8 Months!

Jaydon is 8 months and it is amazing to watch him grow! He likes to vocalize with loud and long Ahhhhhs, he loves bath time and reading books (flipping pages is a favorite activity), he got a small wooden bat from the Angelos family and he has had a great time hitting things - in addition to sucking on it, and he is continuing to improve with his naps and demeanor around others.

He started riding in his stroller without his carseat. Sometimes it doesn't seem very comfortable because he is leaning back while he prefers to sit up right.

He can get himself anywhere! He rolls, sits up from being flat, turns 360s on tummy or seated and pulls himself up to kneeling. In this picture he had been sitting in front of his book case and when I peeked in he had gotten his lower body underneath his crib. How he managed this when the bag next to him wasn't moved I am not sure. He is super close to crawling and makes a couple moves but then goes to back his tummy.
He enjoys getting splashed with the washcloth and has had a few times of being completely submerged - he hasn't seemed to mind.

He likes to sit at his bouncy chair and pull on the straps more than he enjoys sitting in his bouncy chair. He also tries pulling himself up and into it.

He is a long boy. We will have another appointment at the beginning of June to get updates on his growth but I am certain he is over 20 pounds and he seems to have been getting quite long to me. He is growing out of his 9 month sleepers and while I have continued to have him wear the 6-12 month socks they don't fit him at all.

Sarah visited

Sarah's parents were out of town so she and her brothers got to stay at many different houses throughout the week and one of the nights we had the pleasure of hosting Sarah. She loves being with Jaydon and this was a picture taken in the morning before she left for school.

First Flight and Visit to Meet Great-Grandma

My aunt and grandma live in Utah and my grandma will probably not ever make a trip up to this area again so we decided we had better get down there to introduce her to her first great-grandchild. It was a bit daunting getting ready for a weekend trip and our first flight, but we made it!

Jaydon and the cats trying out the pack n play before we left. He did not sleep well in it during the trip and did not nap well either so we had one tired boy on our hands during the adventure.

He enjoyed the flight! He was great on the way down, a little more challenging on the flight home but that was to be expected with what little sleep he got.


We took his blow up tub to try and keep some routines in place. He enjoyed his bath on the second night.

Saying hello to great-grandma for the first time. It had been over a year since I had seen her.

Jaydon and Great-Grandma

Playing with his new toys for the trip. He is a pretty good speller already (we will work on the direction of the 'n' at a later time :-)).

The picture is a bit blurry but Jaydon was the fourth generation child to jump on this couch. I have such fond memories of running and jumping from one end to the other as my dad and his siblings and my grandma and her siblings did. I had to make Jaydon try it and he seemed to enjoy it!

We went to the zoo! Jaydon's first zoo adventure. Not quite up to Woodland Park standards but it was fun.

The elephant mom and her baby.

One pie tin + one spoon = happy boy

The last evening with grandma - we are so glad we got to go down and spend some time together.

Packing up the last morning. 3/4ths of what we brought was for Jaydon!

Lynnwood is 50, Sarah is 30

A few months ago we received mail from the City of Lynnwood informing us of a 50th birthday celebration where they would provide free cake and cultural displays and kid activities etc. This was taking place on my actual 30th birthday so I thought we might as well go and get free cake on my birthday. It was fun and Jaydon seemed to enjoy himself.

Chinese dragons - it was pretty cool to watch them dance and jump around the room - very athletic!

The kids room had a lot of games and activities - the little boy in the yellow shirt and blue pants was crawling all over and came up to say hello.

Jaydon got to play with the scarves and meet a couple other little kids.

BHS Girls Golf

One of the things I miss most about not being up at BHS this year is the girls golf team. I have been an assistant with them for four years and they are an amazing group of young women who I truly enjoyed being able to spend time with. I decided to take Jaydon up to one of their matches in Burlington. Jaydon did a great job and enjoyed watching everything and playing with the grass and leaves.

Not a great picture but Jessica (our number 1) and Brad (head coach) walking down a fairway. Jessica played well and finished second in a play-off for first. The team finished second by one stroke.

Brooke, Ali, Jaydon, Berkeley and Mackenzie.
Mackenzie, Berkeley, Jessica, Sarah, Jaydon, Brooke, Ali and Brad

I am looking forward to spending some time with them again at districts and state!

Surprise!!!

I knew I had a surprise 30th birthday party coming...I was preparing myself to be ready anywhere I went because I didn't know when or where it would occur...so how is it that Jeremy actually surprised me twice in one day with two different parties???

My sister took me shopping and we wound up getting a bite to eat after at Macaroni Grill - low and behold there were 28 people waiting to surprise me and enjoy a meal! It was awesome! I had friends travel from Oregon and Bellingham and all points in between come - I truly felt loved.

Jeremy got me this "All Hail the Birthday Princess" hat which I got to wear the entire evening. This was a server who serenaded me with an Italian birthday song.

The diner aspect of the event wasn't enough - we then went to Funtasia and played a ton of games (i.e. lazer tag, bumper cars, go-karts, mini-golf etc)

Quite the pile up.

Jeremy got me.

Dave and Cashel in the Go-Kart with Amy and Peter in the background. Peter enjoyed wearing my hat during this event even though it came down and covered his eyes.

Then surprise number 2 - we got home to our house and had family waiting for cake and ice cream! I think I was a bit tired by the time this photo was taken!

Papa John and Nana Lainie babysat Brenna and Jaydon during the festivities. We got home after Jaydon was in bed but Brenna was going strong.

I sure did feel loved. Thank you everyone who came and celebrated with me and especially Jeremy for pulling it off. There were a lot more pictures but I just couldn't get them all on here. It was an amazing 30th birthday!

Mariners Game

We went to our first M's game of the season (actually maybe it was our first in the past couple seasons), Jenny and Laurent came too. There was an education deal going on and one of my co-workers is the WA State Teacher of the Year and he was throwing out the first pitch (of course we found out there were three first pitches). It was also Jackie Robinson Day. I should have had my camera out earlier in the evening to get better photos but, oh well. Also, because my co-worker was throwing out the pitch about 60 people from my school came down for the game so I got to go hang out with them for a couple innings - it was great. The M's also won big!!!

There was a very moving video and celebration for Jackie Robinson.

We were seated as high as you could be (note the glass as Jeremy walked up the stairs).

I loved going to the game!

Cats and toys

Our cats enjoy Jaydon's toys.

Lily resting on them.

Jaydon really caused the mess but it sort of looks like it is the cats doing.

Lily found her feather (I tried hiding it in the chandellier - oops bad idea).

She got the stick part.

They were both tired after a day of playing and this was a first - both cuddled up on the rocker.

First Tooth!

That pesky first tooth has finally broken through, the botom right one beat out the left. I am sure it will be quite sometime before we actually get a picture as Jaydon doesn't like getting his tongue out of the way to see it.

**His bottom left broke through a few days later**

Happy American Citizenship Party!

Our friend Eadie became an American citizen and had a party. She had this fun flag cake (she was kindly sending us home with a couple pieces since we had to leave early), and was given three apple pies two of which are on the table.

Congrats Eadie - I am a bit jealous that she now has dual citizenship. She also knows way more about our government than most of us who live here.

Jason (Eadie's husband) is a good friend of Jeremy's (he was in our wedding and J was in his). Jaydon was getting mighty tired by this time.

Sunny day at the park!

We went to the park one day. It was beautiful and sunny but I didn't realize it was quite so windy. We didn't last long but the park does have some fun play things.

There is a yellow piece to the left of the red, it goes up and down and is sort of like a teeter-totter.

Family swing.

Motorcycle and sidecar

It was fun.