To do…

I’m having trouble getting to sleep lately.  You’d think now that school is out, a great deal of stress is (temporarily) gone from my life and it should be easy, right?  Not so much.  I keep thinking about everything I want to get done this summer:

-paint the walls in all/most rooms of our townhouse

-get the carpet cleaned

-organize the garage

-organize our files

-transfer banks (yes, I have lived in New Prague for 5 years and still bank in Rochester…)

-get my hair cut (seriously, I can’t even remember the last time I had this done…)

-get caught up on Abby’s baby book

-print digital pictures and put in albums (or just make digital scrapbook on Shutterfly and order)

-clean out the car/get both cars vacuumed and washed (this will probably have to wait until after Ely next week)

-go to school and finish going through my files/organizing

-take Abby swimming, to the zoo, to the Children’s Museum

-go to at least one Twins game

-take Abby camping for the first time

-work up to running a 5K (doing okay on this one…week 1 of 9 completed)

-give up pop (this one not going so well, especially up in Frazee)

Looking at this list is overwhelming, but it does help to see it and not just think it.  Sigh…  In the meantime, I also want to enjoy the time I’m lucky to have with Abby and try to make summer last as long as possible…

Fishing

Well, we’re back from a week in Frazee…and now it’s June 13th already?!?  Is it just me, or is summer already going too fast?  Anyway, we are finally unpacked and working on getting the laundry done so we can turn around and do it all again next weekend.  Last week was Dave’s family, next weekend is my family–we’ll head up to Ely for a week of fun with my parents, brother & his girlfriend, sister, grandmas, and the rest of my dad’s side of the family (minus an uncle and a cousin).  It’s my family’s first attempt at going “up north” and staying in a cabin for a week, so we’ll see how it goes.  I’m excited to canoe out into the BWCA a little bit and camp overnight in the wilderness.  Also excited about doing some touristy things like the wolf center.  Anyway, back to last week…

We had a great time in Frazee, even though the weather was a little iffy.  It started off in the 40s last weekend, and finally progressed to low 70s by the time we left last night.  Abby stayed awake for the ENTIRE 4 1/2 hour car ride to Frazee (well, except for falling asleep 15 minutes before we stopped for breakfast).  Thankfully, she’s a good car-rider and was pretty mellow (only spilled an entire bag of Cheerios in her lap).  Each day kind of blended into the next…we had a pretty good routine down by the end of the week.  Abby would wake us up somewhere between 5:45-6:45 a.m. and we’d bring her over to Dave’s parents’ room to play.  Dave and his dad would head to the other cabin to go fishing, while I stayed at Eagle Lake to give her breakfast and let her play and take her morning nap.  Somewhere around 10ish, she’d wake up and we’d head over to the other cabin.  We’d stay there until afternoon naptime, then go back over to Eagle Lake.  I got into a bad habit of taking a nap each afternoon…but it was so warm and snuggly in the sleeping bag in the room with the heater!  After naptime, we’d head back to the other cabin to play/fish/have supper.  Back again after supper to get Abby to bed by 7.  A couple of afternoons and nights, Dave’s mom was in charge of naptime/bedtime so I could fish.

All Abby wanted to do this week was be OUTSIDE.  She wanted to walk (holding onto our hands, of course) everywhere and got a lot of good practice in.  She went for a few boat rides, loved looking at and trying to touch the fish, and played in some sand and in her tent.  She also loved mealtime (mmm…fish!) and was quite the comedian at supper every night.

We left after supper last night, in hopes that it would coincide with Abby’s bedtime.  She did sleep for the first 45 minutes/hour, but then was awake for the rest of the drive once again.  She was hilarious when it got to be almost 10:00, and she must have just been loopy from staying up too late.  You’d think the late bedtime would mean sleeping in, but no…7 was the latest we could get this morning.  The later bedtime definitely caught up with her tonight.

