Walking

Ivan loves to walk around our house. He especially enjoys it when we take his socks off on the hard woods. :)

Ivan's First Christmas

Been a while since I posted. Christmas was great with all the family! We had a pretty hectic few days but it was lots of fun. Ivan ate wrapping paper, but that's about it. Top Gun got him a train to be played with only at Christmas at his house. Also, Ivan sat up unassisted for the first time on Christmas Day. Pretty exciting. :D

Ivan's visit to Colorado

Ivan and family went to Colorado to see Uncle Alex graduate from college. It was a great trip with the whole family.

Off to get our Christmas tree...

Ty, Ivan and Rachel went and actually cut down our tree this year at a Christmas tree farm in Woodinville. It was chock full of hot spiced cider and handsaws. So fun.

I found my toes...nom nom nom

Ivan has just started finding his toes. Now, at every diaper change he puts them in his mouth as soon as the diaper is off.

Ivan learns how to stick his tongue out

He is mimicking Christy and mom and has us in stitches. We sound pretty silly too! :D

Two New Milestones!!!

Ivan has been a busy boy lately. At nana's house last Thursday 11/5/09, he rolled over from his side to his tummy. He's been able to roll from his back to his side for quite a while now and finally has all the tools in place to do the full roll.

Second, he just started inchworming across the floor yesterday. This is the first major step toward crawling. When on his tummy, he digs his feet in and sticks his bottom way up the air and then scoots down and forward. So exciting. Carlie said that he's really been doing it a bunch this morning too!! We'll have to get some video.

Day of the Dead party with all the July Centering Group Babies

We had all the July babies (well a couple were born outside the month) over to our house for a Day of the Dead party. Only Esme was missing. The babies were: Max, Chase, Sophie, Isa, Hugo, Ivan, Milo, Oliver. All the babes dressed in their Halloween costumes. It was super cute! And below is a video of the group as well!

HALLOWEEN!

Here are some cute pics of Ivan on his first Halloween. He was a little dragon:

Johnny Jump-Up

Ivan tried out his new Johnny Jump-Up. He got good traction once his socks were taken off. He still so little, though, that his hands get stuck down in the leg holes. Still, he walked and spun around a bit and liked to be bounced by mom. I think this will take...very soon!

The foxes and the hound

Here are some pics of Tyler and the Doodlebug in his fox attire and dressed for Homecoming (which we lost).

Ivan's Nanny

Here is a picture of Ivan's nanny, Carlie, with the boys Cruz and Ivan. She is so sweet to them. They both light up when she comes in in the morning!

Cord Blood - transplant research

As some of you may know, Ivan donated his umbilical cord blood through the Puget Sound Blood Center after his birth to help with research.

Aunt Ashley told us today that Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center is currently getting all of the cord blood from Swedish Hospitals. That means that Ivan's cord blood is likely there right now. They are working on studying transplants right now in the Delaney lab. Let's hope his blood is helping with their research as I write this!

Very exciting. Anyone interested in donating cord blood, go to: http://www.psbc.org/cordblood/ It just might save a life.

I love to rock and roll...and gameday highlights

Ivan has been getting stronger and stronger (or as we say around our house, "strong like bull,") everyday and he is rocking and rolling a bunch. Here's a video of his latest escapades. And, here he is in his Saturday and Sunday gameday best. He rooted on the Huskies and Hawks this weekend to no avail. He sure looked good doing it, though.

Ivan loves his giraffe Sophie

With Ivan's teething going on, he found a new best friend (besides Gracie, of course). Her name is Sophie the giraffe. He likes to suck on and chew all parts of her. She's with him most of the time now. Pretty darn sweet.

Talking with his mouth full

Ivan's newest thing is that he likes to talk while sucking on his thumb. He puts his thumb in his mouth and cocks it off to one side, like a cigar. Then, he proceeds to chat. Yesterday, his best sentence was goip goip goip. Too funny!

A receding tooth

Well, our little Ivan had quite a rough weekend teething. He was a velcro baby and just wanted to be held the entire day long. Also, he was pretty fussy and wouldn't nap like normal. Poor guy. But, by Sunday, his tooth started going back down again. It looks like it's probably his canine tooth, which shouldn't come in for about a year or so. I guess they can come up and go back down again. Hopefully, this one stays down for a while. 

