Christmas Tree search

Friday morning we set out to find our Christmas Tree. It has always been a tradition...on the Hiers side...to go into the forest to cut down a tree. Every since Marty and I have been married, we have taken that tradition on as well and have gone in search of our Christmas Tree. We buy a permit for $5 and go out to the forest. It's about a 45 minute drive from our house to where we find our trees. This year, it took us a little under 2 hours to find 2 trees...including our drive time. One tree is for our home and one for the pharmacy. It sure beats the $20 trees they are selling in the parking lot. Last year Elizabeth was so small and slept the entire time we searched. This year she trecked with us, although we didn't really have to go that far off the driving path. It really is a fun outing to do as a family, and I hope that the kids will continue to enjoy that time together.

Last Year

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was at our house. We had to switch some things around this year because we were drawn for the Elk hunt at Thanksgiving time. Kathy and George were able to make it up and spend this holiday with us. It was nice to be able to stay in this year and not have to travel in the holiday crowd.

Other exciting news...Elizabeth started to walk last week. She is getting really good at it too. She does fall down a lot, but that's all in the practice. She does really well when she has something in her hands like a book or her cup.

Baby Boy

I went to the ultrasound technician today and got some more pictures and a video of the little boy. It was nice to be able to get all the measurements and see that everything is on schedule and that everything looks great too. Little Martin weighs 1 pound and we are right on schedule for the due date too. I always feel a little comforted when I get an ultrasound done and am able to see the little baby.

Elizabeth is doing great as well. We just got her 1 year pictures and she seems more and more like a little girl rather than my baby. She isn't walking yet, however the other day we were walking together using this pop thing and I let go and she took 5 steps on her own. She realized that I wasn't there helping anymore and fell to her knees and cried for a time. It was a little humorous. I do know you can't rush the walking thing, but I sure wish she gets it before the baby arrives.



















She'd rather be playing in the box than with her toys...

Trunk-or-treat

Ruby and Elizabeth















Look at how cute she is in her Piggie costume

Smile!

Waving

Huh???

Pumpkins

I just wanted to post a couple pictures of us carving our pumpkins this year.

Elizabeth is watching Marty get all the "stuff" out

She wants to taste it to see if it's any good

Examining the top...she tried to taste that too, but didn't like it so much

Totally excited

I just want to let everyone know that I went to the doctor this morning and got a quick ultrasound done. I found out that we are having a BOY!!!! I am super excited and so is Marty. I can't believe how thrilled he is. I got some great pictures, but since we don't have a scanner, I can't get any pictures posted for all of you to see. I am going in on the 10th of Nov. to get measurements done and check everything else out. I am really excited to put together another baby room...this time in blue.

1 year

Today we went in for Elizabeth's 1 year check-up. Of course the doctor says she is perfectly healthy and looks great. She is sitting at 50% on all her measurements. She is 29 1/2 inches long, weights 20.6 pounds, and her head is 18 inches in diameter. The one thing we were told to do...again is to bathe her in a mild soap due to her dry skin and lather her in the cetaphil lotion after her bath. I was also told to put vaseline on her hands during nap time and bedtime to help moisturize

What a cutie

So...I thought these pictures were just adorable...look at her hair. I couldn't believe that I could get anything up and have it stay.

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday, Marty and I took Elizabeth to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. Of course she didn't really know what was going on, but it was fun for us to watch her crawl through the pumpkins. We got some really great pictures of her with the pumpkins.

Elizabeth's Birthday

We had Elizabeth's birthday party on the 18th. She was only interested in playing outside with the other girls. I guess you can't expect much more...right. She enjoyed her gifts and loved the cake...or should I say the icing. It was a great and fun day. Her birthday was last Wednesday and I spent the day working. We did go out to dinner to celebrate her day, and she got to eat shrimp for the first time. She really liked it. I'm a little sad that she has made that milestone. That just means my little baby isn't a baby anymore.

