Bemidji Trip

Wow!  It's been a while huh?  Sorry about that.  We've been really busy over here in this house dealing with sickness, lack of sleep, and a baby that is starting to move around entirely too much!

Anyway, we took Maddie meet her grandparents for the first time over Memorial Day weekend!  She got to meet Grandma, Grandpa, Great-Grandpa, and Great-Aunt Heidi.  She also saw her sister again, and was quite taken by her.  And finally, she went to meet Jarod, Rachael, Logan & Landen.  She had a great time...her parents on the other hand came home pretty tired because a teething, sleepless baby isn't a whole lot of fun.  Here are a bunch of photos from the trip!

Oh and PS - M cut her first two teeth on the plane ride up to Bemidji.

99 Things...

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Have Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone (if a fracture counts)

78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle

79. Have Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Got a tattoo

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

Getting Big!

I can't believe how big she's getting!

In other news, the crib transition is a giant fail.  After three weeks of M getting up every. single. hour. and me getting sick twice (and not being able to get over this last bout), we're putting her back in her Rock n' Play.

Maddie - 57, Parents - 0

We talked to her pediatrician and she agreed that we all need to get sleep again.  So, the plan of attack is to put her back in the RnP for a few weeks and have daycare work on self-soothing with her.  Term babies usually develop this at 4-6 months, and we're thinking that she's probably a bit behind being a preemie.  That, and laying flat might be aggravating her reflux.  So, daycare is supposed to put her down for naps in the crib while she's still awake in the hope that she'll start to learn to sooth herself.  In a few weeks, we'll try the crib again at night.

New Maddie News
-She loves carrots.
-She hates bananas.
-She has been blowing raspberries like crazy the last few weeks.
-She learned she has a "voice" this past weekend; she loves to just randomly yell now.
-She's getting very good a sitting up for several minutes at a time.
-She loves to grab kitty ears.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!

Maddie got me a cute card that plays my favorite song as well as a gift card for a massage!  She also gave me this on Friday:

I asked Ryan to take some pictures of M and I since there are so few of them so far.  I'm always the one taking the pictures and am rarely in any of them.  Here are a few of those:

Lots of love to all the mommas out there!  Especially my momma and mother-in-law!  <3

Riding in Style!

I have been coveting a certain stroller since I was pregnant.  We registered for it, but no one purchased it for us (no surprise to me because it's kind of pricey). 

I have been subtly and not so subtly hinting to Ryan that I wanted a stroller upgrade.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed our Chicco travel system for what it was.  But, it's not exactly functional for what I want to do.  It's too bulky.  It's too heavy.  There are a lot of things I don't like about it (i.e. wheels, brakes, storage basket).  It has been alright to use with the matching Chicco infant seat.  Obviously, it's really easy to just click her seat in and out of the stroller when we want without waking her up.

But, with the impending switch from infant seat to convertible seat and our upcoming trip to Minnesota, I straight out asked Ryan this past weekend if we could possibly get the stroller I'd been wanting.  So, off to BuyBuyBaby we went.  Ryan was about as on board with looking at strollers as any man would be.  However, he showed a distinct preference to the newer model.  And, I have to admit, there were some really nice perks to it even though it sported a higher price tag and weighed a bit more.

In the end, I walked out of BBB the proud new owner of a City Mini GT.

I am IN LOVE with this stroller.  It's light, it takes up half the space in my trunk, it's super easy to use, the sun shade is AMAZING, the basket is easy to get to.  It even has a HAND BRAKE which is about eleventybillion times easier than trying to engage and (especially) disengage the break in flip flops.  I don't know what I've done without this stroller these past 5-1/2 months.  It's going to make our trip to Minnesota so much easier!

We tried M out in the stroller and she got a kick out of doing tummy time in it with the back reclined so she could look out her own "window." 

In other news, Saturday we ran some errands and then ended up spending the rest of the afternoon/evening at my parents' house.  My mom called around noon and said she wanted to head up to the greenhouse to pick up our veggies.  So, we did.  I'm excited for heirloom tomatoes again!!!  After the greenhouse we decided to have a cook out.  My grandpa & his girlfriend, Betty, showed up for a while.  And the neighbors across the street, Don & Amy, came by too.  We all had a great time chatting and hanging out in front of the bonfire.

