Kate is in the middle (actually, hopefully ending) of a really long nap. I'm not complaining, but we're going out once she wakes up, so I'm waiting, waiting...

This weekend ended up being just as much fun as I thought it would be. Brunch yesterday morning was so fun. We have four really cute kids! Jillian and Taylor are almost 9 months old, and the last time we saw them they were 5 1/2 months old - what a huge difference! It got Jay and I pretty excited about Kate being older. Watching Taylor wave and clap...Taylor is in the pink outfit, and Jillian has on green (and is super flexible!).

They have gotten so big - it's amazing. Tyler is still a total sweetheart - what a darling little boy. He was a little interested in the babies, but he's still a baby himself, really (almost 18 months old). Peek-a-boo was a lot of fun:

I was hoping to try for a photo of all 4 kids together, but timing of naps and brunch just didn't work out. I'm hopeful (although honestly doubtful) that the kids will be in the same place again before we move...

I added some pictures that Peter took of Kate to the photo album.

On Friday Claire and I were talking about knitting, and we were both saying how we haven't knit in awhile now and don't feel particularly inspired project-wise at the moment. We were discussing it because I found a long-lost $50 gift card to a yarn shop this week when I was cleaning out my desk. It was a fun discovery, but in my experience just buying yarn for an unknown project doesn't go very well. Anyway, Claire and I decided that what I should do is go indulge and beef up my supplies - needles, row counters, tip protectors, the works. That night I was thinking, wait a minute. Claire and I are going to be able to borrow each others things now without a second thought (the realization made me almost giddy) - does it really make a lot of sense to have a vast collection of my own? Yesterday on my way to the knitting seminar I realized that we hadn't even considered the possibility of buying pattern books or technique books - things that are much more expensive and unlikely to be bought. So, that's what I think I'm going to do - I may buy a few accessories, but I think books are a better option. And, those are things that Claire can really borrow, so I'll need to see what books she already has so that I don't duplicate. I had totally given up on ever finding this gift card - it disappeared shortly after I received in the summer of '05. Apparently in a fit of organization I filed it away and never could find it again..

So while I'm talking about knitting (it's been a long time, hasn't it?) - my stripes seminar yesterday was terrific! Not only did I learn how to knit in the ends when you change colors (I'll teach you Claire, and you can make that blanket again!) and how to carry yarn up the side, but I also found a pattern book that I really want. The best part was that the teacher spent the first 10 minutes talking about picking colors and showed us these great color resources, so I think I'm going to get myself one of those (probably not with the gift card as they're not really knitting-specific). Picking out a set of colors is so challenging - it's easy to pick colors that go together, but adding a color that 'pops' the whole thing is a real trick. I also figure that having a color wheel could be useful for future interior decorating...Anyway, the seminar was great. I came home totally excited to start up my knitting again. I still have to finish Molly's sweater, and I'm vowing to actually do that soon (in all my free time prepping to move nearly 3,000 miles).

I keep thinking of random things that happen in my life, and then I think - Claire could help me with that, or Claire has the stuff I need to do that, or I could ask Claire to babysit Kate while I did that, or (my favorite) Claire can help me shop for that. I cannot wait to be able to just hang out with my sister! We've never had that opportunity - before I left for college we were just kids, so that doesn't really count, and I moved to CA a month after my Cornell graduation and have been out west ever since. This is really going to be a whole new thing for us. Jay and I are thrilled to have the cousins grow up together, but for me the best part is being near Claire. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's getting out of the bag...We're moving to D.C.!!! (and I bet you thought I was going to write about Kate!) It's been killing me to not talk about this, but there were some people at work that Jay wanted to tell in person, so he asked Claire and I to hold off on discussing it. Talk about holding my tongue - it's been like last year when I didn't write about being pregnant early on!

So, how about them apples? We're really moving. And, not only are we moving, but we're moving at the end of May!!! HOLY CRAP! It's been a wild couple of weeks, let me tell you. You may have noticed before we went back east a few weeks ago that there was a campaign afoot (spearheaded by my darling sister) to have us move to the D.C. area. I had forewarned Jay about it, and we had very briefly discussed it before the trip. Now, this is a story that he'll never live down...On the plane to NY he said to me, I don't want to have to deal with 2 weeks of pressure from your family. Regardless of Microsoft, I need you to know that I'm 100% committed to Seattle. He was really peeved that there might be any pressure from my family, so I reassured him (Jay rarely gets peeved, so I knew it was serious). That was Monday afternoon. Claire and her family arrived Tuesday afternoon, and Wednesday morning he said, we need to move. As you can imagine, my jaw just dropped. We really hadn't seriously discussed the possibility, but he knew that I was all for it, and seeing the kids together just put him over the line. That sounds really rash, but we talked it through (and through, and through...) and he was certain. What fun!

