Summer Vacation - Part 2

We were able to spend four and a half days in Hilton head with Erin's family. In that time we swam, ate, played video games, swam and ate some more, and took both walks and runs on the beach. It was wonderful, but of course, it flew by. We did make sure to get lots of pictures.

Newlyweds!  Jess and Shane Orr

              

Wier Family: Jason, Meg, Nate and Morgan                 Kaufaman Family: George, Kate, McKenzie and Ella

5 and a half year old Nathan is part Fish, part Ham, and 100% fun!

Play time in the pool with Grandparents Kathy and Charles. Miss McKenzie is a pink cuddle-fish!

Walks on the beach allowed for some quiet time to catch up

Morgan and Xander, only 2 weeks apart, acting like brothers.

Erin and Xander having a wonderful time together.

   

Summer Vacation - Part 1

We headed off on vacation Wednesday last week. Xander travels very well and we had a good flight to Charlotte through Knoxville. We ate in Knoxville and Xander was very interested in lunch. This kid is so ready to start solid foods.




We stayed the evening in Charlotte with Erin's parents and the next morning had a nice visit with her grandparents. Here's a shot of Jackie Xaver, Kathy McParland, Erin McParland Lewis, and Xander.


That afternoon we left for Southport, NC to visit my father. This was Xander's first chance to meet his grandfather and grandmother, and they had a great time together. We stayed with dad for two full days and spent time playing and helping him with a few things around the house.


On Sunday morning we got up early and drove to Hilton Head, SC to meet back up with the McParland clan for a week at the beach. We of course wanted to get pictures of the three new babies, Xander, Morgan, and Ella. It turns out that it is very challenging to get pictures of three babies, all happy, at the same time.

It has been a suprisingly relaxing vacation, with three infants, a 2 year old, and a 5 year old. I think it has been very effective birth control for newly wed Shane and Jess Orr.

The whole family headed out for an evening sailing trip on Monday. We were on a beautiful 62' schooner, a replica of the first US Coast Guard Revenue Cutters. We had a relaxing sail around Hilton Head and enjoyed seeing dolphins and a lovely sunset. Xander seemed to enjoy himself on the boat, haning out with his cousin Morgan and the rest of the family.



Xander has also been enjoying his first beach experience. We have had lots of fun playing in the surf, and although it can be a little surprising at times, he seems to really enjoy it.


We are looking forward to the rest of the week here in Hilton Head, and a visit to my mom this weekend. Stay tuned for more updates!

-Jake

It's official

Xander has finally broken the 17 lb. barrier and weighed in this morning at a whopping 17.4 lbs. Yes, that means another a half pound gained in a week. Must be all that fresh mountain air. Folks keep talking about growth spurts, and the kid does go through phases of more sleeping or more eating, but Xander has steadily gained weight at roughly the same pace since he was born. Again, folks say this will slow down...someday.

The good news is that he's finally broken the "double your birthweight" criteria, and added to the "interested in you eating" and "used to sleep through the night better but now wakes hungry" criteria, we can start him on solids soon! Maybe, just maybe, Erin will get to sleep through the night? It's been almost 6 months since I have gotten 7 uninterrupted hours of sleep.

Oh yeah... and one more milestone is coming up- I have only one more pound to go before hitting my pre-pregnancy weight. Now, the weight used to be more muscle, and so I don't look the same, but still, I'll be happy to get there. It may take awhile though. Starting tomorrow, We're on a 12 day vacation to visit our family back east! We'll have a crazy couple of days... We get to introduce Xander to all of his cousins, both grandpas, and to his great-grandparents, hang out at the beach, do some more sailing, and celebrate Gran's 60th birthday!

-Erin

The perfect weekend - Mountains and Water

I got up early saturday morning, while Erin was still sleeping. Xander was just starting to wake up, so I got him dressed and we spent some time "stretching" in the living room. I gave him a bottle to top him off from his early breakfast and by 7:30 we were out the door for a 16 mile run. It was a beautiful cool morning and the run flew by. We had a lovely run along the coal creek trail, lots of of other runners up early smiled at us along the way. By the last 3 miles, I was starting to get a little more tired, so Xander encouraged me by chattering at me the rest of the way home. What a great way to start a weekend.

Erin was able to sleep in some in the morning, and also get in a good run. After our runs, we packed up the Jeep and headed over to meet Levi, Sarah, and Leah. We headed up into the mountains together to Montezuma. In Montezuma we put it in 4wd and turned up the Saint Johns Creek jeep road. The road wasn't too bad, so Levi let Leah drive for a while...




We drove through beautiful forest and stopped at Wild Irishman Mine. Erin put together an amazing dinner while Xander helped me set up camp.



