Lake Chelan

We just got back from a week in Lake Chelan. This is the second year in a row that we have rented a house there with 4 other couples. There were 5 guys, 5 girls and 5 babies (all boys!!!). All of us girls played volleyball together at Central and all of the boys were forced to become friends after they married us:) However, I think the boys had even more fun than the girls this trip, the 5 of them are quite a group. As usual it was so fun to catch up with old friends and watch our kids play together. I have so many wonderful memories of playing volleyball in college and this group of girls are some of my best friends in the world. I just wish we all lived closer!! The house we stayed at had a huge deck that faced out over the lake. We put a couple smaller pools out on the deck for the kids to play in. Crew is in the back (2), Jaymin is towards the front (2 in August) and Colt is sitting down (13 months).
Colt loved getting to play with the bigger boys!
He tried pretty hard to keep up with them too but Crew and Jaymin were a little quick for him.
Sharing the toys with Jaymin.
We had our own private dock and it was wonderful!! We did not have to deal with a bunch of other people running around and it made it easy to keep track of the kids. I had got this little crab floaty for Colt and he actually enjoyed the lake water. He was a little cold at first but then got used to it. Dave even got him to put his face in the water.
He had so much fun!!
Family picture.
Shane and Courtney brought a boat so we took a boat ride. Colt wanted to walk everywhere and was not too happy about having to be held the entire time!

Jessica and Wyatt (5 months).
There was also a small yard in the front of the house which was fenced in. We got out the bubble machine and let the boys run around. They had so much fun.
Colt kept trying to catch the bubbles.
He loved it!!
After running after the kids all day we looked forward to putting them to bed and having some time to ourselves. One of the nights we got all the husbands to take a break from there games and fill up the kiddie pool on the deck with hot water and we soaked our feet. They also brought us chocolate covered strawberries (which Jess had made!) and a warm cloth for our face. It was so fun to have the entire week to catch up and have some girl time!

Here are the boys starting in the middle going clockwise is Shane, Chris, Tyler (cowboy hat), Dale and Dave. As I said before the guys had a great time, they spent the entire week in a decathalon competition and they even kept score. I believe Dale ended up winning. They played water polo, golfed, ladder ball, beer pong, putt-putt, Wii bowling and tennis, holey board, yahtzee, poker and I am sure some other ones but I can't remember them all. I think part of the time they wished the girls and the kids would just disappear. It was hard for me to get Dave to help with ANYTHING, he just wanted to be a kid again and play with all the boys. It was so funny to watch all of them get so competitive about every little thing. They all have a blast together but I am sure every single one of them is exhausted right now!!
The girls are a bit more mellow, we spent most of the time talking, going on walks, drinking coffee and taking care of our kids. We did get away one night and went into town for dinner and drinks. The guys had the kids, we were home by 8 as the night had gotten a bit crazy and we were in desperate need of water and lots of sleep!!
The boys and there kids.
Group picture. From left to right: Price's, Chase's, Pemberton's, Kerlee's, and Stacy's.
So sad to leave but we had such a great time. We can't wait till next year!!

Where have we been??

I wish I could say that we have been spending the last two weeks in Hawaii or Australia!!However, the truth is that we have been at home and we have been sooo busy! I spent the last two weeks working in Dave's office. The summer is such a busy time for them and one of his staff members was on vacation so I went in and did my best not to mess anything up:) Colt spent the time with my mom for a couple days but then she had a class she was taking for school so I had one of my former volleyball players come over and watch him. He loves her so it always works out well! Dave and I are both looking forward to a vacation very soon!!

Colt seems to be growing so fast in the past 3 weeks. He has become a master at signing now, he sure would know a lot more though if his mom and dad knew more signs. I am going to the library tomorrow to check out a book on baby signing. He picks it up so fast now, this morning I gave him a banana and did the sign for it, by the time breakfast was over he could sign banana and he would continue to sign it whenever I asked him to throughout the day. It amazes me how kids pick up on these things so quickly. I was not too excited about teaching it to him but my sister-in-law Kenzie convinced me that I should do it. Colt's cousin Camryn has gotten very good at signing so I gave it a shot. It took about 2 weeks for him to figure it out but once he figured it out there is no stopping what he can learn. He now knows the signs for: more, dog (which is funny because dog was one of his first words so now he will say it and then sign it!), milk, baby, banana, please (this one is my favorite!!) and done (which he also can say but signs as well.). Tomorrow I am going to work on cracker, I really need to learn the signs for more animals because Colt has recently really been interested in being read to. He will bring me his books and then sit on my lap and then I give him a shortened version of what the story actually says. If I spend too much time reading he tries to turn the page on me:) His favorite books are the animal books, he loves to point at all the animals. He has become pretty steady on his feet and prefers walking as his main way of getting around. He loves to give kisses and recently has figured out that when we leave he should blow us a kiss good-bye. Dave was leaving tonight to go and finish a tile job and he said bye to Colt and Colt puts his hand to his mouth and makes a kissing sound with his lips. Well, along with all the wonderful things Colt is doing there have also been some not so wonderful times:) He has started to throw little fits when he does not get something he wants, which can be embarrasing when we are really trying early on not to give in to what he wants so he will eventually learn that he can not act that way. For now though he continues to throw a fit until he cries himself to nothing and then comes over and gives us a hug. I think the terrible 2's have started early!! Remember how I always bragged about what a great baby he was, it was like the minute he turned 1 he has started testing us a little bit!! If anyone has any ideas on how to discipline a 1 year old let me know:) Overall though Colt is doing great and the good times far outweigh the bad!

