Lake prefers to sleep just barely peeking out from under his blankets with his animal guardians on standby. He pulls the cozy mass of woolly blankets up to, and sometimes over, his head. At Bright Horizons, per government regulations, there is nothing allowed in the napping cribs besides a pacifier, which Lake doesn’t use, so he turns over onto his tummy to cozy his face into the jersey sheet. At home, however, where he is free to choose his own path, he really piles it on. This is my daily delightful Good Morning picture:

Lake and I, we cherish our time at home! During the work week it is confined lately to the few dark hours of mornings and evenings. Such sweet evenings with my baby! We have a good time together. As good of a time as I could possibly imagine. 

And then… Daddy comes home. It blows my mind. They are quite the pair! I’ve never heard Lake giggle so much as when Daddy comes home and starts making faces and playing with him. 

Domestic Bliss

Tonight we came home to an empty house. Well, save the cats racing around. Michael is working late tonight and I think I’m having empty nest syndrome. I’m remembering yesterday and our last night of fun fondly, before Nana left Base Camp. We played all evening together with Nana until Daddy got home, and then we played and giggled so much with Daddy. Lake slept soundly all the the way through until morning. Missing Nana already. Come back and bring Papa too!

It’s like a dream, a good dream, having Nana and Grandpa staying with us in our new home. They helped us move in with invaluable resources of strength, generosity and mad skills. Nana stayed on to continue working on moving projects and easing our transition. We hope they will spend increasingly more and more time with us here over the years. In their honor we named our MIL AUD: Base Camp. 

This morning I took Lake in to spend some waking time with Nana while I showered. Ahhh, cherishing the moment of a shower made possible today. I reflected again on how lucky we are to have family in the house. So enriching for everyone!

Today Nana is leaving to go off on her periodic adventures. The mountains are calling here for a hike at Mt. Rainier. We will surely miss you. I’ve tasked Lake with becoming even more irresistible and winning while you’re away. Come back soon and stay long! We love and appreciate you Nana and Grandpa!

Lake woke up an hour before my alarm was set to go off this morning. My first thought was

Arrgh, an hour of sleep lost. 

He vomited on the bed and knowing there was insufficient mattress cover I ungracefully swore. Even though it felt a bit like the middle of the night, dawn was creeping toward us with forgiving arms. Michael graciously offered to make me a coffee. 

Something changed. As I started to wake up with the day, I was overwhelmed with joy. We were free to spend an extra hour together. Lake was in a sweet and playful mood after his morning milkies. Michael was home and the three of us had a beautiful time of snuggles and giggles. It was a precious golden hour. 

We are still very busy with moving. One of the weekends’ projects was to organize the keys. When one thinks of the finalé of buying a house: the official closing date and “getting the keys” one thinks of a nice big brass key on a beautiful ring. Not inheriting this mess and then having to have a go at sorting it out. Friday night Lake and I were locked out for more than 20 minutes in the cold because I had grabbed a key labeled “house” that did not open the front door. 

More moving-in is on the agenda! I estimate we are 90% unpacked and 75% moved in. That is an overall increase from yesterday’s estimate of 80% and 60% respectively. So good work us! We were especially motivated by a meeting we had volunteered to host in our home a few months back. That meeting/tea party was yesterday! So we hustled to get the living room appropriately arranged in the knick of time. I was very pleased to get the mantle decorated with a few bits of holiday cheer. Our Christmas miracle was the procurement of stocking hangers: Nana scoured the city and managed to assemble a matching set of beautiful and functional metal Christmas stocking mantle hangers!

Lucky for us, Nana is staying with us in our mother-in-law auxiliary dwelling unit (MIL AUD). It’s so great to have her here! We took the opportunity last night to go out for a dinner date.

It was so cold, but we walked a romantic two blocks under a misty waxing moon to Village Sushi, our new local sushi restaurant. So fun to have a new neighborhood to explore: the Upper Ave has changed a lot recently, and significant renovations continue. 

After our date we came home to watch an impromptu film on our new living room wall. Plenty of room on our main floor for a Popcorn Party with Nana! All we were missing was Grandpa! An Idiot Abroad explores China and the Great Wall turned out to be a funny cap on a productive Saturday! 

Today… more moving continues… beds, and blinds, and keys! And hopefully a little bit of yoga!

So exciting to wake up to a white world from our new house! 

And a fun walk down to the shuttle stop. Neighborhood kids were out having a snow ball “fight” and we encountered a few snowmen along the way. 

Safe travels everyone and enjoy the winter wonderland!

Lake was very happy to go for a walk today with his school friends in the winter sunshine. Brrr! Just look at this winning smile and be rest assured he is thoroughly enjoying the excursion. What a perfect day. Surely more to come!

Moving weekend was a success. The flat and various storage units are essentially empty, the house is essentially full. Midway through the moving weekend Saturday night there was even a moment when the house was a semblance of the home it will soon become. 

Then the next wave of moving came and we were buried in boxes and chairs anew. 

We could not have designed a better move, really. We had no preparation work in place going into the Saturday morning move, and a bare bones team of three assembled. Then, crucial and generous offers of aid came rolling in and we graciously accepted all help. We had an amazing team! We could not have done it without the support muscle and brains of all these great folks. Huge thanks to Duane, Lynn, Margo  Laura, Julie, Greg, Lindsay, Tom and my husband hero, Michael. 

Lake and the kitters did a laudable job as well, providing the motivation and the levity! 

Now, on to the unpacking … and maybe we will even get decorated for Christmas! The important thing is, though, we now have a place to hold our year round Christmas feeling. 

Bundled up good! All ready to go! Mummy is getting ready to walk us to the local UW Health Sciences shuttle stop to transport us directly to Harborview.

Our new commute is underway. It takes us 15 minutes to walk to the shuttle stop. It used to be half block, but the new 15 minute walk was very nice too. Such a pretty day… the mountains were stunning. We admired the Cascades to the East and the Olympics to the west once we were on the shuttle underway as we crossed over the Eastlake Union I 5 bridge. 

Then, zippity doo da: we’ve arrived! We’ve arrived at school! Time to unbundle. 



After a great day at work and school we reverse our commute. We retrace our steps. We catch the shuttle back to the University District:

And now we are back home! Such a trooper, Lake. You took mummy’s day in stride. It’s incredibly special to have spent the day with you. Thank you for being such a willing commuter. A perfect day…I’m glad I spent it with you.