The next morning Xander slept in while we made breakfast. After breakfast we explored the log cabins on the hill side. Whie the adults took in the views, Xander and Leah got to spend some quality time hanging out together.




After breakfast we headed up above tree line. This section of trail had some steep descents that kept reminding us to pay attention to our driving as well as the beautiful views.


We saw a lot of wildlife on the trip. The night before we had seen a fox and a deer wander through camp. Above tree line we saw a family of moutain goats.

It was so beautiful we stopped to take a few pictures of the kids. You can see Breckenridge ski resort in the background.


It was time to head down the moutain, but the weekend fun wasn't over yet. We all headed for Dillon for an afternoon of sailing on the lake. The weather was beautiful and the wind was good. Dillon can be a real challenge to sail on, but it wasn't too gusty, and the wind didn't die on us too much. This was Xander's first sailing trip and he seemed to enjoy it, despite having already had a very full day.


It was an absolutely fantastic weekend!!

-Jake

Xander at daycare

Xander is doing really well with daycare. Both Elizabeth and Nicole are wonderful moms and they are taking great care of him.

Nicole just got a new swing set for her son's first birthday (Happy Birthday Rory!), and a second swing for Xander too! Here's a photo she took of Xander enjoying the sunshine!

Thanks Nicole!
-Erin

Xander is 4 months old!

2 days ago Xander turned 4 months old and so today we took him in for a checkup with his pediatrician. She was pleased with how well his umbilical hernia is healing up, how mobile and strong he was when sitting and standing, and said he was hitting his milestones like babbling, giggling, putting things in his mouth, and interaction with people.





Xander continues to grow on pace to be a pretty big kid.

He is now:
25 3/4" long
16 lbs, 14 oz in weight
17 1/4 " around in head circumference

All of these remain in the 75th percentile!

Only 2 pieces of "bad" news...

Xander has completely reverted to waking up and wanting to eat every 3 hours. The Pediatrician frowned at this, and said Jake and I need to try harder to encourage him to sleep through the night... hmmm. She suggested feeding him more during the day until I pointed out that the kid'll eat 5-6 oz of milk every 3 hours already!

Also, because he is growing so quickly, Xander will need a new carseat soon, having only a few inches remaining before he outgrows his current "infant" seat. Oh yes, and he is now moving into 9 month old clothing. Ah, children are good for the American economy!

4X4 Camping Trip

This post is a little late, but last weekend we headed out in the Jeep for a camping trip. Tucker, David and Alex joined us, making 3 Jeeps and David's BMW Dakar motorcycle. We met up at Camp Dick in Peacefully Valley off the Peak to Peak Highway and headed out around noon. We went out the Middle St. Vrain Rd and came back on the Coney Flats road. The outward section of trail paralleled the Middle St Vrain Creek and was very pretty. There were a couple of interesting obstacles along the way, but we all made it through fine. I got hung up on a rock for a few minutes, but got free without much trouble. Here's a short movie.

Alex went through this obstacle in his stock height Wrangler with no trouble at all using a lot more finesse than either Tucker or I.

This was David's first real off road trip on his motorcycle and we were all both excited and worried for him. He started off a little tentatively, but soon enough was practically running circles around the four wheelers.

We camped at the end of the Middle St Vrain road. While Tucker went fishing and Erin and Xander took a nap, David, Alex and I hiked up to Red Deer Lake. The lake was beautiful, but further than we thought, the sign said 2 miles, but really it was about 3.5.

We had a great evening camping, Tucker brought out some halibut and salmon that he had caught in Alaska, it was absolutely wonderful. After a big day we all went to sleep early. Xander did wonderfully camping, and was a pretty happy little dude all night. I think his favourite part of camping is getting to sleep in the sleeping bags with us!

The next day called for a number of deep stream crossings with one that was supposed to be up to 3 ft deep that is characterized more as a "lake" than a stream. We were a little worried for David on his motorcycle. It turned out that before we even got to the lake there were more obstacles to be overcome. There was a steep and rocky hill right out of the campsite. Our Jeep did incredibly well, but it was sufficiently scary looking that Erin hopped out before I drove up. Again, some good video.



After the big climb we got to the "lake". It really was pretty big and deep. I went through first and the water came up to the undercarriage, but no higher. After that Tucker came through. Next was David. The water really was pretty deep, but he did very well. He sure did get wet though.


Alex came last and we were a little worried about how deep the water would be on his wrangler. The good news is that the stock wranglers have air intakes that are all the way at the top of the hood. The water was up over his bumer, but he came thorugh just fine.



It was a fantastic trip and everyone had a great time. I feel like we got a chance to get some real use out of the Jeep. Xander was wonderful on the trip and seemed to enjoy himself. I think that he likes the Jeep, but he also thought David's motorcycle was pretty cool.