Two posts in one week! A new record! We've had a pretty mellow week, but we did go to the aquarium on Monday. Rhia loved watching the fish--she was actually really into it! It was great fun to watch her. She's discovered her feet this week, so her new trick is kicking her toys to make them move. We also took the newborn sling out of her bathtub, which led to much splashing during bathtime--I'm going to refrain from posting the video, even though she was tastefully covered with a washrag. :)
So a new slideshow--pictures from our time in the Bitteroot with Al's side of the family plus a few bonus ones we've taken this week from the aquarium and just hanging out around the house.
Tomorrow Al's grandparents will be here on their way to Alaska. Rhia is a very popular girl.
So we have had an incredibly busy month--we were in Montana for two weeks, so most of August disappeared pretty quickly! While in Montana, we went to a wedding, visited just about every family member that we have in Montana, Rhia met tons of relatives, including her Grandpa Mark, her cousin Ashley (who shares her birthday--Rhia is three hours older than Ashley), and her cousin Anton (who was born in February--he tried to drool all over her, but she wasn't impressed). Montana was great, but Rhia was ready to be done and home--she was incredibly cranky by the time we left. I don't have pictures from our visits with Al's family yet (except one of Rhia and Nellie), but I'll upload them when I do. She gets distracted by the camera and doesn't smile much for it--apparently having your picture taken is serious business. :)
Rhia is getting so big! We weighed her this morning, and it was right around 13 lbs--give or take a little. She's holding up her head all on her own now, laughing a bit, smiling constantly, and she's learned how to make one of her toys sing! Check it out! (make sure your volume is on!)
I can't believe how much she's changing and how fast she's growing.
We've started to experience that Seattle-drizzle now--I say drizzle, but I've never seen rain like what we have today in the summertime. It's crazy. I also cannot believe summer is almost over. If I were teaching this fall I'd be going back about now, as-is I'm still limboing--I'm applying for winter quarter at UW to start my Master's degree, though, and I'll go part-time (so we'll either schedule classes so one of us is home with Rhia or she'll be at daycare while I'm at class if need be). I definitely plan on being dilligent on the job-search front next summer (unlike this year, when I turned in stuff to one district and didn't pursue much), and just working on my master's during the summers after that. I love teaching too much to be gone for too long. I am very excited to stay home with Rhia. Not what I'd originally planned, but I'll take it. Al found out while we were in MT that he got a TA (so tuition and everything is covered, which is fabulous), so he'll be working even harder this fall. We are very excited about this development. Otherwise we're just exploring the greater Seattle area and getting settled in the house. I've fallen in love with the U-District Farmer's Market, and we still haven't gotten over the fact that it takes us 10 minutes to get to Puget Sound to watch the sailboats. Tomorrow we're going down to the aquarium for my birthday. It's so great to have so much to do at our fingertips.
So yesterday Rhia got her first shots. I think it was almost as hard on us as it was on her. It went relatively well--she did scream pretty good when the nurse gave the shots to her, but she calmed right now and did really well after that, until about Cle Elum, when she decided she needed to scream the entire way home. I sat in the backseat with her and everything, but no luck. When we got home last night she screamed for a bit, but I did manage to get her to eat, and we put her to bed--she was all clammy, but I think it way mainly from crying all that time. She may have felt a bit icky, but she seems fine today. She slept until 6:00 this morning, so she was out for 8 full hours. I woke up a couple of times to check on her, but all was good.
The appointment otherwise went really well--she's up to 11lb12oz, 22 inches long--so she's in the 70th percentile for weight, but about the 40th for height. I told the doctor that I don't expect her to ever get very tall--Al and I are both pretty short. Everything else looked good--head control is getting there, she's smiley and doing well! Her 4-month appointment is at the end of September with the same doctor in Ellensburg--mainly because I haven't found a doctor here yet, and I really like Dr. Herman. But after September we'll probably have to find one over here--the pass will get icky. *sigh*
And the requisite picture, because she's cute. I have a couple of little videos that I should figure out how to put up here.
