The pumpkins we carved Halloween 2006. I think mine is the bottom.

Driving in awful Seattle rush hour traffic. Circa fall 2006.

Two weeks old!

Two months!

Welcome to town. Also I don’t think I’ve ever posted a picture of Ali’s forked tongue before.

Thundercade!

Yo Alyss!

Two teeth.

Eating out.

So innocent.

Mischevious.

Kissing Elmo.

At the park.

Box hat.

On Tuesday we had the great honor of accompanying Shayla to her birthday lunch. Cynthia and Joel (her parents) had just returned from their two-week honeymoon cruise the day before. It was Shayla’s first time meeting Ali and she was soooo cute. And, in general, Shayla is so funny! She kept me laughing the entire meal. I’m going to post a ton of pics so I’ll try to include some of her hilarious captions with them.

First look at the baby.

After Tony would take a picture Shayla would ask "It’s a good one?" and then he’d show her and she’d say, "Shalya…and JUICE!"

She loves her "Pup Pup."

On the phone with Grandma.

That may have been the only bite she took. The terrible two’s have begun!

We went to the park to feed the ducks.

"What up, Dawg?"

What a difference twenty-two months makes!

Shayla kept telling the ducks "be nice to her!"

Ali was out.

Everyone gets nervous when a baby holds a baby.

They loved it.

Isaac has the coolest hairstyle I’ve seen on a baby.

Kari, Isaac, Ali, and me.

The sisters looking odd.

Ever odder.

And normal.

Monday we went with my dad and Alyssa to visit my grandparents again…for Nana’s birthday. Here is an adorable picture with Ali and Grandpa. Notice ali dressed the part is Nana’s favorite color.

Note: The pictures in this post are kind of wonky because I’m missing my compy and photo-editing program. Resizing the images in wordpress doesn’t really due the photos justice.

Alizabeth Shirlie and her namesake, Nana Shirley.

Grandpa, Nana, Ali, and I.

Friday night Uncle Bill caught word of our arrival. Small towns are crazy like that (my brother’s girlfriend, Becky, works at Blockbuster where he stopped on his walk that night). Saturday afternoon my mom’s side of the family came over. First, my Grandma (now great grandma) came over. Then my Aunt Pat, Uncle David, and Cousin Brandon dropped by. Last My Aunt Yvonne and Matthew made time in her crazy day of soccer tournaments and a wedding to see Ali. She was joined by my Uncle Don before everyone hit the road to return to the bustle of outlet malls and soccer games.

Ali and her great uncle Bill.

Great grandma Carol (not to be confused with Carroll). Ali looks like a little munchkin here.

Aunt Pat got a whole bunch of smiles.

Great Uncle David.

My cousin Brandon. Ali’s…second cousin? I’m not sure. That baby looks good on him!

Ali sure was calm with her great aunt Yvonne.

Great uncle Don and company.

Four generations!

Saturday I found out a dear friend of mine, Laurie, had died Thursday night. We were planning to go visit her this weekend, as she’d been waiting eargerly for her chance to hold Ali. I met Laurie when I worked at Subway in high school and we’ve remained in touch ever since. She has two daughters, one older than me, one younger. My heart breaks for her girls and her family. Laurie, I’m so sad that you have gone. The world doesn’t know what it is missing without you here. In light of this tragedy we are staying in town until the funeral Wednesday afternoon.

Coming soon: The Lewis BBQ on Sunday. Also, Happy Birthday to my Nana today!

This is the mobile we scored on Tuesday. We saw one just like it yesterday at our local Mommy’N'Me consignment shop. Twenty-five bucks used! The whole thing turns like an amusment park ride and plays fifteen minutes of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. Best of all….she loves it! She has just sat and watched it, gurgling, for 15-20 minutes on two or three occasions. What a godsent, a little get ready time in the morning!

Yesterday we ventured out to the usual (Target and Costco), beforementioned Mommy’N'Me, and, for the first time, the Mukilteo Farmer’s Market. This summer WIC is giving out coupons to local farmer’s markets. I’d been the the downtown Edmonds one here before, but they don’t accept the coupons so we visited nearby Mukilteo last night. It was the first sunny, warm-to-hot, day in about a week and the waterfront down there was gorgeous. The market was pretty small, but vibrant. They had a band performing and was bustling for 4pm on a Wednesday. WE picked up some green beans, zuchinni, bread, peppers, plums, nectarines, and kettle korn. The produce tastes so much better that supermarket produce, but you really have to readjust your degree of pickiness. What would be a "bad" apple at Safeway is superb if homegrown. All that genetic modification has skewed our view!

Ali has slept through the night every night Trista has been here! I hope, hope, hope this is the way things are going to be from now on. It lets me get up at seven or eight instead of nine, ten, or eleven and makes for a muhc longer feeling day.

Three days old…..Fifty days old.   

In the morning sunlight. Seven weeks old. Today we ventured to downtown Seattle where we picked up a kickass mobile from the Baby Boutique (for free). Then we tagged along on some business stuff. Now we’re all enjoying some drama filled America’s Next Top Model reruns. Except for our little sleeping angel.

I don’t know if it’s possible to take too many pics of your growing baby. With digital cameras I’m going to say no. It could be argued that I lack discretion when it comes to choosing which to post….and, most often, decide to just post them all.

"No way Trista!"

That bow is struggling.

She wants a finger in there so bad.

CHOKE!     This picture cracks me up every time I see it.

Such a happy, stretchy, girl in the morning.

No, she didn’t sleep in her crib. I set her there after changing so I could pee.

She has been sleeping soundly in her crib for the past hour and a half though!

Sitting so sweetly on the counter…

Give mommy a smile?

Not quite.

There’s a lip.

And some feet.

Bless you!

She doesn’t let me out of her sight.

Pretty close….

…getting warmer…

What a little ham

Ready to hit the town.

You can totally tell she’s starting to listen.

I thought he looked mean but apparently this is Shpang’s normal look.

The Royal Palm.

Spit-up.

She tends to get cranky in the evenings.

Sleepy girl.

Not for long!

So tired…is it time to go home?

She looks pretty stoked.

You get a child dressed in the morning.

First time she’s worn those pants.

Not twenty minutes later.

Round two.

That bow lasted less than five minutes.