I’m sorry that I’ve been MIA on the blog for so long. Between the changes at work and life in general I haven’t had a lot of time to come back here, which makes me sad. Also, even though there are constantly things running through my mind during the day that I wonder or want to talk about, none of them are really enough for an entire blog entry. And then when I finally get a chance to sit down and write something, nothing comes to mind, and I end up wasting the time checking facebook or catching up on the 100+ items in my Google Reader instead of writing.

Things are going well at work. We launched a new company website this week, and I think it’s a pretty big improvement over the last one. One of the features on the new site is a blog, and I’ve asked to be involved with that. I think that will be a fun project. If you have any insurance questions/issues you have wondered about or want to discuss, please let me know! We’ll be constantly looking for ideas. I think sometimes we’ll tackle current events (how would an event like the nuclear reactor meltdown affect your business if you were in the evacuation zone, and would there be coverage?), and sometimes we’ll talk about insurance concepts in general (what is Professional Liability insurance, and do I need it?). My contributions will probably center around business insurance topics, and other people will write about personal insurance topics.

Other than that, things are going well. James is going through a phase where he thinks it’s fun to scream at things, and boy does he have some good lungs. We are working on getting him to use his inside voice, but I know it’s important for him to experiment with making different sounds, so we are also trying to let him do that some times. He also has started biting me occassionally again…I think his upper molars must be coming in (he’s been in a MOOD in the evenings lately). He’s still pretty adorable most of the time, though. This morning while Ryan was changing his diaper and getting him dressed he would make a noise to James, and James would repeat it back to him (rolling his tongue, making a “ba” or “tuh” sound, etc). One step closer to talking.

He runs all over the place now, and is very independent. Last night we went to Barnes & Noble, and he did not want to hold my hand or be held in the parking lot; he wanted to walk on his own (or swagger, I should say). Of course that’s not safe in the mall parking lot, so I carried him screaming into the building. But after that he had a lot of fun playing in the kids’ section with his friend Odin.

He also LOVES to read books. He will sit and look at a book from beginning to end and then back again over and over, and he will take a book and bring it to us and ask to sit in our lap so we can read it to him. He gets very angry if we can’t drop whatever we are doing to read, but we are working on patience. It’s hard when he doesn’t realize that the world doesn’t revolve around him (which is a developmental thing; he won’t realize that until about 18 months or so).  His favorite books lately are The Big Red Barn, Bunny My Honey, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider (because I sing the song).

He is some kind of crazy dancing kid. He will sway back and forth or bounce up and down whenever he hears a good beat (last night he was sitting on the floor when James Durban was singing on American Idol, and he went crazy rocking back and forth to that drum beat).

————

That’s about it for news around these parts. We went to Ryan’s parents’ place last weekend, and we plan on going to Roseau for Mothers Day weekend, as long as Ryan’s not on call. I hope not; I would love to get up there to visit soon!

We are driving home right now. The weather people had been predicting 2-4″ of snow, with flurries off & on. As you can see from the photo, this is not a flurry. The roads aren’t terrible, but they sure aren’t good.

The other photos are from the small birthday celebration we had this morning for James. Fruit cocktail upside down cake (Yum!) and a farm toy and animals. He later got a super-cute barn that my grandparents made to hold the animals and stuff. I love it, and I think he will too.

I have pictures from the snowmobile races we went up to see on the camera, and will add them later.

Has anyone invented a teleporting machine yet so we can shorten this drive?

ps. Anyone out there have experience in/with San Francisco and have some advice for her?

I count Duluth as my home most of the time, but any time we are talking about going to Roseau I refer to it as “home.” It is where my family is concentrated. It is where I was raised. I swam in that river (gross!), I skated in that hockey rink (not very well), and I rode my bike through those streets (after I got it to town – we are country folks). I went to school there for 12 of my 13 years (kindergarten was in a neighboring town). I got my first jobs there (waitressing, working in a hardware store, then a grocery store). I have so many memories of that town. Most of them are good memories (or I have rose-tinted glasses for looking at them).

I am going back this weekend (I’ll actually be on the road when this shows up on the blog), to say goodbye to my youngest sister before she heads off to school on the West coast. It is her first time moving away from that small town, and I simultaneously hope the best for her and think it will be a great experience, and worry that she will be overwhelmed in the big city. I think back to when I moved to Duluth for school. There was a learning curve (and Duluth is much smaller than San Francisco, where she is moving). I made stupid mistakes and people occassionally laughed at me because I was such a small town girl. But I found people to help me figure things out, and I got through it. I’m sure the same will be true for her. But I still worry. It’s part of my job.

I’m glad to be going home. I miss it, and the people that live there (my parents, sisters, grandparents, family friends…). We don’t get there often enough, usually. That’s why it’s on my list to spend a week with my family sometime this year. I’ll make it happen.

I miss you. A lot. I wish that I could see you more often, and that we had more time when we do get to see each other.

Thank you for doing such a great job raising us (if I may say so). You showed us the value of hard work, and that you don’t need to be rich to have a great life. Those are two lessons that are very important, and that I hope I can pass on to my children.

You both mean so much to me. I wish I was better at expressing it. Whenever I have a question about what I should do, I think of you. What would Dad do? What would Mom do? What would they tell me to do? I don’t always listen (what else is new?), but I do always consider what I think your opinions would be.

