Sebastian’s Quiver

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:

I haven’t given any reading updates lately, plus it’s been about a week since I posted photos of the Great Outdoors, so I figured that I would do both.

Sebastian and I have been reading the classic Goodnight Moon most nights at bedtime.  He loves looking at the drawings and the more read it, the more he pays attention to it.  We’ve also been reading Lord Byron’s The Prisoner of Chillon, which we just finished this evening.  It’s quite good; I recommend it to everyone.  Several weeks ago we also started reading War and Peace.  Yes, that War and Peace.  We got through Chapter 1, but we haven’t yet started Chapter 2.

Juliann, Sebastian and I loaded the car up on Sunday and headed out to the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden.  This week’s trip was quite a bit closer than the previous few - it was a 15 minute drive to the park in Southeast Portland (we live in Northeast).  I expected it to be nice, but it was even nicer than I had expected.  It was different levels (all stroller/wheelchair accessible) with very nice bridges and waterfalls and great landscaping.  I heartily recommend it to anyone willing to pay $3 to spend an hour or so walking around some really beautiful rhododendrons and azaleas and other nice flowers and trees.  Sebastian stayed awake for the entire excursion and he enjoyed the brightly colored flowers and the wildlife and the ponds and waterfalls.

This past Thursday, one of my oldest and dearest friends just happened to be in Portland on business so we got together and hung out a bit.  I’m glad he got a chance to meet Sebastian (and vice versa).  We got a chance to eat some Thai food, drink some fancy beers (some too wheaty, some too stout) and talk about fatherhood and recommendation engines and Shanie and her sheets.  A grand time was had by all.

So here are some photos of various things.  As usual, please visit the photoblog to catch up on all the photos, the below which are just a sampling.

I know what you’re thinking.  “ANOTHER hike?!?!  All these people do is hike hike hike.”  Well, that’s pretty close to true.

Juliann, Sebastian and I took off to Multnomah Falls, the biggest, touristy falls in the Gorge by a huge margin.  The reason why we chose to do this hike was twofold:  1) The guide books said that the hike behind Multnomah Falls was one of the best waterfall hikes in the Gorge, and 2) it was cold and rainy and we knew few, if any, tourists would be clogging up Multnomah Falls.

We were right.  Few people were there.  Halfway up the very steep, mile long ascent to the top of Multnomah Falls (where the real hike begins) it really began to rain pretty hard.  Luckily, it let up and we got the top, though it was a tough uphill (1 mile with 800+ feet of ascent - that’s a lot).  Up behind the Falls it turned from a plain old uphill slog to a beautiful, verdant wonderland of cascading falls, rocky overhangs, and tall, old trees.  Juliann carried Sebastian most of the way in the sling, though I took him for about a mile in the middle and the last half mile out of the total 6+ miles.  We desperately need an Ergocarrier.

I’d like to point out how wonderful Sebastian was on the hike.  There was a short time when he was getting a little cranky, but that didn’t last long at all.  He slept for the beginning of the hike, but he was awake for most of it.  He was looking around at all the trees and water and falls.  When he was awake he never stopped gazing at everything around him.  We (i.e., Juliann) did a great job of keeping him dry when it was raining, but when he did get drizzled on, he didn’t mind it at all.  The only thing that he didn’t like was when his view of the scenery was blocked by the raincoat.

I’m not sure what else I can say about how beautiful this hike was.  I think it was one of the most beautiful hikes I’ve ever been on.  Oh yeah, did I mention that this was about a 30 minute drive from our house?

I posted about 45 photos on the photoblog with additional comments for most of the photos, but here is a taste of some of the better shots:

Multnomah Falls - this is what everyone comes to see.

Faerie Falls - this is one of the falls that is way back on the hike.

I know this looks tilted, but it’s really not.

The end of the hike!  We made it!

Sebastian turned 3 months a several days ago and he’s doing more and more every day.  He’s ALMOST rolling over now.  When you put him on the floor on his back he likes to do crunches with his legs.  Sometimes he’ll throw his legs over to one side along with his arm and he is SO close to rolling over.  We cheer him on every time he does it, but his underneath arm always seems to stop him.  He’s not strong enough to move it into a position where he can get the rest of his body over it.  It shouldn’t be long now.  My uneducated guess is within the next week.

He’s also babbling a lot more.  He does a lot of variations of “ahhhhhhh” sounds and sometimes he’ll do it for 10 to 15 seconds.

Sebastian is also sleeping more.  His normal bedtime is around 9pm or so and last night he slept 4am, which is his longest stretch of uninterrupted sleep ever.  He’s also starting to go to sleep on his own.  Juli drove down to visit her grandmother in Eugene last week and he slept for the entire two hour car ride.

He has also gotten really grabby.  He loves grasping clothes and fingers and books and papers and toys.  He still loves his Abima and his bunny and now he’s starting to talk to them.  He loves it when his mother plays paddycake with him - whenever the song starts he gets super smiley and his eyes get really big.  Speaking of smiling, Sebastian laughed out loud while he was awake for the first time!  It was more of a giggle, but he did it a couple of times within a span of a minute or two.

Sebastian has been getting out more and has been much more social recently.  Juli takes him to mommy/baby yoga and storytime at the library and he loves watching all the other kids and he loves it when the older kids pet him on the head.

