Little Gamer

Cute Spoon Eating

Sequoia just keeps getting cuter and cuter! She now has a total of eight teeth with her new top molars. She has been putting them to good use eating anything and everything she can get her hands on. She really likes some strange foods for a toddler--things like rhubarb, fennel, and broccoli. She currently has only one food that she dislikes, peaches--she won't touch them.

We are finally using our baby monitors! In preparation of Mommy's return to school in a couple weeks, we've started an earlier bedtime routine. She is starting to get the hang of having her last late night snack, brushing her teeth, the last diaper change, pajama time, story time, and then sleepy time. She now goes to bed awake and falls asleep in her bed pretty much on her own. This is very different from the mommy=mattress situation we had before. So of course, Dan and I are using this quiet time to grade papers, do homework and housework--eventually we'll find time to relax.

Enjoy these pictures of Sequoia's silly faces and her cute purple toe toes.

Miracles Do Happen!

Yes. This is Sequoia sleeping on her own in her own bed with Dolly!

This is Sequoia feeding herself breakfast with a spoon and making very little mess!

Sequoia is growing by leaps and bounds! In the past week she has added new words to her vocabulary (including PaPa, tree, pretty, otter, bird, purple, toast, and crunchie), she started dancing with her feet (it looks like some form of tap dancing), she has a new way that she smiles where she scrunches up her eyes and gives a big grin (yet to be caught on camera), she can feed herself with a spoon (as long as the food she's eating sticks to the spoon), and as of last night, she is sleeping on her own in her toddler bed. She is also very opinionated, and is very melodramatic if she doesn't get her way, or if we don't respond fast enough to her whims. Wow!

She is going through a large growth spurt (or she will soon be the size of a whale...) as she is eating constantly. She has her three normal meals plus six to seven snacks. This is good since she was almost too tall for her infant car seat, but didn't weigh enough for her next car seat. Now she is in her new fancy forward facing car seat which she finds very comfortable and much more interesting. Around the house she is now tall enough that she can reach up and pull things off the edges of the dinner table and nothing in or on the dvd racks is safe.

We rearranged our bedroom and converted her crib to a toddler bed yesterday. We are proud to say that she actually slept in it the whole night! She woke up about five times, but I was able to get her to fall back asleep rather quickly each time. She did get in bed with us around 7am for morning nursing, but she did sleep on her own for almost 8 hours (not counting the momentary wakings of course).

So many new and wonderful developments. This is definitely one of the many magical times! Enjoy these new pictures!

Thank you Grandpa!

A few weeks ago, Sequoia, Dan, and myself all came down with a horrible stomach flu. Sequoia bounced back the next day, but Dan and I were pretty rough. So wonderful Grandpa jumped on a plane to Eugene and helped take care of all of us. It really made a wonderful difference in our recovery and Sequoia had a great time with her PaPa (her name for her Grandpa).

So here are some pictures of the two of them having fun making dinner together. Really, really thank you Pa for taking such great care of us!

Springtime Stylin'

Spring Break

We had a wonderful Spring Break with Grandma and Grandpa (and even a fun visit with Auntie Katy). We ate great food, had wonderful visiting, Sequoia showed off all of her talents, shared Sequoia hugs and kisses, and spent a rainy/snowy day at the Portland Zoo. It was a wonderful time. We can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa again (she has been carrying around their picture as a substitute in the meantime).

Check out these pictures from our great visit!

Big Beautiful Brown Eyes

Dancing with Daddy

Sequoia was dancing with Daddy while I made dinner, and then she fell asleep on his shoulder. These are such sweet pictures of our little one with her happy daddy!

Sleepy Time

Sequoia took a short nap with Dolly the other day. It was so cute that I had to take a picture and share it with all of you!

Her Daddy's Girl

On Thursdays we normally go to Gymboree for Sequoia's class, but since she is still a little sick we decided it would be best for the other kids if we stayed home instead. Sequoia had other plans. Around 5:05 pm (which is around the time we usually leave the house for her class) she walked over to her car seat and started shaking it back and forth and babbling, obviously letting us know that we were running late for class. Dan and I looked at each other--she couldn't possible know that it was Thursday, could she? Well, she wanted to go out, so we put her socks and new big size 5 shoes on and packed up my purse, and we headed out to the mall to walk around.

When we got to the mall, we left the stroller in the car since she insists on walking everywhere. Dan set her down on the ground and held her hand while we started our lap past all the stores. She started window shopping, but she didn't seem too interested in anything in particular. Then she smelled chocolate in the air, and quickly made a beeline for the Euphoria Chocolate store. She ran in the store and started looking over their chocolate truffle selection. We spent about five minutes in the store looking at various chocolates before we could pull her away to walk the rest of the mall. She's definitely her daddy's little girl--chocoholics all round =)

Sequoia's 1st Birthday!

