Baby’s first trip out of the Country and first camping trip!

So we have had quite a busy couple of weeks, and Coen had really done well through it all. First off, the first weekend of August we took a trip to Vancouver. It was a late anniversary trip, we left Maya with her old dog walker and Coen came along with us.  We stayed downtown and had some good food (oh yeah!  Waffle sandwiches for lunch at Muira Waffle Milk Bar!  Amazing French dinner at Cru! Awesome coffee and pastries as 49th Parallel) We went to the Capilano suspension bridge, which was recommended to us by a high school friend of mine. We loved it, although we wouldn’t have minded if it was a little cheaper.  The bridge was so long a rocky that I felt I had sea legs when I got off it!

  Here is a nice view of the bridge and and nice view off the bridge.  It was a lot of fun, the only scary part was when I leaned against the side to let people through and it felt as though it was going to topple over, even though I knew it wouldn’t. But I have to say the view was amazing!  I can’t imagine what the first few bridges were like here, before this more modern one, if those fences weren’t up along the sides everyone would easily fall off!

Someone was nice enough to offer, to take a picture of all of us on the bridge, I think Coen had fun…although he was probably wondering why mama was walking so funny. They had this tree walk thing, that reminded me of the Ewoks living in the trees, it also made me think of Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And they had this thing called a cliff walk, where the path is actually hanging off the cliff by metal bars, it’s only wide enough for one person at a time to walk through.

It was a really cool view, although I guess this excursion isn’t for those people who are afraid of heights! I thought it was really cool that they have free trolleys that pick you up in various locations downtown, and it’s only a 10-15 min. ride to get there, even though you feel like you are far away from the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also went to Granville Island which I guess is comparable to Pikes Place Market, but we decided it was so much better!  Man, I would shop there all the time, the food looked so amazing! There was also a nice are outside with benches where people could just sit and hang out, listen to the musicians that play., There were also lots of pigeons that the little kids loved to fun after so they would all fly away.

I had quite a bit of fun taking pictures while we were hanging out. We sat here, people watching and just relaxing, it was so nice!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are a some pictures that shows the view from the Island. Sadly we didn’t get any pictures inside the market but we were too busy ogling everything to think a bout taking pictures.

 

 

Coen has started grabing  his right ear when he is sleepy, then he proceeds to rub his eyes, it’s really cute, and nice that he has such obvious tired signs.  Can you tell he’s teething?!  How far can he stuff those hands into his mouth! The drive home was pretty awesome, both times I tried to change is diaper in the car (don’t worry the car was parked during these times) He peed all over his new car seat. I had to put newspaper down so he would get wet sitting in his car seat! Overall it was a fun weekend, there were even fireworks our last night there, part of something called the Celebration of Lights.

 

 

 

 

This dude is crawling all over the house!  As long as he can see me he’s fine, if he can’t he crawls after me crying so hard, it’s sad but also it’s hard to get things done when he just wants mama to hold him all the time!

So this picture has a little story behind it. this was the week between going to Vancouver and our family camping trip.  We decided to take Maya to Magnuson dog park instead of the dog park by our place.  I thought it would be fun for her to go in the water and to see some of her old friends (I used to take her there before Coen was born when we lived in Capitol Hill) When we decided to leave I got to the car and realized I had locked the keys in.  They had fallen out of my pocket when I was getting Coen out of his car seat and were sitting there on the seat just next to his car seat.  The driver side window was open just a smidgen and the passenger side was open about an inch. Luckily my dog walker friend, Bob, was still there and he had a wire coat hanger!  Since my car didn’t really have the right locks for it he tried reinforcing the wire with a stick so we could press the button on the passenger side to unlock the doors, after about 15mins it finally worked and we heard the click.  Bob walked off, I tried my door and it was still locked!!!!  So Bob came back and tried working with the driver side which was open just enough for the wire coat hanger. eventually he was able to hook the door handle on the inside and open it, which caused my alarm to go off and I had to set Coen down in the driver seat so I could climb over it fast, get the keys and put them in the ignition so the alarm would turn off. I guess the car could tell by weight that no one was in it and that’s why pressing the unlock button didn’t work.  It probably took about a half hour to break into it and then the alarm went off…at least I know the car is fairly safe!

We watched Etta again and Coen got to use the Excer-saucer.  We even got to take it home with us to borrow for awhile. I love the look on his face in this photo! Etta and Coen also had some fun together as usual.

