Since it was raining all day I decided to not go trick or treating with Abi instead I took her to the Seattle Children’s Museum because they put together a Halloween carnival.  I dressed up Abi as a lady bug and met up with my husband downtown.  The place was packed with kids in costumes.  

Abi was running around all over the place

.

She played with the water feature

Water splashing

She got messy with playdough

My husband read to her

read to me this book

And she got to pretend play some

cooking

grocery shopping

By the time we left Abi was ready for bed… Happy Halloween!

Related articles

• Happy Home-a-ween: How to Celebrate Halloween at Home (thebump.com)
• Happy Halloween!! (mattdantodd.com)

When we first got married my husband and I read some book about our love signs. Through the book we learned my husband mostly wants me to do things for him, like cook dinner, wash his clothes, keep the house clean.  For him doing things is showing love.  My sign was the exact opposite, it was saying this.  For example, I don’t like to leave the how without saying “I love you”, and I like being told “you’re attractive”, “you did a great job”, I need verbal affirmation.  Yeah I need him to do things for me but I don’t need it as much as being told nice things.  My husband could go with out the verbal lovey doveystuff.

Well, today he came home while I was cooking dinner.  We had a pleasant conversation about his day as I finished feeding Abi her dinner.  I was excited to tell him about the Red Tricycle nomination for the meetup group (see previous post for details).  I know it’s really not that big a deal  but I was proud of it.  So I told him and his answer was, “do you win something? Will it make us some money?”  Well, no… but I was recognized by someone for my work so I was proud.  I don’t go to an office for a job, I work hard to raise our daughter which currently is my job.  I started the group as a way for my daughter to meet other children and to discover interesting places for her to play and learn in Seattle.  I might not be the greatest at lots of things but I’m fucking amazing as a mom.  With his words in an instant I felt stupid, worthless,  and hurt.

I’m not one to hold back so I told him he hurt my feelings.  How would he like it if I dismissed something he did at his job.  He than said, “ah here you go again making everything into a big deal” This angered me some more.  He than rolled his eyes and went”ahhh fine… I’m sorry”.  How is that an apology, that’s not a sorry, that’s a get off my back statement.  Yup it was on.  We went back and forth, louder and louder yelling at each other.

It ended when I decided to take the dinner I had spent 45 minutes cooking for him and poured all of it in the sink (in the heat of the moment I thought if he couldn’t give me verbal affirmation why should I “show” him love).  Than I calmly left the room and got ready for my Zumba class.  The problem with this situation (other than we are not speaking to each other) is that Abi saw the whole thing.  This is why I’m telling you what happened.  This was not a good parenting moment on my part.  I’m not proud of it.  I left as calmly as I could after telling Abi I loved her and kissing her good-bye.  Luckily it ‘s getting dark early and it was raining so my tears weren’t being noticed by anyone as I walked to class. For those that are in my life, don’t worry my marriage is still intact and we will move on.  I really needed to get this off my chest.  I just feel like a bad mom right now.  I know I’m not going to be able to hide every argument I have with husband from Abi, but I don’t want her to think yelling is the way to solve situations because it’s not, I know that.

Related articles

• If I Had a Hammer (javaj240.wordpress.com)
• 2012 Red Tricycle Totally Awesome Awards (abiatplay.wordpress.com)
• When It Comes to Sex My Husband Has Alzheimer’s (jleesblog.com)
• The divide between thoughts and expression (carlarenee45.wordpress.com)
• Husbands and wives don’t call each other “stupid” in front of your Children!!! (goldenfingers.wordpress.com)
• Tequila and Fairytales (loveandlunchmeat.com)
• 31 Days to a Happy Husband: What a Man Needs Most from His Wife (unlimitedbookshelves.com)
• Jenni Wilson added a discussion to the group I Love My Husband (bloggymoms.com)
• AAA of Marriage (heathertiger.wordpress.com)
• For The Love Of All That Is Holy… (lisarochon.me)

A little info about Urban Seattle Parents.  Currently there are a couple of meetup groups for Seattle Parents but a lot of the events are located outside of Seattle or in locations you have to drive to.  As some one who chooses to live an urban lifestyle I prefer not having to drive everywhere, I want to be able to walk or take public transportation.  So I decided since this type of group wasn’t available I would start it myself hence Urban Seattle Parents was born.  Most of the events are in locations you can take public transportation to and are free/or priced low.  For example, I try to post museum events (like the Seattle Art Museum) the first thursday of each month since it’s Free.  I spend about 1-3 hours each week organizing events.

Well someone submitted the group to Red Tricycle which is a parent resource website that is very popular.  I’m honored that it’s even being considered as a awesome parent group.  If you’re interested in voting for Urban Seattle Parents please do so at  http://awards.redtri.com/?contest=mom-clubsgroups&phase=voting&location=seattle

Related articles

• What Happened To The Red Tricycle Forums? (redtri.com)
• Are These Baby & Kids Products Awesome or Ridiculous? (redtri.com)
• Red Tricycle Gets Fit! (redtri.com)

via Capitolhillseattle.com

This year the carnival had a fantastic kids concert and just like last year there was a parade.  Abi actually could walk around and pick out a toy/candy from the local shops with the rest of the children.  She was able to handle about an hour before this little pirate princess turned into a pumpkin.

