The Year That Was...

2009 Reflection
2009 was a fun year for our family. There were many positives: Laura Lynn being born, cousin Andrew being born, friend Evan receives encouraging news on rare cancer, Mom becomes tenured at PL, the MN Twins go on 21-4 run to tie the Detroit Tigers and then beat them in a one-game playoff to win the Central Division title, last year of indoor baseball, Joe Mauer wins AL MVP, Dad retires from creating high school sports programs - maybe.

2009 also brought negative news: Great Grandpa LeRoy passes away, a number of family and friends battling illnesses, Grandpa George sells his boat, H1N1 (swine flu) scare across the world, Michael Jackson passes away, stock market/unemployment/economy takes a major dive.

2009 brought some interesting news: Long-time GB Packer, Brett Favre joins the Vikings, first African American (Barack Obama) is sworn into office as President of the United States, Tiger Woods and David Letterman relationship scandals, Mom and Dad are thinking about looking for a new house, unseasonably cool summer in MN.

Thank you for reading our posts!

Laura is Nine Months Old!

...and just like that, 3/4 of a year goes by! Miss Laura had her well child visit today on her nine month "birthday" so we have some new stats:

Height: 27 and 1/2 inches

Weight: 16 lbs., 4.5 oz.

Likes: screaming, yogurt, cereal puffs and rice cakes, stretching and reaching, patting things, watching Daddy shave, snuggling with Dad before bed, giving Mom "kisses," playing games (grab the pacifier from Dad, peek-a-boo under blanket tents with Mom), hitting toys together to make noises, babbling, paper and other crinkly things, when someone blows her kisses

Dislikes: being encouraged to crawl, getting out of the tub, chunky food like meat, spider from her "bug jug" toy, snuggling with Mom before bed, giving Dad "kisses," getting bundled up in winter gear, having fingernails clipped, when she is not the center of attention

So our little peanut literally is a peanut: her measurements put her in the 10th percentile for pretty much everything except for length (5oth percentile). She continues to make progress in her growth, and as long as that happens it's ok that she's kind of tiny! Laura was at daycare the earlier part of this week so she could see her buddies for a few days, and for the next four days it will be all three of us at home together. Laura will love it! Happy New Year to all - hard to see how 2010 will top 2009 for us, except for all the fun ahead in watching Laura continue to grow and change.

I leave you with a picture of Laura enjoying a classic baby activity: sitting in the laundry basket!

Dad is 31 Years Old!

Happy Birthday Da-da! Here's Father B and Laura out in the snow last week on Friday. Laura didn't much like her puffy snowsuit and being virtually immobile, but she always likes playing with her dad!

Tonight we will celebrate with nachos and scotcheroos while Laura and Dad watch the Vikings game together (Mom's not much for football, but Laura seems to pay attention to football more than anything else on tv!).

Christmas update coming soon! You'll have to scroll past this post to read it.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas
Laura celebrated her first Christmas! We did our usual tour to several family Christmas celebrations. The trip started out a little hairy as 8 inches of snow fell the night before. Roads were ok and we traveled to Grandpa and Grandma M, followed by Grandma and Grandpa B, and concluding to Wisconsin at Great Grandma M's house.


Laura did a fantastic job at all locations. She napped and slept well, played nice with everyone, didn't get scared as there were a ton of people around, and traveled well in the car. Of course the packaging was more fun to her than the presents this Christmas - she loved shaking and ripping pieces of tissue paper the most! Laura, Mom and I would like to thank everyone for all the wonderful gifts, laughs, and time to make this a special Christmas.

Church

A Gift for Gab

One of Mom's biggest pet peeves is kids who aren't quiet and will not sit still. This morning we lived through our own little, lovely Laura being a little uncooperative during Sunday Mass. Yes, we were those parents trying to hush the squealing, talking, restless bagooz while she was throwing her nook and ugly doll on the floor.

What made Laura act up? There was a young girl in front of us looking back at her. Laura was so excited she couldn't calm down. The nook was no help, a bottle = only a short distraction, toys = nope, facing the opposite way = not a chance. As a result, Laura needed to be removed from the sanctuary. We walked around the halls to calm down. Let's just say there were little kids out there and we were back to square one. Oh Laura!

