We're inside after a nice hike at Lake Padden this morning as the rain comes tumbling down.  The first hike in awhile where we should have brought gloves for Linnea.  Since we didnt' we endured several minutes of ear-biting shrieks, but she eventually found a different focus with a granola bar and we made it back to the car.

We find ourselves in almost a new life this fall as we've moved to a new house, lost one of our dogs, are trying to figure out how to wrangle a 2-year old, and how in the world we're going to do any of this with another baby in 6 months.  That's right, another one.  We're due April 17th with Linnea's sibling.  Just when I start feeling a glimpse of having some time to myself - but in the long term, this is the right decision, or so I tell myself.

Linnea has decided to be Christopher Robin for Halloween - quite possibly one of the worlds most boring and unrecognizable costumes, but that's what we're doing.  Yellow shirt, blue shorts and black shoes.  I did find a large Tigger doll that we'll strap to her back somehow.  In all my efforts to coerce her into saying she'd be an alligator, peacock, squirrel, candy corn or zebra, she's sticking with Christopher Robin.  Probably because he's the only human character in any of our movies - so he is the ONLY realistic choice in her mind - and she's the one thinking I'M NUTS for suggesting all these animals and inanimate objects.

Potty training is going well and she's pooping almost 100% in the toilet.  She gets sidetracked, excited, or a temporary feeling of lack of attention - which cause her to still pee on the floor or in her pants from time to time, but overall, I think we're on a trend to full potty training; during the day at least.  Nighttime is a different story, but if she has to wear a diaper for that for awhile, that's no big deal - since I had bedwetting issues for quite a few years.

I'm sitting at 3.5 months into this new pregnancy with few complaints so far.  I'm still able to drag myself out of bed at 5am to do some kickboxing at 'Boot Camp'.  I figure I'll keep doing it until it just doesn't feel safe anymore - and I'll pick it back up as soon as possible after the baby is born.  I remember those mornings of nursing several times a night and then still getting in the car at 5:28 to get to the 5:30 class.  It isn't pretty, but it was worth it, so I'll get through it again - right?

Kids certainly change one's perspectives in many ways.  I look at free time as some look at gold.  I consider forking out $2 for kitchy ugly plastic cups with sparkles in them.   Injury is much more about inconvenience than it is about pain.  The thought of death is scarier and I'm much more empathetic when I hear about people dying that have young kids.  I want to sleep so badly at times when I can't - and when I finally can sleep, I think about all the things I should be doing instead.  My living room has a miniature pink kitchen and trampoline in it.  It takes minimal convincing for us to bring home an enormous teddy bear that takes up one of our few chairs.  Grocery shopping is an 'event' for the day.  Making dinner in less than 10 minutes is my number 1 goal after work.   If I get 30 minutes of free time before bed instead of the normal 15, I feel a brief elation - like I've won something awesome.  When I get to work, I sit down and think "Finally - time for a break".   The achievement of 'having a good time' is now based on whether or not  Linnea is having a good time.  

Today we stopped for a hot chocolate after our cold walk in the forest.  We went through the drive through and as we were leaving, Miguel said "Now Linnea, don't drink while I'm driving so you don't spill it on yourself."  Her response was "Daddy, Stop driving!"

She brings a million times more smiles and laughter than tears and frustration - well maybe not a million, but a lot.  So, we'll mulitply all this by two (in April) and in about 7 years we'll have some free time again.  From what I hear from other parents, I'll look back on these days and say to myself "If only I could have a toddler again, if even for a day".   I'm working at taking it all in and appreciating the moments, because I realize that life is fragile and impermanent - and today is what we have.      

While on a family camping trip this week, our best friend Mocha died.  It is the month of her 16th birthday.  Mocha has been with Miguel for most of her life, and with me for about 10 years.  Our families will miss her dearly.  The timing of Mocha's passing was actually quite beautiful in that most everyone who's life she touched was with her - which happens only once a year - on THIS camping trip.  The majority of the camping 'crew' had left and we had 2 nights remaining, so it was a quiet night with Mary, Phil, Diane, Julio, Linnea, Miguel Lucy and all the other dogs.  Mocha wasn't feeling well, not eating for a couple days, and that night she couldn't get comfortable and just walked around, whimpering at times while we sat by the campfire trying to think of ways to ease her pain.  Miguel stayed up with her throughout the night and Julio took over at about 5am.  She passed around 7am while Julio was holding her.  She was among people that love her so much.  Of course, we thought of all the things we 'should' have or 'could' have done that might have saved her, but even in her old age, she was able to leave a beautiful bond between all of us and a memory to treasure.