Here are just a few pictures from the trip:

Long time no blog…

Sorry it’s been so long!  Life has been moving at a fast pace as the end of the school year draws near…7 more student days!  I think I can do it!  I’ll try my best to recap the past month or so…

In April, we made it over to Canby to visit Dave’s grandma for her birthday (the pictures are on our other camera…will have to be uploaded another time…).  We spent the day visiting, playing some poker, and eating out with Dave’s uncles, aunts, mom, dad, grandma, and cousin at a local small-town bar and grill.

The first weekend of May, it was finally nice enough to try out the backpack carrier.  Abby, Madi, and I met up with our friend Kristina and her dog, Maya, at a local dog park.  The dogs enjoyed running and swimming, then we joined in on a humane society walk that was going on on the trail we were planning on hiking anyway.  Afterward, we had lunch with Kristina at Applebee’s.

The next weekend, we came to Rochester to “house-sit” while my parents and sister were visiting my brother in California.  It was nice to have some family time.

Abby and Dave did some finger painting for a Mother’s Day project.  I don’t think Abby enjoyed it very much…

Our ECFE baby class ended mid-May also.  It was weird “graduating” from the 0-12 month class…next fall, we’ll be ready for the one-year-old class.  It’s time, though…the other babies were all much younger (besides her friend Mitchell, who is also 1) and less mobile.  Abby was pretty excited to hear that at the one-year-old class, they have a snack time!

Dave did some garage-saling during the New Prague citywide garage sales.  He was so excited to find this never-been-used wagon for $45 at a local garage sale.  He also brought home lots of great clothes for Abby, even a pair of Nikes that were in great shape.

Last weekend found us back in Rochester again (not planned) as we came to visit our friends Tim and Katrina and their new twin boys in the hospital.  We also got to see Ben, Betsy, and Esther for a short time at the hospital.  Abby loved playing the piano at my parents house (and in this case, pant-less–diaper changes are becoming more and more of a hassle lately, and this time she escaped before the pants were put back on).

Which brings us to Memorial weekend…not a lot going on for us, as it’s a big camping weekend and Dave worked last night, tonight, and again tomorrow night.  Abby and I are just hanging out in Rochester to keep from getting too lonely at home.

Here’s what Abby is up to these days:

-She’s developing a bit of a sassy/stubborn side (we say it comes from Dave’s side of the family… 🙂 ).

-Still no walking independently, but getting those legs stronger by holding onto our hands and attempting to walk (she hates when we put her behind her toy stroller/walker to make her try)

-She now can climb up our first flight of stairs by herself (with a spotter)

-Her new favorite thing to do in the morning is to sit in the big recliner/rocker (by herself–pushes us out) and read books before we have to go to daycare

-She LOVES being outside, and will request to go out as often as possible.  Going outside can fix almost any problem/complaint.

-Abby now recognizes many words…Madi, Daddy, Mommy, outside, hug, kiss, bye-bye, hi, wave, clap (or yay), nose, ears, mouth, belly button, teeth, bunny, etc.  She’s not quite to the stage where she is saying any of these yet, but her favorite “word” to say is “bop”

-Abby is quite the big eater (except when new teeth are coming in).  She still loves her fruits and veggies.  Watermelon has become an addiction…we’ve learned to never give her watermelon first at any meal–nothing else will get eaten and she will want more and more watermelon…

-Another love of Abby’s is her babies.  Her dolls are definitely her most favorite toys, and she will cuddle them like a real mommy.  According to our daycare provider, Abby also loves to make sure Isabelle (8 months old) is always being taken care of.

-We successfully got rid of the bottle and are now saving a ton of money by not having to buy formula!  Abby loves milk!

