Mom, can I borrow the car?

India took yet another step towards independence and not needing her parents anymore, she started preschool.  She has been so excited about being a “preschooler” and what a big kid she will be.  She showed me her stomach this morning after eating breakfast as evidence of her bigness.  When we got to school she was a little shy, and hanging on my legs but after about 10 minutes she could have cared less that Hadley and I were taking off.  She will be going two days a week for three hours, and then we can stick around and eat lunch if we want to.  It is a co-op preschool, so I will be working there every 6-7 weeks while Jeff works for home and takes care of Hadley. 

While I am excited to be involved in her school, I almost wish that we were starting a few weeks later as we now need to solicit donations for a fundraising auction.  This is so not me or Jeff for that matter.  It would probably help if we knew the area better or frequented an establishment all the time, but that just isn’t the case.  If you have anything you want to donate, let me know!

Yikes, Hadley is turning one already next month.  I can’t believe how fast this year has flown by.  She still isn’t showing any interest in walking, which is okay.  Her new favorite game is peek-a-boo; she just laughs and laughs when she hides under her clothes.  

What is wrong with fire alarm designers?

Stupid fire alarm is all I can say!  I woke up a little before 3 a.m. to Hadley whimpering, and a loud beep.   I figured I must imaging things as I was here when the brand new alarms were installed a month ago.  I stood in the hallway for a few seconds and turned back into our room only to hear the beep again.  Jeff too was awake (this will tell you how loud it was as he is a deep sleeper) and said it must be the battery.  He got out of bed and we tried to figure out which alarm it was, not easy when there are five of them within 10 feet of each other.  Jeff determined it must be the one in the hallway above the stairs, great only that is probably up the wall 16 feet.  Not a problem if you have a ladder, but we are renters, our ladder is at the old house.  We learn by taking down a different alarm that the beeping isn’t the battery but a malfunction.  Jeff tries to reset it by using a curtain rod (bonus points for creativity) but all it does it run the test alarm (all bonus points lost).  The test alarm is not at all quiet or quick, and did I mention this is at 3 in the morning!  Hadley is completely awake at this point, and India soon follows.  As luck would have it, the alarm that was malfunctioning was actually in Hadley’s room (no wonder she was whimpering) so Jeff took it down, and we all tried to get back to sleep.  I still heard India playing in her room at 4, but that didn’t keep her from getting up at her normal 7 a.m. schedule.  I really wonder if the people that design fire alarms are just horrible people, or just enjoy getting up in the middle of the night.  It’s going to be a long day…

Hadley enjoying an afternoon snack

India has taken to picking out her own outfits lately...

A new place to call home

After crashing at my parents for almost two months, we are living in Portland now.  Besides enjoying having a place of our own, it is so great to have Jeff home at a normal time.  He was driving to a park-n-ride about 50 minutes away, and getting on a bus to downtown Portland which would take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour depending on traffic (where are the HOV lanes in this state I wonder?).  We are just renting at this point, and will be renting out our house in Bothell. 

We had thought when we first talked about moving to Portland, that we would end up in the Beaverton area and Jeff would take the Max line (light rail) to work.  But my mom mentioned that Sellwood was an area that people liked, and for kicks we drove through the area.  We ended up really loving it, and kept our eyes open for a house on Craigslist.  We found what was listed as a "newer" home, and by newer they meant built in 1980!  I don't know why each house we live in keeps getting older, but it seems to be the trend with us.  The house really sticks out as the majority of the homes around it were built in the '30's.  India really likes that her room has a little storage area in addition to the closet that she can play in.  I can barely stand at the tall end of it, so it is perfect for a little girl and all of her toys.    

We are still getting settled in, with lots of boxes still to unpack.  I can't believe how much junk we own, seriously there were close to 300 boxes or items that the movers brought in.  With that being said, they did count the legs of tables as an item.  Luckily the house has a ton of storage, and we have decided that as we unpack we will start getting rid of things.  Most people would probably do that before they moved, but Jeff's work paid for the house to be packed for us, so what was the point!  I am hoping by next weekend we will have unearthed all the things we really need, and can deal with the rest whenever.

If you are in the Portland area, let us know.  

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a pretty laid back Thanksgiving this year at my parents, and the best part of it was no traveling!  The same should go for Christmas this year, so that makes me so happy.  I can't stand spending hours sitting on I-5, yuck what a boring drive.  All of my siblings, and their families were there as well.  Hadley enjoyed her first Thanksgiving by rolling and doing her army crawl all over the living room floor.  

  

Besides not driving, the best part of the holiday was Just Dance 2 on the Wii.  If you don’t have this game, run, don’t walk to get it (actually just order it on Amazon today (12/01) for a good deal). 

Not a great photo, but you can see some family rocking out.  

We had a blast playing it, and at one point everyone 3 and older, with the exception of my brother-in-law who was recording us, bogged down to Rasputin.  It was so funny, and a good work out, my sister needed a “sweat towel” on more than one occasion.  I can’t wait for Christmas and more dancing fun.   

