Spring Recap

Here's some pics from this spring. We've been keeping busy, going to a lot of playgroups and otherwise entertaining ourselves. We have a nice little routine of taking it easy in the early morning, heading out to play, and napping after lunch. Gregory has a lot of friends that he enjoys seeing regularly at playgroups. I enjoy the company of their moms too! It is a real blessing to have found a wonderful community of friends here, and we are starting to feel like we really belong. I can't believe its been almost a year since we moved here!

We are definitely enjoying the Minnesota spring weather - we have had a nice long period of mild weather here. Its very different than Omaha, where it seemed to turn from cold to hot overnight. We went to some outdoor things as soon as it was tolerable to be outside, like the zoo. Dan was pretty busy studying for his exam at the end of April, but we stole some quality time when we got the chance... We are very much appreciating all his free time now that the exam is over!


As the weather has warmed up, we have spent more and more time playing outside, of course!


We visited the Minnesota Children's Museum for the first time. It is much bigger than Omaha's, and also geared for kids a bit older than Gregory. There were still plenty of things he enjoyed, but there were also a lot of things that were over his head, or even scary, like the dinosaur exhibit! I don't think we'll be getting a membership there for a few more years, but we'll probably go every once in a while if our friends are going...


We had a quiet Easter weekend at home, just enjoying each other. We went to a neighborhood Egg Hunt, complete with a petting zoo. Gregory thought that was pretty neat. He had a good time gorging on his Easter Basket goodies too... As you'll see, its a little hard getting nice pictures of him any more - he really hams it up...at least he is having fun!


I am sure there are more pictures on the camera just waiting to be downloaded, so hopefully I'll be able to get to them soon. Need to be all caught up before the baby comes...6 more weeks! Look forward to more frequent updates after that!

He's Got Skillz

Gregory has been doing a lot of growing up lately, experiencing a major phase of motor skill development. Maybe its just because its been such a long time since the big skill developments of the first year, but I am just astounded every day at the things he is suddenly doing! He is climbing on everything, jumping off of said things, and hopping, twirling, somersaulting, and otherwise flailing all over the place! He does frog leaps, gets quite a bit of air on his hopping, and experiments with balancing on one foot. He is also constantly dancing, even imitating some dances he has seen on TV, like ballet! He is getting much better at using a spoon to eat things like cereal with milk, without making such a huge mess. He has an increased interest in coloring and drawing, going from just scribbling without regard, to trying to actually color in the picture on the coloring book page. Perhaps one of the most amazing things to me was when he grabbed a crayon and a blank paper this last week and drew something, saying "This is a G." Sure enough, it was actually a G, though backwards!! Incredible! I have never attempted to teach him to write, but of course we do show him the letters and his name, etc. Yesterday he was drawing reasonable semblances of spiderwebs. I can't wait to see what he draws next! He's drawing recognizable pictures - WHAT!?!

Another major accomplishment is that he suddenly is able to keep himself dry during sleeping times. This happened spontaneously when we visited Omaha at the end of Feb. He did not dirty a diaper or have an accident on the entire 5 day/4 night trip! He has been in regular undies during the day for a few months now, but today we took him to buy some "big boy nighttime underwear" aka padded training undies to be worn with a wool cover at night, just in case. Goodbye diapers, at least for a few months! There is a part of me that thinks surely he will regress any day now, but then again, considering all the other major leaps lately, maybe not!

Another fun thing is that Gregory has been showing increasing interest in his baby brother. He loves to look at pictures of developing babies in a couple of books we have. He often asks me if he can feel the baby kicking, and I think that just the other night he actually did feel a little kick! He loves to hug and kiss my belly and talk to Asher through my belly button. He will tell anyone who asks that his baby brother Asher is inside Mommy's tummy, and when he comes out he will share the milkies with him! He is down to nursing only once or twice a day for only about a minute at a time, which is just fine with me! He might increase again once the milk comes back, and that will be fine too! He has also been pretending to nurse all of his dolls lately, which is too cute. He has been paying more attention to the babies at our playgroups, and is always very sweet, touching their cheeks and noses so gently, and giving them hugs. He is going to be a wonderful big brother!

I guess there has been one downside to all this growth - seems that whatever level of impulse control he had before (and it wasn't much) is completely gone! Or maybe its just that since he is using his body in all these new ways, he is thinking of lots of new and impulsive things to try. Things like hitting other kids, throwing stuff, dumping things out, banging on everything in sight, and making really loud irritating noises. Ah, to be two and a half... This too shall pass, right!?!



Ballet Dancing


"G"

From 2010 03 07G

Christmas Pictures Overwhelmed Me!

Finally getting up the motivation to go through them all!

