The past week of being back to flying solo has been a good one I would say, and again, one with continued growth in the parenting know-how and experiences. There have been a lot of things that we have successfully (successfully being a broad term these days) accomplished to make me/us feel more whole and like ourselves. And she/we celebrated her one month birthday the best we know how.
Pancake for the one month 
Lights out on her one month birthday 
Daddy makes the best pancakes
We have successfully now dined out a total of three times; the first two at Eastlake Bar and Grill, taking advantage of the patio in the late summer/early fall weather and open air to drown out a crying baby, and the last, indoors at Macrina Bakery in Belltown for brunch after church. Every time we have been able to fully finish our meals, partake in some adult conversation, and not piss off other diners. And every time has made me feel more like our old selves and every meal has been delicious.
Absolutely delicious breakfast…that we each got the same thing; ham, chanterelle mushroom gravy, herbed roll and perfectly cooked eggs 
The sunset at Eastlake Bar and Grill on Friday night 
Reese at Eastlake 
End of dinner awakeness 
Angel baby at church
We have successfully made it to church two weeks in a row. Angel baby slept through the entire last service and we got to enjoy an adult table talk conversation at service this week with Pastor Bill and his wife Sue at our table, which was a fun treat for us (we relate to the two of them pretty well).
Reese was WAY more awake and alert at PEPS this week but still did pretty good. As we talked about ways to encourage our baby’s development, Reese fed twice and stared around the room for the full two hours. Needless to say, my arms were tired of holding her though after two hours in a hard dining chair. I did get some good ideas for things to do with her now that she is awake more. And probably the biggest takeaway for me this week was when another mom (with a 10 week old baby) said that she just started pushing herself to get out of the house more and do things she enjoys like getting lunch with a friend, going to her favorite coffee shop, just sitting in a park. Her words were pretty much, “You only get this maternity leave once and you shouldn’t waste it sitting around the house. Plus, the baby gets bored sitting at home looking at the same corner of the couch. I think it is good that they get out and see new things, smell new things, and feel new things.” I totally ate this up and want to start doing that for my remaining maternity leave.
So, step one was to go out and do something for me I would have done anyways. I went to an afternoon hour-long Yelp food tour of the Pike Place Market. For a little over an hour, Reese tagged along with me hearing more about the history of the market and its vendors while tasting a variety of its products including: Ellenos Greek yogurt with rhubarb compote, dried apple and okra chips, smoked salmon, Uli’s chicken and apple sausage with German-made mustards, Beechers cheeses, curds and notorious mac n’ cheese, and then the famous Pike Place chowder. Reese slept the whole time and it was actually sunny and beautiful in the market and uniquely quiet in terms of market-goers. I had a good time getting out for something other than a walk.
Chowder sample 
Uli’s sausage 
Views from the Market 
Dried fruits and veggies 
My favorite: Ellenos Greek yogurt with rhubarb compote 
Our sticker to make us legit…Reese wore it 
We are here!
Furthermore, we have made some great dinners to enjoy at home and continue to work on getting to eat at the same time together at night but that is still a work in progress. Reese has really taken to her Wubbanubba pacifiers and her Rock n’ Play to allow me a little bit of freedom during the day and a better way of soothing her. I picked up a book from the library, when we went to checkout the Wednesday afternoon Baby Story Time, and I found a new Netflix show that is now a guilty pleasure for me to watch about an episode a day (is really all I have time for). I sent out an email requesting a Girls Night soon so that is going to happen, with Reese in tow. And now I just need to figure out if it is at all a possibility of Bryan and I going solo to the Seattle Rep for next Friday’s Thousand Splendid Suns 20s/30s event (something I’d like to do for my birthday weekend) but have no clue how we might make that happen at this point.
She’s getting so big 
So big! 
Letting daddy watch football = angel baby
We are slowly working on getting back to the things we enjoyed before Reese. The remaining week and weekend will include our first dinner back at FareStart (dining in, not volunteering) a walk around Seward Park for me with a fellow mom, and a little bit of hosting dinner with some friends on Saturday.
This mom is slowly starting to feel like herself again…and it feels good!
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 