Short trip to Tillamook

Spring break was last week. Marian (Saul's daycare provider) took the week off so we adjusted our schedule accordingly. It was a great opportunity to make a short trip to Tillamook! Saul and I left Monday morning and returned Tuesday afternoon. We were a little more tired when we got home than we were when we left, but I'm really glad we went!

On both Monday and Tuesday afternoons we visited my grandma (my mom's mom). She hadn't seen Saul since New Year's and then the house was full of family and a lot of activity. It was great to have some relaxing time with her and Saul. He crawled around, talked lots and showed her what fun we have with him every day.

Monday night we spent with Julie and her family. Trevor and Kelsey were so sweet with Saul. Trevor gave up his room for Saul and me and picked up all of his small toys to protect Saul. Kelsey also helped keep small toys picked up and tried to keep her dollies away from all of Saul's slobber. It was a challenging night, though, as I think Saul was a little overwhelmed from his day of activity. We visited with Jules, Todd and the kids again in the morning and then whimped out and decided to go home later on Tuesday rather than staying another night.

We're already looking forward to getting back for a visit again soon - hopefully after the weather starts to improve so that we can get more time on the beach and walking around Simmons Creek Rd!

Some pics from the trip are below:

Saul on the beach - in the front pack and me with some creative photography.

Saul and Auntie Julie.

The favorite toy at Gi-Gi's house.

Saul telling GiGi just how big he is.

Sitting on Gi-Gi's lap.

Fridays with Grammie B and Grandpa T

We are so fortunate to live close to family with schedules that allow Saul to spend quality time with his grandparents while helping us out while we work. Two Fridays a month, or so, Saul spends the day with his Grammie Barbara, which also means with his Grandpa Tom (Aaron's dad). When I first returned to work Barbara would come here and since Tom was on sabbatical, he would often bring over lunch. The three of them would go on walks and play while I spent hours on conference calls in the basement.

Now that Saul's older he's spending more of his Fridays with Barbara at her house. This has allowed for walks to Reed College to meet Tom's and Barbara's co-workers. It has also meant walks to the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens, a Portland landmark known for its large rhodies and lots of ducks!

Here are some pictures showing how much fun Saul has on his Fridays with Grammie and Grandpa - and just how exhausting it all is! (Thank you to Barbara for taking some pictures of Saul with Tom; next time we need to make sure that she gets in more of them!)

Helping Barbara with yardwork on a beautiful day

Visiting the ducks

Tired after a long day

Growing - in size and ability

The last week has been full of entertainment, activity and more "firsts" in the life of Saul. There are just a two pictures at the bottom of this entry - I'll upload more over the weekend. For now, it's a few stories:

1. Saul is officially crawling. Yep, he's mobile. Sunday morning he woke up particularly early and just never really seemed awake. I don't think I was very awake, either. We played in his room and then in the living room. He was on his hands and knees rocking and taking funny little bunny hops forward. By 8 a.m. he and I were both back to sleep. I woke up at 9:30 to yummy blueberry pancakes thanks to Aaron. Saul didn't wake up until 10 a.m. BUT, he woke up fully capable of crawling! By Monday, while at his Grandma Beth's for a visit, we watched him continue to improve his crawling skills even over just 30 minutes of playing on the floor.

2. Saul weighs over 20 lbs. Monday I ended up at the doctor's office for myself, due to some nursing pain which I wanted to be sure wasn't an infection. I'm fine. Saul, however, had been really working at his left ear in his sleep for two nights in a row, so I asked the doc if she could just take a peak. Sure enough - ear infection #2. We got him on the scales to get his weight for medicine dosage - 21 lbs., 4 oz.!

3. Saul is "soooo big"! This evening we were playing on the changing table, putting his hands over his head while saying "Saul is sooo big!" We've done this before but he's only been semi-interested. This evening he was just giggling away. Later, he was in his high chair while I was getting the kitchen cleaned up and preparing his dinner. Just for fun, I asked, "How big is Saul?" And answered "Saul is soooo big!" Immediately, his hands went up over his head and he just lit up as if he knew he was doing a good thing. Of course, I repeated this at least 10 more times and he continued to raise his hands up over his head prompting lots of giggles. Dang, he's cute!

4. Saul is starting to use his signs. "Milk" and "more" are two very important signs in the life of Saul. He really, really got in to "more" while we were playing with bubbles at his sign language class on Monday. His hands and little fingers were right at his chest, touching quickly to indicate that he wanted "more bubbles"! And, in his excitement to eat he is now putting his hand in a fist and pumping it at his side. "Milk!" he says. "I want some milk." At least he makes himself clear. :)

Alright - enough for now. Enjoy the two pictures below. The first is blurry but I still find it to be a good example of his activity and joy in his continued strength and mobility. In the second, his diaper butt just makes me smile!

Tucson - the rest of the trip

Three weeks?! Has it really been three weeks since we returned? Remind me to always take a day before returning to work after a vacation, especially now that we had a kid. I've been meaning to update this for, well, three weeks. So, here's the end of the trip.

We went to the Desert Museum - there's a formal name, but I don't remember it - only about 30 minutes outside of the city. We walked all of their trails and saw a variety of plants and animals native to the area. It reminded me a little of Wildlife Safari in Winston, OR (south of Roseburg) but without the safari. We saw lots of birds, spiders, a beaver, a river otter and various sizes of critters from the cat family. Saul napped in the pack when he needed to and seemed to enjoy being out in the fresh air- though as you'll see in one of the pictures below he wasn't so sure about the hat. He'll have to get used to it by summer, though!

On our last day we went to a botanical garden. It's on the grounds of an original estate and gardens from years ago and has been turned into a place for visitors to see the wide variety of plants native to the general area. Imagine the quantity of cacti all in one plce! They also had a butterfly exhibit. It was really, really muggy in the butterfly house, fogging up Aaron's camera almost immediately! We were right ahead of a 1st grade class so once they all got in inside it was quite loud.

Saul did great on the flight home. Again, he slept on the longer leg betwen Phoenix and Portland, giving me time to read a book and rest my eyes. Considering our sleeping arrangements at the hotel, I think I slept less on vacation than I do at home.

And now we are home and back to the comfort of our own bed and a return to the routine. Hmmmm . . . where shall we go next?

Aaron and Saul at the high desert museum.

Fussy times in the hotel room while Saul was telling us that he was ready to sleep. We tried to be back from our daily activities around 3:30 to give Saul time to move on his home since he was in the pack so much.
















Aaaaah. Asleep - on his belly and not swaddled!















A butterfly on Aaron's shoulder. His picture didn't turn out, but could have been cool!


















Napping at the botanical garden.