Family Fuller

Sunday after spending a short, but fun, morning at the Ballard Market - which is great (I love all the farmers markets here) we met with our real estate agent to go see a few houses.

The first one we saw was what you would call a diamond in the rough - very rough. It had great woodwork and lots of potential, but it was very crooked. The dining room and living room were very skewed and sloped. Plus it was really on the small side with only 2 bedrooms and basically a closet.

We looked at about 6 more that day. Saw two we may have potentially put offers on but they just weren’t what we were looking for (not even counting the fuzzy orange wallpaper in one of them). One really needed updating and one had a combination of things that just weren’t right. Both were also very expensive. I would say almost double the price of a house in Ann Arbor and not nearly as big. I guess you could say you get used to the sticker shock after the first few…we will just keep looking.

Cry-it-out update. After a few days of Holden crying for 2 hours a night, on Monday we just let him go for 2 1/2 hours and he finally fell asleep. It was rough. Right after he fell asleep I got all emotional thinking how fast they grow up and now he didn’t need me anymore. It was like we broke him. His first taste of the terrible world when mommy and daddy won’t come and help him. Obviously I know it isn’t like that and he needs to learn to sleep on his own but it is sad to me none the less. Last night he went to sleep without crying. Naps are still an issue. He is pretty close to sitting up and can do it for about 15 seconds, unless he spots something he wants and he just flops down to get it.

Colin is doing well too. We spent the morning at Greenlake and then went over to our friend Jen and her son Theo’s house in the afternoon. When we left Colin said to me “Theo’s going to miss me.”

Colin asks never ending questions all the time. He asks me the exact same thing, I swear 15 times in a row, and I answer him each time. Finally one time I said “Colin, why do you keep asking me the same thing over and over when I know you heard the answer?” to which he replied “Oh mommy, I am just teasing you.”

We are heading out to look at some houses to buy tomorrow, but for the time being we are renting a place in North Seattle. We have a 3 month lease which then goes month to month, and some great new landlords who live right next door. Here are a few pictures so all of you grandparents out there can picture where we are…

The outside, looks kind of small, but it is a good size for the time being:

You walk into a laundry room (which is in constant use) off the kitchen

To the right is the kitchen, where we have also put the dining room table:

Through the door Colin’s room is to the left (and usually a total mess):

and the living room:
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off the living room is a little fenced in patio:

off the other side of the living room is an office (with a view of the mountains - hard to tell in these pics):

Then the bathroom:

It is a bit of a struggle to fit all 4 of us and baby gear in the bathroom, especially after out huge bathroom back in Ann Arbor.

Lastly, the combo “master suite” and nursery. Holden currently lives in a closet, with his clothes on the changing table and my clothes in the baby dresser.

We also have a side yard for Sevi. There aren’t really many bugs in Seattle, the occasional fly, so most people just leave their doors open. I know no one in Michigan will believe me and it takes some getting used to having the door wide open, windows too. It’s nice because Colin can just go out to the patio while I sit in the living room.

That is about it. All the boys are sleeping right now and I just don’t know what to do with myself.

This will be a quick one…we just got back from picking Chuck up at the airport and it is late. Colin is currently asleep holding the rocket that Chuck brought him back from London. Holden’s sleep is not going well.

We went to the zoo this morning - we are members now thanks to the Dotens. It wasn’t the best trip. Colin wanted popcorn from the get go and they don’t have any ready at 10 AM, go figure. The whole time we were there he kept asking if the popcorn was ready yet and should we go check. Holden was in the baby bjorn and peed through his outfit (4th time in 24 hours). So I had to change him while Colin ate his popcorn, then we went home.

This afternoon we went to the Phinny Farmer’s Market - small but lots of great local food. Had a little pizza for dinner. We will definitely go back for veggies, etc when we have time.

One funny story of note. If you have ever seen Alaskan airlines planes they have a huge Eskimo head on the tail - but it is really hard to tell that it is indeed an Eskimo. For the longest time I wondered why they would have Bob Marley on their planes. I mentioned this to Chuck and he said he thought it was God. So we asked Colin what he thought was on the plane and he said “It looks like Martin Van Buren”

If you read our blog often or have seen Colin recently you know he loves the presidents. From his presidential place mat he has learned at least half of them. Yesterday he named off the first 8 in order without the place mat, just while we were talking. Now he has taken to calling our office (really a sun porch type room with a semi-sloped floor) the Oval Office. We were in the bedroom and he wanted a book and he said “I will get it, it’s in the Oval Office.”