Gregory and I went out to CA a week before Dan, so we went on many adventures to entertain ourselves and enjoy the nice weather! He loved feeding the fish at the Japanese Gardens, feeding ducks at El Dorado Park, and seeing all the animals and riding the rides at the Santa Ana Zoo. We actually repeated a couple of these fun free things once Daddy joined us.


We got a chance to spend time with all the Aunties and Uncle Benny, hanging out, making music, and checking out the town...


When Dan came, we went to an amazing new children's museum called Pretend City. It was pretty awesome!


Christmas Eve was really fun at Aunt Vicky's house with all the favorite traditions. Gregory was really into it this year! We tried to help him turn his focus from getting presents to giving presents by having him help with package management and distribution! He really did love his gifts, though, and wanted to stop and play with each thing so we had to remind him to finish opening the rest first! He is still in love with all the new fun things he got - our family does such a great job spoiling, eh, I mean, shopping for him! As always, we concluded the evening with our caroling boat ride. I included a couple of videos so you can experience it a little, its really very dark without the camera flash, the lights outside are awesome, and this year Gregory really got into the singing too...the kid has a good ear and is a quick study on lyrics too. He still breaks out in a round of Jingle Bells every now and then!





Christmas morning was another round at Grandma Mary and Grandpa Nick's house, of course with stockings and more presents, and a fabulous breakfast!


And for Grandma Mary's birthday we all went to Disneyland. Gregory remembered a lot from when we went in June, and we got the chance to do some things we didn't do then, like riding It's a Small World and meeting some of the characters. Many small kids are afraid but Gregory went right up and got hugs from all his favorites, especially Mickey. I was amazed! He wore his First Trip to Disneyland shirt, even though it was his second time, and he also got his first set of embroidered Mickey ears... I couldn't believe how choked up I got when he got so excited to see Sleeping Beauty's Castle light up at dusk...I maintain its because of my hormones... We did brave the Pirates ride, which he thought was ok but kinda scary, and the Haunted Mansion, which was definitely too scary! We'll skip that one next time for sure. Seems like I can't find a lot of pictures I remember taking, but maybe they were on someone else's camera?? Anyway, we had a fabulous time and it was so fun to share it with Dan this time! We are already talking about when we will get to go again. If at all possible, I think this might become another Christmastime tradition!


Here are some videos from Disneyland too, though I can't actually embed them because they are on Auntie Audrey's page...go watch, though, they are fun! http://www.youtube.com/user/mstruthchaser#p/u

We had to say our goodbyes a little earlier than usual this year, because we had to get back to the midwest to go to Fargo for a very special New Year's event, the baptism of Gilbert, the son of Patrick and Keri, who are Gregory's godparents. Dan and I were honored to be Gilbert's godparents, so I guess that makes them godbrothers! Grandpa Mike actually officiated the ceremony, and he and Grandma Coralie brought even more presents! Patrick, Keri and Gilbert stayed overnight with us on their way home to Chicago, but we wish they could have stayed longer! Gilbert is the sweetest little guy! It was a wonderful way to wrap up the holidays!


It has actually been over a month since the holidays were over and I have gotten out the camera a little bit since then...but this post has fried my brain, so the rest will have to wait!

It's a.....

BOY!!!!!!!!!

Two little guys in our family! I think it will be so nice to have brothers, though admittedly I was a tiny bit disappointed that it wasn't a girl. That's ok, maybe there will be another chance for that someday!

We are 95% sure on the name: Asher Everett Fix

Also the ultrasound did not show any abnormalities so it seems he is healthy and there should be no issues going ahead with our plan to birth at home. The midwives we chose are so wonderful and I am enjoying doing a little prenatal yoga. We took a little childbirth class taught by our friend Janine, which was fun and it was nice to bond with some other couples who are also planning home births. From here on out, its just about trying to eat better, exercise more, and grow little Asher until he's ready to come out!

No, I'm not just fat!

From 2009 12 07

Its true! Baby number 2 is on the way! We are so thrilled! We are about 10 weeks right now. We heard the heartbeat on Friday, which means the baby is healthy! He or she will be expected sometime in early July, right after Gregory's 3rd birthday. Many of you may remember that we had quite a complicated journey to conceive Gregory. With this one, it did take a little longer than we might have liked, but at least it did not require doctor intervention! So far this pregnancy has been quite different as well. I have been feeling physically better than last time, since I am not dealing with the huge ovarian cysts I had in the first trimester with Gregory. However, I have been far more nauseous, and have major food aversions. I have not been able to look at, smell, talk about, or think about any kind of meat. Actually just typing that makes me a little urpy! I have occasionally been able to eat a little of it if I distract myself and don't think about it too much! I haven't been able to do any cooking really...I haven't even hardly been able to open the fridge - I have to hold my breath! Thankfully, Dan is in between exams right now and has been able to take over all that, bless him! I am expecting to be back to normal after the holidays...please let me be back to normal after the holidays!!!

