little black journal

Juliette is becoming more observant, more curious, and more opinionated with each passing day.  She’s tossing her toys by the wayside and making a mischievous break for our phones or remote controls or whatever other baby no-no’s we’ve unwittingly left lying around.  And oh, do the crocodile tears flow when we take said remote control or iPhone away from her.  She’s suddenly very interested in what I’m eating and has all kinds of ideas about what should be on her own plate (the tight-lipped turn of her head when I offer her freshly made baby food is not a welcome development).  The older she gets, the less it feels like parenting is just about keeping her fed and dry and as happy as possible.  As her personality really begins to shine through, it’s hitting me:  We’ve got to teach show this little girl kindness and generosity and patience.  She’s watching us.

Yikes.

And what else do we want to show her?  What does it mean to be a Schnell?  Nance wrote last year about what it means to be a Rust, and she’s spot-on when she says, “Our family will have a culture, a way of being, whether we plan for it intentionally or not.  So I’d rather give it some thought ahead of time rather than looking back in 25 years and wishing I’d done things differently.”  What’s at the heart of Shane’s and my being?  How do we give and receive love?  What brings us the most joy, tugs the most fiercely at our hearts?  As we watch Jules grow, there will (hopefully) be moments when our breath catches in our throats and we proudly nod and say, “Yeah, she got that from us.”  What will those moments look like?  What matters most?  This is a start:

We jump at the chance to help out our people.  A ride to the airport, a home-cooked (or picked-up, at least) meal, a shoulder to lean on when the going gets tough – we are ready and willing when friends and family need us.  People matter more than to-do lists or money or naps.  I fail at putting this into practice sometimes, but Shane inspires me over and over again to live out our love.  I feel so lucky that Jules will be learning about friendship from her incredibly loyal dad.

We laugh hard and often.  There is always room for silliness in our home, room for dance parties and funny faces and made-up songs.  I have been pulled out of many a funk by Shane’s air guitar.  And now we’re doing the same for Jules, bending over backwards to draw forth a giggle, because a good belly laugh is so good for the soul.  We were heading out to a friend’s house a couple of weeks ago and Juliette was completely over being in the car before we’d even finished buckling her car seat straps.  So Shane hopped in the back seat with her, perched her stuffed puppy on top of his head, and blubbered his lips like a madman.  A car full of teenagers pulled up alongside us just in time for the show.  They smirked their too-cool-for-school smirks, but Shane felt no embarrassment, no shame – we’re a family of damn proud goofballs.

We do our best.  We work hard at school or at our jobs.  We aren’t the slacker lab partner or the project team member that people don’t want to get stuck with, because we are thorough and conscientious and we follow through with our commitments.  We are not perfectionists and we are not without limits, but we make ourselves proud, however that looks.

We love the outdoors.  We’re not hard-core backpackers or mountain-bikers and our hikes are usually more like short walks with lots of snacks involved, but when we have the choice between staying inside and watching TV or heading outdoors to play in the park or just lay in the grass, we go out.  I’m convinced that we live in one of the most beautiful cities in the United States.  We don’t take that for granted.

We are San Francisco Giants fans.  I know, is this really at the core of who we are?  I note it because I know how important (and fun) it is to have a shared pastime.  Shane and I have wildly different interests, but baseball is one of the few things we both really rally around – we find so much joy in going to a game together or letting the voice of Jon Miller whisk us away to AT&T Park, filling us in on the latest happenings with Buster and MadBum and Timmy.  And so we’ll do our best to raise Juliette to love baseball, too.  We’ll let her watch The Sandlot and enroll her in tee-ball as soon as she’s old enough to run the bases (but no pressure, baby!).

Here goes, kiddo.  Looking forward to watching (and helping) your inner Schnell shine through.

It was a quintessential summer weekend – afternoons spent laying on a picnic blanket and dipping our toes in Lake Washington, dinners hot off the grill, watermelon and sparklers and swings, oh my…

Shane and I both wrapped up our work weeks on Wednesday evening, so we kicked off our long holiday weekend on Thursday.  Jules and I met up with La Verne and Nico for our standing bakery date in the morning and then headed right back out after morning nap for pizza with papa.  The three of us swung by Lakewood Park on our way home for a little playground action – the swings are still a sure-fire baby-pleaser.

