Our First Holiday Season with a Baby

Having a baby this year made Christmastime that much more magical. I picked up this Santa sleepsack for Tyler, which made him look like a little Christmas gift all wrapped up for me.

I was a bit concerned about him getting into the Christmas tree, but he didn't learn how to crawl until Christmas day, and he loved staring at it while he was nursing. Of course, who can blame him when it sparkles like this (Google+ has a nifty feature that will make your pictures sparkle if they have lights on them).

The Christmas tree was a LOT of work this year. Since Oscar doesn't care for decorating, and I don't care much for cooking, he did the cooking for both our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners this year while I did all the decorating. It was a good deal more difficult than in previous years now that I have a baby to look after. The lighting alone was a multi-day project. I'm incredibly thorough since I don't want the cats or Tyler to just be able to pull all the lights off. It took me 3 days to get the lights on, and a week to get the ornaments up. I even asked a girl we know from the ward to keep an eye on Ty while I was working on it.

Ty looks so cute in his elephant pajamas Jasmine gave him at the shower.

Here he is in his grey onesie and vest from mom and his Winnie the Pooh outfit from her friend Sheri. Usually baby clothes are smaller on Ty than they say (he grew out of most of his 6-9 month clothes before he reached 6 months), but the Winnie the Pooh outfit said 3-6 months and it still fits him fine now at 8 months.

Oddly enough pajamas tend to fit him right at the age they say they're for, even if he's heavier than the weight range they suggest.

Here he is all tuckered out on Thanskgiving. We invited the Kawaguchi family, Tim and Cathy, and Liz and Nick up for a fabulous dinner with bacon wrapped, smoked Turkey. Yum! The bacon got overdone and was mostly inedible, but the turkey was awesome! Super moist and bacony!

 

Having fun jumping around!

Ty's first time on Santa's lap!

On December 7th, Oscar's brother William and his wife Camille came up to Bellevue for a business trip, so we drove down to meet up with them that evening. We took them out to Menchies while Tyler snoozed in his car seat, then drove them out to Snoqualmie Falls the next day. We'd never seen it in the winter, and I never would have thought to go out there then since I like going in the spring when the watershed is at its most powerful, but I'm so glad we did! It was gorgeous in the snow!

Just look at these beautiful pictures!

Tyler got a little upset while we were there, but I think it was because he didn't like having the stroller cover on him. We had to keep him covered since it was below freezing outside, but he wanted to be out where the action was! People must have thought we were insane to be pushing our stroller along this icy area. At first we didn't realize we could go to this main lookout since a large part of the walkway was iced over and closed off, but then I noticed there were many more people parked than were at the viewpoint near the lodge, so I knew there must be another way to get there. We ended up having to carry Ty's stroller down the stairs and around the long way to get to the main lookout, but we're thrilled we did.

While I was practicing one day, Nibbler made himself comfortable and curled up contentedly on the keyboard. It was adorable, but by the time I'd got my camera he'd already started moving. The other 2 cats freak out if they touch a key and it makes noise, but it doesn't phase Nibbler in the slightest.

Ty looking adorable in his gray, orange, and white outfit.

This is just far too cute. Sometimes Ty sleeps as if he were praying. "Dear Heavenly Father, please help me sleep (8 hours later...) Amen."

Such a cute boy!

Mommy's favorite little man for sure!

Fry has a tradition of sitting on holiday things (I've even made an album of all 14 festive decorations he's sat on over the years). This year he found Christmas stickers, the Christmas table runner from grandma Hatch, and the lit Christmas lights that were on the floor while I was getting the lights up. He had a blue inflatable around his head then since he kept scratching at 2 bright red, dime sized sores on each side of his neck. I don't know what caused them or how bad they were to begin with, but Fry would scratch them constantly. He had to wear the inflatable for weeks since he kept figuring out how to wriggle out of it. Even if he'd worn it for a week and only wriggled out of it for an hour before I got it back on, he'd have already undone most of the healing process. Eventually we had to take it off since it was warping the hairs around his neck, and fortunately by then one sore was completely healed while the other mostly healed.

There came a point where Ty started sleeping pretty well at night, but he'd wake up a few hours before the night was over and refused to go back in his crib. Even nursing wouldn't work. Co-sleeping with daddy was the only thing that would put him back to sleep. After he'd fall asleep on Oscar, Oscar would gently slide him off to the other side of the bed in the guest bedroom. I'd finish my own sleep in our bedroom and would come check in on them after I'd woken up. It was so sweet!

