My new bath!

Mommy and Daddy finally got me a new bathtub, one that I can actually fit in. Now I will have fun getting clean! About time daddy and mommy!!!



My teething butterfly and my new cool bath: I love this!!



My cute self, so relaxed!



My new favorite thing to do, suck on my hand!



My sweet mohawk, courtesy of daddy!!

Long awaited pictures

Here you go:



Samara trying soooo hard to roll over, but getting stuck.



My flower garden of petunias and lillies (I learned all I know from 'Gardening for Dummies!')



Happy 3 month birthday Mara!! Trav got to play all day with Mara while Mommy was at the Danskin Triathlon. Not fair! =(



Mara and Daddy time at its best.




OOOHHH, dark!

Back to TX

Sorry for the delays in posting, but I haven't found much time to get on the computer without falling asleep!

We are well into our work/daycare routine now, but that doesn't mean I like it! Samara is doing well, but tends to sleep waaayyy too long at daycare and misses her feedings. Most of you know how important it is to keep her on her schedule so she sleeps through the night and so when she cries, we know exactly what is wrong. But, as I was informed, by WI State daycare licensing law, the daycare teachers can't wake a sleeping baby, not even to feed her! Irritating. Anyway, Mara continues to amaze us. She is working so hard to turn from her back to her front but doesn't know what to do with her arm that gets in the way. She is in love with her hands and is drooling much more now. We don't have another Dr. appt. until Aug. so we are hoping she is gaining weight, but I can't tell.

Trav got called out to TX again yesterday, so we are chillin' on our own, getting ready to head to MN this weekend for a family reunion on my dad's side. Should be fun and a nice getaway for us.

PS: Wasn't that Home Run Derby fun!!?!? Morneau won the derby and the All Star game! Go TWINS!!

More pics will be posted sometime soon....

WEATHER!

Well, our thunderstorms were not that bad, but my grandparents in MN just missed getting hit by a tornado. Trees are down, part of a silo was ripped off, but no injuries, thankfully! My mom was trying to drive home from southern MN but had to pull off so her car wouldn't get blown off of the road like the semi in front of her did!

Yesterday Trav again surprised us by taking an earlier flight home from Dallas! Samara loved that and enjoyed playing with him and smiling. We are so glad to have Daddy home!!!

Travis' Powerlifting

Trav has cracked the top 10! He is in the top 10 of Wisconsin's Push/Pull Powerlifting division after only one competition. Push/Pull includes bench press and deadlift together. Here's the link:

http://wendykay.org/WendyKay/MENSPPWITOP10.html

I am not sure what all the numbers mean, but the higher the coefficient, the better the lifter.

We had an especially difficult night last night. Mara was up every hour from 10:45pm on. I purposly didn't turn the air on last night in hopes that the house would cool down with all the windows open but it seems that maybe she was a bit too warm, although she didn't feel that way. Plus, when I went in this morning, her diaper had leaked a bit, too. Just not a good night for us! To make matters worse, she had a meltdown right before we were to leave for daycare, so we were late as I rocked her for a bit to try to calm her down. Luckily, her teacher said she fell asleep as soon as I left this morning. I have a feeling she is either going to sleep all day or have a rough day! Poor Mara!

Superwoman!

I got some fun pics of Samara eating her hands. She is really lovin' her hands and fingers now. She also loves to arch her back and 'fly' with her hands and feet!

Return to Work =(

So while Trav is off to Toronto, I have returned to work and Mara started daycare. Monday was especially hard but Mara seemed to do just fine. She had a good day of smiling at the teachers, rolling over, and having a good time. Almost makes me jealous! Anyway, the days don't get any easier with dropping her off with strangers, but she is only going to be there 6-7 hours/day for the first week or two. And I only call 5 times/day!!!

Happy July 4th!

We had a great weekend! Trav surprised us by taking us to the Sturtevant fireworks Thursday, but wouldn't tell us what we were doing. Friday we hung out and relaxed then went to Madison for the night to hang with some of Trav's friends for the fourth. The fireworks were way too loud for Samara, as they were being set off across the street from Trav's friends' house, so Samara and I went back to Grandpa and Grandma Nonn's (they were out of town) and relaxed. Saturday was a big day! We finally found the perfect car, err SUV, and brought it home. Anyway, the car is great! We actually have room for our stuff and our legs!

Today I am preparing to go back to work tomorow. I am absolutely dreading it, so we are saying a lot of prayers that I can hang in there and that Samara is safe.



Samara ready for the fireworks Thursday.



Here I am all wrapped up.



Trav cuddling with Mara at the fireworks.



Tred getting Samara ready for her first motorcycle ride. We couldn't find a helmet to fit her, so she had to stay back!

The Monster at the End of This Book

Trav had a fun night last night with Mara. They read together, played with stickers, took a bath and then she crashed for the night, not to wake until I woke her at 6:30am!! Thank you Trav!!



Mara and Trav enjoying their book.




"Oh, Daddy, that book is so funny!"



Mara with her new Chiquita Baby sticker.



The sticker on Mara's big bicep!

Milestones

Samara has found her hands! It is so fun to watch her play with them, suck on them, and use them to throw her nuk halfway across the house! She also uses them to keep her nuk in her mouth as best as she can. Unfortunately today she is extra crabby (not much good sleep last night) so no pics of said hands.

On another note, more great news. Besides having to prepare myself to go back to work, I get to spend this week trying to restore my identity, as someone in St Paul stole it! LOVELY! So I spent yesterday talking with the fraud dept. and the police and today talking with many other credit fraud depts., credit bureaus, and ripping my hair out while trying to calm Mara down! Why is it so hard to talk to an actual person from the credit bureaus?? Maybe it is because there really is no one there to talk to...

We are also in the midst of trying to buy a new SUV for me. Getting Samara in and out of my little, sporty, cute Cavalier is trying to say the least. Plus, it just turned 100,000 (that's 87,000 miles I put on since I bought it in Oct. 2005). Perfect timing: buy a new car, get my identity stolen. Lovin' that!