It's hard to believe that our little mastermind is a whole year old! We didn't do much for her birthday since we've all been sick for the past week, but we had a little party with just the three of us. After a little visit with Grandma and Grandpa over the web cam, Mommy whipped up some lasagna and chocolate cake for birthday festivities. She absolutely loved the chocolate cake.

She got some great presents for her special day. Grandma made her a special sleepy time dolly that she now carries around everywhere (we even put dolly to bed at night and she can't wait to say good morning to her dolly). She got some pretty new dresses and outfits too.

We had her one year check up with her doctor today, and everything, aside from her little cold, looked great. She's about 18.5 pounds and 29.5 inches tall (20th percentile in weight and 65th in height), so she's tall and skinny. She also got a new book from her doctor today, which already has some great teeth marks in it.

We hope you enjoy all these cute birthday pictures of our adorable girl! Thank you to everyone for sending birthday wishes.

Walkin' Series

Duck Walkin'
December 26, 2007


Lion Walkin'
January 10, 25, and 27, 2008


Workin' on Walkin'
January 14 and 26, and February 11, 2008


Christopher Walken
March 31, 1943


Super Walkin'
February 15, 2008

Sequoia playing in the snow...

and eating it too!

Almost One Year Old!

I Love Grandma and Grandpa!My hair is so spikey and cute!

Eating snow with Daddy is so much fun!

Check out my new big girl car seat and Mommy's new hairdo!

We can't believe how close it is getting to Sequoia's first birthday. She is almost walking (random steps here and there for the time being). It is kind of like big foot--we can't seem to get it on film.

Aside from almost walking, she is starting to understand a lot more words, she can see the difference between cats and dogs now, and she can put things in boxes instead of just emptying everything (even though the emptying activity is still her favorite)--on top of all that she can also drink fairly well out of a cup! Lately she has also started crawling and walking around the apartment with blocks or her teething ring in her mouth roaring--it's hilarious--and she wants to be carried around so she can point at things so we can tell her what they are called. Now she can say Daddy, Momma, duck, cat, dog, dat (her word for that when she wants to know what it is called, or if she wants something that she can't reach), toe, and down. Plus she loves clapping, so anytime she does something exciting (like throwing a block) she claps for herself, and she claps along with people on tv shows.

We have been going to Gymboree for about a month now, and she loves it there. She does pretty well with the other kids and mommies, but the sight of any other daddy makes her cry. We love how none of the toddlers in her group have normal names--the only other girl is Monroe, and then the boys are Brody, Cole, Seth, Jackson, and Justice--can you tell that this is Eugene?

Well, we are having a great time with Sequoia and watching her master all of her new tricks--which also includes being tall enough to climb on top of the coffee table by herself (she's about 29" tall and 20 pounds). We miss all of you and are looking forward to upcoming visits during Spring Break (we don't expect any snow then). Enjoy these pictures in the meantime!

Big Girl in Cute Jeans and New Mittens

Check out our cutie pie in her adorable jeans and new shirts (and her new knit sweater and mittens!) Sequoia has just joined Gymboree and loves socializing with the other toddlers--and we all love bubble time! She has even climbed on a few of the other moms while she's been exploring. It is a great experience for her (and for us -- getting to see her interact and learn to play with other little ones). This is just such a fun time of exploration. Enjoy these new pictures!

White Christmas in California

We had a great trip down to California for Christmas! We were able to spend about ten days visiting with family and friends and it was fantastic.

Sequoia experienced her first snow while we were there. There are some adorable pictures of Sequoia checking out a snowball with Daddy. She also had fun walking around in her pretty red dress (for a little while at least). I think by the end of our trip she was starting to figure out how to rip open packages, so we think she'll be more than ready to help tear open her gifts and anyone else's that she can get her little hands on.

Thank you to everyone for making our holidays so special this year!

We hope you enjoy these fun pictures of our wonderful white Christmas!

More Thanksgiving Pictures

Here are some more pictures of our wonderful Thanksgiving that we had here in Eugene. Check out the picture perfect turkey that Dan cooked and the world's best pies that Grandma Margaret baked.

The Little Explorer

Sequoia has enjoyed exploring the entire apartment--crawling, walking, digging in boxes--basically anywhere that is remotely accessible to her. Daddy has baby-proofed all the cabinets in the kitchen except for one filled with pots and plastic containers for her amusement. We are also now official baby walkers as she loves to hold our fingers for balance as she chases the cats around the house. Check out these new pictures of this cute little adventurer.

Sequoia in Action

Sequoia's description of the rain falling outside

Sequoia feeding herself yogurt

Sequoia giggling with Mommy

Sequoia sorting the laundry

Sequoia walking with Mommy

Playtime and Bathtime

Here are some pictures of Sequoia playing with her kitty Merlin, the baby girl passed out after a trip to the mall, and taking her ducky bath. So cute!