We've had a real mix of weather this week - some gorgeous days up around 20C, and back to the usual Seattle rain/drizzle by the weekend. I had another tryout for netball on Saturday and we were lucky to avoid being rained out. The committee will make up the team rosters over the next couple of weeks, and then the spring season starts at the end of the month. Looking forward to a few social games, as the competitive division is a bit beyond me!! A few more familiar faces this week, so it was great to catch up with some of my old workmates outside the office.

We had a couple of social gatherings during the week - a "Frognall" reunion on Tuesday night in Issaquah, which is just an excuse for the engineers to get together for a few beers and a meal. Got a lovely surprise to see my old boss again, over for a quick visit in his new capacity as consultant - great to catch up with him again. Isobel was again on her best behaviour, checking out all the new faces around the room. She started to get a bit loud towards the end of the night as she grew tired, but we'd much rather her being loud than dissolving into tears or screaming . We also popped into Seattle for a farewell yum-cha lunch on Friday ... Isobel had great fun trying to take the little portions from our hands, so we took turns with one of us keeping her amused while the other had something to eat. Lots more comments about how well behaved she was - we can't believe how lucky we are.

Another discovery this week - Isobel cut her second tooth on Tuesday! That made for two in just five days, a little quicker than we expected . She's been very lucky so far, no fevers or apparent pain from the teething - is it too much to hope that it'll continue?!

Isobel also had her six-month checkup with the doctor on Wednesday. She had great fun watching the fish swimming around in the tank while we waited for our appointment - full of 'Nemo' fish, so everything was very colourful. The weight gain at her last appointment has dropped off a little, but she's still growing like a weed - now 17lbs 2oz, and 27in tall! Obviously got Dad's height genes as well as eyes and hair! Four more shots this time - now that she's six months old, the nurse recommended we give her a flu shot - so one of her 'regularly scheduled' shots was bumped to the next appointment. Two in each leg is bad enough, we didn't want to have to give her one in an arm as well! We go back in another month for her second flu shot (assuming there's still stock left at the end of the flu season), and then she'll get her other scheduled shot at the nine month appointment in June.

We've made another couple of attempts at starting Isobel on solids - we did a run to the British Panty near our house to see if they stocked rusks - success!! We sat Isobel in her bumbo seat and gave her one, which she promptly demolished - she loved it!! They do disintegrate pretty quickly with all her drool, so we learned a valuable lesson - next time, in the high chair rather than on the carpet!! We're still finding bits of chewed up rusk today . Tonight we tried some pureed bananas, which were also a big hit - after a few spoons and a confused look, she figured out it was pretty tasty and started leaning towards the spoon as it was offered. I think this time we managed to get more in her mouth than down her shirt, so we'll keep going with them for another couple of days before trying something new. Dunno whether we'll try the cereal again - she's not a fan of formula to begin with, which probably explains why she didn't really take to it last week.

Andy also did a test fit tonight of the backpack carrier we bought last week - Isobel loves being up high and surveying her world! She sits back a fair way, but Andy said it was pretty comfortable ... but he's used to lugging a backpack full of camera gear, so she's pretty light in comparison! At least for a few months more ...

Finally, we're hoping to be able to book our Right Coast trip this week - there are some meetings that have popped up during the week, so Andy's trying to work a gap in the program to allow us to go. Would be very disappointing to put all the effort into planning a trip, only to have to cancel it before we can go.

Isobel's starting to get loud again, so it must be time to put her to bed ...