MarshallAndFamily.com

I had a cute pair of toddler rain boots (via Karla) stashed away somewhere downstairs. I had forgotten about them but it just happened that I was cleaning and found them. I was so excited that he had these to wear because he’s been wearing his normal shoes when he goes outside with me in the yard. The shoes get so covered in mud and dirt that they have to be taken off outside and walked directly into the belly of the washing machine after every use.

I had Marc put them on his little feet   and we walked down to the back yard.

After a few minutes I noticed that he was falling down every four steps or so. Poor little guy! I thought he’d get used to it but after many attempts at following me around the yard and watching him fall, I carried him back inside to put the trusted shoes on. He fared much better after the change of footwear. I got some gardening done while he played with rocks (and tried to put them in his mouth), climbed the front steps, and ran around with my transplanting trowel in his hand. Good times!

 Marshall had his first disco experience at Baby Loves Disco on St. Patrick’s Day. For those of you that are not in the know, check out www.babylovesdisco.com. Marc, Cheryl, Marshall and I made our way to 2nd and Washington in the heart of Pioneer Square Saturday afternoon.

 The venue was club Heaven. As we approached the building I chuckled at the awning outside that read, “Casino” and “Dancing” with the lineup of babies and parents behind the velvet ropes.

Marshall was not in a chipper mood as we got out of the car and his mood rapidly descended into a tantrum as we left the parking lot. Marc ended up carrying him sideways, screaming loudly at the top of his lungs as we approached the club. There was a St. Paddy’s Day bash at the bar across the street and a few of the Pioneer Square crowd (kinda rough) inside turned around to see what the noise was about. They were probably wondering what was going on across the street – red balloons festooned outside, 30-somethings with babies and toddlers. It was a fascinating contrast in demographics.

No matter what we did to avert his behaviour, Marshall would not calm down. As soon as we descended the stairs to enter the club Marshall caught sight of the balloons, lights, crowd, and action inside. Tantrum instantly gone, he made a quick dash inside with Marc close behind. After we all got our hands stamped at the door, I lined up for a pair of baby legs and the three of them ended up near the dance floor. When I caught up with them, I noticed that Marshall was very quiet – Marc had opened up one of the hundreds of juice boxes piled up around the club and Marshall was imbibing happily. I do not buy juice and he never drinks it at home, so this was quite a treat. Needless to say he was quickly hooked on Hansen’s Juice Blast! For the next half hour he wandered around playing and stopping intermittently to try to drink from someone else’s juice box. Marc of course kept a close eye on him and reminded him that he had his own.

 Juice!  More juice!!  Someone else’s juice!!!

We saw our PEPS peeps there, Nicole and Baby Marina ;

Lois, Curt and Maddie; Janica, Will, and Grace. We also ran into some of our Moms’ Group gals: Suzanne, Jake and friend; Kate and Danilo; Anne and Willow. 

 Here’s a random shot of the club scene.

 What is this?  (Hint: The answer is printed on the ball)

This event was from 1-4PM. We arrived at 2:45PM thinking we were late. We in fact arrived at rush hour. I think most toddlers have a post prandial nap and judging from the crowds at the door after we got in, I was correct. After wandering around the club, staying in the chillout room playing with toys, hula hoops, books, tents, pillows, and more toys, we made it onto the dance floor for last call at 3:40 PM, in time to shut the place down. As the bubbles rained down on the dance floor, Marshall was standing there entranced. All of a sudden, a girl in a pink shirt rushed him and gave him a huge bear hug. It was hilarious to see the look on his face. Good thing my camera was fast enough to catch it. Gotta watch out for those girls Marshall!

 After Marshall recovered from the massive invasion of personal space, he ran around chasing the spotlights. They were moving in circular patterns and he was walking quickly, trying to chase the lights. There were green circles, blue blobs – lots to chase!

 He looks so grown-up as he’s wandering around the dance floor.   Where did that light go?

Alas, the last song played and the party was over. We all had a good time, and he was falling asleep as we headed north on I-5.

It was unseasonably warm today – 62 degrees Farenheight!  My Hellebores have been blooming for weeks now, the daffodils started last week, and I see some pea shoots coming up. As Cheryl and I walked Marshall back from Karla’s house today he wanted to stay outside. I took it as a chance for him to wander around the yard and for me to tend to one of my raised beds. 

Here are some photos of my little garden guy and his grandma.

Marshall loves his baths. In fact, he loves anything to do with water. He delights in the running faucet as we brush his teeth, wash his hands, or fills his bath tub; he loves Sunday swim class.

Cheryl is staying with us this week and we went to Fred Meyer one evening to pick up some needed items. As we walked past the soap section she thought it would be a blast to get some bubble bath for Marshall seeing how he loves bath time. After weeding through Dora, Spiderman, Barbie, Barney, Blues Clues, Star Wars, and Scooby Doo packaging (same product, fancy bottles), I decided that Mr. Bubble was King because he didn’t smell like fruit. It seemed like every licensed character’s bottled bubble bath was blueberry or mixed berry scented. The only one that didn’t stink was Mr. Bubble. I remember using this stuff as a kid – if it was good enough for me, it was fine for my baby. When we came home Marc generated tons of bubbles with a few generous squirts of Mr. Bubble and a kitchen whisk. Showtime! He gently lowered Marshall into the tub. The photos below are his reaction to being lowered into something in which his extremities disappeared. 

Marshall was undecided about the bubble thing until Marc started blowing some of them into the air and by that time they were starting to go away. Besides, it was such fun to fling them against the wall with a whisk! Perhaps bubble baths aren’t so bad after all.

