Labor Day Weekend in WI

Oh a good time doesn't even begin to describe it...and there wasn't anything sogreatoutoftheordinary that made the weekend so fabulous, but I think it was the just being HOME part of it that made it so lovely. (PS. The picture above is from Bay Beach.) Adam and I have really been missing home lately so it was good to just get back to our roots and get right back into the swing of things, even if it was just for a few days. (PS. Come back and check this post either later tonight or tomorrow...I'll be adding pictures but have too many chores to do very late now to post them all)

This is Morgan saying "hello" on the phone, btw.

Friday night, we went out for dinner with Adam's parents and my Dad & Sue. The service was fine but the kitchen and seating were terribly slow and really tested my temper that seems to have come from nowhere the past few months. (I think I've mentioned this before...more on that later.) Morgan was a trooper and handled it rather well until the end. I think she might have even held it together better than me. :)

Bay Beach with Aunt Steph is FUN!

Saturday was busy but so fun. It worked out to do it this way best, even though we would rather have had Adam join us in the morning. Instead, Adam went golfing at Whistling Straits in Kohler with his dad, brother, and my dad. This course is on his bucket list, I swear, so for him to have the opportunity to go (my dad was his in since he works for Kohler Co.). He loved it, did rather well, and was very happy to go. I took Morgan to Green Bay to visit my friend, Steph, and her family and we ended up taking the girls (and a work friend's family) to Bay Beach in Green Bay. Greatest, cheapest place for kids, I swear. I almost had a heart attack letting Morgan go on RIDES alone and/or with a tiny little friend, but she LOVED it and had a great time. She only almost fell over/out of one, and she slid off the seat into the bottom of the airplane just as I was getting to her. All the rest of the rides went well and there were smiles all around. And a dirty sleeve b/c SOMEONE wouldn't get her hand off the race car tire while it was moving. I won't name names, but I think we know. ;-)

First ride ever!! What a big girl!!

Hooray for the purple car!

Morgan hogging the wheels.

Woah! The train goes fast!!

Morgan and I then trekked up to Sturgeon Bay to visit Adam's Aunt Cherie and Uncle David at their cabin on Sandy Bay. We had a nice time visiting and Morgan enjoyed seeing our extended family. She had SO much time outside that day. Adam and his dad met us there later in the afternoon and then we headed back to my parents' house so Morgan could get to bed sort of on time since the night before and all day of naps in the car were likely going to catch up with her at some point. She also slept much better the second night so that was fab.

Standing around at the cottage.

Hanging out with Uncle Tommy.

Cousin Paulie is hilarious.

Choosing movies with Grandma Susie.

Sunday we hung out, did some shopping, did lunch, had Morgan take a (huge!) nap in her pack 'n play (non-carseat naps are super important at some point!), and then we got to see my brother Ross' new house. It's lovely...I'm glad they are so very happy there. Morgan was hilarious chasing their kitty under and around the table and could not figure out how to get to him through the chair legs. Silly baby.

Walking, flying, and learning at the cottage.

Monday we left a bit early so we could stop in Sheboygan to visit my other brother, Travis, and his family since it was my and Adam's goddaughter, Talia's second birthday. What a big girl!! She was so cute (as was her sister, Tatum) and seemed to like the presents we got her. We had to leave before the party even started since we left the dogs at a kennel here in Iowa and had to pick them up by 5:30. The ride home went well and it was nice to have it be a little shorter since we sort of started in Sheboygan and usually we're going through there around 45 minutes into the trip.

We are happy campers at BB.

We love WI - have I mentioned this yet? We are going back the first week of October for my cousin's wedding, then two weeks later for Morgan's WI birthday parties, and then before we know it it will be Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think we'll have plenty of opportunities to see all our family in the coming months so that should help the "WI-sickness" we might be feeling a little bit.

Happy with Grandma Sherri...

I'll give you one guess what she's saying...yup..."DADADADADA!!!"

