Fall update

No official snow on the ground as of yet. We had a nice dusting on the second day of autumn, but nothing lately. Wet and windy for a couple of weeks (and unseasonably warm in the 50's) but now the temperature is hovering between a more normal 30-40 degrees.

I finally bit the bullet and upgraded to a new iPhone. I previously had the 4, so my white 5S is a whole three versions newer! So basically it's my first new phone in 3 years. Lots of fun things to play with: Siri, fingerprint scanning, better video and photo capability. However, the photo below is how I received my new iPhone. Apparently FedEx thinks THIS is the appropriate way to ship expensive electronics! I'm just shaking my head over here.

Fall means health fairs. Lots and lots of health fairs. On the weekends. Saturdays AND Sundays. Ugh. But just for a few minutes during each one, I steal upstairs and take in the breathtaking view from the 7th floor where my office is located. It's especially amazing on a clear day.

These particular fairs were for some of the entities that we are preferred providers for, so that meant my mom and D were both invited. And I got to see my baby on one of those mornings! He charmed everyone, as usual - well, when he wasn't fussy. He comes every year so it's neat to see my coworkers react to how much he has changed over time.

D and I are in the process of reorganizing the living room, mainly due to our TV upgrade. We're finally entering the 21st century with a flat panel television, ya'll! I sold our old bulky armoire on Craiglist (to the son of a friend - although I didn't realize it until he showed up) and then picked up a new lower-profile stand on Craigslist for $40. Unfortunately the new stand is too wide for the space, so I widened my search and found a skinnier cabinet at Target. This new setup is really workable now and gives us quite a bit of open space to hang out. I ended up selling the too-big stand for $40 (broke even!) and the old TV went for free. It was a very productive Monday! Now I need to get rid of our big stereo system that used to be in the living room and is now stashed in purgatory (aka my craft room).

Oh hey, what do you think of our new porch? I think it's pretty sweet - D has a really good design sense. This sort of reads mid-century modern to me. He replaced the rotted wood flooring and some of the supports with cedar boards, basically removing almost all of the existing porch. The stairs were already done - a project he worked on a couple years ago. It's hard to tell from this photo, but the roof supports come out at a slight angle to give a little more walking-around space. The panels are painted the same color as our house and give us a little privacy. Our existing roof doesn't quite overhang the whole porch, so D attached clear plastic roofing panels - which also works to let light through while still covering everything. We still need add stairway railing, extend the gutter all the way over, and decorate!

My mom, Boyd and I attended the Korean wedding of a boy I used to tutor during my breaks from college. Holy smokes, that makes me feel old! His wife is super pretty and they make a cute couple. I think my mom said she works at the Korean consulate office here in Anchorage and he is in the Army. Anyhoo, the wedding food was great - all Asian dishes. The cake was delicious! That's kimchi on the left of the cake (spicy fermented cabbage) and duk (rice cakes filled with sweet bean paste) on the right.

My mom has a little crab apple tree in her backyard so this fall we picked most of the apples, divided them up and made crisps and pies. They're tart so the apples make perfect fillings for pastries. YUM. We also end up with a bunch of apples left over from my work health fairs, so there's a lot of baking going on around here in the fall.

Boyd has been a part of two photo shoots so far. Risha and I are friendly with a gal who reports for one of the TV news stations here in town. She is also a photographer on the side and very sweetly agreed to take a few photos of Boyd a month ago. She's pretty busy, so we're still waiting on those pics. And we had a shoot at my workplace 2 weeks ago and needed some kiddos to be a part of the Pediatrics portion, so my mom brought Boyd - and Risha brought the 3 girls she now watches. She ended up finding a new job with a new family - the girls are 11, 8 and 2.

Rainbows pop up more often now. I've seen maybe one a month - that's a lot, right?

Fish camp

I've had this post in my "draft" folder for a long time - about time it goes up!

Grandma and Grandpa Patrick come up to Alaska in their camper every other year, and it was so fun to visit with them at their "fish camps" on the Russian and Kenai Rivers this summer. Boyd really loved spending time with them, and it was great to have an incentive to leave Anchorage and head down to the peninsula for the weekend.