We spent the evening at Jack and La Verne’s, celebrating Nance’s birthday with brats and beer and chocolate cake.  The look on the babies’ faces says it all – who are these nutty people?!

Nico and Jules are becoming fast friends.

Ok, so maybe Nico’s a little nutty, too (in the best possible way, of course)…

We partied hard until…wait for it…7:30!  A new record with the babe!  Followed by the fastest ride home/bath/bedtime story ever, so that we could get Miss Charming tucked in before she turned into a howling, rotten pumpkin.

On Friday afternoon we drove over to Bellevue to check out Meydenbauer Beach Park, a pristine stretch of lawn right on the lake.  I was worried it would be packed because of the holiday, but we had no trouble staking our claim on a perfect patch of shady grass.

Goofball.

We spent the evening at Chez Rust, eating more brats and drinking more beer and lighting the fireworks that Jason had picked up outside city limits.

It was all fun and games when we were just dealing with smoke bombs and sparklers, but once the bigger guns came out, the boys became a little skittish.

Juliette remained pretty chill through it all, not really caring too much one way or the other.  Oh, how this kid has mellowed with age!

Saturday brought more sunshine and more time to hang with the gang.  We convened at Seward Park around lunchtime for tacos and storytime.

Gryffin and Isaiah hopped in and out of the lake all afternoon while Jules “waded” a bit, not sure what to make of the chilly water.

Jason could not be any sweeter to Juliette.  And it’s taken nine months, but she’s finally coming around.

C’mon babies, throw me a bone here!

Jason and Nancy gave us their old baby backpack and we decided to take it for a spin on Sunday at Tiger Mountain.  It was borderline hot that day, and it felt good to hang out in the shade of the woods (with a sweaty baby strapped to your back, huh, Shane?).

We stopped at a bench for a picnic lunch and then headed back once we realized we’d hit the end of the trail.

Jules decided at this point that she was done being in the backpack, so Shane carried her the mile back to the car, stopping every couple of minutes to let her touch ferns and pine needles and mossy tree trunks.  I hope she loves green as much as I do.

We made it!

Oh…summer.  So so so sooooo good.

It’s been an unpredictable few days, weather-wise – warm and sunny one minute, gray and rainy the next.  We should have learned by now that Seattle’s skies always open up and pour on you the minute you think summer has finally, officially arrived…  But we’re making the most of the sunbreaks, hopping from park to park with picnic lunches and floppy hats in tow.  Volunteer Park, Greenlake, Jefferson Park, Seward Park, and Alki Beach in the past four days – whew!

The three of us spent yesterday afternoon at Jefferson Park, celebrating the first birthday of Juliette’s buddy W.  The fountains were on at the spray park and Jules got a kick out of swiping her hand through the water.  I’m looking forward to bringing Miss Muffet (that silly hat!) up here in her swimsuit once temps really warm up.

Shane had a bike fitting appointment this afternoon, so Juliette and I set out for Alki Beach for a long walk and a mama-daughter picnic lunch.  We spread out a blanket on the grass and ate watermelon together and watched dogs and ferry boats and fluffy white clouds pass us by.

I know, she can’t walk or talk and she tends to poop the minute we leave the house, but gosh, this girl and I have a lot of fun together.

I see a string of 75 degrees+ days in the forecast – I’m working on our next tour de parks itinerary now!

Juliette hit the big three-quarters of a year mark on Saturday!  I think I say this every month, but these past few weeks have been my favorite thus far (the terror of last Friday night excepted)…

Little missy is really on the move these days.  It started with a slow, grunt-filled trek across the living room floor to grab whatever toy we’d placed just out of reach.

A couple of weeks later, she had the army crawl down pat.  She’s really motoring now and is rarely content to sit in one spot.  Her teachers at daycare say that she spends much of the day just zig-zagging from one side of the room to the other – once she grabs hold of the toy or book she’s after, she drops it and sets off in search of something new.

Speaking of toys, I think I’m done buying them for her!  Did you notice how she flung her fox out of the way and chose to go for the shoebox instead?  And a couple of weeks ago I set her down on the living room floor with a new pop-up toy only to find that she was much more taken with the tag on the leggings I’d just pulled off of her (she loooooves anything with a tag – I’m regretting the fact that I unknowingly cut the tags off of most of her stuffed animals!).  She also loves tearing apart magazines, pretending to drink from a big plastic cup, and rifling through the diaper bag.  I’ll be “shopping” for toys in our closets and kitchen cupboards from now on.

