Everyone take a deep breath!

See that title? That's what I need everyone to do for me. Everyone I know is flipping out over the weather and maybe a nasty BioChem final. I understand why everyone is worried. There is a nasty-several-days-long storm headed our way and chances are that we won't be out of town before it hits. But, we are prepared. We have everything we could possibly need. Water, check. Shovel, check. Food, check. Lots of warm clothes, check. Salt, check. Lighter, check. Fire starter, check, and the list goes on from there. You see,  I married me a grew-up-in-the-bush-of-Alaska man. He was taught well about living out there where you have to do everything on your own. I may be the better driver, but in a pinch, he's pretty good to have around! :) What? You thought I married him for his good looks?

Today we leave. Yay! It's finally here. The car is almost packed. Only the last minute tolietries and such are left. I've dropped Ian off for his final and gased up the car and washed the windows and the headlights (the rest of the car could have used it, but really what's the point). Now I need to pack toys for the kids, Owen's food and bottles, and the bathroom stuff and it's all done. Then I will have to try and take a nap. I already know I won't be able to, so, I'll watch 'Die Hard' instead. It's a great Christmas movie! :)

Splish Splash

 

6 Months!?!?

There is no way my precious baby boy is already six months old. He was a newborn, like, yesterday!

He is such a happy baby and doing so many fun things now! He is getting really good at sitting and like his toys that squeak the most. This month, he has also discovered his feet. He is always bending over or laying on his back holding onto his feet. I love it! I can't wait until he pulls them into his mouth! He is also getting really vocal. Of course, he will still give you an ear to ear grin just for looking at him or getting him out of his crib!

We went to the doctor yesterday. They gave my baby 4 shots!! Crazy huh?! He was rather grumpy yesterday and I know his chunky monkey thighs are still hurting him but this morning he is back to being his usual giggly self.
Time for stats:
Weight: 20LBS!!(87 percentile) Future Colts lineman, here we come!
Length: 66.80 cm (45 percentile)

Well, last week I interviewed for the library job. I didn't get it. They called me a couple of days later and told me that they went with a woman that had 5 years management experience. That didn't really surprise me. I knew going into the interview that not having any management experience would be my biggest problem. Oh well. In the end, Ian and I knew that the money wouldn't be enough to make it worth our while.
I have a second interview this Wednesday for some seasonal tax accoutning help. If I get it, it would be nice to be employed for 4 months! The biggest problem is that the interview in on Wed. We leave for IN on Wed. Oh well. We can't leave until after Ian's final exam is over (5 hours long!!) so I don't think we will get on the road before late afternoon. That's ok by us this year. Hopefully the babes will sleep most of the way.
Ian is wanting to make plans for a trip to Alaska this summer since we haven't been back there since we left in early 2007. We are hoping we can all go but after looking at ticket prices, it doesnt seem likely.
Our Christmas shopping is all done. I have a couple of things left to wrap but I'll leave that for Monday when the kids are at daycare! I will also be doing to majority of our packing on Monday too!
Well, that's about it. For those of you in Indiana, we will see you soon!!

First Blizzard of 2009

Apparently we had our first major snow fall on the same day, two years in a row. How about that.

Starting Tuesday morning and going until mid-day Wednesday, we got about 14 inches of snow and lots of wind and cold weather! It's -7 today. Brrrr.

Yesterday we ventured out to take Ian to work and then the kids and I spent a chilly day inside. As in our house was cold! We picked Ian up and headed to the post office to send some stuff to Ian' parents and then came home. Ian even complained about how cold the house was.

Finally, after the kids were in bed, I looked at the thermostat and it said it was only 63.3 degrees in the house. Well, that explained a lot! Ian looked around and tried to figure out what was going on and eventually made his way outside. Our air intake and exhaust pipes for the heater were clear of snow so he pulled the pipe off and it turns out our darling little Ady had put rocks in the pipe, preventing air from being sucked into the furnace. Awesome. At least it was an easy fix. The heater ran most of the night to warm the house back up but it's nice and toasty now!

TWO

Not one but Two. I have two interviews this week. On Monday I have a phone interview with a local Ag financial company to help them out during tax season. So that could give me tax experience but it's only a temp position. Oh well, it would mean money.
The second is on Tues. This one will be a bit of a drag. It's for my dream job basically, a library director, but it's at a library that is a two hour drive (one way) from home. I'm going to go anyway and interview. They would have to offer me a very large amount of money, a laptop, ability to work from home if need be, and a schedule of like 9-3 three days a week. Really unlikley that anyone would agree to that!

The Turkey Report

Thanksgiving has come and gone now. I think it was a success. I spent many many days (weeks perhaps?) preparing for that big meal and our company.
Ian's sister, Bruck, Nick and their baby Ezra arrived late Tuesday evening. We quickly got dinner on the table and we all dug in to a great meal of seafood peanut thai curry. Ady quickly ate her dinner and wanted to play with her cousin. But she changed her mind when she realized he wasn't going to go anything she told him to do. He was just going to play with her toys and make a mess in her room. At one point that first night, I was helping Ady pick up that mess when she heard Ezra climbing the stairs. She starts yelling at me, 'Levi is coming! And he's going to get my toys! And destoy my room!! Don't let Levi in my room!" I just laughed and laughed. Levi is a one year old little boy that Ady goes to daycare with!
Wednesday Bruck and I spent a lot of our day cooking. That was exhausting! But I wanted as much of the food already prepared as possible. Since Nick had never been here, and is also a scientist, a trip to Mayo was in order. We bundled up all the kids and took off for downtown. We showed him around some of the Mayo buildings and then grabbed a very late lunch at a greek place downtown.
Earlier in the day I had declared that I wasn't going to make dinner that night so Bruck and Nick offered to prepare some fish that night. They went off to the store and came back with Swordfish. None of us had ever had it before but our meal of fish, salad, fresh greenbeans, and rice turned out to be very good.
After dinner we all loaded up into the car and went the Lights of Bluff Valley. It's a drive through lights display. Ady narrated the whole way for us, which made the trip even better. Owen and Ezra slept through it!
It was late to bed for all of us that night!
Finally, Thanksgiving Day.
The day started off fairly quiet. by 10 I had gotten my turkey out of the brine and roasting in my turkey roaster. Before I knew it it was time to get all the side dished heated up and our two guests had arrived for dinner. Dinner went well. The food was all good and we all left the table feeling very stuffed.

