Play Dates!

Before I really get started on this entry, I have to announce all the great news I've been receiving from friends and family.  First off, my friend Frankie is PREGNANT!  I'm ridiculously excited for her.  She's due at the end of January, is feeling good, and will find out the sex next month.  I just love hearing baby news!  Next up is Stephanie who got a fantastic new job at an athletic club as the Head of Pilates.  She gets normal hours, benefits and on-site day care for Will!  Woohoo!  My beautiful sister-in-law Ma got the wonderful news that her Lupis is finally in remission!  Yea!  I'm so very happy that she is feeling good again (although probably not as happy as she is).  Plus, she is starting culinary school very soon, which I have a feeling is going to be a blast for her.  My friend Anna is this close to finishing her PhD and took a short break for a few weeks to take classes to become a yoga instructor.  How cool is that?  And finally my other SIL is excelling at her job, still traveling the world (off to Alaska on Thursday!), and has a swell guy in her life that makes her happy and treats her the way she deserves.  Ahhhh.  There are few things in life that warm the soul as much as good news from dear friends.

 Ok, back on track. Play dates.   I have had the great fortune of meeting some wonderful women here in the Portland area who all have sons the same age as Max.  We met at Gymboree back before most of the boys could even walk.  Over the last year we've become pretty good friends and our boys play so well together!  We've recently decided to meet once a month for Mom's Night Out where we can just hang out without having to chase toddlers.  A few of us still meet once a week at Gymboree, but we all get together once a week with the kids outside of Gymboree for play dates.  I LOVE getting together with Meadowlark, Cindy, Megan, Jenn, and all the boys.   Jenn's friend Jenny, who has two girls to add to the mix, has also joined in the fun.  Now Evelyn isn't quite so outnumbered.  Meadowlark and Jenn both had their second baby this year, so we're really adding to the crew and it's great!  There are now 5 two-year-old boys, a two-year-old girl, a 13 month old girl, my 10 month old little lady, a 7 month old boy, and a 3 month old boy.  Whew!  Since the weather has been so nice lately, we've been meeting at different homes to just let the kids run around outside.  I know it's been so great for Max.  Especially since he doesn't go to day care where many kids develop their social skills.  And now that Evelyn is getting a little older, I know it's going to be great for her as well.  Frankly, it's been great for me too.  These wonderful ladies help keep me sane.  I get out of the house and have grown up conversations with intelligent, funny people who know exactly how challenging it can be to take care of kids as they go through the "terrible twos".  Here are some pics of the boys...

Taking a break from playing in the pool

I think I'd have a better chance at winning the Powerball than getting all the boys to pose at the same time

At Megan's ranch!

It's been such a pleasure getting to know this group and watching the kids get bigger, stronger and more active.  I think these kids will remain friends as they get older- I know their moms will!  :)

Fun Summer Adventures

My recap of the summer continues...

After the kids and I returned from a very eventful trip to Montana, we got to spend a week with my parents.  My mom drove back from Montana with us and my dad flew in to Portland from Carson City to meet us.  We took it easy most of the week, but did go to the zoo one day and went to one of Portland's many berry patches to pick fresh raspberries.  Yum!  Max had a blast, but he ate more than he picked.  And Evelyn had fun crawling around as the rest of us filled our buckets.

Max with Grammy and Papa at the zoo!

She can't wait until she can walk like her big brother

My little berry picker

While my parents were here we decided to get Max a toddler bed.  More accurately, Max decided he needed a toddler bed when he climbed out of his crib multiple times to join us in the living room well after his bed time.  Fortunately he never hurt himself while doing this, but it sure shocked the heck out of us when he casually sauntered out to join us after we thought he was tucked in for the night.

Loving his big boy bed

After my parents left, Matt and I decided to take the kids to the beach.   On a surprisingly cold summer day, we drove over to Astoria (where they filmed The Goonies!) to give Evelyn her first glimpse of the ocean.  We didn't stay long since it was so cold and wet, but we did let Max try his hand at driving on a car-friendly beach.  He didn't do too bad other than occasionally veering the car toward the water.  Ha! Ha!

Max takes the wheel

Matt adores his little man

Matt's mom paid us a visit at the beginning of August.  We were able to do a bit more berry picking after Matt ran his third half-marathon.   He's become a running fool.  He's in the process of training for the Columbia Gorge Marahon in October.  I don't know how he does it. 

