Walking in a Winter Wonderland.

The weather report for our first week in our new home. Vacation home that is. And it snowed. Yes it sure did. 

It was lovely. From my window...inside the house... Lainie and I love it. She of course doesn't have a clue what snow is but I think she might know what cold is. 

Cute yes? We went shopping for scary face masks for Daddy and I caught some cute faces of Lainie and some scary ones of Daddy. 

One hat made him look like a duck. 

I love shopping with Daddy. It is always a good time. We get to spend our weekends together and do our shopping together. Daddy has been so wonderful lately. Not only does he work extremely hard to provide for us, but he also takes his days off to spend with us and makes our days together the most fun. We do our shopping and usually we get a special treat in town. Last week we wandered into the mall to get Starbucks which we didn't find but we did find a slice of deep dish pizza. We almost got the 6 meat treat, but that seemed a little over the top. And after mopping the grease off the top, six napkins later we split the slice. 

Lainie and I have been enjoying our new house, which is a vacation rental so it is wonderful. We can see Daddy's work from our kitchen window. That is extra special because that means he is no longer driving 40 minutes to work and we get that much more time together. 

Lainie is nearly 5 months old now and she has begun to eat bits of real food. We started with bananas which she devoured and have since tried squash, peas and apples. My daughter loves food. Go figure. However, if it tastes bad, she will scream. I had been feeding her ginger squash left overs and she loved those. But I made some more squash last night and left it plain and she threw a fit! Now I know Baby Girl needs food that tastes good. Fine by me. Smart girl. 

I'm sure it's no news that it's cold, but let's have record breaking cold weather a week before Thanksgiving! Lainie and I love the cold, from inside the house.😁

Lainie is also doing something I find astounding athough not altogether surprising. She is sucking her thumb. This one is just like her mama. I love that.

We have also been trying to break a bad habit. It's not an easy one. Lainie won't usually sleep or fall asleep unless I'm holding her. Sometimes I don't mind if I feel like snuggling, but I am quickly realizing that I will never get anything done if I have to hold her all day long. So we are working on slowly breaking this habit. I am sure it is harder for me than it is for her, but I hate listening to her cry for hours with the end result being that she is exhausted from crying and double exhausted from not taking a nap. She is stubborn. Like her mama. Go figure. In fact as we speak we are fighting with each other about this very issue. Mommy is determined to win. But she has also started to move quite a bit when she is lying down and especially when she is fussing. Now I have to be careful that she doesn't work her way off the bed. Time for a pillow fort.

 

My cutie is doing a pretty darn good job of sitting up and pushing herself up. She is growing so fast! 

  

4 Month Miles and the Biggest Cheese Curd Ever

Hello Friends,

Today I would like to tell you all about my sweet little daughter! She has been doing new things everyday and she appears to understand us more and more. 

She is now four months old and is growing, growing, growing!

This month so far we have had the pleasure of a 7 day suspenseful wait for a much needed number two. I had a bit of trouble with that one mostly because I firmly believe that my daughter should do things when I think she should be doing them. Things like sleeping, eating, and number two-ing. But thankfully, after hot baths, bicycle exercises, lots of prune juice and prayer she finally doodied! I've never been so happy to see poop. 

Since then we've been practicing sitting up and 'standing'. And she is becoming a real pro at this...

Cute, no?

Daddy and I have also been noticing a real awareness in her. Like she's beginning to figure out who we are to her and that has many different angles. For instance, she has started to snuggle into me when we are close to each other especially when she is tired. It seems early, but she has also discovered how to throw a tantrum. Nothing too bad but just enough for us to know she doesn't need anything but attention. Daddy told her 'No' the other day in his daddy voice and she started crying like she knew she was in trouble. Crazy. 

But my favorite part is that now we are working on putting things in her mouth. 

This does, however, have its drawbacks. Her motor skills have developed just enough to take her paci out, but getting it back in is another story. And she really likes her paci. But I'm confident she will have it down in now time, and for now we will put her paci on a leash. 

Yesterday, Daddy took us out to a smokehouse where we encountered the BIGGEST cheese curd I have ever seen. 

Golf ball sized bits of fried cheese. I could only eat two, and that is saying something. I love cheese.

Otherwise we had a great meal, my favorite part was their homemade bread with herb oil. I would go back, order only water and eat their bread for a meal if that was acceptable. 

Daddy talked me into trying the brisket, and although I like meat... It just wasn't for me. I turned my back on chicken and got burned. I will never forsake chicken again. 

