Walking!

Right after we got back from Tahoe in August, Cooper took his first few tentative steps. Then a few weeks later, exactly on his 11 month birthday, he really started taking steps on his own and walked across a whole room to Mommy and Gigi!!

Walking is still a little wobbly for Cooper, so he definitely likes it when there are things there to help him:

Or someone to give him encouragement that he can do it:

My favorite part of Cooper's new walking skills is that when he races towards someone, when he gets there he throws himself into their arms and they get a big hug and cuddle. He still really prefers to be holding someone's hand and know they're within reach, and it's nice to still be depended on a little bit by our baby :)

Now that it's fall, Cooper is loving walking through all the big leaf piles around the neighborhood and hearing the noises the leaves make:

But the very VERY best thing about Cooper starting to walk is that it makes him so happy!! He loves being independent and able to get where he wants to go and do what he wants to do. And mommy and daddy love their happy boy!!

Cooper *hearts* Portland (and Addie!)

Last Friday, Cooper and I flew to Portland and spent the weekend with our fabulous friends Janet, Chris, and Addie (17 months old). We had a BLAST - it was so fun to catch up with Janet and Chris, see their awesome new house, and Cooper and Addie loved playing together all weekend long!

Addie was super sweet with Cooper, and she was so good at giving him hugs and kisses:

Cooper loved watching Addie run, jump, and dance all over the place (she is seriously the cutest dancer, we're just waiting for Janet to pass down The Bucket Dance to her :)) He was totally in awe of his older, wiser, friend:

That night we had a fabulous dinner prepared by Chef Chris, while the kids had their own version of "gourmet":

Janet was a saint and took both of the kids on Saturday morning so that I could sleep in. Good practice for #2, no?

We spent Saturday afternoon in downtown Portland, and it was awesome!! A totally perfect day, we had so much fun walking around the city and checking out the waterfront.

We also spent some time at the Portland Saturday Market, a sort of farmer's market for local artists, and the kids had a great time people-watching and checking everything out.

And of course, they couldn't resist playing in the fountains!

Mini-Janet!!

My sweet baby:

The serious look:

We had a great dinner at an Italian restaurant, where Cooper got his first samples of garlic bread and pieces of yummy pasta. Addie tried to teach Cooper how to color, but Coop preferred to rip up his menu and lunge for Addie's.

Chris was so sweet and tried to do bedtime stories for the little ones....which is really more like a tumbling gymnastics class when dealing with a 10 and 17 month old!

Ooooh, a sock!

Some more wrestling:

Ooops, let's not crush each other!

Bee-lining for the edge of the bed:

The next morning, we headed up to Multnomah Falls and had a delicious brunch at the cool stone lodge there. The whole drive was so beautiful and scenic, we were totally blown away at how gorgeous Portland is!

Coop giving his Zoolander face:

The falls were wonderful!! Cooper was so excited by them - he couldn't stop waving "hi" to the water :)

Peeeek....

Aaaahhhhh.....

Booo!!! Cooper, are you paying attention??

Should be naptime, but someone was having too much fun!

Our favorite part of the weekend was all the time we spent just hanging out, watching the kids play together and catching up.

Sweet Addie giving Cooper a hug before we leave!

Bye-bye Janet, Chris and Addie!!! We had the best time and can't wait to visit again soon!!