Labor Day bliss

Sometimes the best weekends are the ones when you don't have a single "plan". This weekend was a wide open 3 days with nothing looming over us that we 'had' to do. It seems like in Labor Days past we are always traveling and doing things but not this year! We soaked it all in!

On Wednesday night before leaving Boston, I got to meet up with my good friend Abbey and have dinner by the harbor, it was a great time and I had some wonderful seafood! Was a good kickoff to the long weekend.

Din Din by the water

Saturday morning we decided to make the trek up to Nederland and Jesse's favorite hiking spot - the 4th of July trailhead, which is one of the best and easiest ways to get near to the continental divide. We attempted to make it to Diamond Lake (Nearly 6 mile roundrip), and almost made it if it wasn't for the sudden rain storm that blew through! It was a beautiful day other than the rain, and Jerex had a blast riding along on the backpack. Everyone we passed on the trail had a comment along the lines of "Wow that little guy has it made traveling like that!"

Dad and Jerex setting the pace

Beautiful mini waterfall

Posing in front of waterfall before it started pouring

The Jerex backpack was heavier than my pack! Wonder why!

A cool picture of a "J" tree that I'm going to print off for our mantle

We had a great day of hiking even though we never made it to the mythical Diamond Lake. Maybe next time! (As a funny note - last September when I was pregnant we also tried to make the hike to Diamond Lake, but for some reason we didn't pack food for that hike and being a pregnant lady that needs fed every 2-3 hours, I needed snacks so we turned around halfway there since I was "starving!!" This time with Jerex we made it a little farther but alas - the rain!) After a quick, damp picnic lunch and diaper change in the woods, we turned around and headed home. We were all pretty tired after the hike but it was worth it. We were unfortunately about 2 weeks early for the Aspens changing colors, will have to go back up later in September. A couple little trees were starting to change and it will be very pretty in a few weeks!

Sunday was a lazy day of relaxing - Jesse and Jerex had some fun playing in the clothes basket and wearing headbands:

Super Tough.

hahahahah!

Best and most safest toy

Not so sure about this headband!

Sunday night we went out for a date at our favorite restaurant - the Mountain Sun!* (*By Sunday night, I mean Sunday at 4:30 PM, and by date I mean, holding Jerex while scarfing down a quesadilla.)

He really likes this tight-lipped smile today for some reason!

Monday was a day for the pool! It was 89 degrees and sunny in Boulder so after Jerex's morning nap, we headed to the pool in Boulder for the first time. The first 15 minutes, Jerex had a blast and wouldn't stop laughing, and then sort of got worn out from all the excitement 15 minutes later. He isn't afraid of the water and got his face wet a lot - so hopefully he will be a little fish next summer!

Face full of water - no fear.

Wet and happy

Getting tired of all the splashing.

I ended the holiday weekend with a nice long run and caught this beautiful sunset - a perfect ending to a truly perfect weekend with our little family:

More Crawling!

Look at this little guy GO!

August photo recap - 7 months

August recap - BUSY BUSY month! It was a crazy end to the summer but what a fun month. Jerex learning to crawl was a major highlight, along with our trip to Missouri for the rodeo (4th roundtrip flight for the little traveler!), and we capped the month off with a week long visit from Jerex's Illinois grandparents. The last week of the month, Jesse did a trip to Miami and I did a trip to Boston for work so by Labor Day we were ready for a slow weekend of relaxing!

Here are some pics of Jerex from his 7th month of life - they say pictures are worth a thousand words:

Loves swinging!

Jerex at the bike race, unimpressed.

USA Pro Cycling race came through Boulder

Blue Steel gazing

I love this ornery, plotting face

Little boys and big boys both need their light sabers.

Excited clapping!!

 We had a great month as you can tell and Jerex officially can't fit into his 9 month clothes anymore. 12 month clothes from now on!

Inchworm!

Over the past month Jerex has progressed from thinking about crawling, to moving a few inches here and there inconsistently, to being a full fledged inchworm! He can make his way anywhere crawling now, and faster each day. We are entering a new realm. Jerex grunts and always finds the most dangerous or off-limits thing to play with that isn't a baby toy (for ex: electric cords, cell phones, remotes). The best part is his sound effects! It is unbelievable that he is learning so much so fast!

This video is actually from August 25th weekend and today - September 4th - he can pretty much crawl up on all 4's already. It makes my head spin with how fast he is learning and progressing. It seems like we are in a warp speed mode.

Jerex working hard in the office.

Dad posing with the able crawler

Yep they're building a house across the street

Jerex and Bearex

In the past week since getting back from Missouri, we've gotten into what I think is a perfect, reliable daily schedule for Jerex - traveling does mess things up a bit so I am happy that we are back to a more normal schedule. Also, his sleep patterns are starting to get more and more predictable and he's been sleeping through the night consistently since getting back! Which makes us all very happy. He is taking 2 naps a day - morning and afternoon, and waking up in the morning around 6:30 - 7:30 AM and going to bed about 7 - 7:30 PM.

Jerex and Bearex, the teddy bear

He is eating solid foods 3 times a day - 8a, noon, and 6p. He is always a ravenous beast when there is food involved, he still is enjoying eating a variety of foods and not extremely picky. Which is good! I experimented with making my own baby food puree's which aren't as smooth as store bought ones, and he ate it but a little more dubiously... he was weirded out by the texture of the green beans I think. They were chunky and stringy and he shuddered sometimes and made weird faces but eventually finished them off! (He especially ate them well when I tricked him by hiding the green beans in with another store bought puree that I knew he liked! It worked - but I wonder how much longer I will be able to get away with tricks like that!)

We go to the eye doctor this week about his clogged tear duct, so hopefully will get that taken care of then. Also, the Illinois grandparents are coming for a visit for a week starting on Wednesday! Jesse is going to Miami later this week for work, Renae to Boston early next week for 2 days of meetings, so we will be busy and glad to have Jay and Cathy here the whole time while we are both traveling to help out since we have back to back trips. I'm still majorly sad leaving Jerex overnight but I know he will be in good hands while I'm gone and will just be a short 48 hour trip for this bi-yearly meeting. It will be harder on me than him!

Little boys being boys

Jerex is still several months away from being able to keep up with Cousin Brock... Until that point, he'll just have to be content with sitting and watching Brock run around and have all the fun!

Brock thinking "but it's my car!"

Push me!! Faster!

Jerex wants to get his hands on Brock

Brock not so sure he wants that! Thinking "EEK HELP!!"

Hee hee, that cousin is funny

Where did he go!? Come back and play, Brock! I won't bite!

It won't be long before they are  busy wrestling each other and getting into all sorts of trouble!