Pumpkin Patch

A couple weeks ago we ventured out with Nana and Pops for the annual pumpkin patch visit. Usually at this time of year we do the annual Mountain Drive up to Leavenworth.  But as last year and this year have indicated, I think we'll be on hiatus from that adventure for a couple years while the boys are young.  It's a really long drive so we need to wait until they're a little older and more patient. (yeah right!)  In the meantime we're still enjoying fall by doing the pumpkin patch thing.  This year we stayed close to home and went to Serres Farm just down the hill from my parents' house.  

It was a beautiful day.  A little too nice actually--at least 80 degrees.  Everyone was in shorts! Because we were taking pictures our family dressed in fall attire which was an instant mistake.  We were sweating right away. I even had my fall boots on!  Not a good idea.  But we made the best of it and just tried to enjoy the sunshine.  The pumpkins were huge!  We got some really good ones.  I have no idea how we're going to carve them though because they're so huge.  It's gonna take forever just to clean them out.  It was a fun day tromping through the field though.  And Nate got to ride the animal train through the farm.  So excited that fall is here!

  

One Month Old

I can't believe it, but Baby Cameron is already 1 month old!  He turned 1 month last Friday on Oct 3--on my birthday!

Before some updates and highlights though, here are a couple more photos from the photo shoot we did with my brother.  Ryan is so talented!

So far Cameron has been doing great.  He's still a pretty mellow baby.  A little more fussy than when he was first born, but it's usually pretty clear what he's fussy about--hungry, needs to burp, diaper change, etc.  He's not really fussy just to be fussy.  I can definitely see more of his personality coming out and he's more awake and alert now during the day.  Nathan still absolutely adores his baby brother and it's been fun to watch the two bond a little bit more.  Cameron really responds well when Nathan is around. I wonder if he recognizes Nathan's voice from being in the womb?  The other day Cameron was fussing and Nathan went to take care of him and Cameron calmed right down.  I can't wait to watch the bond grow even stronger as they get older.

Here are some fun highlights and tidbits at 1 month that I want to remember:

• Cameron is smiling more!  He really just started to smile this week (week 5).  I love it--makes my day.
• He is a great eater.  Nurses really easily and eats about every 3 hours through the day right now
• The past couple of nights Cameron slept 4-5 hours straight!  He responds well to swaddling and sleeps better when we have him in a full swaddle.  Sometimes it just takes awhile to get him to calm down tonight and fall asleep--still working on that
• He is a grunter just like Nathan.  Makes lots of funny grunting sounds which makes Nathan laugh
• He's already in size 1 diapers and is starting to fit into 3 month size clothes
• His favorite activities so far are baths, taking walks outside, tummy time and hanging out in his rocker chair
• Cameron loves his binkie--very soothing for him
• He is a major snuggler--he especially loves to sleep and snuggle up on Papa's chest or shoulder

Happy 1 month Baby Cameron!  We love you!!

1 month photo shoot:

Introducing Baby Cameron

We are officially a family of 4!  Baby Cameron arrived happy and healthy on Wednesday, September 3, 2014 at 6:48pm.  He came about 1.5 weeks early and weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 20 inches long. Thank goodness he came early!  Nathan was the same exact weight, but he came right at due date!

So far Cameron is doing really well and is a pretty mellow baby.  He really only fusses when he needs to eat.  Nathan is loving being a big brother and is doing such a great job at it.  He loves to say hi to baby and give him kisses.  And he also likes to help us out whenever he can with diaper changes or making sure baby Cameron is doing ok.  It's really sweet to watch them together and I know that will continue to get even better as Cameron gets older.

James was able to be home last week which was wonderful.  Sadly he's back to work this week but so far I'm doing ok and don't feel too overwhelmed.  Newborns are actually quite easy compared to toddlers!  :)  Plus we're trying to keep Nate on his same schedule so he's still going to school and spending time with grandparents which gives me time to get adjusted to the new schedule with Cameron.  I still haven't been great this time around at taking naps during the day, but luckily Cameron is sleeping pretty well at night already and feeding every 3 hours so I'm getting about 6 hours of sleep total every night.

We're so thrilled that baby is finally here and just keep pinching ourselves that we have 2 wonderful healthy boys.  It's so fun to be a family of 4.  More updates to come soon and more photos too.  Uncle Ryan did Cameron's newborn photo shoot this past weekend.  The photo above is a sneak peek.  Can't wait to see the rest of them!  And here's another great one Ryan took at the hospital...

Welcome baby Cameron!  We love you!

40th Birthday

It's official!  James is now Over the Hill!  The dreaded 40th birthday has come and gone and James survived.  Luckily we did lots of great celebrating to help gently and happily ease him into old age.

The big celebration was a 5 day trip to Lake Chelan with our good friends the Faders and Carter Stevenson. We left Nate with the grandparents and had a super relaxing and fun weekend with lots of laughs, good food, games, great conversations and amazing memories.  The boys golfed 3 days in a row.  Heidi and I both being pregnant got to sleep in and lounged in the sun reading our magazines.  We did finally join the boys at golf on the last day and helped drive the carts.  We only made it through the first 9 holes though and then got too hot and spent the rest of the time in the clubhouse.  We made dinner at night and there were tons of games of cribbage and a late night round of Mexican Train dominoes.  James and Carter both brought their guitars--such a treat to get serenaded!  Some of our favorite highlights were a special birthday dinner for James at Sorrentos at Tsillan Cellars.  James' best friend Russ and his wife Tammy were in Chelan at the same time and got to join us for dinner as well as Heidi's dad and his wife Julie.  It was an amazing dinner with great food, lots of wine, and just really special interactions with some of our most favorite people. Another major highlight was one evening taking Heidi's dad's boat over to Campbell's resort and visiting the Beach Bar for fun tropical drinks and swimming at the beach.  I think James had a really great time and it was a really special way to enter into the forties.  Thank you to our dear friends for making it such an incredible weekend!

