Slow Down You Move Too Fast

In a week this child has gone from creeping and sort of kind of crawling to all out crawling and now climbing and pulling up.
Oh look, stairs!

Not only stairs, but now the crib! I put her in it to put away some clothes and pull out something for her to wear. I turned around and here she is, grinning away at me!

What a little turkey! Oh and she has a tooth poking through now.

Tis the Season!

Gillian - 8 months old

Gillian is a busy little girl these days. She is just growing and changing right before our very eyes. She has learned to sit-up, although getting down to her tummy is sometimes more rough than others. She is so close to crawling. She has the moves, she just needs to coordinate it all together. I have seen her do it for a couple of lengths, but then she resorts to the army man crawl or rolling. She is getting more and more vocal - her latest is growling. It is quite humorous the listen to. She is discovering her voice and the volume that comes with it. She sometimes will squeal while playing or flat out yell. She is very happy and smiles and laughs quite a bit. She is getting much better at eating solids. She has 2 meals a day of fruits and veggies and also has been eating the Gerber Finger Food Puffs. Her hand-eye coordination is pretty good.
Sitting and playing - it's a whole new world!

We figured out we could put Gillian in her bathtub in the big bathtub and she and Alistair could bathe together. They have the best time. Alistair invites Gillian to take a bath with him whenever he is going to take one. She loves laying there and watching him. She kicks and splashes and laughs at him.

Almost there - crawling around the house is imminent!

Gillian loves her big brother!

Our little ham. I was taking photos of them in their jammies and every time I raised the camera and said smile, she would flash this big, gummy smile. This photo makes me smile because not only is the big, gummy smile present, but she also tilted her head! She is a natural!

She is growing up way too fast! ):

Kicking Off the Christmas Season

December 1st...time to kick it into gear. We headed out to Cox Tree Farm near NW Trek to get our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. As usual we all found our tree within about 20 minutes of getting there (well, maybe more like 30 mins). They have such a great selection!
Our first family of four Christmas outing!

Alistair "helping" Seth cut down the tree.

Nice job boys, now to get it back to the car.

At our picnic afterward, the kids got their Christmas ornaments and pj's from Nana and Papa. They both wore them that night. They look so snuggly and warm! Gillian loves Alistair! (:

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was, as usual, delicious and filling. We kicked off the eating season mid-November with the annual Martinson gathering at Eric and Gigi's. It was a fun day. It is always nice to get the whole family together, and every year we get bigger and bigger (in numbers!).We spent Thanksgiving Day in Olympia with the Hennessey Family. Jen's parents also joined us. It was a great day filled with lots of good food and plenty of entertainment provided by the kids!

Food is served!

Miss Gillian gets a seat near the table eating her Gerber Sweet Potato Puffs (as close to Thanksgiving food as we could get!) while we ate.

Katelin had her pretty dress on that Grandma made her.

There was a jacket too, but she took it off.

Gillian has a shirt on that accurately describes her - "My Little Turkey"

Catching up on life

How did a month go by so quick. It feels like November just started and now it is December! We kicked off November with one last camping trip. We headed out to the coast and camped at Grayland Beach. It was a fun weekend. We experienced every type of weather except snow! As we were heading out to Seth's parent's house to get our trailer, this is what we were driving towards. I have never seen the sky SO dark! Can't wait to go camping!
Gillian's first wine tasting. Part of the motivation for going camping was that it was a release weekend at the Westport Winery. Both of our parents are in the wine club. It was fun and they have very good wine. I recommend stopping for a tasting if you are in the area.

Gillian hanging out with Grandpa chewing on a package of oyster crackers.

It was a beautiful day on Saturday after a very wet and wild morning. We had thunder and lightening coupled with rain and hail. About 5:00 or so it clouded up and rained on and off all evening. We were able to get out by the fire a time or two though.

Our home away from home. It was very cozy and warm - even in the inclement weather!

Storms a-brewin' Saturday evening.

Foamy seas - fairly tall.