Mackinac...

Here is Payton on the porch of the Grand Hotel, and down on the lawn.



We had a really nice weekend and were able to see most of our families too. The weather was great and Payton slept great. She did have an aversion to the high chair that the hotel had, but we were able to deal with it. We stocked up on fudge and bought a few things. All in all it was a perfect weekend in Mackinac!

Please be good....

Today we are leaving for a weekend with Brian's family at Mackinac Island, MI. We are stopping to see my sister Nicole on the way there and my sister Val on the way back. Just to break up the 10 hour drive. Last time we took Payton on a road trip it was to Milwaukee for Mother's day to visit Brian's grandma. She was an angel! I am thinking that we really lucked out that weekend. She wants to be so independent, which is great, but very frustrating. Like when we are in a parking lot walking to the car and she wants to "push" the cart amongst the traffic. Mind you it is a full size cart and she doesn't even reach the handle yet. Yesterday I tried to take that job over and she looked at me like "what you you doing mama, I've got it!" Or when we are in the library and she thinks she is so funny to run around laughing as I try to quickly pick out some books and videos for her. Then she throws herself down on her butt so we won't leave. She seems to love the library! It is funny now, but I will say that yesterday she was on my last nerve! Especially as I was scrubbing spaghetti sauce out of my dining chair cushions... why didn't they have that same style table without the cushions?!

She redeems herself quick though. I took her out of her chair and she reached up, gave me a big hug and said "hi" with the biggest smile you have ever seen. She knows how to work mama...

You know your child rules your every thought when...

your husband asks you during dinner "If you could marry a Wiggle, which one would it be?" And if you don't know what a Wiggle is, you are totally missing out!!! ha ha... By the way, I picked Anthony:O)

New Patio

Its only been 10 days since I first called for an estimate and the patio is already finished. Those guys did quick work at a reasonable price. I don't mind doing work myself, but this was probably a little over my head. I did add the stairs myself. Now we have a place to put Payton's sandbox, our fire pit, and a vegatable garden in the corner.

More of the cutie

Here's Payton in the outfit my mom bought while she was in San Francisco a year ago...she finally fits into it.

Blowing bubbles...

Here are a couple of photos of Payton from the weekend. She can't get enough of playing outside and she really loves blowing bubbles. She dragged her bubble pail over to my mom every chance she got!

What a cutie!

Well our little Payton is just too cute with the talking! You swear she is just having this deep conversation with you and I can only understand bits and pieces :) Her big thing now is sit down "it tow", "poopie" for you know what, and "bankie" for her favorite fleece blanket. Of course she says "daddy" all the time and Mama only when she is upset... figures! We actually got her to use her pink fleece blanket last week. For all of you that have seen Payton with her blue or yellow blanket understand what a HUGE thing that was for us! I finally have a backup "bankie" at home! Her yellow one is usually at daycare unless it is home to be washed. She has actually stared into our washing machine and cried when she sees those blankets in there! She is so silly. We brought her to get her photos taken on Saturday. She smiled only once and I was so upset that we drove to Rochester for these photos and she wasn't cooperating, but let me tell you that they took some beautiful shots! I couldn't believe that she was able to get such cute photos. We payed a bundle for them, but they are worth it! When we get them I will post a couple. We also picked up Payton a new sandbox. Our patio will be ready for it by the weekend. Can't wait for her to try it out!

Yeah Memorial Day!

My parents came in last night for the weekend. It is going to be in the 90s by Sunday. Finally a dry and beautiful Memorial Day! We are having our patio done this weekend. The company that we are using (it is going to be concrete) have jobs starting next week and decided that if we are okay with it they will get it done this weekend. I am THRILLED! I really want to put a sandbox for Payton out there, we just bought an outdoor fireplace, Brian built a raised garden bed for me that I really want to get started on, and it will be a much easier place to grill... For all of you who have never been in MN it is SO windy. Sometimes out deck has so much wind whipping through it it is difficult to keep the grill hot! The patio will be between our deck and our garage so it will be sheltered from the wind some. The wind is great when it is super hot out though!

Well, we will post photos when it is done. Happy Memorial Day Weekend to you all! Happy Anniversary a little early Allison and Steven! Hard to believe it has been 2 years already!

Blog Hopping

Its starting to take a lot longer to check everyone's blogs now that even more people have them (and update them!). I wonder how much time could be wasted in a day just blog hopping around from all the links on people's blogs. Checking out links to other people's blogs and their links and so on. Of course there will be some dead ends like hitting Sonja's website if you don't have an account (just got mine this week...whoo hoo!) Maybe I'll try this when I get a slow day...might not be until November the way things are going (but being busy is good).

All Done!

Here is the finished front yard. We put down almost 3 yards of rock yesterday. It looks SO nice! But it was a lot of work! We are saving the back yard landscaping until next year.

They Might Be Giants

Remeber them? They had songs like "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and "Particle Man". Well, the other day, Payton was watching one of her favorite cartoons, Higglytown Heroes, when I noticed on the credits that They Might Be Giants does the theme song. Its a little better than the usual cartoon song and once I made the connection it sure sounds like them.

Payton is getting so big!

Since I am on a roll with the photos I thought that I would put a couple of Payton. You can really tell how much she has grown since we moved here, which was 9 months ago! She just loves to look out the windows! And now she finally can without standing on something!

Photo update

Here are some photos we have been meaning to post. The first two are our new yard, and the third one is the week we moved in. We now have the yard and driveway finished to our newly paved road. So it looks much nicer! We just need to add one more plant on the side and then the rock in the front. It sure is difficult to work on the landscaping when you have an 18 month old running all over the place! We had fun doing it though. We did come home to a lovely Purple Ash tree in our front yard yesterday too.

Landscaping

We worked all weekend on landscaping the front yard. Got most of it done too! We pulled up the grass, which was the hardest part, put edging in and planted 10 plants. We'll have to get a load of landscaping rock to put in the beds, but that won't happen until next wekend. This weekend we're heading to Milwaukee for Mother's day to visit my Grandmother and my parents. I was able to plant a tree last night before the rains came. Its a Discovery Elm, which is disease resistant, grows quickly and is pretty hardy. Its probably close to 10 feet tall right now but rather spindly. We need it mostly to shade the deck in the late afternoon/early evening, but it'll be a few years before it gets big enough. The city is also planting trees along the street so by the time I get home tonight there should be a tree out front. We will work on the rest of the yard a little at a time from now on...need to plant more plants around the house and more trees out back. The patio might be the last big project for outside this year although I would like to get a few plants in around the deck. I'll get some pictures up when I get a chance.

Soggy Weekend

We had a total washout this weekend! It has been raining for 3 days... Tomorrow is supposed to be better.

Although the weather was rotten we were able to have a good weekend. Brian's birthday was Saturday and we had a babysitter and went out to dinner and a movie. We helped a friend of mine move into her new house and tried our best to entertain Payton knowing that she would have loved to be outside... This coming weekend hopefully will be better weather wise and we can start our landscaping in the front of the house.

I am going to be starting a quilting class with some friends from work. One of our co-workers works at a quilt shop on Saturdays and she is going to do the class for us. We had a ball at the quilt shop on Saturday picking our fabrics. We are all doing the same pattern, but we all are choosing our own color schemes. How overwhelming all that fabric is! I started a quilt a few years ago now and hopefully this will get me going to start working on it again! I am looking forward to it!

Happy Monday!

Tuesday Morning Quarterback

I just discovered that Gregg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quarterback (TMQ) is back on ESPN.com. A few years ago he was abruptly fired from ESPN due to some comments he made on his personal blog and has spent the last few seasons on NFL.com. His comments were about violent movies and Jewish executives, specifically Michael Eisner then CEO of Disney which owns ESPN. I guess now that Eisner is no longer the CEO its ok to bring back TMQ, they even put his archives back. It seemed a little strange that TMQ was removed in the first place since there were quite a few degrees of separation between his comments and his job at ESPN.

Just thought I'd inform yoose guys in case you're looking for TMQ in August. (only 4 more months 'till football starts!!)

Is it Monday already?

We had such a good weekend I am SO sad that the week is starting again! We were able to spend a lot of time outside, Payton did NOT want to come in last night! She climbed into her stroller and would not get out. Two rounds around the neighborhood and a little whining and we got her out! It is nice to be outside and see all the neighbors out and about. Everyone was mowing their grass and playing with the kids. It was great! We went up to the cities to see Jeannine and my good friend Katie who came up for the weekend. Payton had a ball playing with Jeannine. It was nice for Payton to finally meet Katie!

