We made it! Yesterday, Meryl took her first flight, and a cross-country one too. While I won't say that she didn't cry, I will say she actually did pretty well. However, when we landed early and had to wait on the tarmac for our gate, her eruption voiced what everyone else was thinking, "get me off this plane already!" What no one anticipated was Frank and I completely forgetting to pick up her checked bag at the baggage claim! (At least we remembered Meryl!) We realized it 'after' we got to the hotel (at midnight) when we were getting Meryl ready for bed and noticed her pajamas were missing! Frank headed straight to the airport to only get the chance to stare at her bag in the baggage office, which had closed for the evening. (Testing the pin pad combinations to unlock the door was a heavy consideration.) Then, eaaaaarrrly this morning, he went again to the airport to pick up her bag when the office opened. So we survived both the flight and the first night! And, we won't forget Meryl's bag again!

What a day! Playtime with Xanna in the morning and lunch with Xanna's college friend, Susan. This afternoon...a total blur. Meryl got a case of the fussies, and while I almost posted a picture of her 'finally' sleeping, I noticed that I snapped this sweet one this morning; a much better option:)  Now I'm craving popsicles and ice cream bars.

We went out (across the street) to dinner tonight! Aubrey and Andrew (+Sadie, Ruby, and Henry) had us over for chicken tostadas with (bonus!) Velveeta cheese sauce. Lucky for us, Sadie, Ruby and Amelia (from next door) performed a new(!) dance routine by their group, The Queens. We learned that this type of dance is called Aggressive Competitive Dance (ACD), and it was just that. Henry followed their performance with breakdancing. And Ruby also closed out the night on the piano. We've got a great neighborhood block, and a talented one too!

BOTH Xanna and Lola were over today to fawn over Meryl. I think the house voice frequency was at an all time high. And, they must have had the good luck vibes too because the Seahawks won!

Xanna and Meryl have been plotting their ranch for a while now. Thus far, they are going to have two ponies named Pumpkin and Stripe, as well as a burrow named Jenny. (Xanna grew up with a burrow named Jenny.) To fuel the brainstorm, Meryl wore her new ponies giddy-up get-up.

Grandpa with the house red, and Meryl with a bottle of the house white (she's already outpacing him). Xanna and Grandpa arrived last night for the weekend and we're hunkering down during the storm with a fireplace fire. (But only after we headed downtown today so that Xanna could get a haircut and Grandpa could get some new Nike kicks for flossin'.) On the food front, Frank made a tasty Thai larb dinner last night and Grandpa made stuffed veal chops tonight. I think we'll weather the weather.

Janell and Bo came over last night, in the pouring rain, with a hatch green chili verde and fixings. So perfect for a blustery night! We've been eagerly awaiting our dinner with them because they're due in February with a baby boy and we've got advice to give! We spent all night talking about baby mania, checking in every so often to make sure they didn't want to switch the conversation. I remember being so overwhelmed with information while pregnant, and we definitely added to the hype. Nonetheless, it's exciting for them!

Meryl got her vaccines today, a little ahead of schedule as we're headed to DC next week. She wore a onesie like none other to give her special powers to make it through the doctor's appointment. (Thank's to my cousin, Megan!) All in all, she was a champ. However, I foolishly ran out the door without my diaper bag, and Meryl of course happily spit up all of her breakfast while taking one of the vaccines orally. So the ride home was wet and smelly, but a success overall. And as of today, she weighs 10.4 lbs. and is 21.75 inches tall.

The sucker in me has been unleashed. This chair was on clearance at a store today and I couldn't help myself. Just add a stack of books and let the imagining begin!

Frank started the second part of his paternity leave this week. So we went to Din Tai Fung for lunch!  

 ...Thanks Lola for knitting Meryl this cute hat and blanket! Ruffles:)  In other news, Frank had his first independent outing today with Meryl to meet with a friend for coffee. A success!

Lorraine stopped by last night for dinner to catch us up on her trips to Spain and San Francisco. (We have to draw our social life to the house these days to keep up on everyone's goings-on!)  The wiggle worm wiggled and Lummi got a few pets in between.

Apparently, at her mature age these days, Meryl's supposed to be interested in feeling different textures and hearing sounds like rattles in toys. Tadah! She took a nap promptly after play time.

Last night we went on our first date night out since Meryl was born! We bought tickets to see Walt Wagner's last performance at Canlis restaurant back in July, 'hoping' we'd get our acts together to go; and we did! Walt has been playing piano at Canlis for 20 years, and Frank and I loved going to the bar to listen to him play. His specialty is taking pop songs from the radio and playing them on the piano with his own flair; from Coolio, to Lady Gaga, to Metallica, he plays it all. And of course we saw Susan and Eric at the concert as well; they're friends with Walt and his wife, and Susan is a college friend of my Mom's from their UC Santa Barbara days (small world!). All in all, thanks to Lola and Tito Edward for watching Meryl! They made it much easier to leave the house with confidence, knowing that Meryl was in good hands...literally, she was in Lola's arms all night:)

We watched the UW vs. Oregon game at Dylan and Katharine's (+Madeline, Siri, Leighton, Kangee the dog, and Reginald the cat) house tonight in Portland. Frank and Dylan are each supremely proud of their teams, and to say the least, the rivalry talk was at an all time high.  It was great fun to be amidst the commotion of tutus, sister haircuts, feeding Frank Ranch dressing, and chasing after the cat outside...all while catching-up on life since we saw each other last! Meryl and I contributed to the excitement with a dual wardrobe change fashion show; I'm not naming any names:)

Since Frank and I met while both working at Niketown in Seattle, we're brainwashed Nike. Every year, when UW football plays in Oregon, the Nike employee store in Portland hosts the UW Alumni Association for one night (Frank went to UW); we've never been, so we figured this was a safe trip to test with Meryl...plus, she's got to start her Nike love early! Look, she is practicing her discerning eye for shoes:)

Coincidentally, we were headed to Portland this weekend and Allison (+Noelle and Caleb) was headed to visit Danielle (+Grant and Audrey) in Vancouver, so we 'had' to all meet-up! Two generations of cousins selfie! This was the first big road trip for Meryl, and she slept the whole way! (Good luck to us on the way back to Seattle.)

Noelle + Meryl + Audrey + Caleb

Heather and Hailey had a girls morning today and came over to visit with Meryl.  It was so nice to catch-up with Heather! Hailey, on the other hand, built a few forts to hide in...but it didn't take long before she wanted to be found:) To this day, we still thank Heather for her list of baby must-haves, which prepped us perfectly for when Meryl was born (i.e., diaper rash cream, bathtub thermometer, etc.)!