Christmas in Texas

We had a wonderful Christmas vacation in Texas. We stayed with friends in Houston for 4 days then family in Austin for 5 days and then again 2 more days in Houston. Two Christmas celebrations, a reunion of our scooter club family, lots of play dates with Vespa's new friends, a surprise bachelorette brunch, finally finished my tattoo sleeve, caught up with old friends, the list goes on... and oh so much good food!

Christmas Cards

This year we decided to make our Christmas cards using block prints. We went with the gnome theme just like Vespa's nursery. I did the drawing. Casey did the linoleum block cutting and printing. I did the writing. It was a lot of work yet a lot of fun.  (Side note: Don't be upset if you didn't receive one. We mainly did them instead of buying  presents for all our friends and family we would be seeing in Texas.)

I'm 32 years old!

I had a nice birthday. Nothing special during the day but gathered with friends at night. I always feel the pressure of birthday's having to be really special days. As a kid I use to cry at my birthday parties for some reason or another. In the morning Vespa and I went to baby/momma yoga and she fussed quite a bit so not much yoga was practiced. I guess she didn't get the "It's Momma's birthday it'd be nice if the baby was calm and quiet" memo. In the afternoon we ran some errands and stopped at Whole Foods to pick up the birthday cake which was very good. In the evening we had a small party with friends at Chuck's. One of favorite casual places where babies and dogs are welcome. It's like a quickie mart for beer...and they have brats! I was surprised to see how many people showed up and felt very loved. Casey got me a gift certificate for a massage which was a great present since I would never buy one for myself even though I could really use it. Oh and I almost forgot one more thing. This weekend we are going to see one of my favorite comedians Maria Bamford. It's be a real date, got a babysitter and everything (another great birthday present from Auntie Jackie).

Vespa is 6 months old!

I can't believe 6 months have already flown by. What a journey it has been.

At the beginning, our little angel turned into a colicky nightmare. Vespa screamed all day and night for the first 3 months of her life. There are a lot of theories out there about colic. We believe she experienced sensory overload during this developmental stage and had trouble self-soothing. We got through this difficult time with constant swaddling and bouncing. Luckily, this was a temporary phase and she is now all smiles, giggles, and squeals. Although she is still quite demanding and vocal about it. :-)

Vespa is very social and loves being out and about. Her favorite places include:  Pike Place Market, the Chihuly museum, pet shops and the freezer aisle of grocery stores. She is getting to be a busy bee and needs constant stimulation. Vespa can now roll from back to front and just recently started sitting on her own. She loves food and we give her whatever we eat (pureed, of course). At her six-month checkup she measured 28 inches (99^th percentile) and weighed 18 lbs. (80^th percentile). Doc says she is super strong and predicts she'll be taller than us! We still don’t know where Vespa got her blonde hair and blue eyes.

Over the past 6 months we have been lucky to share Vespa with loved ones. She got to meet her big brother and sister, both sets of grandparents, aunts, uncle and cousins. In the fall we took a trip to visit my family in Washington, D.C. and my friends in Arizona. Next month we will be flying down to Texas where we will spend time with our friends in Houston and Casey’s family in Austin.

We are enjoying this special time with Vespa and savoring it as much as we can.

This is a photo of Vespa in a traditional Swiss dress. We are hoping to visit Switzerland next summer. I know Vespa will love riding the trains.

Hello again...

It's been two whole years since my last post. A lot of life has happened! Two weddings. One baby. What reminded me of this blog was that we recently went mushroom hunting to the exact same spot. This time the hunt was unsuccessful because we were a little late in the season and it was snowing. I'm going to be better about posting here instead of relying on communication through Facebook (which seems to be turning into an advertising machine).

Gone Shroomin'

On Sunday Casey and I went mushroom hunting near Stampede Pass, WA (map). This is near where the TV show Twin Peaks was filmed*. We went there on a tip from my acupuncturist (who barely speaks English but knows his mushrooms). What a variety of mushrooms we came across! Everything from inedible to delicious and medicinal to deadly. Colors of red, orange, yellow, purple, blue, pink, brown, black and white. We took photos (link) and brought pounds of mushrooms back home. Casey spent the evening identifying them. Although we could have eaten quite a few, we decided not to because we are still learning. You want to be positive of the species or it could be fatal. I am already looking forward to our next hunt.

*For the fellow Twin Peaks fans: Next time I am going to get a slice of cherry pie and a cup of Jo at the famous Double R Diner.

Summer of Seattle

July August 2010

Casey and I had a summer of chickens and house guests. Our chickens arrived by mail the first week of July and our first guests soon after. Ian and Kennedy, Casey's kids, visited for two weeks. Jen and Adrian from Houston came the week after. Then Will from Portland and Alicea and Brian from D.C for a few days each. It was so much fun to watch the chickens grow. We could see them change over night.