Linnea and I found a perfect size stick in the woods and Miguel threw it into the lake so Lucy could retrieve it.  Lucy carried the stick up to Mocha's grave and we all gathered around to cry and share memories of what we loved about Mocha.  I found a ball that was in the soil dug out for her grave and tossed it aside - as she never liked balls anyway.  Julio played a beautiful song on his flute and gave her a perfectly grilled piece of steak.  My mom gave her a rock - as she loved getting rocks and splashes out of the water.  When she was all covered up, we each placed a rock above her gravesite and walked away to the music.  Her grave overlooks the mountains and Elk Lake - a perfect place to be for the rest of eternity.

Dear Mocha, we have shed many tears remembering how much we loved you and your spirit.  You are greatly missed, and we treasure our memories splashing, running, feeding(!), being guarded by, and playing with you - thank you for giving us so much joy for so many years.   You are forever in our hearts.

Love,
Heather 

I caught myself the other day answering a question with a partial lie.  The question "How are you guys doing?".  How simple is that?  My response was something like: "Great - everything is just moving along - things are good, just nothing special going on at the moment."  As the words started coming out of my mouth in some sort of pre-programmed way, I heard them and thought "This is totally not true - why don't I have a better answer than this? - It isn't like I haven't had time to think about it."  What isn't 'special' about everyday happiness and good health?  Our daughter is learning by leaps and bounds how to think for herself, how to work with her arms and legs in new ways, and she's even starting to give me looks - on purpose - like she's making a joke, or she's toying with me.  Miguel and I are both working (me only 4 days a week by choice), and we have a community of friends that can't be beat.  One of our greatest friends is battling - and winning - against a form of lymphoma that had doctors scratching their heads all across the country.  We can afford to eat great foods, we have time to enjoy each other's company, and we have families that love us.  So things are going great and I wouldn't change a thing.  Everyday, every moment is especially perfect.  There's no need to play it down.  

It is Mother's Day today.  The weather isn't awesome, but it was good enough for the whole family to get out on a hike to Fragrance Lake.  On the way there, Linnea asked if we were going on a "picnic" - a word she's learned from one of my old Richard Scary books.  This was one of only a few times (and I'm sure there are tons more to come) where she's had a better idea than I have.  One time she told me there was 'dog poop' before I ended up stepping in it.  So, we made a quick detour and picked up a sandwich and some chips for our little family picnic - good idea LE!  She rode in the backpack and Miguel carried her.  The promise of a picnic and Lucy swimming got her all the way to the top of the climb without much fuss - and as soon as we got to water's edge, she wanted her shoes off so she could splosh around.  I don't know how she didn't freak out at the cold temperature, must have been the awe and wonder of sand between her toes - but she splashed and sploshed as long as we let her.  Our sandwich was enjoyed between taking turns redirecting Linnea away from the water and throwing Lucy's enormous stick in the water.  Yes, we pushed the limits of the nap by getting her to sleep 2 hours late, but what a day we've had for the memory book.   

Happy Mother's Day to all the Grandmas out there Marietta, Mary, Diane & Margo.   We hope you enjoyed our little gifts of appreciation - as we love having you in our lives.

-Heather

I've realized that without naps, I might go off the deep end.  Naps mind you, for the little ones - not necessarily for me.  Linnea is so fun to be around most of the time, but these moments of silence in the house where I can sit once a week and do whatever I want - quietly - is what keeps me from completely losing it.  It has been an hour and a half so far and I might be at the half-way point if I'm lucky. 

