Hooray! For many reasons:)

First of all it snowed over the weekend... we have had a couple of storms, but this is the one that will leave the snow on the ground for a while! I love it! It is so crisp and clean looking out there! Although this morning it was -12 outside, that is without the wind chill! Thank goodness it was calm out there for once!

Secondly, last night Payton was ready for bed and sitting with Brian and she kept saying "icky, icky" and pulling on her diaper. So we asked her if she poopped, "no" then we checked her diaper and it was dry. Then she says "sit on toilet". Wow, you actually want to sit on your potty, that is unusual for her! She will sit there if we put her there, but she never suggests it! So of course I go in there with her and we take off her diaper and pjs. She then sits down and after about 5 seconds she starts to pee!!! This is HUGE!! She has gone on her potty before, but only after sitting there for a while and never anything substantial! Not last night! We were so proud of her! She told us she wanted to go and she did! Good Girl!

Thirdly, I had my 34 week appointment today. My BP is still great and I am up one pound, heartbeat is nice and strong, and she is measuring pretty much the same. A little early. My blood sugars have been doing good. Other than a couple since I started taken them I have been totally within normal range. So now I am going to every other day. My doctor and I talked for a while about my complications with Payton (symptoms, platelet count, weeks gestation....) and he is thinking that if I can make it to 38 weeks he will probably just deliver me. He just pretty much wants her out as soon as she "has cooked long enough" so that I don't risk any more complications at the end this time (I was 39 weeks with Payton). The longer I stay pregnant the more chance I have of developing pre-ecclampsia or HELLP again. Although the HELLP would be very rare if I developed it again, he doesn't want to take any chances. So lets hope that my cervix changes in the next 4 weeks! Then being induced will be a whole lot simpler. Not sure if I am crazy about Pitocin again, but at the same time it would be a lot better on my nerves if we had Payton all taken care of ahead of time!

Oh, Brian finished painting Payton's room yesterday! It looks awesome. Once we have all of her furniture in there I will post some photos! One more thing off our list!

So Sorry Sweetie!

So as you all know it is looking like Payton has inherited my iron deficiency anemia. We have been taking iron supplements since her 2nd birthday in November. In December she was sick almost the entire month and we were lucky to get her to take her iron once a day! Today we went in for a recheck and of course, more bloodwork. Well, first of all it seems her ear infection from December hasn't cleared so we are on round 2 of antibiotics, this time Augmentin. Then we went to have her blood drawn. The tech holding her little arm wasn't doing too great of a job and they almost had to stick her again. Good thing the tech drawing the blood was awesome and able to hold on! She has a nice little bruise which I am sure is tender.

I got a call from the nurse before we even got back for the pharmacy... her iron percentage is actually worse than ever. Everything else looks okay for now. We are waiting for another test that takes a few days to get back and that will tell us if she has some hereditary traits. She is a pretty good eater and doesn't drink a whole ton of milk so it is not due to her diet, it looks like she is just not absorbing the iron. But her pedi wants to be sure that she doesn't have a bleed so I have to pick up some stool cards and check 3 poops next week and bring them back so that they can see if there is any hidden blood. Unfortunately the iron makes her poop black so the first indicator of a bleed would never be noticed. I am sure she doesn't have that problem, but it is an non-invasive test to rule one more thing out. The fact that her iron is worse now than when we started the supplements is worriesome though. So I am feeling SO guilty for bringing this on for her. We are hoping that all the test will check out and once we finish out January with the iron we will be going on a multivitamin with iron. Hopefully that is all she needs. So it looks like her days going to the lab aren't over after all. It is getting harder each time... she seems to be remembering it now. We now just have to wait and see. The good thing is that she doesn't seem to have any signs/symptoms of the anemia... poor little squirt!

What next?!

Well, Payton really is the silliest thing! Last night Brian and I were researching on the internet for a couple of things we are going to be purchasing before the baby comes. He was sitting at the dining room table and I went to sit down next to him. Now mind you that Payton no longer uses even her booster seat. She insists on kneeling on her chair at the table at mealtimes. No big deal, but we always have it covered with a towel, our chairs are ulpolstered (sp?). I sat in "Payton's" chair. She was in the living room and started just yelling at me. She ran up to me to pull me off and then went back into the living room! Not sure when so became so possesive of that particular chair!

Right now the little stinker is calling me... not momma mind you, which is what she always calls me. Oh no, she is yelling "Tina! Tina! Tina!" She thinks she is so funny...

Favorite things

Well, Payton was pretty spoiled over Christmas and receieved a lot of beautiful things. What are her favorites? Not the things I would have expected!

The Strawberry Shortcake "moonie" (movie) that Brian's parents ran out to get her one night because she was asking for a "moonie". She wants to watch it all day long! She will go into the cabinet and pull out her Strawberry Shortcake. Although we are only letting her watch it once a day. Yesterday she didn't watch it once, that was amazing! Those songs just get in your head and stay there!

She also received a little stuffed puppy that came with a Christmas book that Brian's aunt Carol gave her. Since she opened that gift it is Bye Bye babies and all about the puppy. If is falls off her bed at night we will here her "MY PUPPY!". She cries in the mornings that she is going to daycare because she has to leave it behind. It is too cute.

Although she has a lot of fun toys, those 2 things are definite favorites right now. She was all about Play Doh up until Strawberry and the puppy arrived! Right now Payton and her puppy are watching Strawberry and she looks pretty happy:)

Time to start getting it together!!

Well, I kept telling myself that once we got through Christmas I would concentrate on getting the girl's rooms ready for our new arrival. So it looks like we have our work cut out for us. We have to paint Payton's room, finish her chest of drawers (it was my grandmother's chest from when she was first married and I grew up with it in my room) which we has been working on refinishing, make Payton's new bookcase (another of Brian's projects), dig out all of our baby clothes, toys, swing, bouncy, finish the baby quilt I started last summer........ The list going on and on. The new baby's room is already painted thank goodness so we just need to move things in there and finish some minor decorating.

I had my 32 week appointment this week and everything is looking great. I lost 2 pounds over Christmas! Now who can say that?! My blood sugars are great, so I can cut back on how often I am checking, by BP is great, my hemoglobin is not great but getting better at 10.0. I got all my pre-registration paperwork and info on the epidural (with Payton I wasn't able to get one because my platelets were dangerously low, so we will see if I can deliver without any pain meds again, I am not holding my breath!)and at 35 weeks we will have another ultrasound. Because of my borderline blood sugar issue he needs to make sure that the baby is doing well and not getting too big. Right now we are still measuring early. But so far so good. I can't believe we only have 8 weeks to go!

