My brother Robbie (he prefers Rob, of course) came to visit us last weekend! It was really nice to see him and show him around a bit. He was in WA for work and managed to stay a couple extra days with us. He won this sweet pair of dice for Simon at the Fun Forest.


We visited Pike Place Market, Seattle Center (Space Needle, Fun Forest), Kinnear Park (nice park in Queen Anne, but I meant to take him to Kerry Park), Kelly Park (stellar views), The Fremont Troll (always a crowd pleaser), Ballard Locks (I love the locks - we saw salmon in the fish ladder and a huge vessel headed to Alaska), Bick's (where the meat and seafood lovers go, Erik and I had yummy veggie appetizers while Rob enjoyed a steak), and Green Lake (for a picnic)! ( More photos this way... )

On Sunday we volunteered to work the Diaper Free Baby booth at the Baby Expo. It was interesting. It was a gorgeous day, so there wasn't a huge crowd, but we did talk to a bunch of people about Elimination Communication. Sometimes I felt a little weird talking to people about it because "Diaper Free" doesn't really describe what we do. We practice EC part time at home, but we are not diaper free. Sometimes Simon does enjoy some diaper free time, but mostly we potty him when we're changing his diaper and sometimes we catch a pee. We are most successful in catching his morning poo though, which is VERY exciting! So I definitely know a lot more about it than the average person, but it still felt a little odd to be representing, you know? Bah! I'm thinking about this way too much. It was fun, I'm glad we could do it, and I sure hope we inspired at least one person to just try it. It doesn't have to be all or nothing and that I think is a very good reason why we were the perfect people to volunteer. One less diaper to wash or put in the land fill is something indeed.

In other news, we just joined a CSA, Helsing Junction Farm and picked up our first bounty today. YUMMY! I think I ate a pint of delicious strawberries already. So awesome. I really want to make some freezer jam this year, but I think this first batch will be just for enjoying now.

Here's a video of Simon from today. He was super chatty, until I tried to videotape him. Ah well. What can you do?


Also, a local news segment on EC with members from my Diaper Free group: http://www.king5.com/video/index.html?nvid=245901

So, I'm assuming since Erik left me a whole box of cookies that they are all mine, right? I mean, he would have taken some to work if he wanted any, right?

This past weekend was great. We went out to brunch with friends on Saturday and then spent the afternoon lounging in the grass at Volunteer Park. Simon was 1/2 naked and loving it! We did a bit of the EC outside too. We managed to "catch" a few pees and "miss" one pee - and it was pretty funny. He was laying on the blanket and peed - so imagine a nice ark of pee from the center of the blanket onto the grass. It was so nice to just sit outside and relax (especially since 'lil Mister hasn't been sleeping so great and consequently neither have I). It was also 94 degrees outside. Iced tea weather - yum! Sunday was mellow and stressful (largely because of the sleep deprived state I was in), but I got my chores done.

There's so much to report, it's a little overwhelming, so I'll just write a little bit...
We just got back from a visit to CA for a cousin's wedding. Simon was absolutely wonderful the entire time. Seriously. I attribute most of this to the fact that I successfully nursed him while riding in the car. He was in his car seat and I was buckled in and I just leaned over and nursed him. It was nothing short of amazing in my eyes. We had two long car rides to and from the airport and they would have been horrible if I wasn't able to nurse him, so yeah! Other than that he was mostly smiley and happy and content to be held by his Nana, Nana Great, and Aunty Cath when not being held by Erik or myself. We also did a bit of EC on the trip too - which was very nice and kind of unexpected. I wasn't sure if he would be into it, but there were many times when he very clearly had to go and would rather not have to go in his diaper. It was sunny and nice so he even had some outdoor naked time! The trip was too short to get in some good visiting time (you know, with a baby around and wedding things to attend to), but it was a long enough time to be away from my bed. I slept pretty good last night and I needed it.

Today we went to a Starting with your Newborn meeting with the Diaper Free Baby group. It was really great to meet a couple parents that had just started and to get some tips. I tried it tonight with Simon and I caught two pees!! Yeah!!