Back to the River!

A hike in the Arboretum

Portland has an amazing Arboretum right next to the zoo, and we've been wanting to check it out. We went up there and did a very quick and easy hike just to get an idea of what it's like. It was a beautiful day, and a beautiful place. They have 12 miles of trails, and I hope to eventually get to see them all.

You can also see Adelaide's favorite new expression. She loves to make this face and does it constantly!

Adelaide's first party and show (kind of)

Tonight some of our favorite bands, Samiam and Nothington played at our friend's house. It was a house party, but they started early because of the noise. The bands played in their basement, and people hung out on the sidewalk and yard as well. It was a party for adults, there weren't any other kids there, but I REALLY wanted to see the bands play and so did Myles. We figured we'd take Adelaide and see how things went. Of course we are VERY careful about her ears, and are sure to keep her away from anything loud. We also had to be careful of cigarette smoke etc....but it worked out really good. I had her in the carrier, and eventually she just fell asleep in there. I stayed out on the sidewalk where I could still hear the music, but not too loud. The best part of the night was when Myles told Jay, the singer of Nothington that Adelaide loves music, and then Jay started to sing to her. Her eyes light right up and she just stared at him, she was SO INTERESTED. You could tell he was touched by this because he kept singing and watching her, and she just kept watching him. It was an amazing moment that I wish I had on video. I sing to her all of the time, but it was amazing to see her love this really rough scratchy voice coming out of a stranger as well. At one point I felt a little bad that she was out past her bed time, but our friend Alex said to just think of it as "pay back" for 17 years from now when she has us up all night worrying about her. I thought that was a good point, and we all enjoyed the evening.

Playgroup buddies

It's amazing how much I love these little guys. It's so fun to watch them grow and get cuter and cuter. Their mamma's are pretty special too - I love getting to know them better and making friendships that will last a long time. I'm so lucky.

Splish Splash

Our Tahoe Adventure

Adelaide and I are home from Tahoe, and had such an amazing trip. We got to hang out with some of my favorite people in the whole world...boy I needed them! They all really made Adelaide and I feel like part of the family, and we got to meet my cousin Zeb's wife and daughter, which was so much fun. I had no idea that traveling with a baby would be so hard. Usually I have Myles to help me, but he stayed home for this trip. I had lots of help from everyone else, but it was still extremely exhausting to care for her as well as myself amongst the busy schedule and chaos that was happening. I wasn't sleeping which made it hard, but it was so fun I can't complain! I also didn't realize what an emotional vacation it would be. We drove past so many old places including places that my grandma used to work when she was alive, old houses where my aunt used to live (she is no longer alive either) and the trailer park where I last remember seeing my mom. I had been missing the women I had grown up with since Adelaide was born, and that was one reason I went on this trip. I wanted to spend time with Lisa, Jamie and Stephanie. I guess what I didn't expect was to miss my aunt and grandma so much. It's all bitter sweet, and that's how life is I suppose. We had such a great time. Adelaide got her first tooth, and on our last day there she somehow pulled herself up to standing when I wasn't looking!! I tried to get her to do it again, but she wouldn't. I can't believe she will be walking before we know it!

The first day we all took a drive up around Donnor Lake. We took the old highway up into the mountains. It was really beautiful and a beautiful sight for Stephanie who has never been to the west coast. I guess there aren't many mountains in South Carolina where they live, so she was very impressed.

Jamie, Zeb and Zoe climbed up the rocks to get a better view...
then Zeb, Stephanie and Zoe climbed WAY up there to take more pictures and explore
Self portrait of Jamie and I in front of the lake. She is my bestest friend in the whole world. I've known her since before I was born....our dad's were best friends. I love being around her because she makes me laugh and also laughs at my dumb jokes. She is truly like a sister to me and I love her so much.

Eventhough Adelaide stayed in the car...she still had fun! She is so good and funny.

DAY 2:

This has to be my favorite picture of all. Once Adelaide and I woke up, we went and climbed into Jamie's bed, and so did Zoe. We were all looking at Zoe's baby pictures. Zoe didn't want us to scoot over, she said she likes to be squished =)


We drove around Lake Tahoe and had a picnic lunch at the beach. Here is Zeb and his beautiful wife Stephanie in front of Mt. Tallac. It made for an amazing background.
Lisa and Lonie at the beach
Posing with Miss Adelaide in her sun hat.

