Try New Things #3

Babyrobics at the ProClub was the new thing we tried this week. It is a low impact aerobics class with strength training that us mommies do with our babies in their carriers (we used the Baby Bjorn).

Wendy's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Wendy's Comments: Decent workout and great that it can be done with Julia. Also a great way to spend an hour with Julia in the Bjorn which means an hour for her head to try and round out (we are really trying to fix her flat head).

Julia's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Julia's Comments: I was very happy to be in the carrier and bounced around. I was smiling to the music and the ability to look at myself in teh mirror for the firs t30 minutes. And then I suddenly got very very sleepy. I enjoyed a wonderful nap. I hope we get to go to this class again!


Next Week: Flying (yeah, I know a bit of a stretch but it is free since we used miles and it does include Julia...so meets the strict criteria. We are off to see my parents and sneak off for a couple of days in Palm Desert.)

My Little Chef Boy (r-dee)

After school today, Oli wanted to make home-made granola bars. Yummy! Here is the recipe:
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/oat-almond-breakfast-bars


The perk of being my helper..downing the last of the honey. Honestly, it is honey, honey... Wait a minute, who taught him to drink from a bottle that way anyway?

Julia turned 3 months today...Happy Birthday, Cutie!
I have had a few requests for some more video's of Julia ... however, she seems to get distracted by the camera and video camera. This is the look I typically get when the camera's come out... Here's a great example of her practicing her mug-shot look

Just Life

Just some random pics....

First time laying in the grass on a sunny day....hopefully we will have many more of these this summer! (and not a weed in sight - if you exclude Julia obviously)

Nothing more peaceful than this...

Ever since I have known Brett, he "calls england" on Sunday mornings. A tradition that his grandma and mom must love. Not always is Brett able to lay out in the sun while "calling england". But this past Sunday he did! Scout then gets to sit on Brett and gives England a shout out.

My Mom and Ron gave us a floweing apple tree to represent the growing and flowering treasure we have in Julia. Both are blooming beautifully...

Daddy's Little Girl

I have the pleasure of spending most of my day looking and playing with Julia. The other day, as I was playing goo-goo-ga-ga with her it struck me! I have seen this face before!!! It was Brett!

Don't you agree?

Don't you see the same round face? The same eyes? And my golly, the chin!? Yeah, yeah, I claim the nose but the rest of it is from her daddy!

Oli'ism #86

Oli: One day Julia will have a baby.

Wendy: Yeah, she probably will. She will find a great man to marry and then she will have a baby. So if Julia has a baby...what does that make you?

Oli: I don't know.

Wendy: An uncle! And what if you have kids, what does that make Julia?

Oli: I don't know.

Wendy: An aunt! And if you have kids, what does that make dad?

Oli: Dead. He'd be REALLY old!

(I laughed, he laughed and then we chatted about how that would actually make him a grandpa...)

Oli'ism #87

(with death on the brain...)

Brett: What do you think happens when people die?

Oli: Doctors come and fix their hearts.

Brett: What about the people that don't come back?

Oli: The ONLY reason that they don't come back is that the doctors cannot find them in heaven.

Try New Things

I have a new goal...to try new things! The criteria is simple: includes Julia and is free.

Last week I tried Stroller Strides' free trial class. http://www.strollerstrides.com/ Stroller Strides is a workout designed to be done outside with your stroller.

Wendy's Rating: 3 out of 5 stars (for us currently, but 5 out of 5 if Julia was older).

Wendy's Comments: Decent workout and great that it can be done with Julia. However, it would be that much better if Julia was older. Here is why...you are singing children's songs the whole time while doing exercises that go along with that song. This was very entertainign for the older children. Also, ends with all the kids getting out of their strollers and playing together. Julia is not there yet. Right now, my workouts are "MY" time to some pretty hard core music, not "wheels on the bus"

Julia's Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Julia's Comments: It was kinda fun to hear some new songs but since I was in an infant car seat, I was always facing the wrong way. I was jealous of the older kids because they were facing each other most of the time and because they all played together at the end. I would rather stay home with Dad while Mom works out.


This week's activity was the Baby Early Literacy Story Time at the Kirkland Library. http://eventinfo.kcls.org/evanced/lib/eventcalendar.asp . This class designed for the babies to gain Early Literacy skills through rhymes, bounces, ticklers, stories and songs!

