Here's some pics from the last month... from Cannon Beach, swimming, the grocery store, a lookout point, the rose garden with Amy, Voodoo donuts, rock-climbing with Bev and Joe, and Powell's books. Sierra is crawling now... video to come soon!

Sierra completed her first swim class! She did a great job and enjoys being in the water. (I added the caption to this photo)

On the last day of class, we got to go down the huge waterslide with our babies... pretty scary! Watch us go:

Here we are headed to the Starlight Parade... one of the many community events connected with the Rose Festival that is going on in Portland. It is a night parade and people line the streets of downtown.

At the parade...

Before the parade begins, there is a Starlight Run. People dress up in costumes and run the parade route. See video.

Here we are out on a "date"... dinner on the river, Voodoo Donuts, and then traipsing around downtown.


Sierra with some pears on her face, with a cameo appearance from Daddy.

Peek-a-boo!

Teeth

Sierra has 2 teeth! If you look closely, you may be able to see them in these pics.

Lots of pics!

The apartment is getting more organized and homey.



Sierra being weird at the park.

Sierra playing with her friend Finn (they are the same age... so cute).

Sierra again, playing with her foot.



Sierra and Daddy

Sierra and Mommy

Beautiful Downtown Portland... Crossing the Hawthorne Bridge over the Willamette River.




Memorial Day.


Family photo.

Artsy photo of Aaron and pillars.

A ride on MAX.

Eww.

The Rose Festival is going on... meaning a carnival.

???

Crossing the Morrison Bridge.

Mt. Tabor Park and Swimming

Here we are at Mt. Tabor, in Portland. It is a few miles from our home. Sierra and I come here often, and Aaron meets us here after work. This particular day was clear and we had a great view of Mt. Hood in the distance.

Sierra in her highchair (notice new decor in the background...

Sierra and Daddy dancing...

Swim class!

And here we go around the lagoon... watch for us!

Sierra helps Daddy work...

Updates

Recently I have been tapping into my artistic/crafty side, which has been dormant for years. I sewed a baby carrier from a pattern that I got and I am pretty proud of it. The baby carrier is in the Asian/Mai Tei style and has many wraps. It is lightweight and distributes the baby's weight nicely. It can be worn on the front, back, or hip and when Sierra falls asleep a head support can be tied up behind her head. Aaron helped me choose the fabric, and he also can be seen modeling the carrier in the following photos. I hope to sew some more items in the future. I also made some necklaces.







Here we are at a German deli. The food was pretty good, the beer was pretty good, and the chocolate was GREAT.



Here is my little chef, "Chef Si-Boo" as I call her, helping me to stir the air. Later today we will be tackling an "Almond Birthday Cake with Sherry-Lemon Butter Cream" which Aaron found the recipe for in the newspaper (no, it is not our birthday).


Today I found a tooth in Sierra's mouth. It is so sharp! She is now very mobile and can easily scoot across the room. She is working on pushing her body off the ground to crawl. It won't be long now. She is also sleeping pretty well in her crib during the night, and usually wakes up a couple times but goes back to sleep easily. I have introduced her to a few solid foods, and will be doing that more and more. She and I started a swimming class this week, which has been fun. It is at an indoor pool, and a friend is taking the class with us and her baby. During the class, we play games and sing songs and do activities that Sierra mostly isn't able to do yet. She likes being in the water though, although it makes her very sleepy afterwards.

In other news, I switched around all the furniture in the apartment and it is starting to look good and funky and feel homey. And it is sometimes sunny here lately. We saw the movie Gran Torino recently and I highly recommend it. It made me want to own a gun. I also have been listening to and enjoying the new Gavin DeGraw album entitled "Free", the new U2 album entitled "No Line on the Horizon", and the older Foo Fighters album entitled "Skin and Bones". And I finished the One Tree Hill series and am now watching Gilmore Girls on DVD. We now get a few channels on our TV including my favorite, so we (meaning I) get to watch a few shows during the week... very exciting for me, but not so much for Aaron.

Applesauce

Easter, etc.

We Choates have been doing well... enjoying Portland, hanging out with friends, and getting some sunshine! I have made some new mommy friends, thankfully, and also have some non-mommy friends here. We went over to our friends' house for Easter dinner, which was nice. Sierra is doing great and seems extra-happy (sometimes I think she's on drugs). Here are some photo highlights from lately:

Here is Sierra, the Easter flower, with her bunnies:


And here we are in the front yard... the flowers are blooming and beautiful. Also, as you can see, I cut my bangs!




Here is our neighbor patting Sierra's head :)

Sierra can sit up all by herself now! It is amazing. She can also roll across the room. I keep finding her in places I did not leave her.

Here she is on our new COUCH (thanks to our friend Dan). I think Sierra looks a lot like her mischievous cousin Frankie in this picture.

And she looks like her mischievous aunt Jenny (as a baby) in this picture.

And she looks like her mother (sucking on her two fingers as a baby) in this picture.


Aaron has a couple more shots of Sierra on his blog, if you are interested.