Napa Part 1

Last week we went on our first official family vacation to Napa! My parents joined us for the trip and we stayed at a beautiful home off Atlas Peak Road. It was a week full of sunshine, family wine and lots of great wine!

The first day was just the Day family and we spent the day exploring the town outlet malls, visiting Beringer and getting to know the lay of the land before my parents arrived that night.  The next day we went to Trent Moffett's home to taste his delicious wine while overlooking his vineyards. He has become a fired of my parents so it was such a that to sit under a gazebo in his yard to taste. Such a personal touch! Later we headed out to Shypoke's vineyards to taste at their private home as well. Talk about connections! :) Christian even got to see their chickens and we got some fresh eggs to take home. Again, the wine was SO good!

On Day 3 we went up a never ending, winding road to Brown Estate. Boy was it it worth the drive! We had a tour of their wine caves and property, followed by a food pairing tasting. Here are some pictures of our tasting at Brown:

C wanted a taste too!

7 months

7 Month Stats
*a week or so late!

Weight:  16.5 lbs. or so (we have a temperamental scale!) 10th percentile

Clothes: C is wearing 3-6 month and 6 month clothes. My current favorites are his jeans and overalls. :) He loves anything that has animals on the feet... they go straight into his mouth!

Playtime: 

This month we were blessed to be able to borrow an exersaucer from a family from church. C LOVES this and is instantly entertained. Its bee fun to see him learn and explore what he can do: turn, bounce, reach, grab... so fun! He still loves the Itsy Bitsy Spider and it is our go to song to calm him down and make him smile. While driving down the road you can expect to hear Kerry and I belting this out. His favorite toys are "Fent", his keys and his bath toys.

Development: 

Christian is currently exploring his mouth- spitting, jabbering, sticking his tongue out, etc. He rediscovered that he can roll over and does this a lot and is starting to practice sitting up but we are not there quite yet. He is also making consonant sounds. Biggest change this month is that he had solids for the first time. So far he has had rice cereal, avocado, banana, and sweet potato. We are also monitoring C's head shape. Based on his in-utero positioning he is possibly a candidate for helmet therapy and we would know more in the next month or so.

Sleep: 
Wake up- 8:00ish
3 naps- 9:30ish, 12ish and 3ish
Bed- 7ish with one waking around 3 or 4
Still using the wedge and swaddle!

Firsts and Fun!
*celebrated his dad for Father's Day
* road trip to Yakima
* first ferry ride
* first hotel overnight for CG "camping "trip"
*first 4th of July
*helped his mom clean out her classroom so she can stay home :)
*doctor's appt at Children's... will he need a helmet?
* first real belly laugh- he thinks his mom is a funny singer

Good Night Baby!

We have been on quite the sleep journey over the last 7 months of Christian's life and thankfully we have come a long way but the journey is far from over! However there have been a few key items that have become my favorites in helping C sleep soundly and comfortably.

1. SwaddleMe- I can not swaddle. Well ok I can swaddle but it never held. Christian would just kick off the blanket and immediately be crying. We have been blessed by a baby boy who still at 7 months loves the comfort of being swaddled and if he is not, his hands have a mind of their own and go straight to his face to pull out his paci or startle him awake. (Mind you he is only 5 1/2 months old adjusted so we have to take that into consideration.) The SwaddleMe is the greatest invention EVER! Go buy one, or 6,because if you are swaddle challenged like me, it will save you!

2. Sound Machine- White noise blocks out car noise, talking, creaking doors...etc. It is such a soothing sound for babies and is a must for every nap and bedtime for C.

3. Tucker Sling- Christian has pretty bad reflux which causes it to be extremely painful for him to sleep flat in his crib. The wedge/sling combo have been lifesavers at keeping him safely elevated and comfortable to sleep. It is a great contraption for others with babes suffering with reflux.

