3 week round-up

Ahhh, I feel overwhelmed by guilt (I have not updated you all in FAR too long and sooo much has happened) and anxiousness (this is too exciting to tell you about in a parenthetical sentence). There is a wonderful smell coming from my oven a.k.a a nice Rhubarb pie and I can hardly wait to put a dollop of vanilla ice cream on the warm, gooey, tart pie. I just discovered Rhubarb pie thanks to Claire (Cameron's wonderful stepmom) and I think its my new favorite pie.

ANYWAYS! Gosh, I can't even remember what I wrote last and what has happened since. Let me think......something to do with hell, Science Fiction Museums, lobster tails, an additional tooth and some new moves. Sounds interesting, eh? OK, before you die of excitement let me explain.

First, my sister, Lydia and brother-in-law, Joel graced us with their presence for a while. It was so great to have them here. They are such kind, fun, and cool people. And Malone absolutely loved them. We tried to get out of the house quite a bit, because although our house is cool in aesthetic, it was not cool in temperature. We found ourselves in the middle of the Tacoma Heat Wave of 2008. It was crazy! We went to the Glass Museum in Tacoma and Experience Music Project and then something we never thought we would see....the Science Fiction Museum. We learned a lot and I think Lydia and Joel were in Science Fiction heaven.
Picture 2: Lyddie, Joel and Malolo at the Seattle harbor Picture 3: The Museum of Glass and Lydia's glorious head
Then the day after Lyddie and Joel left, Cameron's dad and stepmom came for a little visit on their way to Oregon. Malone loves her Grandma Claire and Grandpa Jay. We enjoyed just visiting with one another. By the way, they bought us a "little" gift, a not so little lobster tail. Its the biggest thing I've ever seen. Here's the pictures. We haven't fixed it yet. We're saving it for a very special occasion.
Picture 4: Malone with Grandma & GrandpaPicture 5: Malone and Granpa Jay enjoying a coffee breakPicture 6: The infamous lobster tail Picture 7: Look how big it is compared to my arm

Then, our friend Justin came for visit. Justin is one of our oldest friends and we enjoyed catching up with our dear friend. And now, my old roommate Eryn is here for a visit. I love Eryn and so does Malone. I think they are new best friends.

So there you go. You are semi-caught up on our happenings. Oh yes, and Cameron has gone back to work and started flying. He is loving this new phase of his job (actually getting to DO his job). I now call him my "international man of mystery".

Lastly, Malone is on the move!!! She crawls as fast as a cougar (does a cougar crawl?) and get this....the other morning, I went into her room and guess what she was doing?! She was STANDING in her crib waiting for me. Standing?????Umm...we are so not ready for that. Needless to say, it was not a fluke. She is currently pulling herself up by just about anything she can get ahold of. Which also means she is bonking her head quite often. I spend so much of my time keeping an eye on her now and moving her and lots of objects. She's growing up so fast. She's even reading now (even upside down!!! So smart!)

Here's some pics of her in her Alabama onesie. These pictures are dedicated to my family in Tuscaloosa and Brian and Brandi Steorts (we miss you guys!!)

Minor Parenting Victory, grass and noggins

I love Malone. I love how silly she is. I love her little smile. I love when she gets the hiccups like she has right now. I love hearing her trying to tell me a story. I love it when she holds my face with both her hands and smiles. Agghhh, it warms my little heart just to think about it. And now I love that she is sleeping in her own crib and through the night. With this new and recent adjustment I feel like so much more has changed in her than just her sleeping location. I feel like she's more grown up. Like she's one step closer to going to leaving the house and going to college (I don't even want to think about Kindergarten at this point).

Is every step of her growth and development going to be this bittersweet?

In other news, I have to tell you what a rock star husband I have. He spent all last weekend (with the help of some friends and one really nice neighbor) preparing our backyard for topsoil, laying the topsoil, fertilizing, and laying sod in our backyard. He worked so hard. I was impressively impressed with his yard work skills. I, on the other hand, felt like a total loser who just sat on the steps and watched. Granted, I was put in charge of Malone (much harder according to Cameron although I think he was trying to be nice). Still I felt like this was totally something I should've been helping with, out there sweating, getting sand under my nails and mud on my face. Anyways, the grass is laid. Now we just have to put up a fence and finish our patio. Here's some pictures of the "sod party", our nice green grass and our sad little patio.

In even more other news, Malone has adopted a Yoga Crawl as her means of transportation. Let it be known that I think she's the inventor of the Yoga Crawl. As you can see in the following video, she does not crawl on her hands and knees like most babies. Instead she gets on her hands and her feet with her bum in the air, very similar to a yoga pose whose name I cannot remember and then she goes into the yoga pose, "downward dog" although Malone is less graceful and instead just jumps forward onto her face. Nonetheless, she is on the move.