I can't emphasize enough how convenient it is to stay in the camper. We just pack up our stuff (Boyd has more than the both of us combined), make some food, hop in the truck and go! No worrying about tent camping with a baby. We'll see how it goes next year - unless we can convince my in-laws to make the long trek again. :-)

Boyd around the house

Sometimes while I am cleaning the house, I wonder why I even bother tidying up before Boyd goes to bed. He can mess up a room like nobody's business! But he also helps clean when we ask him to. It just seems like our house looks like it's in shambles every time I post a photo.

This weekend I let Boyd hold the mail as we came in the house. I just had to laugh when he ran straight over to his chair and put his feet up to check it all out...

It's not often that I go out and leave Boyd with someone else to take a little time for myself, but last week I had TWO NIGHTS OUT with the girls! Wednesday evening I met some of my girlfriends for sushi, and then Thursday night I had supper club with my work friends. It was awesome to just relax with all of these ladies and have a couple nights off from baby duty. Plus I think it's great that Boyd gets quality time with Daddy. Everybody wins!

When I got home last week after sushi, I saw all of Boyd's bath toys lined up along the edge of the tub. So funny! I really appreciate how D takes a different approach to parenting tasks than I do. I think it's good for Boyd to experience us both.

Helping me vacuum. He went through a stage of hating the noise, but now when I turn it off he says, "more!"

He goes and gets his toy vacuum whenever I bring out the Dyson. We feel strongly that he needs to learn about chores (in a playful way now) so that it will be normal for him when he's older.

Master of the list at Costco! We didn't see our favorite checkout lady this time. She coos all over Boyd and he gives her big smiles. We also stopped by the thrift store and an older lady just could not get enough of him - she commented about his cute Bogs boots and laughed about how they were both wearing Columbia jackets.

Boyd has been loving the Learning Tower lately. I've been trying to teach him how to climb into it, and then he has easy access to the counters. He put this extra large rubber band on his head himself. So goofy.

He retrieved this container from a shelf, brought it to me and then proceeded to climb inside. I pushed him around the floor in it for about 5 minutes.

Boyd can't get enough of his own image. We watch a lot of videos and take many, many photos of him so that he can look at them later.

These two are D's biggest fans - they get incredibly excited with he gets home. Here they are both peering through the baby gate trying to get a glimpse of him!

Boyd - 20 months

Last Monday (October 7) was Boyd's almost-20 month appointment/well-check. The doc says he looks happy and healthy! He is hovering in the 50th percentile for his height (33 inches), weight (24 pounds, 14.1 ounces) and head circumference. Pretty average.

He received 2 vaccinations plus a flu shot and was pretty upset during the administration of them, but calmed down really quickly and was totally himself a few minutes later. I think it helped that I gave him a couple edible treats post-vaccine. Boyd was charming as usual to the nurses and even showed the doctor the stamps he received earlier at gymnastics.

I mentioned how Boyd only drinks water and whole milk. Apparently that is ok, although if he encounters any constipation it's also ok to give a little juice mixed with water. We also discussed Boyd's mild strawberry intolerance and the ongoing keratosis pilaris (small bumps on the backs of his arms). In addition to the regular eye check, the nurse took a photo of Boyd's eyes to send off for a scan. It came back normal so they'll repeat the test again at age 3. If the results were abnormal, they would have referred us to a pediatric eye doctor.

At age 2, Boyd should be able to string 2 words together. We're not there yet but the doc says it's good that he know say least 20 words now, can understand most of what we say to him, and actively speaks to us. There were a couple questions on the pre-appointment form that I wasn't able to answer yes to - like if he can kick a ball. I realized that we had never even tried that!

