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Today was the big day, the day of our ultrasound. Last night I had the weirdest dreams. In one dream they told us the baby was a boy but when I posted the gender revel pictures online all the balloons turned pink. In another dream they kept changing their minds telling us first it was a boy and then changing it to a girl and then back to a boy, etc. I haven’t had a really solid feeling one way or the other this time around. At first I was leaning towards boy because I’ve been carrying weight differently this pregnancy and I was so much sicker in the beginning than I was with the girls. But, lately I’ve found myself going back and forth, hence the crazy dreams.
Well, the not knowing period is finally over. The verdict is in. We will be adding a…
…girl to our crew in September. Maya is super excited. She has said all along she wanted another sister. Anna doesn’t really have a clue but she loved the balloons she got to play with today thanks to our gender revel photo shoot 
Introducing Baby Girl #3. I think she is going to be a cutie just like her big sisters
Last week we all boarded a plane and headed back to St. Louis to spend some time with some of our favorite people in the world. As much as we have loved living in Seattle so far it just doesn’t quite feel like home yet because a few people are missing from our day to day lives, our dearest and closest friends. Heading back to The Lou to see everyone was so refreshing.
We spent the week staying with my very dear friend, Heather, and her family. Thank you Heather! Maya got to play with her bestie Claire every day which made her happier than happy.
The week flew by way to fast. It was filled with fun moments with our dear friends and I could have spent at least another week and still not felt like I had enough time with everyone. I miss our friends in St. Louis so much. I’m glad we got to spend a little time reconnecting with them and just hanging out like old times. Watching Maya and Claire pick up right where they left off, like no time had passed at all made my heart smile.
Thank you to all our dear friends who made our trip back so much fun. We love all of you and miss you dearly. Can’t wait to see you all again, hopefully soon.
Last weekend we made our first trip to the Woodland Park Zoo. It was a chilly, kind of drizzly day, but we figured the zoo would be fun anyway.
The zoo was a frequent weekday and weekend jaunt for us when we lived in St. Louis. We love the St. Louis Zoo and as a result had pretty high expectation for the Woodland Park Zoo. Though it was no St. Louis Zoo, the Woodland Park Zoo was fun and we all had a great time. Especially Anna who adores all animals right now.
Due to the fairly chilly weather many of the animals were not out on display and those that were tended to be huddled together snoozing but we got to see several of Anna’s favorites and we are looking forward to heading back on a warmer day to see those we missed. The girls had fun playing on the many animal statues around the zoo grounds. Those are often Maya’s favorites these days anyway. I mean who needs to see a really gorilla when you can climb on a fake one 
A big hit was, of course, the carousel. I’m glad they had one since that was always Maya’s favorite thing to do at the St. Louis Zoo and she probably would have been highly disappointed with a trip to a zoo that did not include a spin on the carousel.
Overall we really enjoyed the zoo and decided to purchase memberships so we can head back for several more visits. Though it was certainly no St. Louis Zoo it certainly was a nice zoo.
Another Christmas vacation is coming to a close. Lorne went back to work yesterday and Maya heads back to school on Monday. I’m always amazed how quickly the holiday season comes and goes. It feels like we spend so much time preparing for it and it is gone in a blink of an eye. But, at least we made the most of it. This year, since we weren’t busy with traveling for the holidays, we made it our goal was to do something fun every day of our vacation, make it a funcation. And boy did we have fun. We did so much. The days flew by in a blur of smiles, laughter, and fun.
We kicked off our funcation with a trip to the Seattle’s Children’s Museum. The girls had a ton of fun exploring all the different activity centers. Maya’s favorite seemed to be the dress up and stage area (no surprise there!) and Anna loved the under 3 area since everything was just her size (well almost). They both had fun “shopping” in the pretend grocery store.
After spending most of the day in the Children’s Museum we headed outside to check out the fountain in Seattle Center. Maya and Lorne tempted fate by standing awfully close to the water, luckily no one got wet (that time anyway). Anna and I had fun watching and laughing at them every time they almost got wet.
Day 2 was spent in the mountains sledding. The nice thing about living where we do is that we get the best of both worlds in the winter. Our temperatures of fairly mild and we don’t have to deal with the white stuff on a day to day basis, but if we get a hankering for a little fun in the snow we just have to take a short drive into the mountains and there is tons of it. Anna wasn’t too sure about the whole sledding thing at first, but after a few trips down the hill she was having a blast and asking for more. Spent a couple of hours sledding and playing in the snow. It was great fun.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day offered their own fun. The girls had a great Christmas and got spoiled as always.
After spending a couple days indoors busy with Christmas stuff we decided to head out for a hike on Boxing Day. We checked out the cute little hike close to us that is perfect for kids. They have story boards set up along the trail and you read a bit of the story at each board. The story is about a little field mouse who takes a trip into the forest and what he encounters along the way. It was adorable and Maya had a lot of fun.
Thanks to an awesome joint gift from the girls’ Aunt Kathleen we spent the next day at the Seattle Aquarium (family membership!!). It was packed but we still had a great time. We can’t wait to go back.
Our fun the next day took us back outdoors. We did another nice little hike around a lake at a state park not to far from us. Maya wasn’t as into the hike this time and spent a good deal of it whining, but, we stopped periodically for her to create little performances that we filmed and that seemed to make it a bit more fun for her. Anna slept through most of the hike.
Germs found their way into our home the next day, it was bound to happen given all the time we spent around small children, so the rest of our funcation was pretty low key. We had a quiet little New Year’s Eve celebration complete with appetizers for dinner and sparkling cider all around. New Year’s Day we took a nice drive around the city to check out the mountain views since it was a clear, sunny day.
I’d say our mission of making this a fun filled Christmas vacation was accomplished. Everyone had a great time and we got to check out several new spots in this still new to us city of Seattle. Maya has lots of fun stories to share with her friends when she heads back to school on Monday.
Our ringing in of the New Year has been very low key (and chilly) this year as 2 out of 4 of us (Lorne and Anna) are sick and our furnace is not working, hence the chilly part. Thanks for coming in with a bang 2013 :/
Last night we spent the evening celebrating with the girls. We had a dinner of appetizers and sparkling cider. The girls had fun and after they went to bed Lorne and I managed to stay up until 10pm!! before calling it a night. We really know how to party!
We woke today to a chilly house filled with beautiful sunshine. A crystal clear blue sky is a rare sight in these parts this time of year so we felt the need to do something. Since Lorne and Anna still aren’t feeling well we decided to take a quiet drive around to see the city and the mountains bathed in sunshine. We really are incredibly lucky to live in such a beauty rich part of the country. Everywhere you look there are incredible vistas. Mountains all around. Trees reaching high into the sky. When you light that with often hidden winter sun it really is something. Our drive was the perfect way to kick off the year. We chatted and took in the breathtaking sights from the warmth of our car while sipping hot chocolate. Can’t think of a better way to welcome 2013.
Tomorrow promises more sunshine and hopefully a warmer house once our furnace gets fixed (thank goodness for our kickass gas fireplace). Looking forward to another great year with my little family watching my girls grow and enjoy life, spending time with my love and taking in all this great city has to offer.
Happy 2013 everyone! I hope this year brings you lots of smiles and laughs, lots of time with those you love and a chance to do the things that make you happiest.