Northwest

This July makes two years since we moved to the Northwest. I thought I might reflect on that:

Things that I like:
1. Fred Meyer: Starbucks, 1 hour free childcare, grocery shopping. Need I say more? Its the place where you can get a loaf of bread, tomatoes, motor oil and some cute new shoes all with one stop.

2. The Lakes: Lake Washington, Lake Sammamish. The latter is a 2 minute drive from our doorstep. The first summer I was here we went to the beach more times than we did the entire time I lived in Tustin. No crowds, warm water, short drive, small beach, lifeguard and bathrooms close by.

3. The Mountains: 45 min from our doorstep to the ski lift (without rentals). In the summer, there's hiking!

4. The Trails: Right outside our neighborhood is a trail that connects to a series of greenbelts across the city. Its wonderfull!

5. Housing Prices: Twice the house for less money than our bungalow in Tustin sold for.

6. Seattle: 20 min over the bridge and into the city with minimal hassles. (Unless there is a baseball game) Aquarium, zoo, pike place, seattle center, shopping!

7. The Job: Aaron is sooo happy here. Its a great place to work and they have phenomenal benefits.

8. Family: 45 min down to see family. What a blessing it was to be close when my mom was so sick.

9. Trees: We sit outside to eat dinner and look around: we feel like we're in the mountains in a cabin.

10. The weather: very temperate. I like variations in the weather, but it doesn't get too hot in the summer and not too cold in the winter. The summer is usually 70-80s and the winter is 30s-40s. If it does snow, its maybe an inch or two then it is gone the next day. No snow shoveling. Its just enough variation for me. And I like rain. When it does rain it usually doesn't rain the whole day. Did you know NYC annual rainfall is higher than Seattle?


What I miss from Southern California:


1. Awesome friends

2. Rutabagorz

3. In N Out

4. Jalapenos

5. Double coupons at Vons

6. Being able to walk to Whole Foods, the post office and library.

7. The character of our 1920s house.





So you see it mostly comes down to friends and restaraunts. I don't really even miss Disneyland.

Allergy Testing

I finally went in to see the allergist last week. That makes 3 out of 4 people from our family that have seen Dr. Lasley this year. I have had some strange reactions including pears and all hair conditioner. She tested me for environmental allergies and foods using a skin test. They prick your arm with a drop of the allergen. If it produces a welt then you're allergic. Surprise! My whole left arm swelled up from the prick tests-- and she watered down the dust and cat. I am still allergic to dust, cats, weeds, grass and mold. I am mildly allergic to dogs. However, maple trees is a new one.

I also had her test me for pears, oranges, and shellfish. She also tested me for all seafood except fish (oysters, crab, shrimp, lobster, etc). I had a reaction to the lobster! A big welt. I have probably had lobster about 3 times, and each time probably only 2 bites at most. Just never have developed a taste for it. Soooo... since lobster was such a big surprise, and pear did nothing she sent me off to get a blood test.

I came away with perscriptions for zyrtec, singulair, eye drops, inhaler, nasal spray and epi-pens. Whew!

From the literature they gave me:
Ideally, it is best for highly dust mite allergic individuals to avoid vacuuming or dusting duties.

Uh, can I get a persciption for THAT?

This place is h-u-g huge!

I had no idea what the blogosphere held.

It started innocently enough. I clicked through on one person's comment on Erin's blog that I didn't recognize. That blog led to another and another and another... well you get the idea. I had no idea there was such a stay-at-home mommy blog community out there. And they have all these cutesy things they do each week: Tuesday Treasures; Works for me Wednesday. One blog is even hosting a virtual home tour. Please don't click on these links unless you have a good hour or two to kill. It sucks you in like a vortex.

Some blogs are about crafts. One gal posts crafts for Christmas. I got a few cute ideas, but one felt Christmas tree was just so... well, bad. It also makes me feel so un-Martha Stewart like.

Some are about saving money. I have got a few great tips, like the incredible rebates you can get at Walgreens and some links to getting free samples. But I've read a few times about people rinsing out and reusing ziploc bags as a big money saver. What?? How does this save tons 'o money? When you think about the TIME you take to rinse them, then air dry them, how much is your time worth? We buy 2, maybe 3 boxes of ziplocs at Costco per year. Each box is about $7. So instead I could buy 1 box. Savings? $14. Is that worth it to you?
(I hope I haven't offended any ziploc washer-outers)

One I found is about her garage sale finds. How she found this book at a garage sale for a quarter then came home and sold it for $35 on ebay. And I was feeling good because I managed to buy swim diapers on sale with a coupon! (remembering to bring coupons is the tricky part)

Some seem like they are for mommy's who used to work and they miss it so the blog gives them a creative outlet. Here's one I've found that is entertaining. I love the name: What Makes a Housewife Desperate.