I think this is the last thing (what a not-fun thing to end on!) I wanted to mention before heading to laundry, packing for tomorrow, and general cleaning up chores. I've always had a temper. It's the Seefeldt temper (don't deny it, fellow Seefeldt-ians) and I've usually been able to manage it so it's not really that big of a deal. The past few months, I've been going from fine to searing hot angry almost instantaneously and have a really hard time getting past it without obnoxious words, actions, or something coming from within. I've been working hard to control it, especially in front of Morgan, and sometimes I'm successful. Lots of others, I'm not. Adam's been a trooper and helped me sort of deal with it, but it's getting to the point where I think I need to talk to my doctor. I don't think I have any post-partum depression by any means, but this anger is getting out of control. Morgan, actually, doesn't trigger it or if she does, it's significantly milder in form and not that bad - totally manageable. So anyway, once I make that appt we'll see what happens. There are some other things I have questions about and while it really stinks that I SO don't feel like me at times and literally feel like my chest might explode if I don't freak out about whatever is making me angry at the moment, it's worth it for the gift I have upstairs sleeping with her bunny in the crib. :)

Ok, can't end on that note so here are a few other quick highlights...Adam's in Madison, WI, for a training with 2 other work friends this week. "Class..." ::scoffs:: in Mad-town? I don't think so. It's class, out for dinner, have a GREAT time, sleep, repeat. Lucky duck, that's all I have to say. ;-) I had another but I forgot it so off to laundry, packing, and chores. At almost 9pm...totally my fault! :)

Another video...Talking on the phone :-D

Sorry. Now I'm all video happy. It's just so fun to share the new things she learns and does. Video preface: Morgan LOVES my phone almost as much as I love the child herself. If she gets a chance to even TOUCH it, she's in some sort of heaven. Since she first showed an interest, I've been showing her here and there how to use it - up to your ear, that is. For whatever reason, tonight it clicked. And then to top it off, she started putting the phone to my ear, but then to her baby's ear! Pretty neat stuff. :) (keep reading below the video - there's more!)



So I go to pick up Morgan from Mary's house today, and Mary's eyes were all twinkly and she said, "Morgan said PLEASE today. Clear as day. She said please when she wanted to come up." VERY cool!! She hasn't said it anymore today, but that's typical of children learning language at her age. I don't know if I mentioned this one, but along with waving, she also SAYS "bye" when someone is leaving. Current consistent words to date: mama, dada, bye, no. Inconsistent words to date: up, please. 6 words by 10 months? Happiest. SLP. Ever. :)

Packing for WI has started in earnest tonight, especially for Morgan since I'll be gone until 7:15pm for class tomorrow night (2nd last one...and we're in a pickle next week b/c Adam's out of town!) and I can't pack her clothes if she's sleeping. So I pull out a pair of really cute jeans for her since it's going to be cold (60s) in WI and thought maybe I should try them on her. Good thing I did, b/c three pairs of jeans later, it was confirmed that the child can't even MOVE unless she's wearing a size 18 months. Not 12-18 months, as she can't crawl or even hardly move in them. Sigh. Good thing her cousins lent her their 12/12-18 month jeans and I bought her several pairs...that she'll never wear. :( I guess we'll be going shopping this weekend for jeans for the child. Shoot. She's 10 months old and I'm going to have to buy her 2T or 24 (aren't those the same?) jeans. I blame her BG diapers about 30%. But the 18 month jeans are the right length! Not even close to too short...What a big girl. But dang, my wallet!

Ok, too many chores and packing to do before Adam gets home in an hour or two. PS. Did I mention that we're so excited to go to WI this weekend? :)

A video post

Enjoy these videos from today. I was camera happy, or as my friend Pesey calls it, I was papparazzi. I could totally be on TMZ. ;)

Video #1 - Morgan talking, playing, etc. It's long. Sorry. :)





Video #2 - TOUCHDOWN!!

"Dabadabadaba"

This would be Morgan's new favorite thing to say. She almost sounds like someone trying to (and semi-failing) to say "scoobydoobydoo!" It's funny. Of course I had several things to post about and they're gone. My brain officially went mush. And it's only Monday...

Here's one - tonight during bath time, I had Morgan in fits of non-stop giggles by squirting her with her fish bath toy from under the water. After about 50 billion squirts, I told her it was time to be all done and give the fishie kisses bye. She kissed him and then started crying and crying until I filled him back up with water and squirted her again, resulting in more fits of giggles. Sometimes I wish I could giggle b/c a fish toy was squirting my belly button. I suppose laughing at Morgan giggling is the next best thing. :)

Walking update - Morgan's about the same as last week. She is still super eager to get going after standing which usually results in a lunging, almost running/falling baby. We're not pushing it. She'll do it more slowly when she's ready. It sure is fun to practice though. Which leads me to...

