Playdate!

What a great Monday! Despite spending the weekend at home with a migrane and some cloudy weather today, Seeley had one of the best, cutest days ever! It's important for baby and I to socialize with other moms and babes and I try to have us do some kind of social activity once a week. Luckily, we're part of a couple mom's groups that have fun get-togethers and we were able to giggle and play at the awesome Sellwood Park today. Seeley also got to go on a swing for the first time and it was a-dor-a-ble. There's nothing cuter than seeing babies at play:)

First time on a swing!

New friends!

You have two teeth? Let me see!

Cute baby butts

The Frazier and Seeley tamborine band.

Summertime Music!

It's officially summer! Despite only occasional days of actual summer weather here in Portland, I'm determined to do fun summer things as often as possible! My favorite types of music (especially in summer) are bluegrass and folk. One of my new favs is Sarah Jarosz. So enjoy the summer and enjoy some summer music!

From Co-Sleeping to Crib (Mostly)

I am writing this while Seeley naps in her crib. This is a big deal because, up until this week, Seeley took her naps on my lap. It's kind of embarrassing to share that; that I would literally sit and read or watch tv for an hour while Seeley slept on me. She was (and is but thankfully seems to be phasing into deeper sleep) a light sleeper and I didn't want to move her and wake her up. And I didn't mind. And then I did. Seeley is eight months old now and moving around. She's bigger and doesn't fit easily on my lap anymore. While sleeping on my lap lately she tosses and turns and doesn't seem too comfortable. I'm not comfortable either. I experienced a serious case of burnout. I needed some time to myself, and more than just here and there when Wes comes home and the 45 minutes between when S goes to sleep and we collapse into bed.
It's funny, you get into a routine as new parents. You know that there are new phases coming, that your baby is growing, but you don't really move to that next phase until somthing forces you into it. I've been thinking about transitioning Seeley into the crib for daytime naps but I hadn't been doing it until our cat spilled my cup of coffee all over me while Seeley was asleep on me. I jumped up with Seeley in my arms and put her in the crib so I could clean up my clothes and couch that were covered in coffee. It wasn't until I was finishing cleaning that I realized, "hey, it's nap time. Seeley's in the crib. No time like the present to give this a shot!" She played for a while and cried for a while. It took about an hour. I wasn't sure how long to leave her in there. What if she was just done napping? But then there was silence. She was asleep.
She's been napping in the crib for three days now and it has seriously changed my life! Having two hours a day (she takes two, one hour naps a day) to myself has been amazing. I've worked on my poetry, slept, made phone calls, whatever I want. When she wakes I'm more refreshed, which has made us more active as far as playing, going for walks, etc. We've extended her sleep in the crib to nighttime as well. We have decided that she needs to start the night in the crib. If she comes in bed with us after waking up that's fine, but her first couple hours of sleep need to be in the crib.
I think this arragement works for us for a number of reasons. First, Seeley is old enough. I think her sleep is so much better and deeper when she has her own space. I don't regret the co-sleeping and co-napping because, for her, (to each their own) I think it's what she needed until now. Second, I know her cries and behavior. She cries in her crib before sleeping. I had been reading Dr. Sears (attatchment parenting bigwig) and was therefore expecting to feel awful about letting her cry...but I didn't. I know her panicked/hurt/scared cry and I will never not attend to that cry. But the cry in the crib was just the "I'm tired and pissed off cry", and I know she can work through that herself.
I say it often, but I really believe you just have to do what works for you. Turns out everyone seems much better with Seeley sleeping on her own.

Father's Day (This Is What A Father Does)

This is what Seeley's papa does.
Her papa pats her back when she can't get to sleep.
Her papa always worries if she's too warm or too cold.
He takes her for walks and holds her so she can look at and touch everything.
Her papa holds her close and gives her kisses.
Seeley's papa gives her baths and picks out her outfits
and tells her he loves her everyday.
Her papa changes her diapers and brushes her hair.
Her papa is the best papa.

New Papa

Proud Papa.

