hitting our stride

It has been quite the year I'll be honest. We've had so many transitions it's hard to know where to begin. Sometimes it was hard for me to sit back and enjoy the ride, but I feel like now we, as a family are starting to get the swing of things.

Starting mid-January it felt like we went from zero to sixty all at once. We had a short reprieve from the craziness after we settled into our rental in Bellingham, but as soon as the house buying/fixing up/family visits started, it got pretty darn busy around here!

In the matter of a few weeks we had a laundry list of things that had to be done on the house before we could move in which included; painting trim, painting Keelan's room, putting in new carpet in the refinished basement, refinishing the bedroom floors (they're fir!), installing a closet, major cleaning of the whole place, unpacking TWO shippments of our belongings (one from Alaska and one from China), and a whole list of handyman stuff - like missing doorhandles, adding new locks and the like. I'm so glad that we decided to do as much now as we could afford, that was a piece of advice I got from my Mom who said "do it now or it will be years before you get to everything!"

In our parade of visitors, we also had both Todd's dad Bruce (twice!) and my Dad, Steve who did a lot of the random handyman stuff that had to be done. And Todd's mom Sharon and my mom Susan to help with the biggest task of all... Keelan. He's a busy one, to put it lightly.

Now that the house stuff has started to slow down, I'm starting to focus more on getting involved in all the wonderful things there are for babies and tots here in Bellingham. Right now we have so many fun things that are availble to do throughout the week, and many are FREE! MOM's club activities like play dates and swimming, library story time, a free yoga class (for me!), an open play gym in Ferndale, Nature Babies - exploring local parks with toddlers, and Music Together classes - my Mom paid for this one (Thanks Mom!). We've also gone to a handful of other playgroups recently that have been a lot of fun for Keelan. I guess I just really enjoy having something that we can do everyday, whether we actually do it or not, that's another story ;-)

For myself I've been helping out in the local Baha'i community Children's classes on Sundays - teaching songs and doing crafts, and also taking the free yoga class. Todd has been playing in a co-ed soccer league on a team called the 'Road Turtles', isn't that the cutest name? I love it, they're the little bumps in the median of the road. We've also been going up to Mt. Baker pretty much every Saturday, which can be trying on me sometimes, but it's worth it. It's about an hour and a half drive up to the mountain then Todd and I trade off and on a couple times (with skiing and watching Keelan in the lodge) before driving home. It's a commitment both of time and finances (gas, the season's passes), but after four years of living in Shanghai and no skiing, it was high time to be up skiing again!

Here are a couple of pics of the inside of our house. It has been so fun decorating with all the stuff from our travels, it reminds me of how incredibly lucky we are to have done so much exploring before Keelan was born. There is also a major 'Asia' vibe going on in our house :-)

these are a few of his favorite things

In the past three months, Keelan has morphed from baby to full on toddler! He is a walking, running, climbing, dancing, babbling and signing champ. He amazes me how much he is absorbing and how much he retains! Here is a list of some of his current "skills" :-)

-Points at the ABC cards hung in his room when he wants me to sing the ABC's

-Puts his fingers together when he wants me to sing itsy bitsy spider

-Makes the sign for 'eat' and 'milk'.... the kid loves eating, what can I say?

-Kisses pictures of babies, and sometimes other actual babies.

-Nods his head, swings his arms and does baby squats when he's getting his dance on

-Plays chase around the house with Todd and I, or any visitors who are willing

- Has learned to LOVE snow, not afraid to walk around, sit, eat and play in the snow up at Mt. Baker. 

- Says: Dada, GaGao (for our cat Xiao Mao), car, and the occational 'Mama'.

On another note, within the last three months we've moved into our new house and had a long parade of family visitors/helpers. This parade continues on pretty much through the end of March and then tapers off for our summer travels. My efforts to document these big changes for our family hasn't happend yet, but I hope to get my act together before I forget everything that's happend :-) 

snow day...s!!!!!!!

So, initially moving to Washington I thought 'sure, it's close to Alaska, they must be a bit rough around the edges, able to handle things or have as Todd would say, "man skills!". But surprisingly, they can't handle snow!!! Apparently, sometime in the 80's the then current governor sold all the plows and snow removal equipment because, hey it only snows here a few times a year. But of course, many times since it has dumped snow and left the city of Bellingham crying to Mt. Baker to come down and plow the roads. Even though I haven't driven in snow for over four years and I am really not one to talk (a bit of a wimp I'll admit, lacking man skills) it seem silly that with five or six inches of snow the city comes to a halt.

Todd has had three snow days attached to his three day MLK weekend, so SIX days without working! This has meant so much wonderful family time, skiing, getting stuff ready for/in the new house (ahem, even though I'm an awesome wife and Todd went skiing twice by himself and I stayed at home with Keelan car less.) With our studded tires we've been one of the few cars to venture out on the somewhat poorly maintained roadways and return home unscathed. Plus, Todd is a pretty good driver I'll give him that :-)

Overall, it's been a great long weekend thanks to mother nature and governor 'what's his name'.

