Redheads really do have more fun - honest!

Thanks for the photos Denise!

Yesterday we headed down past Portland for a BBQ with Adam, Denise and Cooper. Gunnar slept almost the entire way there (even though he had just woken up from a nap before we left), and we planned to have lunch. Cooper greeted us at the door (with all the correct names I might add), and Coney could hardly hold his excitement. They're in the middle of yet another crafty creative project, so the dining room table was in the workshop and the boys had a huge area to play. Cooper was really into football, and wanted the adults to play. Gunnar enjoyed watching the football, but wasn't sure how he could participate so he moved on to blocks.

Denise and I talked while the boys played, and Justin and Adam talked "cop shop". At least I think that's what they talked about, but don't really know since we hardly saw the guys while we were there. Before lunch, Cooper surprised us by bringing out his hard hat, telling us he was a "worker man." He made some calls to Willy Wonka on his cell phone, and then decided he should drive the cop car again. Gunnar apparently wanted to push the car, because he walked behind holding on. They boys seem to play a lot more with each other now, and it's so cute to see their little red heads next to each other. It's the exact same color!

We all had lunch together in the back yard though, and Adam and Denise put together a very tasty BBQ with burgers and veggies. Before we headed out, Gunnar wanted to try to get into the cop car (while we weren't paying attention), and as Denise put it, tried his "Dukes of Hazzard" method of car entry. He didn't make a sound the whole time, which surprised me because it didn't look very comfy!

Denise had afternoon soccer practice, so we headed back toward home (Gunnar slept all the way home again). We always have fun hanging out with the 3 of them, and can't wait for the Fall bash they're having for Cooper's birthday. While it sometimes gets hectic trying to get everywhere to see everyone, we always leave thinking how much fun we had and how glad we are that we made the trip.

After the BBQ, we headed back to see Charlie and Robin, since Charlie would only be in town for another day. Gunnar loves hanging out with them, and we had another great BBQ that evening. Robin even got an amazing cake from Beaverton bakery, which we shoved in after all the food we ate before. We brought our Sequence game, and played a few rounds of that before heading home to get Gunnar into bed. Again, we left thinking about how much fun we had and how nice it is to spend time with friends. Hope you enjoy the photos... I stole them from Cooper's blog! I'll have to figure out how to post photo albums like Denise does so people can get more photos through our blog as well.

A big weekend...

Gunnar has had a big weekend, starting Thursday night when Ali came over for margaritas. Gunnar refused to go to bed before she got here, then wanted to stay up to play, since he loves Ali so much. Charlie and Robin stopped by that night also, so Gunnar crawled around and showed them his toys. It was so cute - he would grab a toy, hold it in the air, and bounce on his knees to show off his cool stuff! Friday, we headed to McDonald's to have the truck washed at Ali's dance team's car wash, then Justin came home from SWAT training. Gunnar was so excited to see Daddy, and clung to his side for the next couple days. That day the neighbor's dog treed two raccoons, who stayed up there for quite some time. I managed to go outside and take a photo of them right after they were chased up there.

Gunnar's also increasing his climbing repertoire. Here's a photo of him on top of the rocking chair footstool (which he usually uses to push as a walker), trying to get to Mommy's car keys.

Yesterday, we went to the wedding of Paul and Jessica. Justin went to high school with Paul, and many friends he hadn't seen in years were there. Gunnar had a lot of fun eating fruit and playing with another little girl who sat at our table. He also found many new admirers along the way. One of the wedding guests (who also has strawberry blond hair) saw Gunnar yawning, and saw it as a challenge to get him to sleep. She danced and walked him, and before we knew it, he was fast asleep. We also sat at a table with the mom and friend of one of Justin's high school classmates, who honestly looked like she was in her mid- to late- 20s. But she's the mom of someone our age! Justin and I said we can only hope to look that good in 20 years. Here are some photos of Gunnar at the wedding...

Today, we headed to Aunt Jessica's and Uncle Mike's for their housewarming party. It was a lot of fun, and we got to see Justin's family. Gunnar immediately found a little buddy, a four year-old who took the job of entertaining Gunnar. They played with balloons and the beer box for a long time. Gunnar also got to play with Uncle Michael and Aunt Barbara while we were there.

Here are a couple other photos I've taken in the past couple days of Gunnar doing various daily "Gunnar things".

Mmmmm... pickles and ice cream!

Sunday we went to Maddie's 5th birthday party, and had a lot of fun. Gunnar, much to my horror, is becoming a "daddy's boy". When Justin is around, Gunnar cries when he gets passed back to me. Somewhere along the line he has decided that Daddy is the coolest. I guess at least I can take comfort in the fact that when anything is wrong, he still wants me. I thought ice cream might feel good on Gunnar's sore little throat, so I gave him some of my ice cream. He LOVED it! I know, surprise, a baby liked something sugary, right? Here's a photo of the ice creamy goodness.

