Ewan is 15-months old!

Ewan is 15-months-old today.

He is walking all over the house now. Still falling back to his bottom a lot though. And still opting for crawling when walking seems too daunting. But he now knows how to walk up the stairs instead of climb -- he holds onto the railing pretty tightly!

He is a super sweet baby. He has always loved getting raspberries on his belly: he laughs and laughs and wriggles to get out of the way. But recently he has started giving Mama and Dadda raspberries too. He lifts up our shirts and blows on our bellies or backs. He smiles a big huge grin when he is done, as if to say,"See how good that feels?!?"

He is proving to have monkey genes. He climbs on everything. He pulls himself up by the stove handle, for example. Today he was climbing up this HUGE ladder on a big-kid slide. He has no fear, no matter how many times he takes a tumble.

No matter how active he is though, he still doesn't want to eat much. I've resorted to squeezing food in his mouth when he is distracted! And he still wakes up super hungry early in the morning. Part of the problem is that he doesn't want Mama or anyone else to feed him. Lately he's been feeding himself yogurt. Yes, the carpet around his chair is sticky. I don't recommend standing there.

He started daycare the same week that Eli started preschool. He cries a lot when he goes there but I know he is just getting used to leaving Mama for a little bit of time twice a week. But he's certainly not making it easy for Mama. The first day I dropped him off, he cried after I left the house. The second day, he cried when we walked in the house. The third day, when he got out of the car. The fourth day, when we drove down the street. The fifth day, when we turned into the neighborhood! And it isn't just a little cry -- it's Ewan's patented full-on screaming session. At least we know he is smart :)

He is still a super happy little guy who loves trucks and buses and playing outside. Can't wait to continue watching his personality come out...

Black Butte vacation

In August, we went to Black Butte Ranch with Mana and Poppy for a week. It was packed with hiking, visits to lakes (where we found snow and tadpoles!), splashing in the nearby pools, a trip to the High Desert Museum (where the boys were put to work washing clothes and the porch, and plowing the garden!) and fishing. What a great adventure!

A trip to Neskowin

We spent a long weekend in Neskowin (just north of Lincoln City) with our friends Kayley, Niall and Georgia from Bend. Beautiful weather on Friday kept us at the beach all day. We even roasted marshmellows and watched the sun go down on the beach.

The rest of the weekend was super rainy. It didn't keep us from the beach, but there was lots of time to build with legos and read books in the house too. We went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium on Sunday. The kids loved the "climbing equipment."

And as a special treat, we bought crabs off a boat in Newport on our way home. Mouth-watering! Eli really wanted to help cook the crabs, but there were loads of questions about the process. Will it hurt them (to boil them)? Will they pinch me if I put them in the pot? And when we did put them in the pot, Eli asked, "Are they crying?" Oh dear. We still ate them. And they were still delicious! And Eli loves crab meat!