Seattle Trip in Pictures Part 3

We walked all the way down to the end of Alaskan Way and then went up a block  and started heading back in toward the market.  It reminded me of when Corky and I went to Seattle at New Years 2012-2013 (check the archives for pictures from that trip!) and we stayed in a hotel out that direction.  We would walk to the market or the waterfront using Western Ave, Elliott Ave and Alaskan Way.  I feel like I was so much thinner on that trip, which saddens me, however I didn't have Mara back then which saddens me even more! 

Anyway, we paused at a fruit stand/shop thing in the market and bought a TON of fruit!  The weather was gorgeous and the fruit was so colorful... it was HEAVEN! It looked like candy!  Better than candy! 

We bought lychees, mango, apples, nectarines and pears!  They were sooooo good! 

We walked back uphill to the hotel one last time. We wanted to pop into H&M to buy my mom a shirt but they didn't open for 8 minutes more and Mara was starting to fuss so we just went on.  

Back at the hotel we put the finishing touches on our packing, Mara nursed, and then we played on the floor, the 3 of us, and took pictures.  If you're wondering why she has a bottle, it's because I wanted her to get nice and full before the car ride home so hopefully she would sleep. And here are the pictures:

Mara sure loves her grandma! 

One of my favorite pics

Grandmas are the very best snugglers! 

This beautiful (and rare) view of Mt. Rainier guided us out of Seattle.  

Mara fell asleep around Tukwila (15 min south of Seattle) after a major blowout (changed at a gas station) and slept ALL the way home!  After the blowout, my mom and I switched and I drove home.  My mom fell asleep around Federal Way (about 45 min south of Seattle) and slept all the way til Kelso (about 50-60 min north of Portland) LOL!  I entertained myself by listening to my Zumba music on shuffle and playing the alphabet game 7 times through by myself. 

It was truly a great trip. I can't wait to go back! 

Seattle Trip in Pictures Part 2

After the Seattle Great Wheel, we got some food and headed back up to the hotel.  I was in dire need of the breast pump and Mara needed a nap. As it turned out, she napped on the way back in the stroller which was fortunate since we didn't have much time before we had to turn around and head back down for the Harbor Cruise.

I don't have many pictures from the Harbor Cruise.  It was very hot on the boat and very crowded. Toward the end of the hour tour I was nursing Mara and she fell asleep.  We waited for everyone to disembark before we did.  The only picture I got was of these 2 giant cruise ships docked in Seattle.

After the cruise, we walked back through Pike Place Market.  We happened across an Asian bakery.  I spied a pack of mini red-bean-paste mooncakes. Ever since reading the book The Moon Lady as a kid, I had wanted a mooncake.  Now it's our tradition to find a mooncake whenever we're on vacation.  Yum! 

We went back to the hotel and just hung around for a while.  Mara played on the bed while my mom and I figured out what to do about dinner.  My mom's feet were very entertaining in Mara's opinion!

We ended up at an Indian restaurant for dinner.  It was my first time eating Indian food and I actually liked it! 

Mara kept herself occupied chewing on the wipes. Lol! 

The next morning we got up, had breakfast and asked for an extended checkout time just in case.  We didn't end up needing it but better safe than sorry.  We were planning originally to walk down to the waterfront and hit up the Seattle Aquarium but when we got down there the weather was so nice that we just decided to walk along the waterfront instead. These photos are from that walk. 

My mom and sleeping Mara, posing in front of the harbor.

Another big cruise ship! 

I could NOT get over the sheer enormity of this boat! That's me posing in front of it!

Mara, on the other hand, was not impressed. Lol.

To be continued in part 3....

Seattle Trip in Pictures Part 1

Mara's first trip to Seattle went pretty well.  The first day (Friday) didn't go as planned AT ALL, because we got started about two hours late and the traffic was awful.  We didn't get into Seattle until about 10:00pm that night.  Mara had a really rough trip up.  She cried for about 2 of the 3 hours.  Actually 2 of the 4 hours because it took us 2 hours to get out of Oregon!  Anyway, despite several stops she was miserable.

Mara's little feet sticking out.

My mom after we left Centralia, WA.  We went to the Centralia Outlet stores to break up the trip.  I got Mara 1 pair of pants, 1 pair of shorts and 3 pairs of pajamas for $29 from The Children's Place outlet!!  And the lady even saved me the tax when she saw my OR drivers license.  Awesome!

The traditional I-5 selfie.

We got in at about 10, got settled and put Mara to bed (a feat in itself because the crib was very low to the ground with high sides and it was tough to get her in without waking her up.  In fact, my mom had to do it that first night!)

We had a single suite, so my mom slept in the bedroom and Mara and I slept in the living room, me on a pull-out bed.  It was actually pretty comfortable and perhaps a touch nostalgic for me because I used to sleep on a pull-out bed when I was like 9-10 years old.  I had a regular bed but I preferred that one.  Probably because it was queen sized lol.  

Anyway, the next morning we went down to breakfast and got a seat right by the window.  I was SEVERELY uncaffeinated, having been up since like 6:30am and I'm pretty used to having coffee almost right away!  This was the view during breakfast:

 For breakfast I had toast, hard boiled egg, fruit and coffee.  My mom had oatmeal and fruit.  Mara, who had nursed upstairs, had mum-mum and egg. 

