When It Rains...

...it pours. That has certainly been true for Colorado this past week. All over the state, we have been experiencing pretty severe storms that include torrential rains, dangerous lightning, crazy flooding, and strong winds. Last night the storm out our house was intense. It was most definitely the strongest storm we have had in the nearly three years we have lived here and one of the stronger storms I have experienced in my life. The lightning was pretty scary. In fact, the house four down from ours was hit by lightning and the attic caught fire. There were many, many emergency vehicles in front of our house dealing with the fire. Luckily, everyone who lives in the house got out safely and the fire seems to have been minor.





The storms continued today. You can see in the pictures how fast the water started to build up in the school parking lot and on the baseball field - these were taken less than 10 minutes after the rain started.











The storms took a little break, but as the sun set, the wind started up and it began to rain again.

We're From Out of Town

We went on our first family vacation! We traveled to Michigan to go to the cottage my grandparents own. It is on Big Star Lake near Baldwin, MI. When I was growing up, my family went there almost every summer, so it was great to bring Michael and Graham there!

We left last Thursday morning. Graham had woken up with a runny nose and seemed very stuffy. This made me even more stressed about how he would do on the plane (we had a 45 minute drive to the airport, flew to Milwaukee, then Grand Rapids, and then had a two hour drive to the cottage). As always, Graham was a champ! He slept on M's lap for over half of the first flight. We were sitting in the first row, so we had some extra leg room. After he woke up, we laid him on the floor between my mom and I so he could kick and stretch. He loved it! He was definitely more restless the second flight, but happily demolished a magazine while sitting in my lap. When we got to Grand Rapids, we headed to get the rental car. My dad had rented a car sear with the car. The car seat turned out to be sort of a nightmare. They only had two seats, an infant seat and a toddler booster. Although he has moved out of his infant seat, he hadn't hit the weight limit on the one they had, so while not ideal, it would work. We had a tough time getting it into the car. They did not have a base for the seat, so we were going to have to install it using the seatbelt. Michael and I have never done this, as all of our seats use the LATCH system. The rental car company did not have directions and did not have anyone to help us put the seat in. Luckily M was able to watch a video on his phone and install the seat. In the future, I will always travel with our own car seat.

We finally made it to the cottage! While we were there we drove the jet ski, swam, and Michael drove the speed boat. My mom, grandma, and I did a little shopping in town as well. On the 4th, we watched a great fireworks show. Many of the boats drive out and park on the lake to get a better view of the fireworks. My grandparents' cottage happens to be in the perfect spot, so we just have to sit on the deck. We had nice weather. The first day was cloudy, but very warm and humid, so we were still able to get in the water. Graham really enjoyed being in the water. He liked to float in his little inner tube and be carried around by Michael. He also enjoyed trying to eat the sand. My grandma had borrowed some toys from a friend of hers. We found out that Graham REALLY likes cars. There was a blue car that he took almost everywhere with him.

The trip home was easy. Graham slept for most of the flight again, which was direct this time, and just played in our laps when he woke up.

We had a wonderful first family vacation! We were able to relax, spend time together, and just have fun!

Michigan Trip from Jenny Pretekin on Vimeo.

Eight, well it's great, of course!

Graham is 8 months old! He has mastered his army crawl and has been starting to get up on all fours and do a full-on crawl. However, he usually gives it up pretty quickly as he is very fast and efficient with the army crawl. He continues to love to eat his solids. Recently we have been giving him Puffs after lunch and dinner. He doesn't quite get all of them into his mouth, but he sure does get excited when we shake them onto the highchair tray. We recently found that he LOVES to drink water, and we are continuing to practice with a sippy cup. He is constantly babbling, and I swear one time he looked straight at me and said, "Mama." Graham is a great sleeper. He easily sleeps through the night and takes good naps during the day - his need for a lot of sleep is definitely something he gets from his mom. We still do not have any teeth. Not even the hint of a tooth - no red or swollen gums, nothing. He enjoys playing with his toys. While he loves to play and interact with others, he is very much able to sit on the floor and entertain himself with his toys and crawling after the cats. He continues to be the happiest baby there is, giving out smiles to almost everyone. No stats for this month, as his next well-check will be at 9 months.

A Boy & His Toys

G and I are just hanging around on a Tuesday afternoon. He loves his toys, especially this bear rattle from Great Grandma Dozeman!





Look at those big blue eyes! Graham is definitely a mini-me of his dad, but he did get my blue eyes!

Piper is 7!