Standing

Look who is standing on their own!?! She has been standing for about a week. She can only stand for maybe a minute tops. When she stands by the coffee table, she will pat the glass and reach for objects.

Snow Day

In case you didn't know, teachers hope for snow days just as much as the students do! School has been a bit of a bummer lately so last night I went to bed crossing my fingers for a snow day, and was up watching the cancellations roll by on the screen at 5am, looking for my district.

Finally, after an hour (of course after I had showered and pretty much got myself ready to walk out the door) I got the good news that we were off today. Bad mom alert: I was planning to send Laura to daycare so I could get a bunch of school and Christmas stuff done at home alone, and looking forward to a day of accomplishing things. Dad pointed out that perhaps there's no daycare when school is canceled. Upon calling, I found out that none of the other kids were coming in that day, so I agreed to keep Laura at home with me. Daddy even decided to skip the drive and work from home, so our whole family was home together.

I was so glad she ended up at home with us! We had one of the best days we've had in a long time. Laura was such a good girl; she was in a very cheerful mood and did an excellent job of playing today. I even took care of some things like laundry and correcting quizzes, and Laura managed to take two (albeit short) naps. I taught her that on snow days it's ok to hang around in your jammies however long you like.

She also learned that on snow days you just hang out and do fun things like reading, watching tv shows, baking, taking naps...whoops, that's what mama liked to do on snow days back in the P.L. (pre-Laura) Days. She learned that you can hang out and do fun things like playing with a bunch of your toys all at once.

We were so happy and I will have a really nice memory of our first snow day together - may there be many more!

Mom is 30 Years Old!

Mom turned 30 years old today! Happy Birthday Mom!!!

She is having friends over at our house in a few hours. The highlight of the day, besides Mom turning 30, is the selection of "dessert treats" she prepared this morning. Dad contributed by baking chocolate chip brownies, a Barefoot Contessa recipe. Laura, did you know that Dad has mastered making brownies and a double layered cake? Watch out Ace of Cakes' guy!

Oh yes, Mom, Dad and Laura will enjoy dinner with Grandpa/Grandma M at Tavern on France in Edina this evening.

Random Clips from Month 7

A collection of Laura movies taken from month 7.
This video consists of random clips taken last month. Be forewarned, there is nothing exciting about these clips.
How can I enhance a collection of dull, random Laura moments? Lay down the best funky, psychedelic Sesame Street song as the soundtrack. Nothing says more about 70's music than the Pinball Number Count! And now, The Pointer Sisters...
Scenes: Bath time, gargling spit (that's my girl), shaking an empty bag of chips, eating lunch, playing in her exersaucer, and of course screaming.

Laura is Eight Months Old!

Miss Laura turned eight months old on Monday. Like dad said in the previous post, this month has not been without its challenges! Teething seems to be the cause of a lot of her sadness, and we still struggle to get her to take any naps on the weekend, despite her clockwork napping schedule at daycare (which we follow exactly at home). Some days I feel like I've got some other evil twin baby and not our sweet Laura, but then she turns on the charm (at least momentarily) and I remember why I can't sell her on Craigslist...a foolish threat of mine in the early months when she wouldn't sleep. I love her. (Laura's dad and I say this to each other every night!)

Height:

Weight:

Likes: yogurt, cereal puffs, paper/catalogs/ads/magazines, pulling hair, stacking cups, kicking her legs in the tub, making gargling or hissing noises, the mobile in her crib. It's easy to see what she likes these days because she has this whole "excited" thing that takes over her entire body when she's happy - arms and legs stick straight out and shake, and her face scrunches up into this funny smile.

Dislikes: taking naps on the weekends, chunky food with texture (shudders or makes gagging noises), Grandma's carseat

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby B readers, "Happy Thanksgiving!"
The calendar has designated one day a year for self-reflection on all that we are thankful for. Thanksgiving. This year we added a person to be thankful for in our lives...the little bagooz!

She has been a pleasure, a treat, a challenge, but oh so sweet! Every night I tell Mom that I love our Peanut. Mom will agree we couldn't be more thankful that Laura is here both healthy and happy.

