We had a pretty low-key day with lots of mama pampering for me by my wonderful and loving husband. He even cleaned the house on Saturday so I wouldn’t have to think about all the filth on this special day. I KNOW!!! What a guy.

I got to start off my Mother’s Day well-rested because Ryan got Sonora up for the day so I could sleep in. Once I got up, I was greeted with presents! Ryan had gotten me some books to read with Sonora and a gift card to Olive Garden – perfect. Then we enjoyed some delicious homemade french toast with strawberries, courtesy of my favorite chef. So yum.

Next, we took a stroll downtown Golden to check out the chickens and the sheep that have their home at the Clear Creek History Park along Clear Creek. Sonora really liked them for about five minutes – baa-ing at the sheep and cawing at the chickens – but then she took off walking. She mostly stayed ahead of us but occasionally we had to chase her down after she turned around to go in the opposite direction. At one point she was reaching out for me and whining a bit. I asked her if she wanted to hold my hand and she grabbed it immediately as I held it out. Melted this little mama’s heart right there on the spot. She also enjoyed collecting rocks along the way (I will have to start a rock garden for her collection) and walking on all the different surfaces and terrain – rocks, bark, gravel, grass, hills, dirt and cement. She’s a little adventurer. Excellent.

Cawing like a crow at the chickens. She thinks all birds say "caw". It's ridiculously cute.

Mama love! Or apathy. Whatever.

Getting tired of the sheep.

Saying "bye bye"

Walking.

Exploring and rock collecting.

Another surface, must walk on it.

Trying to pose nicely in the flowers since my Mother's Day shoot for the grandmas was not very successful.

Still met with the same success.

BIG FISH.

Hello, fish.

She insisted we walk on this private pathway by a hotel. Okay.

We didn’t do much the rest of the day except for meeting our NEW BABY NIECE! Wee baby Ella is SO wee.

And we went to night church. We were just a little too late after dropping Sonora off at nursery so I didn’t get my gift this year – sad times. I was more than slightly disappointed, as you can tell by how I couldn’t leave this detail out of this post. Call me greedy but it made me feel special last year when we all stood and received our gifts (trial size Bath & Body Works lotion) so I felt bad that I missed out. Not to mention I found out it was a Starbucks gift card. Noooooo! The inhumanity!

Moving on…ahem. For dinner, Ryan asked me to pick out a steak so he could grill one up special for me. This man is alll miinnnne ladies. And after the nugget went to bed, we just relaxed with a movie and ate some homemade chocolate lava cupcakes, fresh from the oven. A perfect ending to a wonderful day spent with my favorite people.

Now, to reflect. Because what kind of post would this be if I didn’t yammer on about my feelings?

This Mother’s Day was a bit different than last for a few reasons. It was 50 instead of 90 – we wore coats instead of t-shirts. We were at our new house (oh goodness, we’ve been here for a year already???) instead of a rental. I celebrated my first full year of motherhood instead of only three months. And it was a little more special than last year because I’ve gained a new appreciation for motherhood and all its ups and downs.

I’ve been a mom for more than a year and I’m ready for many more years of this. It’s still just as great and new and exciting as it was last year because every day is still different. I learn more and Sonora learns more. We are growing together in so many ways and it’s awesome.

I wouldn’t trade this job for anything.

Hope all the mothers out there had a happy Mother’s Day. We all deserve happiness. We are blessed.

Love,
Laura

Where the REAL money's at. Daddy-daughter playtime. Love.

A few people have asked me to share a little bit about my budget system/meal plan so I thought I’d oblige now that we’ve used our system it for a few months and I kind of know, and like, how it’s working. I’m not going to reveal the numbers that we have to work with (mind your own business! ha) but I will share the basics. As background, we sort of developed our budget through some of Dave Ramsey’s principles. It’s a modified version for sure and we do not use an envelope system because I would die. Not to be dramatic or anything. Anyway, here goes:

Number 1: Mint.com
Please use this. It’s amazing and SUPER de DUPER easy. And FREEEEEE. We’ve been on Mint.com for a few years now but they just added this new feature last year. Now with that said, we have faith in the internet so we have our logins connected to the site to keep track of our budgets. This is what we used to figure out how to set it up. We have about 10 main categories – they include Food/Dining, Shopping, Insurance, Mortgage, etc. You get the idea. Each category has a certain amount of money assigned per month ever so carefully by my financially savvy husband. I go cross-eyed if I have to try to figure the numbers out so I’m grateful for my darling dearest and Mint.com. As the month progresses, so the money is tracked and subtracted accordingly and then everything automatically returns to square one the next month (well, some categories carry over but that’s getting a little technical). I have an app on my iPod and it’s super handy for a visual reference and a quick answer to: “can I buy this purse today?” or “I wonder how much I should actually buy at the grocery store this week…” I love this site. Saves me the trouble of tracking everything manually and is very user-friendly and well-designed, too.

Number 2: Meal plan
So far this has worked out great. What I do is make an extensive list of basic meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) for each season and then week by week decide what the menu will be so I can get the appropriate ingredients for that week. And I rotate this among two or three weeks for a couple months. I also keep my eye out for sale items that I use regularly – aka: keeping a well-stocked pantry. Sometimes I like to deviate from the plan and make something else if the mood strikes, but usually I have all the stuff to make the meal already so I don’t end up buying more than what I need. It’s important for me to be a conscious shopper – using coupons and scouting out the deals on ONLY the items I need – because we don’t have a large weekly grocery budget and I almost always go over even with my detailed list.

Number 3: Stick to the budget
Weeeeelllll this one’s not so good for me. While I do check into Mint.com every day to see where I’m at in each category, I have an extremely hard time staying within the budget. Usually what happens is at the end of each month I am scrounging the pantry for food having to get very creative with the menu and wishing I could buy those clothes that Sonora so desperately needs (which she does not, actually) but *sigh* I’ve run out of money. I’ll be pacing and pacing in the final week just waiting for the next month’s PILE OF MONEY to come rolling in. Then once it hits…BOOM…I’m off and running gleefully tossing it into the air, figuratively speaking, spending money wildly left and right. Typically it’s in the “shopping” category. And within three days tops, I will have already reached my limit in that particular category. So then I have 27 more days before I can go on a crazy binge again. It’s a little dramatic, I know. But I just can’t. help. it.

Number 4: Return things
If you know me well enough, you know I’m a big fan of RETURNING things. Whether it’s because I don’t feel like trying it on, I’ve changed my mind or I realize it’s something I just don’t need…I love returning things. I probably return something every single week, no joke. I’m pretty sure for a while right after Sonora was born the store, Ross, hated me because I kept buying and returning tiny baby things. Once we started our budget in January, I got used to keeping all my grocery receipts, too, in the event that I bought something totally worthless. It surprisingly happens quite often (“why do I have 4 cans of French Fried onions?”). So I highly encourage returning unnecessary things, especially if you are short on money for the month like I always am. And if you use Mint.com, you will discover the joy of checking your accounts and waiting with eager anticipation to see your budget turn from a red negative number to a green positive number right before your very eyes. Yessir, the site tracks EVERYTHING. All your returns reverse the charges it tracked and it essentially puts money back into the appropriate categories ALL ON ITS OWN. It’s some sort of wizard, I swear.

(sidenote: I do not work for, nor am I getting paid for my endorsement of Mint.com. It’s really just THAT GOOD)

Number 5: Don’t buy what you don’t need
As a follow up to returning things, the main thing I need to put into practice is this little gem. I’m a little obsessed with spending money and will never have nothing to buy. You followed me on that double negative, right? Good. But Ryan – bless his heart – is very good at asking, “do you need that?” (a sincere question) or “if you get that then you have to return this” (when he thinks i’m being frivolous) or “well then Sonora won’t have any food to eat…” (his sass when i already have too many). It really helps put things in perspective. But if it is candy, the answer is always yes.