It made me realize that I like having a blog just for us...sharing stories about our kids and pictures. Inside jokes and reading Susan's escapades in maggots, German translation and 80s bands.

Enough time wasting for me.

Hermie and Friends

I picked up this cd a few weeks ago and I wanted to tell you about it. It's the Hermie and Wormie Scripture Memory Songs by Max Lucado. They put scripture verses to music and there are different cds categorized by verse topic. The one we have is about friends, but there is also one about following the rules, telling the truth, etc. Micah really likes it, and I think the music is pretty good too. It has really helped him remember the verses. I have even been able to apply the verses to him during discipline situations. Its been a blessing to hear him singing the songs while we are driving around.

I would recommend it!

Children Behave, that's what they say....

Thanks to Susan what did I hear my 3 year old singing today?
"I saw the sign and it opened up my mind I saw the sign."

Grumble grumble.

Neverless her post reminded me of this story:

Jodi and I played clarinet together in junior high band. This was at a small, small Christian school where all the teachers had attended Bob Jones U. (no offense Erin) We had the sheet music to "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany (which was redone by a group from the 60s). We were playing around with it, trying to play it. Our hapless band teacher comes up and investigates and proceeds to take away the music and give us a long lecture. Did I mention this guy used to direct the band with scissors?

I think we got by without too much punishment. Demerits might have been involved.

I guess we got the music back because Jodi recently found it!

Useless Books

A post on another blog reminded me of something that irritates me. When you have a new baby I have heard many people insinuate that if you follow a certain method in a certain book, then your baby will sleep through the night. Not so. I tried it with Micah. It drove me insane because he didn't "follow" it. I did everything the book said. I would reread it thinking that I did something wrong. Many hours were wasted because I fretted that I was doing something "wrong". Please. Your baby can't read. It was me that had the problem, not my baby.

But what really gets my goat is when these same people then say.. "well, we prayed over our baby, asking the Lord to help him/her sleep longer. Maybe you should do that." Like I don't pray for my baby... I remember that was my main prayer in that sleepless time with Micah.. "PULLLEASE, Lord, please just let him go back to sleep!!"

Anyway.. if you don't have a baby (or even if you do) read the books to get ideas, but realize that God gave you an innate knowledge of what to do for your baby. Just realize that if they don't "follow" it then you are still a great mom! Babyhood is such a short time.... enjoy it!

Big News!

We have big news here at our household.

1. Micah prayed to accept Jesus into his heart and to be his friend! I don't think he understands ALL the implications, but he does understand that he does bad things and that Jesus forgives him for doing them. Yesterday he was about to say something mean to me, but he stopped himself, saying "no, no I don't want to say that... Mommy, you are a good Mommy." I asked him what he was going to say but he absolutely refused to tell me and he even looked embarrassed! Could it be the work of the Holy Spirit alive in my son's heart!?? Wow!

2. Joel is now OFFICIALLY crawling. He's been unofficially crawling for about 2-3 months. Now he has a full-fledged membership card. About 3 months ago he figured out how to push himself backwards. A few weeks ago he figured out how to go forward scooting on his bottom. He would cross his legs Indian style (or should I say Native American style) then lean forward and kind of scoot around. Here's a picture to clarify:



Last night he figured out how to get his knees under him and crawl the traditional way. This is exciting for us because Micah skipped this phase. He scooted a tiny bit on his belly (complaining and whining the whole time) and went straight to walking at 10 1/2 months. I finally got Micah to crawl at 18 months. I did it by forcing him to go through tunnels at the park. He would try to stand up and he would bump his head. Finally he figured out how to get his knees and arms working to crawl.

By the way... it is a myth that crawling has anything to do with reading. (That one is oft repeated to me.)

More Training

Today was my first 18 miler. It actually was closer to 19 because of a wrong turn made by the walk leader. Oops! I used duct tape on my feet and they felt pretty good. Just the same blister from before, no new ones.

