Thursday, December 30, 2010

Her first tooth

You have no idea when it will arrive, how long they will fuss about it, but once it pops it's little rough edge through you are very thankful....until the next one!  Hello friend...

Bananas

The pictures describe her first taste of bananas.  Now she loves them!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Santa's Lap 2010

Thanksgiving


It's my favorite holiday, and this year was kind of a year to forget.  Forget the events of the day that is.  There were many changes in our plans due to Kyle's work schedule.  Typically we go to Aspen, but since there were so many away games before and after Thanksgiving this year, Josie and I decided to stay at home with Kyle.

The plan was to arrive at my mom's house after Josie's morning nap and begin cooking.  Kyle would be joining us around 2:00 when he was off work.  I called my mom around 9:00 Thanksgiving day {insert drum roll}…she had been up all night sick!  No big deal for some people but she NEVER gets sick.  I can count on one hand how many times she's been sick in my life. Soooooo, the big question was to stick with the plan of having everyone over to her house, or to move it to our house or Kelly’s.  My mom was convinced it was food poisoning, so we decided to stick with the plan at mom’s house.  She would not be partaking in any cooking, and as it turned out, not even getting out of bed!

Josie and I arrived about 1:00 and Kel and Dan soon after.  We began cooking, and when I say began, that is literal!  NOTHING had been done in advance.  Normally we would have all done things in advance, but for whatever reason it didn’t happen this year.  So, at around 2:15 after Kyle had arrived, the turkey went in the oven, and all the sides were just getting started…Stuffing, mashed potatoes, asparagus, gravy, sweet potato casserole, and chocolate toffee pecan pie.  We all pitched in, Kel, Dan Kyle and me, trying to eat before 10:00pm.  It’s a miracle that we did eat before 10:00!  Things were done long before the turkey, so we had a bit of a foil display {see pictures}.  We were all thankful to eat around 7:15!  A friend that Kyle used to work with joined us as his wife was on-call.  It was warm, delicious, and I was EXHAUSTED!  We enjoyed pie not long after dinner and called it a night!  Friday morning came too soon.  I was still tired from the marathon cooking extravaganza we had.  I declared it pajama Friday for Josie and me.

Saturday We had plans to get our Christmas shopping done, lights on the house, tree purchased and decorated.  It all came to a halt at 10:00am when Kyle got a phone call that {bleep} was going down at work and he needed to be there.  MADDNESS was raging through me….the ONE Saturday that Kyle had off in 7 weeks….JERK!  Moving on….I put up the lights on the house…3 times.  Next year I’ll know what I’m doing.  We did manage to get a tree and decorate it.  The day wasn’t a total loss.

Overall, I am thankful for a healthy mom and all the cooking assistance she normally is, a sister who helped cook everything, a brother-in-law that mashed pot after pot of potatoes/sweet potatoes, a husband that did the turkey!!!!!  A daughter that is with us to celebrate her first turkey day and thankful next year will be much easier!













Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The introduction of cereal

On Josie's 6 months birthday, we introduced cereal.  Of course the entire experience was new, the bib, spoon, eating while in the high chair, let along the cereal.  Lets just say she didn't want any part of it.  She mainly wanted to grab the spoon, which of course both of us would  end up with cereal, a.k.a. glue, everywhere.






It was a slow progression of Josie and this new taste and texture and mom getting the consistency right.  After about 5 days, she was getting into it...


Now, almost a month later, she can't get enough.  She's eating a 1/2c at a time, that's a lot of cereal for a little girl!

26 weeks and rolling!




from back to tummy

This was one of the first times she made it all the way over...as you'll see, it was still a bit of a struggle to get that other arm out.

25 weeks

A bit of catching up to do...

The weeks in pictures:





Friday, November 19, 2010

Showering Jaime with baby love and...SURPRISE!

There are four girls that I traveled with from UWP that are my girls...we see each other often and have started a little baby shower trend.  We have done something for each of us that's had babies...and it it FINALLY Jaime's turn!  She has been trying the longest and is pregnant with twin girls! 

I was planning a shower for her and decided to email the Sunflower Cove, aka: "The Cove" (that's what we call ourselves, back story is too long, just go with it) to see if there was any chance they could surprise Jaime and come into town.  Believe me, this is one planning group of women and I mean years out, so when I sent an email asking if 7 weeks away would work for everyone, it was a long shot.  It took some work, mainly on Hunter's part as she has two kiddos to get situated, but it worked! 

