Record

Seattle hit an eye-popping 103 degrees Wednesday afternoon, the hottest day in recorded history. But we weren't the only ones over 100. As of 4 p.m., Olympia tied their all-time record high of 104, while Renton was at 105 and Vancouver was at 107. Bellingham was at a comparatively cool 96, but that shattered their all-time record high temp, which was 94.

Robert's temperature gauge in his car read 122 degrees yesterday at 5pm. He said it felt like his tires were melting. For the 4th day in a row, the kids and I are staying indoors. We are going a little stir crazy but a little nuttiness sure beats melting!

6 months

One Month

My sweet boy,

I can hardly believe you are 6 months old already! It feels like yesterday that I first held you and fell in love. These past 6 months have been an adventure that is for sure! What you have been up to so far-You are a busy little guy! You rolled over at 3 1/2 months and have been on the move ever since. Now you seem to flip instead of roll and you push yourself backwards across the floor, sometimes ending up half under the sofa! You can't seem to sit still and love stand and jump on my lap. Your absolute favorite toy is the doorway jumper though. You use one foot to get yourself spinning and swinging in it and all the while laughing. Making eye contact and getting us to smile at you is something you are very good at. At around 4 months you showed a strong interest in eating something other than formula and got to try cereal. You took to eating solid foods very well and we soon moved on to jarred food. You now love carrots, peach rice banana and plum banana oatmeal. I never have to worry if you are getting enough...you grab the spoon or my hand and guide it to your mouth! Your two bottom teeth made their grand entrance at 5 months, after a long, aggravating few weeks. You've learned how to get up on your hands and knees and have started rocking back and forth. I think you are going to figure out how to crawl soon. And believe me, I am so NOT thrilled at that idea! Some of your other favorite things: watching your sister, reaching for Cooper, talking to Daddy and listening to him read stories and laughing at all of us.

I can't wait for you to reveal more pieces of your personality. You are such a happy, sweet baby and I can't imagine my life without you sweet pea. You were the missing piece of our family and now we are complete. I love that you are my son and so honored to be your mom. Your beautiful blue eyes and your laugh are my favorite things of all. You make me laugh every day and often Beau.

My mom, Grandma Cindy, used say it was your "smurf day" to mark each month as we got older. I have no idea why. She could be silly sometimes. So to carry on that tradition and silliness, Happy Smurf Day Beau!

Love you always always always,

Mommy

Three months

6 months

Feeding Olivia

Mommy says she can't believe I'm going to be 6 months old next week and that I'm growing up way too fast. Personally, I can't get big fast enough. She likes me little but I want to be big so I can chase my sister and her friends and play with all of Lainey's toys. I really really want to catch Cooper and chew on him. He looks like he would taste pretty good. He's pretty quick though and tends to run off whenever I grab that fluffy tail of his. I love to jump and bounce and would be happy doing that all day long but Mommy and Daddy get tired pretty quick. Mommy says that Lainey is the climber and that I'm shaping up to be the one who leaps off of things. Not sure what that means but I like the sound of it! She's so funny! She makes me laugh like no one else. I also like food and love to get my hands on it. I really wanted Mommy's steak last night and was this close to having it but she caught me. I'll have to add steak to my list of things I'm going to enjoy when I get big enough to eat something other than the mush she gives me.

This is my new favorite toy. If you don't have one, you should because it's great! I love it!

If I could just get going I know I could catch Cooper

My seal impression. I think it's pretty good.

Bite of Seattle

Yay! I'm out of that stroller!!

Drinking straight from the sippy apparently wasn't good enough. She had to use the straw AND the sippy.

Lainey's Space Noodle

Beau really wanted a bite of our gyros but had to settle for his teether instead. You can see how happy is about that. Next year little guy! Nice face Lainey is making. Just once I'd like a good picture of the two of us. Maybe when she's 14.

We picked up Daddy for lunch today and headed up to the Seattle Center for the Bite of Seattle. It was already 83 when we got downtown at 11:30am and all weekend is supposed to be nice. Lainey's favorite part-seeing the Space "Noodle" up close and dancing to the band that was playing. Billy Idol is apparently on her top 100 list. Glad to see she likes the classics. Beau was just happy to be out of his carseat and the stroller. Unless he's sleeping, he just doesn't want to be in them. It probably has something to do with his need to be jumping at all times whenever he is awake. As always, it was fun to see Daddy in the middle of the day instead of the end.

Robert's NYC trip

Robert got home last night from a 4 day work trip to New York City. While there, he managed to get us all goodies from M & M World (I love their coffee mugs), and before catching his flight home, made a special trip to Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken, NJ. Why would he go to Hoboken you ask? Well, we have recently become hooked on a new show on TLC called The Cake Boss and it's at Carlo's Bakery. The owner, Buddy, is the Cake Boss. What that guy can do with cake is nothing short of art! One of my favorite episodes involves a guy ordering a variety of italian pastries for his pregnant wife. It seems she was craving the Lobster Tails. What did Robert bring me? Lobster tails!!! It's made with filo dough that has custard in the middle and is shaped like a lobster tail (or cone). I am now completely hooked and craving more!!! I don't look forward to his business trips but I won't complain too much about him going to NYC again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I'll get to tag along on the next one.

Oh, and not only did he bring back the lobster tails, he brought cupcakes and cookies too!! I know, what a guy right?! I am so SO lucky!!! He also brought me a t-shirt and got his picture taken with two of Buddy's sisters!! That's how I found out he was at Carlo's-he emailed me a picture of him and Mary! The pictures aren't fabulous as he took them with his Blackberry. I'll be sending him with a real camera next time!

Seriously, we've been married ten years and he still does sweet stuff like this for me.
He's quite a guy and I am so glad he chose me!

Aquarium Adventure

A trip to the zoo was the original plan but the weather didn't want to cooperate with us. Instead, we went to the Aquarium with some friends of both Lainey's and Mommy's. Both Lainey and Beau enjoyed it. Lainey loved touching starfish and looking at all the fish swim by. This morning I got another request for the zoo but I think that may have to wait til tomorrow. Mommy is still tired from yesterday's adventure!

Hi there. How are you?

Don't leave!

Lazy little snackers

My very own sucker fish.Just a little closer Aunt Nan.

Watching the jellyfish float around

Beau's antics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE7EZzKU9N0

Lainey's antics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2xvemqhem8

Happy 4th of July

What do you get when you add one family,

two firecrackers,

and a sparkler? A holiday to remember!

Children's Museum

It was my week to plan this week's playdate for my mom's group. I haven't made it to too many of our outings recently but decided we all needed to get out of the house. Deanna was nice enough to join us in going to the Children's Museum in Everett. It's a toddler's paradise. Lots to climb on, touch, look at and just explore. Even Beau was fascinated so we give it 3 thumbs up!

This place is pretty cool Mom! The colors in the picture of Lainey going down the slide just didn't look right so I converted it to black and white. I tip my hat to Deanna for catching her coming down it though. My P&S camera has a horrible shutter lag.



This was the first time the weather was nice enough for us to visit the roof. It's very cool up there and we'll definitely be bringing Daddy here.

All during the day Beau would lean back for a snuggle. Hands down the best part of my day!

This is for Lips. There's a neat airplane exhibit with seats and everything.

This is the face I get when I ask her to say, "cheese." Definitely cheesy!

The water room is always a big hit