Sunday, December 28, 2008

Leopold on the Move!

Well, the past couple of months have been filled with a LOT of change and development for Leopold. Believe it or not, he's learned to scoot, crawl, and pull himself to standing all in a very short amount of time. Here are some photos showing the progression.


Before I was too mobile, I did a lot of Happy Baby Pose, aren't I cute:








This is my favorite chew toy - Sophie the Giraffe.




Love my dinner - especially the water!





Swimming through the air Part I.




Swimming through the air, part II. I'm a good yoga baby!!




Swimming through the air part III.

This is my scooting stance - before I crawled, I spent a lot of time pulling myself around with my arms.

Official crawling stance in hat knit by Auntie Tonya.

Standing up in my crib - yes, mommy and daddy had to lower the mattress finally.





Yes, I got up here all by myself and I like to move from one item to the next.







I can get into lots of fun trouble now!










Me and Daddy and Daddy's deer. Yummy!





Squeals of delight!






OK, this is dark, but still cute - Leopold is very proud to be standing up in his crib. Needless to say, we have lowered the mattress.



OK, one more on the move, too cute with the wagon that the Novack Grandparents got Leopold for Christmas:










Sunday, November 2, 2008

Fall is Here

Fall has settled into the east side of the Cascades. The colors are beautiful - reds, oranges, yellows, browns and greens. The air is crisp and cool, the sun is (often) out, and autumn fruits and veggies are coming from the orchards and farms. We made some applesauce from the fruit in our yard, but haven't quite gotten to the pears and plums. We did, however, have a black bear in our backyard last week - no doubt s/he is enjoying the fruit that has fallen to the ground.


Here are some great photos of a recent Harvest Festival in Roslyn that Leopold, Cynthia, and Grandma Cathy went to.




Leopold and Grandma in the Pumpkin Patch




We had fun - and only got lost for a few minutes - in the hay maze.



Mmmm, pumpkins are yummy!





The next day, we went hiking with Daddy next to the Cle Elum River. Leopold's already logging hiking miles in his handy trekking pack.



Of course being out in the fresh air lends itself to good napping.

Happy Halloween!!


Happy Halloween from Leopold!


For Leopold's First Halloween, he was a very cute bear cub, check out this picture:



And here he is with his 13-month old friend Leo from Roslyn:



Cynthia and Leopold went to downtown Cle Elum for the the Halloween Parade down Main Street. They went with neighbors Denee (clown) and Sidnie (pink poodle), here they are with some of the rest of the crowd - which was quite large - behind them.


Leopold with Mommy and his first Jack-o-Lantern!




Saturday, October 11, 2008

October Update - Work, Colorado and Leopold Getting Bigger!!

OK, so this picture is from the beginning of August, but it is Cynthia's screensaver at work. Opa Tom took the pic and it is so precious it has to be shared!




Wow, it's been a while since the last post - so much has happened. The primary reason for the lapse is that Cynthia went back to work at the end of August. Needless to say, we don't have many free moments around here anymore.






Things are going well for Cynthia at work. She's working 4 ten-hour days and taking the vanpool. It means leaving the house at 4:20am and returning at 6pm, with lots of napping in the van on the way to and from Seattle. She's enjoying the quiet time at work before everyone else shows up at 9am. This actually enables her to get some work done before the frenzy of the day's meetings and phone calls begins. She's exhausted, but that's par for the course working full time with an infant.








First train ride with Grandma Cathy on Grandparent's Day. We took the train in Snoqualmie out to Snoqualmie Falls, it was quite an adventure.




Anthony is doing 4 ten-hour days as well. Each of us is spending a day at home with Leopold. Grandma Cathy is doing a day as well and we've hired our neighbor Denee (who has a 2 year old daughter) to take care of Leopold the remaining 2 days per week. Leopold took several weeks to adapt to eating from the bottle, but seems to be more or less adjusted now.


We've had a few glitches - Cynthia broke her foot on her 3rd day back to work and Leopold's got a cold from the neighbor girl. All in all we're handling it pretty well. Cynthia had to wear a walking boot for 6 weeks and was pretty bummed about missing much of the fall hiking season. But she's been able to hobble around fairly functionally and continues to heal.


Hunting season is in full swing. Uncles David and Quinton came to visit for the beginning of elk archery season and helped up with Leopold in the mornings when Anthony had a training in Spokane.
"Ahh, it's like being in a hot tub," says Uncle David.