The birthday celebration continued into last weekend when we had dinner with James' family.  Again more wonderful time with loved ones plus ice cream cake!

I don't want to speak for James but I think his 40th birthday turned out to be one of the most fun and memorable birthdays he's had which is great considering it's kind of a scary milestone.  Happy birthday my sweet husband and here's to 40 more years!

Celebrating with the Warners at our house

Good buddies--James, Jesse and Carter

Bump shot at about week 35!

Lovely dinner at Sorrentos

Happy birthday!

Great gift from the Seatons

Fun trip to the Beach Bar

Amazing view from our condo

Celebrating at Gramma and Grampa's

Love this photo!  Don't get photos like this often enough

Such a cute couple!

Yummy Baskin Robbins ice cream cake--James' favorite!

Nate loves to help open cards and presents

Spoiled rotten--tons of great gifts this year!

  

Our ChelanMan!

HUGE KUDOS to James who just completed his first Olympic Distance triathlon at the ChelanMan event in Lake Chelan last weekend!!  We're so proud of him!  Lots of hard work and sweat went into training for the event not to mention he just had ACL surgery last fall!  James awesomely conquered the 1 mile swim, 25 miles of biking and a 10K run with a smile on his face and great determination.  And he felt great afterwards which shows he was well in shape.

The weekend was so fun because we got to stay right down the road from the park where the race was held with good friends who were also competing.  It was so great for James to have his tri workout buddies there for support, I loved getting to hang out with the other moms as we cheered on our guys and of course Nate had a great time playing with the other kiddos.  We all celebrated with a yummy dinner on Saturday night.

Nate and I are so proud of you James!!

Just about to begin!

Luckily we stayed close so we got to take a swimming break with baby Hope while Papa was racing

Still smiling even as he gears up to run

Nate entertaining himself while we waited

There's the smile again as he comes to the finish line--what a stud!

Hooray!!

5th Wedding Anniversary

Hard to believe but James and I have been married 5 years!  For our anniversary in May we decided to celebrate a little bigger for the 5 year milestone and traveled up to Victoria, BC in Canada for the long weekend (by ourselves!).  What a glorious time!  Although we missed Nathan terribly, it was so nice to just get some couple time and reconnect.  It's amazing how relaxed we were!  Nathan is a really great kid and not stressful at all, but you realize how constantly "on" you are when you have a toddler that you're trying to keep track of, pay attention to and teach.  It was wonderful to check out for a few days, have adult conversations, get a lot of sleep and just be on our own schedule.

We stayed at a lovely little boutique hotel called Abigail's right close to downtown Victoria.  We really loved it and would definitely stay there again.  It was a nice combo of small inn and bed and breakfast.  They had a wonderful breakfast spread in the morning, appetizers in the late afternoon and cookies upon arrival.  How could you not love it with all that?  And the staff was extremely friendly--always willing to help with restaurant or activity suggestions.

The weekend consisted of renting scooters to take a beautiful ride on the outskirts of the city near the ocean, awesome food, visiting Butchart Gardens, reading, taking naps, playing cribbage, walking around the city, etc.  James also got to partake in a little Cuban cigar smoking session one evening after dinner.  The perks of Canada!  :)  It was just what we were hoping for and a great way to celebrate 5 wonderful years of marriage.

Happy anniversary to the greatest husband ever!  I'm so blessed to be on this life journey with you!

Beautiful ferry ride

Whenever we rent scooters, the big Darth Vader helmets always crack us up!

Beautiful views on the outskirts of the city

My favorite shot of Butchart Gardens

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Cannon Beach

Ahhh the relaxation and rejuvenation of the beach!  I miss it already!  Back in mid-May we traveled down to the Oregon Coast for 5 days with the Warner family.  And Ryan's girlfriend Carly got to join us as well.  We actually stayed in Gearhart, OR which is about 30 min. north of Cannon Beach but we referred to it as Cannon Beach the whole time anyway.  My wonderful parents rented this beautiful beach home about a block away from the beach.  It had 5 bedrooms and a huge kitchen and was such a lovely getaway place. And man did we sack out!  Funny how groggy and lazy you get when you finally let your body have some downtime.

The weekend was filled with lots of trips to the beach and the town of Cannon Beach, lots of eating, walks to the little bakery in town, walks on the beach, flying a kite, playing in the sandbox, roasting smores on the firepit, reading, playing games, taking naps, etc.  It was just what I wanted it to be and just what our family needed! This was Nathan's first trip to the ocean and he absolutely loved it.  We still talk about the beach a lot even now and pretend we're at the beach or going to the beach with our toys when we're at home.  He was relatively brave with the waves and was in heaven splashing in the puddles or playing with his trucks in the sand. He even found his very first starfish!

It was such a fun week.  Now don't get me wrong--we definitely had our moments sometimes.  That's to be expected when the family is together constantly for 5 days.  But all in all we created some really wonderful memories and had some great family bonding time.

We found a starfish!

Such a great beach house for relaxing, playing, and hanging out

Ready for the beach mom!

Flying our first kite--a train kite!

We loved playing in the sand

The beach house even had a sandbox.  Nate played in it about 80% of the time probably.

Relaxing by the fire pit

We love the beach!!

   We also lucked out and got a couple family photoshoots by our talented Ryan.  Here are some of my favorites below:

To see more photos check out Ryan's photography blog at http://ryanwarnerphotography.com/ (and of course if you're interested in hiring him, please let me know!)