Whew... its good to be home...

We returned from the U.P. on Thursday. Payton was sick most of the time we were there. She was running fevers and didn't eat for about 4 days. She is back to her old tricks now though, and sassy as ever. I think that she loved all that attention. Back to reality little girl:) We all are healthy now, although I worked yesterday and they are dropping like flies there. The stomach flu is really making the rounds. I think I washed my hands a million times yesterday!

We did have a nice holiday regardless. We were able to see our families, although we didn't venture out to see friends because of our sweetie. The drive was a lot of fun being 7 months pregnant. I am glad that we aren't making that drive again any time soon! Payton was totally spoiled by her "yammy's and papa's" as well as Santa. She is actually into opening gifts now. Although she wasn't feeling the best she did have fun on Christmas.

On the way back to MN we were able to stop at our friend Amy's parents house to see Amy, Mark and the kids. That little Jonah is adorable:) Makes me excited to have a baby around again. Payton and Olivia played for a couple of hours so that made a really nice break in our drive for all of us. We finally got everything unpacked last night and it is getting back to normal around here. Now we just need to tackle all the Christmas decorations... I hate that.

I have been good about taking my blood sugars 4 times a day, and let me tell you I haven't been really watching too much. I am just sorta spreading my carbs out and my blood sugar rarely makes it over 110 so that is fantastic. I am hoping to be able to cut back the testing. I have my 32 week appointment on Tuesday.

Oh, and I am sure you will all be happy to know that we have decided on a name for our baby girl. That is a HUGE relief for me:) I am loving driving my sister Nicole nuts, we aren't telling a soul until she is born!

I can't believe this!!!

This morning Brian went to get Payton out of bed, she was awake and he likes to see her before he leaves for work. And her bed and pj's where covered in vomit!! It had been there for a while, yuck!! Not that she even seemed to notice. She had a fever of 100.4. This kid has been sick with one thing or the other for about 2 weeks! What we can't believe is that we didn't hear a peep out of her last night. She usually will whine and cry when she is going to be sick to her stomach, even in the middle of the night... Well, she hasn't eaten much today, but she has been drinking a lot and she seems to be her old self. Poor thing!! Just in time for Christmas...

30 Weeks and Counting!

Well, I had my 30 week appointment today. I had to repeat the one hour glucose test. My results were much worse! Not so bad that my doctor thinks I have gestational diabetes, but bad enough that I have to do one of 2 things. I can do the 3 hour glucose test, as I have already said I hated that with Payton (even though it was normal), or I can meet with their dietician to get tips on streching my carbs throughout the day. My doctor thinks that for me minimal diet changes will be all I need to keep that blood sugar lower after a carb boost. So I opted for the dietician. I will probably have to be doing some blood sugars at home just to monitor how it is going, so I have an appointment tomorrow and then in 2 weeks I will see my OB again and we will look it all over. I told him "real nice this is going to be over Christmas:)" ha ha... he told me that I can skip a few days in there if I want! So it isn't the worse case scenario, but I feel a little disappointed. I could just do the 3 hour and get a normal result and be done with it, but I would rather be really good for the next 10 weeks and make sure that our baby girl is okay.

We also had an ultrasound. We never got to see Payton this far into the pregnancy so it was sorta fun. My doctor confirmed again that she is a girl "I would bet my house on it", and everything is looking really good in there. She is measuring early... 1 1/2 weeks early to be exact. Whether or not she is just big or that my off dates in the beginning are coming back to haunt us we don't know. We will have to wait until February to see. I actually lost 1 pound in the last 2 weeks. So we are +4 for this pregnancy so far. I am waiting for that appointment when I will really have packed the pounds on! My BP is still awesome. So all the major things are going great, thank goodness.

On to Payton news, she is done with her eye drops! YEAH! Although she took them pretty good. Tomorrow is the last day for the antibiotics for her ears. And we are still on with the iron drops. We are back at the pediatrician in the beginning of January for more blood work and to see the doctor. I am glad that her hemoglobin is better, but these stupid iron drops aren't helping her low iron counts. So we will see what her doctor says. I am going to push for a multivitamin once these 3 months are over and no more iron drops. Her teeth are turning brown now... we are really sad about that, but it is temporary thank goodness. We have been really good at her teeth brushing too. Oh well... So overall she has been doing good. We let her open a couple of her big gifts this past weekend. We really didn't want to haul the bigger gifts to MI just to try to wedge them back into the Blazer. Santa brought her "my first dollhouse". It is fischer price, and she LOVES it!!!! I would recommend it to anyone! It has a mom, dad, and a baby and the little house is so cute!! She has been playing with it all the time, she is so cute talking with her little dolls. She loves to give the baby a "tubbie". Grandma and Grandpa Steward gave her a little basketball hoop which is a huge hit. I think she is more into the ball and playing catch than making baskets:) She will walk up to you and say "one, thee (3) catch it!" and then she proceeds to throw it at you! She is getting a little better at catching it herself too. She is such a big girl...

Name Game

I am still obsessed with naming our baby girl. Brian is not as stressed over it as me, typical! I am usually the neurotic one! Anyway we have been researching a lot online and we have a long list to choose from. Here are some of our favorites... (in no particular order) Taylor, Morgan, Allison, Quinn, Caitlyn, Paige, Veronica, Meghan, Jordan, Riley, Brianna (my favorite, but Brian's veto), and Alexis. The list grows longer every day! That is due to me not Brian! I wish that I was the calm and cool one:) We would love your input!

She is such a girl!

Brian and I laugh sometimes about how Payton can walk into a store and totally zone in on the biggest pink package in the store. We were out shopping one day and she insisted on carrying this baby doll set around with her, it was literally twice her size. She was dragging it around everywhere. We were able to sidetrack her long in enough to put it back before we left the store.

This morning Payton was playing with her kitchen and "babies". She loves to sit them at her table and "feed" them. Today she came to me and said "stinky poopie". I didn't smell anything, but sometimes she will say that just to be funny... Anyway I went into her room with her and she handed me one of her babies and said "baby stinky poopie". She then proceded to get her wipes for us to "clean" up her baby. Too cute! After all the babies had been wiped several times we were on with the tea party. Is she going to be a great big sister or what?!

Jeffrey Skilling

For those of you who don't remember the Enron scandal from a few years ago, Jeffery Skilling was the CEO. He was recently sentenced to 24 years of prison for his part and will be serving his sentence in Waseca...about two blocks from my office. This isn't huge news, but Waseca is pretty small (9000 people) so any national attention is noticed.

