Well, Elliott is graduating up to a big kid bed in the next few weeks. For the past few days I've seen him experimenting with putting his foot on the edge of his crib. Yesterday Dan saw it and said Elliott was "practicing" his escape. So, we went out and go E a big bed. Much debate over getting a twin v. a full/queen. The twin size won out in the end. For the time being Elliott is sleeping in his port-a-crib because the sides are too high to climb out of. I can't say I'm looking forward to teaching Elliott how to stay in his bed at night. It's nice to put him in his crib and walk away when necessary. Nap and bed time just might get harder...
I mentioned that Dan and I were going to the beach, baby free! We had a great time with out friends. Of course, we both missed Elliott. But, it was really nice to have the time away from him to just be ourselves again. Unfortunately, I got sick on Saturday night and have still been fighting the cold...10 days later. Guess that's what happens when you are on immune suppressors. :(
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Shopping Carts
When Elliott and I go grocery shopping he is more often than not unhappy in the cart. I can understand why. At the same time there is so much to look at in the grocery store I do wish that he would just "suck it up" and be good!
However, his cart at home...you can't keep him out of it.
I just had to take it away from him for a couple of days because he decided it was a good idea to stand in it and rock back and forth (multiple times). Smart thinking, kid!
In other news...Dan and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary this week! I can't believe it has been 5 years already. It doesn't seem like it could have been that long. We are leaving on Thursday to go to the beach with friends. Elliott is coming down with us for one night then Chris and Larry are watching him the rest of the weekend. We are very excited to have a whole weekend of sleeping in and hanging out with friends without having to worry about Elliott.
However, his cart at home...you can't keep him out of it.
I just had to take it away from him for a couple of days because he decided it was a good idea to stand in it and rock back and forth (multiple times). Smart thinking, kid!
In other news...Dan and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary this week! I can't believe it has been 5 years already. It doesn't seem like it could have been that long. We are leaving on Thursday to go to the beach with friends. Elliott is coming down with us for one night then Chris and Larry are watching him the rest of the weekend. We are very excited to have a whole weekend of sleeping in and hanging out with friends without having to worry about Elliott.
Friday, April 30, 2010
New Doors!
We live in an old house. I think it was built in 1923 and there are a lot of upgrades that we could do, if we chose to. This past year Dan has replaced the stairway with nice new Douglas Fir treds and new white risers. We still have a bit of work to do to finish that project, it's probably 90% completed. But, we decided to install 2 new exterior doors with money from our tax return. When we moved in we knew both doors needed to be replaced at some point, it was just a matter of saving the money and then choosing the doors. With the arrival of Elliott we fell a bit behind in repairs, just too busy with a new baby. Yesterday the new doors were installed for us and they are AMAZING! It is weird to be so excited about doors? I don't think so, not if you understood just how bad the old doors were.
The door out to our garden had a hole cut in it for a dog door. We just put some plywood on the outside and left it that way. The door was really old, the glass was single pane. Around the lock mechanism you could actually see outside. Basically there was a lot of air leakage. Here is the old door from the inside and then a picture from the outside:
Now here is the new door:
Here is the door from our basement hallway out to our back patio. Before it was a terrible slab door with a dinky hole cut into it:
Now it is so pretty!
The installers said that this basement door was one of the most challenging they had every done. Made me very thankful that we decided to have them install for us, rather than Dan learning how to do it on his own.
Can't wait to see what a difference not having those two leaky doors will make in our heating bill next winter.
The door out to our garden had a hole cut in it for a dog door. We just put some plywood on the outside and left it that way. The door was really old, the glass was single pane. Around the lock mechanism you could actually see outside. Basically there was a lot of air leakage. Here is the old door from the inside and then a picture from the outside:
Now here is the new door:
Here is the door from our basement hallway out to our back patio. Before it was a terrible slab door with a dinky hole cut into it:
Now it is so pretty!
The installers said that this basement door was one of the most challenging they had every done. Made me very thankful that we decided to have them install for us, rather than Dan learning how to do it on his own.
Can't wait to see what a difference not having those two leaky doors will make in our heating bill next winter.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Tulip Festival '10
On Friday Elliott and I went to the Tulip Festival with both of my sisters and their kids. We were celebrating Sarah's 34th Birthday - Sarah, you are old! Ha ha, just kidding. It's just nice to know that even though I just turned 30 she is now 34 :) (evil smile, he he).
The kids had a great time. There were a lot of activities to do without even going to look at the amazing tulip fields. Everyone, except E and I, went on a cow ride around the farm. I'm not sure what I was thinking...I think I thought someone needed to guard the strollers. I'm sure they would have been just fine. Maybe next year we can go on the ride.
Sarah and Grace getting ready to start the cow ride:
Amy with Cameron, Josh and Caleb:
Elliott on the horse swing:
Elliott sniffing the tulips:
Getting ready to investigate more tulips:
Tulip fields:
Brooke and Josh on the walk back:
Elliott is chatting up a storm recently. His new favorite word is "Amy". This morning he pointed at a picture of Amy and said her name. We are now working on the names of all the other aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc... Owl is still a good standby, as well as turtle. We also think he says, " I want that". What manners he has!
