This is for Travis

Daddy needed some pics of Samara to pick him up this week, so here you go!









We miss you and love you, daddy!

He is gone =(

We dropped Trav off at the airport and he is on his way to Las Vegas for 2 weeks. After that he will be home for a day and possibly off somewhere else, we don't know. So, Mara and I are hanging out and I am going to use the time to get myself together, so to speak. Much, much less TV, more reading and Bible Study, once school starts, more studying, a cleaner house, and a few projects done, not to mention working out (it will have to be at home since it is quite cold to take Mara to the Y with me, but I think my road bike on a stationary rack and the bowflex alongwith my medicine ball, weights and ab ball should be just fine). Just got to get off of my ----! Speaking of a cleaner house, gotta put the trash out.

Anyway, just one story before I do that: I asked Trav to get up with her this morning so I could sleep in for the first time since she was born and I wasn't on a vacation. So he did, but soon after had to call me to get a bath ready. 'Do we really have to do this now?' 'Yes, she is a mess!' And that was NOT an exaggeration! We tried to clean her PJ's, but they still came out of the wash stained and messy, so out they go! I have never seen her so dirty, not even when she had her butt bug!! Holy C---! Literally!

Facebook...

...is evil. They are the reason the blog has been neglected as of late.

Update: Mara has to have tubes in her ears. Yuck! But, good thing is that it will finally drain the fluid in her ears so she can hear better! Yeah!! The surgery isn't until next month and thankfully, Trav will be home for it (he is leaving tomorrow for 2-3 weeks, Vegas and possibly another trip after Vegas). So we are all alone and it is going to be very hectic. I am starting school next week, my after school center is starting back up and I was asked to assist my Dean in teaching a class at Trinity (thankfully at the campus north of Chicago and not on the southside). We haven't decided about the teaching gig yet, but with everything else, the next weeks will be crazy! Thankfully, Mara has lots of fans who are going to help out in babysitting. Anyway, here are some uber cute pics of our little one:

Samara enjoying Mommy's scarf.

Mara getting ready to move (she had never stayed up in this four-point stance before!).

Cutest baby on the block...err...cul-de-sac.

Gotcha!

Having some good Mommy and Baby time (I miss her so much during the day=()

More Mara

Of Course, isn't that what this blog is about!?!? Anyway, here are some pics of our babe. She is into her 3rd week of the butt bug, but doing much better. Not nearly as much laundry, no vomiting. Unfortunately, the cold weather hit us hard this week and her daycare was closed (dumb) so she got to meet new friends at another one through my work. Tonight we are off to Madison for a hockey game and am looking forward to getting Mara dressed in her Badger Cheerleading dress!! Can't wait! Maybe this will make up for the crappy loss the basketball team had to the stupid Gophers (sorry dad!).

In other news, I am done with my Masters in Urban Ministry and start my MSW (Masters in Social Work) in two weeks. This program is through my work (paid for) so I figure why not! Really, it is much better to be certified and licensable for job prospects. Neverending school for me!

Mara standing tall, holding onto her gym mat.

She loves making faces and noises with her lips and mouth now! Haven't been able to catch them on video, though, yet.

Our cutie having a good time in her jumperoo while I am working.

Kinda hard to see here, but this is a pic of Mara's first taste of an Oreo!!

More Oreos

Again, hard to see, but Mara is having fun playing with my camera here.

Butt Bug

January certainly has been a difficult month and it is only the 9th! Anyway, Mara has a terrible butt bug, going on the 8th day. It is called the norovirus (meaning notorious?) and lasts 7-10 days. We do a load a day of her clothes since she goes through 3 outfits and 1-2 PJ's a day. She has been sent home twice this week from daycare, been to the Dr. on Monday and had another Dr. appointment (at Children's) cancelled because of the liklihood she wouldn't make it there (45 minute drive) without dirtying her car seat (she couldn't even make it home from daycare yesterday, a 15 minute drive, without everything going up her back and down her leg!). Today we have another Dr. appointment at Children's (can't cancel) and are praying that, through the snow, the car seat will stay clean. Not to mention the projectile vomit at 11pm all over our bed on Wednesday! WHEW! But she is still a happy baby and sleeps through the night. We have to get up to change her twice a night to make sure things don't leak through the covers. Oh, the joys of parenthood!!! Thankfully many have given me varying ideas of what to do about certain problems (bad diaper rash: let her play in the tub on old towels, naked), so we are trying those. I just long for the day when my hands aren't cracked from washing them 20 times a day!!

Christmas Pictures

Mommy finally put pictures of me from Christmas up, so I am going to tell you about them:

Here is my cute swimsuit from Auntie Rachel.

Grandma Swanson got this puzzle made for me.

Me and my cousins Kenny and Michael.

My new sled! I love it!


My new hat and mittens for sledding late (mommy put that red yarn on the mittens, she said something about 'Idiot mittens.' I was offended.).

Daddy made me look inside this ugly glass. Tricky Daddy!

I am playing with Daddy, but is he playing with me (no actually he is on the phone working)?

Great Grandma Lilly is holding me while we have Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Vickerman.

This is my super cute Christmas outfit from my mommy's friends, Beth and Grant. So cute!!

This is a fashionable bow on a present that I wanted to model for you.

Mommy and Grandma Swanson.

I love my new drum Daddy and Mommy got for me!! It lights up!

My family in the cool fort Daddy made for me. PS: my outfit is my new Wild outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Vickerman!

Fort #2: Daddy made the fort so much cooler, with lights and everything. We played for a long time till it was time for me to go to bed.

My cute self.

