lincoln city '12

 s & mommy.

 z sees something interesting. at the time of walking through the tunnels, there were two men in the water tanks who were cleaning the glass. it was most interesting to z, and he kept waving at them (and they waved back).

 s loves the aquarium!

 peekaboo!

that was fun!

lincoln city '12

we went to lincoln city at the beginning of may for three nights. we rented a house right on the beach, which worked well. s was mid-teething, however, and woke up frequently. aside from that, both kids did pretty well. the house had a hot tub outside, and z really enjoyed "swimming" in it! the weather was cold and rainy, but we still had a good visit.

urban farming

z has been really excited about planting things this spring. he got some seeds as part of kids' meals from burgerville, so we had to plant those. we also found random packets of seeds around the house (one was from j & m's wedding!), so i bought some more large planters so all seeds could be planted & nurtured with love. what have we planted? nasturtiums, tomato (cherry & sungold), carrots, sugar snap peas (doing very well!), and some other random flowers.
z often is reluctant to get outside & play after naps, because it takes him a long time to wake up. the plants are a good motivator for him. he'll say he doesn't want to go outside, but once he's there, he doesn't want to come in!

pizza night

empty bottles after friday pizza & movie night with the neighbors, way back in april.

sketchy...

this is grandma's idea of okay, but not mommy's. grandma had taken z & s to the park, but when it was time to leave, s started screaming because she was so hungry. grandma just left the bottle propped up with blankets while she drove home, and s fell asleep mid slurp. safety wise, this is a huge no no, but it worked.

may/june update

i have lots of pictures & videos to post, but haven't had the time. i got as far as making a list of the pics to include, but that was awhile ago & who knows where the list is now. sloane has been waking up every 2-3 hours since we got back from minneapolis. she got another tooth on may 27th while we were away, bringing the total up to 5 now, but she appears to be working on more. i'm so exhausted. i was losing my mind, so my mom took the kids yesterday so that i could sleep as long as possible in the morning. s actually slept from 7:30-3:45am two nights ago, but of course i didn't sleep because i was expecting her to wake up. j had to get up at 3:30 that night to fly to arizona for the day (to catch a 5:30am flight), and i didn't want to wake him up by getting in & out of bed repeatedly, so i tried just sleeping in her room - assuming she'd wake up any minute- but of course she didn't. night of bad sleep, and a plugged milk duct which is still killing me today. since j was gone last night until returning after his 11pm flight, i had a friend & her two kids over for dinner. it was fun to catch up, but tiring. this morning s started pooping & i was too tired to hold her up while she finished pooping, so i just changed her. serves me right for not making the effort. this happened 3 times until she was finally finished. a 3 diaper poop. it wasn't a lot of poop... she just had it coming & coming. i am so tired, and there is no end in sight. j has had a much heavier work load, working later hours, traveling more, and it's difficult.
time for soccer. s is still napping (of course she naps a long time when we have to get someplace), and we're already running late. ugh.

rolling!

s can now do tricks! she is able to turn from her belly to her back. it's so cute, and she gets so excited about it. this week she & i & grandma fly to minneapolis for a teaching convention. i couldn't leave her behind because i'm still breast feeding, so grandma will be watching her while i attend sessions. i hope to run into old friends - should be a busy weekend! j is taking off work to hang out with z. they're planning on camping at smith rock with friends.

eek! teeth!

