Little Miss Ladybug

This year was Leah's first Halloween. Unfortunately she did not prepare properly by growing some teeth to eat candy with. Those two measly little ones in the front can barely get through a crushed up cheerio so she was out of luck on the trick-or-treating deal. However, she did attend three parties:

1) Microsoft Halloween Celebration at the Commons. She was not interested in bales of hay, Guitar Hero, or coloring so this was her least favorite. However, she did love looking at the other kids all dressed up and making a face at them like they were nuts for wearing that.

2) Ward Halloween Party. This one she liked more because she got more compliments. Also at this party she got to go on stage and model her costume. She started crying when Paul took her off stage for the next child to come out.

3) Kelsey's Halloween Party. This was her favorite because her boyfriend Harmon was there in a duck costume and also because she won the costume contest. It was her mother's favorite party for the same reasons.

I think our little Ladybug is a fan of Halloween already. Just think how much she will love it next year with a mouth full of chocolate!

(W)hat (T)he (F)lood?!?

A few weeks ago we had a hard rain here in Seattle on a Saturday morning. After a quick jaunt over to QFC I looked down the stairs to my Mom's unit and saw water about shin deep through the whole courtyard. I called Paul to get his behind home from basketball just as my Mom pulled up. I shoved Leah in her hands and went wading down the stairs. I spent the next few hours doing the following:

1) shoving every piece of furniture in my Mom's condo up against the wall away from the flooding side of the unit single-handedly (I got superhuman strength)
2) rolling up and moving huge area rugs
3) yelling at Paul to do certain things
4) shoving towels down in areas that seemed to have more water coming through
5) bailing out water from her patio area to a higher drain

Paul spent those hours doing the following:

1) hauling sandbags from the storage area and putting them down around every inch of the outside of my Mom's condo
2) laying down flat on his stomach in said water in order to try to clear out blocked drains
3) pumping water out of the patio area
4) hauling rugs up the stairs to air out over the balcony
5) helping sweep water out of the storage areas

We were both WORN OUT by the time everything got under control. The whole thing happened so fast, no one is really sure what the problem was. Some people think it was the drains in the courtyard being plugged, some people think it was overflow of city water since the city drains were clogged, and some people have their own theories too crazy to mention. All I know is that thanks to our quick work, none of my Mom's stuff was affected except for a couple rugs which we were able to have cleaned. Thank goodness for tile floors and a landlord who was there in 30 minutes with a cleanup crew. It was the best workout I've had in the last six months so I think I'm good to go on excercise for the rest of 2009.

Pre-flood:















Mid-flood:

Pumpkins

A couple of weeks ago, Paul's niece Charlotte stayed overnight with us. She is 3 years old so we wanted to make sure she was having too much fun to notice her boring parents weren't around. Friday night we went to the seventh level of you-know-where, aka Chuck E. Cheese. We met our friends there who also have a little girl and ate crappy pizza and played games. I had never been there before and brought a coupon entitling us to a package deal of pizza, drinks and 80 tokens. I had no idea that each game was only one token. Do you know how long it takes two 3-year-olds to play 80 games? I was swiping tokens left and right and just pouring them into random machines. The thing is, the kids had an awesome time (even Leah loved it). Paul didn't mind one bit so I know what he and Leah will be doing in the future when Mommy is at the Rack.

The next day we went to the Kelsey Creek Farm Fair. Charlotte did the scarecrow maze, and we all went on a hayride and picked out pumpkins. They had all kinds of bouncy toys and animals and of course, kettle corn. We all had a good time and luckily it was not too rainy.

Charlotte seemed to enjoy the whole trip and we had fun hosting her. She was so easy-going about everything, I'm just going to pretend that's what all three-year-olds are like! We got Leah a pumpking but all she wants to do is lick it.

Winthrop

A couple of weekends ago Paul and I drove over to Winthrop for a mountain bike race. I was kind of dreading the whole weekend thinking Leah would be fussy in the car and I would be incredibly bored during a weekend dedicated to mountain biking (which I don't do). I was so wrong! (I know, rare.) The drive over was beautiful and Leah was great, napping twice along the way. Leah can't sit in her seat too long so we used the opportunity to stop at some great roadside stands including one that offered 102 flavors of jerky and taffy.

When we got there we registered Paul for the race and then all three of us went for a bike ride. We got a recommendation on a nice wide and flat trail and it was perfect. I guess I like "mountain" biking after all (although I don't know if this qualifies). Afterwards we walked around the cute little downtown. They have kept all the store fronts looking like they did when the town was settled. The whole street had so much personality. We ate dinner at Duck Brand Restaurant and it was delicious. Then we headed back to the hotel where Leah went to sleep with no problem.

