Family Affair

Got some good shots of ALL the birds tonight!

(click on photos to enlarge)

Peek-a-boo, I see you too mama!

Twinsies!

Did you hear that?

Dad was nearby too, sounding the alarm about the weird human laying in the yard taking photos.

Hello, Little Chick!

We have a baby hawk! Just one, as far as we can tell.

We had lost hope that we had any eggs left in our hawk's nest. In late June, the adults were still around, but not sitting on the nest and we couldn't see anything in there anymore. Today Husband said he saw something, and sure enough it was a fluffy white head!

Mom (or Dad) was nearby and squawking plenty as I roamed around the yard to get a few shots. This helped us finally get a good look at one of the adults.

Looking forward to seeing the little one grow!

The Duggars - Ready for More

Oh my.

I was in Target tonight and saw a People magazine screaming at me from the register -
"The Duggars - Ready for More."

The Duggars are a family with a reality TV show which chronicles the day-to-day life wrangling their NINETEEN (19) biological children. The kids range in age from early 20's (one is married with a child of his own) to the youngest, Josie, who was born last year.

Over the years I have seen a show or two here and there and found the family relatively charming and a little bit crazy (19 kids, hello). But last year the mom, Michelle suffered pre-eclampsia and delivered little Josie very early. This little girl struggled for her life for months. I couldn't even watch the show, it was just too much. I have to admit I was a little disgusted with these people. Enough was enough.

Without getting too much into religion and whatnot, I just have to say that I don't agree with all of this baby-making on many levels, the least of which is jeopardizing health. I am fully in support of a woman owning her body, and this particular woman has chosen to own hers by being constantly pregnant for over 20 years. Not a choice I would make, yet still, her body. So I respect that. But when it starts interfering with the health of the babies, I get irritated.

But let's just put that aside and assume these issues could have happened with any one of the 19 kids, or anyone else's kids for that matter. OK. How much attention do each of these kids actually get from their parents? Would the parents be able to financially support such a family without having a television show and receiving donations? In a world where so many children are cold and hungry, why not adopt?

I understand wanting to have your own children. I made that choice. I guess the Duggars have a choice too...but I hope it ends up being that 19 is enough.

Let me have it - how do you feel about it?

Des Moines, Baby (ies)

Last weekend Lucy and I took a girls' trip to Des Moines to visit some friends. We met everyone for lunch and then hung out at Family H's house. It was a lot of fun! There were 9 kids between 5 families, and as always, it was cool to see all of the ages and stages. We had everything from 3 months to 6 years. With the 3-month old, a 7-month old, and Lucy at almost one year, we had a visual of just how much a kid changes in a year. It's really amazing to see it like that. Of course Lucy had a little trouble knowing what to do with the advances of an "older" man...17-month-old B was very interested, but Lucy wasn't having it.


The kids had a blast playing outside, and Lucy spent what seemed like forever just playing in the mulch and dirt. A little tomboy perhaps?

And here's my girl again, getting more grown up every day. I let her face forward for the first time in the car. I know it's a couple of weeks early, but she's almost 5 pounds over the weight minimum, and it just made sense. She did really well in the car yet again, and seemed to enjoy the ride more when she could see Mom and look out more windows. I'm so lucky she's a good little traveler. Can't wait for the next trip, thanks ladies and kiddos!

Sweet Potato

It's been a crazy week, people. It started at 2AM Sunday morning with me barfing, which continued, along with other unpleasant things, until late Sunday afternoon. Symptoms lingered through Monday, so I couldn't even enjoy an unplanned day off work. Pretty sure it was food poisoning. Not fun in any case, and extra worrisome when you're preggers. All seems to be relatively back to normal now, though my stomach is still a little testy. Just so you aren't disillusioned into thinking life is perfect around here, now Husband and I are both nursing colds. It's always something.

