Photos
6 Months
Aug 24th
I cannot believe you are 6 months old already, my sweet sweet baby James. You are such a sweetheart. And a great sleeper! You are sleeping now, in fact. You usually go to bed at about 7:30 or 8, and sleep until 6:30, give or take a half hour. Your dad and I know that we are so, so lucky about that. We try not to take it for granted. We are lucky in many ways. You are so mellow; so even-tempered. You are a very go with the flow baby, and it makes our lives so much easier. I wish we could take credit for that, but I’m pretty sure it’s just how you are. Whatever it is, we’ll keep it!
You haven’t started solids yet, but Grandma Mary did give you a pickle last time we were at her house, and you had a couple tiny pieces of watermelon at Daddy’s company picnic on Sunday. You weren’t so sure about either one at first, but after a moment to consider you loved it and wanted more. At least until you were actually hungry. Then all you want is Momma’s milk.
You aren’t crawling, but you can roll from your back to your stomach and then back again. You don’t do it a lot, but you definitely are able, and you seem to do it most often when we aren’t watching you. We’ll be making dinner, or in the bedroom for a moment, and we’ll come back and you’ll be on a different side than we left you. You always look at us as if to say, “Well, duh! Why shouldn’t I roll over!?” You are also sitting on your own. We still need to be nearby, because you will invariably lean too far back or to the side and tip right over. It is so cute, and so far we’ve avoided any head bonks, but I’m sure they’ll be coming.
You don’t like tummy time very much, and so any progression towards crawling is slow. But you are a lot more tolerant of it now than you used to be, and so we’ll take that as a step forward, so to speak. Your dad and I aren’t too anxious for you to start crawling, anyway. That would mean we have to pack up all the cds and movies (or at least get them off the floor). Our apartment isn’t anywhere near baby-proof.
You started saying a couple consonants the weekend before last, and it is so amazing to see that progression. You babble at Daddy and I constantly; especially in the car on the way too and from daycare. I wish we could understand what you are saying, because I’m sure it is fascinating.
Daddy and I love you, sweet pea. We are excited to watch you continue to grow and learn. If you could just slow time down a bit so we are better able to enjoy it, that would be great.
Love,
Momma
In the hospital; just a couple days old.
James 1 month
James 2 months - photo by our friend Jason
James 3 months
James 4 months
James 5 months
James 6 months
And no, we aren’t letting him drink Mountain Dew. I promise.
We are *those* people
Aug 5th
We brought our baby to a bar last night. Not intentionally, but there it is anyway. We wanted to go try out this new place in town that says it’s a pub; they serve pub food and drinks. We have taken James to other “pub-like” places in town. They all feel like restaurants that serve alcohol, so we didn’t think it would be a big deal. But as soon as we walked in I knew it would be weird. And of course the place was almost totally empty, so it was really awkward. We went and sat in the chairs/couch in the corner, and tried to keep James quiet, but we forgot his nook, and he’s at this stage where he likes to scream. He’s happy screaming, but still; it’s a weird noise, and distinctly a baby. In a bar.
I figured we would grab a beer and eat and be out of there quick, but of course everything took longer than it should have, and James started getting a little noisier, and so I fed him. Normally no big deal. But we were in a bar, remember? And I had a beer in front of me. I only drank half of it the entire time we were there, but still. Klassy. With a capital K. Oh well. No one said anything to us about it, and really, for a baby, James was awesome. I took him outside once we were done eating, and waited there for Sam and Ryan to finish and pay, and we said repeatedly that if we ever go back we’ll be getting a babysitter. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if we had been able to sit outside, but of course the only time it rained that day was right when we wanted to go out.
James & I are heading North after work tomorrow. It is my middle-younger sister’s bachelorette party on Saturday, and Grandma is going to watch the baby for me (and my sister’s kids for her – Thanks, Grandma!). I haven’t been up North in a few months, so I’m excited to go. I’ll try to get pictures, although no promises.
Speaking of pictures, here is one of one of the ships we toured last weekend:
It was cool to see the ships. We only toured 2 of them; the HMS Bounty (from the movies!) and this one – the Europa. It was pretty hot and muggy down there, and there were a billion people, so I was ok with not spending all day wandering. It was fun, though, and seeing them sailing on the lake was AWESOME. One year I want to take the day they come in off work to go see them up close.
I really need to work on figuring out how to end posts. Maybe next time…
Fog, fog, go away!
Jun 16th
Duluth has officially had no days that are “mostly sunny” since May. It is now halfway through June. This is unacceptable. However, this weekend is supposed to be warm and at least partly sunny. Heating up just in time for Grandma’s Marathon. Of course. hahaha. Those poor marathon runners.
