Tag Archives: vacation

18 months old and 33 weeks pregnant

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I have to say this is my favorite age so far. I guess ever since Ellie hit about 14 months it’s just been so fun. If I weren’t 33 weeks pregnant (see below), I think I would love it even more because I could be more active with Ellie, but that will come in a few months.  This pregnancy really has just flown by, but I’m hoping we can savor the last 7 weeks and really focus on relaxing and getting ready to welcome our second little girl into the world. 

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We’re planning a home birth, just like last time hopefully. Our midwife lives in Ballard, so it will be a little more of a trek to get to our new Issaquah locale, but hopefully she will make it out before the baby is ready to come out…or not; I might be okay with that too!  It’s funny to hear people respond when I tell them I’m having a home birth. I don’t offer it up to many people because they usually look at me like I’m from another planet, but occasionally it comes up in conversation.  Brian found this awesome clip from Jim Gaffigan, whose wife also had home births for their four kids and I thought it was just so hilarious I had to share it.

I can’t help but laugh every time I watch this clip! 

Every time Brian and I go on a vacation, we come back with some revelation, which is partly why we love traveling so much. Seeing a new part of the world and taking time away from “the hustle and bustle” allows us to reflect and look at our lives with a new perspective. For me this vacation really brought me back to a place of gratitude. I’m not going to lie, the past year and a half has been really difficult. It’s also been incredible and fulfilling and amazing and wonderful and yada yada, but challenging and difficult at the same time. The acclimation to parenting is not easy, at least for us, but I’d like to say at the end of the day we’re happy with the job we’re doing and we feel like we’re good parents. Spending a week away from Ellie made my heart ache a ton and it was so nice to come home to such a happy baby who had been so well taken care of while we were gone.

Ellie’s vocab the last few weeks has just skyrocketed and the other revelation we came to while we were on vacation is that we’d really like to get her into an environment where she’s learning, playing and socializing as much as she’d like. We started talking to other parents and people in the community who have knowledge about our options and decided to investigate Issaquah Montessori. Brian visited first and fell in love. He was so ecstatic I knew it was going to be the place for us. Ellie started her integration on Monday. A lot of the kids have trouble when they start school because it’s an unfamiliar environment. They sometimes cry a bit when they arrive because they miss their mommy. Ellie on the other hand, cries when she has to leave! That makes me feel really good about her experience there for sure. Here is a pic of her on her first day (yes, our front door is heinous) and then with one of her classmates outside “mowing the lawn.”

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At Montessori, they teach her how to eat properly without throwing food on the floor, how to wash her hands, change her shoes to go outside, etc. Her teacher also told us that she can potty train her for us, which I’m ecstatic about. I don’t know how much training Ellie is going to require though really. She says “poopy” when she has to go potty (even if it’s not a poopy) and then we take her to her toilet and she goes potty. It’s so wonderful; we feel a little spoiled – and A LOT grateful!

Other than that, it’s just been the usual obsession with Max (see below), running around like a wild girl, riding her giraffe (see video below), drawing, playing outside, etc. Too much fun for sure!

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Traveling sans Bebe

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Brian and I are currently somewhere over Illinois, coming back on our last leg from our trip to Italy…sans Ellie! It was a thoroughly brave adventure for us. In theory when planning the trip we knew it was a healthy thing to do, both for Ellie and us. As the trip date arrived though, we started to get really sad at the prospect of being so far away from her for so long.

The things that made the trip a little easier are two-fold:
1. Tutu and Grandy stayed at our house the whole time and played with her non-stop. She had such a great time and was so happy. We actually wondered a bit if she even noticed we were gone!
2. FaceTime! Brian had his phone on, but turned data off and when we got wifi we were able to FaceTime my mom and talk to them and Ellie for a bit. It was so awesome to see her and hear her say non-stop “mommy” and “daddy.” It made us miss her even more, but I think it made her feel good to connect with us and know we we’re just somewhere else.

