Transplant Minnesotan

Reading

2010-09-24T22:51:00.003-05:00

One of Karsten's activities recently is "reading". He'll sit down with a book and narrate a story by the pictures. This video is him "reading" Goodnight Moon - notice that he has heard it so many times he's got the thing memorized!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T23:48:00.004-06:00

It's Christmas time and I haven't posted anything on the blog for a really, REALLY long time. Let's just blame that on a very busy 2 year old. For now, please accept my humble apology for not keeping the blog updated and enjoy a montage of pictures from the last few months.

The Fischer family wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas. May you all get to celebrate with family and friends while celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior.

Bobbie's Super Healthy Blueberry Muffins

2009-07-03T22:36:00.003-05:00

I apologize for not blogging more right now but having a toddler that refuses to play with himself for longer than 5 minutes isn't really conducive to doing much of anything productive.

And on to the subject at hand.....

Brice and I have been doing the South Beach Diet together for the past few months. This has forced me to think of creative ways to make yummy baked items much healthier. I ran across a recipe the other day that sounded good but wasn't quite healthy enough for my taste so I tweaked it a little bit and the result were yummy, fluffy, tasty blueberry muffins that Karsten just adored this morning for breakfast.

2 cups whole wheat flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup Splenda
1/4 cup sugar free maple syrup
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (if frozen, thaw)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

Preaheat oven to 400. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Beat butter at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add Splenda and syrup, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, stir in vanilla and applesauce. Add flour mixture and milk at low speed until blended. Fold in berries. Bake 20-22 minutes or until golden.

Makes 12 muffins.

Calories 167.8 - Carbs 23.5g - Fiber 2.9g - Sugars 5.6g - Protein 4.2g

North Shore part 2

2009-04-28T18:31:00.003-05:00

Our remaining time at the North Shore was pretty un-eventful. Well, except for the fact that the new resort we were at had a fridge in the room for all of the groceries we had bought and of course, we used it right away and thought nothing of it. The next morning we came to realize that the fridge didn't work and everything was spoiled. After talking to the maintenance guy, it had to get reset because of the power outage from the ice storm. Tuesday we hung out in Duluth for the afternoon and then went swimming before dinner. It was Karsten's first time in a big pool and he LOVED it! Wednesday we went to the Depot where the children's museum and train museum are located. Thursday we did the touristy stuff, went to the falls and the lighthouse and thoroughly enjoyed watching some squirrels feast on droppings from the bird feeders. The last night we were there was Karsten's best night for sleeping since we kind of had to train him how to sleep in the same room as us in the pack and play (even though he has no problems with that at daycare). He managed to fall asleep with the lights and TV on and Brice and I talking to each other as I got everything packed and ready to leave the next morning. Figures huh?

Enjoy the rest of the pictures from the trip!

North Shore - Day 1

2009-03-26T22:08:00.004-05:00

As most of you probably know by now, Brice and I take an annual trip up to the north shore of Lake Superior for our anniversary. This place is special to us since it is where we spent our honeymoon and it always reminds me of that newly wedded bliss.

This years trip, to say the least, has been quite eventful. I'll have to split the synopsis of our trip into a few posts since there was so much going on.

Monday morning - we got up as usual, right around 7am when our alarm clock, Karsten, awoke from sleep. Brice got started on breakfast and I got to packing everything we needed. We were out of town by about 10:30am and arrived in Duluth around 1pm. It was raining the entire time we were driving and as we got closer to Dulth, the temperature kept dropping from more than 40 degress to just over freezing. When we stopped for lunch, the side roads were covered in slippery slush.

After lunch, we decided to go to the Great Lakes Aquarium (my favorite place to go) since we couldn't check into our hotel until 4. We decided to go without the stroller for the first time and just let Karsten roam the aquarium freely. He had such a great time! He's always liked fish but he's really starting to understand the fish more. He even tried petting a sturgeon! He was watching Brice and I reach in to touch them so he wanted to as well. Brice helped him over the sturgeon tank, he reached in to touch it and pulled his hand out of there really quickly! He loves the water but I guess he's not a fan of actually touching the fish yet. The aquarium has this big model of all of the great lakes complete with locks. You can put a little boat into Lake Superior, move it through all of the locks to eventually get to the Atlantic Ocean. There was this smaller part that was just the perfect size for Karsten so I gave him a boat to play with....of course, I didn't realize until he was already soaked from the water that there were smocks for the kids to put over their clothes so that exact thing wouldn't happen.

After Karsten wore himself out at the aquarium, we decided it was time to load him back up in the car for the shorter portion of the trip up to Two Harbors. As we left Duluth, we noticed the power lines and the trees along the road caked in ice from all the rain that had fallen. Of course, we thought nothing of it. We arrived at Grand Superior Lodge to check in and there was one light on in the entire lobby and no heat. Come to find out, most of the power from there and farther north was completely out and they didn't know when it would be back on. Parts of the hotel had power but our room was not one of those and it didn't have any heat either. They decided to move us to a suite with a fireplace so we could at least have some heat. We were given candles, flashlights and jugs of water so we could flush the toilet. We realized that most of the room had electricity and we were able to put a movie in to keep Karsen partially occupied but the outlet where the fridge was plugged in wasn't working. We stocked up on ice that they had left over in the restaurant to keep all of the food and milk that we bought in Two Harbors cold. Since there was no electricity for the chef to cook in the restaurant, they had a sandwich bar so we could get something to eat that night. I'd have to say, that was a very interesting experience!

In closing, a few pictures from the aquarium. Can you tell how wet Karsten was?

Celebrating warm weather

2009-03-14T13:19:00.004-05:00

In celebration of the weather FINALLY getting warm and the snow finally melting, Karsten and I spent a good chunk of the morning outside. Remember his new friend, the vacuum? Well, when we're outside, his friend is the shovel.

Yesterday when we were outside I showed him a few pinecones. He was still after them today! He carried one around for a while until he dropped it about 10 times and then he gave up.

A couple of nights ago we had turkey burgers and french fries. This kid LOVES french fries! Since he had never had them with ketchup before I decided to put a dallop of it on his tray to see what he would do. The first few times he would dunk his fry and then just suck the ketchup off but it didn't take him long to figure out how to dunk and eat. Now I have to look forward to getting ketchup stains out of his clothes!

Last night we had sloppy joes and after Karsten was done eating he took his sippy cup in his mouth and was waving it all around to be a goof.

Hopefully you will all be able to get out into this beautiful weather we have finally been blessed with. We will be putting it to good use!

The promised pictures

2009-03-08T23:16:00.003-05:00

How does time fly?

2009-03-03T20:55:00.003-06:00

Yikes....it's been a long time since I've done any blogging. I used to do my blogging during nap time but now that Karsten dearest only takes one nap a day I usually get in some relaxing mommy time (you know, taking a shower, eating, maybe napping a little). Sometimes when I even try to be on the computer during awake times Karsten is not very fond of that so I usually just leave it off.

Karsten is now, as of yesterday, 16 months old and weighs a whopping 26 pounds! I thought I would make a list of all of his favorites for you to enjoy.

Food: bananas (he goes through a bunch of these a week) and any bread product, especially pancakes

Words: na-na (banana), ba-ba (Sponge Bob....you know, Squarepants. We watch a lot of him) and ma-ma (this isn't reserved just for me....it's Brice, everyone at daycare, all of our dog friends - he hasn't quite grasped that concept yet)

Activity: vacuuming! I have a picture of that but a certain someone walked away with the USB cable so I can't upload that to the computer just yet. He is also a big fan of dancing. Anytime there is music playing he's bopping along and waving his arms.

We've had the cold going around our house that has been going around....lots of congestion and coughing. Karsten got it first and was better in about a week with nothing lingering. After he was better I got it and I'm still dealing with the effects of that stupid cold two weeks later. I can't WAIT for the sick season to be over!

I'll close with a few pictures that have actually been uploaded. When I find that elusive USB cable I'll be sure to post some more.

Karsten went through this "cooking" phase for a couple of weeks. He would pull all the pots and pans out of the cupboard, along with all of the utinsils out of the drawers and carry them all over the house. I'm still finding utinsils hidden in crazy spots.

On Martin Luther King Jr. day we decided to take Karsten to Edinborough Park in Edina. They have a little toddler play area and this great big play area for the bigger kids to climb in and then they have a gym area where you can play with balls and ride scooters. He had a fun time. Of course, he got a cold after that.....

As I said above, Karsten LOVES pancakes. Brice makes him pancakes probably once a week for breakfast. Well, this morning he decided to make chocolate chip pancakes and the picture speaks for itself.

Since Karsten is down to one nap a day he sometimes is so tired he can't even make it through 10am without falling asleep. This morning we were sitting on the couch watching cartoons and I started thinking what a good job he was doing actually paying attention. I came to find out that he was sitting so still because he was sleeping!

Our Toddler

2009-01-11T18:10:00.004-06:00

Now that we have a full grown toddler, Karsten seems to be more entertaining and troublesome all at the same time. One of his favorite things to do is racing me up the stairs when he needs his diaper changed. You see, Brice thought it would be a great idea to teach him to climb the stairs so we don't need to always be carrying him up since he is getting to be one heavy guy. Well, for about a week, all he wanted to do was climb the stairs so we had to put the gate on the stairs to keep him downstairs so we could actually watch him. Thankfully, that has worn off! He also enjoys walking from kitchen to living room and vice versa, picking up something from that room and depositing it in the opposite room where it does not belong. Example: tonight I made a pork roast in the crock pot and I was getting the rolls and veggies set to eat dinner. Well, somehow without me noticing, he got 3 spoons out of the silverware drawer, the pasta fork out of the drawer right next to me and was walking around the house with them. After finally noticing he was making this strange noise on the tile, I saw the utensils he was playing with along with two of his stuffed animals that he carries around. This is why our house is such a pigsty right now....toddlers tend to get into everything!

Recap of Christmas.....we were really busy! I took the week of Christmas off thinking it would be nice to be home and be able to catch up on a lot of things that needed them. Well, that can't happen very well when you aren't home for 4 days! I was really hoping to have a nice, quiet time just the three of us but that never happened. We did end up staying home for New Years though - we had a spread of junk food and champagne and Brice and I actually stayed awake until midnight.

We've been really busy at work lately. United is requesting a lot of extra analysis that we don't have the man power to actually complete in time which means a lot of opportunity for overtime. I've been getting to work sometimes as early as 6am and staying until 5pm when I'm not too sore from sitting on my butt all day. It looks like this is the only way I'll be making any extra money this year because we aren't getting raises this year.....

They've cut shift hours where Brice works and we'll need to see how that's going to effect us. Right now he works saturday, sunday and one day during the week. Well, we don't know if he is going to be able to get all of his hours in 3 days this next coming shift bid. He might end up working 4 days a week which would really suck because we would either have to pay for an extra day of daycare which would be really tough or Brice would have to work overnight and come home in the morning to take care of Karsten. We're hoping for the best but any prayers everyone could say for us would be great!

In conclusion, what else but pictures of Karsten?

We took a trip downtown Minneapolis to see A day in the life of an elf at Macy's. Karsten enjoyed himself for the most part, well, except seeing Santa - he's not a fan!

Karsten's first playing in the snow experience. He likes eating the snow but I guess he got crabby when his mittens got wet. Why can't they make waterproof infant mittens????

Karsten's new "perch" farther up the stairs now that he knows how to climb.

One of the three pictures we took while opening presents on Christmas. I think this is the only time he's really played with the cars that my sister bought for him....

Bathtime! Brice decided that Karsten needed a bubble beard but he couldn't get a good picture of him smiling so this is what you get. He loves bubble baths but he eats the bubbles instead of playing with them most of the time.

Who needs toys when there are empty laundry detergent bottles???

You know it's bedtime when he snuggles up in a blanket on the floor and sucks his thumb.

Karsten loves digging into my lunchbox when I get home from work. On Friday, I had an apple in there I didn't eat....well, I'm sure you can understand by the pictures what happened to my apples!

In closing, our Christmas picture. Thanks Mel for taking this for us even though we took about 30 before we got one that worked!

Videos

2008-12-09T21:41:00.003-06:00

I hinted at new videos of Karsten in my last post and I have come to deliver!

This first video is Karsten just being himself and talking to his food.

The second video shows you all where his favorite hiding spot is.

The last one is the most exciting. In the past couple of weeks we have finally seen Karsten making his first really good attempts at walking. Last night was the best one so far with him walking from kitchen to living room and vice versa over and over again.

Another month has gone by....

2008-11-28T18:08:00.005-06:00

and I have many pictures to share! On Brice's birthday we took a family trip to the Children's Museum in St. Paul and had a really fun time. That night we went to a church service in Lakeville before finally retiring for the night. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy from that trip.

Yesterday, of course, was Thanksgiving and Karsten got to devour his very first Thanksgiving dinner. After church, we stopped at Caribou Coffee before heading to Brice's dad's for dinner. Karsten had a lot of play time with his 2nd cousins which completely wore him out! He was in bed last night by 7:20....he didn't have anything to eat either because he was so tired!

I also have a really funny video to share - once I get that uploaded I'll post that as well. Hopefully I'll also have some walking vido of him pretty soon because he's getting close to finally figuring it out!

A busy weekend

2008-11-04T15:14:00.004-06:00

Karsten had his first Halloween and birthday all in one weekend. I've created slideshows of all of the pictures for you to enjoy.

Why I'm voting for John McCain

2008-10-29T22:10:00.002-05:00

After going through a pregnancy and giving birth to a wonderful, beautiful child I just don't understand how some women can be so heartless and evil to murder their own flesh and blood who is defenseless and helpless. I believe this evil practice should be outlawed and be considered a punishable crime for the both the woman murderer and the doctor as an accomplice.

This is one of the many reasons, but probably the most important reason why I'm voting the McCain/Palin ticket next week. Both of these great people believe that life begins at conception. Sarah Palin gladly brought her youngest child into this world knowing he would be born with Down Syndrome.

Please be forewarned, this video might be difficult to watch.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

No.....

2008-10-14T21:42:00.000-05:00

Pickle!

2008-10-14T17:01:00.005-05:00

Since I finally ran out of memory on card in the camera and was forced to finally transfer pictures to the computer I felt it was about time to update the blog with the latest Karsten pictures.

These first pictures of my little ham were taken on a lazy Saturday morning. He must have been all over his bed that night because he woke up with a great big alfalfa sprout! Usually he's cranky in the morning before eating breakfast but this day, he decided to do a show for the camera!

This next picture has quite a story with it. It was getting late but not quite to Karsten's bedtime yet and he was looking like he wasn't planning on going to sleep at any time.....he was crawling all over the house, getting into trouble....you know, what babies do best! All of a sudden, I realize that Karsten stopped right in front of the couch where I was sitting and hadn't moved in a while. He decided to curl up right there on the floor along with his bunny and went to sleep.

On Sunday it was getting to that time in the afternoon where I go searching for a snack and Karsten has snack time as well. I happened to find a couple of pickles in the fridge so I curled up on the couch with my find. Well, Karsten was pretty intrigued by the pickles so I decided to give him a lick and a bite. He didn't make any funny faces so I just decided to give him one of mine for a snack. He ate the WHOLE THING!!!!! I didn't even have to cut it up into pieces for him - he took small bites and chewed really well all by himself!

One other thing that I LOVE is that Karsten is really starting to enjoy cartoons.....I can plop him in front of Blues Clues in the morning while I make his breakfast and he is so enthralled that he doesn't even realize that he's hungry yet. Right now, he's sitting on the couch like a good little boy watching A Bugs Life!

One thing I hate about Karsten right now is his ability to loose shoes. I happened to buy him 2 pairs of tennis shoes at the beginning of fall to wear outside at daycare. Well, he lost one shoe one night when we all went for a walk.....we backtracked the same way on the way home and never found it. I thought at the time that it's a good thing that he has another pair of shoes! Well, last week at daycare he happened to loose another shoe the exact same way! I was hoping we could at least bring the lone shoe home to have a mismatched pair that he could at least wear outside but no luck with that - they are both for the same feet! I found a pair of high tops on the Target website and I might just have to look for those in the store the next time I go.....maybe they'll stay on his feet better!

Brice and I got to go on a date night last Friday thanks to Melanie. We had dinner at Wolley's Steakhouse which is inside the Embassy Suites in Bloomington. We then took a trip to the new Cinemagic Theatre in Burnsville and were finally able to see Fireproof. It really was a great movie and I think it will really inspire all married couples to persevere through the tough times. Marriage is, afterall, a permanent covenant with God and not "just" a piece of paper as I have heard so many people say.