on wed may 9, s got her first tooth. she had been waking up pretty much hourly the few days before. her next three teeth continued to make appearances over the next four days, and her nightly waking schedule did not change. i used ibuprofen & tylenol, and orajel. i also tried clove oil mixed with olive oil, as my barista had recommended trying, but that didn't help much. she was really fussy & miserable. now that they've all cut through the gums, she's back to sleeping longer chunks. however, along with the teething, she had a bad cold, so i had her sleeping in her car seat for a few nights, which helped her sleep better. now i have her sleeping on a pillow - still elevated somewhat, but at least this way she's able to stretch her legs out.
j was gone last sunday to friday for a business trip to japan. he cooked me pancakes for mother's day & we had mimosas, and then he left. my parents stopped by on their way home from church and picked up the kids, so i could have the afternoon free. i saw dark shadows with a friend, and then met them at their house - they cooked dinner for me. the week was rough. it's difficult doing two bath times, doing all the dishes, cooking, on top of teaching & waking up a million times at night.
on tuesday night, a friend came over for dinner. z had been crying after peeing that afternoon, and i decided at the last minute that i needed to take him to urgent care. i put s to bed, then left my friend at the house to keep watch while i took z to the doctor's. he had a urinary tract infection. i called to have my mom come over to let my friend go home (he doesn't have kids... doesn't really do baby stuff), but then had to send her back out to get z's antibiotics from one of the few pharmacies open late. on top of the u.t.i., z had a yucky cough developing. i had to wake him up to give him the first dose of the antibiotic - by then it was 10:30pm. i had put s down around 7:15, so i knew she'd be waking up soon. z coughed from 11-12 (while still being asleep somehow). the coughing drives me crazy - it's impossible for me to sleep through! i couldn't decide whether to lie in bed, listening, or to read a book or watch a movie. i tried putting vick's baby rub on his hands & feet. either that helped, or he stopped coughing on his own... either way, i managed to finally fall asleep, only to have s wake 20 min later. what a crappy night!!!
the week is finished, & j is back home safe. i get to go through all of that again (although perhaps i'll get lucky with no teething or sick kids....riiiight) in late july, when j has to go to the east coast for work. i would not have survived without help from the grandparents. thank goodness they all live in town!

teething. :(

last night, s woke up every two hours. she couldn't sleep because her nose was so stuffed. i know exactly how she felt - i've been suffering from the same exact thing for about a week now. i began the day exhausted, but thankfully j let me sleep in a little in the morning. once i got up, i spent the rest of the morning baking cookies for my students' recital.
z had swimming at 11:30, and they gave him a sort of progress report. he's doing well, but is still very hesitant to do anything (he always has a death grip on the instructor), so he is advised to do the same class again.
s & i ran a bunch of errands after baking all the cookies... had to pick up the recital programs from kinkos, buy a bunch of baby stuff at target, & pick something up at rei.
we all drove to the recital together - the first true family recital! z did an excellent job of watching the recital (or so i was told - i was busy running it). s did well until the last 15 min, when it was time for her to sleep again. anyway, we all survived, and got burgerville on the way home. we actually wanted to go to hopworks, but it was way too busy. we came home & watched a little of the princess bride after dinner before starting the bedtime routine. i am soooo tired. i hope tonight brings more sleep for both s & i.

i'm half a year old!

little s is 6 months old today! half a year old! i can't believe it! the time has passed rather quickly. it's sad not to have a little tiny infant anymore, although it's also a relief not to have feedings that include sooo much spitting up that last for two hours. she is such a joy to have, such a happy little girl. it's rare that she doesn't have a smile for her mama.
no teeth yet. i just bought some stage 2 food, so we tried peach oatmeal banana today. she's able to sit up, but still falls over often, so i surround her with pillows. she's very talkative - it's fun to have little conversations with her.
we all have colds at the moment, the most miserable kind of cold. awful sinus headache, sneezing, running through tissues like crazy!

first parent teacher conference

i met with z's preschool teacher on monday. it was my first parent teacher conference ever!
he's doing fine. i received a paper with lots of different things, such as counts 1-5, & gradings for each, such as meets expectations. she says she likes that he shares well. evidently the girls really like him - he plays with them often. he frequently takes more time to finish projects because he watches what others are doing instead of doing his own work. he can work on his writing a bit more before next year.
he hasn't been very interested in writing letters at all, or working in books, until very recently.

today we didn't have anything scheduled, so we spent the morning at the childrens museum, and ate lunch at burgerville as a sort of reward for him being a good student. z received sugar snap pea seeds in his kids' meal, and he carried them around the rest of the day because he was so excited about planting them.

ugh. blogger changed again? another time suck to figure out how to navigate it. ugh!

an experience you don't imagine having before becoming a parent - scarfing down a peanut butter & jelly sandwich while holding your baby in a standing position because she's pooping, and you want it to be as easy to clean up as possible, but the poopy smell wafting up is ALMOST (but not quite) enough to make you stop eating. this happened last monday, and i was late picking up z from school because of it. once a baby starts pooping, you can't just tell her to stop, and you also can't just leave it there. she must be changed! s seems to pick the most inopportune times to go.

sleep training

i just had my first sleep training episode with s. i'm not trying it at night, because that would keep z up, and she often will only wake once at night (such as last night). i'm trying to put her down for naps without soothing, with hopes of it carrying over to the night. this is so rough! she's such a sweet little thing, and letting her cry is just awful. she IS sleeping now....

jump!

s's first time in a "johnny jump up."
and someone does NOT want to go down for his nap!
sigh. parenting.

poffee.

one morning, z was really fascinated by how i made my coffee. his little chick is looking on - it was a present he picked out after getting his hair cut - they were giving away plastic eggs for easter.

fun girly outfit, as the weather has been nice.

siblings.

s & z. z is s's favorite person. she loves watching him! he is so good at making her laugh.

beautiful baby.

our pretty little girl.


s & neighbor g. g absolutely LOVES s! anytime he sees her, at preschool or at home, he pets her, talks to her, hugs her. it's really cute.

easter 2012

here's everyone (except abuela) at serratto's for easter brunch. abuelo sang at 2 morning services, grandpa sang also at 2 morning services. we attended church, too, although j & i spent the whole service in the church basement because s had to nurse. z had fun in sunday school and made some bunny ears. the previous night, s had me up every hour from 12-5am. i was exhausted, but i survived. brunch was great! afterward, z went home for a nap, and j & i finished preparing dessert for dinner at c & r's place. z got to play outside for awhile before heading for dinner. it was such a balmy, beautiful day - we really got lucky!!!


daddy & s. her easter dress is so pretty!


mommy!


s is getting hungry. why won't mommy feed me? i'll have to just eat this card...


z is REALLY excited about his pasta!


our sweet little z. i still can't believe his hat matches the shorts. we bought the hat in the winter. i guess janey & jack reuse the material so things match for longer than one season. great idea.

birthday party

the day before easter, z skipped his swimming class and attended neighbor g's birthday party at indoor goals (where he has soccer class). they all had a great time!

sunglasses

first time in sunglasses.

ugh.

can't believe how many typos & grammatical errors were in that letter. how embarrassing. just shows how tired we were....

so exhausted. barely survived yesterday without hurting anybody. barely.

Paul Davis Restoration of Vancouver, WA

Paul Davis Restoration

4510 NE 68th Drive, #114
Vancouver, WA 98661

To Whom It May Concern:

We felt it was imperative to inform the Paul Davis Restoration, Inc. corporate staff of how dissatisfied we have been with our recent experience working with the Paul Davis Restoration in Vancouver, WA. My wife and I live in Portland, OR, and recently contacted a handful of mold remediation companies to help us with a minor project in the home that we recently purchased.

The scope of our problem was focused on an unfinished utility room where our water heater and furnace are located. The old water heater was leaning slightly and had been slowly leaking, and the tray for it was rusting away. This had been going on for quite some time before we moved in, and it had caused significant moisture damage to the particleboard floor covering in the space. The particleboard was moldy, and we were looking for someone who could remove the moldy flooring in a safe manner, and address any additional mold issues with the underlying plywood. We also wanted to put down new flooring (linoleum this time), and we were going to need to replace the water heater as well.

After comparing bids, we specifically chose to work with Paul Davis Restoration because we were assured that all our planned work could be included – whereas other mold remediation companies would have focused on the mold removal and floor repair, leaving us to handle the flooring and water heater separately. It seemed like a good idea to work with a single company to organize the various steps that would need to occur, but it soon became clear to us that we would have been better off avoiding Paul Davis Restoration.

