Christmas Videos

Here are three videos that I have downloaded to YouTube.

Christmas Day

Here's some of the photos from Christmas Day. If you want to just see the pictures there is a button below the show labeled View All Images. There you can see the images without the old 8 mm effects.

I'm also not sure how to turn the slide show off, but when you are done watching it you can click the speaker in the top left corner to turn the music off.

Christmas Eve

Here's a little video with some of the pictures from Christmas Eve when we opened presents. I'll have more pictures up in some kind of slide show later. There are so many pictures it's kind of hard to just pick a set of five.

First Holiday Picture

We've got lots more pictures that will be coming, but here's one for Christmas. We put his presents down on the floor hoping that would help him be more interested in them. He didn't unwrap anything, but he was interested in the bow.

Push Play, Play, Play

I took the batteries out of the remote and let him play with it for a while. I've been keeping it away from him for nearly all his life now and he always wants it. He played with it for at least a half an hour too. Just spinning it around and looking at it. I'm sure he was wondering why Dad likes it so much.

Big Shoes to Fill!

Big Shoes to Fill! I think that's a great title for this photo and I've added other cheesy titles to all tonight's posts. If you have a better one please insert it in the comments (be nice Amie).

Apple of Our Eye

Here is Alstan trying out Mom's apple. The first time he tried it he really liked trying to eat it and sucking out the juices. The next day he wasn't as interested in eating it, but he did like to touch the inside of it.

Front Row Seats

I've been a little slow getting up pictures and information, so I'll do a little catching up tonight. Alstan has been sick the last two days, but his fever finally broke tonight. He was talking and excited again, like he usually is. Hopefully he's more comfortable and sleeps well tonight too.

These first two pictures are of Alstan and Mom at the Iowa-Grant Christmas concert. It was the first time that my students got to meet Alstan. Most of them were pretty shy and more excited about it the next day. Alstan seemed to like the concert, near the end of the show he tried crawling toward the kids singing.

Dancin'

It's kind of hard to hear the music on the phone, but Alstan has been dancing to the music a lot lately. Hopefully he has more rhythm than his mom and dad!

Tough Guy

Alstan went in for his 9 month check up and got his H1N1 shots and didn't even cry. Only a whimper for a second. The doctor noticed he's got another tooth coming in. This is number five and it also explains why he didn't sleep well last night.

Here are his new set of vitals:
Height: 28" (38th percentile) - 2.5" inches grown in 3 months
Weight: 17 lb 10 oz (8th percentile) - 2 lbs. gained in 3 months
Head Circumference: 46 cm (69th percentile) - 1.5 cm larger head

So he is getting longer, but he's not gaining much weight too quickly. Now if he could just share that problem with his Mom and Dad.

Delays

Sorry, we've been shopping, celebrating Jessie's birthday, and baby proofing the house. I don't have any pictures this weekend, but will add some soon. Alstan turned 9 months last week and his mom turned 420 months! On Monday we have our 9 month doctors appointment. I don't think he gets any shots, but we'll be able to update his height and weight. He also got another haircut this weekend so he would be cleaned up for the Christmas cards.

Two Month Video

Here is a video of Alstan the last two months (7 and 8). He turned 9 months already today. Tomorrow he gets to spend the day with Mom and Dad for our first family snow day!

Crawling!!!

Of course you can't see his face, but it's Alstan crawling, not a stunt double. And it's often a hybrid crawling/scooting. Whenever I tried recording him when he was watching he go back to scooting because he still scoots faster and wants to get his little hands on the camera. So I had to sneak up on him.

Jingle Bell Rock

Alstan got the biggest kick out playing with his bells. Hopefully he'll have more musical talent than his mom and dad.

Standing

I loaded this clip as a YouTube HD (first video) and a regular YouTube video to see what each looks like. The first one does look more crisp, but takes a little longer to load. I think I'll start uploading the videos in HD though as they look much nicer and that little pink camera we have is supposed to be HD.

I've also tagged all of Alstan's YouTube video with his first name. So if you do a search for his videos in YouTube only Alstan will work, but hopefully you'll get some of the main ones that way.

Wrapping Presents

Tammy and the Zielicke family, don't let Darien see this blog as his Christmas gift is on here. Alstan was helping his mom wrap Christmas gifts.

Weekly Update

Here are some pictures of Alstan standing, which he wants to do all the time. I've got some videos of him standing that will be coming too. He also began crawling this week, which I didn't think he was going to do. We haven't been able to get any video of it yet though because every time we pull out the camera he goes back to scooting. He's also been sleeping much better this week. Jessie has only been getting up once to feed him all week! That keeps Jessie in a much better mood, and when Mom's in a good mood the whole family is in a good mood. :)

Smiling

Here is a picture from Amie from Thanksgiving weekend. Quite a cute smile.

Babies

The last set of pictures from Thanksgiving are my favorite. These are pictures with Serena, who is only a day older than Alstan. She was more aggressive than Alstan trying to play with him. She was screaming and trying to grab him from the beginning. After a while Alstan become more interested though.

It sure was neat to see another baby so close to the same age. You can see that she is bigger than he is.

Cousins

Here's a picture of Great Grandma Akers with all her great grandchildren. Good thing Thomas has dark hair or else it would look like Alstan shouldn't be in the family. Lots of blond hair in there and lots of size that Alstan isn't going to get. He's going to be the runt of the group.

Great Grandma Akers

Here are several pictures with Great Grandma Akers. The last picture in that group is my favorite.

Aunt Amie

We had lots of pictures with Aunt Amie. She fed him prunes, which actually went a lot better than the picture looks. She also got him a little Santa hat and bib. The Santa hat barely fit, but we squeezed it on. I said I wasn't going to let him wear those goofy clothes, but it seems like a loosing battle.

Window

The window at Jim and Stacey's was just Alstan's size. He could stand up and look outside all he wanted. Sorry about all the finger prints!

Thanksgiving Friends

I'm sending out my batch of Thanksgiving photos today. The first set are some Thanksgiving friends from Stacey and Jim's house. We got several photos during the long weekend, but once again took none with Grandma and Grandpa Van. Sorry about that, and next time we'll have to be sure to pose for some pictures. I just don't get it out when we are visiting.

Drying Off

These pictures are for Alstan's cousin, Brittany, who gave him the towel. In the first picture I was trying to show him how to growl and look mean. He hasn't learn that yet, but he's pretty much perfected looking cute as a button.