Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Celebrating Christmas

Here are a few pictures of Miles celebrating his first Christmas season.
On December 5th everyone puts one shoe out in hopes that St. Nicolas will come and fill their shoe with treats and/or prizes. This year, St. Nicolas left Miles some pear yogurt. He was thrilled.

Miles posing in front of the Christmas tree. It took putting the camera on action shots and bribing Miles with an ornament to get this photo.


I think Miles wants a laptop for Christmas. We opened up our old laptop for him to play with.

Catching up on Thanksgiving

I never caught everyone up on my Turkey Trot run. It was a drizzly cold morning, but we went out anyway. I decided to listen to Bon Jovi for my run. I told myself I needed to run for 9 songs to finish. I paced myself well and things were going great until song number 7. I thought, "there is no way I can keep running for three more songs", so I stopped to walk, but then I heard cheering and figured I must be close to the finish line so I started to run again. I finished the race in just over 7 Bon Jovi songs. Even though I didn't run the entire race, I still consider it a victory because I signed up, trained, and ran most of it.

The rest of the Thanksgiving day was very nice. Steve's sister Jennifer came to visit and we had Thanksgiving Dinner with our friends. As it was Miles' first Thanksgiving, I gave him bits of dinner to try. He had turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, and stuffing and he loved all of it. Here are some pictures.

Another thing Miles and Scooter can bond over. Turkey
Miles had to wear his pig bib for the big day


Everything was beautiful and delicious.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Happy Halloween!

Since it is Miles' first halloween, we thought we would make a big deal out of it. Actually, his school goes trick-or-treating every year to the local businesses and since we are first time parents, we took billions of pictures. Here are a few of the good ones.



One of Miles favorite teachers Nikki




Miles and Adriana (bat girl) check each other out.


Trick or treating at the four seasons


We loved the Elmo costume

Class photo


And here are some pumpkins we carved with friends one night after Miles went to bed.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Pumpkin Patch

We took Miles to a local farm to pick out pumpkins. Here are some of our adventures.


We ran in to some friends of ours.






Dad and Miles checking out the animals




Even at something as innocuous as a pumpkin farm, you can still find some scary.
On another note, Miles started crawling last night.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Bubbles bring brothers together

Steve bought Miles some bubbles yesterday to play with and Scooter joined in on the fun. Watch the video of Miles and Scooter enjoying the bubbles together.


Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Inspired to Run

Last weekend Steve ran his first marathon in Victoria, British Columbia.

As I was waiting for Steve to reach the finish line, I was watching a bunch of people come in and I started to get a little emotional (only on the inside). These people had been running for hours and were still going. I was so inspired, I decided to sign up for my own race. I won't be running a marathon, I'm just going to run a 5k, but it's a start.
For those of you in the Seattle area who would like to join me, I'm running the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. For information, the website is: www.seattleturkeytrot.org

Thursday, September 24, 2009

We've almost got it

Miles is learning every day, but learning to crawl is proving to be very difficult. At least he has a good attitude about it.




Wednesday, August 5, 2009

He's almost 6 months old!!

My baby boy is turning six months soon so I thought I would pull a picture from each month of his life to show his progress. Since you can't view him in action (unless I were to figure out the video on our camera) I will say that recently, he has started rolling over, public speaking (he usually gives a sermon on the bus), he thinks about sitting up, and he just started rice cereal today.


Just born


Feb 2009


March 2009




April 2009


May 2009






June 2009

July 2009

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Combatting the Heat

This week in Seattle has brought nothing but hot weather. It has been in the 90's all week and it is supposed to hit 100 degrees today. This weather trend is predicted to last through next Monday. The nights are not cooling off at all either. So I want to know. What is everyone doing to beat the heat? Here are a few things Steve and I are doing.
  1. Go to work, it's air conditioned
  2. Drinking a lot of ice water and cold beverages
  3. Running fans (though it doesn't work very well since the air outside is hot too)
  4. Driving the air conditioned car to a park and ride with covered parking and an air conditioned bus
  5. Last night I sewed up some rice pouches and froze them. I thought if rice can hold heat, can they hold cold? It worked all right.
  6. In the past, Steve and I have purchased a block of ice and set it in front of a fan as a makeshift airconditioning unit.
  7. Sleep in Miles room. He has a window airconditioner

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

A bad day that turned out allright

This morning I was enjoying my sleep when I thought to look at the time. To my surprise, the time was 6:25 am. Twenty five minutes later than I usually get up for work. I bolt out of bed to get ready. Thankfully, I packed my lunch the night before, Scooter didn't get to snuggle this morning, no time for that. I had to iron a shirt though and Miles woke up before I was ready.

Miraculously, I made it out of the door with baby in his carrier, being fed, in 20 minutes. I was feeling pretty good about myself. I made it to the bus stop in time to catch the early bus. I guess I wasn't going to be late to work afterall. Then I discovered I didn't have my bus pass. I had to run back home, get my bus pass and run back to the bus stop. I missed my early bus, but another one was on its way and Miles was nearly done eating.

