Goodbye Stroller Strides

Today was our last day of Stroller Strides for a while... I will definitely miss the workouts (I've been forced to run more this summer than in my entire life!) and the nice girls that I've met--though I hope to keep in touch with many of them. While this was a fun way to get out 3 times a week, it's a bit too disruptive to Colden's nap schedule and with fall coming, the class moves indoors, which doesn't excite me. We'll see... we are going to keep our walking routine, but at an earlier time and we'll see how it goes!

I thought I would post a few pictures as memories of our summer together! We've just finished running hills... now we're on to bicep curls... I'm in the middle of the group, so you are seeing only about half the girls + babies! Can you count the number of pregnant girls? :)

This is Cole's friend, Landon! April, Landon's mom, is my neighbor and we always walk to class together.

More Walking

Cole is anxious to be set free, but still a little hesitant to let go of my hand. The other day, he took off walking on his own (he wanted his ball!) and when he got about 6 steps away from me, he stopped and turned around... he gave me the "what just happened?" look and plopped on his bum.

Yesterday, I was able to get this little video of him... not our best video, but he's cute in his diaper ;)

Playing at the Park

Just wanted to share some cute pictures of Colden and his friend Grace!

Colden's First Steps

I'm blogging to share how proud we are of Colden who took his first steps all by himself on Friday! Walking to daddy seems to be the motivation needed as he took at least 4 independent steps to dad twice! I wanted to capture this moment on video, but the camera added a distraction...

Lunch with Jen

Cole and I have been keeping busy around the house this week and haven't gotten out too much, though we did have a fun lunch date with Jen! Cole would eat Zeeks pizza every day if we let him... he just loves it.

And he loves Jen too :)

Blueberry Farm

I've been looking forward to blueberry season all summer! We packed up Jeremy's Volvo with 3 car seats and 3 adults (Laurel + Clara and Jamie + Luke joined us!), picnic lunches and headed to North Bend.

The blueberry farm is located at the base of Mount Si... gorgeous!

Picking the berries reminded me of the fun we used to have at the Amish farms picking as children. We usually got pony cart rides as a treat--they didn't have that here ;)

Colden preferred picking with me in Clara's backpack! Funny... Clara (who is one of the wiggliest 1 year old's that I've ever met) wanted to sit in Cole's stroller.

After picking enough berries for a pie, a batch of jam and some to enjoy this week, we ate lunch on my new picnic blanket (thanks Long Family)!

The best part about picking berries.... the blueberry buttermilk pancakes that we ate for breakfast this morning! YUM! Colden and Jeremy are two lucky boys!

It was HOT!

Last week, I didn't do any blogging because it was too stinkin' hot to do much of anything. In case you didn't catch the weather reports, Seattle area reached all-time high temperatures last Wednesday... 103* in Seattle. My car registered 111* in the afternoon after having been parked in the garage all day. Fortunately, we have very little direct sun in our windows and I learned early on to get the house as cool as possible overnight and then close it up for the day... that worked fairly well. Inside, we hit 88* on Wednesday evening--that was downstairs. Upstairs had to be at least 5* hotter.

Here is Cole sleeping in his pack n' play downstairs with a fan pointed on him.... doesn't look too comfy... but at least he had Skipit to snuggle with!Cole and I did a lot of mall walking and a little shopping to stay cool. Jeremy met us after work one afternoon to play on the 'germ boat' at Bell Square. Oddly enough, Cole had a 24 hour bug and fever following that visit.

While at home during the early part of the day while the temperatures were bearable (85*), Cole didn't wear much ;) Even Allie is sprawled out on the floor trying to keep cool.

On Thursday, we decided not to stick around to find out how hot our house really could get... so we checked into the Hilton close to home. We all slept well for the first time in 3 nights with the A/C blasting! Plus, Cole and I wore ourselves out in the pool that afternoon!

In a way, it was a fun adventure! At least we were able to get a hotel room for the hottest night of the year. We are also thankful that our house didn't heat up as badly as some friend's homes did (Cantando's hit 109* inside!) and that we don't live in the humid South. Now we are making up for it with a few overcast days that are unusually cool for this time of year... go figure!

11 Months Old

Colden is officially 11 months old and as our busy week passes, I realize that my little baby is going to be 1 year old before I know it. While he continues to develop his personality and learn new tricks that are so enjoyable, its really hard to think that he is growing up. Some of his newest moves include the finger point. I love the little grunt that goes along with it. He is also quite a dancer. Spending a little time with his cousin this last month really got him groovin'! If he isn't on his feet, he'll rock back and forth to the music. My favorite is that when I give him his socks he sits and tries to put thm on. His attempt to put socks on isn't very sophisticated yet, but he knows that they go on his feet... so smart!

I have been debating what we consider his first word... he says mama, dada, uh-oh and ball. I think ball may win since he seems to identify the object with the word most consistently and I'm not sure if uh-oh is really considered a word. He also speaks in baby language that is far more complicated than mama and dada... if only I could get a translator!