"Holy Empty Shelves, Batman!"

I finally did it... no, not updating the blog, although that is also pretty crazy!
I went Christmas shopping.
No smiley face, no exclamation point; it was completely a failure. I needed to get: socks (forgot), a sled (the aisle was completely devoid of merchandise), a certain gift for Bryan (wrong size), and some other gift for Carolyn (she was with me, does it even count then?).
Oh, have I made this Christmas un-fun or what? Mostly I'm worried about money, so I've largely limited our potential merriment. It's even been too cold to go outside, so we can't even enjoy all of this snow while we try to be un-materialistic. Our dryer broke, our heat keeps going out, and Bryan can't even go fishing with his Dad!
What is going on this year?
I guess the only enlightenment I'm getting is that we are still pretty lucky even though I'm acting like Scrooge. I can't help but think that it would be pretty selfish of me to take a picture perfect Christmas, with a tree surfing on top of awesome gifts, for granted. There are so many people without Mommies and Daddies or any gifts at all, no heat, no cars, no nice comfy apartments, and the list goes on.
Kind of makes me think back to what the Christmas story was all about, and that's the important thing, right?
I just want to say that I love you all (yes, you), and I am so lucky to be spending Christmas with my wonderful family in this amazing place I call home!
Merry Christmas!

Two more to go!

I'm down to two semesters of school and two weeks left in this semester. I'm kind of excited to be at the point where I'm finally registered for some of the last classes I will ever take! It's gonna be a tough spring, but I am excited; is that weird?

Thanksgiving was BRUTAL this year, we ate enormous meals for 5 days straight. My stomach hasn't stopped hurting for a week. This is not a good thing actually, because my doctor wants me to take some more tests to figure out what's going on with my body, lately. I've gained more than 20 pounds in the last month and apparently that is not normal. That coupled with extreme fatigue, unbelievable pain, and some other strange things makes me worry. But, as usual, I'm sure its nothing but stress, so it's not worth the trouble.

Oh, we got approved for a home loan, so we might start looking at houses (maybe, if it doesn't cause me to gain another 20 pounds!). Carolyn tells us, "Carolyn home" when we talk about it, so maybe she's trying to convince us to get her a place with a yard and the potential for a puppy...

Well, that's what's on my mind right now. Perhaps someday I'll have the ability to post pictures again!

CANDY!!!

So, in case you didn't hear, yesterday was Halloween...

I was so excited all day, because Carolyn actually kinda knew what was going on this year. She went trick-or-treating with her daycare and learned all about how to get candy. So when we went to go show the family her awesome cow costume, she already knew to grab as much candy as she could fit into her pumpkin. What can I say, she's a genius! I feel bad, however, because by the time we made it to Grammy and Grandad Hall's, she was too tired to moo anymore; she just fell asleep. I sent a disposable camera with the daycare, so maybe I'll get some cute pictures; but until then here is our little Halloween moo cow.

Bryan taught Carolyn how to eat MaltO'Meal like he does this morning. My thought was, didn't she have enough sugar last night?

I've been thinking...

Not that it is that unusual for me to think; as a matter of fact OVER-thinking is probably my normal state, but I have been in a particularly reflective, inflective, and critical mental state for the last couple of weeks. However, instead of bringing all potential readers of this narrative into my level of psychological torment, I think I will list some interesting things that I have thought about, recently.

My daughter is a genius when it comes to words. I realized this yesterday when we were driving; she pointed and said "Schood bus" when a big yellow bus drove past.

Bryan is perhaps the most patient man in the world, except when his shoes are stuck on his feet, then he completely goes berserk.

We have exactly 3/8 of a dining room table.

When I was a sophomore in college I told someone that my favorite quote was from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol (think Alice in Wonderland). I think that it still is.

The time has come, the walrus said,

To speak of many things;

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax;

Of cabbages and kings;

And why the sea is boiling hot,

And whether pigs have wings.

In a way, I guess it reminds me of what I think congress must be talking about... sorry, sometimes I think I'm funny. But really! why does it seem like our government is so busy worrying about things that don't make any sense to me (Baseball steroid use, horse welfare, cruise security, etc.) I'm worried about real issues that will affect my family and my children's future. What if I am upset that neither presidential candidate appeals to me in any way? that I don't find anyone up for election worthy of representing me, even at the most local level? I am almost at the point of not caring anymore! But that would be unpatriotic, and so would moving to the Northwest Territories, so I guess I'll just keep worrying about it.

I will also have to beg for mercy for my lack of pictures. I don't have time to go online, regularly, at home this semester, and I don't have pictures at school, so you're just gonna have to live with it.