Juli and I took Sebastian on his very first hike on Sunday.  We drove out to Sauvie Island (a whopping 20 minutes away) and we went for a hike near the big lake on the island.  It was BEAUTIFUL. (See below to see some photos of the wildlife that we saw.)  Yet another reason why Portland is a fantastic place to live.  The very same day we went on a wonderful two hour hike in 65 degree weather with the sun shining, a guy I work with (Mark) went skiing about an hour outside Portland.  Oh, and on Saturday we went to the farmer’s market and picked up some freshly laid eggs, just-picked butter lettuce (amazing!), picked some Swiss chard from our backyard, and got a fantastic espresso from Ristretto Roasters.  All in all, a wonderful weekend.

As always, more photos can be seen on the photoblog, complete with descriptions.

Click on the last photo above to see a larger version so you can see what the bird is carrying in his talons.

Sorry for the recent silence, but we finally moved into our rental house (wow, what a nice house!) and we FINALLY got our internet connection installed and up and running.  No photos as of yet, but expect some by this weekend.  I’m also planning on posting a few photos of the house in case anyone is interested in seeing some.  The garden in the backyard is amazing, and we have a range in the kitchen that must be 40 years old but it works great.  There is a dial that you can adjust so that you can set how well done you want to cook your meat (rare, medium-rare, medium, etc.).  We’re still unpacking, but we’re making progress.

As for Sebastian, he hasn’t missed a beat.  Juliann (Juli officially switched her name back to her full name with the move to Portland) has been taking him out for walks every day to see the neighborhood.

When we were still in the apartment we were getting ready for bed and Sebastian was all swaddled up and laying in between us.  Juliann and I were just laying around not yet sleeping when all of a sudden Sebastian started to smile.  Then he started to giggle!  He was just giggling away while completely asleep!  It was amazing to be able to see his first laughter.  What could he have been so amused about?  And why did his first laughter occur when he was asleep?  He doesn’t laugh or giggle when he’s awake.  He certainly smiles a lot, but no laughing.  What was he dreaming about that he found so funny?  Do other kids laugh first when asleep?  Was he dreaming about someone tickling his feet?  Or telling baby jokes?  Was he thinking how lucky he is to have Juliann and I for parents?  Was he thinking of all the great times he had with his best friend Julius?  Was he watching Monty Python?  Was he thinking about all those chump physicists who believe String Theory?  I guess all these questions will remain unanswered, but it’s certainly interesting to think about.

Wow, it’s amazing what a difference a day makes.  One day we’re getting all of our life’s belongings boxed up and loaded into a truck in Decatur, GA, and the next day we’re living in Portland, OR.  And let me tell you, we weren’t in Portland 30 minutes before we sensed what a huge change it’s going to be.

Let me start at the beginning, but since it’s late and I’m still a bit jet lagged, I’ll make it quick.  Our great friends Julia and Kathryne gave us, and lots of our belongings, a ride to the airport.  Easy as pie.  Once in the airport, the woman behind the first class counter (yes, you read that right, we flew first class) was most DEFINITELY not first class herself.  She was a bit short with a touch of rude and impatience, but compared to the woman at the security area, she was Florence Nightingale.  If I didn’t have my wife, my son and my cat with me, and if I weren’t a decent guy, I would have rung her neck.  It’s amazing that the government can hire the stupidest, rudest, pieces of crap to secure our airlines.  If anything, these people make our airports less secure.  Do some of these people even have high school diplomas?  Can they read and write?  They certainly can’t act civil to other human beings.  They couldn’t spot a terrorist a mile way.  OK, I need to get off my rant box now.

So we got to the airport and went to the wrong terminal.  No big deal, we got there early enough that we got to our real terminal with plenty of time to spare.  The silver lining in all that was that we got to see a wonderful sunrise, our last as residents of Atlanta:

Our flight in first class (did I mention that we flew first class?) was great.  Plenty of room, hot towels, drinks, snacks and anything else that we wanted.  I even got to overhear a WWII veteran talk to another guy about some of his experiences in Europe during WWII and all the reunions that he’s been to (he was on his way to his 65th reunion, I think).  Pretty cool.  Sebastian slept for almost the entire flight, but he decided to let go a HUGE poop as we were decending into Portland.  Luckily, his diaper contained it all, but it was a close call.  Misha also did really well.  He rode in the cabin with us and he didn’t meow once the entire trip from Atlanta to Portland.

We got to Portland and you know what?  People we nice to us!  Waiting for our baggage some guy just started talking to us AND HE WASN’T RUDE!  He was just a nice guy chatting with us about our cool stroller.  And later that day more and more people were nice!  NICE!  And friendly!  FRIENDLY!  I couldn’t believe what I was experiencing.  Is this how Portlanders act on a day to day basis?  I found myself striking up conversations with strangers.  ME!  Talking to people I didn’t know for no other reason than to talk to people I didn’t know!  ME!  Can you believe it!  This friendliness, I found, was contagious.

So, in summary, we are all doing great.  My first couple of days at the office were great (everyone was, you guessed it, friendly and very happy for me to be there).  Thursday there was a bit of a party at the office and we were all eating cake and drinking wine.  Friday was Happy Hour and everyone was drinking wine and/or margaritas by 4pm.  Not bad for a first week.

Juli and Sebastian are both doing fantastic.

So, to re-summarize: Portland rocks.  I’ll take rainy winters in a great, vibrant city with wonderful people over blazing hot summers in a drab, rude, crappy city any day of the week.

I know that living here won’t be all wine and roses all the time, but it was time for me to get out of Atlanta.  I will miss my family and friends immensely, but I think I overstayed my welcome in Atlanta.  I’m loving Portland after only 2 days and we haven’t even gotten out of The Pearl district yet.  We haven’t even gone to the beautiful coast, or gone hiking or visited the wineries or brew pubs or parks or the river or the gorge or Mt Hood or really anything.  I’m excited.