We're walkin baby!

Need I say more?

No, but I will anyway. Bryant has been working hard to perfect his "Frankenstien walk." Out go both arms and he bobbles around half controlled to his next destination. It can be quite fun. He has also mastered backing down the stairs. However, we find it less stressful to leave the baby gate up so that we don't have any long tumbles down the stairs to the front door.

Now you might be wondering why our last post was over a month ago, and I know that most of you have put your live's temporarily on hold until you can catch up on the powerfully interesting details of our little family. For this I'm sorry, but let me explain. Amy recently started a full time job working from home. This new job, coupled with taking care of Bryant and myself takes so much of her time, that she has had to set some tasks aside. So please, go on with your lives. We might not update often, but we will get around to it eventually. Plus, if you feel behind, just come stop by the house and see first hand what's goin on. Just know that you might be given a task such as starting dinner or a load of laundry.

Our Little Traveler

It has been a few weeks since my last post, and for good reason. Bryant and I just returned from a trip down to Reno to visit some family and returned to Portland for a few days and finally arrived back home a couple of days ago. It was a great trip with a lot of time spent in the car and Bryant did amazing in the car and sleeping in unfamiliar places.

We left for Reno on Friday August 3rd and it took us about 8 1/2 hours to get to my Uncle Bill and Aunt Shirley's house from Sisters. We spent a week in Reno visiting with family and seeing the sights. We went up to Squaw Valley, which some of you may know was the sight of the 1964 Winter Olympics. We took a tram ride up to the top where there was an amazing view of the the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range as well as Lake Tahoe off in the distance. There was about a 3500 foot elevation change from Reno to where the tram dropped us off and needless to say the weather was much different as well. We went from the low 90's in Reno to probably right around 60 with some serious wind gusts, it was beautiful, but chilly. I brought a jacket and light blanket for Bryant,
but the rest of us were a little unprepared.
After a few photos, we went inside to check out the Olympic museum and get out of the wind.

Me, My Mom and Bryant (notice the wind???) :-)

The rest of our time in Reno was mostly spent visiting. Bryant got to meet my cousin Kim and her kids Alex (7) and Becca (2).
We left Reno on Friday August 10th early in the morning (5am) and set out for my Mom's house in Troutdale. The trip, on a good day, should take just short of 10 hours. I should have known when we were stopped for 45 min. for construction 2 hours into the journey that this was NOT going to be a 10 hour trip. We didn't arrive at my Mom's house until about 6:30 that evening, 13 1/2 hours later.

Bryant, Becca & My Mom

There were a variety of issues, none of them involving Bryant, but the biggest cause for the delay was commuter traffic on I-5. It took us literally 2 1/2 hours to get from Woodburn to my Mom's house, which is only about 40 miles, it was completely ridiculous and I think I mentioned more than once that this traffic was exactly why I moved to Sisters where we don't even have a stop light. :-) You may notice as you look at these pictures that Bryant has an ouchie on his little nose, let me explain, it is quite sad...as I mentioned above, our car ride home from Reno took 13 hours, so Bryant was thrilled to be out of the car at the end of that ride. When we got to my Mom's, I let him crawl around in the living room, while I unpacked the cooler and supervised him. He went over to the back screen door and pulled himself up to a standing position only to have the screen tear away from the frame of the door and he fell through it, face first and landed on her paver patio. He stopped crying as soon as I picked him up, but I lost it when I saw his face all torn up and his nose bleeding, so he started crying again when he noticed me panicking. He is just fine and his nose (thanks to my putting Neosporin on it 6 times a day) has healed remarkably well. Poor little guy, it is the first of many bumps and scrapes, but that doesn't make is any less sad.

While at my Mom's house, we got to visit with my buddy Erin who lives in Las Vegas, and was in town for our 10 year class reunion. Erin has a little girl, Lauryn (1) and a boy Jacob (7). Bryant and I went to the picnic part of the class reunion, but I didn't bother with the dinner/dancing portion of the weekend because it was expensive and we were driving home from Nevada, so there was just too much going on.

Class Reunion Shot, I am in the back center

my friend Erin, her son Jacob and daughter Lauryn

are to the left of me. (Right) Erin and Lauryn at the picnic

I also had the opportunity to go and visit my friends Garrett and Carrington who had triplets on July 1st. I spent about 2 hours holding babies, changing a couple of diapers and I even got to feed Gabriel. I was so tickled when I got there, Gabriel was wearing the preemie outfit that Bryant came home from the hospital in, it actually made me want to have another baby, if you can believe that!!!!

Garrett with all three babies,

pretty talented Daddy!!

We stayed very busy while at my Mom's house visiting with friends and family, it was a whirlwind, but very, very FUN!! It was hard to say goodbye to my Mom and head home, but we were very anxious to see Daddy, and he was anxious to see us too!

(Right) Bryant and my Dad with my Dad's prized Mustang

Get Ready World, Here I Come!!!

Only a few weeks ago, I was reporting to all of you that Bryant started crawling. He has now mastered this skill and is well on his way to walking. In addition he has FOUR teeth coming in on top and is eating a wide variety of grown up food now. He is by far the happiest when he is upright and moving like the big people in his world, but so far he hasn't figured out how to stay balanced on those two chubby little legs of his. He has figured out that if he doesn't have Mommy or Daddy's hands to hold on to, he can use our dining room chairs to move himself around the downstairs area and still be able to walk. He isn't sure what to do when he runs into a wall or piece of furniture, but he pushes it until he hits a dead end and then abandons the chair and heads for the next adventure. I have to say, now that he is moving around more, he is sleeping much, much better, both at night and during nap time, praise God. Napping is one area where Bryant and I have really struggled and we have finally managed to establish some semblance of a routine, which allows me to get in a workout and a shower in the morning and laundry/reading/cleaning in the afternoon.

Now that he is mobile, Bryant has also become extremely helpful around the house. He is fascinated with the vacuum cleaner and loves every appliance in our kitchen. I have learned to be quite speedy when I am pulling something out of the oven, loading the dishwasher, or opening the refrigerator for any reason. I have designated one cupboard for Bryant to load and unload of his own will and he absolutely loves all the new and interesting things there are to see when that door is opened. As you can see in some of the pictures below, the damage is massive and widespread when Bryant is let loose. Some mornings I feel like he is just on a rampage to see how much he can decorate the floor with in the least amount of time. I guess I should just get used to this habit, because experience has taught me that this habit doesn't change when they are a teenager and even as an adult it can occasionally happen! :-)

Bryant helping mommy unload the dishwasher. (Note the two shiny teeth in this gorgeous smile!!)

Friday of this week, August 3rd, Bryant, Grandma (my Mom) and I are heading down to Reno to visit Uncle Bill, Aunt Shirley and my cousin Kim, her husband Chuck and their little girls Alex and Becca. The trip down to Reno should take just short of 7 hours because we are going to take off from Sisters, but coming home we are going to my Mom's house in Portland and the Reno to Portland route is about 10 hours!!! I have been praying for a quick, seamless trip for Bryant's sake more than anything else. I can't remember how many road trips to Reno and even Eastern Nevada I made growing up, but it was definitely a part of our summer routine. Please pray for our safe travels and Bryant to be content and enjoy his time in the car. Best wishes to you all!!