When it rains...

Today at work I got a phone call from Payton's daycare. Her eyes were red, draining, and she was rubbing at them all afternoon. I wonder what that could be! ha ha... I couldn't get her into her doctor today and daycare's policy is that if it is pink-eye she needs to be getting treatment for 24 hours before she can return to daycare. So we took advantage of Urgent Care in my clinic. For those of you that don't have Urgent Care (it is huge here in MN) it is basically a walk in clinic that is open extended hours. Well, our sweetie not only has pink-eye, but she has an ear infection as well. So in addition to her iron drops twice a day she now has eye drops 3 times a day and antibiotic twice a day... Our medicine cabinet is bursting! I was surprised that her eyes looked as pink as they did when I picked her up today. She was just fine this morning. And the ear infection is just beginning the doctor said. Good thing we caught it early. It hasn't been bothering her at all, although she is always poking her ears... Well, she hasn't had an ear infection in a year so that is good. And we were just over the stomach bug... Looks like Brian and I will have to split the day tomorrow to be home. Unfortunatly Brian has a meeting and Tuesdays are huge chemo days for us at my job. But we will make it work, anything for that little girl:)

Busy Weekend

Payton had her Christmas program for daycare on Friday night. The toddlers are so funny! Her teachers asked us not to sit on the aisle so that the toddlers would actually get up on the stage. They all looked so cute, but of course they didn't do much. Fortunately the toddler group was with the next age group (3 year olds) who actually did the hand motions and singing. They were super cute though. As you can see, Payton was just looking around like "what are we doing up here?". She didn't see us until they were making there way back down the aisle, and then I had to follow her out! It was a nice evening though. We had fun.

Last night our neighbor's daughter came over the babysit and Brian and I pretty much finished our Christmas shopping. It feels SO good to have it done! And although Payton was a mess when we got home (she had her dinner from 3 hours earlier all over her face) she was pretty happy with her newest babysitter. Not sure if I am though! I don't expect you to do the dishes and clean up my house, but seriously, wipe the kid's face please! And PJs at 8pm would be nice! Oh, well. Payton had fun it seemed and she usually is very shy with babysitters. We don't get babysitters too often, but next time I will probably be calling our other one.

Now I have to tackle the Christmas wrapping. Our family room floor is just covered with all our paper, ribbons, tags.... I just can't do too much at once. I lose interest!

Baby update...

So here is the scoop from my appointment today. I figured that my last post was long enough! I had to break it up:) I am just about 28 weeks and the pain and pressure has continued, but not gotten any worse. Not is seems that muscle cramping has taken over. One of my calves is hurting daily. This pregnancy is so much different than Paytons! Other than the first 3 months of nausea/vomitting with her I was golden until week 39. I will take any symptom this pregnancy gives me if I don't have the complications that we had with Payton.

So my blood pressure is doing just awesome! He is convinced that my elevated BP after having Payton was an OB issue not a cardovascular one. So that is great news! He asked me if I felt that I was a lot bigger this time around, and of course I do! I have only gained 5 pounds over pre-pregnancy, but this belly is HUGE:) He said that my uterus is measuring a little earlier than 2-28-07. He is okay with that because my dates were really goofed up so it took him a couple of appointments to give me a due date. And he would rather me be measuring earlier rather than later at this point. So next appointment I have another ultrasound so that he can look at the placenta and make sure everything looks good in there. We will see how those measurements date me. We need a little bit of a heads up because my parents need to be here for Payton. Her heartbeat was great and she obviously wasn't loving that probe on my stomach because she kept kicking at it. Too funny.

I had my blood sugar done and the cut off for "normal" is 130-140 one hour after that drink. I was at 135. So next visit I have to do it again, this time fasting. I am so glad that he isn't making me do that 3 hour glucose tolerance test. I did that with Payton and it was torture, but the results were normal. He said that was the good news...

Of course they took my hemoglobin and it was low at 9.3. BIG surprise! I was expecting him to put me on iron supplements soon anyway. Not that they do much for me, but I will take them anyway. Any little bit helps right!

Here we go again...

Last week on Friday I had a meeting at work so Payton was in daycare that day. I decided that I would knock off some of our Christmas shopping. I was on a mission! I was all over town buying the things that we knew for sure we need to buy. So now we just have the "what do I get them?" gifts left. I have a feeling we will be out on Christmas Eve this year! I went to pick up Payton and her teachers (I don't know if I mentioned that I really LOVE her teachers in the toddler room!) told me that she was "quite the character" that day. Laughing, walking funny, making funny faces... she has been in such a great mood lately! Saturday was more of the same, we went to swimming lessons and then shopping later in the day (a complete bust I might add!). Sunday morning we had to get up early to go to church. We had to be there early because we were asked to light the first candle of the advent wreath. Then we were off to the Owatonna Hockey pancake breakfast Brian had bought tickets for. We met a couple of friends from my work there and one had said that her husband was home with their youngest (he is 3 1/2) who was up all night with the stomach flu. Poor guy! Later that afternoon Brian said she must have jinxed us! Payton woke up from her nap crying and before I could get her to the bathroom we were both covered. Of course Brian was out at the store! He has yet to be around when she throws up! Lucky for him he was witness to more later that day. She didn't really eat that night just drank and Monday morning she seems all better. I picked her up last night from daycare and they said that other than she seemed tired in the morning she was her happy little self. She ate a good dinner and off to bed last night. This morning I had a doctor's appointment and Payton needed her blood drawn again so when she hadn't gotten up at 8:30 I went in to get her. She was just flaccid when I got her dressed and refused to eat anything and didn't say a word. For all of you that know our Payton that is NOT like her! I called Brian and work and we decided that since she didn't have a fever and was drinking some juice that I would just go ahead to the appointments. We had to leave by 9:30 to get to the first appt. on time. Brian's work is about a 25 minutes drive. At 9:15 I heard Payton cough a little and I took one look at her and KNEW what was coming. Again, we didn't make it in time! I called Brian to get home. I didn't want to miss that appointment with my OB because I had already drank that horrid glucose drink and needed to be there to get my finger stick. He flew home and I was only 5 minutes late. Now Payton is just laying on the couch looking totally pathetic... Thank goodness I am off today and tomorrow! Hopefully Brian and I will stay healthy!

Long Weekend...