And that, folks, is our budget life in summary. Thank you.

A penny for your thoughts,
Laura

• “Good walking! Oh, wait…watch out for that doggie poop.”

• “Kick Mama in the face!” – on the swing. it’s the thing that makes her giggle super hard so OF COURSE

• “Babe, let me peel the cutie before you try to eat it”
• “Oh, I see you tried to use your spoon. Nice beard.”

• “Here is mama’s Starbucks for you.” {spoiler alert…it’s water}

• {within a matter of seconds} “Kisses to the baby!” “Ouch, no pinching.” “Aww, kisses!”
• “Well that’s what you get when you put underwear on your head” – angry when she got it caught around her neck

• “BUUNNS! Baby buns! Bare buns baby!” – standard changing table chatter
• “No no dog food, yes yes people food” – after catching her trying to eat dog food…again; modeled after the No No Yes Yes book
• “Eating out of cupcake cups is fun!”

• {laughing to Ryan} “Sonora just figured out how to turn off the power to my computer”
• “Do you want to have the goat sleep in your crib?”
• “Come sit by the Mama and watch the monsters” (Monsters, Inc.)

And here are just some random cute shots around the house as well as photos of our time visiting the farm animals at Littleton Museum on Wednesday and again on Friday.

Baby goes boom

This is one of my favorites of Sonora's summer outfits.

Busy reading.

Looking cute and sitting like her daddy used to.

Meeting some donkeys.

"Whoa! These donkeys are crazy cool!"

Too cool for the donkeys.

Sheep creeper.

With her pal, Davis, checking out the chickens.

There is that crazy donkey again.

More sheep creeping.

Next up…Sunday photostrip.

Love,
Laura

Headed to church!

(more photos at the end!)

It’s at the time of year when everything in nature is coming to life and starting fresh…how perfectly fitting for such an important Christian holiday!

Easter impacts me so much because of the significance of Christ willingly laying down his life for undeserving people so that we might have eternal life. So often I don’t honor God the way I should through thoughts, words and deeds. I am so selfish and undeserving. But he sent his son who willingly and bravely sacrificed his perfect self for my sinful self so that I might live in heaven with them one day. It’s the most selfless and loving thing that could ever be done.

I just can’t imagine, a) sending Sonora to her death in 32 years for people who don’t respect or love me {God}; or b) knowing I will be dying a brutal death for people who hate me and my dad {Jesus}. It’s just craziness. But it just proves what an awesomely LOVING God we have and how amazingly powerful he is…he conquered DEATH. Jesus rose from the dead to fulfill God’s plan and promise.

And here comes a little bit of a soapbox for those with different beliefs – saying this WITH LOVE…

He’s not “zombie Jesus” to me! Which I actually totally understand people saying…it’s a little humorous from an outside perspective because seriously? It’s weird. But to me, he’s SAVIOR OF THE WORLD, Jesus. And leaving faith/religion out of it – an innocent man willingly died a horrible death after being publicly humiliated, beaten, tormented and rejected by people, most of whom used to love him. So regardless of your beliefs, this moment in world history (not just Christian history) should be respected even if you are baffled by the idea of his resurrection.

And if you celebrate spring on Easter Sunday and don’t believe in Jesus, who cares! It’s not about the candy or eggs or bunny or whatever. It’s totally a time for family and fun. But if you start belittling the person that I believe saved my soul then it does get personal and it hurts my feelings. Plus, he’s had enough mockery…that’s all he received as he suffered on the cross! Insult on top of injury. So just like parenting, let’s all agree to play nicely together and do our own thing with mutual respect.
{stepping off soapbox…ha!}

Anyway, back to the faith part…here are bits and pieces of Isaiah 53 that I wanted to share that really puts it in perspective:
“But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us…He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed…He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked…Even though he’d never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true…Still, it’s what God had in mind all along…The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him…he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep.”

Wow. It’s just SO INTENSE. I just can’t even comprehend.

You all know I love our church…we went to the Easter service yesterday and it was packed as usual – praise God! Well on top of a great service, we were given a free copy of “The Case for the Resurrection” by Lee Strobel which I’ve never read but after I do, will happily share it with anyone who has questions about the resurrection. But what was missing from the past two weeks were some of my favorite Easter traditions – like little kids waving palm fronds on Palm Sunday and a Good Friday service and the Hallelujah Chorus on Easter Sunday. I would rather see this than watch Sonora hunt for Easter eggs (even though it was incredibly cute…). But despite missing the Reformed traditions that’s okay because we still got to sing songs like this:

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save

‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
‘Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand

For those of you who celebrate Easter, don’t these lyrics just give you the chills?

And now for photos of the cutest little Easter bunny I know. We didn’t go crazy for several reasons – retain the real meaning; budget!; Sonora is too young to get it yet –  but I did want to start the Easter egg tradition. So I filled four eggs for her (and two with candy for Ryan) of snacks she loves that I had in the cupboard (no candy yet!). I also bought her an Easter bunny and some cute Croc knock-offs. Enjoy the cuteness.

"That bunny has a basket I want"

Discovery.

Same treats as always, but so much more fun in an egg!

Found them all!

Making a mess.

"Wait a minute...these treats don't taste that special"

Mess maker Easter baby.

New Easter shoes!

Meeting the "Easter bunny".

Be cool.

Happy Easter!

Love,
Laura

Anyway. So now that we’ve made it a year I thought I’d write a little bit more than usual.

Being a mom is my greatest achievement to date. I know that is such a typical “mom” thing to say, but it’s seriously more true than I ever knew it would be. I have never felt so content, happy or confident in this role than in anything else I’ve done so far in life. I’ve never doubted my abilities to nurture our daughter and I’ve never felt like I didn’t know what I was doing. Well, I mean that I’ve never felt like I wasn’t up for the challenge/task, that is.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I feel really successful in this job. I love what I do and I think I’m pretty darn good at it…so far. I don’t worry about parenting like I thought I would and I even feel smart and affirmed because whenever I read up on what I’m supposed to be doing for all aspects of her development, most of the time I find that I’ve already been doing it. I win!

That probably sounds super braggy but it’s really not. It’s more about me growing up and finally having confidence in what I’m doing – like I was meant to do this and THIS is what I can excel at. I’ve never had that before and it feels really, really good. Not that I don’t feel confident as a designer, because I do…now. It just took me a lot longer to come into my own on that.

And of COURSE I’m not saying that I’ll always be this self-assured because clearly that would be delusional. I’m sure one of these days I’ll think, “what in the world am I doing?!” but in this first year I’ve only experienced success. I feel accomplished. And I love that.

Anyway, back to the baby…or should I say, TODDLER. Oh my!

Birthday girl!

This is what happened in the last month leading up to her birthday:

• eating a ton – adult person sized portions
• free standing without help
• taking a few steps! and getting better and better at it throughout the month
• walks around the ottoman super fast, holding on with one hand
• “reads” in her book corner every morning
• starting to throw food and making the most adorable naughty/guilty face
• recognizes certain animals in her books and points to them; also recognizes animals from her books and points to the matching stuffed animals in her crib
• recognizes and points to some body parts (belly button, nose, mouth)
• blows us kisses – CUTEST THING EVER!
• does a thousand laps around the living room/kitchen circuit
• claps her hands

It’s just amazing how much she’s grown already. Like, one day we still had a baby and the next…BOOM…toddler. I guess once that one-year mark hits, babies mean business. Sheesh. And I’m so excited to keep watching her learn more and grow into her personality. Pretty sure we’ll have a little stinker on our hands…we are in for it now!

