Let the Seasons Begin!

I'm not sure what it is about the coming of Fall...but I am just happier when I wake up to a nip in the air. I love opening the windows and doors in the morning and remembering the feelings I had as a child waiting for the school bus to appear around the corner from our house. I hope those feelings never go away.

The leaves are still green here, but we've gotten to see a few hints of Fall in this late August. There have been many crows around our apartment...slightly creepy, but mostly making me think they should be looking for scarecrows to perch on. Mostly, the difference is in the weather. Gone are the days of wishing for a day at the pool. Now I look most forward to putting on long sleeves and drinking a hot coffee.

It does make me a little sad though, considering the fact that we are planning to home school our children. Will they feel the same way I did about getting school supplies and packing your school bag the night before the first day of school? Or setting out your new clothes because you didn't want to miss a moment of that morning. I hope I can make it special for them in our own way.

With these changes in our season also comes another adventure. Drew begins his work season in September. We are very thankful to have a lot of work around home this year, but this first job is too far away to drive daily. So we get to travel again for a couple of weeks, and as a bonus we are staying with my mom for the duration of our trip. I'm so looking forward to spending the beginning of Fall in a new city that I can explore. I love finding my way around, discovering shops and cafes for the first time and getting to know another city.

Our Lainie is getting to be such a big girl. She understands so much of what we say and is starting to bring us things she likes as well. We regularly get books handed to us, as if to say, Ok, Mom put that down. Read to me. I'll take it; I want her to learn as much as she can.

Lainie has discovered the slide at the gym. 

This is her new favorite place to sit. 

Our first zoo adventure. Clearly not my best picture, but apparently the only one I took.

I'll keep this one short and sweet.

12+ Months and Things Are Changing

A year in review

Well, I've been a bit negligent again. One day, I won't have to post that right off the bat.

Lainie's 12 Mo. Picture

We've just come down from one of the busiest weeks I think we've experienced as a family. Daddy had to be at the Hall all day to help with the weld tests and I had VBS every night. 

Let me tell you, I am not a fan of leaving my Lainie. We are buds, her and me; we do everything together. But it did not make any sense to take her with me...thus, my absence in the evening. 

At least I had a wonderful time helping with the VBS at our church. I got to get to know some of the parents/helpers and a number of kiddos, which I don't mind telling you got quite hooked to me by the end of the week. 

Silly faces always make selfies more fun. Oh and it was cowboy themed.

But let's get down to the update, for scrapbook's sake. 

Those are her "I don't know" hands

Our Lainie is a big girl now. She astounds me everyday with how much she understands in the way she responds to my conversation, her attachment to certain things/people and every moment of quizzical looks I get from her when she is learning something new. 

Lainie and Great Grandpa Lusk

NEW THINGS:

• Walking. We are officially walking. Still a bit wobbly, but definitely the main mode of transport.
• Shaking her head 'no'. At the moment, it is quite adorable. I'm sure when it begins to come with the word we won't be so amused. 
• Blowing kisses. We're still working on this. And in the meantime, I still get slobbery, open mouthed kisses... I will be very sad when those are gone. 
• Grabbing the side of her pants/pockets when she walks. Not sure what this one is about, but she always looks like she is about to curtsy. 
• Using baby Sign Language. She can say 'more'; 'daddy'; 'what'/'I don't know'; 'bye-bye'...although sometimes she says 'da-da' when she means 'bye-bye'-- still cute.
• Pouty faces. Depending on the moment this teeters between super cute and dangerously close to becoming a moon baby. 
• Handing money to cashiers. She particularly likes to give my debit card to the coffee ladies. 

IN OTHER NEWS:

The family and I have been sugar/refined grain free for over a month! I am down 11 lbs. and counting, and we all feel wonderful. Here are some pictures of my personal progress! More to come as the weight continues to drop!

BIRTHDAY BIRTHDAY BIRTHDAY!

We celebrated Lainie's one year a bit later than her actual birth date...but she'll never know...until she reads this. 

My brother and his family were coming up from MO for a visit, so we decided to hold off until they could join us-and bonus! Two of our friends came along for the weekend and surprised us!

Sleepy girl a little overwhelmed by the balloon party!

Our "Fruit" cake-- since the whole no sugar thing. 

One of the only pictures to show some of the decorations...derp.

Allie, Jogie and Heather

Emily posing with Lainie in front of the TimeLine

:D :D :D

'Nanny and Lainie

Birthday girl in front of her cake!

Fruity Selfies!

Surprise Friends!

Esther really enjoyed the watermelon popsicles!

Trying to stay cool!

Mom and Randy made the trip down!

Pretty sure Jacob ate the whole cake...

3Gen :D

Lots of lovely gifts for our big Girl!

It was super hot...Jogie needed a cool down.

Brilliant parents that we are, we went swimming after the party....needless to say, this was my bug at the end of the day.. Pooped. 

Signing off for now...

8, 9, 10 & 11 Months....oh dear.

Well, it's been more than a minute since I've updated. So I'll get right to the point. Lainie is huge!

Since we've last spoken, my Lainie has grown in so many ways. She has gone from rolling over and over to get where she wanted to go to nearly walking. 

