Madeleine - Week 18

Happy Halloween! Madeleine is appearing as a dragon in this week's photo. It seemed the appropriate costume for our year of the dragon baby...and it was a lot simpler (and hopefully more comfortable for her) than a lot of the alternatives. She's certainly happy in it!

Halloween Door

As a bit of relief from all the baby cuteness I've been sharing, I thought I'd show you our Halloween door. Yes, much as Madeleine is the center of our world these days, I try to be true to my promise and share our (or at least my) other interests on the blog as well. 

As soon as I saw this spider web tutorial, I knew I had to have one on my door. I don't think I even knew that the door would be to this house yet. Anyway, one of Misha and my crafternoon projects was to make this fun spider web frame. It was the perfect crafternoon project because it took very little time to complete, leaving plenty of time for chatting. (In the process of preparing my $5 Value Village frame for crafternoon, I learned that I am a complete beginner at spray painting. Wow, I have a lot to learn.)

So here's the frame:

And here are the pumpkins I picked from our garden (daddy, mummy, baby): 

And here is our complete Halloween entryway:

Yes, I tried to spray paint a pumpkin to match the frame. Yes, I still have a lot to learn about getting things that are the right scale for the size of our new house. Ah, well. Just as well we plan to stay for 20 years or so. 

Happy Halloween! 

Bay Area Friends & Adventures

While we were in the Bay Area, we got to visit with several of our friends. George was able to join in the fun over the weekend, but Madeleine and I were on our own while George worked during the week.

We were able to catch up with John and Sally and meet Tom and Will, who are about 7 weeks younger than Madeleine (though Will is already bigger than our wee one). [Remember when we were both pregnant?] I loved every second of our visit, even if it made me wish all the more that we lived closer to one another. And, yes, we are already discussing how these three need to get SCUBA certified as soon as they're old enough.

Will, Tom, Madeleine

Will

Tom

Tom loved the front pack.

Silly Will.

Sally and I got adventurous and packed all three babies into the back of our rental Camry for a lunch out. They all slept through lunch. What good babies! [Tom, Will, Madeleine]

And Madeleine kept sleeping even after we got back.

Madeleine and I also spent a day venturing into San Francisco to visit with my friend, Dagny, who I met studying abroad nearly 10 years ago, and her son, Sam, who is just a week and a half younger than Madeleine. This was Madeleine's first time to be in a city (other than sleeping when George and I had sushi in downtown Seattle), and the initial look on her face was priceless! We had a nice chat and lunch with Dagny and Sam but, unfortunately, didn't take any pictures.

While we were in the City, I wanted to check out a museum. I decided on the de Young mostly because I knew there would be parking (due to its location in Golden Gate Park) and also because I'm a sucker for aerial views of cities. This was Miss M's first museum, and she loved to hear her voice echo through the galleries. For that reason, we didn't stay too long.

Can you spot the TransAmerica Pyramid?

See the Golden Gate Bridge poking out at the right side of the picture?

Riding down from the observation tower

We left the museum so that I could nurse Madeleine before heading south to meet George after work. As we sat in a sunny spot in the park outside the de Young, I reflected on how some parts of life change a lot with having a baby while others aren't so different. Needing to leave a museum for a fussy baby is definitely a new experience, but sitting and reflecting in a sunny spot in a random park in San Francisco is one of my favorite things to do. Just so happens that now I have a little person to introduce to this favorite activity.

The day before we left, Madeleine and I met up with Tracy for a stroll through a shopping center and a snack. Again, it was so nice to catch up with Tracy even though it made me miss the days when we lived in the same city or even cities that were a weekend's drive away.

Tracy & Madeleine

The trip was probably more fun for me than for George given that he had to work during the week. Hopefully, though, Madeleine and I will be able to tag along on some future business trips.

Weekend in Photos

It's hard to believe that this is already the last weekend update of October. It's also hard to believe that the weekend is already over. Slow down, year!

We're light on photos this weekend after getting out of practice last weekend.

Mail from Tonga - fancy!

She's working on her sitting...and loving her wrist rattle from Grandma Janie.

Strawberry bum

Crafternoon 

Spray paint novice

That's our new car charging. It's an all-electric Leaf. 

Our weekend flew by, and now we're hoping to get back to normal while continuing to unpack this week. How about you?

Bathtime

While we were in Silicon Valley, I snapped pictures of Madeleine after a few of her baths. It makes me think we should keep our camera sitting around for more candids at home.