The first warning signs occurred when both the person who did the original bid, Matt, as well as our project manager, Randy, were largely non-responsive to phone calls and emails. It required multiple reminders before we finally were contacted to go over the details of our work and get things scheduled.

The source of our biggest complaint appears to be a nearly complete lack of communication between Matt, who provided the quote, and Randy, who scheduled and organized the work. When Matt had said that we could choose which water heater to install, we had told him of the specific Kenmore Elite gas heater that we wanted. After the fact, it became clear that this detail did not make it into the bid, nor was it communicated to anyone else.

After scoping out the work, Randy also said that he would be by again the week before we began to sign some papers and collect a monetary deposit, but he never did show up again.

When he had visited the house to understand the project, I discussed with Randy the need to remove both the current water heater, as well as a second large water reservoir that was no longer in use. These both needed to be removed to allow all the moldy particleboard to be fully removed and replaced with linoleum. When the Paul Davis employees showed up the morning that they were scheduled to start the job, they were completely unaware that there was a second water tank to be removed. Fortunately, despite the further lacking communication among Paul Davis personnel, we were able to resolve this issue, and get back on track.

At this point, after they removed both tanks, and the moldy particleboard, it was found that the underlying plywood was too wet to install linoleum on that day. We understand this was out of anyone’s control, and we fully expected to go that night without hot water – the new water heater was going to be installed the following morning, according the the initial plan - so we were not bothered when we were told that the plywood would have to dry out overnight before the linoleum could be installed.

This delay, in itself, was not a problem, but it seems that the response to the delay, to try to get everything still completed on the second day, just caused further problems. The next morning, Paul Davis personnel returned to collect the dehumidifiers, and then left us without any understanding of what was to come next. With no hot water, and no further contact from Paul Davis, we waited in the house until people showed up in the afternoon to install the linoleum, and put in the new water heater.

The water heater that ended up being installed was not the Energy Star rated Kenmore Elite we had been expecting. It was a “low-end” Bradford White model, which retailed online for about half of what we were being charged for it on the bid.

In addition, we later discovered that the water heater and pan had actually been installed first, directly on the plywood flooring, and that the linoleum had been cut to go around the pan.

The entire purpose for having this work done was to eliminate a mold problem, and prevent one from occurring again in the future. Because of the apparent cutting of corners in the rush to get the job done, we are left with the water heater pan still sitting directly on wood, with the possibility of water getting underneath the linoleum now if there is ever a leak.

When we discovered on Tuesday that the wrong water heater had been installed, we attempted to contact both Matt and Randy, and we did not receive any response at all, until late the following evening. Finally on Thursday evening, Randy had confirmed which water heater we had, and confirmed that he had not been told about the request for the Kenmore Elite. He stated that he couldn’t easily just return the heater since it had been hooked up, but that he would send all the specs/information about the Bradford White heater for us to compare it against the Kenmore Elite. After never receiving that information from Randy, we looked it up ourselves, and found the specs and pricing online. Despite what the plumber apparently wanted to convince us of, they were most definitely not equivalent models.

By Friday morning we reached an agreement with Randy for him to reduce the price of the invoice to only include the actual retail price of the heater, and he was also going to have an AC/HVAC company fix some duct work which was found to be damaged when the new water heater was installed.

At this point, things just went further downhill. The AC people were supposed to arrive by late morning or noon. When we finally got a call that they would be late, my wife voiced her frustrations of being stuck at home when she could’ve been running errands while our toddler was with his grandparents. Randy chastised my wife on the phone and stated some things were just out of his control. When the AC company guys did show up, they promptly tracked mud through our house to get to the utility room (waking up our toddler from his nap in the process). They turned around and came back out only to say that they hadn’t been given a correct description of the problem and that they didn’t have the equipment/parts that they needed to fix it. So, after waiting ALL DAY for them to show up, they left and now have to come back on Monday.

