December 2016

December is such a busy month full of all kinds of holiday fun. We kicked off the month with our annual nutcracker viewing Pacific Northwest ballet. Charlotte sat through the entire thing absolutely riveted. We also got tickets for the little mermaid, a full-scale musical production at the 5th Ave Theatre. It was pretty amazing stagecraft including harnesses to make the mermaids look like they're swimming.

We also of course had to get ready for our annual vodkas and latkes party, frying up a ton of latkes and infusing some creative new flavors. This year Charlotte stayed over at my parents house and Gloria slept downstairs in the guestroom. We had such a great time!

Gloria is pretty excited about the Christmas tree, she's been pulling ornaments off the bottom and sticking her hands into the water whenever she gets a chance. She's not really talking yet but we think that's because she is so busy being on the move crawling, standing pulling up, and walking around the house holding hands. She's also been spinning around on her tush which is pretty funny to watch, and when she is enjoying a nice meal she likes to flap her hands with glee. We call it conducting the symphony.

Charlotte was game for a Santa visit this year so we headed to Swanson's saw some reindeer and for the first time she actually did sit on Santa's lap! For Christmas eve we had dinner with the West Grabowski's, and Christmas day we had breakfast with the Schinfeld's, followed by the traditional Chinese Christmas dinner. We fit some cookie decorating in their gingerbread house making and of course gift opening. And Hanukkah list started Christmas eve this year. We had a Hanukkah party at Nannys house with leftover latkes and all the trimmings.

Off the year with a visit from grandma and Papa and we took a trip together to Leavenworth. It was charlottes first time really being in a lot of snow and she took to it like a little snow bunny, rolling around in it like a crazy little animal. There was sledding, snow angel making, snowman construction , hot chocolate, and good old fashioned winter fun .

November 2016

Fall is Charlotte's favorite time of year, because we go right from Halloween into her birthday! Unfortunately this year her birthday fell on the day after Election Day, which turned out to quite possibly be the most awful day of my life after 9/11. But I pulled myself mostly together and headed to Cs school for her class bday party, where I hugged her teachers and managed to read a book to the kids. Then we headed to Nanni's office for a visit and some special dessert, then to McCaw Hall for Daniel Tiger Live. C had a blast, but all I could think about were the poor performers onstage trying to smile and dance while wondering if they'll have health care next year. Then we joined up with Gloria for bday dinner at the Broiler, where C had her fave Mac and cheese. We had Cs birthday party the following Sunday at the Little Gym, where she and her friends Jumped around for 90 minutes! Gloria got right into the spirit and crawled all over the place with Poppi. Nanni made a rainbow marzipan cake which Matt carved into Hello Kitty. It was a welcome reprieve for the parents to see all the kiddos so joyful.

And we also managed to fit in a family photo shoot right before the election. Bribery with candy was required for cooperation.

We had a fun trip to LA for thanksgiving. Plane travel with a 10 month old is so draining it felt like we flew cross country, but G did pretty well and C was a complete angel. It was so warm we actually got to play at the beach, in bathing suits splashing in the water! The playbthis year was Snow White and Charlotte made her debut in a starring role. She was very serious and was so brace to stand up in front of everyone. She even gave the prince a kiss- on the forehead!

Gloria is seriously on the move. Her crawling has picked up speed, and she is pulling up and cruising and wants to be right in the action at all times. She has delusions of grandeur that she can stand on her own, which has resulted in some toppling over- not sure how she'd survive without the helmet. Nursing or bottle feeding require extensive entertainment strategies to hold her attention-try nursing and turning the pages of a book at the same time! She continues to eat up a storm of pretty much anything, but her faves are blueberries, whole wheat tortilla, omelette, and beans. When she gets excited she has this adorable laugh that we call her evil baby laugh because it sounds like the laugh of an evil overlord ha ha ha. She also has an interesting mannerism of swiping away things that displease her with the back of her hand, as if to say "get that out of my sight." And she has started giving some kisses, but so far only to her big sis.

October 2017

Things are finally calming down at the Wasse house. We're all settled in with our new nanny, Gloria is used to her helmet, and we're pretty much unpacked in our new house. We've had a fun October so far- a trip to Remlinger Farms with the Maloney's, pumpkin patch with Charlotte school,and of course Halloween preparations! We are going as the fairies from Pixie Hollow, which if you don't know is where Tinker Bell calls home. Charlotte is Silvermist I am queen Clarion, Matt is Lord Milory, and Gloria will be Periwinkle, Tink's sister.

Lots of new things for Gloria. She is crawling! Right now she keeps one leg out to the side and slides herself along, we called it her outrigger. But she gets going pretty fast, so the baby gate is up. She's also been clapping her hands up a storm- if anyone claps she'll join right in. And she is pulling herself up and cruising around. Plus she got 4 new teeth for a total of 7!

September 2016- chchchchanges!

The Wasses have had a bit of rough going this month- our nanny quit with one week notice which left us scrambling. Luckily, my good friend Amanda's nanny had two weeks free before she started grad school, so she was able to step in during our search. And we were right in the middle of packing up our whole house in preparation for our move to our new house! So Matt packed while I did a ton of nanny interviews and we finally found a fantastic new nanny, Christa. She started the Monday after we moved, jumped right in, and has been fabulous so far.

The move went smoothly thanks to the help of Nanni and Poppi, and the girls have handled all this change surprisingly well. And just to throw one more exciting change into the mix, Gloria started wearing her helmet this week to fix her flat head. After much agonizing we decided that we would give it a try to see if it was something she would tolerate. And lo and behold it hasn't fazed her at all, she just keeps right on napping and sleeping and smiling like there's not a giant plastic purple blueberry on top of her head!

