Baby Jail...

Once a week or so, Carlos brings Josh & Sam up to Everett, and they go to the Children's Museum while I'm at work. We get to have lunch together, which makes feeding Sam much easier, and in general it makes those days a lot cozier. It does, however, have some unexpected side effects:

Today we were talking about Sam learning to crawl, and how we'll have to start moving things up high so he can't reach them, etc. Carlos mentioned keeping him away from the litter box, when Josh suddenly announced that we needed a jail for Sam. Apparently I have been a little too forthcoming in my explanation of where I go after lunch. Josh spent the next hour or so "playing jail", which started out with the hypothetical offense of playing in the litter box, and ended with Sam being sent to jail forever for running someone over with a car?! As always, these ideas make Josh laugh uproariously...

On the plus side, Sam indicated his willingness to participate in this future life of crime by taking his first "step" of crawling. He only moved a few inches, but he's definitely gearing up!

Carlos's Birthday!

Carlos turned 36 on Thursday, and didn't have much work to do, so he was able to spend most of the day just hanging out with us. It was really nice out, so we took a walk up to Swanson's, and he & Josh chose some plants for their garden. Mostly strawberries & some random hot pink flowers Josh really wanted. We also looked at possible plants to fill the space by the stairs where Carlos ripped out some ugly bushes, and looked for a decent size lilac to plant once I give in & admit that the enormous one by the house has gotten out of control & needs to come down... I know it's ridiculous, but I love having fresh lilacs, so I'm hoping to wait at least one more summer...

After that, we went to one of those "paint your own pottery" places, and made presents. I *finally* made a coffee mug with Sam's feet, so I can stop feeling guilty every time I use the Josh one... Josh made a plate for himself as well - I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's fired. I know he used a lot of sparkly pink and purple - and black...

After all that, we made it back to our new favorite Mexican place for dinner. A hard decision, since I know Carlos was dying to break into the 10 pounds of frozen green chili he got in the mail from Susie & Terry, but we've been wanting to go back there for months. It definitely lived up to our expectations.... so all in all, I think Carlos had a good day.

But in case that wasn't enough for a good birthday... Cody had her baby! Born at 3:58 am, just in time to share Carlos's b-day. 6 pounds, 12 ounces, 19 inches - and born *literally* 2 1/2 minutes after Cody made it to the ER in Tacoma... They're both doing great, and Cody felt well enough to go home that night. As of today, she still doesn't have a name - a dilemma I admittedly have a new understanding of... Jon keeps threatening to use Molly, but I'm hoping they decide on either Abby or Finn... either way, she's beautiful - I'd forgotten how small 6 pounds really is!!!


Josh said a very cute thing about going to meet her, "Cat, I thought in my head, when I was dreaming, it showed me a big picture of her & she was wearing pink & smiling." I didn't have the heart to remind him it took weeks for Sammy to smile...

Beach Day

As hard as this is to believe, Josh's school year is almost over. He goes on Mondays & Wednesdays, but next week is the last week so there's no class on Wednesday & instead we'll all get together at night for a pizza pajama party. So to celebrate the last "regular" Wednesday, his teacher Janice put together "Beach Day" - complete with wading pools & sand. A really fun idea, made all the more impressive by the fact that this happened *inside*. I was expecting total chaos when I showed up, but it was actually surprisingly mellow. Further proof of how great Janice is - I really (REALLY) appreciate her, and how patient she is with the kids, and her general disposition towards the idea that they're just doing what they should be at this point... plus, she's great with Sam! Luckily, Josh will be going to summer school for a few weeks this summer, so we don't have to say good-bye to her just yet... and since Josh went there, Sam will get priority enrollment when he's big enough...

Speaking of luck, the photos are courtesy of Amy & Susanne (Zoe's mom) - lucky because once again I am camera-less. A certain small person spilled a glass of milk over mine... sigh. At least this time it broke before someone could steal it...

Mother's Day

We spent Mother's Day at the Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah. We'd never been there before, but we drove past it on the way to Yakima last weekend & I was looking for some place brand new... The park itself was really pretty, and it was dark green & rainy in an Olympia - nostalgic nice smelling sort of way. Unfortunately, the zoo part was not so great. The animal areas were pretty depressing; lots of nature for the visitors, not so much for the animals and the birds...




They did have some cool sculptures, and a brick just for us... :)

At least we know it's working...

“The thing is, Cat, that sometimes my brain talks to me.”

This was Josh’s explanation to me the other night about why he couldn’t sleep.

I’m trying not to see this as (yet another?) sign of the inevitable genetic anxiety or verboseness (is there even a difference?), but I know exactly what he means…

Procession of the Species

I still couldn't talk Josh into actually walking in the parade, but at least this year he wore his costume - although I spent considerably less time on it, all things considered, and he balked at face paint beyond some red dots...





A very serious clapping turtle...


And a grown-up Gage!


Ryan & Noah



And a very pregnant Leigh!