The kids had a great time. There were a lot of activities to do without even going to look at the amazing tulip fields. Everyone, except E and I, went on a cow ride around the farm. I'm not sure what I was thinking...I think I thought someone needed to guard the strollers. I'm sure they would have been just fine. Maybe next year we can go on the ride.
Sarah and Grace getting ready to start the cow ride:
Amy with Cameron, Josh and Caleb:
Elliott on the horse swing:
Elliott sniffing the tulips:
Getting ready to investigate more tulips:
Tulip fields:
Brooke and Josh on the walk back:
Elliott is chatting up a storm recently. His new favorite word is "Amy". This morning he pointed at a picture of Amy and said her name. We are now working on the names of all the other aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc... Owl is still a good standby, as well as turtle. We also think he says, " I want that". What manners he has!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Easter Picture Extravaganza!
Sorry for the lack of updating! I have no excuses, I'm just too lazy to hop on the computer at night to update the blog. We've been spending some time outside - when it's not raining. Dan and I had a great adventure which ended with us having a car towed out of our backyard... It is finally spring here and while it is still raining a lot, there have been quite a few great sunny days. A few weeks ago Elliott and I went on a big bike ride with both of my sisters and their kids. Amy and I towed 2 kids each while Sarah, Josh and Brooke all rode by themselves. It was really fun, though I did have a hard time riding up hill pulling at least 60lbs. of kid behind me. I had intended to take pictures of this fun trip, but was working too hard to remember the camera.
This past week was very busy for us. I think we had something happening every day, which is unusual for life around here. On Saturday we went to Wilsonville (we spend a lot of time there) and had Easter with my family at Amy's house. The kids played and did a little egg hunt inside.
Most of the cousins:
Brooke has a bruised eye because she ran into a door knob earlier in the week
Caleb:
Cameron hunting for eggs:
Elliott showing off his loot:
Elliott totally understood hunting for eggs, though most of them needed to be fairly obvious. I have a video I'll post below of him doing a small hunt at the Porter's house on Sunday. The most thrilling part of the day was also very scary! Elliott fell all the way down Amy's stairway. We are so thankful that Ryan was so quick on his feet and was able to, somehow, get to Elliott in time to catch his head before it hit the hardwood floor. E seemed to be fine, amazingly. He was very scared but didn't have even a bruise. In all, I think we are very happy and thankful as it could have been so much worse. We also learned that Elliott is into "group comfort". He had to be comforted by me first, then Dan, then Grandma, then Amy... then Amy gave him chocolate milk and he was fine.
On Sunday we had Easter with Dan's family. (I guess it's helpful that my sisters are nurses and always seem to have to work so that we move holidays around.) It was a pretty low key celebration compared to the day before. Elliott played with his Easter loot - including a new broom! Then went down for a nap while the rest of us ate dinner without him. I sometimes forget how nice it is to eat without him there. After his nap he discovered the broom again and went to work cleaning house.
Egg hunt:
We had a great weekend and had fun celebrating with all of our family.
This past week was very busy for us. I think we had something happening every day, which is unusual for life around here. On Saturday we went to Wilsonville (we spend a lot of time there) and had Easter with my family at Amy's house. The kids played and did a little egg hunt inside.
Most of the cousins:
Brooke has a bruised eye because she ran into a door knob earlier in the week
Caleb:
Cameron hunting for eggs:
Elliott showing off his loot:
Elliott totally understood hunting for eggs, though most of them needed to be fairly obvious. I have a video I'll post below of him doing a small hunt at the Porter's house on Sunday. The most thrilling part of the day was also very scary! Elliott fell all the way down Amy's stairway. We are so thankful that Ryan was so quick on his feet and was able to, somehow, get to Elliott in time to catch his head before it hit the hardwood floor. E seemed to be fine, amazingly. He was very scared but didn't have even a bruise. In all, I think we are very happy and thankful as it could have been so much worse. We also learned that Elliott is into "group comfort". He had to be comforted by me first, then Dan, then Grandma, then Amy... then Amy gave him chocolate milk and he was fine.
On Sunday we had Easter with Dan's family. (I guess it's helpful that my sisters are nurses and always seem to have to work so that we move holidays around.) It was a pretty low key celebration compared to the day before. Elliott played with his Easter loot - including a new broom! Then went down for a nap while the rest of us ate dinner without him. I sometimes forget how nice it is to eat without him there. After his nap he discovered the broom again and went to work cleaning house.