There was a sweet point where Etta put her doggy up to Coen’s mouth so he could kiss it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found out that Myron’s dad was going camping with Myron sister May, Myron’s brother Matt (Etta’s daddy) and Matt’s older daughter, Addy.  We decided it would be fun to take Coen on his first camping trip, and Addy was excited that baby cousin Coen was coming and Maya too!  Our campsite was but a small lake, we hiked through crazy brush for about a half hour to get there, but it was a great location, no other campers and no roads to worry about to Maya was in heaven running around the woods and in the lake.  She even found a dead fish which she rolled in and ate! they went fishing (I don’t fish, I cried the one time I did because I killed the fish!)

Addie did go in the water for a little bit but for the most part she hung out with Coen and I on the beach playing with the sand. Coen took his naps in the Ergo because it was too exciting inside the tent to actually sleep!

Coen really had fun. The only downfall of the trip was the mosquitos!  They were everywhere in swarms, I came home with over a hundred bites on me!Coen got a few as well.  We put a tarp out for him to crawl around on, and he had fun putting sticks and things in his mouth that I had to fish out!

That night he did pretty well sleeping with me in the sleeping bag although at 4am he decided he was awake and crawled out of the sleeping bag and decided to go play with daddy’s  face. It took awhile but I got him to fall back asleep! Aunt May got to have to Coen time!

I’ll give a few little Coen updates before I finish, on Monday evening his first tooth cut through! He doesn’t let me see it, but I can touch it and with all the chewing he’s doing I wouldn’t be surprised if another comes soon.  On Monday night we had our plastic box for our CSA by our front door so I wouldn’t forget to put it out in the morning.  We were heading to a friend’s house so she could cut Myron’s hair so I decided to go to the bathroom before we left.  When I came out of the bathroom, there was Coen with his torso bent over the box, walking it down the hallway with a big smile on his face!  This kid isn’t 7 months until next week…he’s moving way too fast, and starting to get into thing more, I guess it’s time for some baby proofing!

Sorry it’s been so long!

Hello all,  if anyone is still reading anyway….I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted I guess It’s been easy to say I’ll do it tomorrow and then find myself doing other things instead, I’m good at that. Well since last I wrote we moved into a 3 bedroom house from a 1 bedroom apartment, it’s a wonderful place and I love it, but I do miss the location of our old place!  We have a fenced in backyard which is awesome and we are in walking distance to a great dog park, which Maya loves, especially her favorite friend Penney.

So there will be lots of photos this post since I have so many I want to share.  The few coming up are from a month or 2 ago I’m not really sure on timing, when Myron’s cousin a wife were in town from Florida. Their daughter Annie is only a few days older then Coen so we have fin with them meeting for the first time.

 

 

 

Annie’s dad Tim was making funny faces at the babies, Annie thought is was great, but it took a bit for Coen to figure out it was funny!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coen has been spending lots of time this summer with his friend Cason.  Cason is four months older then Coen but Coen is on the large side and Cason the small side so they are pretty close in size.  His mother, Annie and I have been going to a workout group together and we are friends from church.  the boys often hang out with one another after class on our yoga mats at Greenlake.There is usually lots of grabbing faces and hair, as well as water bottles and nursing covers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to show another Coen and Maya picture, they are continuing to be buddies, she still takes naps with him although I can’t leave him on the bed alone, even if asleep anymore because  he finally fell off the bed, sadly while I was right there with him and couldn’t stop him in time, man did it scare me so bad, but he didn’t even get a bump, just a slight red mark.

I love putting Coen in baby legs, not only are they convenient for Seattle weather but they look so terribly cute on him! He now has 4 pairs and I put them on him when he wears shorts because it’s usually cool in the mornings and evenings and hot in the afternoons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He’s already a coffee lover!  So he is also finally eating a little bit of solids, and let me tell you all he hates peas!  He’s all about bread and bananas.

I have been watching my niece Etta sometimes while her big sister goes to speech therapy, the girls love it when I show up because they are so excited to see baby cousin Coen!  Addie loves to give him hugs before she has to head out for therapy and once she tried to hug him while he was still in his car seat, it was too hard and she looked up at me and said “Get him out of there!”  It was so cute!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coen was hanging out on the chair and Etta wanted to join him, so Coen thought it would be best to try and eat Etta! Etta got him back!

So Coen turned 6 months a week ago today.  It’s crazy that’s so much time has already gone by, they say time goes faster when you have kids and I see it happening for sure!  He went to his 6 month check up on his 6 month birthday we found that he is almost 2 and a half feet long which means he’s tall in the 98% of babies his age but that also means he’s almost half my height because I’m 5’4″ !!  He’s average weight (50%) at 17lbs 6 oz and at 47cm his head is so big it’s off the doctor’s charts!!! Oh my tall, big headed baby!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see he puts everything in his mouth, keys, flash cards, Mama’s hair (not pictured)  He also loves pulling and stroking my hair. One recent thing he tries to do, while falling asleep is get a fist  full of my hair, right at the roots and just hold on tight!

