...

Teeth! They're still barely through in this picture..but he officially got the chompers on Valentine's Day (otherwise known as Granddad's birthday).

Here's the birthday boy with his little dude! This is Hamilton's first U2 album release, so when we saw a busstop with an advertisement, we just had to take a picture (this is about 3 minutes before Hamilton fell asleep).