We still haven't decided what to do for Karsten's birthday.....I think we might just end up at Perkins because he loves pancakes and their grilled cheese sandwiches! I made a list of the kind of things Karsten still needs for the winter at Target if anybody is interested in looking at that.

Of course, birthday season starts at our house next Monday. I get to "celebrate" the last joyous year of my twentys.....I'm not quite sure how I feel about that yet! Brice wanted to do something special for me but there really isn't anything going on at any venue that I'm even remotely interested in (except The Producers out at Chanhassen but I'd rather not spend $100+ to see a show when I'm going to see a different show in just a few weeks). I think we'll just go for dinner and a movie.

Want a free handbag?

2008-09-30T14:05:00.003-05:00

Are you a handbag junkie? Handbag Planet is giving away 24 handbags in 24 hours. Just visit the site to register - there's no catch!

Good luck!

Fireproof

2008-09-25T13:45:00.003-05:00

Fireproof opens tomorrow - this movie stars Kirk Cameron and is from the makers of Facing the Giants. Plan on seeing it!

Funny Video

2008-09-19T18:00:00.001-05:00

This is Karsten, falling asleep, bottle in hand.

Ahhh......quiet time

2008-09-19T15:39:00.003-05:00

Now that I finally have a little time on my hands (little man is upstairs napping as I type this) I decided to catch up a little by getting all the pictures uploaded to the computer and finally posting so all of you can see how big our little guy is getting.

Karsten is turning out to be a lot like his dad and is very impatient sometimes about eating. We have started to give him more and more finger foods so he can feed himself because he'll get mad when we try to feed him with a spoon. He'll tend to grab on while trying to get the spoon into his mouth and we try to hang on so he doesn't make a huge mess. Well, needless to say, most of the time he will get the spoon away from us and he'll end up looking like this:

He will be quite the little musician someday. He enjoys sitting at the keyboard, pounding away.

On labor day we made another trip out to the zoo. Karsten is really starting to enjoy animals (he always plays with the dogs and cats that all of our neighbors have). This was while we were waiting for the bird show to start.....it was about the only time throughout the show that Karsten wasn't being a squirm worm.

Remember how I said that we are feeding Karsten more real food? This is before and after spaghetti night. He was such a huge mess that he got a bath right after dinner and I had to wash all of his clothes right away because he had it everywhere!

Last night, since I had the day off today and Brice didn't have to get up at the butt crack of dawn this morning, we decided to take a trip out to one of the numerous apple orchards that are just south of here. Karsten had his first tractor ride,

and picked and ate his first apple right off of the tree.

After we got off of the tractor after picking, Karsten was still working on his apple. Notice how he looks like a little chipmunk.....

Karsten also managed to make a new friend while we were at the orchard.

After we got home, there were a couple of huge toads that were on our porch. I let Karsten chase them around for a while - that was pretty entertaining! I put him down to show him the toad and he stood up all by himself for almost 10 seconds. He could have stood for longer but once he realizes that he's by himself, he'll plop on his butt and refuse to stand anymore. Anyway, after Karsten went to bed, Brice and I actually got to sit down together and watch a movie in I don't know how long. We watched 27 Dresses which I highly recommend - Brice even admitted that he liked it!

Hopefully we will have some walking stories here pretty soon. Karsten LOVES to walk his high chair (it has wheels on it) around the house but he just won't let go of anything for long. We'll see how much longer it takes him. I thought for sure that he would be walking by now but I think he is one of those kids that's just not interested.

Well, that's all for now. Enjoy the pictures and the beautiful weather we have had lately!

Purposeful Living

2008-08-23T19:53:00.003-05:00

Why is it that some adults refuse to actually become adults? Why is it that doing your best is too good? Why in the world do we have to have discussions about what work is worth doing and what is worth ignoring? Isn't doing the best work always the best policy?

These are the questions I've been pondering lately because of what has been going on at work. Maybe it's because of what I was raised with and what I always believed that doing your best work was always the best policy. Not doing your best means copping out, being lazy and not working to your full potential. What I have been learning lately is that doing the best work is not what is important although that is what all the big-wig clients are expecting and it is what makes everyone elses job easier. Picking and choosing what is "worth" the best work is what is now wanted. Am I the only one that sees this as completely backwards or is this how corporations actually work?

As if life in the "real world" isn't hard enough, why do we constantly need to be wondering what the real purpose is? I've come to the conclusion lately that I don't think I'm really cut out for working.....anywhere. I've always known that my real purpose in life was to be a wife and a mother and I really wish I could focus just on that and only that. I really WISH I didn't have to work because I would never go back there again if I didn't have to.

Maybe I need to start playing the lottery.....

NKOTB

2008-08-08T22:44:00.003-05:00

Yup, you read it right folks - my all time favorite boy band from when I was a crazed pre-teen were right here at MOA today. When I heard on the radio this morning on the way to work I seriously wanted to "accidentally" go the wrong way on 494 and end up at MOA for hours just so I could see the men that caused me to plaster my walls, my bed, and most importantly, my school supplies and all-important jean jacket. Ah, those were the days! Seriously though, they will be here Oct. 21 (that's the day after my birthday) for a concert.....how AWESOME would that be?????

They can still draw a crowd: The 'New Kids' rock the MOA
They're still 'hangin tough.'
Nearly 20 years after they first hit the big time, the New Kids on the Block rocked the Mall of America Friday night.
Nearly 10,000 screaming fans filled the Mall's Rotunda. The scene very similar to the craze the New Kids created in the early 90's
The big difference now, they're older and they're fans are too.
The ladies that were girls almost 20 years ago when the NKOTB were the heartthrobs of America, waited, in some cases for an entire day, to see them again.
When The Kids, now men, took the stage, these 30 somethings dialed it back two decades and screamed like 6th grade girls.
The idea of meeting a New Kid... well, some things just can't be put into words.
The Kids were in town promoting their new album 'The Block', which hits stores next month.
If you missed them Friday, don't fret, they'll be back at the Xcel Energy Center on October 21st.

Busy life update

2008-08-06T22:05:00.003-05:00

A short recap of last month:
1. Went to ND for the 4th of July and attended Holzemer family reunion and 10th high school reunion
2. My parents came to visit us a couple of weeks later so they could attend the Neil Diamond concert. While they were here, we took them and Karsten to Underwater Adventures in MOA and we FINALLY got Karsten baptized.
3. Last week Brice's dad came over to help install the new a/c. Of course, we didn't realize that the plug that is on it's own circuit that the a/c should be using is a 210 volt plug but we bought a 110 volt a/c. So now, we have to call an electrician to change it out. For now, we have it plugged into another outlet.
4. Last week I finally started training for the new position I was supposed to start in months ago. So far that is going well.
5. 3 days after having the new a/c installed upstairs, the fan in the a/c downstairs decides it is going to die. Now we have to start the whole process over again!

New Karsten-isms:
1. unrolling toilet paper
2. flusing the toilet
3. cruising (he really likes pushing his high chair around)
4. 8 teeth means he can be more independant at meal times
5. He LOVES Gerber Puffs - He can go through a whole container of those in a few days.
6. falls asleep by himself when he gets put down for the night
7. starting to wake up in the morning without screaming bloody murder
8. he finally likes playing with his ball - he chases it all over the house
9. He'll have conversation with you either by slurburt or by buh buh buh
10. he loves going on the baby swing at the park. He also likes to play in the sand and grass.

Well, that's all for now. I will be back soon for a better update on our lives and hopefully some pictures. I will leave you with a picture of a visitor we had a couple of weeks ago.

Delinquent

2008-06-19T21:09:00.015-05:00

Yes, I know I have been TERRIBLE at keeping this blog up to date with the latest Karsten-isms. That's what happens when he finally realizes that the entire house is his playground and he can get into trouble almost anywhere! His latest discoveries include the kitchen cabinets, the doorstop on the front door, the first floor bathroom and peering over the top of his crib waiting to be rescued because he wants out. We have actually had somewhat of a life lately which is kind of nice for once. A couple of weeks ago Karsten and I met some friends for lunch on Saturday and then went on a shopping spree at the mall. We had a great time together and I went shopping at the perfect time because a lot of the summer stuff is on sale and I got quite a few items for very little money. I have discovered though that I need to watch him when we are in Gymboree. For some odd reason, every Gymboree I have been in is very cramped and it is hard to get around. Imagine then, trying to get a stroller through the tight fitting spaces and being so close to the clothing hanging on racks that a very smart 7 month old decides to grab whatever items he can so he can throw them on the floor. That was hilarious for about 10 seconds after which I had to clean up the mess that he left. The next day we went graduation party hopping, the first being for one of my co-workers daughter and the second was for my cousin Aaron. We saw lots of family that was there and Karsten wasn't sick and throwing up all over their house like he was the last time he was there. My aunt Janet graciously gave her watch to Karsten to drool all over and he was pretty excited over that item for quite a while. Last week found the entire family getting sick starting with Brice who ended up not going to work that Sunday. Next in line was Karsten who had to stay home from daycare on Wednesday because his fever was too high (partly because of the cold, the other part being more teeth coming in) and then I finally got it over the weekend. I don't seem to have gotten it as bad as the boys did but it has already been a week and I don't seem to be getting better very quickly. Sunday was Brice's first father's day and he decided to have his dad and wife over for dinner and he requested that I make him one of those giant chocolate chip cookies that you can get at the mall so I made it and it turned out very well (I frosted it all fancy and everything). That's something I'll have to keep in my repertoire. Monday night was church, tuesday night I had Karsten since Brice went to work, yesterday we had a very hyper kiddo until about 9pm so he went to bed late and this afternoon we had an appointment to get pictures taken. Of course Karsten decided not to smile for any of the pictures but we did get a few funny faces so a few of them did turn out. This weekend I might have to take Karsten out to do something fun because there are a million things going on. Dan Patch days are this weekend and we could go to festivities on Saturday (lots of kids stuff including a petting zoo) and/or go to the parade on Sunday. There is also a baby fair going on at St. Francis Hospital in Shakopee and the MN Landscape Arboretum has free admission this weekend. I don't know how I'm going to make that decision! In another 2 weeks we will be taking off for good ol ND to attend the Holzemer family reunion and the DHS class of 1998 reunion. A couple of weeks after that the Koppinger grandparents will be coming to visit because they have tickets for Neil Diamond. We'll be busy, that's for sure.

This is kind of a side note. I've been wanting to go see the musical Wicked for the longest time. The last time it was here the show sold out pretty much even before tickets went on sale to the general public. Well, it is coming back for an entire month in November and tickets went on sale today. I got online right at 10am and tried 2 different show times before I finally found available tickets which just happened to be the $80.00 ones. Since there was no way I was going to miss this again I decided not to be frugal and spent the $200.00 so my friend Melanie and I can have a fun day on the town. That wait until November is going to be a tough one!

As always, here are some pictures of my funny little man!

Being a ham

Why do I have to make dinner?

But I don't have any money to pay for the reunion!

Mom, Dad, I have to get up to my room!

Why, yes, I am the happiest baby on the block!

Get that camera out of my face - can't you see I'm sleeping?

Daddy, that flour was fun to play in! Should we wait for mommy to come home to give me a bath?

Yea, so, I'm obsessed with doors....get over it!

Ok mom, I'm ready to help make cookies!

My carseat strap is my favorite treat!

Duh, I'm looking for crumbs to eat off the floor!

This is my bad boy face - is it believable?

Zoo Day

2008-05-17T19:35:00.011-05:00

In celebration of finally having a nice day I took Friday off and Brice and I took Karsten to his first trip to the zoo. He seems to enjoy the fish the best because he can see them swimming by in the great big aquariums but he doesn't seem to get the bigger animals yet, probably because they are too far away for him to really see. The best part about the MN Zoo is the farm because they have a whole barn full of sheep and goats and you can feed and pet them. We took Karsten out of the stroller so he could enjoy his first encounter with a farm animal. Of course, the first thing he does is reach out to grab at something which grabbed the attention of this mamma goat. She then stuck her head through the fence and proceeded to lick Karsten's hand - it was pretty cute. On our way to to the sink to wash up Karsten got licked by a great big goat - he must really taste good that the goats like to lick him! Here are some pictures from our day.

Dad, why is the goat licking me?

Dad, the turtles are swimming right in front of me!

Why are we leaving the turtles?

I don't like the moose, mom - they aren't doing anything!

Wait, the tigers are sleeping too? How come all the animals are asleep?

I also need to share these pictures because they are so funny. Brice gave his stethoscope to Karsten to play with. Do I have another paramedic in the house?

I will be working on getting some more videos posted. The newest one is of Karsten scooting across our bed. Now that he has figured out how to get from point a to point b he gets into a ton of trouble which means I still get nothing done around the house because I have to constantly watch him. He doesn't like being still for long so sitting him in his Bumbo for longer than about 15 minutes is impossible. We really need to take a trip to Babies R Us to get the baby proofing supplies. I'm thinking about getting a little fenced in area that we can set up in the living room and I don't have to worry about constantly watching him. We'll see what we can find.

Karsten turns 6 months

2008-05-03T11:03:00.008-05:00

Somehow Karsten keeps getting bigger and older even though we have had many heart to hearts about this subject and he just seems to be defiant about it. It really does seem like yesterday when I was pregnant and waddling around the house waiting to go into labor and now somehow it's 6 months later and I have a boy who eats like a pig, sits up by himself and has started to scooch around the house (he'll probably figure out how to crawl any day now). Seriously, where does the time go?

In celebration of this milestone I will entertain you with pictures as usual.

Hanging out after church. I wish you could see it in this picture but he slept through church in his carseat and ended up with an alfalfa hairdo.

Reading the newspaper.

Picking up chicks with his new shades.

Ready for the beach in his new sunhat.

Who needs toys when we have placemats

and shoes to play with.

We are trying patiently to wait for the weather to clear up so we can spend some more time outside. Karsten loves going for walks in his stroller and I like it too because I get to teach him about all of the wildlife we have in our neighborhood. It's even easier when the ducks decide to take up residence in our bushes to nest.

We ended up deciding to put Karsten in a different daycare and he will start at the end of the month. It's going to save us a lot of money and I can't believe we were spending more than $300 for 4 days a month. I talked a little before about the new position that I interviewed for at work; I ended up not getting that one but they are moving me up into something else which I don't know if I'm too thrilled about. They want me to do this new thing half time and what I'm doing now half time.....without anything in return. Who in their right mind would even think that people would even be remotely happy with their job when there is no reward for getting a promotion? I like my job and who I work with and what I do but I think there are things where you need to draw a line in the sand and this is one of those. There have been a lot of telecommuting positions posted lately for other business segments and I decided to apply for a couple of them. If I can work from home not only will it save us daycare money but gas money and an hour of commute time for me each day which I can then spend with Karsten instead of in the car. We'll see how everything turns out.

Suffering.....

2008-04-24T12:20:00.003-05:00

From crummy allergies. Since it has been warmer outside and our upstairs gets so hot, Brice has taken it upon himself to sleep with the ceiling fan running; the only problem I have with that is that he didn't bother to dust it off before. So I have been sleeping amongst swirling allergens and I can't seem to explain to Brice (remember, paramedic??) why I am still suffering from my allergy when I am away from the house. Thank goodness Zertec is over the counter now because I will be stocking up on my way home from work.
Pictures of Karsten to come later: reading the newspaper and picking up the chicks with his cool new shades!

Quickly....

2008-04-16T21:54:00.002-05:00

Just thought I would jot down a few thoughts before heading off to bed. I put Karsten down tonight at 7:30 and there was NO complaining. Ahhhh, the quiet, good for the ears.

I found an in-home daycare that we might put Karsten in. It is a husband and wife who are Christians and just HAPPEN to have an opening the day that we need daycare. The price is half of what we pay now at the center which is almost the car payment I have been trying to make room for.

I have been really guilty lately about not being able to be home more. I'm starting to realize that the time I am getting with Karsten lately is a couple of hours at the end of the day right before bed time and I feel like I don't get enough time to play with him. I realize that just because I have to work doesn't make me a bad mom but sometimes I feel like a bad mom because I can't be home for him all of the time. I had a really tough day last week when I ran to the mall during my lunch break to run an errand and all of these moms were there with their kids spending the day at the mall and here I was wishing that was me. Yea, these are probably SAHMs who's husbands make a 6 digit salary (I was in Eden Prairie after all) and there is no reason for them to work but I long to be able to do what these women are blessed with now. I never imagined having to go to work every day would be as difficult as it is.