My sister and 3 of her children are coming to visit us this weekend. They are camping just outside of Duluth (which is good, because inside Duluth is going to be CRAZY). I’m so excited to see them. We plan on checking out the Children’s Museum and the Depot, and going on a scenic train ride. I think they’ll love it. I haven’t seen them in ages, and they haven’t met James, so it should be a great weekend. Photos will follow, I’m sure.
Other than that, there’s not much going on. We are keeping busy with James. He gets more and more animated and funny. He’s really getting the grabbing stuff skills down; he can even reach for specific parts of something hanging in front of him and usually get it. He smiles a lot, and charms people wherever we go. He still spits up quite a bit, but we are used to it and know to expect it (although he does still get each of us good at least once a week when we aren’t prepared). He likes to suck on his fingers, although sometimes when he’s tired he’ll suck on his thumb. It is cute. He’s also been chewing on anything he can get his hands on.
Ryan and I have a goal of walking 52.4 miles before July 6th. So far we’ve gone 21 miles. We have a little bit of catching up to do, since it’s been raining so much. Yesterday we took off on a walk because we knew we needed to get one in. It had been foggy and sprinkling off and on all day, but it didn’t really look any worse than it had, so we just went. And then it rained the whole 3.5 miles back to the house. Whoops. Here we are after getting back:
A bit blurry, but you get the picture.
James stayed nice and dry in his carseat/stroller combo. We opened it up once we got in the house (just brought the whole thing in with us) and he was looking around like “What the heck is going on!?” It was funny. We actually enjoyed being out in the rain. It was relatively warm, and we knew we were going back to a warm, dry house. And leftover chili. That always helps. Yum.
Anyway, time to get back to work. Have you taken a walk in the rain lately? I would highly recommend it.
Another catch up post
Aug 26th
We’ve been busy lately. First we went camping with my family down at a “park” (I use the term loosely) out in the country near my hometown. It was a lot of fun, even though it rained off and on all weekend.
My nephew kept making this face all weekend, any time we pointed a camera in his direction. He cracks me up.
I love my nieces and nephews. Here are a few of them. There are about 6 missing.
My dad won the fishing tournament's "rough" fish category (not Northern or Walleye). Nice trophy, huh?
We had a wedding to attend this past weekend. It was FABULOUS, as is the couple that got married. We didn’t take many pictures (too busy having fun!), but we had a great time.
The core group of friends I hung out with in High School - aka the Fab Five.
Holy cow! We remembered to get a photo of ourselves! Together, even!
And finally, after spending yesterday evening cleaning the kitchen and bathroom (they are about 99% better – we are just waiting for the ceiling to be fixed in the bathroom), we test drove and then bought a pickup today. We knew we were going to need a 2nd vehicle by the time the baby arrived, and since Ryan lost his company vehicle (since he doesn’t go out of the office much) having only one vehicle was going to get annoying pretty quickly. We’ve wanted a pickup for a while, just for the convenience of being able to haul stuff, and also because in case you didn’t know, Duluth is built on a huge hill. Have you seen pictures of San Francisco? Yeah, like that. But with Northern Minnesota winters. We live only 1 block up from the bottom of the hill, and yet there were still a few times last winter when I didn’t think my car was going to make it up the hill. And we had a couple mornings when I had to hike up to the bus station because I couldn’t get my car out of the lot. That’s ok when I’m not pregnant, but I do NOT want to be hiking up the hill to the bus stop when I’m 7, 8 or 9 months pregnant. No thanks. So we kept our eyes open and looked around on the internets and found this truck. It’s a 2001 Ford F150 extended cab with 4-wheel drive. We got a good deal on it, and it’s got lower miles and is in better shape than most of the other trucks we saw in our price range. It gets TERRIBLE gas milage (less than half of what I get with my car), but we won’t be using it to regularly commute, and we’ll take my car on trips whenever possible. So yah. We are very excited. And don’t worry, we already have a request for help hauling some stuff. But, like I told a friend on facebook – we have received help so many times from other people with pickups that we owe it to all of them to pass it along. At least for a while.
So, here it is! Our “new” truck!
The new truck!
We are already planning a trip down to the twin cities and Ikea to put this thing to good use. Of course, thinking about the gas costs of going even that far are kind of overwhelming, but it’ll be worth it!
Whew…I really need to get better at updating this stuff more often. It is DEFINITELY time for bed now. I’m wiped out.
Catching Up
Aug 3rd
First I spent a weekend with my grandparents, and my mom, sister and niece came for the day to learn how to make Kuchen (German coffee cake).
It doesn't look like much now, but it tastes great when it's done!
My mom, sister and niece hanging out.
The finished product. Yum!
Aren't they adorable?
It was so much fun, and I’m so happy that I got a chance to get some first-hand learning experience in how to make these. We’ll see if my first try turns out as well as Grandma’s. I’m guessing this might be a learning experience.
