At Home in Seattle

We continue to love our home in Seattle.  Just 15 minutes away is a little place called Alki Beach.  Austin and I actually came out here for fish 'n' chips on our trip in 2008. 

We've been back a few times. 

The first time, I just let Carson run around and drive his cars in the sand for like 3 hours. 

I took Austin back a second time, and we ate at a tasty little Vietnamese place.  Vietnam did receive some benefit from French occupation in the form of delicious bread.  We ordered a sandwich with, among other things, roasted pork and jalapenos.  There wasn't much on the sandwich, but the bread was so good, that you almost preferred the other flavors to be a supplement.  We are certainly enjoying the variety of food here, as well as a budget with flexibility for eating out.

Our most recent visit was with friends from the BYU MBA program who are also here with us.  We had a picnic and then let the kids run all over the place.  It was a good break from being in the city.  And the kids had fun digging and looking for shells.

I'm pretty sure that from the beginning, human males have had some innate need to throw rocks into water.  I'll bet the first time Adam came across a pond, without even thinking about it, he scanned the ground for a pebble, and when he found it, threw it in.  Carson is no exception.

There is also a little park that backs up to the water just a short walk from our house.  When we're having lazy days, or when Austin wants to take Carson on a little adventure to get him out of my hair, it's really nice to have this place so close.  Carson can drive his cars and throw rocks here all day long, and he's happy to do it.

Here's the latest on our little Cora Miss Mei: 

As of this coming Wednesday, she will be 6 months old.

She is precious as ever--still delicate and beautiful.

I literally get stopped everywhere I go by people raving about her eyes and eyelashes.

She has been rolling over for nearly 2 months.

She has been getting up on her knees and scooting around backwards for about 2 weeks and is SO CLOSE to starting to crawl.  I know that just opens up a whole can o' worms for the trouble they can get into, but it's so exciting to see these little critters working so hard to learn to crawl!  If she has been working on crawling for too long, she gets frustrated--especially when there's a toy just out of her reach, and the harder she tries to project herself forward, the more she slides back and away from it--and she starts making this little demonic sounding growling noise.  Which I think is hilarious.  Until, of course, she starts fussing, and then I feel bad.

 She has been teething (seemingly) for like 2 months now, but with no apparent progress.  Just lots of drool, and a strong urge to bite everything that comes near her face or into her tiny hands.

She also started eating oatmeal about 2 weeks ago.  Carson was not into using a spoon when he was her age.  He couldn't get the hang of swallowing solids, so I started watering down his food and putting it into a bottle.  But so far, Cora is a little eating champ. 

Unfortunately, I left my little booster chair in Utah for the summer because I never imagined she'd be ready for it this soon, so I have to just hold her in my lap while I feed her.  This works pretty well--until she starts getting grabby, or decides to turn and rub her oatmeal-smeared face on my shirt.  Lovely.

She likes to laugh.

She LOVES her Dad.

She smiles at most everyone she sees.

And I can't get over how much fun it is to be a mom to a girl!