busy month

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.