A long time coming.

I finally tried out the jogging feature of our stroller.  Amelie and I went for a solo walk around Nokomis and I gave it a shot.  Not as bad as I thought it would be.  It was pretty hot out though.  She napped, which is always nice.  

We got the cupboard shelves installed in the kitchen and replaced some vent covers last week.  Little by little things are getting done.  Now hopefully I can find some time to unpack all the boxes in the dining room and kitchen.

Last night we walked up to Buster's for an appetizer and an excuse to get out of the house.  It's a great little place.  We sat on the patio where there was room for the stroller and the company of 3 other couples with young kids.  Busters has a huge beer menu and we sampled a few of them.   I still like to good 'ol Coffee Bender the best.  Tyler tried a couple of different types of beer and they all came with their own special glass.

  

That girl of ours is getting smarter and stronger by the day.  She sits up on her own, rolls all over the place, and can snatch her bottle off the table and hold it up to drink.  It was hilarious to watch her do it the other night.  It was such a frantic and urgent motion...like she HAD to have the bottle right then and there.   Notice the whiteness in the tips of her fingers because she is holding onto that bottle sooooo tight.  

We had a great morning today.  She slept pretty well, and when she napped I was able to clean up, make Zucchini Bread again, did laundry, make some wedding planning progress, did some dishes and had a bit to eat.  I love it when I can get so much done...and it was all before 11am.

I went to Krista's Bridal Shower on Sunday.  It was great to see Krista, Maree, Britta, Courtney and the rest of the invitees'.  Everyone looked great, it was a cool but beautiful day and the food at the shower was GREAT!  

Today we grilled Andouille Brats and corn on the cob and it was sooo good.  Then we went for a walk around the neighborhood.  We walked by the Northrup Environmental Learning School and it looks pretty sweet.  I hope that by the time Amelie starts school that Northrup is a super great really awesome school that will teach her tons of great things.  One of the couples that we met at Buster's told us that their kids go to Northrup and they love it and think it is rapidly improving.  I'm not sure exactly what that means but since Ami is only 5 months old the school has plenty enough time to catch up to our standards  :)

I also got to meet my friend Kylea's adorable little peanut today.  Her teeny tiny little girls name is Harper.  Isn't that cute.  Harper Francis.  Adorable.  I almost forgot how teeny and fragile newborn babies are.  Kylea looked great and we had a fun visit.  I forgot to take any photos.

I made more bread too.  I'm for sure registering for a bread maker when we get married.

And for tomorrow...we are going to start a new family tradition and take Amelie to the MN State Fair.  We have biked there the past few years to avoid the traffic.  It is deceptively close to our old house.  This year we will have to submit to the parking lot chaos.  

 

 

I just found a huge crusty booger in Amelie's hair.  I freaked out a little first because I thought it was some kind of creature sucking her brain out.  Nope, just an old dried out boogie.  I coaxed it out of her hair while I was administering her late night feeding.  Pretty gross right.  But not as gross as watching someone pick off their scab and toss it casually on your floor.  The floor your baby plays on.  The baby that puts everything in her mouth.  She did not put a scab in her mouth, I'm just saying.  

So as I said in a previous post, my mom watched Amelie overnight while I went to my high school reunion.  Abby bought some hairbows and was planning on putting them all in her hair and taking all sorts of photos.  Well, Ami's hair is a little to short for that still, but the managed to get a couple quick pics with one bow.  The pictures are so funny, I laughed so hard when my mom sent them to me.  You be the judge... 

 What a goofball.

Abby and I walked around Nokomis today, threw down a giant beach towel and chilled in the shade for a while.  I'm digging the walks, I just wish walking burned more calories.  I suppose ordering a pepperoni pizza and cheese bread doesn't really help the calorie burning process though.  

I was able to get Ami to sleep in her crib tonight around 8pm.  She didn't wake up again until about 11:10pm.  It is currently 12:08pm and she is still sleeping in her crib.  This may be a turning point for us.  I just hope I won't have to explain to her pediatrician at her 6 month appointment that she still spends the majority of the night sleeping in her swing...

