since I am on a roll...

I have been meaning to post this, its a couple months old, but his favorite thing at the time...funny that he couldn't even roll over yet!




this is Ira as a wolf...


My new favorite thing for him is bandanas.. i love to tie them around his neck for a bib.. so cute, but this day we had been over helping a friend paint, so i just put it on his head..


sweet pair of golfer pants we found him.



apparently Ira's future is all set up..




To Dalley's mother, Love Ira... p.s. we really miss you both!

Vintage Bowtie

I know 2 days in a row.. I am sure you all are just about as baffled as i am.. months with no Ira updates and then all the sudden, here I am again not even 24 hours after the previous post!! Well if you had taken these TOO ADORABLE FOR WORDS pitures of Ira, I am sure you would have posted right away. So I found this stellar bowtie in 'the garage'.. it is full of countless treasures.. including a lot of old stuff that my dad had as a kid.. this bowtie being one of them. So i washed it..twice..and finally today Ira got to sport it at church. I just couldn't stop taking pictures of how cute he is!!!

Ira the Entertainer

(probably one of my favorite pictures of Ira..when he did this the first time i laughed so hard i cried..)


Ira is getting so fun! Such a character.. Shawn and i love to sit and watch him. He is becoming very vocal and very funny. Sometimes while we are driving he starts yapping away in the back seat. He seems to always be talking or singing or making some noise.



He has met a lot of dogs this summer and seems to like them. My sister heather has a dog named Chompers, he is little and furry and Ira thinks he is halarious.(i found this great video on my sisters camera) Then there is Lena. We have been housesitting for a friend of mine who has a huge dog... at first Ira was quite unsure about her, but has warmed up quickly, now it is Lena who is afraid of Ira!




This week Ira is getting his 5th and 6th teeth. he has been so cute with just the top and bottom two, but now 2 more are coming in on top. He hasn't complained too much, I think that he must have his dad's pain tolerance because i hear most kids are miserable.
He also still has the peg-legged crawl going on, but now he is everywhere and fast..i will try to get that on video soon. He pulls himself up on everything and sometimes convinces himself he can walk..but never gets far attempting that.



We are planning to celebrate his first birthday and thanksgiving at the ranch this year. Shawn should be getting his license in Washington anyday and will be practicing here soon after.


Our Garden is producing an abundance of zucchini, beets, peas, yellow squash, carrots and soon corn, tomatoes and sunflowers. and some other things we hope will make it before the end of the season watermelon, beans, peppers, cucumbers, pumpkins...
And Ira is enjoying a lot of the vegetables too. Sometimes it feels like he is already so grown up..but I know we have a long way to go. We are definitly enjoying every day with him!

side note..while i write this Ira is on the floor playing with his container of puff snacks..he pushes it across the floor and then crawls after it and pushes it again...is he playing fetch with himself?? SO FUN!

Ira the Pirate

Ira learned how to crawl this week!! I don't know if I can say its a full on crawl yet, but more like a peg-legged baby pirate crawl. He keeps his right leg straight pushing off on his toes and slides on his left knee. He has come along way in just a couple weeks, before he would just get on his hands and knees and wiggle..it was really cute. It is fun to see him accompish something that he can recognize and get excited about. The other day we were outside sitting on a blanket and he wiggled over to me grabbed my shirt and pulled himself to his feet! I am more impressed with this little man everyday! He continues to deveop a very happy playful personality he is so much fun! Moving isn't all the growing Ira is doing, his top teeth are coming in, they have just broken through his gums today.. they don't seem to bother him all that much, which is a relief. I took him to his 6 month check up last week and he weighed in at 19.2 lbs and measured 27.5"

Though our lives certainly revolve around Ira, we do have a few other minor things going on. We planted a pretty big garden which is really starting to take off, i am excited to start making Ira's babyfood with it. Shawn has been working out all the details with his new job and i have helped him get a business card and other things together for marketing. Our family held the 8th annual Clara Jean Foundation Walk, in honor of my mother- it was a gorgeous day and a good turnout. I got to design the tshirts which were pretty fun.

And the BEST thing lately is I learned ho to make HULA HOOPS.. Shawn laughs at me, but I got him to hula hoop and i think deep down he really, really loves it!

Enjoy all the pictures, I know it has been awhile, I lost our camera usb so i finally broke down and bought another yesterday.

Here We Are

My apologies to the many Ira fans out there that are missing him. It has been a very crazy month since we packed our life up once again and moved back to the great northwest. Great for the fact that I am home and get to spend time with my family, especially my handsome Dad, and we are here in time to help with the walk coming up for the Clara Jean Foundation on May 30th.
Ira has done a lot of growing in a month. He is 5 months old now with two bottom teeth, a healthy appetite and a very wonderful personality. He makes people smile no matter where we go and is never cranky with anyone. He is such a good kid. Shawn and I love every minute we spend with him. He is so funny sometimes with his little noises- he loves the sound of his voice and has fun in the morning waking me up by experimenting with what his voice can do. I have taken a few videos so i will have to post one soon. He makes me giggle. This afternoon I was working and could hear him in the other room waking up from his nap and just making noises and hanging out with himself..I had to call in Shawn from the garden to come stand outside the door with me and listen to him. So cute!!
And yes we planted a garden. My Dad lives on almost an acre and we had the whole side yard..probably 30ft x 80ft-ish..tilled we are only planting a portion this year, but it still is work, most of which Shawn does for a few hours a day. The radishes are coming up already..I am looking forward to the spinach.
Shawn has been on the hunt for the right place to work since we got into town. He has visited quite a few clinics, emailed several doctors and has many leads. He is patient and waiting for the right fit. He even went and did all the requirements for Western States so he can work at the school too. He is really looking forward to that. He has another appt tomorrow south of Portland.
We went to visit Shawn's Aunt Coleen on Sunday and his cousin Zach came over with his little baby Lucas...he is a cute kid! Ira and Lucas sat and stared at each other for a bit, it is fun to see how he responds to other babies. He really likes looking in the mirror at himself...I think he knows it is him.. but maybe he doesn't, I turned him upside down and put him in front of the mirror one time and he thought it was halarious. I can't think of anything that makes me happier than hearing Ira laugh. The other day I was pumping up my big exercise ball and Ira was laying on the floor next to me and he laughed everytime I pumped the ball because the pump squeaked-that-was funny. He makes Shawn laugh too. Shawn will lay on the bed with Ira and let him crawl on him and he make noises against Shawn's face and laughs, Shawn thinks he will be quite a teaser...just like his Dad and Grandpa.
I started him on veggies last week, he seems to like them pretty well, though his face is quite unsure when he takes his first bite, but he is a good eater. I finally called and got an appointment with a doctor for him. I am a little behind on his check ups, but he is healthy. I will be able to report on his height and weight next week, but I think he is about 18 pounds. My Ira highligt of last week was that he slept through the night TWICE! Both times he was wearling polar fleece pants and I seriously thought I was on to something, but it didn't work the next time I tried it, so I will have to figure out how that worked.
As you have read in this novel...It has been a busy, packed month for us with a lot of change, but balanced with a lot of happy. We miss Shawn's family tons and hope they all know that we love them! Thanks for taking such good care of us while we were close. We promise to visit as soon as we can. (hoping for Turkeyday and a celebration of Ira's first year.

with love,
Stina