Happy Birthday Grandpa Rich!

We wanted to wish Grandpa Rich a very Happy Birthday! We all hope you have a wonderful day, and we'll see you soon! Love you so much!

A girl and her dogs

Oh how miss Lila loves her puppies! ( Da - Da- DOG, woof woof )
Seriously, they are the first thing she looks for when she wakes up in the morning, when entering the house, or pretty much anytime they aren't directly under foot. Best Buds, let me tell ya!
I'm really amazed at how tolerant they are of her too, considering she uses them as a chair and/ or a step half the time!



Our weekend as always, went way too fast and honestly... wasn't terribly productive, but all in all, not too shabby. Ryan did end up going to work on Friday, but of course, Saturday came and he was feeling horrible again. I thought he either had the flu or strep, but the fever finally broke and as of yesterday his rapid strep test came back negative. Fortunately, given the gross-ness of his throat, the Dr. did prescribe some good ole' Amoxicillian!
















Lila was her busy, enjoyable self, but you can tell she's entering the age of "lets test mom and dad"! Her current button-pusher is throwing things, ie. food from her high chair, or anything off the ledge by her changing table. And damn, if it isn't hard to refrain from laughing when she looks right at you when she does it and when you scold her, she gets this ridiculous over-dramatic look of horror on her face, complete with the crying! Am I a bad mom by thinking this is funny? Hmmm?

I'm back to work tonight for 3 days and am already looking forward to my week off. The weekends just seem to fly by too quick. I'm hoping the weather is nice next week, as I would love to take Lila to the zoo. We haven't been in months, and the older she gets, the more I think she enjoys it! We'll see... we do live in MN, so it'll probably be 40 one day and -15 the next?!




















Oh, and I threw in a snapshot of me at 26 weeks... geez, this pregnancy is FLYING! Baby #2 will be here before we know it!

Crazy hair

Did I mention that Lila's hair is usually out of control....

see posted picture!

Have a good Friday!

barely awake

It's 2am

I'm at work and it's all quite on the homefront after a flurry of activity when I first started. That quiet, in itself is rare, and mostly appreciated... however, it does have the ability to make 2am to seem especially painful.

My eyes are glazed over and feel like they're on fire. I can barely control the "head-bob", so in an effort to stay awake, I'm going to give you a quick update on the happenings of our home!

Ryan is sick. Boo :( I actually left work last night a few hours early because I was feeling rotten, and found out he was feeling crappy too. He toughed out his work day, but looked pretty rough when he got home today. Fever, chills, and body aches, just all around yucky. I'm hoping if he feels that blah again tomorrow, he actually calls in sick and just takes care of himself!

Lila is slightly out of sorts, but I can't really pin-point it. One minute she's just fine, playing and bouncing around and the next she's in the middle of an ultimate meltdown because of who-knows-what?! (Oh wait, maybe that's just being a toddler... hmmmm?) Apparently she took 2 naps at daycare today though, which is quite a rare feat. Must have needed some extra Zzzz's. Otherwise, she's fine. Her last 2 teeth popped, so she now has her complete 1st year set! Maybe the drool faucet will slow to a drip?

I have to make it through tonight and one more 12 hour shift Thursday, then I'm looking forward to a gloriously un-planned, just do-what-we-want weekend! I can DO IT!!! I have some pretty darling video of Lila that I'd like to post, maybe I'll have some time to get it up over the weekend! Enjoy the rest of your week!
I'm going to go back to the "I'm just resting my eyes" position!

15 Months

I seriously can't believe how fast the days fly by. My sweet little girl is 15 months already and I thought I'd share a few pics and some tidbits about her.

She's a busy, BUSY girl that loves to dance, sing (especially "Itsy Bitsy" ), take baths and showers, and snuggle with her blankees! Her favorite toys are her kitchen, her Little People farm, her shapes ball, and for some strange reason... her toothbrush! (Seriously, she loves to brush her teeth!) She loves her books and insists on sitting on your lap to read them! Her words are few (DOG, Dad, Woof, and she will say "I did it!" when she is proud of herself), though she seems to understand EVERYTHING we say to her and "chatters" back to us constantly. When she actually makes out those words.... watch out world! Haha!