The best part of the day? The whole day; getting to spend time with Daddy and the baby on a day I normally would be alone. Daddy's shifts have come down to 4 instead of 6 days a week so we have gotten to enjoy two whole weekends together already. He took me grocery shopping and we got to wander around Walmart, one of my favorite pastimes. Don't judge me. 

So here we are, snoozing after her first breakfast on Sunday morning. Life is nice, yes?

No. More. Moving.

Dear readers, the life of a gypsie is, in a word, hurty. That is the only word I have for you at this moment. Do you want to know why? 

Daddy and I made a decision last week once we figured out we were staying in WI for another 6 weeks. Why don't we come home to IL on the weekend and pack up our things that are in our rental house, put them in storage and save a payment for the month and our things from an unfortunate mold situation? Why not? Then we can find a more permanent place closer to our return. 

Unfortunately all of our plans were in some way rearranged. First we were going to leave Friday morning so we could get to IL and purge our belongings into only necessities but when Daddy had a chance to work for time and 1/2 we decided to leave after work, leaving us to arrive at midnight. No purging only stuffing. 

This is the only picture I snapped the whole time, which leads me to my next point. Hurty. 

For some reason I found myself with the worst back pain I've ever experienced. It felt like back labor mixed with random spasms. It rendered me nearly useless. Thankfully Daddy did all of the work and with the help of his Dad and cousin we packed up our life and moved it into a 10x10 storage space. Barely. Daddy told me I'm not allowed to open the door. Just in case I get crushed. You get it. 

So here we are, on the road back to WI...

Where we will spend another 6 weeks working and enjoying the area. Too bad it takes 7+ hours to get there. 

So while I nurse my backache with icy hot and Tylenol extra strength, please enjoy these pictures of my 4 month old daughter who is trying so hard to be a big girl already. 

Last Week in God's Country

That's what the locals call it anyway. And we can see why. We have been so fortunate to be here for the season change. Take a look at the tree right outside of our door! 

Daddy is finishing up the job and Lainie and I are cleaning the house and enjoying the last days here while the weather is beautiful. 

Daddy's birthday was last week so Lainie and I went to the bakery and got a treat and then at the grocery store we got some candles to surprise Daddy when he got home from work. 

Daddy was so pleased and to celebrate we abandoned our sweet bakery treats and opted for Dairy Queen. It was a wise choice. 

And the next night we wandered into Minnesota to a place called T Bones which, surprisingly turned out to be a pretty fancy place! 

Daddy ordered the prime rib and I got a French dip sandwich. It was delightful. We also invited our new friend Mark to join us and he blessed us with another birthday treat. He picked up the tab! It was so nice to spend time with a fellow Christian and share testimonies and words of encouragement. 

Speaking of that, we spent another Sunday at the church Mark showed us with the Pastor and his family. It has been such a blessing to make new friends, ones we hope to keep for years to come. Daddy and I were hoping this new adventure would bring us some new brothers and sisters, and we have not been disappointed. 

I made Daddy a yummy birthday supper and I wanted to share it. 

Hummus Crusted Chicken:

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Hummus, original or flavor of your choice 

S+P; lemon pepper seasoning

Preheat oven to 450*. Oil baking sheet with coconut oil. Pat chicken dry and sprinkle generous amounts of S+P. Spread hummus on top and sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until juices run clear. 

Mashed Squash with Ginger:

1 large butternut squash, seeded, peeled and diced

1 inch finely shredded ginger

3 green onions, greens saved for garnish

Sour Cream

In a medium saucepan, melt a pat of butter and sauté onion and ginger until aromatic. Add squash and cook, stirring  occasionally to prevent burning, for 15-20 minutes until soft. Mash with a fork or potato masher, leave clumpy and serve with a dollop of sour cream and green onions. 

Creamy Peas:

 One bag frozen peas

4 mushrooms, finely diced. 

-1/3c. Heavy cream

-1/3 c. Chicken broth

1T. Butter

1T. Flour 

Pepper to taste

In a medium pan cook peas in water until warmed through, drain liquid and transfer peas to another bowl, set aside. In pan, sauté mushrooms in butter then make a rue with butter mixture and flour. Then slowly add cream and broth, alternating to mix thoroughly until thick. Pepper to taste and add peas. 

*one can of cream of mushroom soup (no milk) would also work, but homemade is always better. 

Hopefully next time I blog we will either be home in IL or out on another location. 

