Congratulations Greg & Nico!

We wish Mr. & Mrs. Neith Caldwell the best on their upcoming journey in marriage!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

I love you!
I love watching baseball with you especially when the Brewer's win.
I love going for hikes with you and exploring all sorts of new places.
I love how you swim me around the pool like a shark and then let me jump and splash.
I love that you "buzz the tower" with me around the house, I think Mom & the puppies like getting buzzed:)
I love when you take me along on your jogs, the jogging stroller lull's me to sleep every time.
I love that you'll do anything to make me feel better when I am sick, tired or just whiny.
I love falling asleep on your shoulder.
I love that you take such good care of Mommy & me.
I love that you teach me how to do new things like drink from a sippy cup, eat cereal, sit up, roll over, stand, and pretty soon crawl!
I love that you read to me, sometimes science books, and sometimes kids books.I love to make you smile:)
Most of all I LOVE YOU!
I hope you have an AWESOME birthday Dad!
Love,
Rohan

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband! I hope you enjoy your birthday!
Thank you for all that you do for us, I know I can drive you absolutely crazy and I am so glad you put up with me. You're the best! LYTMest!
I love you!
love,
Mara

Rohan's Firsts'

The last few days have been flurry of firsts' for Rohan.

First:

• Time in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Arizona.
• Night away from Mom (Thanks Aunt Heather & Uncle John!!!) It worked out really well to have him gone the first night we moved in, we were able to get a lot done that wouldn't have been as easy had cute little boy been around to distract us:)
• Big belly laugh! Of course it had to happen in the car after our long trip, no video proof just yet but we're working on it.
• Time sitting unassisted for longer than a few seconds. He still likes to throw himself back pretty often so we have to be careful where he's at.
• Sippy cup experience. He'll hold it with both hands and can get it into him mouth. He seems surprised when water comes out, and then he usually lets some of it run back out.
• Cereal & milk with a spoon. He did really well, opened his mouth like a baby bird and ate as much as we would give him. Once again, some came out but more stayed in than came out. Can't wait to start him on his veggies, if he's anything like his parents he's going to love them!
• Bath in the big tub! He LOVED it! This was a must after we let him play with the spoon and cereal container, he was coated in a thin layer of cereal:) We switched him into the big tub because he started to push off the end of the baby bath tub and was nearly launching himself out the top along with most of the water. He got some float time in the big tub and seemed to really enjoy it.
• And, teething! (OK, this has started almost a month ago...)His drooling is constant and we can see/feel two bumps where his lateral incisors will be coming in. At the rate he's going it could be a few more weeks before they break through. He doesn't seem to care too much except he wants to chew on EVERYTHING!
• Rolling over on his own. He has been trying to do this for over a month, he would get 3/4 of the way over and flip himself back. He finally did it the other night, we found out when he woke up crying and I went in to find him laying with his arm sticking outside the crib and he seemed pretty startled to have ended up that way.
• Swimming! He LOVED it, good thing as that is about the only way to stay cool in 100+ degree weather. After his swim, he was exhausted and passed out naked poolside.

We captured many of these firsts' on video and in pictures. Enjoy!

Rolling Over (From Afar) - Just barely got in the room with the camera as he rolled over. He had a little "surprise for us" when he got to his back...:)


Belly Laughs:




Rohan Does Very Well With Cereal. Great Baby Bird Impression:

McDowell Mountain Preserve

Last Sunday Mara and I got up at the crack of dawn to hike a preserve that's only about a 10 minute drive from our place called McDowell Mountain Preserve. It was really pretty cool out that early and there was hardly anyone there! We hiked a trail called the Lost Dog Wash which brought us up to about 1500 foot above the city and gave us some nice views. We only went on a shorter hike just to get our feet wet and see how Rohan handled everything. From the pictures you can see he did just fine. He even took his first sip of water from a water pack...:)

We'll post more hikes as we do them, and longer ones at that, but with Summer (and 120°F) looming in the near future we may not get in as many as we'd like. Our friend Sasha gave us a nice hiking book for AZ hikes, and we have another one from Greg & Nico on hikes around Phoenix, so we should have PLENTY of trails to check out!

Here are some pics:

I like to take some panoramic pictures which can be quite large and not really "blog friendly". I'll post some lower quality images, but if you'd like the real thing just let me know. There are 3 from our McDowell Mountain Hike and 2 from the Sonoran Desert Museum with Nikki & Crawford.

Catching Up

This will be a pretty random "catch up" post to let everyone know how our first week in AZ went. First our move went GREAT! It was 32 hours of "fun", but Rohan cooperated WAY more than we could have hoped, and we all survived the drive, a little restless, but non-the-less happy to be in AZ! Michelle was SUCH a huge help with driving, calming Rohan, and moving. We can't thank her enough! Also, our Dad's really helped us with packing and loading and cleaning. We never would have left on time if they didn't help either.

Aside from the construction, there were not any major issues with the drive other than the A/C crapping out on the truck about 100 miles into a 1700 mile road trip...:( They did give us some money back, but that doesn't change the sweat box drive we had to endure. At least through NM & AZ there was some rain so that really helped.

Greg & Nicole helped us unpack once we got here, and Heather & John took Rohan for the night so we could make better progress. We were up pretty late unpacking, and it's finally coming together. Greg & Nico left on Sunday to get married in Mexico and we got to dog-sit their baby Abby. She has been so easy to take care of it's not even like we have an extra dog!

On Monday Chris & Jackson came to visit. Chris and I went and golfed the Champions Course at TPC Scottsdale on Wednesday morning. It was AWESOME! Neither of us had not played this year yet, so I was a little worried. I played pretty rough on the front, but rallied on the back. Chris played well on both and shot sub-80! We both had eagle putts on 18 and birdied to end an awesome morning round at a great course.

Wednesday night our friend Sasha moved to AZ so we helped her and her family unload their U-Haul. Sasha and her family are heading to the Grand Canyon this weekend to sight see so we got to dog sit her "Abby" as well. That's right...4 dogs...4 adults....2 kids. Awesome times...:)

Chris & Shell headed to Flagstaff to sight see and Mara and I finished most of the unpacking and situating. We headed over to Greg & Nico's to water their lawn, but more importantly...their pool...:) They have a nice salt water pool that we took advantage of and veg'd by for most of the late morning/early afternoon on Thursday. We also took advantage of their grill too since we had to give ours up. At least ours went to a good home at Nate's.

Friday we went out to dinner with Chris & Shell for Shell & I's birthdays at PF Chang's, then for a nice walk on the Camlebak Walk trail. Heather offered to come babysit Rohan & Jackson while we are out, which we ALL really appreciate!!!

Sadly on Sunday, the Stokes' left, but we'll figure out ways to keep in touch...we always do...:) In the morning Sunday we met up with Nikki & Crawford who are down in Scottsdale for a conference. We went to Tuscon to sight see and check out their Sonoran Desert Museum which was really fun! Rohan did great in the sun and we got to see a lot of desert life we didn't really know about before. Plus catching up with Nikki & Crawford was great. Rohan really put on a good show for them, smiling the whole day. Nikki had a great quote saying "Seeing a child like Rohan doesn't make you so scared to have kids". We'll see about that one Nikki...:)

Hopefully we'll find some time to settle in a little more and get some more pictures up of our hikes. Meanwhile, here are some pics & vids from this insane, past week!

Jackson Being Adorable:

Rohan & Jackson Enjoy Their First Train Ride: