Wren - 6 Months

Our Missy May is 6 months old! How did the past half a year fly by so quickly? We can't get over how beautiful and absolutely wonderful she is. She is very observant, loving to watch those around her (especially Harper) and respond with smiles and coos. She has the cutest giggle and will sometimes even belly laugh. She's pretty attached to her mommy but loves bath time with daddy. She can roll over, but still stays in one general area and doesn't prefer tummy time. She has become quite the jumping bean in the jumperoo and is figuring out how to manipulate different toys. She loves to eat, both nursing and spoon-feeding. So far she has tried (and loves) carrots, peas, applesauce, green beans, clementines, and mum mums (rice crackers). Her favorite toys are her Sophie giraffe, taggie blankie, and Ellie the elephant. She grabs and tries to eat anything she can get her hands on. She's difficult to change as she is always grabbing her toes and pulling off her socks. She takes good naps during the day but isn't great at sleeping at night. Overall, Wren is a very happy baby with lots of smiles that attract compliments from friends and strangers alike.

Wren's 6 month appointment is this next week followed by her 6 month photo session so stay tuned for more updates on our little girl.

Daddy's Girl

Now that Wren has grown out of the newborn stage, Joshua is loving playing with his baby girl. Wren is loving it too and responds with smiles and giggles. She also loves to buzz her lips. They're so cute together.

Saturday Celebration

*Yes, I'm still stuck in December. Someday this blog may catch up!

Since we were with family over Christmas, we chose the following Saturday to celebrate at home as a family. It was fun to play Santa, eat set out cookies and milk, gnaw on a stalk of celery set out for the reindeer, fill stockings, and place presents under the tree. That morning, Harper quickly ran to see if Santa ate his cookies and left him some presents. He was in awe. I love his animated facial expressions!

Reading his new "Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site" book.

 

Good morning from the girls!

Showing Wren the doll I made her. She tried eating her hand but otherwise wasn't much interested.

Making a big train track for Harper to try out his new train: Fiery Flynn!

The breakfast master frying up some sausage and delicious french toast. So sweet, so good.

Later in the day we invited our friends the Hollerans to meet us at a sledding hill. It was pretty cold, but the kids had a fun time, went super fast and even bailed once (I wish I had it recorded!). Afterwards, we headed to our friends' house for some hot cocoa and cookies.

Wren the snow baby. She quickly fell asleep all bundled up and cozy.

Family Christmases

We were very thankful to have three whole days together for Christmas. It is much easier to split time between families when you have three days instead of just one or two. We had such a great time being with each family, eating lots of wonderful food, celebrating Jesus's birth, opening lots of great gifts, and watching our kids grow before our eyes.

Wren with Auntie Laura. Go Gusties!

Grammy with her grandkids. Joshua and I enjoyed some extra relaxation time with more bodies around to play with Harper and Wren.

Opening presents.

Harper wearing the pajamas I made him. How did he get so big?!

Wren and her present that was way bigger than her! (It's the next size car seat)

 Christmas lunch at the Kontak's

Thank you to all of our family for their love and generosity! We love you!

Speeding through December

December went by way too quickly as usual. The last month of the year has so much packed into it that as soon as you realize it's December, all of a sudden you're through the first week of January. In an attempt to get back up to speed, here are some more things we did in December of last year:

Joshua hosted a waffle brunch for me and my friends in celebration of my 28th birthday.

I've decided the Saturday morning brunch is a great way to spend your birthday with friends. Thanks Joshua!

 Our first baby is growing up! Here he is in his first Christmas program at church. Though he didn't sing the songs, you can see him here doing one of the hand motions. The two-year-olds mainly did a great job looking adorable.

We had the Hollerans over for our very own Christmas party complete with craft, cookie decorating, red and green themed lunch, and present exchange.

I'm so honored and thrilled to be part of my friend Corynn's wedding next year. It was so fun to go dress shopping with her! As you can see, Wren tagged along. (Though cute... no, that is not the dress Corynn picked!)

Visit with Santa and SNOW!

A few Sundays ago we headed through our first major snowfall to church and then to Bachman's garden nursery, where we were told of a fun (free!) play with Santa and his elf Albert. We made a morning of it and had brunch at the nursery's cafe, watched the play and had the kids picture taken with Santa.

Harper is up on stage while singing Jingle Bells with Santa and his elf.

(He's in a blue sweater in the middle of the photo. I have a video I'll have to put up at some point.)

Harper told Santa he wanted a car for Christmas. Wren just cozied in and stared blankly. Heh.

Harper jumped right into the snow and had a blast playing in the fluffy stuff.

"It's okay Wren." Harper loves his little sister.

The snowman Harper, daddy and mommy built. The snowman has since melted some and fallen over. Harper still asks, "What happened to the snowman?" when going through the backyard. To answer that, we turn to a book given to us by the Hollerans: Snowmen At Night.

Sugar Sugar

It wouldn't be the holidays without lots of sweet treats. One activity on our December bucket list was to make a gingerbread house. It was ultra convenient the local community centers offered it as a "class" so I didn't have to buy all the ingredients (and have tons of leftovers lying around that I would just have to eat) or clean up the mess. Josh went to work a little later and joined us for the fun.

For my birthday (12.12.12!), we had a family dinner at Annie's Parlor for some good 'ole burgers, fries and malts. Harper was digging the butterscotch malt. Wren was eyeing it up but settled for just looking cute. Joshua also bought a delicious cake from Wuollet for dessert (we were so stuffed but somehow found room). It was a layered cake of white cake, bavarian cream and raspberry covered with a layer of almond marzipan. Woah. I'm super excited to soon use the gift Joshua gave me...a new-to-me pair of downhill skis! I can't wait to hit the slopes.

December Bucket List

December is going to fly by like every other month this year, so Josh and I sat down and made a list of all the things we want to do this month before the Christmas season is over. Life is busy, so if we aren't intentional about it, things just won't happen.

Family Christmas Activities:

• Decorate Christmas tree
• Visit Santa
• Holidazzle Parade & Macy's 8th Floor
• Celebrate St. Nicholas Day (Dec. 6)
• Sing Christmas Carols before bedtime
• Read the Christmas Story
• Make a Gingerbread House
• Bake & Decorate Christmas cookies
• Movie Night - Polar Express
• Go sledding (pray for snow!)
• Mpls Library movie/cookie event
• Donate gifts for others
• Christmas craft - yet undecided

Read the following books:

• Twas the Night Before Christmas
• The Twelve Days of Christmas
• Polar Express
• The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

Christmas treats I plan to make:

• Buckeye Bark
• Salted Caramel Shortbread
• Spiced Molasses Cookies
• Frosted Sugar Cookies
• Gingerbread Cookies

This is plenty to cram into one month and doesn't count my current sewing projects that need to be finished in time for Christmas. The good news is that I'm doing pretty well with the sewing projects as long as I keep working on them a little each day. What is keeping you busy this December?

December already?!

We had a really nice Thanksgiving in Mankato with all of our family. It was nice to have an extended amount of time at both sides of Josh's family and not feel rushed. Josh's aunt, uncle and cousin from Colorado also joined us. We saw my family during the afternoon on Friday and look forward to spending more time with them over Christmas.

This weekend Wren attended her first Christmas party at our church. Each year they have a "Baby's First Christmas" party to celebrate all the new little ones and so the parents can get to know each other. Wren was in a good mood the whole time, so I guess that means she enjoyed it. We talked about family Christmas traditions, made handprint ornaments, took the babies' pictures in the manger, snacked on some goodies, and enjoyed getting to know the other families. It's amazing how many new babies there are at our church each year.

We also bought and put up our Christmas tree and decorations. It's certainly different with a 2 1/2 year old. He's so eager and anxious, so keeping him careful is pretty much impossible. We only brought out the non-breakable ornaments this year, and it will probably be that way for the next five years or so. In the three years we've been in this house, we've never put up outdoor lights, but we are thinking we will try them on the little tree out front now that we have an extension cord.

In other news, we recently re-joined the YMCA. I'm excited to get back into exercising and group classes while Harper and Wren have time in "Kids' Stuff." It'll be nice to have another thing to do during the week that can be any time, any day.

If you're surprised this post is all words and no pictures, it's because I've apparently reached my storage limit for pictures...I'll have to figure something out because a post without pictures isn't nearly as fun to read.

Time for me to get back to my sewing projects! I've made a good dent in my list, but there are still a few projects to make before Christmas. A bientot!

First snow of winter

We had our first snowfall this morning! Harper was really excited. We made sure to get outside first thing in case it was going to melt (it did).

Harper knew just what to do and tasted it the moment he got his mittens on it. He also made campfires, looked for grasshoppers, made a snowball (it was so not snowball snow), and brushed snow off a variety of things.

Miss Wrennie took a snooze.

