Remlinger Farm Field Trip

All month, Jackson was looking forward to his preschool class' pumpkin patch field trip to Remlinger.  The big day finally arrived last Friday, and both Corey and I were able to partake in the fun.  After a few days of heavy rain, we were all thrilled for a break in the rain just in time for the trip, and we even score some sun!

The kiddos enjoyed jumping in the hay, going through the hay maze, a popcorn snack, a train ride, and picking out a pumpkin.  It was fun to see so much excitement, but we have major respective for all the teachers - helping corral 20+ curious kiddos from place to place is hard work!  Just getting the kids from the snack time area to the bathroom around the corner (what field trip would be complete without a potty break for all 20+ kids) took tons of coordination, patience, and coaxing.  While the kids were supposed to hold a partner's hand, they kept wandering away and we were constantly running back and forth trying to get them to walk where they needed to.

Everyone had a great time though, and that's all that mattered.  But I'm not going to lie, I was ready for a nap after that adventure!  I honestly don't know how the teachers do it all day, every day - they are so great!

We tried hard, but this was the best we could do in terms of a group shot.

Miss Chris is the head teacher of Jackson's class - she absolutely loves the kiddos.

"Hmm..what fun things do we get to do here?!"

9 Month Stats

J and I took Cole to the doctor today and everyone did great. I bribed J with a few jelly beans to remain quiet while I was talking to the doctor and nurse (since he is SUCH a chatterbox/Curious George lately) and made sure he had a good snack and his tablet to play with.  Cole did great, especially for only having had one nap earlier this morning before I picked him up for his 4 p.m. appointment. (Of course he fell asleep the second we started driving, and I had to wake him 10 minutes later when we reached the office.)

Stats:

• Weight: 21 lbs, 6 oz (75%)
• Length: 29.5" (75%)
• Head: 18 (95%+)

His weight is back in alignment with his length, which is great, especially because he hasn't been drinking as much each day, now that he's eating more solids. 

The doc confirmed that his forth tooth is coming in on top, and noticed a third coming in on the bottom, bringing his total up to 7.  Knowing that teeth often come in pairs, we should expect to see #8 soon. 

Cole got a flu shot (just a few tears for a minute) while J held his hand, and then the nurse pricked his toe to be able to test his iron levels, and loved being able to go with her to pop it into the machine for a readout.  His iron is a bit low, but the doctor thinks with more Cheerios and cereal, he'll be right where he should be by his 1-year check-up.

9 Months

Cole's 9 months old today and, as I say nearly every month, I can't believe another month has gone by, and that we're another month closer to 1.  Between our upcoming trip to Maui, and the holidays, it's going to be January before I know it.

The themes for this month are scooting and teething.  In a matter of days, Cole went from spinning himself around to scooting across rooms, and around the main floor of our house.  I'm not sure that he'll ever want to learn to crawl - he gets wherever he wants to go pretty quickly by just scooting along.  This week was the first time I had to keep running after him while trying to make dinner.  Between that and Jackson's constant questions, it takes the craziness that is dinner prep to an entirely new level.

Cole's now onto his 6th tooth!  Over the past 3-4 weeks, all four top middle teeth have started to make their appearance.  Our poor babe - every few days as a new tooth starts coming in, he becomes unhappy, much more clingy, more drooly (last night, he left puddles wherever he was, and his shirt was wet down to his belly button, which is exactly how his big bro spent nearly the first year of his life!) and in general, he's not our normal perky kiddo.  And while we still have a number of nights each week where we don't hear a peep, there are definitely nights where he wakes up needing some comfort to go back to sleep. Hoping after this last chomper is fully in, we all see some teething relief for a bit.

A few other fun things this month:

• Waving - over the last week, Cole is finally starting to (sometimes) wave on command.  This morning, while eating breakfast, J and I waved to him while he bounced around in his jumper and told him to wave but no go.  A minute later, I looked up and he was waving like crazy.  And it's not your normal open/closed hand wave that most babies do...it's a full on arm wave.  Can't get enough of it.
• Babbling up a storm - still mostly sounds with "da" in them (favorites are "a da" and "da-da-da")
• We found the first solid he doesn't care for - potato cauliflower soup.  I gave him a bite, he promptly made a disgusted face and spit it right back out.
• Drinking less and less each day, and seems to enjoy eating larger amounts of solids. There are times when I swear he eats more than Jackson at dinner.  He especially loves pasta with spaghetti sauce.  He is silent the entire dinner, shoveling food into his face as fast as he can.
• Flipped over to his tummy while sleeping a few times. 
• Sat up in his crib for the first time.
• Shrieking (loudly) - not because he's upset or happy, seems to do it just because 
• On the weekends, has been taking just two naps (2+ hours in the a.m., 1-1.5 hours in the middle of the afternoon).  At school he typically takes 2 naps (often one is a long nap) and then may sneak sneak in a cat nap on the way home (and once here, he continues to sleep in his car seat, so I open his window and prop open the door into the house so that I can hear him when he wakes up).
• Favorite activity is whatever Jackson is doing.  Tonight, they were playing with a Little People car track and every time Jackson would send a car down, they'd laugh and laugh.  And then you hear Jackson telling Cole what he was doing. It was the sweetest thing.

