Dim sum and then some

Even though I like my job, there is something undeniably satisfying about putting in notice and clearing my mental desk of every work-related stress and headache. No more difficult clients, long staff meetings, or tight deadlines. The only morning alarm I'll be waking up to now has chubby cheeks and a gummy grin. My last day is tomorrow, and I'm going in with no regrets. I'll have more to say on the subject I'm sure, but for now, I'll just catch up with the past week.

Over the weekend we finally got to spend some time exploring Seattle. One of DH's coworkers invited us to a dim sum restaurant for lunch in the International District -- aka Chinatown. For those of you not familiar with dim sum, it's kinda like a Chinese version of tapas. And if you are not familiar with tapas... well, you really should get out more. (Okay, fine. Picture small plates of food that are delivered throughout the meal and shared by everyone at the table.) Normally, this kind of dining is my favorite, because I love having a variety of tastes in a meal. However, the particular dishes that his coworker chose for us were heavy on the shellfish and pork, two of my least favorite edibles. But the experience was fun anyway, and the old Asian ladies pushing the food carts just adored Bean. Then his coworker took us to another shop to have some bubble tea. Never having experienced bubble tea before, DH and I obviously imagined something light and airy. Nope! Turns out the "bubble" is a phonetic translation of the word "boba," which is Taiwanese for "disgusting and thick tapioca balls floating in your flavored tea that go up your straw and gross you out." So DH and I left the International District feeling a bit sick to our stomachs, but satisfied with ourselves for stepping out of our comfort zone. Good times.

I've recently connected with my local LLL group. I sort of stumbled across it and reluctantly decided to attend a meeting. I was nervous because I still have a bit of an inferiority complex when it comes to breastfeeding, plus the organization sometimes has the reputation of being... well, rigid. Fortunately, this particular group is anything but. Very nice mothers all about making choices that work best for you and your baby, without being judgmental or snobby. Yes, I was caught off guard when the first meeting turned into a boobie buffet as everyone fed their little ones. (What did I expect? Duh!) But I've continued to attend their weekly playgroups, and I really enjoy talking with other moms who are so supportive and encouraging. Today we met at a local "game farm park." What does that sound like to you? DH was picturing wild llamas, but I was going more with the Scrabble variety of game. We were both wrong, it was baseball and tennis. Go figure.

Last night I had three cavities filled. (Motherhood has apparently robbed me of oral health as well as my more dominant brain cells.) On the up side, this is the first dentist I've had where every chair has it's own DVD player and headphones, which helped pass the time as well as distract me from the two people digging around in my mouth. On the down side, I couldn't help but feel that I had just paid $200 to watch half of a movie that I really had no interest in seeing in the first place. I chose "Employee of the Month" from their collection of mindless comedies, as it was the only one in the bunch that I hadn't seen yet. I noticed several times that the dentist had turned his head and was watching the movie while screwing something into my teeth. Excuse me, doc, let's focus on the task at hand. You can check out Jessica Simpson's bosom later in the privacy of your own home. It's called Netflix.

Now we've got a fun holiday weekend ahead of us. Celebrate my last day of work with a fancy meal at Taco Bell; finish painting the downstairs bathroom (never has a simple paint job taken so long); select an outfit for Bean to wear for his six-month professional pictures; and most exciting of all, introduce solid foods to Bean's currently limited liquid diet. I decided we'd start with avocados, given our love of Mexican food. Hopefully he'll like hot and spicy guacamole.

Now the real meat of the post, recent Bean pics. We lucked out and a mom in my LLL group was giving away her exersaucer for free.