Changes Afoot

This last weekend we moved all our worldly possessions from one house to another. Our house deal is almost wrapped up, and we are happily making a return to renting. Quite unfortunately though, our search for a new home pretty much came down to being homeless or keeping Duncan, and we had to opt to not be homeless. 

Fortunately, my parents (being both dog lovers and a constant source of support) have taken him in, and hope to find him a loving home. While I know that he is in a familiar place and probably very much enjoying being part of a dog pack, I feel pretty terrible. Taking in an animal is certainly a commitment, and one I feel like we've reneged. 

Though he is certainly a quirky fellow, I've grown to love and appreciate Duncan. He came to us needing a home, and I'd like to think we were able to give him a very nice one as long as we could. I'll miss his companionship and love for Henry, and I'll always be grateful for the part he played in my physical recovery from Henry's arrival. 

Anyways, I apologize for the melodramatic post-- I hope to be back sometime soon with some happier thoughts and happenings. 

Summer Vacation

Sunday night we returned home from our big summer vacation-- a roughly 1300 mile road trip to Montana and back. Henry, Matt, and Duncan were all first time pilgrims to the treasure state, and it was wonderful to get to share such a lovely place with my favorite guys.

Henry enjoyed visiting with his aunt and uncle, grandparents, and great grandmas. Honestly, it was just great to have some backup for the week... and incidentally, the little guy has discovered cake, cookies, ice cream, and french fries-- there's no going back now.

I'd like to think we'll squeeze in another decent trip or two this summer, but right now the next several weeks seem likely to be hectic-- Matt started a new job (!!!) on Monday, and we've accepted an offer on our house that has us moving by the middle of August. I'm a little too superstitious to do much besides mention that at this point, but all in good time.

For now, some Montana pictures... plus more on Matt's blog!

An Update

Our family currently has some big changes in the works. It feels a little uncomfortable, as things that are not quite certain and wrought with anticipation tend to-- but the direction things are headed is very positive and hopefully things will firm up soon and we can be on our merry way.

Other than the shifting tides (and being vague), things have been pretty good in these parts. I signed myself up for a half marathon even though I've only been running about two miles at a time, we are planning to avoid being shellshocked over the fourth by fleeing into Canada, and the little guy is keeping us on our toes with his speed crawling. It has also been hotter than heck, which I'm trying not to complain too much about because I realize I wished for warmth all winter... and you know the heat is still bearable if you are willing to heat the oven to 450 for sweet potato fries.

Anyways, here are a few pictures of Henry & friends to accompany the random musings...

Family Camp

This weekend we enjoyed our first camping trip as a threesome! We had a wedding to attend on Saturday at one of Camano Island's lovely state park, so we seized the opportunity to get away and spend a couple nights camping with friends. 

To be honest I've been struggling with a bit of anxiety lately-- though our schedule allows for a good amount of flexibility, I find deviating from it to be stressful. It's all me though... Henry seems to go with the flow, so I am working on calming myself down and adapting as well as he does. It's easier said than done. Anxiety is certainly a fickle beast. Like I said though, I'm working on it, and each successful new experience seems to help, and the weekend was most certainly a success. The proof is in the pictures (though I wish they were pudding at this moment). 

Couldn't have done it without borrowing a huge tent!

Just hanging out.

One amazing madrona. 

Sun! The beach!

Duncan loved it.

Henry is still the cutest... even when covered in a film of snot and dirt.

This Guy

I took this picture of Henry last night because he just looked so cute and grown up sitting in the lawn chair. Looking at the picture now I realize that he also looked very tired. Naps have recently become a bit of a battle and occasionally they just don't happen. Honestly I think it's harder on me than it is on him... he never seems too much worse for the wear. The recent nap battling is one of the reasons my blog has been so quiet, but I realized that I never did my (super official) six month update, so I wanted to pop in and share a few things about this guy, if for nothing else but my own memory.  

10  7 Henry Things at 6.75 Months (Revised due to a situation that involves Henry pulling dog hair off Duncan and trying to eat it.)

1. He crawls! It's more of an army crawl still, but if he wants to get somewhere (e.g. to something shiny) he certainly will. 

2. He's become much more independent recently, and I can plop him in his (never slept in) crib to play with toys for 10-15 minutes here and there while I furiously try to accomplish something like sweeping all the baby puffs out of every nook and cranny. 

3. He has this super sweet beaming smile he does where he squishes his head into his shoulders and gives you a huge grin. It's probably the cutest thing ever. 

4. I'm predicting that his first word will be "Duncan." He finds the dude SO interesting and thankfully Duncan has been a total gentlemen about all the yanking. 

5. He's been playing with a lot of new sounds lately. Working on them phonemes!

6. We introduced solid foods around five months when he started ripping food out of our hands (like mother, like son). He wouldn't let us feed him baby food, so he's been feeding himself from the get-go. Recently, he's gotten quite a bit better at actually getting the food into his mouth and it is so fun to see him enjoy foods like avocado and toast and cucumbers. 

7. He laughs harder with (at?!) Matt than with anyone else. 

8. .... 

Checking In

Hello, loyal readers! I suppose it has been a little while (my apologies, as usual)... let me quickly fill you in:

1. Recently, we took this show on the road. Matt had a work conference in the Bavarian Village (beautiful Leavenworth, WA), so Henry, Duncan and I tagged along. It was a nice change of scenery, and a good pit stop en route to visit Grandma and Grandpa. While Matt was busy at the conference I stayed busy watching cable (only while the little guy snoozed) and eating frozen yogurt and giant pretzels. Don't worry, it was only temporary... as far as I know, I'm not really becoming one of those women.

2. Before we left we began one of our final house projects: replacing the shower surround. It's one of those long, silly house stories we seem to have a whole slough of these days, but (long, silly story short) we still don't have a shower. We've both managed to find hot showers here and there, but there has also been plenty of hosing down in the backyard. For the most part I haven't minded, but the other night I did have a dream that in the midst of a zombie apocalypse I opted to take shower in what was obviously a zombie infested abandoned resort. Analyze that. 

3. This week Henry caught a nasty little bug. He had a couple days of sniffles back in January, but this is his first time with the real deal, complete with an achy little ear, a cough, and a fever. It has been so sad, but seemingly we're on the upswing and hopefully he'll be himself again soon. On a very, very selfish note, the timing has been most unfortunate because I've been unable to take him to the gym daycare all week, and thus unable to access my main shower source. The upside? He does seem to get a kick out of the "hosing off," situation. Good for him.

4. Yesterday we celebrated a birthday and a half-- Matt turned 28 and Henry turned .5! One of the (the only?) nice thing about it taking days for Henry to be born is that when he did finally arrive, it happened to be Matt's half birthday! I love those guys, and plan to express my appreciation and adoration tomorrow through fried dough and sugar. Recipe to come. 

Anyways, nap-time is over, so I must go. Here are a few pictures from our Bavarian travels...