Put a bird on it. Coleites visit Porkland.

At the beginning of April we were blessed with our annual visit from the Coleites!  This year instead of sticking around Portland, we headed up to Government Camp for some snowy, family fun.  Sadly, Sive kicked off the weekend by getting a BAD cold (which, now 3-weeks later, has morphed into the longest fever in history and a bad ear infection).  Any who?  It was awesome.  Eden and Dani are two of my favorite girls on the planet- and their parents are pretty much the best too.  Check out some of my favorite shots.

PS- I could have done an entire blog of cute pictures of Dani.  Aron captured some amazing pics of her!

Love you guys! Thanks for traveling north to see us.

Meet my new friend: Addy Blu!

Recently I traveled to Los Angeles for the weekend to meet my new friend- Addison Blu Rathwell.  She the cutest little bug around!

She is the lucky little girl that was born to our dear friends, Jen (AKA Zinner) and Paul.  It was my first weekend away from Sive, and surprisingly, I handled it better than I expected- probably because I had this little cutie to hold and snuggle.

Of course, Addy was a great excuse to share great meals and quality time with fabulous friends.  I spent a late night talking with Ryan and a delicious (!!!) sushi lunch with him and Errick.  Shared Shabbat dinner with the Coleites.

Met Gabe and Bree's beautiful little girl Lulu- who is an absolute doll!!

 Right??

And then spent an afternoon with David and Alisa catching up, eating my favorite Chinese food, and sharing in the anticipation of their baby-to-be that will be arriving in September!!  Congrats dear friends  and thanks all for the wonderful weekend!

Playing and Singing Together

Early on Sive took an interest in watching me play guitar. I had written some songs for him and I decided to make up some words to one with the hope that he might want to try to sing along.  Now he sings and strums along with me.  It's so fun. Here's a video of one of our jam sessions. We get together to practice a couple of times a week! Whenever he sees the guitar he goes right for it and says really loud Bah Bah Bah. Then I know he wants to play the song. He gets so excited whenever he gets to play.


Sometimes I'll put the guitar on the ground and just let him explore it. He likes to push the guitar along the floor, drum and strum, and he really likes to turn the keys. The other day he punctured his hand on one of the string ends, which was kind of sad, but he still hasn't shied away from the guitar. He's a brave kid.


It's taken us a long time to get this video because he's taken quite an interest in cameras. It's almost impossible to keep him from trying to grab the camera once he sees it. He seems to know when we're trying to take a photo or video of him because he just hams it up as soon as we point a camera at him.


He's the best. As you can see.

Sive's Books

Sive isn’t quite saying Book yet, but those of us that spend time with him every day know when he means Book, Ball, or Baby (Buh, Bah, Bah Bah).  It’s amazing to me that all of a sudden he seems to have learned these words. And all of a sudden I seem to have learned what he means when he says Buh instead of Bah or Bah Bah. How did we learn this together? Did he teach me I wonder?

These photos of a him with a two of his favorite books: 10 Little Ladybugs and That’s Not My Bear.  Sometimes he'll start crawling towards the bookshelf saying Buh, Buh, Buh over and over again. He'll pull himself up on the bookshelf and start grabbing book and throwing them on the ground. He'll look down and see which book it is. He does that until he gets one he likes and then he sits down and tries to pick it up; all the while he's saying Buh? Buh? Now it's a question. He'll try to bring it over to me by crawling and pushing it toward me, still asking Buh? Buh? When he gets to me he'll try to crawl into my lap. Buh? He still needs a little help to get it all done, but I know what he wants.

I think 10 Little Ladybugs is his favorite right now. It’s a read and touch book with these plastic ladybugs attached to the pages and as you count down from 10 to 1, the ladies disappear. Seven little ladybugs sitting on stick, along came a grasshopper and then there were 6. He loves to touch them with his index finger. He also likes it when I stick my finger through the hole in the pages where the ladies would peak through. He thinks it’s really funny to try to bite my finger.

 That’s Not My Bear is also a read and touch book. Each bear has something different about them that you can touch: a squishy nose, a furry back, soft paws. I don’t know if it’s because I encouraged it or because he genuinely likes the same page that I do, but one of the pages has a bear with a scratchy tongue. He gets so excited when that page comes up. He takes his index finger and he scratches the tongue with it. It's a really cool page. It’s really fun to see him explore things like that.

Kristin is able to read him several books that aren't of the read and touch variety, but he only seems to want me to read him those types of books. Again, I have to wonder if I taught him that by encouragement or if he is teaching me. Does he simply like different things with different people?

The last book I'm posting a photo of is Time For Bed by Mem Fox. This is the book that we read to him every night right before he goes to sleep. It’s a really cute story and we use it as signal to wind it down. Sometime we can’t find the book, so we just have to say it from memory. Kristin knows it by heart, but I still have to make up a couple of verses and I have no idea what order they should be in. I just say it to him while I hold him. It’s time for bed little goose, little goose, the stars are out and on the loose.  He sometimes doesn't listen when I read him this book. He tries to squirm away and get a different book. But by the end, he calms down and let's me put him in his sleeping sack and snuggle him before we put him down for the night. He's really a good baby. We're lucky.

