Rollin' along

Tummy time at Gramma's in August.

Tummy to back
Oscar rolled from his tummy to his back on Sunday morning. He wasn't even trying, he was just playing on his play mat and ! just like that, he was on his back, looking at me with juicy spit bubbles on his lips.

I felt several things all at once: protective (I thought the sudden change might have startled him), proud, excited, relieved I'd been looking right at him, sad that Adam wasn't home to witness it...I felt like swooping him up in joy (and comfort) and at the same time I felt like playing it cool, like I didn't want to further startle him or just generally have a first-time parent freak-out. So I kind of did all those things in the next moment. I said something like, "Wow, look at you, Oscar, rolling over from your tummy to your back, what a big boy you are!" as I calmly dabbed the spit bubbles away with a burp cloth. The next second, though, I had grabbed him up and was hugging him to me, just loving him and being happy with the moment.

Keeping an eye on Gramma. And the camera.

Back to tummy
Tonight, Oscar was laying on his back and ! just like that, rolled over onto his tummy. What the?! I thought it would be a while longer before he could roll from back to tummy. I thought he'd be practicing his tummy-to-back roll first. I also thought the back-to-tummy roll would require much more effort. He did it without any at all. As soon as he was on his tummy, he was kicking his legs like a frog and he was grunting with frustration. He still doesn't love being on his tummy. I eventually helped him roll back onto his back. He continued to throw a leg over and turn onto his left side, but he didn't roll completely over again. Yet.

Metal baby

Rock on, little man.

Willow Creek Railroad

Journey, Adam and Oscar waiting for one of the trains to take off.

We made our second visit this summer to Willow Creek Railroad, this really cool place that's part of Antique Powerland.

Oscar contemplates a life ridin' the rails.

Beth reserved the place for a 3-hour party a couple Sundays ago and several of us showed up to picnic and take our little ones on the trains. The day turned out sunny and warm; a lovely time was had by all. Thank you, Beth, for organizing such a fun family outing!

Beth and a tuckered-out Eli.

Oregon State Fair

Getting dressed for the fair in a onesie with tractors and cows!

We went to the state fair tonight and had a fantastic time. It was perfect. Saw the cows, piglets, sheep, draft horses and my favorite, the poultry barn; looked at some farm equipment (saw this crazy, tall and narrow thing that turned out to be a crop sprayer, for row crops); saw some textiles and vegetables (again, got to see my favorite, the oddities and entries for "cutest vegetable"), decorated cakes, including our friend Marion's, fine art, calligraphy (a kind calligrapher gentleman wrote Oscar's name on some poster board for us, for free!), voted for Peoples Choice in the kids division and amateur art; ate fried food while listening to a Johnny Cash cover artist, who was pretty good.

Oscar watches me eat a hand-dipped pronto pup and brick o' fries for dinner. Mmm, fair food.

Here's my favorite part: We were sitting on a bench outside the Jackman-Long Building (art exhibits). I'd just finished nursing Oscar and Adam was burping him. A couple of women were sitting across the path from us. When they saw us preparing to leave, one of them came over and told us that she raised two children and her friend had raised "Oh, seven or eight," and that they both thought we were the nicest family they'd seen all day. I thanked them and told them that meant a lot to me and that, in fact, it had made my fair experience. I got teary as we walked away and told Adam how I remembered strangers making similar comments to our family when I was a kid and what an impression that made on me. Thinking about it now, how willing are you to go up to a perfect stranger and give them your opinion, no matter how well-intended and kind, about their family? I've done it a couple times in my life and it's always paid off with more kind words and big smiles.Here we are in front of the big tomato.

First dip in a swimming pool

Oscar had his first dip in a swimming pool a little over a week ago at his buddy Dixon's first birthday party. Most of the time he stood (with a little help from me), dropping his bum in only a couple times. He didn't mind it at all.


The party was great fun and all four SJ boys got to celebrate together (it's kind of tough to get all of us in one spot at the same time, it seems).

Thanks to Marion for playing photographer!

Broken alarm clock

We haven't had to use an alarm clock since Oscar joined our family. He gets us up around 5 a.m. every day and ordinarily he sleeps very fitfully in the mornings, thrashing about and making noise.

This morning I had the scare of my life. Oscar went to sleep at 9 p.m. A little early for him, so I figured I might be getting up twice during the night to feed him. Sure enough, he was up at 2 a.m., about an hour earlier than usual. I expected to be up again at 4:30 or 5 a.m. So my heart stopped when I woke up in a light bedroom, looked at the clock and saw 6:48 a.m. I leaped out of bed and looked at Oscar. As I mentioned, he usually thrashes about and makes a lot of noise in the mornings. But there he was, lying in his bassinet, one arm out of his swaddle. I had to put my hand on his chest to make sure he was still breathing! And then about one minute later, I had to do it all over again.

Later, Adam and I will laugh at ourselves about how awfully frightening it is to get more than three hours of uninterrupted sleep.

For now, Oscar's up checking email with his Papa. Good morning!

Happy to be home

We had a fantastic road trip last week: we drove from Salem to La Grande on the 7th and stayed with my dad and Rebecca; drove to Nampa, ID, on the 8th and stayed with my brother and his family for two nights; returned to La Grande on the 10th and stayed with my mom and returned to Salem on the 11th. Whew! Our hosts were wonderful and we saw too little of all of them.

Grampa and Oscar
Justin and Oscar
Gramma and Oscar
The purpose of the trip was to attend Adam's 20th class reunion for Centennial High School. It was fun to see Adam's best childhood friend Aaron, along with his wife, Deb, and to meet the folks who used to live in his neighborhood when he was a kid. It was also great to see Mrs. Billingsley and Deb and Aaron's kids. Back in La Grande, we had a lovely visit with Beth, Kevin, Tess and Colm.

Aaron, Elizabeth, Adam and Oscar
Beth and Oscar
After staying in three places over four nights (setting up good middle-of-the-night spots to nurse and change diapers was interesting!) and an 8-hour trip home on Monday, we were so glad to be home. I'd wisely taken Tuesday as a vacation day, so the three of us just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. Here's a video of just how happy Oscar was to be home:

My boys

I love these guys.

Adam and Oscar on Saturday morning, coming out of Oscar's room


Oscar is almost always smiling until he notices the camera!

Cloth diapers

We started using cloth diapers on Saturday. Finally! So far, so good, except Oscar has diaper rash. Any suggestions?

Some of our cloth diaper supplies, including some wraps from Angela and homemade wipes from Nicole. Thanks, girls!

Fun and full weekend

Just a quick update...Saturday, Oscar and I attended Kate's baby shower, along with a lot other mamas and babies and kids. Kate looks fantastic! It was fun to meet some of her family and other friends and to shower her with gifts and wishes for her little one.

We buzzed home from the shower to pick up Adam and head to the wedding shower for Murray and Pedi. We got there shortly before they had to leave, unfortunately, but we were there long enough to appreciate how happy they both are. They make a great couple.

This morning we headed to brunch in Portland with Devon. Devon has this great ability to bring people together. This morning, he invited another couple to join us with their 5-month old daughter. They're new to Portland and are interested in meeting new people, particularly those with kids. Leslie, Rob and Stella are great! We ended up spending almost three hours hanging out together at Biscuits for breakfast and Cosmic Monkey. Welcome to Oregon, new fine family!

Adam and Oscar pose with Devon and Stella


Rob, Stella, Leslie, me, Adam and Oscar in Cosmic Monkey

We were hoping to see Adam's brother's family while in Portland, but the girls were sick. I hope they're feeling better now and that the rest of the family escaped the illness and that we get to see them all soon!