Bub's First Hanukkah!

I have to admit I haven't had any particularly special Hanukkahs for probably 8 or 9 years. Being far from family, whether in New York City or Manaus, made the holiday much less fun for me. Not to mention, it's hard to have presents for 8 nights when your mom is hundreds of miles away! ;)
Now that we have a little boy to share the holidays with, they're automatically so much more fun! Last night was Bubba's first night of Hanukkah. He didn't seem too excited, but we were plenty excited for him. We put his presents all around him and let him crawl to the one he wanted to open. He mostly just patted the wrapping paper and tried to eat the tag and ribbon, but we had a good time watching him.

Yummy present

Happy Holidays to all of you! We hope they are filled with lots of joy and love wherever you may be.

Box of Fun

Bubba has had us laughing right along with him for months now, but we still get a kick out of making him laugh daily. He's especially fond of playing peek-a-boo, loves when we bark like a dog, and giggles when getting his belly and back kissed. We've recently discovered his fascination with boxes and laundry baskets. Who needs expensive toys when you've got something as fun as this?!

First time playing in a box with Daddy

I know I am biased, but isn't that laugh just the sweetest sound ever?

Still catchin' up

Alright, well I've caught you up to the part where we move to Oregon, right? Only 4 more months to go!
One of the reasons we moved here was to be closer to Jay's brother and his family. We visited for about a week one time several years ago, and thanks to our adorable toddler niece, we have felt pulled to come back ever since. She is no longer a tot and is in fact already in kindergarten, but she is still as charming as she was at 2! She is absolutely in love with her little cousin Elijah, and even brought his picture to school as one of her 3 favorite things. How sweet is that? She loves holding him, kissing him, and playing with him. I'm sure she'll be getting him into trouble in no time!

Cousin love, first day meeting each other

While having a baby in tow can make some things more of a drag, having a baby at the holidays is awesome. It's so much fun to have a real reason to go all out decorating the house or partaking in the season's activities that are normally suited to kids. I think there is also something really special about making memories with your kids that are the same memories you had growing up- like going to the pumpkin farm. Even if he didn't really know where we were at only 5 months, he still seemed to be happy walking around the fields with us, playing with family, and riding the hay ride. Mommy even went in her first corn maze!

A few weeks later, we met the family at another cool place with Halloween arts and crafts for the kids, face painting, and even a small pumpkin patch. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon with our lil moo cow.

We've also been fortunate to have some visitors here in Beaverton. Both Jay's parents and my mom have already come to visit us. We proudly drove them around in our new-to-us car, another perk of living in the burbs. We checked out some trails, the Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, and some downtown spots with them when we weren't oohing and ahhing over the baby boy. 

Bath time with PurPur and Gramps

Mumsey's in da house!

 Japanese Garden in Portland

The Rose Garden

We also were graced with the presence of my oldest best friend Amy, better known as Boppa. We've been trying to get together forever but something always came up that prevented us from reuniting. Finally the stars aligned, and we had a super fun week exploring new restaurants in the city and remembering the good ol' days like only old friends can do. It was really nice for me to have a best friend around since we don't know many people here and being at home with a baby can be quite isolating. Having her here also made me remember that I'm still *me* even with a baby. Thanks, Boppa! 

Girls Night Out in Portland-

So much fun, too much eating! :)

She came at the perfect time to see the leaves.

Lunch in the city

 Photo shoot at the park

Elijah's first time in a swing..weeeeee!

Looking back over these pictures, it's amazing to see how much our little guy has changed and grown since we moved. We've seen him learn to roll over both directions, sit up unassisted, pull himself up on us, and be able to sit in a cart at the store or a high chair at restaurants. He's constantly adding new expressions, sounds, and laughs to his repertoire, and we fall even more in love with him every day. He is a happy, smiley little baby who flirts with strangers and squeals in delight when you play peek-a-boo. He's just about as perfect as it gets.

Just don't ask me if he's sleeping through the night yet ;)

Catchin' up

I know, I know. It's been forever since my last blog post, right? Well, I don't have any excuses... unless you count the stressful international move, followed by a move to a new city, and having an active little baby. To be honest, he started out this process "little" at only 2 months and is now my big 7 month old boy. Wow, I guess I have neglected this blog for a long time!

So for anyone who reads this and doesn't yet know, we made the decision to move back to the United States shortly after Elijah was born. We didn't plan on returning so soon, but due to a family health issue in the states, we fast-tracked it back. It was also rather trying going through the normal things that happen with a newborn- all the doctor appointments, filing his birth certificate, adding him to insurance, etc- while being in a foreign country with a foreign language. Our friends of course were helpful when they could be, but getting things done with a tiny baby who eats every 2 hours all with no car in sweaty hot weather was just not fun. So in the end, we donated tons of our stuff to friends and sold the bigger things to the tenant who took our place. Then we took 3 flights from Manaus to Panama to Los Angeles to Phoenix with our sweet baby boy who barely made a peep the whole 18 hours! Who would complain when you're being held the entire time by Mamae or Papai?

Our happy little trooper

Soooo giddy when we got to baggage at LAX :)

We spent a month or so in Phoenix showing off our little babe to his new family, and Jay and I partook in the splendor of driving a car to Fry's Marketplace! For anyone who doesn't know, that is a massive grocery store with every single thing you could possibly need or want, from baby wipes and fresh sliced Muenster cheese to fresh flowers and Starbucks. I think Jay actually went almost every morning just because he could. Sometimes it really is the little things that make all the difference :)

Speaking of little things... our baby boy loved spending time with his family there--

Crazy Uncle Aaron- Shhh, don't show Daddy!

Sleepy boy at the track in Cali

So happy with his Mumsey :)

Love at first sight for Daphne

He also spent lots of time with his grandparents on Jay's side, too, but they took all the pics with their camera so no pics from me :(  

The time went by too fast for me in AZ, but we managed to do a few fun things besides shush Elijah to sleep and walk him around all. the. time. 

Daddy was a master shush-er and walker

First Cardinals' training camp at 2.5 months,
daytrip to Flagstaff, AZ

I think he liked it!

Road-trip to visit friends in California!!!

Pit stop for a feeding and new diaper. Almost there!!

 Everyone imitating Elijah's thumb-sucking

A new way to go to the beach for me- 

no swimsuit, no tanning, no reading,

just sitting under a tent trying to keep sand 

from blowing in the baby's face.

OK, so it wasn't all that bad!

While I was sad to see the time in AZ coming to an end, we were both excited to be starting a new chapter of our life in a new place. We shipped off more boxes, packed our bags yet again, said more goodbyes, and loaded up the baby in the middle of the night to get to the airport on time. Fortunately for us, after so many long flights over the past 2 years, this 2.5 hour flight to Portland, OR, just flew by!

To be continued.... (I promise!)