Growing up FAST!

It seems so cliche to say but- I honestly cannot believe how quickly Sive is growing up.  How can 10-months go by in such a whirlwind? Every day he amazes me with what he learns and how he changes.   Here are a couple of shots of our silly little guy.  As you can see he is still sporting lots of hats, loves cruising around furniture, and is now more excited about and comfortable in the snow (which, of course, makes Michael quite happy).

February Trip home to Good Ole' PA.

So if you know anyone else from Pennsylvania, you know that Pennsylvanians have a habit of referring to their home state simply as "P.A."  It's a certain fondness that we all have forour state.  We get to call it a nickname.  Anyway... I was recently home and had an awesome visit filled with lots and lots of family time.  


Certainly it is great to see Sive with my parents, his grandparents.  They love him so much and he has the best time entertaining them.  But when asked about the best part of my trip, it's an easy response: seeing Sive with my grandparents, his great grandparents.  I am fortunate enough to still have my maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother.  Although they both suffer from health issues, they light up (like Christmas trees) when they get to spend time with lil' Sivey.  It makes me tear up just thinking about it.  Every visit he gets with them (and each photo I snap) is a true blessing that we will cherish for years to come.  
Here are some highlights from our visit (-I warn you, there are quite a few!).  


My best friend from elementary school, Tara, and I reconnected this last year while we were both pregnant. She had her little boy, Jace, approximately 1-month before I had Sive.  Sive loves his play dates with Jace while we are home.  This last visit was particularly interesting because Sive spent the majority of the time trying to "kiss" Jace- which involved crawling after him and lurching forward with his mouth open and in bite-mode at Jace's head.  We quickly coined them Edward and Jacob- from Twilight- given Sive's pasty white skin and tendency to bite he was clearly the vampire- Edward.  Jace, on the other hand is more like Jacob, dark skinned and buff.  

Here is Jean in her glory with the grandbabies.   Sive's cousin, Bella, is no longer calling him "Baby Five" now that she is articulating her "S's" without difficulty.  I think Sive thought he was at Disney World while at her house- there were so many wonderful toys to play with.  Thanks for sharing Bella and we hope you had a wonderful 3rd birthday.

If you know me, you know I love shopping.  You might guess that my mom also loves shopping.  You might be very surprised to know that my dad also loves shopping (and shows such as the Bachelor).  When my dad was a teacher, he loved wearing sweater vests.  Now Sive also has a sweater vest (that Michael's mom, G-ma sent him).  In their sweater vests, my dad and Sive had an uncanny resemblance to each other.  I am sad to admit that I didn't get the best picture of them- but you get the idea :)

Here is Jean- the lucky recipient to a wet and painful Sivey kiss.

Sive and my grandfather.  I just love this picture.  Sive, who rarely sits still and is too busy exploring to snuggle anymore, sat calmly with my grandfather in his chair for more than 15-minutes.  It was incredibly sweet and I was able to capture many great picture of these two handsome men.

Sorry Michael (and Greg)- Sive's fist experience with snow was not a happy one. I am sure he will grow to love it and be out running you boys on the mountain before you know it!

Sive had a great time with my grandmother as well.  He was fascinated with her and flirted with her throughout the visit.  My grandmother always told me that she "never had a headache and never was in love."  She touts these two things as if they are badges of honor.  She might change her tune now because I'm pretty sure she is falling for Sive.    He was grunting, smiling, flinching, and vocalizing to get her attention throughout dinner and she reciprocated by giggling like a school girl.  So cute!

Of course Sive's biggest admirer is my mom.  Surprised??  Likely not.  Here he is teething, kissing, eating???  Who knows and who cares- he is having fun and making his Mommom smile.

We arrived home to PA to more than 6-inches of snow and ice.  After a week there, we left with 70 degree temperatures and a beautiful day at the museum.  Says a lot about the health of our environment/world.  Anywho...it was a excellent visit and we hope to return again soon!  Thanks to my family and friends for making it so great!!

Welcome Addison Joy!

Our dear, wonderful friends- Justin and Jessica- just welcomed their second daughter into the world.  Michael and I both have a deep connection and love for their first daughter, MacKenzie.  She has the most amazing little spark, a funky style, and a whole cup full of sass.  I have no doubt that her new little sister will have equally wonderful qualities (and awesome hair!).  The other night I was thinking about her name- Addison Joy.  I just love it but, of course, I was mentally playing around with nicknames and such and thought: "A. Joy."  Given her parents' warm, happy personalities and her sister's sassy spark- I am sure that she will simply and superbly be a joy! I can't wait to watch this little monkey grow up.  So here's to you new friend- we love you already!!