I don't know if we mentioned that Brian was in Arizona all last week for a class. I personally think he had a mini vacation! He went alone, but recognized a couple of people that were in the first part of the class that he went to last February in Texas. So they had a lot of fun after class. At least is sounded like it, every time I talked to Brian they were on their way somewhere else:) And he said the class was pretty good too! I must say that I really don't know how single parents do it! I know that I am just pooped from being pregnant, but it was just an exhausting week for me. Brian was supposed to go to Malaysia again in 2 weeks, but the build that he needs to be there for is delayed until January. HA HA! I told him that there is NO way he is going anywhere after the first of the year. The last thing we need is for him to be 30 hours away by air if something happens! Thankfully he has a awesome boss that understands Brian has a crazy pregnant wife at home:)

Hope that you all had a full and happy Thanksgiving! We had Jeannine over for dinner and had a nice day. (by the way Jeannine, Payton was asking for you the next morning:)) Lots of food and football. What more could you ask for!

I had to work on Friday so Brian had Payton all to himself for the entire day. That doesn't happen too often with me only working part-time. They came to see me at work which was nice and Brian said they had a good day. Her vocabulary is just exploding lately. It is SO nice to actually understand what she wants! She has been making requests for dinner:) She has a little cold right now, of course, so her little voice has been scratchy. We took her last weekend to have her 2 year photos taken. She did wonderful. She loved that photographer! We got a ton of smiles:) We are picking them up next weekend so we will have to post them then.

Brian is doing good. He went to see his doctor this week to check out his toe and get a flu shot. All looks good there. It is looking pretty normal and the bruising is almost gone now.

I have been feeling pretty much the same. Rolling over at night has become torture! Last night I almost woke Brian to just push me over because it was just too painful for me. 3 months left and counting...

Brian finished putting out our outdoor Christmas lights yesterday. It looks good. We dug out our indoor decorations and are slowing getting that together. I love this time of year:)

What a pair...

Last week I brought Payton to have a repeat blood test. They had to stick her in the arm this time, and I was anticipating the scream fest that we had last year. But that little munchkin didn't make a peep. She didn't move or make a sound. Good girl!! I was impressed, considering two of us were holding her down and a third was sticking her. The doctor's office called to tell us that her bloodwork is consistent with iron defiency anemia. Looks like we are probably in for the long hall with replacement iron...

Well, for those of you that I haven't talked to I have officially "popped" a big belly. By the time I leave work I can barely get into the car I am in so much pain. That isn't easy when I have to go and pick up a toddler who almost knocks me over when I get to daycare! By the end of the day I am pretty much done. Last week Payton was playing with her blocks on the living room floor and I couldn't even sit down on the floor to play with her. If I do make it down, I can't get back up. And I still have 3 months left! I went to the doctor today and my BP is still doing great 110/70, baby heartbeat is 140. Now I would SWEAR that I have gained 20 pounds in the past month with the pain and pressure I have been having. Turns out I have only gained 2 pounds. My doctor checked me out and the good news is that everything is looking normal. So I am back to see him in 3 weeks for my glucose challenge test. Such fun...

Well, as for the other sad partner in the Steward house... Brian broke one of his toes on Saturday. I have seen some sick things, but that little toe hanging off his foot sideways was totally disgusting! We thought it was just dislocated, but after I attempted to "put it back" (I still can't believe he wanted me to do that!) and it was still dangling there we made a trip to the ER so the doctor could pop it back in place. Well, it wasn't dislocated, just broke completely in half. So now he is sporting a fancy (by fancy I mean hideous:)) new shoe and he is all taped up. We are a sorry bunch, poor Payton has a couple of gimps for parents right now!

Payton is 2 Years Old!!

Payton turned 2 on Friday. I can't believe she is 2 already! Time goes too fast! I took her to her 2 year well child check-up on Friday and she was SO good. She had a flu shot and Hep A vaccine and didn't even cry. She let Dr. Katy examine her and didn't make things difficult. The pediatrician puts flouride on her patients teeth every 3-6 months so Payton had that done as well. Again, she did great. We then had to go to the lab so she could get a hemoglobin and lead level drawn. Last year she screamed when we did this. This time she actually laughed and held her other hand up to the tech once the bandaid was on. She wanted to do it again! Crazy girl. Last year Payton had a low hemoglobin and we had to go back for a few more blood draws (they took us into the back room to hold her down:( and she took iron drops for 3 months. This year she eats well and is crazy about meat so I thought we would be great. Well, the nurse called and her hgb is even lower this year at 10.2 (last year she was 11.5 I think...). So we are back on iron drops and have to go back later this week and then in a month for more blood work. I shouldn't be surprised, I have had anemia problems all my life. I was hoping that Payton wouldn't have that trouble, but it looks like she will. I just hate those iron drops, they smell like a rusty pipe and they can stain her teeth. She isn't too thrilled with them either. Oh, well. We will just have to deal with it... Oh, her stats are: weight 25 pounds 11 ounces (30 percentile), lenght 33.5 inches long (45 percentile).

My parents and my older sister Nicole and her family came for the weekend. We had the usual cake and presents. Payton got a new kitchen from us and Val and Nick. She LOVES that thing! We put it in her bedroom and she actually played in her bedroom all weekend long! She also go a few new baby dolls. Aunt Nicole and Uncle Jason gave her one that cries and laughs. So she is always saying "baby crying momma". Guess we will have to get used to that! Nicole and Jason are her Godparents and they also have her a Precious Moments 2 years figurine. It us just beautiful. She got a ton of new clothes too. Those toddler girl clothes have got to the be the cutest ever:)

She is getting SO good with her words. Although Grandma and Grandpa are "yammy" and "Papa"! She was standing on her chair at breakfast this weekend (she rejected her booster seat) yelling "WANT MORE SAUSAGE"! So cute:)

The Cutest Witch on Mossy Creek Drive...

As you can see, our Payton was the cutest little witch tonight. Brian took her out to a few of the neighbor houses. We had to show her off of course. They got a kick out of her! She then proceded to eat some candy, we bribed her away from her trick or treating pail with a nice warm bath. It was 29 degrees out there tonight!

Well, we have a new Godson! Our friend Amy had a baby boy on Monday. Jonah Christopher weighed in at 9 pounds 9 ounces! Can't wait to see photos:) We are so happy for them. Olivia is going to be such a great big sister! Amy is doing great too.

Tomorrow Payton has a little friend from down the street coming over the play. Ava is a couple of months younger than Payton and her mom and I have been talking about getting the girls together for a while. We will see if they can share:) It should be fun.

Painting fools...

