It's True - Adults Live Here!!!

It was a good week around these parts. I hosted Girls' night Tuesday - always a good time. Heidi took me shopping in Fort Dodge on Friday, mostly in order to acquire a few objects with which to decorate my now adult-friendly living room. It was much fun to get out with a girl friend and spend some time just walking through stores browsing and dreaming sans children.

I awoke early Saturday morning to participate in the appropriately named "Frozen 5K" here in town. Holy Crap was it cold. And hell if it wasn't darn near the most difficult thing I've ever done. Racing in single digit weather is hard enough, but to do so half a year after birthing my second daughter and with what is a shotty training regimine behind me is nearly impossible. Oh, and did I mention the flight of stairs. And 75 yards of nearly foot deep snow. And that the ENTIRE course was covered in packed snow. Do you know how hard it is to run on snow? It's not quite like the treadmil. My quads still hurt. But it wsa much fun, I have no regrets and I won myself $20 in Webster City bucks (which really only means I have to spend it in town). I plan to take Chris out to dinner but he doesn't know that yet! :)

We went to Lincoln for Tanyn's baptism - precious little thing. She loves me....even if she is a little apprehensive about my holding her. Things are heating up in our household again. We have a shower for Jaime and Trevor this coming weekend and Chris has a Texas trip planned for later in March. We have a few weekends of visitors coming about and an all-family trip to the Lonestar state. I am excited not only to see good friends, but thrilled that my sweet little Mia will have her first official visit with my most favoriteist doctor ever. I am pretty sure the office staff there thinks I'm crazy. My conversation with the woman in scheduling went something like this (and don't forget to superimpose the nice southern accent on "her"):
Her: "And this is her first visit with Dr. Breeze?"
Me: "Uh Huh"
Her: "And she's nine months?"
Me: "Uh Huh"
Her: "And her sister's a patient here?"
Me: "Uh Huh"
Her: "And you live in...?"
Me: "Iowa"
Her: "And you're scheduling this visit because?"
Me: "Because if I can get Dr. Breeze to poke at my Children I will do so."
Her: "Yeah...I'm gonna have to call you back."
But it's worth it. There is nothing like the confidence that comes with knowing Dr. Breeze is caring for my children. I can't wait!

The girls are increadible. Mia is trying desperately to figure out how to crawl. She's learning mobility via rolling and squirming, and this weekend managed to get to hands and one knee with the other leg straight.

Ella continues to amaze me, and I couldn't help but tell Chris the other day "I really like her." I know it sounds really lame but I do, I really like Ella, she cracks me up...she's a great time...she's fun to be with. I am so enjoying watching her grow.

We were welcomed home today by the most generous of actions by our good friends....they came into our house while we were away and did the decorating for which Heidi and I shooped last week. It looks great. I only wish I had accurate before pictures. Even so....here are the after pics:


Yes it's true....adults do live here.

And as always....a few good photos of our kiddos. They are the light of my life - I am daily reminded and amazed that God would entrust such precious souls to me.

A CLEAN Slate

As you have now figured out I successfully navigated my way through the alumni game mostly unharmed (waking Monday morning was a little painful). It was so good to see all of our friends - and it really was fun to play basketball with talented athletes, even if we are all old and washed up! Ella and Emma had a fantastic time...they jumped until soaked in sweat at the game and swam their little selves exhausted at the hotel. The stay with Tom, Leah and Emma was awesome - the hotel had a mini-pool that was about a foot and a half deep that the girls could splash and play in, and we also took them to the family pool where they got to dunk, swim and play all kinds of ridiculous games related to songs Leah introduced us to. Songs that have burdened my days since! :) Doug and Connie had us out to the house on Sunday for lunch - a feast that we are extremely grateful for. The girls were clearly exhausted and ready for naps on the car rides home.

We took a snow day last Wednesday with the girls, and had Lainey and Addie over for lunch and some outside time:

Mia had her 6 month visit yesterday....she's growing well, a little over 19 lbs, and seems to be progressing fine - sitting up, supporting weight on her legs, two teeth, passing objects between hands, babbling... all things the doc seemed to think were important and sufficiently displayed. She followed up her visit with an extra long night - fell asleep at 6:45 and slumbered until well after 8 in the morning. Ella also took an early evening, checking out at about 7:30. She was running a mild grade fever this afternoon, but didn't seem to know it as she was dancing through the house in her new silky comfies all evening.

