Away we go...

Since Jost hasn't had a chance to visit my hometown of Seattle, we decided to fly up for a long weekend to kick it with Papa J (my dad), Nonny (my mom), my sis, my bro-in-law, and the "little bun" (my sis is pregnant, due in November). Jost is a pretty seasoned traveler, so our short flight from Oakland to Seattle was a breeze for him. I am sure part of this is because we ALWAYS buy him his own seat. We would feel bad for anyone who had to sit next to us with Jost on our lap writhing around like a snake on crack. Undoubtedly anyone with the misfortune to sit in our row would have snack shrapnel, excess milk and/or drool on them by the time the plane landed. So, we feel that it is imperative to all of the people on the plane who may potentially sit next to us to just sack up and buy the ticket to maintain order and peace on any plane we fly.

Seattle is not exactly known for its great weather. Last year we went up there around the same time as this trip and thought we were in a time warp when we got off the plane. We had left the Bay Area where it was sunny and 80 degrees, then got to Seattle where it was sleeting (this may be a slight exaggeration) and 50. This trip, however, the weather has been much more cooperative. I forget how breath-taking the Pacific Northwest is when it's nice out. This is why when people visit during good weather they feel compelled to move here - it's like they are drunk off of the beauty of everything. Then, fast forward to November, December, January, February, March and most of April and you can see why Seattle has such a high suicide rate. 

Anyways, we are having fun up here. Jost is probably having the most fun because he has no less than 4 adults watching his every move at all times. Jost burps and he gets attention "Oh my, someone has the hiccups". Jost farts and he gets attention "Ooops, someone is smelly. That is so funny" (insert grandparents laughing and picking Jost up and kissing him). I fart and my mom looks at me like I have lost my mind and says, "That is really inappropriate, Sarah". Jost better get in ALL of his best farts, hiccups, poop, and barf because in a couple more years no one is going to be clapping when he takes a massive dump on the floor - "Great job Jost, look at your pretty poop!! Whose the best baby in the whole world? Who is so smart?" (how smart do you really have to be to take a crap on the floor anyways?). I am thrilled my family loves my kid so much and he seems pretty thrilled with the attention. But, no one is so thrilled that they offer to change a diaper. I guess that's the best part of being a grandparent - all sunshine and happiness and no shit allowed. :)

Family Photos

A week ago we had family photos taken by the fabulous Jen Molander (if you live in the Bay Area I definitely recommend working with her). Below are some of our favorite proofs. Which one should we use as our 11x14 photo that we will get professionally framed??

Yogurt...

...all over Jost's arms, hair, eyes, cheeks, lips, teeth, eyelashes, hands, fingers, pajamas, and our dogs.

A glimpse into Jost's past life

Yesterday my dear friend Trisha emailed me a couple pictures that were taken of her daughter, Meron, when she was at the Kunkeet Orphanage in Addis Ababa. She thought the baby to the left of her daughter was Jost and she was right. I was so thrilled to get these pictures since we only have 3 pictures of Jost from before we adopted him. At the same time I was/am so sad. I feel like we missed out on his chubby, cute baby phase. I wish I could have held him and loved him and made him happy. This is compounded by the fact that the old orphanage he was at, Kunkeet, is being closed because of unethical practices and because a baby died there due to their negligence (this happened while we were in Addis, in fact). We have a fundraising video from our agency and I didn't realize it, but Jost is all over the video. I thought he was initially only in a 3 second clip, but he is featured many times (for those of you who have seen the video, he's the adorable baby in the white outfit). I am pleased to have more of Jost's past to be able to share with him. In fact I showed him these pictures and he pointed to himself in the picture and then pointed to his chest, as if he was saying, "That's me, Mama!". He also pointed to Meron which makes me think maybe they were pals. It's all adorable and endearing and heartbreaking.

I wonder if Jost will be on "America's Best Dance Crew" or something...check it out!

a little dancing on sunday night after dinner

I did not prompt him to do this. Seriously!

Back from the land of Aloha and Don Ho

We got back from Hawaii on Sunday night. Since this was our first trip with Jost there was definitely a lot of trial and error involved. I will elaborate on the errors so other people don't make the same mistakes we did with their children. Here goes:

1. Do not book a flight that involves waking your child up at 5:45am. This makes your child grumpy, which makes his parents grumpy, which makes the day LOOOONG and exhausting.

2. Do not forget to bring your diaper bag. Leaving it on the dining room table will do you no good when you are no longer in the continental US.

3. Buy milk at the grocery store when you are staying in a house with a lot of adults. Beer, wine and vodka are not appropriate beverages to serve a baby.

4. Make sure the crib your baby sleeps in does not face a full length mirror. This may cause your baby to laugh, scream and stare at themselves for 45 minutes when they should be taking a nap.

5. Do not ignore a big poop when you are driving from one side of Oahu to the other. If you wait to change the poop once you reach your destination your baby will have shit all over his legs, on his clean and expensive Pumas, on his mom and dad, and on the rented car seat. NOTE: salt water does not remove the smell of poop, so don't think dipping in it will help you.

6. Not all babies like the ocean or sand. If your baby does not like either, going on a beach vacation may not be the best choice. Go somewhere like the Grand Canyon or Missouri.

In all seriousness, Jost had a really fun time. He mostly hung out with his dad because I was doing wedding/bridesmaid stuff a lot. The picture in this post was taken by the lovely bride, Kiera, at Kailua beach only 200 yards from where Nick and I got married in 2003!