Update

It was just an ear infection, and luckily it rained that night and the sound soothed her to sleep. However, every night since she has been begging for "rai'nn" (I'm trying to show how she says it, it's cute) whenever she gets tired. Oh! And she actually really likes her medicine THANK GOD!

Morning Sickness

NO NOT THE KIND YOU ARE THINKING!


Carolyn woke up this morning at 5 and was in pain of some sort : (


I am kind of scared because I don't know what's wrong and she is obviously not doing very well; but I am letting her sleep for a while before I bring her in to the doctor. It occurs to me that this may just cause her not to nap as easily later today when I really am fed up with coddling an irrationally unhappy child. I'm just all around worried about my little monkey-bean... I'm probably more of a wreck than she is. I can't help it though, her little cries of "Dadda 'a Momma" break my heart when I don't know what's wrong. She thinks I can make it better.


Okay, enough divulging of my insecurities as a mother; here are some really cute things that will make me feel better as I'm posting them:

Carolyn wants YOU to provide her with candy!

When asked "How did you get up there," Carolyn replied " a'know?" (I don't know)

Blog-o-naut, or is it Blog-not?

Well, we have been busy, but not really with anything too spectacular. I am back to school and Carolyn is too. The signs are all there... the messy house, no food in the fridge, and we are all sick with something that came home from daycare. Ahh, the communal germ and virus pool that children swim in every day. At least I have some interesting classes this semester.

Well, I guess I better get everyone caught up on the cuteness that is our daughter.

Is it a tweet-tweet (bird), is it a blfffff (airplane)? No, its redneck baby! (Please do not be offended by this image)

Here I am getting my hair done by my little beautician:

A new favorite food:

Home At Last

Well, we survived our first major "family" vacation. I say "family" because Carolyn probably won't remember any of it... so its really just for us parents, I suppose.

First we went to Turtle River State Park just outside of Grand Forks. I had seen the sign, driving past, my whole life and never really thought twice about it. The park was FABULOUS! One of the nicest places to camp I've ever been to. Some of our family came with (Mike, Sara, Emily and Jake). There were supposed to be some more of us, but great grandpa Hall was busy recovering from back surgery in Fargo, so Al and Naomi didn't make it.

Here are Emily and Jake making some signs with charcoal and our firewood (Please disregard the "leaves of three" inches behind Emily):

Next we went to Powers Lake; it is my "hometown" or at least the place where my father's family is from and I was born. My aunt Cindy was in town, and my brother, sister and her boyfriend Ryan were visiting, as well. We rode horse, "Boomed" some rocks in the lake and ate until we burst at the seams. It was a lot of fun! I will probably have to go back to the store and have a CD made of those pictures, because apparently I forgot to tell Bryan that we needed one. Oh well, you'll just have to imagine.

Next, we went to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We stayed at the North unit the first night and it was pretty neat. We saw a beaver, an enormous mule deer buck, some buffalo, and a LOT of turkeys. Here is Carolyn with her turkey feather that is as big as she is:

The next day we went down to the south unit and explored the trails for a couple of days. There was a huge snake that lived in our campsite that was really neat (I don't think he was poisonous, anyhow). We saw a very large herd of pronghorn and an even bigger herd of Buffalo. There were several bands of wild horses and we heard a bunch of elk cows calling in a valley we hiked through. We also explored Medora and did some "tourist-y" things, but the most fun is always getting out and hiking. Carolyn kept going to the car door and trying to get in while yelling "bye" at us whenever we were just sitting around. Apparently she likes going on hikes and playing at new parks. Here she is exploring a baby-sized cave:

Well now we're home and its time to think about doing all those things we've put off all summer. This week I hope I get our dining room table refinished and Bryan is going to shampoo our carpets. The very best thing, however, is that my mother gets back from Kenya tomorrow; I am so EXCITED to have her back and hear her stories!

Babble Baby

Carolyn is starting to do some fake-talk sounds, and what she wants most is to talk on the phone. Here she is trying to call Gramma:

On a more serious note, last night we were awakened shortly after 1 am to the sound of multiple sirens rushing by. I didn't think it was anything until they kept coming for another 20 minutes. When I looked out our window, there were flames shooting over a hundred feet in the air and totally engulfing the apartment across the road from us. Within an hour, two very large apartment buildings and their surroundings had entirely burned to the ground. It took all of the resources of Fargo, West Fargo and Horace just to keep the burn under control. They had to evacuate hundreds of apartments from the surrounding buildings. Some of you might know that we have a problem with our neighbors starting fires in our building (accidentally, but still!) and I don't really think anyone takes it seriously. I hope that next time they actually realize the damage they could have caused.