I'll admit it, I was very nervous about this meal. Ian's sister and I haven't always gotten along in the past, but this year, things couldn't have gone better. It was a great meal and a great holiday with lots to be thankful for!

Happy Eater

Like I said, we have started Owen on solids. So far, he likes just about everything. We've tried Brown Rice cereal, carrots, peas, green beans, bannanas, and oatmeal cereal. His favorites would be the carrots and green beans. I got some funny looks this morning when I gave him bannanas for the first time! :)
Becki has given him oatmeal ceral and she said he doesn't seem to be a big fan of it.

I've applied for so many jobs it getting ridiculous. Have I heard anything back? Nope. Nothing.

On today's list:
clean bathroom
try new Rosemary mint shampoo. Walgreen's finally opened today and went there right after dropping the munchkins off so I could get their Rosemary mint shampoo!

The next step

I have started Owen on solid foods. So far we have tried cereal and peas. He's a fan of both! Next on his list are carrots and green beans. I found myself at gerber.com this morning and ended up printing off a recommended menu for him. We'll see how that goes.

Ady is doing good. She is ready for christmas already and keeps asking me when it will be here. :) I cleaned her 'natural disaster' of a bedroom last Monday and she has done an EXCELLENT job of keeping it clean. When she gets up in the morning I tell her to make her bed, and she complies! No whining, no throwing of a fit! Her room is still spotless after a week!

Today, I get to tackle my room. That will be a long chore. I tried to get Ian to help me with is this weekend. You can guess how that went since my plan is to clean it today.

Ian reminds me daily that he is going to be gone more and more as he gets deeper into his research and class work. I know this. I've known this. I don't like a daily reminder. I'm weird, I like having my husband around. I know that there will be times when we don't get to eat a single meal together for a week. I know it's coming, but, dangit, I don't want to think about it now! Thank you very much. Right now, I want to look forward to him coming home at a semi-normal hour 4 out of 5 days a week.

As for me, well still looking for work, still not finding a darn thing. There just isn't anything out there. I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't pull the kids from daycare now. I know it's only been a couple of weeks but it's grim out there. It would save us a good chunk of money every month. I would probably have to give up my sanity if I was taking care of those 2 babes all week on my own..but we all have to make sacrifices, don't we? I haven't mentioned this to Ian b/c well, it's not my favorite idea. I want to work. I want something that's just for me. And I know that yes, we can live on just what Ian is making while in school, but it would be very very hard to do that. We would have to live on a VERY strict budget. I'd much rather live with two incomes and have a savings account and be able to buy the things that we want not just what we need, and be able to save for vacations. So I'm not giving up yet.

Oh! We had our pictures taken last week. They were ok. I wanted family pictures and they ended up only doing one pose of us as a family. Tons and tons of pictures of the kids though.

Bulletin Post

It's been a while since I've updated this thing, so it's going to be bullets b/c I don't think I could get my thoughts all together!

• Ian took me out for my birthday to a place called 300 First on the 30th. My food was great! I have scallops in mango salsa with grilled polenta. Ian had a steak that was dissapointinly small. Dessert was the best though. Pumpkin cheesecake. Yum!
• For my birthday Ian bought me a new cookbook. 'The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook'. It's fabulous. I'm only about a 1/4 of the way through 'reading' it and there are already so many post-it tabs to mark recipes that I have to make. I've made three so far and each one has been very good!

• Halloween was ok this year. Ady dressed as Snow White. She loved her costume. That downside was that it was very cold that night! We didn't have very many kids come to the door and our doorbell has stopped working so I had to leave the door open so I could see kids coming to the door. Ady came home very cold and tired! 

• My baby is somehow 5 years old now. I can't believe it! She had a good birthday. Ian and I bought her a set of markers that when used on special paper turn out extra bright. She loves them. My refrigerator looks like an art museum now! :) Granny and Pa in Alaska sent some warm winter clothes, Snow White barbie, and a really cool Alaska hat. Granny and Pa in Indiana sent Ady a pretty dress and a 'Willow Tree' Birthday Girl figurine that Ady declared to be 'beeeautiful'. I made a good dinner that night and we finished the meal with carrot cake complete with pink cream cheese frosting:)

• I'm still searching for work. I applied for the director of a small library. We drove to the library this weekend to check it out and see how bad the drive is. That trip pretty much ruled it out for me. It's a very long 1.5 hour drive. One way. And there is nothing but open fields the whole way, so terrible roads in the winter. 
• I think thats all. On today's 'to do ' list: dishes and cleaning Ady's 'natural disaster' of a bedroom!

Nope

I didnt get the job. I finally got the letter in the mail today. They actually sent a personalized letter, which was nice. I'm a bit bummed but I refuse to let it get in the way of my good time tonight on my hot date!

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my birthday. I went to work. That sucked. But everyone liked my pumpkin cake. :) I spent 90% of my day moving files around. Blech.
I'm going to make salmon for dinner tonight and on Friday Ian is taking me out for a fancy dinner and a movie! Yay!!

In other news....
Still no word on the job. WTF?!!? I emailed them yesterday and havent heard anything back. Sheesh. So much finding out either way by end of last week. It's been over a week since my interview!!

Still nothing

I still haven't heard anything about the job I've interviewed twice for. It's torturing me. I don't sleep at night. I worry about getting a phone call from 7-4:30 everyday. To make things even more fun today, I was told that my last day at work will by on Friday. Joy.
I called Express and told them. They don't have anything. CRAP! There is nothing in the papers. I NEED A JOB PEOPLE!! A GOOD PAYING JOB!!!

Owen, You're a stinker!

