Toes for Dinner?

Forrest has officially found his feet! He's practicing his mad flexibility skills lately by grabbing at them and hanging on for dear life. He' seems to be much more interested in his feet than any other toy we have at the moment, and gets pretty pissed off when he can't grab them for some reason. Is funny to watch, as I think it's the first time I've seen him have a goal in mind and constantly work to catch those cute little toes!
No foot eating yet, but I'm sure it's just around the corner!

29th Birthday, First Father's Day, King's River, Sierra Camping Fun Fest

So in a nutshell we drove down to Central Cali with our first stop being the Kings River. Forrest was a happy baby once he was out of his carseat....and thought the world of his dad on his very first Father's day...

Katie got to have loads of fun on Sunday afternoon and actually kicked her heels up a bit behind a boat to celebrate #29...Then it was off to the beautiful Sierra's for some cold mountain air, high peaks, beautiful lakes, and a bundled baby...

Here is our camp at Huntington Lake, and from there we day tripped to Kaiser Pass, Mono Hot Springs, Edison Lake, and all points in between. Whew!

Forrest was wondering why his parents kept dragging him up mountains...and seemed to enjoy the bundled moments of bliss...The parents even snuck in a Buffalo burger or two in the middle of the wilds...Happy parents, happy baby!

He kept cozy in his parents tent, and was wide awake with these smiles at the crack of dawn in some frigid morning weather!

And got his time to take in the trees, birds, sunshine, and occasional bug or two...

3 Months young....

Picture thanks to my loving and very talented Grandpa!

Yep, already been 3 months. 90 + some odd days. Some very LONG nights. Some of the loveliest mornings, the best smiles, the cuddliest moments, the most interesting babble, and the list goes on!
I felt as if this month was filled with Forrest becoming more like a little person! A very smiley, happy, drooly person. His smiles just seem to keep coming and coming.
This month also came with him discovering his best invention ever...HIS HANDS....
He can now grab, clasp, and of course suck his hands to oblivion. It's the best thing ever. His pacifier is no longer his best friend, (though it still has it's key star moments,)it is his control over his limbs.
We had some trips this past month which led us to learn without a doubt he is somewhat a creature of habit. Visiting friends and family is wonderful, but Forrest also lets us know when he's had enough and would really just rather be in his swing, in his home, on his ranch, looking out his window, drifting off to sleep. And then again, who really wouldn't!
Oh yea, and that sleep bit. Still working on that one. He still regularly wakes up every 3-4 hours at night to eat. I have a feeling he will be doing that until we start introducing solids which we're not even close to at this point. Though, at this point I really don't mind. He usually seems to go right back to sleep after his midnight and 4 am snacks....
And the love affair with the swing continues, though.....
he has been known to take some serious snoozes in his crib, so at least I know it's not all or nothing with the swing!
Also new this month have been facing him forward in his carrier. He wants to see what's going on in this world. None of this newborn stuff anymore. He's a BABY!
Just recently the baby rolls are coming on as well. It'll be interesting to see how much he weighs next month...I'm guessing near 12 lbs now...but I really don't know. He just LOOKS healthy so that to me means a lot.
And the newest skill, just today.
RASBERRIES! blowing them that is. We'll save the eating for the parents.

The Busy Days of Summer

All of the sudden, June is here, and with it comes the weekends of weddings, graduations, and camping. We are busy every weekend in June doing just that! This weekend Megan graduates from UCSB (yahooo!!!), and the following weekend we have a huge family camping trip to the Kings River, let the summer fun of floats, ski rides, good eats and drinks begin....
This last weekend we attended a beautiful wedding at a good family friend's ranch, 5 Waters. Bryn and Jen got hitched and it was such a gorgeous day. Forrest, however, decided to put up a baby protest when the ceremony started so instead of inflicting his fussiness on the bride and groom, we stayed away from the ceremony and enjoyed the festivities afterward. Our view of guests walking from the ceremony from afar....

Not a bad setting to have a fussy baby!

Forrest seems to be a homebody lately, and I think the people got him worked up a bit.
He was dressed in his best duds though afterall, looking better than his parents I must say....
(though, the top picture with mama was taken after I had a good ride on my bike, I did clean up a bit for the wedding...)

He seems to be looking more and more like a little boy, despite his young age of nearly 3 months! This is also a preview for the graduation goers this weekend, he may very well be wearing the same duds....got to get some use out of them!

And a fuzzy picture of mom, and the happy newlyweds, Bryn and Jen....

Movie time!

Forrest's favorite thing to do is to lay on his changing table and kick his little baby legs up a storm. He can literally do this for 30-40 minutes at a time, an eternity in baby time! His favorite is to be diaperless...but for the world wide web I figured I'd leave the guy covered and save the other for future blackmails....;-)

Forrest starts his jabbering

Lately Forrest has really started to use his vocal cords....telling us all about his day, I'm sure, and how silly his parents are. These pictures were taken during a particularly long conversation with him about this and that after I got home from work. I'm sure he was trying to tell on his daddy about all the crazy things they did that day, but I've got a ways to go before I learn his baby speak! I'll work on getting a video up so you can try to decipher it yourselves!!!

