20 Months!

I have been a BAD, BAD blogger. I don't even have an excuse considering I had 2.5 weeks off at Christmas. Although, I could argue that I enjoyed every second of my time with Noah and extended family, so blogging took a back seat. I also think part of my problem is that I'm terrible about uploading pictures from my camera. That is because our laptop is running out of memory and everything has to get dumped on our external hard drive in order to make room for uploading. So there, I guess I do have an excuse.

Anyway, Noah is now 20 (and a half) months old! Back in the summer a friend of mine told me that she thought 18-24 months was the most fun age. At the time I thought she was bonkers because itty bitty babies are soooo cute and cuddly and oh-my-god-how-could-it-possibly-get-better?! But now I totally get it. This early toddler stage is so much fun! There's still some baby left, but also some comprehension, reasoning, and so much silliness on Noah's part that I never want to leave this stage. He loves naming animals and making their noises, which he will do randomly all of the time. Sometimes he's just sitting in the family room playing, then stops and says, "hoo, hoo, owl." It cracks me up. Noah is also really starting to comprehend the things we tell and ask him. He knows what it means when I say that we need to change his diaper, and he can get things we ask for and bring them to us. He also has learned the shape circle, and takes great delight in pointing out all of the circles he sees. Sometimes he tries to count, but only says "two, two, two." As far as motor skills go, he has pretty much mastered spoon and fork feeding (ok, he does miss his mouth sometimes and he hasn't perfected the art of a downward stab with the fork) and refuses to eat without some sort of utensil in hand. Verbally, he's a total parrot. He picks up words so crazy fast now it just amazes me. For whatever reason he won't say Grandma or any attempt at it, but he loves his "papas." I think he's just being a stinker!

This will probably be the last month with a list of new words, because I would drive myself insane trying to keep up at this point. At 20 months though, these are his new words (as close to in order as possible): cat, cracker, circle, birdie, tweet tweet, eggs, frog, hoo hoo (owl sounds), cold, on, off, wolf, yellow, blue, boo, belly, ouch, potty, pull, two, chair, seat, help (he asks for help all the time!), what, toot, elephant (one of my faves), tree, Santa (may I also point out that every old man we see with white facial hair is "Santa!"), fly, brown, bear (rarrr!), mouse, brush, banana, Noah, the letter "w," ear, meow, squirrel, football, shark, whale, where go?, lion, wheel, giraffe, wash, airplane, open, hit, button, bone, Shannon (my dad's dog), motorcycle, slide, and butt. (Way to end on a high note!) He is definitely attempting little sentences and mimics many simple sentences that we say (ex. where doggie go).

We also have a major pacifier addiction going on in this house. I fought it for a little while, but I've totally given in. He's not into a blankie or stuffed animal, so I guess his paci (or as he pronounces it, "py-eee!") is his comfort item of choice. Whatever, not gonna sweat it. I'm sure he'll give it up before Kindergarten.

So that's 20 months in a nutshell. One of my favorites so far by a mile!

19 Months

This has not been one of the easier months, kiddo. You had a cold, and also sprouted two new molars on the left side. The lower one seems to be causing you quite an achy mouth, and as a result you have been one gigantic grumpasaur. I had pneumonia and bronchitis myself, then did something to my rib cage from all of the coughing, so I've been a bit drained as well. It has all led to this being a trying time around the home front. You are doing some wonderful, little boy things though, so please don't think that Mommy has forgotten how much she loves you!

You have some new words, of course. I'm getting worse about documenting all of them when I hear them, and I'm sure you have some words at daycare that I haven't yet heard. These are the ones I captured: duck, milk, hand, arm, truck, down, paci, pumpkin, Brady (you pronounce it Bady and really this is something you picked up at 18 months), keys, yes, bath, snow, hooray, monkey, poop, puff, baby, box, chin, sheep, shush, thank you, Elmo, hockey, fish, fox, buzz, elbow, hello, all done, shoulder.