Christmas

Well, we made it back to WI after our 9-day vacation for Christmas. Now we are relaxing as best as we can, trying to finish Samara's room, catching up on other things and I am working on finishing my senior thesis for my Masters. Hoping to be done by Friday! We are loving being off for two weeks!

Anyway, Christmas was great! After a difficult ride to MN on Saturday through a snowstorm, we went to my old church back in St. Paul. Mara loved it, but doesn't understand why she has to be quiet during prayer and can talk during worship, so we utilized the crying room, which was very nice. We then visited my grandpa and grandma on the farm and they loved playing with her. That night Mara left us her first present during a bath, if you know what I mean!! I freaked out.

Monday we visited with my high school friend Beth and Grant and their kids. Beth is expecting her 5th! CONGRATS!! That night we celebrated Christmas with my Grandma Lilly and amazed everyone with how big Mara is getting, how vocal she is, how much she eats and how well she plays. Tuesday we relaxed at my dad's with my uncle and yummy sandwiches. Wednesday we had Christmas at my mom's and Mara played with her cousins Kenny and Michael. Trav and Kenny and Grandpa Jerry took to the manmade hill outside as did Mara on her new sled. Later we tried on her new swimsuit and took a dip in the big tub. She loved it and splashed up a storm.

Thursday we were off to Madison to visit Grandpa Jim and Grandma Maria. We relaxed there a few days while Trav tried to snowmobile and worked on his truck. We visited with some of Trav's high school friends and did some shopping. I have learned that the Baby Bjorn, as great as it is, doesn't make Mara weigh any less or make my back hurt less...Anyway, Christmas there was great and Cousin Kameron had a good time making Mara laugh, that is until she bombed out and had to be put to bed. We finally came home Sunday and spent the next day cleaning up the house and putting things away.

Now we are finishing painting up Mara's room while she is playing with her new fav toys. She loves her stacking rings from Grandma and Grandpa Nonn, all her Dora toys from Aunt Shelle, was a hit in her Wild outfit at daycare on Monday, and is anxiously awaiting to get back in her sled (all our snow is melted).

Trav is hoping to get some snowmobiling in tomorrow while I travel to Chicago to hand in my paper. Then Friday we are off to do some skiing while Mara visits at daycare. Mom and Dad need some alone time, too!! Then back to the grind...Argh!!!

Anyway, pictures are coming. I haven't had the time to download them yet...Please be patient.

Big girl in her big girl chair!

I like reading in my chair, just like mommy!!

Here I am reading the Barnyard dance. I love this book!

Not quite done with my book, yet.

All done. Now it is time to cheese!

We had a busy weekend. Mommy played with friends on Friday, so I hung out with daddy and we played, but no forts, though. Shucks, too bad! Saturday I was tired and I think that mommy and daddy were, too, because they didn't wake me up in time to go to swim class. Guess mommy played too hard with her friends! That night mom and dad took me out for dinner and I had a little bit of fun, but I really wanted to eat what daddy was eating, something red with cheese on it. Made his breath smell yucky, though! Sunday was fun cause I got to sing with everyone at church and they didn't tell me to hush, I got to watch mommy talk to the church people, I got to play with other little friends after daddy shushed me again, and then daddy took me home to play more. Finally mommy came home and we watched these guys in purple on TV beat these other guys in red. It made mommy happy, but daddy was sad cause the guys in green lost to the guys in blue and black. I just laughed at him and then he laughed, too! I can't wait to see what daddy and I are going to do tomorrow!!!

I have a new trick. I suck on my lip! Mommy liked it so much, she made me do it while she took pictures! Silly!

In this video I am playing with my Barnyard Dance book. I guess this is super cool or something. I was just trying to get the dumb thing open!

*Mommy said I have to tell you that I can crawl now. Only she says that it isn't the right way. I like to push myself up on my arms and push backwards. Sometimes it is bad because it makes my toys further away, other times it is cool because I get a lot of attention when I do it. Anyway, I didn't do it when mommy had the camera out...HE HE HE...got her, didn't I?

Hearing Test Update

Mara had her hearing retested at CHW Wednesday. We needed a retest because the first time Mara had fluid in her ears that may have skewed the results. Well, thankfully she didn't have to have the same test as last time (where she had to stay asleep or she would have to be sedated). She got to sit in a sound booth with Travis and listen and respond to noises from the corners of the booth. Anyway, bad news is, she still has fluid, now in both ears. Her ENT Dr. cleared out the wax and did a timpanogram, which checks to see if the ear drum moves like it should. It did not, indicating that there is fluid in her middle ear canal, again. Luckily, no infection. So she has mild hearing loss because of the fluid, so we just have to talk to her closer and look at her face when we speak, but that is it. We will have an ENT recheck in January and discuss tubes in the ears to help the fluid drain. Then, if that is successful, do a hearing recheck. WHEW! What a day! Thankfully, I didn't have to go back to work, so Mara could rest at home, because believe me, the ordeal of having wax cleared out was NOT FUN!

Promised pictures

I am counting babies!

OH! Reading is so much work!

I can't turn the page without sticking my tongue out!

Hey all, here is my new booster seat for mealtimes. What do you think?

Playing isn't just for Mara, anymore!

It's for daddy and mommy, too!

Ready for the Badger game after a good dinner of Pizza Hut.

Close up of my cute tattoo (that took 15 minutes to scrub off Sunday morning before church!).

Here is mommy and me, but mommy likes watching the game more than posing! We won, by the way, or so I am told. I was sleeping...

Don't call CPS on me for this one! She just tipped over (no crying=no owey!)