Hi Grandma and Grandpa!

The Benziger Family - Theo, Katie, Kim, Bob and Seth

Grandma and Grandpa Benziger came to visit last week and Grandma and Grandpa Pastorius are arriving tomorrow. This is the fourth grandchild in the Benziger family but it's been a few years since Bob and Kim were able to spend time with such a little one so they were very excited to come visit us!  The weather was perfect again last week so we wandered around the city a little and ate lots of great food. Kim cooked up some wonderful meals and Bob made me breakfast everyday. We visited the Ballard locks and salmon ladder (Theo and my third trip in a week but each time just as fascinating as the time before); we ate seven dozen $0.75 oysters at Elliott's Oyster House on Pier 56, visited the Canlis glass studio and Olympic Sculpture garden, took a tour of the Wing Luke Museum in the International District, ate dim sum and sushi, and visited the very cool LeMay car museum. I read that the spices in foods you eat get into breast milk and help your child get accustomed to different tastes. I hope Theo likes eating good food because picky eaters won't do well in this household, that's for sure! He sure has a big appetite though as he's almost doubled his birth weight in six weeks! He now is 10lbs. 3oz., 22 inches and is in the 25-50% for height and weight.

We moved Theo to his crib in the front bedroom two nights ago. I cried a few tears lying in bed that night thinking that our little baby is getting so grown up. I stared at the baby monitor watching his chest rise through the little black and white camera while I listened to the music from his mobile sing to him in the background; the empty Moses basket by my side and my favorite music boxes sitting silently on the headboard waiting to be played. I enjoyed singing him lullaby's and knowing that I could always peak over the edge of the bed and make sure he was ok (and still breathing) but recently his grunts and groans and snorting made it hard for us to sleep with all the noise so we had to kick him out.

Theo asleep in his Moses basket in one of the drawers of our captain's bed. Now he sleeps in his crib.

He is holding his head up on his own and looking around at bright colors and objects with lots of contrast. He smiles spontaneously, usually just as he is falling asleep and it makes me fall in love with him because it is so precious and I quickly forget how mad I am at him for crying and being so difficult sometimes. He loves staring at the photos and art we have on the wall and watching his underwater themed mobile in his crib. He has officially outgrown all his "newborn" clothes and is now a size 1 in diapers! I tired to use up the rest of the newborn (size 0) diapers but that was a mistake as he had a few blowouts in them - whoops! Time to give those extra diapers and clothes away!
Grandma and Grandpa Pastorius are visiting this weekend and we are going to Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands. We are going whale watching as well which should be fun as there are three resident Orca pods (J, K and L pods with around 70 whales) that live in the area and feed on the salmon that are abundant there. Wish us luck getting on the ferry as it's a holiday weekend!

Here are some photos from ladies week/weekend and from this week:

Cara, Annie and I at the Ballard Locks watching the guys catch and tag the salmon as they come through the fish ladder so they can track them by GPS.

Cool dude!

Marit and Theo hanging out at the Ballard Locks

"Ahh, fresh diaper!"  ;)

"AHHHHHHHHH I'm hungry! Feed me!"

Mommy and baby at the Ballard Locks

Annie Borton and I at Golden Gardens relaxing by the sound and admiring the Olympic Mountains in the distance.

Auntie Annie, Annie, Cara and I at Volunteer Park.

Auntie Annie and Grandma JoAnn at Volunteer Park

Grandma Benziger and Grandma Pastorius get to hang out together with their new grandson!

Grandma and Grandpa Benziger in the dahlia garden at Volunteer Park.

Grandma, Katie and Theo in the Olympic Sculpture Park with the Space Needle in the back.

"How big is Theo?" "SOOOO big!" 10lbs 3oz at his last visit and he wasn't even six weeks old yet!

Theo getting a tour at Theo Chocolates in Fremont

Chinook (king) salmon in the fish ladder

Grandma and Grandpa feeding Theo so I could eat my lunch, too!

One big happy family!

Seth and Theo checking out the Puget Sound after lunch in Tacoma.

LeMay car museum in Tacoma

Theo and I checking out all the sexy old cars as the LeMay car museum