The new big thing with me is that I am recovering from a staph infection in my leg…  It started off as a few cuts while I was shaving my legs, which then became infected.  I had strep throat at the time, so don’t know if my immune system was just down or if I had a staph infection on my skin that just got into the cuts or what.  Anyway, after about a week or so of the cuts getting more infected and extremely painful, I went into the minute clinic to get an antibiotic.  They prescribed me for one, but recommended going into my regular doctor to have the infected cut drained.  I went in last Friday and got it drained and a wick put in.  Not sure what was worse–the novacaine in the leg to numb the spot or the shot of penicillin in the rear end to help fight off the infection.  Anyway, I had to go back in on Monday to have the spot rechecked, and my doctor informed me that the bacteria was resistant to the antibiotic I was on.  So I was prescribed a new antibiotic (which on the informational papers says it’s for prevention of anthrax…) which seems to be working well.  My leg is a little scarred, but hopefully those will fade with time.  In the midst of all of this, we also were without a computer for about a week…5 viruses later, all is well.  Are these good enough excuses to not have blogged in so long?

So, that’s that…soon, summer will be here and I hope to be a little more consistent about updating the blog.  We have a busy June with a couple of family trips.  Looking forward to lots of fun and relaxation!

More birthday (and Easter)

Abby had another fun-filled and busy weekend…  On Friday night, we enjoyed hanging out with a friend of mine from school and her husband.  They actually live just a few rows over from us in our townhouse development, so it was a quick walk to visit.  Abby had so much fun chasing around their cat and “playing” guitar with my friend’s husband.  On Saturday, we took off for Albert Lea at Abby’s morning nap time.  After lunch, Abby got to meet two different Easter bunnies and have her picture taken.  The picture below is from the sort of creepy-looking (but free!) one at Wal-mart.  We haven’t gotten the pictures back from the one at the mall yet, but it was a little more friendly-looking.

After Abby’s afternoon nap, Abby got to open presents from her grandma and grandpa Olsen before heading over to Ron and Betty’s for the big family Easter egg hunt.  Abby found lots of Easter eggs, and had fun meeting the horses outside.

We ate supper, then Abby got to celebrate her birthday once again.  She received lots more fun presents, and enjoyed some birthday cake.  Her cake was pretty fancy–Dave’s mom ordered this Little People Noah’s Ark cake.  Abby’s favorite part was the colorful frosting!

Abby had to quickly make an outfit change, so she could help play the Easter bunny and deliver candy bags with her aunt Tracy.

We left after this, and didn’t get back home until late.  Abby went to bed without a bottle for the first time Saturday night!  She talked herself to sleep, but didn’t get upset.  We have just about 2 bottles worth of formula left, and then the bedtime bottles will (hopefully) be gone for good!  Today (Easter Sunday), we got up and Abby checked out what the Easter bunny brought her.  She was a little disappointed that some eggs contained candy she couldn’t eat.  Luckily, there were a few eggs with Little People inside and a basket with two new books.

After breakfast, we went to church.  We intended to bring Abby to the nursery, but it was dark…  Luckily, she made it through the service okay (with plenty of distractions).  For lunch, my parents came up and took us out to the Fishtale Grill, then came back to our house for a little while.  Later in the afternoon, Dave’s parents stopped by on their way home from dropping Dave’s sister off at college.  Abby is quite the popular little girl!  After such a busy couple of weekends, I’m looking forward to some rest and relaxation in the upcoming weekends…  Just have to make it through the school weeks now.  🙂

Turning one…

Abby turned one last week…April 2, 2009.  One whole year has gone by since she was an 8 pound, 1 ounce little baby who liked to be up all hours of the night.  Now she is seeming more toddler than baby–sleeping just fine at night, but starting to develop a little sassy and independent side.  On Thursday, her actual birthday, Dave and I both had to work during the day, so it was a day at daycare for Abby.  After daycare/work, we enjoyed a supper of grilled cheese (one of Abby’s favorites!), broccoli, and peaches, then Abby had her first cupcake (licked all of the frosting off the top) and opened a couple of cards and gifts.  She and I had “baby and me” class at the ECFE at 6, so it was a quick little celebration.  The big celebration was on Saturday with my side of the family.  The party was held in Rochester, where there was a lot more space than our little townhouse.  Both grandmas and grandpas were there, as well as two of Abby’s great-grandmas, two great-aunts, Greg, Jenny, cousin Sarah, neighbors Dave and Jane, and friends Vicki and Sarah.  Lunch was grilled out burgers, brats, and hot dogs (and tons of other yummy food!).  Abby had plenty of presents to open (she especially enjoyed her two dolls) and then enjoyed some cake.  We spent the rest of the weekend in Rochester, and today came back to New Prague for Abby’s 1-year check-up with Dr. Mark.  All is well, except for another minor cold…can’t get rid of it.  She’s now 20 pounds even (30th percentile), 29 3/4 inches tall (75th percentile)…still long and thin.  She had 2 shots today, which went quickly but were still painful.  Here are some picture highlights of the birthday celebrations:

