A Visit from Grandma

Last week we had a wonderful visit from my mom! It's amazing how time flies. I can't believe that she was here for a whole week. It went by so quickly, but we did have a great time while she was here.

Of course, her main focus while she was here was not to tour Seattle or spend quality time with her daughter or son-in-law. (Those were just nice added benefits.) The real reason she came to visit was to give her grandson lots of hugs and kisses. That mission was definitely accomplished. Evan and mom had a great time playing together. She even bought him a new walker which he has spent the past week running into various pieces of furniture in our apartment.

(Grandma and her grandson)

(Evan and his new walker)

We also had a great time seeing some of the Seattle sights. Of course, we visited my favorite place in the city, Pike Place Market. Evan and I had fun showing mom all of the market's goodies, and she found quite a few yummy souvenirs to take home.

(Evan, mom, and I out in front of the market)

We also spent some time practicing another one of our family's favorite past times, eating! We went out to some great restaurants while mom was here. On Saturday night we hit the town for a belated Valentine's day celebration and went to a restaurant that had been recommended to us called Pasta Freska. It was a really unusual restaurant because there was no menu. The chef comes up to you when you arrive at the restaurant and asks you what you don't like to eat. Then, he plops a bottle of wine at your table and heads back to prepare food that he thinks you'll like. We had a wonderful meal of about 7 courses: salad, delicious cheese covered eggplant parmesan, chicken marsala, pasta bolognese, halibut, shrimp, cheesey bread, and several different selections for dessert: tiramisu, creme caramel, chocolate cake, and neopolatin ice cream. It was a great dinner and everyone had a fabulous time, except for Evan. Everytime the chef would come up to our table and try to say hi to Evan he would start screaming. I've never seen him have such a reaction to someone before. I wonder what he has against Italians! It was okay though because as soon as he left the table Evan was happy as a clam. Who knows!

(The restaurant from the outside)

(The revelers after a yummy dinner)

(Awww, the happy couple)

(Mom and I and our desserts)

The next day, Ian unfortunately had to head to Pennsylvania for a business trip, but mom and I wouldn't let that stop us from another night out. This time we headed to a restaurant called Preservation Kitchen for a dinner with mom's friend from college, Larry and his wife. I was excited to go because I'd always heard so much about Larry but had never met him. Well, the company was great and the food was fabulous. Evan actually enjoyed himself for a two and a half hour meal! I had wild boar ragu with goat cheese croquettes for dessert, yum!

The rest of the trip was spent shopping, eating, Boggling, and just hanging out. It is always great to have my mom in town, even though she spoiled us rotten. It was hard seeing her go home, but we all can't wait to see her and my dad again soon.

Show Me the Money!

Last week Evan stayed home with my mom and Ian while I was able to go out with the girls. We were headed to a casino and resort north of town so we could eat and have fun. There were about 17 of us going so I knew it was going to be a great time.

I drove up with my friend Allison a little early so we could have some time to gamble our money away at the slot machines. So, we took a tour of all the machines and finally settled on some fittingly called "Milk Money". We wanted to bet the big bucks so of course we chose the penny slots. As we played, our friends trickled in, and by the time we were finished I was up $2.12! Big money!

(Allison playing the slots)

(I really wish they still had the handles you could pull!)

(Melissa, Meredith, and Nilufer join in)

After we played the slots we got a drink and headed to the restaurant for dinner. We had a great dinner with some fun girly conversation. It was amazing, 17 women didn't even have any trouble playing with just one check and all cash.

(Allison, Tracy, and Jennifer head to dinner)

(The mommy crowd at dinner)

(Julie and Cory having fun)

After dinner we hit the tables. Blackjack was our game of choice. I hung in there for a little while, but lost my money before the night was up. My friend Allison managed to head home with $65 extra dollars! It was a great night, and it left us refreshed and energized for the next day with the kiddos!

(Cory enjoying her winnings...actually it was just the bill from dinner)

Playing Hard

Ian, Evan, Rip, and I all headed down to Magnusson Park to check out the playground and the dog park. It was a beautiful day when we looked out the window of our apartment, but unfortunately by the time we actually made it out to the car it had clouded over again and was quite cold. If you don't get outside immediately when you see the sun in Seattle, you miss it!

We headed to the park anyway. First, we left poor Ripple in the car and went to check out the playground. Evan has only had very limited experiences with playgrounds so we thought it was time for him to check one out. We started in the swings because he likes motion so much. We put him in one of the baby swings, but he couldn't figure out that he needed to sit in it. So, he was completely board straight the whole time he was in there. We pushed him a little bit. He smiled some of the time and fussed some of the time. I think he was a bit overstimulated by it all. Next, daddy helped him on the big swings and the slide. However, the most fun was definitely the mulch! He got down on hands and knees and had great fun digging in it. Maybe he'll be more in to the actual playground when he gets a bit older.