Just now he had his party invitation and he said “Can Holden play with this?” I said “No” Colin replied “because it has sharps edges?” I said yes. Then he said “Mommy give me those scissors. I will cut these corners off and then Holden can play with it.”

Holden had his first taste of solid food last night. He did alright, has some interest, actually got some down I think. Colin kept asking if he could help. I can’t imagine a bigger mess than having Colin feeding Holden. The sleeping went a little better. Holden cried for about a hour, I didn’t pick him up though and then he slept from 9 until 4 AM. I of course woke up about three and was up until about 5.

I keep meaning to write a blog about our rental house…that will have to be later today or tomorrow.

All morning and yesterday Colin kept asking to go the “Block Store.” I could not figure out what he was saying and then it hit me that had told him we would go see the Ballard Locks. I can’t imagaine what he thought once we got there this morning. He like the boats, and I think he understood the principle behind the locks once I explained it. We saw the fish ladder and I think his favorite part was the water pouring through white pipe at the dam.. the “waterfall” as he called it. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so no pics.

At the Pike Place Market a couple weeks ago

Yesterday I heard him drawing in the other room and this is what he was saying “Ok I drew Curious George. Now space. The planets and this one, Jupiter, needs a Galilean satellite. How about Iapetus. I-p-e-T” I had to laugh, because everybody knows that Iapetus is a moon of Saturn - silly 2 year old.

Also the other day while we were all fighting/yelling about trying to go somewhere - mostly at Colin’s lack of motivation while get dressed - Colin said “Hey guys, can’t we all just cooperate?” Which means “Can’t we do what I want” Then yesterday Colin said to me “Mommy, can’t we ever do what I want to do?” I just stared at him thinking…everything we do is what you want to do.

On to Holden - he isn’t talking yet so his stories mostly revolve around peeing and eating. He was crying and I went to change his diaper, open it up and he peed all over me and immediately started laughing. I mean he was crying hard, pees on me and just bursts out laughing. Little bugger.

This will be a short one because I am about to surrender to Holden and the cry-it-out attempt I am currently trying. He has been crying for over an hour now. I have gone in there every 5 minutes, but it is so hard. I keep second guessing myself, feeling bad because he is still on antibiotics (for mastitis of all things). Plus Colin keeps screaming in his bed “Mommy - make him stop. Get him to sleep. I am going to go check on him.” Why is sleeping never an easy thing?

OK, I give up…will have to blog tomorrow…I can’t take it anymore.

8:45 AM Next day…well the hour and half of crying must have tired him out because he slept straight from 11 until 4 AM. Then I was up from 4 until 5 feeding then trying to soothe him while he cried. Eventually I gave in again and rocked for a few minutes, laid him down and he slept until 8 AM!!!

Many details I know, but Daddy is currently in London so I want to make sure he knows what he’s missing

Holden had his first turn in the high chair a few days ago. We haven’t started solid foods yet, but we will in the next week or so. I guess we are going to have to let him cry it out soon too because last night was not pretty. I think we were up every hour and Chuck is on his way to London right now so he needed rest and so did I as I am going to have to be the only soother for the next few days.

On top of that our new flat screen TV that we got 2 weeks ago broke. We got the warranty/service plan from Best Buy and they said they could come out to look at it September 10th. September 10th? What did I pay $150 for? So our new TV could sit and I could listen to Colin ask 100 times a day why it wasn’t working for a whole month? So after dropping Chuck off at the airport I lugged the huge box back to Best Buy in the rain with both kids. Since I had to do that I figured we deserved and upgrade so we got the 40 inch instead of the 32. And then the cable was out.

After that I thought we needed to go to Trader Joe’s for some groceries…huge mistake. It was so crowded and not kid friendly at all, unlike the A2 Trader Joes. Colin was running all over saying “how about these? This looks good.” I turned around and he was running his hands all over the raw meat section while nearly getting run over by a cart.

All in all though, Colin was very good all day. In the car he was trying to read something in the back seat and he kept saying very politely “Mommy, could you stop so I can read this?” Finally he said “Mommy it is really hard to read while you are driving and you keep driving. You are making me crazy.”

Colin’s new “sandbox” - idea compliments of my friend Kristin back in A2 - thanks

Alright my blog for today is a few funny tidbits and updates about the boys.