• Potty training seems to be taking a step backwards. Boyd isn't as interested in the potty at our house anymore. But he knows that he's not supposed to pee on the carpet, which happened last night in his room after his diaper came off. I heard some "uh oh's" after I turned around and spied a little wet spot on the floor. Sigh.
• It was backwards day at gymnastics a few weeks ago and he did really well. At home I caught him walking backwards down the driveway so it's good to know he's retaining skills from class. He's also started to hang from the bar in class and supporting his own weight (yay!). He's doing so well on the balance beam and will grudgingly take part in some of the back flips and hand stands.
• We are doing quite a bit of reading. He'll want to go through the same book over and over, and will get impatient if we spend too much time on the pages he's not interested in. He will point out characters or pictures, giggle, and turn back to his favorite pages.
• He's been keeping busy with the train table and tracks I purchased secondhand from Craigslist.
• More words! Thank you, backpack, turtle, caribou (boo), bear, fish, baby (bebe). He'll point to himself and say "me" or "Boyd."
• Two weeks ago Boyd and I hit up the museum for the monthly free day. As usual, we spent most of our time at the water table, but he seemed pretty interested in the turtle, "Chomper."
• Items at our house are either "mama" or "dada." D and I both keep our rubber boots near the front door. Boyd will point out D's and say "dada," then say "mama" for mine. 
• Boats (bo) and airplanes (pane) are his favorite. He'll point those out unprompted.
• We're currently working on colors. Red and blue seem the most recognizable right now.
• Sometimes it seems like he understands what the numbers 1 and 2 mean. We're working on it. 
• If you are walking around in bare feet, Boyd will point to them and say UH OH! He seems to think everyone should be wearing shoes and/or socks at all times!
• We had a couple weeks of beautiful fall colors until a wind storm blew threw and dropped all of the leaves on the ground. On a Saturday that I had off from working health fairs, Boyd and I took a 3 mile walk around the neighborhood. We saw a mama moose and 2 calves munching on some tasty trees, which was a cool sight. Every 20 minutes I would check on Boyd and ask him if we should keep going, he would reply with "more!" So we kept walking. :-)

Patiently waiting to be called back to the exam room prior to his 20-month appointment.

We retired the hooded towels and switched over to regular bath towels. He's officially a big boy.

After bath time.

We've changed the living room around in anticipation of our new flat panel tv! We all really like it so far.

Loves his puppy.

And the puppy is VERY PATIENT.

So incredibly sweet. He does this a lot to Drift and to our cat.

Daddy's headlamp actually fits him.

New down jacket from Costco - only $22! The only downside is every other kid in Anchorage has this coat too, ha ha.

Super awesome day for a walk.

Mim, these may be the 3 moose we saw in our backyard this summer!

Homer birthday 2013

My annual birthday celebration in Homer (back in early August) was a great time with family. Everyone managed to take time out of their busy schedules - it was D and I, plus Boyd - my mom, Risha, and Gabe - and Don & Mim.  The week before we left, I treated myself to a haircut and highlights. It felt so great to get rid of those greys!

Overall Boyd slept well in the camper - had one rough night but the rest went fine. For some reason Boyd constantly wanted to visit the camper bathroom. He'd point at the toilet and shower, then want to look in the mirror and up at the ceiling vent.

The boys did a lot of fishing while us gals shopped, roamed around Homer and generally took it easy.

Hanging out at the local farmer's market and jamming to some live music.

Two grandmas trying to keep up with Mr. Zippy!

Seaweed in the shape of a fish.

This sweet boy loved the beach.

It tended to be overcast and rainy for most of the weekend. To the right of the photo, you can see a guy stand-up paddleboarding in Kachemak Bay.

Awesome pizza at a little place on the boardwalk. I believe this was pear/gorgonzola and pepperoni. Risha and I slipped away one afternoon during Boyd's nap to walk around the spit.

Heading out for a quick few hours of fishing Monday morning before leaving town.

Halibut fishing!

Curious sea otters.

Fall day at the Zoo

Two Fridays ago I took the day off since my mom had a quick Homer trip planned with her church. I knew that I wanted to get out of the house with Boyd so off to the Zoo we went! The morning dawned clear with no clouds to be seen - it was so nice to see blue skies after weeks of wet, soggy weather.

I love the Zoo in the morning - few crowds and the animals are usually up and walking around. I made sure Boyd was super layered up since it was 37 degrees when we left the house!

This enclosure held 3 deer and 1 turkey. Everyone seemed to get along just fine.

I didn't even give a second thought to bringing a stroller. Boyd is in a stage where he hates being confined for an extended period of time. What usually happens is I end up carrying him in one arm and pushing a stroller with the other. So the stroller stayed home and I coaxed him to walk about 1/2 of the time. My arms were definitely sore the next morning - this kid is heavy!

All three grizzly bears were out and enjoying the sunny day.

Petting zoo was open! Boyd had a granola bar before we went in and the animals kept going after the crumbs on his sleeve. He loved the bunny. The goats stood together and just "mehhhhed" at us. The zoo worker said that they were waiting to get fed.

One of two Siberian tigers.

Watching the tigers