Diapers and Books

I forgot to mention that we're getting very close to being through with diapers! Kyra's doing a great job going on the potty -- I think she's still a little reluctant with #2 but is doing great with #1. It helped a lot to have her stay home for 2 weeks with my mom here -- undies most of the time. Also, Matt's mom picked up a potty book that Kyra loved at the library and that's also been great -- not that she doesn't have other ones, she just really liked this one (by Karen Katz). I am hopeful that I do not have to buy any more diapers -- although when someone mentioned Costco as the $300 store I attributed it to diapers -- and lo and behold, last weekend it was $300 without diapers (amazing what wine will do to you Costco bill)! Better to be buying wine than diapers I believe!

I also wanted to begin sharing with other moms who read this some of the great books we've found at the library. We usually go about once a month (yes, the kids stick with the books that long) and here's what we currently have that the kids love:

1. Follow the Line Through the House.
2. Llama llama mad at Mama (for anyone who's had a crabby toddler shopping with them)
3. There's an Alligator Under My Bed by Mercer Mayer (the kids fight over who gets to keep this one in their room)

As for adult reading, I recently read "Water for Elephants" and really liked it. I am currently reading "This I Believe" which are the essays that NPR collects and reads on the air. The collection includes essays from the original program in the 1950s as well as from today -- from famous people (Bill Gates) to ordinary folk. I'm really enjoying it!

If you've got any great recommendations, I'd like to hear them. Usually my reading choices are whatever's on the paperback shelf at the entrance where I get about 3 minutes to look at that covers and glance at the awards and possibly read some portion of what's on the back before selecting -- total crap shoot - but I've done okay.

Summer...

All our family visitors have gone home so we're all alone now. We definitely miss the company and extra hands to help out! We had a really nice time with my mom and then Matt's parents in town. You can see how much fun the kids are having with Grandma here! Daniel got a new bike and is doing great with his training wheels. Here is a family picture on Deception Pass Bridge on Whidbey Island, WA. We spent a weekend at a lovely house we rented up there. Daniel and I did a lot of beach combing and have been coloring and painting the shells we found. The last picture is the kids at Experience Music Project in Seattle -- they be jammin! There's an exhibit right now on the influence of Latino music in America. I was very proud of my Panamanian heritage being mentioned twice: Reuben Blades, of course, and the start of Reggaeton in Panama. Love it!

New house pics

They are making some great progress on the house! It's really starting to come together. Here's a pic. It's been a crazy couple of weeks here -- I had to let my assistant go so I've been completely underwater with the business trying to keep up. My mom has been here which has been great since she's been able to help with the kids while I try to catch up. The sad part is that I haven't been able to spend as much time as I'd like with her. Today Matt's parents arrive so the 'rents cross over for a couple of days -- lots of childcare help!

Little Vacation

We just got back from a fun little trip to the new Great Wolf Lodge down in Centralia. It's about 1.5 hours from Seattle and is a giant indoor waterpark. Needless to say, the kids had a blast and it was fun having Grams there, too, to help out. On the first day, before Matt arrived, I ventured into the wave pool with both kids (in life vests) -- as we tackled the waves, Daniel's noggin knocked me in the face resulting in the lovely purple bruise below my eye. The kids really did enjoy the slides, water play, and wave pool throughout. Matt and I rode the Howling Tornado twice -- a great water slide! The place also has a game called MagiQuest where you buy a wand and do quests and adventures throughout the lodge. Daniel and Matt probably hiked about 5 miles through the lodge, up and down stairs, etc. trying to complete all the quests and adventures to make Daniel a Master Magi. He did it - with a bit of help from Daddy with the Dragon Adventure and Bear Adventure.

The house is coming along very quickly -- they expect to have all the framing done by Saturday. The new windows have been installed throughout. It's looking great!

Construction

I've been wanting to post some pictures of the construction on the new house... these are from about a week ago. We're hoping to be in around mid-September... yeah! We had the arborist come in and remove all the overgrown bushes and small trees in the back yard and it looks fabulous now. We are building an area that will be a play area for the kids now and eventually become a hot tub area in the future. I think it's going to be great. I'm really excited about a fenced yard and large, natural area for the kids to play.

It's been a hectic week around here for business, too -- Business is really good but I had to let my assistant go and am trying to handle everything and hire someone new. My mom's coming in, too, and we're taking a little vacation down to the new Great Wolf Lodge which is a giant indoor water park. The kids are going to go nuts! Needless to say, it's a little stressful to plan a vacation (even a short one) with no one managing the business while I'm gone... After that, Matt's parents are coming up and we're taking another short trip to Whidbey Island -- we've never been up there. So it'll be a very busy month...

Kids are great - Daniel is so full of ideas... "Hey mom, I've got an idea... isn't that a great idea?" Kyra is still very, very two -- but she might be growing out of it a little. She has gone on the potty a few times but not often enough to have confidence that I'll be done with diapers anytime in the foreseeable future. Luckily, grandparents are coming so I might at least have fewer diapers in the next few weeks! :)

Building Finally!

We finally (about a week ago) got the permit for the buildout of our new house. It took the city of Bellevue 9 weeks (vs. Seattle at 4 weeks) to process the permit application. It's great to see the demolition and building finally happening. We are still trying to sell our current house with very, very little traffic even coming by. More likely, we'll end up renting it given the current market -- but it only takes one person, I suppose.

The weather has finally warmed up - we're now 10 degrees higher than average whereas all spring we were 10 degrees below average. The kids have spent the last two days out with the kiddie pool and slip-n-slide. Kyra's not so sure about the slip-n-slide as yet but I bet she will be by the end of the summer. I'll try to get some new pics up soon!

Daniel's bump

A week ago, Daniel was running and fell into the corner of a night table. His forehead immediately got a bump the size of a pingpong ball. I called the doctor's office and they said to watch him for signs of a concussion. He was acting completely fine. By Thursday, the bump had turned a crimson color and the inner corners of his eyes were becoming black and blue. He still was acting fine. I called the doctor's office on Satruday because the bruising and swelling around the bridge of his nose and eyes wasn't getting better and they said to just keep an eye on it -- that kind of swelling was typical of such a fall. As I am writing this, it sounds like it should be leading up to a climax... but fortunately, it's still there but doesn't seem to bother him -- except that he didn't want his friends at school to see it. I told him it was quite the bump and he should be proud to show it off! Note on the second picture:

this does not work to keep them quiet...