Here is a video of the start of the parade you can see us at about 58 seconds. We appear on the right hand side of the screen, I’m holding Abi the pirate and the white balloon.

Related articles

• Hilloween on Capitol Hill (thestranger.com)
• Last Minute Halloween Inspiration: Costumes, Parties & DIY Decor (apartmenttherapy.com)
• Weekend Preview: Halloween and history at Fort Nisqually (seattletimes.com)
• Halloween Bag for Mom (bedifferentactnormal.com)

Well, my husband surprised me by having our friend A. come over early to watch Abi while he and I went to Lark.  Lark is a restaurant in Seattle that for the past 5 years I have walked by almost every single day and wanted to try…the problem being it’s really expensive. So this was my first time.  When you walk in the restaurant feels like a cozy cottage, the staff was very nice, and the food… OMG, I can’t tell you how wonderful the food was.  We started with big fresh oysters  that came with a spicy sauce.  I enjoyed the presentation of the oysters.

My favorite plate of what we ordered though was the Jones Farm pork rillettes with crostini, peach mustard and smoked salt.  I had never tried pork rillettes but I could have eaten the whole plate, sadly I didn’t take a picture of the dish so here is what pork rillettes looks like (picture not from Lark).

If you’re interested in making some here is a recipe for pork rillettes from the New York Times by Mark Bittman.

In total we ended up having a four course meal that was one of the best I have ever had.

Going on a date with my husband is something we don’t do on a regular bases.  But on this night we actually put our phones away and talked.  I’m not saying we don’t ever talk, we talk everyday, but for the past 16 months it’s been surrounded by a hurricane of  Abi trying to get our attention.  We didn’t eat quickly, we didn’t have to clean any mess up, and as my husband walked me home we held hands.  Ahhh I miss romance.

After we were done with dinner Wes and I went back home and got ready for the Halloween event (by than our friend A. was able to put Abi to sleep). Once our actual babysitter arrived we were out the door ready to party!  Everyone was in crazy creative costumes including us.

We made it home by midnight because no matter what special day it might be,  Abi will always be awake at 6am the next day.  It was a fantastic wedding anniversary and it reminded me how much fun and romantic my husband can be.  He’s amazing.

Here are the lyrics:

I remember your bare feet down the hallway
I remember your little laugh
Race cars on the kitchen floor
Plastic dinosaurs, I love you to the moon and back

I remember your blue eyes looking into mine like we had our own secret club
I remember you dancing before bed time then jumping on me waking me up
I can still feel you hold my hand
Little man, from even that moment I knew
You fought it hard like an army guy
Remember I leaned in and whispered to you

Chorus:
Come on baby with me
We’re gonna fly away from here
You were my best four years

I remember the drive home when the blind hope
Turned to crying and screaming, “Why?”
Flowers piled up in the worst way
No one knows what to say about a beautiful boy who died

And it’s about to be Halloween
You could be anything you wanted if you were still here

I remember the last day when I kissed your face
I whispered in your ear

Come on baby with me
We’re gonna fly away from here
Out of this curtained room in this hospital gray
We’ll just disappear
Come on baby with me
We’re gonna fly away from here
You were my best four years

What if I’m standing in your closet trying to talk to you?
What if I kept the hand me downs you won’t grow into?
And what if I really thought some miracle would see us through?
But what if the miracle was even getting one moment with you

Come on baby with me
We’re gonna fly away from here
Come on baby with me
We’re gonna fly away from here
You were my best four years

I remember your bare feet down the hallway
I love you to the moon and back

Most of the lyrics were taken directly from the blog Maya wrote.  She didn’t hear the song till Taylor Swift performed it.  As I was watching the interview I kept on looking at Abi and I couldn’t help but cry (I mean a massive water fall of tears).  During the interview I learned cancer is the second leaded cause of death for children yet very little money is spent on research for cancer related to children.

I added a link to Maya’s blog rockstarronan.com below, where you can watch the interview and read about Ronan…just know you will cry.

Related articles

• Thank You to Katie Couric for giving Ronan such a huge platform. It was an honor to be on her show. (rockstarronan.com)

Abi playing today

found some gold…

.

she shared her riches with her friends…

to celebrate they formed a circle and had story time….

with caramel apple and pumpkin bread as snacks…

oh what fun the little pirate had!

Abi loves to put her favorite blanket over her head like a ghost and walk around the house bumping into things.  Yes, she considers this fun

Today I took Abi to a pumpkin carving get together.  One of my husband’s bosses invited us to their home to participate in the Halloween fun.  Since this is my first time taking Abi to any such thing I figured I would dress Abi up in a costume.  I guess that’s not the normal thing to do since she was the only kid with a costume.

Well, Abi was the only one in costume but we still had a good time.  There were a handful of little ones ranging from 14 months to 10 years old.
Abi spent most of the time exploring the house while everyone else carved pumpkins.  Maybe next year she’ll be more into digging out the inside of a jack-o-latern.

Related articles

• You be the judge: Underwater pumpkin-carving at Alki (westseattleblog.com)
• It’s Pumpkin Carving Day! (mybohemiansummer.wordpress.com)
• Costumes, free candy, and pumpkin carving…oh yeah, Halloween Rules! (baseballvalbooks.wordpress.com)
• Pumpkin Carving (justonefille.wordpress.com)
• Bakemasters Pumpkin Carving Party (doctoratehousewife.com)