Miguel and I put an offer in on a piece of land a few weeks ago.  It ended up making for a very long story, but the short version is that we withdrew our offer last week.  So, we're back into the normal swing of things - no 'bids' to get on septic systems and driveway excavation.  This is actually more of a relief than a sadness for us though, so we're comfortable that we made the right decision.  A few driving factors for us to move are that we live in an 800sq ft house and although it is fine for the most part, we despise not having any counter space in our kitchen and we want a place to store bikes without having to cram them in between the spare tires and the lawnmower.  We want more sun exposure so we can have sunny summer nights that last until - well, later than 5pm.   We're tired of hearing the freeway all the time.  There are lots of things we like about living here - such as being able to walk downtown, having a low house payment, having a 'secret garden' in our backyard and having a great park for Linnea to play in only 3 houses away.  So, we're 'in the market' - looking for an upgrade.  Chances are we'll be saying that for a while longer.

On the LE front, she's adorable, of course.  She's an acrobat daredevil with good balance and a knack for falling without really getting hurt.  She got new sparkle shoes from grandma last weekend that light up when she walks.  The first night she wouldn't stop dancing and squealing.  Words.  She has hundreds of words already.  She's working on a handful of 4-syllable words like He-ki-coter, a-co-ca-do and a-ge-ga-ter.  She thinks 90% of the cars she hears driving by are 'ai-panes'.  She's in a major mimicking stage and she's really good at getting her pronunciation right.  She has a perfect "honeybee", which Miguel is quite proud of.

Miguel is taking a yoga class on Mondays.  I'm in my 2nd year of a 5:30am boot camp - which I'd like to continue with for as long as possible.  I actually have defined abs for the first time in my life - and I wouldn't mind keeping it that way.  Plus, I get to put on boxing gloves and kick the crap out of things each morning, which really helps keep stress levels down.  We take an occasional mountain bike ride when we buckle down and pay for a sitter.  For Valentine's Day, we actually went out to dinner - by ourselves - to a fancy place in town.  That Valentine's Dinner at The Prospect Street Cafe goes down in our book as the best meal we've ever had...which also puts an exclamation point "!" on 10 years since our first 'restaurant date' (vs running, racquetball or biking dates). Hip Hip Hooray for us!

Bye Bye,

E-der, Mi-gul, Nay-ah, Mocha, Chu-chi and the chi-chens

We're on our way south.  Just finished packing the car and battening down the hatches at home so we could be gone for over a week.  We're headed to the grandparents' houses for the holidays.  I'm happy to say that the packing situation went over fairly smoothly and without even one argument, which I wasn't so certain would happen.  We had a ton of stuff to do, but at 10:30 last night, I made a 3-column list of "to bring" "to do" and "to get".   Most of you may not know that we're getting a home improvement project done for our Christmas present to each other this year.  The best part of it is that it will all be done by the time we get home.  We're getting 10 new windows installed!  I've been looking forward to this for a long time.  No more condensation on the windows in the morning.  As it is now, we might as well have plastic over the windows since we can never see outside anyway without looking through a layer of water.  Sitting anywhere near a window feels like we've got a screen there instead of a piece of glass.  Not to mention all the heat we're having to generate with the furnace turning on all the time, and the mold that is spreading to all the sills and shades.  Anyway, I don't need to go on - but we're stoked to come home to our newly windowed house.

LE is peacefully sleeping in the backseat.  We pushed her pretty far today - relinquishing a 9:00 nap in hopes of a good sleep for the 3-hour car ride.  She's not really into extended periods of time (i.e. more than 5 minutes) in her carseat, so hopefully we've timed this one right.

We're on our way for the holidays and I don't think we have a present - not even one - in the car.  Nor do we have any Christmas cards, wreaths, bows, bells - nothing.  This is because Christmas snuck up on us this year.  I'm taking Mondays off of work to be with LE - and that IS a day of work - and when we get home on a weeknight, we barely have 30 minutes of "free time" when we're not doing dishes, diapers, dinner, sweeping or making lunches.  Speaking of sweeping, I'm sick and tired of it.  Now, mind you, not as tired as I am of doing dishes - my least favorite chore - but second on the list is sweeping.  This is because I'm always in the act of sweeping or sitting in dog hair.  I can't get on top of it, and I found out yesterday that our nanny Olivia is also sweeping once a day.  How can this possibly be?   The most annoying are the times when I finish my daily task of thoroughly sweeping each room all into a nice pile  (that the dogs or LE find appealing for snacking or walking through), carefully scoop it up and say "good riddance" as I toss it in the garbage, put the broom in the closet, walk to my next chore and find a huge waft of hair floating around in the hallway.  WHAT?  A small rage fires up inside and I'm so close to freaking out at the dogs for being so inconsiderate.   So far, I've kept my composure - but I'm seriously considering what life would be like without cute fluffy animals.

