Seattle FUN!

So we are having a blast up in Seattle. The last month has gone by so fast with the help of great friends and family in Seattle, several visitors, lots of gelato and tons of things to do in the city. I will start with the most recent and work my way back.

6 MONTH CHECK-UP:
Stats:
Weight: 18 pounds 1 oz (app. 73%)
Height: 28 3/4 inches (app. 92%)
Head circumference: app. 10% (poor guy has my small head)
I don't know if I totally trust these statistics as I don't think the nurse was too accurate but he is healthy and growing:) Jack is really working hard at crawling, he can maneuver himself around in a circle and somehow manages to scoot himself backwards and forwards within a couple of feet radius. He loves being on his tummy and just started to bring his knees under his bum, but he still can't figure out how to use his arms to help him out.

KENDRA!
So one of my best friends from graduate school, Kendra is visiting from Connecticut, yes I would like to think that she made the long trip here just to see me but she also came for a convention. She did come a couple days early just to hang out. It has been so fun to hang out with her for the last week. We have relaxed in the jacuzzi, eat sushi, ice cream, explored pike market, shopped and best of all laughed a lot! My other best friend from graduate school, Ashleigh came up from Oregon for a day. It was so great to be reunited with my two best friends. I could not have completed grad school without them! I wish we all lived closer to each other as I really miss them. Thank goodness for phones!
Below: Ashleigh, Kendra and Me

WE MISS GG!!!
My mom came into town for the weekend and we LOVED having her here!! It went by way too fast and Jack is having withdrawals! We did lots of walking along the pier and the market, walked up to our favorite Russian Bakery every day (yum!), shopped, took a harbor cruise, played lots with Jack, watched movies and somewhat relaxed. My aunt and uncle and cousins spent the weekend with us as well, which was a lot of fun and Jack loves Lilly! Unfortunately, I don't have pictures with them.

Jack and GG at the harbor cruise

Every morning my mom stuck Jack in the sink while she got ready, he loved it.

Valley Gals and little BOYS!
We went to lunch at my old work, which was so fun to see everyone. A couple of my old c0-workers brought there little boys as well. There were six of us who got pregnant all within a couple months of each other and we all had BOYS! Amy, my old supervisor is expecting her first in November and she just found out she is having a boy as well so there will be 7 Valley boys (crazy fun!)!!
All the valley gals
Four of the six boys as you can tell Jack and Liam were not so happy
Jack loved little Luke except when he would pull his hair. Luke loved Jack's hair. He would grab it and pull it, Jack would scream. We would move Luke away but he would just crawl over to Jack and poor Jack can not crawl yet so all he could do was scream in self defense.

Tiny Tots at the Symphony
My friend Lacey and her daughter Ellie (friends from Seattle, her husband is doing an internship with Microsoft but they live in our same complex) went with us to the Symphony. Jack loved the music! Lacey is great, she plans activities every day and invites all of us and whoever can come along goes. She has really made living here fun. We have explored several parks and museums with them.

Cousins!
Jack's Seattle cousins have come to play at our house and Jack loves it! They love pushing Jack in his stroller in our apartment and I think Jack feels like the King of the Crew as he is pushed along happily!




FOOD, FOOD, FOOD, need I say more:
So I am attempting to make all my own baby food thanks to the Beaba baby cooker (which I love!), it makes it super easy to make all your own food. Jack eats like a champ, here are some funny pics of his eating experience thus far (can you guess the food?)


Strawberries, yes I realized after I gave them to him that you are not suppose to give strawberries until they are like a year old. Luckily, nothing bad happened but I will wait to give him anymore.
Avocado, he loves it! They say avocado is one thing that humans could live on alone because of all the nutrients they provide. Yummy!

Okay, these pictures below made me laugh, these pics represent what a typical first bite of a new food is like:
Tasting the new food (apples)
"Dad what is this?"
"Mom is this really okay to eat?"
"Dad are you sure, I don't know if I like it."
"Mom?"
"Okay I love it! Give me some more!"

Jack was so funny, he kept looking back and forth at Shawn and I to see if he was really suppose to eat this stuff.

Eating carrots and sweet potatoes


So far Jack has tried: apples, bananas, avocados, carrots, sweet potatoes, and strawberries. I just went to Whole Foods and bought a bunch of new food for him to try. So more to come!

Also, I don't have any pictures but Shawn's mom stayed with us for a couple of days which Jack of course loved. Shawn and I loved it as well because we were able to go on a date! We went to this delicious steak house. Grandma also let me sleep in while she played with Jack. We are excited to see her again. We have been lucky to have two of our Michigan friends here as well. I miss them and am excited to see the Michigonians at the end of the summer. It is no fun cooking every night, oh wait I don't! Poor Shawn has eaten several leftovers and Trader Jo meals. He will be excited for the dinner group again.

