Photo Update

We have been so busy trying to get the house ready for sale we have been slacking on the photos. Here are a few...

Hanging out on Dad's lap

Getting excited!

So cute

Chillin'

Tummy time fun

Exhausted after aerobics

In her party dress getting ready for a baby shower

Milestone: Rolled Over

While she likely didn't know what she was doing, Mabel has now rolled over for the first time - all by herself. Once. :-) We're sure this is the start of a trend, but the second roll over will help to validate that she might know what she is doing.


In other news, our house should be listed for sale today. Most cleaning and touch up painting is done. We had the windows cleaned on Saturday. The carpets are finally dry and no longer have that charming wet dog smell. Our fancy street sign should go in later today, although the ambitious sign people wanted to put it in on Saturday. And now we hope for a mad feeding frenzy, a furious bidding war, and then to be able to purchase a new home before closing. As long as I can slow down cleaning and Home Depot trips I'll be happy.

I'm sure Mabel will too.

New Pro Pics Coming Soon!

Barbie Hull took our awesome pre-Mabel pics and we had to have her back post-Mabel. We've gotten a sneak peek at them and will have them posted when we get the full res versions.

Chicken Legs

And back in disposable diapers until Mabel's legs chub up a bit more. Not so fun to have them leak. So much.

Ah, distractions

Life has been full as of late. A five and a half-week old, visiting grandparents and preparing a house for sale...that is a lot.
Mabel is doing great. Sleeping and eating, looking at faces a bit more. Smiles. Bouts of gas that lead to frantic back patting and bouncing around the room, wishing for progress. Never thought a diaper full of poo would be such a great thing to find. Just today we moved over to her new washable cotton diapers - although at night we'll probably resort to the ever-dependable disposables. Mabel is great.
Kate's parents are in town and have been enjoying their time with Mabel. I'm sure they're regretting their timing as they've been looped into a fair amount of moving prep, including numerous trips to a storage unit. Sorry! And thank you for the help!

Grandpa Sig got a lot of Mabel crying and almost got his beard tugged on. Better luck next time to both of you.

Mabel and Grandma Sigafoos got along nicely, even helping to confirm that the new diapers were able to hold a substantial load.


Our house is almost ready to be listed. The carpets are being cleaned tomorrow. Hopefully they're sending a magician or two, because the dogs have done a number on these carpets.
While our house is almost ready to be listed, we've also gotten our first rejection. On Friday we'd made an offer on a house. We'd offered a low but fair price, however a contingent stipulation was the deal breaker. The Seattle housing market has been hot for so many years that people here have never done contingent offers, instead going with bridge loans and other risky lending practices. As if there were wonder about how our lenders helped us into this mess. Anyways, the house we liked turned us down. So we're going to list our house and see how that goes. If it sells quickly and that house is still available and is the best available, we might still pursue it, although with a lower offer. Or we might shop around, or even rent month-to-month. Who knows. It'll be an adventure for all of us, which is a good thing.

One hour later

Based on the concerned phone calls, it would appear that the e-mail Kate and I were so excited about was likely a hoax.

Which we knew.
The dogs knew it.

Which is why I'm heading into work. Sterlings be damned.

New Found Wealth

We are blessed. I was fortunate enough to receive the best e-mail ever and it is going to change everything for us. We are now incredibly lucky and soon to be massively wealthy - half of Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling rich in fact!! I assume a Sterling is worth a lot.

Why this luckiest of letters went to my junk mail, I will never understand. Thankfully I found it in there!

Letter follows:
James Hoods
Operating Officer,
Coutts & Co, Private Banking.
London, United Kingdom.

Greetings,

I am contacting you regarding the estate of a deceased client with similar last name and an investment of (Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling) placed under our banks management 2years ago.

I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this mail. I am contacting you independently and no one is informed of this communication.

One Month Old

Mabel is one month old (actually was on Wednesday if we go by weeks.) As of now she is able to focus on faces, she coos, and she is working really hard on rolling from her belly to back. She can get her legs over, but hasn't figured out how to get her upper body to follow suit.

One month check with the doc on Friday finds her at 10 pounds of healthy happy baby. She is in the 75th percentile for weight and 50th for length and head size. While we've gotten some smiles already, the doctor assured us they would increase along with actually being recognized.

On Thursday Kate took Mabel on her first ferry ride to Kitsap County. They had lunch with a co-worker and her son who is one week younger than Mabel. At Kate's office Mabel got to meet two judges and the elected prosecutor and went inside her first courtroom. Big day. Here she is snoozing on the boat after her long day.

The Bizzy Muzzey (edit for Doe purposes)

Miss Mabel is one busy lady. She spent all weekend charming her grandparents. It worked because they were as sad to leave her as we were to see them go. Next reunion will be Thanksgiving.

Today she and I went house hunting with our realtor. We looked at 8 houses in 2 hours! Mabel was a lovely lady, only requiring one food break and saving her freak out until the ride home. Tomorrow we go to baby class, Thursday is lunch in Kitsap with my coworkers, and Friday is her 1 month doctor appointment. What a week!!!!

Go Bucks!

Halfway through the fourth and the Bucks are going to beat Navy in the season opener. This was Mabel's first game and she scored a prime seat for it.
Kate is arranging for some more appropriate OSU clothing for the next game.

Go Bucks!

Grandparents descend

My parents, after giving us a nice time to adjust to our new life, are in town for a visit. They've each taken a number of shifts holding, looking, talking, and bouncing Mabel until she cries for mom. These are their first encounters:Grandpa tried to stare her down, which I believe she won.
Grandma tried to overload her with shapes and colors, taking this round.

They both seem taken with her, and are certain she is a beautiful baby. Which is nice.

Busy Bee

We have had a busy few days! On Tuesday we had new mom class which went well. The rest of the day was rough because any time Mabel was awake she was crying. It made for a long day. She did reward us though by sleeping for 5 hours straight that night. It was divine!

Wednesday we went to Babies R Us and Old Navy. I needed to buy some jeans that fit me so Mabel got to enjoy her first changing room. She was a good little shopper. After that we went to Brett's office and had lunch with him. When we got home we found Mabel had her first piece of mail. It is her health insurance card!!


Later Brett gave Mabel a bath and I snapped some quick pics because she looked so cute. Usually we don't get to capture bath time in photos because I bathe her after Brett leaves for work.


Today Brett's parents are here and Mabel is having her first dose of grandparent love. We are trying to come up with names for Mabel to call the Muzzey grandparents. So far we've decided Nancy will be Nan.