What We've Been Up To...

We have been keeping busy this past month. Dan and I both went to Bachelor(ette) parties for our friends that are getting married at the end of this month. I had my first night of uninterrupted sleep since probably March. It was amazing! Dan went rafting and partied with his friends, I don't think he slept as well as I did ;)

I never updated the blog when Holly was 1 month old. We weighed her at home and estimate that she was 8 lb 3 oz at one month. In comparison, Elliott was 10 lb 9oz! Around 5 weeks she finally started wearing her 0-3 Month clothing, rather than the tiny newborn stuff we had. She's just a little bean. Dan thinks that she is up to 10 lbs now, at 7 weeks. Holly is doing really well. She has started to have some longer stretches of sleep at night, usually around 5 hours. We had a few rough mornings last week where she wanted to get up at 5am. Dan and I are NOT morning people. So, that was not fun at all - especially for Dan because he was the one up with her. She is very happy in the morning and will give us tons of smiles. Unfortunately, we've hit the colicky stage and she is not very happy in the evenings. I'm hoping that passes quickly and she can get back to being her sweet self.

Elliott is doing great. He amazes me every day with his memory and the things he says to me. His memory of events is out of this world. Unfortunately, that also means he remember all the bad things. For example, he likes to remind me that I honked and got mad at a car at a certain point on the road near our house. He does this probably 70% of the time that we pass that point on the road. Thanks Elliott. He is finally getting the hang of riding his tricycle by himself. He is really creative with his playing, but also very literal. He's all boy and likes guns. Though, usually they are made out of legos. He's shoot you saying, "gun gun gun. I gunned you". Elliott is adjusting really well to having Holly around. There are times when he is really sweet with her. Other times he ignores her existence.

Elliott in the Lovejoy Fountain in Portland. This is right next to the apartment Dan and I lived in when we first got married. We loved living downtown. I loved walking to work in 5 minutes!



Because we are season ticket holders with the Portland Timbers we were invited to a special event at the field about 2 weeks ago. The players were all there for autographs. You could go down on the field and play a pick up game or shoot goals. Here's Elliott scoring a goal:



Here we are with Timber Joey:




Holly is smiling now. But, it's hard to get on film. Here is a grainy picture I took with my phone:


Backyard camp out:


Playing in the pool is serious stuff:


The first bath Holly has actually enjoyed:


This summer has been really mild. I think we had our first 90 degree day on Saturday! Which means that we are still able to get peas out of our garden in mid August. Everything else is lagging behind. Our tomatoes have just started to get ripe. Elliott really likes being able to pick peas or blueberries any time he wants. He loves tomatoes, once those ripen he will be eating them all. I think it great for him to be able eat straight from the garden.

Teeny tiny bell pepper:


Eggplant:




Finally, some hot weather in Portland!! I've taken lots of pictures in the last few days and will update again soon.

Elliott Quote

Sometimes when you are putting Elliott to bed he gets really talkative.  Last night he had been laying in our bedroom for a while, and we have a picture on the wall from when Wendy and I got married.  He'd obviously been staring at this for a bit because he asked me "Did you and mommy get married".  I told him we had and then he made a couple jokes about "who's Mary?".

After asking again whether we got married, and me confirming that yes we were, he asked:  "Is that why you got married, so mom could get fat?"  Since to him being fat means the same thing as being pregnant, I had to answer "yeah, sort of".

Picture Update

Holly is now 3 weeks old. At her two week Dr. appointment she weighed in at 7lb, 4oz. The doctor said she was doing great. She has been sleeping pretty well for us at night. Sometimes she likes to be awake around 4-5am, which is pretty rough. Thankfully, Dan is able to help me as much as he can. We are also thankful for Dan working at home and all the help he gives us during work hours. I'm glad I'm not completely alone all day! Elliott has been doing great with adjusting to life with a sister. Life is busy with two kids!

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks:




Two Weeks Old:




Dan introduced Elliott to He-Man, and then made him this cardboard sword. Elliott likes to pretend he is He-Man now.


We've been spending a lot of time in the yard. It's easy to entertain Elliott...give him the hose and he will happily water everything...including me!


This is what I saw at Amy's house last week. Elliott said he and Cameron were, "making a party". Basically it's a wheel barrel full of water, bark dust, dirt and bark chips. I think Cameron had already gotten soaked (which is why he has no pants on) and Elliott was in the process. They were thrilled with themselves!


Elliott likes to make this face at me:


And, finally, Holly sleeping so peacefully tonight:

What Elliott Says

Elliott is full of funny comments daily. Here is some of what I heard today:

"I'm going to be tall like Daddy and fat like Mommy" - Thanks! I think I must have said I was fat one too many times while I was pregnant.

When Holly is crying Elliott will get in her face and say, "Look at me Baby Holly, I'm your big brother". It is really sweet, but not necessarily very helpful with calming her down.