Oh, about 2 nights ago I was bored of Morgan's wardrobe (all the cute stuff was in the wash) so I decided why not and open up the next size up bin of clothes. Well, I did it again...waited too long. There were a few things that she's going to be able to wear for the next few weeks while it is still hot out, but even this weekend in WI it's going to be cool enough for jeans and a t-shirt during the day for her, so we'll just wear 3 outfits a day no matter what happens and she'll get some good use out of them. ;-)

Regarding two paragraphs ago...I also may have found a few pairs of SHOES that I got for Morgan thinking she'd be able to get some good use out of them and won't...Pair #1 - size clearly reads 6-9 months, which means Morgan likely was done wearing them around 7-8 months of age. Dang. I squeezed them on her sockless feet and her little toes were all squashed at the front. Pair #1 worn for 45 seconds. Sigh. Pair #2 - Squeakers!!! White, patent leather squeakers!! Size 3. They are SO cute and she thought it was interesting that she squeaked when she walked. The dogs went NUTS and came running upstairs to see what the new "toy" was. Morgan had quite the fuzzy parade after her. Pair #2 - bring to WI this weekend and pray that socks fit in them (will check, no worries) so she can wear them for the next 2 weeks until she grows out of them. Pair #3 - ADORABLE. Dark and light pink suede shoes, size 4. They fit and will be perfect with socks once her squeakers are deemed too small. Adam will not be happy to read this paragraph. I blame rookie mom status. :) At least the 6-9 month ones are gender neutral and can be worn by Baby Schmidt #2 (who is NOT on the way, so don't freak) no matter who s/he is. So that said, Morgan's dresser is now filled with 12-18 month clothes (I know - 18 months. And she FITS into some of them, especially pants/shorts b/c of her big bum diapers) and a few 9 monthers that I A) can't part with b/c they B) still sort of fit her. Yay for new wardrobe! Boo that there is so much long sleeved and long pants items in there, meaning fall (nice!) and winter (boo) is on its way.

Morgan has spent some serious time in her room the past few days now that we've had to be up there while Adam was gone at class. The first day we were up there, she got all sorts of excited and was basically spin/crawling as fast as she could all over the floor space that wasn't covered in clothes, shoes, and bibs she'd outgrown. She was funny with her stuffed animals, but especially with her glow-worm seahorse. She told me it was time for a nap that day b/c she pulled up on her crib, sucked her thumb, and started crying in bunny's general direction. Bed it was! Tonight she was hilarious too and thought it was great fun taking clothes out of the bins. Redirected...to a pile of books.

Speaking of books, Morgan's love for them continues to grow. She still has her favorites and doesn't always sit through the non-favorite ones, but she whines/cries when the book is over unless you have another at the ready (or unless it's a less fav one, at which point it's time to crawl away at warp speed). We've been working on pointing to animals and other such common objects/animals. She finally did it the other day when I asked her where momma duck was in Little Quack loves colors and sure enough - she pointed to momma duck. Woo!

Here's another funny and then I'm done (2 loads of laundry, one being diapers, are calling). Sunday afternoon we took a trip to Menards to get some longer screws for my drawer knobs in the bathroom. While leaving, something happened that resulted in Adam saying, "stupid ass." I sort of chuckled and half jokingly said, "don't cuss in front of the baby." His smart aleck reply was, "ass ass ass." All of a sudden from the back seat we hear, "Ah!!" Moral of the story - no more cussing in front of the baby. ;-P

Touchdown!!!

Such fun! During a meeting today (I'll get to that later), a fellow Muscatine High School staff member mentioned that there was a home game tonight. Adam and I have been meaning to go to a game since we first got here...5 years ago....and have yet to go. So I threw it out there to go instead of stay home and do chores and the normal nighttime routine and it was a go. Off we go to Morgan's first football game and our first Muskies game.

Morgan did SO well. The only reason we thought she might not do well is b/c we'd be close to, over, and then way past bedtime. At first she was a little startled by the crowd (huge) and why on earth everyone was clapping (for me? I'm sure that's what she thought) but once she saw the players she sat on my lap, her hands in her lap, and watched almost all of the first quarter that way. VERY interested baby. She lasted until the end of the first half and by that time, she had "touchdown!" (tiny baby arms up in the air!) down pat. It was pretty cute. She clapped a TON. She made new friends. She saw her friend, Deb, at the concession stand. When the marching band came out and started playing, she immediately started dancing and bouncing up and down as hard as I've ever seen her. Since it was really late for her by that time and she had pretty well used up all her "good baby hours," we went home. Big night! Again, we're so proud we have such an easy, flexible baby.