Well our weekend ended sort of strangely last night. Payton has had a runny nose for the past few days. And a little cough, of course. It seems like it may be an allergy thing. Then last night she started to cry around 1am. She wouldn't settle down so I went in there and she seemed fine until the vomitting started! So needless to say that Mom was up for hours. Even after she finally settled down I was so wide awake it is tough to get back to sleep. This morning she is doing great. Who knows... this kid is always sick! That is my only negative thing about daycare! I guess it is now or when she starts school right!?

Bunco...

Ever heard of Bunco? It is this crazy dice game that you need 12 people to play. On Friday night I went with my neighber to play at her friends house. They apparently play once a month on a Friday and rotate houses. They have 12 "regular" ladies that play and then a list of substitutes in one or more of the 12 can't make it. Because of the way the game works, you play with 6 teams of 2, you can't play without the full 12. It was a new experience for me! 12 loud women drinking and playing bunco... it was a great time! I am officially on the "sub" list! Strange, but fun!

We had a nice weekend. As Brian already wrote we have been pricing out things for upgrades in the yard. Sunday we were able to go to Minneapolis and have lunch with our good friend Jeannine. She is our family here:) We went an AWESOME german buffet and stuffed ourselves with some great food. Payton was so pooped out yesterday morning! She didn't want to get up! She has some sort of bug I think. She is working it out... literally! Thank goodness she is drinking a lot! And her appetite returned in full force last night at dinner!

Gasthof zur Gemütlichkeit

Jeannine asked if we wanted to go to Gasthof zur Gemütlichkeit for Easter Sunday brunch. We had been there before with her and quickly agreed that it would be a good thing to do. It was fantastic! Everything on the buffet was great as was the beer. There were accordians playing and people having fun. Payton was entertained by everything around us, at least for a little while. Everyone had a good time and we know what we're doing for Easter next year already!

Here's the menu...
Entree's:
Turkey * Smoked Ham * Sauerbraten * Smoked Sausage * Wienerschnitzel * Chicken Breast in a white wine sauce * Eggs Benedict * Deep Fried Walleye strips

Accompanied by:
Salad Bar * Mashed Potatoes * Gravy * Spatzle
Sauerkraut * Red Cabbage * German Potato Salad

For Dessert:
Black Forest Cake * Stawberry Cream Cake * Open Face Apfelstrudel * Belgian Waffles with all the trimmings

Yard Work

The weather has been pretty damn nice lately so that makes it time to do yard work. I've raked a bit but I don't think I'll get the whole yard done...oh well. The grass is starting to green up so Saturday I'll put down some fertilizer. Fortunately the weather looks good on Saturday with rain on Sunday. That means I'll be mowing the lawn soon. I got a new mower at the end of last season, I just have to remember to put oil in it before I use it (gas too!). We also need to get started on the landscaping. We'll hit Lowe's this weekend to see what's available. I also plan on putting a fairly large tree in soon so I have to decide what to get. This tree is going to provide some shade for the deck but I don't want it to be too dense...just light filtering. We'll take it slowly and get a little done at a time so we don't get burned out.

Back again...

We were in WI over the weekend for our neice's 4th birthday party. Payton had a blast! She loves all the kids and gifts. The first night we had a tough time getting her down to sleep. The dreaded pack n play is not her favorite. And after the 5 hour car ride she just didn't want to settle down. We eventually brought her in bed with us (which we NEVER do) and she slept great. We however slept horrible! The next night she didn't even wake up! Who knows... She is starting to transition into the toddler room at daycare next week. She will spend one week going over there for a couple of hours in the morning, but still spending the rest of her day in the infant room and then the second week she will spend 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon with the toddlers. The third week she leaves her baby friends behind to make the permanent transition in the "Yellow Room". With the toddlers she will have her on cot to nap on. Good luck with that one! I am hoping that she will do good with that and then it will make it easier for us to transition her to her toddler bed. She is ready for the more structured day that the toddlers have. I know she will just love it.

Jamaica Mon!

We arrived home from Jamaica late last night. We had a great time! Apparently Brian and i were "Jamericans" this week because it was our second trip to the island. Although Payton didn't really start to feel better until Wednesday. We were doing the daily phone call to check in, but I was worried about her. That was the only damper on our entire stay. She started eating again on Wednesday night to all of our relief. I thanked Betty for making her all better by the time we got home! She seems to be back to her old tricks this morning!

Home sick again...

Well, I should have kept my mouth quiet! Payton developed a fever and stuffed nose yesterday. I took her to the doctor (we are leaving on Sunday for Jamaica) and she seems to just have a virus. Her appetitie has been poor the last couple of days as well and yesterday afternoon and evening she really ate nothing and just sipped on some juice. So this morning she woke up with the dry heaves (YUCK!). Brian was home this morning with her and I left work to be home this afternoon. She seems to do better the longer she is up. Then after her nap she is terrible again. She just whines and shivers. Thank goodness that she is drinking just great! Hopefully this is just one of those 24 hour things!

The big 3-0

Well, yesterday I turned 30! Brian is teasing me that he is no longer married to a woman in her 20s. Nice huh? I have been busy taking an Oncology class in Rochester at the Mayo Clinic this week and getting up at 4:30am for a couple of days really caught up fast! I guess I do feel older:)

Payton has been just a little stinker eating lately. One day she eats everything in sight, the next night we can't get anything in her for dinner except a yogurt. I know it is normal, but it sure does frustrate mom! Here is a photo of her brushing her teeth before bed... now who could get upset at that sweetie I ask!!??

Playing outside...

Well we were able to take Payton outside to play in the snow today. It is in the mid 30s, but the sun is shining and the sky is totally clear. We still have snow so we had to enjoy it. We pulled her around the yard in her little sled, and she actually only whined for the first couple of minutes. They she seemed to enjoy it. Although I think that mom and dad enjoyed it more!

More snow...

We are currently getting our second snow storm of the week (it isn't too much snow, about 8 inches for each storm). Last week we were in the 40s-50s daily. On friday I pulled into our driveway are realized that we had no snow in our yard. The kids in town must love no school for 2 days in the same week! Lucky for me my 2 days off this week happened to be on the same days as the snow. We get a lot of drifts here in MN with that wind. BRRRR.

I am happy to report that the Stewards (all 3 of us!!) are finally healthy! It has been a couple of months since all 3 of us were without a cough, sniffles, sore throat..... I shoud knock on wood! Brian and I are on vacation in a little over a week!

Quiz we stole from Lisa!

This was cool Lisa so we are giving it a go:)

Tina:
4 Jobs I've had:
1. Registered nurse (Lowell General Hospital, District One Hospital, Owatonna Clinic)
2. Lab Tech- Saints Memorial
3. JC Penney sales associate
4. Tilden Mine summer student employee
Brian:
1. Quality Assurance Engineer
2. Electrical Design Engineer
3. Co-op, IBM
4. Golf Course Ground's Keeper

4 movies I can watch over and over:
1. While You Were Sleeping (my favorite too Lisa!!)
2. Never Been Kissed
3. Old School
4. Harry Potters
1. Old School
2. Matrix
3. Die Hard
4. Office Space

4 Books I can read over and over:
1. Harry Potter series
2. Anything by Judith McNaught
3. Pride and Prejiduce
4. Anything by Mary Balogh
1. Read...what's that???

4 Places I've lived:
1. Owatonna, MN
2. Dracut, MA
3. Lowell, MA
4. Sunderland, MA
1. Same as Tina

4 Places I Want to Live:
1. Appleton, WI
2. Really anywhere in the Midwest, oh wait a minute we are already there!!!
3.
4.
1. Anywhere Tina is! :o

4 TV shows I love:
1. According to Jim
2. Survivor
3. Two and a Half Men
4. Lost
1. Good Eats
2. Mythbusters
3. Lost
4. This Old House

4 Highly Regarded TV shows I've never watched a minute of:
1. Sopranos
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. NCIS
4. Without a Trace
1. American Idol (proud not to have seen this!!!)
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Without a Trace
4. Skating With Celebrities

4 Places I've Vacationed:
1. Las Vegas
2. Orlando
3. Jamaica (and we are going back in a few weeks:))
4. England with my orchestra in high school
1. Las Vegas
2. Orlando
3. Jamaica
4. Washington DC

4 Places I Wish I Could Vacation:
1. Hawaii
2. Italy
3. Australia
4. Spain
1. House boat on Lake Mead
2. Yosemite
3. Austria
4. Anywhere Tina is! :o

4 Favorite Foods:
1. Mexican, NO BEANS
2. Pancakes
3. Brownie, rice krispie treats
4. Pizza
1. Mexican, lots of beans!
2. Pizza
3. Chili
4. Steak

4 Sites I Visit Daily:
1. Friends' blogs
2. yahoo.com for email
3. target.com
4. Pottery Barn Kids
1. blogs
2. Mining Journal
3. Detroit Freepress, Lions
4. yahoo

4 Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:
1. on vacation anywhere!
2. at the hair salon getting my hair done (it is so long! I am going in the morning!)
3.
4.
1. at the dentist
2. getting a prostate exam
3. getting a colonoscopy
4. at the dentist while getting a prostate exam followed by a colonoscopy!