It stinks like garbage outside my house.  I'm not sure what it is, but I am guessing the stench is coming from the manhole in the street.  It's not good.  However, I would rather it be the manhole that smells instead of something way grosser.  

Cops is on, that means it's time for me to go to bed.  Right after I do the fat thing and eat a leftover piece of pepperoni pizza.  

Seacrest, out.  

5 months and counting...

Well, today is Amelie's 5 month birthday.  Cripes, how has it been 5 months already?!   Tyler went biking with his buddies and Ami and I went to pick up my bridesmaids dress for Krista's wedding at David's Bridal.  That place is the pits, but the dress is cute.  I'll post some photos after her wedding on Oct 2nd (also known as my birthday).

On Thursday I went to pick up Beth at her brother's house and we got to hang out all day.  We stopped and saw my mom at work (surprise) and had lunch at my house before Ambular and Cassie got there.  It was miraculous that we were all able to find the time to have dinner and drinks that night.  It was so much fun.  We had sushi at Fuji-Ya and then went downtown.  Beth was wearing the now infamous silk onsie which gave us plenty to talk about all night.   You can barely see her in this photo, but she was strutting her stuff on the pole at Bootleggers.  That's where she spilled an entire vodka tonic down my boot.  "One can't help what a silk onsie will do to a crowd."    

I ended up letting my co-worker Jim take my bartending shift on Friday night.  Our little family walked up to the Sea Salt and had a great dinner.  Also, a free dinner.  Love that place!  We had fish tacos, a Po' Boy, calamari and some Surly Furious.  One woman sitting at the table next to us with her cute little puppy told us we were hip parents for having dinner out at the falls with Amelie.  Thanks lady!

I busted out some fake tattoo arm sleeves that my mom gave me a while back.  Tyler tried them on and then we tested them out on Amelie.  Now I just have to try and convince Tyler to do the real thing.

Amelie and I went for a walk this evening too.  She needed a change of scenery so we went up to Lake Hiawatha and enjoyed the beautiful evening.  Her moods can change so quickly.  Here is an example.  Happy, sad, happy again..

Tomorrow we are having a visit with (great) grandma Mike and Abby and Sam too.  I am going to try and make another loaf of bread too.  I finished the Zucchini loaf today, it was so good!

Now that Amelie is 5 months old, we can start feeding her solid foods soon.  We will start with some rice cereal and I'm really excited/sad that she'll be taking this next step soon.  

Rainy day.

This is what I did to Tyler's bike.  If you can tell, I bent the frame when I drove it into a concrete overhang.  I thought it would be salvageable, but...

Luckily, he had that extra road bike that the guy we bought the stove from sold him.  Turns out it's a faster bike and now he has 2 gears instead of 1, so I feel slightly better about the whole incident.   

This is our sweet tandem bike.  The tandemonium.  We have barely gotten to ride it.  I found out I was pregnant slightly after we got it.  On our maiden voyage I was ejected right off the back of it when a couple of dummies jumped in our way on the bike path.  I landed on my feet so NBD, but that's why there are separate walking paths and biking paths on the Grand Rounds.  We kindly explained that to the ladies.  

Abby and I talked about attaching a Burley riding around with the babies in tow.  Perhaps next year.  

 

We had a lazy Sunday and Amelie and I took a nap on the couch.  She's so wiley that mom and baby naps rarely ever happen so this was a great treat.  Tyler busted us and took a picture.

Sam is pretty much sitting up on his own.  I practiced sitting with Ami today so Sam doesn't leave her in the dust.

We ran to Target today.  We got caught in the rain too.  I was not aware that there were Tornado warnings all over the cities.  I got completely soaked on the way home.  So did the drivers seat in my car.   It was POURING.  When we got home I considered taking her out in the rain to see if she like it, but then the sirens went off.  There was quite a bit of damage done from a few tornadoes in the area.  Not our neighborhood though.  Lots of standing water though.  We get this giant puddle right in front of the house in the street, so whenever we pull up to park when it rains, my feet get wet.  I have galoshes...I just forget to wear them.  