I love seeing you with James. I know you have many grandchildren, but seeing you interact with him gives me a whole different perspective on how much you love all of them. They are lucky to have you as grandparents. Since having a baby I have a much better idea of how much you care about us kids. I don’t think I could have ever fathomed it before. I feel so lucky to have you to care so much for me.

I love you,

Becky

ps. The next time you are going to do something crazy (like pull the pontoon boat full of people behind a 6-wheeler (ATV) at night on gravel roads) give me a call, would you? I hate missing that stuff!

I want to take a sewing class at some point. I know the basics on how to sew, and I have a sewing machine. I even hand sewed Ryan and my halloween costumes the last couple years (more like altering stuff, but whatever. I made sleeves for one of them!). But I would love to know how to do some of the fancier stuff, or just to get instruction so that I’m not so afraid of messing things up. I will be sewing a vest, skirt, and adding ruffles to a dress shirt this year, so that will get me started on learning… (ps…I should probably get on that, since there’s only one weekend between now and Halloween, huh?)

I would love to take a week long vacation up to my hometown next summer, rather than a couple hurried weekends. I don’t know if this is going to work out, but both Ryan and I would like to get to this point, and so I’m hoping it will.

I want to have more children. Almost as soon as I was home with James I knew that I wanted more. Really, I’ve known always, but I didn’t know what the day-to-day of being a parent was like, so it was hard to say definitively. But now I know (at least for this child), and I love it. I would like at least 3 kids…Ryan isn’t so sure about it. We’ll see. Before we have any more children we need to get some bills and stuff paid down.

That leads me to my last goal. I would like to have all of our credit card debt paid off within the next 2 years. I think it should be pretty easy to do within 2 years, but I don’t want to make more of an aggressive goal because I want it to feel achievable. And also we aren’t willing to completely give up eating out/traveling to get it done. Big trips, sure (other than our cruise, which is mostly paid for), but not the traveling to see family and friends in-state.

Well…it feels good to get those written out. Motivating, really, to start working on the ones I can (*cough*debt*cough*) and talking more in depth to Ryan about the ones that aren’t filled in yet.

I can't make it fit and still be readable. Click on the image to see the whole thing.

Do you see that? That is how much is left to pay on my car before it is all mine! I am so excited about this, it’s kind of unreasonable. But thinking about how much we can save/pay off other bills if we don’t have a car payment will do that to a person.

Now if we can just make the (very small) car last…

Happy Monday, folks!

You better get your act together tonight, Vikings!

My sisters

This picture is a couple (few?) years old, but these are the people who have had the biggest impact on me; on who I have become and on who I want to be. I love my parents and my brother, and James and Ryan are my life now. But my sisters have shown me who I want to be (and who I don’t want to be, at times). I don’t know if they realize how important they are to me (I try to tell them, but I’m “the emotional one,” so I think they don’t take me as seriously).

We don’t always get along (and that’s been ongoing since we were kids), but I love these ladies. They are so so amazing and strong. I hope they know that.

All the girls ready to go out for the night. Note to self: hang out with people closer to my size so I don't look so huge.

Grandma gave James a pickle. He liked it!

This weekend Ryan’s parents & sister came up. We all went to the zoo today, and it was a lot of fun.

My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades. (He tried to eat them shortly after this photo was taken, so we aren't applying to Harvard just yet)

Polar bear. Duh.

What you can't see is that he is reaching for the camera. He's trying to eat it, along with everything else he can get his hands on.

Helping Auntie feed the goats (not really; he's just pretending).

We tried to tell him it was rude to chew on the giraffe's face while we were at the zoo, but he didn't care.

Another development this weekend: we now have (1 or 2) consonants. We’ve for sure heard the “d” sound. I never realized how excited I would get about someone making consonant sounds. It’s kind of ridiculous. But awesome.

Hope you all had a great weekend. It finally cooled off a little here (the high today was in the low 70s). I’m loving it.

• Annoying: the word “fat.” It is so subjective, and people who are heavier than other people get annoyed when the smaller people use it to describe themselves (myself included), but what about the people that are heavier than I am? Are they annoyed by me? Probably. Let’s just strike it from the lexicon (that’s the word I’m looking for, right?).
• Awesome: It is Friday and it is supposed to be 80* here today. I love warm weather in Duluth!
• Annoying: Our new computer system at work that was supposed to simplify things has made them infinitely more complicated. Right when we have a bunch of people out of the office for extended periods of time. Not anyone’s fault really, but annoying none-the-less.
• Awesome: Ryan just stopped by my work. He needed stamps, so it wasn’t really a social visit, but it was fun to see him during the day. :)
• Annoying: There are 20,000 extra people in town this weekend, which makes it difficult to go out to eat or drive pretty much anywhere.
• Awesome: My sister and her children are coming to visit and they get here tomorrow! We are going to hang out with them down at their campground tomorrow afternoon/evening, so we won’t be in town where it is all crazy.
• I can’t think of anything else annoying, other than having to be at work in general on such a nice day, but even that I don’t mind so much.
• Awesome: It is almost lunch time, and I have a Lunchable for lunch! How many times can I say lunch in one sentence?! And yes, I am 12. I like Lunchables (only the crackers/cheese/meat ones). So sue me.
• Awesome: James is wearing a cute shorts all in one thing today, and he’s so adorable. And he was smiling at Ryan and I this morning, and he just makes my heart melt. And after I pick him up after work I get to spend ALL WEEKEND with him. Yay!
• Annoying: You didn’t think I could go one entry without talking about how adorable my baby is, did you? ;-)