Interstate

I watched a show on the History Channel the other day about the interstate highway system (its the 50th anniversary don't ya know) and it got me thinking: who do we know that doesn't live within 20 minutes of an interstate? Of course you have to rule out everybody in the UP that we know. But since leaving the UP, I haven't lived further than 20 minutes from an interstate (I'm including metropolitan loops such as I-495). And I've lived in six different residences in that time. Tina's sister in Appleton is proabably more than 20 min, but not much more than 30. Scott might be just far enough north of Duluth to be outside of 20 min too. So, if you live far from an interstate, tell us about life on the "back roads".

This may be my favorite snapshot of Payton!

Sorry it has been a while!

We have been busy around here! My sister Nicole came out with her 2 youngest kids for a long weekend. We had a great time. Although next time I think Brian my consider going to see Nicole's husband Jason and get away from us ladies! He did have our 8 month old nephew here, but it just wasn't the same:)

Payton is keeping us on our toes around here. She is really into the tantrum thing when we are in public. She starts out awesome, but when she is ready to leave she is just DONE! Just love those screaming kids with parents wrestling with them as they throw themselves on the ground don't ya! ha ha... She really isn't bad, just a couple of times she has been just awful. Gotta love toddlers!

Work has been just wonderful for me! I love the new job! I can't remember a job that I have actually enjoyed going to until I starting working with Oncology. Giving chemo isn't easy, but it is SO rewarding! It helps that I really enjoy my co-workers.

Brian is always busy at work which is probably why he hasn't blogged in a while, but he is doing great. He and Payton are getting over ANOTHER cold! This one was pretty bad for both of them. I never got it though, knock on wood!

Sorry again we haven't been writing lately... We do enjoy reading everyone elses though!

Finally getting healthy again...

Last week we were able to make it back to Negaunee to visit for a few days. My parents just built a house so that was exciting. It is just beautiful. We unfortunately were getting sick with colds and by Sunday all 3 of us were pitiful! Payton and I actually were both home sick on Monday from daycare and work! Yesterday we were doing better, but Payton has been having a REALLY tough time with her molars coming in. She had a horrible day at daycare. She didn't eat much, cried a lot and was just crabby! She was good last night and today she seems to be getting back to normal. Tough week for the Stewards:)

Gas money has to go somewhere...

<sarcasm>Its good to see that the oil companies pass along the extra cost of oil (and then some)onto the consumer so that the companies can have record profits.</sarcasm>
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060130/bs_nm/
energy_exxon_earns_dc

Thank goodness that is over...

I took my classes and received my certification in Advanced Cardiac Life Support this week. Even though I am working at a clinic, it is not attached to our hospital here in Owatonna and in our department we give some pretty nasty medications (chemo) so we have to have out own code team. (aka. the RNs in my department and our internal medicine docs) So they sent me to Rochester to take the classes. Our clinic is part of Mayo Clinic so I had to go take it with other Mayo staff. I was super stressed about it. Not only did I have no clue where I was going (the Mayo Clinic is HUGE) I spent 2 days in class then a pracital evaluation with instructors and a written test and a cardiac monitor rhythm test. All in all is wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and I did well. I am just SO glad that it is over with!!! Now I have 2 years before I have to do it again:)

Can't wait for Daddy to get home!

Well, Brian has been in South Dakota for work since Sunday. We were doing great here until last night... Payton woke up around 3:30am crying and after a couple of minutes I knew she wasn't going to stop so I went into her room, and the poor thing was sick! At first I thought she was just yawning... several hours later and a clothes change for her and mama she seems to be doing a little better. I think it really freaked her out to throw up. That poor baby. Last Friday when I picked her up for daycare they had told me that a couple of the babies were home sick that day with vomiting and diarrhea. We just have the vomiting so far... She has not really eaten anything today, I feel bad about that. But we we tried just a cracker and water/juice and out it came again. She isn't interested which makes it easier. Brian will be back this afternoon, thank goodness! Mama is pooped! And I'm sure our little sweetie will perk right up when he gets home!

That "New Car Smell" might just kill you!!

I guess now that car emissions are cleaner and people don't smoke as much they have to find the next best thing to kill you.

http://www.ecocenter.org/releases/20060111_autotoxics.shtml

Look at the cute girl!

Steelers vs. Colts

That was a crazy game! I'm sure anyone who's interested either saw the game or has read about it. The final 5 minutes were a combination of some unlikely events that kept the Colts in the game. The Bettis fumble at the 2 and Manning's overturned interception and the missed field goal are getting all the press today. What I'm interested in happened with about 11 minutes left in the game...an apparent false start by the Steelers on 4th down that had players on both teams jumping up and down and crossing the line of scrimmage. The refs stopped play without throwing a flag, had a conference, then said that there were no penalties on either team! Replays showed that there was a false start but it was missed by the refs. They apparently didn't know what was going on so they did a "do over". The Steelers converted the 4th down and ran a bunch more time off the clock. I think that missed call really hurt the Colt's chances for a comeback since there wasn't much time left. I wanted the Colts to win originally, but they were outplayed by the Steelers, so the best team won.

Our little girl

Our little baby is offically our little girl! She is totally losing that "baby" look and is looking so big! She is walking more than crawling now. She is trying to break into a run, but she isn't quite steady enough yet and she just falls on her butt or her hands. And she is doing so well with her sippy cup that we have not given her her bedtime bottle and she didn't seem to mind at all. Although some days are better than others, so she does still get that bottle if she seems to want it. And I think that putting her into daycare more days a week has totally helped us along with the table/finger food. We stopped at Wendy's on our way to my sister's house over New Years and she snatched Brian's hamburger from right in front of him and gobbled it up! Who knew she liked hamburgers!? She is just the cutest darn thing!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all! We spent the weekend at my sister Nicole's bringing in the new year with friends and family. It is SO nice to be able to drive there for the weekend! Still not used to that!

Things have begun to settle down. We are taking Payton to the zoo this weekend. Her first trip to a zoo. Hopefully she will like it! We will... The end of this month is Brian's holiday party for work and we are for the first time going to have someone other that close friends/family babysit Payton for us. Hopefully. I am going to try and get our neighbors teenage daughter to come over for the evening. This is a huge hurdle for me! She is a very nice girl, and she sits for quite a few of our neighbors. And she lives directly behind us! Doesn't get much better than that. I need to call, hopefully she will be available:)

We are also trying to plan a trip to Jamaica at the end of March with my sister Nicole and her husband Jason. They already have their trip booked and we hopefully will have ours soon. Thanks goodness for Grandma Betty! She is going to come and watch our little sweetie for us.

Hopefully you all had a great holiday season!

Hello Again...

Well, things finally feel back to normal! I am now working by part time schedule again. I will be working 3 days a week on average. Which is just perfect! I really love my new job! I love the work itself, the patients, my co-workers... So that is going well.

Payton has been on iron for the last month because she has low hemoglobin. She had her blood drawn last week just to check up on it, and she is still low. I brought her in this morning to have more blood drawn. They are doing more tests this time to check it all out better. Poor baby! She actually had to have her blood taken from her arm instead of her finger. She was NOT thrilled! Hopefully this couple more months on iron will do the trick. She has had a cold and cough for a couple of weeks, the doctor says it is a virus. She just can't seem to get rid of this one! The poor kid is up coughing at night. Last night she actually slept the whole night through for the first time in a while. The good this is that she seems to not be too bothered by it in the daytime...

Crazy, Crazy, Crazy!

Well, I now have a new found respect for mom's that work full time! I am only working full time for 2 weeks and I feel that our home is in shambles! I now have a hour lunch (pretty nice for a nurse:)) and I am able to go and visit Payton at daycare. So I really don't feel too guilty on the mom front, but man this past weekend I felt that I had to do SO much to get ready for Christmas. I am working all this week too.