Her 8 month pictures turned out and show off her personality as it's starting to bloom. She is more and more on the move and eats just about everything she can get her hands on. 

In her 9th month she has really started to chunk up. She started crawling and moves quickly. I would suddenly realize she was missing and have to go on the hunt. 

I can't even count the number of times I've been in the grocery store and people come up to us and ooh and aah over my little bug. She makes quite an impression where ever she goes. She had a cold, the first of her whole life and really didn't enjoy getting her nose sucked out with the 'snot bulb'. 

Almost a year! And almost walking!! Hard to get her to sit still for long enough to take this picture!

She stands on her head with her butt in the air and looks like she wants so badly to stand up but can't quite figure out how to get up beyond that point.

I have a part time job now at a local health club working in the babysitting room two days a week and she has become quite fond of playing with the kids and finding her favorite toys. Whenever the kids are running and playing she sits in the middle of the room trying desperately to keep up. 

Lainie has started to say Ma-Ma and Da-Da more now as well. She shakes her head back and forth and says, "Da da da da da da da". It's one of the single cutest things she does. 

I am amazed every day at how she understands more things. One night I was laying on the floor next to her and she was playing with my hair. When I looked up at her I realized she had a comb in her hand. That was the moment I knew she is officially the smartest baby in the whole world. 

In other news, Daddy is home for the summer--well, sort of. He has apprentice class for about 8 weeks. And when I say class, I mean he is required to go up to the hall to weld, eat take out and goof off with the boys. But all in all, it's alright with me. All this practice is good for him, and to be honest, I'm not ready for Daddy to be home all day and get the house crazies. 

We were able to get down to Missouri to visit over Memorial Day weekend to see the family. Lainie was more than taken with her cousins, and them with her. Emmy didn't let her out of her sight for long, usually keeping her penned on the couch with toys. 

We got ourselves a treat for the summer, bikes! And we've really been enjoying ourselves. We've been exploring the trails in town the those surrounding. We rode 12 miles the other day all the way down to the river and back around a bit. Lainie has a kangaroo seat and now she can ride in front with her daddy. 

I am quite thankful for these new adventures we've been going on. It's helping me get into shape. I'm looking forward to losing 30lbs or so before the fall---I'm hoping we can try then for Second Baby. :D

Is that too much information?

We live a few blocks from the park and on one of our walks we stopped and played, and I caught some seriously cute Daddy/Baby shots...

New Things and Stuff

I am going to just come out and say it.

I like new things.

There. I feel so much better now.


I once heard a James MacDonald sermon about Heaven and now everyday something will be new and how amazing that will be, which he in turn posed that it is quite alright for us to enjoy new things here on Earth.

Now, don't get me wrong. I understand to covet and find my happiness in material 'new' things isn't the message. But it does resonate with me. I have always liked new things. Even when I was a little girl I found new things thrilling.

Take for instance the start of a new school year. Every year, Mom would get us a new outfit or two, some new shoes, and all of our school supplies. I loved this day. And always the night before the first day of school I would lay out my new things, fall into a listless sleep, and wake early to get myself ready. The excitment and anticipation of getting to use something brand new with the factory scent still smellable hasn't left me.

So I'm sure you can come with me here, when I tell you what we got. New stuff!

Daddy and I have been talking about getting another car for some time now (hence the story of Car's adventures last time). We got a nice hunk o' dough back from our tax refund and decided it was time for Mommy to have her own car. We debated back and forth on what to get. Daddy wanted something newer and more $$$ and Mommy liked the idea of spending what we had, which if you've ever received a hunk o' dough you can understand how quickly it can diminish.

As our budget decreased, so did our options. Go figure. Everything I saw within our price range was just 'okay'. Something we could make due with but nothing extraordinary. Finally, last week on Daddy's day off he decided we would spend the day car hunting. I had been looking online for weeks, with no real luck so I did my best to keep my hopes realistically low.

It was nearing the end of our unsuccessful day when Daddy and I decided to compromise. If we could find something reasonably priced AND get a loan to make up the difference, then we would get what we liked. This to me was a long shot. Our credit isn't awesome and so far I've only ever been laughed out of loan offices.

After lunch I remembered a car someone had shown me once in Toyota lot while I had been looking at Scions. A Toyota Matrix; kind of an oversized, hatchback Corolla. I did a quick search on my iPhone and found one apparently 6 miles from our location! But when I searched for the dealership, it wasn't listed anywhere on the site! Gasp!

Luckily for me, I'm a detective of sorts and there were just enough context clues within the pictures for me to figure out where it was. We drove down the street identifying background images when we came to the lot where our little Neo stood waiting for us.

And so it was, after 3-4 hours of test drives, loan calls, mechanic inspections, and a few crackers for Lainie we drove home in our very own Toyota Matrix, which I have named Neo, for obvious reasons.

But that's not all! My sweet Step-mom came over for pizza that same night and brought me another surprise! A tablet! Which I am using (with my new bluetooth keyboard) to input this entry. Oh and Daddy also got us cheesy bread and a movie for the night. Seriously, a top day.

