still very much alive!

I took a week to spend some quality time with my family. I apologize for not giving any warning, but I felt I needed to give them my full attention for a while. I tend to get distracted easily and sometimes my mindset is focused too little in the places it should be.

We've had a great time together, as we always do! Marius had a four day weekend, so we went to our favorite pizza place, Mellow Mushroom! It opened two weeks ago about an hour away from us, so we were very excited! They seem to still be getting the show together, so it wasn't quite up to par but still very yummy! I love the way they decorated the inside and wish I'd gotten some pictures. Mellow Mushroom always decks their restaurants out in psychedelic style decorations - very colorful, fun and imaginative. They usually have a great beer list too, which we throughly enjoy being avid craft beer drinkers.

We also took Iris to the pool for the first time!

She loved every moment of it.

I didn't want to overwhelm her too much, as she can be very sensitive, so I let her legs into the water a bit but didn't completely submerge her body. She was very happy to splash about from the safety of my arms for about 20 minutes. This may become an every weekend event! Also, if you're curious, she is wearing the shell of a BumGenius! pocket diaper. Whether disposable or cloth, swim diapers are made to contain messes, not liquids.

Other than that, we just spent time at home relaxing and enjoying each other's company. We shopped for new pajamas for Iris (she's in the 12 month size now!), got new boots for Marius to hopefully help his Achilles problem, grocery shopped (we remembered the reusable bags!!), and praised Iris for all the new things she's been learning! I can't believe her 8 month post is coming up in about a week. Amazing how fast she is growing up. I will be back with more posting tomorrow and for your patience, here's an adorable baby!