The fine print

I recently discovered how much easier and faster it is to download pictures to Facebook instead of Blogger. That's where you'll find my Germany pictures from our trip in early July.

Several of our big ticket items have recently bitten the dust - our minivan, the dishwasher, the water heater, and of course the back door that was badly bent during the break in. The kitchen door handle broke, and the door handle to Hugo's bedroom will only work from inside the room. The kitchen door handle has been fixed, the water heater is being installed this very minute (more on that later), and the dishwasher will be installed tomorrow. Continuing with our tradition of breaking appliances and other vital things, our oven no longer works. I've gotten into the habit lately of locking the oven door so that Hugo doesn't pull it open - as he did a couple weeks ago. Tonight I put some salmon in the oven. I've been reminded that you shouldn't shut the oven door when broiling because that's how things get burned. But again, Hugo in the kitchen opening stuff. So the salmon is in the oven sizzling away, and I go to check on it and the lock is stuck. No amount of shimmying, tugging or hitting will open it. Several frantic minutes pass as Joe tries fruitlessly to force the oven door open. The stove is hopping all around the floor, the door is starting to bend, the salmon is cooking away (the oven's been turned off but it's still hot). I'm sure we'll be calling the fire department when the fish catches fire and starts billowing smoke out of the warped oven door. We finally got the door open and removed a very dry piece of fish. In the end, it turns out you can access the lock by removing the front panel which is held in place by two tiny screws. Would have been helpful to know that before rendering the oven inoperable. They say bad things happen in 3's. How many are we up to now? Should I be on the lookout for something else to break?


So the fine print about the water heater is that there's an extra $800 in installation charges that they didn't tell us about at Sears, on top of the $250 we already paid for "basic" installation, whatever that is. Evil, just evil.

11 months on the 11th

My baby turns 11 months on June 11th. I can hardly remember the time when he was a skinny little baby with chicken legs. Back before he was "the load", before he had teeth, before he liked to ride shotgun in the car seat (standing up facing the front of the car, only while loading and unloading of course), before he could hold his head up and crawl up the stairs and wrestle. But he's always been a yeller, and a biter...

socks are a favorite,

as is my arm

and shirt

He loves getting into stuff, and clearing the decks

messin' where he shouldn't be messin'

here's a couch shot from our Centering group. Remember when they were all propped up on the couch at like 3 months? Bruisers now. Not pictured is the instant before this when Hugo bit Max (to his right) on the tushy

clearing the decks again

yeah, it's lock down around here

Had some fun visits with the family.

the babies

biting again, I mean hugging

Not so sure about cousin Dan

playing the piano with Grandma Ohsiek and Aunt Sonja

checking out Uncle Chris

chillin' with Gramps, and the canes!

getting cozy with Kayla and Aunt Cheryl

Teo giving Michael some love

making music at Grandma Rank's house

hanging out on the Troll with cousins (as Teo puts it, rather than 'the' cousins) and Uncle Rhen

Then there was the time Joe participated in The Big Climb to fight luekemia, and climbed to the top of the tallest building in Seattle and helped Team Ezra become the number one fundraising team

Emptied out the big camera and this is what we got...

the nanny is really good at doing face paint

got the foam padding for the fireplace just in time
not to worry, I don't usually stand by and snap pictures while Hugo gets hurt, this was just a serendipitous moment

one of his favorite activities

the bibs don't do much to prevent messes, they just provide another vehicle for spreading food around

favorite pose - resting on one elbow...

with a slight twist through the hips

eating flowers for Easter

we got all fancy with the eggs again this Easter

a lot of effort and mess goes into making these eggs, but they look so pretty

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

It's a lovely sunny day so Hugo and I went for a walk. He actually kept the hat on for most of the trip.








We've all been sick for about the last 3 weeks so it's good to finally get outside and move. Speaking of sick babies, the first time Hugo got a stuffy nose was around 5 months and I could never get anything out with the nasal aspirator. I thought either I wasn't using it right or it's ineffective, or both. Turns out I just had to wait until he had lots and lots of runny, gooey green snot. It's so satisfying to hear the "sschhrrllooop" and know that you've got something good. Not so fun, though, to hear him coughing up phlegm and struggling to breath.

Hugo's gotten really good at picking up bits of cereal and getting it into his mouth. I occasionally will also give him a teething biscuit and watch the mess unfold. They start out hard and dry but quickly turn into sticky slobbery goop that gets all over the face and clothes. They're tricky to hold onto, much like a wet bar of soap, and get chased around the high chair tray, dropped out of the mouth onto the floor and make for a lot of clean up, but it keeps him entertained and self sufficient for a good 10 minutes.

peas schmeas

Of the many solid foods we've tried, peas definitely are dead last. Here's how they rate:

rice cereal -mmm!
oatmeal - not bad, it'll do in a pinch
mixed cereal - not unless you want to deal with a crying baby all night long
sweet potatoes - more please
applesauce - pretty darn good
bananas - no thanks
peas - keep your stinking peas

Here's the pea progression:

ha ha let's eat!

what's this green stuff? I'll give it a try

meh

something's not right here

no more for me, thanks

well maybe just a little more

bbbbbpppppttttllleeeeccchhh!!!

*gagging*

busy busy

We've had a busy couple of weeks. Joe took the week off after MLK day and we went skiing a couple times at Stevens Pass.



Then Joe got to (had to) represent Washington State pathologists in Olympia, testifying before a state senator and state representative on direct billing legislature.




We finished off the week with a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge, which is a hotel with an indoor, guests-only waterpark. Very kid friendly place, with Kid Kamp (yes, one of my biggest pet peeves: the detestable use of K in place of a C, like it's so much more fun now that it's Kamp instead of Camp - unfortunately many of you have heard me rant on and on about this before) kid themed rooms, lots of pizza and ice cream, magic wands (wolves and magic wands?), and of course the waterpark. Don't worry, I won't assault you with any swim suit pictures.



Joe's birthday was last week and Grandma Rank came up to help celebrate. We had lasagna for dinner and funfetti cake.




Friday we wore pink in memory of our friend Ezra Sherman who passed away one year ago.


Teo had a Japanese assembly at school where grades 1-5 each got to perform a play or something they'd learned over the past few months. The first grade recited something about open the window, close the window, open the BIG window, close the BIG window, open the little window... agate, shimate, agate, shimate. (Japanese speakers - gimme some slack, that's what it sounded like to me)



And now for some pictures of cutie pie

loves Grandma's leather purse

worn out