Thanksgiving Day

Made the annual Thanksgiving trip down to Grandma and Grandpa B's house. Food was delicious as usual. I believe Mom grounded up turkey for Laura but she wasn't fond of it. Probably due to the turkey being a little chunky. Laura's food has to be super smooth.

With two new additions to the B family, Laura and Andrew, plus cousin Lilly, this year's version was louder. Lilly was flirty as ever, Laura wouldn't take a nap and was a tad fussy from her teething and runny nose, while Andrew made a few appearances out from his slumber.

Cousin Lilly entertained the group most of the day. Other than the hour or so respite during her nap, she told us names of body parts, do somersaults, show us her belly button, and told us a phone number that only had 9's and 2's. The best part was how nice she was with Laura. Lilly handed Laura her the plug and toys. Unfortunately, Laura wasn't as considerate as she has newly discovered hair pulling.

A Runny Nose

"My hand is the brush, snot is the paint, and my face is the canvas."






Laura's First Cold
We made it almost 8 months. Laura has already been injected with the H1N1 (Swine flu) and regular Flu vaccine for 2009. Despite utilizing those sick-fighting procedures, there isn't anything available to block the common cold. With that said, Laura has a runny nose. Oh no, sound the alarms! Just kidding. But she does look miserable, can't sleep through the night, and gets fussy often. How do you teach an infant to sniff or blow her nose? It's irritating and rather painful listening to her breathe out of her nose. Sounds like a drowning ox. Imagine grunts and hums along with popping snot bubbles. The timing of this couldn't be worse... a runny nose, constipation, and teething all at the same time. Argh!

Teething
Laura has a couple of teeth coming in on her bottoms. Hasn't broken through the gums yet, but if you put your finger in her mouth, you wouldn't know the difference. She bit my nose and I swear she broke skin. She didn't but man did it hurt! All we can do is coat a layer of Oragel on her gums and have her suck on cold teething rings.

She Just Keeps Growing!

Laura keeps changing and growing so fast! Here's what she's been up to lately:

* Working on a tooth! On Wednesday this week, we felt that sharp little point coming up her gums. It's going to take a while to pop through, but it's on its way.


* Growing more hair! There's still not a lot, but what has come in has been very noticeable.














*Looking fabulous!










* Trying a "big girl" cup! Right now she was immensely happy picking it up and banging it around on her high chair tray. Not sure she really gets it yet, but we were interested to see what would happen.











* Saying "ma ma!" Dad predicted this would happen before the end of the month. It's actually Sunday now as I'm finishing up this post...she's never made any sounds remotely like that, and this morning I walk in to hear her saying "ma ma ma ma" plain as day! It was cool to hear but I know she doesn't connect it with me yet. Nevertheless, there's a tiny bit of smug satisfaction that it was "ma ma" before "da da."

Chicken Dinner/Wedding Anniversary

Meat Eater
Yesterday, Laura tasted her way into a new division of the food pyramid. Meat/Poultry. On the menu was ground-up chicken with a side of sweet potato. You could say this was a practice run for Thanksgiving. No fussing, no problems, she ate everything!

Wedding Anniversary - Year Four
And just like that, Mom and I have been married for 4 years! Gotta admit that was pretty fast, folks! The actual day was on Wednesday, November 4th, but we celebrated on Saturday, November 7th.

Mom and I tried to cram everything we could possibly do in one day. In doing so, we had to drop off the Little Bagooz at Grandma and Grandpa B's house with an overnight stay. First on the day's agenda...Enjoy the weather! 64 degrees and sunny, our day began outdoors.

• Golfed at New Prague Golf Club. Scores weren't impressive but Dad whooped Mom, of course.
• Ate at The Blue Door Pub in St. Paul. Great burger joint. The Blue Door Pub was a small place and our waiting time was rather long, but worth the wait.
• Bowled 3 games at the Apple Valley Bowling Alley. Mom was on fire, took the first game but lost the next two. I blame my score on oily lanes, while Mom says fatigue did her in the last two games.
• Went home and snuck in a game of Yahtzee. A late miracle large straight roll by Dad sealed the victory. Yahooo!

