This weekend the family along with my mom headed to Chewelah, Washington for a Lucas Family Reunion (my mom's fam). It's been years since all of us have spent time together.

We celebrated Grandma's 80th birthday! Fun times catching up with one another on hikes and around the campfire.

It was fun to see so many of my cousins' kids. Most I hadn't met or seen in a long time!

Grandma's B-day celebration...the kids decorated planting pots with their pictures it was a hit!

Kylie had fun playing horse shoes, crawling after the other kids, and roasting her first marshmallow. No smores for her yet! Unfortunately our time ended with her getting an eye infection (which I recently had) and an ear infection. We made a pit stop at the Kennewick Urgent Care on our way back to Oregon. She's doing much better, just a day later! What a blessing it is to be healthy. Now we're resting up at Sunriver...more tales to follow.

Our Weekly Routine

Kylie and I have started getting our weekly groove on... this
is how it goes. We started a "side job" helping
an older lady with some basic needs. We make her lunch and
help her with a little foot care and housework every
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for a couple hours each day.
On the other days we spend time with friends either jogging,
walking, eating or playing at the park. One of our friends we
see each Thursday is Breann. She's been such a blessing in our
lives, and Kylie looks forward to seeing her! We usually hang out
at Willamette Park, a beautiful park next to the river.


We definitely make time for baths each week!
Kylie loving her bath out on the deck in the nice summer
weather. Unfortunately, over the weekend I got
conjunctivitis (yes gross I know). I almost posted the
pic of Kylie and me for proof, but my eye is red and puffy- not
my best pic ever!


Kylie is crawling everywhere; exploring all the places
we go each day! And putting everything, I mean everything
in her mouth to taste-test. Tiff can attest to this. I won't
disclose what she put in her mouth while I let her crawl
on the concrete at a nearby shopping center, as many of you
may doubt my mothering abilities. I will tell you that today
she found a dead bug to eat. As I realized this, I saw the legs
hanging out of her mouth and tried to retrieve the winged bug.
It was mostly down the hatch, and I could only get part of it!

Summer Fun

We spent a couple hours hanging with the Yarborough's
over the weekend in the lovely warm weather.
No, we didn't have another baby- that's Jonas.
By the way, if your kiddo is a crawler... we'd recommend
Baby Legs (featured in the pic above) $12 at New
Seasons, or check them out at babylegs.com
Thanks Aunt Anne, Kylie loves them!


This morning Kylie and I went to Blue Lake Park to
meet up with my sister and her kiddos. The park
has a fun sprinkler area for the younger kids.


Kylie's roaming around on her hands and almost
calloused knees, despite the cool spray of water from
many directions. We've been trying to get her
accustomed to water at our community pool.
She's such a happy girl, and seems to love the water
thus far!

Kylie's First Zoo Trip

A friend Lauren and I took our girls to the Oregon Zoo this week.
I'm always in awe seeing the animals in the Africa exhibit, like
this beautiful giraffe.
Unfortunately, we picked the $2 Tuesday and lets just say not
all the "animals" were in cages!


By the end of our Zoo trip, Pili was zonked!

Disco Fever

Our friend, Oscar, recently turned 30...to celebrate
his wife threw a surprise birthday party disco style. Matt
and I, well ok me, myself and I rummaged through our closets
in search for anything 70's or disco to no avail. A mini skirt for
me and a Napolean Dynamite outfit for Matt, wig included, were
as good as it got.


The attire worked out perfectly as you can see. Here's
Matt with Pedro, oops, I mean Oscar!

Fairview Park

As a committment to health, Matt and I have been
trying to walk more regularly in the evenings together.
We opted for the local park recently to take time for fun
and reflection.


As a side note....Matt wants you all to know that we don't
always dress this casual (ie sloppy)! We've realized that
we don't have many pics of us looking "goood." We'll try to
work on that for our future postings.

The Famous Jumperoo

Our good friends Micah and BobbiJo came over on
Friday with their (almost) 4 mo old son Jonas. Micah was
dying to have Jonas try out the jumperoo. He seemed
to really enjoy the colors and tunes. Couldn't quite
keep his arms up to play with the toys, but his legs
were trying their best to get him jumping!

Almost Summer

Yes, it's June and Matt and I have been getting out
on regular walks each week despite rainfall. Unfortunately
the weather doesn't seem like June with it's dreary
rain and cloud cover.


We're enjoying it none the less! Kylie
clicks her heals most of the walk, so we know
she's enjoying herself as well.

Summer Fun...mostly indoors for now

Last week Tiffany invited me and BobbiJo, with our little ones,
to OMSI to explore the kids play area. As you can see Kylie had
a blast playing in the pool of balls and looking at fish until another
little girl came along and pulled out her hair clip!!


What a cutie! Wish I had a pic of Jonas...
This is a great place for a playdate. Lots of
fun for the older kids to learn with hands-on activities,
and a great area for smaller tots to play in.
BJ found some great options, with little cost, for
entertaining moms along with their babes. A couple examples-
The Children's Museum has free admission the 1st Friday
of each month during the summer and cheap admission on
the 2nd Tuesday of each month at the Oregon Zoo.