Happy birthday to my baby girl.

Love,
Laura

I wanted to write these down because it’s a hilarious version of a “baby book.” Later on I’ll be writing down all the funny things SHE says, but for now I just have to laugh at all the things I’ve been saying that I never thought would come out of my mouth. I can only imagine how hilarious this will be to me – and maybe to Sonora, too – later on.

They aren’t totally verbatim but I’ve been jotting notes with reminders and you can be for certain that I really do say these things.

All that to say, here’s this week’s lineup:

Actual phrases said out loud

• “Eww! You have so many boogers on your face!” {followed immediately by} “Here, let me get the boogers out, you booger baby”
• “Don’t play on the toilet! It’s yucky. Here, let me cover it with my towel.” – promptly putting my towel in the hamper afterward
• “What is on my pants?”
• “Don’t squish your peaches, you EAT the peaches. Put them in your mouth.”
• “Get your hand out of the soup”
• “You have sweet potatoes all over your hair!” {shortly thereafter} “Ryan, come downstairs and look at this messy baby. Also, bring the camera.”
• “Uh oh! Don’t play in the garbage can. Gross” {15 minutes later} “Sonora…no, no. Garbage cans are not for babies! Here, play with your kitchen.”
• “Well, I was planning to drink that but not anymore” – after she stuck her hand in my cold cup of coffee
• “Are you pooping?”
• “What did you just find on the floor that’s in your mouth?”
• “Take three more bites of your oatmeal and then you can have your toothbrush”
• “Is that an outlet cover in your mouth?”
• “Come out of the closet” – funny for two reasons
• “Well that’s what happens when you climb in the laundry basket” – said after I discovered her, stuck and whining to get out
• {to the dog} “Sadie, stop licking the inside of her mouth!”

Tweets

• After how many laps around the house following a baby walking behind a push toy is an acceptable amount to quit? We are pushing 25. I am dizzy.
• {Regarding advice on changing a potential poopy diaper while sleeping} Went back in. No more stinks. Must have just been stinky baby farts. Woo hoo! *phew* thank you for your counsel. #closeone

I’m sure there are more I forgot to jot down. And this list is not including all the songs I sing to her while I change her diaper or all the hooting and hollering I do when I change her poopy diapers. I’m not above shrieking about them. I don’t care who I am…they are SO STINKY. Moms don’t have to think everything is precious…although I am usually quite prideful in the amount she produces and the various colors and consistencies. Every diaper is a new surprise just waiting to be revealed.

And that’s my week in verbal review.

Love,
Laura

Or not. Because I’m already tired of hearing about which way to parent is best.

Moms, am I right when I say that we all get – and give – unwanted advice or “helpful” tips or negative comments about a certain parenting method? It’s like a rite of passage. WE MUST SAY OUR PIECE.

But to that I say: to each her own! To disagree means to think for oneself which is a GOOD thing. Why try to push one agenda, regardless of how well (or awful) it worked for you or how much you’ve researched it? Unless we ask, it’s for us to investigate on our own. And furthermore, as moms giving this advice to other moms we should know that every parent and every baby/kid is different so what works for one might not work for the other. Or so I’ve been told.

Don’t get me wrong, offering advice (even unwanted) is very welcome over here! Often I ask for opinions. And I will gladly smile, nod and either try it, file it away or ignore it completely. Thank you for your tips/methods/wisdom…really. It’s just the opinions that come across as judgmental or superior that bother me. Like, “I can’t BELIEVE some people do xyz!” Why can’t you believe that? Because we are all robots? We are all wired the same? It’s like asking someone why they don’t agree with your political or religious preference – we each have our own rationale.

We all know that for the most part every parent is doing their best and loves their kid(s). And I would hope that for the important things we are all doing our research and not just blindly taking advice. But we can’t get discouraged or feel we have to do something just because of a strong opinion or one source…even if it’s our doctor. We should get second opinions, read up on the issue and talk to other people who know the specific situation/issue/concern. But most of all, I think we should go with our instinct.

If you want my opinion, I’ll give it. And I will try my bestest not to try to persuade you to do it or discourage you from doing something else. I do have my opinions but I try to be as tactful as possible when I talk about them.

And one more thing piggy-backing on that last thought of tactfulness/sensitivity…we shouldn’t get offended when someone shares their opinion on parenting, negative or otherwise. I’m generally okay with people who want to share their opinions – as presumptuous or as heart-felt as they may be – because despite my sensitivity/over-analyzing in other areas of my life (work, social) I really don’t get hung up on anything regarding parenting…yet. I’m not sure why this is, it just is. So if someone says something that I don’t agree with or spins a certain parenting method negatively, I just brush it off and let it roll of my back. I usually don’t give it a second thought or feel pressured. And I don’t get offended (not yet, that is). Because people will always have their opinions.

At some point we will all get offended and feel defensive about parenting or something else we care about. And that’s okay as long as we realize that it’s a fact of life and will happen again about something else. We can’t get too hung up on it. Not everyone can agree or play nicely. Plus, we are adults and we should all experience confrontation as well as dish it out – it’s healthy to do this! But in situations where we are feeling attacked, we should just step back and ask ourselves “is it worth it to argue?”

I didn’t mean for this to go on so long and nothing in particular happened to me to make me write this but I just wanted to share my thoughts on the matter if not for anything else but to ENCOURAGE other parents out there to just keep on keeping on. I know I’m still new at this and that I have a lot to learn but based on the information and advice I’ve been collecting, I’m parenting MY way. And that’s the best way.

So my piece of parenting advice? Do your thing, it’s your call. End of story.

And if I ever say anything that offends you – I’m sorry. But it will happen! So just try to ignore me, heh.

Lovingly yours,
Laura

But first things first…a photo and updates on the month.

During her eleventh month of life, Sonora:

• learned how to climb the stairs…and really well! She is now an expert (although she did take a little tumble the other day after getting too confident)
• points at things to learn their name (ie. clock, duck, etc)
• said her first words! “duh” for duck and dog
• taking steps to us after free standing for a bit
• likes taking things out of bins/baskets and so she can put them back in (ie. laundry & bath toys)
• really enjoys reading and will “read” on her own

And here are some photos of the past couple weeks.

Mischevious and messy

Gap teeth!

Delicious taco mess.

Crazy daddy-styled hair.

Digging through mama's purse.

Disappointed upon discovering the state of her mother's finances.

Water fun.

Leaving her watery mess behind.

I’d like to say that this “splash zone” keeps her occupied for a long time but alas, these photos were in the course of roughly 4-7 minutes. *sigh* Well, it was fun while it lasted.

And that’s the latest!

Love,
Laura

So I’ll start off by saying I didn’t think I would ever document my daily activities (kind of like how I said I wouldn’t wear yoga pants regularly…) but I started writing down what I was doing this morning and just continued it throughout the day because I found that it was kinda fun. And it’s kind of nice to have a picture of what a typical day is like here to look back on. I actually wish I would have done this at 3 months and 6 months so I would remember more what life was like with a newborn. All I remember is not being able to get anything done.

With that being said, feel free to skip this post as it’s probably super boring to you. It’s more for me than anyone else but I thought instead of keeping it all to myself I’d share my day with anyone who wants to read it. I tried not to get too detailed but now in transcribing this from my sticky notes…it’s totally detailed. So sorry. Good luck to your eyes.