Despite your growing vocabulary, there is one word you choose to use more than any other, "NO!" As I said, this has been a trying month... You also like to scream at the top of your lungs and growl angrily when you're not happy about something, which has been happening a lot lately. You never seem to know what you want when you're grumpy. You'll point at your milk, say "milk," but then scream and yell "NO!" when someone offers it to you. Then when we put it back, you yell and point at your milk again. I hope this phase passes soon!

You are starting to string words together. So far it's mostly been "bye bye ___." You say bye bye to lots of things, always with a coy little wave (you put your hand up right next to where your neck meets your shoulder).

When you're in a good mood, you are a loving, sweet little boy. During our hard moments, I always try to remind myself of this. Happy 19 months, sweetheart!

(Pictures to follow. I'll upload some over Thanksgiving break!)

A Lesson...

... in cognitive therapy.

I have my biannual pap appointment this morning. My initial thought when I woke up was, "Oh boy, someone gets to be all up in my lady business today!"

But then I reframed it to, "This is the very first step towards pursuing an FET sometime next year."

And that makes me feel a lot more ok about the idea of plopping my feet in some stirrups.

Congratulations, you are now a certified cognitive therapist! You're welcome.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween was a very fun day. It was Fall Break for my school district so I had the day off to hang out with Noah. The day didn't start off so fun for Noah. He had his 18 month appointment so he had to get vaccinations. The silver lining there was that he is done with shots until he's school age now. Woohoo! We also found out that he is at 23lbs, 4.5oz (16th %ile) and is 32.25" tall (46th %ile). According to the Ages and Stage Questionnaire, he's developing completely normally in all areas (motor, cognitive, speech/language). I wasn't really worried about that, but it's always nice to get confirmation.

The rest of the day was considerably more fun. After his nap we raked a big pile of leaves and played with Daddy after he got home from work.

Then it was time for carving pumpkins! Noah really wanted to help scoop. He also tried to eat the goop on his spoon, but mean old mommy wouldn't let him.

By the time we were done it was time to trick-or-treat. At first we had no intention of taking Noah out. I thought it would be awkward to walk around with an 18 month old and ask for candy from strangers. Obviously Noah isn't going to be consuming much of it. However, we have friends in the neighborhood with a 3 year old and they invited us to go along with them, and I am so glad they did! First of all, it wasn't awkward at all. I realized that the people who bother to buy candy are people who enjoy seeing cute little kids dressed up in cute costumes. The people who don't want to deal with that turn off their lights and hide. Everybody thought Noah was adorable (he was probably about the youngest trick-or-treater in our neighborhood). Second, it was the CUTEST THING EVER. Noah insisted on walking all by himself. We didn't have a proper basket for his candy so we improvised and used the bucket from his shape sorter. Well, he carried that thing in front of his belly with both hands and never set it down. At each house he took a piece of candy one at a time and carefully placed it in his bucket. I can't even describe how adorable he looked with his little bee antennae bouncing up and down as he plodded along with his bucket bumping his belly with each step. People oohed and aahed over him on the sidewalk, and a couple of times he grinned back and offered a sweet little "hi" in return. Every time I think back to that night I just smile. He totally melted my heart. And third, free candy! Ok, I might be in my 30s, but I still have a horrible sweet tooth. ;)

I'm going to remember this night always. So much fun!

Thoughts on Another

After Noah turned one, I started getting the question a lot. Those of you who have celebrated baby's first birthday know the question. "Are you ready for another one?" At the time, I wasn't. I kind of wondered if I was ever going to get there. I even talked about it here. Well ladies, I am finally there. I'm over the "but Noah is my baby" feeling. He's becoming more and more of a little boy each day, and while I long for the baby Noah days sometimes, I also feel excited about the idea of making a whole new little person to marvel at.

This is not something that we will be doing in the very near future. I find raising a toddler to be a bit exhausting and can't even imagine having an itty bitty baby to care for on top of everything else. I would like Noah to be on his way to being potty trained, able to be reasoned with around behavior, and more independent with play, dressing, and feeding before I take on another dependent, demanding little monster. I also want to try to time things to maximize maternity leave again. But I don't want to wait so long that the age gap is much more than 3 years. So that puts us in the ballpark of May or June, ideally. (Ideal to me anyways.)