Payton is doing great at daycare. She is actually napping well and eating even better. She popped her 7th tooth this weekend. She as been super crabby with this teething right now. Which is totally new for her! That and we think she may be having a little growth spurt, she is eating us out of house and home! Which is, for all of you out there that have taken care of my daughter, totally new for her too! Usually she could care less about food.

Well, work is going well. I have the cold that Brian and Payton had last week, and we are almost ready for Christmas. My parents are coming out later this week. Should be a fun holiday with our crabby girl:) Happy Holidays to everyone!

I'm back

Made it back without any major incidents on Saturday. Our flight leaving Tokyo was delayed by an hour for a mechanical problem but since I wasn't catching a connecting flight it wasn't a big deal. The 747 I was on must have been the oldest aircraft I have ever been on. I'm sure it is just fine mechanically, but the inside needs some updating. I'm sure its not too cheap to gut the insides of these beasts to make them more modern. The 747 is definitely the mother of all jet airliners. The thing is huge! The new Airbus A380 which is coming out soon is similar in size to the 747 but it has two levels of seating for the whole aircraft. This will allow many more passengers of course. But I think it may be too big....the 747 is the right size for the job. Ford made the Excursion for a few years to compete with the Suburban. The Ford was a bigger hoping that would attract more customers, but they didn't come. The Excursion only lasted a few years. The A380 may suffer the same problem. The 747 does its job very well and a bigger jet may not be able to displace it as the mother of all jetliners.

Anyway, its good to be back. Payton put on her little show for me...walking for me shortly after I got home. Very exciting! Its good to be back on American food and relaxing at home. The next trip will be too soon I'm sure.

Airplanes

12/10/2005 6:00 pm CST

Here I am at 38000 feet again between Singapore and Tokyo. I'm in the exact same seat I was in last week. This flight is quite full so I have someone next to me. That's no big deal because I'm not planning on sleeping anyway. I've got to try and get back on central time.

The flight from Malaysia to Singapore was on a 777 and now I'm on an A330 again. These planes are very similar in size and capacity but there are several difference. The most obvious is the seating configuration. The 777 has 3-3-3 for 9 total across while the A330 has 2-4-2 for 8 across. Not a big deal just one more middle seat on the 777. Here's where the differences are really noticed...the seat comfort. The A330 does not have very comfortable seats. They sit very upright and don't recline as nicely as the 777. The 777 also has better legroom. Now this may be specific to whichever airline you happen to be on, but on Singapore Air, the 777 has much better legroom than on a Northwest A330. I could stretch my legs straight out on the 777 without a problem. I can't do that on the A330...my shins hit the bottom of the seat in front of me. On top of that, the control equipment for the interactive video is under each seat further reducing legroom. I didn't notice where the equipment on the 777 was located, but it wasn't under my seat. I just thought I'd mention this to anyone thinking of buying a jet and starting their own airline.

How did she do that?

Today after Payton's nap I went into her room because I could hear her "talking". She was just laying on her back sucking her thumb. I had some laundry to put away and she seemed to be still waking up so I put her laundry away and she was still laying there. That is weird for her. Usually if I let her wake up more she starts to crawl to the side of the crib and stand up. When I went to get her I noticed that her leg was through the slat of her crib up to her knee and she was just banging away smiling. She wasn't smiling long... I don't know how she got that little leg through there, but I had a hard time getting it out! She was just screaming. I had to pull the entire crib away from the wall and really wiggle and push that sucker through!! She is no worse for wear, but man, that leg was stuck!! Silly girl!

Daddy comes home tomorrow, and I think Payton will be SO happy to have him home! She has only had me to play with:) I know I will be happy!

You know you are SO lucky when...

your husband is on the other side of the globe and you recieve a HUGE bouquet of flowers from him!

Durian

du·ri·an Pronunciation: 'dur-E-&n, -E-"än also 'dyur-
noun
Etymology: Malay
1 : a large oval tasty but foul-smelling fruit with a prickly rind

That's the Merriam-Webster definition...now here's what I think.

The first thing you might notice about the durian "fruit" (and I use the term fruit loosely) is that it looks like a weapon. It probably could be used as a weapon because it is quite hard, but what would do your opponent in is the smell! The thing stinks to high heaven!! Its difficult to describe but someone said it smell like propane...I guess that's close enough. If you can tell from the picture, its made up of pods on the inside. These pull right out without resistance and is the part you eat. There's a thin membrane that hold in the "meat" which I can only describe as having the consistancy of warm sour cream. Once you bite into it it will kinda start to ooze out. I don't particularly care for creamy fruit. The flavor is also quite awful. Again, no real good way to describe it...just plain awful!! Now, your've disobeyed the warning signs: prickly rind, really smelly, weird texture, tastes bad...now one last thing. Once you eat it, you continue to burp it up for quite awhile after, depending on how much you ate. And the burps taste just as bad as when it went down. I only took two bites of this thing and I was burping for about an hour. Some of the Malaysians I was with just kept eating the stuff...they can have it!

New Acheivement...

Payton has had a busy weekend! My parents are here to keep us company and as you read in the couple previous blogs Brian left on Friday morning around 6am. He was not gone even 12 hours and Payton walked on her own! I was so happy to see it, but so sad that Brian missed it! Thank goodness mom and dad were her to share it with me! She took a couple of steps on her own while holding on to a book over her head, I think she though it was my moms hand! Then I ran and got the digital camcorder and got her walking about 3-4 feet. Same thing, with the book up over her head! I told Brian that now I just need to get her potty trained and talking before he gets home! Yeah right! I am not that crazy!

I've arrived!

Finally!!!
I am at my destination of Penang, Malaysia. I'll be here for the next five days visiting our contract manufacturer. I have various things to discuss with them as well as tour the line and hopefully visit some of their suppliers in the area. Since I'm in quality its my job to make sure they're doing things correctly. Fortunately they are very capable and willing to do just about anything we ask.
Here's how the rest of the trip went....
I arrived in Singapore around 12:30am local time. They have a transit hotel right in the terminal so you don't have to go through customs. You don't get your luggage either, but if you packed some clean undies and your toothbrush in your carryon then things will be just fine. The connecting flight diddn't leave until 11:00am so I had some time to take a shower and get some rest. Of course, resting isn't all that easy when your body thinks its 10:00 am! I managed to sleep a couple hours so today I'm not too groggy. The flight ot Penang was only a little over an hour from Singapore. Too bad it couldn't have been all in one day rather than the long layover in Singapore. Penang is hot, humid, and tropical as you might expect being about 5 degrees north of the equator. So far its not altogether unpleasant, but I've only been here a short time and haven't really seen much yet.
One of the guys we're here to see is taking us to dinner tonight, so that should be interesting. I've got a few hours before that happens so I think I'll try to rest a little.

Lots of miles

Its just after 8:00pm central time on Friday 12/2. My first flight left this morning after 10:00am...there were delays. I was supposed to leave at 9:30. Fortunately they held the connection to Tokyo in Portland. I don't imagine there are too many flights availabel if I was to miss it. I am currently at 38881 feet traveling at a ground speed of 536 mph with 2920 miles traveled and 2032 miles to go...about 4 more hours. I know this because this is a fairly new plane (Airbus A330-200) that has an interactive screen on each seat so I can get up to the minute stats on the flight.

The total flight time to Tokyo is somewhere around 10 hours. There's a brief layover then another 7 hours to Singapore...same plane, same seat. The on demand movies have helped pass the time nicely. I watched "Wallace and Gromet: Curse of the Were-Rabbit" and "The Dukes of Hazard". "Dukes" was alright, but a bit off the mark if trying to be like the tv show. I thoroughly enjoyed "Were-Rabbit" and would recommend it to people of all ages. It was a very clever movie with some great animation. The meal on the plane was quite good...chicken with redskin potatoes and green beans. It also came with shrimp cocktail, chocolate cake, and wine. They also came by with ice cream sandwiches not too long ago. The treatment isn't too bad on these international flights.
The flight isn't all that full so I dont' have anybody sitting next to me. I can get more comfortable by resting against the window and stretching across the seat next to me. I think I'm going to try and get some rest now so that I'm not a total zombie when I finally get to Malaysia. They are 14 hours ahead so it might be a difficult adjustment.

New Job!

