Playing by himself in his room today. Look how he's sitting. He's growing up so fast!


This is right outside the entrance to our apartment complex.


On the way to the mall.

We went to an outlet mall about 30 minutes north of here and bought Jonah some clothes for this winter and next summer (they have a Carters and OshKosh outlet too!). He also got a new pair of shoes because his feet have grown so fast! We bought a size bigger than what we thought he needed now so that they'll last a while. It is a huge place with tons of stores and now I know never to go on a weekend. It was so packed that I didn't get my deliciously bad for me pretzel I had been looking forward to all week because the line was out the door of the store! I did get a few things for myself at the Gap. And Matt got a new pair of pants. (He was thrilled).
Matt did his first admission on his own as a doctor today. He is doing an orthopedic surgery rotation right now. The other day he hammered the pins in for a hip replacement. I'm getting used to the idea (although still not liking it) that his schedule isn't always going to be predictable and convenient for our family. He has called home a couple of times to let me know that he'll be late so I go ahead and feed Jonah and get him ready for bed. Tonight he made it home before Jonah went to bed though. I think seeing Matt walk through the door is the best part of Jonah's day. He gets so excited and squeals and wants to go to him. Matt coming home is one of the best parts of my day too. (And for the dogs too!)

BBQ

The view from the bbq.


A couple of cruise ships in the harbor.


Just because I thought it looked cute.

We had a great time at the radiology bbq. Matt was the only PGY1 there but it was nice to meet other residents and people who have lived in the city for a while. We met some people from Illinois. One of the residents went to med school in Peoria so Matt had met him before but I got to meet him and his super nice wife (and their adorable weihmeraner). And another resident's grandparents live in Mansfield, the Wrights. How is that for a small world? I also talked quite a bit with one of the wives of a resident about where to live and being new to the city. They have 3 kids under 4 so she knows a lot about kids in Seattle. They've been living east of Seattle across Lake Washington and highly recommend it. I kind of looked at that area because it is supposed to be good for families but I always worried about Matt's commute. Apparently the commute isn't too bad and we could get much more for our money. So we've decided that as we get closer to our lease being up here we will look more in that area. A bonus would also be that there is a hospital there with a NICU comparable to the one I came from and that would mean I wouldn't have to drive into the city to work. Sorry we don't have any new pictures of Jonah to post. He was a doll and sat on a blanket eating cheerios, apples, and mango the entire time.

Jonah discovered if you put it up to your ear it makes the music louder.


I was in the other room when I heard some noise and came in to find this

He's shaking the coatrack to make the things hanging on it make noise. Can you tell he's becoming a handful? He grows and changes everyday.

Like the new blog look? I'm not in love with the header but it will have to do until I get more time to work on it. I stayed up too late last night working on it and Jonah was up 3 times last night so I'll be in bed early tonight. Speaking of Jonah, he's calling.

Hair by Matt

Nothing new to report here. Jonah has two more top teeth coming in that have been in the works for the last week hence his low grade fever and fussiness. Today they broke through but he was a complete angel all day. We spent a lot of time reading books and playing games. It was a difficult day with the dogs. Lets just say that I mopped the floor twice, scrubbed the area rug once, and will be shampooing the carpet in Jonah's room in the morning. Caleb has an excuse for one of the times because it was a steroid day for him and I wasn't fast enough getting him out. However, he opened the door to Jonah's room and ran around peeing right before bedtime when he had just been out 30 minutes before. I think he did it to spite me. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Matt had more orientation today and again tomorrow. He is also on call tomorrow evening so it will just be Jonah and I all day tomorrow. Oh, and the dogs.

In case you didn't believe me, here are some videos of Jonah's new trick. We had a nice father's day. Church in the morning, a special lunch at Taco Bell, hanging out at the apartment, pot roast for dinner, and a walk on the longest day of the year (summer solstice). It was a pretty good weekend!