Sunday was yard work central.  Ryan took care of the lawn and I took care of the garden & flower beds.  I got my whole garden plant.  This year I gave up on zucchini & squash, but am going to try out watermelon.  So this year we have a wide variety of peppers, cucumbers, green beans, onions, lettuce, carrots, strawberries, watermelon, two types of tomatoes & herbs. 

Parental Amazement

Maybe this is well known, or maybe every first time parent experiences this, I don't really know.  All I know is that my child does things so quickly that I am always in awe. 

When a child tries to learn how to ride a bike, they don't usually just pick up the bike and know how to do it.  Instead, they have their parents running behind them holding the bike seat and many crashes (hopefully into the soft grass).  But babies...they don't do that.  Babies just suddenly do things.  You don't ever see a baby practicing to grab toys...just one day they do and the rest is history.

As you all now, we have to age adjust for M because she was born early.  So, instead of being 5 months old, she's really only 3.5 months when you age adjust.  While she has always been hitting her milestones, and usually at her actual age instead of her adjusted age, I feel like I have been waiting forever for her to show any interest in toys.  Don't get me wrong, she's been staring at her toys for months...but never reached out to bat at them or grab them.

Well, earlier this week she was sitting in her carseat and just reached out and grabbed the cat that was clipped to the side of the handle.  And when she came home that night, all she wanted to do was grab and play with her toys.  It was amazing to me that she just suddenly started doing it, like she's been doing it all along.

Here are a few shots of her new favorite toy:

March for Babies

Today was the March for Babies walk in Dexter.  I was a bit hesitant about even going when I woke up this morning and saw that weather.com said it was 26 degrees and wasn't going to get above 40 until after noon.  We discussed it and after going outside, we determined that weather.com was on crack because it was *definitely* warmer than 26.  We decided to take pictures before we left since coats were definitely required:

 
After pictures, we bundled Miss M up and headed out for the 9 am registration.

As we were pulling into Hudson Mills Metropark, Ryan asked how many people were going to be there and I told him I had no idea.  I had secretly been worried all morning that because of the weather we'd end up being a hand full people there.

Boy, I couldn't have been any further from the truth!!!  It was absolutely packed and it was a HUUUUGE event!  There were a number of tents giving away freebies (like Ashley's sweet new Flagstar backpack), face painting for the kids, balloon animals, etc.  There was a refreshment tent where a local bakery, Bearclaw coffee, Coke, and Dominos were giving away free food all day.  I'm really bad at estimating the number of things, but I'd say there were easily over 1,000 people there (Ryan would say easily over 500, but close to 1,000).

We made sure to make our way over to the balloon tent to get a balloon for Maddie to release during the balloon ceremony:

After picking up M's balloon, we started to wander around to check everything out.  Ashley picked up a sweet Flagstar backpack and Ryan drooled over the Chrysler's on display (specifically the Dodge Challenger SRT8).  We also ended up finding the start/finish line.

During the opening ceremony, a woman talked about the loss of her baby who was born 21 weeks early.  It was heartbreaking to hear her talk and choke up during the speech.  Afterward, she lead the release of the balloons:

After the opening ceremony, we started the walk.  I knew there were a lot of people milling around the main area, but I had no idea how many people were actually there until I saw all of us stretch out onto the walking path.

I don't know if you can see in the picture, but the people wrap all the way around to the right at the very front.  As shocking as it might sound, or maybe it doesn't, we were near the front of the pack.  There were still a TON of people waiting around to start the walk!

There were a bunch of check points along the way where area sponsors were handing out water, freebies, and food.  We picked up a sweet doggy bag for Bebe from Pet Supplies Plus and it has a bunch of awesome toys and snacks for her!  There was also a huge check point that they set up as "Superhero" themed and it had all kinds of stuff for the kids to do: bounce houses, games, balloons, snacks, face painting, etc.  We all snagged a bag of pretty awesome popcorn there!

Along the way, there were signs of local preemies and some of their stories.  A lot of them were very touching:

In the end, we raised over $500 in honor of Maddie.  We had a wonderful time at the walk, and can't wait to do it again next year!

A huge thank you to all of those who donated to the cause!  You are all amazing!

And, a special thank you to my friend, Lauren Edwards, for designing the back of our t-shirts!  I loved them and it will be something special we can save for Maddie to see when she's older!