November 2010

November was a super fun month for us. The weather was still pretty warm most days and we had lots of sunshine. Rich had been searching for months for the perfect mountain bike with which to reward himself for finishing training. He found one on Ebay and had fun putting it together. Mitch and I watched from inside the house.










































Mitch also reached a milestone this month and he graduated to a "big boy" bed. Here he is seeing it for the first time.

Over the next several days we would have to modify the bed to keep Mitchell from falling out and waking himself up. Falling out of bed was really the least of our troubles for the first 6 weeks; getting a mobile toddler to stay in bed of his own free will is a harrowing task indeed.














The bed was not the only piece of furniture that Mitchell received this month. He received an early Christmas present from Ama and Apa. When it arrived I think he knew what it was.




















The fall colors were really starting to show this month and we got together with our friend Austin for a leaf hunt. Here Mitchell shows off a red leaf he found right after mommy said, "Find me a red leaf." What a smarty!



















Of course when you get two toddlers together for a leaf hunt they do more than look for leaves. They play too...




























Mitchell LOVES to play with his friend Austin and we get together with him whenever time allows. Here the boys play with some kitchen utensils.














And here the mommies play a game of "Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy". Both boys are so good at waiting their turn.














Mitchell went to his first parade this month. He saw all sorts of cars, marching bands, fire trucks, motorcycles, horses, miniature cars, baton twirlers and much more. He paid attention for most of the parade, which I'm sure was at least an hour long.



















This month we also found something else that Mitchell will attend to for extended periods; playing with trains. The local Barnes and Noble has a great kids section with a train table set up to play with. It makes a great rainy day activity.














Mitchell just digs all that boy stuff. So much so that he is finding new ways to play with his red car. Here I think he is trying to figure out how to take it apart.














As usual I like to get a few shots of Mitchell just being cute. He never disappoints.




















































I am practically caught up. December is on it's way.

October 2010

October was also a pretty busy month for our little man. After returning from our visit with the family in Palm Springs, Mitchell developed several days of an unremitting fever. He had no evidence of an ear ache and only minor nasal symptoms. He had to make his first trip to the hospital where we had to watch our little guy get blood drawn. It was very upsetting for all of us but very necessary. For the next several days Mitchell would point to the site of the blood draw and get a very upset look on his face. All the lab tests pointed to viral cause and so we just had to wait it out.

We had plans to visit Ama and Apa in Maple Valley, WA and we weren't about to let a cold get in our way of having fun. As you can see from the video Mitchell was not showing any indication of illness during our first day with the grandparents.

And the illness did not dampen his desire to be outside.


Just as Mitchell's fever started to break we were thrown another curve, a rash!!! Only a mild one but it had us worried for a couple of days. It started to go away and we started to feel relieved. But now grandma got sick! Oh no! So we stuck near the house for a few days and visited some of our favorite parks.



Mitchell made up some of his own games at the house; I'm not sure what to call these.


Mitchell wanted grandma to feel better so he thought he would turn her kitchen into a sand box by spreading Cream of Wheat all over her floor. There aren't many places you can get away with this and there aren't many times that grandma will let you get away with this.













Finally we were all feeling better and we took a trip into Seattle to visit a Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. No photography was allowed in the exhibit but we did capture this piece of art work in the car. Looking cool buddy.














Mitchell and mommy have set up a bed time routine which includes brushing our teeth, going potty and sitting with our animals friends for a story. Apa captured a special moment that until now was only seen by mommy and Mitchell.














It's one of mommy's favorite times of days because she gets to do a little cuddling with her little man.

We also celebrated mommy's 35th (OMG!) birthday with presents, good food and cake.













And before we left we were able to get a picture with Ama.













Once we were back home, it was time for a visit from Grammy Jane, yay!! Mommy didn't get a lot of pictures but there is this one of Grammy and Mitchell as we are preparing to go to a Halloween carnival.














We took Grammy to the park and to gymnastics and had a blast.

Mitchell had a favorite book during the month of October and it was "How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques" Enjoy the book with him, he really gets into it.


And for the last day of October we went Trick or Treating with our new friend Austin.















They were escorted by both sets of mommy and daddy's and by Austin's grandma and grandpa. The boys were super cute walking up to doors, knocking on them and getting candy from strangers. After Mitchell would receive the candy and sign "thank you", he would take his time leaving the front door. Often he would turn around several times to wave good-bye. His favorite take from the evening was a lighted, flashing toothbrush.

Here is a picture from August that didn't get posted because we had to make sure everything was good before we spilled the beans. But by the end of October everything was looking good and we were definitely...














November is on it's way.

September 2010

Wow. It's really been three months since the last time I posted a blog. Yikes! There's a lot to catch up on.

Mitchell had a very busy September. We were still enjoying the warm outside weather of Redding and playing at one of the outdoor water features.


Mitchell received a some very thoughtful gifts from Papa Skip and Nana Nita which you can tell he really enjoyed.





And we invented some new games with our friend Declan.


We all flew to Palm Springs to visit Aunt Kristin, Uncle Matt and cousin Brodie. We met cousin Brodie for the very first time and it seemed like Mitchell and he are going to be buds.














Uncle Matt arranged for Mitchell to visit the fire station and to ride in the airport fire truck. You can tell how much fun Mitchell had. He sat in Uncle Matt's desk, drove the rookie truck, took a ride in the airport fire truck, and got some camera time with Aunt Kristin and Daddy.






































































It was soooooo much fun!

The next day all of us loaded up into the car and headed to the Disney Walk where we met up with the Giordano's for dinner and play.




















As we were driving out of the parking lot Brodie was inconsolably crying, just breaking our hearts and leaving us scratching our heads trying to figure out what was wrong. He shouldn't have been hungry as he'd just eaten, he had a new diaper, and he was totally uninterested in his pacifier. He solved the mystery when he had a fabulous bout of spit up leaving him relieved and a much happier camper.

Then on the drive home Mitchell developed croup symptoms. What a horrible cough! He had to take steroids and Rich stayed up all night to make sure he was getting better. Thanks to the steroids he was quite a ball of energy the rest of the visit. Such a ball of energy that we were too busy keeping up with him to get any other pictures of him. We did get a quality shot of Uncle Matt sharing hair styling tips with Brodie.















One day during our visit, Mitchell REFUSED to take a nap. We decided, after two hours of trying to get him to sleep, that we would give up and take a short drive to a play area at one of the malls. Within five minutes of being in the car both Mitchell and Brodie were asleep. Why hadn't we thought of that sooner? So we spent the next hour and a half finding things we could do that would allow us to keep the boys in the car and let them sleep. We ran errands, picked up dinner and grabbed frozen yogurt. It was good family times.

Once we got back home Mitchell's vocabulary seemed to blossom. Here he shows off 3 of his new words.



And of course he's one of Mitchell just being cute.


October was another big month and I will get rocking on those pictures now.