A Quiet Moment

Dahlia and Shane eating snack together. Shane moved the table up against the slider door and then moved both of the chairs to the side they are in the picture. The chairs were on opposites sides of each other orginally. Guess he just wanted to enjoy the view of the backyard with Dahlia as they ate their snack. Just to cute!

Book Worm

I have been flying through the books the past couple months. I'm in two different book clubs. I guess I just am feeling the pressure to have the books read for each one. Here are the books I've read in the last two months and my thoughts on them.

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. Yep, this was recently turned into a movie. And was nominated for Best Picture, too (I think). I can't say that I really liked this book, but it left an impression. It kept me reading, but I disliked the characters (good writing though to make me feel the way I felt towards them). I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan. In a nutshell this is about family and cancer. It is a memoir. I learned a lot about life with cancer. This was an easy read. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Dancing With Rose by Lauren Kessler . This book in general is about life with Alzheimer. It also touches on the elderly care system and aging. It was very insightful and is nonfiction. I learned a lot from it. I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. This book was set in remote 19th-century China and details the deeply affecting story of lifelong, intimate friends and their imprisonment by rigid codes of conduct for women and their betrayal by pride and love. I would have never picked to read this story on my own. Though I learned a lot about the Chinese culture. It was a bit heard to get through at moments. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars.

It has been very interesting to read books that I don't pick on my own. It really makes me branch into topics and styles of books I would never be drawn to. In the end though I have learned a lot and have found each one truly interesting.

Everett Children's Musuem

This morning Shane and I visited the Everett Children's Museum with our friends, Wendy and Graham.

It was a lot of fun! This was the best out of the three Children's Museum that we've been to. There were lots of different themed rooms to play in (vet, cafe, train, airplane, bus, bank etc).
Shane and I in the Farm area on the tractor.

Shane watching as Graham milks the cow. Water squirted out of the udder.

Shane on the tractor. He loves anything that can "drive".

Graham and Shane checking out the front part of a real bus.

Shane driving the go-cart in the roof top area.

Making things in the construction zone.

Water fun...I think they would have played there the whole time.

Sunshine, Oh, Sunshine!

The sun is out in the Pacific Northwest!! It is still only 53 degrees outside, but the sunshine feels good. We took a little trip to Juanita Beach Park this afternoon.

Shane loves to swing! He got that from me.

He also loves birds. He points them out when we are in the car and signs "bird" to me.

Before we left for the park Shane and Kenny tried their matching Mariners hats on. Shane won't wear it for any length of time, unfortunately.

Some random pictures:

Last week Shane had a little stomach virus. Then went straight into teething. Here he is very pathetic looking, laying in our bed with Dodger.



Driving his fire truck with his cool fireman hat. This is one of his new favorite activities.

Fix It Weekend

It seems that Kenny and I were repair people this weekend. First, our two year old TV broke. We weren't so happy about that. Kenny did some research online and figured out we could probably fix it ourselves for less then $30 or have a tv repair person fix it for $500+. So we set off to do it ourselves. Two trips to Radio Shack, a few ups and downs, a visit from a repair person (free thankfully) and two days later it was fixed!!! The tv is back and I got my fill of Greys and Private Practice last night.

Secondly, my car wouldn't start this morning. We had the dogs and Shane all loaded into the car ready to head out to the dog park this morning and nothing. The battery was dead. We had some jumper cables and managed to get ourselves back out the door about 20 minutes later. I think we'll be looking into a new battery for my car soon.

Two possible large disasters averted!

Bothell Landing Pictures

Shane had his pictures taken a couple weeks ago at a local park. The pictures were taken by Ketti of Ketti Photography. Here are a few of them from the session.

Potty training has come to an end.

After eight days of working really hard with Shane to potty train him, we have decided it just isn't the right time. He was very persistent and learned a lot during the eight days, but he just couldn't consistently let us know when he needed to go. I'm super proud of him for trying and working so hard at it. This summer we'll give it another try.

"Grandpa Berry's" Berries

Last summer Shane discovered fresh berries (raspberry and cascade berries to be exact) courtesy of who we now loving refer to as Grandpa Berry (my Dad). One night Kenny decided to get the frozen berries we had out and put them on top of ice cream. Shane was sold on that!! It then was a ritual for a few evenings. Along with berries on his cottage cheese and yogurt too for breakfast. Shane will do just about anything for Grandpa Berry's berries.

Boy...has he grown.

As we packed up and moved out of our old house, I realized how much Shane has grown. We had a big picture window in our living room that Shane loved to look out of and watch everything outside. He use to have to stand on his tip toes to see out of it. When we moved he was towering over the window sill.



He now eats at the table with out his tray, in his booster seat, but his legs hang over the edge of the chair. He use to not even touch the chair with his feet.