In other news, it was a great weekend for Seattle sports with the Huskies and the Seahawks both winning!!! Ivan was pretty excited about that and watched the Hawks game with Aunt Ashley and Troy. 

A TOOTH!!!!!!

Ivan has been a bit fussy lately and having trouble sleeping (waking mom up twice a night for the past 3 days). He has also been chomping down on fingers and blankets. Then, last night we peeked in his mouth and voila, there's a tooth coming through on his lower right gum. This is his first. Quite the milestone. Not the normal bottom front tooth we had expected. Talked to the nurse at the pediatrician's office and was told that teeth can come in in any order. So, now we know what the cause is. It's time for some frozen washcloths, teethers and lots of love. And, today is his three month birthday. Can't believe how fast it's flown by. Happy Birthday little doodle!

Everyone loves a naked baby

Love the naked babies!!! Here's the doodlebug, doing his best to be cute before his bath. I think he succeeds.

Best Friends

Our dog, Gracie Allen, has been great with Ivan so far. She gives him kisses and generally wants to be near him (and us when we are near him). Ivan is definitely trying to figure her out too. Here are a couple photos of them together.


The first one was during the big heat wave this summer and I'm calling "Hot dog, Hot baby." Ivan was only about two weeks old in that photo.


The second one I am calling "Is this yours or mine?" Ivan is about 2 1/2 months old.

Meet the great-grandparents...

Pictures from Ivan's meet and greet with the great-grandparents up in Easton two weeks ago.


On the top, the whole family. On the bottom, 4 generations of Allens:
Shirley Jett, Bob Allen, Tyler Allen and Ivan Allen

Ivan's week and his laundry basket bed/swing

Young master Ivan had a great week last week with his new nanny, Carlie. She played with Cruz and him and they went for walks. Ivan is laughing a lot and making lots of new sounds. He is developing right on schedule.


This weekend, he watched the Seahawks lose poorly with Top Gun, Nana, BB, Grandpa Bob, uncle Drew and Rubi and mom and dad when we had a birthday party/brunch for Top Gun. He also watched some videos of his time in Alaska. Here is a video of his laundry basket bed/swing from Alaska. Pretty funny:

Our dog, Gracie, teaches Ivan how to roll over...

Gracie sure knows how to roll over. She thought she'd help Ivan learn how to do it. :D

Publish Post

Nanny Time

Ivan started off the week with a new nanny, Carlie. They went for a walk yesterday and he was a happy boy when I picked him up at Julia's house. Now he gets to spend M-W with his cousin Cruz! Should be a fun time for them both.

A little background...

Ivan Scott Allen was born on July 10, 2009 at 12:32 p.m. (the same exact time as mom) at Swedish Ballard Hospital after 14 hours of labor to Tyler and Rachel Allen. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20" long. Birth was uneventful and daddy Tyler got to deliver him.


It was an amazing day. Lots of family was present and we had a little birthday party for him in the hospital with party hats and everything!

Roly Poly baby...

Ivan had two big milestones yesterday at 10 1/2 weeks. During the day, while Grandma Christy was watching him, he rolled from his back to his side (when she walked out of the room). Guess we won't be putting him on the bed anymore.


Then, when Tyler and I got home with him, he rolled over from his front to his back TWICE in a row. This is a first too. We were quite excited and think that Ivan was pretty pleased with himself too. :D

Here is Ivan at his first Husky football game where UW played USC who was ranked 3rd in the nation. The Dawgs came out on top 16-13. Ivan had a grand old time. He was wearing his dad's 30+ year old Husky outfit. A couple people commented on his "retro" outfit. But, it was true vintage.


And, for those of you wondering, Ivan wore earplugs. He was great during the game and fell asleep as soon as we won. I figured he was tired out and could finally relax after the win! :D

Ivan's new blog

Just starting a new blog for our son, Ivan, for family and friends. Ivan is almost 11 weeks old already. I can't believe how quickly time has flown. I'm back at work starting this past Monday. What a change.


He's holding his head up now, getting better about tummy time, loves to stand and smile. He's really developing quickly. Loving every minute of it.