*Editor’s note: here’s the short version for those who just want a summary:
drink coffee > feed the baby > change/dress the baby > play with the baby > read books > eat food > clean things > more playing > naptime > get ready > feed the baby > fun activity/outing > grocery shopping > make food > play with the baby > feed the baby > eat food > clean things > read books > bedtime

– MORNING –
(sidenote: this day starts about an hour later than usual because Sonora had a late bedtime last night (9pm) therefore she had a late wake up)

9:05 – woke up to S’s morning noises (it’s been nice not having an alarm clock for almost a year…)
9:05-9:15 – morning nursing session
9:15-9:35 – baby breakfast / mama coffee
9:35-9:45 – baby free play with toys then she climbed the stairs and we played peek-a-boo
9:45-10:00 – since she was upstairs, I took her to her room and let her “pick out” an outfit (she pointed at one), got her dressed and put her clean clothes away
10:00-10:05 – dance party with Daddy in the office on our way back downstairs
10:05-10:10 – Sonora wanted me to read The Pudgy Bunny Book so we did
10:10-10:25 – because we read that particular book, we went down to garage level and I let S play with our bunny, Sienna, while I put a load of laundry in then we played with the bunny together
10:25-10:30 – back to main level; started unloading dishwasher & cleaning kitchen; free play for S
10:30-10:35 – bathroom break for me; S climbed upstairs to visit and play with bath toys; I stayed in the bathroom to watch her take her circle wash clothes out of the cup and put them back in several times; put new towels on racks
10:35-10:40 – tried to finished unloading the dishwasher and cleaning kitchen but got distracted by cuteness; watched S throw the ball back and forth with the dog; tried to get a video but Sadie was being an idiot and stopped fetching it; hollered to Ryan about how cute she was
10:40-10:42 – continued unloading dishwasher
10:42-10:45 – distracted again by the baby who had started whining and pulling on my leg; brought her into the other room by her toys and fed her some Cheerios
10:45-10:55 – finished cleaning; gave S more Cheerios because she wandered back into the kitchen; moved load of laundry to dryer
10:55-11:00 – read ABC book (Sonora picked it out); let Sadie out
11:00-11:15 – let S “read” on her own while I enjoyed the rest of my {cold} coffee and chatted for a bit on Twitter during which I also watched S take out all the books to form a ring around her (as usual), do a few laps around the living room and kitchen, then play with her kitchen
11:15-11:20 – played “open them, shut them” (had S open and shut the toy kitchen cupboards)
11:20-11:30 – S hollered at me to read; we read Mr. Brown Can Moo by Dr. Seuss, Doggies by Sandra Boynton (twice), half of The Shape of Me by Dr. Seuss and The Pudgy Bunny Book (twice)
11:30-11:35 – changed S’s diaper and put her down for a nap
11:35-11:40 – prepared lunch for Ryan and myself
11:40-11:45 – while the turkey & cheese sandwiches were grilling, I checked Mint.com and reallocated money to different categories to “cheat” our budget (heh)
11:45-12:00 – served Ryan lunch; since he was on the phone I ate my lunch downstairs while reading one chapter of Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

– AFTERNOON –

12:00-12:30 – took a shower and got ready; put new towels on racks (yes, I did wait until noon to get ready for the day. when S used to get up at 7:30 I would have done this at her 9:30/10:00 naptime but alas, she goes down later now)
12:30-12:45 – checked and responded to work emails
12:45-1:45 – did one homepage web design concept for a client; work chat with Ryan; S wakes up
1:45-2:15 – got S up; changed her and went downstairs to feed her lunch
2:15-2:20 – while S finished her lunch (and was safely strapped in to her highchair), I packed the car with things to take on our outing
2:20-2:30 – left and made a Starbucks run (NOT an every day thing and I used a gift card)
2:30-3:00 – en route to the Denver Botanic Gardens to enjoy a “free day” (we normally try to get out and do something like this once a week in addition to going to baby story time at the library every Thursday)
3:00-4:15 – enjoyed a leisurely walk around the gardens; took photos of S and of flowers (of course I did)
4:15-4:45 – en route to home; S fell asleep
4:45-4:50 – quick stopped home to pick up a coupon for the store while S slept in the car
4:50-5:05 – looked at photos from the Gardens in the car while S slept a little longer; woke S up to do a quick stop at the store for a few items
5:05-5:15 – got home; I put some frozen food in the freezer downstairs then we had playtime with wrapping paper rolls in the basement before we headed upstairs
5:15-6:00 – prepared dinner; diaper change; feed S; cleaned dishes from lunch

– EVENING –

6:00-6:25 – ate my dinner and S had her second dinner
6:25-6:30 – S had free play while I cleaned up and distributed food to containers for the freezer
6:30-6:40 – tried to prepare dessert (not a normal thing but I had leftover ingredients from my girls’ night last night) but S squawked for me to read the bunny book again; read it 3x and also made her “hop, hop, hop” along with them, plus half of The Shape of Me and all of Koala Kid then let her “read” on her own
6:40-6:45 – preparing dessert plan foiled again – S was whining so I set her up with some play things and played “find the duck” with her (I hide her rubber ducky and she has to find it)
6:45-6:50 – finally got to prepare dessert while S was playing with her kitchen in the other room
6:50-7:05 – put dessert (apple enchiladas) in the oven; chatted on Twitter while I watched S play in the living room; left to clean dishes
7:05-7:07 – grew suspicious of S’s whereabouts so I checked on the stairs just in time to catch her fall from the top – she had rolled down the top few before I caught her in my arms five steps from the bottom (!! close call !!); I set her up far from the stairs in her book corner
7:07-7:15 – finished cleaning dishes; made coffee; had S play in the kitchen with me with some colanders and a plastic stirring spoon
7:15-7:25 – enjoyed half of my dessert and coffee while S continued to play in the kitchen; S wandered into the living room to play; I looked on as Sadie humped her stuffed dog and after rudely discarding it in a heap, S picked up the tail and offered it again to Sadie. how special.
7:26 – put the hump-toy away; put the silver colander away because the dog was growling at it and scared to come into the kitchen (weirdo)
7:26-7:27 – S joined me at the table for dessert; gave her some of my syrup from my apple enchilada then gave her some yogurt bites so she would stop asking for my dessert (my bad)
7:27-7:30 – finished my dessert; chatted a bit more on Twitter while watching S play with her toys; let Sadie out
7:30-8:00 – played with S and her toys; practiced walking; she gave me hugs and snuggled; played “Superbaby” and “wiggle wiggle”; turned tv on for the first time all day (surprisingly! normally I watch a show in the morning while I nurse S and enjoy my first cup of coffee)
8:00-8:15 – got S ready for bed; read all 7 of her bedtime books per her grunting and pointing “requests”; put her to bed
8:15-8:25 – I drank coffee and listened to S babble to her toys in her crib; Ryan came home from school; ate the other half of my apple enchilada while Ryan ate dinner
8:25-8:35 – chatted with Ryan; baby noises died down
8:35-9:45 – transcribed from notepaper and formatted this post

Whew. That took a while to type out! But anyway, there you have it – a pretty typical day in our life. Hope you didn’t tear your eyeballs out.

Love,
Laura

Hanging with Daddy.

Trying to eat her blocks.

So cute I can hardly stand it.

Daddy stops by for a visit.

Cheese beard!

And lately Sonora has been SUPER interested in books – she will spend a good 15 minutes by herself, quietly “reading” in her book corner. I could not be happier that she is excited about all the books I’ve been buying because we have a TON. You see, I have an addiction to buying children’s books from the library and at discount/resale stores. I know that we can easily borrow books from the library (especially since we go there every week) but there’s just something about having a great collection right at home. Besides, who wants to borrow a book tons of baby mouths have been on? Not me! So until she’s past the book eating stage, I plan to keep my eye out for more good books.

Reading in her corner.

Getting advanced and reading a Dr. Seuss book.

The typical morning scene lately.