He's such a playful, happy little boy! We just love him like crazy!

While wrapping presents for me, Oscar discovered that Tyler loves to play with (and eat!) paper. He left him on the bed with all the receipts from the Amazon packages and just let him go nuts.

Oscar getting the turkey ready for Christmas. We had a few friends over that evening, but Oscar had to work from 10-5. He put the turkey on to smoke while he was at work, cleverly fitting a box filled with wood pellets to constantly feed into the smoker.

While he worked, I went down to my sisters' house to celebrate with her and her family. These are some cute pics Chang took of Ty opening his presents from her

He liked the toys they got him, but at the moment, he was most interested in the blue paper. It actually dyed his lips blue from sucking on it.

Ty also learned to crawl at Lia's house on Christmas! He'd been scooting vertically a few feet at a time for a few days before, but at her house he was able to travel all the way across the carpet from one person to another.

That evening Oscar couldn't decide which kind of mashed potatoes to make, so he made 3 different kinds - yukon gold, roasted garlic russets, and sweet potatoes. They were all super tasty. He made the bacon wrapped turkey again, which was good, but not as good as before. The bacon was great this time, but the turkey was a little dry. He thinks it's because he wasn't home to keep checking on it.

We opened our presents that evening, and since Ty had gone to bed already, he opened his the next day. He got started on one, but after that he was more interested in playing with toys than in opening presents. I like how he's doing push ups over one in the pic on the right.

Here's how the kitties celebrated Christmas. Man my cats are crazy adorable! When I post pics of this to Facebook, I get so many comments from people saying their cats never cuddle with each other. I'm happy my cats are such sweet little cuddlers with us and each other.

Ty looking adorable in the dinosaur towel Bradley and Marianna gave him.

Ty's "cool like his auntie," but since mom gave him this outfit, I'm not sure which auntie it refers to. All of them?

Oscar gave me super sweet stocking stuffers! Click on the pic to read them all more clearly. They're coupons I can redeem for compliments, conversations, massages, reinforcements, taking the baby off my hands, and bearing his testimony. I've already redeemed each one at least once.





Having a blast playing with all his new toys!

This is another cool new feature of Google's. If you upload enough photos that it can sense a movement pattern, it will put them together into a "motion" photo.

Ty has the BEST laugh! Just watch this adorable video of Oscar playing with him.

On New Years Eve, the Cason family invited us over for a "Lord of the Rings" marathon party (my sister also invited us to one on New Years Day!). Oscar made this delicious caramel coconut cake for the one at the Cason's house, and he took this adorable picture of Ty in his "My Uncle is the Best" onesie. I'm assuming the uncle it refers to must be my brother since his wife gave it to Ty at the Utah baby shower.

When Oscar posted this pic of Ty to Facebook, he gave it this caption - "And to my right we have 2014!" What an adorable little showman!

Over the River and Through the Woods to Lincoln City, Oregon We Go!

In mid-November of this past year, Oscar's parents decided they needed both to see their grandson and enjoy a vacation by the beach, so they decided to combine them together and invited us to meet them at a hotel in Lincoln City, Oregon. They'd stayed there before and had enjoyed the view of the beach directly from their hotel room. We literally went "over the river" (the Columbia River) and through the woods (big forest areas just before the coast) in order to get from Washington to Lincoln, City. The first day was super rainy, but we still had fun staying inside watching Redbox movies ("After Earth" and "Monsters University") while granny and grandpa played with Tyler. The weather was cloudy but not too rainy the next day, and then it brightened up nicely for the next two. In the summer, Lincoln City and other parts of the Oregon coast get loads of tourists because it's so beautiful. It was nice to have a few nice days in the winter when we could enjoy it's beauty without having to fight the hordes of crowds.

 Here's Ty having all kinds of fun playing with granny!

Here are some cute pics of Ty wearing Oscar's glasses at the Chinese restaurant we went to that first evening.

We've discovered from previous road trips that Ty is good in a car for about 3 hours. After that it gets pretty difficult with a lot of screaming and fussing. He needs to eat, get out, and move around. Since the quickest route to Lincoln City is via Portland, we'd planned to do just over 3 hours of driving to Portland, stop for lunch at our favorite Portland restaurant, "Rheinlanders," and then drive the remaining 2 hours to Lincoln City. This would have been an excellent plan, but we forgot to factor in morning traffic, which added an extra hour to our trip to Portland. True to form, Ty was good for 3 hours, sleeping most of the way. But the last hour was HORRIBLE! He screamed the entire time.

