Good times at the mall

We got another Groupon deal for mall pictures.  It was funny going this time as opposed to when James was 4 months old.  I remember how much more difficult it was then - James was fussy, needed to nap, the photo shoot was touchy (but fun) and later he fell asleep in the stroller so we walked around the mall for an hour afterwards.  It seems (in my memory, anyway) that James had a hard time falling asleep, and only napped while being held by us for a long time, so we used to love the "bonus naps" that we'd get in the car/stroller and extend them by just walking a lot or driving around aimlessly to pass the time.  Now with James being so much older and doing great with predictable naps in his crib, we don't have to do those things anymore.  Thank goodness since gas is now almost $5 a gallon.....

Anyway, this time we had a lot of fun and were cracking up trying to keep James from constantly crawling off the curtain.  On that particular day he was sticking out his tongue a lot (I think that was the beginning of teething) so the pictures reflect that.  He actually loves his cowboy hat and now puts it on all by himself.

It's almost my birthday!

Escape from the photo shoot....

And some outtakes...

More sticking out of the tongue

And a sneer to finish it off.  Classic.

9 months

James turned 9 months old last month.  9 months is a pretty big number.  We're officially in the last quarter of his first year and it's coming up fast.  It is much harder to photograph James at 9 months than it used to be....he's super active and wants to grab/eat the camera every time he notices it (and now, nothing gets by him, so that pretty much means all the time...)

Hey - what is this thing, anyway?  Can I pull it off and put it in my mouth?

Freestyle standing - or perhaps practicing his surfer moves.

The look of happiness and mischief.

Adam & I also celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary last month.  Mark & Elaine were fabulous babysitters and we ate great dinner at a great French bistro downtown, then went to Pioneer Square to lounge on the park benches and people watch (one of my favorite Portland activities), and at the end of the night walked down the Portland City Grill for dessert.  I had never been but a good friend recommended we try it, if only for the view.  It's located on the 33rd floor of the US Bancorp Building (the top of the tallest skyscraper downtown) and my ears actually popped going up.  This was the highlight of the evening - totally romantic and beautiful and lovely to feel like were sitting at the top of the world.  We tried the chocolate souffle which was amazing.  Over the past couple of months we've finally started being pretty comfortable leaving James with people we know and actually just taking breaks together.  Something I plan to continue to do plenty of.

Another fun part of our date was picking out a nice toy for James at my favorite toy store, Finnegans.  Finnegans is locally-owned and just a really neat, whimsical store - lots of unique, good-quality toys and fun stuff you don't normally find at chain stores.  We were pretty giddy realizing we actually have a legitimate reason to be there now (being as we're parents, so definitely only going in for the sake of the kid) and we realized this was the first time we had just gone out together and bought James something new and nice just picked out for him.  One of the things I love is that so many of our toys, clothes, baby gear, etc. were borrowed or bought used - in fact, almost all our toys fall into this category.  Great because if it's something James didn't end up liking, or being a good fit for whatever reason, we didn't have to invest much.  I've bought tons of stuff at consignment sales, and both of James's grandmas are thrift stores queens.  Truly the way to go when it comes to baby stuff, and it's a better use of resources (ours and the earth's).  But every once in awhile...it's a nice treat to get something brand-new and enjoy the fun of unwrapping the package and knowing it was special and just for him.

We picked out a dump truck made of a soft-style plastic that bends a little and doesn't hurt if it hits you in the head (which often happens when James gets excited and waves his toys around).  He likes it quite a bit, but I have a feeling it'll be more of a hit when he's a just a bit older and understands how to make it roll across the floor.

Hey guys - I love my new truck but I think I like you more.

We love this picture because James looks a lot like his older cousin, Yuri, in this photo.  Even though she's a girl, is a few years older and is half-Japanese, she makes this same expression and looked exactly like this when she was about a year old.

At 9 months, James loves boxes...

Pulling shoes (especially mommy's boots) off the shoe rack...

Walking in the park...

Playing with his blocks

Reading books all by himself, especially his favorite board book, "I am a Bunny"

And curling up with his teddy bear.

Just Beachy

We have been total beach bums this summer/fall.  For various reasons, we ended up doing some pretty epic Oregon coast trips with James in tow.  Last winter, we did Rockaway Beach with my dad and his girlfriend, in June we drove out to Seaside with my mom, later stayed in Seal Rock in August, and in September stayed in Depoe Bay with my grandpa and his wife and met up with Adam's parents in Cannon Beach.  Lots of sand everywhere, sunshine, salty air and good times as a family hanging out in beach houses and playing in the ocean.  Also, we've eaten a lot of taffy.  Probably more than we should.  (What happens to taffy in your body, anyway?  Certainly feels like a big pile of glue sitting at the bottom of your stomach...can't be good.)

