Nada pictures

It's been a few days since I've blogged. We have been places. We have seen people. We have done lots. But we have not been taking pictures (word on the camera is that it's getting worse. I'm a bad wifey - going and ruining my hubby's camera like I did...I'm really sorry babe). I do have my own camera but we had gotten so used to using Mike's that mine doesn't have a charged battery or anything. Also, I'm not crazy about the quality of pictures it takes. Maybe I can make some adjustments, but generally you have to have perfect lighting to get a good picture. (and no moving can be involved - which makes it kind of hard with a wiggly baby)

So yeah, I haven't been as inspired to blog since I don't have pictures to post. Uncle Pat was in for the weekend, and it was so nice to see him. Mike got some quality "guy time" because they went to a bachelor party and a Mariner game. That meant Lou and I had some girl time, too. We visited with another friend while they were doing their stuff. We also had a reception at church and helped with the food. It was lots of fun, but to tell you the truth by this evening I was ready to have a little "mommy time." So Mike took Louisa for a walk while I got a coffee and read a book at Starbucks. :)

An excerpt from the book I was reading:
"It has been said that any hard work bereft of some high ideal settles like sludge into dreary, pointless drudgery, but that same work, driven and shaped by a great love, turns normal life into noble adventure.
This is vitally important to understand: When God sends you a child, he calls you to an adventure."

Alright. I'm off to put the beanie to bed. Hopefully I'll find a way to take some pictures and share them soon!

Little Girl Blue

After cleaning up Louisa from her applesauce snack, I noticed how her blue eyes matched my shirt almost perfectly. Pretty baby.

(Not sure what that pink strip is on the pictures, I hope I didn't wreck the camera somehow...)

Here is a hod podge of things. Remember I mentioned how Lou will "anchor" herself to me? This is what I mean. Cracks me up.

Swinging little girl. This is at this neat, itty bitty park that is within walking distance from our place. You can see the tennis courts in the corner by the beach. Mike and I played some tennis. We didn't know what we were doing. But we found it fun enough to consider doing more of it, we'll see.
In an effort to distract Louisa from going straight for the wires on the dvd player and t.v. (now that she can crawl) we went and got her a few new toys. I found these wood blocks from the Land of Nod and knew I couldn't settle for anything else. Do you notice how Louisa is chewing on a block that has "Lulu" the ladybug on it? Love it! I will tell you that our scheme did not work. She zooms right by these lovely hand painted blocks to head for the real fun. Right now she has crawled underneath our desk (which is in the living room) to play with the wires. Oh my. She knows what she wants, I guess. We need a bigger place. Finally, I went to a thrift store today. There were some good finds. It's been super long since I've bought any clothes, but there were some cute shirts and baby clothes that I thought would be worth spending 20.00 for. I even found a 100% cashmire sweater, for $5.

Lou's favorite napping place as of late. Mike has gotten pretty skilled at lulling her to sleep in the handy dandy New Native sling. She still prefers to be nursed to sleep (what baby wouldn't?) but she doesn't put up too much of a fuss if daddy does it now. She tends to sleep longer, when with him, which is great.

Last night we went to a town hall meeting on Health Care. It sure surprises me that this has turned out to be the hot topic that it is. I was certain it was going to either be the economy or foreign policy. But no, Health Care reform is at the top of everyone's list of important issues. The town hall we went to wasn't a huge one, in fact there was only one Congressman there and he was literally there for five minutes, and didn't answer questions (though he talked to me for a second on his way out, ask me privately and I'll tell you the story...) It was more about a panel of doctors who spoke about the situation from their perspective. First of all, I was very impressed by their humility and compassion for their patients. It reminded me of how important having good doctors is, and gave me a renewed appreciation for their work. Seems to me like they are being villianized and told by the government that they need to be better regulated and possibly even rewarded for "outcomes" Yikes! They are not factory workers, Washington. Nor are they infallible, so I am totally in favor of Tort reform. I am also beginning to be in favor of letting people know the costs of medical care and then paying cash for doctor visits and such. People should then have individual medical savings accounts and use those for emergencies. I don't know what I think about pre-natal care and the costs associated with child birth. Seems to me that those costs are way out of control (13 grand to have a baby in the hospital? Come on!) so it would be hard for a family with alot of children to just pay for pregnancies out of pocket. It would have been for us, just starting out like we are. But yes, I do think medical savings accounts seem more reasonable than paying huge premiums, co-pays, etc.

So I suppose that is my take. Last night was very informational. And it wasn't all "politics" as some critics of the town hall's would say. The idea was to come together to be informed, to discuss, and to think about what to do. One last thing - I could never support having a Health Care system run by a government that does not respect human life. It simply would go against everything I believe. Tiny humans, old humans, and all in between need to be respected.

Well, I was going to post a video of Lou crawling, but it doesn't really seem to fit in with my post. Maybe tomorrow. By the way, she did come to the meeting with us, and it was funny how many comments she generated - most people made the same joke over and over - "oh, so are you paying your taxes? Can you vote yet?" Etc. I'm just hoping when Louisa is old enough to vote, that we will still live in a free country where everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Right now it's looking a little uncertain...

