Brianne and Mary in Town

The day after Mike's mom left Brianne and Mary came to town from Chicago! They arrived late Thursday night and stayed 3 full days! Friday, Mike worked and we took Louis to Seattle. We toured Seattle Heidemann Style (basically eating our way through the city) - We ate Lunch at Lowells, shared a Piroshky which is a Russian pastry, went to Pike Place Brewery for a beer, and shared a caramel apple from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Before we left, we got Salmon, veggies, and cheese from the Market for dinner! Mike did an awesome job with the Salmon! Louis was having trouble falling asleep and he FINALLY fell asleep in my arms at lunch so instead of waking him I carried him around the market in my arms for over a half hour. Brianne and Mary carried all of my stuff, and Mary had to feed me my share of the Piroshky - we would do anything to avoid waking a sleeping baby!

Saturday morning, I heard Louis make a noise and I thought "just one more 1/2 hour of sleep would be great!" Well, 1/2 hour later I work back up and thought "what a great baby he let me sleep" not quite - Brianne and Mary had gotten him up and were able to entertain him for 30 min so I could get a little more rest - thanks guys! Later that morning we took the Ferry to Vashon Island to celebrate Brianne's birthday! We took 2 small hikes and had a picnic lunch at the light house. It was a beautiful day with great views of Rainer and the city! Louis once again was having trouble falling asleep but we managed to keep him from having a breakdown!

Sunday we figured we better hang around the house to let Louis get back on his normal schedule. This plan did not work AT ALL as Louis' smiles in the morning quickly turned to fussiness by midmorning and all out crying by afternoon. I was feeling exasperated and didn't quite know what to do with him. I suggested we take a long walk as he normally sleeps on walks so we walked to the Lobster Shop park. Louis proved me wrong and stayed awake almost the entire walk, thus producing and even more overtired baby! Mary was finally able to rock him for over 1/2 hour and get him into bed without waking him (at around 5pm). The poor kid slept till 745am! (with 3 feedings of course!)
Even though we had a stressful day, we managed to play some scrabble, Rummikube and Rummy! We ended up ordering pizza for dinner and watching a movie which I fell asleep for!

Monday, I dropped Brianne and Mary off at the bus stop so they could get to the airport. It was sad to see them go but it helps knowing I will see them in April!

Pictures from the weekend
More pictures from Vashon Island

Chris and Nanna G in Town

Mike's mom arrived from Portland, ME for a visit this past Thursday night. We didn't make any big plans and instead spent the weekend visiting and enjoying Louis! Friday I had to work so Mike and Nancy had the baby all to themselves! Friday evening Mike's brother, Chris flew in from Colorado and we picked him up and went straight to the Elliot Bay Brewing Company for a beer and dinner. It was Louis' first time to meet his one and only Uncle and they got along just fine - Chis was very cute with the baby!!

Saturday was Valentine's Day. Mike and his family took care of Louis again while I worked 6 hours. When I got home we went for a little walk, opened presents -( Nancy went crazy with gifts) and then Mike and I cooked up some steaks, sweet potatoes, broccoli and salad - it was great!

Sunday, we decided we had hung around the house enough and planned to walk along Ruston Way on the Tacoma Waterfront. It ended up raining though so after we ate lunch at the Renaissance Cafe, we walked across the street and went to the Washington History Museum. Sunday night we cooked up some spaghetti and meatballs!

Monday, was Chris' last full day in Seattle so after Mike worked a half day he took Louis to day care and him, his mom and brother ventured to Seattle. Nancy said it was the quickest tour of Seattle ever - they toured the Space Needle and Pike's Market in about 2 1/2 hours! Monday night we were going to go out to dinner but by the time everyone got back from Seattle I had put Louis to bed so instead we ordered Thai and played a little RummyKube!

Tuesday, Mike's mom kept Louis all day while we worked and she also had to take Chris to the airport. It was so good to see Mike's brother - we hadn't seen in about 2 years!

Wednesday, was my day off so Mike's mom and I hung out and played with the baby all day! Nancy made us some eggs and English muffins for breakfast! Mike came home from work a little early to visit one last time and eat leftovers for dinner. Sadly, we had to take Nancy to the airport for a midnight flight, but before she left we got her video camera to work on her computer so we can video chat all the time!! Louis liked Nancy so much and would love to look at her and smile at her and was always a good baby whenever she kept him!

It was so good to see Mike's family and can't wait to see his mom again in May and we told Chris we can't go 2 years without seeing him again!!

A Slow Weekend

This weekend we took it easy since Louis was a little under the weather. On Friday I called home from work and Mike informed me that Louis had a cold and diarrhea. I was convinced that Louis had spit up through his nose again and only SOUNDED like he had a cold and also just had one of his infamous blowouts that only LOOKED like diarrhea, but as it turned out daddy knew what he was talking about! Mike had the privilege of staying home to take care of a sick baby Saturday as well, while I worked. Louis was in a good mood all weekend despite his illness!

Sunday, we talked about hiking but decided it best to stay close to home since Louis was still recovering and was sleeping a lot more than he normally does. We ended up calling our friends Katy and Ed and we met them at the Chambers Golf Course in Tacoma. The new golf course has a 3 mile paved loop trail that has great views of the sound. We walked along the trail and then had Katy and Ed over for dinner. Our friends brought their dog Molly over to play with Mia, but Mia disappointed everyone by being a little snot. She kept trying to chase the dog around the house (we had her on a leash) and if we let her get close enough she would hiss and attack Molly. Poor Molly was so scared!

We ended up taking Louis to the doctor today, since the diarrhea came back in the middle of the night last night and at daycare. The doctor thought Louis just had a little bug and the diarrhea would taper off. We did find out that Louis weighs 12 lbs and 5 oz!