We are now total pros at doing the beach gig with James.  I've got an all-star packing list (yes, I absolutely have to write everything out in a checklist, lest I forget some life-saving item such as his teddy bear or pack n' play sheet) which we've reused over and over again.  I'm thinking of laminating it and then just leaving checkboxes to use with a dry-erase marker.  We usually leave during his morning nap and have traveled home right at bedtime, so his night starts in the car and it's pretty easy to carefully carry him inside and transfer him to the crib once we're home.  I'd like to say that James like the ocean (and he kinda does....or is at least mesmerized by it and loves sand) but the truth is we go for us.  With Adam working on most of my days off, it's some rare time we get without distractions, work, phones/computers/bills/stress to just be together.

Grandpa Wes, James, dog Sarah & I.  She was so sweet with James...watched over him when he'd crawl away from us and kept tabs on him.

Whale watching in Depoe Bay

Just another beautiful Bella Beach sunset.  Is there anything more wonderful than having your handsome husband carrying your sweet baby on his back and holding hands on the beach with you?

Not as happy about Cannon Beach.  Think there was some teething going on here...

Playing with his sweet Nana, who always makes him smile.

My Grandpa Wes.  He's one of the most wonderful men I've ever known.  Volunteers as a poker dealer at the VA nursing home in Denver.  Is a respected elder in the Unitarian church he belongs to and is a frequent speaker there.  Writes historical fiction.  Learned to paddle board this year at  the tender age of 80.  Eats a mix of hardcore whole grains he calls his "horse feed" every single morning.  Sent me recorded tapes of him reading my favorite books as a little girl.  Trained his lab Sarah as a therapy dog to bring into hospitals.  Gardens, builds, is a die-hard Rockies fan and keeps a manual scorecard at every game.  Makes us laugh with his sly sense of humor and sharp intellect.  So grateful to get to share my family with him.  Secretly want to be just like him when I'm 80.

Baby Steps

I've been working overtime lately.  We all have.  I started a new, part-time benefited position at my job (yay health insurance - yay schedule and job stability - yay for doing it all part-time) but kept a ton of my previously scheduled shifts from my on-call job.  So that basically meant working full-time for the last couple of weeks, without two days off together for over three weeks and basically.....it's been a grind.  Adam's parents came in for a few days to take care of James, and my mom has been staying over one night a week, so we had extra help which we were really grateful for.  I finish up another long week starting Thursday, and finally starting next week will be working 3 days one week, 4 days the next.  Pretty dreamy. I love being a social worker, love my career, love my baby and love my days both at work and at home.  So it's the best of both worlds.  Plus we all get medical care.  Did I mention the health insurance?  Sick time, vacation days, 401(K)s are great but...mostly we're stoked about going to the doctor visits.

Speaking of things to be stoked about, I absolutely love the stage of development that James is in right now and wish I could pause him here for a bit.  He's just so much fun, a great sleeper, starting to say words, plays games like Patty-Cake, likes to dance to music, and smiles and laughs all the time.  He's been ahead of the curve for most of his physical developmental milestones (rolling over, crawling, cruising, etc.) so it's been suggested by many that he'd be an early walker.  I don't care at all what rate things happen - if anything, I already miss stages of James's babyhood that have passed and wish he'd slow down.  Adam's been saying for weeks that James would be walking by his first birthday, and I'd just shrug it off.  The range of "normal" for all milestones is so huge I see no point in expecting babies to hit certain things by arbitrary dates.  Many times, James would be standing a chair or couch or somewhere and reach his hand out for me, wanting me help him walk over.  But I wouldn't always do it.  Much of the time I'd just plop him right back on his bottom and give him a toy.  I see no ethical qualms with working moms doing some harmless retardation of their babies' physical growth when we already feel like it's passing by too quickly and want more of what we miss out on.  The honest truth is that I've also secretly feared I'd miss the sacred milestone of his first steps, given the highly likelihood of it happening during my workday.  Plus James has been so close for a long time, loves pushing his little alligator push cart, standing, and cruising along anything he can get his hands on.

Fast forward to October 1st, 2012.  James has just turned 10 months old.  I'm home from work, James and I are listening to reggae in the living room and catching up together.  Adam is working in the office next to the living room.  I'm tired, having just kicked off my high heels and relishing the sweet smiles and games I'm playing with my babe.  James is standing at his activity table, playing with the piano keys and looking over at me a few steps away.  And then, just like that, he stood tall and confidently raised his arms up.  He looked over at me, smiled, and walked to the couch.  He put one miniature, chubby little foot in front of the other and lunged forward.  About five steps later arrived safely at his destination (couch) and didn't even notice he'd done it.  I called in Adam immediately, and pulled James back to me.  He stood up again, and walked another 5 steps to Adam.  I cried happy tears.  Adam laughed.  Never have I felt such joy as watching my beloved sweet baby boy walking all by himself.  He glanced over at his delighted parents, totally unaware of anything except our smiles.

And that's how it happened.