A walk in the harbor...

Reed, Christopher and I took a walk in the harbor on Sunday. This is CR saying hello to a doggie walking by. He gets so excited for dogs!

Playing in the yard...

Well warm weather means more playing in the yard. Here we are last week enjoying our green grass. Christopher really enjoys being outside!

Project: Coat rack

This is a collaborative project between my Dad and I. I found the post at Good will $4.95. I asked my Handy Daddy to add some wooded legs to the bottom so it could stand on it's own. With extra wood from his shop he fashioned a perfect addition of legs. I primed and painted it -adding the final coat (no-pun intended) last Friday. I also added some satin nickel finished hooks the same day and ~ Viola! I think it turned out great! Christopher was at my feet outside the whole time I was screwing the hooks on. He got some much needed fresh air, but by the time I was finished, so was he. Here are some shots of him too. P.S. a pacifier works great if you don't want the child to eat rocks, dirt or poisonous boxwood plants.

The gate keeper and gravity works.

We have a new addition to the house.....a gate. Reed installed a metal gate at the top of the steps so we don't have to worry about CR tumbling to the first floor. Here are some shots of Christopher "helping " Dad out! It's funny you install a gate, but there's always some way he's gonna fall somewhere - you just cannot be too careful. This proved itself yesterday! I've been conditioning Christopher to go poop and pee on the toilet. If this sounds weird at only 10 months- I can testify that we are having marvelous success! Children are like clay and will mold to whatever you like (good or bad!) Maybe I'll post all about that later?! Anyways - CR was on the toilet yesterday morning, (right after he gets out of bed- just like you and I do!!!) and I was traditionally reading Clifford to him. There is a part of the book where it says, "Pitter Patter all the way home." So being the interesting Mommie that I am, I always make the sounds effects with my own feet and CR looks down to check out the noise my feet are making. Well, I was looking at the book and his big head made him top heavy......yes he literally fell off the toilet! Poor child. He was a champ though- nothing too damaging although I know when he reads about this later in life he'll say that's why he got that creak in his shoulder or twitch in his eye!!! When I have more time later - I'll write about potty training! It's the coolest thing ever!!!

Good day Sunshine....

Here are some shots I took last week in the morning. I'm weaning Christopher, so bottles are new to our household. This particular morning he had a drink after he woke up. His bottle, my cup of Joe! I had turned to watch him, again - playing in the kitchen -and it looked so perfect for a picture. The sun was shining so bright on his morning "Mop." What a sweet baby he is!! He's been saying a lot of Mamamamamama - I'd like to etch his little sounds in my brain their so precious!!

Christopher being curious....

Now what would it be like if I put this thing on my head?? This is what I found when I looked down at Christopher the other day exploring in the kitchen.

watching deer in the yard....

Here are some shots of CR watching a deer in the back yard.....

Hard to believe 10 months have gone by- we are having so much fun!!!

Watch and listen for the toot!

Why is tootin' on camera so funny?? Poor kid doesn't know I'm sharing this with the whole family. I started to video him, because he loves this afghan that my Mom crocheted for him and I wanted to show my Mom how excited he gets when he sees it laying on the floor. Well this is what we got. Thanks Mama again for the beautiful throw!!

Hair do....and I can wave Bye- Bye now!!

So this is Christopher's hair this afternoon. I still haven't "done it" today. I wanted you all to see how wild it can be- he gets a bath at night and whoa- look out in the AM! I thought he looked like his stuffed lion here.

At the park....

Here's our little monkey swingin' at the park by our house- his first ride ever....Brrrr it was cold too.

I took this to show just how tiny he was on the huge swingset!

Startin' em' early.....

Christopher really enjoys driving from our mail box (a real short drive down our dirt road) to our house. Here he is.....Christopher- Earnhardt!!

A good time was had by all.....

Alright, so we were at the Skamania Lodge http://www.skamania.com/, where we were married in July of 2005 last weekend! It was a marvelous mini-vacation for us. We were together as a family and we had our family and friends join us too!! It doesn't get any better than that!! Here are some highlights.....

Below is our evening with Jimmy and Pat, our dear friends and my former employer from Portland, who spent the evening with us. We had dinner together at Skamania Lodge.

Title: water babies! Christopher loves the water so no doubt- loved the pool!

So Sunday we went for a dip in the pool and then for a walk on one of the three trails around the Lodge. This one was the "fitness trail" where they had workout points where the kids would stop and show us how it's done. The one picture is of Cierra and Jo-Jo at the pull-up station. All of the kiddos found lots of golf balls, as the trail lead us around part of the course, but Brooks probably found the most. He was quite eager to hunt and gather as many as he could find!