He loves his veggie hot dogs


Hanging out at the park


It still doesn't seem real (to me at least)

We had our first rainy day here in Seattle on Friday. Jonah and I stayed in all day. Today Matt took his car for an emissions test which is required by the state. My car doesn't have to have it done until it is 5 years old. We spent the afternoon at a park called Green Lake in Seattle. We would really like to live in that neighborhood because it is centrally located, close to the park, and it seems to be where quite a few residents live. We'll be looking for something that would work for our family there. Matt has his University of Washington orientation starting on Monday. This week he had his hospital orientation. He is actually on call on Saturday but he calls it "fake call" because they are just going to show him the ropes. I hope it doesn't take long because there is a bbq thrown by some residents (I think) that I want to attend. I want to meet some other resident wives!

The dogs seem to be doing better. They're not barking at every little noise but still have to be controlled when they see someone walk by. We're hoping to start taking them to more public places with us to work on their people skills. However, it will have to be one dog at a time because someone has to watch Jonah too. I failed to mention that on Thursday Jonah turned 10 months old. Just in the last week I can see a huge difference in his physical appearance. He is no longer an infant but a toddler. He's getting taller (or at least looks like it) and definitely has a personality.

Trying to get a picture of Jonah and I while Jonah is racing toward the camera resulting in 1/4 of me and a blurry shot.


Special first day of residency dinner, pork chops in a sweet chili and onion sauce with creamy cilantro potato salad courtesy of Rachael Ray (and my ingredient subsitution book because I didn't have half the ingredients, including cilantro)

I'm loving spending time at home with Jonah. I am anxious to get back to work though. I miss it and so does my bank account. I'm going to really savor these days with Jonah though. We had a busy day with a trip to the grocery store in the morning and walk with Jo after lunch. We're lucky to have nature trails literally in our backyard and there is even a paved walking path which works out for the stroller.

Matt didn't have a ton to say about his first day of orientation (imagine that). He did say that the hospital where he'll spend most of this year reminds him of Carle (he is trying to convince me to work there). A huge unexpected plus is that while he is at that hospital he gets free parking. So for most of this year he'll be able to drive to the hospital. Driving in early in the morning isn't bad but he gets stuck in traffic on the way home. He is the only PGY1 (post graduate year 1) resident who doesn't live in the city and has to commute. He is also the only one married with a child. So we're still leaving open the option of moving into the city. Then I will definitely need a job! But if we move then we plan on staying in that place for the remainder of our time here because moving with two dogs and a little one is difficult and expensive.

Jonah did sleep well in his crib last night. He didn't wake up until 5 am! Maybe that and his good naps contributed to his good mood today.

The crib came!

Isn't it gorgeous?!


Getting better and better at standing up everyday


Hanging out at the playground


We got Grandpa Plunk's letter today


Teething is no fun!

Jonah's new crib came today and Matt picked it up from the store. We put it together (made more difficult by a teething and cranky baby) and it is just beautiful! It matches the changing table very well. I hope Jonah will get a good nights sleep tonight. He has been waking up in the middle of the night and then early in the morning. I'm exhausted! I can't believe how much he has changed just in the last week. He's pulling himself up more and more and doing better taking steps. He'll hold onto things or reach for your hands to get to where he wants to go. I really didn't think he would walk before his first birthday but now I think it might be a possibility. Matt and I have a bet going. I say he will be walking by his birthday and Matt says he will not. The loser does dishes for a week (Matt really has nothing to gain because I always do the dishes). Matt has his first day of orientation tomorrow. His first official day as a doctor isn't until next week though. He is going to put in his vacation requests tomorrow so we'll let you know when we hear if he got what he wanted. There are so many restrictions about when you can take vacation. Tomorrow is Jonah and my first day alone in a very long time and I hope he is in a better mood than he was today. Enjoy the pictures!

The pantless pilot making funny faces.


You can't really tell in the picture but he was standing up. He pulled himself up to play.


Looking at the handsome boy in the mirror.

A picture from our wedding of the Jiles. I'm going to print it for Jonah the next time I have pictures printed.

