8 Months Old

Today marks 8 months since Cole graced us with his early presence.  I know we say it often, but its been pure bliss.

Cole's been adapting well to day care, but the downside is a much earlier bedtime since he's getting up early.  He has been sleeping a lot better though (knocking on wood).

Below are a couple of pictures to mark the occasion.

And we did not pose him with the giraffe.  He just grabbed it like his buddy for the shoot!

Daycare

Last Friday was Cole's first full day of daycare.  We had already done several "test runs" for a couple hours over the course of a couple days so Friday wasn't as traumatic as it could have been for either of us.  There's just something strange about dropping your son off to be cared for by relative strangers...  That being said though, I love Cole's teachers - they are wonderful with Cole, and maybe just as important, they are very patient with me when I just can't drag myself away from him each morning.

not looking too excited before his first day of daycare...

Cole sleeping on the ride home after a full day of activities

Mom's first F in arts and crafts : (  You probably can't tell, but that's Cole's hand print in clay.  We had our first craft project on Friday and ours didn't turn out too well (who knew you had to push their hand so hard?!).  Drew was kind enough to put his hand next to it for comparison...

Babysitters

Last Tuesday, Drew and I took Mom out for a thank you dinner to relax and enjoy some real adult conversation.  While we went out to dinner, Drew's aunt Kelly and cousin Christina came over to babysit Cole.  

Apparently Kelly has the magic touch - Little Man didn't move a muscle when we got home!

The best babysitters we could ever ask for :)

I wish we would have had more time to actually visit with Kelly and Christina; our visits are definitely few and far between but are always delightful.  We're really hoping their invitation to Poulsbo was genuine - we would love to visit for crabbing season!

Sonoma Valley

Two weekends ago Drew, Cole and I went to wine country to celebrate the wedding of our friend Brianne.  Brianne and I were in the same sorority at UW and shared 4 wonderful years of memories together :)   

Drew, Cole & I shared a VRBO with Liz, Tony & Cade and Heather, Jeff & Oliver.  It was a full house but we had a wonderful time.  We also learned that we are all able to travel well together - hopefully that means we'll be taking more family vacations together in the future.  Here are a few photos from the weekend.

The munchkins all relaxing together

Cade is super camera shy - can you tell?  : )

The girls (well, some of us!) - me, Jenny, Liz, Kimmy, Jinna and Heather

The bride and groom - Brianne and Ryan

While it was definitely a whirlwind weekend (we arrived in San Fran around 8:30 pm on Friday and flew out on Sunday at 4:30pm), the wedding was gorgeous and we couldn't have been more excited to be there for Brianne's big day.

San Diego

Two weeks ago, we made an unplanned trip to San Diego to spend time with family after the passing of Emily's grandmother, Beth.  Beth was an incredible woman, raising 4 children and helping with many of her grandchildren.  She will certainly be missed, but we are grateful for the many years we were able to spend with her.  Overall, it was an extremely sorrowful reason to visit, but a great opportunity to share in past memories and make new ones.  

One the bright side, Cole was introduced to the first of his three great-grandparents and also got to meet a number of other relatives.  He certainly helped to bring the mood of the weekend up.  Below are a number of pictures from the trip.

Great-grandpa Royce.  Cole loved meeting and spending time with him (see below)

 Evidence of statement above 

 4 generations of Jensens

 Cole's first time in the sand (I don't think he was all that excited about it)

 Cole's first ocean dip!

 Family pic in front of the ocean.  We were at Coronado.

 Onlookers

 Great Uncle Randy, aka Pete Carroll (somehow we didn't get any pictures of Great Aunt Mary).  Randy and Mary had a great time with Cole and he loved hanging out with them too.  I know there are some pictures out there, so we'll share when we get a hold of some.

 Cole with his Great Aunt Diane.  Cole was in heaven that weekend.  Every time one person's arms got tired he was passed to another.

 Grandpa Rod keeping Cole entertained

 Royce and the kids (Rod, Randy, David, & Diane)

 Cole's first-cousin-once-removed, Trevor.  Trevor is playing soccer for Willamette University in Salem.  We hope to catch a game next season.

 One last photo with great grandpa before heading out for the night.

 And of course Aunt Kate was there for lots of Auntie-Nephew time.

Any baby that can sleep like this is obviously exhausted from a lot of quality family time.