We’re #1 at #2 January 25, 2009

Greg and I were SO proud today. We haven’t been super serious about potty training with Fi…I mean we bought a potty, she has a couple story books, we talk a lot about it – she has shown interest and has gone #1 on the potty several times – but we haven’t put a lot of emphasis on it. Well last weekend we bought her her very own panties and today we wore them ALL day except for her nap. She did not have ONE accident! I couldn’t believe it! She even went #2 on the potty with no problems at all! We were so amazed and proud of her.

She loves it all – especially the flushing. The only thing we’ve noticed is that afterward she wants to sit on the potty for hours and almost seems afraid to leave it. We know that she doesn’t like to mess up – she’s very calculating – so I think the panties stress her out a little bit because she doesn’t want to have an accident. I imagine that will get easier and easier for her – I’m hoping that she doesn’t have an accident that would really upset her or it might turn her off. But for now she did great! We’re far from ready to leave the house yet sans-diaper. Tonight when we were getting ready for bed I told her someday she wouldn’t wear a diaper even at night time – her eyes got really big and she said No No mommy – nanna (that’s what she calls herself) needs clean diapers!

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Call It A Come Back January 10, 2009

well I’ve decided to try anothe Team In Training event. It’s been a few years since I did anything with them and finally I feel like I’m back in a place where I can balance it all.

The Rock’nRoll marathon is coming to Seattle. http://www.rnrseattle.com/ . I’ve always heard that it’s a great race so I thought I’d sign up. Then I got an email from TNT and learned that I could alumni the program (meaning that I don’t have to raise as much money) and that one of the workout nights would be right here in Bellevue.

On the serious side TNT does an amazing amount of work raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society trying to cure Blood Cancers. The money not only goes to research but also to patient care – little things like making sure they have the ability to get to and from their Dr. appointments. It’s a great organization and even after 6 years of working with them I’m still impressed.

On the fun side TNT offers great coaching and a great group of people to train with. I mean really – not a lot of jack asses are going to commit several months to raising money for cancer right…so you usually end up with a pretty amazing group of people. I really need this now. I need some motivation and some accountability. There is no way you can slack off and one of your teammates won’t call you out on it. I love that!

If you’re interested in donated to the cause you can go to my link:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/wa/rnrseatl09/kpredmore

and keep following my progress here….training starts end of January! Wish me luck!

Happy New Year! January 4, 2009

Greg and I both took most of the week after Christmas off so we decided to go up to the cabin. It’s a really nice place to spend New Years because there’s no worries about driving or crowded places or loud noises. We were a little leary of heading back into the snow since we just got out of it but the cabin always makes it better. I was also a little leary because last year when we went to the cabin for New Years I had a bit of a miserable time. There was so much snow that Greg had to get up and go outside and work all day and then would come in and be exhausted so  go right to sleep. Fiona was trying to learn how to walk and was teething and was coming down off of the holidays and she was unhappy day AND night everyday we were there. I was cooped up in a little cabin with just her the whole time and I was just about to crawl out of my skin – i couldn’t wait to go home. I was worried that this year could be the same.

We told Fiona  few days ahead of time where we were going and she couldn’t stop talking about it so I thought that was a good sign. In fact one night she crawled into the backpack by herself and told me , “let’s go mommy! Walk to the cabin! Now!”

Once we got there we were glad we did. The snow was deep but it was great! Not as much as last year (we could actually see out of the windows) and Fiona was totally psyched to be there! We did some sledding that day and Fi had a great time. Uncle Alan and Aunt Val came up that day too and while Fi napped we shoveled out most of the pathway to the cabin.  That night she woke up when some snow fell off the roof and she didn’t want to go back to sleep. She asked me to sleep with her in that bed so we layed down together….not a good idea. She must of just been so excited to be there because she wouldn’t go back to sleep. She wasn’t crabby at all – she just wouldn’t sleep. Crawled over me and under me, kissed me, patted my head, sang to me, rolled on me, kicked me – everything but slept. When we got up that morning I thought OH NO NOT AGAIN! I told GG i needed a break and he took over for a few hours that morning. It’s amazing what just a little break like that can do – just enough to reset the button. We went sledding again and Fi came in and took a LONG Nap! That night she slept fine – and in fact slept in – and did so for the rest of our trip! Our friends Wes and Katie and their two boys came up on New Year’s Eve Day to spend the night. Fi had a great time playing with “the boys” and I had a great time being able to actually do my thing without her searching for me every few minutes and wanting up. We need to take extra kids with us everywhere! =) That night we got around 3 to 4 feet of snow. When we woke up we learned that the pass was closed and was going to be closed all day. We were bummed because my sister and b-n-l were going to come up and so were Ellie and Jackson. THEN the power went out. Bummer. We still had a great day playing in the snow (though Fiona wouldn’t go outside at all that day…she told me, “no mommy, it’s cold outside. nana play inside” – how can you argue with that? At dinner time the power was still off so the dads fired up the BBQ and made pasta….and frozen pizza! on the grill. We all stayed huddled by the fire playing games and reading books. Around 7 the power came back on and we all did a victory dance! woooses we are – but we love our heater, lights and t.v.! By Friday the pass was back open and we packed up to head for home. It was a great week and we already can’t wait to go back!