We got up this morning and Ady and Owen were in the living room. Ady was watching The Chipmunks for the millionth time, Owen was playing on the floor. I was in the kitchen trying to get breakfast going. Ady came running into the room shouting that Owen had rolled over!
I ran into the living room and put him on his back and waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing. He just grinned and giggled at me. I gave up and went back to breakfast. Ady came running into the room again. This happened 4 different times.
Then Ian got up. Owen rolled right over for him. When i was in the room nothing.
It took a while but the little stinker finally rolled over so him momma could see!!

Butterball!

No, I'm not talking about turkey. I'm talking about my little guy. I took him to the doctor today and he weighed in at 15 lbs!! He certainly doesn't have a problem eating! :)
When I was undressing Owen to be weighed I had to change his diaper b/c it was wet. Well the little guy did what boys do and peed all over the place. THREE. DIFFERENT. TIMES. Ady found it to be very very funny.
Anyway. The appointment was pretty typical. Owen is right on track with his milestones and weight and length. I mentioned to the Dr that we were concerned about the mark..line..dent..I don't really know what to call it, on the back of Owens head. Ian and I think it's from the forceps when he was born. So our Dr has set up an appointment with a Physical and Rehabilitation Pediatric specialist to talke to about that dent, I guess, and the flatness at the back of Owen's skull.
I'm in no way worried that he has any developmetal problems b/c of this. It's mainly just cosmetic that I'm worried about at this point. So we'll see. Our dr. said that there are three routes this could take.
1. They could have us move Owen more so that he isn't putting as much pressure on that part of his head.
2. He will be fitted for a helmet to reshape his skull. I've read moms on bump.com talk about these and the poor babies have to wear them for 23 hours a day!!
3. This is the most rare and most extreme case. They will call in a plastic surgeon. My jaw hit the floor when he said that! Luckily, he then told me that is really rare.
Well, thats about all. Oh! Ian gets home tomorrow. Ady is really missing him and I'm pretty ready for him to be home too!

What this girl does when her husband is in Chicago

Well Ian left for Chicago this morning. He won't be back until Thurs afternoon and then he has a study group that evening. Ick. The first couple of weeks of him being in the PhD program have spoiled me. He wasn't gone late, studying all the time, or doing homework. It's starting to pick up now. It seems like there is a study group for his Chemistry class almost every night. Again, ick. Luckily, Ian thinks the same thing.
So while Ian is in Chigaco at his Neuroscience conference I'm at home, holding down the fort and caring for 2 kiddies. We all got up early this morning to get Ian to the airport for his 7:45 am flight. Then Ady and I got to come home and clean house. Owen got to watch us and take naps. Lucky lil booger! :) After HOURS of cleaning I started making dinner. My favorite "Ian isnt around to eat with me' dinner. Beef cube steaks with mushroom gravy, mashed potatos, corn, and crescent rolls. It was yummy. Then it as bath time for Owen and Ady drew some pictures and headed off for bed!!
Now I'm trying to relax and not focus so much on Ian not being here (you know, this is the first time we've been apart since we got married!! I'm not a fan.) I plan to take a shower, read my newest Cooking Light magazine (full of Turkey day recepies) and then call Ian if I haven't heard from him. I figure by then I'll be more then ready for bed.
Ok..what else is going on this week. LOTS!
On Monday Ady has dance. She loves it but I"m burnt out. We are on the fence about enrolling her for the next session.
Tues I have a second interview with Reichel Foods. I really hope they offer me the job!
Wed Owen has a Dr appt. He will have to get shots. I'm curious to see how much he weighs now!
Thurs. I FINALLY get to pick Ian up at the airport. Luckily it's at 1 pm, so fairly early. YAY!
I know. It's only five days but that really sucks when you're used to someone always being there!

A picture post

Not too much going on here so here are some pictures to make everyone happy! :)

 

This is what happens to Owen when Ady plays with him

Yipppeee!!

I know. You're in shock. Two posts in one day! Well, I have a job interview tomorrow! Squeeee! I can't wait. I'm so excited. But I have to get through a very long boring day at work first. Things have really slowed down since corn is almost done. Ugh.
Anyway, the interview is at 5 with Reichel Foods to work in the office as an Accounting Purchasing Assistant...or something like that.

A Love Letter

Owen,
My sweet sweet baby boy. I can't believe it's already been a year. That is, a year since I found out that I was pregnant with you.
Your Daddy and I had been trying very hard (sorry Mom) for two months to make you. I went to class and just couldn't stand it anymore. I had to take a test. I pulled out one of the Dollar Store cheapies I bought just for this occasion. (The time when I doubted I was actually going to test positive b/c it was just too early but I wanted to test anyway) So I did what I needed to do. And a couple of minutes later there a line. A very very faint line. I held my breath and I just couldn't believe it! Was I actually pregnant!?!? I took out the fancy digital test I had bought and that one said 'Pregnant!'

I was so happy and so over the moon. I couldn't wait for your Daddy to get home that day so I could tell him. I was afraid he would call me that day and I wouldn't be able to hold in the surprise. Finally the afternoon came along and I picked up your big sister, Ady first. I had bought a shirt for her that said 'I"m the Big Sister' for her to wear as my way of telling Daddy that you were on the way.

Ady didn't really understand what any of this meant, but she was still excited! When Ian, thats Daddy to you, came home I asked him if he liked Ady's new shirt. He looked at and just said 'sure'. Sheesh. He was pre-occupied with the roof that was being put on the house. I finally told him to read what her shirt says. He finally got it and said 'Oh. well thats good'. I showed him the test that I had in my back pocket.
I must say, it's much rougher being pregnant when you have a three almost four year old running around the house. But Owen, you were very good to me.
Nine months later.
You arrived on your due date! Who would have thought?! It's rare for a baby to arrive right on time like that. I knew right away that you take after your Momma!
We are so thankful for you and so thankful that you are such a sweet baby.

Snot with a side of cough and sneezing

Thats me! I"ve been sick all week. Ick Ick Ick. I've come home early from work everyday this week too. Today I ran outta there at 9:30. Everyone was telling me to go home and rest, feel better. I plowed through a box of kleenex in the short 2.5 hours that I was there. Gross. Bonnie (the lady I work with in the afternoons) told me she can live without me this week but not next week b/c next week we start processing carrots. For some reason that make a mess of payroll. I was too scared to ask for details.
In other news, Ady is on her way home. She has been gone for over three weeks now. We are very ready to have her back. I just wish I wasn't sick.