I interviewed for a new position at work within the department that I currently work in and I find out if I got it next week. I'm still kind of on the ledge about whether or not I would actually accept the position. Perks: going to salary from hourly, higher pay, using a different set of skills drawbacks: mandatory overtime. If they are able to cut me a deal and give me a company laptop that I can do my overtime from home after Karsten falls asleep then I would be willing to do it but I already feel like I don't get enough mommy time with him every day. I guess I'll just see what they have to offer (if I even get it) and go from there. I can tell you right now that it will be a difficult decision to make.

I'm off to bed now - hopefully sleep comes easier tonight since the wind has calmed down (it was whipping so loud against the house last night that it was hard for me to sleep through). Don't let the bed bugs bite ;o)

2 week overview

2008-04-12T20:23:00.008-05:00

After all the sickness in the house was finally over we packed our bags and made our annual anniversary trip up to the north shore of Lake Superior. Of course this one was special because we had Karsten with us and he had his first glimpse of the Lake and finally being able to be outside without having to be all bundled up! My parents also decided to meet us up there so we decided to stay in a 2 bedroom cabin (which, by the way, had a full kitchen and 2 bathrooms, one with a Jacuzzi tub) instead of staying in the main lodge of the resort which are all hotel rooms. We were really thankful that we did that because Karsten was not handling the change of scenery very well in terms of sleeping. The best he slept while we were there he woke up twice during the night....the worst being about 4 times and he DID NOT like the pack and play. We did all of the touristy stuff there is to do up there with my parents and just did a lot of hanging out and making fires and S'mores. There was a little bear table that Karsten liked and a few fish hanging on the wall that were really entertaining to him.

After we got back from there Karsten still was not sleeping well and on Sunday morning we found out why....another tooth decided to make its appearance! We had another couple of nights of him not sleeping well when we decided it was time to have to re-train him to sleep through the night. After having done that once we didn't want to have to go through that all over again but the first night was the worst - he cried for an hour before I decided I had enough and I just rocked him to sleep and then we woke up around 11pm and cried himself back to sleep. The second night he only protested for 15 minutes and last night not at all. He was being a little more fussy tonight but that's because he fell asleep on the couch next to me and I had to wake him up to put him to bed. Now that his night time is fixed again we have to work on daytime napping which this kid refuses to do. On a good day he'll get one maybe one hour nap otherwise he'll have 3-4 half hour naps and I think that's why he is so cranky all the time because he doesn't get enough sleep. He also refuses to sleep in his crib for his naps. He could be totally out of it and you lay him down in his crib and he is wide awake. He'll fall asleep anywhere for his naps except the one place he should as proven by this picture (Brice had him laid on our bed and wrapped in the sheets and he fell asleep while I believe, laundry was being done).

So this next week we have to do some nap training. We need to get him on a schedule and to nap in his crib. I did a little this afternoon which actually went ok. He was yawning and rubbing his eyes and being really grumpy but he would not fall asleep. I took him up into his room and read to him for a little while and he started getting real quiet and staring off into space. I laid him in his crib, gave him a couple of toys to play with and walked away. It was peaceful for about a minute and the cry-fest began. He was crying for attention for about a half an hour and all of a sudden....silence. The end result was:

I'll have to do that again tomorrow and see if I can get him to do a whole day of napping in his crib. Hopefully he won't protest too much!

Karsten is also getting really close to sitting up by himself. All I have to do is sit him on the floor with a pillow behind him and he can sit up and topple over as much as he wants (which isn't much anymore) and play all by himself (which is never very long because for some odd reason he just CRAVES attention).

Since Brice is working tonight and there has been NOTHING on tv lately, I went to Blockbuster this afternoon and stocked up on movies (Atonement, Enchanted, Dedication and Sweeney Todd). Of course the only time I can watch them is after Karsten falls asleep which I am ok with because I still get some me time in. I can go to bed late and still get in a good 7 hours of sleep before he wakes up in the morning (about 7am).

I do have some other thoughts to post but since this one is getting so long I think I will just close and post again tomorrow. I do have to say though - I LOVE the 10+ inches of snow that we got (I'm being facetious of course). What is up with all of the weather guys in this city predicting us to get monstrous amounts of snow in the last 4 storms that have gone through but ended up with next to nothing????? All I have to say is that this 50 degree weather they are predicting for this next week actually happens - winter has been long enough this year!

The fams' health

2008-03-28T16:18:00.002-05:00

After going back and forth wondering whether or not Karsten was really sick we finally realized that he was and whatever he has is contagious because I managed to pick it up as well. I was feeling flu-ish on tuesday so I went home from work early and got a lot of rest and was feeling better on Wednesday and I was planning on going to work but Karsten was still not keeping much of anything down so I couldn't send him to daycare like that. We stayed home on Wednesday and by the end of the night he seemed to be doing much better, he hadn't vomited for over 24 hours and then yesterday it was back in full force. After calling the pediatrician, the nurse suggested that we bring him in just to get him checked out so I left work early again and we all took a trip to the doctor. Turns out this is just a really bad bug that is going around and the vomiting/diarrhea can last as long as 2 weeks. He got a clean bill of health and were told that we are doing everything right so that made us feel good. Our little fatty gained more weight since a month ago - he now weighs a whopping 17lbs 4oz! Yesterday was also our 4th wedding anniversary (I can't believe it's been that long already) and since we had a sick kiddo we decided to stay home. We had planned on dropping him off at grandpa's house so we could go out but I didn't want to drop a sick kid off at his house. We ended up having Chipotle and champagne for dinner (what a combo right?) and then after Karsten went to bed we settled in to watch a movie. After thinking that my bug had completely passed it came back full force - I was up about half of the night parked in the bathroom. By the time I was finally feeling a little better and finding some medicine to take it was almost time for me to actually be at work and I hadn't even showered yet. I ended up crawling back in bed for a while and put in a late day today. I really hope all of this sickness decides to pass by next week because we are taking our annual trip up to the north shore and it's no fun being sick while we are there (I've done that too!) Hoping everyone else is blessed with better health than we have had.

My not so sick boy

2008-03-24T21:00:00.002-05:00

Well, my sick kiddo isn't quite as sick as I thought he was going to be today. When I got home he was acting completely normal and actually playing on the floor all by himself (he must have forgotten about crying when we make him play by himself for a while). We were playing for a while and I hadn't even been home a half hour when all of a sudden, he threw up all over me....there is really something about him having to mark his territory when I come home from work! So we both had to get changed again and more laundry went into the washer. At his supper feeding we decided to not let him eat as much and to take a break in between as well as giving him some gas drops since it seems like he has some gas issues too. Then right before his bedtime I gave him a couple more ounces with more gas drops and he finally did a little bit of burping to get the gas out. Hopefully overnight the gas drops will work through his system and he can do some good tooting so it doesn't make him throw up his dinner in the middle of the night. I just feel so bad for him because I really can't do much to make his tummy issues go away.

On my way home from work I took a trip to Target to get a few items and decided to peruse the Easter stuff that was all half off. I have to say that our Target down here must sell out of stuff really fast because there was almost nothing left to buy but I did manage to find a couple things that I like. Of course, I can't leave it sitting around the house because we'll all end up eating way too much so I'll probably take it to work to help other people get fat too ;-) Brice and I had been talking about buying a new set for quite a while but couldn't really find anything that wasn't super spendy or either too large or too small but I found a set today just by walking down the isle with the dining ware (it was on sale too which was even better). So now we actually have enough place settings to go around when we have people over.

The day is finally over, Brice and I are winding down sitting together on the couch and I can hear the bed calling my name. Hopefully we can get a full nights rest and won't have to clean up a sick boy again.

Easter recap

2008-03-24T11:34:00.002-05:00

Yesterday found Karsten and I (daddy had to work) taking a trip to Monticello to visit 3 aunts, 2 uncles, grandma and a handful of cousins. We had a good time there except for the fact that Karsten seemd to christen the house with his spit up (he did that A LOT while we were there). We got home in time for both of us to eat dinner and I put Karsten to bed on time for the first time in a few days (he was going to bed about an hour later because of church services being at 7 and usual bed time around 8). Around 11pm I awoke to this awful noise over the baby monitor. I went in to check on him and found that he had thrown up all over. I think he threw up in one place and then managed to roll over because he had it on his back and all down one side of his face. I took all of the sheets off his bed and changed that, changed him and then we went downstairs to see if he would drink a little water since he pretty much lost his whole dinner. In the time we were down there he managed to throw up 2 more times including all of the water I tried to get him to drink which, of course, he got all over himself after I changed him into a new jammies so I had to change him again. He did manage to keep down about a half ounce of water before I put him back to bed. He seemed to have slept soundly the rest of the night. Brice said that this morning he did eat but spit up quite a bit and isn't quite acting like himself. I guess we'll see how today goes and if he isn't feeling better tomorrow we might have to take him to the doctor. I feel so bad because there is nothing I can do (I'm sitting here at work doing nothing but worrying about him) until I get home. Hopefully we can get him to at least keep a little bit down so that he doesn't get dehydrated. Now I'm wondering where he picked up a stomach bug from....

My love for paramedics

2008-03-22T10:20:00.004-05:00

For those of you who read Brice's blog know that he responded to an apartment fire last weekend where he witnessed for the first time a person who was very badly burnt and later died because of his injuries. The original video is posted to his blog but today there was a video response - Kare 11 actually ran the story (I think they were the only ones).
My husband is an amazing man. He has the courage to be a hero for not only Karsten and I but for our community as well. He has saved many lives and brought a few lives into the world in just the short amount of time that he has been a paramedic. I am so proud of what he does day in and out and I can boldly say that I am proud to be the wife of this amazing paramedic.

Proof that my child rolls over

2008-03-20T22:30:00.000-05:00

Photo album

2008-03-20T21:41:00.013-05:00

I managed to finally get around to downloading pictures from the camera onto the computer so I can do some more bragging ;-)

Karsten was making funny faces at me while he was laying on the floor.

Zonked out in his swing with his hand on one of the toys.

He has figured out how to snake out of his carseat (he does this in his bouncy seat too) when we don't strap him in. All of a sudden you'll turn around and see this:

Awwwww, cute!

Waking up from a nap.

Squeaky clean!

It's a small world after all

2008-03-19T21:30:00.002-05:00

I ran across this article in the Concordia St. Paul Magazine tonight. It's just amazing how small the world really is....I remember watching this cartoon when I was younger and it's completely amazing knowing that the composer behind the music shares my alma mater.

Another thing that is actually pretty cool is that you can now get a CSP license plate from the state of MN (along with other colleges and universities) just from being an alumnus. I'm totally going to have to get one when I get my new car :-)

Lyricist Turned Rebel Makes Music History

Danny Janssen (’54) deflects the compliment when people praise his work. “I’ve never really felt like I was the one doing anything,” said Janssen. “It’s God working through us.”

The 1954 Concordia alumnus has long practiced the Christian principles he learned at school - as he did when he made entertainment history by integrating a cartoon rock band. The real-estate developer, composer and music producer is still at work writing lyrics imbued with an upbeat message. If you’re not familiar with his name, you know Janssen’s music. His lyrics included tunes for TV’s “The Partridge Family,” “Scooby Doo,” and “Josie and the Pussycats.” This last, a comicbook girl band, became a Saturday morning cartoon show and then a reallife bubble-gum pop recording group, cutting an album and six singles for Capitol Records in 1970.

Thanks to a defiant Janssen, the Pussycats made entertainment history by including an African-American singer, Patrice Holloway. How does a preacher’s kid from Odessa, Minn., get to be an entertainment industry rebel? “God picks out what you do,” said Janssen, “and how we do it.” It happened thus: When animator Hanna-Barbera transformed its cartoon girl group into a real band, Janssen produced the album. Holloway, an established singer, auditioned as one of the Pussycats. Janssen liked her voice and picked her with singers Cathy Dougher and Cherie Moor - later better known as actress Cheryl Ladd.

Hanna-Barbera said no. Holloway was black and the storyboards had white Pussycats. A black Pussycat hadn’t been market-tested. Janssen refused and walked. He would be happy to work with the cartoon giant on another project, he said, but not this one. Not without Holloway. Three weeks later, Hanna-Barbera called back. They took Holloway. When Janssen returned to the studio to produce the Pussycats album after his three-week holdout, the parking lot was so full he had trouble finding a parking space. Why? Elvis had sent his band, and Billy Preston, “the fifth Beatle,” had sent musicians. They were delighted that Janssen had stood up for a black artist.

The album “Josie and the Pussycats” came out in late 1970 and Holloway became the voice of the first African-American cartoon character on television. Later, she returned to her work on background vocals, also writing songs for Neil Young, Ray Conniff and others. She may be best known for co-writing the 1970 Blood Sweat & Tears hit “You Make Me So Very Happy.” She died in 2006.

Janssen denies any heroics. “I always think of myself as just a messenger boy,” he said. “I tell the guys that work for me and the guys that I work with, ‘Take God with you. Let God work with you.’”

A weekend of the sniffles

2008-03-16T13:59:00.002-05:00

Friday came and I felt like I was coming down with a head cold and sure enough, by yesterday morning it was definately a head cold. My nose is runny on one side and stuffy on the other (how in the world does that happen?) and have a little bit of a scratchy throat. Thank goodness its not a really bad cold - I can actually handle this one. The bad thing is that somehow Brice has it too (he never gets sick) but Karsten, thank goodness, doesn't seem to have any symptoms of being sick other than a few boogers that we have had to suck out of his nose. Karsten and I were supposed to go out to Monticello for my cousin's Eagle Scout Court of Honor but I decided that sitting at home to rest up and get better was probably better for both of us. So I have downed a lot of tea today and have been resting as much as a 4 month old allows. We did manage to get a good 2 hour nap late this morning which was really nice. This cold seems to be moving on pretty quickly so hopefully by tomorrow we will all be as good as gold.

Yesterday we had an early Easter celebration with Brice's dad and a few others that just happened to be there as well. Of course, Karsten got spoiled with lots of new clothes that he can wear this summer and next fall and some toys and baby dinnerware from Brice's aunt. It was a pretty good haul for his first Easter and I'm sure it won't be the last since he will be seeing my parents in a couple of weeks when we take our annual trip up to the north shore. Brice's dad offered to babysit on the 27th so we can go out for dinner for our anniversary....I think we will be taking him up on that one!

On another note, Karsten cut his very first tooth this week! On Monday it was nothing but a tiny little speck of tooth poking out but it has completely broken through now and we are just waiting for it to grow though. He seems to be doing fairly well with the whole teething process except that he can't figure out how to hold his teething rings up to his mouth to chew on them so we have gone to the next best thing.....washcloths. For some odd reason, he can hold onto the washcloth and/or his bib and suck and chew on that forever. We have realized that paper also does the trick. We were sitting in church on Monday night and the thing that kept him happy while we were there was being able to chew on the bulletin although we have to be a little careful with that because he managed to give himself a paper cut but it didn't even faze him. He has also mastered the art of eating cereal off of a spoon. I'm already amazed at how much cereal this kid can put down - he's going to eat us out of house and home one of these days.

Thats all for now - I haven't had a chance to upload any pictures from the camera to the computer so that will have to wait for another time. I now have to deal with a crying baby that wants me.

Finally! A funny video of Karsten

2008-03-12T16:39:00.004-05:00

So, after trying unsucessfully to upload a video of Karsten to a few different places, I finally got one to work! This was taken about a month and a half ago right after Karsten figured out how to suck his thumb. He does this chew, suck, say aye, aye, aye every time!

Remember this?

2008-03-06T20:14:00.002-06:00

Brice and I got to talking about Batman tonight and I expressed how much I would LOVE to have the entire 1960's Batman series on DVD. Of course, he made fun of me for it but you have to admit, Batman is classic TV, there has never been anything like it since. A big thanks to my dad for getting me hooked on this when I was younger!

Is it March already?

2008-03-06T12:56:00.002-06:00

I honestly can’t believe how fast this winter has gone – of course, being home for as long as I was probably helped it to go faster. Karsten is now 4 months old and growing like a weed! We took him to the doctor on Monday for a check up and to get the second round of shots and found out that he weighs 16lbs 8oz already (he’s a super fatty!). Of course, that trip to the doctor was one that we will probably never forget. We were caught in the time of day when Karsten is tired and hungry and he was screaming bloody murder the entire time we were there. He was so loud we couldn’t get a whole lot of questions answered by the doctor and he was having a hard time examining our screamer. I finally got him to calm down long enough to eat his bottle and when the nurse came back in to give him his shots she just had to mention the set of lungs he is equipped with…..now I’m sure we will be known as the parents with the inconsolable child! Of course, after being calmed down he got cranky again when he got his shots but didn’t take much longer for him to quiet down. We made a hasty exit out of the doc’s office and got down to the main entrance to the hospital where we ran into a couple of guys that Brice works with and Karsten ended up falling asleep. After that, he was a completely different child! We took a trip to Subway for dinner and he was spitting all over himself – it was so funny that I couldn’t stop laughing at him! We then went to church, where for once, he was actually a good boy all the way through. Karsten also started daycare this week. I had to drop him off yesterday morning for the first time and I was worried about him because he’s never been around people he doesn’t know but he apparently did really well. When Brice went to pick him up late morning he was apparently very happy and sucking on some kind of ring that was attached to the chair he was sitting in. I felt better after knowing that.

