California Vacay Part 2

Ava had a blast running around G&G Forbe's yard/land. They live in the mountains with lots of space. She got to pet some mules and feed them carrots, ride on the tractor with G'pa Forbes, ride her bike all over the place, see deer and bunnies and caterpillars and all sorts of other good stuff.

 And Ezra got to sit and walk and crawl.

Speaking of Ezra, he is 10 months old now. So here are a few stats on him. He's 20 lbs 8 oz, 30 inches. He loves to eat and play in the toilet (much to our dismay). Still puts everything in his mouth. He is getting better and better at walking and I think any day now he will be walking solo. He can reach tables and low counters now, so we have to keep things away from the edges or he will pull them off. He's a pretty happy little guy, and this stage is one of my favorites of infancy. They sleep, they eat, they play, their personalities start to show more, and they are generally pretty fun.

Family Vacation to California

Last week we took the kiddos to California. We visited Great Grandma and Grandpa Forbes in Volcano (in the east mtns) and my sisters Tanya and Patti in the Bay Area. We drove the 10 hours through the night so the kids could sleep through most of it (rather than crying through most of it). Worked pretty well, and with the help of G&G we were able to catch some naps and not absolutely die.
The first outing we made was just down the road to Daffodil Hill. We were glad they were still open and in bloom (last day).

I'm going to split this up into several posts or else it will never happen. This one has been sitting in draft mode for over a week already.

Easter socks

In an attempt to not over-do it on Easter candy (I failed), I also go Ava some things like socks (Target $1 bins) and twisty straws and bubbles. She was pretty happy to put on her bunny socks and asked to pose for some photos.

 

Strike a pose.

Ezra's 9-month Report

Weight: 20 lbs 15 oz (50th %)

Height: 29 inches (85th %)

Factoids:

• He is becoming a speedy crawler.
• He likes to walk holding onto Mom's fingers. I think he'll be walking solo in another month.
• He can go up stairs, and successfully descend about 2 stairs
• He puts everything in his mouth. Shoes are still his favorite item. We have removed all large potted plants because he gets in and eats the dirt and leaves (and one of them was a poisonous plant—so bye-bye).
• He still has white patches in his hair (one is heart shaped!)
• He has 2 bottom teeth and 3 on top, with the 4th giving him a lot of grief.
• He started head-butting my shins when he wanted me to pick him up. Did that several times today.
• He has cellulite buns. They are awesome.

Uh-Oh, Up We Go!

Last week I decided I had better start training Ezra to go down stairs, because I could tell he was becoming interested in going up. And sure enough, today he went up 3 stairs on his own. Later he came down a step on his own, but tumbled a little on the bottom step. We'll keep practicing.

Last weekend he had a fever and was fussy for 2 days, not eating well, and on the third day he finally slept. He really slept. He slept 12 hours at night, woke up at 8:15am and ate, got changed, went back to bed at 8:45am and slept until 1:30pm! Then he took another 2 hour nap at 3:30pm. That's a new record for us! I don't know if it's his teeth (3 out of 4 on top have now broken through) or if he was fighting an infection or what, but WOW.

Sledding & a Snowman

We got some pretty good snow drifts in our back yard with this last storm, which made for a great sledding hill down the rock wall for Ava. And me. Our sled route was just to the right of her in this photo.

And this is her first snowman. Yes he's small, but he was made a day or two before the bigger part of the snow storm came. His eyes had fallen out by the time I got a photo.

For Ezra I had a little inflatable sled with a back on it, but it popped going down our slide. So he had to ride with Ava. By the time I got the camera out Ezra was done, though he did enjoy it for a while. He tries to eat the snow, like everything else.

Thanks Mom and Jen for the snow coats & boots, and Dede for the pink hat and scarf. We've hardly had to buy any winter gear thanks to all of you.

15 Babies, All in a Row

Some of you have already seen this on facebook, but for those who haven't:

Ezra is the whitest one, right in the middle (to the left of the girl in pink).
There must have been something in the water. Last year we had 15 babies born in our ward/neighborhood. We decided to get them all together for one crazy photoshoot. It went about like you'd expect. Started out with just one or two crying, and by the end, they were almost all crying. They seem to feed off each other that way. See:

 

It was a pretty crazy good time. We'll have to do it again in 10 years, eh?