So what else is going on? Well, it was back to work this week, although I didn't take much extra time off during the holidays. I guess the vacation was mostly from everyone else, as there was virtually nobody in the office between Christmas and New Year's. The sick day Monday helped keep the week short, but we are now entering the long stretch of gray, dreary, cold weather and no official holidays to look forward to (I don't work for one of those government institutions that get all of the President's birthdays off).

The other news this week is that my belly is most definitely growing. I think part of it is the fact I'm regaining the weight I lost while sick, and part is that I am just simply almost 19 weeks pregnant. It's enough of a bump for me to notice, but not enough to make it totally obvious to others. I'm in that "maybe she just gained weight" phase. It's actually kind of reassuring to see it grow, as I've had minimal obvious pregnancy side effects and this tells me that something is definitely going on in there. According to thebump.com, which compares the baby to a fruit or vegetable each week, I am now housing something the size of a sweet potato (soon to be a mango). Still not too big, but considering it started out as a poppy seed, I think we're doing pretty well.

So that's what's going on at our house.

The Word is Out


Should be done baking around June 11, 2009!

Taking Time to Breathe

It's been a busy few days. Here's a recap:

On Thursday, Husband and I took the afternoon off and went to see Wicked at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Minneapolis. I bought the tickets months ago (they are very difficult to get) and he agreed to go. While having lunch before the show, he asks me, "Is this a musical?" Apparently he was unaware there was singing involved. I was a little nervous he wouldn't like it, but he did! You can read his side of the story here.

Friday afternoon, my friend Kristy and her 4-month-old daughter S came from Des Moines for a visit. It was so much fun to see them both, and to have a baby in the house! S has grown so much since the last time I saw her, and is a good little baby. Kristy and I got to catch up and just hang out until she left around noon on Saturday.


Saturday afternoon I tried to keep tabs on the Hawkeye game, but unfortunately missed the exciting finish because I was getting ready for a little party at our house that night. How exciting that we beat the unbeaten Penn State!! When I caught wind of it shortly after the game ended, I ran downstairs to check and did a little victory dance.

Saturday night I hosted a Lia Sophia jewelry party at our house. It's quality jewelry, but it was more an excuse for me to get some ladies together and have some people in different "groups" meet each other. It was a lot of fun, and I'll be getting some great free stuff for hosting!

Sunday I was beat, and pretty much did NOTHING the entire day. It was a cold, rainy afternoon and a good day to stay curled up on the couch and watch Lifetime movies and laugh at Buddy staring down the birds in the front yard. Brandon made chili, and the Vikings beat the Packers, so the men in my house were in good moods.

That's the past few days in a nutshell. I'm still tired but we had a lot of fun!

Weekend Update

I had an awesome weekend in Des Moines. It started off visiting Amy, Matt and their daughter A, who amazed me with her knowledge of zoo animals. The overall purpose for my trip was a baby shower for my friend Kristy, who is due in about a month with her first baby. I spent Friday night with she and her husband, and then went with her to the Des Moines Farmer's Market on Saturday morning before heading over to her shower.

It was just 6 of us, all friends from high school/college and all willing to find an excuse to get together. We had a great time chatting, watching a DVR recording of New Kids on the Block on the Today Show (a topic for another blog perhaps), playing some baby games, and watching Kristy open her gifts. It is always fun to reconnect and celebrate what's new in our lives.

Saturday night I stayed with my friends Laura and Ben in Indianola, which is the town I went to college in. Turns out my visit was to be full of blasts from the past. During a nice dinner out, we ran into an old college classmate; a guy who used to live across the hall from me my sophomore year. He was part of a group of guys we hung out with quite a bit that year (for those of you who would know, it was J.H.) He was with his family and we chatted a bit. Consequently, after dinner we were at the liquor store picking up some adult beverages, and we saw him again! I joked that this was just like college, except now we pick up household goods with our alcohol...Laura had to buy light bulbs, and he needed to stop and pick up pacifiers!