Well, looks like my short break from work is over – back to the grindstone. More to come later!

Happy boy Wednesday

2008-02-27T09:05:00.011-06:00

As the title suggests, I have had the joy of having a very happy boy today. It is a completely different boy than I had on Sunday (the one who decided to scream at the top of his lungs the minute his dad walked out the door to the time he went to bed) and I am so thankful for that! I was even able to get a shower in this morning instead of having to wait until some point during the day when he decides to nap. I have been waiting for the moment when he can actually amuse himself for longer stretches of time so I can actually get stuff done around the house and not have to try to carry him around because he craves attention. One of the things we did today was have a good photo shoot. I got some pretty hilarious pictures that I just must share.

Sitting pretty for mom

Ode to feet discovery

Progression of "Boy does my rattle taste good!"

I have to enjoy this day while it lasts because it is my last Wednesday off before I have to go back to work full time next week. I really like not having to work full time and being able to have a day all to myself to bond with Karsten. I'm going to miss that!

Adventures of a growing boy

2008-02-24T09:08:00.002-06:00

Brice and I finally decided that it is time to retire all of the 0-3 month clothes and break out the 3-6 month items because, well, Karsten was getting to the point where he couldn't even straighten out his legs in his sleepers. It was kind of sad having to pack all of that stuff away because there was quite a bit of it that he didn't even wear that often. After going through the stash of clothing I realized that somehow, we have more 3-6 month clothes than we did 0-3....how did that happen? The only thing that I will have to buy yet is a couple of more sleep and play's since he only has a handfull in the bigger size.

As of lately, Karsten has decided that it is really fun to screech at the top of his lungs (fun for him, not so much for us when he decides to break out in screech while holding him on a shoulder). He also demands attention way more than he used to - We think he is learning that if he complains we'll come and get him (again, good for him, bad for us because the house really does need to get cleaned and he just will not let that happen). He has also really taken to drooling and spitting and has slobber everywhere at all times. I can put a new bib on him and within an hour it is completely slobbered on.

As I mentioned before, there is a new position at work that I applied for and had the first part (yes, I did say first) of my interview on Thursday and I have to say it was probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through. I now have to put together a mini-presentation that is due this week. I still don't know if I would actually take the position or not, I'm still not quite sure everything that it entails as nobody has told me. I do have to say though that if it is going to cut into my mommy time, the position isn't worth it. Being mommy is way more important to me now than working ever will be.

I have no new pictures to post. In my defense though, I've been trying to upload a video of Karsten but Blogger apparantly hates me!

The woes of a working mother

2008-02-13T13:56:00.006-06:00

Last Monday was my first day back at work since being on leave and it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I like the fact that life is getting back to normal and that I don't have to be mommy 100% of the time but that is when I miss it the most. I wish I could work part time so I could be home more often but I can't do that where I'm working now. It helps out that I didn't go back to work full time for February (I'm at home on my day off right now) but it doesn't help the feeling that I feel bad for not being here and missing out. Of course, on my first day back to work, Karsten decided he was going to completely roll over for the first time and I wasn't here to see it. Of course, ever since then, I've only witnessed this new trick a couple of times because he likes to do it for Brice when I'm not around. He still has not figured out how to sit up on his own but he does quite a few sit ups every day and I'm convinced that sitting up will soon follow. He's starting to figure out how to play with his toys and to enjoy playing by himself a little more so I don't have to keep him occupied all day, every day.

I have an opportunity at work to go up to a new position that would pay more (always nice now that we have to pay for daycare and to upgrade to a new family vehicle). I'm kind of glad I'm not interviewing for it until next week because my brain is still on vacation but it's waking up a little every day. It's hard being gone that long and then having to come back and do nothing but plug numbers all day!

Of course, a post would not be a post without a few pictures to brag :)

A word to the wise: watch out for gift receipts

2008-01-12T22:57:00.000-06:00

So, I finally got around today to taking a gift back to the store that I had received at Christmas. I really wasn't worried about getting the full price back (the price sticker was still on said item) but soon found out that the store was only willing to give me $2 (yes, you really heard me right) for it since that was the price it was listed at now. Having the gift receipt did absolutely nothing for me and I lost 80% of the original value of the gift. I then remembered that WCCO did a story about this exact issue. You can see the video here and read the story here. I guess we have to revert back to giving people the actual receipts since we are getting absolutely nowhere with gift receipts. It makes me wonder how much money these corporations are making by essentially stealing money from consumers....

After a long absence

2008-01-10T14:53:00.000-06:00

Yes, I really am alive and so is the rest of my happy family. I purposely didn't blog for a while because, well, when you don't do anything but lounge around the house in pj's, take care of a very demanding little boy and be the housewife, there is really nothing new. It is for those very reasons that I am looking forward to going back to work in a few weeks but also for those very same reasons that I am dreading it. Brice would love for me to be a stay at home mom but I just don't think that I could do that day in and out. I am longing to be able to be just me for at least a few hours a day even though I will be missing Karsten terribly.

Speaking of Karsten, he will be 10 weeks old tomorrow....boy does the time fly! He had a doctors appointment last week and had to get his first round of shots and he was a trooper - we didn't have to give him any Tylenol for the pain at all (hopefully he is like that next time!). We finally found out how much weight he has gained since his 2 week appointment and.....drum roll please.....13 pounds and 10 ounces! We knew he was putting on some good weight but I couldn't believe how much! Every day it seems like he is getting bigger and smarter. He does have a new "trick" that he started doing one day when we put him on his tummy to exercise. He finally figured out how to get his thumb into his mouth and suck on it. He is so content sometimes sucking his thumb that he'll fall asleep. In the past couple of days he has finally figured out how to suck on his thumb when he isn't laying on his stomach. He also can almost sit up by himself when he is reclined and he is starting to babble more when he isn't provoked. The thing that I love that he has started doing lately is finally sleeping through the night. When we took him to the doctor we were told to feed him more less often and to start training him to sleep through the night because a boy of his size doesn't need to get up and eat in the middle of the night. After a couple of nights of him crying for about an hour after waking up and not getting to eat or as much affection as he is used to and figuring out how much he needs to eat before going to bed he slept all night and I got the first 7 hour stretch of sleep without interruption since I was pregnant. It feels so good to be able to sleep that long but he now gets up for the day at 6am which is going to be an issue for Brice when he gets home from work at that time and I have to leave to go to work. One funny thing about my kid is that he will be completely asleep and I'll change his diaper one more time before putting him to bed and he will wake up and start smiling and laughing at me because he LOVES having his diaper changed!

We had a good holiday season this year. We did an early Christmas with Brice's dad's side of the family the friday before Christmas and then took the trip to my parent's house in North Dakota since we've been married. My parents hosted Christmas dinner and I got to see my cousin Lindsey and her new husband for like the first time in years so it was a lot of fun. Karsten, of course, got so spoiled for his first Christmas! He got a ton of toys and clothes that we won't have to buy him anything for a long time. Of course, after we got home from the trip it took me about 3 hours to go through all the toys, take the tags off and then figure out where in the world I was going to put them all.

Last but not least, some pictures of our happy family.

All of us on Christmas day in good ol' NoDak.

My cousin Lindsey's husband Shane with Karsten.

Grandma Koppinger with her new great grandson.

A four generation picture with my dad and Grandma.

Karsten with his Christmas treat.

Another four generation picture with my mom and grandma.

Karsten displaying his new "trick".

Daddy and baby getting in some good bonding time.

Who's the boss?

This one has a story. Karsten was being super fussy last night and I couldn't console him so I put him in his swing. After about 15 minutes of screaming he finally decided to fall asleep. Somehow he had wiggled around so much that he got his hood up on his head. He looked too cute to not take a picture.

More baby tales

2007-12-05T13:43:00.000-06:00

Karsten will be 5 weeks old in just 2 days and I can't believe how fast the past month has gone. I have realized that when people say that the time goes faster when you have kids is true. Pretty much every day it feels as if I wake up and 5 minutes later I'm crawling back into bed.

Karsten's colic is now getting under control. Brice was recommended a book by one of his co-workers called The Happiest Baby on the Block. It gives a pretty fool-proof way to calm babies with colic and it works amazingly! The first step is to swaddle the baby really tight with arms to the side to keep the arms from flailing about (which he does quite a bit when he is angry) and then doing rocking, bouncing, laying on the side or stomach and sucking on a nook. He is getting so used to the tight swaddling that now all I have to do is lay him on the blanket and he quiets down. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a colicky baby because it really has been a godsend for us.

Karsten is also starting to have the beginnings of cooing. He is now making small noises and his tired cries sound much different than the loud, angry cries he had before. I have found that during the day he likes to nap right on my shoulder as I try to carry him around (he is actually napping on my shoulder as I type this). It's difficult to put him down because the minute I do, he wakes up and ends up being more tired in the end. I have hoped that all of this being awake during the day would come out to sleeping more at night but it has not. I think he is going to be an awake at the crack of dawn baby because the past few nights when he has gotten up for his 4 or 5am feeding he stays awake for almost 2 hours and it is impossible for me to get him to sleep. Hopefully within the next few weeks he starts to stretch out his sleeping hours a little more so we can all start getting a few more hours of sleep in a row.

Of course, I can't end my blog posting without a few pictures to brag about our pride an joy!

This is proof that the swaddling makes a happy baby!

This is what happens every time he goes in his swing.

I call this my abominable snow baby.

All decked out in his Old Navy Baby overalls.

This is what happens when he falls asleep in his swing with a bib on and then moves his arms around while he sleeps.

This is prior to falling asleep in his swing.

Baby's first Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T13:08:00.000-06:00

Karsten had his very first Thanksgiving this week. We were a little worried about how he would handle the trip to Stillwater to Brice's aunt's house because he has gotten a little colicky in the past week. He actually handled the trip there and back like a pro and woke up in time to eat while we were still there before having to pack everything up and head home. Brice had to work a shift that day so we could only stay a couple of hours and then I had my first night alone with Karsten all to myself. Of course, him being as inconsolable as he had been lately, I knew it would be an issue. He finally woke up from his nap around 6pm and pretty much screamed for a good 6 hours before he finally decided he was just exhausted and fell asleep. Of course, by then I was completely frazzled because there was no way I could calm my child and all I wanted to do was go to bed myself. By yesterday Brice and I finally decided that we can't keep letting Karsten be so miserable and we invested in some gas drops which, so far, seem to be working. We actually had a happy baby last night that was awake and alert and didn't cry....of course, for me, one night too late. Hopefully gas was his only issue and we don't have a colicky baby forever.

Hey, mom, get that camera out of my face!

Why do I always sleep through the cute picture ops?

Mom, dad and I at Thanksgiving....and I'm sleeping again!

Thanks for getting me those gas drops Dad, I feel so much better!

12 days old

2007-11-13T20:38:00.000-06:00

Things we have learned about Karsten thus far....

When he gets upset, he pants like a puppy before he lets out the cry. He is a pig! He can sometimes eat 4oz of formula at one sitting....he should only be eating half of that (he'll gain all of his weight back and then some in no time!) He is overall a good baby; right now all he does is eat, sleep and do a little fussing inbetween.

Being cute sleeping in his bouncy chair. A big thanks to Donna for this gift, he loves it!

His first trip to a sit down restaurant while my parents were here this past weekend.

Napping in his swing (a gift from grandparents Koppinger while they were here this weekend) still decked out in his church clothes.

All else seems to be going well. I am finally starting to feel much more back to normal and can actually venture around the house to get some chores done so Brice doesn't have to do it all. I'm looking forward to finally digging out my normal clothes this week and getting back into them. I'm still venturing around the house in my maternity pants for fear of zippers at my incision site until it heals completely. We are looking forward to the time when he is awake for more of the day so we get to see what his personality is like when he's not hungry or needs a diaper change.

Karsten Brice has arrived!

2007-11-06T15:19:00.000-06:00

As you all know, we were scheduled to go in for an induction on thursday to have the first of 2 medications administered. Once the nurses got me all situated and checked my cervix, they found that I was already almost 4cm dilated and having contractions (which I couldn't feel) and the medication would not be needed then. They said we could go home and come back early the next morning to get the pitocin started but I was not going to do that again since they already had an iv in and I just wanted to stay and wait it out. Around 5am on Friday the nurse woke us up so she could get Karsten's heart rate on the monitor for a while before starting the iv up. It was actually a lot slower than they wanted it (in the 110's) so they had the doctor come and break my water so that they could put a probe on his skull and see if the heart rate was better that way....it turned out the heart rate wasn't better and when doctor Hirt broke my water, he found out that Karsten had his first poop inside which is not good. After about 45 minutes of talking with the doctor about what we could do or couldn't do, we decided that I would have a c-section. That was really nerve-wracking for me because I get really nervous about stuff like that and they wouldn't let Brice in the OR until right before they were ready to start. Thankfully, they never told me when they started so I had no idea what was going on and I couldn't feel a thing with the epidural. He was born at 7:25am and weighed 8lbs 10oz and was 21 inches long. Hearing his first cry was so amazing, it's impossible to put into words! I just wish that I was able to hold him right away and take care of him like I wanted to. They did let me hold him for about a minute before they had Brice take him to the nursery to get checked out and for the doctor's to close me up to go to recovery. That was the longest wait! By the time Brice got back to recovery, I had already been there about a half an hour and I still hadn't seen Karsten all cleaned up. They did finally bring him in and I got to hold him and tried to feed him right away but since I couldn't sit up it really didn't work. We then went up to our room and they sent Karsten to get a bath so that he was all clean for us. After that, we had to wait for him for about an hour and a half because the nursery was backed up on baths and I wanted to hold him so bad! After that, everything seemed to go smoothly. He did loose a pound while we were at the hospital and also had a little jaundice so we have to take him to the doctor tomorrow to get him checked out and make sure he is doing better. He seems to be eating much better today now that the nurses aren't always bugging him. Here are a few of his first pictures. I hope you all enjoy them as much as we enjoyed taking them!

Tomorrow is the day!

2007-10-31T13:07:00.000-05:00

We took another trip to the doctor today which I was kind of dreading but kind of excited about at the same time because I know that the end is near. One of the first things out of her mouth was that she had already scheduled me for induction on Friday when I hadn't called to say I was in labor. We will be going into the hospital tomorrow night at 7pm so that they can administer one drug overnight while we are sleeping after which they will give me the second drug by early Friday morning. If all goes well, we should have Karsten in our arms by late Friday afternoon. I am going to be so excited to not be pregnant anymore and to have him in my arms. The only bad thing is that I have to eat a really good meal before we go to the hospital tomorrow and after that I can't eat anything but popsicles and ice chips so Brice is going to take me out for my last pregnant dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then all we have to do is go up the block to the hospital and have this kid. We should be able to come home by monday after which we should have a lot of pictures to post. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers during this exciting time for us.

Still miserabely pregnant....

2007-10-29T11:22:00.000-05:00

Yup, you read it right, this kid refuses to come out. He is now 3 days late and I honestly feel like he's not coming out on his own. If I make it to my appointment on wednesday, my doc will probably be inducing me on thursday so we should still have a baby by the end of the week but I'm so tired of all of the waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. Hopefully my body decides that it's finally going to go into labor by itself because I would much rather it do that than have to be induced.

The last update

2007-10-22T11:42:00.000-05:00

As many of you already know, we made a trip to the hospital on Friday thinking I was in active labor when it turns out to be what they call prodromal labor....I guess it's the pre-labor of labor and people like to call it false labor but it does actually have a purpose. Since then I just really have not felt much like myself, had my birthday on Saturday and we just spent it together inside the house. I really don't feel at all like talking to people so if anybody has tried calling me, I have kind of purposefully not answered my phone - I just really want to spend some time by myself and will update after we actually have some good news. Until then, I don't think I will be blogging at all, I just really have absolutely no desire or anything real to talk about.