Next up…ELEVEN MONTHS. Don’t even get me started…

Love,
Laura

Our adventures slowed down a bit ever since I got knocked up (July 2010) and rightfully so – a) I was pregnant and exhausted, b) I gave birth to a baby, c) we bought a fixer-upper house when we had a 2-month-old and just got it to a good place, d) Ryan started school, e) life just got busy! – but we still managed to do quite a lot. From just small trips to Golden to holiday trips to Winter Park/Tabernash, we have still done something adventure-y at least once a month.

But in case you haven’t been around since the beginning of this blog, I’ll recap what we used to cram into our weekends when we first came here when we were young and spry, heh. I’m talking we went somewhere different Friday, Saturday and Sunday a lot of times.

I mean our winter adventures were just fun (2009/2010):

• Our first weekend here in November 2009 we took a motorcycle ride up Lookout Mountain in Golden and then took a road trip to Rocky Mountain National Park
• Then the next weekend we had Thanksgiving in Tabernash
• For Christmas we returned to Tabernash and then went to Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison
• At the end of January we visited Evergreen and hiked Deer Creek Canyon Park
• In March we took a little drive through Golden Gate Canyon State Park after a big snowfall

And just look at all the fun we had in the spring of 2010:

• This weekend my dad came to visit and we went everywhere from Golden to Evergreen to Morrison to Winter Park and to Golden again
• This weekend we played around in the foothills of Golden and then went to Boulder
• This weekend we hiked North Table Mountain and Mt. Falcon
• This weekend we took a drive along Scenic Highway 6 and went to Georgetown – downtown and hiking

And then all the crazy fun we had in the summer of 2010:

• This weekend we went camping in Santa Isobel National Forest in Buena Vista
• This week we went nuts and did everything from Golden to Colorado Springs to Rocky Mountain National Park and then did it all over again a couple weeks later
• This week we went tubing down Clear Creek along with all the other things from the links above

And that’s not even including all our fun mini adventures in beautiful, colorful, quaint Golden.

BUT! Do you want to know what we’ve been up to in 2011/2012? I thought so! Pre-baby/pregnancy:

• Spent our Labor Day in Winter Park/Tabernash
• Took a driving trip up Mt Evans not once, but twice (although one time was with an actual baby, not just a baby in-utero)
• We took a trip to Utah when I was 6.5 months pregnant
• Another Christmas up in Tabernash where we went on a horse-drawn sleigh ride

Post-baby:

• Once our little peanut arrived we went downtown Littleton and E-Days in Golden
• Took a cross country road trip, not once (June 2011) but twice (December 2011)
• Saw our first rodeo together as a family and took a boat trip on Grand Lake

Now just in case it seems like I’m forgetting all the fun we have been having during the winter, here are some recent winter adventures I can’t neglect to mention – our Thanksgiving Day hike up South Table Mountain and the perfect hiking day. So it’s not like we have to wait for spring, but still.

As you can see, we’ve had a plethora of adventures in the 2.5 years we’ve been here. And we plan to keep having more – even if they are fewer and farther between.

We be adventurin’,
Laura

Sure I do some of the same menial tasks every week (laundry, dishes, cleaning, picking up toys, etc) – or in some cases every day – and they are the chores that keep on giving which is super annoying, but they’d have to be done regardless of whether I worked outside the home or not. And I mean, I used to do some really boring things every day when I worked at a creative design agency (time tracking, email archiving, file cleanup, etc) and it was one of the best and most fun places I’ve worked. So you’ll find boring anywhere.

And sure the people I had to work with are slightly more adultish than the one I’m working with now (just barely), but we get out and do things and interact with people on a day-to-day basis so I don’t really feel too out of touch with society. And most of the time it’s doing fun things not work-related things which is clearly way better. So I just don’t see how my work here is really any different from the workplace except for I can do things at a slower pace, on my own schedule and I give myself my own assignments. Am I missing something?

Maybe I just have a good balance of social and homebody in me. Or maybe it’s because I only have an {almost} 11-month-old and I do work part time so I get to use my brain in other ways. But I think even without the work on the side I could keep myself busy and stimulated enough – both in mind and body – thank you very much. It’s called reading, activities and different hobbies, am I right?

Buuut, talk to me again in another year or two and we’ll see where I’m at. Just something I was thinking about and wanted to share. Agree/disagree?

So not boringly yours,
Laura

And always on the go…

I always find these articles to be refreshing and affirming.

Yet at the same time they bother me a little because I’m just not sure how fair they are. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying stay-at-home-moms don’t deserve this compensation chart – believe me, I do! But I also think there should also be a chart for working dads (or every body else for that matter – parent or not). Think about all the stuff they do for the family in addition to working:

• Handy man/contractor
• Financial planner
• Accountant
• Auto repairman
• Price negotiator
• Home inspector
• Grounds keeper
• Systems operator
• Psychologist (for their wives)
• Comedian (Ryan’s addition)

And I’m totally missing some. Isn’t that like a $2 million dollar salary?? Maybe this isn’t your family but this is ours. So yeah, I have a lot of hats but so does Ryan.

It’s not that I’m discounting all the crazy-huge responsibilities of a SAHM, it’s just that when we see “personal chef” on the list we have to laugh a bit because it’s not totally realistic – what normal, blue-collar family has a personal chef? It’s just something that has to get done (and let’s be honest…how often are meals “personal chef” quality? I know that on pizza night it doesn’t require any effort on my part). Cooking is just like paying the bills and creating a budget and fixing the tv when it’s broken. You know what I’m saying?

So when I see things that say how much money a SAHM should earn, I nod my head in total agreement. But I ALSO remember not to get too proud…working dads have more worth than what they’re compensated for, too.

In short: we should be millionaires. That is all.

Your thoughts?

Richly yours,
Laura

Stink face! Angry at her food.

Cutest baby ever.

Babies in hooded towels kill me dead. Especially mine.

Inside car / Outside car

Stair climber.

The following flips are some shots I got of Sonora just after she’d woken up and was having her morning snack. Babies this cute need to be models or something.

I seriously need to research where and how to submit photos. She’s so precious.

Proud mama,
Laura

So the house is sort of in order and almost the way we want it. I’ve been taking photos progressively so some things in the photos have changed (like the refrigerator) but I’m showing these as more of a tour of the house for those of you who didn’t see my progress posts and who just want to see the layout. To actually see the house, a visit is required and desired. Hey, that was a fun little rhyme I just did there.

Okay okay, enough talk. It’s time for the tour. Keep in mind this is a tri-level with a basement so try to follow me with the layout.

Exterior. Will be repainted this summer (hopefully).

Heading inside to the main level…

Looking into the breakfast nook upon entry of the front door. Kitchen is to the left.

Bonus shot: baby on the stairs.

Kitchen looking into dining room. This was before we got our shiny new black fridge and before we moved our table into the breakfast nook which is where it is currently (shown previously).

Looking from the dining room to the front entry. Kitchen is to the right.

Living room (looking to the left upon entry). NEW FURNITURE!!! I'll be adding some better/more colorful throw pillows to the recliners and we'll be updating the side tables soon. But isn't it just LOVELY? Couch is black & white herringbone so it looks gray.

Dining room connected to the living room. Kitchen is to the right. This photo is an old photo taken before the dining room converted into a play room.

Current "dining" room converted to play room. Table is there so we don't hit our head on the light, heh. And so Sonora can have snacks.

Looking at the top level from the living room on the main level. Stairs to the left go down to the garage level.

Heading down those stairs to the left to the garage level…

Progress shot of Ryan's tile work. Heading down to the garage level.

Guest bathroom and laundry room. Door to the garage is to the right. Stairway to the left is going back up to main level and the tiny portion of a doorway are stairs going down to the basement.