Oh, and speaking of cute, cuddly animals, what do you think is our newest drama?  It is not something we thought would be an issue, but the dogs have found a way to conspire against us.  They are probably pissed off that we're not taking them out 3 or 5 times a week on runs, bikerides and ultimate frisbee, so I can understand that they've had to change their paradigm of what a "good week" is - but they are burning points with us, I can tell you that.  The problem is poop.  Baby poop.  And the fact that one - or both - of them are getting into the diapers and eating it.  Now, perhaps they think they're doing us a favor since we have to rinse the diapers out as one of the nightly chores I mentioned above.  But this is so gross that it makes it hard to love them the same.  Honestly, we were pretty sure that this was all Mocha's doing.  She's into this sort of thing - eating gross stuff she finds at the park, cat poop, etc.  But this week when Olivia put a full diaper in the bathtub - to keep it away from the dogs, Miguel came home to find muddy pawprints in the tub with a fairly empty diaper.  Unable to decipher the size of the prints, we are perplexed as to which dog it really is.  Lucy always tucks her tail and runs away when we find the diapers scattered here or there.  We still can't remember to always shut the doors when we leave since we're so wrapped up in making sure we have all of LE's accoutrements.  So really, it is OUR fault - but no less disgusting.  So far, both dogs are innocent until proven guilty, but they're on thin ice (especially with the whole sweeping thing).

To their credit, dogs are pretty handy with the spilt milk and pureed beef stew that gets strewn across the room on a daily basis.  They're still our dogs - and we have to remember they won't be around forever.  Their lives have changed a lot with the new addition - so we have to give them a little credit.  LE is at an age where she squeals with delight each time they lick a cheerio off her fingers.  That in itself is enough to wipe their slate clean.  Lucky for them.

Maybe she's not officially a "toddler" yet, but we are quickly approaching the next age category.  LE is up and UP on everthing she can get her little feet on.  She started climbing about the same day she started linking steps together.  Up on the couch, over the arm - up on her chair, onto her table.  Standing up in the shopping carts and up on the dining room table.  She wants to be at the top. 

This year for Halloween, I made LE a fish costume with a fish cape and a green dress.  Of course, the outfit has a hood that she instantly rips off her head, but for short stints she'll keep it on.  She moves a bit like a Tyranasarus Rex with her arms bent and a hip waggle that makes everyone squeal with delight - including herself.  The fish tail had a nice swagger as she walks. 

Mom was up for the Halloween week festivities, and we had a great time visiting, playing with stuffed animals, new felt pen markers, homemade play-dough, and learning all kinds of words.  Linnea's new word is "no no" right now, and she still has a cute-factor going on with it that makes it sound so sweet.  LE, sit down - "no no".  LE, eat this "no no".  LE, time to go night night - "no no no".  Ask me in a month if it is still as cute.  

Other words we're enjoying are "trak-chr" (tractor), "chu-che" (turtle), ji-cha (diaper), "ga-choo" (dogfood), and of course "na-ne" (pumpkin) - no idea on that one.  

We have tried a few times to take LE to see some farm animals, but so far we've struck out.  Last weekend we went to Hovander Park, but all that was left of the summer animals were a few turkeys, geese and bunny rabbits.  LE didn't complain though, there were lots of rocks, exposed dirt and apples in the trees to keep her heart content.  

I found myself looking Linnea in the eye yesterday and thinking "Wow, do I even know you?"  She's growing up so fast that I can hardly keep up with the mental concept apparently.  The neurons in her brain are firing off all day long and you can just tell she's constantly linking words and actions and reactions.  She's learning how things fit inside each other (although she still can't get the doughnut on the stick the right way), and how to stack things on top of each other.  We live in a fascinating place.  

How nice it is to find delight in simple things again, like a single blueberry ready to eat, a handful of bubbles, the squack of a goose, a ball bouncing by,  and daddy coming home.

Now that we're into the throws of parenting a mobile child, we're finding that the 20 minutes of relaxation we get each weeknight is pretty special.  Usually we watch an episode of Arrested Development - a super low key, mediocre comedy about a wealthy and dysfunctional family.  We've been having several little moments of bliss with our little Linnea though, which makes it all worth our while (not like we have a choice).