Bisphenol-A

When Kylie was on formula and getting fed via the bottle, we decided to switch from plastic to glass bottles with the recent hype on BPA. I looked into the issue a bit and tried to decide what would be best. There were a few studies I read where BPA was tested on animals and bad outcomes were found- such as cancer, diabetes, obesity. We switched over to glass for peace of mind and it's challenged me to look at what I drink or eat out of (no more Nalgene bottle). Although, I recently found Nalgene has a new water bottle BPA free. I had no idea the recycle symbol on the bottom of plastic bottles/containers can tell you if it contains BPA. So finding a number 7 on the bottom of my tupperware or bottles wasn't a good thing. I would love any additional information on the subject if you have it!
Thanks for encouraging me to blog about it Candace.

(Matt's first blog entry)

Mother's Day was the BEST! Matt took our own
rice milk into Carlino's Coffee House to make a
latte for me. It has been months since I have been
able to enjoy such a treat. He also brought me lillies
and a "tear jerker" card. He is the best husband!
His family came over for a wonderful brunch.



Please don't tell Matt...but I don't think he's the father!
She's too cute to be his.



Kylie with Grammie. Again...I don't think she is Matt's.

Our friend Annie Hess is pretty extraordinary...
Matt calls her a "physical specimen" it doesn't
hurt my feelings...really it doesn't. I have to agree
with him. When it comes to track and field, well actually
throwing discus the girl is absolutely amazing. We went
to watch her throw hammer at one of her meets last
month; unfortunately we missed the discus. At that meet
she set a stadium record for the discus at Mt. Hood
Community College. Good luck at the Olympic trials!



ENGAGED
One of my best friends, Lisa Russell recently got engaged
to a great guy named Brian. Matt and I spent a little
time with them a few weekends back and enjoyed our
time with them getting to know Brian. To our surprise, and Lisa's,
he popped the question on a Mexico getaway about a week
ago! We are so excited for their future together. They'll
be a blessing together and will touch so many lives as a
married couple!

Redmond

Finally I was able to upload a picture!! Computer troubles.
Anyway...here's Kylie playing with her first pinecone in
Redmond. We went to Eagle Crest with Paul and Karyn, and
their baby-to-be. We stayed a few days, enjoyed the sun and
quiet atmosphere.

Update

So we've been off the blogging radar the last month. We decided to save a little cash and cancel our phone, internet and cable. In turn, I haven't had internet access during the day so blogging got put on the back burner. The last few weeks have been a blur of formula, bottles, and pumping- yes I mean breast pumping. I know to some that might not sound like fun or what you want to read on a blog, but it's true. We took Kylie to an Allergist who agreed with the pediatrician to put her on a hypoallergenic formula as a trial to see if the blood in her stool went away. It did, along with other signs of something irritating her... like her constant diaper rash and eczema. The trial lasted roughly 3 weeks and now we're attempting to get her back nursing full-time. She's been back on mother's milk 24hrs and seems to be tolerating it. As for me, I am on what some may say a crazy diet... trying to avoid all possible allergens. I will begin to reintroduce foods and see if we can pinpoint the culprit. We see the Allergist again next week, so I am hoping to continue breastfeeding if all goes well.
Aside from that, we have been busy spending time with friends. I've been meeting with a few gals each week and have really enjoyed the blessing of friendship. Earlier in the week the three of us, along with Paul and Karyn, went over to Redmond so Matt could see customers. We enjoyed the sunny, crisp weather over there. We relaxed, read, and went on walks while Matt was busy calling on customers. He enjoyed the company in the late afternoon and evening! We're looking forward to the summer and more fun times ahead.

Starting Solids...Kylie Tells All

You're finally going to let me eat!!


I don't know about this?


Ugh...the texture is making me gag!


This eating thing isn't what I thought it would be.
I'm a little disappointed.

Can You Believe It's Been 6 Months?

Kylie turned 6 months old today. When she woke up this

morning, I told her the story about the day she was born- minus

the gory details. She gabbered right back like she was telling

her side of the story. She's such a blessing in our lives... a

true miracle to me. To celebrate, I made chocolate cupcakes

with white frosting and an M&M that says her name!

Tomorrow we see the doctor for her 6 month appointment.

I am looking forward to hearing what the doctor says in

regards to her possible allergy. And then maybe I can enjoy

one of the cupcakes!

Piper and Kylie Finally Meet On St. Patty's Day

Here's a little background... Matt and Breanne went to
high school together, and last spring we met with her and
her husband to talk about our upcoming Hawaii trip. We were
both pregnant for the first time. After having our little girls
nearly 3 weeks apart, we finally get to catch up on all the mom talk!
The babes looked at each other as if looking in a mirror. They
grabbed each others' feet and hands- too cute!


Matt joined us for a little floor time. Piper moves all
around the floor... rolling place to place and jabbering!


Mom and daughter festive in their St. Patty's
Day color! Oops, I forgot my green.

Aren't Aunts Great!

Over the weekend, Kylie and I were on our way downtown
so I could register for the Shamrock run. My parents were
visiting my Dad's Aunt Margaret, so we decided to join them.
This was the first time Aunt Margaret and Uncle Emil got to
meet Kylie. It was a quick visit, but fun to see them.

Aunt Anne

Matt's sister Anne came over to visit Kylie yesterday
and see her sitting up. Kylie loves grabbing her head to
give her big kisses and pulling on her hair and earrings!


Easter Best... Aunt Anne bought this adorable
little Easter dress for Kylie. She's giving it a
thumbs up!

Sitting Up

Hooray! Kylie's new little trick is sitting up!


She's been practicing and getting close the last couple weeks.
And a couple days ago she did it on her own. Here she is
workin' her abs.