an apple a day

keeps the doctor away? Not when you're a baby! This past Friday we headed to see Dr. Gamelin for Cole's 6 month doctors appointment. He's actually 6 1/2 months now, but it was the soonest that we could get it. He's a healthy, happy, growing boy. 28 1/4 inches long (92nd percentile) and 17 lb 12oz (47th percentile). Long and skinny! He got three more shots, which he handled pretty well and it didn't seem to affect his mood as much in the days afterwards this time. We talked with Dr. Gamelin mostly about food (how much and how often should we be feeding him, what things can we give him and when) and skin stuff (Cole has had some dry patches on his legs, but they have gotten better with the use of some great lotion that Brad and Mercedes gave us). So, all in all, a good visit.

Cole does enjoy apples, even if they don't keep the doctor away. I think it probably feels good on his teeth. He's definitely getting at least one new one in right now. He's been chewing on everything in sight!

first farmers market of the year

Yeah for the Farmers Market! One of my favorite Saturday morning activities. And even better when it's a beautiful sunny day. We met up with Shahnaz, Ginie, and the boys for a visit by the fountain.



Our little gardener. Cole was obsessed with this weed! He takes after his Grandpa Walt, I think.

Then we were off to swim lessons. Cole was better on his back this time and was a pretty good sport about being dipped under water.

weekend in seattle

We spent last weekend in Seattle with Keli, Rob and Buster. It was SO much fun. I'm going to write more later, but wanted to get a few pictures up in the meantime.

Cole didn't sleep as much as we were hoping in the car, but he was so happy the whole time.

First stop Salumi, owned by Mario Batali's parents.


Cole testing out Baby Faw's Johnny Jumpup.

Aunt Keli


Cole's new buddy, Buster.

I don't get photos of me and Cole too often (thank you, Rob!), so I had to add these.

ta-da! two teeth

Cole got his first tooth a couple of weeks ago, and I've been wanting to show everyone, but it's kind of hard to get a picture of the inside of a baby's mouth! He now has his bottom two teeth in and I randomly snapped this photo, and, ta-da! You can see the them (or at least one of them). Man, they're sharp!

baby sign language

Cole, Brittney and I are taking a baby sign language class. It's every Wednesday for an hour and so far, so good. At least Brittney and I are learning a lot. And hopefully Cole will start picking up some of them soon. I think he's starting to recognize the sign for nursing/milk. He seems to get excited when I do that one and yesterday when I did it he leaned towards me with his arms out (precious!). It will be fun once he's able to start signing himself.

Yesterday we learned various food signs. Some of our favorites, that we practiced last night at dinnertime, were apple, banana, and cracker. Here are Cole and Elijah enjoying the plastic food that the teacher brought in as props.

And we ended the class with a story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The kids were actually pretty engaged by it, although it doesn't look like it in this picture!

first swimming lesson

Yesterday was Cole's first swimming lesson at the Aquatic Center. It's a nice, small group (there were only 5 yesterday) and as always, it was fun to meet some more moms and babies. Two of the babies are really close to Cole's age -- Annica is two weeks older and Zane is two weeks younger. We started on the steps with a song about reaching your arms forward and then over your head. Which was kind of funny because babies arms don't really move too easily and the range of motion is pretty limited. But eventually he'll be able to get those arms over his head!

We practiced laying back (which was the least popular activity). Cole just kept closing his eyes when I layed him back. When he opened his eyes and saw me behind him, he seemed to like it a lot better.

1-2-3 blastoff! We practiced "jumping" off the side and then swimming (kick, kick, kick) to the other side.


And he even went underwater, which we don't have a photo of, but I've been told that they do underwater photos with the kids at the end of the session.

As usual, Cole took everything in stride. Some big smiles, squeals, and of course some grunts. That's his thing these days, grunting. Turns out Annica also likes to grunt. There was an instant connection!

swinging in the sun

The weather here is so beautiful right now -- sunny and in the 70s. These are the days that we live for in Oregon! Yesterday afternoon Cole and I took a walk to our neighborhood park. He loves to swing and watch the other kids run around.

a little more vertical

In the past week Cole has mastered the art of sitting. He's really enjoying being able to be a little more vertical, but now that he can see what's around him, he seems to get a bit frustrated with not being able to get things that are out of his reach. I have the feeling that crawling is not too far away!

a day with aunt sarah

We spent Saturday in California with Sarah, which was wonderful. We made a short trip into San Francisco and got to enjoy the farmers market at Pier 1. The weather was beautiful!


The best part of the day, though, was getting to see where Sarah lives in Burlingame and just getting to catch up with her in person. Cole loves his auntie Sarah! And he loves the hats that she got him, too.

california cousins

This weekend we traveled to Pleasanton to visit Brad, Mercedes, Natalia (4 years) and Karina (10 weeks). It was Cole's first plane ride and he was just the perfect little traveler. On the way home, the woman sitting next to us said "This has been the best flight that I've had in years." Cole was smiling at her the whole time. What a flirt!

The weekend was lots of fun and it was so wonderful to meet the newest addition to our family, Karina. What a precious baby! She is just beautiful and has such a sweet disposition.

It's really, really hard to get a good photo of two infants, especially when they are both ready for naps. But I think these capture them pretty well. Karina looking so sweet and happy. Cole drooling like a maniac. In the other photos in this series he was trying to grab her ear and pull the barrette out of her hair, which he managed to do.


Natalia is such a wonderful big sister and cousin. She's so creative, imaginative, sweet, fun, funny, loving .... the list could go on and on. It was a joy to see her and to get a glimpse into her world.


Here she is with Cole in the car at the airport. As we were getting ready to leave she told Cory "He's holding my hand really tight. I think he wants to stay here with me forever."

the east coast klinks are coming west!

We couldn't be happier to let everyone know (and now we can because they've officially made the announcement) that the east coast klinks are coming west! Yep, that's right. My brother and his family are moving to Corvallis. They were out here recently and it was so much fun for the kids to play together. It's going to be so wonderful for them to grow up together. I still don't think that the reality has set in, and it probably won't until they are here and we are able to just stop by and say hi or have them over for a bbq. Words really can't describe how excited we are!

I didn't take too many pictures during their visit, but I did get this one of the three of them together that I think captures their different stages.

Cole is like, hey, I want to play with you guys! I want to crawl around like Alex, but all I can do is lie here! But I'm going to watch everything that you do. Especially you, Alex. You're the coolest.

Alex is like, hey, check me out! I'm not the littlest one. And I can do so much. I can almost walk and I can pull myself up on everything. I love to play!

And Mia is probably saying something really cute and clever. She's amazing, that little girl! I can't believe that she's only 2 1/2 with some of the things that she comes up with! And she has such great energy -- constantly playing and imagining.