Still nothing

2007-10-17T21:08:00.000-05:00

I took a trip to the doctor again today and still have absolutely nothing to report. The doc said there really hasn't been any change and he stripped my membranes again - hopefully this time it will work! All of this waiting is killing me and I'm starting to get really impatient. I just want to get it all over with! Of course, it isn't going to be any easier after the doctor said that he would like to see me delivered by this time next week. I guess only time will tell. Please send some labor prayers my way because I am totally stir crazy and I REALLY don't want to keep going to work and getting all of the "you're still here?" comments.

Nothing new to report

2007-10-14T19:34:00.000-05:00

The waiting continues! We still have no baby to report and I am getting so tired of waiting - I would say that this waiting is much worse than waiting for the positive pregnancy test months ago. The ladies I work with were convinced that Karsten would be coming out this weekend but obviously, they were wrong yet again. We went to the OB on Wednesday and there had really been no change. He did strip my membranes which works on some women to help them go into labor....I'm obviously one of the women that it doesn't work on! The doc we've been seeing since my doc is on maternity leave had his weekend on call and I was kind of hoping it would be this weekend so we could have him but it's Sunday now and I have had no contractions....not even one! Last weekend I at least had a couple a day but ever since then I've had nothing. I think I've come to realize that I'm not really upset that he hasn't decided to come out yet, I'm more upset about having to show my face at work tomorrow when I would much rather wait out the rest of my time at home. I guess I'll just make the best out of it - hopefully the days will go faster by having to get up in the morning and go somewhere. I'll keep the updates coming....hopefully the next one will be pictures of the baby.

Another trip to the orchard

2007-10-06T21:26:00.000-05:00

Brice and I decided to go on another trip to the orchard to get another staple of fresh apples. This time we decided to go to an orchard that he used to go to with his parents called Minnesota Harvest. I'm not quite sure if it is my favorite orchard to visit although there are lots of horses and ponys and a small petting zoo. The orchard is quite a bit larger than Emma Krumbees and they take you on a tractor ride into the orchard to pick which was fun but the didn't have any farmers market kind of stuff that I was kind of hoping to see. I really wanted to either get some gordes or mums for our front walk but they had nothing like that except pumpkins. I do have to say that their bakery items were really good! I decided to get a carmel apple crunch pastry - it was almost as big as a large to go container. Don't believe me? Here's the proof!

Here are some pictures of us out in the orchard. I was so proud of myself because I actually remembered the camera for once!

After we got home, Brice decided to declare war on all of the box elder bugs that have decided to come back terribly again this year. He sprayed all of the ones we had inside with a home made mixture of dishsoap and water which surprisingly works. After doing that he made his way outside but I'm not quite sure what good it did but to make them all mad and now we have even more that have somehow come into the house. That will be an on-going battle until it gets cold enough to kill all of the bugs.

The baby is trying to make his way out, it might be a little slower than I would like but I'm positive that it won't be much longer. I did get woken up a couple of times this morning with a mild contraction but there have been no others. We took a walk around the neighborhood again tonight to help get him moving down - I'm hoping that it actually works. I know that something is working because I do have a lot more pressure in my pelvis which is a good sign! I'm hoping he decides he's done cooking soon because I don't know if I can honestly hold up until the 26th. We will keep everyone updated!

Another doc appointment

2007-10-03T16:08:00.000-05:00

Brice and I made another trip to the OB today to check my progress. Everything still looks good, heart rate is good, head is down and can be felt by the doc and I am now almost 3cm (he had to call it 2+ because it's not quite there) dilated. I can, at this point, go into labor at any time and the baby should be just fine, there is no risk of him being pre-mature. We'll be doing a lot of walking and chores around the house to help gravity out a little bit (because, it would be lovely if he decided he was done cooking early!). Other than that, there is really nothing to report other than getting a flu shot (my arm is feeling the after-effects) and not really having any real contractions under my belt, just the fake ones that basically do crap. My bag at this point is all packed and ready to go except for the last minute items like my eye glasses and the camera so we should be all set there. I am so anxious I just can't stand it anymore....I want him to come out!!!!

Spend the money on a good haircut....JUST DO IT!!!!

2007-09-28T17:40:00.000-05:00

I decided that I needed to get a trim so that my hair isn't in my way while I'm in labor. So, since Games by James is in the Burnsville Mall and I had to stop there I decided to go to Mastercuts and get my hair cut....boy was that a HUGE mistake. I just made the assumption that because I have gotten really great haircuts at their other locations that I would get the same great service there....nope, not even close. I go in there, tell the girl what I want done, not only that but I point to how short I want it. So, she starts cutting and keeps cutting and cutting and cutting and I'm wondering, what in the world is taking so long? Then, she gets to the front of my head and she only leavs about an inch and a half of hair at the top on the right side but leaves a good 2 and a half to 3 inches on the top on the right. Not only that but it's really short on the top with this god awful long hair sticking out of the bottom. So after she was done, I made her cut it again and cut all of the long hair off. So by now of course, I am PISSED off because I have absolutely no hair left and she starts curling it so I can at least go out into the mall and do what I need to do. Yea, BIG MISTAKE!!!!! She burnt my ear on the curling iron so bad that I have a blister!!!!! She gets "done" and I realize that it doesn't look any different than it would if she would have just dried it. I made sure I told her many times that it was MUCH shorter than I had ever told her to cut it in the first place and I DID NOT give her a tip. It's bad enough that I had to pay $20 for a haircut that I hate. I was so mad after that that there was no way I could go out into the mall to get my game that I left to go home to try to figure out what in the world I can do to make my hair look presentable. I wet down my hair and tried to blow dry it....it's so short in the back that it won't curl and the very top layer is longer than the middle. Then since the left was longer than the right, I had to get my sissor out and try to make it look like the 2 sides are at least related. Then on the right, I had a very short piece on the top and a very long piece right below so I had to blend all of that together. I finally got done with all of that and decided that it didn't look terrible when I found out why the 2 sides still weren't matching one another. There was a whole piece on the left that wasn't even layered!!!! So after cutting that off and blowdrying again I think it's going to be as good as it's going to get until it grows out a bit. To top it all off, since it is so short in the back all of my haircolor was cut off so now I have to take the time this weekend and put some color in it so that the front and the back match.

I think I have finally learned my lesson. No more $20 haircuts because they are cheap. I'll gladly spend the $60 that the salon up the road charges if I can at least get a haircut that I don't have to correct when I get home.

2 headed turtle

2007-09-28T09:25:00.000-05:00

Two-headed turtle goes on display in Pa.

Thu Sep 27, 9:50 PM ET

A pet store has bought a two-headed turtle from a collector and plans to keep it on display, the store manager said. The 2-month-old turtle, actually conjoined red-eared slider twins, fits on a silver dollar.

It has two heads sticking out from opposite ends of its shell, along with a pair of front feet on each side. But there is just one set of back feet and one tail.

The turtle is apparently healthy, and the species can live 15 to 20 years, said Jay Jacoby, manager of Big Al's Aquarium Supercenter in East Norriton. The turtle has not yet been named.

The store would not disclose how much it paid.

The same exotic-turtle collector sold another Big Al's store a conjoined-twin turtle about 20 years ago, Jacoby said. The man lives in Florida, but he declined to identify him.

The countdown begins.....

2007-09-26T18:42:00.000-05:00

I had another doctor appointment today and everything looks good. I am already 2cm dilated - the doc said that because I have such an early start I won't have to worry about being late but it also sounds like there is a good chance that I may be early. The only thing he could really pinpoint for me is that I should have at least another 2 weeks. If this is true, I need to get going and get my bag packed and all of my last minute stuff done (I have a few clothing items to wash along with the crib sheets, the pacifiers need to be sterilized and the car seat installed in both cars). The room is now pretty much done. We put the rocking chair together on Sunday (thanks to my mom and dad for that purchase), I got the pictures hung yesterday along with all of the toys put away in the book shelf. I realized after hanging all of the pictures that we don't have enough! There is a great big naked piece of the wall between the dresser and the crib so Brice is going to go find a picture to hang there.

Since everyone has been asking for pictures of the nursery, no need to wait any longer....I finally took some today!

I think I'm going to be off to bed real early tonight. For some odd reason I'm completely wiped out and by back is killing me. Uncomfortable? I think that's and understatement.

Want more Smitty?

2007-09-25T08:31:00.000-05:00

I found some pics of the Smitty concert from Saturday on the KTIS website and thought you all might enjoy to see them.

Aaron Shust opens up.

Smitty and band.

Last but not least, Smitty himself.

Homecoming 2007 and Smitty

2007-09-23T14:19:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was really busy for us. We got up early and had to be over to Concordia for the all choir reunion any time after 8:30....we left about 8:15 and got there right before 9 so we made some pretty good time from here. We had breakfast there with some of my old choir mates and then we headed over to the chapel where we were having a massed choir rehearsal before the dedication of the new chapel addition. I have to admit it looks pretty spectacular....there is even air conditioning in the addition now but not so much yet for the actual chapel, it was really warm in there! Not only did they add to the chapel but they actually did some remodeling inside....ripped out the old gymnasium tile and put in some hardwood floors, framed all of the stained glass windows so that they stand out better and hid all of the radiators with actual radiator boxes. The rehearsal and chapel service was pretty fun because a couple of the old choir directors came back and got to direct as well. I have to say that there is a definate difference between the directing that we learned in school and what these old directors did....it is very miniscule and really nothing much to it which made it very hard to follow. But, it was still a great time! After that we headed back to the theatre building where the street party was starting. We had wristbands that got us unlimited food, drinks, carnival rides and beer in the alumni tent. Yea, I was a little bummed about having to miss out on the beer but Brice was really excited because he got a good Summit Ocktoberfest to go with his brats.

Here are a few pictures from the afternoon. We will start with a picture of the pit where 3 dorms and a house used to be. Early this fall they tore them all down to build this huge 4 floor apartment style dormatory (why couldn't they have had that when I was there????)

This next one is the front of the chapel addition.

Me petting a little calf at the petting zoo. Brice didn't tell me when he was snapping the picture so I look a little wierd.

A self portrait of us after just having downed a bag of mini donuts.

And last but not least, I'm going to call this my ode to Josh Huber.

So, after having done all of this, we left around 4pm to head down to Eden Prairie because we had tickets to see Michael W. Smith at Grace church. Since we got there so early we decided to stop at the mall and do a little window shopping and get a snack before we headed down to the church for the concert. We really had a great time....the show ended up being sold out so I'm glad I got tickets when I did. I was a little perterbed with people though because when we got the tickets in the mail there was an insert that said there was no photography allowed so being the good person that I am, I did not take the camera in. Obviously, this didn't stop people from taking a million pictures but now I'm mad that I have nothing to show for being there....grrrrrr..... Anyways, the concert was more like Smitty unplugged. He did a lot of worship and praise music and only a small set of actual Smitty originals. We were a little disappointed that it wasn't a bigger, less accoustic concert but with Smitty you can't go wrong. This guy is a freakin' genious! I would be happy with half of the talent that he's got. He was talking about his new Christmas album that's coming out in a couple of weeks and I'm really excited to hear it. He got to record it at Abby Road in London and all the pieces are original and John Williams-eske. Just think, Smitty meets John Williams.....I can't think of anything more music geeky than that!

Today, we went to church and in the bulletin they were advertising for an open worship leader for their new Threshold services that are geared directly to young adults. I'm seriously thinking about applying for it - it's a part time position and it would allow me to actually use my degree (YES!!!!) and do something different that I have always wanted to do (get more into the contemporary music scene). I have a lot to think and pray about regarding that.

I'll close with a picture of a present that was waiting for me when I got home from work on Friday afternoon.

Where are all the crazies coming from?

2007-09-21T09:14:00.000-05:00

I just found this article posted on Yahoo and thought I would share it with all of you. Where does this lady get the idea that governments can force upon people the length of a marriage....come on people!

Glamorous politician wants law to allow 7-year itch

By Madeline ChambersFri Sep 21, 4:00 AM ET

Bavaria's most glamorous politician -- a flame-haired motorcyclist who helped bring down state premier Edmund Stoiber -- has shocked the Catholic state in Germany by suggesting marriage should last just 7 years.

Gabriele Pauli, who poses on her web site in motorcycle leathers, is standing for the leadership of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) -- sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) -- in a vote next week.

She told reporters at the launch of her campaign manifesto on Wednesday she wanted marriage to expire after seven years and accused the CSU, which promotes traditional family values, of nurturing ideals of marriage which are wide of the mark.

"The basic approach is wrong ... many marriages last just because people believe they are safe," she told reporters. "My suggestion is that marriages expire after seven years."

After that time, couples should either agree to extend their marriage or it should be automatically dissolved, she said.

Fifty-year-old Pauli, twice divorced, is a maverick intent on shaking up her male-dominated and mainly Catholic party which has dominated Bavarian politics since World War Two.

"This is about bringing ideas into the CSU and starting a discussion," she told German television on Thursday after she had unleashed a wave of criticism from other politicians.

Former foe Stoiber said she did not belong in the CSU and European lawmaker Ingo Freidrich dismissed her views.

"She is diametrically contradicting our Christian, ethical values," Freidrich said.

Peter Ramsauer, head of the CSU in Germany's parliament, compared Pauli's ideas to "the dirt under your fingernails".

Pauli, who attracted attention earlier this year when she posed for a magazine wearing long black latex gloves, was at the centre of a snooping scandal which eventually led to Stoiber, Bavarian premier for 14 years, saying he would stand down early.

She said his office tried to obtain details about lovers and alcohol consumption to use against her.

The CSU will elect Stoiber's successor as party head at a conference next week. He will be replaced as state premier in early October.

Viewed as a party rebel, Pauli stands almost no chance of winning next week's vote. The contest has been fought mainly between Bavarian state economy minister Erwin Huber and German Consumer Minister Horst Seehofer.

The popularity of Seehofer, a 58-year-old married father of three, has suffered from the disclosure that he had been having an affair with a younger woman who recently had his baby.

Almost finished!

2007-09-19T18:12:00.000-05:00

So, Brice and I had our last child birth class on monday which ended up being very informative because one of the pediatritians from the practice we are choosing came in to speak to the class. Talk about overload of information! There is so much to talk about but not enough time to talk about it so we got a brief overview of what to expect after giving birth and all that good stuff. The lady giving the class was so nice that she bought a cake and treats for our last day....she called it celebrating a birthday although nobody was close to giving birth yet.

Last night, we took a tour of the hospital's maternity ward. For those of you interested, we will be having the baby at Fairview Southdale. We have decided that we aren't going to have any visitors there since we really won't be there very long and honestly, I don't want to be around anybody after just giving birth. Once we are home though we are expecting gads of people to come over to the house to visit. The one good thing is that the hospital has wireless internet for the patients to use while there so we will be able to blog and post pictures pretty much right away so there should be no having to wait for your baby fix! I am pretty much done with everything that needs to get done....I filled out the pre-reg form and faxed that in this morning and the only thing left is to get a few essentials for my hospital bag and to actually pack my bag and I'm ready. I'm going to be prepared long in advance because I don't want to be caught off guard.

Saturday review

2007-09-15T20:21:00.000-05:00

I had a pretty good day today. Woke up around 8 and watched some news, ate some cheerios and watched a little fun animal shows and a little bit of Mythbusters (this is our favorite show.....if you have never seen Mythbusters on Discovery, I highly recommend it, it is a show the whole family will enjoy). I finally decided to get out of my comfy flannel pj's which almost don't fit around my belly anymore and got ready for a baby shower that my friend Donna held for me at her house. She had wonderful food! She decided to go with brunch and made this egg bake that had croissants for crust, eggs, potatoes, cheese and sausage in it.....mmmmm, that was really tasty! She also had all of the decorations, plates and napkins all Noah's Ark - it was so cute! Of course, I forgot my camera because Brice was rushing me out of the door so fast that I don't have any pictures. There were just a few people that showed up but it was a fun time. I got to see my aunt Barb and my cousin Courtney and my friend Allison who I have not seen in forever so that was really nice. Since I didn't get any pictures of the shower, I decided to take a picture of one of the gifts that I got. Donna got this great bouncy seat for the baby that actually vibrates and plays music. I decided to put it together once I got home and it is so cute!

Brice and I decided to make beer can chicken on the grill tonight for dinner. Of course, I go out to check it after an hour and there is no flame left in the grill and we were 5 degrees away from it being done so we had to bring it in the house and finish it in the oven but it turned out really well.

Brice decided that he wanted pictures of his hand, stitches and all, to put up on his blog. I promised him that I would not post them here so if any of you want, I am going to send you over to his blog to check it out.

