Chris and Sonja - The Sweet Seattle Life

Miss Josie and Her Most Ardent Admirer

2013-05-18T14:00:00.003-07:00

My Dears,

Have I told you that Ben has a huge crush on one of his little buddies?

It’s this sweet girl:

We were in birth class with her parents back in December 2010 and we are lucky to count them as friends through the birth and babyhood of our children.

Last weekend we had a little reunion brunch and all three of the toddler boys kept inquiring as to when Little Miss Josie was going to arrive. She clearly has a retinue of groupies.

Ben is completely and utterly smitten.

He is constantly asking: “When are we going to see Josie and her mama?!"

"Let me show you how much I love you. I’ll give you this grubby rock."

"And look deep into your eyes"

Oops. He scared her off. Too much soulful staring, Ben.

"Let’s do polar bear kisses instead."

And ring around the rosie.

Hard to go wrong with a beautiful day, the Aboretum, bridges to clime, and ducks to chase. It’s like toddler heaven.

It was so much fun to photograph this little gal. She has a quiet, arresting gaze that just grabs the camera. The one on the right she insisted that we take especially for her daddy.

Cute story: Right after this she looked up into the sky, spotted a plane, and said: “Oh, there’s a seven eight seven!” As a fellow daughter of a Boeing engineer (whose dad frequently does this same thing), I thought it was hilarious. This gal is a quick study.

And one of my most favorites: A sweet girl and her loving mama.

xo,

Sonja

Mother's Day

2013-05-16T09:45:00.001-07:00

My Dears,

I hope you had an awesome weekend. I woke up on Sunday to hot croissants and a sweet card. Then it was off to Lord Hill Regional Park for a little hike.

It was a little buggy, which is not completely unexpected for this time of year.

Ben is enthralled by all things creepy, crawly, slimy and sticky. We kept him walking down the trail with new exclamations: "oh Ben, look, another slug!" And lots of beef jerky.

The kid probably walked a mile, which is great, but it also made for a much longer hike, time-wise.

We were starving on the way home and decided that a burger and shake from Kidd Valley was definitely in order. Three guesses as to the Jernström that drank the most shake!

Then it was home for nap time (everyone) and a dinner that night with my parents. My mom brought a great dessert: chocolate fondue with skewers of strawberries and mangoes. Simple yet so delicious! Definitely adding it to my repertoire, especially for big group dinners.

xo,

Sonja

Seattle in the Springtime

2013-05-15T17:19:00.001-07:00

Spring in Seattle can be lovely or awful, depending on the year. As Mark Twain once remarked:

"In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours."

This particular year?

GORGEOUS.

Benisms Vol. 837

2013-05-15T14:05:00.003-07:00

Ben was going crazy: jumping around the room, singing at top volume, clapping, launching himself off the end of the couch.

Pure mayhem.

I asked him to pipe down just a bit as we were getting close to bedtime and a general wind-down period is always a good thing.

Magically, he complied.

He’s been in a sweet mood lately: lots of hugs, kisses, “love yous," etc.

He came over to the couch and stared intently into my eyes from about three inches away. He leans in close to my ear. “Aww” I thought, “He going to tell me how much he loves me”.

He whispers horsely : “Mama....[I] need chocolate chips”.

-scene-

xo,

Sonja

Baby Talk: Nursing Adventures

2013-05-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

Warning Peeps: Breast Discussions Ahead. Consider yourself warned.

Well, my dears, we are done with nursing. The ~~baby~~ toddler is weaned.

It’s been almost two months since the kiddo ceased nursing and the first four weeks were much harder than anticipated, mostly because Ben was awfully fond of our morning ritual. He asked for ‘mama’s milk’ constantly, and even does, still, when he’s feeling particularly glum.

We nursed regularly for the first sixteen months of Ben’s life and then cut back substantially to once-a-day after that. It was our little routine: Ben would trundle into my room after rising and he’d nurse for a bit as I did my best to drag myself awake and greet the day.

I tell people that the only reason we nursed so long was due to pure laziness on my part, not because of any die hard nursing philosophy. But eventually I decided it was time to reclaim my body - Ben was also getting vocally demanding and having a kid holler across the room: "Momma’s Milk, NOW, Mommy", isn’t very endearing. At least I didn’t think so.