I've been meeting alot of interesting people through the training walks. Its been great. I also must say its been hard. Hard in two ways. 1st: I completely underestimated the time it would take to train. I looked at the training schedule, but you just don't comprehend the time involved. Do you know how much time it takes to walk 18 miles? If you walk at a 3 mi/hr pace; that's 6 hours with no stops! Bless my dear husband who has been home all day today with the kids! Its one thing that I stay home with them every day, but he is not used to it and not used to their schedules. I think it has been good for him to spend some 1-1 time with the boys, however.

2nd way it has been hard: when you are walking for 6 hours, inevitably the topic of why you chose to do the walk comes up. It came up alot today for me. After about the 3rd or 4th time, it gets hard for me to keep talking about my mom's cancer. I find that I'm worn out emotionally after the walks. I also find that I dread them (to a certain degree) beforehand as well. I think because I know the only reason I decided to do it was because she passed away. I wish she was here and I wasn't walking. I guess its a reminder to me of what I have lost.

Research Study

Yesterday Joel participated in a research study at the University of Washington. It was an infant cognition lab through the brain research department. They wanted to test to see if babies take what they learn in one context and apply it to another context. They did this by showing him two toys; a frog and a fish. A researcher showed she was interested in only the fish. Joel was cute because he tried to talk to her. It was if he was saying " hey, look at the frog, that looks like fun too!", as he was pointing at it. They kept doing this until he was "officially" bored. We then moved to another room with the same two toys. This time the researcher would alternate which toy she was interested in. When she was looking at the frog Joel would look longer at her. When she was looking at the fish he looked a shorter amount of time at the researcher, showing that he already knew that she liked it. It was fun and an interesting thing to do.

They video taped his responses. So if you happen to be researching infants contextual learning you might see a short clip of Joel. =)

Joel has also participated in a hearing study at UW. That one wasn't as interesting and he got bored easily so he wasn't a very good subject.

Juice Plus

Thought I'd share what I've found here.

I guess I might as well....

...do the meme since I was tagged a while ago by Erin.

Here it is:
5 things in my refrigerator:
1. rice milk
2. lemon curd (the only thing in there that contains milk!)
3. carrots
4. probiotics (the good bacteria in yogurt with none of the dairy)
5. OJ with calcium

5 things in my closet:
1. shoes
2. clothes
3. purses
4. hats
5. hiking socks

5 things in my car:
1. Dora doodle book
2. water bottle
3. a used sticker book
4. a sit and stand stroller
5. 4 WD

5 secret addictions:
1. taking kids to McDonalds
{I feel I must defend myself here. There are so many kid things Micah can't do and besides, it has a playground where he runs around and burns many calories. Great indoor activity here with all the rain}
2. watching The Office
3. checking blogs about The Office {i know I'm a geek}
4. chocolate strawberries
5. going to tea

3 people to tag
1. Jodi (she needs somthing easy to blog anyway)
2. Susan (ditto)
3. Karen K

What is going on?

You may have wondered where I was:

Wed: Took Joel to Doctor as the aforementioned ear infection did not appear to completely go away.

Wed night: Joel develops fever of 103, this is after he is on antibiotics

Thursday: fever of 103 continues even with Omnicef

Friday: Back to doctor to see what is up with the ear infection. Ears look almost normal. Doc thinks he has a virus on top of infection.

Friday night: Joel is up every 2 hours. Aye yi yi: newborn stage again!

Saturday morn: Insanely, we leave for our planned camping trip with Dad, brother, sister-in-law, aunt and uncle. Joel seems to be doing better and fever broke. Micah on the other hand develops croupy cough. He has had a runny nose for about a month. Micah ASKS to go to bed while camping.

We have a great time camping despite sick kids and running on no sleep. We went to Ohanapecosh which is on the south east side of Mt. Rainier. I even got to go hiking sans children.

Saturday night: Joel is up yet again every 2 hours. Fun for all in the campground. Remarkably Micah sleeps through all the noise until 5 am, when he decides to get up. Aaron drives Joel up to Paradise and back, enjoying the sunrise. (though not what he would have chosen to do)

Sunday: Joel seems better, but now Micah continues to get worse. Now he has a slight fever. His cough and breathing get worse

Monday : Joel gets rash all over torso.

Tuesday : Joel has bright red diaper. Back to the doctor for Micah and Joel. Turns out Joel had Roseola on top of his ear infection . No wonder he woke up so much! Fortunately red diaper is nothing to worry about. Micah has a sinus infection and is on the verge of pneumonia. Doc x-rays his sinuses: yup they are all clogged up. Micah also gets albuterol treatment in the office to help with his wheezing. Such fun to hold the pipe in his mouth all the while trying to keep Joel occupied. Talk about 3-ring circus! Doc put Micah on a 3 course treatment of Zithromax (about a month). I really hope this does the trick!

