Part 6 -- Thanksgiving

On Saturday we had a party at my Mom's house, and a lot of our Colorado friends made time to come. We were really glad to see all of you, and hope you all had a good time and enjoyed seeing/meeting one another as well! I was just delighted. Only some of our pictures came out well, and I've included some of them here.

#1 ~ Sharon and Shad brought their son Blake. Even though Blake is twice as old as Eli, they look like twins! (Blake has some skills on Eli though and was zooming all over the house)
#2 ~ Eli with Dee and Tony and Hattie. Hattie was just a baby when we saw her last, and it was a blast to see her with Eli, reminding her parents that she really wants a baby sister ... :)
#3 ~ Super glad to have Shannon come -- and to have a chance to meet her daughter Saffron and her husband Scott. Saffron, by the way, came dressed as a one-hump camel -- as if you couldn't tell.
#4 ~ Tonya and her stepdaughter Devon. I was really glad to get a chance to meet Devon and hear stories about Tonya's family and job
#5 ~ Lynne and Eli. Eli has almost doubled since she saw him last.

Okay everyone, that's the breakdown of our trip. We left early early Monday morning and Eli again behaved like a gentleman. Even though it was good to see everyone, we were also glad to be home and back in Oregon. It's another busy work-a-day week. Jason is getting ready for the elk hunt and my job has been more interesting every day. Eli is starting to teeth, we think, signified by copious drooling and trying to shove his whole fist in his mouth. We will be spending time with Oregon friends and getting ready for our first little Christmas.

Much love to everyone out there, we hope you are doing well! We learned over the trip just how many of you check our blog and we are glad that you are thinking of us, just as we are thinking of you.

~V

Part 5 -- Thanksgiving

On Friday we got to see some of Jason's friends. We spent some time hanging out on Pearl Street in Boulder -- first in a brewpub, then checking out some shops, and finally in the famous Russian Tea House. It was great to get to spend some time with all of them! Oregon has turned us into wimps though -- it was way too cold out for us! Everything was decked out for Christmas though -- and while I normally find this cheesy and commercial, I actually thought it was sweet this time. I especially like the skaters on the rink off Pearl Street.

#1 ~ Jen and Eli wearing the hat Jen made for him
#2 ~ V and Eli nursing before attempting the beer sampler. Classy.
#3 ~ Rafa and Chelsea. Rafa was visiting from El Paso and we were glad our trips coincided since we're not headed to Texas anytime soon. :)
#4 ~ Jen and Steve who came down from Eagle to hang with us
#5 ~ The inside of the Russian Tea House. It is such a beautiful space, every corner covered in intricate paintings, carvings, and sculptures.

Part 4 -- Thanksgiving

Some more good pics.

#1 ~ Eli and cousin Rosemary, with Gram in the background
#2 ~ Eli looking good with cousin Ailena (who we wish lived close enough to babysit!)
#3 ~ Eli showing off tummy time skills on Saturday
#4 ~ Eli hanging with Grammy Linda

Part 3 -- Thanksgiving

These are all pictures of Thanksgiving with the Jensen's at my cousin Rosemary's house! When my family gets together we are a lot of people. We came a little late and Eli definitely became a central attraction. Almost everyone got a chance to hold and hug him and we got a lot of good pictures. We realized only afterwards that part of why it was so exciting is that it's been awhile since there's been a baby -- since Ailena and Rollie. Who's next? :)

By the way, we all joke about needing turkey eating pants on Thanksgiving, but you know it's a good party if there's a poop-through clothing change ...

#1 ~ Great picture of Luann, who we got to see for about five seconds before she jetted off to San Francisco.
#2 ~ Uncle Lawrence and Eli. (btw, I don't think Eli got the signature Uncle Lawrence ceiling walk. Looks like Rose's ceilings were too tall ...)
#3 ~ Eli and Gram looking good together.
#4 ~ Eli telling jokes with Aunt Judy
#5 ~ Eli and Aunt Joan checking out the outside world

Part 2 -- Thanksgiving

So we were nervous about being the "crying baby" family of plane trip horror stories. To set ourselves up for success on the busiest travel weekend, we decided to take a very early flight. This meant getting up in the middle of the night, but it also meant that Eli slept all the way through the car ride, the check-in process, most of the flight, the check-out process and most of the car ride to my mom's house. Nicely done Eli! When he was awake, he behaved like a gentleman. The first day we just hung out with Grammy Linda and Uncle Declan. This was Declan's first chance to meet Eli and we were glad to spend so much time with him, especially since he is going to Iraq for a year with the Army in a few weeks. We split Thanksgiving with Grandpa Steve/Nana Smitty and with the Jensen clan.

