ONE

Belle, you are now ONE!  In the past twelve months you have taught us more about ourselves than we thought possible.  Our hearts burst with love for you.  Your birthday celebration was awesome and we are so proud to have you as our daughter.  We know you will continue to teach us more than we can even imagine over the next year and hopefully along the way we will teach you a thing or two as well.

Here is what you are up to these days...

• You are crawling, it reminds me of Gollum in Lord of the Rings.  Our pediatrician actually called it the "hardwood floor" crawl and then it clicked.
• Even with this new development of crawling, what you really want to be doing is walking.  You now pull yourself up using any piece of furniture, person, stair or cupboard that comes in your path.
• The emotion of frustration is starting to show up in your usually happy personality.  Even though I read this was coming, it has still been hard to understand what you need or want and I try my best to keep you happy.  This makes your Dad and I occasionally question if this is a glimpse into what you will be like at thirteen.
• You love bananas
• You love holding your Dad's tic tac boxes when he buys them at the grocery store and usually don't give them back until later in the evening when you are actually asleep in your crib and have finally let them out of your grasp.
• Your favorite color is blue.  You always find the blue piece in your toys and hold it in one hand and play with the other colors in the other hand.
• Even though you did say dog a few times a few weeks back, your first official word that you say consistenly and clearly is uh-oh. 
• You are extra cuddley lately.  I love it when I hold you and you rest your head on my shoulder and play with my hair.  You fit perfectly there.
• I still think you are going to be left handed
• Your Dad taught you how to blow your nose into tissue and you love putting on a show with it.
• Your favorite book is Gossie
• Your favorite game is chase via crawling and taking every book off the shelf in your bedroom

All in all Belle, we think you are pretty perfect.  Even when there are those moments of alligator tears and crying (like right now when you should be napping), our lives changed for the better a year ago all because of YOU.

Walking until I couldn't walk anymore...

Our last day visiting San Francisco started out meeting my high school friend Doug and his family for breakfast at Sears Fine Foods downtown.  It was great to catch up since we figured it had been two years and we picked up right where we left off.  Then Walker, Scott, Belle and I walked and walked and walked.  We went to the open market, down to Pier 39, through Chinatown, back downtown, rode the Bart to the "nearest stop" to Walker's neighborhood and walked home.  The last 13 blocks I crept.  My feet hurt, my hips hurt, my back hurt.  I had not walked that much since we lived in Europe and use to go on our marathon vacations.  It was the perfect end to our trip though and I hope we can visit again next year.  I found a new favorite city to visit and explore!

One thing I love about photos, they capture funny moments.  Notice the lady on the left?  She wanted to join in on the photo too.  I ended up having to ask her to move so we could get one photo without a stranger.

Belle making sure she said good bye to everyone at our terminal in SFO

Napa & the Golden Gate Bridge

While visiting my brother we spent a day in Napa Valley wine tasting.  It is gorgeous countryside and once again the weather was on our side with highs in the eighties.  We took a tour of Stags Leap and were able to go inside their state of the art wine cave.  Belle's favorite part of the tour was in the center of the cave where she could yell and hear her voice echo.  I don't know if our guide thought it was cute, but thankfully the rest of the people on the tour did.  After lunch we stopped at Duck Horn for a tasting and then we hit the road home, along with all of the other people heading back to the city.  The three hour car ride home was worth it though because we stopped off at the look out point to see the Golden Gate bridge.  It was super, duper windy and Belle loved it.  She loves the wind on her face.  Personally, I was afraid I was going to get blown off the ridge by the gusts.  It was another splendid day of making memories with Walker and Amy and Scott and Belle.

Belle is cheering for the wind here.

San Francisco Hills

Last Thursday we flew down San Francisco to visit my brother and sister in law, it was my first trip to the city and I loved it.  We just spent that afternoon walking around Walker's neighborhood (Noe Valley) and I was introduced to the infamous San Francisco hills.  Wow.  They really are steep.  I would like to think my gluteus maximus muscles are much firmer because our time in this city.

I might or might not have pushed Belle up this hill... it might just be a great photo op

Going down, down, down, very steep, down

My first peek of the city

Walker and Amy are just blocks from Dolores Park

With Walker

Thank You Alaska Airline Flight Attendants from SFO to PDX

I would like to thank the Alaska Airline flight attendants that we encountered yesterday during our trip home from SFO to PDX.  The first attendant at the check in counter was very smart to move us to the back of the plane where there was an empty middle seat so Belle could crawl between Scott and I during the flight.  I thought to second guess this decision since I am not a fan of sitting in the back of a plane, but that was pre-Belle.  Now I think it is where I will book our seats from now on.  Next, the two flight attendants on Flight 387 were angels.  From giving Belle big smiles, giving us extra snacks and offering us free adult beverages, they made us more at ease and looked to be enjoying their job.  I have now learned that when traveling with a baby you can only do so much to make it an enjoyable experience, the rest depends on your child and how people interact with you and support you.  So thank you ladies for supporting us!  We will be back on your airline in a few short weeks to head to Anchorage, Alaska!

Jesse is simply amazing!

My friend Jesse had her second son today, Xavier Thomas, at noon in Copenhagen, Denmark.  Here she is with her husband, son Woody and her newborn a few hours later on their bike ride home.  Can you believe it?  A few hours after giving birth she was on her way home?  I am simply amazed.  Congratulations Jesse!  I miss and love you!

Birthday Party Prep

Only 12 more days!  Birthday party preparation was the theme of my weekend.  Scott has been diligently working on a corn hole set for the party and we ran into a bit of trouble finding corn to fill our bags.  Luckily he was heading south to Corvallis for the OSU Beaver football game and swung by a store for their smallest bag, which just happened to be 50 pounds.  We have plenty of extra for anyone else wanting to make their own bags!  I learned that my husband is a much better sewer than me and faster.  I also helped my Mom with a decor project that included building a three dimensional number one.  It was a good weekend, but went by way too fast, as usual.

Belle happy about the OSU win over Wisconsin!

601st Post - Something for ME

I am in awe this is my six hundred and first post about our life.  This blog started when we moved to Switzerland and I was a new wife, unemployed and living in a country where I could not communicate to very many people.  I have documented our travels, daily life and recently it has become more about our precious Belle.  In recent weeks I have been thinking more about Belle's one year birthday (15 days away!) and how I need to start carving out more time for ME.  I have spent the last year putting Belle's needs first, my career, my marriage and then when I had a moment, doing something small and usually really quick for me.  As a kick off to this new phase I am going to work on feeling fit and healthy again.  By doing this I have signed up to run in Run Like Hell in October and went on my first training run last night.  I even recruited a few other Moms to join in on the fun.  Here's to being the best Mama I can be, the best wife I can be and most importantly taking care of ME along the way.

Me and my Couch to 5k app

Bob & Sarah - 10 Years of Love

Last weekend a group of us kidnapped our friends, Bob and Sarah, to take them out on the town to celebrate their ten year anniversary.  It was a blast.  It was so much of a blast, we were all comparing notes on how hungover we were the next morning.  The night started with a pedicab tour on the east side of Portland to three local breweries, dinner and toasts with sweet cupcakes as dessert.  I love making new memories with my friends and reminiscing about old memories as well.  Cheers again to Bob and Sarah, may you have many, many more anniversaries!

Sour beer tasting... it is different

She loves painting!

The gorgeous piece of artwork is now on our mantle.