Love love love love

Baby Milestones and Autumn Photos

Lainie Mae is 3 1/2 months old! 

We haven't been able to post anything new recently because our very nice downstairs neighbor who has lent us his wifi password must never use his internet and therefore hasn't noticed that his router needs to be reset. But thankfully we have been able to get our new fancy phones and since the iPhone Blogger app is way superior to the Android version, I can now post from my phone! 

Well, to be getting on now...

So, we have begun our 5th week here in Wisconsin and Lainie Mae has been doing some extraordinary things since last I wrote. Not only has she grown, but she has passed a few milestones in the last few weeks. 

She surprised us one night while Daddy was playing with her and let out her first giggle!

Her smiles have been more and more forthcoming and she lights up first thing in the morning when I take her out of her swaddler. She has continued to sleep through the night and has even been sleeping through Daddy's early morning noises. 

And most recently she has started to roll a bit. I got her a 'new to us' floor play mat and she really likes it. She has started noticing her toys and talks to them a lot!

Maybe one of the less fun things is that she has also begun to be extremely grumpy just before she falls asleep for naps during the day. But at least she doesn't do that at night. I don't have to fight her hard to get her to sleep. 

In other Mommy news, guess what?! No more shield for us!! One day this week I decided to give nursing a go without our friendly helper and she took to it perfectly! We are now on our 5th day of not using it! Yahoo! She eats so much quicker and so far we've had a pretty easy time of it. I hope we don't have to go through that apparently excruciating time of calluses and bleeding. Ooof. 

Also, every time she farts she looks at me and smiles. So there's that. 

As for Mommy, Daddy and Baby living in Wisconsin we are enjoying ourselves very much. We have quite a nice routine going. Daddy gets up early for work and baby and I sleep until about 7 or so. Once we are done with breakfast, Lainie and I tend to play a while until nap time and then after naps and lunch we usually venture out into town. 

Most recently I have been seen walking about a mile or so down to Family Dollar and back. That is quite a ways to go carrying a little potato sack on my front. 

I've also been making friends! 

This is Lainie and I on a walk. 

This is the bakery we found where we met a nice woman named Teresa who works part time here. When we walked in the door the smell of sweet very nearly knocked me down. It is quite a cute place right on the river and they have a lovely view. Teresa told me all about the snowmobile adventures that happen up here in the winter. 

This is where I bought my lunch one day. First time buying food out of a truck that wasn't part of a carnival. I enjoyed it. Lainie did not. Turns out MSG doesn't quite agree with her system. 

Yesterday we went to the store and on the way I was scouting places to stop for some photo ops on the way back. Here is what came of that. 

It is quite beautiful up here. If we continue to travel like this I have hopes of getting a nice camera and so I can document our adventures. I hope to turn some into post cards. 

We may be up here another week yet but the weather forecast looks decent so we should be in too much of a bind without our winter clothes. 

Ta ta for now!

Week 3 In WI ft. Cheese Curds

I had been telling myself that I didn't want to update until I had something worth writing about. Well...let me tell you. Cheese curds are always worth writing about, especially if they are home 'grown' locally. But I'll get to those in a a moment. 

First, a quick recap of the last few weeks. 

Daddy Boilermaker has been working hard to bring home our bacon. And although we're not actually eating bacon...mmm, bacon...What? Oh yes...Daddy has been working his tail off to provide for us. 

Meanwhile, Mommy

That's Me

And Baby,

That's Her

 are trying to come up with things to do for ourselves. So far, we've had a pretty good time.

The first major event was our first (and only) purchase from this job. Daddy and I had been sharing a cell phone from a certain company. We had not really experienced problems with the phone or company until we moved to MO, and then on again to WI. Their roaming was silly and our phone was finally after 2 years beginning the decent into maddening slowness.

So we took the plunge, switched companies and got fancy new phones. For me, the iPhone 5s. For Daddy, the Galaxy Note 3. For the record, iPhone rules. Galaxy drools.

Daddy and I have been having a long standing argument about which phone is better. Now that we have them in our hands we have added actual legitimacy to our arguments. Confession: we have spent way too much time watching 'How To' videos and 'Tips & Tricks' videos for our own good. But I'm sure once the high of newness wears off, we will become normal again.

In the end, the Galaxy is pretty cool. But we'll never use all of the features it offers. And 9 times out of 10 when Daddy says, "Look what my phone can do!" I respond with, "Yea, mine does that too."