Well, that's all for now. Tomorrow is church day and after that I'm going to spend some time in Karsten's room and hopefully get everything done....I have curtains to hang, the rug to vacuum, the furniture put where it goes and pictures to hang. Hopefully I can get that done and post pictures of the finished product for you all to see.

Baby and Daddy

2007-09-13T11:13:00.000-05:00

First line of business today is baby. We had another appointment yesterday and had an ultrasound to measure my little guy to make sure he wasn't too big since I'm measuring weeks ahead of what I should be. The ultrasound estimated his weight to be 5lbs and 4oz and he ranks in the 61st percentile. He has a head that is on the large side of average, his tummy measurements are dead on and his leg measurements are on the small side of average. The doc said if it weren't for the size of his head that he would be dead on at the 50th percentile. We got a few pictures of him, one of the bottom of his foot, his leg and one of the side of his face with his hands in front of his mouth which he would not move so we could get a good look at his face (he wasn't liking the ultrasound much!). I don't have pictures to post now because our printer is well, doing what printers do best so I'll try to get those up soon. Also, the ultrasound tech said that we are absolutely having a boy, all parts are there as expected! Brice can now stop saying what would happen if we have a girl.

Second line of business is Brice. He did his first dressing change last night and finally counted all of the stitches.....there are 22 total! He's of course, having problems doing everyday things because it is on his right hand and he is right handed. I had to put his shoes on for him yesterday, pick him up at home to go to the doctor, make dinner, do the dishes, wash and fold all of his laundry.....I was pretty exhausted last night after all of that. Today he is going to try to venture out for a while with the car; hopefully he is careful to try to not use his right hand much. He said that he's been in a lot of pain this morning but he took some medicine and should be feeling better.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully there will be nothing exciting to say from now until Saturday which marks the very last baby shower that is on my schedule. Hopefully we get lots of stuff that we still desperately need!

A late night in the ER

2007-09-12T10:28:00.000-05:00

Well, we had to take our first trip to the ER last night as a married couple! Brice was washing dishes and broke a casserole dish and cut himself really bad from his wrist up to his pinky finger on his right hand. I quickly put his shoes on for him and drove him over to the ER for stitches. We left the house around 9pm and he got done in the ER right around 11 after which we had to go to Walgreens and get some antibiotics and pain meds filled along with some dressing changes. After we got home we had to clean up the evidence and get ready for bed (I think I went to bed around 12:30 and got up at 5am for work so I'm pretty sleepy today). He cut himself so bad that he has at least 15 stitches (he said he didn't count them because he couldn't watch.....there is something about being ok watching other people go through traumatic situations but is different when it is him) and the cut down by his wrist is down to the bone. They put him in a splint so he can't move his finger at all and blow the stitches and he can't go to work for a week. I feel so bad for him and helpless that I really can't help him when I'm stuck at work. I'll try to take a picture of his splint tonight and post it so you all can see how bad it is. Please keep him in your prayers because he's having a tough time (I believe) but he just won't admit it.

Weekend and Pavarotti

2007-09-09T18:28:00.000-05:00

It's been a pretty long and busy weekend! Friday was the usual get to work, put in your 8 hours and you are so glad to go home. Before the end of the day though I had a meeting with my supervisor to figure out some of this maternity leave stuff. After having a lengthy discussion with him about how things in our department need to change or I have to leave actually made me feel a little better. He is totally on my side with everything and dosen't see why all of this is even an issue. He said that when him and his wife decide to start their family he is going to ask for exactly the same things that I am. So now, we have to try and talk the other managers of our department into being a little more flexible. We'll see where all of this goes.

On Saturday morning we woke up and realized there was nothing for breakfast so we went to Perkins to have a hearty one (there is something about sleeping in and going for a late breakfast at Perkins on the weekend that is just satisfying). We went back home and Brice decided to do some cleaning and I went up to Wal-mart to get some shopping done. I had to go take a couple of duplicate gifts back that we got for the baby and got one of those warm sacks for taking the baby outside during the winter....he'll be nice and warm in that. After coming home I decided to tackle all of the clothing items that we had gotten for Karsten. I went through everything, took off the tags on the stuff he can wear right away, unwrapped all the blankets and unpackaged everything else that needed to be washed and I washed it all. There was so much stuff that I ended up with 2 large loads of laundry....for a baby! I was amazed at how much stuff there was. Everything is so fluffy that it took a little longer than normal to dry in the dryer and there was a TON of fuzz to deal with. So, everything is washed and put away in the dresser ready to go unless I get more. After looking at what clothes we had and didn't have we realized that he only had one pair of cord pants and a pair of jean overalls and the rest were all jammie type pants. There were also a LOT of short sleeved onsies but only one zip up sweater that he can wear over the top. So, after church today we took a trip to Target and found him 3 pairs of pants and a knitted zip up sweater. We also found a small bookshelf to put in his room that was on clearance so now we have MORE furniture to put together. Back to Saturday, we cut up some of the apples that we got at the apple orchard last weekend and made this totally yummy carmel apple bar recipe....it is SOOOOO good! I have a feeling that I will make more because we have a good 10 pounds of apples left.

Tonight we went over to the VFW for dinner because the fire department was having it's annual chicken fry. I don't quite understand the connection between firemen and being good at grilling but it sure makes a great combo. The food was wonderful and our money went to a good cause.

There was this amazing article in the StarTribune today about Pavarotti....it says completely what all of us musicians strive for but can never quite grasp completely but Pavarotti had it all. I enjoyed reading it and I think I'll have to hang a copy of it up in my cube or on the fridge or something because it is truely inspiring.

John Timpane: His talent really was that rare
There are three unusual abilities that must be wedded to become the singer he was.

John Timpane

Published: September 09, 2007

Luciano Pavarotti once sang a song of mine.
I wasn't there; I had to wait for the video on PBS. He didn't sing lead; he came in on the choruses. But the way he performed even this relatively humble musical task -- compared with the mammoth spectaculars, the Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti heroics for which he had become famous -- taught me what it takes to make a Pavarotti. It's more than meets eye or ear, and that says a lot for so big a man.

Along with Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, and a tiny group of others, Pavarotti married three singular, extremely rare talents. To have a Pavarotti, you need all of them; without any one, you might have a pretty good thing, but not the human miracle in such a singer.

Thing 1: The Voice. This is the province of the Creator, and only if it pleases Him/Her/Them. You know that truism about "You can either play in the NBA or you can't"? The Pavarotti-level voice is much, much rarer than the man or woman who can dunk. Maybe a few thousand people around the world can play professional basketball. How many Pavarottis are there at one time?

Thing 2: Musicianship. People think singers like Pavarotti stride on to the stage, take their stance and just belt it out. Not so. To be a singer at that level, you must be a musician. You must learn your instrument through and through (including the athletics of it, the exercise, the preparation, the competition, the mentors and coaches). You must grow expert in the history of music, the rules, the legacies of thousands of other performers. It's a religion. It's slavery.

But then the hard part. Thing 2B. You must somehow reach through all that training and use music to explore reality, human emotion, the situation of human beings in the world.

You must learn how to challenge, touch, enlighten others. Some of this can be taught. Much can't. You have to have lived in the world with your eyes and spirit wide open. No true musician is only a technician, only a plumber with facts and techniques. You can study music all your life -- thousands do -- and "know everything about music" (thousands do) and still not have what I'm talking about. Pavarotti had the unteachables. He would have been a wondrous musician no matter his voice.

Thing 3: An entertainer's sense to match voice and musicianship. Pavarotti was the hammiest of hams, far beyond the bourgeoise overacting of the operatic tradition: He seldom hesitated to milk the moment, search the funny bone, prompt the reach for the hankies. He also, however, was a professional who honored what the entertainer does: assess the mood and needs of the audience and work to realize them. Entertainment, whether classical music or dime dancer, is a generous act, outerly, other-oriented. Watch a Pavarotti performance sometime. Watch his eyes, his body language. He's reading the audience because he needs them to need him.

Many people have one of these things -- an exquisite physical gift; mastery of music; audience connection. Almost no one, and maybe only a handful in the world in any one generation, has them all. Pavarotti had them all.

I am proud and thrilled to have helped write a song on which Pavarotti actually sang. The event was a 1995 "Pavarotti and Friends" benefit concert in Modena for the orphans left by the bloody conflict in Bosnia. The Croatian musician Nenad Bach asked me to work with him on the lyrics to a song -- "Can We Go Higher?" -- that asked whether humanity could ever live in peace, ever transcend its legacy of tribal violence. Nenad sang lead, I recall, but Pavarotti sat in on the choruses -- and he did what he always did, pitched for the home team, took that stance we all know so well and just blasted out the music -- but with earned emotion, eyes traveling the crowd, calling them in. He probably had heard the song maybe a few hours before, and yet he was laying out all his resources on its behalf, as though it were Beethoven. It was a benefit; he was either not getting paid or not getting his normal check. And there he was, not even the lead, working his work.

He did the same thing for many causes, political and musical. He was the best salesman classical music ever had, just by being himself. Remember: The miracle in a musician is mostly invisible. The miracle you hear is the miracle he or she has lived. I am glad that, if only for the slenderest of moments, I got a chance to see him live it.

John Timpane is a musician and the associate editor of the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer. He wrote this for the Hartford Courant.

Decisions

2007-09-05T22:03:00.000-05:00

Well, Brice and I have been talking about what to do after the baby is born. I decided to go on our site at work where all the current open positions are and found a few jobs that I could work full time from home which would solve all of our problems. We decided that I should try and apply for one while I am waiting on a response from the department that I work for. I ran into our department head today and he is still planning on meeting with me sometime this week to see if there is something that can be worked out. And to think, all of this could have been avoided if they would just have said that I could work 4 days rather than 5. I'll keep everyone updated as to what ends up happening

On another work note, please keep my co-worker Kay in your prayers. She ended up going home early yesterday because she wasn't feeling right and ended up having emergency brain surgery because the doctor's found a tumor.

Motherhood....trials and tribulations

2007-09-02T00:39:00.000-05:00

Everything had been going so well and we thought we would start our wonderful role as parents with not a care in the world....until I hit the brick wall. I had to have a meeting this week with a couple of the managers at work so that they could give me a verbal warning about being sick too many times....yea you heard me right, what kind of crap is that???? #1 - I get sick quite often #2 - I have a personal philosophy that you don't go to work when you are sick so you don't spread it to other people and #3 - I'm pregnant, I have to take care of myself and I can't use all of the possible energy I have when I'm not feeling well to go to work and then who knows what would happen? I'm not going to put my unborn child at that kind of a risk. So at this "meeting" I was told that I shouldn't come to work when I'm sick but that I SHOULD come to work anyway if I'm sick.....ummmm, yea, whatever. So then I decide to ask what is going to happen before and after my maternity leave. I asked very politely to spend the last week or two working at home and I got the "No because if we do it for you we have to do it for everyone else"....ummm, I'm the only one in my department pregnant. Then I got the, "well, we can't have you working at home because it's a HIPPA violation"....yea, I'm not giving you credit on this one either because it's not any more a HIPPA violation to work in an office building than it is in a home. So then, I asked to work 4 ten hour days when I come back from leave and I got the same crap excuse....yea I got a big fat pile of poop at work yesterday and I have not been happy about it because it screws up all of the plans that Brice and I had set to take care of the baby.

All of this of course, makes me feel like crap and I feel like it is all my fault and it's impossible for me not to be upset about it (of course, the horomones probably don't help the situation any). I feel lied to and used at work....I took that job because I knew that we would be starting a family and the options were there for flexible working hours and possibly working from home only to find out now that apparently the office I work in doesn't follow those corporate policies. So, of course, that gets the wheels turning - is it worth to continue to work after the baby is born if I can't have what I thought I was going to? Do I try to transfer to a different department that would allow me to have a more flexible schedule? Do I try going down to part time? What is going to be the best situation for all of us? I wish that I could just stop working for now but that just isn't going to be possible because we don't have enough income coming from Brice in order to pay all of the bills and be able to eat (ah, the crummy income of a paramedic!) so I have to keep working. Do I keep my job or do I decide that I'm going to stop working for corporate America to work for a more mommie friendly company? Am I over-reacting? Is the stress of there only being 8 weeks left getting the best of me? I don't know what the answers to all of those questions are. All of this is tough enough for me but then I have to deal with my always worrying about having enough money of a husband and with the fact that my short term disability policy at work only pays for 6 weeks of wages when I get a total of 12 off through FMLA....where is the cash for an extra 6 weeks off of work going to come from???? It's been a rough couple of days.

I have so many things going through my head right now that I don't know what I should be feeling. I already feel as though I have failed my son because I thought I had everything all set and ready for his arrival. I feel as though my employer has let me down and I have lost hope of ever enjoying my work again. I feel angry and upset that we now have to come up with an alternate way of taking care of the baby when both of us are at work (nanny or daycare?) when all we wanted to do was to take care of him ourselves. Will things eventually work out? Yes, but not without a little extra cash out of the wallet and a little less time watching my son grow. I think that is what is upsetting me the most....I just want to be there for him day in and day out and watch the little miracle that we created explore, learn and grow. I know that I'll probably always feel that way but I think this is the most difficult thing I have had to deal with my whole life. I can't wait for him to make his appearance but I don't think I'm going to want to leave him after that.

A quick note

2007-08-23T22:48:00.000-05:00

Just thought I would blog a little note to let everyone know that Brice and I are off for a weekend trip to North Dakota to spend some time with my family before the baby is born. It might be a difficult one for me since I have been at home sick (AGAIN!!!) for the past 2 days. I feel terrible in more ways than just being sick because I want so bad to be able to be at work and actually be productive but when you have body aches, hot/cold flashes, a fever and a sore throat you really shouldn't be doing much but resting anyway. I'm happy to know that my son is obviously oblivious to the fact that I have a cold right now because he has been kicking me non-stop since about 4am. I'm going to try to do as much resting as possible while we are there because I want to get better; and with only 2 months left, I want to stay healthy! Brice is working an overnight tonight and will probably be home around 5:30 tomorrow morning after very little sleep I'm sure so the trip might be difficult for both of us. At least he's planning on making a good pancake breakfast in the morning to get us going. Well, I guess that's all for now. I'll post some pictures of the trip when we get back.

A festive day

2007-08-18T23:33:00.000-05:00

One of my friends from work got married today and I had the pleasure of attending the wonderful occasion. Unfortunately, Brice wasn't able to come since he had to work this afternoon but I had fun without him. I thought that we had a lot of cake leftover when we got married but they are going to have even more! They had one small round cake for each table which is a good idea but everyone at our table had a pretty good sized piece and there was half of it left in the end. There were some tables I saw on my way out that just had a couple of pieces eaten out of them. The ceremony was at a very old Catholic church in Stillwater (close to the downtown area) and the reception was at the country club in Sommerset, WI. To get from the church to the country club, I had to go over the lift bridge and I have to say that I understand why people are afraid of that bridge....it's all rusty and doesn't look all that safe anymore. Here are a couple of pictures from the evening.

A busy weekend

2007-08-12T19:49:00.000-05:00

So, as the title states, Brice and I had a very busy weekend. Friday we actually stayed home and went to get some ice cream. Our busy-ness started on Saturday with first stop of the day being Caribou Coffee to get Brice some must have java. After sitting there with the brew of the day and reading the paper for about an hour, we took a trip to Northwestern bookstore and were there a really long time. I love going to that store and I could always find something to take home with me but Brice can do nothing but walk around for HOURS and still be perfectly happy. I have about an hour and a half limit on bookstores before I get bored. After that, we drove to Eagan where our baby shower was being held at Brice's dad's house but we were really early so we decided to take a stop at Target to waste some more time. While we were driving around, we saw a lot of trees down over there from the early morning storm on Saturday. We must not have gotten the worst of the storm down here because we really didn't have anything but a few small branches fall off the trees by the pond. Oh, the pond....Friday it was completely devoid of water and with all of the rain we've had this weekend, it is completely full again! That makes me glad because then the ducks will come back. Anyway, back to the shower. We got there and opened up lots of presents and got to visit with a lot of Brice's mom's side of the family who we ususally don't see more than once a year so that was really nice. We heard a sad story when talking to Brice's great aunt Barb. They had this really nice golden retriever (probably one of the best dogs I have ever seen) who one day, went outside to do his business, started barking at the dog next door and just fell over and died....it's so sad! Brice said that at least he died happy while he was barking. So now, they have a new golden retriever and he is just a little puppy so we are going to have to go over there and visit to see him! After we got the car all packed up with all of the goodies that we had to bring home, we got caught driving through another storm! We were about a mile from home, pulling onto main street when it started pouring in sheets and hailing. I pulled into the gas station to get underneath the awning until it let up a little bit. After about 5 minutes it decided to stop hailing and let up enough so we could see for the rest of the drive home and we finally got here. We had to wait about an hour or so before we could actually unload the car because it was pouring.