To be clear, we understand that in the line of home restoration work, there are going to be a lot of unknowns and things that are genuinely out of the control of the contractor. But, organization and communication are fully IN the control of the contractor, and should be an utmost high priority, as they are at the very basic foundation of doing business.

So, after a litany of missteps, miscommunications, and general rudeness from Paul Davis Restoration and their affiliates, we are left with the feeling that we want to just cut all ties and wash our hands of this whole fiasco. Ideally, we would want to make things right, and have the linoleum re-done correctly, and have the correct water heater installed. But after our experience dealing with Paul Davis over the past week, we are so infuriated with the lack of professionalism and accountability, that we do not want to see anyone from Paul Davis in our home again, even to attempt to fix what was done incorrectly.

We do hope that Paul Davis Restoration will take this feedback and make the appropriate corrections to avoid a similar lack of service in the future. In the meantime, we will be sure to share our Paul Davis experience every chance we get, with anyone who is considering mold remediation, or other insurance restoration work.

Respectfully,

us

tantrum

this is the sort of tantrum, or crying spells, that have been common place for the past two years. z gets upset over the tiniest things.

shamrock baby

another tender moment between z & little s.

weekend.

yesterday was a beautiful day outside. j let me sleep in until i woke up at 8 (after being up with s a couple times). we spent the day getting stuff done around the house while the neighborhood kids played outside. j decided it's time for us to get a rack for our car (to carry luggage & bikes), so after researching what to get, he cleaned out the shelves in the garage to make room for one. i went grocery shopping with s, and j took z to the climbing gym. i made lemon bars (from scratch!) while both kids slept. i used our fancy shiny new cooktop to braise ling cod - it's so wonderful having a burner that can actually simmer! cooking rice & quinoa is going to be a completely different experience. we might even have to try risotto sometime!
last night, s woke up at 11:30pm, 1:30am, 2:30am, and 3:30am, before getting up for the day at 7:30am. NO FUN! she better not do it again tonight! j let me sleep in again, thank goodness. after i woke up, we went for another family run before brunching at meriwether's. z fell asleep on the way home, so we put him down for an early nap. j & s both took naps, too, and i got some editing done on my scale book. when everyone woke up, j went to buy booster seats to replace z's car seat, while z & i & s went to the neighbors' house to play. it was sunny until the early afternoon. some other neighbors from 116th came over for a play date, and both sets of neighbors on either side of our house came over for wine & snacks & to play. z was a little mean to little p... :( but i made him apologize.

family run

z had a really bad night last night, as did j, who got up with him twice. one time z said "he had bad dreams about his trash can." poor thing. s got up twice, too, but j was nice and let me sleep in before my morning students. life is so much easier when you've had enough sleep (although "enough" is used loosely).
z, s, & j went to playdate pdx & met up with our neighbors l & g while i taught this afternoon. z had a really fun time, and s behaved. when they got home, we all went for a family run, thanks to our neighbors - we borrowed their bob stroller. z kept telling daddy to run faster up the hills. z got out for a short bit to run, himself. when we got back from running, all the neighbors were out playing, so we stayed out chatting, with the kids playing, until almost 8pm! i immediately did s's bath & bedtime, so i'm just now enjoying a beer & dinner. nice buzz going on... the weather was absolutely beautiful today, and it was nice to get outside. i anticipate being really sore tomorrow...

as it happened, z took a good nap this afternoon despite his coughing, and s actually took a real nap lasting two hours!
here is a video from dinner time. we asked z to entertain s and make her laugh, so z did his best to
laugh himself. he got tired after a few seconds - so cute - and then you can hear little s laughing. she loves her big brother!!!

what a day...

as it turned out, s did a good job sleeping last night. the elder, however, did NOT. he began croupy coughing early in the night, which kept waking j & i up. j finally went in and gave him medicine at 5:30am. s got up the 2nd time at 7am, which wasn't so bad.
abuelo & abuela came to visit, so i got a nap. while they were here, a raccoon made an appearance on our house, climbing the gutters by our path down around the house. i'm guessing it's a mama raccoon, who was trying to find a way into our warm house to give birth to her babies. it's time to set the trap again...