The next day we went to Paul's race site and he took off for his race with lots of energy. We were looking at the race map and elevation changes and it sounded really hard!! In the meantime, Leah and I took a ride at a local pond that had a trail around it. When we got back we thought we had time to see Paul pass the halfway point(the race was two laps). We waited and waited as all the riders came and went. Finally Paul came huffing up the road looking beat! I told him to just quit out of the race right there! But he was not having it. Apparently a very heavy rider had passed him and asked him if he was also in the "Clydesdale Division" for heavy riders! Paul took that personally and it gave him a burst of energy (that and three Gu packets). He was able to catch up to the group and even finish with a respectable time!

On the way home we took the North Cascades Highway which I had never been on before. It was breathtaking!! We stopped at the visitor's center there for a short hike to move around a bit. There were beautiful views everywhere. I could have driven that highway all day and it was the perfect time of year for it. Then we stopped at highly recommended hole-in-the-wall for dinner called the Eatery Drive-In next to an "RV resort" (yes you read that correctly - whatever that means). It turns out that people that live in the middle of nowhere are weird but boy can they cook!

I loved all the incredible scenery and Paul is glad that I don't hate mountain biking anymore so I guess we were both pretty happy with the trip!

Nine Months!

On October 9th, Leah turned nine months old! So now she's finally been outside my belly longer than she was inside! She's growing like a weed and is such a happy, fun little girl. Here's a little about Leah at nine months old:

- She loves to crawl all over and can crawl really fast when she's in a hurry
- She pulls herself up on anything she can, but prefers tables and chairs with sharp corners to stress out her mother
- Sometimes she forgets she can't actually walk and let's go and tries to take a step
- She loves to read books and "do homework"
- She finally has teeth! (two on the bottom)
- She is very good at snacking on things like cereal and yogurt bites
- She can drink out of a sippy cup
- She sleeps all night and very rarely ever wakes up during the night
- She takes two naps during the day with varying degrees of enthusiasm
- She wears a size 12 months, which are barely long enough
- She puts both arms up in the air to indicate any of the following feelings: 1) "Hi" 2) "I like what you're doing" 3) "I'm the best" 4) "Bye"

She learns so much every day and changes so quickly, I can't imagine what she's going to be doing by Christmas!

Walmart in 15 minutes or less...

Last week the family hit up Walmart AND the Puyallup Fair all in one night. All Paul needed was a mullet or a tatto and he would have completed the white-trash trifecta. Don't get me wrong, I love to do the Puyallup and was excited for Leah's first Fair experience. Because it's a little drive down to the Fair, I dug up my old portable DVD player I bought like 8 years ago so that Leah could watch a video on the way.

Twenty minutes into the drive I still couldn't get it to play unless I held the power cord in with one hand and balanced it on my other hand so it didn't bounce. That lasted about two minutes before I freaked out and told Paul to just turn around and go home or else buy me a new DVD player! (see how calm I stay in these situations) Paul opted for the latter and crossed 3 lanes of traffic in about 50 feet to get the next exit for the Renton Walmart. It was 4:55 when we took the exit and he said we had to be out of there by 5:10. We pulled up and let him out and then parked and ran in after him. By the time we got electronics he had the employee's keys in his hand opening the case (she was having trouble). He asked if he could open the box to see it. She said, "you have to buy it first." He said, "Okay" and opened it anyway. It was satisfactory and he bought it and we ran out of there, three minutes short of our goal. Shortly thereafter we were back on the road and Leah was happily (and quietly) watching her video. Paul brags it is one of his best purchases. (Happy baby = happy Mommy)

We also had an awesome time at the fair. Leah's favorites were the bunnies (indicated by all four limbs waving at once) and the dogs. She has learned to do "arms up" and also "point" so most of the time we were there she was giving people a baby version of "I'm #1" by putting one or both hands up in the air and "pointing." She was quite pleased when the gesture was returned several times. Paul and I continued our health kick by eating a pizza sized slap of dough deep-fried and covered in butter and sugar (aka an "elephant ear"). Obviously it was delicious. My Mom enjoyed the fair too, including the flower exhibit. Can't wait til next year!

Family

There's a new nanny in town - my Mom. She has moved into the apartment downstairs and takes care of Leah when we're at work. I'm still working from home in the morning so it's nice because I get to spend time with Leah and then she gets to hang out with Bookie (what the grandkids call my Mom). Bookie's apartment is so nice - it was just remodeled - and she is loving the cool weather here compared to Arizona. Last week my sister came to help her get settled in and we had a great time hanging out and staying up late playing cards. It's nice having family close by! Leah is most excited to have just one more person spoiling her rotten!