While we were enjoying our tasty burgers, Justin decided to give Gunnar a pickle slice, which to our surprise, Gunnar loved! He didn't even make the pucker face I was hoping for. The second photo shows how not amused he was with our fussing over a silly pickle.

Despite just getting over a cold, Gunnar had a good time, and played with our friend Dan for quite a while. He enjoys Dan's company a lot, and somehow we're getting lots of photos of Dan, which is amazing because he's one of those people who usually refuses to have his picture taken.

There was an adorable little 10 month old at the party, and when we got them close enough, Gunnar reached out to her. Justin thought he might try to grab her hair, but I told him to let him closer, and he gave her the sweetest little hug. I wish I had the camera out when he cuddled her, but no such luck. It's so cute how much Gunnar wants to hug other people his size, but I'm not sure the other kids understand what he's going for. They usually seem a little freaked out. I'm glad Gunnar is a "gentle giant" 9 month old though, instead of the "baby bully". I hope it's a reflection of how much we hug him, and his overall temperament.

This week, Gunnar also figured out swinging doors, and how they relate to a really good game of peek-a-boo. He loves playing with the doors upstairs, and luckily hasn't slammed a finger yet. I managed to catch one game in progress before Justin headed off to swat training for the week. I think Gunnar misses Daddy, and is also learning what to call him at the same time. Since Justin has been gone (only 2 days), Gunnar occasionally looks around and says "Dadadadadada," which is either just his new favorite sound combination, or he's looking for Daddy. Either way, it's really cute, and I wish he would add Mama to the mix. When I tell him to say Mama, he smiles a mischievious smile and says what sounds like Dada. I think he's just messing with me, and he probably has several sentences about how much he loves me stored up waiting for the perfect time to come out. Right?!

I got some scrapbooking done today, and Gunnar really enjoyed the sticker I put on his hand. It was going great until he figured out how to scrape it off with his teeth, so I drew a heart on his hand instead. BAD IDEA! I used a washable marker, and with the amount of drool coming out of this kid's face lately, the marker ended up not only all over his hand, but all over his face, my face, and my shirt. I enjoy my time with Gunnar so much, and I am constantly in awe of the giant personality this little boy has. He's got such a great sense of humor, and laughs at himself a lot. He's also such a lovey boy, and will sometimes come over for a hug and a big giant-mouthed sloppy kiss, which I love so much. I am anxious for the day, however, when Gunnar realizes he's supposed to purse his lips to kiss, instead of putting his whole mouth on the lucky kissee.

We had a rough night last night, and Gunnar woke me up for the day at 4am, and then we had a very long, drawn out, fussy bedtime tonight, so I'm absolutely exhausted and need to go to bed. Hopefully I'll get some more good play photos tomorrow.

A giant duck, some signs, and a climbing accident...

This has been a fairly busy week for Gunnar and I with work and trying to get everything done around here. We decided to make the guestroom into a playroom for Gunnar, so we have started putting that together. It's looking great, and Gunnar has already had a lot of fun playing in there. It's right next to the office/scrapbooking room, so I can babygate Gunnar in his playroom, and work on some of his photo albums. Here's a quick view of what we have so far. I'd like to put a mural on the big empty wall, but we'll see what we get around to. No need to give myself a bunch of extra projects, since we already have several in the works.

I caught a few cute moments of Gunnar at play this week. First, since Gunnar now bathes in the big bathtub, and no longer needs a baby bathtub, we brought the duck bathtub downstairs for him to play with. He's had a lot of fun crawling in and on the duck this week, and occasionally crawled in to see if the duck would take him for a ride. One of Gunnar's favorite noises we make is duck quacking. That and a frog ribbit will get him smiling almost every time. Here's some proof of Gunnar's love of the duck.

Gunnar caught his first cold this week from daycare, and the poor little guy has had some rough nights recently. His biggest problem is breathing through his nose with a pacifier or bottle, so eating and sleeping have become difficult. He seems to be feeling better though, and I think he's a healthy little guy whose immune system seems to work pretty efficiently. Anyway, he's getting better, and I'm sure it's only the first of many colds. I read somewhere that most babies have an average of 6 colds before their 1st birthday, so in that respect, Gunnar's doing pretty well.

While we were in Montana, we accidentally left our Baby Einstein's First Signs sign language DVD, so when she mailed it back, we watched it again. Gunnar paid attention to it for the first time, and I caught what could be practicing? He really hasn't caught on to the baby signs yet, but I may be too inconsistent with my signing with him. Anyway, he seemed to be very intent on the DVD.

Gunnar's a spoiled boy, and while doing some grocery shopping at FredMeyer the other day, I saw a new truck on sale, so we bought it. Gunnar loves it, and it's perfect for little people with bad balance. It has a giant handle on the top for Gunnar to push around, which also helps him keep his balance at the same time.