Matt finishing in his best time yet

My handsome husband and his proud mama

Finally our most recent adventure was a camping trip at Cape Lookout near Tillamook.  It was Evelyn's first camping trip and Max's third.  We went to the spot last summer with Matt's family and a bunch of their friends and fell in love with the location.  The campground itself is beautiful and right on the ocean.  It's also close to some cool tide pools, scenic locations as well as the Tillamook cheese factory and a cool airplane museum.  The kids were great little campers and loved getting dirty.  Unfortunately Evelyn started crying the second night and it took me a few minutes to calm her down.  The next morning, this lovely lady came to our camp site to ask how our "little poet" was doing that morning.  I apologized for Evelyn waking her up and she said the didn't mind at all and actually thought it was refreshing.  Apparently she has nine grandkids herself and loves seeing kids camping.  Then she said that she can tell from Evelyn's "soulful cry" that she will be a poet or artist when she grows up.  I guess we'll see.  Speaking of our future artist, that girl could not get enough of the ocean.  Every time we set her down on the sand, she made a beeline for the water.  Max however, was a little intimidated by the big ocean waves.  He wasn't too interested in getting near the water.  Maybe he'll enjoy it a bit more next year.

Camping is fun!

I'm not sure what he was looking at...

"Let me in the water!"

Max waving at the ocean

A couple of cute freakin' kids

My filthy little Griz girl

Finally, on our way home, we swung by the Tillamook Cheese Factory for some ice cream (yum!) and cheese samples for everyone except for yours truly who doesn't care for the stuff.  Then we swung by the air museum just to make Max's day.  He LOVES airplanes, so we didn't want to pass up the opportunity to let him get up close and personal with some.

This plane was Max-sized

My little Top Gun

In the cockpit (Evelyn wasn't into it).

 It was a great trip and something we might just have to do every year.  I think it will be easier next year when Evelyn is walking.  Chasing two toddlers through the campground may be a bit of a challenge, but it's one I can't wait to take on!

A Little Bit of Bragging

It seems as if there is something new happening at Casa Kocubinski each and every day.  I suppose that comes with the territory of having two very young kids.  I have been delighting in just about every thing they do and rejoicing in every milestone as they come along.  As of this last Wednesday, Evelyn is 10 months old!!!  I think she might end up being a little tomboy.  That girl is TOUGH.  She started crawling while we were in Montana, and now she is pulling herself up on everything and walking along the furniture (I believe it's called 'cruising').  She has even stood up independently a couple of times.  I have been predicting since before she could crawl that she would be walking by around ten and a half months.  That is only a couple weeks away, so we'll see if I'm right.  Anyway, as I mentioned, she is crawling everywhere and pulling herself up on everything.  And with pulling herself up comes falling down, which she frequently does as well.  I have watched in amazement as she falls, bumps, and bruises herself without batting an eyelash.  She rarely cries or gets upset, she just gets back and and keeps going.  She's not even a year old, but is already making me proud.  I think having a big brother has been very beneficial for her.  She has also become more independent and curious.  She is constantly on the move, checking things out.  And I'm pleased to report she isn't as fussy as she used to be and is becoming more and more comfortable being away from mommy.

"I know I can get up this slide somehow."

Peek-A-Boo!

Happy girl

On a less happy note, Evelyn is having some issues with her eyes.  She's had clogged tear ducts since she was born which makes her eyes watery and goopy.  Around the time she got her ear infection, she also got an infection that causes pink-ish circles under her eyes.  Both the infection and the clogged ducts have varied in severity over the months and have even seemed to go away at times, but they always come back.  We're most likely going to have to see a pediatric optomologist when she is a year old to try to get things fixed.  Fortunately, these issue don't seem to cause her any pain or discomfort.  I'm just looking forward to getting it all fixed up for good.

Max has been doing amazingly well with his speech.  Around the time we were in Montana, the words just started flowing.  He can now repeat just about every word we say as well as saying things without our prompting him.  He's even started stringing a few words together to make sentences.  He has been seeing his speech therapist, Margo, twice a week and actually seems to love it.   And it's obviously working.  We couldn't be more pleased with his progress.

That's his "Who, me?" look

On top of his stellar improvements in speech, Max has been blowing us away with everything he has been learning now that he can articulate what he knows.  He can count to 10, he knows all the basic colors and shapes, and he knows all the letters of the alphabet.  I can write any letter down and he tells me what it is, or I can say a letter and he'll point it out on the keyboard.  I can even make the sound the letter makes and he'll tell me what it is.  Turns out all the books we've been reading to him since birth have been taught him more than we thought (with a little help from iPhone/iPad games).  I've been kind of defensive about him for quite a while now-  I've been worried that people thought his speech delay was a reflection of his intelligence.  Now I'm just one of "those" moms bragging about how smart he is.  Ha! Ha!  What can I say?  I'm just bursting with pride.