New Mexico

We went to New Mexico this past weekend. We spent 4 days there and it was a nice visit. The weather was nice as well...compared to the cold Oregon weather. This was the first time Jeb and Hannah were able to see Elizabeth and we were able to see their new baby Lucy. I think Lucy looks like Jeb. While we were in New Mexico, we went to the balloon festival, but because there was too much wind we weren't able to see any of the balloon go up. On Saturday morning they inflated one of the balloons but that is all that happened.

Picture perfect

More pictures of my cutie.

I tried posing her in the first picture and it worked. At least she has half a smile on her face. In the second she's letting me know what she thinks of this picture taking thing.

Ash

This is Ash...he's really hard to see in this picture because of the lighting. I'm posting this for Korrie. Ash is clinging to the window, because he wants me to feed him. This is his new effort to let me know what he wants. If I don't feed him right away, he will continue hanginging on the window until I come out and he gets what he wants. I find this rather humorous.

Some pictures I want to share

A few weeks ago, we had a play date with our friends Ruby and Aliza. We went up to Aliza's parents home and spent the afternoon there having a great time. Remember, this is back when it was warm during the day.

We lounged by the pool and swam a little too.

We were able to see horses play the piano. Elizabeth really liked the horse's eye.

Suggestions?

So...Elizabeth is almost a year old and I'm not really looking forward to that milestone. She won't be my little baby anymore and that makes me sad. What I want to know is...Elizabeth used to stand up and now she doesn't do it anymore. I'm not sure what happened, but I think she forgot that she can do that. Anyway, do I try and work with her to get her to stand on her own, or will she just remember and be able to do it again. Does that also work with walking? I heard somewhere that you can't force them and that they will just walk on their own when they're ready.

Oh how I love the kitty

Here is a picture of Elizabeth with Addi. It's really funny how much she likes the cat. The cat actually takes the abuse...sometimes. So, we finally have a new due date for the baby. Our new date is March 17th. It won't be too much longer before we find out what the sex of the baby is. I go in for my next appointment at the beginning of the month and I'm sure it will be scheduled at that point.

A week ahead of schedule

Marty and I went in for our first ultrasound appointment yesterday. It was really exciting seeing our baby. At the doctor we go to, they have the 3D ultrasound equiptment so it's neat to get a look at the baby at all angles. The baby was moving around a lot, so it was hard to get one clear picture. We also found out that the baby is measuring one week ahead of our due date. I found this a bit odd, because when we went in for my first appointment, my doctor did a quick ultrasound right in the exam room and the baby was measuring 4 days later than my prediction. We think that my doctor will change our date when she gets a chance to look at the information, or when I go see her next month.

Spaghetti

We decided to give Elizabeth spaghetti for the first time last night. This is what we ended up with...

We thought that because it would be messy, not to mess with a bib...or clothes. We were really shocked that it ended up everywhere. She went straight into the bathtub after dinner where there were noodles and chuckes of hamburger floating around. Very grose. Plus, her skin had a slight orange tint to it afterward...even after all the scrubbing. Luckily when she woke up this morning that orange glow to her was gone.

Sister's visit

My sister came to visit us a couple of weeks ago. I went with her to her 10 year H.S. reunion up in Portland. It makes me think that mine is just around the corner...next year...and that makes me feel old. Korrie has a 5 1/2 month old boy Carson that came with her. Marty and his family was kind and watched the kids while we traveled to Portland...a 3 hour drive...attended that reunion, and came home. Elizabeth was all about Carson the entire weekend. I think she just liked the fact that there was another little body around.

Carson is in Elizabeth's exersaucer and is playing with the toys too.

Elizabeth is going in for a closer look.

She is trying to snatch his pacifier.

Helping with his bath.

Oh, how we love them.

New Computer

It's been a while since we've posted and that is due to a number of reasons. We got a new computer a couple of weeks ago and are having difficulities installing the Kodak program software. I think it's because of this new vista thing that all computers now have, but that really may not be the problem. So...what I'm saying is that we don't have pictures until we can get this figured out. It doesn't hinder any posting, but everyone likes to see a picture or two on a post.

