Settling in!

That we are. Marielle is still an interesting sleeper and yes, 'interesting' is a euphemism for whatever word for 'bad' you want to substitute but we're managing. She's done some 4 hour stretches which have been just heaven and much welcomed but her usual is more like 1-2. The witching hours between 5-10 are still alive and well but she's a bit less crabby and we're even getting some smiles and coos which just melt my heart!

Oppi Moishe is here now and is utterly charmed by Elianna (of course!) and pronounces Marielle, "gorgeous". Nammy arrives in November and we're looking forward to her visit.

This parenting of 2 is quite the challenge and I have massive, massive respect for those who do with without help. Nikki has been awesome and has been chomping at the bit to take care of both girls. We've done it once for a dinner out and she was a rock star, like always. We are so lucky to have such a great person who really cares about the girls.

Still having trouble taking as many pictures as I'd like but I'll try.

Our sleepy girl:

Daddy and Elianna:

Tummy time!

Sleep is for the weak...

That's what I'm telling myself. I may or may not have snarled out loud when some well meaning soul 'commiserated' with me, saying that getting 3 or 4 hours of sleep at at time is "so difficult". Ha! I'd commit dastardly deeds for a block of 3 hours; I've been getting more like 1.5-2 and only 3 of those in 24 hours. Elianna was definitely a better sleeper. Still, I'm finding it's amazing how well I'm functioning on such little rest and Mike has been a rock star, making sure I get as much as possible. We are settling in, though and I have hopes of a routine in the not so distant future...only because we managed to end up with one for Elianna.

Mom and Kevin came for a visit and had a blast with Elianna. She went to the carousel and they drove north to Greenbluff farms and picked apples and peaches. She charmed them with her doings and dazzled them with her singing skills (Prepare! Prepare!). I realized after they left that we didn't take a single picture. Boo!

Oh well, here are some recent non grandparent pictures. Enjoy!

And then there were 4...

It's been awhile and it's not like you all don't know already but we have a new addition to the family! Marielle Kathleen arrived August 5th and although it wasn't quite as big a bang as her sister's arrival, it was momentous nonetheless. We were told on Thursday that due to low fluid levels, we should induce delivery. We were skeptical of the necessity but after hearing the doctor throw around words like stillbirth, etc. we were convinced. I checked in on Friday at 730 and pitocin was started around 830. A mere 5 hours later, the divine Miss M made her appearance...loudly!

We moved to a new room and Elianna made her sister's acquaintance a few hours later:

note how much pinker Marielle got in the interim...I was a little concerned!

We are settling in nicely and Elianna seems to be adjusting reasonably well to her sister. She loves looking at her and kisses her head a lot. She's almost stepped on her head a couple times and likes to cover her face with blankets so we watch them carefully but it's all innocent.

Sleep, however, has become hit or miss which I was expecting. Marielle has her days and nights mixed up and I'm not really sure how to fix that. Also, Elianna has had 2 colds since bringing Marielle home and that always messes *her* sleep up so sometimes Miss M will be crashed out but I'm still up because Elianna is upset. This too, shall pass...or so I'm told. *yawn*

A couple more pics of my cuties!

That's it for now. We're doing well and hope to get some more posts and pictures up soon!

Two year old!

Big 2 year old!

Her second birthday has come and gone and I can't believe how fast this year went. Our scrawny little chicken has morphed into a full fledged toddler who loves doing things on her own, who expresses her own opinions, who delights in trying new things and who makes us laugh pretty much daily.

Her second year celebration was pretty low key but she got plenty of birthday songs sung to her which she totally loved and she blew out candles on her very own cupcake so I think she deemed it a success. Pretty sure next year will be the one she'll start to remember so we may have to go a bit more all out but this year was fine.

It's a bit bittersweet right now because a new little one is joining our lives...very soon. Mike and I are very excited but also just the teensiest bit sad that Elianna won't be our only focus. I think she's going to be a fantastic big sister though and can't wait to see how their relationship develops.

Her favorite boots...wears them all the time:


Our gorgeous girl:

Ever had your own sports announcer?

We've got one. Elianna has become our very own commentator on our doings. It's pretty funny because she is so matter of fact about it: Mommy hungry. Daddy eating. Mommy going upstairs. Mommy taking a shower, Mommy dirty. Daddy in the bathroom, Daddy naked boy. She's also become very interested in nakedness. Took her for a walk by a construction site where some of the workers were working without their shirts. Elianna started screaming, "Naked boy! See nipples, see bellybutton!" Ay Dios mio!

So I didn't realize how long it had been since the last post; definitely need to do better. It just seems like there isn't enough time these days.

We have moved into potty training her and so far she's doing really well, much better than I'd expected. There are still issues to be worked out such as, she's way too small to get on the toilet by herself, even with a stool but it'll come. She still needs help with the little things like getting undressed so it will be a long time before she's 'actually' potty trained but it's a huge start.

She's definitely almost 2; her opinions fly fast and furious these days, many of them beginning with the word, 'no'. 'Anna do it by self'' comes a close second in her repertoire; she's getting so independent! We have to budget a good extra half hour to go anywhere because we make a pit stop and then wait for her to put on her shoes, get her water, climb into her car seat and fasten in. All 'by self'. I've said it before but this is *such* a fun time!

