4 Months & Finding A Home

We are back in Catalonia after a nice month in the United States. Roc has just turned four months old and we are actively looking for a home for our little family.

Yay! I'm four months.

You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find a place here. Three of our biggest challenges are that Kilian works full-time, we are an hour car ride from where we want to live and we don't have a car (or driver's license). Translation: we are dependent on someone to drive us outside of Kilian's working hours – not exactly the winning combination if you are seriously intent on finding a place. Kilian took two days off last week and we saw a number of places, but none of them were quite right.

So we are back to the drawing board, searching for other options and contacting more companies. Hopefully we can schedule another round of visits and be in a new place soon.
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My hands are tasty!

Meanwhile, Roc is growing up quickly (no surprise there). His hand-eye coordination is improving daily which means he can really get his hands and toys and my hair to his mouth quite easily. And his mouth is his everything at the moment.

The cloth diapers are so thick that he cries every time he is on his tummy (they must put too much pressure). We used disposable diapers while we traveled and found that because they are much thinner, he didn't mind tummy time. As a result, he is getting very strong, enjoying it and can almost roll over completely.

fascinated with grandpa's guitar playing

Roc has a vibrant personality. He knows what he wants, what he likes and dislikes. He loves music; it is an instant calming silencer when he is nervous, tired or upset. He has even started "playing" the piano. He likes to be held so that his feet touch the ground and he can look around.

In the last month he started losing some of his newborn hair. His new frock is quite humorous. Short on one side, long and curly on the other. He has got a little fistful front and center, and a lot back and bottom. He weighs around 17 lbs (or 7.9 kg) give or take the weight of his clothes & diaper; he has more than doubled his birth weight. We will have the official weight at our check up this week.

ready for the Super Bowl

He is very interactive and is learning how to communicate using sounds so we are having a lot more fun together. He has different sounds for different uses (I'm sure this is true for all babies). He loves interacting with people and smiling. He even laughs sometimes, which, of course, is so cute.

He is able to entertain himself a bit which means I can make food, fold laundry, use the computer while he is in his bouncy chair. This is very helpful for me as soon I will be managing my own household and will have a lot more work to do while educating Roc.

It is really an exciting time for our family and we are enjoying this time with Roc.

Snapshots from Seattle

We just returned home from a month in Seattle, visiting with family and friends. It was an amazing trip. I am already missing so many things from home: my mom and her home, the copious amounts of comfort food, the convenience culture (overnight grocery delivery, 6 hour dry-cleaning, Starbucks drive thru, Thai food delivery, ready-made food bar at Whole Foods), online shopping and shopping at Bellevue Square, Quiltworks Northwest and my sewing machine, our friends, etc. Here are a few of the highlights from Seattle:

We arrived in time to celebrate Christmas with my mom.

Meanwhile, my mom dressed up Roc as Santa Claus. She is radiant, overflowing with happiness that we were there.

We had an impromptu BWC reunion brunch at Cafe Flora on Madison. Good times with wonderful friends.

We supported the Seattle Seahawks during the playoffs. #12thman

The mandatory Starbucks run – in Seahawks gear for our 12¢ brewed coffee.

Our dear Tara flew in from New York. This is her meeting Roc.

We got to see the lovely Mona for the first time in a year and a half!

Kilian and I shared some quality time.

We visited with longtime friends from the Seattle Baha'i community. We saw many more and of course forgot to take photos. We missed out a number more because of time constraints.

Roc had play dates with his baby friends.

We took naps when necessary.

Roc's great-grandmother and great-grandfather visited too, it was so beautiful to see.

Roc's great-great-aunt Peggy had a lot of fun with him.

We saw Mount Rainier and finally had a family photo taken.

We went to the park when the weather allowed (Kerry Park on Queen Anne).

We celebrated my 28th birthday in style - brunch at Tilth Restaurant in Wallingford, a favorite of mine.

We had a house full of family and friends for my birthday dinner.