GO! GO! GO!

Let's see how fast Liddia can move! Let's see how much she can cram into the week!
This is how I've felt for WEEKS! We have been so busy latley. It's ridiculous and I know it's only going to get worse.
Last week.
Mon grocery shopping. This was awful. We were both dead tired and didn't want to do it. But when there is no food in the house, you don't have much choice.
Tues. PhD student dinner. This went fairly well considering I knew only one person in the room and I call him my husband.
Wed. Nothing Thank Goodness!!
Thurs. Ian went out. I stayed at home and did my own thing
Friday. Kohls.
Sat. Dinner and play with that guy I call husband. Then we went to a really awful party one of the grad students in ian's program threw
Sun. Work. blah. Then more laundry. I swear it's all I do!!

This week.
Mon and Tues. Regular work at Seneca then 3 hour shifts at Venables. :P Good news is that Heros premiers tonight!! yay!!
Wed. Ian's going away thingy with work. I'm sure he will be staying much later than Owen and I!
Thurs. I'm going out with Jen. I think we will be getting Katie her baby shower gifts. Maybe dinner?
Friday. Nothing.
Sat. Baby shower
Sun. work again.

And I'm sure next week it will be similar.
Sheesh. I went to bed at 9 last night because I was falling asleep watching our movie. My alarm went off at 5:35 this morning. I got out of bed at 6:06. HOLY CRAP!! I freaked out. I said it's 6:06!! Ian said 'I'[m up!!" I threw off the covers and did the fastest get ready routine of my life!! Owen and I were out the door, on time, at 6:30. Thank goodness I didn't have Ady there to get ready. I would have never made it!!
I just need more time in the day for sleep!!

Spooner

Last Friday we took off for Spooner Wisconsin to meet up with my parents, who were renting a cabin there. Ian, Owen, and I were going to stay until Sunday afternoon and Ady was going to stay the rest of the week with them and then return to Indiana for another week before coming back home.

It was just what the Doctor ordered! I was in desperate need of an actual weekend. Not just a Saturady off from work.
We arrived at the cabin around 7:30 and went straight to the beach for a fire and brats. Yum! Then we headed back to the cabin to get settled in and let mom and Rob get their hands on Owen!
We talked about the plans for Saturday and headed for bed. Owen didn't sleep too well that night so I was up with him a lot that night. Boo.

Saturday came quick and we all got up and ready to spend the day fishing with the guy that owned the cabin. He also owns a bait shop, plumbing shop, and I think a hardware store in town. We met up with Rick around 9 and headed for Lower McKenzie Lake. Once the boat was in the water and we were under way, Rick asked Ady if she wanted to drive! She jumped at the chance! She did a great job of getting us to our fishing spot!

Almost as soon as our lines hit the water we were pulling up Bluegill! I think Ady caught the first fish. She was so excited about it! We eventually spread out and Ian was fishing off the back of the boat and Ady colored some great pictures of fish.

When it was lunch time, Rick fired up a propane cooker of sorts and deep fried some fresh bluegill, french fries and biscuits. It was all very very good!
By 1:00 we had caught our 125 limit of fish..or was is 150? One of the two. We headed back to shore and planned the rest of our day. Ady wanted to swim and the guys....well, they had a whole mess of fish to clean!

After getting Owen changed and fed, we headed down to the lake! Ady had a great time playing with the rafts and other toys laying around the beach but what she really want to do was go to the swim dock and jump off of it. I hadn't put on the bottom to my swimsuit, so I wasn't going to take her out there (well that, and the fish swimming around my legs creeped me out!!). I told her she had to wait for Ian to get done with the fish and come down to the lake.
Ian finally came down and he just ran down the dock and did a cannonball into the water. Ady loved it! Ian had heard that she wanted to go out to the swim dock so he was trying to get her to swim out to him. She refused. I believe her exact words where similar to this:
'I have a little headache. I'm going to stay on my raft and paddle over'
We couldnt believe she said that! What a thing for her to say!
After swimming for quite a while, we all needed to get back to the cabin and shower away the fish smell and get ready for dinner with Rick and his wife. They live in the cabin next door and Rick was going to cook up some more fish for us. We ended up with fish, hush puppies, french fries, and very delicious biscuits filled with homemade cherry jelly. The french fries and the biscuits were my favorite parts!
At some point during the night, the boys decided to meet up again at 6:30 IN THE MORNING to do some more fishing!! Crazy! I was very happy to decline and sleep in!!

Ian and Rob were up by 5:30 to go fishing. Ian is not a morning person so I found it rather amusing when the alarm went off he put his arm over me for a second then said, "well, time to get up' and the threw the covers off and jumped out of bed! Very amusing to me!!
I got to sleep until 8 or 8:30 and that was wonferdul. Mom and Ady made breakfast and woke my up when it was ready. After that mom and I packaged up the fish and I got mine and Ian's things gathered up. The guys were late getting back because the fishing wasn't so good that day. We ate a lunch of steaks (made Ian very happy) and then it was time for Ian and I to get on the road since we needed to go to the Cities and get Ian's new bike.

Ian was like a kid at Christmas when he gets that one toy he'd been begging for all year long. We got the bike and Ian had a rack and metal petals put on it. Then he rode around the parking lot while I got Owen loaded back into the car.
We finally make it home. I was tired and didn't want to go to work on Monday. Oh well. Thats life. It was a good, but way to fast trip!

Coming soon...

An update about our awesome weekend in Wisconsin, Owen, and everything else that been going on!!
To hold you over though...

We (mom, Ady, Owen, and I) were playing in the lake while Rob and Ian cleaned an insane amount of fish. Ady was happily playing in the water and was wanting to swim out to a swim dock. Well, I didn't have on the bottoms to my swimsuit so I told her she would have to wait for daddy to come and play with her.
When Ian did come out, he ran down the dock and jumped into the water. Ady was laying on a raft and Ian told her to swim out to  him and they would go over to the swim dock. Ady said..are you ready for this? It's great...
Ady said, "I have a little headache, so I'll just stay here on my raft and paddle"

We all bent over laughing!