We have interviewed several home birth midwives here. There are so many to choose from! They were all wonderful, but I am having a little bit of a hard time deciding which one to choose. I need to get that figured out soon! Since midwives are all legal and cool here, it is really nice to be able to talk about them by name and not have to be all sneaky like it was in Omaha. Nebraska really needs to get its act together when it comes to all that, its just plain crazy there! Anyway, I am just so grateful to be in such a fabulous environment now, because I truly appreciate what having access to birth options means.

We have talked about the new baby with Gregory a little bit. So far, he knows there is a tiny baby in Mommy's tummy, which will grow bigger and bigger. He has seen other moms around here with big bellies so I think he sort of gets that. We have also talked about having to share the milkies when the new baby comes, and he seems to be ok with that. He says that they will "switch" which I think means that they will share both of them! Greg has already reduced his nursing quite a lot from before I was pregnant, probably due to my decreasing milk supply, but I am really hoping that he will nurse through. You may recall, I had serious oversupply problems with Greg and I am hoping that if that happens again, having a nursing toddler will be a welcome relief. If there is anything I am fearing about having another baby right now, its that - the engorgement pain is just a place I don't want to go again! I'll birth a baby any day compared to that! Anyway, I showed Gregory a picture of what the baby looks like right now, from a book called A Child Is Born that my parents used to teach us about babies when we were little, and he took the book and gave it a big hug! I think he is really looking forward to having a sibling, but occasionally he does say things like "I'M your baby" and he tells the dog "No Lucy, thats MY mommy!" So of course, there is an ongoing process. Knowing him, I definitely think it was the right idea to start talking to him about it sooner rather than later...he will need the time to adjust to the idea!

Well, I am hoping to do regular pictures again with the pregnancy. I think it will be special for the kids when they get older, and I also think it will be fun to compare!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a nice little Thanksgiving season this year. Dan went down to Omaha the weekend before for the annual Midnight Ballers Turkey Bowl. Grandma Bonnie stayed with us while he was gone, and she and Gregory had a fabulous time together as always. The Grandpa Mike and Grandma Coralie came out for Thanksgiving and the weekend after. Coralie's brother Russ makes a very magical Santa, who we visited at the Excelsior Cristkindlsmarkt Festival. Gregory was not very sure at first, but I think having a familiar face in that Santa suit definitely helped him have a positive first Santa experience. And of course, what visit would be complete without Grandpa and Dan going to a Vikings game? Now the Christmas decorations are starting to go up around here and we are looking forward to our trip to California coming up very quickly!

I guess our blog isn't dead after all...

If there is anyone out there that even checks this blog anymore, I apologize for the long hiatus! It has just been a really insane several months, and our camera's memory card has been lost for several weeks. We finally found it, so I guess we can get a little back on track here.

The pictures pick up back in July, so we'll start there. Gregory and I visited North Dakota a little bit and he had a great time riding HIS "Sadie-horse" with Grandma Bonnie. Then, back in Minneapolis, we celebrated Dan's 30th birthday with an ice cream cake.


We spent half of August sick with summer colds, and then at the beginning of September, my Grandfather passed away. Gregory and I traveled home to be with the family, which was Grandpa's last gift! We were really grateful to be there with everyone, and especially, to meet my cousin Sarah's daughter, Rebecca, for the first time. She is stinkin cute and Gregory adored her. He really adored being with all the family, as always.

All the hugs were the result of the 1-2-3 Huggie game:


More Gregory and Rebecca cuteness:


I also got to visit with my friend Michal, and her son Xander, who happened to be there in California while we were there. Xander ended up getting sick and being in the hospital, and I was really glad I could be there for them during that rough time. Xander got well and is just fine, thankfully! Michal was also able to make it to the Memorial Service, which was a real comfort and help to me.

From Downloads

From Downloads

And of course, Fall brought the start of football season as well:


When Gregory and I got back from CA, Dan went to Seattle for a week-long exam seminar. Then on Oct 1st we moved out of the townhouse, into a house. We love the house, it is much more comfortable and conveniently located than we were before, which is a good thing because it looks like we'll be in it for a couple of years at least. Our house in Omaha is still on the market, and even if we sell it at this point, we will have to rent for a while to save up enough for a downpayment. I think we were a little naive about the cost of housing here in the Twin Cities, but the honest truth is that it is really about double what we were used to in Omaha. The rest of October was spent unpacking, and Dan was desperately trying to study for his exam, which he took on Oct 29th. As usual, we were all just glad it was over. Results don't come out until January, so we are just trying to relax and enjoy our time together.

More to post before 4 months from now, I promise!