I was officially offered the position that I recently interviewed for yesterday! Although the pay isn't as nice as the hospital, the clinic hours are unbeatable!!! They are open 8-5 Monday through Friday. I will be working in infusion therapy 5 days every 2 weeks. Payton's daycare has room for her so she will be happy to stay put! I start in December 12. The first couple of weeks I will be full time just to get all the general oreintation over with. Unfortunately I had to quit my ER job. I felt good about taking the new job (Brian and I talked about it a lot because Payton will be in daycare more and I will be making less money per hour) but I really had a great manager at the hospital and I hated to let her down! She was understanding and knew that I needed to do what is best for my family! So we won't have any more scheduling conflicts over weekends when Brian is out of town! I am really looking forward to starting!

My parents are coming down this weekend to stay with Payton and I. They initially were going to babysit for us, but since I quit yesterday(I didn't have to give them 2 weeks because officially I was still orienting) I don't have to work this weekend! They are coming anyway because I am going to be lonely! Brian leaves for Malaysia for work on Friday and he will be gone about 9 days! Jeannine I am still counting on our slumber party:) It will be an interesting trip, and I am sure Brian will Blog all about it!

We have our Christmas tree up and all our decorations! I love this time of year! Minnesota is cold, but we don't get too much snow!

When it rains, it pours...

I received a call from Payton's Pediatrician today. Her hemoglobin is a little low, 10.2. 12 is the lowest they really like it to be. So of course Payton will be having to take iron drops twice a day for 3 MONTHS! She will be having her blood drawn again in a month to see how she is doing. Looks like she is going to take after her mother (I have iron defiency anemia). Poor thing!

Here We Go Again...

I took Payton for her 1 year well baby appointment today. Turns out her right ear has an infection. Not sure if it is new, or if the infection last month never completly went away. She has been fussy at night lately which isn't like her, but other than that she seems to be fine. So I guess it was a good thing she had her appointment today. She is starting Augmentin today. Hopefully this will kick it! She grew an inch since September! She is 29 1/2 inches long which is 60% for height. She is 22 pounds and 2 ounces, which is 70% for weight. She had a couple of shots, screamed her head off, had some blood taken, screamed some more, and had some wax removed from her right ear so her doctor could see better and of course... more screaming. So all in all it was a tough morning for the little sweetie! And the best part of the morning was when her doctor told us NO MORE FORMULA NEEDED!!! I am thrilled! She has been getting mostly whole milk, but to have her doctor say that was great for me anyway! The sippy cup bottle thing is still a struggle, but we are going to do some tough love with that one! By the time she goes for her 15 month appointment there will be no more bottles!

Oh, I bought Payton her very own toothbrush today! I am sure she will be so happy to use it! Ha Ha!

We are one our way to Negaunee for Thanksgiving for the first time in 8 years on Wednesday. Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Gas

Gas is now $1.99....whoo hoo, what a bargain!!!

Daddy's Weekend!

This weekend is my first Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening shifts to work! Brian is going to be spending a lot of quality time with Payton:) I have not worked evenings since she has been born so it should be interesting. Unfortunately for Daddy she is in her best moods during the day! She of course has a stuffy nose constantly these days, love daycare!! So she has been waking up a few times each night when she wants to suck her thumb and she is so stuffy it is tough to do! Poor thing! Thank goodness she seems to only want to suck her thumb at night!

Oh, the interview went well. Hopefully I will hear something soon. It is a great job, but who knows what they think about my qualifications. They were totally not giving any indications last night! But fortunately I do have a job now that I am constantly learning new things and I will hopefully only become more comfortable there. And you can't beat the daycare thing, only 1 1/2 days every 2 weeks. We'll see what happens with this new job though. It would be fantastic...

First Step?

This was taken as Payton was standing playing with us. Just as I shot it she took a step with her left foot. Brian says she was just "making an adjustment" while standing. But lets give the baby some credit:)
Here is another photo of the sweetie. Her hair is getting long as you can see!

New Job?

As you all know I have recently started working at a local Emergency Room. I have been there about 5 weeks or so. I have been seeing a doing a lot of new things, which is really good, but I am really not that happy. A couple of weeks ago I had a patient situation that was VERY difficult and I wanted to quit! I have been having a hard time with certain aspects of the job (I won't go into the details) and I am beginning to question if I can really do it. The great thing is that they are paying for me to get certain certifications that are very useful, and it is AWESOME experience. And it may be SO easy to ease into a Per Diem job. So much to think about, that and I don't have any other offers on the table.

Then... last Friday I got a call from the Owatonna Clinic (they had called me when I first started looking for a job, but they wanted a nursing supervisor full time. NOT FOR ME!). I had a phone interview about 6 weeks ago just in case something came up that they thought I may be a good fit for. Well, they now have 2 openings for RNs in their infusion therapy department! They are only open 8-5 Monday through Friday with no weekends or holidays! They do outpatient chemo and IV therapies. HELLO, HIRE ME! I love that stuff! I have an official interview tomorrow. I could work 2-3 days a week and be home every night, every weekend and every holiday. Payton is already in a great daycare so that isn't even an issue. I hope I don't screw it up! Wish me luck...

Oh, Payton is doing great. She is still fighting the sippy cup though... Any ideas moms out there?

You know you're a daddy when....

...your 12 month old daughter is eating a cracker and you think its the cutest thing ever!

Payton's First Birthday!

We had Payton's first birthday party over the weekend! She got SO many wonderful gifts. Thank you all!!! We had 15 sleeping in our house! And we all fit nicely. Thank goodness our basement was done in time. Payton enjoyed her first taste of cake. We stripped her to her diaper! You know me, has to be the easiest way to get her clean again! And you all know that I would never risk an outfit:) She was SO cute! She is walking behind her little push toy like crazy now. She also got a learning "house" from us that she seems to love. A lot of new fun stuff! Thanks again everyone. I will be sending you all the Snapfish album as soon as I can get my act together and get it done!

Almost Done

The basement is really starting to take shape. A lot of work has gone into it this week and its just about finished. The walls were painted, the trim, carpet and doors installed. All of the lights are now in which really makes a difference. I think the lighting in the family room really turned out well. We have a total of 10 recessed cans on 3 separate circuits. I'll eventually add dimmer switches for more "ambiance". The bathroom won't be quite finished for the weekend, but at least the shower works...no toilet though. We'll have plenty of room for all the guests in town for Payton's birthday party. Some will be sleeping on the floor (airmattress), but at least there's new carpeting.

Happy Halloween!

Here is our little Pumpkin!!! We will see if she will keep her costume on tonight to great all the little trick or treaters! We went to Las Vegas over the weekend and were able to visit a lot of old friends!!! We finally met Ginny, Tom's new wife and attended their wedding and we were able to meet Linnea Jurvelin! What a cutie! Also we spent time with our good friends from out East! We do miss you Bryan and Ronni! It was a busy, but fun weekend. We couldn't wait to get home to see Payton! She ran my mom and dad ragged! You just can't take your eyes off her!

This morning Payton went for her first flu shot. She was SO good. Not one tear! I was very impressed. A shot with no crying... what a good girl. Last night when Brian and I got home I realized that Payton really looks like Brian. We were only gone for 4 days and it seemed that she was totally different:) She seemed happy to see us though!

back to normal

Payton is doing much better! She even got a "Great Day" award in daycare today for being so good! She loves that place! It seems she doesn't want to come home when I go to pick her up! She still has a few days left of her antibiotic, but she is definetly better.

My parents are coming tomorrow and Brian and I leave to Las Vegas on Thursday. We have a wedding, new baby to see, have fun with NE friends... It will be so nice to see old friends, which is really what this trip is all about! I fear that Payton's little feet won't even touch the ground with Grammy and Grampy visiting, but she will love it!

Another "week" of work in... I am feeling A LOT better this week than last. Probably has something to do with the nurse I was with this week. I think it is going to be fun. I actually was sad that I was leaving work when I passed an ambulance with its lights on racing towards the hospital!

Well, to those of you we will see in a few days Jurvelins, Laitinens and Caveners, CAN'T WAIT!!

Up all night...

Wednesday night was an old reminder of the first month of Payton's life. She was up all night long SCREAMING! Brian and I tried to take turns with her (we both had to work in the morning) , but when we realized that this wasn't the "normal" crying of Payton we knew that one of us wasn't going to be going to work. Turns out is was me... I am still orienting to by new job thankfully and my boss was very clear that it wasn't a big deal if something came up and I couldn't come in (she actually used Payton being sick as an example). So I was up until about 2am with her. We couldn't put her down at all. She did finally sleep a few hours.

I called her doctor in the morning and we had an appointment in the afternoon. We pretty much suspected that it was an ear infection in the right ear. She was tugging on it pretty good yesterday and she did develop a cold a few days ago. She hates that runny nose! She does have an ear infection in both sides. The doctor actually said that the left side was worse than the right. So we are doing baby motrin and amoxicillin. Good thing she takes medication well. Last night she slept well, but woke up about an hour and half earlier than normal. I am sure those ears were hurting!