I realize that you all might not be quite as enthused as I am, but you haven't been carless all winter with a computer that works like it's always connecting to a dial up modem. I am over the moon happy to be so blessed with such nice things.

Let's hope next week's entry won't be so materialistic. :D

Daddy Takes Mommy and Baby Out for Valentine's Day

Once upon a time there was a happy little family. Daddy, Mommy and Baby. This happy little family also had one happy, little Car, with which they did all of their traveling.

At the beginning of the new year, Daddy and Mommy got to spend every day together watching Baby grow up before their eyes, and Car drove them where ever they wanted to go. They often went to the grocery store. Or to Grandma and Grandpa's house; Baby especially liked that place. And Car was happy to oblige their every travel whim.

However, Bank Account started to get a little bit grumpy after a little while. He was not so happy about Mommy and Daddy spending so much time together. So after Daddy scolded the naughty Bank Account he decided it was time to get some work done, and he picked up his weld hat and went to work.

Car loved taking Daddy to work everyday. It was a lovely hour and a half drive to and fro each day where Car got to see many things. And since it was winter, Car had to put on his sweater and mittens to stay warm for the cold, early morning drives.

Meanwhile, Mommy and Baby stayed in the house and played with Baby's toys. Baby was learning how to scoot around on her tummy and play the paci game with Mommy. It was such fun for both Mommy and Baby. And if it was a nice enough day outside they would take Stroller out for a walk.

Since Baby had to take an afternoon nap everyday Mommy would spend that time doing her chores and sometimes her favorite special things. Mommy loved to knit, bake chocolate chip cookies and cook a delicious supper for Daddy to eat when he came home from his long day at work.

Most of the time Daddy would work every day but one day a week. When Daddy would stay home from work Mommy and Baby were delighted! Daddy always played fun games with Baby and gave Mommy a kiss every time he walked by.

And on those special days Daddy, Mommy, and Baby would pile into Car to run errands and visit with their family.

Yesterday was such a special day for the family. It was the day Daddy and Mommy celebrated Valentine's Day.

Car drove Daddy and Mommy out to the city, where they enjoyed a lovely Valentine's lunch at Red Lobster. Baby went too and she really enjoyed the cheddar herb biscuits and mashed potatoes. Then they went to the grocery store to get all of the yummy ingredients for Mommy to make the meals for Daddy's suppers. After a long day riding in Car they made another stop at the hair salon where Mommy got a brand new haircut. Daddy likes to spoil Mommy when he is home from work.

As evening faded into nighttime, Car drove the family home but Daddy wanted to make one last stop. As Car pulled into the dealership he started to get a little nervous. Daddy usually wants Car to drive right passed all of these types of places, what could they be doing there?

Thankfully, shortly after Daddy drove Car into the parking lot, he drove Car back out again and it was such a relief. Whatever was Daddy thinking driving into a place like that, Car wondered?

Finally, they pulled up to their front door where Mommy and Baby went inside and Daddy lightened up Car's trunk by removing all of their heavy groceries. And when all of the groceries were inside Daddy parked Car in his carport for the night.

But Car couldn't sleep. Why did Daddy take Mommy and Baby to that place with all of the other Cars and Trucks and Vans. Oh my! Thought Car.

To Be Continued...

6 & 7 Months

Our Christmas Bug

Here I am, very after the fact, but I promised pictures and since today my computer decided to let me actually see my photos I thought I'd make good on my commitment. 

As you can see our little bug is growing like a weed. She turned 6 months old on Christmas Eve and since then has been doing something new every day it seems. 

I was able to snap a few photos over Christmas, two of my favorites are below. 

Esther wearing Unki Drew's hard hat.

She kept asking to hold Lainie, then 20 seconds would go by and she'd be done.

Milestones for 6 months include rolling fairly efficiently, saying "Ma Ma", holding her own bottle, and cutting two teeth!

I haven't been able to get both in a photo yet, but here's a fabulous picture of the first 'one'der.

Since this baby popped in, I've been brushing my fingers across her gums waiting for another to make it's appearance. Turns out she doesn't like that very much. 

Daddy has since gone back to work and Lainie and I are home together making treats and playing toys. I made her a headband since everyone who sees her thinks she's a boy. She'll be wearing this in public from now on...

She is sitting up like such a big girl these days. She has even started to scoot on her tummy! She can really get around! Next we have to work on going from lying down to sitting up on her own because she gets really upset when she wants to be up but I'm not there to help her. Turns out she also gets mad when I have the computer but won't let her play with it. 

Her six and seventh month pictures aren't crazy different, except I can see her personality more and more each day, and I think it shines through in this picture. As well as this one...

And this one...

Ok, I've gotten a little crazy with the cuteness and photographing as much as I can, but hey-- my kid is cute. So why not?

In other news, she has also mastered taking her paci and out putting it back in. She can even find it when it's near her and put it in right. Which is a major help to Mommy. 

We still swaddle at night, but only in a blanket. She is sleeping through the night and I don't want to do anything to disrupt that. 

And now for some Daddy pictures.

Lainie loves her Daddy. And I love them. 

I apologize for the cursory glance into our lives, but Lainie is screaming and I have to make it a quick one.