Christmas 2008

We had a great Christmas this year (despite the last minute shopping the snow caused =) We spend Christmas Eve with Greg’s Parents and Kevin at their house. We had a nice dinner and opened a ton of presents. Fiona wasn’t interested in the actual “opening” of the gifts but she did love what’s inside. She was very excited about “claus” this year – even though the thought of him coming into her house at night seemed to worry her. She seemed to get the basic idea of it all though and thanked him over and over again for her gifts. The next morning we got up and Fiona got her presents from “Santa Claus” under the tree – again didn’t want to open them but was pretty psyched about having them. After we opened gifts we piled in the car for my parents house in Enumclaw – and yep, you guessed it…more gifts….whew. Where were we going to put all this stuff? The house is now full – but we had a great time. For all the running around the hoopla Fiona did great and had “0” melt downs! yeah!!!

The Big Snow

As everyone probably knows by now it snowed like crazy around Western Washington the last couple of weeks of December. For whatever reason Bellevue seemed to get a particularly heavy snowfall measuring in at the end around 14″ (which is A LOT for these parts). I was happy to see the snow but as everyonle also probably knows….western washington is not equipped to handle it on the roads which made life a little exciting. Every year Greg and I take a day to go to the mall, have some drinks and do some shopping at a casual pace. I was really looking forward to it this year since i’m finally not pregnant or nursing – but to our dismay the snow made it too sketchy to get to the mall so we cancelled. The snow also made me a miss a holiday concert and a few holiday get-togethers – by the time it melted we were all glad to see it go.

In the mean time however; we managed to make the best of it – even a few power outages that the falling trees brought!

*time to put a million clothes on                                       *showing fi how to make a snow angel                         *fi making a snow angel

*mom tried skiing on the road                                            *Dad and Fi’s (and zoe too!) snowman                           *snow dog

*the cats LOVE the tree                                                      *powers out – i love my headlamp!        *zoe just can’t get enough of the powder

Jingle Bell Run

We were so happy that this year’s Jingle Bell Run took place AFTER Greg got home from China so he was able to do it with us! The weekend of the race was the first really cold weekend of the winter – plus we received a dash of snow to make it even more exciting. I was happy that the roads were clear so we didn’t have to worry about the race being cancelled (this is Seattle after all). So we bundled up and headed for the city – my sister Theresa was going to meet us there to run with us. This was Fiona’s 3rd Jingle Bell Run (the 1st was still in my belly =)

*The Largest Yard Nome EVER                                       * Bundled up for the start of the race                             *The sea of people!

The run was great – and unlike last year Fiona didn’t cry at all =) I don’t think she was thrilled being stuffed in that thing – but she loved the festivites afterward!

*Fiona LOVES that snowman                 *Auntie and Fi enjoying their “coffee”                            *And the best Santa – Fi got another candy cane – her favorite!

While I was in line with half of King County for coffee Fiona stayed outside stalking Frosty the Snowman. She wanted to go everywhere he was at. Finally Frosty went inside and when Fi asked where he was going Greg quickly told her that he had to go potty. So then the rest of the day everytime she saw something on the ground she pointed to it and said “snowman poop!”

We ended the great morning with a ride on the carousel at West Lake Center. Last year we had to hold Fiona on it – this year she did it all by herself. She LOVES horses so this was very exciting for her to get to ride the horsies. I think she would have stayed there till her hands froze to it if we’d let her!

While the Greg’s Away-

Greg had to leave for Asia the Sunday after Thanksgiving so Fiona and I busied ourselves with some fun activities – (someday I’m going to figure out how to convert my movie files so that they will load onto here and then you can see her singing Jingle Bells – which is the cutest thing ever by the way).

Ellie and I took the kids to the last a series of children’s symphony performances – with a holiday theme. The shows are for kids 0 to 5 and only last 30 minutes. In that 30 minutes they sing, dance, draw and learn about a new instrument. The best part was all of the instruments outside the performance hall for the kids to play with. After the show we went downstairs to the music room where there are even more instruments – Fiona had a great time!

That week I also got to go to my new favorite place to eat in Seattle, The Corson Building. It’s located in Georgetown and is wonderful! Everyone sits family style…there are only two tables in the place…and the menu is different every time. In fact there really isn’t a menu – the chef prepares several courses from whatever is fresh and in season that day. A group of friends from work went as a little pre-holiday celebration – we had a great time – though 8 courses of various foods + a wine pairing didn’t = a great nights sleep =)

Tuesday night was party night. Our good friend Doreen started up a little group several months back called “GNO” (girls night out). It sarted that the first Tuesday of every month us girls would get together and go out for drinks. But after one time of trying to fit us into a crowded bar we all decided that we would much rather just sit at the studio together and chat with our drinks. Then Doreen had the great idea of instead of spending all that money on food and drinks we should donate to a charity instead. So now the first Tuesday of every month we all choose a different charity to donate to and get together for drinks and gossip at the studio while we prepare the goods for pick-up. In December we chose Toys-For-Tots and made it into a big celebration with friends and family. TFT was struggling in this economy so we opened it up to as many people as we could. We were able to collect over 300 toys that night – just our little group alone!