Our Garden

In order to live off a garden, you practically have to live in it. ~Frank McKinney Hubbard

Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. ~Lou Erickson

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling. ~Mirabel Osler

Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it. ~Author Unknown

Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else? ~Betsy Cañas Garmon

Let me start by saying that this man....
is the sole reason we have a garden. My idea of a garden is small beans compared to his. It is his sweat that makes the thing run....he is the GARDEN GURU :-)...and is a bit tuckered out at the moment!

And, our garden....
isn't it amazing? The picture doesn't do it justice. Starting roughly right to left we have
broccoli,


cauliflower,

and swiss chard

Then comes our star strawberries!

Next we have our beans, lettuce (three kinds,)

sweet onions, tomoatoes, peas,

and then our potatoes which have never looked better. We then have our summer and winter squash in the squash boxes, with pumpkins of course. Behind them we have started our first succession of corn.

To the front left is our artichokes and asparagus bed. Behind that is our cover crop which we are letting go to give the ground some rest.
Whew...
His job is basically the planting, of which I have helped with some...but not much. Then I take over trying, desperately trying, (with his mom's help thank goodness,) to eat or preserve all of this.
It is quite overwhelming but so wonderful at the same time....

Delectable Humboldt Mac and Cheese

Excellent Cheese+Pasta+homegrown sweet onions =DINNER!!!
So while we had our weekend guests, Jess and I whipped this up, her idea, and I loved it! It is "delectable".


Ingredients:
Extra Sharp Aged Cheddar and Cypress Grove Midnight Moon Goat Cheese

Larrupin Mustard, (local Humboldt. Co. mustard/dill sauce...addicting).


Garden Fresh :-) Sweet Spanish Onions
Bow tie Pasta
Sour cream
Garlic
salt and pepper to taste
and of course strawberries, (as they're coming out of our ears!)

You can't buy this from a box!

Awesome Friends

So imagine coming to your good friends house to visit, and thinking, ahhh, this will be relaxing. Sitting on the beach by a great river, drinking beer around a campfire, eating fresh strawberries, just great.
Our friends Jess and Joe did all of those things with us this weekend, but also, oh, dug a trench in our garden for our water system, planted our beans which require some pretty deep holes, picked a gangload of berries in 95 degree heat, and fertilized our potatoes and dumped more dirt on them...just to name a few things. This was all in about 24 hours.

Amazing.
I think they slept in there as well...and yes, we had great beer, a sit by the river, a hike, and great food.

wow.
They live in San Francisco, and I'm thinking our place here, where the outdoors grunt work is abundant, is a kind of oasis from the hustle bustle of city life and an indoor job.
I still do think they are a bit happy to escape back to their homes though.
And they thanked US when they left...are you kidding? Again, wow.
Forrest liked them too....

Tough little 2 month old with a big noggin...

Forrest's 2 month check up was today...a little late as he turned 2 months old 6 days ago, but none the less all checked out fine.
His official stats: Weight - 10 lbs 12 oz (25th percentile)
Height - 22.9 inches (25th percentile)
Head Circum - 16inches (60th percentile)
At first I was somewhat worried...I don't know why. In my peds training in school I learned not to pay attention to percentiles, and it's more important that the baby is growing steadily. But the pediatrician quickly eased all worries and said that he's doing wonderful, and is very proportionate. And he's got a good big head on him! (bigger brain!) She actually was impressed that we were all doing so well with me being back to work so soon and him on a bottle parttime. She never once mentioned supplementing with formula, which was a relief as really don't want to go there. I was also worried about both of our gut flora due to the crazy antibiotics I've been on. Ive been eating yogurt like mad, and she did say that the probiotics are passed in breast milk. But, as Forrest has had some more frequent stools this week since I've been on the meds, she suggested we start actual probiotic powder, even giving him some on his tongue every day for the next month. I guess it tastes like dried milk, so babies usually have no problem with it. As I know our little guy needs all the good nutrients he can get, I'm happy to do this, and so glad to be done with antibiotics tomorrow, and hopefully for years to come, (so funny I haven't needed them in the last 5-6 years, and in the first two months I've been breastfeeding, I've needed them twice! Sheesh, so glad the offending tooth is now no longer an issue!)
All in all a good baby visit. His stats also coorespond well with both Alex and I as babies, neither of us were big bruisers!

Mom's Doc visit went well also. All healed up from the labor, and subsequent C-section. I had a good discussion with my midwife about why Forrest had the decellerations with my pushes and late contractions, and she said that they never found a cause. She had thought the cord was wrapped around his neck, but that ended up not being the case...so, I suppose it will always be a mystery...in the meantime, we have this to laugh at/with, and love to bits everyday...