Brian is not with me on this, at least not 100%. He worries about the financial aspects of having a second baby, and I think he also wonders when he can get back to his old hobbies like golf, poker, and snowboarding. It's true, things aren't nearly as carefree or spontaneous as they used to be, and money is tight. But somehow people do it all the time. People with even less money and more debt than us. So we'll find a way. I know we will.

And how can we not? Look at these amazing little hopefuls! If they turn out even half as perfect as Noah, it will all be worth it!

(Noah is the one furthest to the left.)

18 Months!

Look at me! I'm a year and a half!

I don't know how it happened, but suddenly I have an 18 month old! I remember back to a year ago when we gave Noah his first sweet potatoes tonight and he wasn't even sitting on his own yet. Now he's a wild man running through the house, eating chunks of chicken, and telling me "no, no, no." It's crazy how time flies.

Each month Noah's vocabulary continues to expand by leaps and bounds. He's pointing to all kinds of things and takes great delight in naming the things that he knows. He can repeat most words that we try to get him to say (except "gramma," much to their dismay!), but I only count the words that I think he knows the meaning to or uses regularly. New words this month are:

• side (for outside), shower, eat, bowl, papa, sock, walk, ride, phone, shirt, gate, eye, toe, mouth, head, teeth, boom, nose, apple, hat, foot, spoon ("foon"), bubble, yucky ("ucky"), whoah, mine, food, fork, rock, nana, house, bucket, book, park

Noah can point to all kinds of body parts including his head, hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, hands, belly, wee wee, knee and feet. He is able to follow simple commands like "get your milk," but doesn't always choose to listen. He likes to bring me random objects and places them in my hands. He will give a kiss when asked, or just spontaneously, and I love it! He also makes his toys kiss each other. So sweet! My mom taught him how to blow kisses over FaceTime, too. He's getting more opinionated and independent by the day. He lets us know if he really wants something by spinning in a circle and stomping his feet. Noah is also upping his game in the tantrum department. He gets upset when he can't have his pacifier, or when he has to come in from outside. He doesn't like having something taken away from him, and sometimes the tantrums just seem to come out of nowhere. He likes to throw his head back, flail his limbs, and scream. I guess the "terrible twos" start much earlier than two! He also has a tendency to hit or bite me if I make him mad. I've tried time-outs and an upset, stern voice to try to redirect this behavior, but so far he's not getting it.

In other developmental news, Noah got his first two molars this month. Along with them came his third ear infection. Boo! He has his official 18-month appointment on Halloween (trick or treat, you get shots kiddo!), but at his most recent ear checkup he weighed in at 23 pounds. I'm curious to see where that will fit into the percentiles. I think he's definitely still on the small side! He's my little peanut!

Happy Half-Birthday, Sweetheart!

Decision to Privatize

I know I'm being totally paranoid and overdramatic, but I still feel fine with my decision. Here's why I made it.

So a couple of weeks ago we had a very weird experience. It was a Wednesday night. Around 12:30am our dog started whining like crazy. I couldn't figure out what he wanted. Noah feeds him a lot of strange things so I thought maybe he had an upset stomach. I let him out in the backyard but all he did was pee. I went back to bed, but he just kept whining. By this point Brian was also awake. As we lied in bed feeling frustrated, we both noticed the sound of a large diesel engine idling outside of our house somewhere. We both found it extra annoying at this point and wished it would go away. After about 5 minutes the truck finally left, came back briefly, then left for good. The dog settled down and we went back to bed.

The next morning I opened the blinds to our front window so that Gilbert could enjoy the view for the day. I immediately noticed something sitting on our front steps. It looked like a small copper pipe standing on its end. As I left the house I walked around the garage and looked down at the object. I had no idea what it was. It kind of looked like a flashlight, but it kind of didn't. I called Brian on my way to our daycare provider's and asked if he left something on the step. He had no idea what I was talking about.