After getting downtown, dropping Miles off, and getting in to work late, I was immediately bombarded with several MUST DO NOW tasks and was finding it very difficult to keep everything straight, everyone happy, and get everything done. It was a pretty rough morning.

Amazingly, by lunch time, nearly everything was resolved. I walked over to visit Miles and he was playing with one of his teachers and very happy. I played with him for a few minutes and then took him back to daycare so I could go back to work. On my walk back I passed a vendor passing out free vitamin water. I got back to my desk and the rest of the "must do" tasks had resolved themselves and even a few that weren't "must do" were coming together. Today was looking not so bad afterall.

Finally, the best news I've heard all day, Steve is on his way back from Portland. I won't have to be a single mom anymore. I don't know how my bad day turned good could get any better.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Canlis, in Review

Steve and I went to Canlis, a fancy restaurant in Seattle, for dinner last night. We probably would have never gone except that we had a gift certificate. Upon arriving, I immediately felt out of place. There were two identical Lexus vehicles in front of us and we pull up in our Subaru. However, the types of cars people were driving was not going to ruin my evening of what I hoped was going to be some of the best food I had ever had.

When we sat down at our table, we had an amazing view of Lake Union and the Ship Canal Bridge. It was breathtaking. I wanted to go back on the 4th of July just to see the fireworks. Another time, perhaps.

We were given a menu of cocktails and a dictionary of wines. Since neither Steve or I drink, these menus meant nothing to us. I did order a non-alcoholic beverage that was very delicious. When they brought it out they made sure to tell us that even though it looks alcoholic, it isn't and parents always have a look of apprehension in their eyes when they see their 12-year old daughters drinking something like this. I always love being compared to a 12-year old girl.

After ordering water, we were given our dinner menus. I ordered the crab cake, arugula salad, and King Salmon. Steve got the crab cake, Canlis salad, and lamb chops. I cannot vouch for Steve's food as I did not try it, but I found that my favorite part of each dish was not the center piece of the dish. For the crabcake, my favorite was the cooked carrots shaped into little balls around the crabcake. I felt like Ivar's does a much better crabcake. As for Steve's crabcake, he found a hair in his and sent it back immediately. They brought him another one that was piping hot and he said it was much better than the first. My salad was delicious. Probably the best part of the entire meal. I thoroughly enjoyed the grilled melon and I loved that the goat cheese was melted on to the plate so that you sort of slid your salad through it to enjoy it. Then the salmon came. Again, it was delicious and I did eat the entire thing, but was it spectacular? I don't think so. I did, however, love the presentation which included pickeled lemon strings and fried garlic slices. Those parts were fantastically delicious.

When it came time for dessert, Steve and I chose to share the doughnuts. They came with molten chocolate for dipping and a peanut butter icecream. It was good, but agian, I've had better doughnuts and I have definitely had much better desserts. My all time favorite dessert would probably have to be a rosemary chocolate cake and black pepper icecream that we ate in New York City.

Other odds and ends that were weird was that it seemed like there were a lot of trophy wives dining that night, the servers were dressed in an asianesque outfit that was disconcerting considering the food was not asian, they iron the linens on the tables with an iron that has been painted black, the music was pop songs done in piano (Silent Lucidity as an example), and after we paid our bill we left which apparently was not the thing to do because the valets were scrambling to get our car out to us.

Good things about the evening, we really liked our server. We listened to other servers near us and they seemed very pompous but ours seemed very likeable and cared about our experience. Also, they brought out several amouse bouches that were deeply satisfying.

In summation, I'd have to say that I felt the restaurant was playing it to safe. I wanted to see and try something new that I have never seen paired together before and I did not get that opportunity.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Thirty, Flirty, and Fun








Yesterday I hit a big milestone and celebrated my 30th birthday. So far, I really enjoy being 30. I think I was ready to be an adult and put away childish things.

Steve threw me a small party complete with a pinata (I guess it symbolizes me getting rid of childish things by hitting a princess crown). Here are a few pics.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Shamless Bragging

I know everyone says they won't be "those people" who brag about their kids and all that fun stuff. But, we have become "those people". Here's a video of Miles being cute.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Craptacular Construction

Yesterday was yet another shining example of how awesome our townhome is built. Since we moved in, the face plate for the door knob has bent whenever someone's shirt, bag or anything else got caught on it. Up until recently, it wasn't a big deal. We just bent it back and went on our way. Starting this week, the door started getting stuck on the face plate and it was extremely difficult to open. This is background leading up to the events of yesterday.

I left work early to take Miles in for his 4 month check up and immunizations. I waited for an hour before getting in for his shots. We were both tired and ornery. Anyway, he got his shots, screamed horrifically, and then fell asleep. I took him home, carried him inside and then went to get the mail. As I went to open the door, however, it would not open. I started to get nervous because my baby was inside all alone and I couldn't get to him. Remembering various action movies of yesteryear, I flung my body into the door several times before I was finally able to get inside. Unfortunately, I ended up breaking the door frame and the door knob. Yipee, another home improvement project. At least the baby and Scooter slept through the entire incident.