Happy Four Month Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Bumbo Adventures

Madeleine borrowed her friends' Bumbo for a little while in San Jose, and I caught this series on film digital image {?}.

"I think I like the Bumbo now!"

"Ooooh! My feet work well for holding my favorite toy of all time."

"Feet?! Cool!"

Madeleine - Week 17

We're just back from a lovely trip to the Silicon Valley. Although I took the photo yesterday, I wasn't able to get it processed until today. Our sweet Madeleine cackled and giggled through the entire photo session, even though she was pretty darn tired. What a trooper!

Patience

You're going to have to be patient and wait an extra day for this week's weekly photo. But...as a reward, I'm posting this picture of our darling from Monday.

Madeleine - Week 16

We're having a very busy week getting our old house ready to sell. Hopefully it'll be on the market tomorrow, and we'll finally be able to put up our feet for 5 minutes. Anyway, this is why we are again late on our weekly photo.

This week's photo shows Madeleine's continued fascination with her hands. All the toys in the world are not as cool as her hands.

Your patience in waiting an extra day is rewarded with this outtake:

Weekend in Photos

We had a busy weekend complete with work at our old house, unpacking at our new house, brunch out, two visitors, errands, and dim sum with friends. 

Someone's mama sucked these very same fingers until she was about 3 years old.

Happy Saturday morning.

Reward for getting all boxes unpacked before the return deadline.

So glad to be back on coffee.

Lipstick on a pig: fresh paint on our old garage door. Why didn't I do this sooner?

First fire in our new fireplace

Autumn in our new backyard

Patiently waiting for dim sum

Din Tai Fung

We have another busy week on the agenda for the week ahead. First, it's time to feed and put to bed the sweet baby who is crying upstairs. 

Madeleine - Week 15

I really hope that the saying better late than never is true. We're about four days late on this week's photo, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's understandable given that we moved on Wednesday.

Madeleine continues to be a really relaxed, fun, and chatty baby. George and I continue to be grateful for her laid back temperament, flexibility, and love of food and sleep.

Moving Day

We're going to be late with this week's weekly photo. I'd hoped to be organized and energized enough to pull it off on moving day, but it just didn't happen. What did happen is our entire house loaded onto a truck, driven a few miles, and unloaded into our new house in about five hours. The movers were money well spent and made the day go really smoothly. As a consolation prize for your patience, I'll share with you this grainy phone-in-mirror photo from this evening.

On an unrelated note...mothers of babies and mothers-to-be, consider the Beco Gemini when choosing a front carrier. We're borrowing one before buying one and love that Miss M can ride facing in or out on the front and on the back. I loved the Ergo for baby wearing, but I think this is a much better fit for our curious (and sometimes sleepy) growing girl. 

Moving On

The clock has passed midnight, so it's officially moving day. Although I'm way behind in sleep and blogging, I've told myself that I'm going to take a few moments to reflect on our time at this house before we officially start living in our new one. This is mostly stream of consciousness; please accept my apologies in advance.

This house has come with ups and downs. It tested us in many ways as we struggled to find a decorating style that made us both comfortable and challenged us as we struggled to keep up with the work it needed. There were certainly times when I hated this house and wanted nothing more than to never see it again.

That said, this house has also seen some really terrific memories. It's the house where George and I grew from a dating couple to engaged couple to married couple to parents. We've thrown a few good parties and shared a lot of hours lounging on the floor. We've cooked and shared some spectacular meals in its kitchen. It'll always be the place that, on July 12, 2009, George carried me across the threshold as his wife and, on June 28, 2012, we brought Madeleine home to begin our life as a family of three. This is the place where George's dad totally surprised me by coming from New Zealand for my law school graduation, where I opened my letter from the WSBA to learn that I'd passed the bar exam, where we found out that we'd be having a baby.

Over the past five and a half years, George and I have laughed and cried in this house and made it our home. Many times during our new home search, we'd return here and comment on how it felt so much more comfortable than any of the places that we'd seen. Yet, less than two months ago, we went into another house and felt like it could be our home - probably our "forever" home. Tomorrow, we'll move our earthly belongings from this home to that house and begin anew the process of building a home.

Weekend in Photos

I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Painting this closet = reminder of why I called in the professional for our bedrooms

These clean glasses are ready for their new cabinets.

Our new house comes with this fantastic neighbor dog.  Fetch anyone?

Preview of Miss M's new nursery

New (to us) jammies

Growing up...

Someone is more and more fond of her thumb.

So much packing...

We picked out some new dishes for our new house. 

This is moving week at our house. What's on your agenda for the week ahead?