At the park, Linnea has started making rounds with Isaac, her weekday playmate, on the slide junglegym at the park.  They crawl/climb up the stairs and sit right on the edge of the top of the slide as if they are anticipating what is to come.  Kind of like being home alone with your Christmas presents and not opening them - as to prolong the feeling of excitement just a little bit.  They decide the position just before going down and press a foot foward, twist their hips, or just lunge with arms outstretched.  Sometimes they fly right off the bottom and sometimes LE stops just short of the end and lays her head back to rest.  

I ask her where her lizard is, and she sticks her tongue in and out like I showed her a couple months ago.  Now when she sees a picture of a lizard, even a pencil drawing, she sticks her tongue in and out.  She gets it.

For some reason, she's instinctually afraid of bugs that look like spiders.  We had one of those flying daddy long leg-looking guys flying around the bathtub and she wouldn't take her eyes off it.  I tried to make it sound cool and nice and fun to watch, but she just wanted to back away from it and whine a little.  She notices the spiders in the windows and says "pipa".  They say kids understand about 50% more than you think they do.  I asked her "do you want to lay down" in her bubble bath last night - something she's been doing for a couple weeks on her own - and she stopped for a couple seconds before arching back and grinning with delight as the water filled her ears.  I guess she understands "lay down" now.

She's started calling her pacifier her "Ni-Ni" because every time she gets to have it, we ask her if she's ready to go "night night".  I can see her lips open showing all 4 of her little front teeth as she lights up saying "Ni-Ni...Ni-Ni...Ni-Ni".  Sometimes we're not sure what she's up to in the middle of the day, and we walk into her dark room to find her sucking on her Ni-Ni that she has craftfully pulled through the bars of her crib.  We now refer to this as "sneaking a hit off the Ni-Ni".

This past week she took her first unassisted steps.  By Friday morning, she had linked about 7 in a row.  By Friday afternoon, she had pulled a potted plant down off of a high table onto her right ankle.  We rushed home to ice it and to buy some arnica and arnica lotion.  To - or not to - go to the hospital for an X-Ray.  Hey, at least she made it past her first birthday without a broken bone, right?  Swollen, scratched up, not weighting it, etc.  What a mess.  By morning, it wasn't looking any worse, and the doctor encouraged us to wait it out a bit more.  So far today, she's walking and talking like it aint no big deal - and we even got her some brand new shoes without a fuss.  So, we think we're safe to avoid the radiation for now.  We bought a few extra baby-proofing supplies though, and the potted plant is awaiting it's new destiny as a yard decoraton and/or compost.

We finally dragged our old futon mattress out of the attic so we could get rid of it and "save room".  Since then, our living room is now filled with said futon mattress, and it's been a month.  How can we resist little Linnea and Isaac wrestling and snuggling with their like-sized stuffed animals?  As a matter of fact, it is a good excuse to lay down and play with them at the same time. The dogs like it.  We like it.  We might have made a mistake, because I don't see it going away anytime soon.

She's a dirt eater and a rock hound.  Nothing is more fun than digging and spreading dirt from here to there.  Rocks feel good on her teeth.  Plus, it makes mom and dad go phtttssstt "no - get that out of there", and they make funny faces.  Cool.

She looks at the bag of dog poop I've picked up at the park and goes "Phtttsstt".  I'm trying to get her to follow with "yucky" - but for now, she's pretty happy with herself for giving it a raspberry noise.

I went into the kitchen to rinse off a rag and turned to see - to my horror - the high chair tipping over sideways with LE inside.  Aaaack!  The dogs scattered about and I ran to get her out.  She cried for a few moments and was fine - but I had a nice dose of adrenaline that I didn't really need.  Somehow she managed to keep her arms out of harms way. 

LE loves chairs.   Is there a name for that?  She climbs on them and gets in and out repeatedly.  I'd like to fill the futon-room with her old car seats, blow-up chairs, wooden chairs, lawn chairs, anything that is a little chair, and see what she does.  That might very well be the best surprise present ever for a 12-month old.  Today I realized that I'm turning into the parent I didn't want to be.  I considered buying a miniature lounge chair because it was "only" $100.  What?  ...Well, I escaped without buying it, but my mind does toil with the thought of seeing her and Isaac all over that chair - what have I become?  Is there hope for me - it has only been a year!