Get the sense that we are a competitive family?!?

Happy Halloween!

Well, Laura made it through her first Halloween on approximately 20 minutes of a nap in the car. That's it. In an attempt to see many people on one day, we did a lot of driving! Here's how our Halloween went (for the most part, just ducky):

3:30 am: Wake up!

4:30 am: Back to sleep

6:30 am: Wake up!

?: Back to sleep
7:45: Wake up for real

9:20 am: Down for morning nap

10:00 am: Got Laura out of crib; talked for 40 min., no nap

12:00pm: Visited Uncle M and Auntie K in Minneapolis. Laura was intrigued at being in some new surroundings.

1:30 pm: Laura falls asleep in the car on the way home. Mom and Dad stop for some Jimmy John's.

1:50 pm: Laura wakes up when we get home.

2:00pm: Mom tries to get her to continue the nap.

2:30pm: Mom gives up.

3:00 pm: We get in the car and head to NP. Hang out with Grandma and Grandpa and the cousins.

5:30 pm: Get in the car again, head back to the 'burbs to see the other Grandma and Grandpa.

6:15 pm: Arrive. Laura agrees to have the duck costume put on for the third time today.

6:30 pm: Meltdown.

All things considered, she did do a great job today with as little sleep as she had. We're hoping that she crashed hard tonight and will sleep through the whole daylight savings time shift.

Check out the slideshow of Laura's fall and Halloween:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Laura is Seven Months Old!

Happy Halloween! Our favorite little pumpkin is seven months old. She's becoming quite the big girl, with all the sitting, eating, and nonsense chatter. Still no sign of a tooth yet, so we still see that cute gummy smile every day.

Height:

Weight:

Likes: sitting & reaching, tags on toys, yogurt, making gargling sounds, waking up before 6 a.m., not taking any naps on the weekend (this would be a dislike for the parents), fruit, paper, mobile, and trying to sit up from a lying position.

Dislikes: being constipated, veggies, having her face wiped off after eating messy food

Dad and I think that Laura would do great at that old elementary school fitness testing measure, the "sit and reach." She does this all day long! Yogurt was a new treat this week, and she LOVES it. I already think she figured out that yogurt comes after the cereal and fruit/veggie; after just a few bites of the main dish, she starts to close her mouth and fuss. When the yogurt comes next, she scarfs it down like there's no tomorrow. Mmmm...

Wardrobe Malfunction

"...best thing to do is call a press conference. Alert the media, and then you control the story. Wait for the them to find out, and the story controls you." - Michael Scott (The Office)

Mom secretly took some pictures of something I did embarrassingly wrong. I can only suspect that she was up to nooo good and would use them against me at some point. Sneaky. Instead, I followed the wisdom of one, Michael Scott, and will now notify everyone of my blunder before she does. No, this has nothing to do with David Letterman's confession.

Monday morning was a typical morning, I woke up, played with Laura, put on her clothes and off to daycare. Only this time, I made a boo-boo... I put her shirt on backwards! Back to the basics of Parenting 101. Sadly, I nearly walked out the door the last time I put this shirt on. I can only imagine the laughter that occurred at daycare.

Take a look at these pictures. Do you see anything noticeably wrong? If you are male, the buttons should be on the back. How can you blame Dad? I don't have any shirts that have buttons on the back!

Just wait till we get into hairstyles, such as ponytails, braids, pigtails, etc.! Be forewarned, I don't have any idea on how to do this either. Oh, Dad!

Mobiles and Poops

The week in review: constipation and the discovery of the mobile.

Lately, I have a hard time watching Laura try to poop. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. She will be sitting on the floor playing with plastic blocks having a grand 'ol time. Then, you hear a long sounding grunt along with tear-filled eyes and a red face followed by painful screams. She puts so much into these poops and exerts so much energy, all that comes out is a few toots. I can't help myself from laughing. Really, I become concerned for her comfort.

Laura has been constipated for two to three weeks. Mom and I have been sending prune juice to daycare, trying to loosen up that backlog. Today, Laura had another difficult episode, she cried and tried hard with nothing to show for it. This evening, Mom resorted to giving Laura a rectal laxative. We hope good things will happen by tomorrow morning.