She currently drools like a faucet (thus still wears a bib most days at home!) and we are waiting on the last 2 teeth to complete the set! She still has a noticeable gap in her front teeth that are horribly crooked... but we think her snaggle teeth just add to her charm!

Her hair is out of control and growing like crazy! She looks so much like Daddy that it's spooky, but she has my squinty eyes! They seem to disappear when she smiles!

She waves bye-bye and blows kisses when I go to work, and she's also very good at giving hugs and real kisses (even with her mouth closed!) Overall, she's a charming, funny, lovable little girl that makes me thank God every day! Oh how we love her! Our sweet Lila Kate!

Monday Monday

We had a good weekend!
I start my week feeling rested and ready to tackle anything!

First of all, I want to send some love to my Aunt Dolly who's been in the hospital for a few days. I don't know the specifics, but I know few people tougher than her... so I'm confident she'll be home and up running the show in no time! Love you Aunt D!

Also, I need to send some good healing thoughts to my friend Danica for her beloved Paul! Paul is THE 4-legged man in her life and he recently had a stroke. Looks like he's got a long road ahead, but will have the BEST momma to take care of him! Lots of love from Belle Plaine headed your way!

Heather, it was so great seeing you guys on Saturday, it's been long overdue! As always, we love spending time with you guys and it's so much fun watching the girls all interact! Can't wait to add one more kiddo to the mix!

Speaking of the little sprout... all seems to be going well, if the crazy kicks and jabs are any indication! I'm officially 24 weeks, meaning the baby is now "viable", however, I would greatly appreciate it if this little one could stay in a cook for awhile longer! (preferably until the end of April!)

Lila has a cold again, but it doesn't seem to really slow her down much. I'm hoping to get some pictures this week, since she's now 15 months old ( I can't believe it!). I'll post them as soon as I can!

We are going to visit my friend Sarah today, then not really too many plans for the week!!! Ryan and I have started doing some planning on what it will take to finish our basement, so we might tackle a little of that, but otherwise... it looks like I have a pretty easy week ahead! Plus, the weather is supposed to warm up! Hooray, maybe I can take Lila out to play a bit!

Enjoy your week!

Welcome 2010

Happy New Year!

The holidays are over and part of me is sad at how fast it all went by, and part of me is relieved it's over. The bustle and chaos of trying to visit with family and friends is now settling down, but I feel like it all zoomed by so quick that I never really had a chance to enjoy it thoroughly. It's probably just my disorganization that made it so crazy, maybe next year I'll get the hang of it? (Well, most likely it'll be worse, as I'll be the mother of 2! Ha!)

Lila was as always, a source of joy through it all! She was happy and energetic and amazingly tolerant through it all! Of course, she doesn't really understand the point of it, but I'll tell ya... she got the hang of opening presents!!! Probably just should have wrapped up some empty boxes, she just loved taking the wrapping paper off! Typical kid!

New Year's this year was low key for our family, but enjoyable nonetheless! We spent time with our wonderful neighbors and Lila and I called it a night around 9:30. I put her to bed, did a little journaling, had a glass of sparkling juice and snuggled up in bed. Ryan stayed up to ring in the new year, but was home by about 12:15! We're wild huh?

The weekend has been a good one. It's the first full weekend Ryan and I have spent at home since the beginning of November and it's been productive and fun! We've thus far managed to tackle a handful of household projects, have a nice dinner at Cheesecake Factory (yum), and even go see a movie! Today is more work around the house, but we've been able to sit on the couch, enjoy a cup of joe, and sift through the paper. Lila is down for her morning nap, and I'm gearing up to give the house a good clean now that the Christmas stuff is put away (in neatly organized bins on our newly built shelves... thank you Barb and Rich!!)

I hope the New Year finds you well (and warm). I'm so excited for everything in store for us this year, I believe we have lots to look forward to!