Looking forward

I'm looking forward to next weekend! When we get off work on Friday we are hitting the road and meeting my folks at a lakeside cabin in Wisconsin. We are staying the weekend, (which means I don't have to work on Sunday!!!!!) but Ady is staying the whole week. And then she is going back to Indiana with my parents for another week and Rob is going to dirve her back up here after that.
Ady doesn't know about any of this yet, though. I'll tell her in a couple of days. Otherwise, the only I'd hear is 'are we seeing granny and pa today?'

Weekend Update

It's becoming habit that I really only do a 'big' post on Sunday. I'm just too busy during the week to actually sit down and do it. I think about what I want to write, I just never actually get to it.
Anyway.

We decided to go the State Fair this weeken. Holy. Cow. The crowds. At least 100,000 people there. It was insane!


Ady had a ball of course. And Owen was an angel, of course.
We started to tril at a bike shop in Minneapolis where Ian bought this:

 

A Surly Long Haul Trucker. I even think that's the right color. He tried out alight tan one that I just thought was ugly. When Ian told me he could get it in an olive green, I told him that would be much better. Next thing I know, he walked out of the shop and told me that they are going to call when his new bike comes in. Ok, then. 

Then it was off to the Fair. We found a Park & Ride lot and then boarded a bus, which Ady loved! When we got to the Fair we spent a long time just wandering about and looking at exhibts. This is one of the first things we saw

Handmade wooded kayaks. Gorgeous, huh?
One of the main things we wanted to see was the Miracle Birthing Center. It's full of animals that we set to give birth during the fair. If you are lucky enough to be in the building during a birth you get to watch. If not, they record the births and they replay them on TV's all day long. But the place was PACKED and we didn't get to see much of anything. And by this point Ady was dying to get to the rides and get on the Merry-Go-Round.
We did finally make it over to the ride area and spent a good chunk of our money on tickets for Ady. She had a ball.

After the rides Ady was hungry and we were all pretty much beat. We'd been there a long time and just wanted to be home! We finally managed to find our gate and boarded the bus again to get to the car.
Owen was super happy and super smily on the ride back to the car.

 

We left St. Paul right around sunset and Ian got this great picture of the skyline.

Bad day

It's been a long bad day. I fear it will only get worse, not better, from here.
*sigh*

At mom's request

My mom asked me today if I've written anything new on here. Nope. I'm too dag-gone tired.
I guess I'll recap the weekend.
On Friday, I deposited my first paycheck (woo-hoo!!) Then once Ian got off work we went to WalMart and bought the things we needed to paint the bathroom ceiling to get rid of that nasty mold, once and for all! Ian and I watched Gran Tornino Friday night too. Excellent movie. A great way for Eastwood to finish his career.
Saturday came way way too fast. After having breakfast Ian got started on the bathroom and I got to laundry, cleaning the office, and cleaning the kitchen. Owen was a bit cranky and wanted to be held alot through the day. Meaning, it took me forever to get the laundry done!
Saturday night Ian went with some co-workers to a 'going away' type cookout for an ex-coworker that is moving to Chicago. While Ian did that, Ady and I had a gourmet dinner from Burger King ;) and watched Wall-E. That is such a great movie!! Then it was off to bed for us!!
Sunday, too, came way too soon. Owen didn't sleep well at all and I was up at 5:45 to get ready for work. I was at work by 6:30 this morning. Ick. I spent the next 6 hours there. Good grief. Ian said Owen was fussy all day again. (Which I got to witness first hand all night once I got home).
I hope that I'm not going to make a habit of being at work for 6 hours every Sunday. Yes, the overtime will be nice, but I like to sleep and see my family and have a couple of days off!!
I'm thankful for the job, but I'm equally, if not more, thankful to know that it's only temporary.
Ok, time to write a large check for daycare this week and then I'm off to bed!!
Night night everyone!

My little thumb sucker

Owen has been trying to get his thumb in his mouth since day one. Until last night the best he could do was getting the side of his hand in there. And that didn't satisfy him! I walked into the living room last night to see him with one finger up his nose and his thumb placed squarely in his mouth. He was quite happy!

In other news, I'm wiped. I worked late yesterday and then came home and made dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, bathed two kids, got Ady and Owen off to bed. I was ready for bed before they were!!
Today, was a bit better. I got off work on time so that helps. I hope I can get some extra sleep today too!
I booked a pedicure party for my friend Katie's 'baby shower' next month. The poor girl is getting pretty miserable and she isn't due until the end of October. I hope her 'baby shower' makes her feel a bit better!

The things I miss while working on Sunday

A quiet day

It's my day off. My only day off. Oh well. I actually kinda like my job. And I don't even really mind dragging myself out of bed at 5:30 every morning. I pretty much got used to that when Owen arrived. I really like getting off of work at 2:30. Anyway..
Ian and Ady are on a canoe trip today with Ian's co-worker Karey and her giant dog Dre. I wish I could have gone but hard to do with a baby and the canoe's are $35 and if I went, that would have meant we needed two canoes. Oh well. Owen and I are going to hang out and make Peanut Butter Carmel bars. Yum. Stay tuned to the cooking blog for opionions.
Oh! There is this blog that I follow, Misadventures of Mrs. Newlywed, and the other day she talked about her budget. I was intrigued and wondered how she did it. A budget is something we have talked about and talked about but never implemented. Mainly b/c we could never figure out a good way to create one. Mrs. Newlywed posted an entry today saying that she will share her spreadsheet. I immedienatly sent her an email requesting my very own copy! I love Excel and spreadsheets and all the cool things you can do with them!
So, now I'm sitting here anxiously waiting for a new email! :)

The smell lingers

Yesterday was a bad bad day. Ian told me I could go shopping after work to get a new pair of jeans for work. I went. I bought a pair of jeans, a shirt, and a dress (on clearance). Then I came home and cried.
Yep. I went shopping and then I cried.
Since I've gone back to work, I've decided to stop pumping milk for Owen. I'm just ready to be back to 'me'. Well yesterday was very very painful in the boob area! Talk about engorgement!
On top of that, work was stressful yesterday. I was feeling very overwhelmed by all the reports and numbers that I'm going to be responsible for.
Anyway, the night got better. I actually had a chance to sit down for a while and just do nothing.
Today was a much better day. Owen didn't even wake up until almost 6 this morning!! Yay! Good job baby!
I'm starting to understand my job quite a bit more. After my morning break, I went to orientation. BORING!! 2.5 hours of videos. blech. After, I was sent back to the office through the plant. They are running corn 24/7 right now. Holy cow..the smell. ick! I can still smell it. It made me feel like I was back home driving down Hwy 25 into Lafayette.