On these nice days (whenever they show up) We got out in the backyard and hang out with Maya while she chews sticks and toys, Coen just loves to watch her run around so I throw stuff for her to chase.

Sadly I didn’t get a picture but Maya and Coen had fun with a stick the other day. Coen had it and tried to eat it, then Maya took it and chewed it and that continued back and forth for awhile!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So Coen is so tall He has almost grown out of his car seat by height, so we decided to buy a new car seat.  We bought a Britax and he looks so cute in the big car seat. I have yet to take pictures of him in his new car seat but I have a couple of cute face photos in his old one.

It’s funny how quickly his mood can change one minute he’s laughing and the next moment he’s wailing, this is a less extreme difference but these photos were taken less then a minute a part!

 

My parents came to town in July, it was my dad’s first time meeting Coen!  It was really great having them here and spending some good time with them. The first week they were here was busy because they decided to get the city pass  which is discounted tickets to a lot of local places I think it’s $55 and you get tickets for the Pacific Science Center, the EMP/ Science Fiction Museum, The Woodland Park Zoo or the Museum of Flight, The Space Needle twice in a 2 day period, 1 hour Argosy cruise in the sound, and the Aquarium.  The trick is you have a 9 day period to use it in and my parents only had about 4 days because they were leaving for an Alaskan cruise.  Coen and I were their chauffeur and went with them (I should have bought a pass myself!) They made it to everything but the cruse, the aquarium and the second trip up the space needle.  So after dropping my parents off at the pier for their Alaskan cruise Myron, Coen and I went on the Argosy cruise, it was fun and we learned a bit more about Seattle history and such.  We used the second trip up the space needle that night to see the city view at night! Later I took Coen to the aquarium and gave the extra ticket to a family of 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Coen in the little kid section of the Pacific science center, having lots of fun.  Then at the aquarium loving the fish!

My sister-in-law got a new job so she can stay at home with my nephew.  So I’m not watching my nephew quite as often and she’s trying to phase me out, so she can spend more time with Asher.  She need needs me until she can figure out houw to get all her work done durning his nap and after he goes to bed.  I’ll miss watching him for sure, but I’m sure we’ll hang out with them sometimes!  Here are some Pictures at Asher’s house.

This first one was a couple of months ago, I love it! I was nursing Coen and Asher went into the kitchen, I wasn’t sure what he was doing but he came out like this and said “hot!”  It was hilarious!  This other picture just happen the last time I was over there.  Coen decided to try and eat Asher’s Elmo chair.  now Asher loves his elmos chair and he came over from the other side of the room whining and saying “Elmo, Elmo!” and Maya just wanted to get out of the room so she could go sit on the lounge chair she’s not suppose to be on and look out the window so she can bark at the dogs that pass by.

This kiddo, he’s pretty much crawling these days He gets up on his hands and feet, takes a step flatfoot, then the other knee to the ground, then he slides onto his belly, so it’s more of a walk/crawl/scoot.  But he’s figured out how to pull the books off his bookshelf, and he’s starting to try and pull himself up on things! He’s moving way too fast!!!

But at least he can sleep pretty much anywhere these days, well, except for his crib!

Thanks for checking in!  I’ll try and write more often, so I can write about all the things I want to rather then a brief overview of the past 4 months!!!

Teething?

So my little dude is continuing to grow well, last friday he weighed a whopping 13 and a half pounds only a half a pound lighter then his friend Cason who is 4 months older!

He’s continuing to be a pretty easy baby so far.  Although there have been days in the last week that the only way he isn’t crying is feeding him or holding him (in the Moby wrap) constantly, another amazingly appeasing thing is letting him chew on my finger vigorously.  He’s also started bubbling at the mouth and drooling and trying to shove his whole fist in his mouth very restlessly.  I notice if I rub his gums with my finger it either instantly appeases him or every once in a while makes him scream more.  it seems to early for teething but it seems like it.  I know it can take a long time for them to cut teeth so maybe it’s just starting to work it’s way up.