After Evan's playground experience we rescued Ripple from the car and took him for a good romp in the dog park. We only stayed in the small dog area because we're a little afraid of Rip stealing a tennis ball from a big dog and ending up in several small pieces! He had a great time and even interacted with a few dogs. It was a great, but cold, day out playing with the boys!

Evan didn't know what he thought about the swing...

Evan didn't know what he thought about the slide...

Now mulch...

Mulch was fun!

Ten Things I Learned about my Eight Month Old

1. He will bump his head on any hard surface within a several foot radius.

2. He tries to flip over immediately whenever placed on a changing table.

3. He plays hard and sleeps hard.

4. Never say, "Just have one more bite of this cottage cheese" after you've taken the bib off.

5. Crawling speed increases rapidly every day.

6. Dogs are hilarious.

7. He can talk to anyone or anything, but no one can understand him yet.

8. Dogs are also hungry, they need cheese and Cheerios to be handed to them from the high chair.

9. Big boy tubs are great places for crawling, pulling up, and standing.

10. Life with an eight month old is exhausting, and it gets better everyday!

Here's Evan's monthly car seat pictures to celebrate his eight month birthday today!

(two months old)

(Four months old)

(Six months old)

(Eight months old)

Rub a Dub Dub...

...The cutest baby ever is in this tub!

Evan has recently decided that he needs to pull up and try to stand in his baby bathtub. So, we decided that for his safety he needed to move to the big boy tub. I brought the camera in for his first big tub experience. He loved it, but he's already trying to pull up and crawl in the big tub. Sigh.

Happy Valentine's Day

Evan has had a great first Valentine's Day, and we all had fun celebrating! The day before, Evan got dressed up in his Valentine's finery and we met up with some friends. Evan enjoyed some heart shaped snacks, and I enjoyed some sugary snacks for mommy too.


On Valentine's Day, we just had a low key day. We all needed a little rest, so we just took it easy after a morning run. Later in the day, Evan had fun opening all of his Valentine's Day cards. He felt very loved, and we thank everyone who sent their wishes our way.


It's approaching 8 pm and Evan is listening to his bedtime story as we speak. Soon, he will say goodnight to his first Valentine's Day, and mommy and daddy will get to eat! We have prepared a feast of fondue with Mexican cheese fondue with tortillas, guacamole, and chorizo. Then, we finish it off with Mexican dessert fondue with strawberries, pound cake, bananas, and homemade cream puffs. I can't wait!

It was delicious!

Trouble with a Capital "T"

Evan's been inching closer and closer to this moment for months, literally. Yesterday morning he took off and crawled across the bedroom floor! He's been scooting and getting up on all fours for a while. He's even taken one or two steps, but I didn't know whether to call it technical crawling or not. Now, there's not much doubt.

Crawling is pretty much all he wants to do now. I put him down on the floor and he's off. I try to change his diaper on the changing table, and he's trying his hardest to flip over and take off somewhere. I even try to do our nice relaxing baby yoga, and he's trying to crawl toward the stool so he can climb up on it.

Looks like there will be a little baby proofing in our future! He loves electronic equipment best. If you'll notice in the video he's crawling toward my camera case. Who knows what he will get into next!

Love 'Em or Leave 'Em

This Sunday was the Love 'Em or Leave 'Em Valentine's Day Dash at Green Lake in Seattle. A bunch of the moms in my group that are training for the half-marathon decided to run it. We thought it would be good to start getting experience with a few races before the big one.

Saturday morning we all headed over to Cory's house to decorate our shirts. (Hey, what's a race without matching shirts.) They were pink with the logo from our moms group on the back. I think they turned out looking really nice. We were all set for the race.

Sunday morning we headed down to the race. I headed down with some of the other girls because the guys were sitting this one out. That means that Evan got to stay home with daddy. Ian will join me in the next one on St. Patrick's Day though.

I think it is always so much fun to run in races because of the chaos and excitement. There's always so much to watch and do before, during, and after the race. There's so many other runners around you while you're running that you hardly even notice the distance. I think it's much easier than running in practice.

My running partner was Danielle, and we managed a pretty good pace the whole time. Well, I was trying to keep up with her because her legs are about twice as long as mine. It's nice to have someone to run with. We crossed the finish line and cheered on our fellow group members. Then we wandered around grabbing some free munchies and headed home.

