Smiles for Mom & Dad

We've crossed a new bridge...this week Blake started to smile at us. It's pretty fun...the first couple times we didn't think he knew what he was doing, but it has been getting more and more consistent now where he seems to realize that he can smile. We've been trying to get pictures of him smiling and it has been a challenge, but we're starting to get a few. See if he isn't one of the cutest kids around :-)

We spent the weekend up in Vail with a client at the Lodge at Vail. It's not snow season there yet (in fact they don't have hardly any), but it was beautiful nonetheless. The Lodge was AWESOME! Our stay was paid for and we got a sweet suite :-) It had a nice view of the slopes and was huge...It was great.



Check out these pics of the lodge...
http://lodgeatvail.rockresorts.com/gallery.asp

We are getting ready for Halloween this week and had a few friends over to carve some pumpkins with us while we watched some football and ate some Little Caesers (it's been years since we had crazy bread and decided it was time...it was just as good as i remember it). The pumpkins turned out great. Some of us are more artistically inclined than others, as you can see from the picture, but we had a great time.



Happy Halloween!

http://picasaweb.google.com/jasen.bankson/Blake8Weeks

Fall Arrives

The last couple weeks we've been getting things ready for the cooler weather. It's actually been really beautiful (70s and 80s) and we've been enjoying the fall weather. I raked leaves in the backyard the other day for the first time i think since i was like 6 years old :-) In the desert we never had to rake leaves and i don't know why, but we haven't raked them here for the last 4 years. I think we just let them fall and desingrate :-) Well, this year i felt inspired to rake some leaves. It was alright...i decided i like the smell of fall...not sure exactly what it is...maybe just reminds me of fall as a kid.

We got the boat shut down and put away for the season. it was a great season this year. We had a lot of fun (well Abby doesn't feel quite the same b/c she didn't do any of the sports this year...but really enjoyed the sun). We sure had a fun with everyone that made it out with us this year. It's nice to be able to hang out with friends and enjoy time out on the lake. Here's a nice shot that some friends got of me taking a jump...sweet!



Blake is doing good and went on another hike with us yesterday. This was our first attempt at a longer hike with him and together in a while. It went really good. Everybody though Blake was really cute and Kona was jealous...well, not really, but if she could speak she would have been complaining about the lack of attention :-) We tried turning him around so that he was facing out for a change and he really liked it. He looked around a lot and really checked things out.


New pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/jasen.bankson/Blake7Weeks

Bankson Clan visits

Well, we had the whole crew out this time. We have really been looking forward to having everyone out to visit. We haven't had everyone out all together for quite a while and were excited to see and spend time with everybody. It was a really great time. We spent some time relaxing, watching football and playing with Kona. We spent some time out hiking, enjoying nice fall weather, and went walking around downtown Denver for a little while.

Grammy and Grampy were pretty excited to get to see Blake again and kept saying how he had grown and already was getting bigger. Crazy. Blake got to meet his auntie M, auntie Ray and uncle kasey for the first time. Everyone got a chance to hang out with Blake and he misses everyone already and it's only been a day :-) Guess they'll just have to come back again soon.

Blake got his halloween suit this weekend (thanks auntie M!)...look at this cute little monster. I think he is going to get a lot of candy...at least i hope he does ;-)

All-in-all it was a really great time and we enjoyed the time spent with family and relaxing. We're looking forward to the next visit.

New Pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/jasen.bankson/BanksonsVisit

Boating Season is ending...

Well, it has been a great season at the lake and Blake has been able to make it out with us for 3 or 4 times this month. Pretty good for less than a month old ;-) Got to make sure he is comfortable on a boat at a young age. During the last week of the lake season we were able to make it out 3 late afternoon trips and enjoy some beautiful late summer weather and outstanding sunsets. Blake seemed to enjoy it...by sleeping.

So far things have been going good with us and Blake and adjusting to life with a little less sleep. He has been sleeping pretty well, but still gets up about every 4 hours to feed. He is putting on some weight and getting bigger fast. Friends who hadn't seen him in about 2 weeks said they could see the difference as he is growing. We don't really notice too much being around him all the time.

We had a two week break between family being here where we were on our own for the first time. It really went pretty good. With Abby being off work for a while and able to sleep in some, after some sleepless nights, and to be able to take care of Blake and some things around the house. It's been going really good.

