Portland

This past weekend, Aaron, Jake and I went to Portland in celebration of my nephew Henri's 2nd birthday. What usual takes 6 hours or less to drive instead took us 9... Aaron says the era of baby-travel has begun. Friday morning was Henri's party in the park and nearly all of both sides of the family were able to be there along with some of Henri's "friends." Friday evening we had family pics done at Mt. Tabor. The task of having all 10 of us looking at the camera, and the kiddos not fussing was quite a challenge and I'm hoping at least one of them turned out. I got to spend most of the day Saturday with my sister, which is such a rare treat. Aaron took Jake to hang out in the park with his side of the family while Carrie and I hit up NW 23rd St. and Forever 21. I wish we lived closer and could do sister shopping dates more often. Aaron, Carrie, Beau (who is living in Portland now), and I enjoyed dinner out while my mom stayed back at the hotel to make sure Jake stayed asleep. Sunday morning we were all up early and thankfully the drive back only took 6 1/2 hours! great trip, great family!

a Glorious weekend!

We had awesome 75-80 degree weather this weekend--finally! Saturday morning we were up early to grab some Starbucks on our way to the annual Liberty Lake Yard Sale....basically like the Black Friday of yardsales. We had so-so success, but then spent the rest of the day working out in the yard. Then, nice and sunburnt, it was out to dinner with my boys. Jacob is still pretty congested and snotty so the two of us stayed home from church and hooked up with dad to grocery shop. After naptime today, we loaded up the puppers and headed to Hayden Lake for an early evening swim and walk around the dock. We capped off the evening with a barbeque and hot fudge sundaes. Summer is finally here and boy does it feel gooood.

Little Republican (or maybe Independent) in the making

Aaron went to vote at last weeks Primary Election after work. He had Jake with him, who he says was flirting with all of the older volunteer gals. I'm not surprised.

Exer-saucer

While he was in utero I had no intentions of plopping my baby in a toy and walking away to make dinner. That was then; this is now. My mom got Jacob an ExerSaucer a few weeks ago because the care givers at the hospital day care where Jacob goes says he just loves it. Turns out he does love it! We did have to take off like 75% of the little toy attachments though b/c he was getting overstimulated big time. THANKS MOM/GRAM!

starting solids

Jacob has begun to eat solid foods as of a couple of weeks ago. The jury is still out on whether or not he's a fan. We're trying to go "by the book" as far as starting with rice cereal and then graduating to veggies, giving each one a week before trying the next. Aaron bought me a food mill for Mother's Day and when my parents were here last week, my mom bought me a bamboo steamer, so I'm having all kinds of fun steaming/mashing/grinding/pureeing vegetables. So far, Jake's had squash and carrots. He doesn't like either as much as the rice cereal, but we're giving it time and just having fun!

4 month check up

Jacob had his 4 month check up today...where is the time going? Everything is still good. We are blessed with a very healthy little boy. His height and weight are both still in the 90+%. He got his vaccines and only cried for a moment until I picked him up--the tough little boy! Dr. Prince did say that she is surprised that two mellow adults have produced such a busy, active, and chatty baby. We are very thankful for such a healthy little man!

Home, Sweet Home

Aaron, Jacob and I just got back from a wonderful time on the Oregon Coast. Aaron had a conference in Seaside on Wednesday, Thursday, and part of the day Friday, and we were able to tag along. Friday night was spent in Cannon Beach and Saturday night in Portland. We had a super fun, super smooth trip and Jake was quite the trooper. (I'll blog more about the details later) After Jake spent the last part of ride home fussing in his car seat, we pulled in around 6 o'clock and put the whiny boy on the changing table to get undressed before bathtime. Usually he doesn't like being set down when he's fussy, but tonight when Aaron set him down, he just looked around at the surroundings in his bedroom and just started giggling and giggling. For about 5 minutes he was almost giddy! He was just looking around at the walls and the ceiling and the curtains and just laughing. It was as if he had missed being in his familiar environment--it was hilarious! I guess he's a homebody like his mama :) Even though we had a very special time, I think it's safe to say that we're all glad to be home.