Florida trip

Well, we are officially back in Minnesota…it was very tough to leave the 70s/80s behind and head back to temperatures in the 20s and 30s…  It was a whirlwind trip–went WAY too fast, but I’ll try to sum it up and provide some fun pictures here…

Saturday:  We headed out in the afternoon (supposedly naptime).  Abby did much better than we anticipated on the airplane, but didn’t sleep for any of the 3 hour ride (except for the landing).  We didn’t end up getting to the house we were staying at until around 7 p.m., so we didn’t do a whole lot besides get a few food supplies from Wal-Mart, eat supper, put Abby to bed, and unpack.  The house we stayed at is owned by Dave’s aunt and uncle–it was the perfect place for us this week.

Sunday:  We decided to head to the beach for our first day in Florida.  We packed up a picnic lunch and headed to Honeymoon Island.  We were early enough to get a good spot on the beach, but it quickly becamed packed.  We stayed on the beach, playing in the sand for a couple of hours.  The Gulf of Mexico was chilly, so Abby did NOT enjoy putting her feet in it.  She preferred playing around in the sand.  After playing for awhile, we checked out the nature center and headed to the picnic area of the park to eat our lunch.  Afterwards, we attempted to take the rental umbrella stroller on a hike, but the path was too sandy.  By this time, Abby had fallen asleep, so Dave continued hiking while Abby and I stayed behind (I didn’t really mind getting a chance to read my new Jodi Picoult book).  Back at the house that night, we grilled out burgers and enjoyed eating in the screened-in sun porch out back.  It was a perfect way to end a relaxing day.

Monday:  On Monday, we headed out to the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa (our MN Zoo membership came in handy…free admission!).  We did NOT pack the rain gear, as it was sunny and the forecast had called for a 10% chance of rain.  Anyway…pretty soon into our time at the zoo (which is almost all outdoors), it started to rain.  We hung out with the manatees indoors until lunchtime, then booked it through the rain to the cafe.  After changing Abby into dry clothes, we spent some time eating lunch, hoping the rain would stop.  Thankfully, it had stopped by the time we were done eating, so we got to enjoy the rest of the zoo.  It was a beautiful zoo–one we’ll definitely have to visit again in the future.  After the zoo, it was “happy hour” at Sonic, so we stopped for slushies.  When we got back to the house, we once again enjoyed a nice relaxing meal in the sun porch.  Just thinking about it now makes me miss it…

Tuesday:  On Tuesday, we made the trek to Orlando to visit the Magic Kingdom.  Spring break is definitely NOT the ideal time to visit, but we had fun anyway.  Abby got to go on several rides…Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, It’s a Small World, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean…  She also met Cinderella’s fairy godmother, saw a few little shows, and the parade.  It was a busy, but fun day!  We didn’t make it back to the house until about 9 that night.

