Oh how they love to spite me

I wanted to be able to share the "joy" of feeding our girls with Kip...especially the joy of a 3 AM feeding. Our pediatrician recommended that we wait until Maddie was one month old before introducing the bottle so that she wouldn't become confused or lazy. Apparently babies are lazy and bottles are easy. So at 30 days old I brought out the bottles and my excitement. I was quickly defeated. Maddie was not into the bottle. I researched different brands, how to best give it to her (if I was out of the picture) all to no avail. She would not take the bottle.

Then came Allie. I figured, screw the 30 days I am going for this immediately. It didn't work.

So, of course now both of them love going to the bottle drawer (yes, we have a whole drawer devoted to this failure) and filling bottles up to drink. Oh yes, how they love to spite me.

While you were out

On Sunday, the day we left for our trip my mom, Chris and Sophia came and picked the girls up to take them to Remlinger Farms. Maddie was in heaven...they got to go on a train. Allie was a little unsure about the petting zoo vacillating between "ohmygodthisisawesome" to "ohmygodgetthatthingawayfromme"

Allie loves to play at windows and doors.

Smooshing her nose against the glass is a must

Thank god for Skype and email...I definitely needed my daily fix of these two.

We're Home!

After 28 long hours of travel we've finally made it home! I literally watched the time the whole flight home yesterday counting down the seconds until I could see these two. I missed them so much and am so happy to be back in Seattle. Thank you to everyone who made this trip happen and who watched these two little beans for us. It means a lot to me that they were so comfortable in your care and that you were willing to watch them for us. Kip and I both have amazing families.

Paris and Varese were both beautiful and I am already missing the amazing bread, cheese and produce of Italy. Elena, Massimo, Martina and Matteo, our hosts in Italy, are also much missed. We hope that they make it over to the states soon.

In the meantime I leave you with 100% pure cuteness. Oh, and have I mentioned that Allie is a full-time WALKER now?!

Varese

As soon as we landed in Italy a wave of peace washed over me. I love this country. I love Varese where we are staying with Kip's old exchange student from high school. On our first day we went to a cafe where I had a melted chocolate bar for breakfast and then went for a run to the top of a mountain. It was about 2000' of vertical feet. After our run we went to a local grocery store and bought bread, fresh cheese, tomatoes, and drinks. We then drove to Lago Maggiore where the temperature was in the 70s. It was so beautiful. We spent the rest of the day there.


Kip would like me to caption this photo, "Get off my lawn Swan!"

Last day in Paris

People in Paris do not run. We found that out when we went for a jog, in typical Seattle rain, and endured many a curious look from the locals. We initally went out for a 30-45 minute jog. It ended up being a 90+ min jog. We got lost. Big time. Fortunately I have no shame in trying to ask for help. That old saying about guys being too proud to ask? it's true. After our run we got breakfast (at almost 1:00 PM) and then walked the city. We climbed the Eifel Tower which was amazing but at that moment I also felt compassion for my brother Sam who had a panic attack at that Stratosphere. It was HIGH. I did not let go of the handrails at all. I was also reallly nervous about being in such touristy areas with the news of Americans being targeted by terrorists. I was a serious profiler. In the end we probably walked around 15 miles based on a conservative googlemaps guess by Kip. It was a long day.

The stairs leading up to our shack