Just some things about Louisa

Louisa has been sleeping more in the morning lately. For the longest time, once we had gotten into a bedtime routine, she would go down between 8:30-9:30, then wake up between 6:30-7. She still wakes at least once, usually twice, nurses a little then goes back to sleep. Both Mike and I get enough sleep, and I think she does too. For the last few days, she's continued to sleep in the morning to at least 8, sometimes closer to 9. As far as naps go, she still is hard to put down unless I stay with her or wait until I am sure she is in a deep sleep. The napping thing has not really leveled out. She still seems to have a somewhat newborn attitude toward napping - she naps frequently but they are generally short power-type naps (20 min - 1 hour. Frequently being 3-5 naps a day) I guess maybe we could work on trying to get her to sleep longer. I was thinking by this time she would be settled into just one or two long naps during the day...but that's not really the case. I suppose I shouldn't worry - I know that every baby is an individual, and perhaps this is just her approach to getting enough sleep. It's amazing how alert she is and how things will distract her unless she is super tired or hungry.

I enjoy nursing so much these days. I can't stress how glad I am I stuck with it even though it was tricky for so long! I love it when we just look into eachother's eyes or when she reaches up to touch my face. She also has some funny little habits like sticking her leg straight up or putting it up on my chest as if the anchor herself to me. Solids have definitely slowed down. Like always, she has gotten most of her fill from nursing, and then we only throw in some applesauce, bananas, or rice cereal maybe once a day. She also tried prunes for the first time - she liked them! I thought to myself - I don't even remember if I've ever tried prunes, I bet the last time I had them was when I was also a baby! Anyway, we'll see if that will pick up again. Maybe I'll try giving her some vegetables, finally.

It's so funny to write about a baby all the time. Think about it. If I were just talking about myself napping and eating, this would most certainly be a very boring blog! But since its about a new human being, it's interesting (at least it is to me :)

We climbed a mountain

Lou can add mountain climbing to her repertoire of skills. We went up to Mt. Rainier yesterday with grandpa John and grandma Kathy. Actually, I'm not sure if walking along relatively easy trails counts as "mountain climbing"...but it sounds so much more impressive, that's for sure. The hike was stunningly beautiful....that's the peak there behind us. This picture was taken at a scenic view stopping point on the way up to Sunrise, which is where we set off on the actual trail. The pictures are out of order, but here I am with Louisa looking out at Shadow Lake, which is were we had our picnic. Note: Yes, I am wearing huge seventies looking pants. I didn't realize how bell bottomed they were when I bought them from Target :) Oh well, they are actually quite comfortable.By this point Lou wasn't too pleased with us; she would have liked it if we stopped for lunch just a tad bit sooner. She was better once she had some food and a little nap.

"Here dad, let me help you with that map. I know where to go"And of course, we couldn't resist taking many, many pictures of the lovely Rainier, the mountain we all know as if it were in our own backyard (which it really is!) Ahhh, how I love the Pacific Northwest and all that it has to offer.

Patty Cake

I haven't been feeling too well starting Saturday morning. I wouldn't say I am 100% sick, but I sure don't feel 100% well either. The worst result of this was that we missed liturgy on Saturday for the Dormition of Mary. Mike and I feel especially bad about it considering that the feast day wasn't actually moved to Sunday (for Roman Catholics), it was just that they waived the day of obligation since it fell on a Saturday this year, thus nothing in the mass on Sunday even mentioned Mary assumed into heaven, body and soul. We were disappointed. I really wish I had toughed it out and gone.

Some good things have happened in the last few days at least. Our friend Dani finally moved into our building. Louisa will be happy to have her close because she really likes seeing and playing with her. One of our neighbors, a sweet girl, stopped by to play with Lou. My mom stopped by yesterday to say goodbye because her and dad are going out on a driving adventure around the state. Great grandma played patty-cake with her favorite great-grand baby. All the laundry is done.

Well, that's all a little random, but I figured you could handle it. Happy Monday, and enjoy that cute baby pictured above!

College bound

My cousin Lauren is off to college in Ohio; she leaves Monday. She is going to Fransiscan University. I am very excited for her. I remember clearly what it was like to leave home for the first time as a freshman. I remember getting together with all my friends to say goodbye "one last time" - about five times! I remember packing everything that I thought I would need to make my dorm room "home" (I had some interesting design tastes back then...) and feeling so ready to be out on my own. Then, I remember feeling homesick *shock* despite my independent nature and ability to make friends fairly easily. That lasted about two months until I finally felt like my college town was another place to call home. I have an incredible collection of memories from my college experience. I truly loved my time as a university student, and I know how fortunate I was to be able to go. Especially considering I once heard a statistic that said only about 1% of the population of the world has a college degree. But its not even about the degree...it's more about the fact that I changed so much during those four years. As cliche as it may sound, my eyes were opened up to the world, and I am no longer as narrow-minded and naive as I once was as an oh-so confident teenager. Aside from the academics, of course I met my husband in college, along with many dear friends. I found my faith, then the Catholic Church. I learned that I am politically conservative (odd, since I went to a very liberal school), and that I don't approve of many of the academic "ideals" that are now circulated in state colleges. I learned so much and though I am the same person, I am not the same person at all.

