My baby James:

I rolled around with you this morning, which was the best way to start my day! Dad and I love seeing your morning shine. You're the happiest when you fist wake up! I'll remember these moments when you're a grumpy teenager. Hehe

Morning pose

Guess what?! We survived a much-longer-than-we-should-have-ever-taken-you-on trip a couple weeks ago!! We flew from Portland to LA to NYC to Chicago and back. PHEW! We learned quite a bit from each other on this 9 day venture...

1. The outdoors win your heart every time.

... and not surprisingly, so did your tia Elena.

2. The only way to get you to smile in New York City is to kangaroo you in a tiger suit. 

3. You are a fantastic cheerleader!

Sooo all in all I suppose our trip was truly a success. I'm so happy that people I love all around the country got a chance to meet you.

In other news.. you're officially 9 months!! What can I say? You blow me, Dad, and everyone else around you away with every step, smile, laugh and crawl that we watch. You're growing stronger, smarter, more loving every day that passes. We're so proud of you! I'm excited to continue to watch you grow into your best self. Here's to another month full of giggles!

First pumpkin patch. Experiencing it from the ground up.

Dad and Jammer on a hay ride.

10/20/2014. happy 9 months!

Um, hi.

Mama love.

Standing like a champ.

Winter up top, summer down below.

Good night my baby boo. 

Love, 

Mama bear

October 1, 2014

Jam man, as we get ready to take our tour across the country to LA and NY and back to our Chicago homeland, I want to reminisce a little about your days as a newly minted walker. Congrats on passing the 8 month mark on two feet. You're already making me proud!

Your mom finally let me have access to this thing so I'm gonna milk it for all the father son moments I can squeeze out of you before you can start talking back...

You're not a fan of this carrier for more than a half hour we discovered on a hike in the Gorge. Well, until you collapsed asleep after we really got moving. 

Is it over yet?! You lived up to the Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne vibe the whole way through our fun run a few months back. But hey, your hair looks great so net net you're a winner.

A lil dance session after a big day out in the city! Maybe also followed by an at home karaoke sesh?

Remember that time Dad fed you an egg? Sorry about that man. Good thing you can play through the pain.

Bashful in front of the Trillium Lake crowd.

What a great guy, smiles and a swimmer's body!

Gotta call you out on only pretending to read though. Someday we'll get you into the words and pictures more than the tactile play with the book itself. At 7 months when this was taken though you're outdistancing me on the self control, in fairness!

Helping Mama Bear work as always. Love you guys!

Mi chiquito:

I've let way too many days get away without writing to you! You're practically a different person from a month and a half ago. For starters, you're a whole half year old!! You've more than doubled your birth weight (almost 20lbs!), can sit up unassisted (although you still have turtle like crisis where you've fallen and you can't get up from time to time), have started eating stuff other than milk AND your FIRST TOOTH is starting to pop out!! I can't handle it.

Seems like everyday brings a new first for you. Let's do some recapping a la foto mode:

first kangaroo hop

first time sitting in a high chair! (a little bit of a premature attempt..)

(ain't that the truth??)

first time pretending to live in an ikea model apartment

first time passing out while at the blue's fest (first 4th of july!)

first time on a slide! don't worry, you survived.

first baby birthday party (happy birthday mateo!!). and first time attempting to swing at a pinata. well, kind of.

first time in a pool.

first hammock yawn..

.. and nap.

first time completing a 5K run! superheros, yeah!

Also, day after your first haircut. miss those locks.

first time i saw you sit up all on your own for more than a few seconds!! oh you made my heart melt.

pretty sure this is the first time you've worn a cap backwards.

first time butt naked in public! sorry, we just had to.

first emergency room visit. we were NOT this happy the entire time. lesson learned: no eggs for baby you.

first spinach mustach! hello solids.

first buddah bath in the back yard.

first time being offered up as a snack to a T-rex by your papa.

first adorable sunglass pic.

And finally, in this series: 

Your first lake swim on Mt. Hood! beautiful day. beautiful boys.

So excited to keep having firsts with you. No one does them better.

Love you. So much.

Mom

Papito:

You're FIVE months! I'm so thankful to have you in my life. Sometimes I look at you and get the same feeling I get when I look up at the stars. It's this mind boggling wonderment. You grew inside of me? My body just knows how to put a person together? You couldn't stay awake for more than an hour at one time and now you're bouncing around and laughing for hours? You're eventually going to be a teenager? Amazing. And the best part is that you're going to keep being my little miracle. Forever. I don't ever want to take you for granted.

The past few weeks have been full of all kinds of emotion. The painful reality of our world's brokenness was felt by many when we heard about the gun violence that claimed three lives-- one from Seattle Pacific University and two from Reynolds High School. It's difficult to sit with the emotion that comes with these types of events. Confusion, grief, loss, anger, pain... I know I can't shield you from experiencing these, as much as I would like to. But always remember that there will be people to walk alongside you through dark times. I hope to be one of those for as long as possible. Together, we can experience healing, forgiveness, peace, hope and joy. We just have to be patient through the process.

Last week we got to celebrate the fathers in our midst! We're both fortunate enough to have dads that love us more than we'll ever really know. We don't need a commercialized holiday to appreciate them, although it's kinda nice to have a reminder.

It was love at first poopy diaper.

Father/son nap. Precious.

 

 

 

Grandpapa <3

It's late and we've got a new summer day to enjoy together tomorrow. So this is me signing out for tonight. Love you my little guy.

Mom