Sebastian’s Quiver

If you remember, the first month or so, the three of us went on hike after hike - Columbia River Gorge, Sauvie Island, Columbia River Gorge again.  For whatever reason, the hikes went on hiatus for a while, but now they’re back!  We went to Eagle Creek Trail in the Columbia River Gorge last week.  Apparently it’s a very popular hike…in the summer time.  It’s a wonderful hike along Eagle Creek - gentle incline, fantastic views, serene solitude.  When we got to the end of our hike (though not the end of the trail) we found out why it was such a great summer hike: a fantastic wading/swimming area at the base of Punchbowl Falls.  We’ll need to head back there when the weather warms up next year.  A picnic and a bathing suit would be perfect.

As far as Sebastian goes, he’s slowly learning how to stand on his own.  He’s not free standing for more than a second, but he’s definitely experimenting with it.  He’s also cllimbing a lot more; he’s figured out how to hitch his knee and leg up on things and pull/push himself up on things.  Sebastian is also starting to sleep a little better.  We took him to the Sleep Clinic at OHSU because he’s been sleeping so incredibly poorly for so incredibly long.  We had a consultation with some of the doctors and when we got home we started working on their suggestions.  We moved his crib into his own room and we tweeked his bedtime routine a little bit.  The results?  Instant progress!  To get an idea of how poor a sleeper he was, the first night he was in his room he woke up 9 times during the night, and that was his best night sleep, well, pretty much ever.  The next night he slept for a 6 hour stretch - his longest ever!  That night, unfortunately, seems to be an aberration, but his sleep patterns have definitely improved to the point where he is now reliably (knock-on-wood) sleeping for 3 hour stretches.  He’s asleep by 7pm and he wakes up at 10pm, 1am and 4am, with minor variations every night.  Sebastian is also slowly learning to put himself to sleep by himself, which, according to the doctors, is a learned skill, so we’re trying to help encourage him in every possible way to do so.

Portland update! I discovered something here in Portland that I never found in 17+ years in Atlanta: zeppoles!  For those of you who don’t know, zeppoles are fried balls of dough covered in powdered sugar, not unlike bengiets.  When I was a kid on Long Island, we would go to the Italian Festivals (does anyone know what the festivals were for?) and they would have zeppole stands where you could get a bag of zeppoles smothered in powdered sugar.  I found an Italian bakery not far from us that sells zeppoles on the last Saturday of every month, so we swung by yesterday on the way home from the farmer’s market and I got 6 zeppoles for $2.  Delicious!  I almost went back for more, but I decided to wait until next month - it’s best not to overdo a good thing.  That’s about it for Portland, other than the fact that we had a really nice November - much less rain and much more sun than usual (or so Portlanders have been saying).

The photos today are courtesy of Eagle Creek Trail.  Please visit the photoblog for all the photos.

Eagle Creek, towards the beginning of the hike:

Punchbowl Falls, from the overlook point along the trail:

Sebastian roaming around the overlook:

He found a boulder to climb:

Very intense:

Dad making sure he doesn’t take a tumble:

More mushrooms!  By now, you should know I’ve been on a mushroom kick:

More of the creek:

This is at the bottom of the trail that leads to the base of Punchbowl Falls.  If you walk up the creek and around the bend, the falls is right there.  This is a fantastic place to go swimming/wading in the summer time:

More rushing creek:

One of the other falls a short way downriver from Punchbowl:

It seems that Sebastian is learning new things every day.  His newest thing is scrunching up his nose when he’s happy or excited.  I’ll try and get a photo of it sometime soon before he grows out of it.  He’s feeding himself O’s.  Whenever he gets one in his mouth he gets SO excited!  He’s gotten very good at throwing the ball (and other toys).

The big event is that we moved his crib into his own room.  This should hopefully be helpful with getting him and, just as importantly, us, more sleep.  We’ll see how it works.  Wish us luck.

A couple of photos.

Sebastian playing with his shadow:

Sebastian at the Farmer’s Market with a leek:

Fig Tree in Autumn:

Here are some photos that we took this weekend.  Nothing more to report.

I know, I know.  Again.  It’s been forever since I last updated the blog and provided everyone with much anticipated photos of Sebastian.  Sorry about that.  So here we go.

This is our first autumn in Portland.  I didn’t realize how much I missed this season until we moved here.  Atlanta doesn’t really have autumn.  Sure, leaves change, but for the most part they change from green to brown, and autumn usually only lasts a couple weeks or so.  The colors here in Portland are amazing.  Everywhere you look there are yellows and oranges and reds.  The whole city is alive with color.  There are so many elm and birch and maple and beech and japanese maple and so many other kinds of trees with wonderful leaves that you can’t help but be in awe.  We have a couple of maple trees right out front of the house and there was nothing better to wake up in the morning and open the blinds to see bright reds and oranges filling our view.

Of course, with the beautiful trees comes the weather.  Ask anyone in Portland about Portland and you’ll get the same response:  best city to live in…except maybe in the winter.  Gray and rainy is how it is aptly described.  This week is supposed to be beautiful - 50s and sunny, but earlier this week it was quite gray and rainy and pretty cold, too.  It’s something that I’ll have to get used to.  No more shorts and t-shirts in January.

As far as Sebastian goes (you didn’t think I was going to get around to him, eh?), he’s doing great.  He’s somewhere around 21 pounds now and he’s eating three square meals a day, all hand prepared by us (mostly Juliann).  He’s been eating eggplant, sweet potato, beets, apples, pears, grapes, oatmeal, rice cereal, carrots, peppers, pumpkin, squash, and other things, I’m sure.  Besides the fruit, his favorite is golden beets.  I think he takes after his mom when it comes to food likes (most things) and dislikes (few things).  He’s crawling up a storm.  He flits around the house like a hummingbird looking for nectar.  He cruises while holding onto tables and chairs and couches.  He loves playing giddyapp-horsey, which is pretty much him just bouncing himself up and down chaotically while standing up (or being held).  He’s been teething something fierce lately, but still no teeth.  Any day now, I’m sure of it.

I haven’t taken as many photos as I would have liked this past month, mostly because all three of us were sick for a couple of weeks each.  It was a pretty bad cold, but I laid up for a while, and I just didn’t have the energy to get out with the camera.  Luckily I got a couple nice shots of autumn in Portland.  I haven’t taken as many of Sebastian lately, but I am planning on getting some of him real soon and I’ll post them when I do.

[War and Peace update: page 160 out of 1455 - completed Part 1]

As usual, a bigger selection of photos can be found on my photo blog:

• Autumn in Portland photos
• Hoyt Arboretum photos
• Mushroom photos
• Sebastian photos

Sebastian in the Ergo Carrier at Hoyt Arboretum:

Sebastian looking a bit like a faerie in our backyard garden:

Sebastian being very excited:

Portland’s autumnal colors:

Ginkgo:

Late autumn at Hoyt Arboretum:

Cool root fan:

Fern in the setting sun:

Mushroom at Hoyt: