Long time, no post!

I just looked at this blog and realized I hadn't posted anything since mid-October! August is getting a bit difficult to nail down for pictures. He is not at all interested in having his photo taken. Here are a few newer pictures.

Looking sweet (right before attacking the Christmas tree).

How much banana can fit in my mouth???

Already wanting to borrow Mommy's car.
Looking at the ducks at Laurelhurst park.

Very happy to visit an August sized school bus at the mall!

The face

Did I mention that August has a new smile for the camera? Here it is!

And a little video showing the smile in action...

On a totally different topic, here's a little video of August talking about green beans.

October fun

We went to the pumpkin patch last weekend. It wasn't the perfect outing (it was late in the afternoon and it wasn't the greatest pumpkin patch), but it was still fun and we found some good pumpkins. The highlight for August was sitting in the big bin of little pumpkins. He got SOOO mad when I took him out of it.




Next weekend we'll take our annual Halloween pictures. I'm so excited! I just hope August will stay in his costume long enough to get some good pictures.

Hello, Fall!

It's been a very busy few weeks. Summer is over and August and I are back at school. It was really hard to go back.... even more difficult than last year. We've adjusted to it now, thank goodness. I drop August off and he and his caretaker dart to the windows and look at all of the yellow school buses going by. And August yells "BUH BUH BUH!!!!"

He's gotten pretty smart, too. In the video (shot about a month ago), August shows off his body parts. He's still working on a few of them. Now he knows more of them, but he still refuses to point to his nose. I think he does it on purpose.

Yesterday we went to a "Teddy Bear Parade"... it was August's first parade. He seemed to enjoy it. He also liked seeing a digger on the way back to the car!

We went to the zoo again last weekend. They have a new "Predators" exhibit. It was awesome. Look - a lion almost ate August!

And here are a few pictures I took yesterday. We really should get August a bluetooth for his car. It's just not safe to talk and drive.

House and more pictures

Here are some new photos of August. We experimented with finger paints (and August experimented with tasting them). Apparently finger paint is quite tasty.

Finally, here's a photo of our newly painted house. I wanted to wait until we planted some flowers out front, but that hasn't happened yet. Hopefully it will soon. It took a few days to get used to the new colors - it was like walking along a drab street and then all of a sudden you're in Disneyland. Most people in the neighborhood have given it a thumbs up, but there are a few who have questioned the color choices. I like to think that the house will remind people of the blue summer sky during the dreary winter months.

We also went to the zoo a couple of times recently. August LOVES the animals, especially the big fish behind the big glass wall. He very much enjoyed running around, darting between people. It was funny but very scary for me!

Beach Vacation

Last week we went to the beach... it was fantastic!!! We had been suffering with 100+ degree weather and no air conditioning. It was absolutely miserable. Luckily we had been planing our trip to the beach for months and we were able to escape to nice, cool, cloudy weather for a few days.

August wants to share some comments about the trip (so the next bit is August talking).

Hi. I pet doggies. Lots. I chased birds. Water is fun. I ran right into the waves. Lots. Mommy and daddy had to chase me and pick me up. Again and again. I like beach. Yay!

Marionberries and cell phones

Today we went Marionberry picking. Mmmmm! For those of you who don't live in Oregon, Marionberries are similar to blackberries, but they're sweeter and not quite as tart. They're also a little more reddish in color. They are delicious! There's not much better than a fresh Marionberry cobbler or Marionberry pie.

When we were picking berries, August was helping (mostly picking leaves and throwing marionberries). He decided at one point to take a break and play with his Daddy's phone. So, we caught him just chattering away on the phone. Here's the video.

Here's the part that we DIDN'T know at the time. A few minutes after August was on the phone, the phone rang. It was Rob's friend Simon. Simon wanted to know if we knew that August called him! We had no idea. They had quite a long conversation, too!

Heat wave...

It is the hottest week of the year so far and I'm wishing we had A/C.  Poor August is sweaty and has a bit of a cold.  Waaaaa!  He's been in bed for 2 hours and he's already woken up crying 3 times.  It's going to be a rough night.

I thought it would be fun to make a list of the nicknames we have for August.  Here goes...

Bunny (that was his first nickname)

Pokey Pony (or separately - Pokey, Pony)

Pumpkin

Honey

Little Guy

Butternut

Pumpernickel Pickle (That's one from Rob)

-when having a rough day-

Fusserbusser

Mr. Fusser

I know there's more but all of a sudden I can't think of them.  Maybe I'll add to the list later.

August meets a goat

Here's a little video of August with a goat at the zoo. I'll write more later!

Springtime

It's finally springtime, so we get to go out and about more!  And there's also only a few more weeks of school (and daycare... woo hoo!!!)  August is walking all the time now.  He still crawls a little bit but he mostly walks. And falls.  And gets up.  And walks.  He's getting pretty fast!

Enjoy these new pictures.

in the ball pit at daycare
he likes his pacifier upside down!
being sneaky (he's about to put rocks in his mouth)
at the farmer's market stealing potatoes
yep, he just ate dirt!
august loves his spoon!
today at the park

He's walking!!!

Tonight was a very exciting night.... August walked! For the past week or so, he'll take a step or two here and there, but tonight he walked across the kitchen all by himself. It was quite exciting. I managed to catch him doing a mini-walk on video. Enjoy!

August has gotten very excited about throwing his toys. He usually looks at each one, then either throws it across the room or moves it to a shelf or another location in the room. He likes to organize his stuff all the time. Apparently at daycare he hides toys under the rug and goes back to them later. So cute!

August's 1 year birthday!

Wow, it's crazy that August is one year old today.  I can't believe how fast time has gone by.  It's been a pretty emotional day for me.  I close my eyes and I see little snapshots of the year.  From the moment August was born and the doctor setting him on my chest, to the first couple of weeks, with Rob and I camping out in the living room with August's bassinet in the middle of the room.  And the next few months when we would hold him all day and he always napped on us (I was pretty much glued to the couch when Rob was at work!)  It seemed we only put him down for tummy time - and we'd play with him and he got so strong.  I'd tote him around in the front pack the rest of the time. I remember his first rollovers and the excitement of it!  Hearing his voice for the first time was amazing - it was so sweet and cute.  And being so sad when he got his first scratch on his so-perfect brand new skin.  And the first laugh - it was in the middle of the night and made being up at 3 AM totally worthwhile.  Then the fourth month, when I discovered that August didn't have to nap on me all the time and COULD be put down in his bassinet and what a relief it was to be able to get off of the couch.  I loved our walks and playing in the park.  Then, the big move from the little bassinet to the "big boy" crib in his own room.  That was huge.  Then sitting up and being at daycare.  Babbling more, scooting, pulling up and crawling seemed to happen so fast after that (but so slow at the time).  I'm leaving out everything, I know.

It's been truly amazing.  I remember looking at our little guy wondering what he would be like at one, and here he is!  Such a sweet little soul, gentle and loving and sensitive.  I love him more than I could ever imagine.  I am excited to see what new adventures one-year-old August will bring!  

Still scooting and standing

August is keeping us busy these days!  He's a very busy little guy... happy about his new mobility.  He's scooting all over the place in kind of a military crawl.  When he's not scooting around, he's pulling himself up and standing against anything he can find - his favorite thing to stand up with is the laundry basket.  

I can't believe he's already almost a year old.  Time goes by way way way too fast.  Soon he'll be a "toddler"! That's just crazy.  He likes being a baby, though.  He has no interest in finger foods and still loves to be cuddled.  You can tell he's a very sweet little guy and he has a gentle personality.