The Roof is on Fire

Nothing says, "welcome home" like a dozen or so fire trucks and emergency
vehicles dousing a fire at an abandoned hotel across the street. I (Dave)
woke up for a potty break at about 3:30am and noticed some flashing lights -
not an unusual sight as there is almost always some sort of action at the
homeless center we live next to. However, upon further blurry-eyed
inspection, it became evident that this was no ordinary, routine visit from
the fire dept. Multiple ladders were extended to the roof of the building
and there were hoses everywhere - so, I did what any concerned citizen would
do... took lots of pictures in my boxers.

We've been waiting months for this dilapidated structure to finally come
down so maybe this will spur the good people at the St. Francis Center to
put their new project into second gear.

Sydney's first giggle

Sydney grew up so much on this trip. She's sucking on her hand and anything you put within her reach. She's able to hold her head up and sit up with a little support. She even giggled. She's just getting so big I can't believe it.



She actually doesn't give us a full giggle in this video, but she's awfully cute.

Dining out with Syd

We ate out quite a bit and I think we had winners every time. Craig and Renee added a lot of restaurants to their repertoire and Sydney did so well. We were really fortunate.

Pike Market and a stroll through Seattle

Swimming in the Big Girl Pool

Lots of firsts

• 
• First plane ride
• First Giggle
• First swim in a pool
• First meal out without Sydney - Renee generously watched Syd while Dave and I had breakfast

We all went to Seattle this weekend to have a mini-vacation and to visit Craig and Renee and Casey and Kelly McGee. There was a fair amount of anxiety with this whole flying with an infant thing, but of course the Little was a super star. Dave and I had heard many great tips on how to fly with an infant and all of the acoutrement that accompany said infant. We asked for gate check tags before making it all the way down the jetway, I got the window seat for ease of breast feeding and we tried to pack smart. It was a great system. Sydney didn't cry and we proved many of the doubting passengers wrong. It's incredible to me that strangers are so vocal about flying with babies. They make no bones about commenting on how awful the flight's going to be before we've even taken our seats.

I don't have a picture of us on the plane, but there are pictures of Sydney at Pike Market in Seattle, so that should prove that we actually did fly.

Visit with Nanny Janet and shopping with Oma

My Aunt Janet came to town to meet Sydney and to spend some time with her Mom, Sydney's Oma. We had a lovely time, just the girls. Sydney really is in that bassinet. We shopped 'til we dropped and I think everyone went home with a purchase, it was quite successful.

Message from Sydney Grace

Uncle Scott gets a taste

Syd's just starting to find her voice and she seems to choose the funniest time to exercise it. We were getting ready to leave the Elder's last night when Sydney got the notion to tell Scott all about it. She was captivating and I think Scott got a glimpse of how fun this is.

Scram and the little

So great to see Elizabeth. She made the trip out from VA to see Sydney in April, but she left a day too early. Silly baby wasn't ready to come out yet. So, now the girls got some time to hang. It was an incredibly hot weekend with all sorts of ridiculous things going down.

This weekend was a great time to just visit with friends. We saw Elizabeth, the Harji, the Bargi and the Elders. On Saturday night we got home from our outing and it was time for Syd to have a bath and get tucked in. Dave and I both flushed one of her flushable g diapers, each in a separate toilet and as it turns out, the toilets were revolting and they both flooded. One managed to get the perimeter of our closet good and wet and the other made it thru the can light in the kitchen below and dripped on the floor. What a mess! Dave wasn't the happiest mopping up the floor at midnight. I was doing my best to be supportive and sympathetic as I was nursing the little and getting her to bed. Tough night, but no major damage.

So, wrapping up Elizabeth's weekend with us she needed to leave our house by 9:15 to make a quick stop, get gas in the rental car, return the rental and check in at the airport. We had a delightful breakfast and got her on her way.
She had a bit of an emergency; her wallet had gone MIA while in transit. Huff's hop in the car to comb the streets. We followed her path and surprisingly found it on the side of the road. ID's intact, but someone had beaten us to it and swiped her cash, checks and credit cards. Not too helpful for travelling. We met her at the airport so she could hopefully make her flight home. Thanks to a delayed flight she was able to get her boarding pass and make it through security. So we all said goodbye again in the airport as we shoved some cash in her hands.

Now that we were up and at 'em for the day, why not go to the garden center to see what sort of plants we can find for the roof top deck? Mind you it was forecasted to be over 100 Degrees this day and the parking lot has no shade and the baby girl needs a rest stop with Mom. I find a bench set off to the side with some shade and as I'm about to pull her out of her hot car seat I see a sad sight. Sweet Syd has been rubbing her legs around in a blowout. Note: Nurseries aren't equipped like a "baby nursery." No changing tables or sweet places to clean up. I was on the floor of the ladies bathroom with the door open taken care of the clean up as best I could. Dave comes to rescue Sydney and walk her in front of the wall of a swamp cooler. Still needing to nurse, I make due in the car with the AC pumping. We get settled, with plants in the back (smells like Christmas) I look into Syd's carseat base next to me and there's a pool of her blowout waiting for clean up. It was a hot day for poop in the car. Now we're really grateful for the scent of the Dwarf Alberta Spruce.
Big weekend!

Think they're related?

So much stuff

Okay, let's see we have the return of Herb and Cara. That's really fun. They were out of town on Orcas Island for a summer sabbatical. The last time they saw Sydney I think she was only 3 weeks old, so it was definitely time for them to catch up. On Wednesday they came for dinner.

Sleepy little angel

Sweet Pea

Cats are adjusting nicely

Last night we went to dinner. Sydney was on her best behavior and we had a delightful time. The video in the previous post was taken just after we got home from dinner. Normally when we come into the house the cats coming running down the stairs from where ever they were perched to greet us. Last night no matter how long we called for them they didn't appear. I finally found them as I was on my way to change Syd's diaper and get her ready for bed.

Can't get enough of the chatter

Such a big girl

It's been a long time since the last post. Quite frankly, it's not acceptable.
Last week we had some good times. We had lunch over at a friend's house, visited great Grandma and Grandpa Huff, went to stroller class, met Grandma at Whole Foods.
Oh, a small side story -
At Whole Foods on Thursday after stroller class and thinking that Sydney would prefer to be out of the hot car seat after almost two hours, I bring her into the grocery store in the front carrier. I get her strapped in and we're walking around the store with my Mom. I look down and my daughter's legs are two different colors. One's purple and the other light pink. I think I was cutting off the circulation. Could have lost both legs if I wasn't checking on her. Good grief. I'm much more careful with that now.

Let's see, Syd is following our movements with her eyes a lot more. She is grasping at things with her little fingers and is smiling up a storm. We're doing our best to get her into more of a regular sleeping schedule. Just watching for when she gets drowsy. Here's a picture of her feeling very relaxed...

Then we tried putting her down in our bed. She looks cute, but didn't like it there for too long.