Cole's 9 month check-up is tomorrow so I'll be back with stats soon!

brotherly love

Jackson is often able to make Cole laugh.  And as I've mentioned, Jackson is the bees knees in Cole's eyes.  Last night, J found a way to really get Cole laughing and it melted my heart.

I hope they always have this much fun together.

Jackson's First Field Trip

Last week, Jackson's preschool class had their first field trip - a trip to the Issaquah Highlands Fire Station was planned to align with their Fire Safety lessons.  All week he was asking fire station/fire related questions and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy the field trip. He was also excited to ride the school bus there and back, which is something he'd never had the chance to do.

I took the day off work so I could join in the action, and loved seeing the excitement of Jackson and all his classmates.

They were able to see two ambulances, the living quarters of the fire fighters.  They were able to witness the fire truck pulling into the garage and then had the opportunity to crawl through it and then each had the chance to sit in the driver's seat.  They also were able to see one of the fire fighters put on all the fire gear.

I loved being a part of his first field trip and am so excited for next week's trip to the pumpkin patch.

Romi, one of Jackson's best school friends, was a little scared at the beginning of the trip, so he held her hand. 

Santa Barbara, CA

For a joint belated birthday celebration, Corey and I planned a weekend (adults only!) getaway to Santa Barbara last weekend.

Neither of us had ever been to Santa Barbara, it was a short, direct flight from Seattle, and we knew it'd be sunny and warm, so it met all of our prerequisites.   The boys were in good hands with my parents and while we missed them (and talked about them) tons, we loved getting away sans kiddos for a weekend of R&R.

We stayed at the beautiful Belmond El Encanto, and although it was definitely a splurge, it was exactly what we were looking for, and worked out perfectly.  We had considered hotel options closer to downtown/on the beach (the El Encanto is about 1.5-2 miles away), but between Uber, cabs, the complimentary hotel shuttle, and walking, the location worked out just fine.  And with so many transportation options, we had no need for a car so we didn't regret our decision to forego a rental car a bit.

The only items on our agenda were relaxing, sleeping, exploring, and enjoying the sun, and we checked every item off on our list.

On Friday evening, after cocktails and appetizers in the hotel bar, we walked into downtown Santa Barbara on Friday evening, and enjoyed a delicious dinner at Los Agaves.

The next morning, we headed downtown and had breakfast Tupelo Junction Cafe and then walked down to Stearns Wharf where we enjoyed the sun and people watching over blended coffees.  We walked back into downtown while popping into a few shops along the way, and then grabbed a yummy lunch at South Coast Deli.  The afternoon found us napping poolside and then I enjoyed a massage at the hotel's spa.  We decided on Cielito for dinner that night before a nightcap at our hotel bar.

On Sunday, we grabbed breakfast at our hotel, and were dining just a few tables away from Tony Bennett and his wife.  After our big celeb spotting, it was time for napping and football back in our room for a few hours, before packing up to head home.

I enjoyed relaxing baths all three days we were there, started and finished two books, snuck daily naps in, and ate way too much.  It. Was. Perfect.

We fell in love with Santa Barbara and hope to return again soon.

Mommy + Daddy selfie while waiting to board our flight to Santa Barbara.  I think we need some selfie practice though, as this was our first try:

Seriously one of the cutest little airports I've ever seen.

The El Encanto property was absolutely beautiful:

 Santa Barbara is such a cute little town with tons of great food, no traffic, and SUPER friendly people (seriously - we commented on this after every interaction we had).

Yep, that's a dog on the balcony wall of a second story apartment.  Roxy would die of jealousy if she knew this dog got away with this.

We didn't have a bad meal - in fact, every meal was even better than the last.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Waffle w/ Caramelized Bananas, Candied Pecans and & Real Maple Syrup at Tupelo Junction Cafe. Amazing.

The Italian Three Way at South Coast Deli.

His and hers coffee at our hotel.  (One pot and one portion of half and half would have been MORE than enough for the both of us, but we weren't going to complain.)

The blackberry margarita at Cielito.  Yes PLEASE.

Punkin' Patch 2014

We've gone to Trinity Tree Farm for pumpkins the last two years and it was our plan to return this year,  until I realize that they weren't opening until next week for some reason.  So, we headed to Remlinger Farms, which worked out perfectly.

We were able to pick out three perfect pumpkins to add to our growing collection (J had picked out three others a few weeks back during a weekly Trader Joes run) and take a wagon ride.

We skipped the corn maze and rides figuring they'll be more fun when Cole can enjoy them a bit more.  (He also came down with his first cold and was pretty sleepy and indifferent about the whole pumpkin patch experience as it was.)

The weather was amazing - sunny and 70s - which made for a great bonus.

We could only get smiles out of Cole yesterday if 1) he started clapping (above) or 2) his brother said/did something funny (below).

What is this?!  A real (not silly) smile from J?!

Told you...clapping = smiles.

Good thing Daddy had a helper.

These boys love holding hands, which they did during the wagon ride. They also hold hands in Corey's car every morning on the way to school, since their seats are right next to each other. Lately, Cole's little hand has reached up/out after he's buckled in, in what I believe is a search for J's hand. Adorbs.