Wednesday:  We slept in after our busy Tuesday, and ended up going to nearby Tarpon Springs for the afternoon.  We checked out another beach (Sunset Beach), but didn’t like it nearly as much as the Honeymoon Island beach.  Abby once again did not like the water, but Dave figured out that if he dug a hole in the sand and filled it with water from the Gulf, Abby loved to splash in it.  She got totally dirty, but had a great time.  After the beach, we walked around the sponge docks area of Tarpon Springs for awhile.  No sponges were purchased by us, but we did buy some saltwater taffy (yum!) and some alligator jerky (eww!).  For supper, we ended up going up to Port Richey to eat at a Golden Corral (both for Dave and for Abby…nostalgia for Dave, lots of food choices (veggies, fruit, cottage cheese, etc.) for Abby).  This little almost-one-year-old definitely made her free meal worthwhile.  Back at the house, after Abby went to bed, Dave and I spent at least an hour reading in the sun porch…so relaxing.  We really need one of those at home…

Thursday:  This was our last full day in Florida…we decided to head back to Honeymoon Island, since we had enjoyed the beach there so much.  We enjoyed making more sandcastles and basking in the sun.  Abby made friends with some birds that were close by.  After the beach, it was time to head back to the house to clean/pack up.  We weren’t going to have time later, because we had a Twins spring training game to get to.  The game was in Sarasota, which took almost 2 hours to get to with traffic.  Even though it was a long drive, it was fun to see some outdoor baseball.  We had great seats–right behind the Twins dugout–so we got some great photos.  Abby made it until the seventh inning stretch, then it was time to head back.  Okay by us, too, because we had to get up early the next morning for our flight.

Friday:  This brings us to today…we got up at 5 a.m. Florida time, to make sure we had enough time to finish getting ready to go, drive to the airport, return our rental car, and get on our flight.  This flight didn’t go quite as well as the first one…Abby was very “busy” and had two near-meltdowns (both were diverted pretty quickly, but were stressful!).  She also required a mid-flight diaper change.  We made it home, though, and once again, Abby fell asleep as we were pulling up to the gate.  Back home, back to reality…it was the perfect break, though!  Hopefully we can go back to visit again someday!

March Madness

It’s bracket time once again!  Every year for the past few years, my dad, brother, Dave, and I fill out basketball brackets and compete to see who the big winner is.  Even though Greg and I know pretty much nothing about any of the teams, we all still enjoy a little friendly competition.  Supposedly, the big winner gets dinner from the others (although I don’t remember that we’ve ever followed through on this…).

Anyway, this year Abby is getting in on the action.  To make her bracket choices, Dave put the numbers 1-16 on slips of paper.  He put two choices in front of her, and whoever she picked up first was her winning team (it’s sort of like random Stratego, Greg 🙂 ).  She’s halfway there–her attention span only lasted through the first half of the bracket tonight.  She’ll finish up tomorrow night, and we’ll see what happens.  Who knows?  Maybe she’ll be the big winner this year…

Long time…

Wow, it has been a LONG time since I’ve blogged…  Life just seems to be going at a fast, hectic pace.  Where to start?  After I last wrote, we took Abby to the zoo on my much-needed day off (President’s Day).  It was crazy there–tons of kids–but Abby had fun playing in the sand with my friend Nichole’s kids.  We left our camera at home, unfortunately, but Nichole was able to send us some pictures.

From there, we had a rough week/weekend.  Abby came down with the flu on Wednesday, so Dave had to pick her up from daycare.  I stayed home with her on that Thursday, then sent her back to daycare on Friday (thinking she was fine).  Dave ended up coming home early from work Friday morning because now HE had the flu.  Once at school that Friday, I received a call from our daycare provider saying that Abby needed to be picked up.  Dave couldn’t do it, so I had to.  The problem was, I had carpooled and didn’t have a car.  SO, our daycare provider had to come pick me up and bring me home (1 hour round trip).  Luckily, her mom was at the daycare that day, so could watch the kiddos.  Anyway, I brought Abby home and I ended up starting to feel sick around noon that day.  By afternoon, Dave and I were pretty miserable, so Dave’s mom came and picked up Abby (who was feeling much better at this point).  Abby spent the weekend with Dave’s parents while we recovered.  It was a rough weekend…

We managed to make it through the next week just fine, and went to Rochester last weekend so Dave could participate in an ice fishing get-together.  Abby and I just spent some time relaxing.

Another week has gone by now, and there’s not too much to share.  It’s just been full of work, work, work.  I’m counting down the days until spring break–2 weeks from today, we’ll be in Florida!  I can’t wait!