His smile can light up the world

And finally, there is Jackson.  He's still hanging in there.  We can't take him hiking anymore and can only take him on very short walks, but he's happy enough.  He's been sunbathing in the gorgeous weather we've been having and seems pretty content.  He doesn't even seem sad any more when Matt takes Margie on runs.  The good thing is that he doesn't seem to be in any pain or even uncomfortable.  Although that might have something to do with the pain meds we're giving him twice a day.  We're just hoping for the best and trying to focus on the spurts of energy he has and how much Max loves him rather than the fact that he's slowing down so much so fast and bleeding us dry financially.  Oh, the things we do for our pets.

Max giving Jackson loves

Montana, Montana. Glory of the West.

Ok.  I have quite a bit of updating to do.  It's been about 3 months since my last entry, but it only feels like 3 weeks!  This summer is going to be over before it's begun!  But it's been a pretty good one so far.  I have so much updating to do that I thought I would begin with a recap of our trip to Big Sky Country- Montana.  We were there for almost a month, so snuggle in folks.  This make take awhile.

When we first arrived in Montana, we stayed with Matt's parents who live on a stunning piece of land nestled up against the Mission Mountains. We spent a couple of days relaxing and visiting friends.  We took a quick trip into Missoula to see Matt's sister Julia and our good friends Joe and Stephanie and their darling little boy Will, who is a year younger than Max.

Will and Max

Later on Matt, Sue and I decided to take the kids over the the Bison Range to check out some of the wild animals, but quickly realized we wouldn't have to go that far to see some wildlife up close and personal.  As we drove toward the main road, we discovered to Grizzly bears in the neighbor's yard!  Yikes! We did still make it to the Bison Range and got to see some buffalo and deer, but it just wasn't as exciting as our earlier encounter.  The kids saw more wild life in two hours than they had seen before in their whole lives.

The next night we headed over to see some friends of Matt's family, Mary and Loren, and their adorable grandkids.  They also live on a beautiful property near Ronan and had horses and dogs that kept Max very entertained and happy.  He even got to ride a horse by himself!

Such a big boy

After that, Matt, the kids and I headed over to stay at my parent's time-share condo on Flathead Lake.  I absolutely LOVE that place- I've gone almost every summer for 20 years now.  Joe, Steph and Will were able to join us for a couple of days, and Sue and Don came up for Father's Day to have dinner. 

Max and Grandpop chalking it up

I'm ready to swim!

Two beautiful ladies!

With mommy's sunglasses

Future heartbreakers

Me with my swim babes

Matt and I were also able to spend a day with the kiddos up at Glacier Park.  I firmly believe it is the most beautiful national park in the country.  I don't think I could ever get sick of the gorgeous scenery there.  We went for a hike up to Avalanche Lake and experienced another bear adventure on the way back down.  Evelyn and I went ahead of the boys because she was VERY unhappy about being put back in her pack and I wanted to get the screaming baby as far away from other hikers as I could.  Once I got away from everyone, I took her out to see if I could get her to quiet down.  As I was attempting to get her to stop crying, a woman came running up to me to tell me that we were being followed by a bear.  Sure enough, about 20-30 yards away, there was a black bear walking alongside the trail with us.  He actually turned and started walking towards us, but luckily a large group of hikers showed up and spooked him enough to stay away.  Most people felt that he was just curious as to what was making all the noise (my darling little girl) and wanted to check it out.  He certainly didn't seem aggressive.  But I was still a bit shaken.  We quickly made our way down the rest of the trail and even got to see a buck about 10 feet away.  Quite the day!

Family shot at Glacier Park

Later that week, we were able to swing by my aunt Sue and uncle Bill's lake house.  Yet another beautiful place to visit in the Flathead valley.  The kids had a great time running around and Max even got his feet a little wet in the lake in spite the the chilly temperature of the water. 

We were also able to take a trip out to Rock Creek to see the cabin that Sue and Don have been building from the ground up (the LOTS of hard work from Julia and friends).  It was really impressive.  I can't wait to eventually see the finished product. 

Not bad for a "little cabin" in the woods

At the end of the week at the time-share, Matt and Julia ran the Waterton-Glacier relay race with 10 (I think) of Julia's co-workers and friends.  The did an amazing job.  Their team came in third place and were only beaten by a team of ultra-marathon runners and a team of triathletes.  It sounded like they had a whole lot of fun and really enjoyed the spectacular scenery along the way.  Way to go Team Adventure Life!  I have a feeling they'll be doing it again next year.