Happy Halloween

This Halloween we each dressed up as a character from the Hundred Acre Wood. I made Harper's whole costume and Wren's hood, and threw together a few different things for the rest. We couldn't get Wren's whole costume in the picture as it was kind of chilly on Halloween. Harper trick-or-treated at our church's "Trunk-or-Treat" event. Since he isn't much into candy (though I'm sure he would be if we let him), it was the perfect way to see a bunch of dressed up kids and people we knew. Afterwards, we went home for some chili and to pass out treats to a few people who stopped by our house.

The week before Halloween, Josh and Harper (well, more like just Josh) carved one of our pumpkins. I love the photo below of Josh pep-talking Harper into scooping out some pumpkin guts and Harper not looking too sure about it.

Josh was able to hand him some guts, and Harper held it long enough for me to snap this picture. Harper told us what shapes to carve the eyes and nose and that it should be a happy pumpkin.

Harper is proud of his pumpkin that daddy carved. If I took a picture of the jack-o-lantern now, it would look rather disgusting. Between the weather and the hungry squirrels, it's a rather pathetic sight.

Chicago

A few weekends ago, Josh and I headed to Chicago for a three day weekend trip. Since Wren and I are pretty much inseparable yet, she came with us but Harper stayed with his grandparents (and had such a blast he may not have missed us).

Day 1: Air travel. Car travel. Train travel. Ate Chicago-style hot dog and hot beef sandwich at Portillo's. Toured the Chicago Institute of Art for the last hour it was open. They have some great pieces from Renior, Van Gogh, Monet, and Seurat, as well as architectural drawings and artifacts from Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. There was also a special exhibit showcasing work by Studio Gang Architects. It was really interesting and gave us some cool info the skyscraper below.

Who knew a skyscraper could have movement. Isn't it wild?

Day 2: Spent time downtown walking through Millennium and Grant Park. Walked to the Magnificent Mile. We didn't do any shopping, but we stopped in the Apple store and grabbed a bite to eat at Heaven on Seven (Cajun!). Our friends, and Wren's Godparents, Luke and Melissa met up with us at lunch. We then went towards Navy Pier to hop on a boat for an architectural tour via the Chicago River. This was my favorite part of our trip as the docent was an architectural student and really knew his stuff and didn't water down the architectural lingo. The tour brought back much of what I learned about American Architecture from school, and it was of course neat to see the buildings first hand and learn more about the city we were in. After the tour we went to the John Hancock Tower but didn't go up to the 90-something floor since there was a long line. Bummer. Next time. For dinner we went to Gino's Pizza for some Chicago-style deep dish pizza. We each had once piece and were stuffed. I guess that's what it's all about. 

The bean at Millennium Park.

Waiting for the L. We were definitely amateurs riding the train the first day but started getting the hang of it on day 2. We rode LOTS of trains.

Luke and Melissa on the boat tour.

Heading back into downtown while on the boat tour.

Gino's Pizza!

Sleepy Wren. Wren was an extremely good traveller at 2 months old. She was in a carrier 90% of the time, slept much of that time and still slept at night. It was in the upper 40s while we were in Chicago, so the carrier helped keep her toasty warm. 

Day 3: We took the train South of downtown to the University of Chicago where the Robie House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is open for tours. We had to book it in order to make the tour. We didn't realize how long it would take to travel down there. The tour was worth it despite the cheesy guide. After the tour we booked it back to downtown, hopped on a different train that took us back towards Schaumburg where our hotel was and where one of Josh's friends from Apple lives. Josh's friend Anthony and his family had us over for a nice dinner before we headed back to the airport to head home. We rolled back into Minneapolis just before midnight.

The Robie House

It was a quick trip, but it was fun to get away and now I can say I've been to Chicago. There is a lot more to see and do there. Maybe next time we will go in the summer so we won't have to bundle up.

Fall Photo Dump

Play time. Wren seems to be more aware of her surroundings and will now watch Harper as he plays. It's going to be so much fun to see them grow up together.

Pretty girl with a pretty smile.

Out for a fall walk. Sometimes when the emotions are high in the afternoon, a walk is just what we need. This walk happened to put Harper to sleep after refusing to take a nap for hours earlier.

Last week we went to the Children's Museum Halloween party with our friends the Hollerans. It was a great time with tons of little kids running around in cute costumes.

Cutest little piglet.

Our Pooh family: Christopher Robin, Tigger, Winnie the Pooh, and Piglet