Colt and Camryn

Colt and I drove over to Kennewick today to spend the day with Camryn. Julie and Mike were out of town and Kenzie and Andy both had to work so I volunteered to come over and play with the kids. It was so fun!
Camryn is so cute! I can't believe the difference between her and Colt. Camryn is small and dainty. Colt is big and burly! I was giving them raspberries for a snack. Camryn would very carefully pick one up between her two fingers and put it very carefully in her mouth and chew it. Colt would grab about 4, smash them between his fingers and then proceed to shove it in his mouth and swallow without chewing! I must say I prefer how neat Camryn is to Colt's messiness. I hate messes!! Ask Dave, he gets annoyed how I just can't let dishes sit in the sink, or let Colt's toys be left on the ground all night. I love clean and if its not clean I can't relax!
The kids had so much fun, they really interacted with each other this time and that was fun to watch.
They spent the majority of the day going up and down the stairs. After watching Camryn go down the stairs backwards Colt finally started doing it himself. Dave and I have been trying to teach him this for a long time but the problem was that he never wanted to go back down he always just wanted to go up:)
After chasing them around all afternoon I put them in the crib for awhile so I could sit!! They were hilarious, laughing and poking each other.

1 year check up

Colt had his one year check up today. He is doing fine and he had to have 3 shots! OUCH!! He cried for each one and then calmed down when they gave him a ball to play with. He even showed off his walking skills to the doctor. He was walking all over the office and I could hardly get him to stay still. He was just shy of 32 inches (95%) and 23 lbs (50%). His weight and head circumference have really slowed down his head was in the 50% as well as his weight. He is still high on the chart for his height though. Overall, everything is going well, he still has his calcified hematoma on the left side of his head. I asked the doctor about it because I thought for sure it would have been gone by now. She said that it is noticably smaller to her even though I may not notice it as much because I see him everyday. She also said that his head is starting to grow a lot slower than when he was first born so its not going to disappear as rapidly as it did when he was younger. He has a lot more hair now so its not as noticable but I will be happy when it disapears completely!! I guess it will be something we can tease him about when he gets older:)

Trip to Ellensburg

We headed to Ellensburg this past weekend for my college roomate Randi and her now husband Tony's wedding. It was even more fun that usual because we got to meet up with a bunch of our college friends (my roomates and teamates on the volleyball court) and for the first time we got to see my friend Jess's baby boy Wyatt and my friend Julie's little boy Brody. The reception was in this really old building and it had no air condition and it was 100 degrees out so Dave, Colt, Dale and Wyatt sat outside alot trying to stay cool.
Brody Price, he is 5 weeks old.
Colt was great all weekend long, he never cried in the car, played well with all the other kids, and did pretty well sleeping with us at the hotel. We did not bring the pack-n-play with us because we forgot it was at my mom and dad's and we had no time to go and get it so Colt slept between us in the bed at the hotel. He moves a lot in his sleep!! Dave and I kept having to put him back in the middle because he was always turning sideways or upside down in the bed. I am so glad that he does not sleep with us, I would be exhausted all the time!!!
Family picture at the wedding.
My friend Julie and her sons Brody and Crew (2 years old).

It was so fun to get to see all of my close friends and teamates from college. There were 5 of us that shared a house together at Central and everyone was at the wedding except Courtney (we missed you Court!), she was coaching volleyball in Reno, Nevada. We will see all of them again in about 3 weeks when we go to Chelan for a week. We rent a house down there, bring the kids and play for an entire week. None of us live in the same town so its a fun way to catch up and relax. I am really looking forward to it!!

Happy Birthday Colt!!