    

Cali 2010

I owe an update on about a hundred other things, but I thought I would quickly post something about our recent trip to California while India naps and Hadley snacks on some Mum-Mums.  For the third year in a row, we went to Palm Springs for a week of family vacation.  Typically it is my parents and our family, but this year was a little different as my dad was away in Wisconsin hunting and my sister and her family as well as my brother came on the trip. We were a little cramped for space, but I think it all turned out okay.

We went a little earlier in the year than normal, and lucked out with very hot weather, I think it was in the high 90’s for the first couple of days.  We just lounged about the pool for the most part, and relaxed.  We would normally get in a couple of hikes, but it was just too hot and our family has been so busy lately we were happy to just do nothing but soak in the pool and drink mojitos. 

We did go to the main hotel for drinks and sushi one night and my brother-in-law spotted Kevin from The Office and his entourage.  We also did the little boat ride around the lake with the kiddos and my niece even got to steer it and India honked the horn. 

We flew in and out of Long Beach, and after leaving Palm Springs we visited the aquarium there.  We had gone through it two years ago, but figured that India would enjoy it a lot more this time.  She really had fun, although it took a little bit to relax as there was a movie playing when we first got there and the noise was too much for her.  She touched a few sharks in the shark pool (not the Jaws kind) and thought that was pretty cool.  This is a big step for a kid that not that long ago was afraid of dogs.

Before we flew out we had an hour to burn so we walked around the Long Beach marina.  It was a nice ending to a very relaxing vacation.  

Feeling the love

Here is an e-mail I got from Jeff this week.  

Hey Baby.  Happy Monday.

India and I were going around the room at breakfast asking if we liked things.

Do you like oatmeal

Do you like books

Etc.

I asked India if she liked Mommy and Daddy, she said "No, I love Mommy and Daddy!"

That just melts my heart, which is probably hard to do as my own mother said I am cold-hearted the other day!  She said that in the nicest possible fashion though, and it's border line true...

Hadley three-month update

Now that Hadley is a week away from her four-month birthday, I thought I would do her three-month update!  I am not sure when this happened, but Hadley is just huge now.  That is probably not a nice thing to say about your super sweet daughter, but since she can’t read and doesn’t know how to use the internet (at this point), I will say it again, she is huge!  I don’t remember when we moved India into 3-6 month clothes, but Hadley seems ready to move on to 6-9 month any day now.   She has her four-month check up in a couple of weeks, so it will be fun to see where she is on the charts.  The other option would be to get on the scale with her, but that would require me also weighing myself, so no thanks.    

  

Besides being a roly-poly baby, Hadley is very good natured and a genuinely happy baby.  She will give you the most awesome smile you ever saw, and as a friend said the other day; she has nothing to gain by giving it to you.  I frequently hear people say what a happy baby she is, so it’s not just her overly proud mother speaking.  She is also very good about just putting herself to sleep by sucking her thumb.  It is really cute, but a habit I hope she drops without any fuss.    

Hadley did fine in our first road trip to Oregon as a foursome; in fact you would hardly know she was there.  I tend to judge everything she does against India, and when it comes to being in the car they are as different as day and night.  I remember driving to Jeff’s grandma’s house and having India cry almost the entire hour plus drive when India was this age.  India doesn’t seem to mind the car now, instead it is me that wants to scream and cry after a few hours.  A person can only discuss India’s trip to get her haircut so many times. 

Speaking of India, she continues to be a good big sister.  It is not uncommon for her to look at Hadley and make a sweet I love my sister kind of noise.  She is doing well with potty training, and I hope that we will only have one kid in diapers in the near future.  She is pretty funny about the whole thing, she makes you stand around and cheer for her after she has used the toilet.  Whatever works I say.  She is a pretty funny kid in general, I don’t know where she comes up with half the stuff she says or does, but is keeps us amused.  Like last night when I asked her if she knew how to do a jumping jack, and then she proceeded to show me that she did, only her version involved putting one leg in the air and kind of spinning around.   

Well summer is finally here in Seattle, and just in time for me to go back to work in a week or so.  I can’t say that I am really looking forward to it.  It’s not so much the job, it’s that I am really enjoying the time with the girls and mommy things I have been doing.  Besides trying to do Stroller Strides in the mornings, we have a recurring play date with friends and other activities which fill the day.  I guess I can’t really complain since I only work three days a week, but if I didn’t complain I won’t be me! 

Jeff and I are each training for a first right now.  Jeff is training to climb Mt. Rainier in a few weeks with some members of his family, and I am training to run a 10k (6.2 miles) in September.  I am not a runner by any stretch of the imagination, but will be happy if I can finish the race in less than an hour and a half.  Jeff did a pre-climb climb on Saturday, and feels pretty good about the actual summit.