Survived the first day

The first day wasn't so bad. There is a lot of papers to keep track of and reports to generate but I'm confident that once I get into a groove and get the chance to really read the reports, I'll feel better about what I'm doing! Sometime this week I have to go through orientation at the plant; even though most of it doesn't pertain to me. I will not be out on the floor so I don't really need to worry about lifting heavy stuff. Lets see...what else..right now they are running cream style corn, whole kernel corn, and frozen corn, along with green bean. They switched to corn last week from peas and that switch added 3-500 more employees. The plant is running in 12 hour shifts. I heard one worker worked 20 hours in one day. craziness!! These extra employees are mostly migrant or temporary workers. Apparently, Senecca has apartments that they will rent them as well. For the crazy price of $50 a week.
In other news.
I headed to bed as early as I could last night. I'm sure I will be doing the same thing until this job is over. Ady woke up at 1:45 and needed some help so after she was taken care of I assumed Owen would be up soon since he is usually up around 2 for a bottle and diaper change. I woke up at 5:30 when my alarm went off and realized that Owen never woke up!! He slept through the night!! I hope he keeps this up!
The night before I was to return to work after I had Ady, she slept through the night for first time. Owen did the same thing. How ironic is that??

Please, put me out of my misery

Yesterday, Katie called me and asked if I wanted to go to a few garage sales with her to look at baby stuff. Sure! So I got the kids and myself ready to go and we went and got Katie. We found some good stuff! I didn't even spend $20 either. I got a super cute, brand new dress for Ady.
Last night, Ian was saying that he needed to workout but really didnt feel like it. I told him he should do the 30 shred with me.
There we were in the living room...Ian, Ady and I doing the shred. Ian was sore right after and is still sore this morning. I woke up feeling fine and then by the time I sat down to eat some breakfast I felt like I was going to die. My legs are weak and my stomach and head are killing me.
I went back to bed and slept for several more hours. I felt a bit better after that. Well enough to go with Ian to take Ady and Owen to the park. Now I'm back to feeling awful. I just want to sleep.
I'm going to eat some lunch and probably sleep again

Desicion made

I'm going to start the job at Seneca on Monday but I'm going to apply for the ILL position at the library. I just can't walk away from that job.

30 Day Shred

I just let Jillian Michaels kick my ass in the form of her 30 Day Shred workout. I'm sweaty and my legs burn. So I guess it works. I bet I really feel it tomorrow!!

Decisons Decisions...

I was offered the job that I interviewed for yesterday. I accepted the job. And then I cried. I don't really want this job. The hours SUCK!! I have to get up at 5:30 in the morning 6 DAYS A WEEK!!! The pluses of the job are:

• It's casual..I get to wear jeans
• I would be getting a couple months of accounting experience
• That experience would open other doors for accounting jobs

The cons:

• I would have to be up at 5:30 in the morning, six days a week. I will not be a happy person!
• My heart is now and always will be in a library.
• Huge day care bill
  

Oh yeah..I haven't mentioned that part. After I accepted the job and all of that, I checked my email and there was a notice about 2 open positions at the public library. One working the desk and one working ILL. I loved my job when I have worked at a library.
So here we go again...
The pros:

• In a library, where I ultimately want to be
• working either ILL or the desk, both places I love to be
• Much Much better hours
• being up to date on what books are out there
• more time with Ady and Owen since they would only be in day care part time
  

The cons:

• Dress will probably be business casual, so no jeans. I don't fit into my dress clothes yet. So I would probably have to get some new clothes.
• The pay isn't enough to cover the expenses that we will have
• Its only part time and temporary
  

So there's my pickle for the day. I'm going to call the library and ask some question. Like how temporary is temporary..my last job was temp and I worked there for darn near 2 years. Is there a chance for full time???

So many questions....

Interview with a side of sleepy

Ady was up a lot last night. She had wet the bed the night before so she wanted to wear her Pull-ups last night. Knowing that I had to get up at 5:30 this morning, I said ok. Around 10, Ady came walking into our room telling us that she had wet the bed. We said ok, change your pull-up. She was insistant that the bed was wet. Ian got up with her and showed that her bed was perfectly dry. Owen hadn't fallen asleep yet so I went in with him and gave him a bottle and got him down for the night.
Around 2 am, Ady comes into our room again and this time she tells me that she was sitting on the steps waiting for it to be light outside and she peed. This didnt go very well for her. She found herself in trouble for 1, being out of bed waiting for morning and 2. for not getting up and going to the bathroom. So I put her back to bed and then pumped and then fed Owen again.
Before I know it my alarm is going off. I could hear Owen waking up too. So I got him up and dressed for the day and then passed him off to Ian.
Everyone got dressed and out the door at around 7. I took Ady and Owen to Becki's. I was good and didn't cry when I left Owen...but I cried every time I fed him last night.
I went to the company I had the interview with. The girl behind the desk went to get the lady I was there to speak with. Instead, she came back and told me that they weren't expecting me until 8. Great. So I went out to the car and waited. A few minutes later there is a lady at my window waving her arms. I guess there was a big mix up with Express on what time I was to be there. Some thought 8, some thought 10, I was told 7:30. Sheesh...
The interview went pretty well. It's a factory so no A/C. It was pretty warm in there! But the good news is that they are casual dress. I can wear my jeans and capris!! Thank goodness b/c I was freaking out over what to wear since my dress clothes don't really fit me yet! The job is six days a week. Not too thrilled over that but the plus side is that it isnt just me working six days a week. The whole place is doing that. The factory floor is working 12 hour shifts too. Ick. Anyway, I'd be helping out with cost acct. (yay..thats much better than managerial acct) and some payroll as well. When not doing that it would be filing and what not.
They can give me a place to pump so Owen will still be able to get breast milk for the foreseeable future. Again, yay. And they can allow me a couple of days off to get Ady to my parents or whatever that ends up being.
So all in all, it sounds ok. It'll be hard working 8 hour days that start at 7 in the morning, but with help from Ian and Ady, I think we can make it work.
Now, I just have to wait a couple of days to hear the verdict. But I have a good feeling about it.

