weekend adventures

Since I started working, our weekdays pretty much consist of rushing around to get a moderately healthy dinner on the table and keep our household functioning. This leaves our weekends for fun activities and relaxing. Its nice to allow ourselves to actually take it easy for two days a week - not something that I am usually very good at.

Sometimes its easy to feed Finley a snack while she sits on my lap. Here we are sharing some carrots and hummus

When Finleys Grandma and Grandpa from NJ came to visit, one of the fun things we did is go to the childrens museum in Everett. This place is cool! We lost Ben and my Dad for awhile in one of the exhibits. There were plenty of activities for Finleys age as well as for older kids and obviously even adults.

One of the fun things they had is an old bank teller window for kids to play with money counting

they also could pretend to drive to a tractor

erWe have been trying to make a habit of going to the farmers market every weekend to get local eggs, meat, cheese and whatever local vegetables and fruits are in season.

We decided that Pax was most in need of a socializing experience, so he got to go to the farmers market this day. He did wonderfully and we learned that lots of people like whippets

Clover is a lovely little toy store that have been wanting to check out

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We got eggs, carrots, braising greens, carrots, pears, apples, tulips, potatoes, cheese, pate, sun dried tomatoes and onions

crawling like a mainiac

Spending time with Gran

One of the many ways that Finley finds to get into trouble

40 weeks

Today we started out our morning with me sleeping in (we decided to take turns on the weekends). Its pretty nice to be able to sleep in one morning. And then we headed out for breakfast in the adorable neighborhood of Georgetown. There are so many fun restaurants and shops. We went to a place for brunch called Geraldine's Counter, which had a 30 minute wait (why do brunch places always have such a long wait?). While we waited we went to the Columbia City Bakery, where I introduced Finley to a the scone. She LOVED it! Maybe its genetic. She had a savory scone. She let me try some and I had to agree that it was one of the better scones I've sampled.

For brunch I had Gingerbread pancakes with apple topping and Ben had a breakfast casserole. We both enjoyed the very strong coffee with cream. Before we left for our hike, we stopped in for some dried meat sticks from Bob's Meats.

We went to a trail in Issaquah for an afternoon hike with Finley on Bens back and the dogs racing through the woods. It was really refreshing to get out of the city.

41 weeks

daycare

Finley spent her first week in daycare. It is so hard to not see her all day! I only have about 2 hours before she has to go to bed. It stinks that some stranger spends more time with her than me!

I am about halfway done with my training and look forward to her being in part time daycare. It was really helpful to have Finley's Gran and Grandpa here before daycare started. She definitely had lots of fun with them.

Here is short video of Finley with her Grandpa

some recent photos

38 weeks

39 weeks

busy busy busy

well things have been crazy around here. Finley is 9 months old and growing up fast. She is getting around quickly and slowly working on pulling herself up to a standing position. She is more engaged with her toys and loves pressing buttons and feeling different textures. And most exciting is that she finally has one tooth, which makes eating a lot easier. Her favorite foods are still pretty much the same....liver, cheese, eggs, hummus, any kind of fruit, pasta, beans, and sweet potatoes.

The biggest change has been me going to work full time for training. I will eventually be working part time from home, but not before I complete 2 months of training in downtown Seattle. I am gone for 10 hours a day. Its a huge change. My day used to consist of errands, playing, diapers and house chores and cooking. Now Im on the bus by 7 am, at work by 8 am and then home and a mad rush to get everything done in a very short amount of time and spend as much quality time with my baby as possible. Its tiring.

Luckily Finleys Gran and Grandpa have been here to take care of her all day and make sure she is having a great time (daycare starts next week). I have been able to continue nursing her. I only have to pump once at work and she only gets a 5 oz bottle while Im gone. I feed her once before I leave and then when I get home and before she goes to bed. Four feedings a day seems to be enough for her, which is great because I couldnt stand to pump more than once a day.

I am excited to go to the part time schedule because I love some parts of working. I love going downtown and being amongst of the chaos of working people and of course there is the salty air coming from the water just a few blocks away and the incredible view of the city and the mountains in the background. I have been starting to read again on the bus and enjoy that time to myself. I also feel like Im missing out on lots of things that are happening with Finley and I hate that. I think about her all day long. There is nothing better than seeing the excitement on her face and the huge smile she gives me when I get home.

Our weekends have been packed with everything that normally gets spread throughout the week. My priorities have been spending time with Finley and the dogs, going shopping at the farmers market, going to the YMCA and lots of cooking and cleaning.

Regular photos and video have not been happening as much as I would like. I do have some that I will try to post later today. For now you just get words.

owl photos so far