Last, but not least, I caught Gunnar doing a death-defying act with his toy basket the other day. He saw a pacifier on the couch he wanted, so he decided to use his basket as a step-stool. Did he turn it over and stand on the bottom? No. He used the edge. He was standing there holding the couch like he could do it all day long, and then he lost his footing, and sort of slid to the ground. (I'm glad it wasn't a boom, since I was taking photos instead of holding on to him.) Here are the before and after photos. He's learning to bounce back quickly though, because when he hit the ground, he didn't cry, just rolled over and moved on to something else. He succeeded in his effort though - note the pacifier in his mouth.

We have a busy day planned today with errands and Maddy's birthday, so I'll be sure and take the camera. Justin has swat training this week, so Gunnar and I will be on our own for a few days, which with the dogs, is pretty interesting. Maybe I can spend my free tiem doing some fall cleaning around the house. Until next time...

Some more firsts for Gunnar...

So it seems I've made this a weekly blog, since I can't seem to get it done on a daily basis. This week, we headed to Seattle for a Mariners game with Brandon and Kristy, who I must say is very brave traveling so far at 36 weeks pregnant. When I was pregnant with Gunnar I'm sure at that point I was almost homebound by backaches and swollen ankles. Anyway, we had a lot of fun, and Gunnar got to experience a lot firsts while we were there. It was a 2.5 hour drive up, and Gunnar slept almost the whole way - of course it helped that we left at naptime. We stayed at the Westin, which was very nice, but we decided not so kid-friendly. The lobby was always full of business people, and there was no place for us to sit downstairs to have something to eat or drink where we could also take Gunnar (before 5:30 when the restaurant opened anyway). That was one of Gunnar's firsts - getting kicked out of a bar. We thought an area of the lobby by a TV was just a sitting area, but turned out to be part of the bar, so they sent the busboy over to tell us since Gunnar wasn't 21 (what? really?), we couldn't sit there. We also overheard a guy the next morning complaining to someone on his phone on the elevator that he couldn't sleep because there was a baby who kept him up all night. Seriously though, Gunnar only woke up maybe 3 times that night, which is amazing for sleeping in a strange place. Anyway, the Westin was very nice, but we'll probably try another hotel next time. Here are a few photos of our room, Gunnar exploring, the view from our 36th floor room, and wandering the streets of Seattle.

We got there first, and Brandon and Kristy were about an hour away, so we decided to go check out a brewery the concierge recommended. We tried the beer sampler (they have nothing on McMenamins), and then ordered a light lunch. We decided to let Gunnar try something off the kids menu, so we ordered him a grilled cheese. When our food arrived, Gunnar's sandwich was huge, and had a giant mountain of fries next to it! He enjoyed a few pieces of the giant sandwich, and Justin and I had to help him with the rest (I should be surprised?). He ended up with lots and lots of cheese all over his shirt, so we stopped at the Gymboree on the way down and found him a couple very cute new shirts to wear on our trip. Nevermind we had shirts in the suitcase back at the room. I'm such a sucker for baby clothing. Here's the "ants working" shirt we got...

When we got back to the room, Brandon and Kristy were there, so we headed back out so they could get something to eat also. When we returned to the hotel, the whole "baby in a bar" incident happened, so we headed out to find a bus to the Mariners game. Luckily, I recently bought a framed backpack carrier for Gunnar. He's too big for the Bjorn, and a stroller just wouldn't have been practical. With all the excitement, Gunnar fell asleep on the walk to the bus, which was about 4 blocks. He slept almost all the way through his first bus ride, and woke up just in time to enjoy the crazy crowd going into the stadium.

Sleeping on the walk to the bus...

Gunnar sleeping through his first bus ride...

Brandon and Kristy enjoying an exhilirating bus ride...

Once inside, we had some good photo ops with some amazing views behind us.

Kristy suggested we get tickets for the "Hit it Here Cafe", where we had a reserved table and a server who brought us food and drinks. I definitely recommend going to the game this way. Gunnar was getting pretty tired by the time the game started (it was bedtime after all), but stayed awake for the entire game. He didn't watch much of it, but spent his time snacking and playing with each of us. The Mariners won, and we took the concierge's advice about heading up to a different street to catch a bus back to the hotel, but after 25 minutes of waiting, and no bus in sight, we started walking and hailed a cab. Gunnar was long gone by this point, and slept the entire way home. The cabbie was a crazy driver, and I immediately regretted the decision to get into the car with him, but miraculously we made it back alive. Gunnar slept most of the night, keeping me up for only a few hours.

Daddy's watching the game, Gunnar's always watching the camera...

Gunnar enjoyed a snack when we got there...

Here's Gunnar eating his very first waffle fry... he loved it!

Gunnar and Brandon had a blast playing "stack the condiments" with the ketchup and mustard. It was a good 45 minutes of entertainment for Gunnar.

The next day I had to be back to work at daycare at 1:30, so we got up, got coffee and breakfast, and headed home. We had such a great time though, and we have some great photos to show Gunnar his first trip to a pro baseball game. We had a lot of fun spending time with Brandon and Kristy, and we can't wait to meet little Kaitlyn (shouldn't be too long). Our trip was a success, and we all had a lot of fun and firsts. We can't wait to do it again!