When Brian got home from work that night, he inspected the item. He was still unsure of what it was. We both thought back to the odd events of the night before and started to feel pretty creeped out. Whatever this object was, it was very conspicuously left on our step. I decided to call the county non-emergency line. I thought the dispatch would just laugh at me, but they sent an officer out within the hour. He showed up and stood in our driveway with binoculars to figure out what it was (I'm sure the neighbors were curious about that). He felt pretty certain that it was a flashlight. He took a long broom from our garage and tipped it over from a safe distance. And yes, it was a small gold flashlight. He inspected it inside and out and determined that it hadn't been tampered with in any way. We shared with him the strange things that happened overnight, and he agreed that it was all very creepy. He asked us to report any additional suspicious sounds or experiences to the police immediately. That really made me uncomfortable. I had all these visions of some weirdo wandering around our house overnight. I worried that maybe this person was tapping into the baby monitor, so I unplugged it. I made booby traps inside the house and lit up the outside like Fort Knox. I posted signs on the community mailbox to ask people to report suspicious activity to the police. (And people did respond by keeping their lights on overnight.) Nothing has happened since, and I've now considered several more innocent possibilities for what happened. But when it comes to Noah I'm not into taking chances. Is some weird stalker following my blog and planning to kidnap Noah from his bedroom overnight? Highly doubtful. (But did you hear that weird story from Kansas City about the 10 month old who went missing from her crib overnight?) So yeah, I'm paranoid, but I'm pretty sure those of you who left a comment asking to continue following are the only people following this blog so it may as well stay that way. Thanks for sticking with me and my craziness!

17 (and a half) Months

Ugh, I suck. At this point it's closer to 18 months, but whatever. The inner organized dork who lives inside me took detailed notes on my phone throughout the month about his 17 month "milestones" and then started a new note for 18 months. So, I can safely say that the highlights I am about to share truly do represent what Noah was doing at 17 months, and not a day older. :)

• New words: bread, wheee!, bee, oww, sit, yay, kick, caw (bird noise), baa (sheep noise), cow, shoe, water, uh oh (or as he says, uh uh oh), okay, go, bunny
• This month we said "bye bye" to bottles. Nothing but sippies from here on out! I'm just glad I won't be sending my son to Kindergarten with a bottle in hand.
• We have seen a real increase in tantrums. He is so easily frustrated!
• At his friend Max's birthday party, Noah slid down the slide all by himself. There were a couple funny spills at the end of the slide (which had no drop off, just straight to the ground which is awesome for a little one!), but he loved it. Each time he went down, he enthusiastically shouted "wheeeee!" So cute!
• I think "terrible twos" start way earlier than two. Noah wants to do everything for himself. For example, I can no longer read him books at bed time. He jumps off my lap, finds his own book, and reads to himself. If I try to read to him, he'll push my hand away and shake his head. I miss our bedtime stories, but figure this is just a phase that will pass. It is pretty cute watching and listening to him pretend to read though.
• He is working on using a spoon and fork by himself as well. I can still feed him as long as he has his own utensil to hold.
• We have ourselves a little dancing machine. Any time he hears music come on, he'll start swaying back and forth. Sometimes he throws in little arm movements as well. This is my favorite of Noah's habits right now. It especially kills me when he hears music in a commercial on TV and he'll stop whatever he was doing and start swaying.

So that's all I kept notes on for the month. I feel like I'm getting worse at remembering details each month. I think I'm just exhausted from my crazy work schedule this year which is a whole other post in itself, but I won't bore anyone with that garbage. I don't have any great pictures to share this month because I've also been too busy to sync my camera to the computer. Soon, I hope!

This will have to do for now!

Going Private

I have made the decision to privatize my blog after a concern for my family's safety. I'm not going into detail, and maybe I'm just being silly, but my son means more to me than life itself and I'm not going to risk his or my identity here anymore. If you would like to continue reading, please comment here by the end of the day tomorrow with your email address.