We had a lazy weekend around here. I did some more unpacking and it is feeling more like home. We'll take pictures when we're finished. Jonah is still wanting me to hold him all the time which makes it hard to get anything done. I pretty much have to plan on doing everything after he goes to bed or during naps. Matt plays with him while I'm making meals but we can't let him see me or he'll start crying. We think he's also working on teeth again. We don't see anything but he's been chewing on everything and has been a little warm. Matt set up all his video games so the last couple of nights he has been doing that after Jonah goes to bed.
The dogs are now the proud owners of new (expensive) bark collars. When they bark it sprays a citrus scent toward their nose. Since the batteries run out quickly (and must be ordered to be replaced) they've only worn them when we went to the grocery store yesterday and then for a little while today. We think they're working because when we came home yesterday we didn't hear them barking. Also, today when someone knocked on the door they both barked but quickly stopped when they got sprayed. They do double duty because not only does it stop barking (I hope) but it also makes your dog smell like lemon Pledge.
So the neighbor who the dogs tried to attack the other day came by with her husband and brought a plate of cookies (chocolate, peanut butter, walnuts?, mmmm). They seem so nice. I tried to apologize to her after the dog incident but there was no answer when I knocked on the door so I figured I misunderstood her when she said where she lived. It turns out they were home but the apartment was a mess so they didn't answer. Sounds exactly like something I would do (we talked to them in the hallway because our apartment was too messy to invite anyone in).
I thought I would take a break from unpacking to post really quick. My ear has been hurting for a week but it has been really bad the last couple of days. Dr. Plunk got out his otoscope and took a look and said it was bulging but didn't look red. So I guess I'll just have to wait it out. Tomorrow Matt is going to try driving to the hospital to check out commute time and parking. If it is not feasible to drive he'll take the bus but it is over 1 hour by bus. I offered to drop him off but that wouldn't be fun for Jonah every morning and evening. After a couple weeks he'll probably make a decision about whether or not it would be good for us to move closer to the hospitals. I'm kind of waiting to hang anything up until then because I don't want to have to patch the walls.

We had a fun day at the zoo. Jonah was more interested in the people than the animals though. We came home to notification from the management that they have had complaints about the dogs barking. Add to that the fact that Jo has been peeing on the floor whenever you put her leash on to take her out and they both have been peeing in the hallway outside the door. Also, we were leaving the apartment to go on a walk yesterday and a neighbor came up to introduce herself but was interrupted by the barking, growling, lunging dogs. She practically ran away. We're making tons of friends here. Ha! Tomorrow we're purchasing some special bark collars the apartment manager recommended and finding a trainer. Never mind the stress of moving 2000+ miles from everyone we know and leaving our little house, now we have to worry about possibly having to find another place to live if the dogs don't straighten up. Matt and I are more than a little stressed.

Splashing around in the pool today (that is just a shadow on his head)