Holden is growing up fast. He is an expert at rolling both ways and is close to crawling. He can kind of scoot himself around, granted it takes a lot of time to get where he is going, but he can get there. Yesterday he even got up on his hands and knees - all the while I am sitting there going “Just take it easy, no need to crawl at 6 months, why don’t you wait until 11 months like Colin.” Here is a good pic of Holden and his new buddy Liam (my good college friend Colleen’s son):

Holden is grabbing at everything I have in my hands, he especially loves paper. He has started to get mad if you take things away or you don’t give him what he wants. He is a total mama’s boy right now - if he starts crying at night and Chuck goes in to sooth him he freaks out until I get there. Not so great for me. His sleeping is terrible. He falls asleep after nursing around 7:30 then gets up every half hour or so until about 10. Then he has pretty much gotten up every 2 hours until we can’t take anymore and we bring him into bed with us at 4 AM. The other day he was in bed with us and I didn’t want to get up to fed him so he rolled over and slapped me in the face.

He is lucky he is so cute though because I just can’t stop kissing him and forgive all his bad night time behavior - he seems to be trying to wave too.

On to Colin. Here is a cute picture of Colin reading to Holden. Colin made sure to go and get his chair so he could sit down to read.

Below is a picture of when Colin decided to set the table for dinner. He said “Mommy, I will set the table so we can eat.” He proceeds to get a fork, a spoon and his training chopsticks (which he loves and is pretty good at using). He goes over to the table and says “One for me, one for me and one for me. Ok, lets eat.”

Colin listens to everything we talk about and before I forget this one - it happened a few months ago - I have to blog about it. We went to my friends house for lunch and she asked Colin what he wanted to drink to which he replied “Decaf Americano with cream and a little sugar.” I guess I have been going to the coffee shop a bit too much - which certainly isn’t going to stop in this city.

I am busy trying to find a preschool for Colin, almost everything is full around here being that it is almost Sept. Hopefully it will work out though because I know Colin would love to go…and I am running out of things to teach him

Chuck had a conference in Vancouver from Monday to Wednesday and since we hadn’t seen him much we went with him. We got up there on Sunday night, checked into the nice, but small hotel room and I had a bit of a freak out session. You couldn’t see anything out the window, literally a brick wall and I thought “What am I going to do with two small kids for 3 days? Why did we come?”

“See Colin…bird poop, that is why you don’t go upstairs with your hands…”

After a good dinner out, where Colin ordered his own dinner and then didn’t eat any of it, I felt much better and we ended up having a great time. The weather was perfect, sunny and 75 every day we were there. Anyone who has ever been to Vancouver knows how incredibly beautiful it is - mountains at every turn, clean, huge park, fountains and waterfalls everywhere.

We pretty much spent every day in Stanley Park. The first day we walked about 30 minutes to get there all the time talking about the miniature train they have for kids to ride only to discover they were on strike and it wasn’t running. That didn’t go over well with Colin, so I told him we would walk back to the hot dog restaurant we saw…turns out that was also closed. Fortunately we found a great cafe that had a whole kids play area - exersaucer for Holden and all.

The next day we went to see the lighthouse (Colin’s favorite) - which he noticed right away was square. Then we went to the Aquarium. He love the Jellyfish (side note: he read the word “Moon” off the “Moon Jellyfish” tank…pretty cool) and the kids play area where they could play “seal doctor.” He didn’t care much for the sharks and turtles, they far out weighed him and I think he got scared.

That night we got some Korean food and went back to have a picnic in the park. We have now tried to eat Asian food in picnic style twice and let me tell you it doesn’t work well. Colin knocked over his whole drink, the noodles splatter everywhere, plus we had no forks, then a bird peed on us. However we did get some great photos:

Holden totally conked out after our walk:

The next day we had a bit of a lighthouse fiasco. We drove out to see a lighthouse west of Vancouver and the guy at the tourist office conveniently forgot to tell me that there was a strenuous 30 minute uphill walk to get to it. Somehow he must have missed the 18 pound 6 month old baby on my chest and the 3 year old standing next to me. Anyway I told Colin it was too far and he was disappointed again but he got over it once we got back to Stanley park and played in the fountains.

All in all it was a fun trip and I am glad we went.

Tomorrow I will have a few tidbits and pictures about the boys and Monday will be a little blog about our rental - so the grandparents have some idea of how we are living these days

Chuck took lots of “blog notes” while we were on vacation out east so I will let him blog about that one. I will tackle the move because, and I think Chuck would agree, I had it the hardest being a single mom for about 2/3 weeks.