We're expecting

SO...we are making it official. I went in to see the doctor on Tuesday and I had an ultrasound done. We are having a baby! My due date is March 25th, but the doctor speculated more around the 29th. We are really super excited to have another bundle of joy.

9 month check-up

Elizabeth's 9 month check-up was yesterday and she is doing great. She weighs 19 pounds, is 28 inches long, and has a head circ. of 17 1/2 inches. She is in the 50th percentile on each measurement. The pediatrician was amazed at how much she was moving. She was crawling and climbing all over the place and picking things up. She said that she wouldn't be surprised if her vocabulary was a bit delayed, because she is focusing so much on moving around. She also told us that she expects elizabeth to be walking here within a month or 2. I'm not sure I'm ready for that one, but I also know I don't really have a choice.

New Toy

Here is Elizabeth's new toy. I found it at one of those Kid to Kid places for $8. I thought it was a bargain! It's got lots of little things on there for her to play with and it also changes from a sitting toy to a standing toy where she can push it from behind. She hasn't figured out yet how to make it go, but that will come over time.

Family

Well...it's been a couple of days, or maybe a week or so that I've posted. That's because we have had family in town. Actually, I've had more time during the day to get stuff done, but I think I'm liking just to relax and not do anything while Kathy and George are here. I am being a lazy bum, and I feel okay about that. Not much is going on, we picked some blackberries and raspberries and are planning on making some jam and syrup out of them...yummy. Other than that, I'll post sometime later and give you more of an update.

9 months

Elizabeth turned 9 months yesterday. I can not believe how qickly the 9 months flew by. I can still remember bringing her home from the hospital and how tiny her little body was. I am constantly amazed at how much she is learning and what she can do. I can't believe that it's possible, but today I love her more.

How can she do that?

This is a picture I took of Elizabeth sleeping. Notice the toes between her arm and ear. Doesn't that look like it hurts?

Camping

We went camping this weekend and found this beautiful place called Boulder Flats. It's about 50 miles east of Roseburg along the North Umpqua river. We found this wonderful camp site right on the river. We went with some friends of ours and the girls stayed at the camp site and chit-chatted while the boys went to the Lake and fished for 2 days. Could you ask for anything more? Well...maybe catching some fish for us to eat, but that's okay too. The boys also went swimming in the river. It was super cold, but if any of you know Marty, he's a fish. He would jump in any kind of water. Here are some pictures of our camping trip. The pack n play is the best invention and wonderful for keeping the little one contained. I think it's adorable that she can barely see over the top.

Baby Einstein

So...here is a picture of Elizabeth watching her favorite movie...baby Einstein. As you can see she is glued to the t.v. This reminds me of Reese watching this as well. It seems like all babies love it. As for us, we are going camping this weekend to Lake Toketee...I think that's how it's spelled. We are going with some friends and Marty is going to do some fishing. Hopefully he will catch some yummy fish for us to eat. I am also looking forward to my in-laws coming next week. Hopefully I will be able to check off some projects I need to to get done. It seems that with Elizabeth I can get started but never finish.

Also...any ideas on what I can so with her hair. It seems like I can put a barrette in to keep her hair out of her eyes, but her hair is so thin that the barrette comes right out.

update

This summer has been a very busy one for us. Marty is working hard on his bumper for the truck and I am working hard at making sure Elizabeth doesn't get into everything in sight. This last week I went out to Sutherlin and picked 15 pounds of blueberries. I thought that it was more than enough, but when I got home I realized that I actually might want some more blueberries to freeze. Elizabeth chows them down and them keeps going for more. Marty and I also went to Florence Saturday for a wedding. It was beautiful on the coast.

4th

I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th. We sure did have a lot of fun this year. We were a bit surprised that Elizabeth didn't fuss about the fireworks. We headed over to Jen's house at about 4:30. We had a barbeque, played some games, and watched the Winston fireworks show. Elizabeth had a 40 minute power nap before the show began, so she was ready.