I can hear my darling baby screaming again (Tyler is trying to get her to sleep).  We just can't get her to go to sleep and stay asleep in her bed.  She'll fall asleep for a few minutes, then wake herself up kicking or rolling over.  She instantly falls asleep in the swing though.  I just need to find a swinging crib.

I made Zucchini bread this evening.  Well, I put all the ingredients in Abby's bread maker and turned it on.  I'm about to go test it out.  I heart zucchini bread.

Lastly, my neighbor came over to introduce himself to us and brought over a bagfull of cucumbers.  He also has a huge garden (said he'd give me some tips) and sells fresh eggs.  This neighborhood just gets better and better.

My big toes hurt.

Today, we upgraded our electrical service to 100 amps.  I feel all adulty doing all of these adult homeowner type things.  Painting walls, tiling floors, purchasing appliances, calling in an electrician, having a baby...

I went for a walk today with my friend Nicole.  Her daycare was sick so she had to stay home with her super cute daughter.  They came over to see the new pad and we walked up to Lake Nokomis.  We stopped at the park to play and Amelie took her first ride in a swing that does not run on batteries.  I don't know who had more fun, her or I.   My big toes hurt from the walk.   Is that weird?

We got Papa Murphy's for dinner and it was in the oven when we heard this strange sound.  Like a muffled thud.  We couldn't figure out what it was until I went into the kitchen and noticed milk leaking out the side of the fridge door.  Yeah, the temp in the fridge was too cold, probably from when the power had to be turned off then back on again when the electricity got shut off today.  One of the bottles of milk (the full one) froze and exploded.  It was super.  Unpasturized organic skim milk was all over the place.  We had to take out all the food, drawers, and shelves and scrub the whole thing clean.  Just when the pizza was finished cooking too.   I wish I would have gotten a photo of that.  

Now that I think about it, that's the 2nd milk incident that I have had this year.  Remember the first one, I dropped it on the floor after making myself a gourmet lunch, woke up the baby, ended up eating a cold lunch.  Actually, when we moved out of our old house, I kept finding milk drop stains all over the kitchen.

I loathe football.  I think it is by far my least favorite sport.  I hate watching it, I hate seeing it on the news, I especially hate fantasy football.  I'm already tired of watching all the Farve/Vikings hoopla.  It would be great to see some news on the News.  Not sports news, not entertainment news, and not so much negative news.  Good news.  Happy stories.  Helpful tidbits of information.  Thats what I want to see on the news.  

Hooray, my friend Beth is coming to town tomorrow.  I get to spend the day with her on Thursday.  Then I get to see Amber and Cassie too.  We are all going to go to dinner and have a couple of drinks afterwards.  I'm really excited to see them all again.

That's pretty much it for now.  Except for this very very cute photo.

Nine things.

I did some things last week.  Here is what they are.

1.  Went on a mom train walk with Abby and Kristin.  Those babies were all born in the same month!

2.  Abby and I went on a couple of impromptu walks with the kids...they are learning to sit up.  They are also really starting to acknowledge each other.  We had  picnic at the lake.

3.  We went to Home Depot to get a gallon of paint and ended up with a whole cart full of stuff.  Amelie was laughing so hard in the store that people were approaching us to get a look at her

4.  I borrowed Abby's bread maker and finally made my first loaf of Honey Wheat Bread this afternoon.  It's good.  I'm going to do Zucchini Bread next.

5.  I worked on Friday and forgot that Tyler's bike was on top of my car in the Thule rack.  I pulled into a parking and blasted the whole contraption right off my car.  It wasn't my best moment.  After a lot of sweating and frustration, I managed to deconstruct the rack and get it all into my trunk and backseat...and I was still on time to work.

6.  I did not update my blog.

7.  We had a baby swim date at my moms.   They love being in the water!  

8.  I went to my 10 year high school reunion with Krista and Jason.   Ami stayed at my moms and she did not sleep very well.  However, last night she slept for 8.5 hours straight...in the swing.

9.  Found out our old favorite bartender/friend Dan lives down the street from us.

I hate hot weather.

