October 2009

October 2009 (click to view slideshow)

We are Thankful...

"Drive-Thru"

This concept is usually most effective when customers visit a restaurant to pick up food; when the restaurant tries it upon delivery - notsomuch:


We had ordered lunch via delivery from a local sandwich shop. When the food arrived, the driver got out of his car and left it in gear...thus leaving it to roll - driverless -into our garage door.

Fortunately, Chris was able to maneuver our cars out of the 3rd stall. I'm impressed and we suspect it may have looked something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLKR9tCiwvA&NR=1


We were able to get things settled with the driver and have gotten the garage door replaced (although the work presented some additional drama of its own).

One Month

Here's Sawyer a week or so ago at one month old. Time has been flying and our family is finding a new rhythm. The only challenge is that it changes daily, of course.

We've all had colds in the past few weeks, and Sawyer caught a mild one, too. Fortunately he is getting over it easily, but it looks like Wyatt might be setting us up for round two...

More pics coming soon!

Conversation with Wyatt

Wyatt: Mommy, my Rice Krispies are talking to me.

Me: Really? What are they saying?

Wyatt: Don't eat me.


Exchanges like this are priceless.

It’s a Boy!

Both mother and baby are doing very well.  We’re all very excited to meet the newest member of our family!

	Sawyer Raymond When: September 28, 2009 @ 1:49 pm Weight: 9 pounds, 10 ounces Length: 20 inches He seems to be changing by the minute.  He already looks different than the picture to the left.  As the puffiness goes away he’s beginning to look a lot like big brother Wyatt, but he’s still distinctly different.
	The brothers met each other for the first time this afternoon.  I think it went well.  Wyatt was very excited to give Sawyer his birthday present.  He also wanted to kiss the baby and asked if he was coming home with us tonight.

Labor Day Approaches....

Yes, the official holiday has come and gone. And yes, autumn officially starts on Tuesday. But we're quickly approaching 'labor day' for baby #2, and I think we're as ready as we're going to get.

We had a pretty low-key summer (with perfect weather for late pregnancy!), but still fun. We got lots of projects checked off the to-do list around the house. We took a few roadtrips, had some fun outings in the metro area, went to the lake, had some picnics, and did other miscellaneous summer stuff (BBQ's, fireworks, farmer's market, etc.).

The most fun project completed was Wyatt's swingset. After a lot of work from daddy assembling, scrubbing, staining, and tweaking, it looks great and has gotten a lot of use. It's a hit when other kids visit, too.




Wyatt managed to take his first solo flight off of one of the swings, simultaneously giving Mommy and Daddy heart attacks and taking a rough face plant in the grass. Fortunately, he was fine, and a quick trip to the dentist proved that his teeth were, too. Oi.


Daddy had a great helper on other projects as well who put tools to use as often as possible:



Wyatt hit a major milestone this summer and has been potty trained for 3 months! He reminds us that, "when I was little, I used to wear diapers". Such a big boy, and honestly, we've enjoyed the brief break from diapers.

I think our favorite vacation treat this summer was a stay at a water park in Brainerd. Wyatt enjoyed it so much he wore his wrist band for three weeks afterwards (note it in the dentist photo, above), and still talks about going back.

In the meantime, we're spending as much time as we can outside and looking forward to going from "party of 3" to "party of 4".

Cowboy Wyatt

A coworker had a party on their farm a couple weeks ago. Wyatt loved his horsey ride.

Number Two

We were able to record the baby's heartbeat at our last appointment (last week). The ultrasound picture is from 20 weeks. We're currently at 29 weeks. Where is the time going?

Sittin' on the dock...

Last Friday I knocked off work a little early and picked up Wyatt. We went to the lake in the park near our house and sat on the dock for about a half hour. My favorite comment, "Daddy, there are lights in the water." Referring of course to the sun sparkling off the lake.

It was a wonderful time and I captured this picture (right) with my phone. :)

The swing set (a.k.a the unexpected summer project)

It started one innocent Friday afternoon.  While picking up Wyatt, Heidi was informed that another family at our daycare was in the mood to divest themselves of a swing set.  She immediately went to inspect the structure.  It was ten years old.  A couple of boards needed replacing.  A deck wash and a stain and sealer seemed in order.  We thought, “Chris is sort of handy and we can rent a truck, why not?”  The bargain price of “free” helped sealed the deal.

Sunday – After lunch I geared up.  Equipped with my tool belt, hammer, and other odd tools, I looked not quite like a construction worker but closer to a weekend, Home Depot supplied, suburban warrior.  I attacked the structure with a fierce determination.  The battle went quicker than expected and it turned out all I really needed was a ratchet, 3 appropriately sized sockets, and my considerable ability to let large pieces of the structure cooperate with gravity.  Disassembly was complete in about 2 hours and resulted in pieces slightly larger than I should have carried myself.

With disassembly complete it was time to rent a Home Depot truck.  I loaded the oversized pieces in the truck and delivered them the 6 blocks to our house in two trips.  Wyatt was really excited…by the beep, beep, beep, of the truck in reverse.  Finally, I transported the adult sized Lincoln Log parts to the back yard pack mule style. 

Wyatt was really sweet, “Daddy, are you building a swing for ME?!”

 

Monday, Tuesday – Assembly!  It went better than expected.  It was a little bit like working with a large set of tinker toys.  Heidi helped out by making comments like, “Maybe you should ask Mike to help you assemble this.”  I responded by not telling her how much my back hurt the following two days.  Eventually I did get Mike to help and the structure was (and is) assembled so Wyatt can use it.  He loves both the swings and the slide.

A following Saturday – I gave the structure a thorough deck wash treatment.  I would describe the process as similar to brushing the teeth of a large wooden monster.  The weather helped me out with cool temperatures and a North Dakota caliber wind.  When finished I was wet and I looked like I was wearing a wooden fiber encrusted shirt.  I was happy to find out when I looked in the mirror that my hair hadn’t dissolved or changed color from the wash I used to scrub the set.

What’s left? Replace two boards, stain/seal, and put up the canopy.  I think it will be a fun summer in the back yard!!!

 

Heidi and the Kids

As you can see both our children are getting bigger. Mommy and baby are doing well. Wyatt has already moved fully to his new big boy room and loves it. Wyatt’s big boy room is complete with Cars stickers, Elmo, and some of his own artwork. Wyatt says he’s going to help me turn the toddler bed back into a crib for the baby. I’m not sure he knows exactly what he’s in for, but he seems to enjoy telling people he’s going to be a big brother.

Coming this fall…

	…a new addition to our family! Wyatt’s baby brother or sister is expected to arrive sometime in late September. We are very excited, but Wyatt doesn’t quite grasp what this news means for him. He does know that there is a baby in these pictures and that right now the baby lives in “mommy’s tummy”.

2 Year Milestones

It was a busy Christmas and New Years and we’ve passed a few milestones.

2 years old!!!! A fun day filled with family, friends, cake and presents

Making Breakfast Scrambling his own eggs for breakfast. Don’t worry, Mommy did the cooking.

Eating like a big boy No booster, no sippy, no problem. Learning is messy and fun, most of the time. :)

Big boy bed So far so good, just a few evenings where he pops into the living room after he’s been put to bed.