The rest of the Bankson family is coming to town the first weekend in Oct. Should be fun, we're really looking forward to them being in town.

More pictures coming next post...

First trip to the lake

Well, Blake isn't quite ready to wakeboard just yet, but the life jacket fits pretty well. We made our first trip to the lake with him the other day and he did quite well. The weather was good and it wasn't too hot, so it was a good time for him to make his first trip. We did a little wakeboarding (probably the last of the season) and then just enjoyed being on the water for the last couple times this year.

Blake: http://picasaweb.google.com/jasen.bankson/BlakeMichael

While we were hanging out i decided to break out the fishing pole and just throw it in the water some to see if anything was hungry. Seems like when you go out to fish you don't catch much or anything and when you throw it out there to see if there are any fish at all you hook up the big one...well, this was the time i didn't expect to catch anything and hooked up a monster....well for me it was a monster...not bad...probably the biggest fish i've caught since fishing in Alaska 5 years ago. We couldn't weigh it but i bet it weighed about 10 lbs. Pretty fun fish. It was a Wiper (http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/news/Fishing/Fish-ID-Gallery/WIPER) and put up a good fight...under the boat a couple times before it finally tired out and I was able to pull it in. Supposedly they are pretty common in the lake and we should catch them reasonably often. Gonna have to try to do that. (Time to get a net :-) )

Grammy and Grampy visit

We had our first couple nights completely on our own in between visitors this last week and got to experience life with Blake on our own. It was fun and really went just fine. He's a pretty good kid. He sleeps about 5 hours at a time at night, so really we've been doing pretty well rest-wise.

On Friday Blake had his 2 week check up and everything went great. He weighed in at 6lb 14oz, so he gained back all the weight he lost right after he was born (5oz) and then put on another 8oz. So, all is well and he is good and healthy. The doc had nothing but good things to say about him. We feel blessed to have such a good kid and that is so healthy thus far.

Also on Friday, mom and dad Bankson came to town VERY excited to meet their new grandson (and first grandchild). We've been doing video conference and trying to take as many pictures as we can to hold them over until they got here and they are very excited and proud. We've had a nice time with them so far and ventured out a little on a walk today to enjoy the nice weather and we saw a few trees changing colors. We're glad to be able to spend some time with them and they are enjoying the time with their new grandson.

Next time you see my dad (Mike) ask him how the Utah Utes are doing :-) You can ask him to explain after you ask him.

We enjoy having visitors and everyone seems to enjoy meeting Blake. The only thing that we're finding is, meeting a newborn is dangerous...almost in every case people that have kids can't remember them ever being that small and then start wanting another one.

Here's a picture of the nursery. It was a bit of work, but thanks to the help of a couple friends we were able to take down the old wallpaper, paint and put up some chair rail and it came together pretty nicely (if i do say so myself)...


In the pictures below there are a couple other pictures of the nursery. Grammy B made a beautiful turtle blanket that is hanging on the other wall alongside the crib. It turned out great and goes really nicely with the colors and decor of the room.



Pics
http://picasaweb.google.com/jasen.bankson/BlakeMichael

This is the life...

Well, one day this week I kept an eye on Blake for a few hours while i was working and Abby and her family went to spend some time mini-golfing. He was pretty easy going and pretty much slept the entire time (good b/c i was trying to get a few things done for work)...at one point i looked over to make sure he was doing alright and he had got himself into this comfortable situation...hat down over his eyes, arms down his sleeves. Pretty funny. I had to take a picture 'cause i just thought it looked like the good life. Make yourself comfortable, wrapped up in a blanket, not too shabby. There's another pic like this in the album if you take a look.



This week was nice. We had Abby's family here part of the week and had a really nice time with them. We got out and did some fishing (and Brandi pretty much crushed us...caught like 6 fish while i only caught 1)...that was a nice relaxing afternoon. We ventured out to breakfast one morning and attempted taking Blake out. All went well and he enjoyed the change in scenery. Otherwise we got some good relaxing it and have a good time hanging out with all of them.

Check out this picture of this proud grandma (nanna) and grandpa (papa)...



More Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jasen.bankson/BlakeMichael