Now for the preventive side. I have a friend that gives her kids a supplement called Juice Plus. Apparently it has whole food nutrients so its supposed to be better for them. She swears by it and says it has really cut down the number of colds her daughter has had AND she started preschool to boot! Has anyone else out there heard of it or use it?

Swim Lessons

We have started Mommy and Me swim lessons AGAIN for Micah. I was hoping to put him in the preschool I class. In Oklahoma we were at a pool and Micah was TERRIFIED. He wouldn't even get near the water even though all his cousins were playing in the water. We finally got him to put his feet in the water. Then I pulled him in with me and he clung to me the whole time, saying he wanted to get out. He's never done that before. Last year we went to Mommy and me classes 2-3 times and he did great. I guess a year of no swimming did him in.

The first class of the current session went well. He was still scared when we went, but the familiar surroundings were helpful. I think he then remembered the songs and games because he quickly was at ease. He let go of me and let me hold his tummy while he kicked and did his arms. He even floated around on his back! The 2nd class went even better. He jumped off the edge and went down the slide. I am learning that Micah is quite the cautious kid and needs to observe and be familiar before he does something.

Now Joel, on the other hand is going to be our "no fear" child. I took him in the pool and he took to it instantly. He kicked his legs and flapped his arms trying to swim to me. The other day in the baby pool he flopped onto his tummy. (There was only 3 inches of water.) He moved around with his arms while his legs floated around. He could move around like a rocket.

You're not suppose to compare your children, but how can you not? =)

My Day

Well I have been feeling rather UNproductive lately, so I thought I would tell you about my day today because I was very productive today. Normally I feel like all I get done is taking care of the need of the moment. Today I actually got real tasks done!

1. Took both kids with me to my yearly exam. Big mistake. $ for babysitter will be well worth it next time.

2. Went to Fred's to exchange Aaron's birthday gift (shirt was too big) and pick up some baked beans for BBQ tomorrow. Note: Fred Meyer is a WONDERFUL place here in the Northwest. It is worthy of a blog post all its own. Short story is it is a Target and grocery store all in one. AND they have free babysitting for an hour.

3. Went by bank to deposit checks.

4. Got Micah's hair cut.

5. Did first day of Daniel Bible Study

6. Took 45 min nap.

7. Cleaned 2 bathrooms

8. Made dinner for neighbors who came over tonight.

9. Cleaned kitchen

10. Worked on paperwork for 3-day donations.

Speaking of the 3 day, some of you have asked about training. Its been going well, although I had a slight hiccup while being gone. This past weekend I walked 16 miles Saturday and 13 miles Sunday. I have matching blisters on both feet despite taping them. What is nice is that the training walks I've been going on are led by a 3-day volunteer and they take place right around my house. In fact we walk by my neighborhood 2-3 times. The hills and trails around here are wonderful!

Family Reunion

We had a great time on our trip. It always takes me a few days to adjust back to life after we've been gone, especially when we've been to OKC or if Jocelyn's been here. She was here for 3 weeks then we were there for 10 days, so I have had a REALLY hard time adjusting back. Why? Because I get so much help from her that it is hard for Micah and me to adjust back to just plain old me around.

The highlight of the trip was watching Micah play with all of his cousins. Its been a few years since we've got together with the whole extended family. The last time was when Micah was a baby, so this was the first time he was old enough to play with the kids. He really enjoyed it, they had such a great time! There are 2 boys about 18 months younger than Micah and about 18 months older than Joel. So next year they will all be playing together! Micah and Joel don't have any 1st cousins, so Aaron's cousin's kids will have to suffice for now.

The lowlight of the trip was a major anaphalactic reaction at McDonalds. We go to McDonalds because I know what he can have and I know what is safe for him to eat. (For example, he can't eat a thing at Chick-fil-a, and alot of places in OKC slather butter on everything) After he ate he got down and played with his car on the benches next to us. He came over and had hives all over his face. They had spread up to his forehead and were forming on his arm. I gave him some Benedryl and they didn't go away after 10 minutes. I started to get pretty nervous and thought about getting the epi-pen out. He didn't have any trouble breathing and his tongue wasn't swelling. I called his allergist and they said to wait another 10 minutes. After about 10 more minutes the hives had diminished significantly. Talk about scary! What was scary was not knowing exactly what caused the reaction. I think what happened is he had got some ranch dressing from my sandwich on his hand. I saw it and wiped it off immediately, but didn't wash his hands. I don't know if it was the residue or maybe he had got some in his mouth before I noticed. Or, he might have got some cheese or milk residue from the benches when he was playing with his car. It seems like we always have trouble with his food allergy when we are travelling. I was just thinking before the trip that he hadn't had a reaction in a while and maybe he was outgrowing it. Wrong. =(