Tonight Brian and I are going to a huge bonfire/party that one of his co-workers does every year. Jeannine (we love you!) is coming over to watch little Payton. Hopefully Payton will be back to normal by tonight. She is doing much better this morning than yesterday, but she is still a little whiny! She will probably be getting a lot of TLC tonight from the babysitter!

Oh, we bought Payton her first halloween costume. She is going to be the cutest jack-o-lantern on the block!

Black and Blue...

Well, Payton had another boo boo last night! We were all in her room and she was crawling over to Brian (who was sitting on her glider at the time) and she bumped her mouth on the wood frame. Of course she was screaming and then we saw blood! The poor little thing had really bumped herself good. Her upper gums right above her two front teeth were bleeding pretty good. After a night cold washcloth and some ice to suck on (we use a baby safe feeder for that!) she was as good as new. Then this morning when she woke up I noticed her upper lip is a little swollen and her gums are totally bruised! It looks painful, but she seems to be doing great. Just another injury to add to the long list I am sure she will have!! This is the first time she has actually bled. Poor baby!

Donuts!

Donuts three days in a row this week!...and a vendor brought in ice cream bars yesterday!
Elastic-waist pants here I come!!!

New Schedules...

Well, everyone here in our household have been so screwed up lately! We were able to go to WI for our nephew's baptism this past weekend and it was SO nice to see everyone again. Jacob is getting so big:) We had a nice weekend, other that little Payton had to sleep with Brian and I on Friday night... She would NOT stop screaming in the Pack-n-Play!

Yesterday was my first day of "work" (orientation yesterday and today). Payton was in daycare for about 4 hours yesterday and all day today! She loves playing with those babies and she never cries they tell me. The problem... She isn't napping or eating well either! Everyone tells me that this is totally normal, but my little pumpkin is tired! I am happy that she likes it though. That is a huge relief while I have to be at work more these first couple of months.

After the first couple of days of orientation I can tell already that my new hospital is going to be a great place to work! Their philosophies and policies seem to be great. EVERYONE there tells me what a great place it is to work. I start in the emergency room on Thursday so we will see how it all goes. I am excited to get started! I will keep you posted!

Payton is 11 Months Today!

Here are a couple of photos of Payton we took over the weekend! Hard to believe she is almost 1!! She is more fun every day!

Back to work...

Well, I finally have a new job. I will be working at a local community hospital in the Emergency Department! I know that I always said that I didn't ever really want to work there, but the opportunity came when there was no other jobs that really fit as well. So I am going to give it a shot! 16 hours a week and I pretty much could choose what days I wanted which was very nice! So Payton will begin daycare next week. Over the next couple of months I will just be doing orientation to the department so Payton will probably be in 3 days a week until I finish and can be on my own! I feel like a brand new nurse again:) Then Payton will be in one day each week. And my other shift each week will be in the afternoon on the weekend.

This morning I took Payton to the daycare and we played in their infant room for about an hour and I can tell that she is going to love it! So much more excitement than being home with mama! She is going to do great! I just need to get it together! I know it will be tough to leave her!

Some scary news over the weekend from my sister Nicole. Her 3 year old, Elizabeth, ended up in the hospital with pneumonia! Happy to say that she is being discharged today and she is doing much better! A couple of long nights for Nicole and Jason though. They are exhausted! We are headed there this weekend for Jacob's baptism. I told Elizabeth on the phone that we would be there in a few days to see her and she yelled back to Nicole "Auntie Tina and Brian are coming to see me in three days!". So precious...

Driveway: check!

Well, they are pouring the rest of our driveway as I type! YIPPEE! That is just one step closer to having the road paved. Just 2 more driveways and then we should be on our way to asphalt! I can't wait to park in the garage again! Yes, we are officially spoiled! It has been a week since they started the work with the gutters and forced everyone to the street! My car is filthy! We have a lot of new roads/construction out in our part of town and the dust is ridiculous! Payton is napping, but when she wakes up I am going to have to run out and put some cute little feet in that wet cement!

Once the driveway is good to go again, maybe our contractor will actually get his guys in here to finish our basement. I won't hold my breath on that one!

New Smile

Well, here is Payton's new smile. She is smiling sorta weird, but it is hard to get her to stay still! You can see the newest tooth. Her 4th is here. So now she has 2 on top and 2 on the bottom. She will be walking soon we think. She can stand up next to anything and will let go without realizing it. She will stand there for a few seconds unaided now. What a silly girl!

Tania's a mommy at last!

My good friend from High School, Tania, had her baby this weekend! She had a lot of problems getting pregnant and she had been in the hospital for the last week trying to stop contractions (she was only 33 weeks). Thanks to the miracle of medications (stopping dilation, and maturing the baby's lungs) she delivered Tyler Carl on Saturday. Over 4 pounds and 17 inches long. Not bad! My sister as most of you know had Elizabeth 3 years ago now at 32 weeks and she weighed just a little of 3 pounds. She is doing great! I know Tyler will too. Congrats to the Lajimodieres!

With all this going on I was online a lot on Friday emailing all our friends. I got to talk to my "old" friend Leah on Friday night. We actually talked for over 2 hours!! It really was great to take that trip down memory lane. I don't know the last time I talked with her over the phone. It was so nice:)

Little Payton is now sporting 3 teeth with 2 more about ready to come out. She is so cute! She has really been trying to talk. All weekend she just kept YELLING Da Da, and Dadee. She is adorable if I do say so myself! She would be even more adorable if she would say Ma Ma sometime other than when Brian is cutting her nails (she hates that!).

Basement Done???

Our basement has reached a major milestone in it's development...all the framing, plumbing and electrical are finished! All that's left is drywall, paint, trim, and carpet....I guess there's quite a bit left to go. I hope it doesn't take them another 6 weeks to get that done! I'm just glad I'm not doing it.

Almost forgot...

my doctor's appointment with Payton tagging along (without a nap I might add) was good until about halfway through. She was just DONE!!! Everyone just kept saying "Don't worry about it. I know what it is like." Thank god that day is over!

And the hunt begins...

Today I went to Payton's future daycare to give them all that paperwork!! The director told me that they are ready to take her whenever I find a job. She now has the staff, although they are in other classrooms, that she can put with the infants if Payton needs a spot before October 27th. I was sad and happy about it! Now I can start my job search... It will be nice to finally be seriously looking. It is also sad that I have to now look for work outside of home and I won't be with Payton every day. We will have to deal with that one later!

Payton and I had our first Baby and Me class, and let me tell you that she could care less where her mama is! She was the only baby out of 6 that did cry for their mother when we left them for the parent discussion! But she wouldn't leave me alone once we were back together! She was awesome! I was thrilled that she was such a good girl. This class is SO great too because she can play with other babies and I can be with the other moms and we discuss parenting issues. Good all around!

New England fix!

Last night Brian and I were able to get our "New England Fix"! We talked with our great friends Bryan and Ronni, and Nick and Andi! It was so nice to catch up! We finally wore Bryan and Ronni down to come out to Vegas with us! I am ESTATIC!!! The four of us went a few years ago and it was a blast! We are sad that some other friends can't make it, but we understand that people are busy. I was so happy to talk with everyone I know I will be making more phone calls soon! Too bad not everyone can be home during the day like me:0)

Payton and I have a big afternoon planned! We have our first Baby and Me class and then I am off to a doctor's appointment to meet my new internist. Payton is going to miss her nap time... I will let you know how that works out!

Big girl...

Well, our little girl popped her third tooth over the weekend. One of her front teeth has broke the surface! What a little trouper she is too! The fourth is on its way! Once you can really see them I will have to post a photo!

She has also started to clap. She loves music and tends to bounce up and down. Now she is clapping all the time too. She seems less and less like a baby every day! I guess all that Pat-e-cake (?) really payed off! ha ha...

No Donuts???

I think this is the first week since I started the new job six weeks ago that somebody hasn't brought in donuts. Good thing too...those tasty little gems are hard to resist!

Payton is now 10 months!

Well, our baby is on her way to being toddler:( She turned 10 months over the weekend. She still only has those 2 bottom teeth, but her 4 top teeth are going to be popping out any day! She doesn't seem too crabby about them, just when she accidently bumps herself! She is moving so fast now. She loves to be on those feet. I am hoping that the walking is a little ways off still. I like my little crawler! She had her first appointment with her new Pediatrician. I love her! Thank goodness! The office staff is wonderful and the doctor was great with Payton. I talked with Payton's future daycare today. Looks like she will be starting no sooner than October 27th. So I will be home for a little while longer. I am NOT complaining though...