So many firsts! So kind of a long post.....

We have spent the last couple of weeks in Utah and Jack loved all the attention that he received from family and friends in Utah.  He would wait anxiously each day for his GiGi to get off work so that he could have her undivided attention.  If she did not pick him up immediately when she came home, Jack would let out a little fake cry and GiGi would come to his rescue.  We were able to see some friends and family (although, this trip I was a horrible picture taker and did not take a lot of pictures).  Luckily, we were in town the same time as one of my best friends from High School and best friends from London, so that was awesome to see them and their cute, adorable kids!  I was also able to see my best friend and her cute girls a couple of times, which was awesome!

While in Utah I enjoyed visiting my sister at Cameo (her esthetician school) where I became addicted to chemical peels, facials, body wraps, pedicures, getting my hair and make-up done and facial products!  I now have a facial regime that consists of several products that I love!  Shawn however is not a big fan because of the price but I tell him it is an investment and that "the face you moisturize in your twenties is the face you have in your fifties." Hopefully, that is true!

We love our apartment in Seattle and feel very spoiled. We live right down town in a fairly new 1400 square foot apartment with tall ceilings and a ton of windows. I love all the naturally light and love being able to watch all the city commotion down below.  We have a partial view of the water which is nice.  Yesterday the cleaning lady came over and I was not sure what to do. I never have had my own cleaning lady. I felt weird having her clean up our messes so I helped her out and chatted with her.  She was really nice.  I can't say that I don't mind having one:)  We have also met several friends who are also interning for Amazon.com or Microsoft.  We went out to eat with some of them and explored Seattle.  Funny, side note, we went walking with a couple and they have a cute little dog.  So many people stopped us to comment on how cute the dog was and talked to the dog and did not say a word to cute Jack (Jack is super social and loves talking to everyone). Finally, after this happened several times, the next person that stopped to talk to the dog, Jack just started crying.  The person looked up and started talking to Jack and Jack immediately stopped crying and started smiling and talking.  You gotta love Seattle!  People here go crazy over animals. Anyways,we are excited to explore downtown, get together with old friends and family and meet new friends. 

Also, Shawn is really loving his internship.  Everyone is super nice at amazon.com.  He is working 11-12 hour days but I think we are both use to that.  Yesterday he came home at 6pm and it was so nice to walk around the city with him. 

Jack had a lot of first in Utah here are a list of some of them:

1. Rolls over.

2. Turns in a full circle while laying on his stomach.

3. Giggles.

4. Eats rice cereal like a champ.

5. Sits by himself (okay, so my mom thinks he can do this but he sits for like 3 seconds and then falls over but for the GiGi I will put it on here).

6. Made lots of new sounds and noises (he especially thinks he is really cool now that he can blow bubbles).

7. Saw our neighbors horse and her band new colt that was born while we were there (So cute!). 

8. Caught his first cold (which was not so fun).

9. Started teething like crazy but no white pearly yet.

10. Experienced his first mother's day.

11. Went and put flowers on the graves of loved ones that we miss dearly for memorial day. 

We love Jack, each month his little personality (for the good and the bad) is coming out more and more and it is so fun to see. 

Jack's Baby and Me class.  This was our last day.  Jack loved his class and will miss it.

Jack trying rice cereal for the first time and loving it!

Jack loving his Great Grandparents

and dad!
Jack chillin with GiGi's dogs.  He loved them and they loved him!
Lovin' all the attention from GiGi and Auntie Rachel

My two best friends from London boys, aren't they cute!

Shawn's best friend from High School and one of my best friends from London were in Utah for a couple of hours before they were flying home from a visit to Idaho. We were lucky to be able to see them and their cute boy Brennan.
Brennan and Jack comparing legs. I wonder whose are chubbier......?
Jack gave me a wonderful mother's day gift and he even signed it! Genius, I know:)  I guess he does not care if I gain a couple more pounds.
Jack chillin with Mr.Jiggs.  

Here are some pics of our apartment in Seattle.  We love it!

Congrats! you made it too the end!

Easter, Wedding and More....