Fortunately things got a LOT better once we got to Rheinlanders. I fed Ty and then let him play in their waiting area. They have lots of toys for kids, so he got on his tummy and played until our food arrived. The food was delicious! I can't get enough of their pretzels with delicious cheese fondue appetizer and their chicken alfredo spätzel entree! Fortunately it was enough to wear Ty out and he slept the entire 2 hour drive from Portland to Lincoln City. Hoorah!

On our 2nd and 3rd days in Lincoln City, we took a drive down to Depoe Bay for lunch and to see the famous Spouting Horns. Oscar and I had actually stayed in Depoe Bay back in February 2013, but it was dark when we got in, and we continued our waterfalling immediately the next day, so we didn't see much of the city. Little did we know that the hotel we'd stayed at was super close to these spouting horns. They're like inverted waterfalls where the waves rush in and then spout up under the pressure.

I wanted to get up close and personal with them. That's me leaning over the wall. Oscar's dad did it too (he's in the pic below), and there were a few times that we got wet.

Oscar's parents wanted to go to the Sea Hag restaurant, which it turned out was really close to a Thai restaurant we'd eaten at the night we'd stayed here in February. We'd ordered dessert then, which was warm tapioca pudding. Thai tapioca pudding is VERY different from American tapioca. Thai tapioca pudding is made with coconut milk, and this particular place used large black tapioca pearls (like you see in bubble tea), shredded coconut, and toasted sesame seeds. It was AMAZING! Oscar and I talked about it afterwards for months, but we couldn't remember where the restaurant was or what it was called. We were thrilled to see we were right next to it! It was easy to recognize since we'd remembered the restaurant was over water. We ate our lunch at the Sea Hag, then walked down to the Thai place to get Tapioca pudding for dessert only to be told that they didn't have any. We were bummed, but they told us they could make some for us another day. They needed a fair amount of notice since it takes a long time to make, so we came back for it the next day and bought a bunch. Yummy, yummy, yummy! We were a bit disappointed to see they'd used the smaller tapioca pearls this time, but it was still delicious! It's not going to appeal to everyone that likes US Tapioca. Oscar's parents didn't seem to care for it much, though at least his mom is a big fan of US tapioca, so maybe it's just for those of us, like me, who think US tapioca pudding is just okay.

Oscar and his parents went out shopping the evening before we left, and while they were gone I nursed Ty and then took him out for a walk along the beach at sunset. I harnessed him into in his carrier, but was concerned about the cold, so I zipped him up in my jacket. So cute! His cheeks and a bit of his legs got a little chilly in spite of my trying to warm them with my hands, but he enjoyed the walk and never seemed unhappy. We had fun watching the waves.

The day we checked out of our hotel room ended up being a gorgeous day, so we decided to take the coastal route and drop by Cannon Beach. Here are the pics we took at some of the lookouts along the way.

Unfortunately we missed several opportunities and nearly missed saying goodbye to Oscar's parents since we somehow got off the main highway, drove through slow, winding forest roads, and were stuck waiting 15 minutes at a construction site. Oscar had turned the phone GPS off since he didn't think he needed it just to stay on the highway, but next time I'm insisting we keep it on and plugged in so we don't have a bad turnoff like that again. We came out of the forest partway along the road from Cannon Beach to Portland and had to make our way 15 miles back west.

The last time we visited Cannon Beach for our 4th anniversary, we only had a very basic camera. This time we were excited to take pics with our fancy, schmancy Ipad/smart phone cameras, but our old camera actually did better (right pic). Digital zooming just can't do what a camera zoom can.

Our cute family!

We continued up the coast and quickly realized we needed to make some sort of shade for Ty's car seat. Our prius has a huge window in the back, and being rear-facing, Ty was getting a whole ton of sun. We stopped at Home Depot so Oscar could get some gear to create a make-shift shade for him. We propped Ty up in the car cart and had several people stop to stare and tell us how adorable he looked in there. One said "you have to take a picture," so we did.

We asked Bill and Nancy Nelson last minute if we could stay with them again. We'd spent two nights with them in February during our 7th anniversary trip. It was nice to see them again and split up the driving over two days so Ty didn't go crazy after 3 hours. He traveled well both days and, even though he'd had a nap recently, he slept nearly the entire way from their house back to ours.'

And after that trip, Ty got to bring home some new sleepwear. Oscar's mom had made two sleepsacks for him and picked him up some cute Christmas pajamas. I love the Christmas cats sleepsack! What's not to love about seeing my cute baby, adorable kitties, and Christmas all wrapped up in a cute little package!