I did have a job interview yesterday. I wasn't interested in the open position though. I actually applied for a per diem position, but an in house nurse from the same department took that position so her position is now open. The Medical Center is about 40 minutes from here. It is a beautiful facility. I just went to meet with HR and the nurse manager in case another per diem position opens up. The job that is open is rotating through all 3 shifts. Brian is going to be doing some travelling with his new job, so there is no way I can do off shift regularly. They knew my situation of course and will be in touch if anything opens up. It was a LONG drive though! I am not sure how that drive will be in the middle of the winter...

My parents just left this morning. They spent the weekend with us. My dad and Brian we able to get some work done on our deck. It will be great once it is done. The basement is coming along. The tub/shower is now in. The electricians and the rest of the plumbing will hopefully be done this week. Another thing that will be awesome when it is finished!!

Vegas, here we come!!!

Well, we are on our way to Vegas in October. Brian's good friend from high school Tom is getting married there on the 29th. So Tommy, the RSVP is in the mail! We love Vegas and of course we would never miss his wedding, so it works out great. That and Lisa and Dave are expecting their third little girl around the same time! We will be sure to visit! Brian and I already have our airline tickets, and my parents are coming out to MN to watch Payton. We are pressuring several friends to join us! It will be a blast for sure!

Neighbors...

Well, Brian and I have been meeting a lot of our neighbors lately! We have about 20 houses or so on our street and we have met probably half of them. I am VERY happy to report that 3 of the families on our street have infant daughters (5 months, 6 months, and 10 months). I was beginning to think that there was something in the water of New England with all the baby boys! Not that they aren't awesome:) Our nearest neighbor just brought me a brochure for Early Childhood Family Education classes here in town. I just enrolled Payton and I into their infant class. Every Monday until December Payton and I will spend a couple of hours with other parents and babies her age. It should be fun, and it will be great to meet new moms and Payton will love the kids I am sure:) She is so social around kids. Although when we met our neighbor with the 5 month old Payton and Cassidy had a stare off. I think Cassidy won:)

Brian has been busy working on getting the footings for our deck ready. My parents will be here this weekend and then Dad and Brian will start the frame. We are hopefully going to have all of our plants delievered this week for our landscaping, and our contractor was actually here yesterday with electricians!!! The electricians should be done this week, then plumbing then up goes the drywall. It should happen fast now, or so they tell me! Our basement just had better be finished for Payton's first birthday party! We plan on a house full!

Updates from Owatonna!

Well, the last week has been full of family and friends visiting. Both my sisters were here with their families. And our good friends David and Lisa Jurvelin stopped by. We had a great weekend with everyone. Our neice and nephews had a ball with Payton, although Jacob (8 weeks) probably would have like his distance! ha ha It really became clear to me over the last week that this is why we moved back to the Midwest. To have a house full of friends and family for no particular reason other than to have fun. And that we did!

My parents finally sold their house on Tuesday. I am sorta glad that I didn't see it totally empty. I know that mom and dad were just anxious to have it all over at the end, but it was bittersweet for them. A lot of memories there. It is wierd to think of other people living there! They can't start building their house for a few months, so they will be doing a lot of visiting us kids!

We went to a local daycare last night. They were having an open house and we got a tour and talked with the executive director. It seems like a great place for Payton. Once she is in she will probably be there 2 days a week or so. She is now on a waiting list, which is okay because I am not working yet. She has an appointment with her new pediatrician next week. We really loved her last doctor, so hopefully we will love this new one as well.

It is finally coming together around here. We now feel like we are home, not just on a wierd vacation...

Payton's first Boo Boo!

Well, Payton is "tearing up" this place lately! It is like someone flipped a switch and she is into things that she never looked twice at! Over the weekend we had just finished cooking dinner and she crawled right up to the oven and put her hand in the space just above the drawer... She screamed for 20 minutes!! After a nice cool water bath and some TLC she was fine. She is now sporting 2 tiny blisters on her right ring finger. We definetly felt worse than she did about it all though!

On to other news... the unpacking is finished!!! We just have some of our photos and large mirrors and frames that are still boxed up. They will stay that way until we figure out where to put them! My sister Nicole and her family are all coming for a visit on Thursday. Can't wait to see the kids. Jacob is 8 weeks aready!! Jason will help Brian get our much anticipated deck started. My sister Valerie and her fiance Nick will be here late on Saturday. We will be busting at the seams (our basement is not finished yet, still construction down there!), but we should make it! It looks like we may get some visitors from Vegas (via the rest of the US). It will be great if it works out and we can see the Jurevelins again!! It will be nice to share the new house with everyone.

We keep hearing about the Steele County Fair. Which is an annual thing here in Owatonna. It is a BIG deal here. I am sure the kids will have fun! We will have to check it out!

We are loving Minnesota so far. We have the new plates on the cars and our drivers license will be done this week... I just got my Minnesota RN license in the mail yesterday... I guess I have no more excuses for not finding a job!! Just need to get Payton a daycare! Yikes!!! I'll keep you posted on that one...

Finally catching our breath!

Well, the last 2 weeks have been totally crazy! There is so much to do when you move across the country! Selling house, buying house, opening/closing bank accounts, drivers liscences..... etc. We are finally getting everything together. We are getting close to being totally unpacked. Just 2 rooms left. Brian already posted about the nightmare moving day. I am so glad that it all worked out okay at the end of the day. What a stressful time though! Payton did great that day, I dont' know what I would have done if she was fussy!

It is nice to finally have the internet access again. I was beginning to feel totally isolated. We have met several of our neighbors, it is nice because noone has been in this neighborhood long. The first house was only done about a year and a half ago. Everyone so far seems very friendly, and there are quite a few of young children around too which will be nice for Payton.

Boxes and Boxes, and more Boxes

The movers delivered our stuff yesterday while I was at work, so Tina got to deal with the whole thing. It sounds like the unloading went pretty well. The guys were nice and did a good job. Now we have a house full of boxes and not really sure where anything is. We get to start the long process of unpacking this weekend. The kitchen will probably take the longest because of all the dishes, etc., and we have to find the right place for everything. Fortunately we have more cupboard space now than before, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Our appliances were delivered yesterday too, but not without some stressful situations for Tina. They went to put the stove into its spot, and it didn't fit! It was hitting the cabinet so it wouldn't slide in. Then they tried the refrigerator and the same thing! It was only a little bit off, but it wouldn't go in. I called the builder and he looked at it in the afternoon and said that it was a pretty easy fix, so by the time I got off from work and finished packing up our stuff from our temporary housing, it was done. The appliances look good and hopefully we'll get some boxes cleared out of the kitchen soon so we can actually use them!

We Made It!

We finally made it to Owatonna! We got a late start on Wednesday because we had to go to the closing for selling our house, so we didn't leave until 2:00. I had hoped to make it to Buffalo, but since we got going so late we only made it to Rochester. The next day we left around 10:00 and got to Elkhart, Indiana around 8:00. It was a little slow going since we tried to stick to Payton's eating schedule, so we weren't as efficient as we could have been. Going through Chicago the next day took quite a while since there was a lot of traffic...and of course the tolls around Chicago are ridiculous. We finally rolled into Owatonna around 8:30 Friday night. It sure is nice to know that we don't have to hit the road for awhile. Payton did much better on the trip than I expected. She managed to sleep quite a bit and only got cranky a few times. She was pretty happy just talking to herself and playing with toys. We close on the house here on Wednesday, so hopefully we'll be fully moved in by the end of the week. We bought a bunch of appliances today which should be delivered by the end of the week too. It will be nice to be back in a house instead of living out of hotel rooms.

Payton Update

With everything going on over here I realized we haven't given a Payton update in a while! She just had her 9 month well baby check-up today, so now is a great time! She is actually turning 9 months on the 3rd, but we wanted to get that appointment done before we move!

She weighed in at 20 pounds 8 ounces (75%), 28 inches long (63%). She is looking perfect (I am quoting the doctor on that one:))Good thing we just recently moved her to the bigger car seat! She is pulling herself up on everything! She has been very happy lately too. The teeth thing seemed to have slowed down. She just has the two bottom teeth right now. Hopefully she will good for us on the long car ride next week!

Good News!

