the eelfang chronicles

Seth got baptized two weekends ago, on 1/23. Todd and I met with our priest, along with Hillary and Cory, Seth’s godparents, for three weeks prior to his baptism. We shared our hopes and dreams for Seth’s spiritual life, as well as our own, and the meaning of the sacrament of baptism. We started prepping Seth a few days in advance, talking about how Fr Steve would pour water over his head, and by the Saturday before the baptism was scheduled, he wanted to be baptized “right now!” The day of, lots of our family came, and Seth took the whole thing in stride. But then of course, the Sunday after, he wanted to be baptized again! “Pour…water…head! Oil…head!” He has also been wanting to read from his new Bible constantly, and reminds us to say grace at meals. Become like little children, indeed!

Hey, remember back in January, when we were writing up a multi-part blog extravaganza about Christmas and Seth’s birthday? And do you remember how we just kinda stopped in the middle of telling that story? Even though the MOST AWESOME part of the story hadn’t been recorded yet?

Yeah, we’re bad bloggers.

It’s been too long to try to recreate the day-by-day action, but here’s the important stuff.

• Aria and Ethan came up to visit! They stayed at our house for about a week. It was awesome having them up here, and the highlight of our holiday season.
• We had a small family birthday party for Seth! We’re still planning on making his half-birthday the day where we really celebrate him with friends and well-wishers, but for his first “true” birthday, we had to do something.
• Seth’s birthday cake was a harvest cake (zucchini, beets, and carrots) with a goat-cheese frosting. Because we are hippies, you see. It was delicious – even my squash-hating Dad enjoyed it.

Okay, now for the pictures!

Last Friday marked Todd’s and my five year anniversary! We celebrated on Saturday with a fatty breakfast (donuts, bacon, eggs, fruit, coffee), and a family walk. In the afternoon, Grandma and Papa V came down to take care of Seth so we could go out on a date. This was the first time Todd and I have spent outside the house by ourselves, without Seth, and not working. And oh! it felt so nice. We went to the Locks and watched a few boats get put through, and then window-shopped around downtown Ballard. Then we had a lovely dinner at La Carta de Oaxaca (actually, the food itself was a little hit or miss [their Mole Negro, though: major hit!], but a leisurely meal by ourselves for the first time in 9 1/2 months? Awwwwesome). After dinner, we came back home and the five of us went out for ice cream at Full Tilt. Such a nice day!

Here we are tying the knot:

And here’s our happy family, five years later:

Happy anniversary, Ddot!
I still do.
And I always will.

Seth took a tiny step today – after standing by himself with no help for a solid two minutes, he took a step forward and remained standing and balanced afterwards! He’s been cruising along the side of furniture for a while and has been able to lunge forward into our arms or onto a piece of furniture from a standing position, but never a free-standing to free-standing step before.

We haven’t been able to get him to repeat it yet, but it’ll be happening again very soon I’m sure! And he still has almost a week left for his 9-month birthday…