Don't play with matches, don't smoke in bed, don't overload your outlets, etc.; but most of all, be safe!

Just plain tired : P

This has been my worst month blogging, yet! I apologize for the delay in the video that I promised a few people... I do have several good excuses involving my husband, stress, school, illness, solar flares, etc. Hopefully VERY soon I won't have so many things to do; school is done in 2 more days!
I could really use a nap.

More summer pictures

Naomi sent these to me today, and I have to share them with everyone!



Oh, she is so cute; I just can't handle it sometimes!

Hurray for Summer

Here is a picture of Carolyn cheering for her daddy at his Monday softball game... and then a picture of her daddy.

All credits go to Sara for the photography. Thanks!

Ahh, the lazy days of summer

We have NOT been doing very well this week. Every day we've been late to daycare/school because of crazy reasons. On tuesday we didn't even make it at all. Today Carolyn doesn't feel good and somehow we should to make it by noon. I don't know if I should just take her to the doctor and count the losses for another day. We'll see how it goes.

The other day I went to get some stuff from another room, and returned only to wonder where Carolyn had disappeared to. I looked all over the apartment and eventually heard baby singing coming from a corner. Lo and behold there she was, hiding.

Keeping up is hard to do

Oh man can my baby walk! She's stopped crawling at all, now. She watches her cousins run and I can see that she really wants to do that, too, so its just a matter of time before I won't be able to keep up with her anymore.

I have an awful confession. To keep her quiet at the grocery store, I open juice boxes before I pay for them so she can drink while I shop. I can only see bad things happening in the future, mostly involving cookies. They told me that as a mother I would have to learn to say no. I'm still trying to figure out how to muster that much discipline... eventually.

Ahhh, face smooshing!

Baby On Board

We went on vacation with Carolyn this last weekend. Our friends Peder and Katie were getting married, so we packed up and spent Friday through Sunday in the twin cities. I think it took a bit for Carolyn to get used to the idea of not being at home, but she was so good, not to mention CUTE as usual. I think the worst thing is that there was way too much just sitting still.



We went to the zoo on Sunday and Carolyn loved it! It was so nice outside (maybe hot would be more appropriate). I didn't know if she would actually notice the animals or care, but I was pleasantly surprised. In true mommy and daddy fashion we forgot to grab the camera out of the car. Otherwise we might have gotten some really cute pictures of baby with a tiger (try telling her that you can't pet it through the glass), trying to kiss the lemurs, or screaming at the mountain goat. She had a blast! She also got to drink juice bags and eat her yogurt bites (her two favorite things) so I think it was an appropriate celebration of being a "big" 1 years old.


We'll see if she has learned any bad habits for road trips... we're going on another one this weekend. We're going up to Cloquet, MN for whitewater rafting and camping with our families. I hope it is nicer than the forecast says it will be!

SOOO Big

Carolyn is 1 year old! Go Carolyn, Go Carolyn... We WERE gonna have a picnic/park party, but right before the time came it started thunderstorming. So we just had a boring party at our apartment. It was kind of hectic, but tons of fun. Carolyn was starting to fall asleep by the end; I think that is a sign of a good party, right?

There was one point where cousin Jake got confused by something that someone said about presents:

Jake: Do I get presents?

Reply (I think Naomi): No, Carolyn gets to keep the presents.

Jake: I DON'T WANT to have a BIRTHDAY!!! (crying)

It seems he was just asking a general question about birthdays and thought that we told him that when his came around, we would make him give his presents to Carolyn. I thought it was funny, anyways.

I can't help but post this video, too. We have shamelessly taken advantage of Carolyn's love of pointing at everything and turned it into a trick... we tell people that she knows how old she is.

This has been an eventful couple of weeks, and I can't possibly put all the good stuff into one post, so I'll be back tomorrow to continue the Little C. saga.

One year ago...

I distinctly remember exactly one year ago. I was going to bed and I told Bryan that if I were to choose the perfect day to have a baby, it would be tomorrow. I guess someone else decided it was the perfect day, too! Now if the rain holds out, we might have a perfect 1st birthday party. If it doesn't, oh well.
Carolyn started walking on saturday at Alex Nordick's graduation party. What that little munchkin won't do for a dandelion...
Stay tuned for a full pictorial "day in review" of her b-day (now that I have batteries in the camera). And don't blame me for the lack of pictures and video... Bryan decided to go "old school" and start using Al's 35 mm camera instead of taking mass quantities of digital pic.s like we've been doing.

teeter toddlering

Carolyn is perfectly capable of walking. I don't think we're challenging her enough. We're gonna have to set up "stations" and to play on the floor with her to try to entice her to walk from one place to another. She's so darn fast when she crawls, maybe walking will slow her down?