Family room on garage level. Still need to finish/paint the stairs. Door is leading downstairs to the basement.

Sorry, I didn’t get a shot of the basement before we moved our old couches and acquired a bed and a dresser from Laura and Jared (and a desk from Ryan’s parents). But it’s a basement – a big long room with a fireplace at the end just like the main level fire place. New carpet, fresh paint. Just use your imagination to picture it. I also don’t have a good shot of the guest room downstairs but that’s still a work in progress so it’ll have to come later. It originally had dark wood paneling and awful tile but we painted it a light blue paneling, put new carpet in and have some guest furniture in there. But like I said, still has some work to do.

All right now let’s go back upstairs now, shall we? Here’s the main level again…

Heading upstairs...

Kid/Guest bathroom, first door on the left. Upstairs.

Our room, second door on the left. Upstairs.

Looking into our bathroom.

Left side of Sonora's room (note the Pack N Play – this was taken before she got her crib). End of the hall upstairs.

Right side of Sonora's room featuring her new crib!

Changing table/dresser & closet are on the other side of the room. Old shot taken before her bird mobile was finished and before her closet was organized.

So the only room I didn’t show upstairs was the office. Don’t have a good shot of it, my bad.

And there you have it! That’s our house. Welcome. Come visit us any time! We love house guests.

Homey-ly yours,
Laura

On our new couch!!

As you can see from the caption, Sonora is sitting sweetly…on our BRAND NEW COUCH!! I cannot begin to describe what it feels like to have our very own, NEW furniture in the living room. And that is why another post will be up in the coming days so you can see it in all it’s blazoned glory. Of course that means I didn’t take her photos exactly on her tenth “monthday” (Jan. 16) because we just got the furniture yesterday. Oh well! It was worth the wait to be able to announce such an exciting thing on her special day.

The days leading up to her tenth monthday were quite eventful. Here’s what The Precious was up to:

• celebrated her first Christmas with both sides of the family and even got her two {other} front teeth! you can even see them a little in this photo – gap tooth baby!
• assisted walking
• took another cross-country road trip
• bounces to tunes
• pointing at things and people – knows how to ask for what she wants by pointing (water, food, etc)
• free standing for a few seconds at a time
• developed a funny chuckle while eating
• walking holding one of our hands
• cruising like mad and getting really fast
• walking behind her walk-behind car!

She just keeps getting more and more busy which brings more and more fun. I love all the stages of baby but it’s so exciting to get to the next stage and realize just how much you love that one even more, especially for the first kiddo since EVERYTHING is new and exciting. And to think playing with, talking to and going on adventures with her is my job. I’ve never had such a fun job in my life.

Also? Things are getting real now folks…t-minus two months (less than that now) until The Big Day. Eep! They weren’t joking when they said time flies.

Stage lovin,
Laura

A little tidbit about our Christmas celebrations before we begin. As I mentioned before, the night everyone arrived (Ryan’s whole family stayed with us) I happened to get violently ill with some sort of 12-hour bug. I can honestly say it was the worst night/morning of my life. So the next couple days I was, shall we say, less than chipper. I left Ryan and his family in charge of pretty much everything (baby, house, food, cleaning, etc) the next day and – don’t know how except for sheer willpower and desire to see the last Olde Golden Christmas parade – I did manage to [briefly] get out and about that day despite my predicament. That night (17th) we had our Christmas party and I was still pretty miserable so I honestly don’t remember a whole lot. But I know everyone else seemed to be enjoying their time, ha.

Okay so without further ado, this post is just going to be photos and captions. Your favorite! Please enjoy thoroughly.

Enjoying downtown Golden's Christmas parade – a yearly tradition for Ryan, me, and now Sonora!

Opening her first gift!

She wasn't quite so sure about it.

But she was a fan of the fun hat her Auntie Rhonda gave her!

Mostly interested in eating wrapping paper, of course.

And she chooses to play with one of her old toys. Lovely. Also, please note pathetic me just laying there. That was me the entire night after a full day of laying in bed. Miserable. But I still had fun!

The next morning we all went to church. Sonora is wearing her Christmas dress and doing her favorite activity – assisted walking!

That night we all took Ryan's parents out to Denver Botanic Gardens to enjoy the lights festival.

The whole fam (except for Ryan, the photographer). We all loved this walk through the gardens.

The lights were so pretty! I think this will be an annual tradition.

The next day we went to Tabernash/Winter Park for the day. Ryan stayed back to work while I went skiing with Rhonda and Jared. Jared was too good for us so he went on another run and waited for us while we lollygagged around taking photos of ourselves and texting people.

Such a beautiful day...once again, sunny! I guess my track record is improving.

A little surprised by the flash as she gorged on her first spaghetti dinner.

Super excited!!

Quick break to share a bit about the second part of our Christmas celebrations.

After Ryan’s family left, we packed up and headed to Michigan early Friday morning (23rd) at 4:30am. The timing worked awesome for traveling with a 9-month old and her new car seat worked wonders, too. Sonora didn’t complain at all on the way there except for a little fussiness when we put her back in her car seat after each stop (shocked! amazed! loved it!). We made it to Chicago in about 17 hours to spend the night at Ryan’s parents’ house while they were in Las Vegas since it was late in the evening and I wanted to get a good night’s sleep. The next day we took our time leaving for Michigan because my mom got sick with a similar bug (how weird…must have been going around) and we arrived late afternoon on Christmas Eve. And now here are the photos from our time there, keep enjoying!

Holding hands with her cousin Arianna before the present opening ceremony begins.

Arianna and Sonora enthralled with their new dollies (Sonora's gift to Arianna)

Playing with the gift Arianna got for her...a fun, {mostly} self-propelling alligator.

Hanging with Grandpa.

Once again, enjoying something other than her presents. (although I guess technically that went in one of her presents so I'll give her that)

I love this little sleeper on her! I just want to smoosh her.

Morning playtime with Grandma.

A special gift from Grandpa - baby hippie clothes he picked out himself. I guess he does really love her if he willing goes shopping for a pink outfit.

Now she is a spaghetti fiend.

Playing with her buddy, Grant.

I found this car at Goodwill for only $4!! I wanted to take it back to have a second car but decided to leave it at my parents' for her and Arianna to enjoy when they visit. I also found a mini floor kitchen for $4 and normal toy kitchen for $12. I love the thrift stores in Michigan...they practically GIVE stuff away.

Leah and I love it when we see girls do kissy fish face at our age. it's so cute. So we thought we'd try it out for old times' sake.

Don't worry, Sonora is enjoying a ROOT beer. We had another family outing the next week where we took our parents to the Electric Cheetah for a nice dinner out and quality time together with everyone. Then we went back to Nathan & Heidi's for games.

Taking Sonora sledding for the first time on a real hill.

Sadie had a fun time romping around in the snow, too.

Dino ball-popping fun.

Loving her sink bath!

We spent a couple weeks in Michigan, spending quality time with my family and friends. Lots more photos were taken but mostly I just savored the time I had with my family and best Midwesty friends. Oh, and with all the free babysitting, I had several girls’ nights and we even “partied” the night away on New Year’s Eve with our friends – we are such wild parents! Oh wait. Then we went back to Illinois for a few more days to mix some business with pleasure – I had a social media meeting (see, I am using Facebook and Twitter for some professional gain, too) and a photo shoot. But mostly it was just more fun with family and friends.

Fun time at the park with her good pal, Bud! (and his mom, Faith, who happens to be my good friend. funny how that works)

Peek-a-boo!

Slide fun with Daddy.

First time in a big tub!

Touch!