But it was the changing of the routine for both of us that was unexpectantly difficult. It was our morning thing and Ben had a hard time figuring out why the order of events had suddenly changed.

There are times when I miss our routine: when he’s still sleepy and cuddly and asks oh-so-sweetly for milk. And when I tuck him in at night and I can’t believe this little boy has grown into a giant toddler, when just yesterday he was a squalling infant, begging for more milk. But time marches on and we’re ready for new phases.

As for Ben, he has a new favorite food: Chocolate ice cream. Nothing can top that.

xo,

Sonja

Projects: Little Lunchbox

2013-05-09T16:49:00.005-07:00

Ben’s sturdy lunchbox got a little makeover this week.

We started with avocado green (which was looking pretty tired):

I sprayed the top and ends dark blue and then stuck some stickers on the front like so:

Then ends (already painted dark blue) got the fancy tape treatment (as did the handle):

Then the whole thing go sprayed with four coats of baby blue (over the top of the stickers):

Peeling off the stickers took all of two minutes and we were left with the nice dark blue letters. Here is the finished product:

It probably needs a final clear coat to prevent the letters from getting too beat up. It’s rough being a toddler’s lunch box.

We also did the sticker treatment on the back with our phone number as both Ben and I have a tendency to misplace our possessions.

xo,

Sonja

Baby Quilt

2013-05-08T13:33:00.001-07:00

I am determined to someday make a quilt for the Toddler. Unfortunately, I’ve been wanting to attempt this project since before he was born (more than two years ago). Thus, at my pace, he’ll probably be a teenager by the time I’m finished. Perhaps I should skip right to a full-size pattern.

My friend Megan noticed that I’ve been pinning quilt ideas on Pinterest and thoughtfully brought over her copy of Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson.

Inside was a tutorial for a sweet little baby quilt. It’s technically not a whole lot of quilting - there is no patching involved, for example, but it was a good place to start as I thought it was a good fit for my ability level. So off I trundled to the store to pick up some supplies.

And this is what I ended up with:

A sweet little flower print on the top and a soft blue flannel for the underside.

Sweet, but not obnoxiously baby-ish, right?

This quit is a little different from a traditional quilt in that a zigzag stitch on the sewing machine is used intermittently throughout the quilt to hold everything together. It makes it a bit softer and flexible, almost. I used a lime green thread which adds a wee bit of pizzaz. (see photo below).

We have a quilt that belonged to my grandmother and while it’s quite beautiful, it has so many stitches running across the surface that it’s almost stiff. And segmented. You know what I mean? Not quite sure how to get around that, other than to limit the rows of stitches, as much as the batting allows.

Funny story about my grandma’s quilt: when she passed away, my mom offered it to me. It’s a great quilt and I thought perhaps she’d made it herself. I went home: “Look Chris! I have my Nana’s homemade quilt!!” . I kept up thinking that right up until I went to wash it and noticed a tag by the maker ~~herself~~ himself: L. L. Bean.

Right. Not homemade.

This has been a fun little sewing project and I’m looking forward to attempting Ben’s quilt. I’m going to use a hodgepodge of saved-up material so hopefully I won’t have to buy much besides the batting and backing fabric. Be sure to check out my friend Amanda’s Newbie Quilt-Along tutorial - I found it to be exceptionally helpful when looking for supplies and learning quilting techniques.

xo,

Sonja

House Projects - half bath

2013-05-06T15:31:00.001-07:00

I'm plugging away at our main floor bathroom remodel. It's going slowly but I suppose that's what happens when working around a toddler. It's also directly below his room and tearing out tile isn't exactly a quiet process.

The trim tile is gone, the upper walls are painted, and I'm currently teaching myself the fine art of skim coating a wall. So far it's been a good workout: my arms ache from the sanding. I'm guessing professional drywallers don't sand nearly as much but given that this is my first time, I suppose that is to be expected.

I also had a few big holes to patch behind the toilet so that slowed me down a bit today too.

Hopefully later this week I'll be done with the plaster and move on to tacking up the fancy trim and caulking the whole thing. It would also be nice to have the toilet and sink back in too as we're hosting a shindig on Saturday. Guests appreciate bathrooms.