Mealtimes are more and more fun, especially as she’s learned how to feed herself small finger foods, like cut up fruit and scrambled eggs and cereal.  She recently discovered that blueberries do this very cool squishy thing when she squeezes them too hard.  When she’s not keen on eating, she turns her highchair tray into a berry massacre.  Whatever keeps her entertained, I guess…

And…the obligatory goofball shot (that blueberry never stood a chance)!

Her two top front teeth are coming in and they’ve been a bit of bother.  Drool, drool, drool and she’s had a couple of pretty fussy days.  She’s not talking yet, but unfortunately her teething whine sounds something like mama.  Or, more accurately, mmmmmaaaaaammmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  I’m so looking forward to the first time she looks at me and says mama! with a smile on her face.  You can see those chompers poking through here (her gesture says it all – No pictures, please!  I’m working on a tooth, lady!).

Thursdays continue to be pretty fabulous.  Lots of morning cuddles before heading out in the afternoon to play with friends.  A couple of weeks ago we met up with Emily and baby O for some quality park time.  I love this picture – O is so (aggressively) friendly, while Jules looks up at Emily like, uhhhh…are you going to do something about your son?

And then we had lunch with some friends from work and sweet little A – she and Jules hadn’t seen each other for six months and had lots of catching up to do.

And so many bakery dates!  It’s often just the two of us, but it’s extra-fun when we catch La Verne and N there.

And we had our first trip to the zoo last week!  It was a cloudy morning turned sunny afternoon and Jules and I jumped at the chance to get outside with some of her buddies.

La Verne and I got there first and felt a little silly as we walked through the African Savanna, pointing excitedly at the giraffes and zebras and hippos while our unimpressed babies looked everywhere except the direction we were pointing.  But then we found the penguins, where the kiddos could get up close to the action.  Juliette loved it, waving excitedly to these funny birds as they swam past her.

Miss S is eighteen months older than Jules and plays the part of the cool (very sweet) big sister well.

When she’s not waving at the penguins, Jules is waving at Shane or I, or at strangers on lightrail, or at Grandma and Grandpa on our video chats.  It’s her go-to-gesture when she wants food or attention or just to say hello.  And it’s usually accompanied by the same ahh-AHH-ahh-AHH-ahh sound.  So friendly, that girl!

She weighs in at almost 20 pounds now and was looking a little squished in her infant car seat, so we upgraded her last week to a big-kids seat.  I was kind of sad to see her outgrow the Britax we brought her home from the hospital in, but she seems much happier now that her shoulders and legs have a little room to move.

And…sleep!  She’s doing it so well these days (again, last Friday excepted).  Last week, before she came down with her cold, she slept 11 straight hours, three nights in a row.  She’s still a little unpredictable, as she slept from 7:30 pm to 7:00 am Monday night and woke up at 1:00 and 4:00 Wednesday night, but we’re on the right track.  And I think she’s starting to love naps almost as much as I do, snoozing for a solid 1.5 to 2 hours twice a day.

Finally, one last smile:

Ok, three last smiles:

Happy nine months, baby!

Happy Father’s Day to the two most important guys in my life!

To Shane, who wows me time and again with the tender, silly, completely selfless way he loves our little girl.  Watching him welcome a kiss from her, even when her face is covered in drool; watching him read her the same books over and over and over, each time pretending that it’s a complete surprise that the very hungry caterpillar turns into a butterfly; watching him elicit sweet baby giggles as he jumps and dances and dramatically bonks his head with a cereal box or toy block…these are my greatest joys.  We pass this little playground every time we walk to the neighborhood bakery and Shane likes to take a spin with Jules around the basketball courts.  He gives her a good push and she’s off, probably wondering who the heck is in control of the stroller if papa is running alongside her and mama is laughing from the sidelines.  She’s mildly amused, but that goofy, excited grin on Shane’s face as she rolls right into his arms gets me every time.  He’s so good at play, so sweet in his funny little shenanigans.