what a day...

s woke up extra early today, and refused to go back to sleep. then z woke up, and i knew i was up for good. today was gymnastics day for z at 9:30. i have to help him in the class, so i wear s in the mei tai. last week my mom watched s for me while i went with z, because the previous week z fell while i was holding s & she got scratched, and the whole thing shook me up. of course with my luck, last week there was little i needed to do to help z, as the balance beam activities were entirely avoided, so it would've been easy to have s with me. today, the main concentrations were on the long running trampoline & the beams. after going down the trampoline (jumping backwards, jumping in/out, bear crawl, etc), the kids were supposed to jump in the foam pit at the end. we were to count to 10, then have the kids crawl out, before going back for another turn on the trampoline. getting out of the foam pit is one of the hardest things for z, and i had to pull him out with both hands, with s on me, crouching down, about 5 times. the rest of the class was beam stuff. this time, i held onto z instead of making him brave it alone. it ensured that he didn't fall at all, but didn't really help him improve his balance beam skills.
after the class i spoke to the teacher, asking if he could please please please move up to the next level so i didn't have to wear s anymore while helping him out. the teacher said she had been meaning to move him up, and that i just need to wait one more week. thank goodness! not sure we'll be able to do a class that is convenient, but we'll see. i also asked about the spring break camp, as i wasn't sure z is old enough for it, but it turns out he is, so i hope to sign him up for a half day for next friday (although with my luck, he'll get sick and have to stay home).
after gymnastics we had to drive to the violin shop in se portland to pick up bows that had been rehaired. an adult student of mine dropped mine & hers off on saturday, and i was to pick them up for both of us, before her friday lesson. the drive over there is 20-30 min, depending on traffic. thank goodness i packed a pb&j sandwich for z, because he was starving & didn't want his normal string cheese after class. when i got to the shop, they told me THEY WEREN'T FINISHED, and it would take at least an hour to complete both. the one guy said he could do one of the bows in about 30 min, so i asked him to do my student's bow, as i don't absolutely need that bow (i have several) in particular. so off i went from the shop, lugging my violin, s in the car seat, and z back to the car. i drove aimlessly for awhile, not quite sure how to spend 30 min pre-nap with two young kids. if the weather had been balmy, it would've been easy to stop to play at a park. however, it was half raining, half snowing, so that simply wasn't an option. i ended up in sellwood near a starbucks, so i found street parking quickly & got everyone out, diaper bag and violin included. this was lucky, as z started hopping around saying he had to pee. we high-tailed it into the starbucks, myself praying that the bathroom would be unoccupied. z & i both used the potty, and s got a diaper change. i purchased milk & a cake-pop for z, and a chocolate chip cookie & iced coffee for myself, and we camped out in the back corner of the store. s started fussing, so i had to whip out the breast feeding cover & get to work. halfway through feeding her, z dropped more than half his cake pop on the floor. i wasn't sure at first that anything had fallen, but i heard a thunk, and after about 30 seconds, decided i better look under the table. sure enough it was there, so i had my awful mommy moment and just broke off a tiny piece of what i hoped was all that hit the floor, and gave the rest back to him to eat. after more than 30 min, i schlepped everyone back to the car: myself, my violin case, the diaper bag, s in her car seat on my arm, my iced coffee, and z in hand. i was so sore from all the schlepping and wearing s on me for a whole hour, but one doesn't have much choice. i thought i was stuck in my parking spot, as there wasn't much room in the first place, and someone had parked even closer behind me, but luckily the people in front of me were coming out of the coffee shop right after us & left before i had even gotten into the drivers seat. i was very lucky to remember my way back to the violin shop, and schlepped everyone back out again (minus the diaper bag & coffee, thank goodness).
it was my LUCKY day, or the luthiers just felt THAT badly for me - two of them had teamed up & got both bows rehaired, so i wouldn't have to make a second trip back out there. i was sooooo thankful. so thankful. so thankful. so thankful. i HATE driving out there, and even more so with two kids. the rest of the day went as smoothly as it can, with a rambunctious 3 yr old who both wanted & didn't want to nap, and a fussy teething 4 month old. i got to spend a couple of hours this evening with neighbor ladies, and it is snowing out, which is quite pretty. i returned just in time to finish putting s to bed. j had already fed her a 4 oz bottle of formula, but she was fussy & wanted to eat more, so i breast fed her. when she finally burped, she spit up at least a quart of liquid. i don't think i've seen her spit up that much. it wasn't spitting up- it was really throwing up. needless to say, i was drenched, she was drenched, and there was a puddle in the chair. i managed to change her without her really waking up, and then i started the millionth load of laundry this week. she just screamed & cried out loud a minute ago, but i managed to soothe her back to sleep without additional feeding. i have a feeling it's going to be a busy night... for now, off to bed.