So, since that conversation there have been a bazillion others. I'll spare you all of the back and forth, up and down, but suffice it to say that we decided to hightail it out of town, and Jay will continue to work for Microsoft. We wouldn't leave so soon but our lease is up on the house at the end of May, and we were already planning on moving to an apartment in Bellevue (to reduce Jay's commute) until the spring. So, once we had decided to move we figured - why rent somewhere else? Also, I'm really looking for my career to get off the ground, so just killing time in Seattle is totally unappealing to us.

It's been so chaotic around here for the last few weeks, mostly because the logistics of the move still aren't definite. There's a possibility that Microsoft is going to relocate us, and in that event life is really straightforward (moving van, cars get shipped, temporary housing). If that doesn't work out, then we need to pack and get across the country ourselves. In that event we'll use PODS for the move and drive...you can probably guess what we're hoping for!  

The D.C. metro area is pretty large, and commuting is an enormous consideration for choosing where to live. Claire (and her family, of course) is the reason that we're moving to that area, so we'd like to be somewhat close to her. We'll have to balance it all out, and it's really hard to figure all of that out when we don't know the area and we're thousands of miles away. The atlas has been open to Virginia for over a week now...

So, that's the news. Big, huh? We're really excited to move closer to all of our family (Jay's mom: 5 hour drive, my parents: 7 hour drive, Claire: <30 min drive!), and the more we talk about it the more excited we get. We're very sad to leave our Seattle friends - after all, we've been here almost 7 years - and we know that we'll make trips out to visit. As much as we love Seattle (and we really do), we love our families a whole lot more. YAY!!!

I've been meaning to write about Kate's diapers for, literally, months now. I just have never gotten around to it. So, let me start by saying that WE LOVE HER DIAPERS! Using cloth diapers has been one of the best decisions we made in getting ready for a baby. Man, they're great. I took a couple of pictures of her in them in December, at ~2 months old...

Man, that picture is funny! The diaper looks enormous on her...actually, I think I have a more recent one (you've probably seen it)...

So, let me explain these diapers. First, they have a velcro closure, so they're super-adjustable at the waist. The legs are elastic, so they also fit really well. The outside of the diaper is kind of a plasticky material, and is waterproof. The diaper itself is two pieces - an absorbent insert and the liner that touches Kate's cute tushy. This style is called a "pocket diaper." There are many pocket diapers on the market, but I particularly love ours. They're called Bum Genius! (by Cotton Babies). I like them because they are a "one size" diaper - that diaper that Kate had on at 8 weeks will be the same one that she'll wear until she's potty trained! The diaper has three rise settings so that the diaper can grow with her (Claire put one on Molly to verify that they fit 2 years olds). This makes these diapers a very economical choice! They are individually expensive ($18), but over the course of 2 years...not too shabby, huh?

The laundry issue has been a total non-issue. We have 20 diapers (too many, actually), and we do laundry every four days. It takes a couple of hours because they need to soak before the wash and then we give them an extra rinse after the wash. Really, though, it's so not an issue.

We love our diapers - they're so nice and soft for Kate, and it's SO nice to not be contributing to landfills! There is another popular pocket diaper, called Fuzzi Bunz, but they are sized so that you have to buy more as your baby outgrows them - for pretty much the exact same product, why not use the one size version? So, I have been spreading the word. Microsoft has employees that they call "evangelists" that are cheerleaders for products - I consider myself a Bum Genius! evangelist.  I always keep an extra one in my diaper bag in case someone wants to see it. I got my mom's support group interested, and two of them have started using them. At our childbirth class reunion I talked about them, and one of those babies is now in them. I've been proud of those conversions, but the best is yet to come!

About 6 weeks ago Kate and I bumped into Meghan and Owen at a local baby store. They carry traditional cloth diapers, and I had stopped in to buy a hemp insert for Kate to use overnight. So, I pulled out my diaper to check if the insert would fit. Meghan exclaimed to the salesperson - if you ever carry these, I'll buy them! She left the store, and the salesperson examined the diaper inside and out. She called her manager at home and told her all about them. I left, amused that the store was interested, and never thought about it again. After seeing Kate yesterday Meghan was reminded that she wanted to try these diapers. She called the store today, and they've started carrying them! The sales person told her that a customer had come in with them and had showed them to her - Meghan said, yeah, that was my friend Megan!  I love this!!!

Jay and I were just talking about how different our lives are because of these diapers. Why, you ask? Well, we've only have ONE poopy blow out diaper in the last 6 1/2 months! Just ask any disposable-using mom how much time she spends soaking and scrubbing clothes, and you'll be amazed. The whole idea of having back up outfits...it's never been an issue for us - except for when we traveled and used the stupid disposables!

Anyway, I  Kate's diapers!!!