Visit to Lebanon

Mom & Dad Walker drove us down to Oregon this last weekend to visit Nate, Katie, James, George and Rhett for R's baby blessing. What a great trip! Q was so excited to play with the boys! He almost burst when he saw them taking a bath. Friends in the bath, what could get better than that? I don't know why there is no sound, but you can see his smile and little dance of excitement.

The other video showed nudage, so I'm sparing George's dignity!

We all went for a hike and saw waterfalls, moss, trees and dirt. If you look closely you might see a white spot to the top right of the falls. That's those in the family that had the nerve to climb the stairs to the top, Ian and Q included. Little did they know that we'd be coming back that way and they would be able to see it then without all that work! Q rode on Ian's back in Nate's backpack, thanks for letting us use it! We ate good food, visited, learned about all of Nate and Katie's latest projects. It was a great time. Hopefully Katie will send me the family pics so I can post them too! The ride home was pretty short for everyone except Dad as he's the only one that didn't take a nap. :)

Up!

Well, Q has started shrieking when he's upset and having little crying fits, so it's apparent that he's entered a new stage of development that requires discipline and teaching. I decided that since he can say simple syllables like ma, ba, da, pa, wow, wee and such that he can certainly say "up" instead of grunting with arms up and jutting out his belly. Last week I started requiring him to say up to get said action from me. It took a lot of coaxing the first time and we both had a dance party to celebrate. The next time I told him to say up he looked at me, whimpered and gave up on getting what he wanted. Monday morning he was in bed with me and rolled and crawled around for a time without any response from mom (I was TIRED and didn't want to play or get out of bed). Finally he rolled over to face me and whispered "Up-hhh, up-hhh, up-hhhh" repeatedly!!!!!!!!! Who could resist spontaneous, talking cuteness like that???? Ever since then he says it all the time, and seems to think it means everything; like "I want that toy"! Ahhh, I love my little boy!

He also started walking on the rocks and grass BY HIMSELF for the first time this last week! Yeah!

Outside

This morning Q brought me his shoes to put on. I put them on but made no move to go outside as it's cold and rainy and I was tired. After his 1st nap he brought me his shoes again, then immediately went and brought me my shoes.

"Come on Momma! It's TIME to go outside!"

My old neighbor Christina used to tell me this would happen, guess she was right.
So we bundled up and went outside, in the cold and sprinkles. His hands promptly turned bright red in the cold.

It was adorable watching him tromp around talking about it the whole time, and expecting feedback. :)

New Videos

Fun, fun all the time!
Q likes to put on his big boy shoes. Usually he brings them to me as a signal that it's time to go outside.
This boy seems immune to dizziness like his daddy. Or else he LOVES being dizzy because circles are one of his favorite past times!
This was so precious I had to get a video of it. I love the look on his face when he's concentrating. He does get a little distracted at the end...
Our child has bizarre culinary tastes like our cats!

One Year Older, and Wiser Too

March marked my 34th birthday. Yowsers time has gone by fast. The actual day was really uneventful. 2 cards, 1 present, ice cream cake. Although I hope to never repeat some of the events this past year held, I'm grateful for what I've learned and the resources I've found.

My toe is getting better. I'm still stuck in my birks but it only hurts if I actually step on it now, which I do about 7 times a week, grr.

Not knowing what I was doing I signed up to participate in the entertainment skit for the MOPS annual auction at the end of March. Every Friday Q and I went down to Camano Chapel to practice with the other veteran ladies. We did a Mommy Rhapsody like the one on You Tube but with a few Mops changes. It was really fun. They showed the actual performance to us the next meeting and I thought it was hilarious. I hope I have a chance to get a copy. It was so fun, and a great opportunity to get to know some of them a little bit better. The actual auction was fun. People were bidding upwards of $300 for a pie, $500 for a homecooked Indian dinner for 8 while they were lucky to get $400 for a $2000 value landscaping donation. Unbelievable! Ian and I were lucky enough to sit at the same table as the guy who won the pies. I think he spent over $1000 dollars that night.

About 2-3 weeks ago we came home to find the pellet stove sending flames out the top of the flue. That was a little scary. I found a guy to come out and clean the whole apparatus in the hopes that this would mend the problem with the auger that is doling out the pellets too fast. He was really nice and spent about 2 hours fixing it up. It started running correctly when he was here, but when I started up the next day the whole house filled with smoke. Today Ian pulled it out and we found that the vent had disconnected from the stove and the smoke was coming into the house instead of the chimney. He fixed it and now we have our heat source back. We've been living with a trusty space heater to heat the whole house for this whole time. I'm really glad this didn't happen in February with the snow and freezing temperatures.

Ian and I were devastated a few weeks ago to find out two of our favorite people in the world are getting divorced. It really shook us up. We are SO sad for both of them and their children, I was dragging for days. It has made us grateful that neither of us have given up on trying to save our marriage. In the end it'll be worth it.
Q is talking up a storm. Sometimes he walks around the house lecturing in baby talk, it's absolutely precious. He has so much vigor. I imagine he's going to have a lot of opinions to share when we start understanding him.
One day we were cleaning up and he decided he needed to help. Who could resist?

He has recently fallen in love with teddy bears (and balls) and here he's holding his white one and his red one.

He has progressed from walking with hands in the air to clasping them in the front or back when he's in the mood. He'll just pace around like that. Too cute.

He also thinks every day is a good day to go outside, whether it's a sunny or rainy day. I'm sure glad we have a raincoat for him. He was sopping wet this day.
We found a small piece of PVC pipe by the fire pit last week and I let him nab it since it was the only one he could carry. Getting knocked in the noggin made me question that decision.
Of course we have to visit the pots of moss and dirt every time we go out on the porch. Only today it was wet and loose...and muddy...
and he had to rub it on his face and mommy! I've never taken a cuter picture. This boy is a DELIGHT every day. Even that night when he was so congested he couldn't sleep flat and ended up in the recliner all night with mommy.