Fall Fun
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Fall Fun |
I was just reflecting on some simple things that happened last month and continue to happen that make me happy. I never knew how amazing it would feel to have a small person run up to me and wrap his arms around my legs, sigh, it’s so good. What a thing that this young boy looks first and foremost to Colin and I for security and comfort.
As Jude learns to communicate more and more, the wonder increases. His two word sentences are so sincere and emphatic. He’s counting up to ten now and will count just about anything. He loves to count the stairs when we come downstairs in the morning. He’s saying “I love you” when Daddy leaves in the morning, and even though he might not totally understand what it is he’s saying, I know he means it. He likes to talk about all the colours, but we aren’t sure he’s got them down yet, or else he’s just messing with us. He loves to make all the animal noises, but the best one by far is the elephant. We’ve got videos so check them out.
He has been saying “please” and “thank you” for quite a while now, due, in a large part, to Grandma’s tutelage. This morning, though, I gave him some raisins and he thanked me with words and sign language without any prompting and it was so cool.
He loves his books and we read a lot every day. He knows so many words and loves to point them all out. Books are often followed by a cry of “again, again”. His very favourite book is “Everywhere the Cow Says Moo” by Ellen Slusky Weinstein. We originally got it from the library, but bought it because he loves it so much. It goes through several animals and languages, noting the differences in how each animal sounds in a different language, but of course, everywhere the cow says “moo”. Originally, he just said the “moo”, but now he is starting to say what the other animals say in different languages. So fun. He also loves his Hairy Maclary books from New Zealand, they are also super fun to read to him.
October was a fun month, despite Melissa being sick for a couple of weeks with cold/flu/sore throat/double ear infection. We really enjoyed the change of season. We went to the Pumpkin Patch with the MOPS crew, to the Pumpkin Festival with friends and played in the leaves at the park. Jude and Melissa started a Baby Signs class that will last for 6 weeks, one session a week. It’s a lot of fun and is building on the sign language that Jude already knows.
We have a great group of friends that we get to hang out with – playing games, Rock Band and now Laser Tag. We also had our own little Fall Festival - carved pumpkins, drank mulled cider, had caramel apples. We are thankful for good friends to share life with.
We also had fun on Halloween – Jude was the cutest dragon around and scored some great treats and candy. We went to a shopping mall and then to some friend’s neighbourhood.
Melissa is still blogging away and doing some other writing as well. Colin is busy with the music team at church and with work.
 "And now for the news..." |
Both Colin & Melissa had a birthday this month, celebrating together with family. Melissa got a sewing machine, and Colin got 'Rockband' a thoroughly entertaining game for the PS2, for the uninitiated among you, the game is controlled with an actual guitar / drum kit / microphone. It's a lot of fun.
Jude's latest tricks include being able to count to 5 (though he misses numbers out or gets them in the wrong order sometimes), running around, and attempting to jump, though he can't quite get both his feet off the ground at once - I guess white babies can't jump.
It's getting colder now, soon the garden will be out of comission - we got lots of zuchini this year, but not many tomatoes - they just didn't get it together in time.
 "The Family" |
It’s hard to believe that Summer is winding down. We’re still having warm weather, but Autumn is definitely in the air. Hopefully it will stay warm long enough for all our tomatoes to ripen! It’s been so fun to be able to harvest vegetables from our garden this year.
We had a great time in New Zealand. Jude did really well on the way there. It was a long journey and he was so good and well-behaved. On the long flight he slept for over 7 hours. We arrived early in the morning and were met by Colin’s brother, Shane and his Mum. We had breakfast at Shane and Carolyn’s house and got to meet their daughter, Kate, who is 3 months younger than Jude. Then it was off to Mum’s house to have a rest and a visit.
We headed down to Rotoiti on Wednesday with Colin’s Mum, brother, sister and all their spouses and kids. It was great to have several relaxed days all together, getting reacquainted and seeing the kids all interact. Lots of food and games. Everyone headed out on Sunday after a big lunch with more friends and family that came for a visit. We stayed another night there before heading down to Wellington to visit Carlee. Then it was up to Palmerston North for a quick visit with Annette and then Sally, Jason, Devon and Gene.