Before the trip for a couple of weeks I was talking to Ellie about what a vacation is and that mommy and daddy were going to go on a vacation and she was going to hang out with Tutu and Grandy while we were gone. I know communication is not 100% confirmed at this point in her life, but I truly think it helped quite a bit.

We’ll see how she feels when we get back and that will be the real measure of success. Last time when we went away for three days she seemed a little upset when we got back. Hopefully this time she’s not too mad at us.

Likely needless to say, our adult vacation in Italy was truly wonderful and relaxing. We didn’t plan anything out really, just kind of played it by ear. We spent the bulk of our time in Cortona, a small town in Tuscany, just outside of Perugia. It was a beautiful town with quite a few restaurants and shops. We did a fair amount of walking/hiking up the hills, which felt really good. It also felt a little breath-taking (literally), which made sense when I read my What To Expect update; it was all about how baby is squishing my lungs now and I’m likely to experience a shortness of breath. Si, de accordo.

I haven’t been around that much cigarette smoke since frequenting Belltown Billiards when I was 22. I haven’t eaten that much gelato since we were in Italy last time and I haven’t had that much tomatoes, mozzarella and pasta in a long time either! Honestly though, out of the whole trip, the most regrettable meals were definitely the ones we had on the airplane ride back! I look forward to getting home and focusing back on fruits and veggies for the rest of the pregnancy.

Here’s a pick of #2 at 30 weeks with the beautiful Cortona valley in the background:

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On the Move

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Ellie boom has been on the move now for awhile and has started pulling herself up on things. Once she stands up, she gets a very confused look on her face because she’s not sure what to do.  It’s so exciting to see the wheels turn inside her head and crazy to know that she’s taking in every single little thing we do.

Ellie has been sick this week and I’m sick as well.  Thankfully Ellie hasn’t been as sick as me! I read online that breast milk commonly has antibodies specific to a mom’s illness and it helps prevent baby from getting as sick as mom.  Fascinating stuff! I was fortunate enough to get a nap in today while Brian took Ellie out for a little walk and to run an errand or two. When they got back we set up the new baby fence and Ellie could just play and play in the living room with all her toys. She pulled herself up on the fence; I had to hold the fence in order for her to accomplish this, but it was all her.

We’re heading to Hawaii on Wednesday and I think it could not come soon enough for Brian and I.  It will be interesting to see how Ellie fares on the plane – any tips anyone has are very welcome!

Here’s a video of Ellie standing recently:


We also started swim lessons last week and Ellie is NOT a fan of the water. Hopefully by the end of the session, she’ll be a little more excited to take a dip.

Fun Times

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So much new stuff has happened and we haven’t really had a chance to sit down and share it with everyone yet.  Ellie had her two month birthday and her two month checkup.  She was in the 50th percentile for head measurement and weight and in the 90th percentile for weight!  She had to get her vaccine’s, which she was not especially happy about, but overall I think she was a major trooper.

We also took our first family sleepover outing last weekend to Sol Duc Hot Springs with Tutu (Grandma Kim) and Grandy.  Ellie again was a total trooper and Brian and I were able to get away for a nice hour and a half massage, which was heavenly.  It was so great to get into nature where there were no TV’s and our cell phones didn’t work.  It was refreshing, reviving and awakening.  We definitely are looking forward to getting back there soon.  Below are some fun photos.  Here is a funny video we took while in Poulsbo grabbing some lunch.  Grandy gave Ellie a foot massage, which you can tell she thoroughly enjoyed:

Ellie and I have been going to Gymboree now with Molly and Archie and she has such a great time.  While most of the kids are enamored with the puppets, bubbles and parachute, Ellie tends to enjoy staring at all the people and babies and likes to chat up a storm with them.  It’s a lot of fun and I think it’s great for her interpersonal skill development.  Ellie has never really enjoyed her swing, but we keep trying every now and then and today she seemed to really enjoy it.  Here is a video (be careful not to get hypnotized):