Seattle, part 2

Wow...I'm slow.

I've been back for something like 3 weeks now and I'm still trying to get vacation posts up. Sorry!

Wednesday of our Seattle trip started out with a playdate--Abby & Susanna, Janelle & Elanor, Alicia & Hannah, and Carrie & Cora (her niece) met us at the park for some fun!

Us mamas got to have some chatting time too.

There was teeter-tottering...not sure how much they liked it, I don't think we got a smile out of either one of them.

Swinging--much fun had by all!

And as soon as X saw the wading pool, there were no other distractions. Nothing was going to prevent her from getting in that water. So we got her in her suit, and papa rolled up his pant legs to go splash with her.

Hurry up papa!

Brr...it was chilly. She hadn't been in water that cold before--even the unheated pool she takes swim lessons in is uncomfortably warm in Dallas summers.

Cold water still was not going to stop her from playing in it.

C-group girls and their wee ones!

milk update

What happens when I ask Papa to see if he can get X to drink some milk while I clean up her room.

15

More Seattle posts to come, plus an attempt at a 10 on 10 (I tried to jump back on the wagon)

but a quick update--

X is 15 months old! She had her well-check yesterday, and is doing swimmingly.

Her stats:

30.5 inches (45th %)

17 lbs, 12 oz (under)

head: 18 (50th %)

Yep, she's gained half a pound in 3 months.

We've got one skinny little girl. But the doctor is still not concerned at all, and says there's no need for us to be (yet?)

She's grown a lot taller, and her head is definitely getting bigger, (she's so top heavy!) and she's obviously developing just fine. She is just way under the spectrum--(can percentages be negative? She's probably about the negative 50th percentile for weight. I guess that would mean that 100% of kids her age, and 50% of kids 3-6 months younger than her weigh more than her?)

Any tried and true remedies for baby-fattening?

We also are trying to get her to drink more milk. We introduced cow's milk when she turned 1 but she just doesn't drink much of it. I asked her ped. and he said for her size, 16-18 oz a day is the goal. Yikes. Yesterday I probably got her to drink 6 or so? And that's the most I've ever been able to get into her in a day. Today she's refused it most of the time, I think we're at 2 ounces total and it's bedtime. Any secrets? We've tried warm, cold, bottle (but we don't use bottles anymore), sippy cup, cup, straw, etc. She seems to be the most inclined to drink it when it's got ice in it. (I seem to recall that's how I drank my milk when I was little. And in college).

Anyway. We'll return to the regular scheduled blogging shortly, I just wanted to stick this out there to fish for ideas that I can steal. Thanks for sharing! :)

Seattle Chronicles, one

Our vacation to Seattle resulted in hundreds of pictures and stories, some of which will make it onto the blog. I'll do what I can :)

First off: I wish I was back there. Not only do I love it, and miss friends and family who live there, but we left on Saturday morning at 5am when it was 60 degrees out. We arrived to a 104 degree Dallas, and found our A/C was not working in our home. Ricardo bought a small portable air conditioning unit which has been running non-stop in X's room, where we have set up air mattresses and are living in a relative, squashed, and still slightly warm and sticky comfort. We had a guy out here today giving us an estimate...and it looks like we'll be replacing the entire system (hopefully tomorrow). To the tune of wayyyyy too much money--we pared it down to the basics, but I was shocked at how expensive A/C replacement can be! Some people buy cars, others just replace the A/C in their homes. Anyway, in the long run it should be better for us. A newer, more efficient unit will save money on bills, energy, and be better for the environment. I'll be a much happier and nicer person once I'm not hot.

So, venting done. Now on to our Seattle trip! It was wonderful.

We flew out on Sunday, after church. American Airlines strikes again and did everything they could to make the trip miserable, which included leaving us sitting on the tarmac with no cool air for 45 minutes while they tried to figure out who was on the plane. X decided to use that time to scream. Eventually we took off, she fell asleep, and the day got better from that point on. We saw Auntie Alisha and Unker Paul during our layover in LAX. They brought snacks and treats, and it was lovely to visit with them for an hour.

Monday night we went for dinner at the home of Abby, Caleb and Susanna. Susanna is a doll, she shared her toys and put up with Xaris who was being a little rambunctious and napless, it being a different place and time zone and all.

After we had been there awhile, Susanna skooched over to me, pulled herself up, and gave me hugs. This of course sparked Xaris' interest, since she loves giving hugs and kisses. She hurried on over to join in the action! Susanna sandwich!

Which then turned into baby-loves.

I love how Susanna was patting the top of X's head...too cute!

I once again feel the need to say: I think they are destined to be forever friends.

babble

X has lots of words.

We understand what *some* of them mean.

Here's a quiz, take your best guess (some are obvious, some not so much). Those of you we've seen recently might have a better chance at scoring high :) They are spelled out phonetically, so it looks like how she says it.

1. Ah-wah

2. Ga-jah

3. Mah

4. Mama/Mami

5. Papa/Papi

6. Nah-Nah

7. Apee (sometimes api-api-api-apeeee)

8. By-eeeee

9. Ah-meeen

10. Beee-beee

11. Ah-yah

12. Woah

:) Have fun!