This weekend Brian and I decided to finish some painting projects that we have been thinking about for a LONG time! We finished painting the baby's room. It is a really nice yellow. Not quite as bright as Payton's old room in MA! All of our crib stuff is blue and yellow with the moon and stars. That yellow just looks awesome with our wood trim. We even hung curtains... my family is here this weekend so we figured we could give them some privacy:) We decided on a green accent wall in our bedroom. It is a dark almost olive color. Which our gold and green bedding and red drapes and pillows it looks awesome!!! We now have to start Payton's room. We have the paint, it is called dancing green from Sherwin Williams. It is a darker lime color. Thanks Jeannine! She had some leftover from her house and it is the perfect color to go with Payton's bedding. We officially took out her crib this weekend too. She hasn't slept in it for about a month. It looks so weird in there without it!!!


Oh, for those of you thinking "what is the pregnant lady doing painting?". My doctor told me that as long as we stick to latex, water based paints I can do whatever I want. He said I could go over to his house to touch up his walls if I wanted to. ha ha! The green paint in our room Brian felt had a stronger smell to it so I wasn't in on that one. Not that I am complaining:)

Obsessed...

Here is a photo of our new sofa. We love it! We were a little nervous about how it would fit in our living room, but it fits great. And we still have our other sofa and ottoman in there until my family comes next week. We are going to put them to work moving furniture into our family room:)

Okay, so we are obsessed with coming up with another girl name! It seems like the couple of names we thought were the best just don't seem right anymore! We like something different every day. Thank goodness we have 4 months to come up with something. Payton was easy for us to pick out because we love that name so much, so hopefully we will be able to find one that we like just as much:) There are so many great ones to choose from. We seem to like the more uncommon names, so hopefully our girls won't mind that! I am looking forward to driving my sister Nicole crazy once we have it picked out, we aren't going to tell anyone. She is rooting for Addison Nicole... not one of our favorites by the way:)

Oh, and I am also SO obsessed as to when our great friend Amy is going to have our new god-baby! She was due on Monday... no word yet. You are driving me crazy Aim! Although if you haven't had the baby yet, you are probably feeling way more crazy than I am:)

and the baby's name is.....

We asked Payton what her little sister's name should be tonight after dinner. She replied "cookie"! I guess we'll keep searching.

Payton's first swim...

Well, Payton started swimming lessons last Saturday. She did okay. Brian went into the pool with her, no maternity suits for me! She whined a little for about 10 minutes, but she eventually eased up her grip on Daddy. We go for a half hour every Saturday into December. So she has plenty of time to get used to it!

We got a call today that our new sofa is in! I am thrilled! We just have to call and set up delivery. Hopefully soon!

Well, as some of you know our neighborhood babysitter moved in August. She is the first actual teenage babysitter we ever used to Payton, so we were really sad to see her go. She was a great girl. We are going out to dinner with friends on Saturday and I thought I would try another gal, she is a college student, that our neighbor uses for her kids. Well, she moved about 30 minutes away to be closer to her school. My neighbor was sad about it too, she was the last one on her list too:( So we are stuck with no babysitters around here! I hate to use someone that I don't know anything about. I liked to know that my sitter has parents very close that are always home while they are sitting for us. Oh, well. There is a new teenage girl just down the street... I will have to get in with her parents I guess. And our little sweetie is coming out to dinner with us:)

Baby number 2...

We had our 20 week ultrasound on Friday. My BP is still awesome so I don't have to go for another 5 weeks. My doctor said I am about to get very popular at the office because I will have to start coming a lot more often after the next visit. And we will get one more ultrasound before it is over just to make sure that baby is doing well. After all my troubles with Payton he is keeping a close eye on me. I do BP checks at work so I can see a trend in any changes there and call him. We didn't have an ultrasound after 20 weeks with Payton, so that will be fun. Everything looks good and SHE was just moving all over. So precious. That's right everyone, we are having another baby girl! We truly didn't care which way it went with the boy/girl thing. We are just thrilled that Payton is going to have a little sister to play with. Growing up with 2 sisters both within a couple of years of me was so nice. Now we don't have to feel guilty with all the pink/purple stuff we have or are yet to buy! The only thing that would have been just fantastic to have a boy is that we had a name all picked out. Girls names are so much harder... now we will have to start thinking:)

Big day for Payton!

Yesterday was Payton's first haircut, at the salon. I have trimed the back a couple of times to even it out. Thank goodness for that curly hair. It is so forgiving! I took her to the salon and stylist that I go too. Lately she has been saying "owie!" when I am combing her hair. The ends are so tangled in the morning and after her bath. So we went and although she refused to put the cape on and she had to sit in my lap, she did wonderful. Wendy was actually able to cut it all, and even to boot! Payton really didn't move much. Her treat for being so good was a ring pop that Daddy bought for her. I didn't know they still made those lollipops shaped like a huge gem ring, but she LOVED it. The only other time she has had a lollipop was when Brian brought her into the liquor store and the sales lady gave her one. She was a sticky mess, but so cute!

And then last night she actually slept in her toddler bed! She slept that whole night through the first night we put her in there, but not since. That was over a week ago. She hasn't even fallen asleep in there again until last night. We are so proud of her! She didn't wake up once, she actually slept until 7:30 this morning. AWESOME! Lets hope that it wasn't a fluke again this time!

Yeah for the pumpkin lady!

I received a call from one of my neighbors last Friday telling me about a woman who lives on a farm here in Owatonna that does outdoor decorations. She has pumpkins, hay bales, corn shucks, indian corn, gourds.... She will deliver right to your door, the prices are good, and the best part is that at the end of the season she will come and pick it all up and dispose of it for you. I was thrilled! We love this time of year and honestly what do you do with a hay bale when you are done with it? I gave her a call and she just dropped off our order. She delivered to most of our neighborhood today. She was going to set is up for us even, but I told her that we would do it. We have to make it a little fun:) Hopefully it won't rain before we can get it done. I am super happy! We will have to take a photo of our handiwork. Although, she did give me tips on how to arrange everything.

Sorry it took us so long!

So we have been back from NE for a week, and I am finally able to sit down and blog. Although Payton will probably be hounding me soon!

We had a great mini-vacation in NE. We got there on Thursday night and were able to stay with David and Sarah, and our friends Nick and Andi (along with their 2 year old son Alex) had dinner with all of us and we had a great evening catching up. Nick and Andi were actually here in MN in August, so it was so fun to see them again so soon.