We had a nice drive back up towards Auckland the next day which included a stop in Hamilton – we visit St Luke’s Cathedral where Colin and his family used to go to church. We asked around and someone offered to take us up into the bell tower. Colin’s dad had designed and built the mechanism that runs the bells on automatic so we were curious to see if it was still there and sure enough it was. It was very cool to be able to see that. On our way back into Auckland, we stopped for dinner with Dave and Rema which was lovely.
The rest of our time was spent seeing more friends and family in Auckland which was really nice. Two weeks is a pretty short time to pack it all in, but we did pretty well. Jude was so good in all the different situations that we were in, he slept well for the most part and was a real trooper. We are so thankful that we got to go and have the time there. On the journey back Jude didn’t do so well through no fault of his own. He pretty much slept and threw up all the way home, but once we were home, he recovered quickly.
While we were in NZ, Melissa’s only surviving grandma, her Mom’s Mom, had a stroke and passed away. This past weekend, we all headed to Pendleton, Oregon for her burial and celebration of life. It was the first time in over 20 years that Melissa and all her cousins were together which seems pretty crazy. It was great to see everyone and to reconnect. It was also good to hear all the memories of grandma and be reminded of the good times we had together.
MOPS has started up again which is fun. Melissa is on the steering team for MOPS this year and is in charge of Publicity.
Jude is amazing us every day as usual. He decided that he wanted to start walking and now there’s no stopping him. He talks a lot and has so many words it blows us away. He’s also showing his strong will more and more which is a bit of a shock.
That’s probably enough news from us for now. Same time, same place next month!
 "How YOU doin?" |
We are certainly in the grip of summer now, with warm weather every day, and we have begun to harvest the bounty of our vegetable garden. Free food!
We went for our annual weekend camping family reunion at Battleground Washington. Good food & fun were had by all. Each of Colin, Jason and Philip won a game of settlers, meanwhile the storey sisters (Mom & Barbara) took the title in the horseshoes. Jude did great with his first camping experience, and we all came home in need of some rest and recovery.
Speaking of Jude (as we so often are these days) he is making great progress in the area of walking and talking. He can confidently walk about 10 paces by himself, and loves to go for long walks holding someone's hand. His vocabulary is widening rapidly, and though I can't tell the difference between "Daddy" and "Doggy" I try not to get offended. Of course when he really wants to communicate he still resorts to pointing and waving. His other achievement this month, was getting his birth registered in New Zealand, so now he's officially a citizen of both countries, something neither of his parents have yet managed.
On the subject of foreigners, we had the pleasure of sharing our home with Masami and Naho, two 14 year old girls from Japan who were here in Bend for an english-learning experience for two weeks. It was fun showing them around, and trying to communicate. They really loved Jude of course, and there was no communication barrier with him - he especially loved dragging them around, er I mean going for walks with them.
And finally, we're heading off to new zealand here soon, so Jude can visit Gran again, and meet his cousins. Should be a real blast - though we're a bit apprehensive about having him on our laps for the 12 hour plane ride. I guess we'll let you know how that went on next month.
 Woo Hoo! |
One of the highlights of this month was a visit from our friend Carlee from New Zealand. She was in the neighborhood (if you consider the entire USA to be a neighborhood) so she popped by for a few days. It was fun to hang out, and to show her some more of the area, as well as introduce her to some of our friends (in hopes that they no longer believe ALL kiwis are crazy).
Jude keeps advancing in leaps and strides - speaking of strides, he managed five steps in a row this month, and is getting more confident every day with standing by himself and trying out the walking thing. His conversation has changed, it seems like he's really trying to make words and express himself. Of course he's quite good at expressing himself when he wants something or doesn't want what we're giving him to eat.
The garden is coming along wonderfully, we have already sampled the first-fruits - a few leaves of lettuce that we used in a salad. But everything is sprouting up so it looks like we might have plenty of produce. We have covered another area in wood chips for a play area, and also built a small path up the hill.
We're just coming to the end of the 4th of July weekend. We had a lot of fun, with several parties on the friday to go to - Jude got to see his first fireworks, and though he was very unimpressed with the small ones you can buy, he was captivated when the big show came on.