Monday, June 22, 2009

What is he thinking??

I can't get over how cute this boy is, but I often wonder what does he think about his predicament? I'm pretty sure when he was born he was thinking, "What are you doing? I did not say I was ready to come out! That's it, I'm pulling out all my defenses. Not only will I cry but I will also peep and poop and I don't cre who I hit!" The first few weeks of his life I'm pretty sure he thought he wouldn't make it with the parents he was stuck with. During bath time, he thinks "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME!! IF I WANTED TO BE CLEAN I WOULD NOT SPIT UP SO MUCH! DO YOU NOT REALIZE HOW LONG IT TAKES ME TO GET THIS ROTTEN MILK SMELL EMBEDDED INTO MY SKIN!" And last of all, every time he gets dropped off at daycare he thinks, "Thank goodness, someone who KNOWS what they are doing."

Saturday, June 20, 2009

At the Zoo

The monkeys stand for honesty, giraffes are insecure, and the elephants are kindly but they're dumb. Orangutans are skeptical of changes in their cages and the zookeeper is very fond of rum. Zebras are reactionary, antelope are missionaries, pigeons flock to secrecy, and hamsters turn off frequently. Cats! You've got to come and see at the zoo (taken from a Simon and Garfunkel song)

Anyway, we took Miles to the zoo today and had a great time. Here are a few of the pictures.

























Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Back at Work

I suppose I should let all my faithful readers know that I am now back at work and am having a wonderful time. I had no idea motherhood would be this hard and now I find that going to work is a joy in my life. It's not that I don't love Miles, because he means the world to me and I do love to see his smile and now hear his laugh. He is growing so fast and I look forward to the day he discovers a slide or learns how to tie his own shoe. Nevertheless, I digress. One really hard part about being a stay-at-home mom is the lack of social interaction. Suddenly I was faced with a little person who couldn't communicate with me nor I with him. All I knew was that he wanted something and sometimes I, apparently, didn't have what he wanted. Now I come to work, I speak to people, I solve problems, and I pick up a boy at the end of the day who has been surrounded by toys and other babies all day long and is generally happy and tired.

I just want to say good job to all those people out there who dedicate their lives to raising and teaching children.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Star Trek is awesome

Steve and I just went to see the latest Star Trek movie and all I have to say is AMAZING. I was never a big fan of the original Star Trek series because I have never liked Captain Kirk and his need to conquer women, but I have to say, the young Kirk is a much more loveable character and Spock was great. I also enjoyed Sulu, Scotty, and McCoy. I can't figure out who the young russian guy is on the series. If any of you know, let me know.

One thing I do have to say is why did I ever stop watching Star Trek The Next Generation.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The pooping chair


So I've noticed every time I put Miles in this chair, he is able to facilitate. I talked to a friend who's kids also did the same thing in their bouncy chair. I don't know if it is the mesmerizing elephants or the way the chair holds Miles, but I wonder if there is one in adult size.

Monday, April 20, 2009

I'm so handy

Late last night our garbage disposal burned out. I woke up this morning feeling awful because there was a counter full of dishes and red velvet cake sitting in the sink that was not draining. Thankfully, my visiting teachers were scheduled to come this morning. They watched Miles while I went to the store, purchased a new garbage disposal, and installed it. I had to work with plumbing and electrical and deal with pink water and chunks of red velvet cake. However, the garbage disposal is now installed and it works with no leaks. I am eternally grateful to my visiting teachers, who without them, I could not have accomplished this task today. I don't want to see red velvet cake, though, for a long time.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Shots are the pits

Miles just got his first set of vaccines. I got the lucky job of holding him while they poked him with three needles. After the first one, he started to cry hard. Then the second one came and his whole head turned bright red. That's when the person administering the shots said "This last one is the worst." It was probably the most pain Miles has ever experienced. At least he is sleeping now.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Miles Smiles




Here is Miles' first photo smiling. I still can't get him to smile when he sees me, but he is always pretty happy after eating.
The other picture is of Scooter getting tired of always having to wait his turn.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Spring is springing





Ahh...Springtime in Seattle.

Spring has always been my favorite season of the year. There's so much hope in the air, things are coming back to life, the days are getting longer, and supposedly the air gets warmer. Plus, my birthday is in April...which may have a lot to do with it.

Our tulips are popping up and the poppies are blooming - all good signs that this long, cold, dark, and wet winter is finally coming to an end. I can't wait for the tulips to bloom and the mornings to be warm enough that I can comfortably wait for the bus on Lake City Way without freezing to death. Mostly, I hope that all the anxiety and worry about our economy starts to thaw away with the warmer days. Maybe some nice warm, sunny weather will help put things back into perspective for everyone.