"Where's my food??" (Yes she's actually pounding the table)

"Umm, Mommy are you sure this is edible?"

After breakfast we loaded up and went to Pike Place Market.  I borrowed a friend's ergobaby carrier to try out.  I am SO going to get one!! Mara loved it (she fell asleep several times in it throughout the weekend) and it was super comfy.

Posing with a fisherman carving.

The cool thing about this picture is actually what happened right before it was taken.  I was sitting on a bench across the hall from this fisherman, nursing Mara under the nursing cover, and this group of ladies came by to take pictures of each other with the fisherman.  They were speaking Spanish and one of them said to the others something like, "it's so nice that she's breastfeeding right here" in Spanish. I smiled up at her and she said, in English, "beautiful, beautiful!" I thanked her and she asked me, in Spanish, "a girl?"  I nodded. "Beautiful," she said again. It was sweet. 

We made our way through the top floor of the market, stopping to buy a T-Shirt for Mara that says "I got my looks from my daddy and my attitude from my mommy" (LOL!) and wandered down to the waterfront.  It was a beautiful day.  Clear, sunny and about 75F!  We decided to buy tickets for an Argosy harbor cruise at 3pm.  In the meantime, it was only like 10:45-11:00am, so we headed for the Seattle Great Wheel!

Mara, who had gotten tired of the ergo, waiting for the Great Wheel!

My silly kid!! I love her to bits!

To be continued in part 2.....

Pigtails!!

Mara's first pigtails happened yesterday!  SO CUTE!!!

Also this made me laugh so hard:

For real though....!

Hello June

4 days until Seattle!  Not much else to say at the moment. DANG I'm tired! (It's 4:20am)

My girl and me

Oh hi buddy. :)

6 Months - Good Job Mama

Miss Mara Soleil turned 6 months old last Saturday.  I realize that was nearly a week ago and I've been slacking on my timely posting of her monthly pictures but.... I have a 6 month old who is extremely wiggly, active, alert, busy and almost always AWAKE! Lol.  It's hard to find time to do a lot of things. Like clean, cook and sort through our massive piles of stuff to get ready for this garage sale we're having on June 12th. 

Anyway, here is Mara's 6 month picture and stats from her doctor appointment yesterday:

Weight: 20lb 4.5oz

Length: 27.5 inches

Head: 44cm

Mara likes solid food. Her favorites are mum-mum, oat cereal, apple, apple/mango/carrot, blueberry and peach.  She can sit up by herself for long periods of time. She doesn't roll much but is starting to attempt to army crawl.  She loves baths, nursing, stroller rides and pulling mommy's hair.  She has 2 teeth and chews on everything!  Generally she is a happy baby and sleeps well.  We are so blessed and we love her so much! 

Smiling at herself at the doctors office yesterday. 

In other news, my mom, Mara and I are going to Seattle, WA next Friday (one week from today). That should be fun.  I haven't been to Seattle since last year when I was pregnant with Mara but didn't know it and I was soooo miserable.  I'm positive this trip will be better!  Also, 61 days til our Connecticut trip end of July. Yay! 

The title of this post says "Good job Mama" because people keep saying that to me when they find out how big Mara is!!  I guess I can see why... I do have to work hard to keep my supply up and nurse her all the time but... it still feels weird when people say that.  I'm like, "I did not do anything! She is just growing!" Lol.  It seems odd to me that peoples' first reaction when they find out her size is to comment on what a good job my boobs are doing! (Currently "dairy cow-ing" as I type). 

Busy morning. Taking Corky's car to Kia to get a new windshield as an early first Father's Day present for him.. His has had a giant crack all the way across it for over a year and it drives me crazy!  For one thing, it's not safe! For another thing, when I drive his car it's difficult for me to see because the crack is right at my eye level. It doesn't bother Corky as much because he's like 7-8 inches taller than me, so he can see right over it but I can't.  Then take him to work, drop Mara at my mom's, go teach Zumba and then pick Mara up.  Then when he's off at 5, pick him back up because he won't have a car.  Whew!  Not as busy as Wednesday when I had a PT appointment, a chiropractor appointment and had to meet the appraiser at the condo we are renting out.  And all of that AFTER teaching Aqua Fit at 9!  I didn't stop moving like the entire day lol.

Including today, 3 more days of May! Wow!!! Where is the time going?  Mara will be one before I know it. 

Little creature after her bath, posing with mommy. :) I love her so. 

Picture Dump

Mara on Mother's Day, hanging out on the couch with Daddy. I told them both to smile - at least one of them listened! 

Biggie girl playing with her toys

My kid is like half the size of me. 

Weeeee! Mara at a picnic 5/17/15

6 months old... lookin' like her daddy in that bottom pic! 

Gasp!!! You caught me eating Mum-mum!

Rolling away mid-diaper change is the most fun game ever, at least in Mara's opinion! Mommy doesn't share that view all the time. ;) 

Sleep deprivation at its' finest! 

To add on to the previous pic.....

Mara decided mommy was not allowed to sleep last night, but instead needed to be a sentinel all night just in case monsters were residing in the closet unbeknownst to us all.  We camped out on her bedroom floor on a comforter where she slept and I doubled as a milk bar and a bodyguard. Lol!!

Mara and daddy hanging out at a coffee shop. 5/24/15

Mara rockin the aviators.

In other news, I'm going to Seattle next weekend (June 5) with my mom and Mara. Should be fun!