We thought we'd turned a corner this week with Isobel's sleeping - for a couple of weeks now she's been really unimpressed with any attempt to put her in her crib for a sleep. This has been somewhat stressful for me during the day - it's pretty tough to sit still while she whimpers for a few minutes before dropping off to sleep. She is dropping off more quickly however, so that's making things a little easier for both of us.

Isobel's big news this week was the appearance of her first tooth - Andy discovered it on Friday when she started gnawing away on one of his fingers, and he felt something sharp! She doesn't seem to know how to use it yet, for which I'm very grateful - not looking forward to being chewed on!! Our good luck continues, as her first tooth seemed to arrive with little incident - she'd been a little grumpy for the last day or so, but not enough to make us suspect any problems. The other front tooth doesn't seem far off either, so we might have a matching pair before long.

Isobel has also been giggling much more this week - we heard her first little laugh on Christmas Day, and after a couple of weeks of nothing she's now laughing to herself while playing on her mat in the lounge room. After rolling over onto her tummy, she'll pivot around and choose between a few different toys within reach - Lion and Piglet are definite favourites, and she'll put on a big smile when they're offered! Her hands are exploring much more, and she's tried a couple of times to rip the fixed butterflies from the top of the arches on her playmat - they're knotted in, but it doesn't stop her from having a good ole' yank! She's also started blowing raspberries, and loves it when we blow back - she was a bit surprised at first, but she's getting used to having silly parents by now  .

Spring has been teasing us with a couple of lovely sunny breaks during the week - the early afternoon sunlight is streaming in the window as I type now, and the extra light really brightens up our lounge room  - such a huge difference after relying on lamps for nearly six months. Even so, we had a last-ditch dusting of snow on Wednesday - about 3/4" for us, but other parts of Seattle had up to 5". We're looking forward to some warmer weather so we can start making use of our backyard again - put on a few BBQs, and let Isobel spend some time outside. She seemed to really enjoy it last year when she was only a few weeks old. In anticipation, we popped down to REI in Redmond and picked up a backpack baby carrier for Isobel - nice aluminium frame and a little weather hood, so she can survey her surrounds in style. With the co-op dividend from last year and a 20% coupon, we managed to get it for half price... bonus!!

Our planning for the trip to DC next month is in full swing - at this stage we're planning a week in DC, and another week based out of New York. We're a bit daunted about travelling with an infant, so we'll have to figure out how much we can pack and still manage to see everything we want ... we weren't planning to get a hire car, which adds another level of difficulty to the plan.

Finally, Tina had invited me last week to come along and try out for her netball team - they held tryouts on Saturday up at Marymoor Park, which isn't far from our place. Most of the players are expats - NZ, UK, South Africa, Malaysia, and of course lots of the Aussies I know already. Even though the weather was pretty average, I had a great time - I've got a long way to go before I'm match fit again, but it felt good to have a run up and down a court again - I haven't played for about seven years! More tryouts again this weekend (thankfully they have a social comp as well as those playing for sheepstations!), and then the spring seasons stars shortly after. Should help me lose some of the baby wobble I'm still carrying around...