Wendy's Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Wendy's Comments: Loved it! Was 30 minutes of fun songs and a few stories. There were almost 30 moms and babies there. What was best about it was that I re-learned some of the nursery rhymes that I can never remember the words of. Today was the last of the 4 week session in Kirkland but I will see if another close by library offers something similar.

Julia's Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Julia's Comments: Loved it! What fun songs mom sang to me and she tickled me lots, held me, rocked me, swung me. I felt like the center of her world! And at the end there was this awesome machine...it kept blowing bubbles into the room. How cool!

Next week: Kindermusik.

Our Weekend Highlights

Just a quick post of some of the highlights from the weekend.

Saturday was jam packed with fun...2 birthday parties and then over to Ed and Vicky's for dinner. Driving back after dinner we asked Oli what was his favorite part of the day....'going to Ed and Vicky's'. I would agree! Their company is top-notch and the dinner was phenomenal, but it must be said that they have an XBOX that Oli enjoyed almost as much as the home-made chocolate mousse.

Julia would have also voted that hanging with Ed and Vicky was the best part of the day.

Today, Natalie and her friend Corey came over to play with some new equipment - an umbrella flash. This makes the light for indoor photography much better. They got some great photos (below are just a couple). I am SO happy that they chose the Alston family to photograph.

For all the pictures, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11403089@N00/4531662241/in/set-72157623304827944/

Juanita Elementary School Carnival

Juanita Elementary's annual school carnival was tonight. It is their annual PTA fund raiser. We all went and it was fun to be in Oli's school for the evening, seeing him with his friends and chat with some parents and teachers.

Bouncy slide was Oli's favorite.

The nerf shooting game was his specialty (not glow golf, sorry Mom and Ron).

We left with prizes, candy and 2 coupons for 2 gold fish. Hmmm, not sure we will be redeeming those. Oli's pet Fishy doesn't seem like he would appreciate a tank-mate.

In lieu of volunteering our time, I volunteered to donate a cake for the cake walk. I spent WAY too many hours and dollars on this cake. If it turned out better it would have all been worth it but it looked pretty amateurish when all was said and done. Oh well, it blended in with the other 50 donated cakes...well, not really, it was 3 times as large as any other cake.

However, all WAS worth it when Oli said at the end of the carnival, "Wendy I wish we could have taken home your cake. It would have been the yummiest."

I have a desire to capture Oli's love of making wishes with dandelions. Best to try and capture this not in our yard or else we will find ourselves with a LOT more weeds next season. Here are a few of my first tries...

Take #1: Great animation... Guess I should have Oli downwind...
Take #2:

Not bad....but I think I can do better. Stay tuned..

Favorite Photos

We have a fun-filled weekend ahead...birthday parties, school carnivals, dinner at Ed and Vicky's and last but not least a photo shoot for Julia on Sunday. Natalie and her friend Corey are coming over with some new flash equipment to try out with Julia as their subject. How lucky are we!?!

That reminded me that I never posted any photos from her last shoot. When Karen was here, she set up a little shoot and here are some of my favorite photos from that day.

This took a lot of patience, careful infant handling by Auntie Karen, and a very warm house (I think we had the thermostat set to 80 degrees).

Aren't these photos fantastic! Thanks, Auntie Karen!

Look at that belly! It is bigger than her head. She has since grown into the belly and the triple chins...only has a double-chin now.

1st Date

(this post is a couple weeks late...better late than never)

2 weeks ago we went out on a date! We went to the Michael Frante and John Mayer concert with our dear friends Ed and Vicky. They first introduced us to Michael Frante with a CD last summer and he put on a great show! He was EXCELLENT! He performs barefoot, got audience members on stage, performed songs in the stands....a great entertainer!

Julia was 8 weeks old and I hadn't left her for more than a couple of hours so leaving for several hours would have been really hard but luckily we have Mama Maro. Mama Maro was so looking forward to this time with Julia and she made me feel as if we were providing her an evening of fun which over shadowed any hang-ups I had leaving her. And of course Julia did just fine!

We are already planning our next date!


it's only 9pm and already Wendy & Brett are starting to fall over. Great to see Vicky & Ed going strong!