After that, we went back to Sue and Don's for a few days before the Matt headed back home and the kids and I took off for Great Falls to visit my relatives.  They (Sue and Don) had a BBQ for family and friends to come over and see the kids.  It was so much fun!  It was so nice to relax and hang out with everyone.

Julia, Evleyn (with an owl growing out of her head) and I.

The Celtic band Malarkey

Aunt Sue, Mom and I

A few grads of Ronan HS '97 and their little ones

After that, Matt headed home and the kids and I were off to Great Falls with my mom.  The night before we left, Max had a fever but it was back down again before we left.  Once we got there we got to spend some quality time with my Grandma, who is undergoing chemo for lung cancer.  It was great to catch up and see that she was doing well and feeling strong.  We stayed there one night before heading up to Havre to visit the Steinmetz family- Krystal, Steve and precious Moriah.  I hadn't seen Moriah since she was only 5 weeks old, so I was really excited to see her now at 13 months.  Moriah and Evelyn got along great!  Moriah and Max...well, let's just say he treated her the same way he treats his sister.  He wasn't into sharing and really didn't like her touching him.  The poor thing just didn't know quite what to make of this rude boy in her house.  We still all had a great time.  The girls played well, we got to spend some time at a nice park, eat some ice cream and most importantly, I got to catch up with Krystal.  I miss that gal.  I could have used MUCH more time there.  Hopefully next year...

This picture pretty much sums up their relationship

Krystal took Max's temperature right before we left and it had gone back up to 102!  I like to think that partially explains his less than courteous behavior.  So back to Great Falls we went.  It was pretty obvious at that point that Max was pretty sick, so we decided to lay low and see how he did.  Sadly, we had to stay away from my Grandma since her immune system wasn't at it's strongest.  We did get to spend time with my aunts Abby, Connie and Pam, my uncles Ron and Mark and my cousins Aaron, Spenser, Riley, Kirsten, and Meghan, so it wasn't a complete waste.  I love them all so much and wish we could spend more time together.

A very sick Max snuggling with Grammy

The kids playing at Nana's

With aunts Pam and Connie (missing aunt Abby)

Riley, Aaron, Max, Spenser and Kirsten

Evelyn and her Nana

We headed to Missoula after that to spend a few days at Julia's house.  My plan was to spend as much time with my Missoula friends as possible and let the Grandma's take care of the kids while I had some fun.  Sadly, it didn't pan out that way.  The kids seemed to be feeling ok the first night in Missoula, so I did get one great night out with Julia and Steph, but when we got back, Max was about as miserable as could be.  Sue went with me the next day to an urgent care clinic (it was on a Sunday and a holiday weekend), where we discovered both kids had ear infections and Max had to go to the emergency room for chest x-rays because they thought he might have pneumonia.  Needless to say it was an absolutely awful day.  There is nothing worse than having a child in pain and not being able to fix it immediately.  I was feeling so guilty for not taking them in days earlier and for going out and having fun when they were sick.  It was an emotional roller coaster.  Then we discovered Evelyn is allergic to penicillin.  We ended up taking the kids back to Sue's house where we could all rest and recover before going home.  I am soooo grateful that both grandmas were there to help out.  I don't know what I would have done without them.

My one night out with a couple of wonderful gals

My dear friend Mira came out to Sue's to see us before we left.  She was so sweet to come all the way out there and see us in spite of the kids being sick.  And I'm so glad she did since she left for Europe shortly after.  She will hopefully be working there indefinitely, which is great, but she will be sorely missed over here in the states.  We were also able to visit with Janet, Sue and Don's neighbor and friend.  She had been in traveling in Europe and we almost missed her, so I'm relieved we were able to catch up with her!

Mira bonding with Evelyn

And finally, Mom and I were able to make one more stop before heading back to Portland.  We took a quick trip to Missoula once the kids were feeling better to visit with our old family friends, Janice and Erin.  I've mentioned Janice before, but she's the mom of my oldest friend Anna and Erin is Anna's sister.  Walking into Janice's house is like getting a warm hug.  I have so many wonderful memories there and feel so at ease whenever I visit.  We had a relaxing afternoon and Max had a great time playing with Janice's dog named...Max.  It was so fun to catch up!

Erin, Max, Janice and Evelyn

Whew!  I think I covered it all.  It was a great trip in spite of the ear infections.  I'm sorry I didn't get to see the rest of my Missoula friends while we were there, but we plan on heading back over there some time this winter.  Hopefully without any emergency room visits.  :)