Friday, July 24, 2009

Urban Lifestyle....

Star Stricken Moment:
Okay, so I have to blog about my "star stricken moment." Usually, I am not one of those people who goes crazy over actors or actresses but I was looking around at Anthropology when I noticed that Juliette from Lost was next to me shopping. Shawn and I are big Lost fans and it took every thing in me to casually walk by her and not pull out my camera to take of pictures. I had to keep reminding myself that she is a person who wants a normal life too. I talked to one of the employees who was helping her and her gang out and we were both pretty star struck. Anyways, pretty cool! It turns out that she lives on Brainbridge Island. The guy that colored my hair the other day said that he has done her hair a couple of times and that she is totally down to earth.

Updates of the last couple of weeks:
* Get together with our old friends from Everett. It was so fun to catch up and see everyone again. Everyone's kids have gotten so big, it is crazy how time flies by!
*Monthly get together with my old co-workers. It was pretty amazing, we went to my friends parents beach house right on the Puget Sound. You had to walk to her house because it is literally on the beach, so no cars allowed. The water comes right up to the house. We eat fresh crab that they had caught a couple of days earlier and it was soooo delicious! Jack loves all of his "boys" plus little cute Lucy, who Jack could not stop flirting with her. Lucy would read to Jack and Jack would just sit, relax and smile (so cute!).
*Jack does like 20+ pushups a day so I think crawling is getting close. I should do them with him and maybe I would lose the rest of my baby weight:)
*The other night Jack slept for 6 1/2 hours straight for the first time! I felt so rested, it was wonderful. Unfortunately, he has not repeated this glorious event. Although, he is only waking up twice during the night.
*Jack officially has two teeth.
*My friend watched Jack the other for me while I ran an errand and it was so nice because I put him in his pack and play and rolled him to the elevator, up two floors and into the house of my friend. We rolled the pack and play into the bathroom (that is where Jack sleeps in our house because it is so dark) and he felt right at home! He took a nap and then I picked him up and rolled him back to our place. People in the elevator were laughing at us but Jack was loving being tolled around in his pack and play.
*Jack and I experienced the "Ride the Duck Tour" with Shelly and her kids. Jack actually did awesome. At first he was a little scared of the tour guy who wore this funny wig but then he got use to it and had a great time.
*Shawn is working crazy hours (what is new:)) to finish his internship project as we only have three more weeks left.
*We have enjoyed a couple of Mariner games thanks to my gracious aunt and uncle who have given us some of their tickets.
*Shawn and I love the urban lifestyle. I think it suites as quite well. We both love being so close to everything and being able to walk everywhere. I go on around 3 walks a day. I love roaming through art galleries, museums, fun stores, window shopping, people watching and walking along the water listening to my book on disc, oh, I can't forget the food. I love trying out new places to eat. It truely promotes a healthy lifestyle. We love the short commute to work, trying out different restaurants and stores and all variety the city has to offer. The only problem is that now I have learned what days the mark downs take place and for some strange reason our daily walk takes us to those stores (which I don't think Shawn is enjoying as much as me):) So maybe it is a good thing we are leaving.....

Pictures below are in no particular order:

Play date with all the boys plus Lucy.
Jack loved little Lucy. Lucy was trying to hold Jack's hand

Everyone except little Jack was sleeping.
Eating the delicious crab.

This was the view from Erin's parents house. As you can see, the water literally comes up to the house. It was peaceful, good company and food, and a lot of fun! I love water.

Jack loves tofu. He was practicing his grasp on food and feeding himself, as you can see it was every where. At night I let him play with his food and just get messy. He loves it and then we stick him in the bath. My OT friends would be proud to know that Jack appears to have no sensory aversions to textures. They would also be happy to hear that he loves playing with his food and I highly promote him to explore and play with his food:)
Jack trying a teething biscuit for the first time and of course loves it. Plus mom got a few minutes to get things done:)

The other day five people (no joke) stopped me and said "oh my, she is so cute, what is her name?" Mind you Jack was wearing a yellow polo with SKATEBOARDS on it and grey and white checkered shorts. Could it be because his hair is getting too long? I just can't get myself to cut it.