Just a bit of comparison...the picture on the left was taken by Maro just moments before we went to the hospital. And then 8 weeks later, there Maro was again taking our picture to capture our first date post-Julia.

A Day in the Life....

We kept the camera handy today to capture some shots of our day...just a typical day.

Julia's 'tummy time' has become something she almost enjoys (a huge improvement from her hating it from a couple weeks ago)...and she is getting so strong. Look at her here!

Oli was halfway dressed and had the sudden urge to join us in the nursery to read Julia one of her new books. (any excuse to avoid going to school in the mornings!)

I love that the part of this picture that is fully in focus is their hands. Oli's hand looks HUGE! I also love Oli's new vampire style look without his front tooth.

Who needs a bigger house? Even if we had one, we would all still be hanging out on Julia's playmat!

Julia with her usual bathtime beard. Oli sporting a little stubble of his own this time.

Kids & high tech gadgets - they start young these days!

Oli is Playing Soccer

Oli is back on a soccer team...he is playing with older kids and for the first time ever, he complained this morning of sore muscles. He ran hard, played hard and made us proud. He will play twice a week for the next 6 weeks.

I failed to take any photos of Oli playing on his team but here are a few on the way to the field.

First time he has played with cleats..he was very proud of them!

Oli'ism #79:

Oli: "Dad, what is the end of the world?"

(Brett rolls his eyes and whispers, 'how do you explain that one?'. So he goes for the ol' answer a question with a question tactic)

Brett: "Where did you hear about the 'end of the world'?"

Oli: "You. You always say, 'it isn't the end of the world"."

MS Walk 2010

This morning, we were proud to be members of Team Camron. Team Camron is a group of Camron McDonald's friends and family that participated along side thousands of others in the Seattle MS Walk. Camron was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. An unfortunate surprise to everyone that such a healthy individual as Camron could have MS. But that healthy lifestyle, that positive outlook and her determination will help her live with MS. If anyone can do it, then she will for sure.

Camron, you are a true inspiration to all of us!

There's got to be a joke here about Andrew & Brett bringing up the rear...?

...Found

I was relieved to have a voicemail from the owner this morning. However, was a bit disappointed to hear that her voicemail nor our conversation didn't include any thank you's or overwhelming relief that her dog was safe. Hmph!

I didn't do it for the gratitude so will be content that dog and owner have found each other again.

Lost and....

Here is how I filled my afternoon today...


3:00pm: On our daily walk, I found a very cute puppy. After knocking on several doors and asking anyone around, I resorted to taking the puppy home. She didn't have any tags or a collar on but was well behaved and seemed like someone's well loved pet.


4:00pm: I took her to the nearest vet with confidence that she had a micro-chip. Unfortunately, I was wrong. So, what to do?


4:30pm: I called the Humane Society which informed me that I had to take her to Seattle Animal Control (which just sounds like a mean place) where they admit her or else I can just keep her overnight.


5:00pm: After getting Brett's opinion, we decided to keep her at least for the night and do our best to find her owners (an ad on craigslist, make signs in the neighborhood, petharbor.com, and registering a 'found' report with the Animal Control, the nearest vet and the Humane Society).


5:15pm: Have a photo shoot with the puppy for her 'found' poster.

5:30pm: Hang signs in the neighborhood and ask every person I see if they know the dog in the back of my car. No luck.


6:30pm: I received a phone call from a woman that had found two puppies and in the process lost one of them (the one that I had found). She located the owner and returned one of the puppies but was still worried about the other lost one (the one we had) so she called the nearest vet and got my number. What luck!


6:35pm: I call the owner and leave a message.


7:35pm: I call the owner and leave a message.


9:35pm: I call the owner and leave a message.


10:00pm: Turn off my phone and blog about it, hoping the owner will call in the AM.


The most fascinating and touching part of this story is Scout. Scout has remained in between Julia and the puppy. Whenever we were in the nursery, Scout guarded the door. If one of us was holding Julia, Scout would be sitting at our feet.
(look closely and you can see Julia's head in the crib)


One day, 5+ years ago, someone found Scout on the street. I thank my lucky stars that they chose not to keep him so that we have the opportunity for him to be our family dog, our loved pet and the one we can count on to protect us. You're a good boy, Scout! We love you!