Upon our return to Seattle I was very much dreading what seemed to be a horrible weather forecast for being trapped inside. However, we have been very fortunate to have milder temperatures and breaks in the day (or none at all) of the rain to get out and do stuff. Thank you, thank you! And all of us have really had quite a busy week and a half since being back to the daily norm.
Reese and I have dined in twice to FareStart with Bryan finally back in the volunteer rotation. Reese has done superb both times and I swear I am going to record the noise at the restaurant one of these times to create my own version of white noise for her because it works! Both meals have also been exquisite; squash soup, a refreshing salad, pastrami brisket with amazing brussels and potatoes, lamb with a ragu and crispy onion straws, pear bread pudding and quite possibly the best little donuts of my life with a cream sauce. Bryan has enjoyed the normalcy of being a volunteer again and enjoying a dinner to talk among adults. Plus, Boeing was this past week’s volunteer group, from his group in Renton, so he got to show little Reese off and enjoy a very rare dinner with coworkers.
Reese and I have gone to the downtown library twice and she loves the library! On the first visit we just happened to be there for baby story time and after awkwardly watching and debating to join in with the other 20+ mothers and their older babies, I decided to just do it. And I am very glad I did. Reese enjoyed taking everything in and since it was mostly songs and dancing, I got to expand my repertoire. But Reese has taken to books and now gets very excited with colorful board books. It’s pretty fun to see and just one more thing that I think she is way too advanced to be enjoying already.
I’ve been downtown twice this week for lunch or brunch. I went back to get the baked eggs for a treat to myself on Friday, along with coffee, at the new Starbucks bakery. We also met Bryan for lunch at Red Robin in Renton on Tuesday. Reese slept through the entire meal but was wide awake walking daddy back to his office. It was fun to be able to see him during the day again and hope to do it a few more times before going back to work full time.
We had both of our PEPS meetings this week, after missing both from the previous week. After being one of the few on Monday without a baby costume for Reese I picked up a costume last minute (for $5) for our couples meeting on Halloween night. Glad I did because all the babies were dressed up again. Our little football was so well behaved during our group meeting and we enjoyed getting to know the other families better and enjoying a chili dinner and views of the Sound from the hosting family’s apartment building in Belltown. I also went on a walk with one of the moms from my group one afternoon and met another two moms for the free day at the Museum of History and Industry, where I took in none of the exhibits (which I didn’t care to see anyway) but got to spend a few hours talking with the other moms.
We had a busy day last Saturday, first with our birthing class reunion and then dressing up to celebrate Marika and Randy’s marriage. Three of the other babies made it to the reunion, all girls, and we spent a few hours comparing notes on labor and our first few weeks (or months) with our little ones. Marika’s celebration was a ton of fun. It had been a while since we had dressed up and we really enjoyed seeing the newly married couple but also a lot of my coworkers and friends who got to meet Reese for the first time. We also got to spend some good quality time with Polly at the party and enjoyed some drinks and heavy appetizers and a delicious cake.
And to round out all of our activities we had a great Sunday with church followed by a Seahawks watching party at our friend’s Tina and David’s house. We enjoyed great game food and Reese got to hang out with everyone, including her BFF Rosalie. Seahawks lost but oh well, we blew off steam afterwards with a walk around Green Lake.
This October has been a whirlwind and I can’t believe it is already over.
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 