2 month check up

I took Owen in this morning for his 2 month well-baby check up and to get his first real round of shots. (He had the Hepatitis B in the hospital). We were called back pretty quickly and had him weighed and measured. Then we sat and sat. The doctor didnt come in until nearly 11:30. He finally came in and told me congratulations. :) I asked him about Owen's congestion and he said that if it isn't bothering Owen the we really shouldn't worry about it, and there isn't much then can do about it. There aren't any membranes blocking his nasal passage so he told me to use the suction bulb thingy or get some drops called "Ocean Spray" to help clear out his nose. Oh and we can elevate his head while he sleeps to help him out. Mostly, it's probably bothering us more than it is Owen.
Then the nurse came in. The first vaccine was oral and Owen slurped that down without any trouble. Then he was given three different shots. Poor baby cried but as soon as it was done and he could get back into my arms, he was good to go! :)

In other news, I had an interview with Express Employment set up for tomorrow. Well, the lady I was to meet with, Tanya, called me and said she has an open acct position that will be good for someone without experience (aka, ME) so I'm going in this afternoon when Ian gets off of work for an interview instead! Wish me luck!

Wow. That felt great!

Ian let me sleep in this morning. I brought Owen into bed with us around 6:30 or 7. Then Ady got up. She was happy to watch Spanish cartoons on PBS. Owen fell asleep next to me. Ian got up at some point and I slept next to Owen until almost 10:00!!!
I was a very happy mommy when I finally got up!

**Edit*** Owen wakes up for his first feeding somewhere between 1:30 and 2:30. Some weekends I'll wake Ian up to take the first one, and sometimes I'll take the first one and leave the second one for Ian. I heard Owen screaming so I got up (I was shocked I didn't just hear him fussing) I walked into his room and actually gasped when I saw Ian sitting in the rocker feeding Owen!!!
Ian has never and I mean never, not in the entire history of our two kids, woken up when a baby/child is crying before me!! Let alone get out of bed, into the nursery, change a diaper, and sit down and start feeding before I get up!!
I was really really tired!

How much does it cost to have a baby at Mayo Clinic?

The answer is...*drumroll*.....$12,215.79! That is the bill for both Owen and I. Not too bad considering this was all done at the 2nd best hospital in the country. Oh, and that $12 grand includes all of my doctors appointments. Basically everything from the time I found out I was pregnant until my check-up on Tuesday. Our portion is only $1,200, which is less than what we had prepared to pay. Yay!
I told Ian that we got the bill in the mail yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised when he didn't freak at the numbers. He just said, "Ok. Not too bad, Only 10%'.

For Cooper

When Ian, Ady and I went to Indiana back in March I was lucky enough to meet up with my wonderful fabulous friend Liann (but I call her Cooper). She bought Owen this adorable little outfit and couldn't wait for him to wear it. That day is here.
Here he is this morning when I changed him! :)

Check up

I had my six week postpartum check up yesterday. Everything is just peachy! My doctor told me that it looks like I've never even had a baby..you know, down there. And even better news, since I've never had an abnormal pap smear, I only have to have those lovely things every two years now! YAY!!
So she gave me my prescriptions for the mini-pill while I'm still pumping milk for Owen and a prescription for the regular pill when I'm ready to stop being a cow for my boy. :)

In other news, my friend Jen got her new used car yesterday, a Saab. Its a stick shift. She knows my love for them and allowed me to drive it! Oh the joy! It was fabulous. I was a bit nervous at first b/c she told me it was pretty stiff to shift and I hadn't driven a stick in many years. I drove that car like butter! So smooth, you wouldn't even know I was driving a stick! I was that good!! :)

Oh! Ady got rave reviews from camp yesterday. Her leader even wrote me a note telling me how well Ady did and what a sweet kid she is! Score!

Camp, Day 1

Ady started a week of nature camp at Quarry Hill today. She was beyond herself with excitement this morning and couldn't wait for lunch time when I was going to pick her up form Becki's. On the way to Quarry Hill, I went over the rules with her for the one millionth time. Listen to your leaders, be a good girl, talk quietly, play nice with the other kids..and yada yada.
I went to pick her up today and when I was signing her out her leader told me that they had behavioral problems with her. Great. I asked what had happened and she told me that when they went outside Ady just ran away from her group. Fabulous. Then when they came inside Ady wouldn't stop talking, making it difficult for activites to move on.
Here's hoping that tomorrow is much better!

Cubana's

While Ian's parents where here we made Cubana sandwiches and they were so fabulous that I've made mini versions twice since they left! So I figured I should share.
Heat oven to 350.
Get yourself a crust loaf of bread. (Not sliced) Like french or Italian. We used day old bread form Jimmy Johns b/c Ian is obsessed with it's cheapness.
You will also need a selection of your favorite sandwich fillings, mayonnaise, foil, two cookie sheets, and a cast iron skillet. For fillings we used ham, turkey, green peppers, onions, and cheese. The cheese is a must!
Anyway, slice your bread open but don't go all the way through. Think of it like a book! :) Spread mayo on both sides of the bread. Add your favorite sandwich toppings and then close up your sandwich and wrap in your foil.
Place your sandwich on a cookie sheet and lay the other cookie sheet on top. Place your cast iron skillet on top so that it presses the sandwiches together.
Bake for 20 minutes and enjoy!