Jack in his pack and play ready to go to his sitters.
Shawn and me at the Mariners game. We have been very lucky to have such nice sunny weather in Seattle. Perfect baseball weather plus awesome seats. I love going to baseball games, not only do I really enjoy baseball but it gives me an excuse to get a hot dog and a soda which I love but never get.
Shawn hates onies outfits but I think Jack looks so cute!
The Everett gang
This made me laugh so hard! One morning I woke up and went to our other bedroom and this is what I found! Too boys on their computers. Jack loves computers and is always trying to get to them. Finally, Shawn gave him and just gave him one to play on. Jack was in heaven as you can tell. I think Shawn was in more heaven because Jack was entertained for a long time which meant Shawn had some free time.
We walked over to South Lake Union and watched all the sailboats, so cool! Maybe someday we will pick up sailing.....

This is the scenery that we get to jog along every morning. It is so beautiful.
Jack loving his jogs and walks.
The duck tour, you go both on land and water. Sydney loves Jack. I think she was more interested in holding him than she was in the tour.

We went raspberry picking with some of our intern friends. The raspberries were big and delicious. Evie and Lila love Jack. Evie especially loves holding him and entertaining him, it is great.

**Funny saying: today one of Shawn's intern buddies from Argentina stopped us in the lobby of our apartment building and looked at Jack and said, "wow, he is very white." No follow up comment just that statement. We said yep he is look at his parents. We thought it was a funny comment, they just seem to say it as it is. Shawn said that on his mission in Brazil people would stop you and tell you that you have a zit on your face (as if you did not already know that or were somewhat self-conscious) or they would say comments like "you have a big nose, you are tall etc." They were not being mean just stating a fact.







Sunday, July 5, 2009

More Seattle Fun

WARNING!! Shawn brought it to my attention that this is a very long post with several different events. He said that next time I should blog each occasion separately but due to the lack of time, I have posted one big long post. This post is mostly for journal purposes and grandparents so feel free to spare yourself from reading all the boring details of our lives and just scroll to the bottom to see the pictures. I will take no offense :)

We have been busy with family, friends and exploring the downtown Seattle area. Jack's little personality is starting to shine forth for good and bad. Every day it seems like he gets more and more personality, which we love. Here are some recent Jack activities:
1. He loves jumping in his jumper and gets quite a lot of air. I have to put a time limit to this or else he would stay in it all day.
2. He giggles all the time! Fake and real giggles. The other day he let out a really loud burp and then he started giggling (oh no, he is a true boy). It was a proud moment for the daddy!
3. He is a great sitter, he can sit for a long time playing with his toys.
4. He has a preference for asians, I know you think I am crazy but it is true. Just ask my friend Nancy, my friend from Snoqualmie. She came to hang out with me for the day and right when she got in the car Jack went crazy. He started flirting (smiling, giggling etc) from the first time he saw her. Then we went on a walk and I put him in his stroller and he started crying (he usually loves walks, so I thought it was weird that he did not want to be in the stroller) I pulled him out and he quickly turned his head so that he could see Nancy and once he set eyes on her he started smiling again. Well, he stared and smiled at her for at least 1/2 hour as we were walking. Finally, my friend Nancy told me that Jack was making her feel a little uncomfortable :) A little awkward for my friend. Don't worry, Nancy loved him, we just thought it was so funny. I told her that he did the same thing with his little friend Lisa who is also asian and whenever he sees a girl that is asian he just goes crazy.
5. He got his first tooth (left front bottom incisor (I hope that is right). I would post a picture but it barely broke through and so you can barely see it.
6. He is starting to seriously manipulate his parents. So the other night he was crying (I think maybe from teething) but it was bad. He was awake crying off and on from 11pm to 5am. Finally at 3am we brought him into bed with us. Jack was holding Shawn's finger with his left hand and my finger with his right. He looked back and forth at us and then started giggling!!!! The little stinker! It was like a "ha, ha, ha, fooled my parents again" giggle. All Shawn and I could do from killing him was to laugh.
7. Jack is constantly moving. His favorite toys are the things that he sees his parents holding such as computers, cords, pens, cups etc. I don't know why we spend money on toys. I am nervous about his obsession with cords especially once he starts crawling.
8. Jack has tried mango, tofu with pears, asparagus, squash, and homemade rice cereal (super easy, you just grind up brown rice, and put it in boiling water--it taste quite good). So far he has liked everything except for the asparagus.
9. Jack continues to not be the best sleeper. He will occasional surprise me and sleep for 5 hours but that is very rare. He goes down every night around 6pm without a problem but from 11pm to 6am he will usually wake up several times. This whole teething process has only thrown his sleeping schedule all out of whack. I am very grateful for Shawn who takes him every morning for about 2 hours, so that I can get some sleep.
10. Jack is very stubborn and knows what he wants and when he wants it. Lately, he loves playing with his food and if I don't let him touch his food and feed himself, he starts throwing a little fit. Also, when I put him in his car seat (which he hates!) he has recently started to arch his back which makes it very difficult to put him in it. He has started to realize that the louder he cries and the more effort he puts into it the faster he gets his results as his mom feels real bad for the people around that have to listen to him. Can kids at 7 months really start to throw temper tantrums? Also, Jack makes very funny faces. When he is concentrating he puckers out his lips, which I find adorable.