Thank you!

Oh, The Things You Do!

Noah, you are so silly these days. It's the little day-to-day things that don't get documented all that often. Sure we have little 20-30 second snippets of your goofy antics recorded on our iPhones. But most of them don't get written down here. Last night for instance you were walking around the kitchen, stomping just your right foot. You obviously thought it was very clever because it kept you entertained for at least five minutes. Then later as you drank your bedtime bottle*, you started poking your right arm out and repeating, "boop." Only you and God know why, but your Daddy and I were cracking up (and yes, we did get that one on video). It's just all those silly little things you do that make me love you more and more each day. I hope you will always embrace your inner goofball!

*And by bottle, I mean sippy. Today marks the second day in a row where you have not had a single bottle with a nipple. Woohoo!

Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me

Friday night I was sooo tired. I actually fell asleep on the couch, which is very unlike me. Then on Saturday, I was sleepy in the afternoon. I took a nap, which is extremely unlike me. When I woke up, I commented to Brian, "I haven't taken a nap like that since... I was pregnant with Noah." And then my mind started racing, and thinking stupid thoughts. I mean of course we got pregnant on accident, even though we couldn't get pregnant that entire year where we actually tried. We're totally one of those couples, right? I thought back through the month at every possible sign or symptom. And what's worse, I started to feel hopeful. I don't even understand why, because to be totally honest, I do not feel ready to have another baby. When I realized I wanted to get pregnant it was all I could think about, and I am definitely not there yet. So then why did I get my hopes up so much this weekend? I suppose it would be awesome to not have to spend all of our savings trying again, to not inject myself with needles, to not expose my lady bits to an entire room full of people, and not spend weeks shoving "fun dip" sized suppositories up my hoo-hah and stick weird patches to my ass cheeks hoping that all of this leads to a baby and not just a waste of time, money, and emotion. So I guess maybe that's why I got my hopes up, just a little. And maybe that's why tonight I'm really feeling sad that I am most definitely NOT pregnant with some miracle baby. I feel so silly to have had any hope at all.

16 Months

Work started again on August 10th, which sucks up all my spare time and turns me into a bad recorder of our life's events. Noah turned 16 months two weeks ago and I'm only just getting around to updating. If only financially things were different and I could work part-time, then life might feel closer to perfect, but alas. No dice. It is what it is. And here is where Noah is.

• I had to give up on documenting his receptive vocabulary. He understands more than I could possibly keep track of. Now, does he always listen? Well, that would be a real miracle!
• Expressively, he has added the following words to his vocabulary: mama, dada, bottle (sounds like ball or bowel), cheese (deeej), dog (da), boat (he left off the /t/ sound until just recently), no no (we hear this a lot), owl, ball, sky, bye bye, knee, yeah, and what
• He has shown that he can sign the word "more," but pointing to what he wants is more effective. I only ever tried to teach him "more" and "all done," but babies are smart enough on their own and find ways to tell you these things. I don't bother with it anymore.
• He has started to run, but it's more accurately described as out-of-control walking. It's usually accompanied by squeals or "owowow" sounds.
• He is climbing everything in sight. Chairs, sofas, tables, rocks, toilet paper packages, shelves, etc. If he can reach it, he will try to climb it.
• Noah loves to put things in other things, and then take them out again. For example, throwing stuff inside of the laundry basket (and often climbing in) and then digging it back out, dumping buckets of toys and then refilling them, and most fun of all, taking his animals out of his ark and throwing them between the table and the fireplace. (We have a ottoman style coffee table in front of the fireplace to keep him from crawling inside.)
• He moved up to size 4 diapers. They seem a little bit big, but size 3s were starting to feel a bit snug.
• Tooth number 8 popped through sometime mid-August.
• We could probably stop bottles altogether. He drinks from sippies all day at day care, but I just haven't been vigilant about them at home. I don't really have a reason for this. Part of it might be because I'm so used to giving him a certain amount in the morning and at night, but sippy cups don't have ounce marks on them. I should just let that go.
• We've seen our share of more stubborn behavior. If he doesn't get exactly what he wants exactly when he wants it, he will let us know. And don't even try to take something very cool but dangerous away from him. He's not afraid to bite! (Seriously, he's a total vampire. I have had bite marks on my neck, face, and arms.) I still struggle with the best way to discipline him at this age. If I say "no bite" or "no hit" and then set him down and move away, he often just laughs. He doesn't seem to be picking up on the fact that I'm mad or hurt. At this age, I think time-out is a bit too abstract, and is really more for the parent than the child, so I'm not using it.

