A weekend of the sniffles

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

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?

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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.