7000 Days

Well, we’re back home again.

Last night, Gus woke up countless times (ok, so it was 7) crying and unhappy. We couldn’t figure out why until suddenly he was all congested and it became clear that cold #2 had descended.

Poo! Not only because I don’t like seeing him all wheezy, but because it meant cutting our travels short and not getting to meet little newborn Javin! Not to mention his big brother Grant or all the other friends we’re anxious to catch up with.

Gus was oblivious though. Woke all stuffy and happy go lucky. Enjoying the morning and the first cup of coffee of the day with Grantie Lani.

On Monday we spent the morning getting Mom’s car all copasetic (a favorite Mom word) then hit the road for three whole days of saying hello to people down the valley.

First stop was cousins Lena & Kyle’s to meet newborn Lainey and the scrumptious Lila. They’ve always lived in cold, far away states like Alaska or Minneapolis so I’m thrilled we’re all finally close enough to drop by for lunch at the last minute without bringing anything to contribute. Not off to a great start helping with the whole newborn situation yet! Lila was very helpful with Gus though. Brought him all sorts of toys, his favorite being a very stylish silver purse that he refused to let go. I have a feeling this is just a taste of many many dress up days to come with the girl cousins.

And then we drove to Corvallis to spent the night with Grantie Lani who Gus loves and who made a fabulous dinner in her fabulous garden complete with her famous deviled eggs and fabulous homemade blackberry cobbler.

She also invited four other special guests including Isis (my dear friend and little sis through the Big Brother program 11 years ago!) and her daughter Elysa who is now almost 2! How did that happen? When I last met her, she was only as long as my arm. Now she’s bilingual and already a little spunky character. She didn’t know what to think of me yet. I tried all sorts of tricks to warm her up but I think I need to work on my two year old skills. Expand my repertoire beyond crunching chips in her ear and poking her in the ribs.

(here we see her waiting patiently for the cobbler. that is, if staring so intently so as to ignore all other sound or movement around her is considered patient)

And the other two guests were Joseph (a colleague of Aunt Lani’s from the University) and his partner Theresa. I was very excited to meet Theresa because I’ve been reading two of her blogs (Reality Bytes and Choodlemania) but have never met her in person. I didn’t get to talk to her as much as I’d like (due to crunching chips in ears) but it was an interesting experience because although she was essentially a total stranger, I already knew all sorts of little things about her like she went blue berry picking last week, is a fifeminist, loves gar. And I already knew I liked her. So it was an odd combination of comfort and shyness. Which is perhaps how Gus felt. Minus the shyness.

Morning visit from Leslie and Wendel. With exciting news that there are actually three in this picture:

Afternoon lazing around the house

And evening visit to see Amanda and Leigh. Taking advantage of living just a stones throw away. Even had a taste of micro brew -such an Oregon summer evening.

The mornings start off ok. Here we see Gus in his new high chair and full-body bib:

As the day goes on, the shirt is removed, soaked in water and worn flopped over the head.

We also have a cool mid-day bath and sit in front of the fan to dry off

We do a lot of this

And a whole lot of this.