 Happy Family |
Well, we didn’t have much in the way of April showers, but May has more than made up for it. Very unusual for the high desert, it’s been raining a lot. A couple of weeks ago, we had a heat wave with temperatures up to 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees Celsius). Since then things have cooled down significantly with lots of rain. Some friends of ours helped us build a couple of raised beds for a veggie garden – they are each 24 feet long! We planted beets, lettuce, peas, beans, carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and some herbs. Much to my shock and amazement, things are growing! It’s so much fun to watch. This helped encourage us to work on our back yard plan so we’ve gotten quite a lot done – I’ll post pictures of the completed project soon.
There’s lots to report of Jude. It seems that lately, he’s learning to do or say something (or several things) new every day. I won’t tell you each and every one of his accomplishments, impressive though they are, rest assured I am keeping track of them all! He knows quite a few words now – it’s fun to see him learning to communicate. He’s grown a bit bored of using his spoon so now he’s learning to use a fork and he’s very good at it. He loves going down slides by himself, he plays patty cake, dances whenever he hears music, he snaps his fingers, he walks fairly well when he’s holding someone’s hand, he gives lots of hugs and kisses and even blows kisses. Yep, we’re proud parents!
Colin and Melissa are doing well. Colin’s work is good and he’s enjoying it. Melissa’s contract with the church finished, so she’s unemployed again – it would be great if something else came along. She’s still working for the Foursquare Cascade District a couple hours a week and leading the church missions communications team.
We are looking forward to the visit of a friend from New Zealand this week. We’re also excited to be going to NZ in August.
A friend of ours, Joann, has a great blog. She recently wrote a poem inspired by a conversation with my Dad – check it out. Look for the post “if bubbles could roar”. I am still blogging, feel free to check it out. If you are on Facebook, look us up – Colin and Melissa both have accounts and it’s been a great way to keep in touch with friends. My Dad also has a blog with some great stuff on it. Oh, and we’ve got heaps more videos on our video site.
 Mmmm Cake |
Well, the highlight for this post has to be Jude's official birthday party which we celebrated last Saturday. Many friends came to join in the fun, which included watching Jude demolish a cake, and disembowl the wrapping of many presents. It was wonderful to see all of you there who made it. Jude seemed to have a very enjoyable time, and crashed from his sugar high soon after it was all over.
So now that Jude is one year old, what does he have to show for it? Well along with the tricks he has already picked up, he is extending the vocabulary of sounds he can make, and there are several distinguishable words: mommy, daddy, ball (pronounced Baww) buddy (the dog). He totally enjoys pointing at things and people especially if they point back. He has acquired the nickname 'destructo-boy' for his tendency to prefer to destroy the tower of blocks that you're building than to try to build one himself.
Mom & Dad returned from Africa safe and sound, and had great stories to share of their time. It was good to have them back. Speaking of travel, we are planning a trip to New Zealand in the near future, so if that is your abode and you want to be visited, drop us a line. We are not looking forward to the 12 hour flight with Jude on our laps, but it was worth it not to buy him his own seat on the plane. His passport arrived recently, so he's all official now.
Our friends Matt & Tori have helped us with the first stage of rennovating our back yard. Specifically they helped us build a couple of 24 foot planter boxes in which we're going to attempt to grow vegetables. We'll wait until we've made a bit more progress with the back yard, before we post photos though.
 Bath Time |
Hello Friends, Family and Curious Onlookers. March sped by and here we are in April – it’s almost tax time for those of us here in the US – always fun, although this year, of course, we have a new tax deduction!
We are all doing well. Keeping very busy and enjoying life. Here’s some reports…
Jude: Jude is doing great. It’s hard to believe that he’ll be a year old in April. He is climbing like crazy, anything he can find. He’s working on his walking skills – he has a walking toy that he can walk along behind and when we are out for walks, he walks behind his stroller. At some point in March, Jude decided he’d had enough of baby food and refused to eat it anymore so he’s totally on regular foods now – which is a bit of a challenge as we are still trying to get him to eat more foods. He’s doing quite well though. He’s also talking quite a bit. We decided that March 17, St Patrick’s Day, was his “official” first word – and we are happy to announce that it was “Mama”. Since then, he’s saying a few more things with some degree of consistency, “Buddy” (Grandma and Grandpa’s dog), “Daddy”, “Grandpa”, “banana”. We also experienced what we have come to call “First Blood” – this occurred after a small tumble down the stairs and involved the new teeth biting the top lip. No visit to the hospital was required for Jude but Mom and Dad might have needed some help!
