Oh and we just had Halloween!

Linnea was Tinkerbell this first Halloween. Pictures to come but here is a picture of her with our pumpkins. We went to the Punkin patch with Grandma and Grandpa!

Linnea is 7.5 months old now and growing like a weed!
We are loving every minute of it.

Learning to Crawl!

It's been a while since the last post! I guess I should take this time to update you all on whats been going on with us.
Imants is doing well with his firm, staying busy and making money which is good. He is constantly getting new clients, as he is so good at networking with his golf club and the UW football and alumni events he attends.

I am still doing the same job, but only part time now, so it's a nice balance.
There are days that I enjoy going to work, and others that I don't.
I admit, I am surprised how much I enjoy being home with Linnea. I could do it fulltime for sure!
I love hanging out with her!
She is such an awesome baby! So happy, smiley all the time, and her beautiful smile just lights me up!
We went for a late afternoon run today the 3 of us, and she just smiled the whole time. She loves being outside in the stroller, loves the outdoors, loves people in general.
She is eating a lot of foods now! Starting to give her 3 meals a day. She loves peaches and apples and avocado and rice crackers, among other things. She is a good eater. Takes a sippy cup of water now too. We started chicken a few days ago. Next to try yogurt and cheese at 8 months which is a few weeks away.

I am still nursing her a lot. She doesn't take a bottle. Luckily I feed her twice a day while I am at work, since we live 8 blocks away.
Its working out great having both Grandmas watch Linnea! Its a win win situation all the way around.
The main problem we are having now is sleep related. She is waking up 2-3 times at night and it is so much easier to just go in and nurse her than it is to let her cry.
I hope she learns to sleep through the night by the time I am finished nursing her.
Whenever that may be... I guess it could be a while, as I am enjoying it as she does too.
Linnea is very very close to learning how to crawl! She is also standing up, and able to hold onto furniture and stand for a while without falling. She is a healthy weight and height for her age. A little bit above average for both. I think she is fairly proportionate but she feels very strong and sturdy- not a dainty little thing! I think she will be strong and muscular- not whispy!
She is getting rather frustrated at times when she can;t crawl to what she wants, but I think it will be very soon! SO soon, I bought baby gates today for the stairs!
I could go on and on and on about her, but we are going to watch a movie now!! Big Saturday night!!
I made a lovely thai salmon red curry dish tonight with red peppers, carrots, brocoli, green beans. It was so good I have to say!
Well, off to "adventureland"- the movie for the evening!

golf sucks

Linnea is down for her 4th nap of the day (8a, 11a, 1:30p, 4p). I am finding she needs a nap every 2-3 hours when I stay home. When we are out and about she is too distracted and tends to go longer between naps.

Not sure which I prefer.

It's nice to stay home but it gets BORING!

Linnea is happy most of the time and will sit and watch me clean or work on something.

She loves her jungle gym a lot and her swing now too.

We read books, dance to music, practice sitting and tummy time, standing and walking (i am doing most of the work).

She loves looking at herself in the mirror.

Every time I smile at her, she returns the smile and also will giggle at times.

Her smiles and giggles always brighten my day.

Today I scrubbed the back deck which has several layers of mildew and dirt. I felt like a shipmate scrubbing the deck getting all dirty with a bucket and scrub brush.

We are going to be fixing old boards and staining the deck as soon as it's all clean. It already looks amazing clean.

A couple weekends ago, Imants, Linnea and I went to Vancouver for Greg Pendleton's wedding. It was Linnea's 2nd road trip and she did amazingly well all weekend long.

We even got to see Grandpa Eric & Terri on the way home and checked out his new boat.

This weekend, my mom and I are heading up to Vancouver again to do some sightseeing and get out of Seattle while Imants has his 3 day golf tournament. That guy is so OCD about Golf. Pretty ridiculous I think. Golf is soooo boring and tiring. Not sure what he sees in it. It makes him happy- thats for sure.... so thats good.

Not sure how happy I feel about it now that Linnea is here. Not such a family-oriented sport. It takes too bloody long to play the friggin game. I suggested he take up beach volleyball- a shorter game where he can get nice and tanned and super ripped like those pros. They all have great bodies - dont' you think?

All in all, golf sucks.

There are soooo many other great things to do... that cost a lot less.

Hiking, biking, surfing, beach volleyball, tennis, swimming....

Luckily the golf club has a pool and we can hang out there all summer. The only good thing about Imants' golf membership.

I was hoping I would feel better after writing about how much I hate golf and how much Imants' plays it... but I dont. Maybe it's the fact that he won't be home till 9 pm tonight because he is practicing for his tournament. I'll have been with Linnea for over 12 hours straight -all alone.

Beautiful blues

Jani- Latvian Summer Solstice June 21st

We have taken a few mini trips now with Linnea. One of which was difficult. Her first road trip was a 2 hour drive to Shelton, WA where Jani (John's Day)- the Latvian camp summer solstice celebration.

After sleeping almost the entire way down to Shelton....we arrived to a fairly pleasant day and spent time with Omi, Carina, Taage and the Freimanis family, as well as the other latvians. I think Linnea was a little overwhelmed by all of the people and commotion at the Latvian camp. It is a fun party for grown-ups and bigger kids, but not for little babies.

She basically stayed up all day since we didn't have a quiet place to put her down.

Oh well, next year should be better. These 2 pictures basically show how Linnea felt at Jani.

Linnea did seem to like watching the dancing later- but by then she was just loopy from lack of sleep! We both ended up hitting the sack just after 9pm and I missed out on the dancing and partying :(

Although by then, I was just glad to have Linnea happily sleeping.

PEPS

Yay, I am joining a PEPS group for Moms and babies. Starts this Monday from 1-3pm!

Exciting for us social ladies (Linnea and I) eh?!

Linnea is so smart. As we speak she is playing in her jungle gym ( a mat on the floor with overhead hanging toys). She has learned that if she pulls on the danglies, she gets the music to start. She gets mad when it stops and then laughs out loud when she gets it to start!

FUNNY!

Beauty Sleep

Linnea slept 8 straight hours 2 nights in a row!!! HOORAY!

Before that she was sleeping 7, and before than 6....

It's just going up and up and up.

I love that she is a good sleeper like her mommy.

We need our beauty rests!

Off to Vancouver today for the weekend.
Going to Greg and Amanda's wedding tonight.

Should be interesting with Linnea! The party animal that she is :)

Will let you know how it goes!