Being Green

In a state obsessed with being green, Abby fit right in. She was a frog for Halloween. She humored her mom and let me take a picture or two...


...then she was on the move...

It's hard to crawl with webbed feet..


...that's when the Aquaducks (see previous post) training comes in handy...


...although it's a little harder on dry land...


We stopped by a Halloween party with the neighborhood kids. Pizza for parents, puffs for kids.

Farthing Fun-Part 2

More Farthing Fun...

We spent Monday afternoon in downtown Portland...in the playroom at Sip N Kranz and on the swings at Washington Park...Abby and Henry doubled up in one swing and Ian in the other.




...and back home for some quick shots of the Halloween costumes...

...and I mean quick. We got one picture of Henry the bear, Abby the frog and Ian the dragon before they were on the move.

Farthing Fun--Part 1

Ian and Henry Farthing (of The Dukes of Lawrence fame) brought their parents out to Portland to visit for the weekend. It was lots of fun--and squeals, smiles and laughs--to have three 8-month-olds under one roof!

We marveled at how Joe and Sarah handle twins so well--so organized while having to be on top of their game at all times. With Abby in the mix, they got a glimpse of what life would be like with triplets--crazy!


Sarah, Ian and Henry reading the "peek-abo" book


Abby and Henry plotting how they are going to get all the books off the shelf.


Those crazy boys...


1:45 p.m. S.E. Portland: backseat of the Farthing-mobile leaving Stumptown Coffee Roasters


2:05 p.m. S.W. Portland: arrive home with three sleeping babies and two moms to transfer each to their respective beds. All went off without a hitch.


Dads on duty


Henry discovered the door stopper, which soon became a big hit for all three kids...and even the neighbor on the other side of the wall.

Sweet Sixteen

We hit a couple of milestones this week...Abby turned 8 months old and tipped the scale to 16 pounds! She's now doubled her birth weight and then some.

I haven't posted in a while because I have been busy chasing Abby around the house. She is "army-crawling" all over the place. I hope to catch her on camera soon as she pursues Sophie the cat--it is quite funny, but I am usually running interference so I can't grab the camera...

She likes to pull up, but is still a little wobbly (notice my supporting foot in the above picture). It's hard to believe how quickly our newborn bundle has turned into a little girl. We won't think about how quickly time will fly until we celebrate the other Sweet Sixteen...

Swim Like a Fish

The neighborhood community center pool has an "Aquaducks" swim class for 6-24 month olds. Dad and Abby are taking the class together--Mom and Gramma came along the first night to watch and snap a few pictures.


Watching the older kids in the water...


Getting excited to jump in soon...

All those toys and kids and one giant bathtub...looks like so much fun!

Getting used to the water with the other Aquaducks

Holding onto the side and kicking...Abby was holding herself up most of the time, but glad to see dad was right there behind her.

Floating...


Kicking with dad.
(Don't be alarmed--the baby in the foreground is not in danger. It's the instructor's doll)

More kicking...


Warm and cozy...


...and exhausted.

Gators, Gramma and More

Here's Abby dressed in her Gator garb and ready for the big UF vs. LSU game on Saturday...


Gramma read her a cute Gator book to begin her education on Gator Nation...


Abby was all smiles through the first quarter. Unfortunately, the outcome of the game was not quite as happy...but a great effort by the orange and blue.


A Pair in Pink...


We went for a walk with Anna, Nathan and Noel around OHSU on Wednesday and snapped some pictures of the beautiful trees, ablaze in fall colors.




Just hanging out ...

Eagle Creek

The title of this post could have been "Punch Bowl Falls" which we hear is really beautiful. We were planning to see it, while trying out our new (incredibly good deal) baby backpack on Saturday.

We happily hiked along Eagle Creek for a while, with beautiful scenery and tree branches that looked like "Grinch" fingers. Check out the size of the salmon and trout--unfortunately, most of them were dead.

Then Abby decided she didn't want to be confined to a backpack. Long story short, we made it about 1.5 miles in before the meltdown, then hiked 1.5 miles back out with a screaming passenger. It seemed like 20 miles.

As you can see, when we got back to the car, she was all smiles again...it just wasn't meant to be, I guess. Maybe we'll try some shorter hikes closer to home first, and try again another day.

Around the House

Things are pretty quiet these days in PDX. The rain and chilly weather have come with October, but so far we are enjoying the pretty leaves, warm fireplace and the delicious Northwest-grown apples and pears.

Abby's moved up to the big tub and enjoys nightly "swim time" with the ducks...and showing them who's boss.

She's more curious than ever and especially loves hanging around with dad...and playing with his watch.