Shortly after that, Laura and I went to visit our old sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, which is being closed. It's kind of sad because AXO has been at Simpson for over 100 years. The house was actually in a pretty sad state, with many things already taken or thrown out, and the remaining furniture marked for auction. It was good though to walk through it one last time, and it was just a reminder that although the house will not longer contain AXO, it's the people in it and the memories made that will still last a lifetime. Like this one, from a 70s-themed fall party at the bowling alley in 1996:

That day had been graduation day at Simpson, and I was reminded that exactly 10 years ago, that was me accepting my college diploma in the same gymnasium. Kind of funny that I happened to be there on that day without realizing it. It made feel very nostalgic (and a little old). Laura, Ben and I were all at Simpson together, and spent the rest of the night laughing about the college days over a couple of cocktails.

This morning I spent a little time playing with the kids and was inducted into the "Super Sidekick Challenge Club", which is the brainchild of Laura's daughter M. We aren't sure of the rules, except that the club is for girls, babies and daddies. It was such a delight to spend time with Laura and her family.

After a quick drive through campus, I returned to Des Moines to visit my brother Justin. We did a little shopping and had lunch. It was very nice to see him and I'm glad we got the chance to spend a little time. It was back on the road for me then; with a phone call on the way that let me know that my boys were back from their fishing trip a day early. They had the lawn mowed and were ready to take me out to supper when I got here.

I guess there's no place like home!

Take Me Home, Country Roads

OK, so it was mostly interstate, but we traveled back to Storm Lake this weekend. We hadn't been back for awhile, and had all kinds of good reasons for making the trip at this particular time. On Saturday my (second) cousin Kayla and her new husband Matthew had a celebration honoring their marriage, which took place on July 7th in Sitka, Alaska. It was fun to see them and hear about their lives in Sitka and their beautiful wedding ceremony, which was held on a boat. We also got to catch up with other members of the family. Kayla and I attended the same high school, so there were some other familiar faces as well, including my good friend Laura and her two kids. It is always fun to see them!

Saturday also happened to be my little brother Justin's 22nd birthday, and he decided he would come home to celebrate. My brother Jason and sister-in-law Chrissy came over as well, and we relived our younger days by making homemade pizza with the family (we used to do this every Sunday night as kids). We'll have to do this again sometime when Josh and Abbey are home too. It was fun to see Jason and Chrissy, who are expecting their first child the end of this month. Chrissy has a nice big belly and I think she's ready to get things moving!

In the midst of all the action on Saturday night, my friend Amy and her little boy, Jace, came over for a visit. I can't believe how big he has gotten! This was the first time my family had met him, and they had a ball holding him and playing with him. Good practice for the soon-to-be new parents and grandparents!

Today was a pretty low-key day...we relaxed this morning, had lunch with my parents, then headed back. We returned around 5:00, then unfortunately, I had to go into my office to do a little work for a few hours. It's going to be a crazy week, and I just wanted to get a leg up. Makes for sleeping easier tonight. Here's to the start of a full week!

It's Another Boy!

My friend Amy A. called this morning, she had her baby! Jace Ivan (not sure on the spelling) was born about 5:30 this morning. 8 pounds even, 21 1/4 inches. I am so excited for you, Amy...can't wait to meet him!

Quick Update

I know I've been a little slow on the blogs lately...adjusting to a new schedule and just some busy nights have kept me from it, but I intend to do better. Just a couple of quick updates from the past week:

IT'S A BOY! For those of you who know my friend Tina, she had her baby on Thursday night! Henry Reuben was born around 7PM on Thursday evening. I got to hold little Hank on Friday afternoon when Jacquie and I visited the hospital - he's a sweetheart. He and mom are doing great!

We just had dinner with my mom and dad and Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Tony tonight...they are off to Mazatlan, Mexico tomorrow! This is the first big trip for my parents, and essentially their first time on a plane no less. I wish them a good trip and a great time, can't wait to see the photos!

That's about it for tonight. More tomorrow and more next week, I promise.