And to my own dad, who’s a model of tender-loving fun.  I still remember how he’d come home from work in the evenings and “play the piano” on my belly while I laughed hysterically, I remember that day on Dean Drive that he gave me a push on my first real bike, that stylish pink and green Huffy.  I remember him cheering me on at swim meets and graduations, always wanting me to feel supported and valued and affirmed.

How did Juliette and I get so incredibly lucky?

I used to keep a list of Seattle’s must-visit bars and restaurants and pull it out when we were looking for something to do on a Saturday night.  And then we had Juliette and accepted our fate as regulars at the neighborhood bakery and pizza joint.  These days, we’re making our way through a different kind of list, spending our weekends hopping from park to playground with baby in tow.

Last weekend we met up with the Brenners at Cougar Mountain and embarked on our first family hike.  We borrowed a baby backpack, strapped in Juliette, and we were off!  It was a 30-minute trek to Coal Creek Falls, where we stopped to have a snack and let the dads rest their shoulders.   Looking back, I’m realizing that it was less of a hike and more of a leisurely stroll in the woods, but that suits me just fine.

Jules and Wes were happy little troopers, babbling back and forth along the trail.

Thanks, Jon, for the group pic!

On Saturday we met up with Rust clan in West Seattle for an impromptu picnic at Camp Long.  We spread out a blanket on the grass and the guys tossed the frisbee around while Nance and I kicked off our shoes and caught up with one another.  This was my best attempt at corralling the troops for a photo (that’s Isaiah lurking in the distance – the kid is decidedly not a fan of the camera!).

Juliette was extra-friendly that day and was so content to snuggle with Jason and Nance.

I love this picture – Shane hanging out kind of awkwardly in the back, Gryff’s super-angelic expression, and Juliette’s apparent confusion – “Wait…you’re not my family…”

Yesterday was perfect lakeside weather, so the three of us crossed I-90 and staked out a spot on the lawn at Newport Beach Park in Bellevue.  Juliette and I chowed down on strawberries and then went down to the beach to squish the sand between our toes.  Summer’s in the air, folks!

And then there are our tried-and-true favorites:  Jefferson, Seward, and, most recently, Dearborn Park.  This sweet little park is a 10-minute walk from our house – there’s always a swing available and the wide-open lawn is perfect for whiling away that hour before bedtime.

I know, there are no hand-crafted cocktails to be had at Dearborn Park, no creme brulee on the menu at Cougar Mountain.  But hey, we’re still gettin’ out.  And it’s pretty spectacular.

Someone get my girl a cap and gown – she (and I) have made it through her second full month at daycare!  Though I miss being at home with Jules seven days a week, we have settled into our new normal, with its share of ups and downs.

The downs:

Holy germs, batman!  In her first month at daycare, Juliette came down with three colds, one stomach bug, and one nasty ear infection.  You know those commercials where cold and flu germs are played by the green blobby guys with scary bulbous eyes?  Those guys flash before my eyes every time I set Juliette down on her classroom floor in the morning.  It’s not that her classroom is unclean, per se, it’s just that she and her eight little buddies are all in that phase where they explore the world with their mouths, leaving a trail of saliva in their wake as they make their way from one pile of toys to the next.  One kid catches a cold, all kids catch a cold.  I’m clinging to the hope that exposing her to these bugs now will build up her immunity in the long term, so this snot isn’t all for naught.

Giving Juliette my undivided attention is harder than it used to be.  I work Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday and try to leave the office as close to 5:00 as possible on those days so that I can spend a couple of hours with Jules before bedtime.  These limited hours in the office limit the amount of stuff I can accomplish, which means I bring work home with me, firing up the laptop after Jules goes to bed or during her naps on my days “off”.  Boundary-setting is an ongoing battle – even on the weeks I manage to stick to the 30 hours of work I’ve committed to, I still feel like I’ve spent an additional 10-12 hours thinking about work as that nagging to-do list whirls through my head.  “Just put it away” has become my 5:00 mantra.

And dang it, I’m tired these days.  It feels like we’re go-go-going from 6 am on Monday till 8 pm on Wednesday – most Wednesday nights I crash out on the couch around 8:30, totally spent by the baby-work-baby-work cycle.

But it’s not all sickness and stress and fatigue – I promise, there are upsides!