He also likes to turn everything around on you. If I was to say, "it's raining out", Elliott would respond by saying, "no, it's not raining". Doesn't matter what the truth is, he likes to be contrary, all the time!

Baby Holly Is Here!

As you can tell, Dan has created a new blog for our growing family. I believe if you went to Elliott's blog it will automatically redirect you here. It's so nice to know someone who is so good with this stuff!

Welcome Baby Holly Elise Porter!!

She arrived on July 3rd, was 6lbs, 13 oz and measured 20'' long (though I'm skeptical about that one).

Around 3:45am I woke up from a dream where I was having a baby and it was painful. The pain was real as I was having my first contraction. Throughout the night I timed them, showered, ate, snoozed. At around 8:20am I decided to wake Dan up because the contractions had become closer together and much more painful. We called his parents to come for Elliott and we finished packing for the hospital. After a very happy epidural I was able to deliver Holly at 2:50pm.

**I wrote the above last week, am just now getting back to finishing up this post**

Things around here have been good. Dan has been able to take 2 weeks off work and stay home with Elliott, Holly and I. Elliott is loving all the time with Dan and I love all the help he has been. Holly has been a really easy baby, so far. For the last 3 nights she has even slept well. She wakes up about every 3-4 hours to eat and might stay awake for an hour afterwards, but she has been sleeping amazingly well. I honestly can't even complain about feeling sleep deprived. Elliott has been adjusting well, too. He hasn't shown any jealousy over Holly. Mostly he is just upset that all the things he expected to be able to do with me still can't happen because I'm healing. I'm not sure what happened, but he's even listening better and has become a really good helper.

Here are some picture from the last week or so:

Nearly There

I am officially 37 weeks pregnant, and I feel it! Ugg! I would LOVE to get a full night of sleep, though I know that's not going to happen any time soon. I would be thrilled if this baby Girl decided to make her appearance sooner, rather than later. I was 4 days early with Elliott, so maybe I'll be early again (crosses fingers). We are mostly ready for the new baby. I think the only thing really left to do is to put in the car seat. Elliott will be sharing his bedroom with her. We have rearranged his room to fit in the crib. I just realized I don't have any pictures, so I'll have to remedy that tomorrow. All the baby girl clothes have been washed, hung up and are waiting for her.

Elliott likes to tell me, "When the baby climbs out of your tummy you'll be able to snuggle with me ALL DAY LONG". Or, "make room for me in the reading chair". He has about 5 things that I'll be able to do with him once she arrives. Obviously, he doesn't quite understand that this little girl is going to be taking up a lot of that one on one time we have together. Though, I'll happily admit, I would love to be able to snuggle with him longer and more comfortably.

This past month has been busy. I finally cracked down on potty training. Elliott has been able to pee in the potty for a while. But, he never tells us when he has to go. It's very hit and miss, which is not fun. Over the past few weeks we are "undies only" at home and if we are going out for short trips. He has been doing really well, though still has the occasional accident. Going #2 is a whole different story. We're still working on it, some days we are successful others not so much. I hope that he is able to continue on this good streak and not have any regression when the baby arrives.

As a family we went to Enchanted Forest at the beginning of June. Dan and I had both been when we were kids. I think I was maybe 6 or 7 and I don't remember it well. Dan was older when he went and he LOVED it. Ever since my sisters had their kids he has been wanting to take someone there. Elliott had a great time. He isn't always the most adventurous kid, but he did well on the few kid rides he went on. He did the ferris wheel by himself (the picture we have makes it look like E is in jail, so I'm not going to post it). The kid bumber boats were a huge hit, he loved them!




This past week we went Strawberry picking with my sisters and all the cousins. I brought a camp chair so that I could sit and watch. Elliott wasn't the best strawberry picker. He mainly would pick 5 or 6 then dump them out, then eat them off the ground. Yum! All the kids had a good time and I got to sit with Baby Paige :)

I took about 8 cousin pictures and not one of them turned out good. Elliott was being a stinker and would not look at the camera. Actually, in most of them he's looking at Cameron and they both have their tongues out. Elliott has definitely mastered the art of selective hearing.












Paige :)


After strawberry picking we all went to Sarah's house to play and swim. Amy was nice enough to get in with the kids while Sarah, Paige and I sat the deck. I had E in his lifejacket to see if that would work for him. He wasn't totally stable and didn't seem to like it. Amy added to ring and he was off on his own! He happily kicked around the pool like this for a while. I mentioned above that he isn't always very adventurous. In the last week or so he's really started to try new things out, this being one. There is a great pool near our house, hopefully Dan and Elliott can go soon so that he can get more comfortable in the water. Because I taught lessons for years I have wanted to start him in lessons once he's potty trained and 3 years old. We'll have to go a few more times this summer so that he learns to like the water and no be afraid to get it on his face (as he sometimes is in the bathtub).



