La Vie en Rose!

So, I hesitated getting Greta these glasses for the fact that at first sight they looked a little "Brittany Spears"...but now, really, they are more "Elton John" than anything and beyond that it has been so bright and sunny I was tired of her squinting her way through the spring. Besides she looks just too cute in them!
Now she can sit back and look at the world through rose colored glasses.
Happy 23 Weeks little Barley!

22 Weeks

Beautiful day here!

Putt-putt, grilling large meats, and having a grand time with friends. Just stopped to post Greta's 22 week picture. Look what she can do!

Sitting up all by her lonesome! She is getting better and better at that without assistance. What a doll!

Toes, Tarts, and Type 1 Diabetes

What a great weekend! You know those days that can sum up happy times and bookmark happy seasons years down the road? Well, our sunny weekend was kind of like that. We didn't sleep much but we had enough fun to make up for that. There was gorgeous weather, beautiful mountains, steaks grilling, a happy baby, and happy family around to share it all.
And so many victories!
Saturday mornings at our house usually are characterized by what we call "Kent-speriments". There is something about Saturday that stirs the Susie Homemaker in Kent, and within our first waking hour he has a 9 fingers marked with things he would like to cook/plant/or make. He usually asks me first because in the past they have had Hiroshima like results, and it's just nice to ask the person you are living with if they are ok with setting off a bomb in the house.
Usually, I help pare his ideas down to one or two or three...and Kent scrambles out of bed like a man on a mission.
Last week (and the week before) it was bagels, homemade jalapeno bites, and skyline chili. This week it was Strawberry Rhubarb Tarts,
Limeade, and Grilled Pizza.
All of which were huge successes and gave new honor to the term "Kent-speriments". They also made me consider throwing in the towel and hand the title Homemaker to Kent as I skulked away to find a job for us. But we go to MH, so I thought otherwise and instead I relished in the knowledge that I was married to the perfect man and languidly asked for sliced strawberries in my limeade as I strewn myself upon the couch.
Then there were toes!
Greta discovered 10 of the tastiest little treats in her little world! And we were so proud.
Sunday was our Beat the Bridge for Diabetes run.
We had originally planned to bring the Barley however, when we decided to bus it to UW at 6:30 am we thought it might be easier for all involved to leave Greta with grandpa and go out footloose and stroller free.
It was a great event! There were over 10,000 runners and tons of family and friends doing the family 4-miler event.
Our team did the walk, and have decided to do the 8k next year. It was a gorgeous day and such a great cause. All the money we raised is actually funding the research study Meg is participating in at UW. So, thank you everyone who donated! It's making a difference in Meg's life and so many others.
Also Sunday, I got to go to a rare treat for a mom. A movie! In a theatre! The award winning Kent of Kent-speriment fame offered to watch Greta so dad and I could go see Star Trek together. My Star Trek past has been closeted for years, but I have been recently emboldened by the great production quality of this lastest installment and have found comfort once again in monologue of "Space the final frontier..."
It was awesome! and I am prepared to face the consequences of my choices. Around Redmond nerds run rampant and if I must I will make new friends who think Spock is cute and are also dreaming of careers in Starfleet.
Lastly, Greta turned 21 weeks this weekend and will be officially 5 months on Wednesday!
She is growing so fast. This morning I witnessed her making a fast break for it as she triple rolled herself across the floor. Much like you would see James Bond do to escape an oncoming train. And just last night she got the hang of the whole food/cereal thing and is actually eating semi solids! But most importantly she's my happiest little baby. I think she has enjoyed herself this weekend too.

Diabetes Repair?