I checked the times later when they appeared online. Here were my results:

Katy Davis

bib number:	104
age:	28
gender:	F
location:	Shoreline, WA
overall place:	890 out of 2010
division place:	211 out of 485
gender place:	448 out of 1310
time:	29:48
pace:	9:37

I was so excited, I haven't ran a mile under 10 minutes in about 15 years! I know it might not sound fast to some people, but that's definitely my best finish for a race so far! Now I've got the running bug. I'm really looking forward to all of the races to come!

Working on my shirt the day before the race...

Allison and I on the big day...

Action shot of the start of the race (I'm behind the guy with the stroller.)...

The group: (top row) Danielle and her son, Allison, Katrina, Alex, Me, Jennifer, and Cheryl (bottom row) Emily, Cory, Julie, Tracy, and Vanessa

I Can't Leave Him Alone for Two Seconds!

One minute Evan is playing nicely with his toys...


And the next time I look this is how I find him. Notice the legs are actually off the ground!


What am I going to do with this boy?

The Seattle Art Museum

Last week, Evan and I decided we needed some culture, so we met up with our friends Allison and Abigail and headed down to the Seattle Art Museum in downtown Seattle. It is free on the first Thursday of every month so it was the perfect time to go.

Fortunately, the museum is right next to Pike Place Market so we had to stop there first and snack on some donuts. We wandered the rest of the stalls munching and then headed over to the museum.

We put both of the babies in their carriers so they had a great view of the art. Evan and Abigail had a great time looking at all of the sights. Evan especially liked the model toilet, the dress made out of dog tags, and the sculpture made of socks. Abigail was taken by the model car wreck in the lobby with lots of sparkly lights. It was a fun day, and we all enjoyed it!

Evan Flies Solo

(the skiing crew: me, Ian, Liz, Bob, and Brian)

Last weekend we were fortunate to have our friend Brian visit us from North Carolina. It was so nice to see him again, and we tried to show him the best that the Pacific Northwest had to offer. Over the course of the long weekend we visited Green Lake, the Edmonds waterfront, Pike Place Market, The University District, Fremont, Ballard, and the Woodinville wineries. It's great to have visitors so we can visit all of these fun places.

On Saturday, we had our biggest adventure of all! We traveled up to Steven's Pass with our friends Bob and Liz to go skiing. Ian had been skiing in Washington last year, and I was so jealous that I couldn't go because I was pregnant. So, I was happy to have the chance this year.

However, Evan is still a little wobbly on skis, so we had to leave him in Seattle. I had never been apart from Evan for more than a few hours, so I was really nervous. It is always so hard to leave him, even if it is just for a little while. He stayed at our good friend Meredith's house and played with her son Jason who is just two weeks older than Evan. He seemed to have a great day, and Meredith, her husband Sacha, and our other friends Cristina and Jimmy took great care of him.

(Evan, taking a break from playing)

It was hard to walk our the door and leave him, but once I got out the door and called my mom for a little reassurance, I was ready to have fun skiing. Meredith kept me updated on Evan's day with text messages and phone calls so I didn't have to worry. Skiing was so much fun! I've definitely missed it. I'm always a little out of control, but it felt good to breathe in the fresh air and navigate the slopes.

(Evan and Jason having some fun)

The whole family had a great day. Even Rip got to hang out at home with his girlfriend Ellie and go for a walk with her. I don't know if I'm ready to leave Evan again any time soon, but when I do, I know he'll be okay.

(Evan enjoyed his day on his own!)

A Little Laundry Help

So, I've found that the laundry really piles up around here. There's more laundry because of Evan's clothing, towels, washcloths, sheets, bibs, etc. Plus, even though I'm not teaching, it seems like there's even less time to do laundry. I can't do any laundry when Evan's sleeping because his nursery is so close to the washer and dryer. That doesn't leave very much time when we're home to get it done.

Thankfully I have a helper to assist with the laundry. Although he's not much good with folding, Evan is great with laundry basket guarding. Take a look at my big helper!

Water Babies

Evan decided he needed to go back to the swimming pool after having such a wonderful time on his first visit. However, this time, he wanted company. So, Evan and I headed down to the pool last week with his "girlfriend" Abigail and her mommy Allison.

(Abigail loved her first pool experience.)

We had a great time again. Evan loves splashing in the fountains and kicking in mommy's arms. He had fun in the floaty raft, but he was anxious to be back in the water where he could splash his arms.

(Allison and the busy swimmers)

Although it is a lot of work to get everyone dressed in their winter woolies to make it to the pool, get changed into our swimming clothes, and then get dried off afterward, it's worth it when I see how much fun Evan has. Only a few more months until he's old enough for swimming lessons!

(Everyone dries off after the watery fun!)