A little update on Shawn: he is loving his internship and hopes that at the end of all his hard work that he will get an offer. Shawn has become a little obsessed with Amazon lately. Everything has to be from Amazon. Shawn has been running every morning with Jack along the water. We have both been enjoying our subscription to audible.com where we can listen to books on tape as we jog and walk.

I am enjoying hanging out and exploring different areas of Seattle. I am really enjoying being at home with Jack. He truly brings me so much joy! I think he is just so cute and he is constantly making me smile and laugh.

Here are some pics of our recent activities:
Play date with my old co-workers. All little boys.
Jack and Luke: begging their moms to stop taking pictures of them
My aunt Lynn came to visit with two of her kids and my aunt Daisy also came for the fun.
Eliza, Will and I at the market getting our honey sticks.
Coming home from eating gelato, it was a beautiful night.

My aunt Daisy brought her dog, Ginger, to visit. It was love at first sight. Jack loved Ginger and Ginger loved giving Jack kisses (Yuck!).
Puckering up!
The Kiss
After, typical response to a first kiss
Best Buds

Jack is starting to really move himself around. He started on his play mat on the left side of the picture and within about five minutes he has moved himself to the wall, only to find he could not go further and there were no toys and he was not sure how to get back.
On Father's Day we took a lovely walk around the water. Shawn is such a great dad. He loves to play with Jack and Jack loves him. Shawn is also very helpful to me. He takes Jack every morning for a couple of hours and if he gets home before Jack is asleep he also helps put him down. Shawn also takes Jack both weekend mornings. Yep, Jack and I LOVE him!

Jack and I went to the Aquarium with some friends. Jack was more interested in the other people than he was in the sea life.

Jack with his sitting skills:

Jack and his first time in a swing. He was cracking us up, he was very stiff with his arms up and tight and he would not look at us, he kept his head turned to watch the other swingers to figure what this was all about.

Jack's first time at the beach.

Jack in his jumper, as you can see he is getting some air!

Shawn's little brother and his wive came into town. Here is us eating ice cream again!

Fourth of July fun. We went to Shawn's brother's house for the annual BBQ and fireworks and then went and watched the big fireworks with my aunt, uncle and cousin in Bellevue. We were amazed how well Jack loved the fireworks. He sat so still and was mesmerized by the show.

Shawn's family
Jack with his cousin Kylee
All the boys
Jack loves sucking his fingers, notice how is hand is twisted.
All the cousins.