So that's 16 months in a nutshell. It bums me out to be back at work, and missing so much of his learning. However, he loves going to daycare and his little friend Olivia absolutely adores him. When I pick him up each afternoon, he usually wants to stay and play. I think that's a really, really great thing, even if it sometimes hurts my feelings! :)

Summer Vacation, Part IV

July 16 - July 31

In the days following our tree fiasco, we decided to finally check out the pool situation in our community. We've lived in our town and paid quarterly HOA dues for 3 years, but never got around to trying out the pools. All I can say is, WHAT IS WRONG WITH US??? Ok, so they're not quite as resort-esque as the pool we had at our apartment years ago, but there are 4 rec centers and they all have decent pools. I can't believe we've been so dumb the previous summers! We've spent many days discovering 3 of the 4 pools, some days with friends and some days on our own. It feels so much more like summer vacation when I'm poolside. Noah has gotten pretty comfortable in the water, and despite a few good underwater scares, he seems to enjoy his time there. And that's good, because it's a requirement of my children that they must enjoy the water like their mommy!

Riding the alligator

During the last week of July, we spent the beginning of the week up in Breckenridge. My dad has a timeshare there with Marriott resorts which he has to book nearly a year in advance. It turned out that other plans prevented him from being able to use the week he reserved, so he offered it to us for free. Yes please! The villa we had was on the top floor with mountain views from every window, and was bigger than our first apartment. There was plenty of room to tuck Noah away in a quiet and dark spot at night, and despite a little fear initially the first night, he had no trouble sleeping and napping there. We spent the days walking the town, going on a hike, and riding the gondola. At night we ate good food and relaxed in our villa. It really felt like a mini-vacation, which was great since we haven't been on any real vacation since December 2005. (Yes, we go back to MN a lot, but that doesn't count in my book.) We didn't stay the whole week because Noah had an appointment to check his kidneys again. (I can't remember if I've said much about this, but at my 20-week ultrasound the doctor had pointed out extra fluid in Noah's kidneys. He's had them monitored ever since.) And the appointment went great. Everything finally looks normal, so no more ultrasounds! Yay!

Hiking is fun when you don't have to hike!

Enjoying the pond by our villa

On the gondola

Also, we bought a new camera. A Canon DSLR. So you can expect some higher quality photos finding their way to this blog in the near future!

So that's about it for the end of July. Work is only about a week away now, so this is usually the time of year when I start to feel a little blue. This year though, I don't plan on counting down days and feeling depressed. Instead, I try to look at it like this. How many other professions would allow me to take 10 straight weeks off in the summer to do with as I please? I am so incredibly lucky to have had this time with Noah and Brian!

Like Dr. Seuss said, "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

15 Months!

Look at me! Getting this done on the actual day. Amazing.

It's getting harder to come up with exciting milestones to share. Even though Noah is constantly doing new and adorable things, everything seems to blur together. Pretty much all of the big milestones have been reached, so it's turned more into documenting his funny habits and personality. So here goes.