We got back from our vacation late Sunday night the 15th of July. Chuck’s brother Fletcher happened to be in town then so we spent most of Monday recovering and hanging out with him. Tuesday Chuck spent most of the day getting ready to fly to Seattle to start his job the next day. He left Tuesday night and the house was not packed, so what did I do? Wandered around for 2 days wondering how the hell I was going to pack the whole thing while watching 2 kids, the younger of whom decided he didn’t like to sleep anymore and if he did it was only going to be right next to mommy. So that Friday I drove up north to see my mom.

It was her, let’s just say 39th birthday, and therefore I also brought my 92 year old grandma along for the ride. Oh, and I had to go pick her up, which added 2 hours to the already 5 hour trip. So I drove up north with her, 2 kids and a dog. It went OK until the last hour when Holden cried non-stop. When we got to my moms my grandma said “Colin is very well behaved, but that baby just cries and cries” Never mind he had been in the car for 7 hours. We had a good dinner and true to my mom’s side of the family, my grandma decided to go back home with my aunt the next morning. The rest of the weekend was good, but I was getting increasing freaked out by the amount of packing I had to do. I was going back Monday morning, Chuck got back Wed AM and we had to have the whole house packed and cleaned that night. My mom came to the rescue and drove back down with me to help - thank you mom! (Oh, and a shout out to Amy and Laura for coming over to pack the week before and Jen for taking the kids for a morning - couldn’t have done it without you)

We packed for 2 days. My dad came over on that Tuesday and true to form immediately started packing up the POD we rented. I had to be careful what I put where because if it was in the dining room he grabbed it and put it in the POD. I had to pack for the 2 weeks we had before we left, the temp house we rented and then storage - it was a mess. When Chuck got back we barely even talked about his job because it was work, work, work all day. We closed on the house and in the middle of it all I took Holden to the Dr. I thought he had some swelling in his groin, turns out it was just fat…good way to waste an hour
Through it all I wasn’t emotional, except when my mom left, until that night when my friend Laura came over to take our rug. Colin started getting all upset saying “Don’t. Don’t take my rug. Don’t take it.” “I want to stay. This is my house.” Then I lost it. We still had work to do though so we all pulled it together and cleaned the house. Our friend Dave drove us out to my Dad’s around 9:30 PM. It was a long day.

Chuck got up the next morning and left for Seattle. That was another rough morning because Colin kept saying “Daddy, don’t go. I want to go with you. Stay here, don’t go to Seattle.” Then after he left Colin kept asking me where his daddy was.

Colin, Holden and I stayed at my Dad’s for 10 days. I thought it was going to be hard after that first day, but it ended up being a lot of fun. We got to say goodbye to our friends in Ann Arbor and did fun stuff with Grandpa. Colin went to the tractor show with Grandpa, we went to the Henry Ford Museum, helped Grandpa build his barn and played with cousins in the back yard.

We flew to Seattle on Saturday. The boys were really well behaved on the plane but it was still a very, very long day. Traveling by yourself with a baby and a 3 year old is rough. We practically had to strip in security. They even made Colin take his shoes off. I was sweating buckets by the time we got to the plane. Then I had to hold Holden the whole time and of course there was no place to change him, so I am in the tiny bathroom with Colin straddling Holden who is laying on the top the toilet while I crouch in the space there is left. I was never so happy to see Chuck. Colin was looking for daddy around every corner.

On the ride home Colin kept saying “Oh Seattle has trees. Oh Seattle has houses. How many houses? Daddy, count the houses. Seattle has stop signs. Wow.” When we got to our little rental Sevi greeted us and Colin instantly thought it was her house. So now we have been calling it “Sevi’s house.” We were here for a couple days without furniture and thankfully our friends Colleen and Ian made us dinner that first night. Now we are pretty settled. I still feel like we are on vacation - I can’t believe we live here now, but I am really excited. Yesterday Colin said “I like living in Seattle” and he has barely left the house so far, we haven’t done one entertaining thing yet.

This is our POD - everything we own fit in here, can you believe it? We still got it Chuck - small spaces
I have a lot of little Colinisms and Holden notes but those will have to be another entry…it’s late and I am tired. In the future I would like to post every day if possible…that would be great for the grandparents…I will try
Jess