And here is another shot of our (former) miserable excuse for pipes. Now that is corrosion. Guessing the hole is about the size of a pin head.

xo

Sonja

Blog Silence

2013-05-03T14:42:00.003-07:00

Well My Dears,

You can probably tell by the content-light and child photo-heavy blog posts that I've been in a bit of a slump of late.

I have lots to report on the house: bathroom painting/patching, tiling, and basement walls but I find myself lacking the time to take the pictures and write the posts. Such is life, right? Here is a sneak peek of our basement shower. [I wish I could claim credit for this but we ended up hiring a tile guy]. It’s a really tricky space (more on this later) and so far we’ve been really pleased with how well it’s going. Next up: (more) electrical and then drywall. Hooray.

We also finally got some patio furniture. We have a giant deck and it was time to take advantage of the space. So I’m hoping for a very sunny summer.

The other night we went to dinner at a fabulous vietnamese restaurant in the international district: The Tamarind Tree. Have you been there? It’s buried in a crappy strip mall but the food was amazing. My favorite were the tamarind tree rolls. Plus it was kid friendly.

In other news, on Tuesday we went down to Benaroya Hall to see a lecture (part of the National Geographic Live series). This particular event featured photographer Tim Laman and ornithologist Ed Scholes and was titled: Birds of Paradise: Extreme, bizarre, extraordinary. It was fabulous. My parents actually bumped into these two when they were in Papua New Guinea last year wrapping up their research.

Photo: Tim Laman

This is the second lecture we’ve attended as part of the series (last year it was a presentation given by an extreme wilderness photographer) and they’ve both been phenomonal. Nat Geo doesn’t disappoint. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a little lecture that will have you dreaming of global adventures.

Hope you have a great weekend. We’re heading down to the Montlake Cut for Opening Day crew races, going to a wedding, and doing a little bbq - gotta make the most of that new deck furniture!

Here is a nice article on the current Men’s UW Crew Coach. And another about the origins of the Windermere Cup, started in 1987 with a visit from the Russian National Team.

xo,

Sonja

Benisms Vol. 386

2013-05-02T08:38:00.001-07:00

Ben walks into my bedroom after waking up. He sticks out his hand and says: "Nice to meet you, Mama".

---

Later, at breakfast: "Ben toot"
Sonja:"oh, you're tooting, eh?"
Ben:"yes, Ben tooting"

Always best to use the third person when discussing delicate personal matters.

---

Ben had his first picture day at our co-op preschool a few weeks ago. Probably about time to stop calling him my 'wee little babe'...

One of those kind of weeks

2013-04-29T18:59:00.001-07:00

My most common refrain today was: "no Ben, you may NOT ride poor Bailey like a horse"

The response from my little son?

YEEHAW, MAMA! Giddy up, giddy up let's GO!

Benisms. Vol. 238

2013-04-27T08:52:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest:

Benism #1:

Ben stubs his finger against a toy while we’re driving in the car.

Ben:”Mama, ouchie!”
Me: “Oh, sweetie, did you hurt your finger? I’ll kiss it when we get home”
Ben:”No." He turns to Bailey who is sitting next to him on the seat. "Bailey, kiss my finger. [and in a super deep voice] NOW!!”

Benism #2

We’re just about to sit down to breakfast:

Me: “Chris, what would you like to drink?”
Chris: “milk, please”
Ben: “No wine, daddy. No wine.”

And scene.

xo

Sonja

Picnic Time

2013-04-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

Sun is Seattle!! Whoohoo. I’m like a fickle Mariners fan: I love this town when its sunny and hate it when its grey.

Yesterday was gorgeous.

Ben woke up from his nap and we headed out for a little fiesta on the lawn.

Dang, Mama? What did you pack in here?

It was our first time using the basket that Ben got for his birthday in January. It’s from Alex Toys.

It’s a good size for a little tyke.

And it’s hard to go wrong with salmon mousse, fruit, and cookies.

Cheers!

Ben was feeling magnanimous: “One cookie for you Bailey”.

But you have to wait for it.

OK! Eat!

It wouldn’t be a picnic without ants, right? We’re always game for a little biology lesson.

xo,

Sonja

Weekend Activities

2013-04-22T14:49:00.001-07:00

My Dears!

I hope you had a great weekend. The big thing around here is that Chris and his dad did a major remodel on our heating ducts in the basement.

Long boxes that used to hang down from the ceiling are now nicely tucked into the rafters.

