summer? wow!

wow i just looked at this and realized that I had not posted anything since the end of April! Guess that's a partial clue of just how busy this summer has been. Dave and I parted ways in June while Jonah and I traveled to New Hampshire for a much needed rest after school, Dave rode his bike across the whole state of Washington- from our house in Olympia to his mom's house in Spokane. He had a lovely long trip and made it with the help of his brother Nate on a couple of days driving support- lots of fishing, camping and seeing the countryside :). Jonah and I had an adventure in Boston for a couple of days before heading up to NH. We rode on a duck boat tour which was cut short by a very violent intense thunder storm- his first. It was a little scary but he did really well. We spent a nice long week with my folks in NH- hiking, playing with a lot of my old toys, throwing balls for Denali (the lab), and visited my Gramma who just turned 95 years old. I will endeavor to post some photos of these adventures asap.

I returned at the end of June and completed 6 credits of electives for school. Really glad that is over- the classes were great but I think summer is better left for other activities than school.

August has been a mix of work and play- a couple of quick trips to the beach in Westport for surfing, some camping, I caught my first ever fish on a fly rod!, crabbing and fishing in the Sound with our little boat (which Jonah ADORES!) ripping off our front porch in preparation for a new one, painting our back deck, and more.

Jonah is doing really well at 'school' and will be moving up a class in fall...instead of being a "skunkling" he will now be a "frog." We are bringing home all kinds of fun artwork from daycare, and they are keeping the kiddos busy with sprinklers, art projects, stories and songs. Jonah loves to read books before bed now and is particularly enamored with both boats and trucks (which he calls boats too!). In the morning when we leave he often walks out and says "Hi boat" to the boat in our carport and "Bye bye boat" when we drive away. He is talking and trying to talk a lot more- now saying yes and no in response to questions, bus, boat, dog, meow, moo (and pointing to cows) moon (which is his dear copy of good night moon book), and lots more. He is also actively playing on his own now- making motor sounds for his toy boats and airplanes and perhaps my most favorite of all now- learning to jump.

Will add some photos and videos to this soon- stay tuned! We are getting ready to take summer vacation next week to Spokane and then Bozeman Mt so more pics to follow!

Lots of Love, Em and Dave and Jonah

Ages

I know I know...its been ages but back by popular demand is Jonah! now 16 months! A couple of new videos showcasing a new bubble blowing talent for starters....he actually said the word bubble several times this morning too! Then we read the bottle and it turns out he isn't supposed to play with it til he is over 4 and definitely shouldn't get it in his mouth so that was that!

He is learning to express himself more and more each day. We wonder sometimes if he will just wake up one morning and say Im hungry mom or something of the like! His vocabulary at this point is a mix of sign language (more, eat, all done, drink) and words (mama, dada, uh-oh, whoa, dog or og and now bubble! it sounds sometimes like he can also say what's this? I don't know, do it and Nonah (while pointing to himself). We are thrilled and look forward to watching him continue to figure out more words. He has also figured out that he LOVES to 'drive'- taking our keys and playing in both the car and truck. He has figured out far to quickly which key goes in which ignition even! so smart.

We also took him to his second country (aside from Canada) in March for a family adventure in Costa Rica. Though it was really hot he did great- learning to love everything water. He was jumping (into our arms) in the pool, swimming in the ocean and even figured out how to turn on the hose where we were staying and would drink out of it and pour it over himself...happy as a clam- will include some pictures. We stayed a lovely house in the area of Nosara which is on the West side of the country on the Nicoya Peninsula. Here is a link to our friends house which is rented out throughout the year: http://www.iicostarica.com/. Jonah was really a good traveler on the trip! We made his bed at night by throwing a towel over a boogie board and padding all the sides with pillows- he seemed perfectly happy with it! We hope to be back before too long!

Before we went on our trip Jonah also travelled with me to South Carolina for a work conference on Hilton Head Island! He and his gramma had many lovely adventures on the beach and in the swimming pool. Thanks Gramma for coming down to help out!

We also visited Uncle Nate and Uncle Tim and Jonahs other Gramma at Mt Baker before our trip for a weekend which was great. We stayed at a house the boys rented in Glacier, WA and Dave and I even got to go skiing together one day while Jonah hung at home. I think I have some more photos somewhere of Jonah walking Maggie the dog....

Life is going by very quickly for me while in school and working. Jonah is doing well at daycare and seems to enjoy his new friends! He also came with us on a class field trip (and Dave too) to a great state park in central Washington called Sun Lakes State Park- there is one photo of him here that is very studious- with my journal and pencil in each hand ready to go!

This weekend I think we are going to take him out in the boat (a 16 ft aluminum skiff)- Dave has been very busy getting all the necessary equipment together and we hope to go out with our crab pot on Sunday. Will be sure to post pics. Gotta find the little guy a life jacket first too.

Lots of love and sorry for the time lapse! Emily

Boy oh boy

Its been ages since I have written I know I know probably something to do with the whole new mom, grad student, working thing but that hasn't slowed Jonah down ANY! He is moving now- almost running, babbling up a storm and as his Dad said last night - usually 3 or 4 feet off the ground climbing something whenever you turn your back. He is starting to learn so much- imitating me putting on shoes, climbing up and getting his feet forward and pushing himself down the slide, turning on and off lights, walking up and down stairs- you name it and he wants to try it. All of this running around has him looking a little lanky - I swear last week it seems like he grew another inch. Still have 7 teeth and probably more to come soon.

Starting in March Jonah will be heading to daycare at the campus childcare center where I am in school. He is going to be in the "skunkling" room and we are all really excited and ok a little bit sad too- big steps! In any case so far when we have visited he takes a few minutes to warm up then is into all the new toys and had a great time playing with his new friends outside last week. I used to work at this daycare about ten years ago - it is remodeled and a bit larger now but a good caring place where I think he will grow and learn lots!

A few recent photos and videos (thanks to our new FLIP video camera which is awesome!)

Birthday!

One more post- before school starts! ha- these are photos from Jonah's birthday party which we did the weekend before we left for New Hampshire- we had almost 25 people crammed in our little house luckily many of them were little and we all had a great time. I made a pumpkin apple cake with tofu frosting since Jonah can't have any dairy products which actually went over pretty well. He received lots of wonderful gifts from folks and seemed to enjoy all of the company. What a difference a year makes- it was neat to remember back to the major snowstorm which was about to hit Olympia, and just how ready I was not to be pregnant anymore. Amazing! Happy Birthday to our most curious, adorable boy!

New Hampshire

It was lovely to be home for the holidays. Jonah did really pretty well on the plane rides and we managed to dodge two major storms - phew! We had a lovely time cross country skiing all over my parents property (sometimes with Jonah) and took the little guy sledding for his first time - he didn't even know it though because he was sleeping. It was great to also visit with my grandmother who this year turned 94- so wonderful to have so many generations together. We ate like royalty and thoroughly relaxed- tomorrow off again to work and Tuesday school begins but until then- happy holidays to all!

Jonah discovered that he loves to eat pickles and popcorn much to our surprise and he looks absolutely adorable I think in his santa suit which he wore on the big day- thanks Gramms for sending that one along! The top picture of Jonah was taken after his very first bite of shrimp cocktail- is there anything he wont eat? I have yet to find it.

Beach time

A quick little video from our trip to the beach today and a promise to post lots of pictures from our trip to New Hampshire soon- we arrived home last night and had the most wonderful time- missing home and family a lot now! It was so great to be there for almost two weeks. Lots of love!