May (Senja 9 mo)

Senja finally figured out how to sleep through the night this month!  Hurray!  Her napping schedule could use improvement, but we'll take one step at a time here.  She is a speedy little crawler and is pulling up to standing quite regularly.  She is full of smiles and laughs.

We got our garden started at the beginning of May.  Cadel started out with hand tools, but progress was slow. 

 He brought in the heavy machinery and things went much faster.

We enjoyed some nice May days going on hikes around Portland.  Here we are at Council Crest.  Cadel happily tromps along with his little backpack and walking stick, finding slugs and other fun things along the way.

 Senja continues to try new foods.  She''s not so sure about these green beans, but she keeps trying.

 Happy Mother's Day!  Stacey ran a hilly 10K race up at Mt. Tabor while Justin, Cadel, and Senja cheered her on.  The day included a bit of sunshine and a nice downpour during the race.  After the race, Stacey was treated to a fantastic breakfast of eggs, bacon, and homemade biscuits.

 We quickly filled our first raised garden bed, so by mid-May we needed to build another one.  Here is Justin and Stacey's carpentry work.  Senja discovers it works quite nicely as a playpen!  Here she is on May 15th -- her 9 month birthday!

 Cadel and Senja have both become very fond of Herbie (Stacey's most adored childhood stuffed animal puppet).  Cadel uses his BIG voice to make Herbie talk -- and opens his mouth really wide when doing so.  Senja just laughs and does a little dance.

 Stacey decides she is doing too much work around the house and recruits Cadel to help out feeding Senja.