While we were hanging out inside, Sebastian finally did what he’s been trying to do for two months now:  crawl.  He took his very first official crawling steps.  He FINALLY figured out how to, when on all fours, to pick up his hands and move them forward.  Up until now his hands would remain stationary and he would move his butt up and down and back and forth trying to locomote.  First, one hand move forward, then a leg.  Then he did it again.  He was crawling!

That was a week ago, and now he’s crawling all over the place.  He chases Misha; he crawls to the speaker wires (he LOVES wires and cable); he crawls here; he crawls there; he crawls everywhere.

The other thing that he’s figured out is how to stand himself up!  He can go from sitting or crawling, to pulling himself up on things into a standing position.  He’s done it on both of us and he’s done it on the open dishwasher (which he loves).

Every day it’s something brand new.  It’s very exciting.

Here are some photos from our trip to Manzanita.  As usual, all the photos are on the photoblog (and there are a LOT of them).

[War and Peace update: page 96 out of 1455]

Little dude LOVES playing in the sand:

Enveloping mist:

All dressed up for the cold, windy evening:

Solitude:

Enjoying the sun and the surf:

This photo was an accident.  I didn’t expect the different colors:

Colorful sunset with a crescent moon:

So, to celebrate, I thought that I would post a couple more photos.  Sebastian, for the first time, has moved from a laying-on-his-belly position up into a sitting position.  Pretty neat.  He was just skootching himself around on his belly, and the next thing we knew, he was sitting up.

War and Peace update:  pg 80 out of 1455

Yummy! Peaches, Sweet Potatoes, and Rice Cereal

Close up of the food face

See! I can feed myself! (He really can't)

The only use for the vibrating chair. Sebastian doesn't sit in it anymore.

I always try to end with a photo of my wonderful, beautiful wife.

One of the most exciting things is that we can now start looking at houses here in Portland.  True, our lease isn’t up until April, but we already paid last months rent, and first month’s mortgage is free, so if we buy a house in February, the month of March is totally free for us.  We’ll probably start looking in earnest in December, if we can last that long.

Taking a hit on the house in Decatur certainly sucks big time, but the housing market in Portland, which has been totally ridiculous for the past several years, is finally coming back down to earth.  Any money that we didn’t make on the house in Decatur should be made up by the housing drop here. (That is what we call the silver-lining-analysis.)

For your patience with the blog, I’m throwing in some extra photos for your enjoyment.  I dug deep into the photo archive to come up with some special photos that have yet to see the light of day.  These are photos from Sebastian’s six month birthday.  I was supposed to have a separate, exclusive post for these, but that never happened, so I’m tacking them onto the end of this post.  Here, in all their glory, are the photos of Sebastian’s first meal of solid food (rice cereal).  You’ll see that he wasn’t too enamored with the flavor, which he has since come to enjoy (those photos will be posted at a later date).

A quick update, then.  Sebastian is as cute as ever.  We started him on solid (though mushy) foods a couple of weeks ago.  So far his favorites seem to be rice cereal and fresh peaches (cooked into a peachy mushy sauce).  He still isn’t crawling (forward), but he’s going backwards as fast as ever.  He’s still a horrible sleeper, though he seems to be getting slightly better.  He’s still teething, though he still doesn’t have any teeth.  We’re still reading War and Peace and we’re up to Chapter 10.  He loves dancing; it cracks him up.

If anyone is interested, I took some photos while I was in London.  They are here.

Without further ado, here are more Sebastian photos (the full set is on the photo blog):

One thing we did to keep in contact with the eight hour time difference is to use Skype.  it allows you to do pretty high quality video chat on the computer for free.  It also allows calls to phones for super cheap, even internationally.  We used the video chat so Sebastian could watch me stick my tongue out at him.  It’s one of his favorite games.  He also learned (sort of) to wave back when you wave to him.

One other things that came out of the trip is my tumble blog.  What, you ask, is a tumble log?  It’s kind of a quick hit blog.  A link here, a photo there, a short blurb of something somewhere else.  Nothing elaborate.  It’s somewhere between blogging like this and microblogging like Twitter.  So, if you have time, take a look at the tumble blog at http://shawnb.tumblr.com.  Lots of London photos and stuff up there right now.  Get it while it’s hot!

So, without further ado, here are a few photos from our hike.  Check out the photoblog for more photos.

Weird tree at a weird angle:

The upper falls:

Sebastian and I at the upper falls:

Weird tree #2:

One of the main reasons I’ve been lax is that we had family come to visit!  Yay!  My elder sister Staci, her husband Mike and their daughter Christie stopped by first.  It was fantastic to have them stay with us (better house guests than they will be hard to find).  Sebastian had a ball playing with them (especially Zombie Mike - see photoblog) and we had a ball showing them a bit of Portland (Powell’s Books, Japanese Garden, NW 23rd shopping and Yuki Sushi - YUM!).  It was great having Christie around, and her help roasting coffee and picking raspberries and getting the photos of the duckling will always be appreciated.

The weekend after that my parents came for a visit!  Yay!  Sebastian loved playing with Grandma and Grandpa.  The stayed for the weekend after a couple of nights in Las Vegas, and we showed them a bit of Portland, too - both rose gardens, some bridges (sorry Mom), and Fife (thanks Dad).  As much of the time was spent with them playing with Sebastian.

As far as Sebastian goes, he’ll be 6 months old on July 25.  Half a year, can you believe it?!  He’s getting very close to crawling; he gets on his hands and knees, but he’s not too sure what to do from there and usually starts crying.  His current favorite pasttime (besides not sleeping at night) is playing the piano.  I sit in front of the piano with him on my lap and he just goes to town on it.  He’s currently in his free jazz/experimental phase, so the music isn’t really for everyone.  There are currently plans in the works to record some of it and post it here so you all can listen to his musical prowess.  Sebastian is also very close to eating solid foods.  All the experts say six months is a good time to start introducing him to solid foods, so we are starting to plan his first foray into solids foods.  What will be first?  Bananas?  Avocados?  You’ll have to wait and see.  I’ll try to remember to get some photos of his first food eating experience, and if I do, I’ll post them here.

On a more adult note, Juliann and I are both doing well.  We are a bit tired due to Sebastian’s horrible sleep patterns (or, more accurately, non-sleep patterns).  My new job is going well - you can see the iPhone application that I helped develop, and you can download it, too.  Juliann is getting ready to take her massage therapist licensing exam.

OK, that’s probably enough.  You just came here to check out the newest photos, so here they are.  As usual, you can check out the photoblog: Family Photos, Sebastian Photos and Japanese Garden Photos.

Perfect shot:

It’s Grandma!  And the blanket that Great-Great-Grandma made!

Oooooooo, a new toy:

Staring contest.  High Noon.  In front of Kitty’s Saloon:

Drool!

Gazing off into the distance:

At the Japanese Garden:

Sebastian delivering the Baby Death Grip to his Uncle Mike:

And of course, one last one of my wonderful wife:

No photos today, but here is a short video of Sebastian that we took with my camera.  Juliann was the camera person.

Sebastian Laughing His Ass Off

Well, I hope you liked that interlude.  If that video didn’t work for you, well, what can I say - buy a Mac.