She likes broccoli. Tonight Bryan was dipping veggies in a teeny bit of veggie dip and letting her taste it. Every time she saw the broccoli she would just go wild. She puts it in her mouth, gums it for a while, spits it out, sees it laying there and thinks "oh look, broccoli!" puts it back in her mouth and repeats. One piece was treated this way about 5 times. Right before bathtime she spit out some more broccoli (still whole) in the bathroom. Is it bad that I have NO idea where she got this or how long it had been in her mouth? Maybe I'll buy some more and cook it so she actually has a chance of eating it...or as Bryan would say ruin a perfectly good vegetable.

Carolyn also had another big milestone: she told her auntie Sabrina what sound the elephant says on the phone tonight. She's getting so big.

Feeding Frenzy

Carolyn is getting so very capable of doing things herself. This video is of her demonstrating a self-feeding technique.

Stress test or test stress?

Okay, now I'm stressed.

I can't wait for this semester to be finished. However the next one starts three days later so I don't really get much down-time.

I'm so excited, though... Carolyn got her first ear infection. That means that she is a REAL live human being!

I promise some more pictures and stuff as soon as I get some semblance of sanity back. Right now I'm busy visualizing myself here:

Mayday

I can't believe how overwhelmed I have been lately. Not really that stressed, but just unable to get enough done. But life is good, just look at my cute baby girl; every day is just cool. She even has the bus driver charmed. Today he brought her some may day M&Ms.

P.S.: My daughter is now addicted to chocolate like the rest of us (except her cousin Jake, of course)

.

Baby Crayolyn

I can understand in theory why they would make "washable" little kid crayons easily water soluble... but it is a little strange when your baby has blue teeth. And when I went into her room, she had colored a lovely orange picture on the carpet with her slobbery orange crayon, too. She also understands what you are supposed to do with crayons already. This morning she went right over to some paper we had sitting on the floor and started to color on it. I guess Bryan will just have to get a new copy of his resume : )

Beach Baby, Beach Baby, There on the Sand...

For those of you who don't know, we have an AWESOME park right next to where we live. It has 4 different playgrounds, miles of trails, and a lake with a waterfall and beach area. It is so cool, in fact, that sometimes we can get Mike, Sara, and the kids to come play with us! Last night Carolyn got to go hang out with them in the beautiful weather. We even went to the BEACH! Well, kinda. Here is a picture of the three of them and then one with Carolyn becoming a beach bum:



Thanks go to Auntie Sara for the awesome pictures and the fabulous idea to go to the park;
we love you!

Bummer Summer

I have been trying my darndest to maintain the utmost of unselfishness and positivism on this blog, but I'm about to fail.

Today I signed Carolyn up for daycare so I can go to summer school. They asked me if she should be signed up for lunches at the daycare.

*NOTE: REAL PEOPLE FOOD LUNCHES!!!!

How heartbreaking! My little bottle baby eating sloppy joes and tator tots and drinking mini cartons of milk. On one hand its cool; on the other its scary and sad. Isn't that wierd: I sign my summer away to take yucky school classes full time, and the thing I worry about is that my baby will eat adult food.

I was warned, but now I know, motherhood makes you crazy.

Here is our baby in a box.

Where did the spring go?

Today is kinda tragic. Yesterday it was spring and the grass was starting to pop up and there was color back in the world. Today it was all erased by a bout of good 'ol North Dakota spring snow. I didn't really think it would happen, but it did. So, we have spent a VERY boring day just sitting around and/or cleaning.

We captured a picture of Carolyn's elusive teeth, and they happen to be well cleaned... she got her first toothbrush this week. She LOVES "brushing" her teeth with me in the morning. Actually she probably loves it too much, she gets crabby when I have to take it away.

Carolyn had two fire drills this week: one at school and one at home. Unfortunately the one at home was a real fire at 4 in the morning. The guy below us tried to make another early morning pizza that resulted in the fire department assisting. She was good natured about it, but the building still stinks.

Carolyn is also getting to be very adamant about spending time walking around. This video was taken about 1 hour after bedtime. Every time he would try to stop she would cry, but she was so exhausted. Bryan's back was sore after about 5 laps, so they had to stop.

Spring Fever

Wow is the weather nice today! I really feel like it's spring (until the next blizzard anyway).

