Welcome to No-land

ESK has been babbling a ton lately. Blah blah blah blah gobbledy gook, etc. Sometimes she throws in a few words here and there. Lately, her favorite word? You guessed it: "NO". She uses it with abandon. "Do you want to read a book?" "No." "Do you want to eat?" "No." Do you want to go night night?" "No." "Do you want to go to college?" "No."

Ah well. I knew this time was coming.

Living the Dream
This summer has flown by for us. I think moving into a new home really consumed our lives for awhile. And now that we're pretty much settled in, I feel a bit lost and anxious. I put my work on the back burner and haven't pursued any projects. So in the professional sense, I feel a bit adrift. But otherwise, I feel as if SK and I are finally doing some things and tackling projects we've talked about/dreamed about since we first got married.

Some background... Right after we got married, we moved to San Francisco and lived in a tiny, run-down, non-insulated apartment. When we first got to SF, we found the apartment had mold on the walls and a disintegrated kitchen floor. That was the worst of it, but the rest wasn't that much better. A half hour before we went to bed every night, we would have to turn on a space heater in our bedroom to prepare the room for sleep. As we huddled under the covers at night, we would talk about how it would be nice to live in a 1)warm home 2)our own home 3)a home where ESK had her own cozy nursery.

So, while our new house is far from perfect -- it's tiny and apparently has a rodent problem (see previous post) -- we are pretty darn happy. [Cue soundtrack: "Our House is a very very very fine house..."]

EEK!

Last night I was curled up in a blanket on our living room couch, I saw a little mouse scurry behind our TV. GROSS.

I went straight up to bed and made SK look behind the TV to see if the mouse was still hanging out. He didn't see anything. Where did it go? Double, triple gross.

I'm going out to buy traps today. Ah, the joys of homeownership.

I heart summer

Our new neighborhood is full of school-aged kids. Seeing the kids hanging out on the sidewalk tonight reminded me of how much I loved summertime (before I had to worry about SATs and getting into college). We spent most of our days hanging out at the pool, going to summer camps, riding bikes, our skin getting darker and darker by the day. So carefree, so fun...

I feel a bit of that this year here in Portland. I still have a lot to do around the house, taking care of ESK, running errands, etc. But because ESK is more mobile and embarking on a more exploratory stage, I feel like I'm starting to relive that summertime excitement.

The summer weather here is wonderful and after the long rainy months, I try to take advantage of the weather as much as possible. Going to the outdoor pool. Walking to the playground and hitting the swings, then the jungle gym, and finally the slide. And last but not least, the occasional ice cream treat. Yum. It's amazing to watch ESK experience all these things for the first time and it's more amazing to witness the pure joy she exudes. Peals of laughter, endless giggles, big dimpled smiles. Makes mom's heart melt.

Montreal
This past weekend, I met some friends in Montreal, Canada for a bachelorette weekend. It is an inexplicably popular destination for bachelor/bachelorette parties. Everywhere we went, there were large packs of men and women, drifting to the next restaurant, bar, club. None of us in the wedding party new this when we chose our destination. Who knew?

Montreal is a very European-style city and much more French than I was expecting. All the signs, television, and service was in French. And the old parts of the city had the requisite cobblestone, narrow streets and alleyways. It was a much larger city than I imagined with better shopping and a more sophisticated feel. The two nice dinners we went to both had music thumping in the background and folks at the bar checking each other out. There was just an energy in the air at these places that reminded me of NY, but that I never run into in Portland. I suddenly felt like a country bumpkin. Or just a mom who hasn't gone out in awhile.

Anyway, I had a good time just hanging out with girlfriends. But I would highly recommend Montreal for a romantic getaway weekend as well. It's a taste of Europe, but just next door in Canada. Isn't that what it's billed as?

So, what did I do with ESK you ask? Hubs watched her for the entire weekend, a first for him. I was actually more curious about his experience at home with ESK than my own experience in Montreal. SK is a good and attentive dad, so there were no disasters or mishaps. But as he has ZERO kitchen skills, I wrote out a menu of pre-made food in the fridge and cooking directions for things like scrambled eggs and grilled cheese sandwiches. Oh, not to mention SK's food. And just in case he was at his wit's end, I had some friends invite him over on Sunday afternoon. There was a lot of preparation involved for this three day trip.

When I returned, we were both exhausted and he admitted that his days were a lot busier than he imagined, with very little time to himself. And he also said he would never underestimate the amount of work I did daily in raising our ESK.

I ought to go away on girls' weekends more often!

Happy 4th!

I don't remember really celebrating the 4th of July much growing up or in my 20's. But now that we have a kid, I'm discovering there's all sorts of family fun on the 4th. Parades, fireworks, picnics, etc. Our neighborhood had a small parade and picnic, which we totally missed because we're so new to the neighborhood. Apparently this picnic is a big deal because I drove by and saw saw rows of BBQ grills and smokers, tents, everyone dressed up in red, white & blue and kids with face paint. I don't remember seeing stuff like this in the Philly suburbs, and certainly not in NY.

Instead of our neighborhood shindig, we headed over to a party one of hubs' co-workers was throwing. This family has a beautiful spread in the countryside, complete with tractor and two fat dogs. Every year they have a huge 4th of July celebration with their own fireworks (firefighters and fire truck show up) and BBQ feast. They also have 7 kids, the oldest in high school, the youngest at 2 years old! This year they were expecting 200 guests.

We got there on the early side, so we got to see the family interacting. Basically, everyone was running every which way all over the property. It was a complete zoo (even before the 100+ guests arrived), but what was great to see however, was all the siblings watching out for the youngest brother. Mom was able to get ready for the party without wondering where the toddler had toddled off to.

I don't think SK and I can handle 7 kids, but watching this family made me realize how great it would be for ESK to have siblings. We're going to start on that project right away!

Just kidding. Ha ha ha! Eventually though, yes, we'll get started on that project sometime...

Baby Cleavage

I thought I was trying to cover ESK's "polka dots" up, but instead, I created cleavage.