Tonight I tried out my domestic side and canned Strawberry Jam. Even though Elliott didn't actually get any strawberries I still bought some from the farm. The one jar that wasn't full enough to can I put in the fridge to eat right. Dan and I tried it out and both decided that unless we die tomorrow, I successfully canned Jam! :)


Later this summer I'll have to try different fruits.

It's Been a Crazy Month!

Wow, where did this month go? We've been busy around here. Mostly trying our 2nd (or 3rd) round of potty training. Elliott is doing really well, though we're not there quite yet. We are much more successful with #1 than we are with #2....still working though. I'm hoping that he will be mostly trained by the time Baby #2 arrives.

Earlier in the month I had a baby shower and received tons of cute, frilly clothes. Combined with the clothes my sister, Sarah, is passing over to me we are well stocked for this little girl. I'm feeling huge, though I'm told that I actually look small. I'm surprised at how quickly the time seems to be going and how the due date is quickly approaching. I am hoping to have Elliott and Baby #2's bedroom all set up soon.

The most exciting part of this month has been our small house fire. On May 10th my sister, Sarah, came over for a visit and to drop off some baby supplies that Paige had outgrown. Elliott and Grace were playing together amazingly well. While they like each other, they don't always play nicely with the other. Sarah and I were thrilled and were trying to just let them play.... They were playing the "fire" game. This is something Elliott loves to play. He'll carry around this small hose (we have one indoor one and an outdoor one) and tell me things are on fire. I'll say, "Oh, go put it out...fast!" He'll run to whatever is on "fire" and pretend to squirt water on it, complete with sound effects. He used to play this game all the time - not so much since the real fire. Well, they were playing and the two of them came into Elliott's room to tell me that something was on fire in my bedroom. I assumed it was part of them game and told them, "great, put it out" and sent them on their way. They returned to my bedroom and played for a while longer. Not too long after that Sarah and I smelled smoke. We looked around Elliott's bedroom first, then went into the hallway. I saw smoke billowing out of my bedroom...scary!

I ran down the hall - while holding 4 month old Paige - and into my bedroom where I saw the curtains were on fire. I swear, all I could think about was to smother the flames somehow, not to get a fire extinguisher. Thankfully Sarah grabbed Paige and got Grace and Elliott out of the bedroom as she ran upstairs yelling for Dan to get the fire extinguisher. I managed to rip the curtains from our wall and onto the bed where I then attempted to put the flames out by smothering them with a pillow. Then I had to get outside and into some fresh air. Thankfully Dan had come downstairs and was about to spray our whole bed (and bedroom) with the fire extinguisher.

Thank goodness for home owners insurance because even though the fire was small it's been costly to clean up from. Rundown of ruined items: curtains, carpet, bedding, mattress. All of our clothes had the powder on them from the extinguisher. We got a new mattress (somehow our bed frame was unharmed) and all new bedding right away. Our clothes have all been sent to a specialty cleaners and will come back to us on Tuesday - we've been living with about 5 outfits each (Dan and I, not Elliott as his were fine) since the 10th. The insurance company had people come out to clean all the dust from the extinguisher. Our downstairs has never looked so good! It's amazing what 5 women can accomplish working for about 6+ hours straight! Carpets in the hallway were cleaned. Today the painters came and painted the two bedrooms, hallway and bathroom for us. The carpet in our bedroom will be replaced.

We are really thankful that it was such a small fire, it could have been so much worse. Thankfully Sarah and I were downstairs and smelled the smoke right away. I had thought we needed some detectors in our bedrooms, but hadn't even done anything about it. We now have one in each bedroom and an additional one upstairs. I'm looking forward to being able to have clothes again - though I am getting big and not a whole lot fits anymore. I've also decided to tackle some organizing/spring cleaning. Since we've had to move virtually everything out of the bedrooms I've realized just how much stuff we have. How did Dan and I have 8 giant garbage bags full of clothes (mostly mine, I admit it)? Goodwill will be getting some major donations from us in the near future. It will be good to get rid of what we don't need. I always have a fear (however irrational it really is) that I'll become a hoarder. So, this is good for me.

Here are two pictures, taken with my phone so that quality isn't the best. You can see the burned curtains and bedding. The white petals are from the neighbor cherry tree:





Dan and I also celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! I can't believe it has been 6 years already. We took an overnight trip up to Mt. Hood, without Elliott, to get away. It was nice, especially as it was just a few days after fire. We both got full nights of sleep with a chance to sleep in...fabulous! We also spent last weekend with 14 of our friends on the Oregon Coast for our annual Beach Trip. We get lucky every year with good weather. Elliott and Dan flew a kite and they also went crabbing! I got to relax and hang out with girlfriends.

Here are a few other pictures. I figure since I don't blog too often I should make this a long one...

Elliott helping Dan play The Legend of Zelda on our origianl NES game system.


My sisters and I at the baby shower: