Summer's Here!

Over Memorial Day, we went to Colorado and visited my sister and her family and ran the Bolder Boulder 10K. It was a blast! We had such a great time with them--my sister is so awesome and I love getting together with her in person. We had a fun time at the race. It was really insane--there were over 50,000 participants! Here are some collages from our Colorado trip:


We also did a local 5K (Spud Run) a couple weeks ago and Nash did his first race--it was a 1/4 mile kids' fun run. I'm not sure if he had fun. He was really excited for it, but I think it was a little out of his comfort zone when it actually was going on.

Also, on June 12, Nash turned 3! He had a ton of fun on his birthday and keeps asking for another one. He is a blast and can do so much.


And here's some cute pics of Nash and Ava. I need to get a new picture of Nash up, because we buzzed his hair! Although I am mostly at fault for the new hair style, I am a little sad about it--because he really did look so cute with his blonde mop. I still think he's cute and handsome; that will never change.


A few other updates are that Nash is potty training! It seemed like it would be so easy at first, but now I'm not so sure. He is doing a great job, but it isn't an over night process for us, unfortunately. Ava is using some words that we can actually kindof understand ("molp" for milk, "bye", and of course "mama" and "dada"). She babbles a ton, but we still can't understand Ava-speak. She can do 5 or 6 baby signs really well, too. Our kids are loving the outdoors. We are so lucky and got a swingset in our backyard for free! Someone was giving away their old one. It is complete with slide, 2 swings, a teeter/totter swing, a climbing wall, rope ladder, and regular ladder. Nash also got a sandbox for his birthday and we put in a 8 ft. x 20 ft. garden, so our backyard really feels like our backyard now and we love to be out there. Ava thinks she can do everything that Nash can, so we frequently find her climbing all the way up the ladder to go down the slide--she is amazing. She is definitely our fearless child.

And one last update is that I am now a vendor at a store that is opening in Anoka this weekend. It is called "Handmade on Main" and is going to sell hand-crafted things. I am selling nursing covers, birthday reminder calendars, decorative candlesticks, soft baby blocks, greeting cards, and probably even more items in the near future. Jon made me awesome tags for my products. I am super excited about this opportunity and hope it goes well. I am going to start a website as well for selling my products. This is a fun side-project to have and I'm enjoying it. I will also be working at the store 4 hours a week, which will be a fun little break.

After this long post it feels funny saying "that's all", but I'm going to do it anyway. That's all!

Updates...Finally! and Family Photos

Well, I am almost completely recovered from my surgery--it has been a good journey. I can do just about anything with my arm now and I can almost fully extend and bend my arm. I just have one more physical therapy session left and should be able to finish getting full extension on my own. It has been so nice to feel "normal" again! It is things like that that really help you appreciate what you have. I am so grateful for a body that allows me to do so many things. And I'm also grateful for wonderful support systems (family and church) that are there to help in times of need.

Here are some other updates/what's going on with our family:

Barb--I started running again! Steve and I are both going to Colorado to run the Bolder Boulder 10K with my sister and her husband. We are really excited about that. I have been learning how to digital scrapbook which has been fun. We got new couches for our living room! This was really exciting because it was the first real items of quality furniture we got (besides our bed) since we have been married.

Steve--enjoying work at Graywolf. He is given more and more responsibility and is a great asset to his company. He started playing drums more regularly and has been jamming with a friend which has been fun for him. He finished off a room with a closet in our basement! So now we have a four-bedroom house. There is a intern for the Minnesota Twins living with us through October, so that is where he is staying.

Nash--my little boy is growing up! He is really into jumping lately and he loves riding his trike and playing on playgrounds. In the past month he has started to play really well by himself (making noises and conversations for his cars, trucks, guys, etc.). It is so fun to watch and listen to and I love it because I have to do less entertaining! He is starting to lose his afternoon nap now, too. He went on a father/son campout with Steve last weekend and had a really good time.

Ava--she's a one-year old! Ava and I had our birthdays on April 21. She started walking at 11 months and now she is a pro. After she started walking, her personality has taken off, too. She's no longer my baby! It's sad, but really fun, too. She loves exploring and going outside and she likes to put things inside of things. She's got a cute laugh; she loves to join in when other people are laughing at something. She does a lot of "talking" in her really cute babbles.

Two weeks ago we had a photographer in our area take family photos for us. She did a great job. We took nice pictures for Nash's one year birthday and wanted to do the same for Ava, which is why there are a ton for her. I am going to include them all for anyone who would like to see them (It's a lot, so brace yourself).

Elbow Surgery

January has been an interesting month for me and my family! On January 5, I fell and broke my elbow. It was around 8am and I thought Steve had just left for work. I was in the laundry room with Nash, and Ava was in the next room over. I heard a loud noise and thought Ava was getting hurt, so I turned to run and slipped on a cardboard box that was flat on the ground. It flew out from under me and I fell frontwards and landed with all my weight on my elbow on the bare concrete floor (of course I was in the only unfinished room in the house). It turns out that Ava was fine and the noise was Steve bringing the carseats inside. Well, I was in a lot of pain, so we went to the doctor. The doctor who saw me looked at the x-rays and said he couldn't really tell, but didn't think it was broken. He put me in a splint (half cast attached with ace bandages). The next day, he called and told me the radiologist looked at it and it was broken and that I should keep it in the splint and see an orthopedic doctor in two weeks.

I took his advice and two weeks later saw an ortho doctor. What I had assumed was a cracked bone turned out quite worse. When I fell, the rounded part of my humerus had broken off and lodged into a different part of my elbow. I was told I needed surgery (and should have had surgery 2 weeks prior). It was frustrating to see the x-ray and have the specialist see the serious break right away. It seemed so obvious and even he wasn't quite sure how it had been missed.

Anyway, I saw an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in arms and he did the surgery on the 22nd. There were other bone chips and scar tissue (b/c of the 2 wk delay) that complicated the surgery, but overall it went well and now I have 2 screws in my elbow and a 4 inch scar. Yesterday I went back in and they removed my cast and fitted me with an arm brace. I have very little movement in my arm and will be going to physical therapy twice a week.

The biggest challenge is that I can't use my left arm, so taking care of a 2 1/2- year old and 9-month old is nearly impossible. I've had a lot of help which is really nice and necessary. So anyway, that's my story (be glad that it takes me forever to type--otherwise you may have heard a longer version!).

Here are some pics:





Of course I had to add some pictures of my fabulous family, too! They have been so adaptive in these tough times. Nash has been my big helper, lately. Ava learned to pull to standing and she has started to cruise. She also can sign "more" and "all done." She loves the scarf my mom made me--I think it looks like a little boa on her, which is so cute. And Steve is the best husband in the world. I know I couldn't get through this without him.

Merry Christmas!

Hi and Merry Christmas! As always, time flies and I forget to post on my blog.

Things have been busy and cold. We've had some snowfall and weather around 0 degrees (sometimes above, sometimes below) and it's really hitting me that I live in Minnesota. But I've decided that it's really not too bad, and as long as I don't have a bad attitude about the cold, I can totally handle it. Some things I have learned:
--It takes twice as long to get out the door because of all the bundling up.
--If you put a tire gauge in your mouth in the winter when you are checking your tires, it will stick to your tongue (Steve actually learned that one).
--Whereas it's nice in the summer, living on the side of the street with the sidewalk is a disadvantage in the winter because it means more snow shoveling.

My kids are doing great lately. Ava started crawling! She is moving all around the house and I love it! Most parents say that they dread when their kids get mobile, but I like it because it means that Ava can get to what she wants rather than cry and yell when a toy is just beyond reach. She is much more content lately and it cracks me up when she goes over to Nash to steal his toys. Nash loves singing (as you've seen in previous posts) and he knows a few Christmas carols word-for-word now. It is so fun to sing with him. His favorite is "Deck the Halls." He loves to pretend and has enjoyed pretending to be a shepherd or a wise man lately.



One thing I've done recently is I sewed a blessing outfit for my nephew who will be blessed this month. It was my first time to use a pattern and I'm thrilled that it turned out. I did make multiple phone calls to my mom asking her for a translation of the pattern instructions (it's like a whole new language). Anyway, here are some pictures of how it turned out:

NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month! Steve and his brother, Adam, are participating along with many others around the nation.

The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. That's a lot of writing. So far, the people participating have written over 591 million words this month. Wow. I'm not one of those people. But more power to all those who are taking the challenge.

To get in the spirit of NaNoWriMo, we threw a kick-off party this weekend. Well, I guess it wasn't a kick-off party, since they already started, but more of a momentum party. And a party with only three people. But we had a blast! Steve and Adam both did a reading of their work so far (and I must say that the writing seems like it is going well). We had dump cake (in honor of dumping the words out onto paper this month), we played Bananagrams (a fun word game), and we played a poetry-writing game where we finished each-others' poems by only reading the last line written.

Very fun indeed. And if any of you out there are participating in NaNoWriMo, good luck!

Fall Fun!

This fall has been fun. We did get some warmer weather post-snow, so I'm happy about that. We have lots of beautiful trees in our yard, so we've done a lot of raking. In fact, we still have some raking left to do before the season is over. Steve decided to cut down two trees in our backyard and did a splendid job. I'm still unsure if he wanted to cut them down more because 1) they were growing funny and are rather unneccessary to our yard, 2) he got to use a chainsaw, or 3) he could, because he is the homeowner.

We bought some pumpkins from the last local farmer's market of the year and we toasted pumpkin seeds and carved pumpkins. We went to a few different Halloween and Fall parties and Nash went trick-or-treating with other kids in our neighborhood. Needless to say, he is a fan. This is Nash's first time to seem to understand what "holiday" means, so I'm getting more excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas with him.

Growing up!

Ava is already half a year old! I really can't believe how fast time flies. She had her six month well-child check-up recently and was 27 inches long (90th percentile for height) and weighed 17 lb 12.5 oz (75th percentile for weight).

She can sit up like a pro and has quite a reach. She eats baby food and loves Cheerios. Lately she is really attached to me.

Her sleeping is getting a little bit better, but we still have a ways to go. We started "sleep training" again (the cry-it-out method) and after two nights of waking up and crying twice she had a night of sleeping for 11 hours without waking up! It was amazing. I wish it would have lasted, but it didn't. Last night and the night before, she woke up and cried again. It is really frustrating because our whole family needs better sleep! It breaks my heart to hear her cry and it is so hard to know if we should go in and check on her or help her when she wakes up and cries. Nash wasn't nearly this stubborn, so I don't really know how to handle it and still get the results that I want!

Okay, back to my sweet little girl. Other than the hard time getting a long stretch of sleep, she is really fun. She has a beautiful smile and lately she has really been interested in watching other kids play. She lights up when I start singing songs, too. I am so adoring of my beautiful Ava!