Two posts for the price of one!

I can't help but post cute photos of E whenever I get a chance. Finding daycare for an infant, I've discovered, is like buying a house in the Bay Area. If you see it and you like it, you better make an offer that second or you'll lose out. At least, that's what it used to be like. I don't know where I'd left it with our nanny whose been watching E for a couple weeks. She got a job at Alaska Airlines and her last day was going to be the 6th. In our scramble to get something else setup, we did something odd. We consulted the P-H-O-N-E-B-O-O-K. You've heard of these things. They came around before the days of computers. Before you could just go on c-----list and click the link that says Childcar3. I don't know why we didn't go to the Yellow Pages before. I've been doing a gazillon searches on the web and came up with little. We found a place about 3 miles away, they just happened to have an infant opening, we went to see it and agreed it would do and she starts next week! Our little girl, heading out in the world. We're going to lose it on Monday, I'm sure. Maybe we'll just register, go for coffee, and then go back and pick her up. We may have to ease into it. For our own sakes, not hers! lol

Finally making a house a home

Our new garden:


A different angle:



Thanks to a lot of hard work on M's part and a bit on his dad and our neighbor, our garden finally has something to it. There's still a lot of work to be done but we have a little space to sit back and enjoy on a daily basis. Now, as long as none of the plants die, we'll be happy. :)

Dirt is good food

So..uh yeah...I was out helping dad with the garden today..Can you tell?

Learning something new everyday

We took our first ride on the swing last week. We also experienced the top of a slide but that photo is on my phone and I don't know how to get it here. I think she kind of liked it. M's convinced she's going to be a daredevil like her mom and I hope that's true. I hope she's adventurous (in the legal way, anyhow) because it makes life more interesting.

We've had a pretty busy few weeks. After M's parents left (did I mention they were here?), we went camping for the first time with the girl. Actually, it was the first time he and I went too - I don't know why we've never camped together because we both like it. We drove west until we found dry weather. (We found it.) We tested out our new tent, our new air mattress, etc, etc. We found out that our lovely car, advertised as a sports utility type vehicle and one of the most popular vehicles in the northwest, barely fit all our camping gear. So what happens if we get a dog or if we want to take someone with us?! They have to sit on the roof, I'm afraid!

We experienced E's first cold too, right after the camping trip. We got to see firsthand what it was like to have a baby that woke up in the middle of the night. It's hard and I'm glad it's over.
She's still a little snotty, we call it, but thankfully, she's sleeping during the night. Naps are harder, she definitely doesn't want to be asleep. Too much fun stuff to learn about, I guess. At least at night, we go to sleep too, so it's not such a big deal. lol

Last weekend, we went out with a couple from our Peps group. It's a parenting group that we had joined when E was born. We did it for 12 weeks and then everyone fell off the face of the planet. Except the ones who are our neighbors, who we've seen once a week, whether they are just passing by on a walk or what. These people we actually made plans with and we all went on a hike! It was a really good time and M and I talked afterward about how much we like them and hope they liked us. It's like interviewing for friends or something. We wonder if they liked us as much and whether we'll get together again! lol Sounds like junior high, doesn't it?

One thing we've experienced since living in Seattle is that the majority of people are friendly on the surface but when you want to get to know them better, they definitely disappear. We've decided to make more of an effort to "put ourselves out there" because without family around, friends become really important. I would say 90 percent of the people we meet have family around or were from here, and they just don't have time to fit you in. That's just our observation. Believe me, I know we have a lot to do with it which is why we are going to work harder. But you can only ask so many times when people don't reciprocate. Eventually you give up.