Here are just a few recent pictures:

Abby and I are trying out the new backpack carrier we got for Christmas…we’re excited to use it a lot this spring, summer, and fall!

Abby ate spaghetti for the first time…

Abby is helping me “get ready” for Florida…  I had put some things in the suitcase, and she decided to take them out.

All ready for sunny Florida!  14 more days!

Happy Valentine’s Day

Well, conferences are over and we have a 3-day weekend, so I finally have some time to catch up and update everyone.  Abby has been a busy girl since I last wrote and told you she was on the move.  She is now crawling everywhere, and loves to find trouble.  She is just starting to get upset when her “fun” is taken away.  Just last weekend, Abby discovered Madi’s bowls in the kitchen.  She had two handfuls of dog food heading toward her mouth when I caught her (luckily, just in time!).  This picture shows what she was doing just before bathtime last week (playing in the water dish):

She also found some reading material:

Abby got to spend some quality time with Dave this week after daycare, due to my conferences.  Most nights were pretty happy, and this is what her new thing is at mealtimes (giving high fives):

Abby got to spend Valentine’s Day afternoon with her grandma and grandpa Olsen, while Dave and I got to go to a movie.  Abby was very cuddly when we came home:

Abby loves Madi…  Now that Abby has figured out how to “throw” the ball for Madi, maybe the friendship will be reciprocated…

Dave dressed Abby today…

Anyway, that’s all for now…we are headed to the zoo tomorrow on my day off, so I’m sure there will be more pictures to come soon!

On the move

Time for babyproofing…  Abby decided that on Monday, one week before turning 10 months old, she would decide to start crawling.  She hasn’t gotten into too much trouble yet, but she has discovered that she can open the door to the bottom of our TV stand, where we keep some DVDs.  She can also crawl to find new toys if she gets tired of the ones she’s playing with (or in her bedroom, she can crawl over the bookshelf and take all of the books off the bottom shelf!).  I’m attaching a video so you can experience the crawling for yourself:

Life has been pretty typical around here otherwise.  January always seems to be the longest month of the year…probably the temperatures and lack of days off.  We spent last weekend in Rochester with my mom and dad, keeping warm inside for the most part.  On Monday night, Dave was unexpectedly called into work at 10:30.  Usually that wouldn’t be a problem, but I received a wake-up call at 5:40 Tuesday morning from our daycare provider saying that she was sick and was closing daycare for the day.  Dave was able to make it home in time for me to go to work, but ended up taking Abby back to Rochester since he had been up all night.  My mom enjoyed the bonus time with Abby.  That night, Dave and Abby made their way up to Shakopee so we could go to Davanni’s night for my school.  We didn’t see too many of my students, but ran into some other school friends.  Daycare was closed again on Wednesday, so Dave’s mom came up to spend the day with Dave and Abby so Dave could get some sleep for work that night.  She enjoyed some Abby time and took some video of her crawling.

Abby and I took an impromptu trip to the outlet mall on Saturday morning, where we met up with my mom and dad.  We wanted to do some shopping to outfit Abby for our big trip in March…we are so excited that we are going to be able to take a spring break trip down to Florida at the end of March.  After the outlet mall, it was time to return home so Dave and I could have our “parent’s night out” through daycare.  We always enjoy our once-a-month chance to go to a movie and dinner on our own.  Today, we took a trip up to our friends Matt and Kristina’s house for a “pre-Superbowl” party.  Madi enjoyed running around and playing with Maya, and Abby enjoyed showing Matt and Kristina her new crawling skills.  We had to end the party early when Abby decided it was naptime, though.

Tomorrow, Abby turns 10 months old.  Crazy and sad that we are so quickly approaching the one year mark.  She is becoming less “baby” each day.  We’re down to the last container of baby food in the cupboard, and probably won’t buy more since she doesn’t like to eat it anymore anyway.  Size 4 diapers.  Down to drinking 2 bottles a day.  Sigh…