Summer is gone......

Since we last wrote we had a weekend trip to the beach to visit our friends Antoinette, Kyle and their kids. It was beautiful and a nice drive. It was pretty windy at the beach but Never had a lot of fun playing in the sand.



We also went on a trip to the Portland zoo with our play group. We had alot of fun and saw a lot of cool animals. It's a big zoo though. To big for one little boy to see it all in a day so we look forward to visiting it again someday.

Up next a trip to the pumpkin patch.....

Camping on the Metolius

We went camping last weekend in central Oregon on the Metolius river. This is the first time we have camped since our trip to Mexico. We have been slacking on getting out and doing things this summer..... but hopefully we will get out more the rest of the summer and into the fall.






The metolius river is amazing. It is a river that just springs up from the ground and is fed by a bunch of springs. The water is amazingly blue and clear. Absolutely beautiful! It makes you want to jump in it but it is extremely cold. We even tried to keep our feet in it thinking we would get used to it but it is just too cold. Never loves to splash in the water but he just couldn't understand why it was so cold and it was hurting his hands so he would cry and yell at the water.


Nev enjoyed camping. He got to play in the dirt and get really dirty and he like the camp fire too.

We went on a 5 mile hike along the river. It was a really warm day. The water helped keep us cool but we would have loved to get in it.

More pics and video

It's been awhile.......

Well it has been awhile since I last wrote and a lot has gone on since my last post. Never is 9 months old now! and I'm realizing he is going to be a year old before I know what hit me......

More big news... Nev has a brand new cousin, Logan James Ratchford. He was born Aug. 7th. He is a beautiful little boy and we are looking forward to meeting him.

Well since I last wrote Nev has gotten 4 teeth, all at the same time. He is eating just about everything but he is starting to express his opinion as to his likes and dislikes. He is crawling now and getting around everywhere. He is a very curious little boy so he is getting into everything. He loves to try to get the dog but the dog isn't having it so Nev rarely actually reaches him. He is using anything and everything for support to stand up. He is starting to figure out letting go and being able to use his hands to get things he wants while standing. It all happens so quick that it will seem like I'll wake up one day and he will be walking.

More pictures and video to come.........

6+ Months

Never is over half a year old now! Can you believe it?
He has gotten so big. He is no longer that tiny little newborn we brought home. Bittersweet!!
We keep on traveling.... We spent a weekend on the Washington Coast clamming. Nev enjoyed visiting family and friends but he didn't like the cold windy beach too much. Micah and Nev also joined me in eastern Oregon. They went hiking and hot springing. They tried out the backpack which Nev seemed to like and he got to enjoy his first hot spring. He REALLY loves to splash in the water.
Nev is also trying out lots of different foods these days. He is such a good eater. He seems to like just about anything after the initial shock of having some weird mushy textured stuff in his mouth. It seemes to still get him everytime.
He is sitting up pretty good these days but doesn't have the concept yet of catching himself when he falls over. After a few more bumps maybe it will catch on. For now he gets extra help from his Bumbo and his higchair. He is also very excited about his jumper. He is really mastering the jumping thing and has so much fun with it. I like it cause it gives his wild legs something to do.
Who nows next time I write he may be crawling..... Watch out!!
I took him to have some photos taken over the weekend. It was a lot of fun. He is such a ham and he really seemed to love all the attention. Check out this link to see the pics:
http://www.SearsPhotos.com/ViewSharedAlbum.aspx?ShareID=908e9020-54a7-4717-a1c9-21d830f22f43

Well till next time!

5 months old

Nev is just over 5 months old now. We've done a lot of visiting over the past month. Matt came out to visit us for a week. We haven't seen him in a really long time so it was great to see him and for he and Never to meet. Then Nev and I flew to Sacramento to visit the family and he got to meet his cousins Marisa and Sienna. They are getting so big and Sienna was very attentive to Nev; playing with him and holding him all the time. The bad part was somewhere during all this visiting Nev got his first cold which developed into croup which resulted into a trip to the ER. He was sick for about a week and such a trooper the whole time. Even though he wasn't feeling good he always managed to give us some of his great smiles. He is all better now but Micah and I are still recovering from this cold. Unfortunately being sick really disrupted our good sleep we were all getting for awhile. So now we are trying to figure out how to get Nev back to sleeping for most of the night......

Some other things that have happened this month:

Nev went to the swimming pol for the first time

He is rolling from his back to his belly

He has discovered his feet and is managing to stick them in his mouth

And he is starting to eat solids: Bananas, rice cereal, pumpkin and more to come..... He seems to really enjoy it!

4 months old - Trip to Baja

Never is now 4 months old. At his check up he weighed in at 14 lbs.
We all survived our 3000 mile road trip to Baja. We had a really nice time down there and we got to see lots of family on the way down and back.

After driving for a few days we made it to Baja. We stayed in Ensenada our first night and they were celebrating Carnival. There was a big street fair with lots of music and food. The we headed further south where we spent a week at a surf camp. Micah got a lot of surf and Never and I took a lot of walks on the beach.

The weather was nice most of the time although we got some rain and chilly nights. Never enjoyed his first campfire. The Mexicans REALLY love babies. They all came out to see Nev and they wanted to touch and hold him a lot. Nev really liked the cute Mexican girl... already a flirt!

On the way back up we stayed in a really nice hotel for $32 a night. We did a little sight seeing and shopping in Ensanada on our last day before we crossed back inot the states.







It took us a few more days to get home but we spent time with family on the way back. We were all very happy to get back home.

I am back to work full time which is hard but Nev is home all day with his Papa which makes it easier for me to be gone. I am excited everyday to get home so I can get a beautiful smile from my little guy!