Easter

This Easter we took a trip to New Jersey on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we had a wonderful day getting Trafton some new summer clothes at the Carter's outlet in Tannersville and having lunch at the Barley Creek Brew Pub just down the road from there. We sat right next to our local weathercouple Tom and Noreen Clark, which we got a kick out of :) Then on Sunday we had a terrific hike at Jenny Jump and an early Easter dinner at Al's house. Daniel had to work on Monday, so we hit the road back to Bloomsburg shortly after dinner.

In our backyard with the cutest Easter basket that my former coworker, Holly, made for Trafton

This Easter chick dances and plays (loudly) the funky chicken. Whenever we turn it on, Trafton gets so scared, he immediately bursts into what we call his unbreatheable fuss (the kind of cry where I just am not sure he is getting enough oxygen because his face gets purple and he doesn't seem to take a breath for way too long)!

Next to our shed enjoying picking off tulip petals

Picking flower petals from the rhododendron bush

Neighbor's flowers

Is there anything else in that basket besides these empty plastic eggs?

Lounging with daddy on Easter morning

Easter breakfast

Trafton is excited about this Easter basket from his future aunts, Courtney and Melissa. In there were some bananas and some different types of crunchy cereal that he is just loving!

Chillin' with Uncle Mike

Rolling around on the porch, seeing what kind of trouble he could get in to :)

Ready for our Easter hike at Jenny Jump! It was much hotter than I thought it was going to be.

Trailhead

After we had been hiking in for a while, we passed a couple coming out who told us that they had just passed a bear a little further on. I really had no interest in running into this bear, especially since s/he so recently woke from hibernation and was most likely hungry . . . so we walked a little further on, but not too much more.

The remains of the foundation of an old cabin with a beautiful overlook. This is where we decided to turn around. There were so many ups and downs along the trail which would have made it so easy to come way too close to a bear without warning. We never ran into the bear, fortunately.

Trafton started to fuss a little so I held him for a bit as we walked out of the woods.

My little tree-hugger :)

Trafton gets heavy quick, so I passed him back to Daniel who carried him out the rest of his way on his shoulders.

By the time we were finished, Trafton was exhausted. Must have been all that hiking he did . . . wait a minute, no, maybe all the fresh mountain air!

There was a swingset just up the road from the trailhead near the entrance to the park. We play for a bit, but Trafton was about ready for a nap.

Springtime!

It has become so nice so quickly that last Thursday we decided to work in the yard. Daniel had the day off and I took the day off. It was a bit chilly in the morning, but then turned out to be a beautiful day.

Rich and Daniel removing winter berry bushes that lined the back of our property. They were huge and out of control for a long time. I didn't get out in time to take a 'before' picture - the boys got started early and I was just coming home from a run, so I missed the beginning of the action! The bushes were so wide and thick that they comepletely covered the foundation of our neighbor's house (the white house in the background).

Our yard feels bigger and cleaner now!

There were a few dumptrucks full (Rich is a tree guy, so he graciously offered his help and his dumptruck) that were taken to the compost site.

Last year on Father's Day, when Trafton was only a little over one week old, we planted these rhododendrons in his honor.

Next project - till the garden! Al came up to help and brought his tiller along.

Working hard :)

Now - my job: time for planting early crops. I planted romaine, leaf lettuce, broccoli, and spinach.

Little lettuce sprouts

My Sweet Sickness

Trafton has been through so many sicknesses since starting daycare in January. I never imagined that I would be spending so much time in the doctor's office! He has had several colds, four ear infections, a two-day fever that peaked at 101.9, and his latest ailment: pink eye. Here's a look at him on day two of pink eye, after we gave him a few rounds of the antibiotic eye drops. He initially took amoxicillin for his ear infections, but was switched to augmentin when that just wasn't strong enough. We are very lucky that we really like Trafton's pediatrician and that Trafton is a very good sick baby. Although sometimes you can just tell he must be miserable - in the middle of a terrible coughing spell or turning bright pink with a fever - he has maintained his happy disposition. What a sweet little sickness he is! Needless to say, we are so looking forward to summer break and the temporary end of both the cold season and daycare :)

Peanut Butter

Trafton recently tried peanut butter - it was hilarious! He has been eating all other types of nuts that I have ground for him, but I wanted to hold off on peanuts until he was at least ten months old. I made his peanut butter really thin, but he still was really working that tongue. He seemed to really like the taste.

Photo Shoot with Brett

A few weeks ago, our friend Brett (of Brett Simpson Photography brettsimpson.smugmug.com ) took nine month photos of Trafton. Here is the wonderful result!

In the first two pictures Trafton is playing catch with his daddy while I sit behind him. He loves this game!

Every night before bed, part of our ritual is to stand Trafton up and then say "Who's the standing baby? Who's so tall?" etc.

I really wanted a picture of his little cheeks :)

Brett had a great idea to let Trafton eat something colorful. We went with carrots and yogurt - they turned out pretty fun against the green high chair and bib.

10 Months Old!

Yesterday Trafton turned ten months old! He is getting so big. This past weekend we got new car seats for our vehicles. They are rear/forward facing so he can still face backward until he is a year (hopefully) and the packaging claims they are good until 80 pounds, so we will have these for a while. Trafton is getting increasingly mobile with scooting, rolling, and trying to pull himself up to a seated position and then a standing position. He can stand while holding onto something if someone puts him in that position, but he hasn't quite been able to get into the standing position by himself. He is getting really good at mimicking what others do (clapping, waving, blowing raspberries) and has also discovered how he can cover/uncover his own face during peek-a-boo games. He says da-da really well, but ma-ma still only usually comes out during a fussy time. He is still nursing, but getting increasingly uninterested - I hope he makes it another two months! Trafton continues to eat a wide variety of yummy foods, he has even found that he likes kale, and the only thing that hasn't sat well with him has been portabella mushrooms. Two things he recently found that he loves - homemade carrot juice and cinnamon sugar pretzel sticks from Auntie Anne's. I think his favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear because it is the only book he actually pays attention to all the way through before leaping away or playing with a toy.

This is Trafton's last bath at the kitchen table. He is getting better at the tub baths, but he remains intensely fearful of the shower sprayer.

My little monkey loves to eat bananas and can easily polish off a whole one, then still get down an entire meal after that!

One of the places that Trafton loves to practice standing is on my old dresser. It is exceptionally heavy and the drawers on it are quite difficult to open and shut. This makes it perfect for him because his fingers will never get pinched.

Daniel feeds Trafton his dinner before we sit down to eat ours. We recently set up this hook-on chair at our dinner table. Now Trafton hangs out here and plays while we eat our dinner.

This is one of the final times that Trafton was in the bassinet part of the Pack-N-Play. We recently took that part out and now he plays in the bottom part of it.

Hangin' with Pappy

Not quite ready for the rocker from Pappy, but it's still fun to practice with Daddy.

I honestly cannot get enough of him sleeping.

He's such a good sleeper and so adorable :)