Moving isn't so bad, when they let you eat a whole donut!! And he just about ate the whole thing too.

Here Shane is helping in the moving truck. When we moved into this house, he was just 3 months old. Just a little tiny bundle that didn't do much besides sleep, eat, poop and cry. I guess not a lot has changed besides his size for that matter.

Shane is helping Kenny rake in our new backyard. I can remember Kenny saying just last year that he couldn't wait until Shane could come outside and "help" in the yard. Well, the time has come. Shane hates when he has to come back inside after working outside with Dad.

Potty Training Day #1 and #2

With schedules falling into place, I decided to start potty training Shane this week. I cleared FIVE fun days at home in order to try and take on this task. To prepare for this event I showed Shane his big boy underpants and talked a lot about going potty in the potty. I taught him the sign for potty and read a few books. Thursday we woke up and took the diaper off and put the big boy underpants on. Then I handed him some milk and said have at it. About an hour later he was wet. I took him to the bathroom and he sat on his little potty chair and then on the seat insert on the big toilet. To sum up Thursday...there was a lot of accidents. At the end of the day he dribbled into the big toilet on Dad's watch. Pretty much what I had expected for the first day.

Today (day #2) brought along some successes....thank goodness, because I was about ready to call it quit this morning. He went potty a handful of times in the potty chair and even managed to get a couple poops in there, too. There were still a few accidents. Only once out of all the trips to the bathroom did he sign to me that he needed to go. But I feel like progress has been made.

We'll see what day #3 has in store for us. Hopefully, more of him telling us he needs to go and less of me asking every 30 minutes......

Our New Place

It was a busy weekend moving. I am having a hard time understanding that you can pick up and move yourself in two days and be "settled" into a new home so quickly. Not all the boxes are unpacked, but a large majority of them are and it already is starting to feel like home. I guess the saying that people make a home, is so true. Shane and the dogs seem to have adjusted well to our new place. All-in-all everyone is happy. The layout of this house is so different from our last one. I feel like I'm in a mansion. I've already lost Shane a number of times.

A BIG thanks to my Mom and Dad for helping us move once again and to our wonderful neighbors (who we miss already) for being willing to jump in and help with whatever was needed.

Seattle's Child Magazine

The Booth Family is famous! We made the front cover of Seattle's Child Magazine. View the article here.

Dahlia and Shane

Three times a week Shane and I go over to Dahlia's house and hangout in the afternoons. It is a great set-up for all involved. Dahlia is 3 months older then Shane. As time has gone on over the 3 months we have been doing this, I think they have really developed a "toddler friendship". We've taught Dahlia some of the songs we sing at Toddler Group and they love doing Ring Around the Rosie together. Super cute!! If you are in a room with Shane and Ring Around the Rosie is being done, he insists that ALL join in.

Last week they had what I would consider their first real play interaction. Shane was playing in the little kitchen and Dahlia was on the coach watching him. Shane walked over and handed her a cup. Dahlia asked for a drink. Shane then went to the kitchen got a container and came back over and filled her cup up. Dahlia then drank the "drink" and asked for more. Shane filled it back up. This went on for a good few minutes. It was really great to watch.

Dahlia has a great vocabulary. Shane is great at grunting out conversations with you. The last couple of days Dahlia has been copying him when he does his point and grunt routine. They crack me up! Hopefully all of D's great words will rub off on Shane soon.

Here are a few pictures of the two buddies.

Snack Time.

Hanging out with their blankets.

D's lunch time....yummy!

Shane and Muppet.

3am

I don't think it is necessary to be awake at 3am. Bars have closed, stores are closed and people should be home sleeping. Last night Shane thought that 3am would be a good time to get up. This is very odd for him. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. If only he would speak English so we could all communicate so much better with each other. He kept pointing downstairs. We did a little walk through the house. I was trying to figure out what he thought he needed. We cuddled in bed for a few minutes. I kept telling him it was sleepy time and finally put him back to bed. Around 3:45 I guess he decided that even he didn't want to be up at 3am either.

The day has come...

We were really hoping that we wouldn't have to do this, but it looks like we will be moving in February. We have been on a month to month lease for 6 months now and knew that at any time we would be asked to leave by our landlords. They got a divorce and the house was being decided upon during in the divorce agreement. The divorce is now final and the person that ended up with the house wants to move back into it. That means out we go.

Things have fallen into place quickly and we are in our final steps of renting another house in our same neighborhood, just a street or two over from where we live now. The hardest part of this whole thing is leaving our wonderful friends and neighbors behind. They've all been given warnings to let Shane and I know when they are playing outside, so that we can walk over and join the fun.

Here are a couple pictures of what we hope will be our new house for the next year.
Update: It is official, we will be moving Valentines Day weekend.