Friday we were running all over the place. We had lunch at our favorite bar/grill with Bryan and Ronni, Mark and Kelly, Sarah and David, and us. Did I mention that there were 3 babies under 6 months and 2 toddlers along too. It was chaos, but in a good way. I think I am relaxing, because I didn't feel stressed at all. Although I am sure our waitress did! We then were off to drive to Dracut and look at our old house and neighborhood. Still looks the same. Then we were able to visit my good friend Lori. For those of you that haven't heard me talk about her, she worked with me on nights at Lowell General and she also babysat Payton 1 day a week so that I could sleep after my shift and Payton would not have to go into daycare. She was a godsend!!! Anyway, her girls are in 1st and 2nd grade now. They seem to have grown so much in the last year! Payton had a ball playing with them and Lori and I were able to catch up. Our other friend and former co-worker Carrie also came over with her almost 2 year old son Kiran. She is also pregnant with number 2. Small world:)
From there it was to the Deluca's for pizza with the Halls as well. We had a fun visit. Matt is only 2 months younger than Payton so they have all the fun toys and a toddler proof house:)

Saturday was the day of rest we like to think. We just hung out with David, Sarah and Ian (2 months) and went for a huge seafood lunch. I ate myself sick! It was totally worth it! It was nice to actually spend some down time with them. Payton sure does love all the babies. Although I think she was making Sarah a little nervous with all the hugs and kisses she was trying to give Ian:) Saturday evening we went over to Bryan and Ronni Cavener's house. Little Jill is almost 6 months, and she is just a doll. Payton got a kick out of her too, and I must say that Jill got a kick out of Payton. Payton was doing her usual hug and kiss routine and Jill was looking at her like "who is this girl", and "why can't I get around like that". So cute. We had out annual take-out food/scary movie fest that we try to do every fall with the Caveners. Keith and Jean Huie joined us too. They look great and we had a fun night. Although I would NEVER recommend Wolf Creek to anyone!!!

Sunday morning Bryan and Ronni hosted a brunch for us and all our friends made it! We had 10 adults, 3 toddlers, 3 babies and 2 unborn babies. It was so overwhelming to know that all of our friends really cleared their weekend to spend as much time with us as possible. We didn't expect that, but truly appreciated it. We went out visit everyone that we missed, and we were able to do that and then some! It really didn't feel like it had been over a year since we had been there. Thanks to everyone who hosted/visited us while we were in town. We miss you all.

Oh, by the way, Payton did awesome. Other than the first night of crying she was great. Both plane rides were great. Although on Saturday night when we were at the Caveners and Payton started to scream, then Jill started to scream I thought we were going to be in for it. But they both settled down and we had a fun adult night!

We aren't sure when we will make it back again, so we were able to fit a lot into just few days. We really do have great friends in NE. They are the one sad thing about coming back to MN. Although we were glad to get back home:) Now we are working on getting Payton into her toddler bed... not going too well. Any pointers??

That stinker, literally...

Last night was Payton's bath night, but we were out at one of our church classes and didn't get home until after 8pm so we decided to put Payton straight to bed and I would give her a bath this morning. I think Brian loved that one, he didn't have to help! And that girl slept until almost 8am. I loved that! Anyway I got her in the tub this morning and I get carried away with the bubbles! Brian usually fills the tub and puts a good amount of bubbles in, not too many. Payton loved all those bubbles this morning. Probably because she made a deposit into the tub and mama couldn't see it until it was time to get out. That girl pooped in the tub. She has only done that one other time that I can remember! I guess I wasn't thinking that she usually does poop in the morning. So I had to clean the tub and she was not happy that I didn't let her help rinse it out like Daddy lets her. Serves her right! And then the stinker refused to put her diaper on until she sits on her potty for quite a while. Of course doing nothing in the potty. Gotta love kids.

We are leaving for NE tomorrow. I am so looking forward to a plate full of seafood!

New sofa

As most of you know when Brian and I bought this house we had our builder finish the basement for us. Although it took 6 MONTHS to complete it really did turn out great. We have a spare bedroom, full bath and a huge family room down there, as well as a good size storage room. And in the family room other than one chair, our eliptical, and a couple desks for the compter and sewing machine it is totally empty. Anyway, I have been after Brian to agree to let us move our current living room furniture down there and buy new for the living room. I think Brian really wanted to just get new downstairs. We have been sorta looking slowly, and last weekend we sucked it up and bought a sectional sofa. We debated the sectional, but our living room is really large and it is the perfect set up for in there. Anyway, Brian is a little nervous about the size of the sofa I think! The sofa is 14 feet long:) We decided on microfiber after my sisters just rave about it. So anyway, in 8-12 weeks we will have our massive sofa delivered. I will have to post photos when we get it! Now my only stress is whether or not our sofa and loveseat will actually fit through the door to get downstairs! Brian of course isn't worried about that part! We had a sleeper sofa at our last house that was such a trial to get into our attic that we sold it with the house... ha ha...

First class...

Well, Brian and I have decided to become members at a Lutheran church here in Owatonna. Last night was our first new member class. There are 5 in all. It gives us all a chance to meet some of the staff and to get a good feel about the beliefs of the church, and meet other new members. There are about 30 of us. They have their nursery open which I was nervous about at first, you know me:) But the class is only 1 1/2 hours and Payton did GREAT. She was running and climbing all over the place apparently. She loves to climb on anything! When we are at my sister Nicole's she climbs the ladder into the top bunk. Didn't know she could do that until Brian walked in on her already half way up! Gotta keep a close eye on that one:)

I am feeling pretty good. I think that I am already feeling some movement from the baby. I love that! My headaches are still here, and I am trying to not use Tylenol too much.

I hate work (this week anyway!)

Our cardiology nurse at work is on a 3 week vacation and I am the only other nurse in our entire clinic that knows how to do her job. I trained with her this spring knowing that I would fill in. I really don't like it at all! She is coming back next Wednesday and I can't wait! I miss my chemo patients! I leave my desk for lunch and in that hour 5 different things that need to done are waiting for me. I don't know how she does this job daily! I don't have enough time in the day to get it all done. Today is supposed to be my day off, but I have to go in this afternoon to do a few stress tests. Apparently I am the only one (other than the nurse on vacation) that knows how to do them! ARGH!

Okay, enough venting. Just a few more days! Things at home are going well. I am starting to feel uncomfortable, probably due to the growing belly. My doctor tells me that I will probably be more so this pregnancy because my body has been through this before. I am starting to have a little more energy. Although by 9:30 pm I am pooped.

Well, Payton is grabbing my hand to come with her. She is having a crabby morning...

Hello Moto

Its official, I am now a Motorola employee. Things will gradually be changing over in the next few months but day to day operations should be business as usual.