Keelan's developmental update consists of a very nasty fever/cold that is on the mend, thank goodness. He's been rolling his R's like a champ, clicking his tongue and buzzing his lips, but not really saying much. I'd like to think he's doing vocal warm-ups or developing his range or some music geeky thing like that. His walking has taken off this last week, Todd counted 76 steps without stopping the other day. He bends down to pick things up, stand back up and keep walking. Anyhow, those are some of the newest developments. I've really enjoyed as he becomes more aware and his sense of humor develops, he's one silly guy! There was a moment however, when Todd and I looked at each other and said, "Oh no, now we really have to start making decisions about parenting a toddler!"

whirlwind of celebrations

The last few weeks went something like this:

• Grandma Susan came to Bellingham for a short, but sweet visit
• Trip to Seattle to visit Great Grandpa and Grandma in Seattle
• Trip to Centralia to visit Todd's cousin's family, including brand new baby
• Overnight flight to Boston with sick baby (just a cold, but pretty nasty) who throws up on man sitting next to me (who blocks it with his magazine!) and Todd 
• Two days of visiting old Boston peeps
• Drive to Connecticut for AMAZING wedding of a high school buddy of mine, Christine and her beau - Dave (fairy tale reception to ensue in castle following)
• Keelan stays awake until 10pm to enjoy reception, then promptly falls asleep in his pack n'play in a back room. We dance and enjoy the festivities ringing in the new year and Keelan's birthday. 
• SECOND overnight flight with much less sick baby (who proceeds to stay awake whole flight)

Whew, glad to be home!

many wonderful "firsts"

Well, it's final, we bought at house!! This is our sweet little home in the Columbia neighborhood here in Bellingham. It's a very family friendly neighborhood close to town, parks, walking distance to an elementary school, and filled with lots of cute older homes. Our house was built in 1915 so has loads of character, but has been updated with all the important stuff like wiring, plumbing, roof, and windows. We'll have some fixing up to do before we move it, but it's fairly minimal - like carpet in the downstairs, re-painting Keelan's room (it's bright pink right now!), stuff like that. The sellers original plan fell through so right now they are working to buy another house, this means we're doing a 'rent-back' for them for up to 60 days, meaning we don't get to move in until around February or so. Bit of a bummer, but I'm lucky because my Mom is going to come up from California to help out, mainly baby-sit Keelan.

Other "firsts" that have happened within the last two weeks include Keelan finally deciding to call me "Mama" instead of "Nana or NaNar" :-) He doesn't do it that often, but when he does, it's very purposeful to get my attention and I know he's asking me for something.

The weekend before last we went up skiing at Mt. Baker, Todd and I took turns skiing and staying in the lodge with Keelan. We also found out there are no rules here about skiing with a baby in a carrier, so Todd will be doing this on some of the easier runs so we can all ski together. I'm definitely still getting my "sea legs" after not skiing for three years and being a fairly basic skier at that.

Last weekend we got Keelan's first Christmas tree, it's three feet high and just perfect. Being Baha'i, I don't go all out celebrating Christmas, but Baha'is do believe in Christ and there are many Christmas traditions that are important to Todd... so, we will be celebrating Christmas, but in an understated way.

This last week Keelan also took his first intentional steps! He's been walking with his push-toy and along furniture for quite some time, but every night Todd and I try and get him to walk between us. His record of unassisted steps so far is four. We're pretty pumped about this to say the least. Lastly, he has decided that without a doubt, that I am the funniest person that has ever walked the face of this earth. I can just look at him out of the corner of my eye and he laughs! This of course makes Todd tremendously jealous and boosts my ego, hehe. I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts because I know that Mom = funny and cool will end so soon :-( When I'm irritated with him for not sleeping or being a cranky pants I just have to remind myself of how hilarious he thinks I am and I can't be irritated anymore!

In other news, my Mom is coming for a short visit this weekend and I'm thrilled that I get to show her around Bellingham, including the new house (only the outside unfortunately) and around town. Also, our iphoto has been acting up so I can't post any walking or tree pics yet, but will as soon as we work out the kinks.

Also, I just decided to tell more than just family about my blog, it was really a difficult choice because I didn't want to feel voyeuristic or "look at my cool life, blah blah". But I really enjoy looking at friends blogs, especially those with children, and felt like I wanted to share as Keelan grows up. If you're reading, please click "followers" using google connect so I know you're checking in.

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Family, friends and Thanksgiving

Neo and his Daddy Jesse in Seatac

Blue or orange, hmmm...

Ball pit! 

G.G Namur, Keelan and Todd all looking up at a suncatcher.

Table set for Thanksgiving at Steve and Janny's.

Cousins Jimmy and Bre.

Keelan enjoyed Amanda's necklace!

We had an amazing Thanksgiving weekend this year! First we did a stop by to our storage unit that recently arrived from Shanghai, and I got to dig through all my winter clothes and take out what I wanted. Then we stopped by Seatac for a quick play date with Jesse, Gisele and baby Neo who was born two days before Keelan in Shanghai. They moved back to Washington to be near family for a while, kind of like us! After their hilariously cute play date we drove down the road to visit Keelan's G.G Namur and Grandfather and stay the night. It was really special to have some time with them because they couldn't come for Thanksgiving dinner in Gig Harbor at Todd's uncle Steve's bed and breakfast. We had dinner with Steve, Janny, Cathy and Todd's cousin's Amanda and Peter, along with his girlfriend. The morning after our fantastic dinner, Todd's cousin Chet and wife Sally came for a short visit with their kids Bre and Jimmy. Keelan was super impressed watching the 'older' kids play and it was really cute to see them interact. On our drive back to Bellingham we stopped by Tacoma to see my good high school buddy Annie and her sweet pup Taku. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics of them! All and all it was a fantastic weekend!

Keelan development updates... he is walking with a push toy and around holding onto the walls a little more everyday. He also has started calling me Nana, or sometimes it sounds more like Narnar, but not much headway on actually saying Mama :-S He's sleeping (mostly) through the night, but still is really hit or miss on the daytime naps.