Wild To Child

When I arrived home from work yesterday, our babysitter was sitting in our living room. To my surprise, my wonderful husband had arranged for us to go out to dinner sans children, which couldn't have come at a better time. He made reservations at Branzino, a restaurant which previously employed chef Ashley Merriman, a contestant on the most recent season of Top Chef. Once we arrived, we realized that she was no longer employed there, but the food was still amazing and the service was flawless. Proof that the food on Top Chef is every bit as wonderful as it looks!

I had Roasted Cauliflower Soup, Gnocchi (which included rabbit, mushrooms, and ruby chard), and for dessert...cannoli. While the rabbit meat could not hold a candle to the rabbit my grandmother makes, it's safe to say that it was one of the best dinners I have ever had. The only thing I didn't care for was the Heirloom Beet salad that Evan ordered. But to be fair...I never liked beets to begin with. He also had Duck Confit as his main course and Poached Pear Sorbet as dessert...each sample equally delicious.

For all you wine lovers like myself, they have a great selection...even featuring some from my old stomping grounds out in the Walla Walla Valley!

For all of you from and visiting Seattle I completely recommend giving their food a try! Here is their website for more information:

http://www.branzinoseattle.com/

I babysat my cousins 3 kids today...6, 4, and 10 months. The oldest wasted no time in telling me the following:

1) "This room is messy."

2) "These houses aren't very nice. No wonder nobody wants to live here."

3) "This jelly is weird. I should have had my mom pack extra STRAWBERRY jelly."

4) "These chips don't have BBQ on them...I don't like them."

5) "Did you brush you hair this morning? It looks messy."

Which only confirmed my decision to put Scarlet up for adoption at the age of 5.

Noel is making so many advancements every day. It's so hard for me to believe that she's almost 8 months old. It seems like just yesterday that I gave birth to her. Immediately after they laid her on my chest she peed on me...I knew then that she was definitely her mothers daughter! Luckily, she hasn't peed on me since then. With Scarlet it seemed like EVERY time we took her dirty diaper off the floodgates would open, the carpet would be soaked, and we'd be rushing to collect our valuables before they got urine damage.

I wish that I would have written down more of Scarlet's milestones so that I would have something to compare Noel's to, as well as having them just for her when she has children of her own. I can't remember when she started to crawl, but she didn't walk until she was 16 months, which made me really nervous. It also didn't help that one of my friends had frickin "super baby" that was walking at 8 months old. My children just aren't structured to walk that early....they are way to chunky!

Noel is beginning to crawl...she more like scoots herself across the floor. Today I swear she crawled a little bit...just on one leg, but at least she was moving forward at a quicker pace than usual. Maybe when she is a little more mobile she won't be so fussy!

I was going through some of my pictures and I found one where Scarlet and Noel are wearing the same outfit with almost the same facial expression...it's shocking how much they look alike. Even with a couple of months age difference! Take a look! Here is Scarlet in late June/early July 2007:

And here is Noel in mid May:

I'm curious to know what my little boy child/children will look like someday.....

The Children's Museum is a fun place to take your children...when other mothers are responsible about theirs! I'm not saying that confrontation isn't going to happen between some kids-it's normal to argue over things. But when your 8 year old is forcibly removing a deer puppet from my 2 year old while you watch quietly....it's on! Just tell her that behavior is not appropriate and move on. Unfortunately I had to tell this little girl that she would have to wait her turn and gave it back to Scarlet. Which prompted her to tattle on me. All her mother said? "That little girl just wants to be a veterinarian too". I would have been happy with a she had it first you need to wait your turn...but I'm sure that little girl hasn't ever heard that in her life! Honestly though, it wasn't that big a deal. Just one of those minor annoyances of everyday life. The deer in question:

The only other drama (at least involving Scarlet) was the fit she threw over wanting her juice. I have NEVER EVER EVER!!!! seen a child who loves juice SO much. She saw her juice cup in the diaper bag when I set it down. You cannot imagine how upsetting it was for her to be told that she had to wait until we got into the car. Luckily I captured her unhappiness on camera. If only she loved me as much as she loves her juice!

That was the only fit she threw all day long. Even when we spent all afternoon at the mall and didn't get back until after bedtime! It was an amazing day all around. It's the time that we spend together like this that I really look forward to. She's growing up so fast, amazing me everyday with knowledge that I didn't even know she had. I am completely, totally, absolutely in love with my baby girls.

I went out today with basically my only friend who doesn't have children. She is also the only one that didn't totally write me off once she found out I was pregnant. You would have thought it was a contagious terminal disease after seeing the way almost everyone stopped dropping by, stopped calling, and stopped answering my phone calls. That's just what happens when you meet all your friends at bars! I even had a roommate move out of our apartment almost immediately after she found out I was pregnant! I understand the cutback in hanging out, there is a huge change in lifestyle once you have children....and you are at a totally different stage in life than those who don't have any. ESPECIALLY when you have kids at a young age. Needless to say, the friend I went out with today is my very BEST friend.

Although we have been best friends since middle school, we have known each other since preschool. She is the one person that I can rely on to tell me the absolute truth no matter what I ask her about....which is why she is my favorite shopping partner too. Her boyfriend recommended a stylist to cut my hair for me (see pictures tab for the mountain of hair I had cut off today!), so she took me to see her. The stylist did an amazing job....and now my neck doesn't sweat constantly under the weight of my hair, and I probably won't be woke in the middle of the night after trying to roll over because my husband is lying on top of it!

Shopping was totally fun. I think the best part was sitting near an entryway at the mall, drinking a smoothie and people watching. I could sit there all day and watch everyone interact. Today we saw this kid body slam his little brother, while his dad watched the whole thing and didn't say a word about it. All I could think of was how bad it probably hurt the little guy. I'm really hoping that Scarlet will never be mean to Noel like that.....but then I think of how my brothers and I were......and I'm not so sure that she won't!

To top our evening off, we went to the Keg for dinner. They make the best steak ever (topped with blue cheese......yum!). We had good cocktails.....and finally remembered to request no ice in our martini's (we've been there quite a few times. No other restaurant I have ever been to puts ice in martini's....apparently it's a Canadian thing....or so they say). Our table neighbors also seemed to enjoy their cocktails judging by how much they were flirting with Jeremy.....the waiter. He was enjoying every minute of it too... either that or he knows how to earn a tip! It was probably a little bit of both. He was friendly but a little awkward and kept asking us if our food/drinks were “bueno” or “no bueno”. I think it's because he heard us speaking Spanish earlier when we were quoting a movie....we cannot speak Spanish beyond a few sentences....it was rather amusing.

I didn't make it home before the kids were in bed.....I was really hoping to get to tell them goodnight since I was gone for so much of the day. I'm sure Noel will wake up in the middle of the night.....so I will get to take care of her soon! Hopefully we will have a nice day tomorrow and we can spend it outside together!