Egg hunt:
We had a great weekend and had fun celebrating with all of our family.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Mini-Vacation
Last night we arrived home from our mini-vacation to Seattle. On Wednesday night we drove up to Centralia, WA and stayed at Great Wolf Lodge. This was in celebration of my 30th b-day, plus we've been talking about wanting to go for a while now. Let me just say, this place is AMAZING! If you are between 7 and 13 I think this place would be total heaven. Somehow we were upgraded to a suite and had a total of 3 queen sized beds and 1 king in our hotel room. We were able to put Elliott in his own room and hang out after her went to sleep - with lights on! The water park is really fun. There are 4 water slides but we were only able to go on 2 of them. The other two you need at least 1 adult and someone else who is more than 42" tall - we didn't have that and we coudln't just leave Elliott with strangers. But, we did everything else. Elliott really liked the water and had a great time in the small pool for little kids. I got him to actually voluntarily put his whole face in the water. Every time we left the pool area he was mad at us.
On Thursday we drove up to Seattle and planned to attend the Seattle Sounders v. Portland Timbers soccer game. Thankfully Dan's sister, Lauren, came to the rescue and volunteered to watch E while we were at the game. It was really fun seeing a game in such a big stadium, Qwest Field (I've never been to a college football game or an NFL game). The Timbers won, 1-0! It rained for at least 1/2 the game, so I was pretty thankful when we were able to leave. It was cold!
We brought our camera, but forgot to use it at all. I did take a few pictures with my phone of E playing in a park in Edmonds while Dan was working on Friday afternoon.
E has a bunch of new words recently. Cookie, outside, truck, whale, shark, tree, airplane, baby, and bird. That's all I can remember off the top of my head. He is trying new words everyday.
Well, it is beautiful outside so I think maybe we'll head out to do something fun.
On Thursday we drove up to Seattle and planned to attend the Seattle Sounders v. Portland Timbers soccer game. Thankfully Dan's sister, Lauren, came to the rescue and volunteered to watch E while we were at the game. It was really fun seeing a game in such a big stadium, Qwest Field (I've never been to a college football game or an NFL game). The Timbers won, 1-0! It rained for at least 1/2 the game, so I was pretty thankful when we were able to leave. It was cold!
We brought our camera, but forgot to use it at all. I did take a few pictures with my phone of E playing in a park in Edmonds while Dan was working on Friday afternoon.
E has a bunch of new words recently. Cookie, outside, truck, whale, shark, tree, airplane, baby, and bird. That's all I can remember off the top of my head. He is trying new words everyday.
Well, it is beautiful outside so I think maybe we'll head out to do something fun.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Copycat
So, I'm 30....ack! I made a promise to myself that at 30 I would do P90X with Dan, but I was going to wait until March 1 to start. Dan did this program a few months ago and lost 15lbs and said that he was feeling much more fit. I've always had a hard time working out. I think it's because I swam for 12 years, I wanted a break. So, I just had a 12 year break. Back to working out.
This morning we were doing our fitness test. Basically we were doing push ups, pull ups, wall sits, etc. Elliott was very interested in what we were up to. After Dan did his pull ups, Elliott walked over to the door and lifted his arms up - meaning he also wanted to hang from the pull up bar. After push ups he did his own little version. After our wall sits he walks over to where I was and sits down next to me with his back to the wall. It was too funny. Here is a short video of his push ups. He's also obsessed with Owls, and I got him to say it on video.
In other news, Elliott and I were both sick right after our last blog post. I thought he had croup, but I'm not convinced of it now. Though, he was coughing a lot and we had more long nights than I liked. We are both finally feeling good. I also turned 30 and Dan was more than generous with a birthday present for me. I got a new fridge. While you might say that's not very personal, it is to me! I love my new stainless french-door fridge. Thanks Dan, you are the best!! My sister in law and soon to be brother in law - Lauren and Justus - got me a cookbook. So far I've made blueberry muffins and peanut butter cookies...both were fabulous. I might have to break the P90X diet and continue to try out recipes. Thanks guys!
Okay, I'm tired after working out for the first time, I think it's time for me to get to bed.
This morning we were doing our fitness test. Basically we were doing push ups, pull ups, wall sits, etc. Elliott was very interested in what we were up to. After Dan did his pull ups, Elliott walked over to the door and lifted his arms up - meaning he also wanted to hang from the pull up bar. After push ups he did his own little version. After our wall sits he walks over to where I was and sits down next to me with his back to the wall. It was too funny. Here is a short video of his push ups. He's also obsessed with Owls, and I got him to say it on video.
In other news, Elliott and I were both sick right after our last blog post. I thought he had croup, but I'm not convinced of it now. Though, he was coughing a lot and we had more long nights than I liked. We are both finally feeling good. I also turned 30 and Dan was more than generous with a birthday present for me. I got a new fridge. While you might say that's not very personal, it is to me! I love my new stainless french-door fridge. Thanks Dan, you are the best!! My sister in law and soon to be brother in law - Lauren and Justus - got me a cookbook. So far I've made blueberry muffins and peanut butter cookies...both were fabulous. I might have to break the P90X diet and continue to try out recipes. Thanks guys!
Okay, I'm tired after working out for the first time, I think it's time for me to get to bed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)