I got my favorite Valentine's Day present yet....a cleaning lady! I'm so excited I can't stand it. She's coming to meet me (and assess my disgusting house) tomorrow, at which time we will discuss how she can clean my floors and bathrooms and dust my home every other week. What a relief. I do my best to keep a neat house, and as much as I'd LOVE to say I keep a clean house, I'm usualyl glad to get my ironing and laundry done while keeping the house picked up and the refrigerator full. I have no idea how those of you who work do it. I can hardly keep up without a job! Kudos to the rest of you. As for me....Lois is a welcomed woman in my life.

As for Chris, he recieved two Ceramic Starbucks latte cups for weekend and evening lattes, a bottle of sugar-free Hazlenut syrup (watch out to all the fatties in our family....Chris is looking like Tyson Beckford with his svelt body over here....we're taking your money suckers!) and a gift card to support his new-found coffee habit.

We took family pics/6 month pics for Mia earlier this week and I get to view them on Tuesday. Can't wait. Keep an eye out for links to the pics, they should be up sometime late next week.

Oh...and by the way, it would seem that Al Gore has spent little, if any, time in Iowa. This particular section of the globe is clearly not warming.

Good-Knight Bob

I'm in disbelief that Bobby Knight has retired. It's impossible not to acknowledge that he was on the brink of losing it, but nonetheless, he was a legend no matter how you slice it. A very few of you know that he was actually a professional friend of my grandfather, who was an exceptional basketball mind. I was always a proponent of his coaching style, minus the physical agression. I'm old-school when it comes to coaching, in that a team cannot be run via a democracy, the coach needs to be in charge. No question who was in charge on his teams. This trend towards athletes running teams, and making demands disgusts me. Kudos to Coach Knight for continuing to stand for his team. Like I said though, he was losing it, so I'm glad to see him go now, while he still (maybe) has some of it.

Chris is out of town again at a conference for the week. I'd planned to haul the girls to Lincoln but have been waylaid by the weather. So we're doing projects this week. We stocked Mia's drawers with 6-12 month clothing from storage (my baby's getting so big!!!) and have plans to take down the winter village at some point. Chris and I did some painting over the weekend in our great room and I'm playing with the furniture arrangement in that space. It will likey have been moved numerous times before he returns. Nothing's permanent right?

The girls are both asleep, though both of them were mildly reluctant to do so. The night promises to be interesting as I found Ella's diaper on the floor outside her door when I went to check on them. I can perfectly picture her cracking her door and sticking her little hand out and dropping the diaper for me to find. So I'm sure she'll be at my bedside soon enough with soaking wet comfies and unable to return to her own pee-coated bed. I'll relish the chance to cuddle her.

Chris and I are taking the girls to St. Cloud for the Alumni game this weekend. We have lots of fun planned after I humiliate myself. Mostly in the form of watching Ella and Emma Dasovich take over the Holiday Inn swimming pools and play areas. Maybe we'll rope someone (Abe???) into keeping an eye on the girls for fifteen minutes or so....just long enough to pound a Margarita with no toddlers or babies whining, crying or otherwise interrupting a nice drink.

Hope you like all the pictures....I had to split it into two files there were so darn many.

The sledding pictures!

Lost in Fun Pics

Bliss

I finally feel complete again, having held the precious Tanyn in my arms. She's beautiful, gorgeous, the picture of perfection.

Our weekend was exceptional. Chris had to spend a good deal of time studying, but we're primarily grateful that he has a job for which he needs to study. On Saturday we spent a few hours at Lost In Fun, an indoor playground. What a fabulous place. All kinds of equipment for the kids to climb on and cause as much damage as possible.

We had family dinner at Red Robin for Giff's birthday that night...a seemingly simple arrangement that turned into quite an ordeal. We waited over an hour for a table, but were compensated quite well by a very generous management that provided fries while we waited and a smattering of free appetizers once we were seated. The kids were great, and until her second "break-out" Ella was compliant enough to stay in our small area. We left when Mia started rubbing her eyes so hard I thought she'd reach her brain and Ella tried just one more time to sneak out beneath the table.

