A Surprise Visit

Uncle Chris, Aunt Sara and Little O stopped by our place for dinner last night, since we were on their way home from visiting Whidbey Island.  We had a blast catching up with the happenings in their family, the pups enjoyed some wrestling and best of PJ and Little O played together.  We brought out the cart that Poppy made and the boys found many ways to play with it.  At first Little O was just pushing it around, then PJ grabbed hold and the pushed the cart together.  Then they started to push each other in the carts.  The adults had as much fun watching the boys, as they had playing with the cart!

Little O pushing PJ



PJ pushing Little O

PJ climbed into the cart while Little O was being pushed

PJ sat down and got comfy.  He held tight to Little O's shirt.

PJ looks a little nervous Uncle Chris is going to bump the pool

PJ ready to get out when Little O sat down on him!

 

Sunday Hike - Little Si

Today was our fourth growth group meeting for new parents and their kiddos, getting out on the trail.  We tackled Little Si, 5 miles, with 1500ft elevation gain.  It was the hardest hike to date but everyone made it to the top!

Halfway to the top, a nice open flat area before we started climbing again

PJ climbing on the rocks, with some help from Momma

PJ happy to have a break from the backpack

Flight to Eastsound, Orcas Island

This weekend and all next week Ry's mom is in town.   Today was a beautiful day of sunshine, which has been rare this summer in Seattle, so we took advantage of the day and took Ome for a flight.  Ome hadn't flown with Ry in over ten years!  Quite a flight for her, beautiful scenery, her son captaining the plane, and her son's family in the backseat.  Ry is all grown up! 

PJ taking a nap after a long day of adventure

PJ in PJs

This morning PJ hung out in his pajamas a little longer than usual as we got breakfast started for the day.  As we were moving around the kitchen making lattes and not keeping 100% of a close eye on PJ he put on Daddy's hat and listened to some music with Momma's phone.  He was very proud of his finds and buzzed around the room from one corner to the next singing and showing off his treasures to us, then to Cheyenne, then to Sammy girl and then repeat.

Cutie with Daddy's hat and Momma's phone

PJ playing with his bulldozer, note that he is still holding onto the phone and has the hat on.

House Guest

This weekend we are watching Sammy Girl.  She has only been here a few hours and is alrady exhausted! 

First Bike Trailer Ride

Today Ry took PJ out for a ride in the bike trailer. They had a good time and Ry managed to get a good picture too.

Sleepyface

Sunday morning PJ slept in for 2 additional glorious hours!  In fact when we got out of the shower at 8am and he still was not awake I got a little worried,  was he still alive??  Of course he was still alive, but when you are so used to 5:45 to 6:15am wakeups, 8:15 seems like a really really late wakeup! 

This is the face of a boy who just slept for 14 hours and is not sure he is ready to get up!



Sunday Hike

Sundays we head to church for the 8:30 service and then for the past two weeks and next four weeks we are leading a growth group through church.  The purpose of our growth group is to get new parents/new hikers out on the trail.  We are introducing people to hiking and trying our best to share the knowledge we have gained in what it means to go hiking with a small child in tow.  Its been fun so far and this Sunday was no different.  We headed to Wallace Falls off of Highway 2 for a 4 mile hike.  A good time with two other families.  The group has about 8 families total but getting the whole group together every week is difficult. 

Here we are at the turn around point. You can see the lower falls to the left of us and then just left out of the picture are the large falls. 



Good People

On Saturday we went to a BBQ at the Weid's lake house.  The family had a great time!  PJ got to meet a bunch of new adults and shared hugs with a few adults he had already met.   Cheyenne of course enjoyed all the attention of the adults and the played great with the other dogs.  She even showed off her swimming skills.  Cheyenne will do anything for a ball. 
You know you are in good company when PJ is comfortable to crawl into anyone's lap and just about anyone at the party is willing to throw the ball for your dog! 

PJ reading an airplane magazine with Katie's co-worker Mike



PJ giving TJ a hug

14 Months Old

PJ one day old

Today PJ is 14 months old.  Just 14 months ago he was so tiny and 100% dependent on us.  We know that PJ is still very dependent on us but wow he is a busy little boy that tries to do nearly everything on his own.  PJ is beyond just walking; now he runs, claps while he walks, carries heavy things from place to place, and overall is quite busy.  He has recently started to do a lot more squatting and investigating.  This movement is my favorite at the moment but hard to catch on camera because he moves onto the next thing to investigate so quickly. 

The biggest milestones since PJ turned 13 months is communication.  He understands nearly everything we say.  For instance if you say go grab your shoes he will go and bring you his shoes.  He won't always take the most direct route back, but I am just trying to prove to you all that he understands. 

PJ points to EVERYTHING and says "uh-uh".  The caveman pointing started last month, but this month he is much more insistent that you say what he is pointing to and seems quite content when you say what is being pointed at. 

So not only is PJ understanding us more, but he is trying to say his own words more.  Some days he will jabber on in his own babytalk and other days he is very quiet.  We seem to hear his cute little voice when its just the three of us.  When there are a lot of people around he just takes it all in.  You can tell by his furrowed eyebrows that he is not missing a trick when we are out in public, but he waits to share what he thinks about the world until its just us.  Although he jabbers a lot in babytalk he only says a few words, Doggy being the newest.  He points to Cheyenne and in his most happiest of tones says "Dogg-y", with quite a high pitch "y".  Otherwise PJ's only other two actual words are Momma and Daddy, but not that often.

PJ has started to recognize airplanes and birds, which makes his daddy oh so happy.  Whenever he hears an airplane PJ looks up, while pointing and says "Bah".  If you don't acknowledge that he has seen an airplane, he will start to repeat "Bah, Bah" with much more insistence.  Ry loves this new skill! 

The last big change since last month is that PJ is now in the toddler room.  No more infant room for him!  We will save the details of the toddler room for another day but know that the move came at a perfect time.  Just last week we noticed that he was getting quite bored in the infant room and he was way more fussy when we came to pick him up.  He has only been in his new room one day so it will be a few days before we can note a difference.