Another thing LE loves is Lids.  Tupperware lids, screw-on lids, snap on lids, milk jug lids, you name it.  If you can put something flat on something else, LE wants to do it.  Sometimes putting the milk lid on is enough to stiffle a temper tantrum.  Hmm, I wonder how long that will work....

Every day is filled with little moments that make me laugh, worry, question myself and give me pride.  I'm more and more in love than I ever imagined.   Everyone said this would happen.  I wonder what is going to happen next, but I try not to get too wrapped up in it.  Right now I'm glad I'm here.  I'm where I want to be.

Since Miguel has summers off and I don't, weekends are precious to all of us.  The quandry of whether to stay home, to get out and go, run errands, or to catch up on sleeping is often apparent.  This weekend, we had penciled in a camping trip and possibly raspberry picking on our "to do" calendar.  We have to mentally gear up for a camping trip, and after heavy thought I was still up for it - and I think Miguel would have been happy to stay home, but he said he was game for an adventure.  We planned it all out over breakfast - but the thing about us is that we plan and we take a very long time to 'do'.  We figured we'd wait until after LE's first nap since she's never been keen on "sleeping in the car" when we make that part of our plan.  This time, we were going to be smarter than her.  I got a tip from a neighbor friend that Camano Island was a beautiful place to camp, and only 1.5 hours away.  So that was the destination.  All we needed was a piece of advice and our plans were in motion. 

While LE took her nap, I resourcefully went to the store to pick up the dinner items, snack items, and a few cute clothes that she 'needed', like a swim rashguard to protect against the sun and some plaid pants (of course!).  I managed to get home shortly after she woke up, but we were all hungry, so the lunch we intended on making at the campsite, we made at home.  As Miguel puts it, we were slow before having a kid.   Now, we're glacial.  So, to sum it up, we got out of the house at 2:40pm.  No problem, right?

Wrong.  We arrived at the campground to see a sign, which I should have taken a photo of to further dramatize this entry, that said "Campground FULL".  We kept an ounce of hope and drove around the 1-43, 44-78, 79-105 loops, and every single stinking spot had a car in it - or some sort of pathetic camp chair.  Not to dispair though, we pulled into the day use area and were determined to have a good time.  The beach was full of rocks the size of baseballs and covered in barnacles.  The water was brown and murky and the tide must have been out, because it was a long ways away.  Lucy was rambunxious as all get-out, and chased her frisbee ad nauseam.   We found a small patch of little gravelly type rocks where we put out a blanket and let LE sift the sand through her fingers.  Lucy ran herself ragged - and cut her feet all up on the barnacles, so we had to stop chasing the frisbee.  We didn't have enough food and the car was too far away. This wasn't quite the beach experience we were expecting, and both of us couldn't help but think, "We should have just gone to Larrabee Park in Bellingham - it is way better than this."  You know how sometimes you have to travel far away to realize how beautiful it is right in your own backyard?  We stayed for about an hour and then with little discourse, made the decision to head back home and camp at good ol' Larrabee State Park. On our way out, we saw big groups of college-age folks with their boom boxes, loud yelling and beercans, and thought "Yah, maybe it's better we didn't find a spot".   With a kick in our step, we headed back home to the first place we ever stayed in Bellingham,  the Larrabee campground.  

I won't go on forever, but you must know that we made our way along the twisting, winding Chuckanut Drive and pulled into the park an hour and a half later, to see the dreaded sign "Campground FULL".  Once again, beaten down.  "No, you will NOT go camping".  So, with a screaming, kicking LE (sick of being in her carseat), and a very tired & sore Lucy, we pulled up in front of our house and proceeded to take everything out of the car that we had so carefully placed there a few hours earlier.  Camping Trip Thwarted.

Never fear though, instead of putting a match to some briquettes, we put LE down in her own bed, made up two beautiful steaks on the grill with salad and corn on the cob and a couple glasses of fine wine (all of which we took out of the camping bin) .  We watched a movie, made a batch of Snickerdoodles and a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies, and went to sleep in a comfy Queen bed.  We felt like morons, but we were comfortable morons.  