Being hot makes me so cranky. It was so hot out today. And not just hot, humid too. I have been trapped at home and had to get out so after washing the walls and ceiling on the stairwell to the basement I showered and went to the Uptown Art Fair with Abby and Sam. I don't remember the last time I was so hot. We ran into our aunt Colleen and got smoothies. Plus a little bit of exercise.

Tyler installed the new thermostat, the AC, primed the stairway walls and ceiling, and put another coat of paint on the cabinets.

I took 2 showers today. We also ordered Fat Lorenzo's for dinner. It was really good.

I'm thinking of sleeping in the living room in front of the AC.

A liveable living room

Abby came over yesterday. Just the motivation I needed to get the rest of the boxes out of the living room. I cleaned the floors, scrubbed the tile in front of the fireplace, and made room for some baby play time. As you can see, we are using the fireplace as a plant holder right now. We officially have one use-able room in the house. A live-able living room.
All of us (Abby, Sam, Amelie and I) walked up to Minnehaha Falls. We got some DQ and strolled around the area a bit. I do not recommend getting a blizzard while trying to push a stroller. Get something with a straw. I got my standard Choco Cherry Love Blizzard. It was good, but hard to eat.

It was pouring rain all morning today. I love rainy days. It was cool in the house so I slapped a cap on Ami's head. She was hopping around in her bouncer and I snapped this photo to send to her daddy at work.It's the weekend and Tyler and I hope to get a lot of stuff done this weekend. I really hope we can get that gas stove hooked up. I haven't been able to use an oven for a whole week now. I just made little pita pizzas with sun dried tomato turkey and olives in the toaster oven. And Edamame in the microwave. I bought 3 bags of it because I love it so much. I have eaten it every day for the last 3 days.

I also made coffee. We use a french press so this is what I had to do to make coffee this week.
1. Microwave a big bowl of water for 7 minutes to get close to boiling.
2. Awkwardly pour the big bowl of water into the press without spilling it on myself
3. Remember to drink it before it gets cold.

Because I always forget about my coffee I almost always have over half of a press left over that gets lukewarm. I just stick the whole thing in the fridge and then drink iced coffee later. I was so proud of myself when I thought of doing that the first time.

I have been scared of going into the basement so I haven't done any laundry until today. I have done 3 loads so far, probably about 3 more to go. It feels good to get it under control.

What I hope to accomplish this weekend:

1. I would like to the guestroom (currently our bedroom) under control this weekend. There are boxes, baskets and clothes everywhere.

2. I would like to wash the wood floors in both bedrooms

3. I would like to wash the woodwork in both bedrooms

4. I want to finish installing the stove

5. I want to rip out the carpet on both sets of stairs because the carpets are smelly.

6. I want to get curtains up in the windows and doors back up on the frames.

7. I'd like to get a run in too.

That's all.

Side note: I'm burning a lemon meringue candle my mom gave me and it smells so good. Just like the real thing, better actually because I don't even really like to eat lemon flavored anything.

I'd better go switch the laundry before Amelie wakes up from her nap.

Random-ocity

Tyler rode his bike to work today. It's an 8 mile ride from our house. I had to take Amelie to the doctor for her 4 month checkup today, so I needed the car.

We went to our first block party last night. Met a bunch of the neighbors. It was fun. Seems like we fit right in around here. There is a guy on the block that even brews his own beer. I had to leave early to put Amelie to bed, but while we were there she was very well behaved.

I did the dishes by hand again today. Twice. I was really spoiled with our garbage disposal and dishwasher in our old house. I hate doing dishes by hand. I bought some rubber gloves today though so my hands don't get all dried out. I was thinking of doodling on them with a Sharpie so maybe it would be "fun" to do the dishes. Regardless, I need a dishwasher.

I found a couple of before and after photos. This is the kitchen before it was cleaned and painted, but after the doors and appliances were removed. This is the inside of the cupboard after it was sprayed with TSP to remove staining. G.r.o.s.s.