Sunday afternoon, after Ryan, Nonnie and kids went home, Christopher fell hard asleep enough for Reed and I to go play nine holes at the lodge. My Dad and Denise stayed in the room with Christopher while we enjoyed a bit of rain and lots of swings- especially for me. It had been about a year and a half since I last picked up my clubs and is really showed too, but I didn't care because it was also the first time Reed and I were both away from CR since he was born....it was terrific enjoying each other- even for just a couple of hours!! Eat your heart out Tiger!

My, how fast babies grow.....

Here's a couple of interesting photos, the first of CR when he was days old and one we took on the first of April. (9 months old)

Great news....

Great day...great news....Reed is back on day shift and has weekends off!!! This all started on Friday. We had the first days together as a family in weeks. Three days together was terrific!! I could tell Christopher really enjoyed having more time with his Daddy. Yesterday it seemed like they re-bonded and it was a pleasure to see CR just adoring his Papa!! Anyways life is going good here. Next weekend Reed, Christopher and I will be heading to Skamania Lodge where we were married. We wanted to get in some rest and relaxation as a family and since it's fairly close we figured that would be a fun place to take Christopher to. We are especially excited to get him into a pool for the first time. I will definitely post some pictures then. So here are a few recent pictures from this past week.

Above picture taken last night, CR playing with his blocks while I cooked.

Here's the little monkey, who I thought was going down for a mid-day nap....well, this is what I saw as I entered his room to check on him. He crawls all over his bed now. The little Monkey!

A late night for Mama and Christopher. We just got back from spending all day at our friends house on Easter. Here we are in the kitchen getting a late night snack-grilled cheese sandwiches!

Christopher and his first real "Ouchie"..... a face plant on the kitchen floor! He's all better now!

We shot these pictures before Reed was off to work the other morning. In the picture of us, Christopher looks identical to pictures I have of my Dad when he was a baby (Except for CR's blue eyes)!! Below is a picture of my Dad..... (hope your not too embarrassed by me adding this picture to the blog Dad!!! Love you!)

A mobile baby....

Yes, Christopher is officially crawling....here's the crawling video taken the morning of the 17th. It's like he woke up that morning and decided,"Yep I'm gonna crawl....fer' real!!"

I forgot to mention....

I would like to add that Christopher is doing a couple of neat things. Lately, more than ever he cuddles!!! He actually will lay his head down on our shoulder or chests all by himself. It's quite precious and just melts my heart. He also has begun imitating us. The funniest thing is he'll imitate Reed or I clearing our throat!!! His personality is that he's really silly so far - it's been a blast to witness.

So are the days of our Lives.....

Here are several pictures from this past week or so. Christopher is now becoming a crawler. Every day he improves! He is cutting his 9Th and 10Th tooth. Reed's pretty pooped from his schedule at work. We are all missing each other so much......It will be nice to have a full day with Reed soon.

My drama : We had my dinner club meet at our house this month. Last night in fact. Our theme was "Traditional and Classic Homemade Dishes" where I made a pot roast as the main dish. The dinner really was a great success (At least that's what everyone said.) However, I had to juggle being Mommy and a host at the same time. Unfortunately, I don't think I did either to my best ability. Does anyone know what that's like???? Of course you do! Usually Reed watches CR for me on these nights once a month, but since he's working, I tried to do both. Coincidentally, my mind was filled with preoccupation with either CR or the dinner the entire night. I would post pictures, but clearly I did not have a moment to catch a shot or two of our beautiful dinner spread. I will not attempt this again. There was no peace within myself and that's the worst feeling ever!!! Anyways.....This is what's been on my mind.......I know, I know....."So are the Days of our Lives."

Christopher's belly laugh...

Ok, so I've done some looking back at some recent videos from the past couple of weeks and posted some highlights....hope you enjoy.

This first one was of Christopher laughing pretty hard at me being silly with him in the car on the way back from the beach. Reed was driving and CR started getting a bit fussy like he just wasn't going to make it all the way home without some support, so I climbed in the back to cheer him up. It worked!!

It's such a gift to have deer frequent our yard. They are really no nuisance and Christopher really gets a kick out of spotting them when they do. Here's video of Deer in the back yard this week.

You can't keep a tough guy down!

Here are videos of Christopher. He's moved himself from his back to his belly and scoots on up to a sitting position. He's really got this down too.....Easy diaper changes are now a thing of the past. He's quick and now that he's knows he can do it.....forget about it!!