Shield down, tent up.

Does she deserve the nickname "Gumdrop head"?

Home life with Fiona is incredible and tiny daily moments fill up each day; our fascination is evidenced by the films below of a) maybe batting something intentionally (votes welcomed) and b) spitting up.  Some might call these "boring".  We think they're awesome.  

 But we gotta take care of the adults too because she deserves sane, happy parents and Elliott and I are grown up kids whose tiny daily moments need celebration and happiness needs pursuit. 

SO: we have been seeing friends and getting outside a lot lately despite the heat wave.  

Here's Fiona experiencing her first toe-in-pool moment at James, Mary, Marlowe, and Delphine's house Friday evening.   

Here's the beginning of a 3-day stint of mostly nursing outside.  

This is the only time we did so with chickens. 

The string of outdoor meals continued throughout Saturday with a sweaty stroller walk with me around Seward Park, a picnic in Volunteer Park with Megan, and a BBQ back at Seward with friends.  This is Lake Washington in the background as Elliott changes a diaper at Seward.  

Here are Fiona and her new friend, Tulah, daughter or our friends Jesse and Amy.  She's 2 months older and has an impressive vocabulary.  

But... we still felt like we couldn't watch any more Arrested Development (Emma sympathizes from Ithaca)

...and like we were all a little stir-crazy.  

So we hit the road Sunday morning (just barely "morning" since everything takes three time as long as it used to (... she pecked out with one hand...) especially dexterous things like filling water bladders and new planning tasks like envisioning outdoor sleeping outfits for 6-week-olds) bound out Route 90 for Beverly campground in the Teanaway River Valley.  We stopped in North Bend to get food and wipes and to feed in the lovely QFC parking lot.  

When the road turned dirt and the Ponderosa Pines appeared all was right with the world.  I suppose that's an over-simplification but it is a good feeling.  We found a campsite by the river (through our new eyes, seen first as white noise and second as beautiful nature) and Elliott set up shop while I nursed and sniffed my baby's head and the forest around us.  Happy, happy.  After a burp and a diaper change (below) we loaded her into the Ergo (with taco-like infant insert) and set off for some afternoon hiking.  The first trail was kind of a bust, too overgrown to continue more than a mile or so and scorching hot.  So we continued on down the road and found the De Roux trail, just past Camp Wahoo!!!!! which was teeming with 'tweens and horses.  

It was then that we realized the unthinkable had happened: we had forgotten the nipple shield.  Nothing else is critical.  As adults we could have foregone water for a few hot hours but she's 6 weeks old and we couldn't feed her.  I'd been trying to have her latch for weeks with no success and figured we'd keep trying periodically and she'd pick it up at 3 months or so.  We decided to find shade and try it au naturel and abandon the hiking plan if need be.  BUT, after an hour of wrestling (involving all three of us quite extensively) and repositioning and wondering if I was simply torturing but not helping her we managed to string together a decent feed and at least two us (the tall ones) felt hugely gratified.  

"I'm not so sure of this plan, guys."

A rare moment of still limbs.

We're doing it!

Not a bad place to wrestle an infant, eh?

A fun burp series:

The trail, itself, had nobody on it, and it was a beautiful single track trail with scattered horse poo and traces of mountain bike wheels, which got me super excited that I'm unpregnant with incision healed and ready to grease up the ol' bike.  We made it nowhere close to Gallagher Lake at the end of the trail but this all seemed like serious success just to get out into the woods all together.  It was hot enough, especially in the Ergo taco, that we kept spitting sips of water on Fiona's head to cool her.  She seemed oblivious to the discomfort we assigned to her, though, so I think it wasn't traumatic.  Ahh, new parents... 

"Having fun, Fiona?!"

"Hmmph." 

Back at the ranch we bundled her into a onesie, a swaddle, and a hugely large fleece sleep sack and put her down in the tent.  After a little snuggling and talking over how cozy and safe she was, she drifted off, we ate soup and had a beer, and then had a pretty normal night of sleep (2 feeds).  

The cuteness floors me.

Little Agnes and Big Agnes in Nemo!

We left at 6 the next morning to get me back for my 6-week post-partum doctor's visit, stopping once to nurse in Issaquah.  What a trooper!  Super-baby, indeed.  

Next weekend we'll spend 2 nights out at our friends' yurt and experiment with the baby monitor as tent-cam.  

For now, there's a squeaking baby in my sling who needs Elevenses.

xoxo, liz