Chris worked at a sheet metal shop back in high school and college and this was a good chance for him to put some old skills to work.

A few low-hanging bits were unavoidable but they are now much, much more space efficient.

We are one step closer to having a finished basement. THANK YOU Bob!

In other news, I painted the walls in our downstairs bathroom and purchased my lower wall supplies. Eh. It’s looking a bit dark here. I’m a little worried about the color - I love it in our bedroom but maybe it’s too dark for a skinny bathroom? I’ve got some really bright artwork planned so hopefully that’ll liven it up a bit.

Ben practiced his climbing..

And we went wedding dress shopping with my sister-in-law and bride-to-be Megan, my other sister-in-law Alex, and my mother-in-law Cherie. OH. It was so much fun. Brings back lots of happy memories of wedding activities. No shots of potential dresses though, that’ll have to wait until September. :)

Sonja

House Update

2013-04-20T15:01:00.001-07:00

I apologize that the blog has been a bit toddler-heavy of late. I haven't been very good about in-progress house photos.

Here is a quick shot of the boys removing the low-hanging ducting in the basement.

Next up: bathroom walls!

Welcome to our home. Meet our monkey.

2013-04-20T09:36:00.001-07:00

Recently we've had to do a second round of baby proofing in the house. Or I suppose it's toddler proofing. And this time it isn't to save Ben from himself but to save everything else from Ben. He can open three types of doors (including exterior doors), can climb baby gates, turn on faucets, knows how to plug stuff into baby-proof outlets, and can reach just about anything by shoving a chair across the floor and then climbing atop it.

The kid is a mischievous monkey.

Which is good and... exhausting.

Sometimes we creat a giant mess in the house just so I can say 'yes' every once and a while.

Ben's latest trick is that he'll tell me 'bye bye', in the hopes that I'll leave the room and he can get into a bit of mischief. It's quite calculated, really. As in 'bye bye mama, you should leave so I can get into the cupboard and dump all the pancake mix on the floor'.

A little tip: If I were you, stick with honey in your tea the next time you visit us. I'm still picking quinoa out of the sugar.

Benisms: vol. 256

2013-04-19T08:42:00.001-07:00

Sonja:"Ben, would you like honey on your yogurt and blueberries?"
Ben:"sure"
Ben:" oh honey, I missed you"

April 15

2013-04-15T21:48:00.001-07:00

Oh my dears. It is days like today that make me hug this sweet boy close and remind me to be grateful for my little family.

Our thoughts, tonight, are for those in Boston.

Bits and Pieces of the Internet

2013-04-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

We have family coming into town today and everyone is very excited, including one eager little boy.

A great blue heron made the most of our neighbor’s vacation last week by cleaning out their fish pond. Not sure how to break it to Ben that his beloved piscine friends are no longer of this world. Perhaps we’ll temporarily suspend visits until a quick restocking occurs.

Here are few things from around the Web-O-Sphere this week:

I was telling Chris about this video a few days ago and decided that you might find it interesting as well: What 2,000 calories looks like.

Around the world: What children’s toys say about them (and their parents).

Paul Allen and Bill Gates - 33 years later. [It’s crazy that those cutting edge computers are now part of a historical exhibit]

I can’t put my finger on it, but I really enjoyed this article about US Soccer star Megan Rapinoe.

I would definitely go to church if it looked like this. Or I lived there.

5 Places Where Breastfeeding is Certainly Inappropriate. (Thanks Rebecca!) This is awesome. Interestingly enough for me, I never had anyone tell me that nursing in public wasn’t proper. It did, however, take me a good long while to be comfortable with it. I had an awful experience in Costco (one of my first excursions out after the bambino was born) where I ended up sitting on Ben’s infant seat in a jumbo toilet stall. After that I vowed to become braver - and make use of Costco’s display patio chairs instead! I also wasn’t brazen about public nursing - not because I wanted to hide what I was doing - but mostly because I didn't really want my private bits on display. A baby blanket tossed over the both of us seemed to work best for us.

Fly out of Orange Country (CA) much? If so, you are acquainted with their crazy take-off procedures. Well hold onto your seat peeps, ‘cause they might get even squirrely-er. Thank you, Newport Beach.