My little boy is one today! The first year has gone by much too fast but has been filled with so much fun, laughter, love and memories. Colt is a special special little boy and I feel so blessed that God chose me to be his mommy. Every day is a gift just to be around him, to see his smiles, be the receiver of so many kisses (open mouth and all) and hugs, to watch him see and explore new things. Colt is getting so close to being a full time walker, he really turned a corner today with taking more steps, he is getting to the point where he is actually trying to walk on his own rather than have us coax him. It will not be long!! I have been trying to teach him some sign language, I have been working with him on the words; more, dog, done, and milk. I think he prefers to just say them instead, when I say dog and show him the sign he just looks at me and says "dog" so I keep doing it over and over again trying to get him to sign it and Dave finally says to me "Care he does not need to sign it he can say it just fine:)" So then I try the word "more" and he says "mo." When he finishes his food he will say "dun." I am going to keep working on it but it seems the more I say the words and try to sign them he eventually just starts saying the words himself so there is no need for him to learn sign language. He is a pretty verbal little guy and most the time we can figure out what he wants just by what he says or what he points at. His one year appointment is not until next week, I weighed him on our scale about a week ago and he was 22.5lbs which if that is correct that is only a 1 lb gain from his 9 month appointment. I can tell he is starting to lean out a little bit, he is still big but not quite at chunky as he was, all that crawling and moving everywhere is keeping him slim:) He is a big fan of dogs, trucks and dirt right now, if he has one of those three he can play for a long time and be very entertained. He is in love with all dogs, he loves to take Byson's toys and play tug-a-war with him, Byson always wins and Colt just laughs. Colt also loves to give Byson kisses and he is very gentle with dogs, we have worked with him since he was little on how to pet animals and he has gotten to the point where he no longer needs to be told to be gentle, he is very good at petting them very nicely and not pulling on there hair. Colt eats pretty much anything and everything, some days he will try and be picky but we try to just keep giving it to him until he eventually eats it. He has a strong disgust for green veggies but besides that anything else goes. He is drinking whole milk out of sippy cups and has done fine without the bottle. The only time he wants a bottle is when he sees another baby drinking one, he grabbed his cousin Reese's bottle this past weekend and drank what was left of it:) He is still a good sleeper, good eater and easy going baby. My introduction into first time motherhood was such a smooth one because Colt was so easy, he slept a lot early on and I never felt overwhelmed or anxious about any of it. The hardest part was (and still is) working full time and trying to be a mom when I get home from work exhausted. I am nervous about having a second because I doubt I will get lucky enough to have one as easy as Colt has been. I am so proud to be his mom and I am looking forward to all the new challenges and growing he will experience in the next year.

One year ago......

We welcomed into our family our first son, Colt Mires Pemberton at 7:37 pm weighing 8lbs 9oz and 22.5 inches long. We named him Colt because Dave had been watching football the fall before and there were a couple of college quarterbacks who had the name Colt. We thought Colt Pemberton sounded strong! The middle name is my maiden name. Colt is the first grandson on my side of the family, my dad has 5 grandaughters so we wanted to name him after my dad in some way. The first thing I thought when I saw him was how big his eyes are, even for just coming out when most newborns you can hardly see there eyes his were still just huge and blue!! I fell instantly in love with him and never wanted to let him go!
I look tired:) Labor was long but the reward so worth it!!
They put Colt in a pink blanket because they were all out of the blue ones. 5 other boys were born in our hospital within an hour of each other. Colt was the last one born that night.
Little did I know on this day that the next year would be the best year of my life and every day I would have a reason to jump out of bed with a smile on my face.
I can't believe its been a year since this day. Seeing all these pictures makes me want to relive it again and again. Its been an emotional day for me, I love my baby boy so much and its hard watching him get older and knowing eventually he will no longer be my baby but I am loving watching him grow and discover new things.

One Year Pictures

I went and had Colt's one year pictures done today at Picture People in Kennewick. They turned out all right, they are pretty cute but I was hoping to get more ones of him really smiling. He was so happy when he was there but he just wanted to move so much it was hard to get him to stop and look at the camera. This is only the second time I have done proffesional photos for Colt, Dave is not real big on me spending a lot of money on photos but its so fun to do:) My mom came with me and she ended up buying more than I did, I am pretty sure she has more pictures of Colt up in the house than she has of her own daughters!! The outfit he is wearing is a birthday gift from my sister Amy, it is so cute!!

June 24, 2007

One year ago today I was HUGE!!! I was counting down the days hoping everyday that Colt would arrive. I had a scheduled induction for the next morning but kept hoping that maybe labor would start on its own before that. No such luck, I had no problems throughout my pregnancy and had no real contractions until they induced me. I remember Dave and I went on our last date together and then went to bed around 11 that night since we had to be at the hospital before 6 the next day. I did not sleep that great, I was pretty nervous but probably still got about 5 hours of sleep. Little did I even realize how much my life would change in just 24 hours!!

Colt's Birthday Gift

Colt got a new little playground for his birthday. For now we put it in our living room and he loves it. He immediately put all his trucks in it and likes to play with all of his trucks and push them down the slide.
His favorite thing to do is open the door and go inside, then close the door and push his trucks down the slide. Then it starts all over again.

Getting ready to push the truck down the slide. Look at the little expression on his face.

He has had so much fun the past two days playing with this. Mike and Julie got it for him and he got a lot of trucks from other people so he is really enjoying all his birthday gifts even if his actual birthday is not until Wednesday.

He was playing peek-a-boo with me. The little guy just cracks me up!

Getting ready to go down the slide by himself. Aunt Marni taught him when she was here this past weekend for his party.

He loves going down and when he gets to the bottom points back to the top and it starts all over again. We are having a lot of fun playing so far this summer!