Daycare playcare

When we first moved to Seattle we were SO sad to lose our daycare and our amazing nanny.  We still miss them.  In fact, our nanny sent us the sweetest photo of her and the boys - it's now on our dining room table.  Why the dining room table to you ask?  Because when the boys see it they smile and calm down which gives me an extra 3min to get their banana cut up in the morning.

Now we have great helpers, too. Two days a week Matt brings the boys to a woman's house where she watches the boys with her 18mo old son.  The boys are happy happy happy.  While at the playground is where they spend most of their days (oh I hope you know what that's from!):




They're also learning chores like mowing the lawn:

To buy: Rockabye Baby

I can't believe it took us this long to buy these CDs...  Rockabye Baby is AWESOME!!!!!!!!  I just spent way too long on Amazon.com browsing and listening to CDs and bought:

• Queen
• Journey
• Guns N' Roses
• Radiohead

They're all to xylophone and are amazing.  The boys love these albums - I've been playing them on Pandora - so I finally decided to put my money where our ears are.  That, and I like listening to them even when not trying to soothe the boys.

The creator of this series is brilliant - music parents love, but with all the bad words and content nixed so it's baby prime time ready.  Brilliant!

Broken tooth!

The other night Coley fell in the bathtub.  HORRIBLE!  On top of the scare of falling, he chipped BOTH front teeth.  Honestly, poor Cole looked like a baby vampire.  And no, he's not a Twi-hard.  He cried, of course, and Matt and I also both felt like we had been hurt.  It stinks watching your kids get hurt.  Stinks!  It feels like "how could we have prevented that?  What horrible parents that we didn't!!"  The reality is we tried.  We really did.  But at 14mo old, the boys have more energy than I've ever seen, and they both seem to figure out the things they're not supposed to do faster than the things they are supposed to do.

After the boys went to sleep, I pinged the parents of multiples forum for a little help.  Within an hour three people emailed that they had had this happen, too.  They also gave dentist recs.

Friday, we started looking into a dentist.  We found one on Yelp with a horrible review - the mom said "he had a monkey who scared my son and we never went back."  Oddly enough, this was one of the one's recommended to us, and the dentist closest to our house and open.  Matt brought Cole in Friday morning and I am SO glad I wasn't there.  Apparently Cole did great.  Matt?  Not so much.  Just as much as it hurts seeing your kids get hurt, it hurts seeing them scared.  Imagine going to the dentist for the first time!  Oof.  Scary.

Cole got home with a new smile (still spiky teeth, but not as bad) and a stuffed monkey of all things.

We're padding our new house. 

Northwest trail race: 1st baby!

Today I did my first Northwest trail race - a 16k in Sammamish.  The boys came to see me off at the beginning of the race, and to play in the bushes (which we're now freaking out were poison oak - oh God I hope they weren't).  It was a small field - just 34 for the 16k.  But I got first!  Woohoo!!!  Well, fifth overall, but first woman.  I won a free shirt and I'm happy happy happy.  Can't wait for another Northwest trail run.

Here's the funny thing - the coordinator was talking to Matt during much of the race - it turns out the coordinator started these races because he was inspired by PCTR (my old favorite trail running group).  Rad.

Mamama? The things babies learn

Over the past two weeks, the boys have gotten a lot more verbal - and it's awesome!  Their new (and we think teir first real) word: "mamama."  Every time we bring bananas out for breakfast, or snacks both boys start smacking their lips and murmuring "mamama!!!" 

Other milestones... Wilson is now taking up to 10 steps at a time.  When he realizes he's doing it he immediately freezes, laughs, and then falls right on his rump.  Coley is turning into Mr. Ham.  He stands at the window waving to the (crack dealers - yes, truly) on the street behind our apartment.  Not so awesome, but sweet.

To do: Get lost!

I think the best way to get to know a new city/town/whatever is to get lost there.  This afternoon (after a busy morning of looking at a house for rent and then speeding over to Target to stock up) I went for a run during the boys' long nap.  It's a good thing it was the "long" nap - I got totally lost ... and it was awesome. 

I made my way from Belltown in downtown Seattle (picture Union Square crossed with Fisherman's Warf but mini) to Capitol Hill where I ran up and around the hill.  I then made my way over to Eastlake via the freeway (don't worry mom, there was a walkers/bike path), down and around South Lake Union, and back up to Belltown.  All in all, exhausting but perfect. 

More on the running to do and area exploration to do list:

• Tomorrow I'm going to test the hills of Queen Anne
• I need to find a good running club - Golden Gate Run Club is a tough one to match, but I'm sure there are some trail run clubs here 
• One of these days I'll do the 3-mile loop around Green Lake ... problem is it's flat which is relatively boring to me, but will be TONS of fun with the boys

Moving day!

Well, M day has finally arrived.  It's been quite a week, but actually a lot of fun, too.  Wednesday I came back to SF to get the family (and oh my goodness did I miss Wilson and Cole - wow, I never want to be away from them again - ever).

Yesterday movers came and packed up our house.  I have to say, if we ever move again this is the way to do it!  The one learning moment is I should've emptied the trash - they packed up everything (including what was in the bins).

Last night, we met up with our "daycare friends" for a final sushi dinner on the top of Russian Hill.  The boys enjoyed their first sushi (just the egg kind) while waving at the sushi chefs nonstop.  When we got home, our neighbor gave us a great bottle of wine from Washington - having no glasses, we emptied out some old jam jars and made due.

This morning, with no toys to play with, Cole and Wilson got creative with where and what they played with.  It was highly entertaining until Wilson thought he was locked into the table (which he climbed into). 

The day wrapped with a great party at the boys' daycare. 

We are really going to miss their daycare.  On top of that, words can't describe how much we're going to miss Paloma - she truly is like family and she made this past year phenomenal.  Our earth angel.

Running roundup

Over the past few weeks I've been forcing myself to make time and hit pavement - and it's been awesome.  In Seattle, after driving around with Lisa (my old college roommate who happens to live in one of the raddest neighborhoods in Seattle with her hub, daughter, and baby on the way), I made it just before dark for a nice run around lower Queen Anne.

Back in the city on Wednesday too late to run, but I did manage to get out Thursday and Friday to enjoy my old easy 3-mile loop (over Russian Hill, around Ft. Mason, and back again).  Problem - I packed up my "real" running shoes so was stuck wearing some freebie trail shoes I had.  Wrong shoes = pain ... but to me the shin aches are worth it.

Speaking of wrong shoes, here's one that never ceases to baffle me:


I love Kelly Rippa, but really?!...

On the wrongy topic, my friend just started a great blog called Wrong Bike - almost makes me want to switch to wheels.  Almost.