The Davolts

16 weeks  Today was the last Sunday Parkways of the season. Parkways are one of our favorite events in Portland, as the city closes streets in a designated neighborhood to allow for bicycle and pedestrian traffic to take over for several hours. Our participation has been quite limited this year as Nathan is not old enough for bicycle carriers. When he was about three weeks old, we walked part of the North Portland route. Today, the Parkways came to our neighborhood and Jennifer, Nathan and I set out in the fall weather (blustery and cool followed by total downpour and drenched). To prepare for the cooler weather, I finally put Nathan into his first pair of jeans. I love how they look on, but are significantly more work to put on and take off compared to the sweats he usually wears. Since Nathan is growing, I adjusted his stroller so he is no longer lying flat, but reclined slightly. He didn't seem to notice the difference much and didn't pay any more attention to his surro...

The Davolt's on our first day of school. As the new school year approached, Jeff and I began investigating infant care in our area.  We toured three facilities, but given that we had few resources for recommendations, it felt a little arbitrary to choose one. We decided we felt most comfortable with a place called Jump for Joy Christian Early Learning Community and elected to enroll Nathan there. One aspect we liked was that the director is a former kindergarten teacher in Portland Public Schools. Therefore, her facility has a more school like feel compared with the other daycare type facilities. Jump for Joy offers classrooms for infants through pre-school age and requests parents and teachers commit for two years to keep turn over low. Thankfully, Jump for Joy provides diapers, so I don't have to worry about restocking and they also provide organic food for the older kids. The school is located in an old church which has been remodeled to fit their needs. It's about ...

Nathan is now three months old and continues to grow before our eyes! We estimate him to weigh about 20 pounds and he has moved into yet another diaper size. We are thankful to Jennifer for collecting hand me downs from Seattle for us since he is now in 9 month size clothing. Friends, family and strangers alike all comment on his size. We are just thankful he is healthy! A colleague of mine was kind enough to snag some Husky tickets for the season opener against Eastern Washington University.  Jeff could hardly pass up the chance to see a Husky win! We hit the road with Jennifer in tow and made it to my dad's house by lunch. The river looked tempting but we had to keep moving to make it by kick off. We all had a great time at the game; the weather was perfect even if the play wasn't. Nathan cried a bit when the  crowd would roar but otherwise slept or people watched. Nathan is developing some new skills recently. For several weeks he has used his fist to soothe...