While Richard Was Gone

Richard was in Utah this last week, Wednesday through Saturday, to take a two-day board exam.  I made a whole list of things I wanted to do with the kids to pass the time.  We had a fun-filled few days.

We made cookies.

We went to the library.

We saw this funny-looking tree.  This was an unplanned event. :)

We have some neighbors who are moving so we stopped by their rummage sale and scored two awesome floor puzzles and some books for Bridget.  

Went for a walk/run on the Menomonee River Parkway.  Poor Bridget, confined in a stroller.  Poor Marshall, such awkward smiles.

We played at the park.

This is one of my new favorite pictures.  But, I cannot get over how old they both look here.  Yes, 3 and 1 are old.

We hit up the new restaurant in town.  Okay, its been here for over a year, but we finally stopped in.  Can you guess which one is Marshall's?

By Saturday morning this is how we all felt...

Pooped.

I think its safe to say, we effectively passed the time and completely wore us out while doing so.

Non-pictured events were:

Playgroup

Multiple runs for both me and Marshall

And a fantastic Saturday evening spent with old friends visiting Milwaukee

And just to document that I did a few things for myself...

I watched a great documentary, "Birth Moms".  Fascinating.

 I watched "The Princess Bride".  I've been wanting to do that since finishing the book.

 Finished "Psion Beta" a book I started in December and started its sequel.

Despite all of this fun, we were SO happy to pick Richard up at the airport on Sunday afternoon!

That's One Way To Do A Puzzle

A few minutes after I tucked Marshall into bed last night I discovered that he had gotten out his new floor puzzle and was putting it together.  The explanation for this is that he has a very small room and was obviously needing some more space.  :)

They Do Love Each Other

I always read to Bridget before I lay her down for her naps and sometimes Marshall comes into join us.  Well, the other morning he insisted on reading to her and it made my day.  He grabbed two books he knows by heart, got in her chair, and I put her next to him.  These two were so cute together.  Mind you, this does not happen often.  :)  Marshall was being so animated and Bridget was just smiling and laughing.  Now if only they could have moments like this every day...

Sunday Evening

We enjoyed a relaxing Sunday evening at home tonight.  It was raining so we were kept indoors.  After dinner Richard decided to turn the couch around and we all piled on together to watch the rain.  Despite the head bonks and wrestling the ensued between Marshall and Bridget, it was a fun time.  :)

Then and Now

April 10, 2011

One day shy of one month old

May 20, 2012

14 months old

Holy smokes, what a difference a year makes.

Weeks ago as I was going through Bridget's closet evaluating her clothes for spring and summer weather I remembered the above dress I bought for her before she was born.  I loved it, but of course, being a newborn she grew out of it so quickly.  I kicked myself for buying it in size 0-3 months.  Well, as luck would have it, shortly after that my friend, Connie, who has a daughter a year older than Bridget gave me a bunch of clothes that Jill had out grown.  As I was going through them I was elated to discover this jumper in 18-24 months!  This was her first day wearing it, so of course we had to have a little photo shoot.  As you can tell, it went much smoother than last year.  :)

All Things Bridget

This little lady needs a post all her own.  Here's what Bridget has been up to lately...

Bridget still desperately needs two naps a day.  You would think that at 14 months this wouldn't be so crucial, but it is.  Sundays are so hard on her because she misses her morning nap.  A couple of Sundays ago after she woke up in the late afternoon she just walked over to Richard (who was laying on the couch cushions Marshall had kindly pulled off) and curled up right by him.  Marshall and I left on a walk and came back almost an hour later to find them both in the same position as when we left.  :)

Bridget is also still clinging to two bottles a day.  When Marshall was this age he had long been off the bottle, but not Bridget.  She refuses to drink milk from anything but a bottle. 

I am loving Bridget's hair, if only I could do more with it, but I am loving it.  On Sunday I put it up like I usually do and then clipped a bow in it to finish her off.  Darling.  I can't tell you how many compliments she got at church.  

She also adores monkeys, which Marshall has plenty of.  Multiple times throughout the day she will walk into Marshall's room, find a monkey, and be content to drag it around with her.  

She is walking so well now.  Just today I was thinking that its been days since I've seen her crawl.  Walking is definitely her preferred mode of moving now.  She is getting pretty fast at it too.  And, fortunately, she has overcome her dislike for the grass.

In other news, she is slowly expanding her diet of table foods.  A few days ago I was able to feed her a few bites of egg before she decided to start spitting it out.  She has also finally decided to swallow yogurt.  I have also discovered that if we are eating somewhere other than our house she is more likely to eat new foods.  Last week at the zoo I finally got her to eat cheese after offering it to her about 20 times.  And just yesterday at the grocery store she finally ate some dehydrated apples.  We are making progress.  :)

To wrap it all up, here's a video of this little girl.  She is a silly one, and don't you just love that bow in her hair?!  I do!

Lucky Seven

Today Richard and I celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary!  May 6, 2005 was our special day.  

Weeks ago I told Richard that I wanted to celebrate this occasion with no presents, just a dinner out to a place we had never been and I didn't care how much it cost.  :)  He reminded me that it did matter how much it cost and so I crossed off all the super-expensive restaurants off of my list.  We finally agreed on Maxie's Southern Comfort.  It met all my criteria:  new place, great reviews, it wasn't going to cost $100, and we even had a gift card.  I must also mention I had heard great things about the key lime pie and my mouth had been watering all day for it.  On our way to the baby-sitter's house I called Maxie's to get our name on the list.  I was greeted by a recording that said they were holding their 5th annual Kentucky Derby Party and that it was a $7 cover charge per person and that they weren't accepting call-ahead reservations because it was such a busy night.  Well, there went my key lime pie.  :(  

So, after dropping the kids off at Karisa's (thank you!), we brainstormed some other ideas and ended up at Ballesteri's.  It was good food, but not mouthwatering, so we will never go back and I was in mourning about my key lime pie all night long.

But, despite our dinner fiasco, it was a grand evening.  Richard and I haven't been out together in weeks and it was wonderful to have 2 1/2 hours of great conversation and laughter.  We were talking about things that happened to us days ago and we really needed that catch-up time!

This last year of marriage sure has been an exciting one.  With Richard graduating, starting a job that pays, moving into a house, and having our first (of hopefully many) vacations away without kids its been quite a year.

I feel very blessed to have Richard in my life.  (Sorry for the mush.)  He is a perfect husband for me and a fantastic father.  

Happy anniversary to us!

Two side notes:

1) We were so young back then.  Seven years sure has aged us.

2)  Photography has come  a LONG way in seven years!  Sometimes I wish we were just getting married so we could re-do our wedding pictures.  Fortunately I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.  :)