In other news, Laura finally appreciates her animal mobile above her bed. I believe this was a shower gift from Great Auntie Sue. Maybe once a week for the last six and a half months, I would wind it up and let it play. Laura never responded to it, never enjoy it, and didn't care for the thing. I was at the point of dismantling it. But for whatever the reason, this week something clicked and she absolutely loves it! Mom and I play it in the morning, night and during diaper changing times. Laura lays in her crib, looking up at it and smiles and laughs while it plays. Very cute!

The Great Pumpkin Hunt

This past Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa B came up to hunt for pumpkins with us. The weather was absolutely fantastic, compared to the other crummy, cold, wet October days.


Our pumpkin hunting led us to Pahl's Market in Apple Valley. Word had it that pumpkins were both big, small yet very plentiful. In addition to pumpkins, Pahl's had a ton of fun attractions for kids. Too bad Laura wasn't old and/or tall enough to participate. Nevertheless, Laura kept herself entertained by looking around at all the wonderful, colorful things.

After walking around looking at oversized pumpkins, Laura scouted us toward a bin of much smaller ones. She pointed out two small pumpkins for Mom and Dad to carve silly and scary faces for Halloween. We were so impressed with Laura's selections, we forgot that she was a pumpkin hunting rookie. {wink, wink!} Well done, peanut!

We took advantage of the fall scenery at Pahl's and had a family photo of us sitting on a bench. Like I said before, there was so much color and new objects to look at, Laura couldn't help herself and ignored the camera. Oh Laura!

Fall Pictures

Professional 6 month pictures
Mom took Laura for her 6 month pictures yesterday to one of the Target stores in Apple Valley. Mom received some recommendations for an independent professional photographer but her prices jumped $75 dollars from just a few months ago. So, Mom and I decided to check out the quality of Target's pictures and then look at going to the independent photographers for Laura's 1 year pictures.

Auntie Lynn Visit
This week Mom was on MEA break. She took Laura down to see (and sort of play with) Auntie Lynn and Andrew and Lillian. With the unseasonably cool October weather we have been having, they spent the morning and afternoon inside Auntie Lynn's house. The kids mostly slept but when awake, Mom was able to snap a few pictures. (I really enjoy looking at a baby's "deer in the headlights stare." Thanks Andrew.)

Scarecrow Picture
After the visit with the cousins, Mom and Laura stopped by Grandma and Grandpa B's house. Unfortunately, nobody was home. But that didn't stop Mom from taking a few cute pictures of Laura in front of their Halloween/Fall arrangement of hay bales, scarecrow, corn stalks, and gourds. Doesn't Laura look cute in her Halloween outfit!?!

Tricks and Treats

The month of October has always been a big one in Baby B's Mom's family - building anticipation to the big event...Halloween. Babies can't really get excited about this yet, and Father B and Baby B's Mom are way busy. However, our little pumpkin is keeping us on our toes and giving us all sorts of tricks and treats.

The Tricks

1. Laura's latest trick - don't ask me how she does it: I stay up late to work on school stuff, cleaning, the internet, whatever. I crawl under the covers more than an hour past my usual bedtime, completely tired out. Laura promptly wakes up as soon as my head hits the pillow, fussing for a pacifier or a diaper change. Inevitably it takes about an hour to get her back to sleep. Last night she even upped the ante by reaching her arms out to me to be picked up and snuggled at 1 AM. I fell for it...sucker. This trick is never performed on nights when I go to bed early and/or on time, of course.

(Looks innocent but is contemplating evil sleep-stealing plans)

2. Another new trick is her arsenal of noises. She likes making fake coughs, and also takes loud huge gasping breaths that make it seem like she is choking. Both scare mom of course. Laura also likes it when someone puts a finger by her mouth and helps her make funny noises (see video in last entry). She's starting to jabber more at us, but nothing that sounds like actual words - just lots of "aaahh" sounds.

The Treats

1. She is so darn cute all the time. Tonight we figured out that she is ticklish under her armpits, and we can get raucous, squealing laughter by tickling her or nuzzling our noses in there.