Like, Juliette is rocking the commute.  We were a little nervous about how she’d handle being shuttled back and forth on Lightrail every day, but she’s a champ on the train.  Most days she just hangs out in her stroller and is content to watch people get on and off.  Some days I can’t resist the urge to hold her, so she sits on my lap and we read a book or have a good chat on the way in.  So proud of our urban baby!

The smile on her face when I go visit her at lunch or pick her up at the end of the day is enough to nearly make my heart explode.  I often head over to daycare around noon to hang out for a bit or take her out for a walk along the waterfront – I peek into her classroom and usually find her contentedly hanging out in the bouncer or passing a slobbery toy back and forth with one of her friends.  Then she looks up and sees me and starts excitedly flapping her arms until I scoop her up, at which point she buries her face in my chest, pulls her head back to flash me her best two-toothed grin, and nuzzles me once more.  In those moments, I feel so exceedingly special – I know she enjoys her teachers and the other kids and that bucket full of plastic cars, but I’m mama.  Those extra-bright smiles and extra-close cuddles are mine and mine alone.

Thursdays!  Ohhhh, I love Thursdays, when I get to cuddle with Jules for as long as she’ll let me in the morning, then take her to the bakery for yogurt (hers) and a latte (mine).  Time with her feels like such a treat after three days apart.  We go for long walks and hang out at the park and I try my damnedest not to think about my to-do list and live fully into my most important job.  My favorite job, loving this girl.

I still occasionally wonder if we’re doing the right thing, if our family would be better off if I had decided to stay home with Juliette.  It’s really, really hard, being the architect and the mom and the wife I want to be.  But I like the way all those hats look on me, even stacked a little precariously one on top of the other.  So we’ll just keep swimming.  And savoring those moments when we come up for air and pat ourselves on the back for making it work.

Shane and I tag-teamed baby duty all weekend, so Memorial Day was officially designated a family fun day – the Schnells were pumped and ready to take Seattle by storm.  Admittedly, we were not so pumped about being up at 6 am and spent the morning seeing how long we could get Jules to just hang out in bed with us, but after breakfast, a little play time, a morning nap, and our usual getting-out-of-the-house rigamarole, we were off!  We landed at Kubota Gardens with the Chens for a picnic lunch on the lawn.

Seeing these two munchkins together makes me so deliriously happy.  I wish I had a photo of the gymnastics Shane and Jack were doing behind me to get Nico and Jules to synchronize their smiles!

After lunch, we took an easy stroll through the park, pausing for a couple of family photo ops.  I’ve only been to Kubota during the fall, so it was fun to see it in all it’s lush springtime glory.

We headed home around 2:00 and conked out – all of us.  I love family naptime!  Jules logged a solid two hours of z’s and seemed ready for another go when she woke up, so we got back in the car and drove over to Seward Park for an evening walk.  This girl really, really loves being outside.  And I love showing her this incredible place we live in.

Jules dined on peas and strawberries while enjoying last of the day’s rays, and then it was time to head home for bath, books, and bed.  The day had been busy in the mellowest way possible, and we enjoyed the satisfied sense of restfulness that comes with feeling like you’ve done a lot and done nothing at all.  Mondays don’t get much better than this, huh baby?

Our little mop top hit eight months on Wednesday!  It’s been a big month of small-but-sweet pleasures – giggles, lunch dates, new flavors and faces.  I don’t know if it’s the sunshine or the sweet potatoes or the long afternoon naps, but Juliette is growing even faster than the dandelions that have suddenly sprung up all over our yard!  Her toes are already scrunched in her 12-month footy pajamas, and there are days that I pick her up and have to check her pockets for rocks because she feels so much heavier than she did just hours before.  I’m thrilled to see her thriving, but dang it, the changes just come soooo fast.  Too fast sometimes.  So I’m still squeezing her into a couple of my favorite 6-month onesies, and I can’t bear to part with this duck towel that we’ve been wrapping around her since her very first bath.

“Wait – you’re putting these pictures on the internet?!”

We gave Jules her first “swimming lesson” a couple of weeks ago – there’s a great new pool a couple of miles from our house with a dedicated children’s area and we went for a family dip on a rainy Saturday.  She was a little bewildered by the whole thing, not knowing what to make of all the splish-splashing kids around her, and she clung pretty tightly to Shane and I as we cruised through the water.