 4. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child- This book is fabulous! When Christian was around two months old, a friend gave us this book after we came to church exhausted and feeling very unsure about  C's sleep patterns, especially for naps. I love the author's approach to learning to read your babies cues and clear outline for what is happening to their sleep schedule/cycle each week and month. I like that I can look ahead and see what to expect and also look at the current month and see what is normal and how to help alleviate any problems. The concept to monitor my baby more than the clock really resonated with me. Totally recommend this one!

What IS this?

We started introducing solids to C this past month. We are starting very slowly as he isn't too interested yet. We started with rice cereal and he really was unsure about that. Then we found his new love... avocado! He can not get enough! :)

I love avocado!!!

Our third try was sweet potato and his face was priceless. He instantly spit it all out after each bite and then had a huge spit up. I think we will take a break from that one :)

Too Cute Tuesday

...because sometimes a picture is too cute not to share!

asleep on dad's shoulder after a wedding in the sun :)

I love Nana!

at the splash pad

Christian is so blessed to have his Nana just minutes down the road so he gets to see her often. She is one person who ALWAYS gets a smile from C. ( and that's not an exaggeration!) He already loves his Nana so much!

Wedding Shower Kitchen Cake

My brother in law is getting married next month to a fabulous gal and my mother in law hosted a family couples shower for them this past weekend. I wanted to do something special for them but also know that I loved getting things off of my registry. So when I saw this idea on Pinterest, I knew it would be perfect! I followed this tutorial and then added my own flair. :)

I started is a $1.99 charger that I found at Hobby Lobby for my base. (I also picked up some pins, 50% off ribbon, and a chipboard "D" as a monogram.) Then I hot glued my cardboard rounds (made from cereal boxes) straight onto the charger. I found some towels at target that matched the red scheme of their registry, picked up a few kitchen odds and ends off their registry and I was set!

5 wonderful years...

Kerry and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on Friday. It was so neat to reflect on all the changes that have happened in our lives these past five years... new home, travels, new church family, becoming an aunt and uncle, becoming parents, WOW! Through it all I continue to feel blessed daily to be more and more in love with my best friend who challenges me to grow closer with God as we continue to grow closer to each other.

We had so much fun celebrating the day. We went to Agua Verde for lunch and then rented a kayak to explore the houseboats on Lake Union. Then we did some strolling and shopping downtown and ended the night with a fantastic meal at Daniels.

4th of July

We had a blast celebrating 4th of July as a family this last week. We started off the morning by going to the Everett parade. Kerry grew up going to a parade each year and we have decided to carry not hat tradition with C. We set up outside of the church to watch the show! (C was not is his holiday garb at this point because he decided to have a major blow out AS SOON as the parade began... thank goodness for the church bathrooms :) )

tuckered out from the parade

 After the parade we went home to get ready for the party and to have a holiday photo shoot of course! Notice the "aviators" on C's shirt... seriously SO cute!

putting out the vibe... :)

happy or angry?

That evening we had my parents, Robin, Tom, Jen and Andrew over for a BBQ and to watch our neighbors set off a ridiculous amount of illegal fireworks. We enjoyed homemade ice cream and strawberry shortcake during the show!

I love getting to celebrate with my family!

(we missed the Lewis gang as they were in Sunriver)

Too Cute Tuesday

...because sometimes a picture is too cute not to share!

Road Trip Survival

Some dear friends of mine are moving from Washington to Illinois and I wanted to put together something special for them. They are driving for 4 days to get there so I decided to make them a road trip survival kit! 

In my kit I included:

* wipes, Kleenex, hand sanitizer, candy, gum, Chapstick, pen, paper, ice tea, Starbucks energy drink, radio theater Cd's, couples questionnaire, mad libs, mad gab, and the license plate game. 

(the questionnaire and license plate game were from here.) Oh and I figured the bag it came in could be used as a trash bag! :)

couples questionnaire

Mad Gab phrases

Mad Libs

license plate game

The finished product!