It’s hard to believe my little man is 7 weeks old!  he has his two month pediatrician appointment on the 25th, he’ll be getting his first vaccines then two.  Hopefully he will do well!  In this last week he has also gone down to one feeding at night! yay!  I usually feed him right before bed, typically around 11:30ish.  Then he usually eats sometime between 4 and 5 (although this morning it was 5:45).  Then around 8:30 in the morning!  It makes sleeping much better! We end up having him sleep with us in bed most of the night but I think he’s doing better at sleeping soundly in his little sleeper by our bed.  We won’t transition him into a crib until we move and he has his own room.

We are in the process of looking for a new place to rent.  We love where we are, the building, the location, the building managers, the other occupants are all great, but we need more space then just a 1 bedroom.  We figured it would be nice to fid a place we’d be happy in until we are able to save up for our own place so we are looking for a single family home, although we are looking at some townhouses.  We would preferably like a fenced in bakyard for Maya but it would be helpful for Coen when he’s bigger.  We are also looking to go more north to be closer to friends and family. We gone to a few places to check out we’ve liked a few and disliked a few, one we love!  It’s still pretty early though since our lease isn’t up till the end of April so hopefully we find the right place for us, and hopefully our move isn’t too hard with having a little one around!

Well I guess that’s all for now, except for a few more photos I have to get in!

First week alone w/Coen

Sorry it’s been a bit, I’m not a very consistant writer.  I did have to make it through my first week without Myron since he went back to work last week so that is what I’ll use as my excuse!

it looks like he's punching Maya

Monday, the first day alone was the worst but the rest of the week went great, Coen has ultimately proven to be

a pretty easy infant for the most part.  So on monday Maya’s dog walker came to get her, she’s usually out around 3 hours more or less depending on the day so that gave me a few hours of not worrying about the dog!  After she left I decided to go to the grocery store, I didn’t have any lunch around and it was only 2 block away.  I wrapped him up in the Moby wrap, grabbed an umbrella (it was raining) and a reusable grocery bag and headed out.  The thing that bothers me about the moby wrap outside of the effort it takes to tie on is the fact that his head usually flops back so I feel as though I have to support it with my hand.  By the time I left I had a full, heavy bag in one hand and I was using the other hand to hold the umbrella and support his head at the same time….those 2 blocks sure felt long! We made it home and I was getting things set up in the living room for me to just relax and I knocked over my glass of orange juice on the bed (we have our couch bed out because its pretty nice to have it out for the moment) the carpet and on Coen’s socks and sleep gown!  He started crying because something cold and wet suddenly hit him. So here I am trying to console him, trying to clean the carpet, pulling the sheets on comforter off the bed so less gets on the mattress….I changed his clothes put him back into the Moby so I could take him down with me to the Laundry room to wash the sheets and comforter.  I had to make sure to support his head while doing the laundry or else his head would fall back and hit the machine while I was bending over!  After that I was happy to sit down and not try to do anything else the rest of the day!

my little yawner!

My only other excursion out by myself last week (other than walking the dog, which takes a lot longer to get ready for since I have to get Coen ready to go out with me as well) was going to All the Best Pet Care for Maya’s treats that we had run out of.  It’s close enough to walk although its a long one and it was raining so I decided

He smiles!!!!

to drive. Maya went to work with Myron that day so it was just Coen and I.  I ended up parking on a different block than usual so I walked up to the store from the opposite side of the block than I usually do and happend upon the Birth and Beyond store that I had heard about but had no idea where it was. It’s a really cute shop and I ended up getting the infant insert for the Ergo (yay no more moby!) and some vitamin D drop for Coen.  I even checked out their class schedule and Myron and I signed up for an Elimination Communication class in March (a kind of pre-potty training).  So that was my fun find while getting dog treats!

On Thursday Myron and I celebrated valentines Day, since all the restaurants we had in mind had been booked solid for Valentine’s Day. WE went to the Pink Door and brought Coen with us in his car seat, this was his second restaurant outing his first being Boat Street Cafe on my birthday.  He didn’t sleep quite as well at the Pink Door but he was quiet at least!  The atmosphere there is awesome and the food is wonderful!  We’d recommend it for sure.

Let’s see, other news of the week, Coen got to meet his Uncle Mike from Boise who was in town for work reasons. Aunt Becka and cousin Ellie were probably jealous but we are hoping to plan a trip out to Boise sometime to visit.  Also the last few days hes actually smiled in reaction to my smiles!! Twice on Saturday, once onSsunday and twice today already! On the down side he did a lot of crying yesterday and has been crying most of today when he’s not eating that is….he wants to eat pretty much constantly so i’m assuming he’s hitting a growth spurt, which kinda worries me since he already been growing (11.5 lbs according to Wi-fit on Thursday) it makes me wonder how big he’s going to get! I guess I’ll end the blog with a few more photos!