Oh Anthony Weiner. I was kind of hoping you’d just fade away. Your not-so-sexy twitter stunt wasn’t the most egregious in the long line of politician mess-ups but it was one of the dumber ones [John Edwards and Idaho’s Larry Craig still top the list]. To hear you’re contemplating a political come-back doesn’t exactly having me jumping for joy. But after reading this article, I wasn’t totally against it, either. Frankly, you should persuade your wife to run for office. She sounds like an interesting, sharp gal and I’m much rather vote for her than you. [This would require, of course, that I move to NYC. As a Seattle resident, I’m not exactly in their precinct].

This is one of my favorite parenting blogs. She is an amazing writer and I have been reduced to tears after reading more than one of her essays. Here is her latest (non-tear jerker): how to joyfully and gracefully respond to hate mail. On a side note: My major beef with the internet is that it’s too damn anonymous. If you’re going to spew vile hate-filled vitriol, at least have the cajones to attach your name to it.

And last but not least:

Amazon and their awesome product reviews. This one is almost as good as the banana slicer.

Oh, and here is the official quote of the day: “A party without cake is really just a meeting” - Julia Child {here are 99 more JC quotes}

Amen.

xo,

Sonja

Benisms O’ the Day

2013-04-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

Ben: “ 'Sup, Mama”
Sonja: “Did you just say: ‘What’s up, Mama’?”
Ben: “Yup”

--

Ben [talking to Chris on speaker phone]: “Daddy in car”
Chris: “Yes, I’m in the car and coming home to see you!”
Ben: “[don’t forget to get] the mail”
Chris: “Uh, ok, I’ll get the mail”
Ben: “Yes”

--
And my favorite:
Ben (upon climbing into bed with me in the morning): "missed you, mommy"

On a different note, is anybody else sick of eating hard boiled easter eggs? I am DONE with egg salad sandwiches.

xo,

Sonja

That 70's Show

2013-04-08T14:13:00.001-07:00

It may have been a sweet look back then but the acid washed jeans and primary stripes are looking a bit dated. Time to get the kid some new clothes.

From the Blog-O-Sphere

2013-04-05T08:49:00.001-07:00

First up, Spring is HERE! I’m officially calling it. That means asparagus, blue skies (um. Seattle? did you forget? We’re supposed to be on blue sky weather from here on out), and planting in the garden! Ben is assisting my mom with some pea distribution.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy are you? [10 being the most happy you could possibly be]. Are you consistently happy or do you roller coaster all over the place?

We just watched the documentary Happy and really enjoyed it. It made us happy [ok, not really but it was a good show]

Welcome to the Americas, little fish. Err, I suppose that would be “Amerika e yokoso!” [in japanese].

Back off, helicopter parent. [Don’t cramp your toddler’s style].

The Scale of the Universe. Start big and then scroll to tiny.

Ben has been really good at peeing in the toilet this week. His only problem? He usually forgets to pull his underwear down first. Um... half a win?

xo,

Sonja

Benisms, vol. 458

2013-04-04T16:55:00.001-07:00

These come in fits and starts, evidently.

Ben (as I swipe a peanut-butter covered apple slice from his plate: "Argh!!! MINE."(Mad).
Sonja:"but Bubba, you weren't going to eat it"
Ben:"MINE."
Sonja:"ok, you can have it back" (returns apple to plate). "Can I have another one?"
Ben:"No."

A little while later, Ben hands me my apple slice back. Except all the peanut butter has been licked off. "Here mama!"

Gee thanks.

The Latest Benism

2013-04-04T10:20:00.003-07:00

And the potty humor continues [probably for the next decade, at least]...

On the phone with his grandma:

Ben: “Two chocolate chips!!!”
My Mom: “Two chocolate chips? Why did you get two chocolate chips?”
Ben: “Poop in potty!!!”
My Mom: “Oh, good job!”
Ben: “BIIIIIG, BIG POOP”

Right. Welcome to life with a two-year old.

xo,

Sonja

Zoo

2013-04-03T08:18:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a zoo day. Unfortunately we forgot that hordes of folk are on Spring Break. Thus, the zoo was a zoo.

But we got in some good face time with the gorillas and snakes (a rather odd pairing, if you ask me, but they're Ben's big favorites) and saw the hugely athletic and bouncy lion cubs. They're in the gangly adolescent stage.

Overall, a nice time and looking forward to summer visits.

xo,

Sonja