In other news, I've been in charge of the shopping and taking care of baby...of course. So on Saturday last week, while Baby and I were on a walk around town I saw a sign outside of a storefront with an open sign lighting the window. I have been on the hunt around these here parts for people, activity, and thrift stores! But upon further inspection I noticed this particular shop was actually a salon! And funny enough, I had just been looking at pictures online for an upgrade to my current 'do'.

So I stepped right in, baby suspended from my chest, and talked to the girls in the shop. They said I could get right in, and I was thankful I'd thought to bring some cash along on our walk. Nevermind the fact that we barely made it around 2 blocks...

Have you ever tried to get a hair cut while tending to an infant? Especially when you don't have a car seat at the very least to put her in? It was quite interesting, and I did learn something new about my daughter that day.

She is a total ham.

Lainie cries when she's tired, hungry and dirty. She also cries when she wants attention. This I know. As Mommy, I am starting to differentiate between her cries based on her needs. But before you become too amazed, the clock totally helps. We have a pretty steady routine.

When we were at the salon, she was fine. She was perfectly content...until I sat to get my hair washed. I held her upright while I laid back over the sink and as the stylist was talking to her she started to cry the most pitiful cry you'd ever heard. And of course it was accompanied by gigantic crocodile tears and a pouty lip. HAM.

But as these ladies were a bit past the infant years with their children, they ate it up and ooh'd and ahh'd all over her. One of the other stylists finished with a client and swooped over to take Lainie off my hands so I could get my cut.

Unfortunately, another customer came in. A dad with his two teenage sons. One of the boys needed a hair cut. Quick like. So as I was about to tell her to give me my baby back, the dad spoke up and said, "I'll take baby duty." I looked through the mirror at the stylist and told her, as I could see they knew each other, "If you trust him, I'll trust him." And that was that. She fussed a bit, but in no time he had her sleeping happily on his chest. My daughter, ladies and gents...

Another lovely event happened just yesterday!

Drew met a young man named Mark at work and he is a new Christian staying in a town about an hour away from us. He recommended the church he's been attending for a few weeks to us and we drove down yesterday to visit.

As we crossed over the river and into Minnesota we discovered a beautiful little town with historic buildings and lots of character surrounded by 'bluffs'. That is what the locals call the 'mountains' we have all around us up here. Who knew?

The service was lovely. We were greeted warmly by lots of folks, and as everyone loves a baby, she got a lot of attention. The worship was nice, with all songs we knew and the sermon was great, but the children's time was my favorite. The pastor's wife, Suzanne taught the children all about hummingbirds and how God created some amazing creatures! She explained about the different species and why they were created the way they are. There is one hummingbird native to the Andes Mountains with the longest beak! The Sword-billed Hummingbird was created to pollinate this type of flower, without which it wouldn't exist. Very cool. Move over Evolutionists, this is called Creation. Enjoy.

Sword-billed Hummingbird

We stayed after the service and chatted with the pastor and his wife for quite a while until it was decided we should all just go out to lunch, since Mark, Daddy and I were planning on it anyway. 

Daddy wanted wings, and to potentially see the Packer game, so we decided to try a place called Betty Jo's which was rumored to have excellent food and a few TV's in the dining area. Only one problem. It was a bar. It did say Pub and Fine Dining outside...but seriously folks. Bar central. I just kept hearing the line from Sweet Home Alabama in my head..."You have a baby!....In a bar!..."

We walked in, took on whiff, and walked back out. 

Luckily, there was a nice restuarant just next door called Jefferson's. (I was supposed to take lots of pictures yesterday. Guess how many I got?)

Home grown cheese curds with horseradish dipping sauce. YUM.

The ONE picture I did take almost didn't happen, as you can see. A few minutes later and all you would've seen would have been an empty plate. 

We spent the next 3 hours chatting with our new friends Jeff, Suzanne and Mark. It is such a blessing to meet kindred spirits and people who have the same ideals and interests as you. At one point Suzanne nudged me on the arm and said, "This is such a joy!" I agree. It was delightful.

We did some shopping in town, Daddy needed some new bibs we went over the Fleet Farm....or Farm and Fleet. Either way you say it, they both smell the same. 

On the way out of town I got some more pictures of the landscape. Enjoy.

 This is where Daddy works! See that black scaffolding right above his nose? That's where he's been spending his time in the last two weeks!

So far so good in WI. We've had lovely weather and even a chance to wear a hoodie! Daddy and I love the feel of Fall! Thanks for joining me, we'll see ya next time!