#1 ~ snoozing over the Rocky Mountains ...
#2 ~ Eli, Grammy Linda and Declan. I was glad to finally see these two boys together, as Eli often makes faces that remind me of my brother
#3 ~ Eli with Smitty's grandkids Sarah and Daniel. This will be a good one for nostalgia when they're all much bigger.
#4 ~ Eli meets his Grandpa Steve
#5 ~ Eli with the Dillman side: Smitty, Steve, V and Declan

Post-Thanksgiving catch-up ... part 1

Hi everyone, with our Thanksgiving trip come and gone, we finally have a little time to reflect. We had an exhaustingly wonderful time, and I feel like our boy grew in leaps and bounds while we travelled. He is so interactive and curious, with a happy disposition and a lot of love to give. We got to see almost everyone we wanted to (except the Lee family and Natasha Tiff) and we're grateful for our Colorado family and friends. To start with are just some hanging around pictures from before and after our trip.

#1 ~ as Eli grows stronger in the back and neck, he gets to partake in home acrobatics with Dad.
#2 ~ Eli and his feet helping me wash bottles at night
#3 ~ Eli in the puff chair
#4 ~ I just like this picture because it looks like Eli's head on Jason's body :)
#5 ~ First driving lesson

More pictures from zoo day

#1 ~ Greens take a break
#2 ~ Eli watches fish, I watch Eli, Jason watches me
#3 & 4 ~ The excersaucer! Eli is finally tall enough for this toy. This one was given to us, and I have to say that I had mixed feelings about it -- a little too busy and surreal, I thought. He LOVES it, and as soon as he got into it, something changed in that he now seems to actively seek out stimulation and toys. Way to go Eli! Hurrah for busy and surreal.
#5 ~ He likes stuffed animals now too and is slowly meeting his new friends, which have been patiently waiting for him like the Velveteen Rabbit ...

The Greens go to the Zoo ...

It's been a busy week at the Greens. After daylight savings time changed last weekend, the change into fall became very clear. On one hand, the days have a crisp feel with lots of color, on the other hand, it gets dark at 4:30. A few of the days have been grey and rainy, which was supposed to be all weekend. Our happy surprise then, when Saturday turned out to be beautiful ~ we took advantage by going to the zoo.

In the past few days, Eli has done some major growing. He is very talkative, turns on his sides, and seems to really notice people and the world around him. He has learned to sleep through the night! He stays awake for longer periods, and seemed to really enjoy seeing different animals at the zoo. We had a great day.

Eli explores Tillamook forest ...

So the day after Halloween I had to take my second business trip in Eli's life ~ this time to Phoenix, Arizona. Jason, of course, handled Eli responsibilities admirably -- he managed to get him to sleep through the night! We worked on it more when I got back, and he can do up to seven hours at a time now. Today was a beautiful Indian Summer day. We went to Tillamook Forest for the day. Even a couple of days away remind me how much I appreciate Oregon, and being with my family.

btw, Eli had his four month checkup! He lost his earlier symmetry, in the 80th percentile in all things. Now he is 24.75 inches tall (50th percentile) 16 lbs. 1 oz. (75th percentile), the official beginning size for six month clothing, and his head is 17.5 inches (95th percentile) The kid's got a gigantic coconut on his shoulders ~ must be really smart! Good growing Eli!

#1 ~ Getting ready, wearing camo ...
#2 ~ Eli with my shadow
#3 ~ Eli being mellow with V (notice his strong posture, no trouble holding up his own head now!)
#4 ~ Tillamook forest. We were high up on a ridge, narrow dirt roads that most people don't see. This is about 45 minutes from our house!
#5 ~ Intense tummy time posture. He is getting stronger and more confident by the day.

Eli has a Happy Halloween!

So, it seems that many baby outfits naturally lend themselves towards halloween costumes -- which is great, because we were not keen on buying a special outfit for one day. By way of previous vomit incident, Eli was a blue bear for his first halloween. (Jason says I spoiled all of you by giving out an early picture in it, but ... cute enough for two posts, I guess.) I was excited to have our first Halloween with Eli, especially in our new neighborhood which has a lot of kids. We got a lot of traffic, and everyone looked adorable/scary/tremendous/otherworldly. We decided, in conjunction with our neighbors on either side, to conduct a sort of NAFTA deal -- candy equity. Chocolate was the approved currency, no one to hand out big bars, emergency loans between houses if needed, everyone saves face :) I was just letting kids pick their candy from the bucket, but Jason was controlling the process a little more -- he noticed big eyes following his hand from bag to bag to make sure everyone was getting the same kind and amount. He thought it would be funny to root around all the good stuff and hand out only almond joys ... we had a great time.

#1 ~ The blue bear is back for more!
#2 ~ Eli and V with our neighbor Dylan
#3 ~ Harry Potter and a pro wrestler, together at last, come to our door
#4 ~ Who comes as Robin! Best costume of the night. btw, the kid in the middle is one of two Declan's in our neighborhood. Weird.
#5 ~ Even bears need to put on their jammies and say goodnight to dad ...

Happy Halloween everyone! (A bit late)