Then, we had 4th of July at my parents’ place. It was fabulous. There was a ton of family in town, including all of my siblings and aunts and uncles that live on the other side of the country. I think there must have been about 40-50 people there all together. There were some wicked games of horseshoes, Norwegian golf (that game with the golf balls tied to strings and you throw them over piping), and Holey Board (a bean bag type game that my grandpa made). My sister brought her guitar and sang for a while, and we had a bonfire and burnt a couch (actually pretty tame for my family). Unfortunately I was so busy watching everything I didn’t take any photos.
Next was a day trip to a Twins game. We went with a coworker of mine and a bunch of people she and her friends knew. We forgot our camera for that trip (do you sense a pattern?), but it was fun. And the game looked like it was going to be terrible, but the Twins almost came back to win it right at the end. SO CLOSE! I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a huge baseball fan, but I do love live sporting events of all kinds, and I like keeping track of the stats on the sheets.
After a weekend off, we had my class reunion at home. And that was awesome! Both pictures of people are courtesy of my friend Adrienne, who is teh awesome. Ryan took the ones from the demolition derby at the fair.
The demo derby:
Here they are, all set to go.
You know you are jealous of that kid's camouflage hoodie.
One of the drivers ran someone up on one of the edges so he got hung up. That guy's friend decided to do some payback and tipped this truck on it's side. It was pretty awesome because everyone was fine.
And from the reunion:
The obligatory "couple photo" at the reunion.
Some of our high school group.
Finally, hanging out with my in-laws, tubing, dinner and a fire with the ladies.
This is another one where I didn’t get any photos. But it was a fabulous weekend. I got to hang out with the in-laws relaxing, and on Saturday I went tubing down the river at Welch Village for part of a bachelorette party. It was fabulous. We also went out to dinner and then had a bonfire at the bachelorette’s house. Her friends are pretty awesome, so it was a great time.
And that catches us up to now. *wipes brow* It’s been a busy summer, and there are still a few weekends to go. I’m glad we’ve been so busy, though, because I have a feeling that while we’ll still try to do visiting and stuff we’ll be spending more time at home next summer. I hear babies do that to your social life. ;-)
Oktoberfest 2008
Sep 30th
Well, I ended up going up to Oktoberfest by myself. Ryan had a bachelor party for a friend of his, and what kind of wife would I be if I didn’t let him go to that? ;-) I had a great weekend hanging out with my mom, a bunch of my aunts and cousins and a couple uncles, a couple of my mom’s cousins, and of course my awesome grandparents. Here is a teaser photo:
This is a wig that my mom bought “for Grandma” and that was worn by everyone. Including my grandpa. I can’t wait to see those pictures (my camera died before that, unfortunately). I like the purple, though. If I was ever going to be a rocker I think this would be a good look for me. ;-)
I’ve uploaded photos to facebook, but not to our Flickr site yet. I’ll add a link to this entry once I get that done (it should be tonight).
We’re hardcore…or something
Sep 16th
My birthday was fabulous, I thought I would let you all know, because I’m sure you’ve been holding your breath. On Friday night we went out to dinner and drinks with some friends, and then proceeded to go back to our house (by way of a bar for me and DQ for Ryan) to continue the party with drinks and an ice cream cake. It was awesome.
Saturday morning we got up and it was pretty foggy, but that’s how a lot of mornings start off in Duluth in the fall and spring. So we packed up and went on our backpacking trip with our other friends, Chris & Erin. The day got brighter, and by the time we got to the trail head it looked like it was going to be gorgeous. And the hike out was. It didn’t start sprinkling until after we had camp set up. But it didn’t really stop sprinkling/raining until the middle of the night (I was sleeping, but I heard from Chris and Erin that the moon was shining on the lake at 4am). The morning was very dewey and overcast, and before we could get camp totally broken down it had started raining again. It rained for most of our hike back to the cars (about 2.5 miles I think). Obviously by the time we got back to the cars and then back to Duluth we were very thankful for a hot shower and a yummy meal at the Brewhouse. And then Ryan and I watched “Anatomy of a Murder” and went to bed. It was a very fulfilling weekend.
I honestly have to say that I’m glad we went camping. I really wanted to go backpacking this summer, and this was our first and only time all summer. But I really wish it hadn’t rained almost the entire time. We spent most of the time at camp in our respective tents or standing around shivering, waiting for the food to be done. We did go on a hike without our packs, and the forest up there was beautiful. It was all maple and birch, and the maples were just starting to turn. Unfortunately, because it was raining almost the whole time, we didn’t even take the camera out.
This week is “clean up our disgusting apartment!” week, I’ve decided. Especially after coming home with everything wet from backpacking, our place is a disaster. And it wasn’t helped by the fact that we went and “completed” one of our bridal registries last night, so now we have more stuff to put away. Not that I’m complaining! I love having curtains! And a roasting pan! And a card table and chairs so we can actually have people over to play games! But yah…we need to do some organizing/cleaning. ASAP.