Wisconsin? I love cheese!!!

Hello from Wisconsin!

On the road...you should've seen the car packed with ... lots of stuff.

Guess what?? We moved again!!

Yay for Wisconsin!

But only temporarily.

BTW, Did you know that there are 'mountains' in Wisconsin/Minnesota? Well, we're from IL so we're calling them mountains. To anyone who is not from a flat state, I'm sure they're just hills.

Daddy Boilermaker got a job in the Great Dairy State! And we are officially...boomers. Stick with me and you'll learn all sorts of new-fangled boilermaker words. “Booming out” means to travel to another local's job for work, upon their request of course. You can't just show up and say, “Hello, I'd like to work for you today.” ...Who knew?

Here's what happened. Daddy went into the shop last Friday to weld for a bit when the office manager asked him to head to an emergency job about an hour away. To my dismay, Daddy thought he might be gone all night. Luckily, I got a text telling me he'd be home that night. But he had to go back the next morning.

Anyway, while I was packing his lunch/dinner for Friday's job, he got another phone call.

Kirk: I got you a job in Wisconsin. Be [there] Monday at 6:30 am.

Daddy: You got it, dude.

*I may have changed some of the dialogue in this conversation.

I was now in charge of details. My favorite. I am, after all, #1 Boss while Daddy is away, so I put on my decision making pants and picked up the phone.

Me: “Hello? Is this an Inn in a really small town?”

Them: “Why, yes it is. How can I help you.”

Me: “I'd like a cheap room for potentially 4-6 weeks. Do you have a microwave, fridge, and TV? How about a bathroom?”

Them: “Cheap? Heck no. Fridge? What's that? Mircro-what? Oh, and we have a community bathroom down the hall.”

Times this conversation by 7 or 8. Minus the weird no bathroom thing. That was only one place. Cheap rooms though.

Did you know that hotel rooms (Non-skeezy rooms at least, see above.) are running around $100/night?? I had no idea! I sure hope it's a Wisconsin thing, because otherwise we may have to re-think this whole booming out thing.

Let's just do some math for fun. (No common core math technique will be used in this blog.)

$100/night x 7 nights. Times 4 weeks. Or more.

Raise your hand if you know the answer!

Puh-lease.

Thankfully, we have a Heavenly Father who knows our needs and meets them with amazing skill and expertise. Oh, and lots of love. Don't forget that part.

I spoke with a sweet Wisconsin-er named Audrey very last. I believe I even said out lout, “Ok, last one.” She has one place in Dairy-town that is already let to another man, who I believe happens to be the crane operator for our job. She was under the assumption that he would potentially be moving out and therefore we could have his place. I was instructed to call back at noon.

Otherwise, she also has a place about 30 minutes from the plant that is empty...or at least it was. She worked all of Saturday afternoon and Sunday to get this lovely, [huge] apartment ready for us. We are blessed with a full kitchen, laundry room, two bedrooms, large dining room and a large living room. And like I said earlier, she came down on her price so we're not working a week for nothing.

Lainie is wearing OshkoshB'gosh. I thought it was appropriate.

So here I am, drafting my blog from the futon, while Daddy is at work.

In other miraculous news, guess what I found?! Aldi! Yahoo! I was on the hunt for Walmart and unbeknownst to me as I was rounding the bend with my eyes peeled for the supercenter, I spotted that lovely orange and blue rectangle. I could have cried.

Baby and I went in to do our shopping and when I got to the check out, I realized I hadn't activated my bank card yet. Whoops. I had some cash on me, but I wasn't sure if it would be enough. And if you hold up an Aldi line-- well, let's just assume they wouldn't be too happy.

I told the cashier my dilemma and she told me my total. $68.52. Guess how much money I had in my wallet? $69.00. God is awesome.

When I went out to the car and called the number to activate my card, it didn't work. So I typed in my PIN again, and again...it didn't work. I tried another combination that could have been it. Nope. And upon too many tries, I locked myself out of being able to activate my card.

I tried a few other things the lady at on the customer service line told me to do, but alas, I think my card and PIN didn't sync up right or something. So now I have to wait until I get home to get it sorted. However, Daddy has his card, and since he's working and I'm the one doing the shopping, he won't be needing it anyway.

I still maintain the Lord has his hand on us. Thank you, Jesus for seeing fit to protect us from things even if they seem trivial in every day life.

SIDE NOTE:

Daddy had to shave part of his beard off......sad day.