I was lucky enough to babysit all four kiddos Sunday morning before we headed out to the cabin. We went sledding, tried to ice skate a little and had a wonderful meal with great company. It was so very good to be able to have the entire family together, crazy as it may have been. I have to admit I was the fun police for the first half hour we were there while Ella refused to put on her snow bibs and play outside before her friends arrived. Needless to say I was relieved to see the Harms clan come in followed closely by the Giffords. From that point on Ella played flawlessly with Mattie and Eli while Mia and Miles had their own little baby party.

We were obviously sad to leave but glad to have had the time to spend with those we love. We kept the Tesdahl kids on Tuesday after returning and save the pant-removal and pee on the play room floor it went remarkably well. I had planned to have them this morning as well, but came back from working out to find Ella running a fever. So we spent the day watching cartoons and playing quietly for the most part. She was apparantly feeling better early this evening though, cause I was no longer able to contain her and she went wild! So much fun.

I started Mia on Biter Biscuits....nasty gummy little things. She loves them! Chris is gone tonight, and I'm predictably wasting my time insteady of folding the heaping pile of clothes on my bed, or ironing the basket full of Chris's work shirts. Oh well....at least you can say you've been kept in the loop.

I've decided I hate the decorating in my house, so Chris got me a bunch of stuff for Christmas to try and make the house look as if an adult lives here. We have plans this weekend to paint and hang, and hopefully have a decorated abode at some point.

Chris is in Chicago next week so I'm hauling the girls to Lincoln for a few days of what will hopefully be rest and relaxation (and a cut and highlight for me)! Hope the last week has treated you all well....Hopefully I'll be back soon!

FINALLY (in so many ways)

I'm going to see Tanyn! I'm going to see Tanyn. More than a week later I FINALLY get to see my precious niece. I do so hope she has waited patiently for me. And I will NOT be sharing her with anyone during my visit given that the rest of you all have been doting on her without me. I CAN'T WAIT!

Though it's been a while since she's been here and I've neglected to post the pictures, Nana came bearing Christmas gifts we had to leave behind. The dinosaur Ball Pit is a favorite - She also brought matching valentine comfies for the girls.

Dad spent a full day with Mia a little while back and took some pictures of how happy she is with him. Mia has graduated from the bath sling...and as previously reported is willing and able to stand alone so long as she's given something steady to hold.And I apparantly missed the occurance of my baby girl growing up!

We babysat the Bargfrede children again, and they keep expressing how grateful they are...what a favor it is...blah blah blah. Honestly...It's great and we love it. The day comes and goes and while it is exhausting, it is also fascinating, suprising and always rewarding. The girls love playing with Delainey and Carson, and the big girls have started playing independently of me....which works pretty well, I can watch the babies nad keep an ear tuned to that fascinating pitch that is the screaming of a two year old.

Carson and Mia played in the ball pit which was lots of fun...
That is until Mia got a Carson foot in the face!

The ktichen became the playroom for the greater part of the day...

While it looks a bit precarious, I promise the children were safe at all times....and the highchair performance is a standard in our house. Turns out the babies are enthralled with it!Even when Ella gets a little closer than expected!

Did I mention I'm going to see Tanyn? I'm so freaking anxiuos I can't stand it. We not only get to see Tanyn, we get to see the rest of our family as well. Dinner at the cabin Sunday night, at which point I promise to take lots of pictures. Rumor has it the "cold-as-a-tile-floor-in-the-basement" snap is supposed to lift and the kiddos will get to sled, ice skate and otherwise cash-in on the beauty of having a cabin.

An interesting update regarding Chris...he's started drinking coffee. By which I mean we're all out latte-afficionados. We don't pass a Starbucks but we turn in for a drink. It's worked out well for me, seeing as I love coffee and not only have my Starbucks trips increased, but my adoring, capable, fantastic husband makes himself a latte every morning. Did I say himself? I mean, both of us! And Ella too (not really a latte, milk and sugar-free flavor sans coffee). It's a wonderous routine.

The next best advancement in our lives...and by next best I obviously mean...THE BEST---Mia is an all night sleeper! It's heaven. It took some work, and a few tough nights listening to her work it out at 1:30 am, but she took to it much quicker than Ella and seems to be better off for it. Here's hoping I haven't jinxed us.