Happy birthday (tomorrow, on the 28th) to Piper, who has plenty of cat-titude!

Gated Community

The baby gates went up a few weeks back, but now that G is everywhere, we have actually had to close them.

The cats aren't too sure about these gates and are still figuring out how to get around them.

They do however keep them "safe" from an over-eager little man who has not learned how to pet gently quite yet.

Daddy's Day

This past Sunday Michael celebrated his first Father's Day!

Cracking Up

Untitled from Jenny Pretekin on Vimeo.

On the Move

Graham is crawling! As of today, he is all over the place.

Untitled from Jenny Pretekin on Vimeo.

My, What a Cute Face You Have

Happy baby!

Just a man and his llama...and about a billion other toys.

Close up!

Playing on the floor with all of my stuff.

Who, me? (Please excuse all of my drool...I may be working on some teeth.)

My manly summer haircut. It will have all grown back in just a few short weeks. My hair grows like a weed.

Now this is something worth crawling to!

Bang Bang!

Michael's newest toy is an air rifle. He loves the thing! He has gone out shooting in the "wilderness" once, has shot in the crawl space under our house several times, and has shot with my dad up in Evergreen several times. Everyone has gotten in on the fun! Abe knows all about the air rifle (she sold M his) because of her job, and she is a pretty good shot. I am a terrible shot, but I gave it a try and had fun!

The Big 9!

Our wonderful white cat, Prue, turned 9 years old yesterday! Happy Birthday Prue!

Seven (Months) in Heaven

Graham is 7 months old!

Balancing Act

Maybe Graham and Daddy should take their show on the road...

Water Baby

Graham had his first pool experience today! It was waaaay to windy to go to the big pool up in Evergreen, so we went in my parents hot tub. Before everyone freaks out about me putting a baby in a hot tub, you should know that their hot tub is broken and is not heated. So until they get it fixed, it's basically a tiny pool. Perfect for Graham and Mommy to spend the afternoon in together!


G in his awesome swim gear:


All smiles, he loved the water:


The dog days of summer are here:

Breakfast King

We spent our holiday morning going out for breakfast as a family. Although Graham had his breakfast before we left, he enjoyed himself at the restaurant. It was his first time sitting in a "big boy" (translation: no neck and head support) high chair! While we brought toys for him to play with, he was most taken with the a round, laminated menu insert. As always, our little man was wonderfully behaved and gave out lots of smiles to the staff and other patrons of the restaurant.

Look Ma, New Tricks!

Graham is doing pretty well sitting independently! He is also rolling like crazy and trying to figure out how to crawl. These pictures are from earlier tonight when he was sitting up very well, but rebelling against his bedtime. I say rebelling jokingly, because I know what many other parents go through with getting their child to sleep and sleep through the night. Graham has always been an excellent sleeper; he was sleeping 5 hour stretches through the night from birth and has pretty much gone up from there. He now sleeps 10+ hours a night and takes two solid naps (he has inherited my love of sleep!). So when I say he was rebelling, I mean going to bed at 8 instead of 7 is rebelling for him.

Video Time

In honor of Graham turning 6 months and Mother's Day, I decided to put together a little video. This is my first time using Movie Maker, in the past I have used Picasa - hopefully it looks okay!

Untitled from Jenny Pretekin on Vimeo.

6 Months Already?

Graham is 6 months old! I can't believe how quickly half a year has gone by. G had his 6 month checkup and his stats were as follows: 17 lbs 5.5 oz. He has moved from the 40th to the 50th percentile for weight. He was 27 inches long, moving him from the 50th to the 75th percentile! I knew our little guy was long as I recently moved him from his 3-6 month clothes to 6-9 month. It wasn't that the onesies were getting too tight on him, but it was the fact that I could barely button them at the bottom anymore! Graham got a great report from his peditrician and handled his shots like a champ. Happy 6 months!

Hare & Hairs

The Easter Bunny and a haircut, that is. Graham celebrated both of these things just a little over a week ago!

Before - a long, wild mop of hair that has short patches (from where he lost some of his baby hair):

During - not quite an independent sitter, so we had the help of a bin to make sure we cut it evenly:

After - look at my handsome little boy cut(and thanks to Mikel, our daycare lady, who used to be a hairdresser)!:

Happy Easter from the Pretekin Family!

G's 1st Passover!

Graham celebrated his first Passover last night. Yes it was early, but the couple that always puts together our big Passover celebration was getting ready to travel, so they had to have it early this year. Graham had a great time, although he had to be taken out during the service. His happy screams and laughter were just a little too loud!