And for our last story of the evening, I took Malolo to the doctor on Tuesday for her six month check-up. And did we have a heck of a time. The doctor came in and started checking her out and at first she was a bit cranky (darn appointments right in the middle of nap time) but then all of a sudden she started laughing hysterically at the doctor. I think it was a bit of a nervous laugh but funny nonetheless. In fact, so funny that I was laughing hysterically as well all the while the doctor looked at us like we were coo- koo. Despite the jokes, Malone is healthy and strong with a bit of a big noggin (65th percentile for her head circumference). Apparently, she's smart too! Isn't that what a big head means?

Sorry, one more addition. We went to something called Seafair on Saturday. Long story made short, ever watch "The Deadliest Catch" on Discovery Channel? For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, its a tv show that chronicles the adventures of crab boats fishing in the REALLY cold, crazy waters near Alaska. Anyways, we got to go aboard "The Northwestern" (one of the boats) and meet the Captain and the crew. It was pretty awesome. We got to go aboard because one of Cameron's pilot training classmates did a fly over for the fair and got us VIP passes. Fun, huh?

Well, I better go before Malone has my hair for dinner...ouch!!

Washington is the best!

Can I just tell you how much I'm enjoying Washington?! So far, the weather has been not the greatest with mostly cloudy/55-60 degree days with the exception of a few marvelous sunny days. Although locals say this is really unusual for the summer and I'm going to take them at their word. Sorry its been a while since my last post. We have been busy little bees. PS: I've been working on this post since last Wednesday, but only now have a chance to post it...don't worry I made the appropriate updates. OK, let me tell you what we've been up to.

First, we've made numerous trips to Seattle for the furniture superstore, IKEA. Anyone ever been there? I think it is retail marketing at its best. First of all, its ginormous, probably the size of two Super Walmarts. You walk in and the whole front of the store is set up in a maze of different rooms of a house....kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms, offices, etc. Within each section they have decorated rooms. For instance, in the living room section they have a bunch of living rooms all decorated and set up. Then you look at each room, write down what item you want and where to get it and at the end of the maze is a warehouse with all the items in boxes ready for you to pick up. Pretty genius, eh? We bought a ton of Malone's furniture for really reasonable prices and we are putting it all together as we speak. Oh yes, part of the reason they can have such great prices is because you put it all together. Its been fun. Imagine me with power-tools! Here's a picture of the IKEA showroom.

Here's Malone, Cameron and her new IKEA highchair (only $25 and pretty sturdy!)

Then, we went downtown Seattle to the famous Pikes Place Market (been there twice already). Its the place where they throw the fish. Side note, anyone remember Real World Seattle where Steven slapped Irene as she drove off? For some reason I always remember that when I think of Pikes Place. Anyways, Pikes Place is this big farmer's market type of place with lots of fresh produce stands, fish stands, butcher shops, spice shops, fresh flowers everywhere and tons of little food carts, oh yeah, and the original Starbucks. It is awesome! If anyone wants to come and visit we will be sure to take you there. I bought some shrimp/prawns that were the biggest I've ever seen. Here's just a shell.

We had them the other night with Asparagus Risotto....So yummy! We bought some specialty sausages including some homemade South African Boerewors, our national sausage. Malone didn't think it was nearly as exciting, as she was fast asleep in her stroller the whole time.

Then we drove around downtown Seattle for a little. It is the most beautiful downtown I've ever seen. Its like Manhattan with lots of trees and much more hilly (I told Cameron to remind me never to drive my standard-shift Toyota in this hilly place). Here's a street performer hula-hooping, while playing harmonica, while playing guitar behind his back. Impressive.
Friday all of our belongings got delivered! Its amazing how I had forgotten how much stuff we have. Highlight- We actually slept in our own bed the last few nights. It was the first time in 4 months! We were excited!!!! Again, I'll post some more pictures once we get a bit more settled and there isn't boxes EVERYWHERE. Here's a picture of Michaelangelo painting our livingroom.

A few more random thoughts/things to tell you:

- I made some sweet potatoes tonight for Malone-- she loved them. No more bananas for now. The doc didn't like the fruit before veggie thing and her digestive track also didn't like it. Hence, veggies for now. Here's some pics.
- Love the house!
- Its Malone's 5 month birthday today. And to celebrate, she rolled over for the first, second, third and fourth time. She's a genuine rolling machine (back to front which is the hardest). She's pretty much awesome!
- Love the house!
- We're still trying to find a church. For the past 2 Sundays we visited a church called Soma Communities. It was really neat- meets downtown and is comprised of almost all young families. Interesting thing, their pastor/"elder" preaches a little but then they do discussion with the whole church. We were a bit nervous about the discussion because you always seem to have the one guy/gal who goes on and on about nothing relevant or makes really stupid remarks. But the congregation seemed to be really insightful, grounded and intelligent so it worked out well. I think we're still going to visit a few more churches, but found this one interesting.
- Love the house!
- Cameron got into the spirit of Washington coffee by buying a 5lb bag of Pikes Place Roast from Starbucks. Its huge!!!
-Malone is turning into the most beautiful little girl, see?
Its official that we have fallen in love with Washington....well, maybe not love, but we're definitely dating.