Nannabird and Zoe were pouring sand on Adelaide's toes. I wouldn't let her play in the sand because I was afraid it would get in her eyes and diaper. I'm a mean mommy huh?

When we got back, my dad came over. He drove up to see all of us. Here he is with Hankey and Rascal, Zeb, Lonie and Stephanie.
Day 3:

Nannabird put Zoe to sleep in her lap =)

and Stephanie used her motherly majic to put Adelaide to sleep as well! I couldn't believe it. That never happens!me and dad being goofy
Dad, me and Punkie
We had plans to go to Virgina City this day, but hung around the house all morning to relax and spend time with my dad. It was a fun morning, Zeb made us breakfast (as he did every day) and we sat around talking about old times. It felt like old times having us all together like that.

We then drove out to Virgina City:





And on Day 4 while everyone was at the beautiful beach..... here is what we did.....

First Tooth!

This morning when we got up to begin out adventure to Tahoe I stuck my finger in Adelaide's mouth to see if she had a tooth yet, and felt a little corner sticking out!! It felt very sharp. Later I was giving her a drink of water out of my glass and could hear her little tooth clunking on the glass. It's just one more thing to make me realize that she is growing up so fast! I know she will look different once she gets teeth, so I need to be sure to take lot's of pictures of her toothless grins while I can! Hopefully she is done biting me!

Cheerio - the organic ones =)

This is actually the SECOND time that Adelaide has eaten O's....she started yesterday, but I didn't get video of it. You can tell she really likes to practice picking them up, and trying to get them in her mouth. Once they are there, she can practice chewing (without teeth). She loves them. It's so cute to see her little fingers work so hard at grasping them. I feel like maybe she should have been able to practice this sooner, but we are so afraid of her choking. I wonder what age other people give O's to their little ones?

Learning to feed herself

Today I gave Adelaide a few organic O's cereal. She took a few tries to actually get one in her mouth, but once she did she loved it. She ate about 10 of them, and then I decided to give her a piece of ripe pear to see if she could feed that to herself. She made a mess but had fun trying. She kept squishing it in her hands until there really wasn't much left except a few little piles of what looked like Apple Sauce.

Quality reading time for Punkie

This "Where the Wild Things are" book used to be Myles' when he was little. His mom brings Adelaide lots of books! She loves them!!

The Road - and other rambles

Myles recommended that I read "The Road" by Carmac McCarthy. Holey Moley - if you haven't read this book yet - you should. Especially if you are a parent. It was one of the best books I've ever read. I must admit that I have a thing about really sad books (my all time favorite book to date is Angela's Ashes), but sad books are also about the struggle of life. Real life. I like to read about this, and the human spirit. It's amazing how a book can really take you to another world. There were several nights that I would come downstairs after reading with tears pouring down my face. Maybe it's the hormones...but the book is pretty amazing. It's a really quick read too - so go get it and read it, before the movie comes out.

I also wanted to update about Adelaide because she is so funny. Her favorite food now is broccoli. Have you ever heard of a baby that loved broccoli? She eats that and sweet potatoes every day. We also do lots of pears and prunes, although she isn't as keen on the prunes as she used to be. She poops every day lately, so I'm feeling good about her diet. I have also re-introduced the goat yogurt. She seems to really love it with avocado, so I'm going to keep giving it to her.

She is growing so fast - and so is her hair =) She can scoot/crawl pretty fast these days. She has been easy to put down for naps, I simply lay her down in the swing bed with the binkie and turn on the fan. She still sleeps great at night and seems to prefer cuddling with Myles to me. I don't get jealous because they are so cute cuddled up together...I wish I had a picture of it. We are having a great summer and had a crazy heat wave, but now it's cool and Porltand-ie again. We've been back to the zoo a few times, and are preparing for our trip to Tahoe next weekend.

Clean baby

Tal's teddy bear

Is bigger than Adelaide