z

our little kitty cat...

....daddy????

z is in bed, and i just heard him singing a song from the family library story time - "we sail & we sail & we stop!"
uncle c came over for dinner & helped j get all zombiefied for the climbing joust tonight. z got a little make up, too, while i was teaching. i didn't quite get it all off at bath time... hope nobody notices tomorrow.

baking

busy weekend(s)!
three weekends ago, we were invited to c & r's place for home made lasagna, meaning they made the pasta themselves, and they also made the ricotta! most amazing lasagna we've ever had. z & little s came along, too. it was fun after teaching all afternoon.
the following weekend, j worked at the climbing gym rating routes on friday night, so z, s, & i headed over to the neighbors' for pizza & a movie night. the next day j judged the climbing comp, and that evening we got a babysitter for s & z so we could enjoy the boedeckers' wine futures tasting & soup dinner. we try to go every year, except last year i stayed home because i was pregnant (although nobody knew it then). last sunday z had a birthday party to attend - fun at pump it up!
this past weekend was parents' night out again at pasitos, and z was healthy, so we (+ s) were able to enjoy a great dinner at higgins. we had a wine for the second time (had it first at wildwood on valentine's day) - st. innocent's shea, 2009. a most AMAZING wine! totally smooth, and tasted like grape juice (in a good wine way). they're still selling it, so we hope to visit the winery & buy a bunch.
yesterday morning i met friends r & c for brunch before going for pedi's. i now have pretty toes, although you would never guess it, given the weather - it snowed again this morning! last night i was busy cooking for the week - roasting cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, & beets. i also threw together some black bean chili in the slow cooker and some chocolate chip cookie dough for a friend who has just been diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer. very scary. :( her daughter was one of my very first violin students here in portland. she's young and strong, so i know she'll put up a good fight.
this morning was one of the worst. i was trying to bake the cookies, make z's lunch, and get him fed & s fed before dropping him off at pasitos. s had the largest poop that went all up her back. it was at a most inconvenient time (when the cookies needed to be taken out of the oven RIGHT THEN & THERE). ugh. and she's been waking up a ton recently. i don't know if it's a growth spurt, or teething, or if she just wants to wake up & feed... i don't know if we should do sleep training. she has absolutely no nap schedule at the moment. it's pretty frustrating, because it's very hard getting things done during the day with her up all the time.

siblings

cute!

dance

evidently my son has a dessert dance...

hungry.

um.... uh oh...


silly baby! don't eat the plate!

yes, grandma, the baby DOES get fed...

growing up.

yay - our new cooktop!!! it's beeyooteeful!
we also finally got grown up towels. they match. j picked them out.

painting

painting, with a head lamp. mommy's head lamp, actually, to be specific. she uses it for night time running.

st. patrick's day

some things our little leprechaun brought home from school on friday.


he came home with green hair!

siblings

sweet.

food!!!

