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Holidays

Mother’s Day

Sunday was Christine’s first official Mother’s Day. Last year Christine was pregnant with Katherine but this is the first year Katherine could actually give Christine a Mother’s Day gift (with a little help from Dad). Surprisingly enough, Dad coordinated Mother’s Day gifts for Katherine, Bisco, and himself. Christine is a great mom to Katherine and Bisco in addition to being a loving wife. After a lazy morning, we spent the rest of the day running errands.

Mother’s Day at the Fialas

The extended family got together to celebrate Mother’s Day at the Fialas. In addition to Art and Pat Fiala, Dave, Trina, and Will Fiala were there. Trina is 8 months pregnant with their second boy and looks great. Their first boy Will has grown up and loves to run around and play with Kevin and his grandparents (Art and Pat). Amy, Jason, and Kevin Olbright also attended the family gathering. Kevin is Will’s age and the two of them had a great time playing together. The Fialas have turned their house into a kid fun zone complete with toys, sandbox, swings, mini-basketball hoop, and of course their golden retriever Mandy. Kevin and Will immediately wanted to play on the swings. Both were experienced swingers and loved to have someone yell “boo” or give them a high five when the swing reached the apex of it’s swing.

Katherine patiently waited her turn for the swings (actually she had no clue). After the boys were done Katherine played on the swing. Katherine loves the swing. She likes having dad or mom stand in front of the swing yell “boo” when she comes close. Katherine has 15 minutes of pure joy of the swing before she’s ready to get off.

After the swings, we decided to line up the kids for a group photo shot. Will Fiala sat in the left chair, Katherine in the middle, and Kevin Olbright on the right. Kevin and Will have obviously done this before, sat patiently, and smiled. Katherine slowly sank in the chair and had to be readjusted a couple of times.

It was good to see everyone. Kevin and Will are growing up and hopefully someday soon Katherine will be able to play with them.

Happy Easter 2003

Happy Easter! It was an early Easter rising for our family this morning. Katherine woke up every 2-3 hours last night, and decided that she was not going back to bed at 5:30AM. Christine fed Katherine and played with her until 7:30 at which point both of them passed out due to exhaustion. Steve, in his never ending quest to ship Port Magic, was up trying to fix yet another “showstopper bug” this morning. Finally, we got around, headed to the Sarins and had a wonderful Easter brunch in sunny 70 degree weather.

Other noteworthy events today: we went shopping and for a long walk with Bisco. Katherine tried avocado again tonight – made a big thicker this time – and made faces at her food. She doesn’t seem to be too keen on avocado unlike her parents and Bisco who has learned to park himself under the high chair. We also bought a new 6+ month Fisher Price toy; it consists of different shaped plastic building blocks (triangles, circle, square) that can be stuffed thru same shaped holes into a plastic drum. This is the first time Katherine has played with toys in a container, and she had a good time knawing at the blocks and kicking the drum.

Katherine has also learned to sit up without any help at all! This has opened up a whole new world for playing and interacting. She occasionally keels over to her side (whoa!) or will fly backwards and bonk her head on the carpet. But, all in all, she’s gaining her balance and starting to enjoy her 6+ month toys.

Birthday Party for Aunt Pat and Mrs. Chang

We had the extended family over to celebrate Aunt Pat and Mrs. Chang’s birthdays. We had 13 people over for dinner: Agnes Chang; Amy and Kevin Olbright; Dave, Trina, and Will Fiala; Art and Pat Fiala; Bill and Dottie Bush; and Christine, Katherine and I. We roasted 4 chickens and ended up only serving 3. We plan to use the extra chicken meat to stock our freezer full of Chicken Noodle soup.

We got a late start with dinner as we spent too much time at a cool children’s bookstore in Issaquah. Everyone arrived around by 6P and we sat down to a chicken dinner. By this time, Katherine was completely exhausted. She had a long day, being entertained by Grandma and Grandma Bush and wandering around Issaquah. She didn’t get in her full nap schedule. By the time dinner arrived she was so worn out she couldn’t fall asleep. Christine and I took shifts trying to get Katherine to sleep but there was just too much going on. Katherine wanted to be social and hang out but she needed her sleep. Christine and I need to manage her sleep schedule better when guests are in town so this doesn’t happen again.

This was the first family gathering that Will and Kevin played with each other. They used to play with each other’s toys but this was the first time they actually played with each other as playmates. It was fun to watch though it increased the decibels in the house a couple of notches.

After dinner, Christine took her mom to the airport for her red-eye flight back to Dulles. Mrs. Chang was an invaluable help and we thank her for helping us take care of Katherine while we went to work.

Santa Claus in Bellevue Square with the Grandparents

Christine and my parents took Katherine to see Santa Claus at Bellevue Square while I was at work. In typical Bush fashion, they decided to split up: dad parked the car and mom and Christine went to stand in line for Santa Claus. My mom graciously offered to stand in line with Katherine while Christine got in some much deserved shopping. Christine trotted off to Nordstorms only to find my dad waiting 5 person deep in the “Nordstrom” Santa Claus line. After a brief confab, Christine returned with mom and Katherine to the get their picture taken in the shorter “Nordstorm” Santa Claus line.

Grandparents Arrive for the Holidays

The grandpa and grandma Bush arrived for the Christmas holidays on Saturday. Their first stop was to get some Katherine time. Here are some pictures of them holding Katherine.

On Sunday night, my parents watched Katherine while Christine and I got a full night of sleep. We cannot remember the last time we got a full eight hours of sleep, probably not since Katherine was born.

Today, Sharon, Jamey, and Agnes arrive from the east coast. Our plan is to spend Christmas eve with the Changs and prepare for everyone coming over on Christmas for dinner.