What better way to start a blog than to summarize all of the blog entries we might have written had we started it a year ago? That’s just what we’ve done here. We hope you enjoy it.
Christmas, 2007
Last year was an amazing year of changes for us. On Christmas Eve of 2007, we got the gift that we had been wanting for quite some time: Katie is pregnant! Santa delivered our gift early.
January: Ice Storm in the Columbia Gorge
The weather got quite cold in late January, and we got wind from our friend Stephanie that the waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge were not to be missed. We hopped in the car to check it out for ourselves. It really was amazing. Here is a quick slideshow from our trip.
February: Florence, OR
We drove down to Florence, OR to celebrate David’s birthday with the rest of the Matthews. It never ceases to amaze us how good the weather can be on the coast, even in the dead of winter. Here are a few pictures from our hike at Cape Perpetua, just north of Florence.
May: 5 Months Pregnant
Summer is arriving, and little ‘Rozzi’ (our in-utero name) is starting to show quite a bit! Meanwhile, it must be baby season. In the month of may, four friends of ours delivered their latest additions to the family. It would seem that early August 2007 was a busy time…
July: Staci, Luther, Cindy and Owen Visit
All of Rozzi’s cousins and Katie’s sister made the long trip up from the Arizona heat and enjoy some cool Oregon summer fun. Owen was exhausted from the trip:
It was a blast hanging out with all of the kids. Perhaps a little taste of what was to come for us? In the middle of their visit, we headed out to Florence, OR for some quality time with the Matthews and a fantastic baby shower. Everybody drew a few pictures on some cloth cutouts for a Rozzi’s soon to come quilt.
On the way back from the coast, we stopped at the Newport Aquarium. One of the highlights for me was watching the seals. Well, actually, it was watching Owen watch the seals that really got to me. Owen knows a few sign language words, one of which is ‘more’ where he pinches his thumb against his other fingers on each hand and puts his hands together. The first time he saw the seal, he looked back at all of us and frantically asked for “more! more! more!”, which was pretty darned cute. Of course, by the time I had pulled out the camera, he was singing a different tune.
July: Reunion with the Shralls
Jerry took a trip out to Warren, MI to celebrate some pretty amazing milestones with his grandparents and the rest of the Shrall family: 60 years of marriage and John Shrall Sr’s 90th birthday! It was probably the first time the whole family has been together in ten years, and this time around we had 4 generations of Shralls to represent. An interesting side note to this trip: it was the second consecutive trip to Detroit in which we lost a camera on the airplane. Second consecutive! Added up, since 2003, I think we have owned a total of 6 digital cameras, 4of which have met with an early demise in one way or another (broken, stolen, lost twice…).
August: One Month to Go
Rozzi’s due date is August 27th, but Katie is still as busy as ever. We are still frantically trying to prepare everything in the house for the new little baby (we still don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl at this point). I went out and bought something I have been wanting for years, and a new baby seemed to be as good of an excuse as any: a Canon EOS 5D. The picture below is one of the first that I took with it, and it also does a great job of documenting that Katie was busy up until the last minute, this time making “thank you” caramels for our baby shower.
Just to give you an idea, Katie was ready.
August 30: Introducing Paloma Victoria Shrall!
Our daughter Paloma showed up a few days late on August 30, 2008. Katie’s labor took 24 hours – a truly humbling experience for me, and entirely exhausting. Thankfully, Paloma, Katie, and everybody else was in great health, and we were able to leave the hospital after a few days. I remember putting Paloma in the car for the first time and being nervous about driving, worried that somehow having her in there made the road that much more dangerous. We stopped for sushi on the way home, a 40-week craving satisfied.
September: Vacation Times
September is my favorite month of the year, and it was especially nice this year for a few reasons. 1) We now have a new daughter to entertain us. 2) I was on vacation for the whole month. 2) Lots of family and friend visits throughout the month. Below is Nona and Grandad up at Pittock Mansion after an awesome hike through the NW hills of Portland. Leave it up to me, on the way down I got us lost multiple times.
Later in September, my parents, Katie and Paloma all went out to check out the apple harvest in Hood River. We were a little bummed that it was just a few weeks late for peach season – next year we’re going to get there in time. And also next year, we are committed to going to the McCurdy Farms orchard where they are sampling some Clear Creek Distillery pear brandy and giving tours of the pear orchards.
Below is a picture of us at McCurdy Farms. Our precocious little Paloma is already working towards her first job as one of Santa’s helpers. The smile needs a bit of work, though.
November: A Month of Change
Looking back, it seems that we spent most of October and November hanging around the house or spending time with family and friends. Paloma is now the source of all of our entertainment, and here is a prime example. Actually, what is particularly fun for us in this movie is the fact that this was probably the first time that she just sat down without fussing. She loves it when we sing to her.
Keeping up with the theme of ‘change’, Paloma asked if she could do her part in advertising for the election, seeing how she can’t vote yet. Every day for an entire week we let her choose her clothes.
As if politics wasn’t enough, we also decided to do a bit of travel with Paloma. We flew out to Sheboygan, WI (on the shores of Lake Michigan) for our friends Hermann and Erica’s wedding. Mom and dad were pretty nervous about the flight, but it went very well overall. And the wedding was a blast.
To top the month off, Paloma decided to pick up thumb sucking as a new favorite pastime.
Oh, and if you were ever wondering what one month could do to a pumpkin, here is a good reference as provided by one of our neighbors.
December: A Very White Christmas
First of all, I think we saw the best sunset ever this December. Here was the view from our back deck. Thanks to Katie for getting out and capturing it before it was gone…
It was a pretty special Christmas this year for obvious reasons. In fact, it was the first time that I actually went out to get some gifts for Paloma, and I really enjoyed that. I bought the book “The Treehorn Trilogy” by Florence Parry Heide and illustrated by Edward Gorey. This book cracks me up. I can’t wait to get to read it to Paloma. Overall, I think Paloma really enjoyed her Christmas.
Also in December, Katie’s sister Staci and nephew Owen visited us. They landed in Portland on the first day of the worst snowstorm in 30 years. In fact, Katie got stuck on her way to the airport to pick them up because the roads were so icy. Once we all got home safely, it was a blast. Owen got to see snow for the first time.
And in the spirit of Christmas, Owen was very focused on giving toys to the baby.
There was a break in the weather just in time for Owen and Staci to leave without any trouble, but then the snow came in even harder. I’m from the Midwest, and I know how to drive in snow, but that doesn’t help when you live on a steep hill, there are no snowplows and salt is a foreign concept. We were locked in for a week. Finally, though, a week later Portland weather returned to normal…
2009
After a year of waiting for and 3 months of getting to know our daughter Paloma, I have to say it was well worth the effort and the wait. I’m at the point now where I’ll do just about anything to get a giggle or a squeal out of her. It has been a blast so far, and I can’t wait for another year of watching her grow.
Stay in touch! We’ll try to keep you posted next year as things are happening around here.
Tags: paloma, portland, year in review
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