Carolyn Officially knows sign language. For those of you unaware of what a genius she is... she can now tell you! She knows the signs for milk, more, done, and bye/hello. She also shakes her head in the no motion, but she usually does that when you say yes, so who knows what she thinks that is all about. And she dances. Even if there is a noise that she thinks will turn into music she bobs up and down. It is purely fabulous!

These first pictures are from Carolyn's first trip sledding out in the snow.

Here is her dad famously "babysitting"

And here she is hunting for Easter eggs at the VFW (thank you Sara for inviting her).

Okay and a video... I know this is a lot, but I've been slacking off in the blog dept. lately! Bryan has been making forts lately and Carolyn LOVES them!

Catching a Lepre-Carolyn

This morning Carolyn was all dressed in green and ready to go to school when she decided to go scrounging for lost cheerios from breakfast. I wasn't really paying attention until I saw her actually put something in her mouth. She flapped her arms and squealed her delight until her face made a terrible scowl and she started trying to spit whatever it was out. Her mouth turned black and mud started drooling out. She had eaten a dirt clod off of her father's shoe. Her cute green outfit had black drool everywhere and her mean mother couldn't get all of the sand out of her mouth and made her swallow it with some juice out of her sippy cup. And I had thought that St. Patrick's Day wasn't going to be any different than any other day!

Where is a camera when you need one?

Yesterday Carolyn went in for her 9 month checkup. The best part was when she got to crawl-sprint away from me in the waiting room... she does the "come and get me" thing already. She was crawling under chairs and laughing hysterically. I wish it wasn't a public place with dirty floors so I could have seen where she wanted to go, but somehow I had to stop her before she got to the tile part of the floor where everybody walks. We found out that she weighs just a tad less than 20 lb.s and she is 28 inches long! (SOOO big).

She also got her first post-checkup sticker. When she got it, she put it in her mouth and took a bite out of it. She was so cute with her sticker with the chunk missing, I loved it.

This morning the bus was running early, so when we stopped for the bus driver's break he let her sit in his seat and "drive" the bus. She was hitting the horn button like it is some kind of kid instinct to do so... or maybe they have a fake bus steering wheel simulator at daycare?

Facial Foilage

I need to announce something fabulous:

My husband has finally shaved and gotten a haircut!

I know you all loved the lumberjack look, but he's back to normal, now; well, except for a very cold chin.

Just for those who are curious what he may have looked like, imagine this picture only MORE hairy.

No more vacation, please

I can't wait to go back to school. I may sound heartless, but Carolyn just started doing this clingy, continuously needing to be held thing, put together with diarrhea and teething and its been a fun week to sit here all alone with no one to talk to or no reason to leave the house... and I still have 4 days left to go. I thought that when Bryan came home at night I could leave and go to the library and get ahead of the work I need to do and maybe work out at the gym. My best laid plans oft go awry. I haven't gotten anything done (except losing my mind, perhaps) and now I'll be behind schedule as usual.

In between crying, for the few moments a day, Carolyn is still brilliant. She likes feeding herself better than me feeding her. She has 4, 4 beautiful teeth, ah hah hah (see I'm crazy!). And she is freakishly healthy from the stories I hear from other mothers. Every day I check to see if her ears hurt because I expect an ear infection at any time. She now knows her Baby Einstein video is her special video and she gets SOO excited when its on. She has a rocking Tigger that plays music that she is now in love with... although she wants me to rock it for her and she can't get on it by herself because it slides all over her room making her very frustrated. Like right now, so I better go sing the Tigger song again!

Before I go, here are some pictures.

Happy leap year

Here is a cute video. Bryan keeps asking me if I've posted it yet so it must be good. Sometimes the simplest things are the very best toys.

She keeps teasing us with some more teeth that are ready to pop out, but no progress yet. Bryan says that's okay because she'll look funny with teeth... I think she'll just manage to be a little cuter! I think she'll be a biter, though. Right now its just funny if she bites; we're not used to her having teeth in there. She is becoming a cheerio vaccuum. Sometimes she eats Cheerios that have been "lost" in the house. She was eating one in the living room the other day; it really scared me, I didn't know what she had gotten into.

Here are some more pictures:

Three Little Teethies

Wow, time flies when you're having "fun". Carolyn's third tooth officially broke through last night. This time it is a top front tooth, so it was especially painful and tough to deal with. She shakes her head like she is adamantly saying no... the ladies at her daycare say that she is "just saying no to teeth." I feel bad that she is in pain, but on the other hand she is really funny now that she is learning to use them. She is getting really good at putting Cheerios in her mouth and biting them in half.

She got a balloon for Valentines Day and was very obsessed with it for awhile. We had to hide it so she could fall asleep at night!