Wedding Weekend

My sister Val got married last weekend in Green Bay. We had a very good time, her new husband is just wonderful! Payton did very well! She was the cutest thing ever! I can't tell you how many people came up to us at the wedding to say how beautiful she is. Which we already know of course! During the entire service she just wandered between Brian and I. My sister Nicole ended up carrying her back down the aisle. I walked right past her hoping that one of the mom's would grab her. No such luck:) She loved the dancing! She was so pooped by the time we left.

I had my 14 week appoinment with my doctor today. Have I mentioned that I just love my new OB? Well, I really do. He has a great sense of humor and of course he is a really good doctor too. Next appointment we will hopefully find out the sex of this little person. He told me to think about whether or not I wanted to know. OF COURSE WE DO! Brian will come with and finally meet the doctor and see that baby. First time I heard the heartbeat was today, and I will say it was just as cool as with Payton. My blood pressure remains excellent 110/60. So I can wait 5 more weeks before I have to go back. My headaches are still a nag, but it is better than nausea...

Headache woes...

Well, I am over my 12 week mark in this pregnancy and I think that my nausea is passing now. With Payton I was still pretty sick at around 17 weeks, so this is awesome! Although I have been having headaches daily. I NEVER have headaches. Not even with my first pregnancy. My blood pressure is doing great, actually it is low for me. So it is just those damn hormones that are pulsing in my head. Better than nausea, so I really can't complain (too much that is:)).

We got another lovely note from Payton's teacher again today! She is really trying to test her limits. Man, it would really stink to be a teacher in the toddler room! Can you imagine 6-10 toddlers at once? Those gals are saints!

We are off to WI this weekend for my sister Val's wedding. It is going to be outside, so hopefully it will be nice weather! I am STILL searching for shoes for Payton, she is a flower girl. I still have a few days...

Terrible 2's???

Over the weekend Brian and I noticed that Payton was being very defient (?) for her anyway. She usually is very good about listening when we ask her to put something away and that sort of thing. We are still struggling with the holding our hands in public and on the street, but that we aren't too worried about. Although as my belly gets bigger is may be harder to scoop her up when she plants her butt in the middle of the road! Anyway, on Tuesday I picked her up for daycare and the toddlers were just coming in from outside (Payton loves to pour sand over her head and of course that day her head was just loaded! We HATE that!) and I heard her teacher saying "Payton, we are going this way... Payton over here..." Oh, boy. They always give us a little "report card" for the day letting us know how she ate, slept, played, diapered. On this particular day at the very bottom is said "Payton was very sensitive today and would not take direction and listen to her teachers." Of course is sounded all nice, but basically her teacher told me that she could go in the opposite direction of the class, sit down and refuse to move, just not listen in general. This is a new thing at daycare. That stinker! Of course she isn't even 2 yet, and this sort of thing isn't unusual for them, but it is frustrating for us.

The county fair is in town this week, and for all of you that have never lived in the Midwest, the fair is HUGE! The Steele County Fair is actually a really big and nice fair. The town basically shuts down and families are there every day. It is funny. Yesterday Payton went to the fair with daycare to look at all the animals and that sort of thing. They tell me she did great. Thank god! I was worried about her after Tuesday! We will have to make it out there over the weekend. It can't be known that we didn't go to the fair! Some of my patients tell me that our fair is the best around and they save their fair going time until the one in Owatonna opens! It is so funny!!

I hate construction!!!

As we have posted before the lot next door is being developed as we speak. They are working on the foundation and that huge mixer they have usually wakes us up every morning. Our bedroom and Payton's bedroom are on that side of the house. Usually they are going at around 7am. So that isn't too bad because we are usally getting ready for work, and if I am not working that day I usually am up anyway because if I don't eat something the second I wake up my stomach rejects me the rest of the day! Anyway, yesterday we had to work and they weren't working at all. So of course this morning there was a LOUD delivery at 6:15am! Of course Payton woke up, who in the neighborhood didn't... So I am hoping that it will rain today so that Payton will actually be able to take a good nap this afternoon. That has been another issue!

We had our friends Nick and Andi over this past weekend. We were THRILLED to see them! It had been over a year. And their son Alex is not the baby we remember:) It was so nice to spend time with them. Although now we miss them more! We are really looking forward to our trip to NE this September now! Here is a couple photos of the kids at the park...

Payton's new shirt...

So now that most of you know the "big" news we can finally fill you in on the details. Our baby is due on February 28, 2007. Or so we think... he he. We were totally unsure of dates and my new OB assures me that he can get within a week by ultrasound. So after some blood work and a couple of ultrasounds we are right on target for that due date. This pregnancy feels pretty similar to Payton's so far. Although the morning sickness started earlier. It doesn't seem too bad yet... I seem to have some little "tricks" that are helping. And I am WAY more tired. Thankfully Payton has been a good girl for us:)

Well, Payton is calling. Seems she just went "poopy"! ha ha...

Good Girl!

We are starting to get more into the potty training lately. Payton went number 2 on her potty this morning! I was THRILLED! I had to call Brian and work and let him know! ha ha...

All is good here. I have been sick with a sore throat and fever the last couple of days. But today seems better. Thankfully Payton has been a little angel for me. Yesterday she took a 5 hour nap! What is up with that! I had to go in there and check on her to make sure she was okay! Just tired I guess.

One year ago...

...we were on our way from Massachusetts to Minnesota.
The last year sure has gone by quickly!

Night-time woes...

Well, Lisa since you are having such a good time with your girls at night, we are regressing with the night time sleeping! Payton does just beautiful going to sleep. We get into her pjs, she loves to brush her teeth and then gives me a kiss says "bye-bye", waves and walks right into her room with Brian and after another hug and kiss from him she is out. She usually is great and sleeps until about 7am without a peep. Lately she has been waking up at least once and then decides at 5am (every morning) that it is time to get up. We usually let her cry a bit and if she doesn't go back to sleep, then we go and lay next to her crib for a few minutes until she calms down. She plays her fisher-price aquarium a few times and then she is asleep again. I know it isn't horrible, but the 5am thing every day is getting old! That stinker! She has had an nice cough and a cold for about a week. It seems that every time we are away from home for any length of time she seems to miss us at night or something. This started when we got back from vacation. Hopefully it will be over soon and she will get back to normal!

On other news, they are finally developig the empty lot next door. It is the only lot on our street that doesn't have a house on it yet. Although there are still a few that haven't been sold. So it looks like we will be living with the windows closed for a while. I hate that dust that gets into everything!

Hooray for Payton!