Today, of course, started with church with a trip to Babies R Us right afterward. We decided to buy the last 2 larger purchases that were absolute necessities for the baby (the carseat/stroller combo and a dresser for his room). We were just able to squeeze the box for the carseat and stroller in the back seat of Brice's car but he has to go back with his dad on Tuesday to pick up the dresser because the box is way to big to fit in any of our vehicles. After tuesday we will have the crib and the dresser and we should be able to finally start putting clothes away and finding places for everything. After our trip to Babies R Us was a stop at MOA for a short walk and another stop at Caribou Coffee for Brice. We then met my college roommate and her family for a late lunch across the street from there at Chevy's. It was really nice getting to catch up with everything going on with them because we don't get to see them a whole lot. Of course, they had to bring us a present too which was very nice of them!

Tonight has just been the normal doing the dishes, the laundry kind of stuff and now Brice is out on the porch reading a book and I need to go fold some laundry. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend as did we (although we have no pictures to prove it...I took the camera everywhere but never took it out).

A couple random items

2007-08-09T16:25:00.000-05:00

I was watching the news the other day and they were talking about this video on YouTube about a laughing baby so I had to check it out for myself. This baby has the best laugh I have ever heard - Brice and I had a lot of fun watching it. Here it is for your watching enjoyment.

My second random item is that it is Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queen. You can go to DQ today and buy a blizzard and all the proceeds go to the Children's Miracle Network. I already took my trip today and got a cookie dough blizzard with a shot of peanut butter in it and it was really good that way. I highly recommend everyone trying it that way because it was REALLY good!

Brice is working tonight so I have a quiet night of relaxing at home by myself. Well, I guess I'm not really by myself, my very active son reminds me of that every time he moves around. It sounds like they are getting farther on the search for the missing people from the bridge collapse. When I was getting out of the car after work I heard that they for sure found 2 bodies with a possibility of a third. Hopefully the families will be able to have some closure.

Lake Life

2007-08-05T17:22:00.000-05:00

I love living by the lake! When we lived in Bloomington we had lots of critters that would stop by because there were 3 great big pine trees by our front and patio door so there were always a wide variety of birds and groundsquirls that would come and live every year (we even had a mamma with 10 babies one summer). Today, we had an even better visitor! We went to Chipotle to grab a bite to eat before Brice had to leave to go to work. Well, as we were walking from the car to the front door, we have a visitor waiting for us on the sidewalk. It turns out to be a small turtle so of course, we had to get out the camera to take a couple of shots.

So, after putting the camera away, Brice and I decide that he needs to go down to the pond so he doesn't get run over (we have had frogs run over before in our driveway) so I pick him up and we start walking down the driveway. We didn't get very far and he comes out of the shell and starts wiggling his legs a lot I put him down in the grass. Brice still thought that we should take him down to the pond (which, by the way, is completely empty because of the lack of rain) so both of us tried picking him up again but he was not very fond of us by then and started hissing and decided to get up the gumption to walk away from us (he was getting along pretty good!). So, hopefully he stays in the grass and I don't see him tomorrow stuck to the road somewhere.

Catching up on photos

2007-08-04T15:19:00.000-05:00

So I haven't posted any pictures in a long time because our stupid internet just decided not to work in a long time (that's what we get for relying on a public Wi-Fi feed). Well, it has actually been working lately so I could finally upload some pictures!

The first one has a story behind it. I was sitting here watching a moview one Saturday night after I had attended a baby shower for a lady I used to work with (Brice was at work). All of a sudden I see what looks like a giant bug on the patio screen. Turns out, it was a frog! I grabbed the camera and took some pictures. Here is one of them.

A week or two after that Brice and I took a trip to Fountain City Wisconsin to spend a weekend at Hawkesview Cottages (Brice's dad had gotten us a gift certificate). The cottage was up on this steep hill overlooking the Mississippi River. There was this tiny little parking lot at the bottom of the hill and we had to climb 117 stairs to get to our cottage (of course, it had to be the one at the very top). Here is a picture climbing the stairs.

And here is a picture of the cottage we stayed in.

Of course, I realized just today that I never took any pictures of our view from the top or of the cottage once we were inside. It is a very relaxing place to stay, lots of birds to watch and quiet time together. On our way down there we took some pictures of the shoreline; here are a couple of them.

Today I finally went up to the baby's room to take some pictures now that the paint and wallpaper is up on the walls. Here is a corner that shows both colors that we put up.
Here is a close up of the wallpaper.

And here is the name plate that we made together of Karsten's name.

I'll take some more pictures once we get the crib over here and set up. Brice's dad was very generous and bought it for us and it is still over at his place. I also have a video of us climbing the stairs to our cottage when we were at Hawkesview but for some odd reason it wouldn't fully upload so I'll keep trying. There are much more pictures that I didn't post here on my Photobucket album....there is a link directly there on the right side of the page.

3 year old potty mouth

2007-08-04T12:05:00.000-05:00

Brice was on YouTube last night and found this absolutely hilarious video of a 3 year old talking about monsters. The ending is especially funny, we laughed for quite a while after this one. I hope everyone gets a kick out of it as much as we did!

TGIF!

2007-08-03T17:08:00.000-05:00

It was definately a Friday today at work. I had an issue with people being complete morons and not actually using their brains....these are the people "above" me, mind you. I was about ready to scream at them and tell them to wake up and smell the coffee.....UGH! After I finally got done with work I went over to Kohls before coming home. I actually went to the mall to find a pair of slip on flats that I can wear because I've been having issues with one (yes, just one) of my feet getting swollen and my sandals don't really feel all that great when my feet are all swollen. I didn't find what I wanted at Payless (I was trying to go the cheaper route) so I ended up in Kohls. I found a pretty cute pair that are kind of a mix of a tennis shoe and dress flat if that makes any sense (Sketchers brand....they are actually pretty cute - and comfy!). They were on sale so I guess that made it all worth it. While I was down by the shoes I had to walk by the baby clothes to get back up the escalator so I HAD to stop and look. Stopping to look ended up buying because everything was half off! I got Karsten a little long sleeve polo shirt onsie, a zip up sweatshirt and a sleeper that is made of this really soft, fuzzy and warm material. I figured that it would be really nice for him to wear when it gets cold out. Brice will be mad because he keeps telling me to stop buying clothes but I just can't help myself. I want to make sure that we have plenty for him to wear plus, how can you not buy a shirt that is $5.00?

Brice has to work all weekend so I'll probably just stay home and get some cleaning and laundry done and maybe some movie watching too. We'll probably get something to eat tonight since Brice will stay up a little later because he has an overnight tomorrow. Well, that's all....I'm REAL interesting today I know. I hope everyone is as glad as I am that it's Friday.

Media Frenzy???

2007-08-02T19:21:00.000-05:00

So, turns out Brice didn't have to go down to the bridge. Since it is now deemed a recovery, they have a couple of trucks that were added to help out on standbye if needed. He said that they had to go on a transfer to take a guy to a nursing home over by the U and traffic was bumper to bumper....he said there was a guy speed walking that was going faster than traffic! So while they were over there they drove over to see what was going on and he thought it was wierd that there was nobody on 35W....I had to remind him that they are telling people to not even take that freeway. We were talking about all of the reporters that are here...Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper, Shephard Smith and who knows how many others. It's just crazy that this is getting the air time that it is. I feel bad for the police who are trying to keep people out of the scene when all of these nosy national reporters are here trying to get up all in their business. Anyway, just thought I would let everyone know that Brice didn't have to go down there. I was worried about him all day because I couldn't reach him by phone (I tried calling early in the morning when I left for work). Apparently he was sleeping until they finally got a call around 9am and well, he likes his naps in the morning when he has to work early.

Bridge Collapse

2007-08-01T21:20:00.000-05:00

So for those of you who saw or didn't see on tv, the 35W bridge going over the Mississippi river collapsed during rush hour. Brice did not get called to the scene but his pager was going off. He has to work early tomorrow morning so he might end up having to go down there. My uncle AJ is a Metro Transit cop and I just heard from my aunt that they decided not to send him down there tonight but he will have to go tomorrow morning. Please keep all of the victims and emergency workers in your prayers - there is a thunderstorm going through the citites right now and could make it difficult for the rescue work. I was very sad after a guy on tv said he lives in an apartment close to there and said that he helped a pregnant lady out of her car to the ambulance and she was obviously hurt with blood all over. It will be interesting to find out what exactly caused it...it's scary to think of what might or could have happened.

UPDATE: I went to go check Brice's pager. He had one that said not to come in because all trucks were out on scene. They have paged out extra trucks for tomorrow morning at 6am....I have a feeling Brice will have to go down there because he works at 4am - I woke him up (accidententally) and told him if he has to go down there to be careful. He has never had to do a massive casualty like this and we were hoping that he would never have to have that experience. I'll update further tomorrow.

The wonders of pregnancy

2007-08-01T16:06:00.000-05:00

I felt like I was having a really wonderful pregnancy until the past few days. I have just started getting the joint pain in the hips that makes you feel like you've done nothing but run a marathon and you can't move after you get up out of your chair. To top that off, I am a complete klutz! Today I was walking up the stairs from the cafeteria and ran into the wall next to the stairs which made the top to my glass fall off and it hit the floor and spilled and then the bottom blew out (it was a styrofoam cup). So I picked up what was left and finished walking back to my desk. After I got to my desk, I happened to spill what was remaining in the glass all over myself.....ahhhhh! What a wonderful time I had today! I would still say that all of the pain is worth it - in the end I'm going to have a wonderful, beautiful baby boy that is all my own!

Another day at the doctor

2007-07-30T16:26:00.000-05:00

I had another doctors appointment today that went really well. I had to do the gestational diabetes test where I had to drink the really sugary sweet McDonalds type orange drink but 5 times as potent. My nurse told me to just down it all in one drink and I should have listened to her because after the first 2 smaller drinks, the last one went down VERY sweet. After that we saw my doctor who is actually in her last week of work because she is having her first baby as well which I found out is also a boy. She said that she has actually seen more boys born lately than girls - in the past few months she said she has seen about 3 girls and all the rest were boys. That's interesting to know because we heard on the news not long ago that there are statistically more girls being born than boys. So at my next visit I have to see a different doctor which we found out, actually attends all of her deliveries which will be very nice - Brice has been worried about having a doctor that we have never seen delivering the baby. After we saw the doctor, we had to wait for another half an hour so that the lab could read my blood work after all of the sugar they had me ingest. Turns out, I passed with flying colors. The lab tech said that I have hemoglobin numbers like someone who isn't pregnant and my blood sugar was in the 80s which is really good because they just want you to be under 140. Oh yea, when they weighed me, I have only gained another 2 pounds so that puts me up a whopping 3 pounds that I have gained so far....I'm REALLY happy with that number. Hopefully I can keep it on the low side so that I can actually weigh quite a bit less after the baby is born. Well, that's all for now. Brice and I are going to try to finish hanging the wallpaper up in Karsten's room tonight so we can get it cleaned up and bring the crib over from his dad's house. Once it is all done, I will post some pictures of the finished product.

Baby's room is getting complete

2007-07-29T14:29:00.000-05:00

So, Brice and I went shopping yesterday for a rocking chair for the baby's room and ended up coming home with crib bedding. We had actually settled on a different pattern than what we wanted because they didn't have exactly what we were looking for at Babies R Us. Well, we were at Sears yesterday and found Noah's Ark bedding in the right color scheme we were looking for so we bought that, an extra bed sheet and a mobile. Babies R Us doesn't have the exact same design so we can get the matching blanket, window valance, rug, lamp....stuff like that and they don't have all of that at Sears either - I'll just have to mix and match different sets but it should end up looking fine. Here is what the set looks like - I think it will go really well with the blue and purple walls.

If anyone would like, there is a blanket that I would like to go with this set and I've only found it on the Sears website so it should be in the stores as well....hint, hint!
Brice is off today to see Spamalot with his dad - I'm sure he'll be talking about that one for a while! Other than that, we don't have much going on. We need to finish hanging the wallpaper border in the room and then start cleaning up so we can set up the room. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow where I have to do the gestational diabetes test - I've heard the sugery stuff they give you to drink is not really all that great so we'll see how it goes. Only 3 months left until Karsten makes his appearance - I can't believe how fast the time has gone!

Thought of the Day

2007-07-17T10:18:00.000-05:00

When I understand something of Christ's love for me as a sinner, I respond with love for Christ--and that love includes feelings and emotions. But emotions come and go, and we must not allow them to mislead us. God loves me, whether I "feel" it or not. What makes the difference? It can be summarized in one word: commitment. This commitment not only keeps us faithful to Christ when we don't feel like it; it also keeps away negative emotions such as doubt and fear. John Witherspoon, the only cleric to sign the Declaration of Independence, once said, "It is only the fear of God that can deliver us from the fear of man."

Sleep Deprivation

2007-07-13T17:49:00.000-05:00

So I've been home from work for the past 2 days because I have been hit with some pretty severe insomnia. I've had it on and off throughout the pregnancy but the stuff I have this week is really bad. I've gotten about 2-3 hours of sleep every night since about Sunday. By yesterday I was so exhausted that I didn't feel it was safe for me to even try to go into work. I did manage to get a couple of naps in yesterday (about an hour and a half each) but it did not help much. I was really exhausted by the time bedtime rolled around I thought that I might actually sleep some....wrong!!! By the time I fell asleep it was sometime inbetween midnight and 1am and I woke up at 3am. I was not happy about that. Of course, I stayed in bed until my alarm went off so I could get to work but I found myself in the same exhaustive state I was in yesterday. Brice had just gotten home from work and after cuddling and talking about what I should do he suggested that I really needed more rest. So, I decided to stay home today as well. Brice must have been the help that I needed to get some rest because I slept for a whole 5 hours in a row without waking up. I actually felt better after that. I still feel pretty groggy and without much energy but am feeling better than I did yesterday. I think I will try to go into work for at least a while tomorrow to get some work done. Hopefully I can put all of this behind me and get back to normal.

Baby Shower Info

2007-07-11T08:54:00.001-05:00

So, Brice's family is throwing us a baby shower next month and some of you might have already gotten an invitation in the mail already or should be getting one in the next few days. I want to clarify that the whole family is welcome to attend, this is not a female only shower because I have never thought that it is fair that the men aren't usually allowed to come. It is basically going to be a great big family get together which hopefully should be really fun. There will be food and hopefully some sort of dessert to eat. There will be NO shower games which I have always thought are tacky and dumb. There are some people that were invited that we aren't expecting to come that are right in between the 2 venues we will be having showers at and we didn't want to leave anyone out....don't feel obligated to make the trip to the cities. Also, Brice wanted me to let everyone know that gifts are not necessary but if you would like to get us a gift, we are registered at Babies R Us (I put a link to the right at the top of the page). If you can't make it, feel free to mail us anything at anytime!

I hope we have a really great turn out - I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends that we don't really get to see a whole lot.

July 4th recap

2007-07-06T13:38:00.000-05:00

Ok so the 4th was 2 days ago already but I really was not awake enough yesterday to do even a little blogging. Brice woke up before me and took a walk; I must have gotten up right after he left because I woke up to an empty house which kind of freaked me out a little. He got back after getting lost in our neighborhood (still don't quite know how he got lost) and made me a nice smoothie to start off the day. After which we actually got off our butts and went to the Science Museum to see the Pompeii exhibit and the Greece omni theatre film. To those of you who are interested, I would recommend skipping the film; I found it rather boring which is really tough to say about omni theatre films! The exhibit was really neat - it is just amazing how well preserved all of the artifacts are. We got out of there and I made dinner for once which is an oddity in our house since Brice is home more often and does most of the cooking. I went to bed right as the fireworks were starting to go off and if the trees in our neighbor's yard weren't so tall I could have seen them. We did get to see some fireworks though - Bloomington always has theirs on the 3rd along with a big festival so we sat out at the bandshell and listened to music for hours and got to see the firework after all of the music stopped. Bloomington actually has a really good show, I would recommend it to everyone. I would say that we have seen it from the other side of the lake when you couldn't hear the music but this year since we were at the bandshell we could hear it and it was a much better experience. Brice has to work all weekend so I get to do laundry and clean up the house so there won't be much to talk about! Hopefully I can stop blogging while at work soon....I'm working on getting a quote for internet service from the phone company in Scott County. We should be back to normal after that!