Jude also had his first First Birthday Party. We travelled up to Tacoma, Washington to have a joint celebration with Jesse who turned 1 on April 1st. It was also Uncle Dan’s birthday and Grandpa’s birthday on the 10th of April so we celebrated everyone’s birthdays. It was a Dr Suess theme and we had heaps of fun – Jude loved his birthday cake and needed a bath straight away. We’re planning on having a birthday party for him here in Bend nearer to his birthday on the 29th.
Colin: Colin is working away at Navis and doing really well. He’s also still playing keyboard at church regularly. We had 5 services at our church on Easter weekend and Colin played for them all – it was a lot of time and effort but it was really cool We had an amazing guest speaker named Nick Vujicic. He was born without arms or legs and despite the fact that he’s from Australia – we loved him!
Colin is also playing a gig at an old folks home with a sax player so that should be fun.
Melissa: Melissa is doing well. Still working for the church – mostly from home which is great – Web Coordinator is her official title and she’s really enjoying it. She’s also still leading a table at MOPS (Mother’s of Preschoolers) which is good – it’s great to have regular contact with other Moms.
Melissa is working on getting back into some creative endevours. Some graphic work and some writing. Most of her writing is for her blog. There is still more that she’d like to do with it, but she’s made a start.
Grandma and Grandpa are off to Africa this week. We are so excited for them – they are going to 3 countries that they haven’t been to before. Steph, Philip and Jesse are all well and Jesse is flourishing.
Colin’s Mum, Gran, is doing great – she’s recently moved up north of Auckland and is really enjoying life there. Shane, Carolyn and Kate and all well. Sally, Jason, Devon and Gene are well too. We often all get together online to play games, have chats and use our webcams.
Love and blessings to all!
 Play De Marraccas |
So Jude loves to point at things – especially people. It’s so much fun when he points at us, not sure why he laughs when he does it of course. One of his biggest achievements recently has been the addition of 5 new teeth! He had one tooth for over a month and then suddenly, over the course of three days, Jude got 5 more teeth for a total of 6! He looks more and more like a little boy and less like a baby.
He’s eating lots of new foods, some are hits and some are definitely misses. Jude is still as active as ever. He loves climbing everything, still loves the stairs. He’s learning to crawl down the stairs too which is good. He’s communicating more and more in verbal and non-verbal ways. He makes it very clear when he’s done eating, he becomes a limp noodle when he doesn’t want to be held anymore and he squeals with delight when he sees people that he loves. It’s so much fun having him in our lives.
Colin is working away at his job as well as doing a bit of contract work on the side that keeps him busy. He’s playing keys regularly at church and is in a men’s group. Melissa is busy with Jude, working again for the church overseeing the website, leading a Mothers of Preschoolers table, and trying to keep up with house work. Together we are on the Missions leadership team at church mostly helping with Communications and we are leading a dinner and games small group which is a lot of fun.
Highlights of the past couple weeks include Melissa and her Dad going to see U23D – amazing, words can barely describe how cool it was. Colin, Melissa, Mom and Dad all went and saw Ladysmith Black Mambazo in concert at the Tower Theatre here in Bend – it was so much fun. Several years ago in London, Colin and Melissa got to surprise Mom and Dad with seeing Ladysmith in concert at the Royal Albert Hall. The Tower Theatre wasn’t quite the same proportions but it was still super cool.
That’s about it for now. We are both on Facebook – if you have an account come find us! Melissa has a My Space account and a blog
 Cutie Pie |
Jude continues to learn new things. His favorite food is cherrios, but that's probably because it is something he can feed himself. He is very good at climbing the stairs so long as an adult is following close behind to ensure he doesn't slip. He is crawling everywhere and getting into everything, which means two things - that he is learning the word 'no' and what it means, and that he has a wonderful new play-pen in our living room.
In other news, Mom had surgery to have her gall bladder removed, and she is recovering well, which is just as well as they are going away on a caribean cruise in a few days. To help while she was recovering, Steph and Jesse came down to visit for a week. So the cousins have been able to spend some quality time together. Melissa has accepted a part time job for the church, doing their website from home. It is exactly the kind of work that she can do, because it can fit around Jude's schedule. We've had a lot of snow lately, but most of that is on its way out now, all we need is a few warm days to get rid of all the slush on the roads.