Well, as a lot of you know we have SLOWLY been introducing Payton to potty training. She gets put on the potty at daycare several times a day so we decided then that we should start trying to do more of it at home. She has never gone in the potty at daycare. She loves to sit on her one at home. Last night when we were getting her bath ready I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty. Of course she did, she loves to use tons of TP! ha ha. She is so silly. She was on there for all of 5 seconds. And when she stood up we couldn't believe it. That stinker went on the potty! She was probably thinking "what is the big deal guys, don't you do this all the time?". We were thrilled. Probably just a fluke again, but we will take it!

busy, busy, busy...

We have been home for a little over a week (and we have all had a cold that entire time) and Friday we leave for WI. We just finished unpacking from our vacation to the UP! My younger sister Val is getting married next month so we have to do some celebrating for that, and Nicole's baby Jacob just turned a year old. So another birthday party:) Payton always has a lot of fun over there. All those toys that aren't hers!

We have been meaning to get tickets for New England for the fall and finally booked them this week. So everyong in MA and NH, we will be there September 21-24. It was fortunate that we were able to book a non-stop flight. So we can strap Payton in her carseat and she will be good to go until we get there. Hopefully!

This weekend was a scorcher in MN. We were thrilled yesterday to finally be able to open the windows in the evening again. I just love that fresh air:)

We also heard this week that our friends Nick and Andi from MA will be making the trek out to MN to visit the beginning of August! YIPPEE! Nick has family here in MN so we luck out:) We are so happy about that! We haven't seen the majority of our friends out there in almost a year. Lots to catch up on guys! Our good friends Mark and Kelly had their baby girl Jillian last week. Congrats guys!

Motorola

Tina mentioned it a little while ago, but here's the whole scoop on Motorola buying NextNet...

NextNet has been around for about 5 years but a little over a year ago they were puchased by Clearwire. Clearwire is basically an ISP so they would buy NextNet hardware to build out their networks but NextNet could also still supply their previous customer's with hardware as well. NextNet was considered a "wholly owned subsidiary". Craig McCaw is the owner of Clearwire...he's some billionaire who had originally started up what was to become AT&T wireless or something. This was good for NextNet since there was plenty of money to put into the company to make it grow...and it has. There are probably at least 15 new employees since I started and for a company of about 130 that's pretty good!

Now comes Motorola. They've been buying up a few companies to get into the WiMax business but none of them have really been proven and don't have any real number of users. The NextNet equipment doesn't quite adhere to the WiMax standard, but the technology works and there is a large paying customer base inplace. So Motorola found this attractive and can get into the market right away. Clearwire gets a good deal out of it because in addition to Motorola investing in Clearwire, Intel is also on board for twice as much investment as Motorola. The idea is to get the few technologies Motorola has been acquiring together to get a product that can do it all. So Motorola gets a pretty good deal by acquiring the technology, Clearwire gets a pretty good deal by having large investors to expand into more markets. NextNet...well, nobody's convinced that the deal is all that great for NextNet. There are concerns over relocation and consolodation, but Motorola assured us that there are no plans to move anyone [yet]. Everyone will be retained and will be kept at their current salary levels (except maybe some of the big-wigs...they might get a sweeter deal). The benifits will get a little better but the details haven't been brought around yet (401k match of 6% for instance).

The close date should be in about 30-60 days, so by September we will be Motorola emplyees. I don't expect too many changes at first, but we will have to implement new policies and procedures and I expect some documentation changes such as ECO's. We probably won't get free pop any more either! There were a lot of concers from those who have stock options (not me). Sounds like they're getting a little screwed in the deal but that's primarily due to government regulations since the Enron scandal.

So, that's it in a nutshell. I went from a large company to a small one back to a big one! I checked the websites and Motorola has fewer employees compared to Raytheon (63000 vs 80000), but Motorola is a $30 billion business compared to Raytheon at $20 billion.

As a side note...when I was finishing up at Tech I wanted to work for Motorola.

Then and now...

These photos are of Payton during our summer vacation at the lake, last year and last week. She has changed a little:)

Our Vacation...

We just got back last night from our week at the lake...

We had such a nice vacation. The weather was good enough for Brian to get in some water-skiing and for Payton to play in her pool. You didn't think our princess could handle that chilly lake water did you?! ha ha... She actually was loving the pool so much she cried when it was time to go in. That is a new one. Payton made it through several boat rides and this year she seemed to enjoy them a little more.

Our good friends David and Sarah (link at right) had their first child Ian Alexander on the fourth of July. What a great birthday! Dave had called us at the lake while Sarah was still in labor just to keep us posted (the lake house doesn't have internet) and I was OBSESSED with how everything was going! We were so happy to hear from them the next day and Sarah and baby were doing well. Congrats guys!

Brian got some interesting news from work. He got a call on Wednesday telling him about an all employee meeting that day and the 1-800 number to call in for it. He was on the call for about an hour to learn that his company NextNet Wireless is being bought by Motorola (sorry if I didn't spell that right)! He has several meetings this week which I am sure he will update on. Not sure right now what is happening. I was teasing Brian because while we were in college he always said he would like to work to Motorola. Guess he is going to get that wish!

Payton now has 2 new favorite words, grapes and cookie. Always about food right:)

Payton's parade...

Here are a couple of photos of Payton from her 4th of July parade at daycare today. It was pretty cute. She had a good time:)

We are leaving to the UP in the morning to spend a week at the lake. We are really looking forward to it. Should be fun. I just found out that one of my friends from high school will be in town. I haven't seen Laurie in over 7 years I think!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Hard at work...

We have been busy around here lately. Over the weekend we were able to get a little more landscaping done on the east side of the house. Brian really wanted to get the landscaping in around the air conditioner and the gas meter to cut down the amount of hand trimming he has to do. We did manage to get that done and planted a miss kim lilac bush and an evergreen shrub. It turned out great. On Sunday I decided that it was time to start painting the kitchen. The white was starting to get old. I finished about 2/3 of it now. It is a really nice warm brown/gray color. It looks great with the 2 red walls in there. It is funny how a coat of paint (or in our case 2-3 coats) can really change a room!

Payton has decided that 5am is a good time to start waking up. Yesterday Brian actually just took his pillow and laid down next to her crib and she did lay back down. Today she actually slept until 7am. That was HUGE! The early sunrises are not making it easy for her to go back to sleep!

Last night we were working on getting Payton to say her name. Right now she says Paytee. Super cute I know, but when we asked her if she could say Payton she just nods her head. I wasn't sure if she was just nodding for the fun of it, so I asked her if she could say alligator. Now mind you that alligator really is not a work we say around here and we have never heard her attempt it. She didn't nod, but said actually said alligator. Or something very close to it!

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:)