Category: photos

Oregon Coast Vacation

N.’s family wanted to get together for a family vacation before their parents go to Korea this summer. And so last week we rented at a beach house in Yachats, on the Oregon coast. The weather was even lousier than average for the coast (brrrrr!), but the trip was a lot of fun.

Vacationing with a baby is a lot different than vacationing without one, but E. was a real trooper. We drove there and back and E. was great in the car even though we were driving for about 15 hours each way. He mostly played on his own with his toys and napped. He got fussy a couple of times but didn’t start screaming or crying even once. He was pretty awesome.

I’m still sorting through the photos I took while we were there, but here are some that I like in particular. I’ll be posting more this week.




My baby bird

I’ve been feeding E. rice cereal once a day since Sunday and yesterday I could tell that the light went on in his head. He started opening his mouth and leaning forward as soon as he was finished swallowing the last bite. N. said he looked like a baby bird. It was pretty cute. A couple of times he even grabbed my arm to guide the spoon I was holding into his mouth.

In other news, it looks like Robin Watch ’08 has ended sadly. Last week there was a horrible windstorm and the willow tree was shaken like crazy. Afterwards I didn’t see the female robin sitting on the nest for days. I went outside and checked and two eggs had fallen out of the nest and smashed on the ground. I took a peek inside the nest and there was one egg left, but since the robin hadn’t been sitting on it for days there wasn’t any way it would hatch.

I read online that robins lay about 3 clutches of eggs a season, so the pair probably decided to cut their loses after losing the eggs in the storm and decided to build a new nest somewhere else and try again.

Rice, Rice, Baby!

Yesterday E. had his first real experience with solid food. (I’m not counting the handful of times in the last month that N. has snuck E. tastes of random things such as ranch dressing and frozen yogurt.)


His first solid meal was rice cereal; it seemed to go well. He was really good about opening his mouth and actually seemed to swallow most of the cereal, contrary to the photographic evidence.

I’m going to give him rice cereal once a day for a week or so and if everything continues to go well, it will be on to tastier things. Kimchi, here we come!

Happy Birthday to N!

N. and my dad both had birthdays over the weekend. Happy birthday to both!

To celebrate N.’s birthday we left E. with N.’s mom on Saturday and went to dinner and a movie with friends. We went to an MacCool’s, an pub restaurant because N. had a hankering for pierogis and MacCool’s was the only local place we could find that had them. I had the sheperd’s pie which was quite tasty.

After dinner we went to see Ironman. I enjoyed it. I think Robert Downey Jr.’s performance was good, which was pretty key to the success of the movie. And even though Gwyneth Paltrow didn’t have a lot to do, she was appropriately plucky and likable. The writing was better than I expected. Over all, I would recommend it. If you go, be sure to stay until the end of the credits – we didn’t and we missed a stinger with a cameo by Samuel L. Jackson.

Yesterday we went to N.’s parents house for a birthday dinner. It was fun to see E. and his cousin L. interact. There’s only two months between them. Right now they mostly just look at each other, but it will be fun when they’re old enough to play together.



E. has his 6-month checkup tomorrow and so we’ll see how much he weighs and how tall he is. The eczema on his face has pretty much cleared up, but the cradle cap on his head has gotten worse. Over all his skin is really improving. So goes the war!

May Day Ice Parade

The wonders of spring in Utah continue! We were one of the last houses in our neighborhood to turn on our sprinklers. We finally got around to it last week after having a solid week of temperatures in the 60s and 70s. But a cold front moved in on Wednesday night and yesterday we woke up to an ice-encrusted lawn. It was a pretty incredible sight. So I ran and got out the telephoto lens that N. had given me a couple of years ago and headed out to the backyard in my pajamas to snap some photos.


In other news, E. is doing much better since his dermatologist appointment on Monday. Getting up to the hospital and back was a bit of an ordeal, but my friend Judi graciously volunteered to tag along and I really enjoyed her company. It made the trip a lot more pleasant. Details and pictures of E. (if i get around to taking any this weekend) to follow next week.
I hope you have a good weekend!

Let’s not do anything rash

E.’s been having a little bit of a tough time this week, but I’m not sure why. He’s been very tired, but will only take short naps. And last night he woke up crying at 3am, which is very unusual. After I got him back to sleep, he work up again at 6am and would NOT be consoled. The only thing that worked was swaddling him and letting him sleep in his swing. So I did that and slept on the couch next to him.

And the rash! Ever since his allergic reaction to the antibiotics, he’s had a rash on his face that won’t go away. The nurse said that it was because of his frequent drooling and to put some hydrocortisone cream on his chin, which I’ve been doing but it hasn’t helped that much. To top it off, E. has started rubbing his eyes with gusto whenever he’s tired, which is quite often. It’s painful to watch because he basically claws at his eyes, pumping his hands open and closed. I swaddle him when I put him to bed so he can’t scratch at his eyes.

Even though he’s not feeling well, he still tries hard to be cheerful. It’s cute in a pitiful sort of way.


Does anyone have any tips about how to end the rash or the eye rubbing?

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling…

E. rolled over yesterday! He was laying on his tummy, kicking his feet out behind him when his head started leaning to one side and slowly (ever so slowly) he rolled onto his side and then onto his back. I got out the video camera and tried to get him to do it again, but to no avail (of course!). I tried it with him again this morning, but he was tired and having none of it.

However, I haven’t given up hope and will continue trying to capture footage of the elusive rollover!