Well, we received a call tonight from your real estate agent in Minnesota and we got the house we wanted! We are just waiting to hear from the builder now on an estimate on finishing the lower level. We are SO happy! This house is just perfect for us and Payton will now have a huge backyard to play in! We are set to move next Wednesday. We have a lot of loose ends to tie up between then and now, but we are getting anxious to get going! Now that the house is ours we will be in temporary housing for only about a week. I am very happy about that! Now we just have to buy appliances... fun fun fun. We will keep you all posted. Attached is a photo...

House Offer

We found a nice house and put an offer on it. However, it already had an offer on it, but it was contingent on the buyers selling their current house. We, of course, don't have to worry about that since we've already sold ours and close next week. The current buyers will have 48 hours from Monday morning to prove that they can buy the house without selling theirs, or sell their current house. According to our agent, this rarely happens so that would mean we would get the house. We put a closing date of August 5th, which Tina is thrilled about since she wasn't too happy about living in temporary housing. We'll know more on Wednesday so we'll let you all know then.

Two Weeks Notice

It seems that the two weeks notice for leaving a job (this job anyway) is just a formality...I'll be at work for these last two weeks, but I guarantee there won't be much work getting done. I'm pretty much just showing up and searching for houses on the internet and canceling utilities and making sure everything about our move gets done. Combine that with the two weeks of vacation I just had and the week between ending this job and starting the new one, and I won't have done actual work for over 5 weeks! Its like I'm a school teacher with the summer off. I'm sure the excitement of the new job will get my butt back in gear to do work again.

House Hunting

We're off to MN for a house hunting trip this weekend. We'll have a marathon day on Saturday looking at a dozen or so houses. It will be nice to actually have a decent down payment this time. And on top of that the mortgage rates are even lower than they were two years ago when I thought they were as low as they'd get. It seems that most of the houses in that area are very similar...all ranches. I wonder why they don't build different styles anymore. We like the colonial we have now, but each have their advantages and disadvantages.

We're leaving Payton with her usual sitter for the weekend. We didn't even ask her...she offered! It will be so much easier especially since Payton gets really cranky while traveling.

The movers came yesterday to do a walk through so they would know just how much crap we have. It looks like they do the packing on Monday, July 25, and load on the 26th. We're renting a small U-Haul trailer to tow with us with things that we would need right away..mostly Payton's stuff. The movers won't take things like propane tanks and paint, so it goes in the uhaul too. We close on our current house on the 27th then we plan on hitting the road once that's over. I figure on three days to get to MN. I'm sure Payton won't allow us to drive more than 8 hours otherwise we would try to push on. So, we will officially be in Minnesota on July 29...hopefully.

Happy Baby at the Lake!

Busy Busy Busy

Well, we just returned from our 2 week vacation to MI. We were able to stay at Brian's parents lake house while we were there and the weather was perfect. We got a lot of skiing and tubing in. A couple of our friends from Massachusetts were able to join us and are now planning their next trip to the UP!!

Our house sold in a week and now we are off to MN this coming weekend to find a house there. (Jeannine, I will be calling soon!) Payton is staying behind with a friend because she is just not happy travelling right now. Those teeth are killing her!! She is EVERYWHERE, and is now happiest when she is "walking" along the furniture. She just turned 8 months!

It was SO nice to be on vacation that now it is so hard to get back to everything here. We will be busy the next couple of weeks. We are set to move on the 27th of this month! Goodbye New England!

Its Official!

I received an official offer from the company in MN! Everything looks good, so now all we have to do is figure out how to get there. They want me to start August 1, which doesn't leave much time to get the house ready to sell and get our stuff ready to move. I'm meeting with a real estate agent this afternoon to see if we can get our house on the market before we leave for vacation on Monday. If the house is able to be shown while were away then I won't be as worried about things. I hope it doesn't take too long to sell. So, it looks like July is the last month we'll be living in Massachusetts. We'll be sure to keep everyone posted on how everything is progressing.

Getting Closer

I received a call from the company in Minnesota yesterday and they said they want to "proceed" and asked for some references. I believe that this is the final step and I should be hearing about an official offer soon...I hope! The references are just a formality to make sure that I'm as good as I said I was. :) The people I've worked with like the work I've done, at least I think they do, so I'm not worried about anything falling apart. If everything does work out as planned, then we have a lot to do between now and when we move...and we'll be in Michigan for the next two weeks!

Welcome Jacob!

Well, Welcome to the family Jacob Garland LaVigne! Nicole and Jason have their 3rd baby as of 9:17 yesterday morning. He weighed in at 7 pounds 8 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long. They tell me he looks just like Nicholas did when he was born. Nicole had a rough day yesterday, but she is feeling great today and expecting all the visitors. It will be fun to hear how Elizabeth and Nicholas take to their new brother!

We will be there is less than 2 weeks now. We can't wait for Payton to meet her new cousin!

Goodbye Gummy Grin!

Well, Payton's gummy grin is no more! She is popping her first tooth! I thought I would be sad when it happened because she will never go back! But I am looking forward to seeing that little tooth! She doesn't seem to mind one bit either. Thank goodness! She actually has been napping more lately since she started to crawl. It is a lot of work crawling around apparently.

Other news is that we are anxiously awaiting news of my sister Nicole's new baby. She is having a scheduled C-section as we speak! I'll probably be back later with all the stats and the name! They too have been keeping it under wraps!

Hot Hot Heat

The weather has been brutal the for the last week. I think it has hit 90 five days in a row. Now, you desert dwellers can hold your tongues for a minute... I woke up this morning and it was 80 at 6:30 with 75% humidity! I'll take a dry 100 any day over 90 and humid. We had central air installed last year using the excuse that Tina was pregnant. I tell ya, it is one of the best things! Nothing quite like leaving the hot, sticky, sweaty outside and entering into cool, dry bliss. Unfortunately AC is one of those things that once you have it, you can't go back to not having it...you know, like a dishwasher.

I'm Back

I got back from MN last night around 10:30...long day! I thought the interview went pretty well. There weren't any technical questions (they did that last time) and I thought I did a decent job with the "Quality Assurance" questions. They explained the job in more detail and I was a little surprised that I would be doing quite a bit of technical troubleshooting...which is a good thing. I thought that I might have to leave the technical world behind to some degree. There is a little bit of travel involved, but not too much. A good way to rack up frequent flyer miles to take the family on vacation. All in all I think it is a good job at a good company in a good location. I'll be sure to let everyone know what their decision is.

Finally...

Well, I finally decided to write a little something. Don't expect it often:) Brian is in MN right now hopefully getting a new job! I talked to him earlier today and it seems to be going good so we will have to wait and see. Payton is keeping me on my toes here. She is EVERYWHERE! Once she realized that she could use her legs to help her along when she is on her belly she was off! Now she is always underfoot saying dadadadada. I can guess what her first word with be! Well, Brian will be back tonight and hopefully you will be reading a post soon saying that we are moving back to the Midwest.

Sudoku

I recently came across Sudoku and have found it quite addicting. It looks like a crossword puzzle, but with numbers. Since Dave was reminiscing about the daily crosswords in high school I thought I'd mention sudoku. The object is to insert the numbers in the boxes to satisfy only one condition: each row, column and 3x3 box must contain the digits 1 through 9 exactly once. All puzzles can be solved using logic...no guessing needed. Check out the link to the Daily Sudoku site and clear some time in your schedule. The harder ones can take some time!

Waiting for Vacation

We have an 11 day vacation planned at the end of June that can't come soon enough. We're heading to Michigan to stay at Petticoat Lake at the "camp" my parent bought last year. We have lots of things planned so there will be a lot of running around, but I'm sure we will be able to enjoy the lake. Tina's sister Nicole will have had her third child by then, so we'll take the three hour drive to Appleton to see them. Friends of ours (Dave and Sarah) will fly out and join us for the last week. We plan on showing them the bustling metropolis of Marquette for the fireworks. We'll also take them to Mackinac Island and meet up with Amy, Olivia, and maybe Mark. Its still over three weeks away, but mind is already in vacation mode. I'm sure all of grandparents are going to go crazy over how much Payton has changed. She's becoming very mobile and will most likely be at a full crawl by then. We're about to get very busy!

Back to MN

I'm heading back to MN for another interview at the same company but for a different job. I fly out Sunday and come back late Monday. There are actually two positions that they are considering me for...Quality Engineer and Systems Test Engineer. They both sound interesting, but would be a bit of a change from what I have been doing. Not necessarily a bad thing. These positions are much more general and could be applied to many different engineering fields. Right now I'm pretty much limited to Radars which there aren't many jobs in the Midwest. Hopefully they will be a little more prompt in letting me know their decision.