2. Laura is finally showing signs of nice soft baby skin and scalp. She has been a crusty babe ever since birth what with the eczema and cradle cap and all. At her 6 month appointment, we finally got some prescription ointment that has made a huge difference. I can hardly stand all the softness and constantly am snuggling my face with hers.

Nummies

I know, I know, our post frequency has gone down quite a bit as of late. Sorry for that. We have been stuck in a routine of picking Laura up from daycare at 4pm, playing with her til 6:30, then putting her to bed by 7pm. After that, Mom works on school stuff and Dad does "whatever." I just haven't been motivated to blog.

In the coming weeks, I foresee one, Laura Lynn saying her first words, eating solid foods (more solid than soppy cereal), popping in her first tooth, and maybe a crawl. With that said, our postings will become a little more frequent... So Stay Tuned!!!

Here is a couple of videos we took last month and blended together Laura eating cereal for the first time, then the second time, and finally a scene of her making some funny noises. Laura's first attempt at cereal wasn't so good as she pushed away the spoon. The second attempt was much better. The final clip is Laura enjoying Mom flap her lips with her finger as Laura hums. Very cute! Enjoy!!!

Laura Is Six Months Old!

Oh, man. The little lovebug is half a year old today. (There are a lot of nicknames in the B household; Laura is generally known as Baby Laura, Lovebug, Peanut, or the Little Bagooz). I'm sure at every stage of life (except maybe the teenage years?) parents think their kid is more and more fun, but I have to say I am so delighted by Laura every single day. She is learning all the time and is so fun to interact with. Six months is a cute age.

Height: 26"

Weight: 14lbs

Likes: cereal with squash, sitting in the exersaucer, sitting up, her plastic stacking cups, chewing/sucking on tags, high pitched screaming for no reason, tickle games

Dislikes: Mom cleaning her neck folds, puffy jackets for chilly weather, rice cereal, waiting for bottles

Further proving her ridiculous amounts of cuteness, be sure to check out the Smilebox slideshow with some great pictures of Laura. We took them last week before it got cold. There was some good news on the cereal front today...I decided to mix her rice cereal with some squash, and she was sold! She even opened her mouth for it and grabbed for the spoon to try and pull it in. I kept singing an old Sesame Street ditty to her (to the tune of Madonna's "Material Girl")..."I said I'll taste it, I'll give it a whirl, and now I am a cereal girl."

We are testing Laura's immune system to the max around here right now; Father B is quite sick with some flu-like symptoms, and Mom is dealing with a nasty cold/sinus infection. It's hard not to shower her with kisses and snuggles but we are trying to resist in the interest of keeping her healthy. We did have to make a little emergency run to urgent care last Saturday (suspected pinkeye) but when it was all said and done, it turned out the little stinker must have clawed her eye and irritated it. Laura was the perfect child in the waiting room, patiently sitting and playing for an hour until we were seen!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Dozinky Weekend and Cereal

Cereal

Last week we introduced cereal to Laura's diet. She was not a big fan. The first three days of cereal-time, Mom would fill the spoon a quarter full of cereal. Upon entering Laura's mouth, she would make a "gross" face, turn her head, swat the spoon, and let spit-up cereal drip off her face. Something happened yesterday that will change our approach. Yesterday, Mom placed cereal on her finger instead of the spoon and Laura sucked it off without any signs of displeasure. "Oh Laura!"

Dozinky Days

Last Saturday, we went down to Dad's hometown for Laura's first New Prague's Dozinky Days town festival. Dozinky means Fall Harvest in Czech and the town celebrates with ethnic activities, food, and other events including a parade. Once again, the weekend was absolutely beautiful. Warm and dry. I can not remember a bad weekend (weather-wise) for the town festival.

Mom, Laura and I strolled main street soaking up the downtown activities. We watched the parade, listened to polka bands, Dad made a quick stop at the Pork Burger stand (YUM!), Mom ducked in and out of the girly stores, and so on. Interested in eating a kolacky for the first time, Mom stopped by the bakery. I don't think she was overly impressed with the fruit-filled bakery good but that didn't stop her from finishing it.