Andrew, Jaime's husband, happened to have a birthday on November 11, which was two days before the shower.  He was the sole person who was in on this surprise, as the Edsons are terrible secret keepers!  So, with Andrew on our side, I asked is there was any way Jaime would take a day off of work.  He worked his magic and she had it off to "celebrate Andrew's birthday"...haha!  Their day was planned, breakfast around 10:30, a movie and baby stuff.  Little did Jaime know, Erin, Hunter and Teresa flew in Thursday night.  Friday morning, we headed to Syrup about 30 minutes before Jaime and Andrew were to arrive.  We all had butterflies with excitement.  From where we were sitting in the restaurant, we could see when they would arrive.  They happened to get street parking right in front of the restaurant, so we saw the entry.  Jaime had NO clue!  She was patiently waiting while Andrew paid for parking, and the wandered down the stairs and into the restaurant.  The host was in on the surprise, and Andrew walked Jaime around the wall and there we were.  She was surprised, crying, shocked, it was great!  Just what we wanted! 

We had a girls day Friday, chatting, shopping, getting coffee and then dinner the the guys.  Saturday was the baby shower.  We had a great turn out, 27 people.  It was wonderful, perfect for Jaime!  We just hung out Saturday and went to Jaime's house to watch some football and have dinner, and just like that is was Sunday morning and I was on my way back to the airport with Erin, Hunter and Teresa.  Those weekends always go too fast! 

The arrival
 












Mimi and Pop Pop visit!

After Kyle being gone for a long weekend in London, it was the BYE week, finally!  This means NO Bronco game, NO work for Kyle and It's the ONE cherished weekend off of the season! We had plans to go to North Dakota/Minnesota, but decided it would be easier and we could have a longer time if Randy and Frank came to town.

Kyle arrived home Monday afternoon and Randy and Frank arrived Tuesday afternoon.  It was sooo great to see them and it had been just over two months since they had see Josie.  How she had changed in two months!!!  We headed to Aspen for a much needed long weekend away.  It was absolutely beautiful up there, not too cold, sunny and blue skies during the day.  Aspen had gotten a big snow, but most of it was gone.  It was the off-season while we were there, which means many shops and restaurant shut down until Thanksgiving, which is opening weekend for two of the four Aspen Ski Company mountains.  It also means there are many vacancies and new restaurants and stores frantically trying to open before November 25th. 

We laid low, celebrated Thanksgiving...turkey, stuffing and all the fixins' and had a very enjoyable time.  We hit our favorite, Zanes for wings and beer, checked out some of the shops that were open and walked the Rio Grande Trail.  Overall we ate, drank and were merry...what else could you ask for on vacation!?!

One of the most photographed spots in the country is Maroon Bells.  It's a picturesque Colorado and during the summer months it's only accessible by bus.  Since the road is still open, due to not much snow and the off-season, we drove up.  It was awesome to see the Bells this time of year.  I've never been up there in November.  It's just as beautiful!

Coming home from the mountains with a baby has proved to be a loooooong drive.  It's 3.5 hours from Aspen to Denver and when you have an infant who's ears hurt coming down in altitude, it makes for a 4-5 hour drive.  For you low-country, flat-landers....your kiddos would experience this in a plane.  For us, it's every time we come home from the mountains.  It effects her in one spot where isn't the steepest decline, on the west side of the tunnel.  The first three times, it was an all out screaming-bloody-murder, kind of scream for 16 miles to the first exit.  I tell you, it's the longest 16 miles of your life!  I was hopeful with time and maturing ears, we would over come the screaming and having to stop for an hour to feed her and calm her down.  THIS WAS THAT TRIP!!!  Oh my gosh, I was so happy!  I just couldn't believe that we came through the Eisenhower tunnel and nothing, holding my breath, still nothing...holding my breath...still nothing.  She was fine, no ear pain.  I'm glad to know it's over!  It makes a trip up there a little dreadful because you know it's going to be a long trip home.  Ah....it's in the past! 

We enjoyed a few days back in Denver with Frank and Randy.  We shopped, Randy's my shopping partner...she loves it.  I try to save all my shopping trips until she's in town.  Sadly they left....but I can't wait to see them again in February in Florida!