Hi all!
The Barley and I are fixin' to do something awesome!
Sunday morning at 8:00am we are going to be down at Husky Stadium looking for the cure for Type 1 Diabetes.
Sunday marks the 27th annual Beat the Bridge to Beat Diabetes fun run. The Barley and I joined team McWalto (a combo of our team's names) to raise money and walk 4 miles to do our part in helping find the cure for Type 1 Diabetes.
This is extra special to us this year because just a month or 2 ago we found out that our Meg (of "Auntie Meg" and Hello Grey Day fame) was diagnosed with Type 1 and it has changed her life and ours.She faces so much responsibility everyday as she constantly says NO to her beloved mashed potatoes and milkshakes, checks her blood sugar levels and gives herself insulin shots...which she will have to do the rest of her life without a cure.
There is a permanence in this disease that must feel daunting at times, but she is such a trooper and we are really proud of her!
So if we can walk 4 miles for a cure for Meg on Sunday, than we will be there! (with bells on our toes.)
If you want to support our team in meeting our personal goal click HERE! And then choose my name on the list (p.s. I added an Esq. to my name because I thought it sounded jaunty. I thought it was some sort of royal suffix but apparently it just means you're a lawyer.)
I know, I hate asking people for donations, but I hate more the idea that Meg can't eat what she wants and has to go "ouch!" 8 times a day.
Stay tuned for more mad cap fun from our Beat the Bridge adventure!

25 going on 50

Whew, what a week! It has been a non stop party here since last Thursday. I turned 25 last week and we heralded in this important sounding number with a costume party and all kinds of fanfare! As we were planning my party (which I don't usually like to do, parties have so much pressure on them to be fun and I don't like "planned fun".) I thought about what kind of party I had always wanted to go to? And voila! A classic cinema costume party it MUST be! Everyone was to come as their favorite old movie character and we would party like it's 1949!
So Kent ordered food from my favorite restaurant (Purple), we got all gussied up and then to put the cherry on top Kent flew up Dianer (one of my favorite people) from California for the occasion.
Fun and games ensued...

Kent came as Prof. Henry Higgins (his all time fav). He manned the bar, put the twists where twists were needed and gave the room a scholarly air.
I came as Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's. I drank bubbly, was bubbly, and lent over all birthday purpose to the event.

Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn, and Princess Grace

An old fashioned sing along! Just like in the movies...a lifelong dream.
We also had a Sherlock, a Baroness Von Schraeder, a Katherine Hepburn, a Dorothy and Scarecrow duo (complete with munchkin 4 month old), a Desi Arnaz, Mary Poppins, Dude in a suit, and sailor from South Pacific.
Oh and who could forget the Barley as James dean!She was our little rebel without a cause. We even put a little ciggy behind her ear (candy of course).
It was a wonderful night. My dad came to run the baby check upstairs so all the parents could enjoy the night foot loose and fancy free.
The best part of it all was that everyone who came had fun with the theme, played my favorite silly games, and got a little lost in yesteryear...because really, haven't you at least one time or another wanted to live in an old movie?
Happy Birthday to me!

Hi there, Barley here...

Mom can't blog at the moment since all of her insides currently want to be on her outsides, and she is laid up on a bed of pain resting. So I thought I would take this chance to exercise my burgeoning talents for all of you and write my first blog post. (By the way, blog is a silly word it sounds like something that should come out of my nose.)

This week has been full of firsts for me. I had my first taste of real food, and appropriately, it was barley cereal (the parents had a chuckle over that one.)

I have been rolling over to AND fro, as well as displaying scooting power. This is a darling picture dad caught of me mid-scoot.

I was just scooting off that pillow on my way to Marseilles. (I hear the weather is particularly fine this time of year, and have no known cases of that swine flu everyone is talking about.)

However, I was rerouted last minute by my dad who assumed I was just being cute. I have since changed my mind on the whole matter... None of my shoes fit and I am not going to go galavanting around Europe like a shoeless vagabond.

Besides, things are nice here! Dad vroom-screeches me around the house as if I were a truck and tosses me in the air (the weightlessness of the experience thrills me to my toes!) AND he makes bagels on the weekend.

And mom, well, she's just too cute.

Oh, and speaking of cute, I was sooo cute the other day. I was in the middle of one of my rolling over exercises and got sleepy (I think I was up too late that night querying about something or other) and I just fell asleep right on my side mid roll! Can you believe it? Mom got a picture. She thought it was just the sweetest... but then again she thinks that about everything I do:)

Well, I think I had better go I have a rumbly in my tumbly and that must mean it's 6:00 and I get delicious dinner milks.

I hope the warmth of love and friendship rests upon the houses of you and yours.

-The Barley

p.s. Today I turn 19 weeks.