 I am still playing blog catch-up, this time it’s with Ora’s three day visit. Aunt O flew in on Saturday the 3rd and left on Tuesday the 6th. We had fun going to Tutta Bella (again) where we loaded up on wood-fired pizza, tiramisu, and espresso.

Ora got her fill of quality Marshall time as she helped care for him to give us a break. Since she was operating on Eastern Standard Time, she was always up at 5AM, ready to make breakfast for Marshall. She got him up, changed his diaper, put his clothes on, made his oatmeal, fed him in his high chair, cleaned him up, and played with him while I slept.  What luxury!

Having my sister here is like having an in-home professional nanny. She’s always beside me with the needed item, helping hand, completing my sentences… I need not go on, but you get the idea. Here are some photos of Ora and Marshall, and one of me looking relatively well-rested (I was still sick but the sleep really helped).

Yes, yes, I hear you. You haven’t heard from me for several weeks because I’ve been quite sick. (E-mail Marc and ask him for some posts too). We took a trip north to Victoria on Feb 22 and stayed three nights. Marc had a security conference at the Empress and I thought it would be great to hang out with Marshall and pay a short visit to Casey and her mom Sharon.

That’s a great plan if everyone is healthy but Marshall was on the verge of recovering from a cough and cold that he had just passed on to me. He got over it quickly and I was left with it. I wasn’t feeling so well on Monday, was too sick to go to work on Tuesday, and thought I felt better by Wednesday.

We drove up to Tsawwassen on Wed afternoon and barely made the 5PM ferry to Schwartz Bay. Had a minute left before the ferry attendant could have officially denied our pre-paid reservation. Luckily the stars were aligned correctly we made it onto the Queen of Sannich and sailed off into the sunset.

The Queen of Sannich is operated by B.C. Ferries and it was a 90 minute sailing across the Strait of Georgia. As far as kiddie-friendly ferries go, it rocked. There was a dedicated play room on the ferry where Marshall could run around and burn off some steam. Next, Marc brought him into the arcade where he rode the motorcycle. Whoever decided to put these two rooms on the ferry was a genius. By coincidence, Marshall was wearing a black polar fleece turtleneck. Somehow he looked very sea-captain-like, or like someone of the old TV show “The Beachcombers” (Canadians know what this is).

We checked into the Best Western Inner Harbour and I was pleasantly surprised.  Remember – I passed up a room at the Empress to stay at the B.W. It’s amazing how  priorities change when searching for accomodations with a toddler. Top on my list is not finding a place with a spa, high tea, fine dining, or any of those superfluous amenities. I want a fridge in which to store milk for toddler sippy cups, and a microwave so that I can make oatmeal in the comfort of my own room so that I don’t have to subject others to a toddler’s idea of breakfast behaviour. So the B.W. it was and thank goodness because I felt like I had the flu by Thursday.

Low fever, cough, cold symptoms, chills, but no aches. In the morning it took me two hours to get us fed, showered, changed, and out the door. 

Although I was not feeling well at all, I took Marshall to a nearby park in James Bay so that he could run around and chase the birds. Afterwards we walked to the grocery store to pick up lunch and went back to the room to eat. After lunch, Marshall and I crashed on the freshly made queen size bed and watched the Food Network Canada. It was so nice to come back to a made-up room that I felt like a mommy version of Eloise except that we were at the B.W., not the Plaza Hotel in NYC. 

Shortly after, Marshall passed out for his hour and a half nap, and I did too. It was very sunny but cold on Thursday and Friday and it was wonderful having the sun stream into the room. I normally don’t watch TV at all but this was my “vacation” and I was too sick to do anything else. After Marshall woke up I gave him a snack and we waited till daddy came back from his day of conferencing. That was my Thursday (Fever, Park, Lunch, Nap, TV, Daddy!, Dinner) and also my Friday (repeat). 

Friday was a bit different in that Casey came to our room and chatted for a while before we picked up dinner and drove to Sharon’s to eat. Marshall had a great time running around Sharon’s house, nibbling off Casey’s plate, had his hands full in the marble jar, and loved playing with the margarine containers Casey brought out for him. I was so glad that Marc was there to supervise because I was so out of it. We went home and retired early that night.

The next morning we drove across the street to get in the line up to take the Coho Ferry back to Port Angeles. It was bitterly cold and windy, so much that Marshall didn’t want to run around outside. Understand that this terminal had a tarmac on which you park your car, and no building or facility in which to wait. Which meant that Marshall was cooped up inside our car for an hour and a half. Let’s just say that I still need to wipe down the inside of the car, clean off the greasy finger and face smudges, etc. Let’s also say that Honda makes a really good toddler proof (sturdy buttons) control panel. Every button, knob, and moveable part got a good tweak from the resident toddler.  Good to know that their QA is top notch. 

The ferry ride across the Strait of Juan de Fuca was rough. The Coho was lurching so much at one point that I just sat still and stared out into the horizon. It was overcast and windy, so the Olympic mountains weren’t that visible at all. I was so glad when we started to pull into the port – I think that I was shaking so badly from the chills, and my knee joints really hurt as I walked back downstairs to the car. So glad again that Marc was tending to Marshall as I was in no shape to even tend to myself.

Marc drove us home via Sequim (pronounced Skwim if you want to blend in), Kingston to board a second ferry to Edmonds, then a short drive back home. Yay! I was so thrilled to be home. What a trip and then some.