Sunshine!

We actually had a little sunshine this weekend, so we headed down Ballard for coffee at our favorite coffee house & a quick stop at the locks.

Parker loves the sun too!

From my garden!

9 Months!

Our little guy is nine-months old today!  I can't believe it, he's growing so fast.

Parker now has one tooth, and if the fussing and drool are any indicator (which I'm doubting), we'll have a second one any day now.

Some fun things about Parker:

Every time we meet someone, their first comment is one of two things:

1. I LOVE his hair!  ~or~

2. What a happy baby!

Seriously, he's just about the cutest thing out there, I'm sure I'm biased, but it does seem like the rest of the world agrees with me.  (and I can't tell you how many people I've had ask me if I styled his hair that way.  Who styles their 9-month-old's hair!?!?)

The Doctor said we should be trying to introduce Parker to more "table foods" rather than just baby food.  So, yesterday, Parker tried cheese cubes, cut strawberries, and avocado chunks.  So far, he'll eat the chunks for a while, but then I think he finds it too much work and just waits with a gaping-open mouth for Mama to feed him.

In this picture, he refused to eat the strawberry pieces I gave him, but he was perfectly willing to gnaw on the strawberry that I had been eating before he snatched it from me.

We tried pasta last night, Parker would pick up the pasta and drop it on the floor to get it out of his way so he could reach the vegetables on his tray (weird kid).  He even ate the onions, even though I put them on his tray saying, "Here, Parker, try onions, they're yucky."

He's sitting like a champ, and (still) SO close to crawling.  Although, he can creep around pretty effectively, so maybe he doesn't yet see the need for crawling.  He's also started pulling himself up onto his knees when sufficiently motivated (note: to-show-Daddy apparently is insufficient motivation).

Parker's favorite word is: Mama.  Well, okay, actually it sounds closer to mmmmMAmaMa, but I answer to it nonetheless.  His other favorites are bbbBababa and rrrahrahrah.

Parker hasn't yet learned how to blow a raspberry correctly, but he's always working on it, so he's almost always making a little puffing sound, sort of like a sound-less whistle.

Ever since the one night we let him "cry it out", Parker has been sleeping like a champ, most nights sleeping about 10 hours.  This is WONDERFUL!

Parker is moving into a clingy phase at the moment.  It's a little annoying (and hard on my back) since I can hardly ever put him down, but it's also so cute.  Who can resist a boy who just wants to cuddle with Mama?

Parker loves playing with/chasing Darcy.  This afternoon, Parker was trying to play fetch with Darcy.  He was waving Darcy's bone around in the air, I expect this will go better when Parker learns how to throw.  Darcy is remarkably patient with this little monster that keeps stealing his toys.

Some of Parker's other favorite things:

Bedtime with Daddy

Singing/talking in the car

Eating (anything)

Chewing on everything

Pulling on Mama's hair

And he's even coming around on liking baths, but only with Daddy, he still screams when I give him a bath.

We love our little baby boy!

9 months

Weight: 16lbs, 11oz

This weekend's project ~ Everything

This weekend Keith's parents came up and helped us install our driveway gate.  You remember the gate, right, Keith started it here?

Over three months later, we (and by that I mean Keith & his Dad) have completed the gate.  Keith & Gary worked all day digging post holes & getting the contraption square, but it's in now & we're very excited to have it completed.

In one of those ironic twists, we nearly lost Darcy in the process.  While they were working, Darcy got out of the front yard and was gone for about a half-hour, but he did come back.

Keith's Mom watched Parker so I could work in the yard, and while Parker was sleeping, she helped me with the weeding.  I can't believe how much easier it is with two people!  Keith, for all his wonderful traits (and there are many), will NOT pull weeds to save his life.  It would have taken me weeks of nap times to get the work done that Joanne & I did in one day.

The completed project:

It's probably not 100% square or perfectly balanced, and Keith might be adjusting it for the rest of our lives, but it should do a fantastic job of keeping the little ones inside where they belong.

Huge thanks to Grandma & Grandpa for their help!!

Vacation Part III: Yurt Camping

I am not a fan of camping.  There is nothing enjoyable about sitting in the dirt, sleeping in a puddle, and waking up with rain water on your pillow.  Add in a baby who may or may not sleep, and that doesn't really sound like something anyone would do voluntarily.

Unfortunately, spending $100 a night for a hotel room for a week also isn't really something we can do either.  So, we decided to head to the Oregon Coast and rent a yurt.  The yurts are only a few dollars more a night than a tent site, and you get a solid floor, heat, electricity, and total protection from the rain (not to mention a bed that doesn't deflate in the middle of the night).

I am a convert, I love yurt camping.  It was great to  lay in bed and listen to the rain pour down, knowing that you weren't going to have to hang your wet sleeping bag out the next morning.  We need more of these things in Washington, we might actually do some camping in the next few years.

It was still pretty cold this week, so we spent most of our time inside, but the yurt would be great in the summer when you can spend most of your time outside.

It's hard to plan meals for a camping trip that starts with two nights in a hotel and then one at a friend's house.  So, on the way to the campsite, we stopped at the grocery store & bought whatever we could find.  We ended up with one of those frozen "skillet meals" it turned out to be great for camping, no left-overs and just one dirty pan.

Our elegant camping dining:

We stayed at the Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, so we had to check out the lighthouse (actually that's about the only thing to do in this town).

We all climbed up to the top to see out the light.

We'd prepared ourselves for a very wet few days of sitting in the yurt and watching movies, but the weather turned out beautiful.  It rained every night, and it was a little chilly to be on the beach for long, but the sunshine was wonderful!

Parker loves Keith's hat...

...he especially loves to eat it.

For my birthday, we headed out to Oregon Wine Country.

There are about a dozen vineyards about half-an-hour East of our campground.

We ended the day at Reustle Prayer Rock Vineyards.  You can tell they have built this vineyard/winery as the wedding/event destination, the place was beautiful!  Their wine tastings were quite the experience as well.  The tastings take place in their rock wine caves, and come with appetizer bites created to complement the wines.  It was a great experience, if we lived closer, we'd probably join their wine club so we could go as often as we liked!

This also turned out to be the closest we got to a fancy meal for my birthday, dinner was pizza in a diner by the highway.  The town by our campsite was not especially large, but we did get blizzards for my birthday dessert!

This picture reminds me of a funny story from our stop at Jeff & Katie's.  Between the wedding, Parker's crazy-long nap, and the drive down to Corvalis, Parker didn't get any solids for lunch on Saturday.  I'd nursed him several times, so he wasn't starving, but he was very ready for dinner when we sat down at the Gerigs.  I put Parker down in his seat, and put some puffs down for him to eat while the rest of us got ready.  In one motion, as fast as lightening, he pulled his binky out, grabbed a puff, and shoved it in his mouth.  He moved so fast his arm was just a blur.  Guess the kid was hungry.