Yard Games 2009

Yesterday after Ian got off of work, we attended the 1st Annual, 2009 Yard Games hosted by our friends Brynn and Karey. We all chose a country to represent, we were Barbados since we had t-shirts from there!
We arrived a little bit late, but I don't think we really missed anything. The first game to be played was running around the fire pit and then spinning on a bat 10 times and then running back to where you started. After the first heat the game was changed. One of the 'athletes' fell on the bricks of the fire pit after spinning on the bat and hurt her arm pretty badly. Many thought it was broken and she went to the ER to have it checked out! So the new game was you had to run to a chair, sit down, squeeze a potato between your legs and then walk backwards to the start line and drop your potato into a bucket. Ian managed to do it and after three tries I never did get that darn potato into it's basket!
Up next was the egg toss. We didn't do too bad with this one. Until Ian didn't throw the egg far enough to reach me, that is! Brynn threw her egg too far and it landed on the roof of their shed!
Next was the water balloon toss. I'm still not very clear on the rules of that one but I know that in the end we lost and my foot was all wet!
Then came my least favorite game. One partner puts shaving cream on their face in the shape of a goatee and their partner has a squirt gun to clean it off. I had to wear the shaving cream and Ian was not nice about putting it on me! So I took what was left in my hand and smeared it all over the side of his head! HA! We won that game though! All the kids loved playing in the shaving cream and covering poor Joe's entire head with the stuff!
The final game was either yard golf or bags, depending on when your name was called. Luckily, we got bags. Bust we still lost. Oh well.
We had a good time.
Owen was passed around to all the girls at the party. I think he spent about 30 minuted napping in his car seat and the rest of the time someone had him. Everyone thought he was just as sweet as could be, of course!

Stress

Things are getting...umm..stressful around here. Ian is freaking out about me not having a job, even though I still have 2 months to find one and I have only really been looking for a couple of weeks. I think he is mainly irritated that I am not doing this 'his' way. He wants me to call the local CPA firms and ask if they have jobs available. That isn't something I'm comfortable with and I've told him as much.
Owen was up most of last night. I didn't get him to sleep until 1 am and then he was still up every 1.5 hours or so. Needless to say, I'm tired today. I got a very short nap in this morning, but I would love several hours of sleep.

Smile!

It looks like Ian might have the flu. He went to the doctor after work tonight with a fever, chills, coughing, and just generally feeling like crap. He can call tomorrow to find out the results of his throat swab to see if it's actually influenza. If it is, he has a bunch of prescriptions to get filled. And he is out of work until the fever is gone. So tomorrow, I will have 2 men to take care of! I hope Owen is in a good mood!! Thank goodness Ady is going to Becki's!

back to normal

The in-laws left this morning. My house is very quiet. It's weird. But nice. It was also nice to have some family around again. I cooked every night that they were in town, except for one and we went to eat dinner at the Hubbel House. Very good food. Lots of food.
Ady was a bit wild the week that her grandparents were here. I don't know why. But I know that she is calm and well behaved today. I'm thinking that if Owen will go to sleep I can get in the shower and do the dishes really quick, then we can walk over to the park and wear Ady out. Then it will be nap time! :) Mommies love nap time!
I've been really awful at taking pictures lately. Owen is smiling some now. It's at random times and I can't figure out anything particular thing that makes him smile. I will get a picture of it one day!
I spent most of the time that Ian's parents where here sick. Now Ian is sick. I blame it on all of the extra cigars he smoked while his 'old man' was in town. I hope he bounces back quickly. Ian doesn't get sick often but we all know how well men handle being sick ;)

good lord

It's the first week of the graduate program here at Mayo. There have already been two parties. Ian wasn't aware of the first one but I guess he plans to go to the party Friday night. A house party. That starts at 10. Good lord, I thought these were PhD students not a bunch of 21 year old college idiots.
I hope this isn't a pattern. My almost 30 year old husband needs to start behaving like an almost 30 year old instead of a 21 year old.

Baby smells

Ok, I'm going to share some here about the smells of my cute little man, Owen.
His farts are toxic!! I mean clear the room, put on your gas mask, toxic. His poo doesn't smell at all. Go figure.

Duluth Minnesota

On Friday, we went to the airport and picked up Ian's parents. Then we headed for Duluth. We had never traveled that far north before and we were excited to see what it held for us!
It was a longer drive than we had expceted. That was because we missed a turn. It was around 9:00 before we got into Duluth and our hotel room. We tried to book another night once we got there, but they were booked for the whole weekend. Bummer.
Ady was excited to see the pool. Ian, Ady, Rob, and Care changed into their suits and took Ady swimming. Owen and I happily sat in some chairs and watched Ady play and swim. Owen didn't sleep very well that night, probably because he had slept most of the day.
We were up and out of the hotel by just after 9 Saturday morning. We headed for the aquarium and got there about 30 minutes before it opened. There was a playground next door so Ady played for a while and then we walked around a park that is used for concerts and such right on the water. It was pretty nice. We watched the ariel bridge go up so a tour boat could pass underneath. While watching that we noticed a boat docked next to us with security guards. Rob started talking to one of the guards and found out that it was a cruise ship. The penthouse suite was going for $10,000 per person for the week!! Crazy!!!
By this time the aquarium was open so we headed in. It was a very nice aquarium that housed local fish. The bottom floor was very interactive and Ady had a blast playing with the boats that they had there.
When we left the aquaruium, we decided to go to the Canal Park area for lunch real quick and then we would go on a train ride. We walked around Canal Park for a while and ended up eating at a place that I have wanted to go to for over a year. Hell's Kitchen! The food was great!! I loved it all. I hope to go back again one day!
Then we went on our train ride. Ady had good time with it. It was nice to just sit back and relax for a while and look out the windows at the St Louis River. On the ride back to the station, Ady stretched out on the chairs and went to sleep!
It was still early in the day so we went back to Canal Park to explore the water front and shops some more. We saw a place called Owen's Yacht Sales:) We bought some very yummy chocolate at a store and found Ady a sweatshirt. By this time it was after 5 and we needed to hit the road.
It was a long drive back home. After 11 before we got back!!

Pictures