• New words this month: moo (pronounced without the m), hot, google (pronounced googa, and don't ask why he learned this, so weird), car
• New words he can understand and/or point to: tongue, daddy, mommy, doggie, Gilbert, fan (the ceiling variety), dance, no, be nice (he pets/pats an object if we tell him to be nice), car, outside, bath, come here
• Noah likes to shake his head no when he doesn't want something. It's nice that he can communicate his wants this way, but sometimes it's also frustrating.
• If he's really unhappy, he arches his back and whips his head backwards, screaming and crying. This happens most often when I put him down and he doesn't want to be put down, if he has to come in from outside, or when he has to go in his carseat. It can't be all fun all the time. :)
• He likes to give high fives. I think he actually learned this prior to turning 14 months, but now he is consistent with it.
• On rare occasions, he will stomp around in circles if I tell him to "dance dance dance." We'll see if he starts to understand better.
• He has a pretty serious and contemplative personality. Even when he's having the most fun of his little life, he usually has a very stern face. He's just thinking very hard, and analyzing everything he sees. That's my theory at least. No ADHD in his future for sure.
• Sippy cups are getting used more, but with milk I think he still drinks best from a bottle. He learned to drink from a straw and loves it, so that is also helping our efforts to wean.
• We're completely done with formula. Our bank account thanks us.
• Noah is moving on to size 4 diapers just as soon as we use up all of the size 3s we still have left. We have him in size 4s overnight because he had a lot of accidents in 3s.
• According to our scale at home, he is around 22 pounds. He can still wear most of his 12 month clothing. We haven't moved up to 18 months except for a few pairs of pajamas. He's my little runt...

...and I love him!

Car!

This is the word of the week.

Car on my pajamas!

Car in my racetrack!

Car in my book!

Car!

Everywhere we go now, Noah points out the cars he sees. Today we were in Target, and they have a whole aisle of toys from the Pixar movie Cars 2. I think he thought he was in heaven. He immediately pointed to the huge hanging sign and said, "Car!"

Watching him pick up new words, and then get so excited about using them, is so much fun! Please don't make me go back to work in three weeks!!

Summer Vacation, Part III: Minnesota!

June 30 - July 15

The requisite family photo in front of the lake

Every year we plan a trip to Minnesota to enjoy all it has to offer: lakes and grandparents! And every year we leave feeling very conflicted. I always pictured my own children growing up with summers "up north" at the lake. The mountains are beautiful and all, but I was born for the water. So time will only tell. That and maybe an improvement in the housing and job markets...

The first couple of days home we stayed with my mom and avoided going outside. It was 90-some degrees, and so humid it felt like you were walking through soup. After living in arid CO for 6 years, let's just say it didn't feel so good. On Friday the 1st, we went to my dad's for dinner. He bought Noah a little pool and some toys to play with. Noah appeared to enjoy himself. As my dad prepared the grill, a cold front blew through and we lost power. It was pretty weird, and we had to eat by candle light. On the plus side, the temp dropped about 20 degrees and the humidity disappeared. Crazy Minnesota weather. (For the most part, the weather was PERFECT the rest of the trip.)

On Saturday, we headed up to my parents' cabin on East Battle Lake in northwestern MN.

Sitting on the dock with Grandma Cheri

There was a lot of good food, margaritas and Stella Blues (some sort of tropical drink), marble game nail-biters, and heated rounds of Phase 10 and Catch Phrase. (Don't even try to beat Brian and I at that game. I swear we share a brain.)

Watching birds with Grandpa Ed

We also did a little fishing, but no walleyes to photograph this year. Brian and I braved getting pulled on the tube, which was more fun than I thought it would be. But I have to wonder: did it hurt that much when I was younger, or is my body just getting old? We lasted like 5 whole minutes. Pathetic. Noah got to take a boat ride and swam with Mom and Dad.

Ready for the boat

We also spent an afternoon at West Battle Lake's public beach so Noah could enjoy some sand. (Our lake has a rocky shoreline. Bummer.) He thoroughly enjoyed playing with rocks and dumping them in his watercan. Maybe he has some of my DNA after all.

Enjoying West Battle Lake

My mom also insisted on taking a picture of him next to Chief Wenonga in Battle Lake. Sorry kid, but I think you'll be humoring Grandma for years to come!

