Sleepless in Seattle

In the pouring rain on April 30, Team Spitzer-Gross packed up the Subaru Outback to the gills (we literally left a baby carrier in the garage because we didn't have any more space) and said goodbye to Chicago to begin our excellent adventure west.

Trip highlights included visiting the Briscoes ("Do you like Transformers, Arthur and David?" "Do you have more Transformers, Arthur? Or wait, are you David?"), visiting our friends Melissa, Lars, Mai-Evy and baby Sella in Minneapolis in their beautiful new house, climbing all over ancient rock formations at the Badlands of South Dakota, spending a couple of days chillin' in Bozeman with Uncle Josh, Sarah and Wyatt, drinking in the mountain views and fresh air and feeling lighthearted about moving west, and playing in a park and eating Thai food in Coeur d'Alene (that also seems like a fabulous town! Who knew?).

The lowlights weren't too terrible, after all. We gave goodie bags every 100 miles or so and stuffed their faces with graham crackers, pretzels, and granola bars, lubricated with juice boxes, and that seemed to do the trick.

Monday, May 7th, we pulled down our new street in West Seattle just as the sun was starting to set behind the Olympic Mountains across Puget Sound. Yes, the apartment is small, but we felt so thrilled to be here. Our apartment is 100 feet or so from the beach!

Now we've been here a month and are starting to believe that we actually live here. It hasn't been the easiest transition. Oliver's sleep has been rocky ever since the trip, with multiple wakings per night. I was nursing him in the belief that it would help make all the transitions easier, until I just got completely fed up with his entitled attitude (he'd shout at 4:00 am "I WANT MY MUH-MUH!", muh-muh being his name for breastmilk), like I was his little dairymaid. But the lame thing is that he's STILL waking up at 4:00 am, shouting and shouting, now for a graham cracker. He doesn't fall back asleep - no, that's when he begins his day, and consequently when I begin my day.

And to complicate matters, Ezra and Oliver are sharing a room. So we've had some nights that truly felt like a three-ring circus with kids shouting at 3:00 am, mom and dad rushing here and there, trying to shut them up, and our neighbors probably punching their pillows in fury.

We're still not unpacked, more than a month after arriving. It's tough when bedtime for the kids can go till 9:00 pm and then we have to clean up the dishes, and sometimes cook dinner for the following night. Hard to force ourselves to unpack the rest of these boxes. But on the weekends we've been trying to chip away at it.

We miss a lot of people in Chicago and miss that feeling of being surrounded by friends. But we've hung out with some friends here and we're just so happy to be in a place with old-growth forests, mountain views and amazingly hilly streets that we haven't doubted our decision (or at least, I haven't. I don't think Gabe has.) Ezra told Gabe last night that he's grateful for our new life here. I'm grateful that we moved with the kids before it got too hard to uproot them and before we just got too dang tired to make the move.

Not that it's all sunshine and roses. We've had record rain so far in June (and we've added a new phrase to our lexicon: "June gloom."). There's been a lot of very disturbing and saddening violence here. But same in Chicago.

Anyway, friends - even though our place is small, we welcome visitors!

Love, Ashley, Gabe, Ezra & Oliver