Here is the kitchen after it was painted. The doors and drawers are still a work in progress. We got the shelves in and the cupboards are full of stuff now.And this is a corner of the dining room. Now it has a dining room table, and a whole lot of boxes waiting to be unpacked. Once we get more of our stuff unpacked, I'll share some finished photos.

Like I mentioned earlier, today was Amelie's 4 month appointment. We were a little late. She weighs 13 lbs 14 oz (45th percentile), 24 1/4 inches long (37th percentile), and her head is 16 1/4 inches around (50th percentile). Her doc was really impressed with her strength and ability to perform certain tasks at a 6+ month level.

They looked at me a little crazy with the realized that she was wearing a cloth diaper, and I had to change her into a disposable to weigh her. The cloth diaper added almost a pound to her weight...it was wet though. I split her 4 month shots in half so we will go back in a few weeks to get the rest. I just can't justify giving her multiple shots in one day. Especially when the shots are for multiple vaccinations. So many foreign substances into her body at one time can't be good.

She was a trooper though. She was kicking the nurse in the chest and grabbing her face so I had to hold her hands during the shot. She looked at me with her pout lip and started crying/screaming but it only lasted a few seconds. Then she was happy again. She was a little fussy tonight but went to bed at about 8pm and 2 hours later is still asleep.

I went to David's Bridal tonight and ordered my dress for my friend Krista's wedding. Thankfully it's pretty cute and very flattering on my post-baby body. I had a leftover Borders gift certificate from who knows when, so I cruised over there after David's Bridal and got Martha Stewart's new craft book. I can't wait to look through it.

I learned today that Burley (bike trailers) makes a "Baby Snuggler" for 3-12 month olds so you can ride with your infant in it. I am now offically on the hunt for a Burley bike trailer. And a dishwasher.

Lastly, we ordered an extra large pizza tonight for dinner....and ate the whole thing. All of it.

It was a busy weekend.

Well we finally made the big move over the weekend. Moving isn't that fun.

Our (former) neighbor and friend Linda, loaned us tons of plastic totes. Totally made the move easier. I packed every single thing we owned up into those totes and some other boxes and labeled everything so we didn't have to fumble through box after box looking for anything.

Tyler's mom, dad and brother came to help us move. It took all day. I think it was dark before the U-haul was returned. Everyone was exhausted afterwords. We were so sore and tired that we just cleared a path to our bed and passed out (after finally getting Amelie to sleep of course).

It has been about 4 days now since the move and here is what we have done:

-cleaned out the fridge and stove (that I found on Craigslist for a total of $300, plus we got a free
old fashioned lawn mower and sweet road bike from the stove guy)

- unpacked close to 30 boxes/totes

That's a shot from Amelie's room into the hallway and the guest room

- installed some screens

- cleaned like crazy

-walked to Minnehaha Falls

The Falls were actually flowing.

- discovered the Longfellow Gardens


















- moved boxes and rearranged furniture

- laundry

- cleaned the grill and bbq'd some andouille brats

- walked up to the bakery for a Saturday morning donut

- made a trip to Home Depot

- walked up to and around Lake Nokomis, had lunch and played in the grass. Realized it's less than a 10 minute walk from my house.

She's totally owning that stroller.

- said farewell to Andy and Tova, they moved to Chicago

- attended our first block party and met a bunch of the neighbors

- cleaned and re-cleaned our shower. The tile was stained yellow/orange until I got after it. Now it is mostly "almost white".


Amelie is putting everything in her mouth these days.

Her feet.

My water bottle, she's motorboating it.
Her musical light up seahorse. Also motorboating it.

Tyler's beer bottle.
Doesn't everyone take a picture with their baby gumming a beer can or bottle?

Our little darling reaches for her toys, can sit up with help but can tripod sit on her own, bounces in her bouncer, giggles and laughs all day long, lifts her head up like she's trying to sit up, can hold her pacifier in her mouth/take it out/put it back in, holds her head up no problemo, loves pulling on my hair/nose/earrings/face ect..., and we are finally seeing some improvement in her sleeping skills.

Here she is reaching for the toucan in the bouncer. Better go rest up for our next big adventure tomorrow. Her 4 month checkup.