Sunday was much more successful as we did some yardwork, met our friends to pick 10 lbs of raspberries (and LE got very down and dirty), and even visited the water park on our way home.  Once again, this weekend was a good reminder as to why the heck we love living here.  We don't have to go anywhere else to have a great time.  Bellingham is seriously the best place on earth.

This past 4th of July weekend was our first attempt at dragging Linnea through a multi-day ultimate frisbee tournament.  Overall, the event was a success and Linnea had a good attitude on the field.   There was one other bbay (14 months) on the team with us.  Miguel and I picked up with a group of players from Nanaimo, B.C.  We didn't know most of the team but we wanted to play in the tournament, so we accepted the invitation.  As the days drew nearer, I had thoughts of bagging out so we could leave the chaos and unknown behind us.  How was she going to sleep on the field?  Food?  How would we heat up the food and what if she cries the whole time?  Think of all the packing and unpacking and ugh - what a lot of work!

Soon it was Saturday morning and the alarm sounded.  Miguel and I went into action and had the car packed up, kid changed and in the carseat, and were heading down I-5 by 7:45am.  The tournament was 3 days long.  We played 6 hours of frisbee each day and overall, Linnea did great.  Miguel and I would trade her back and forth as we played a few points and came off the field for a few.  We passed her off to welcoming teammates and everyone helped out.  We only had two major problems.  1- Napping.  We tried and tried and could not get this girl to go to sleep.  To her credit though, Potlatch is not really a sleeping environment.  At any one time, there are people yelling, blowing horns, playing loud rock music, dancing, hooting for drinking games, running around in chicken suits, full body pink spandex, moose heads and clown outfits.  It is doubtful that anyone could sleep through the chaos.

Our first night, we paid for the lack of sleep during the day as Linnea woke up screaming at 10pm in the hotel room.  We tried all we could think of to calm her down, and we must have put that pacifier back in her mouth a hundred times before we resorted to taking her for a drive.  The car was more of a soundproof box than anything - as I was certain we were keeping the entire building awake.  Within 5 minutes of driving, Miss Linnea was sound asleep with the pacifier hanging loosly from her lips.  We drove for 40 minutes and transferred her back into the crib successfully.  She woke again in a couple hours and so I put her between us in the bed - where she slept until morning.  It was a rough one for all of us.  The next day we learned to feed her more throughout the day, and to nurse her laying down in the bed until she fell asleep.  We also learned that we love King size beds.  

2- Drinking.  Our child loves to eat and drink everything.  Well, out on the frisbee field, that includes adult beverages - and they are everywhere!  PBR, Gin & Tonics, Coors Light, Red Bull.  Whatever we're drinking out of those shiny containers sure looks good to Linnea, and she'll scream and twist and churn if we don't give it to her.  Luckily we made it through the weekend without our 9 month old getting sloshed from an unattended drink - but there were a few times when I had to pull her entire fist out of someone's mixed drink.  

Our team was placed in the D-Pool (out of pools A-F) and we won 4 and lost 4 games throughout the weekend.  We played hard and Miguel had his usual stellar catches and throws that turn heads up and down the field - so that was fun for all of us.  Linnea was a good sport and she cheered for mom and dad - especially when prompted.  Thanks "7 Potatoes" for a great weekend.  Our big adventure comes to a close and Linnea is once again happily sleeping in her own little bed.     

It was a week night and I was on my way home from work on a lovely sunny evening.  It was one of the nights where we take turns to get out on a bikeride, or to do something out on our own for exercise in the evening, but it donned on me that I'd much rather spend an evening with my family (together) outside.  So, instead of rushing to feed Linnea and rushing out the door to run around, I pitched the idea to Miguel to rush to Fred Meyer for a roasted chicken so we could spend the evening at Boulevard Park with Linnea & the dogs.  Miguel had no qualms with the idea, so that's what we did.  We took a blanket, some drinks, Lucy's frisbee and about 25 other things we probably didn't need, and ended up at one of our favorite places in Bellingham.  So what that Linnea went to bed an hour late.  So what that I didn't get to run.  There will be plenty of time for all of that.  We did get the memory - some great photos - and two very happy dogs out of it.  I'm sure Linnea will forget that we did that, but for me, it was important to see that with a little initiative, we can still do little things that put life into living.