Bald Knob Lookout Sept 19-21

Before the summer began when we were making plans for travel and leisure, Jack found us a 3 day vacation down in southern Oregon at a fire lookout. He has been talking about going to one since we moved to Oregon and for a mere $25 a night, we finally booked our first trip. All summer Jack kept mentioning how excited he was for our trip. This trip turned out to be one of the the greatest vacations we have ever taken. We have decided to try to make it an annual excursion as our time spent there was so priceless.
It was so simple. We made meals, chilled out in the lookout, went for walks/hikes, took naps, played banana grams, listen to Radiolab or music, but most importantly had this amazing time just the three of us with no distractions or stress, just pure enjoying of each other. Annabelle blossomed in this energy. She was so happy, energetic, and talkative. She seemed to bask in the energy of her family being together in nature. I think she picked up on how her parents as well bask in this type of opportunity. Biyou got to come and besides his added "challenges" of whining in the car when the baby was sleeping, or barking at the noises he'd hear at night, we love being able to take him on adventures.
The lookout tower is two stories and has 360 views of mountain tops... Weather moved quickly over the rolling hills and we watched it like a movie. There is a door on the floor that you could close at night so we were completely protected at night in our fortress. I liked knowing this because bringing a baby out in the middle of nowhere invoked worse case scenarios played out in my mind. One of my fondest memories from the trip was when we walked through this old growth forest at dusk. We stood there and listened to the silence. The depth of the silence that the forest echoed penetrated my being and for a moment in time the silence around me brought a deep silence within me. These trees had a presence that was larger than I had ever felt. I was so happy to be in such a magical place with just my family alone...quiet. I realized how our daily life completely contrasted this silence and this alone is what inspires me to make this an annual trip.

Annabelle is 5 Months Old!

So yet another month has gone by in our new lives with Annabelle and believe it or not, our little peep is now 5 months old! We can hardly believe it. A few times this month I have seen some newborn babies and it has really taken me back to see that she is no longer that newborn, and how bigger she is than they! My how fast it does go! And remember little Annabelle was a strapping 5lbs 15 oz so most of these tiny babies are still bigger than she even was...and they seemed sooo tiny!
This past month proved to be a challenging one for me in many ways. But now reflecting back on it, it makes sense because it was a time of some big changes. As I look back on pictures of her from that first months, it really has been this past month where she has turned from
newborn to little baby with a personality! So many big growth spurts this month. When she turned 20 weeks old, she began to sit up by herself for a good 30 seconds or so, she found her feet and can hold and put into her mouth her right foot, she went from blowing raspberries to finding her high pitched voice that she loves to use, she has opened her hands to the world and is fulling reaching out to touch it, specially her big brother Biyou whom she greets every morning with a pat now. She's decided she'd much rather sit up then roll over but we get a little more out of her belly time as she grows. She stands up big, loves to hold toys with both hands and oh how could I forget, she put everything right into her mouth. Whether its your face, a toy, a cloth,..she must experience everything in the mouth to truly KNOW it...the poor girl is teething which brings us to potentially some of the reason this month was hard. She has regressed on her good sleeping skills. She seems to be very bothered by her gums and gets really worked up about it.
Hopefully this is just a phase!

Summertime with Annabelle!

So much has happened since the last time I wrote I can not fit it all into one blog entry. I will let the pictures do a lot of speaking this time to catch us up. Annabelle is now over 4 months (18 weeks old) and is changing every day. We can not believe how big she is. She weighed in at 14lbs 2 oz and is 26 inches long. That puts her in the 90% for height, (not surprising coming form the tall May family) and is mid range for weight. Her cheeks continue to be her most noted trait as the rest of her face catches up to them. Within the last week, her ability to try to sit up from a recline position has drastically changed, her ability to grab a toy and send it directly into her mouth has drastically changed and each day a new sound is coming out of her. When Annabelle is tired, she starts talking to herself with her mouth closed using her nasal passages. For a good 5 minutes she is very expressively unwinding and telling us all that she has to say through sound.
We traveled to New Jersey for a week where she got to meet many of her east coast relatives and friends, and we spent a large part of the time in Ocean Grove, NJ enjoying some summer beach time. It was so nice to go to the beach where you can swim comfortably in the ocean! Although this past week, Jack and I both swam in the Oregon coast waters without a wet suit with George, Megan, John and Kellie! So refreshing to say the least. My throat was sore from all the screaming!
Annabelle went on her first camping trip to Saddle Mountain. Jack and I had been waiting for the opportunity to take her and it felt so good to be out there with just our family, enjoying what Jack, Biyou, Annabelle and I love most, the outdoors.
Last week we had a great time at the May's beach house time share in Rockaway Beach. Although the sun never came out, we had a very relaxing time enjoying what it feels like to raise our baby in a group setting...how relieving! i felt like a teenager when Grandma and Grandpa watched Annabelle for a few hours while Jack and I got to be on the beach alone, playing bocce ball, drinking beer and swimming in the ocean with George and Megan. I felt so free and as I write this I realized that was our first date time where both of us were together without our little miss enjoying some fun! It felt soo good..we really do need more of that.
Life has been really busy and challenging in so many ways. This month I have felt more of the struggle begin of finding time for myself, time with Jack and time with all of us together enjoying life amidst working, cleaning, eating and sleeping...basic needs now with a special twist! Finding our way within his new realm of parenting has proven itself to be hard, but I am sure all the ways we are growing are making us more flexible, open people to whatever life throws our way!