Update

2007-07-03T14:27:00.000-05:00

I had another doctors appointment yesterday and everything looks good! The heartbeat on my little guy was in the 130's and I have only gained 1 pound....I can't tell you how pleased I am about that number! The doc said that if I just gain small amounts of weight I will probably end up losing 15 pounds after I deliver and end up weighing less than I did when we conceived - that sounds great to me! My doctor is pregnant as well and is due early next month and she said she has gained over 50 pounds and is not very happy with that number but I think she looks great. If all goes well with her I should be able to see her again in 4 weeks if she doesn't deliver early and she probably won't be back in time to deliver me but I'm ok with that....doctors have to have babies too! At the next appointment I have to do the gestational diabetes test and I'm sure that one will come out fine. I called this morning to schedule Brice and I for the childbirth class....I can't believe that it is time for that already!

Tonight, if the weather cooperates, we will be watching the fireworks in Bloomington since Brice doesn't want to stay up tomorrow night to watch them (he has to work early the next day). It's raining now but I'm hoping that it will let up a bit.

I hope all of you have a wonderful July 4th holiday!

Pregnancy Laziness

2007-07-02T10:17:00.000-05:00

Well, I have not posted for a really long time! I guess I have better things to occupy my time with lately....well, that and our internet at home NEVER works. We need to get a new plan for that!

So as you all probably already know from reading Brice's blog, we are having a little boy! His name (which after Brice changing his mind about 3 or 4 times) has finally settled to Karsten Brice. When we had the ultrasound at week 19 he weighed about 11oz and is perfectly healthy! He has been a very active little guy, kicking constantly! I've discovered that he really likes coffee - I took a trip to Caribou the other morning and forgot to order decaf and he was pretty crazy the rest of the day! His room is getting done little by little. We cleared all of the stuff out of it, I painted it pretty much by myself because I was tired of waiting for Brice to say he was ready and now all we have to do is put up the wallpaper and wait for presents to come to finish it off. Speaking of presents, Brice and I are registered at Babies R Us. I know that there aren't any in all of good 'ol NoDak but much of what we have on there is available online which is great! To view our registry, click here.
As of today, I am currently in the 23rd week which is around the end of the 5th month, beginning of the 6th and I am getting more excited by the day for him to make his appearance!

I think that is all for now. I do have some pictures to post and some video from a short weekend vacation that we took a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully I can get that posted soon.

Blast from the past

2007-05-11T14:25:00.000-05:00

Have you ever occurred a blast from your past? I found one of mine today right here on the internet! I decided to google myself and found a webpage that I built when I was in college. Check it out!

http://www.angelfire.com/hi/bobbiekopp/index.html

Good news x 2

2007-05-09T09:19:00.000-05:00

Good news #1

Yesterday I had the dentist appointment I really did not want to go to. If you can remember, I was told that I might need a root canal and that was really freaking me out. So I went in yesterday and told the nurse that I was freaked out and that this was my first filling and she promised me that I would not feel a thing. I was especially freaked out about the injection because I've heard that it hurts. Well, it turns out that they do the injections different now; the doc puts the needle along the length of the tooth that needs the work and you don't feel a thing - I was really surprised by that. After the drilling got done, the doc told me he couldn't see the nerve and he could just fill up my tooth, no root canal needed. I felt so relieved! So I ended up getting the tooth colored filling so you can't tell that I have metal in my mouth which I just think is totally ugly. I had a little bit of pain last night when the anesthesia was wearing off but it eventually went away. Brice took me out to DQ for ice cream last night since I was such a good patient - I actually ate the whole thing this time and didn't need for Brice to finish it off for me like he usually does! Anyways, I do have some pain today in my tooth because I ended up getting a bruise on my gum where the doc put the injection. Even though it sucks to get bruises every time I get a shot or blood drawn, if that is the worst pain I get, I can handle it!

Good news #2

I didn't know how my maternity leave would work since by the time I deliver I will be a month short of the 1 year employment requirement to qualify for FMLA leave (3 months off of work). United Healthcare has what they call first year leave that you can take before this time but you only get 6 weeks of time off. Well, it turns out that I will get 4 weeks for the first year leave after which I will switch to FMLA and be able to be off for an extra 12 weeks. So total, I will be able to be off of work for 4 months! I am so excited about that!!! Thank goodness for short term disability insurance that will pay my wages while I am out on leave otherwise this would not be possible!

Week in review

2007-05-08T09:35:00.000-05:00

Since it has yet been another week since I have posted, I will do another week in review. Of course, nothing has really happened much this past week but I will do what I can!

I will start with American Idol on Tuesday/Wednesday. I did not catch all of it on tuesday but was very happy about who ended up finally going home on Wednesday. These are 2 guys that just have ok voices and have some serious issues. Phil doesn't know how to raise his soft palate and has some SERIOUS issues with staying on pitch most of the time. And then there is Chris who obviously thinks that somehow, singing nasaly is ok. I want to smack him and say that no, it is not ok and you shouldn't just be using your nasal passages for your resonance. It still amazes me that these people actually have a voice coach on the show because I honestly can't tell!

I went to my voice lesson on Friday and was 15 minutes late because of the hideous traffic that I had to face. It usually takes me about a half an hour to get there but it took me an hour!!!! The reason traffic was so horrible? There was a stalled van in the middle lane of north bound 35W just sitting there - there was no trooper there with toe truck to get it out of the way. And the thing that really torked me off is that the traffic people on the radio say absolutely nothing about it!!!! Anyways, by the time I finally got there, it was good but I lost 15 minutes that I paid for because of the stupid traffic.

On Saturday we met Brice's dad and wife for dinner at this little hole in the wall restaurant in Webster, MN which was only about 20 minutes from our house. Webster is only about 3 or 4 blocks long but there were a ton of people there! Food was pretty good but the scalloped potatoes were wonderful! The drive down there was really nice. We passed a lot of really pretty farm land, lots of cows, horses and one goat farm (they were so cute!).

Sunday was pretty usual, went to church, then out for breakfast, grocery shopping and then home. We did have some fun trying to drive and walk through the crazy winds. I wanted to take some video but by the time we got back from the grocery store, the winds died down.

Yesterday I had another OB appointment and all looks good. I did loose yet another pound which I can't believe because I feel I eat like a pig! Baby's heart beat was good and strong, between 158-160 beats per minute. Next month is the big ultrasound and I'm really excited for that! Brice and I are trying to decide to find out the sex of the baby....I always said that I wanted to wait but now that we have the names all picked out, I just want to know so I know what to call the little peanut.

Today is the dreaded dentist appointment. Hopefully I'll walk out of there with a filling and not a root canal.

Saturday projects

2007-04-28T14:23:00.000-05:00

Happy Saturday everyone! It feels so good to be in the weekend with such beautiful weather ahead of us. Probably like many of you, I have some outside chores to do which won't be all that hard to accomplish - especially with the sunshine and warm weather! Brice and I have been wondering what to do with our patio area and I have a few ideas but just need to pull it together. I have had A LOT of huge weeds to pull out that are growing along the fence and in between the bricks, a couple of which are these dandilions that have already gotten huge so I won't be able to just pull them out. So, after I have that done, I thought I would get a nice potted rose bush to put back there and then plant some veggies and herbs. It will be really nice to have some home grown veggies this summer! Brice has to work again this weekend since they are on their new 6 month schedule so I should be able to do most of this myself. Other than my patio project, I'll have to go down to the pond and give a treat to the ducks and visit Digger, the dog that lives on the corner. He is like the best dog ever! His owners just let him sit outside all day (with no leash) and he just watches people walk and drive by and he watches the ducks across at the pond. He's just too cute not to say hi to.

Well, I think thats all for now. I have to get the gumption up to actually get up and do something now!

Please, no advice

2007-04-26T17:17:00.000-05:00

I need to get something off my chest that has been bothering me all day - I'm not trying to be rude but this needs to be said. Please do not give me any "pregnancy advice" because I really am not asking for any. And I would not do anything that would jepordize the health of my son/daughter (referincing my trip to the dentist). Doctors now actually tell you to take care of your teeth during pregnancy because letting the problems go is actually more harm than having it done. There is no risk to the baby by going to the dentist and having a local - just no gas is allowed. You know, I feel like I have to justify my actions to a select few people and I shouldn't have to do that. I'm not dumb and I would never do anything that would harm my baby. It's a good thing that I never said that I took some sudafed when I was sick a month ago because I can imagine the crap I would have gotten then. For those of you who don't know, there are many safe medications that can be used while pregnant and I'm not sorry for using them - especially my inhalers. My closing thought, before you open your mouth and try to give me some "advice" that I never asked for, think about how upsetting it is for me to be judged by what I "should and should not" be doing while I'm pregnant.

Thought of the day

2007-04-25T09:09:00.000-05:00

Walk with God as Moses did in the solitude of the desert; when the hour of judgment fell upon Egypt, Moses was prepared to lead his people to victory. Walk with God as Daniel and his three young friends did in the palace of Babylon's king; when the fiery furnace and the lion's den came, God was beside them and delivered them. God has not promised to deliver us from trouble, but He has promised to go with us through the trouble. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me" (Psalm 23:4).

Another Trip to the Dentist

2007-04-24T19:08:00.000-05:00

Well, as the title says, I made another trip to the dentist today for opinion #2 about my tooth. Unfortunately, the new doc said about the same thing as the first one did although he did seem quite a bit more positive that I will just need a filling. He also said that if I get back within the next couple of weeks he should just be able to fill it - I'm hoping that it will stay that way because I'm just too young to pretty much lose a tooth! And of course, the only reason these docs are saying that I "might" need a root canal is because the cavity is getting "close" to the nerve. You know, I was looking at the same x-rays that they were and I wasn't seeing that! I mean, how close is close? I would say that the cavity is about half ways inbetween the top of the tooth and the cavity....if that is too close what isn't???? GRRRR!!! Anyways, this dentist office was all high tech - they don't have paper charts, everything is on the computer and they take your picture to store along with your chart. Then they have these big flat screen tv's mounted to the ceiling that you can watch while they are doing work on you. They have these wireless headphones that go with the tv's - it's actually pretty cool. Anyways, the doc said I can bring any DVD to watch when I go back to have the (hopefully) filling. Please pray really, really, REALLY hard that I don't need a stupid root canal!

Ok, I think I'm done ranting about my stupid tooth now. This is the only tooth I have ever had a cavity on and I'm just really upset about it.

Another week in review

2007-04-22T14:21:00.000-05:00

Well, I am apparantly horrible at keeping up with my blog lately but it really has only been partially my fault! Last friday there was a choir alumni renunion at Concordia before the annual choir concert so Brice and I went to that and got to see quite a few friends that I have not seen for a while. After that, my friend Mary had a game night at her apartment so we went over there to visit since we haven't seen her in a long time (she's student teaching right now and is almost FINALLY done with school.....Go Mary!!!). Anyway, we didn't get home until almost 3am!!!!! Needless to say, Brice and I slept in the next day. We decided to go to church on Saturday afternoon since we wanted to go to the zoo on Sunday. Since it was the first really nice day in a LONG TIME, there were about a million people at the zoo and I didn't get to pet any baby farm animals except for a little baby duck....he was so soft! I can't wait until the ducks down at the pond have babies - that will be fun! So on monday, I had to go to the dentist because I noticed a cavity - needless to say I wasn't very happy with what he had to tell me. He tried to say that I probably need a root canal which I absoloutely don't believe because I have absolutely no pain except for when I eat and I have heard many stories about dentists pushing procedures that aren't really necessary just so they can make more money. Anyway, I made an appointment at another dentist to go to on tuesday to see what he says. I'm really hoping that I can just have it filled because I'm not a good patient.....I'll let you know how that goes. Ok, so on Wednesday night, we had tickets to go see Celtic Women at the Orpheum and they were amazing! I'm really amazed that the fiddle player doesn't fall down and hurt herself because she runs all over the stage in big high heels! Brice of course, complained the whole time we were there but then finally admitted that he enjoyed the concert. Since then, we haven't really done much except doing a lot of grilling. Grilling is probably one of my all time favorite things to do in the summer - there is absolutely nothing better than grilled chicken, burgers and brats! I don't know what is in store for dinner tonight - it's raining right now and I'm wondering if it is going to keep up. In pregnancy news, I am in the last week of the first trimester and I can't believe how fast the time is going! We really need to get our extra room cleared out so we can get it painted and then get a crib, dresser, rocking chair and all of the other necessities. If anyone out there needs a futon we have one we need to get rid of! Well, I guess that is all for now. I promise that I will be better at posting to the blog more often!

Thought of the Day

2007-04-12T09:15:00.000-05:00

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the key to God's plan for the future. Unless Christ was raised from the dead, there can be no future kingdom and no returning King. Unless Christ was raised from the dead, sin and death still reign, and God's plan of redemption remains unfulfilled. But Christ has been raised! As the disciples stood watching after Jesus ascended into the heavens, the angels assured them that the risen Christ would some day be the returning Christ. Just as surely as Christ rose from the dead, so He will return and take us to Himself. Every promise--without exception--will be fulfilled.

Week in review

2007-04-11T20:09:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a few days since my last post yet again. This will be my “week in review” to catch you up on what has been happening.

Easter weekend was quiet around here because Brice had to work Saturday and Sunday until 5:30pm so I ended up catching some really good movies that were on TV. The best one that I caught was Easter Parade with Fred Astaire and Judy Garland….you really can’t go an Easter without that movie. It’s like having Christmas without It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas and Holiday Inn. Brice and I decided to go to church at Wooddale on Easter evening since they have a 7pm contemporary service. The service was very cool and was an extra special treat for Brice. After the first set of songs the worship band played, Brice turned to me and asked me if I recognized the guitar player and I really didn’t. It turns out it was Joel Hansen from Brice’s favorite Christian band PFR who no longer records together. He ended up playing a couple of his songs and gracing us with his wonderful voice. I have to admit that I liked it too.

Monday morning rolled around and Brice and I had our second OB appointment. I did get in a little trouble with the doctor though because I lost 2 pounds….any other time I would have been thrilled! I’m sure I will have plenty of time to catch up on that. Anyway, the doctor couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat with the Doppler so we got to have another ultrasound. Boy was the baby being active, all jumping around and waving; it was so cute! We got another picture and here it is.

To the right is the baby’s head with the feet up in the air. Brice keeps saying that he doesn’t want the baby to have his nose because it’s a ski jump nose and I’ve been picking on him ever since Monday because you can see the nose since the picture is a profile and it does look a little big. But, we won’t really know until he/she is born.

Today, I started having a little pain in my mouth when I chew so I checked out my teeth and my little cavity that I had drilled and sealed in high school has gotten bigger so I had to make an appointment at the dentist. Brice thinks that the seal came out and that’s why it has gotten worse. It actually hurts pretty bad tonight for some reason but I’ll have to deal with it until Monday….hopefully the doctor can fix it right away so I don’t have to wait.

So, I believe that is all, well, except being really uncomfortable in my pants finally! I was so uncomfortable yesterday at work that I had to unbutton my pants while I was at my desk. Today I decided to just give it up and put on the maternity pants and I was much more comfy!

Oh yea, and thanks to mom who sent us 6 (count them, 6) boxes of girl scout cookies. They are really good!

Ok, now I’m really done. Until next time!

AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

2007-04-06T11:30:00.000-05:00

I am getting so tired of people asking me how I'm feeling!!!! Do I look green to you? Am I in the bathroom every hour puking? Isn't it obvious I'm feeling fine???? STOP ASKING!!!

Ok, I'm done now; had to get that one out of my system!

Campus Improvements

2007-04-05T16:59:00.000-05:00

I just got done reading the alumni newsletter from CSP and I am shocked about what they are planning on doing! They are going to tear down the Minnesota, Walther and Centennial dorms (these are the stinky old dorms that the boys live in) along with 2 houses that lie inbetween them all and they are going to build this brand new apartment style dorm. That would have been really neat to have lived in when I was there! It seems like they get all the cool stuff after you graduate. Anyway, they are going to tear everything down in May and then the new dorm won't be open until fall of 2008. My question is, where are all the stinky boys going to live if all of their dorms are going to be torn down????

Thought of the day

2007-04-05T10:36:00.000-05:00

Because Christ rose from the dead, we know there is life after death, and that if we belong to Him we need not fear death or hell. Jesus promised, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:3 NIV). How hopeless our live would be if these words were not true. Every cemetery and every grave site would be a mute witness to the futility and despair of human life. But His words are true! What a glorious hoe we have because Jesus is alive!