We finished off the month with a visit from Jay, Julia, and Bubba Linda for Uncle Joe's memorial- Julia was our first house guest! And then we celebrated Rosh Hashanah at Nanni's house. G loved her brisket like all good Jewish babies :)

August 2016

We had a fun visit with Bubba Linda at the beginning of the month, and we are very excited that she and Peter will be moving to Seattle next spring! We toured her around the area and of course had lots of play time with the kiddos.

Gloria has been eating up a storm- she is crazy for berries and fruit of all kinds, and is very intent on feeding herself. And she just got her first tooth- Poppi was the one who noticed it first. Then her second bottom tooth sprouted about a week later. She has started scooting around on the carpet and seems pretty eager to get mobile. We had her flat spot on her head evaluated by a specialist, 85% chance it will resolve on its own, but we have until the end of August to decide- to helmet or not to helmet! 

Charlotte has been really into chapter books - we're on our second reading of the Jungle Book, a very excellent gift from cousin Hattie. Her story telling skills have also really blossomed and it is really fun to get her going telling a tale. Charlotte's big sister skills have also been growing- she can make Gloria laugh hysterically and cheer her up if she is fussing. She can feed her a bottle, and she helps put her to bed every night reading her books and singing her songs. They are just too cute!

Matt had a weekend canoe trip with his best buds, leaving Mama alone with the girls for the weekend for the first time. Unfortunately they were the hottest two days on record in Seattle, so we had to camp out for the day Saturday at Nanni and Poppi's house with a/c and a pool! But we survived and threw in a little birthday party for Mama - Nanni's cheesecake is my absolute favorite. 

The celebration continued with a joint bday barbecue with uncle E who shares my birthday. Unfortunately the party was on another record-breaking hot day so we were all shvitzing a little bit as we ate our hotdogs, but lots of fun was had. Matt made a huge batch of butterscotch Blondies that were a big hit, and the kids mostly hung out in the shade eating watermelon.

7 months

Gloria is seven months old today. She's been eating up a storm this past month and has tried pretty much every food you can think of. She's getting much better at her pincher grip and can now feed herself pretty well.

 We had a fun but quiet month of July. Charlotte had a week of frozen dance camp while school was out. She came back after break as a fuzzy bunny meaning that she is officially a pre-kindergartener. This is a big and exciting step for her, and it also means that she leaves her lovey at home when she goes to school! She has also been continuing her amazing progress at swim class, jumping into the pool, swimming the entire length under water! It's been truly amazing to watch her just turn into a little fish. 

We had a visit from our cousins Ronnie and Elliot and we celebrated nanny's 70th birthday. We've also been getting to know our new nanny Melanie. Gloria loves her and smiles every time she comes in the room. Charlotte is a little more tentative and is still getting to know her but I think they will become fast friends. 

I have been back at work for three weeks and it has been going fairly well. The first week or so I was kind of disoriented and had trouble finding all those professional epidemiology words which I had not been using for the past six months, but now I'm back in the swing of things.

The biggest news is we bought a house. It's in Matthews Beach walking distance to the beach park and adjacent to the Burke Gilman trail. We're pretty excited about it, but not looking forward very much to moving our stuff at the end of September.

Back to work/ 6 months

I have come to the end of my (mostly unpaid) maternity leave, which means this baby is 6 months old! She is such a sweet girl and I have enjoyed this time with her so so immensely. Gloria has been very busy- she can now sit up, she is loving solid foods- we basically give her whatever we're eating so she has tried sweet potato, avocado, apricot, turkey burgers, roasted chicken, pulled pork, zucchini, and carrots. Her favorite food is Greek yogurt for sure. Her favorite thing to do is watch her sister do absolutely anything. Her favorite toy is her crinkle butterfly- she loves to crinkle. She is all smiles all day. She went from being a short napper up twice a night to a champion. She takes 2 2 hour naps during the day and sleeps 12 hours straight at night. It all started two weeks ago all of a sudden! Good timing!! She loves being thrown up in the air. She loves having her diaper changed. She loves reading books. She loves being tickled. She loves taking walks in her carrier touching all the flowers and leaves. But like a good Seattle girl she hates the sun and cries when it gets in her eyes. Charlotte picked out a lovey for Gloria- a panda bear- and we named it Po after kung fu panda. I've been sleeping with it in my shirt to get it to smell like me and now Gloria snuggles with it every night. 

What have I been doing? I've read a ton of books. I've taken a lot of walks around the neighborhood. I've had some play dates with other friends on maternity leave. I've done a bunch of exercise videos on YouTube. I've gotten to spend a lot of time with Charlotte, too. But mostly I've stayed around the house making sure that Gloria doesn't get overtired and that she naps in her crib at just the right time. I have also developed a huge appreciation for the work of a stay at home parent caring for two children. It is harder than any job I have ever done in my life! The baby stuff is much easier the second time, but meeting Charlotte's needs has been a huge challenge, making sure she knows how much we love and appreciate her, finding appropriate ways for her to help and be involved with Gloria's care, and giving her the attention she expects and deserves. Hats off to all the parents out there who do the big job!

I'm going back to work at the health department 4 days a week. A lot of breast pumping in my future, but luckily we have a nice pump room. I've been pretty teary eyed this week thinking about leaving Gloria all day long. I will miss her terribly. But there is also a part of me that is looking forward to using my brain and my skills again, to thinking outside the walls of our house and our family to contribute to the world again. And I am very lucky to have a job that is flexible and low stress and that I can leave at the office. I think, like most things about my second child, it will be a little easier the second time around. But it will not be easy.