Lauren, I know you are going to find out many more things about yourself while on this four year journey. You are going to meet new people from around the country. I know that your faith will become stronger and better informed. We will miss you but we know that God has great plans for you and He will guide you through everything! I love you so much and I'm so proud of you - go get 'em! ;)

Swiss Pancakes

Thank you Gina, for sending Mike the recipe for the crepes...they were delicious! Apparently Mike ate these fairly often growing up so he was pretty excited to make them for me. Like I said, they were great and I'm glad to have another dinner added to our repertoire.

I like mine with strawberry jam and yes, whip cream. Ilovewhipcream :)

What are some of your guys' favorite dinners? We don't have a long list, since we've only been married for a little over a year (and someone I know is slightly picky...) but we are both trying to contribute ideas to the menu. Aubri - I know you have your recipe blog - and I like to use that from time to time (I made the mac and cheese - yum!) and Kelly - those pork medallions are now a favorite :D

My trip to Oregon (as told by Louisa)

Well, I finally got to meet this Isaac boy everyone keeps talking about...he seemed pretty cool. I liked his feet.
Here is my dada holding him. Daddy is Isaac's godfather, you see. And here is mama holding him. She seemed to really like Isaac, too. She is his godmother.
Here are all of us after Isaac got baptized. Now he is a Catholic baby, just like me! After the baptism, we all hung out at Aunt Gina and Uncle Henri's. It was a fun time. I got to play with mama's necklace and Aunt Gina's buttons.

And of course Isaac and I hung out more. I'm pretty sure we'll be good friends because he is a cool guy. Did I mention that I liked his hair too?

Just when I was really getting know know my new buddy, we had to leave. At least I got to meet more new people. Such as: two pretty girls named Lucia and Isabella. Then I got to hang out with my great-grandma Hurliman. I wanted to get her face. I think she liked me because she smiled at me and wanted to hold me.

It was a cool trip, I tell you. I really can't wait to go back.

Naps and roadtrips

Lately it's been challenging putting Louisa down for naps. She likes to be nursed to sleep, which is fine by me (when she was younger I convinced myself I wouldn't do this. I've come to realize though, that it is the easiest way to do it for all involved, so why not do what works?) but lately I don't know what it is but she keeps suckling long after I would normally leave her. She wakes up when I try to move away. She will seemingly be in a deep sleep (still face, loose limbs) but again, she will wake up if I try to "detatch." Hmmm...what to do, what to do? Luckily for me I only have one baby and I do have the time to lay down with her to ensure she gets proper sleep. She will also nap with daddy in her sling most of the time, so I can do that if I've got stuff to do or don't feel like laying down. She hasn't been too keen on napping in the sling with me though - my guess is because she smells her food source. But overall I'm hoping this trend will stop sometime so that I can nurse her for a bit then leave her to nap on her own.

This weekend is going to be the best! We are driving down to be part of our soon-to-be godson's baptism! We have been anticipating Louisa and him meeting for a long time - I can't wait. So I'm sure there will be some cute photos of the two of them together. Also, Louisa will get to meet her great-grandma on Mike's side and hopefully some other relatives. I hope the drive goes well, it's about a four and a half hour trip, and I'm sure it will take much longer because we will be stopping for little Lou.

I hope you all have a nice weekend too! God Bless

wired

I thought some of you could relate to this. I know I do. Hehe.

Adam @ Home, by Brian Basset

Hanging out with grandma

Sweet Potatoes?

First try:Second try:

So I thought Louisa was not going to be a fan of sweet potatoes. She had the funniest looks on her face the first time I tried. It was in the morning, so possibly it was too early for solids. Also, I wonder if it is common for babies just starting out solids to become a little frustrated if you don't feed fast enough? I was thinking because they are used to a continual flow of food, so waiting for that spoon is just different. But actually she just didn't seem to want the potatoes at all. Later on I tried again, and it was alot more successful, as you can see. Also my home-made bibs have been coming in handy. I think I'll want to make some more!

Church Picnic

A pretty babe.

A group of friends.
A lovely breeze.
This is how we enjoy life.

This is how we show God -
that we appreciate His gifts,

that we are glad to be here.

A change of scenery

I woke up just a little bit ago to a gloriously cloudy day! I am glad for the change. Too many hot days in a row make me eager for good ole' Seattle greyness and coolness. I have no idea if it's going to stay this way all day - all I know is its the first time in a while that I've gotten to open the blinds and curtains!

Louisa too was ready for a change in scenery - she has been getting a little bored of her toys so I went into the kitchen in search of some new playthings. It was an easy search. Here she is enjoying the hodge podge that is our tupperwear collection. Ahh, it seems so great to be a baby! :)

This weekend is looking to be a fun one. My dad's birthday is on Sunday so we are hoping to take him out for dinner. Anyway, God bless and enjoy a change of scenery if you need to!!