On Saturday I'd hoped to meet up downtown with a couple of my Twitter mom friends but due to poor planning on my part, I had to cancel. Sorry, ladies! Instead, it ended up turning into a lovely family excursion with the inlaws and we all went to Lincoln Park Zoo to enjoy the beautiful day.

Crazy mirrors.

The monkeys were hysterical. Sonora loved them!

Checking out the gorilla with Daddy.

Our little family. Aren't we just precious.

Dinner with friends has changed quite a bit since last year...

So that was our trip! And now I still have SO MANY MORE posts to do. Oh my goodness. Not only have I been taking thousands of The Precious but I also have her slightly belated 10-month post AAAND…photos of our house! More on that later, kids.

Love,
Laura

I’ll let the photo {captions} speak for themselves.

Sonora was super excited about going on a hike.

The standard Hartgerink family portrait. Obviously.

I love me some weed. Er wait. That came out wrong.

Ran into this fella halfway up.

Sonora was intrigued by his hat but dismayed by his cold demeanor.

It was kind of pretty.

Oh nothing, just an amazing sky with a mountain range in the background.

Hair grabbing neck scratcher.

I could not resist the composition of snow drifts and clouds. Mm.

Are you kidding me with this sky?

Shot from the top. Note the sleeping baby.

Zonked! I mean she had a hard day riding in the pack, after all. So exhausting.

The Precious.

Just another January day in our part of Colorado. Don’t believe me? Check out this post and this post. See? Mild winters, people.

Love,
Laura

Anyway, her 9-monthday was the same day Ryan’s family came to stay with us for an early week-long Christmas celebration and that very same night I got violently ill with either a 12-hour flu or food poisoning. Puke-fest all night long, could hardly function the next day. And after everyone left, WE left for the Midwest for 2.5 weeks. So in my defense, there were many distractions and valid reasons for this past month’s delay. (why am I even defending myself?)

So here’s what the peanut was up to leading up to her ninth month of life:

• she finally got a crib!!! Ryan and I graciously used our own Christmas money to finance this grand purchase and it was totally worth every penny (and totally not a sacrifice at all…what would we buy anyway?). My oh my did she sleep well and love her new bed – slept late and woke up jabbering to all her toys I hung up or put in there. The Pack ‘N Play had a great run but is now happily in storage. My back rejoices daily (though my quads aren’t getting quite as much of a workout…)
• continued cruising along furniture, getting more and more adventurous and steady on her feet
• sitting on her knees kind of frog-like in the same position Ryan used to sit in (double jointed knees?)
• pulling up to stand on All The Things including and mostly, me
• super busy – always on the go and moving but not totally all over the place yet…just climby, crawly, pull-uppy baby
• gets upset with things she’s not sure about (ie. food, toys and the bunny) and gives a fake diva cry or does a stacatto whine-grunt (uuh uhh uhh uhh uhhhn)
• eats A LOT and super slow – there are times she eats all day long between snacking & meals and times where it takes her an hour to finish a meal
• the biggest thing of all: she SMILES ALL THE TIME now! Hooray for me!

And I do have a new nickname for her now: The Precious. I guess it basically means she’s the ultimate in being precious. Because…duh.

Ryan’s cut off in this one because he had some issues with looking like a major ma-goo (sorry, dear, but mid-blink isn’t a good look) every time I got a good shot of The Precious actually looking AT me and smiling. Yeah, she’s an expert at avoiding the camera now, too.

Pretty sure a Christmas post is coming up next so hold tight…it’s gonna be a doozy.

Love,
Laura

—-

Spiritual growth. Instead of say “read devotions every day” or “read the Bible all the way through” like I have in the past, I’m just hoping for this to happen for me this year. Every time I make some sort of tangible goal I feel that I’m failing myself horribly at the single most important thing in my life and it’s depressing. This is an area where I need great improvement but setting goals like that just isn’t working for me. I HOPE to start keeping a prayer journal but this year I’m not going to commit to anything more than just spending more time with God. This time it’s not something that can be measured by pages in a book – whew!

Being nicer to Ryan. I can be a mean girl sometimes. That’s all I’ll say about that because I know everyone has issues with this to a certain extent and no need to give the dirty details, heh.

Become more financially responsible. I can be pretty spendy at times and now that we are both freelancers money’s become a lot tighter. We (and by we I mean Ryan) have created a new budget that we hope to stick with based on some of the principles Dave Ramsey talks about and others that we’ve been doing all along. Like not spending money we don’t have, paying off our credit cards and always giving our tithe to the church no matter what. But I’ve yet to completely adapt to the model Ryan’s laid out for us which is: only buy what we need. {whining} But it’s sooo haaaarrrd. There are so many miniature things I cannot resist…

Meal plan. I’ve just devised a meal plan for us that will begin tomorrow. It’s 14 meals (lunch & dinner) that I plan to repeat every two weeks. There is some wiggle room on deviating from the menu so long as I maintain the basic ingredients and don’t need to go out and buy more. We’ll see how this works (and how sick of the same meals we get).

Get Signify more social. I need to continue to grow the business so I plan to tweet more and give more updates on Facebook just to keep my name circling. With Ryan now working freelance we need all the work we can get! In saying that…please pass the word if you know of anyone looking for some marketing/design work. It would be much appreciated.

—

Well I actually didn’t think my list would be even this long but turns out I do have a few set goals for myself this year. No traveling was listed on here but I’m sure there will be at least one trip back to the Midwest to meet all my friends’ new babies! Oh yeah, did I mention everyone and their mother is pregnant…in Michigan and Illinois? Yeah. Cruel seeing as I don’t have many moms to play with out here.

Hrmph.

Resolutionarily yours,
Laura

We just got back from the Midwest this week so I’m just popping in to say hi just so you don’t think I’ve totally disappeared. You see, Ryan’s family visited us the week before Christmas and we’ve been gone since the day before Christmas (get that…THREE WEEKS of Christmas break) so I need a few days just to do nothing. But I’ll have much to report once we’re totally settled in and once all the photos are downloaded. Lots of baby updates – including TWO month-day posts – and Christmas chaos.

In the meantime, I have an update on my list of “to-dos” for 2011. I was about 50% successful if you count the “sort ofs.” Heh. Enjoy!

Daily devotions. I don’t want to talk about it.

Devote more time to productivity, less time to time-wasting activities on the Internet. Well, I joined Twitter shortly after writing this which wasn’t exactly UN-productive since it really helped out with all sorts of mama/baby questions buuuuut I did do a lot of chatting, too. Granted, it was mostly while breastfeeding and heaven knows in the beginning that’s ALL. THE. TIME. But still. In October I realized I’d averaged 1,000 tweets a month. Ummm yeah. Like I said, not unproductive, but not really what I was intending. In related news though, I blogged and Facebook-stalked less and worked more! So there’s that.

Go on real dates with Ryan at least once a month. Real dates didn’t really happen, but not because of the baby. Mostly because of Ryan’s school and having a new house to work on. Oh, and money that we don’t have a lot of.

Continue to be active. Yep. It happened. I rock at doing things.

Be more intentional with my photography and hone my photography skills. I did allllll right. Not quite what I was hoping for but I at least read up and practiced a bit more than usual. I’m still not where I want to be but that’s more of a motivation issue in general, not limited to photography.

Grow my business. I did it! I had a TON of work this year. This summer brought in a bunch of new clients as well as a bunch of new projects from a few of my “regulars”. It was an amazing year.

Draw something. Guess I should have reviewed my goals more throughout the year. I didn’t even remember this one. But also…where would I find the time?? Fine art isn’t quick.

Be more crafty. Well this one didn’t really happen. Even though I could have found the time amidst the busy I still like vegging out better. Plus, why do I need more stuff?