Also, just to share; Oktoberfest is in 2 weeks! My grandparents on my mom’s side have been HEAVILY involved in their hometown Oktoberfest celebration since it started (I think Grandpa and Grandma may have been the initial instigators??), and my family tries to go every year. And by my family I mean me, as many of my sisters as can make it, as many of my mom’s siblings and their families as can make it (she has 7 siblings) and usually 1 or 2 of my grandparents’ siblings. We kind of take over (it’s a small town). And it is AWESOME. So yah. Ryan and I will be heading up north in a couple weeks to drink beer, eat yummy German food and dance the waltz, polka, schottish and two-step. And attend Polka Mass in a tent on Sunday morning. Because you can’t go to Oktoberfest without having Polka Mass with a live band in a tent. I will take pictures, don’t worry. Probably not of Mass, though. That’s kind of frowned upon.
In closing: a photo of my sisters and myself at a wedding we attended this summer. My youngest sister was a bridesmaid, hence the blue dress. Also, we are klassy at home, and some of us *cough*youngest sister*cough* keep cigarrettes in our cleavage. Or something. Don’t mock – you know we are fun!
Ahh…the weekend
Sep 12th
It is finally Friday afternoon. We have plans to go out with some friends for dinner tonight, and we have tentative (weather dependent) plans to go backpacking with some friends tomorrow. And it is my birthday tomorrow. And these things make me extremely happy. Well, that and the fact that I just ordered 2 new sweaters from Victoria’s Secret for a total of about $3.50 including shipping and handling. Yay for giftcards that I didn’t realize I had! Also, what is wrong with me that I ordered sweaters and not undergarments*? I don’t know. Other than the fact that I now have no problem justifying the expense of undergarments* from Victoria’s Secret due to their far superior quality compared to Target undergarments.* So I therefore like to use a giftcard for something that I have a harder time justifying to myself. Or I just like clothes. Or something.
On a completely different note, I would like to share my theory of work-related motivation. I believe we each only have a certain amount of motivation each week. So if we are VERY motivated on Monday, by Friday we might have absolutely NO motivation. I believe that is exactly what happened to me. Over the course of the week I used up all of my motivation, and now there is none. Good thing it’s almost time to go.
*Knowing that there are some of my family and male friends that read this blog makes it awkward to talk about this. And yet I do it, using an even more awkward word like undergarments. Is there enough awkwardness yet? I hope so.
In closing, a picture or two from our wedding day:
Ryan and I between the wedding and reception/dance.
Ryan and I kissing near the lift bridge as a ship comes through. We had 2 ships come under the bridge while we were doing photos down there. This is one of the many fantastic shots our photographer got.
It was wonderful
Jun 17th
I realized this morning when I read Shauna’s comment that not everyone who reads this blog is a family member or friend that we talk to on a regular basis. ;-) And so some of you have no idea what our wedding was like or what our honeymoon plans were. As far as what the wedding was like, I don’t really know how to explain, other than to say it was wonderful and direct you herefor pictures. We gave the guests at our wedding the login info, so they can add photos that they took, which is great since I obviously was not carrying a camera around with me all day. ;-)
All of our vendors were fabulous – the Holiday Inn, the Flower Cart, Julia Cheng and her assistant Kourtney, Deacon Tim, and our DJ, Ryan’s cousin Mike. They were all so great! I couldn’t believe how perfect everything was. Our friend Greta loaned us her Volkswagon Bug convertible (Green!) for a ride after the ceremony, so Ryan and I sat on the top of the back seat while our maid of honor and best man drove us down to Canal Park for some pictures. Two of the big ships came through the canal while we were down there, and so I cannot wait to see the photos that Julia got with the ship and the bridge in the background. It was a beautiful, sunny day also – the nicest one we had so far this summer.
As far as our honeymoon goes, Ryan and I went up the North Shore of Lake Superior to Lutsen Resort. We stayed at the lodge for 3 nights – Monday through Thursday. It was great to go up there and relax. We did a lot of hiking on some of the shorter trails that branch out from Highway 61, and the rivers were all completely full of water, which made for some amazing waterfalls (we’ll upload photos to the flickr site soon, I promise!). We also bummed around Grand Marais for a while, and picked up some souvenirs, including a church christmas decoration that Ryan’s aunt and uncle requested we use their wedding gift to purchase. Our first married christmas decoration! Other than that, we just hung out, ate dinner at the lodge and played a lot of cribbage. It was so relaxing and so much fun.
Well, I should get back to work, but I just wanted to give a short but real entry, instead of the stuff you’ve gotten recently – sorry about that!
The Big Day +2
Jun 9th
Just saying Hi from the North Shore. The wedding was wonderful and the weather was gorgeous. We can’t wait to see all the pictures.