So we have had a busy last couple of weeks. We went to California for Shawn's brother's wedding. It turned out to be a beautiful wedding and it was so nice to see Shawn's family. Jack was very entertained with aunts and uncles to hold him and cousins who played with him. The time difference was a bit of a challenge with Jack but we managed. By the last day I was feeling a little zombie-ish. We especially enjoyed the 70 degree weather. It was so nice to see our friends that lived there. We met for the first time our friend's baby boy Brennan who was adorable. He was born 2 months before Jack. Brennan and Jack became instant buddies. It was very cute--every time we put Jack and Brennan facing each other, Brennan would reach for Jack's hand and they would hold hands and coo at each other. Jack would get super excited to have a buddy to talk too. As most of you know Jack loves talking and he loves to talk loud. Today we were at church and we sat next to this four year old girl. Jack got super excited and started to talk to her. He kicked his arms and legs and even gave her the double dimple smile but she paid no attention to him. Poor Jack has a lot of confidence but does not realize that the older women are not quite into to him...... except for the Grandma of course:)

We don't have a ton of pictures from the wedding but I will post more once we get some. Unfortunately, we did not even take one of our family.

Jason and Chelsea
The photo booth Jason made for their guests to take pictures and then put it in their Guest book. Also the guests were able to take a copy home. Very cool idea. Shawn and I had a blast taking pictures, we felt like we were back in fifth grade.
Kristy, me and the best buddies
Brennan and Jack holding hands


Today we had a great Easter Sunday. In the morning my brother came over for brunch and then we had a potluck dinner with our MBA friends. Steve and Jonelle Gray were gracious enough to host. Here are some pics of the day. Also on Saturday our complex had an Easter party so this is Jack's first picture with the Easter Bunny. He was not into it....

Jack's first Easter, I know totally cheesy but hey I am the mom and get to call the shots:)
The adults eating a delicious dinner
All the MBA kiddos after the eater egg hunt
Jack loving hanging out with the boys

Jack's first time meeting the Easter Bunny

Random Pictures Below:
Jack chillin with dad.

Jack after his bath
Mom doing her leg lifts with Jack (note: this is Jack's favorite tummy time position)

Jack talking with mom

Jack loving the Bumbo

Jack's first attempt on the chair, you can tell he is not sure what he thinks of this new thing. 

Jack is now very comfortable in his chair two days later, as you can see he is giving a half smile!
Jack chillin wondering why his mother is taking so many pictures of him. 
He is looking so grown up to me in this picture......
Okay, I had to post a picture of a cake I helped decorate because who knows when I will ever be this domestic again.  I made a cake for the young women's fundraiser and my friend Christie came over and taught me her cake decorating skills and this was the final product.  They did a fundraiser to earn money to pay for camp.  It was a big success.  There were lots of cakes that were auctioned off. They earned enough money plus some for camp.  

Waking up is so much fun!

This is Jack after his nap.  As you can see he looks like a mini Einstein!

AMAZON here we come.

No, not the amazon in brazil (I wish.....) but we are headed to Seattle with Amazon.com for a summer internship! We are excited to head back to Seattle and to see our friends and family. We feel grateful to have an internship this summer. We will head to Seattle sometime in the beginning of May. Shawn's internship starts May 18. Check out where we will be staying on the link below. We are excited. They put us up in an apartment in downtown Seattle. So all of you who have not been to Seattle, now is the time to come! We will had 2 bedrooms, so you will have a place to stay:)

Northern Michigan

Shawn had two weeks off for Spring Break so we headed to Northern Michigan to experience the north and the COLD. It was actually a very peaceful and relaxing vacation. The resort that we stayed at overlooked a lake and you could see for miles. It was very beautiful to wake up to such a beautiful view. Because Jack was so little we could not do much as far as skiing or snowshoeing but honestly I don't know that I would go skiing anyway. Our resort was at the top of the "mountain"(pretty much a big hill) where the lift ended so I don't know how enjoyable skiing would be. Probably a great place for a beginner.

We enjoyed reading, playing games, watching movies and SLEEPING IN. Shawn was awesome and took Jack every morning from 7am until I woke up which was normally around 10:40am (Do I have a good husband or what.....). I wish Shawn's Spring Break never ended..... Jack experienced the swimming pool for the first time and loved it. We also tried some yummy restaurants and celebrated my birthday. Shawn totally surprised me with a private dance lesson for us plus after our lesson we get to go to a club and practice our moves. For those of you that know Shawn you are probably as shocked as I was! I have been waiting to take dance lessons forever but I thought Shawn would never do it. So needless to say I am one happy woman!

Enjoy the pics below.

Jack's crazy hair. My mom calls him "Woodstock" or "Woody" for short after the bird on Charlie Brown because his hair sticks up on the top.

Jack and I chillin
Jack enjoying and pool and his mom wishing they were somewhere warm outside where she could get some Vitamin D!
The view from our room. The view from the lodge was amazing.
Disclaimer: We might seem like awful parents who drag their child outside in the freezing cold for a picture (well we kind of are) but you must know that Shawn is from California and always dresses like he was in Antarctica when it is barely cold. I was not wearing a coat that day also the car was close by so Jack was only out for a moment but great picture of frozen Lake Michigan.

Our favorite "Double Dimple Smile."