Coen's first game! He needs to start early since he was born into a gaming family!

My little sleeper

He found his thumb!

Circumcision and First trip to the Market!

One thing I didn’t mention in my post yesterday was the fact that Coen got circumcised on Friday.  He did great, he pretty much slept through the whole event!  I on the other hand didn’t take it so well.  Dr. Witz’s office is so great, they make you feel comfortable, they set you up in a room and talk to you about the procedure and stuff, then they go into another room for the procedure which takes no more than 10 mins, then you are back in the original room to nurse for awhile so they can show you a diaper change with the topical ointment.  During the actual procedure you can either come in the room with him or stay behind and wait.  I hadn’t really though about what I wanted to do, but Myron had mentioned a couple of times that he thought it would be nice if I came in so I did.  It was really hard seeing him strapped down (but understandable considering a squirmy infant isn’t going to work) Then seeing the needle going in twice with the numbing stuff.  I made it to that point then saw him put a metal thing up to the very tip of his penis and I had to sit down, then proceeded to cry, no crying from Coen but I couldn’t make it!  Everything is healing fine although I took a couple of grumpy face photos of him recently and I think this would be a good spot for them!

When Coen was born his hair was as dark as his daddy’s and it was curly.  He got his first bath at the hospital and the curls were gone!  Now his hair has been getting lighter and lighter in color, instead of black it’s a nice medium brown color, it will be fun to see what his hair ends up doing, let alone his eyes which have mostly been a dark steely gray/blue but sometimes look kind of green.  I’m thinking they will probably be brown like his dad’s but there is plenty of time to wait and find out.

Today on his 2 week birthday we took a trip downtown.  It was a family trip, Maya (our dog) included.  The main reason for the trip was to show him off at Myron’s job (SEOmoz) We made sure to dress him appropriately in a SEOmoz onesie and blue corduroys (his first time wearing pants and not a sleep gown!)

He was obviously the center of attention while we were there, but Maya had fun, she got a treat and some play time with another dog at the office (they are dog friendly).  Everyone there is so nice!  After we left we headed down to the market for lunch.  We got sandwiches at Michou and took them to some tables in the market so we could sit down and eat with Maya around.  Then went up to Don an Joe Meats, it’s Maya’s favorite place in the market because they always give her a bit of raw ground beef!  then shopped for some fruits and veggies and pasta.  Lots of people commented on our new little guy and Maya got lots of attention and treats! Needless to say Coen slept through the entire trip downtown only to wake up crying in the car.  After getting home and getting settled in Coen and Maya took a nice little nap together.

Introducing Coen

So I decided that since I am now a mother I would start a blog.  We’ll see how often I write but I figured it would be fun to have a place to update people on my day to day life.

My sweet little man!

My son was born two weeks ago (tomorrow morning at 6:34 AM to be exact).  He was just shy of 9 lbs, I definitely wasn’t expecting such a big baby.  Labor was long and hard I’m not going to go into it here, but if you want to know feel free to ask!  His name is Coen Nicholas Harris Marston and he is the most amazing little miracle, I find myself just laying there and staring at him for long periods of time, taking in his little facial expressions and tiny squeaks!  I had quite the opposite of an easy labor and delivery but things since have made up for it a bit.  Breastfeeding has been a breeze compared to pretty much anyone I have ever talked to,  He already gaining good weight, at the Dr.’s office today he was already at 10 lbs 4 oz!!!  I have a feeling he’s going to take more after his chunky cousin Asher (26 lbs @ 1 year)  instead of his petite cousin Ellie (16 lbs @ 1 year)!  He’s also been pretty great with letting us sleep, although it helps that Myron and I have figured out a great shift schedule that helps a lot, but things will have to change when he goes back to work next Monday.

He's so little!!

He had his first social outing this weekend, we went to a friend’s baby shower, he pretty much slept through the whole event!  The sweetest moment was when my friend’s husband came home with their 2 year old daughter Lillian and she got to meet the little guy!  She very gently touched his little feet and toes and said his name so sweetly.

One funny thing that has happened recently, they tell you about projectile vomit and streams of pee, but Myron got to witness projectile poo!  it squirted about 2 feet!! pretty darn amazing huh? hopefully there won’t be too many more of those, it’s a little too messy I think

I love the fact that I can just put him on my chest and he stays there and sleeps, I know it won’t last for long, he’ll be too busy to stay in one place so I’m taking all I can get now while I can!

I'm Awesome!