Well, it's about time I try to blog again. It's been almost 6 months. The last post was about trying to overcome the flu season. We failed. The very next day we took out little man to Doernbecher Children's Hospital for a week. He was in the PICU while he was recovering from a mean case of RSV and bacterial pneumonia. It was awful and each day got drastically better. We spent most of the spring recovering and staying away from kid-friendly activities until we were comfortable with Porter's immune system. I took a long break from blogging and with each week passing made it that much harder to blog.
Here's Porterman looking "better" if you could only imagine :(
This was the team that decided we could go home. They had daily morning gatherings before I even got coffee. Can you imagine listening to all the medical jargon while trying to sit upright from a night of restless sleep and no coffee?!
Our first outing post-hospital. The store.
One of the last photos of the kids playing in the condo. We sold it this summer and will start looking for our new home this fall. We've been camping out downstairs at our Kelley homebase aka Grandma/Grandpa's house. The kids love it!!
Once summer came around. We took off. Lots of fun outside and lots of vacation which made it that much harder to blog.
We spent a week in Fresno visiting family.
Reesa was a flower girl in 2 weddings. She rocked them!!
Two weeks in Sunriver. Yup. 2!! We'd do it again too.
Reesa's last day in her class is today. We love teacher Aruna. She moves up to the 4's after Labor Day. Yikes. 4
Playing at the Rose Garden. We have ridden the Zoo Train so much. I have no idea why my kids love it so but they do. Choo Choo!!
Berry Picking. We went twice this summer. I was hopping for another go but we'll see.
VBS this year. The flying theme was so fun for the kids.
We have also been parkin' it up. Sometimes twice a day.
My brother also came into town and my parents will be visiting next weekend. There is still more summer fun ahead but I wanted to document/share some of what our family has been doing.
Shortly after January 1st the cold & flu season invaded our home. The tally as of this evening. Patrick 1, Maria 2, Reesa 3, and Porter 3 (still sick). We have spent more time in our jammies in the last two months than I ever care to. It's different when you choose to versus what's the point because we aren't stepping out the door today. Hopefully we have seen that last of this cold/flu season.
We managed to make the most of our time outside when we were healthy.
On Saturday we went for our first bike ride of the year. It's blurry because Reesa had been playing with the camera settings the day before. She's stroking Porter's hair while he's sleeping. She later fell asleep on him. It was too cute.
Reesa and I signed up for our first swim lessons in February. It was a lot of work for a 30 minute lesson twice a week but it was nice to have that time with her in the pool. It was a positive experience for both of us and she loved swimming with her classmates.
Reesa now writes all her letters and can write words and names if you spell them out for her. She can read short sentences and her memory is ridiculous. If I tell her a story about her birth or when she was little I have to remember every detail otherwise I will be corrected.
A couple videos of Porter's dance moves. He can now say "hi and ball", tell you what sound a cow makes, and does the blink blink with his eyes to wheels on the bus.
I expect boys to be different than girls but I am still amazed at Porter's lack of fear!! Patrick had a morning off so we took the kids to Playdate PDX. It's so fun but this place is a two parent activity. :)
Reesa is a bit more timid and definitely cautious. You can see how proud she is of her accomplishment. I love watching her become confident in her abilities. I think one of the reasons she loves jumping so much is because it's so low to the ground!!
Yesterday our little man turned 1. This happened overnight. All of a sudden I woke up one morning and our son is walking, talking, and napping only once a day. We celebrated with our family last night and just enjoyed a low key evening at home. As low key as possible with little kids running around!
Porter wanted mac-n-cheese and grapes for his birthday. And that's what he got!! We love you Porterman. Your sweet and charming personality keeps us smiling.
Well a lot of time has been spent at home this week. We've been sick so what do we do when we stay home? Make videos!!
In 11 days our little Porterman will be 1. He is an active little guy!! He gets into everything and always wants to be a part of the action. If you leave the bathroom door open you can expect the toilet paper unraveled and on the floor, all contents from drawers on the floor, and his hand in the toilet if he can lift the lid. This damage can be done in the time it takes to put toothpaste on a toothbrush and handing it off to your older daughter :) He also is walking. Not fully balanced but he can take anywhere from 2-10 steps before he falls and continues crawling at a fast pace.
He is so mesmerized by his own reflection in the camera!!
Reesa will be in 2 weddings this summer as a flower girl. Our cousin Stephanie purchased a book for Reesa to learn about what a flower girl does. Reesa loves this book. She loves to learn from books and she wants to know and understand her expectations before leaving the house so you can imagine the preparation involved in participating in a wedding. I think her favorite part will be wearing the pretty dresses. The dress she is wearing in the video matches the flower girl's dress in her book.
What's new with me? I got new running shoes for Christmas and I've been dying to use them but I got a cold. 3 out of 4 of us are still currently sick. Patrick has been awesome helping us try to get better. Director by day, doctor by night. What a man!!
A lot of fun went on right before Christmas and I just had no time to blog. Sorry these photos are not in order but they are all in a two week window of time.
We did make it to Zoo Lights and it was chilly!!
Porter loving the dishwasher. Oh yeah did you know that he can take 2 steps now?!!
Candy Cane Cuteness!!
Reesa was super excited to get princess bandaids on Christmas morning. :)
It snowed!!
Reesa opening her packages from Grandma Jenny and Grandpa Rene.
The amazing car carts at New Seasons. I'm not sure I would survive grocery shopping without this.
Patrick and I had a chance to slip away downtown and had dinner at Shigezo. Loved it, not the same as the real deal Ramen. I want to go back to Japan.
Our little reindeer.
Went out for Marlo's Bachelorette Party!
We had plenty of silliness going on in our house!! A great holiday break.
And now my son will be turing 1 at the end of January. Unbelievable.
This is from Reesa's Christmas Program. Watching all the little kids singing and not singing was adorable! Reesa is pretty shy but you should have seen her face after the program, she was so pleased with herself for going on stage.
Porter finally learned to clap. He can wave, give a high five, and now clap!! I'm still warming up to the idea of having another walker in our house only because he will no longer be our little baby boy, but he's standing on his own and trying to take his first step. He still thinks it's funny to face plant so it may be a while. :)