Joel also developed an ear infection while we were there. One night he screamed from 7pm -1am pretty much non-stop. Even if we held him he didn't stop. We tried every medicine: tylenol, sudafed, benedryl, mylicon, even suppositories. I think he finally passed out from exhaustion. Aaron had to go to the store twice, thank goodness for 24 hour Walgreens!

While we were there we went to the zoo, the omniplex science center, saw Cars, a water spray park, the pool, shopping and relaxation! So it wasn't all bad!

The best $10 we have ever spent.

We bought Micah an alarm clock. Not to get him out of bed, but rather, to keep him in bed. It worked like a charm! We told him he could not get out of bed until it said 7-0-0. He has been getting up at 6:00 or earlier! Too early for us, and too early for him. Yesterday he fell asleep at 10 in the car! This morning he didn't get up until 8:00! Yippee!!

Aaron thinks we should tell him he can get up as long as there is a 7 at the front. Because, what happens when he wakes at 7:15 and hence never sees 7-0-0. I say, he needs the rest, let him stay in bed until 8:00! That's what he did today--he said he stayed in bed until he saw the 0-0.

Spreading the Word

Some friends of ours here are on a waiting list to adopt. I thought I would post their info to spread the word furthur. They are great people and you can read their story here.

We got back from Oklahoma City yesterday. I will post pics and stories in the next few days!

Front Page News!

So Aaron was quoted in the Financial Times of London today. He even made the front page! Unfortunately his name was not attached to the quote. Microsoft released a new Beta of Windows Vista. Demand for download was so high that they couldn't increase their bandwidth anymore for fear of bringing the internet down! He chatted with some tech bloggers about this (see my previous post) and then it got picked up by different news outlets.

From the article:
"It's not that we didn't anticipate this level of interest or demand, but that we are at the threshold of what the internet can bear," reads a posting on the weblog run by the development team [Aaron] behind the software.

The Financial Times story is here.

Toilet troubles

Karen's latest post reminded me of a story that happened before I started blogging. Around January the toilet downstairs was flushing rather slowly, but still working. We never got around to trying to fix it. We had a huge superbowl party because, if you remember, our beloved Hawks were playing this year. Wouldn't you know it, right before everyone shows up, the toilet overflows and makes a huge mess down there. We tried snaking it and Aaron broke our snake.

A plumber came out the next day and tried to snake it. No dice. The lines were clear. He says there is probably something hard stuck in the toilet. Great. I'm thinking that one of the kids must have tried to flush a toy down. The plumber has to take the toilet up and look inside, and guess what is stuck in there? The splash guard from the potty seat. I remember fishing it out of the toilet a few times because it was loose. I guess I missed it one time. A splash guard is the little doo-hicky that attaches to the front of the potty seat so that little boys won't spray everywhere.

I contemplating sending First Years a plumbing bill.

Stehekin, Washington

The photo I posted of Aaron on this birthday was taken on our anniversary trip this year. It reminded me of where we went.

Just about every year we try to get away for our anniversary in February. This year we flew Jocelyn out using ff miles to watch the kiddos. (one perk of Aaron's business trips!) We drove to Lake Chelan which is pretty much in the middle of the state. We then took a 2 hour ferry boat northwest to Stehekin. (Pronounced Ste-he'-kin) It is at the very north end of Lake Chelan and the only access to the place is by ferry or float plane. There are no roads into the "town". Stehekin has water and electricity, but no phone service, tv or radio signal. They now can get internet and tv via satellite. There is a post office that receives mail 2 times a week by ferry. Oh, and the ferry only comes 3 times a week in the winter (when we were there). So you can only leave on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The other days it is a VERY long long walk by mountain trail. The mountains are so steep around there that there aren't even any trails out on the south end. The CCC tried to make a trail from Chelan to Stehekin in the 30's, but gave up because the terrain was too steep.

We had a great time, it is very beautiful there. I highly recommend the trek! It was a little nerve wracking with 2 little ones at home, but Grandma took great care of them. We would love to go back in the summer and rent a cabin with the kids. You can look here for more pictures and info.



View from our room.