i'm about to be fed... i just know it! i love playing with food!

interesting...

sigh. z just being z. what character!

food!!!

s's first pureed food experience!

food!!!

pediatrician recommended that we try food with s. it might help with the reflux, so we decided to start with peas. she doesn't look very excited...

silly fun.

silly fun with our little sweet pea.

vinny kitty

s & vinny on feb 25.

banana split

best mommy ever, indeed...

banana split

cute!

s laughs & talks to daddy... and z enjoys a banana split.
we enjoyed doughnuts in the morning and made gumbo for dinner on mardi gras.
before the weekend to seattle, mommy & daddy had babysitter bonnie come over to play with z & s, while they went out for a delicious dinner at wildwood with friends m & t. that following friday, pasitos had a parents' night out, so they got to go out again (albeit with s) to the hall street grill.

seattle

z wanted to eat some of his lunch back at the hotel room, but we had no fork. the ice tongs had to suffice.


after lunch, we all napped a bit, but some longer than others.


after napping, we headed to bellevue to see our friends a, j, & their four year old s. they cooked a delicious dinner of steak and mushroom pasta for us. what a treat!
the next morning, we checked out of the westin and headed back to portland. we stopped at the flight history museum on our way out of seattle to help z & s burn off some energy. neither j nor i had ever been. grandma had recommended that we take z there. we determined z is a little too young to get much out of it at this point. it was a very expensive way for him to burn up energy!

seattle

we had tried to go for dinner the night we arrived in seattle at the icon grill, a restaurant right across from the westin. they only allowed reservations, so we had to go back to the hotel to eat. we tried going again for lunch on sunday, and we were more successful.

z fell asleep pretty quickly - he took a nice long snooze on daddy's lap. s fell asleep too, but woke up sooner than z.


s woke up and had fun playing. thank goodness for booths.



s plays with z's drill....

seattle

the seattle westin is a couple blocks from one end of the monorail. we were supposed to meet up with a friend of mine from high school and her two kids (one of which was born a month after sloane) at the childrens' museum. the monorail dropped us right by it!


z, excited about the monorail trip.


mommy & s on the monorail.


z at the childrens' museum


z & s at the museum


that was fun!!! time to get some lunch and go back to the hotel room for a nap.

seattle

z loved lying on our bed in the hotel. it was right next to the big flat screen tv, on which he watched lots and lots of spongebob squarepants. it had many more channels than we have at home. the hotel was fairly nice, but the room was smallish and a little worn. we made it work, however. z slept on a pull out couch, and s slept in a hotel crib. she did fairly well, and i figured out a routine for nursing & changing her at night (in the bathroom). z got sick the second night there, and coughed the whole entire night. luckily we had brought benadryl, so that helped us get a little more sleep. however, z is still sick, and i got sick the day after presidents' day, and j got sick two days later. my throat is still KILLING me - it hurts SO much! :(

seattle

we stayed at the westin in seattle two weekends ago. it had a pool!!!

sparklies.

Grandma got someone a new pair of shoes, which are a tad bit too large...

pink

my little daughter is pretty in pink!

new hat

z is wearing a new hat that a friend of mine from zanesville made. she also made a hat for s.

valentine's day 2012

on valentine's day...


colores...

joust?

daddy is all dressed up to go to a climbing joust, unbelievably. they were told to dress up, or wear all white, or dress as their favorite candy, so daddy chose to dress up.

cousin

here's cousin c holding s.
c, j, & h spent a night in tigard on their way down to san jose, so we met up with them for dinner recently.

hamburburburger

z offers daddy food.
note the ending. perfect example of his latest behavior.

bikini

we purchased a bikini for s in anticipation of our upcoming trip to seattle (which has a pool). s is trying it on for the first time, and z is taking pictures of s, just like mommy. s clearly likes z!

smiley!

s does her best to talk with daddy. she's so full of smiles!

first

jan 18th - s's very first time sitting in a high chair!

snow

excited about snow...

angel

s, dressed for a holiday open house...