As promised here is a post about our plane ride. I was very worried about how Jonah would do because he has become so active and wants to crawl everywhere. We were on a full flight but fortunately the only empty seat (that I saw) was next to us. How is that for lucky? We had a window seat which worked out well because Jonah loved looking out the window. My plan was to nurse him as we were taking off but he was very hungry and we sat on the runway waiting for a while. So he was done before we took off. Then my plan became to give him what I had pumped on the way to the airport. I gave him the bottle when the plane started moving but again, we moved and then sat for a little longer. Meanwhile he finished the bottle. So we finally took off and I tried to get him to drink some water for the bottle but he just wanted to play with it. He did fine though. Shortly after takeoff he decided to dirty his pants so I had to wait for the seat belt light to go off to take him to the bathroom. I didn't even think to ask if any of the bathrooms had changing tables but the one I got did not. It was miraculous that I managed to stay clean while changing a squirmy, stinky baby on my lap in an airplane bathroom. After that he played for a while and climbed all over me a bit but then I nursed him and he fell asleep for over an hour. I didn't dare move to get a magazine or anything because I didn't want to wake him. They were playing a movie which I watched without hearing. He woke up and played and ate some lunch (also very tricky with him on my lap). The guy that was sitting in our row in the aisle seat was very nice about me having to get out to change Jonah. He was working on a laptop and had a coke. Both of which Jonah tried desperately to get. For the rest of the flight we read books and played with toys. He was happy and laughing and singing. He even played peek-a-boo between the seats with the lady behind us. At the end of the flight everyone said how good he had been and some people said if it hadn't been for his laughing they wouldn't have known he was there. There was another little boy (under 2) that cried off and on during the flight. I was so happy that he did well but I know as he gets older he'll be a little harder to keep content for a 4 1/2 hour flight.
So another reason I wanted to post about our flight was to talk about transporting the frozen breast milk. I looked for a long time to find information on flying with breast milk because I was concerned it would thaw or we would have a snag at the airport. So I wanted other people to be able to benefit from my experience. What we ended up doing with putting the frozen milk in a hard sided cooler (the kind with wheels and a handle) with the frozen gel packs you use to keep your lunch cold (about 6 of them). You don't want to use ice because breast milk freezes at a lower temperature than water so the ice would actually cause the milk to thaw. I toyed with the idea of using dry ice but a)I would have had to drive a ways to get it from a party supply store and b)it makes checking the milk at the airport because there were regulations about ventilation, the amount of dry ice and labeling. I figure that from the time I loaded it into the cooler before leaving for the airport and when I placed it into the freezer at my destination it was around 10 hours. It was all still completely frozen. If you do not use dry ice the airline does not require that you label it but I wanted to make sure that it was treated with care so I did label it as human milk (a weird way to put it but that is how the donor milk shipments at work are labeled) and included a picture of Jonah. I sealed the cooler with duct tape and placed the duct tape inside to be used to reseal the cooler if they had to open it. When I checked it the lady made a face when I said it was breast milk (whatever lady!) and asked if it contained dry ice. I said no and then off went the precious cargo. Jonah and I saw the cooler being unloaded from the plane when we arrived in Seattle. Matt picked it up from baggage claim and met us to take us to our new home.
Ok, that is it for tonight. We're off to the zoo tomorrow! And on a sidenote, anyone want a couple of dogs? I'm ready to give them away. I might even pay if you take the little black one off our hands.

This doesn't count as a post. I'm just putting up a picture of Jonah's new crib. I hope (and I'm sure he does too) that it will be here soon.

Mmm, lunch!


Our little man standing up.


Jonah doing a little reading.

A view from the back of our building. You can see the pool from one of our bedroom windows. The complex has two heated pools and Jonah and I will be spending many days at this one.

We took most of the day off today from unpacking but Jonah just went down for a nap so I'm about to start unpacking again. We went on a walk around the neighborhood and took a few pictures. The apartment complex is huge so these are just from around our building. Jonah is growing so fast. He is feeding himself entire meals of finger foods now and starting to pull up. I ordered him a new crib today as we left his first crib behind. The weather here has been gorgeous. We haven't done much to enjoy it except for a couple walks but are making plans to do some sightseeing in the next couple of weeks. I would like to say that the dogs are behaving but they're not. We think they may be getting better with their barking but it may just be that we want to believe their better. We've been using a squirt bottle with water when they bark and they both hate it. But they're smart and now run around and bark making it harder for us to catch them. They both had baths today. Jo is making sure the smell of wet dog is deeply embedded in the carpet by rolling around on it. I better take advantage of Jonah napping and get some work done. Next post will be about our plane ride.

We're here!

Having fun with cousins before leaving


No he didn't pilot the plane but he did take his first plane ride.

Matt and the dogs arrived in Seattle on Friday morning and Jonah and I flew in on Friday afternoon. Our Internet was just hooked up minutes ago so I thought I would post really quickly. There will be more detailed posts to come after everything is unpacked and we're more settled (I'm sitting on the floor in the living room on the laptop now).