Northwest Adventures! (Part 3)

 The last stop on our weekend trip was in Seattle to see Wes' brother Eric and his girlfriend Jill. We love seeing them and we love Seattle and our Seattle friends, yet we don't get up there nearly enough! Lucky for us it was warm and sunny and not raining during our stop, so we got to enjoy the town a little bit. Eric and Jill took us to a great little restaurant down by Lake Washington and if Seeley hadn't turned into a crankosaur we would have loved to walk around town! On the subject of the little one, I was joking with Wes about how completely different traveling is with a baby. I've compiled a little list of differences:
1) The Stuff- holy moly. How can something so small require so much stuff? We don't even have all the "required" baby gear yet I feel like everytime we go somewhere we need a U-haul. We need the stroller, the chest carrier, diapers, wipes, emergency change of clothes for the car, one hundered million toys, frozen teether things, burp cloths, blankets, coats, hats. Am I forgetting something? I'm always forgetting something. Gone are the days of throwing some clothes in a bag before you leave. Now we have checklists and little loads of tiny baby laundry. So.much.stuff.
2) To Stop or Not To Stop?-Technically I suppose it's wrong and dangerous and irresponsible to take the baby out of the carseat while we're still driving, but we do it during long trips. I kind of feel like this is secretely common (or are we just irresponsible jerks?) I mean, the baby needs to be nursed every hour and a half (ish). We're supposed to pull over every hour and a half? Then there are diaper changes. Changing a diaper in a moving car is epically awful and will most likely result in a pee-covered parent and a confused baby, but sometimes you just want to stay on the road!
3)One Parent in Back or Both in Front?- Until recently I sat in the back seat with Seeley during road trips. I would nurse her and end up just staying back there. But during this last trip I realized that this might be creating a problem. Seeing me back there in her turf, Seeley wanted out of the carseat more than usual. I think she was thinking, "what are you doing back here and why aren't you holding me?!" So this time I hopped back in front after nursing her and guess what? She cried for a bit then fell back asleep! Whoo hoo!
Anyway, here are the last of our weekend pics. Enjoy and have a great, sunny weekend!

Lake Washington on a sunny day. We'll take one of those boats!

Lovely Seattle.

Seeley's uncle Eric and Aunt Jill!

Hello family checking out Seeley in the background! You are now on my blog.

Seeley fah-reaking out over her awesome new puppet (thanks Eric and Jill!)

p.s. babies love puppets. It's hilarious.

Northwest Adventures (Part 2)

Our weekend trip to Bellingham had too much stuff to put in one post, so I'm continuing it today! On Friday we were able to hang out at Ari's awesome house, eat some fantastic food, and walk to the beach (the stuff vacations are made of, no?) Saturday we got down to business and went to graduation! It was so special watching Ari get her much earned Anthropology degree and I loved seeing her mom and kid (more like grown men all of the sudden) brothers.
I didn't know how planning so much stuff in one weekend would go with the little one, especially a late night graduation party, but I've found that as long as they have stuff to play with and people to meet and you high tail it out of there once the fuss starts, things tend to work out:) Make sure to check out Friday's post about our quick little northwest stop in Seattle!

My godmother's graduating? Let's party!

Two Portland cuties up north!

Awesome shoes? Check. Even awesome-er dress? Check.

Gotta love our mamas!

Who replaced Ari's little brothers with these men?

She did it!

Happy lovebirds

I started the party a little early (I'm on vacation!)

Weekend Pics: Northwest Adventure!

My best friend Ari graduated with honors from Western Washington University this weekend. She's been there for all the major accomplishments of my life and she is the most supportive person I know; so packing up the family and heading north to Bellingham, Washington was a no brainer! I took a ton of pictures, so I'll continue to post pictures on Wednesday and Friday. I have to start with pictures of the awesome house of Ari, her boyfriend Cameron and their adorable dog Sargent. I kind of wanted to stay there forever.

I've been kind of sluggish lately, and seeing my best friend and being so happy for her and all her accomplishments has recharged my batteries. Enjoy some of my favorite weekend pics!



I love a big kitchen!



My favorite part of the house (with my new favorite dog). Beautiful, wooden double doors leading from the dining room to the deck.

Beautiful deck, beautiful ladies.

To appreciate the bathroom you must know that this entire room is the shower. Yep.

I always eat yummy food when Ari's around!

Goat cheese salad. I could eat this all day, every day.

The cherry on top; they live steps away from the beach!

bea-u-ti-ful!

Bffs!

best friends...

eventually:)

Weekend Pics! (A Day Late)

Another rainy weekend around here. We stayed busy, though, chasing after a certain little girl who finally got up on her knees! It's so hard to watch how hard she strains trying to lift herself up, but she finally got it and now she just pops right up! Her "crawling" right now is more up a face first lunge in the desired direction but we're getting there.

Up! All on her own!

Hurray!

Did I mention I went hair accessories shopping last week? Bows!

And flower barrettes. Who knew I'd be so girly with her?!

Couldn't help it.