On the 4th of July, we just played around the cabin, and then that evening our neighbors lit off a pretty decent fireworks display. The finale rivaled that of our hometown. And we didn't have to go anywhere. Perfect. Noah seemed pretty entertained by them as well. Speaking of fireworks, our first night at the cabin, some other neighbors lit off an arsenal shortly after Noah went to bed. Amazingly, he only fussed a little then fell sound asleep. The other three nights he slept straight through. Thank God, or it might have been a much shorter trip. We had to share a room with him at the cabin, and to my surprise it went pretty smoothly. He woke up a little earlier than normal, but all in all he did great! He's so easy to travel with! We actually ended up staying one more day than planned because it was all going so smoothly and the weather was so amazing. I love that place!

Who needs toys?

Grandma Heaven

Always pointing

One of my new favorites

We got back to the Twin Cities on Wednesday the 6th. Grandma Wendy was pretty excited for her turn with Noah. We went to the pool at their country club a couple of times. Noah seemed to have fun in the water, but more than anything he seemed to enjoy people-watching and flirting. He loves little girls and women.

Wanting to drink the pool water

Pool time with Grandma Wendy

Grandma Wendy also bought Noah a water table, which he enjoyed for about .2 seconds. Then he just wanted to play in the street. The hose proved to be a better alternative.

Brian got to play a lot of golf, which is great because he doesn't really have anyone to play with here. We also had an evening with Uncle Kevin and new Aunt Erin, as well as a couple of ping-pong filled nights with the other Noah (a college friend of Brian's). One of our last adventures was a visit out to my sister's farm in Wisconsin. She recently became the mom of a cow named Brown Sugar (who may or may not be pregnant and due in August). Noah wasn't quite sure what to think of the cow. At first he seemed curious, but when she started eating grass out of my hands, he broke into hysterical tears. Daddy was able to calm him down and he ended up petting her rump. We'll see how he does next year!

Just before the fear set in

Walking in the barn was more his speed

John Deere Baby

Auntie Aimee

Overall, it was another perfect MN summer visit. Next year we're thinking of possibly staying longer. It never feels long enough, and like I said, I was born to be in the water!

P.S. The trip home was awful. The flight was overbooked and I had been assigned a middle seat. (Brian drove there and back so I was solo on the plane with Noah.) I was sandwiched between a larger woman (who was so super patient and kind with Noah) and an edgy, ripped-jeans wearing, "I'm going to a music festival in Telluride and it's gonna be epic, dude" tool-bag (who was also fairly patient), and neither seemed keen on switching seats. AWESOME. So we taxied away from the gate, then stopped on the tarmac after the captain told us that Denver International issued a one-hour ground stop due to storms in the area. So here we sit for about 30 minutes before we take off. AWESOMER. Noah didn't sleep a wink and insisted on being a wiggle worm the whole flight. Luckily he wasn't very vocal, just squirmy. Showing him pictures of dogs in the SkyMall catalog was about the only thing that could get him to sit still for 5 minutes. We ended up landing just before the storms hit Denver. By the time we got into the main terminal, it was hailing furiously and it sounded like a plane was about to crash into the tented ceiling. SO LOUD. Brian picked us up after having driven from MN all day, so I drove home from there. Through the apocalypse. Seriously. Lightning everywhere, and sheets of rain so intense that I had to slow down to about 20 mph on the freeway just to find my lane. AWESOMEST.

P.P.S. The day after we got home, Denver was on day 8 of severe thunderstorms. A storm blew through around 2:30pm and dumped nickle-sized hail in our neighborhood. I was watching from the kitchen when a freak gust of wind ripped through our backyard. I shrieked and ran as I saw two huge branches snap off of one of the three trees behind our house and fly towards the sliding door. I heard way more thumps on the roof than I anticipated. When I turned back around, I saw that another one of the trees (the biggest one of course) uprooted and fell onto the fence and roof. After the neighbors had the tree removed (it was on their property), we found that there wasn't too much damage. Our patio furniture is mostly shot, and our shady, private yard is suddenly a lot sunnier, but we really were lucky. It could have been so much worse!

My mom thinks the flight home and the tree are both signs that we should stay in MN. I might agree with her...