Figuring out the new carseat


'Drinking' her pasta

This could get sticky...

Literally. Lately Elianna has been eschewing her flatware and using just her hands. She frequently upends her bowl and tries to drink whatever's left, be it cereal, applesauce or tofu. We made minestrone and had to hose her down afterwards! Thank goodness Alex in Las Vegas closed because at this rate we'd never get there.

Her two year birthday is fast approaching and you can definitely tell. Little miss has opinions galore and she's not shy about sharing them. 'No' is high on the hit parade as well as " 'anna run away!". She gets frustrated when we can't understand what she's saying; I think we need to show her some more signs so she can express what she needs to. She'll look at us with this intense expression on her face as she repeats her phrase over and over until she runs away in tears because we just don't get it. Get used to it kid, just wait until your teenage years then we really won't get it. The dramatics are getting pretty out there: give her the wrong bib and you'll get this: "Fish bib, No fish bib, NO FISH BIB!!!!!" and more tears. Oy vey.

Elianna had her second stint without Mom and Dad as we left her with Nana and Poppa and jetted off to Las Vegas again. Thanks to Facetime, she was able to talk/see us everyday which made us (make that, me) less nervous. She handled it like a rock star, loved waking up every morning asking for 'Nanapoppa' or 'homertek' (the dogs) and demanding, "Fan on!" (asking for the ceiling fan to be turned on).

She still loves being read to, knows many of the books by heart. She even 'reads' to us the ones she knows best. She knows the alphabet almost by heart and still loves her Signing Time DVDs; seems like she learns a new sign every day. Despite her histrionics, this is such a fun time, we're really enjoying her right now.

Soupcase to Se-AHH-tle

Thursday we all drove to Seattle for the 1st time since moving to Spokane. We were a bit worried how Elianna would do; she hasn't done a long drive since we could pull over and have me breastfeed her to keep her quiet but she did awesome. Getting ready was fun, she loved packing and unpacking her soupcase (her word for it, is that not the cutest thing you've ever heard??) over and over again, kept bringing me books and toys to put in.

The drive to Seattle is less than scenic. There's a lot of fields and flat on the way. Once you get to Snolqualmie pass though, it gets just gorgeous. It still looks like the middle of winter there, though. Glad we are getting more temperate for sure. We made a couple pitstops along the way (courtesy of the fetus) and each time we'd ask Elianna, "where are we going?" Her response was always an enthusiastic, "Se-AAAA-tle!"

We rented a little townhouse in West Seattle. We didn't really know where to stay but figured it looked nice and if getting around was horrible we'd know. It ended up being just perfect. We weren't more than 15 minutes from any place we drove and it was a really cute area. Elianna played at a great park 4 blocks from the townhouse, coffee houses were all over (duh!) and the beach was a 5 minute drive.

Speaking of the beach, Elianna was not a fan. She loved the water, from a distance, that is. "See water, see boats, see beach" was what she kept saying but when we put her down and let her see the water, she was fine until the waves started her way. She's getting pretty good at running!

Once she was at minimum safe distance though, she was fine with watching the water again. She walked up and down the beach, picking up sticks, rocks, chasing dogs (see dog! pat da dog!) and had a grand old time.

Elianna with some of her treasures: "Dis, DIS!

Next day was a trip to the Aquarium. We probably could have chosen a day other than Saturday; it was pretty crowded. Elianna seemed a little stunned looking at all the people and we pretty much always held her to keep her from being trampled. I think she'll get more out of it when she's older (and taller!), but she seemed to like it. She seemed to like starfish the best and spent a lot of time looking at the seals.

We walked up to Pike Street Market next and if there ever was a bad place for a stroller, that was it. That place is crowded! I loved seeing all the flowers and fresh food; good thing we aren't eating fish anymore; we could have done some damage to our wallets! We did end up with $20 of cool pasta...not sure it'll live up to the hype but how can you resist sweet basil trennet, lemon parsley malfadine, or tomato cracked pepper linguine?

We found this amazing vegan restaurant north of Lake Union called Sutra where we had a four course dinner for less than $40 each. The first course was a wonderful salad with watercress, seaweed, fiddlehead along with a carrot, sunchoke/thyme soup. Yum. Next came 'ravioli' made out of shaved celery root and stuffed with cauliflower, fennel and saffron with a 'beurre' blanc that had some kick to it. Third course was my favorite and I'm going to astound my family with this. Here's the description off the menu: Pumpkin seed-nettle pesto, port braised onion, cashew cheese lasagna served with tamari and balsamic infused shitake mushrooms finished with oil cured olive-majoram marinara and fried capers. I started by just tasting them and not finding them horribly objectionable. I then proceeded to eat them first (they were scattered on top) to get them out of the way and ended the course by eating them in concert with the lasagna the way they were supposed to be and loving every single bite. The whole dish was so. damn. good. I didn't want it to end.

Dessert was almost a let down after that; it was a chocolate avocado pie with a pecan date crust and cacao brittle. Delicious to be sure but after the wonderful courses before it, hardly surprising.

So overall, I'd call our 1st Seattle trip a success, and hope there will be more to come!