We took a trip to Colorado - Anthony had a conference there on Human Dimensions of Wildlife and Cynthia came a long with Leopold. Cynthia got to see a few talks, but was pretty much on baby duty for those 3 days. The conference was at the YMCA in Estes Park - adjacent to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was beautiful! We saw elk in the fields right in front of where we parked to check in. Interesting elk-human conflicts in the town of Estes Park - here's a picture we took from the car.






On the way to Estes Park, we stopped in to see grad school buds Suzy and Darrin in Boulder. It was wonderful to catch up and for Leopold to meet these friends.







We did make it into the National Park - check out these photos of the elk. It was the rut and the males were buggling and trying to keep the females in sight. As you can see, they are quite the attraction. We also drove further up into the park and saw the beautiful yellow colors of the fall aspen.















Leopold enjoying tummy time in Colorado.



OK, which one next? Love these buttons!




Leopold is getting bigger - check out this picture of him in his high chair. He's not eating solids yet, but the chair is a great way for him to hang out on his own while we eat. Soon, he'll be eating too. He's in the full throws of teething - no teeth yet, but lots of drool and fussy times. We're getting through it pretty well, though, all and all. Grandpa Duane got him an exersaucer (pics above) which he LOVEs because he loves to stand up and is having so much fun engaging with toys these days, especially when he can do it all by himself! He particularly loves to hear the sound of the duck and the buttons that play songs.




Happy Boy in his High Chair




When we got back from Colorado, we saw Callie for lunch - she was in town for a conference in downtown Seattle and we were all so happy that it worked out to meet up and for her to meet Leopold. She was missing little 2 year old Nora who was home with daddy Greg in Arizona.


Callie and Leopold

Elisa also came to town for a visit and we spent the day with her and the evening with Dad and Kathryn. Lots of good baby time as well as yummy cheese, wine, and other treats (lamb for the meat-eaters).


We'll try to keep things more up-to-date in the future, but with so little time, it's more likely to be about once a month or so.


Video of Daddy singing and Dancing with Leopold on the Yoga Ball:



Sunday, August 24, 2008

Lake Quinault Vacation



We all joined the Wilkerson-Everett-Ramerman-Riley clan on a vacation to the west side of the Olympic Peninsula - August 9th - 11th. The trip was in celebration of Duane and Kathryn's 2th wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful time, the houses were right on the water. We kayaked, snorkelled, hiked, spent great times with family, and had wonderful food. We had so much fun that we're going to try to make it a regular outing.

The weather gave us some beautiful sunshine dispersed throughout the typical drizzly temperate rainforest climate. On the hike in the Olympic National Forest, we saw some huge old-growth Sitka Spruce and Western Red Cedar trees. They were beautiful. As usual, Leopold slept through most of the hike in his carrier - this time with Grandpa Duane. Leopold was spoiled hanging out with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins. He's still a few months behind the crawlers - Davis and Lael - but he'll be keeping up with them by Christmas!

Leopold had plenty of great quality time with Grandpa - see the pics below.

This is fun Grandpa!

Leopold is very serious about slobbering all over Grandpa's knee.









Beautiful pictures of Lake Quinault taken by Uncle Garret.


Anthony skipping rocks on the Lake.

Cynthia and Leopold at the Lake - mommy is fascinating!

Sweet sleeping boy in his fancy outfit with the diaper peaking through.

Grandpa is very entertaining!





Catching up on Family and Friend Visits

This post is long overdue. Check out the pics below of Leopold's visitors from the first 2 months. We had such a great time with all the visitors!!

Fussy Leopold meets Great Grandpa Stewart at the State Park in Easton.



Great Uncle Hal meets Leopold during a Father's Day visit on his motorcycle.

Great Grandpa Wilkerson holds the newest member of the family.
Great Grandma Wilkerson imparting her wisdom to Leopold.

Can I keep him Great Aunt Cathy asks?? No, but you can hold him anytime. :-)


Abuela Jane with a sleeping baby Leopold at the beginning of July.



Auntie Pow Pow learns to sooth the baby boy - it was REALLY hot that weekend. Notice his receding hairline!! His head was growing forward, but it took the hair a bit to catch up, but as you'll see in later photos, it has started filling back in.



Uncle David cradles Leopold as he shows off how he can hold up his head at 5 weeks!



Great Aunt Sue hold the sweet baby boy and never wants to let go.