Laura and Lilly

We finished off the evening at Uncle Scott and Auntie Lynn's house with dinner and play time. Lilly played nicely with Laura, Mom held baby Andrew and Dad played with everyone. Lilly was very nice to Laura as she would generously place Laura's nook back into her mouth. Did I mention, she was also the one who pulled the nook out?!? HA! Still cute and funny! I am sure this is the beginning of a long friendship!

A Report From Laura

If Laura could post, she would say...

Hi everybody! I figured out that the keyboard is interesting when Mom pushes the buttons on here, so I'm doing my own post.

You might wonder how my life is going now that I'm a daycare girl. My daddy takes me to Kimm's house on his way to work. I used to cry when he dropped me off but I'm good now. When I'm at Kimm's, I play outside, watch the other kids, and take really, really long naps. Like 2 hour naps twice a day. Ha ha! Too bad I don't do this for my parents on the weekend, but we have stuff to catch up on then so I can't be bothered with marathon napping. My mom comes to pick me up and I am always happy to see her. Guess what else is at day care that I'm interested in? Kitties! One kitty is black and named Inky and it likes to be outside. Mom says she is not a fan of kitties; especially creepy black ones. Inky likes to run by her car. She thinks someday she'll accidentally hit Inky and get me kicked out of day care. I hope not because I like Kimm's house.

When Mom and Dad and I are all back home together, I eat a lot and we play. I like it when they do scary things like pretend they are falling on me and say "Boom!" It startles me and then I laugh. I also used to freak out when I accidentally put a blanket on my face, but now I do it on purpose and pull it back off, and this is an awesome game. By the way, did I tell you about my new skill? I can sit up all by myself! Sometimes I do great and sometimes that is just too much work for my core (Mom understands how that feels) and I fall over. But who cares? Then I just keep playing with my face planted on the floor.
Love,
Laura

Laura went to the playground!

Mom has been playing around at smilebox.com, a site that allows you to digitally scrapbook as well as send photo greetings and more. We took Laura to a playground near our house on Labor Day. It was fun to see her in a new setting, and I think she had a good time. Check out this scrapbook of our time there. (I didn't have enough pictures to fill it, so you'll have to page through some blank pages...I'm still figuring this thing out.)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Chugging Along

James Page 5k Blubber Run
Laura, this won't be the last time you are embarrassed of Dad!

This was my second attempt to run an organized race this year. As you may recall, I had to pull out of the Minnetonka Half Marathon due to injury. This morning I was able to run and finish without injury. Yeay!

The Blubber Run is more of a fun run than a competitive race. Sure, some are there to win. But this race inspires people to get together to have fun, dress in funny costumes, sprinkle in a 3 mile run, drink James Page beer at mile marker 2, listen to a live band, and drink more beer.

This morning was very humid and warm, unlike most September days. As you can see, I dressed up in a beer costume that I purchased 5 years ago and never thought I would wear again. I had two companions on this journey, Jeremy and Lindsay Ginter, who ran by my side throughout the race. We ran well, I had three little hiccups (calf cramps) along the way but they didn't slow us down too bad.

Cousins, Aunties, Uncles, Grandparents

Last night we headed down to Father B's hometown to spend some time with his family and get better acquainted with our new nephew, Andrew! I am super glad that Laura has some cousins, although they can't really play together yet. My relationship with my cousins is something I value strongly and although she won't have as many as I do, I hope that they too grow up to be good friends.

I also love being an auntie. Aunts and uncles are generally like a cool version of your parents; you usually get to do fun things when they're around, and they aren't on your case like your mom and dad! We are looking forward to when we can have Lilly (or the Lillster, as she's known at our house) and Andrew over for some cousin fun and sleepovers.

Here is one of my favorite moments from last night. Father B was having a LOT of fun laying down some beats on the Lillster's keyboard. She thought it was great, as evidenced by the clapping...the rest of us were remembering that episode of Friends with Ross playing the keyboard.

Here is Laura having some good times with her Uncle Scott. She liked the fun singing game he learned at ECFE class! See...uncles know cool things that your mom and dad don't.

And here's Laura with Grandma Janelle, and another of cutie Andrew. His eyes were wide open most of the night!
Thanks for letting us come to visit...let's do it again soon!