Take a trip. Obviously we managed this one and more. Several trips to the Midwest plus a detour to South Dakota made this easy peasy. We didn’t make it out of the country…yet.

–

Future goals beyond 2011:

- Own a house. Holla! Totally didn’t think this one would happen so soon but it all worked out. So happy with our house…it’s finally looking more and more like the way we want it. And YES for the love of Pete, I will try my hardest to get some photos up. I keep changing furniture in the rooms around and adding/removing decorations so I feel like it always looks different but I do need to put some more comparison shots up. Guess that will be on my 2012 To Do list, ha.
- Go back to Hawaii and Europe (this time including Ireland and England). Money’s especially tight right now so this is still in our future. Probably 5-year plan.
- Create Montessori-like activities for little Hart. This and dog-earing magazines and finding ideas online is happening.
- Become a teacher. I’m actually not so sure about this one anymore. Ryan’s in school now for Special Education and I think I might wait to see how things go for him. I know that sounds lame but for me it makes sense. Don’t judge. Also, I’m a little interested in home schooling…but not something I’ve really seriously considered just yet. Just an idea.

Next up…some goals for 2012.

Love,
Laura

Anyway, I think it has to do with the weather and not being able to gallivant around the town as much, being holed up inside more, etc etc. But it mostly has to do with the fact that the majority – and I mean pretty much all – of my mom friends are back where I used to live. Ho hum.

That’s not to say I don’t have fabulous friends out here or better yet, fabulous mom friends. But the mom friends are few and far between. Colorado is lacking in the late-20s/early-30s moms for me to play with.

So what’s a girl to do? I’m just not sure how I can go about planting babies in my girl friends’ bellies without somehow infringing on their rights. Plus, I don’t think their husbands would appreciate that very much.

I’m just missing on my lady peeps. Again.

And I’m not sure if anyone who lives here and is friends with me is reading this, but if so…and if you’re a woman…can you just have a baby already?? Do it for a friend.

Love,
Laura

So. Yeah. Our baby is almost beyond 8 months already. NUTTY. Here’s what she’s been up to lately: pulling herself up to her knees & also pulling herself up to standing, cruising along furniture, eating mostly finger foods (pushes the spoon away, refusing to “eat like a baby” – her words, not mine), babbling with a lot more inflection, nearly always standing, trying to stand/walk on her own (meaning no assistance and she’s SO close…whoa, slow down!!), super steady on her feet, and she crawls after the dog which is hilarious.

She is getting even more of a personality which I find to be awesome, yet I am leery of her “drama baby” days (throwing her head down on her arms dramatically) and her most recent behavior of gruffly shoving an item aside when she doesn’t want it anymore. Namely my hands (when I try to force feed her something she doesn’t want) and face (when I’m up in her business mashing my face into her belly). It is also sometimes accompanied by an annoyed/disgusted/snotty look. Um, does this mean we’ll have a diva on our hands?? Oh dear me, no.

Anyway, last week Sunday, December 4th, she was dedicated at our church. This basically means we took a covenant to raise her in a Christian home, following the values of the church and guiding her in such a way that she will want to accept Christ as her Savior one day. Um, yeah. No pressure or anything. Anyway, it was a good service and we were happy to have Laura and Jared there along with a few of our closest friends to support us since we don’t have much family here. I struggled with not being able to put her in my own baptism gown that her Great-Grandma made for me when I was even more wee than she is now, but it was much to small. In the end I’m glad I went with a new dress because she looked ridiculously adorable.

This little face kills me.

Oh my goodness. Love her.

Her latest thing - the crinkle-nose snuffle laugh. It's adorable.

Such a lady.

Just hanging out on the table at the service. Ain't no thang.

Almost captured a smile.

Announcing our little family.

Besides that, we’ve just been enjoying her constant on-the-go behavior. She hasn’t caused too much mayhem…yet. We installed a couple baby gates, covered the outlets and are just generally more aware of what she’s doing, but so far haven’t really had to worry.

Now on a different note, from all these posts of the baby it may seem like she never smiles or that she only smiles with a closed mouth. But I have photographic proof that she does, in fact, smile quite big! I just don’t often get the chance to capture it since I love smooshing my face into her every time she does.

See why I can't capture it? I just want to attack her when she does this.

Now granted it’s not constant, but when she smiles that large it’s the best and cutest thing ever. And I’m not sure how many times I can use that phrase before it totally loses its meaning but whatever.

She’s cute. She’s moving. She’s 8 months…until Friday. *gulp*

Love,
Laura

But I’ll get to that at some point. Right now, I thought I’d first share some great photo strips with you as well as some pre-Thanksgiving photos of our new tradition of hiking up one of the Table Mountains in Golden on Thanksgiving weekend.

So please…just sit back, relax and enjoy the show. (plus a bit more blathering at the end)

Neighborhood watch.

Not so sure about the eggs / Loving her toast with every meal

The baby loves to stand / Anxious to get out of her seat

Bunny visit!

Just eating some apples at the top of a mountain. No big deal. (ps. i love the lighting from the sunset in these shots)

The photo combo above is from our trip to the top of South Table Mountain. The views aren’t quite as nice as on North Table Mountain, but the hike is beautiful and Table Rock sits atop the butte, so it was a perfect spot for a little sunset snack.

We decided that we want to make this our family’s “Grand Haven Pier” tradition. See, every Thanksgiving Ryan’s family (his mom’s side) would take a trip to Lake Michigan to take a pier walk after the big Thanksgiving meal at his grandma’s. So we wanted to keep up the tradition of an annual walk, only ours has quite a bit more elevation gain, heh.

As you may recall from previous Thanksgivings, the weather is usually pretty spectacular around these parts and this day was no exception. We went pretty late in the day on Wednesday – just after Ryan got done with work – so in addition to having one of the warmest days of November that day (60s), we were also fortunate enough to catch the sunset over the mountains. This tradition is a keeper.

Hiking to Table Rock.

Sonora wasn't keen on the self-portrait family photo without her baby sunglasses. My bad.

Second attempt and still not amused with the sun in her eyes.

At the top!

Queens of the mountain.

Snack time.

Sunset love.

The view is still pretty great.

Sadie also enjoyed this holiday adventure.

On the way back down.

Holding hands.

That was Wednesday. Then Thursday rolled around and we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with two of our dear friends, Kristine and JB, and their son Grant. Last year we had a youth leader Thanksgiving with all the leaders but this year it was just us. And it was really, really nice. We ate and chatted the day away.

That night we headed up the mountain to stay with Laura and Jared and celebrate another Thanksgiving on Friday with them. But when we arrived that night, they had a special announcement for us:

Big announcement!

Sonora is getting a new baby cousin in June! We are so happy for them and are excited for little cousin play dates in the near future.

Friday morning, Ryan, Jared and I all went skiing while Laura watched Sonora. It was the first time in over a year I’d been skiing and it was just like riding a bike. And wonder of all wonders, I didn’t fall down once! Wow. That is a first for such a rookie like me. Oh, and it was sunny! Normally it’s overcast and freezing but my new coat was excellent at keeping me warm and I was sweating by the end. Anyway, there were only a few runs open (and just blues and greens, whomp whomp) but with Jared’s free passes we didn’t feel bad about only skiing for a few hours before heading back to prepare our feast. Then Saturday we just spent the day lazing about and took a little trip into town to shop at Cooper Creek before we left for home.

Sunny!

On Sunday, believe it or not, we had yet another Thanksgiving with two other couple friends of ours you’ve read about before, Brad and Sarah and their son, Davis, as well as Danielle and Kevin. Three Thanksgivings is thrice as nice. And it was fun getting caught up on the last few months of each others’ lives. Good food, great friends, fun adventures.

That’s how we roll.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend, too.

Love,
Laura