But the trip was totally worth it, just to see her strut her stuff in her swimsuit!  Oh, Jules – you are too much.

She’s more and more easily amused these days, gracing us with her giggles during post-bath “armpit nom-noms”.

Daddy is still hilarious.  And a little scary, no?

She’s become a pretty great date, and we often head out for family lunches on Shane’s Fridays off and bakery runs on Saturday mornings.  The fact that she can sit in a high chair rather than my lap is pretty huge – I no longer have to spend the entire meal trying to rescue my food from the grip of our grabby girl!  (Those chips and guac are for me, not her!)

Her stellar sitting skills also come in handy at the grocery store, as she’s now able to hang out in the shopping cart – this has revolutionized the way we do Costco!  Plus, she holds my wallet for me.  So helpful, that girl…  (I think this is her “how could you possibly need another photo of me?!” face.)

We’re adding new foods to her menu each week – she loves mangos and berries and scrambled egg yolks.  Yogurt, not so much…

Peas are usually a hit, but yesterday she protested for some reason.  This squishy face gets me every time – ok, baby, pears it is, then!

The expressions on this girl!  Kills me.

Her hair is becoming more and more red and increasingly unruly.  There are some mornings that we can’t help but laugh when we lift her from her crib, as she bears a striking resemblance to drunk Nick Nolte.

Juliette’s teacher at daycare is quite the baby hair stylist – seems Jules is always sporting some kind of new ‘do when we pick her up in the evenings.  Baby buns, tri-pony’s – anything to tame those wispy locks.

And those blue eyes!  The red hair is from the Schnell side of the family, but we’re still stumped on where she got her blue-gray gaze.

We’ve had some pretty incredible weather this month – sunshine and barefoot temps and long hours of daylight.  So we hit the parks hard, as swing sessions and games of airplane are guaranteed smile-makers.

Seriously, girl loves her swings…

This stuck-out bottom lip has become part of her trademark facial expression.

I know, so many photos…

Doesn’t she look like she’s striking a pose for a school photo here?  Turn a little more, tilt your head a bit, smiiiiile…

Happy eight months, baby!  Looking forward to seeing what you’ve got in store for us next month.  Crawling, more new faces, maybe sleeping through the night…?

Happy Mother’s Day!  I spoke to my mom and my grandma on the phone today and longed to be with them so we could share coffee and memories and prayers – I’m blessed to come from a line of bold, faithful, nurturing women.  Virtual hugs were exchanged with Shane’s parents tonight via Facetime and I was reminded of my mother-in-law’s incredible warm-heartedness as she cooed and laughed with Juliette.  The moms in my life have given me so much to live up to.

This is the first year I’m part of the celebrated demographic, and as I read my Facebook well-wishes and ate my French toast and snuggled with Jules, my head reeled with the still-sinking-in reality that I’m a mom.  After all those childhood years I spent changing diapers on my Betsy Wetsy doll, after all those adolescent prayers for my future husband and children (no joke!), after our long and difficult period of infertility, I’m now mama.

I’ve wondered if I have the drive or the skill set to be an architect; I’ve questioned if I’m creative enough to be an artist; I’ve wandered down dimly lit paths of self-doubt as I asked myself what I could or should or want to be.  But from the moment Juliette was placed in my arms, motherhood felt so wonderfully right on me.  Even in the midst of utter exhaustion, heart-wrenching worry, complete vulnerability, I’ve found some of the deepest, truest joy I’ve ever known – loving and caring for that little girl is my best, most fulfilling work.  Even the small stuff buoys me with pride and satisfaction – a fridge well-stocked with freshly puréed baby food, a rocking session and perfect arms-to-crib transfer after an inexplicable fit of 3 am wailing, a blow-out of a diaper after three days of coaxing our constipated baby to please just push it out. Plus the chest nuzzles and the two-toothed smiles and the exciting moments when something new is learned or discovered – this gig is good. I could do without the mountains of sweet-potato-smeared laundry, but other than that, I’m livin’ the dream.

And today was extra-dreamy: a sleep-in and homemade breakfast courtesy of Shane; an afternoon filled with sun, swings, baseball and boba; post-bath giggles as I kissed Juliette’s squishy thighs…I don’t know that Happy Mother’s Day even captures it.