Work meeting. ::can you sense the disdain:: I love my job. I truly, honestly do. I love the people I work with. I greatly dislike, however, having FOUR all-day meetings in 2.5 weeks that about 30% of which pertained to me and is something I might actually use in my practice/therapy in the future. I realize that we all have to do things as part of our jobs that we don't like. Not a huge deal. But when I feel like my and my students' time has been so grossly wasted, I become infuriated by the FOURTH meeting. I sat there this afternoon seething. I'm sure I wasn't hiding it well (I sure tried!) but I'm better for having held it in for an entire day, dealing with it, and moving on. I was more upset than when Jessie barks right after the baby goes to bed (that's bad). It almost makes me think I missed something that pertained to me...but I didn't. This is me moving on. Now. :)

Mary was all excited to show me how well Morgan was walking at daycare now. Mary is convinced that Morgan is going to go right from walking to running. (Is there usually a gap of time b/w the two?) Morgan is doing well. She becomes slightly more coordinated every day and today she left me to independently walk to her activity table (2 steps). Brave girl!

Working full time again and getting up so much earlier really gets me by the end of the week. That said, since I first sat down for the day 15 minutes ago (it's 9:48pm), I deserve to lie on the couch a few minutes before going to bed. Took Morgan running today. That child is going to put some serious time in that jogger before it snows. :)

Our little walker

Enjoy this video of Morgan walking (this was around dinner time tonight 08/25/10 - she was even better before bedtime!!) and making goofy noises with her mouth. She's sort of into this lately and enjoys trying to imitate us doing weird noises. I heart her. :) I also love how stinkin' cute she is in real jammies instead of just a onsie for bed, but in the only picture of her in her new monkey jammies, her eyes are closed.

Bathroom "Redo" update w/ pictures!

Here are the pictures, pre- to about 4/5ths of the way done, of our cosmetic bathroom overhaul for our 1st floor bathroom. As I'm sure you've read before (I'm not going back to check...sorry. Lazy me.) the bathroom was terribly outdated in terms of paint/fixtures/etc. and since it will likely be about 3-4 years until we get to semi-gut and redo the whole thing appropriately, a cosmetic redo was definitely in order since it was so ugly. In case you can't see from the pictures, here are some of the awful highlights of the old bathroom:

1. Shiny gold or gold AND silver fixtures/towel racks.
   
2. Pale green paint put on in a "washcloth" fashion - read - whomever painted that room took a thin washcloth, balled it up, dipped it in paint, and splotched on the wall. All over. Ick.
   
3. The towel racks were loose and flimsy and cheap.
4. I had accented that room with purples. I decorated around the time of my wedding and purple was on my mind. Give a girl a break. :)
5. Old gross glass around the lightbulbs. I don't know what those things are called at the moment...

Highlights of the NEW bathroom!!

1. Beautiful paint color called Pixley Falls. Best way to describe it? Robin's egg blue with some green thrown in. I don't know how else to describe it. Check it out. :)
   
2. I think it's called brushed brass or aged brass or something for fixtures and other bathroom hardware. It makes the paint color pop.
   
3. We've used black and white accent colors (read - towels and shower curtain). It took us a while to acquire the appropriate towels and shower curtain (5 stores for the shower curtain but it was WELL worth the wait! I love it so much).
   
4. All of our racks and things that are up are TIGHT to the wall. Adam is a master-installer.
5. New, opaque swirled glass things around the lightbulbs. Adam and I were both drawn to them and it was an instant, easy decision. We like those. :)

We still have a little ways to go until we're considering this "redo" done. We still have to figure out the drawer knobs - I got some today but the screws are too short for the drawers! Argh. Hopefully Adam has a solution tomorrow night. We also have sink fixtures to install (ok, Adam will be doing it and I will be quietly nearby offering moral support and legs (to get whatever he needs - that stuff sucks). We also have some touch up on the ceiling since some of the paint came off with the blue tape (argh). I would also like to paint the frame part of the medicine cabinet so it matches the fixtures. See? All minor things. :) Oh yeah...and trim. Ok, that's a more major one that Adam HATES to do. Thankfully it's a smaller room, right? I think that makes it more difficult... :-/

Speaking of my wonderful husband who I can't even BEGIN to tell you how proud I am of, tonight marks the first night of his LAST semester of his MBA. It's going to be a helluva ride though, as he's doubled up with his classes (2 instead of his usual 1) and one of them is rather time-intensive and difficult - it's sort of like his thesis but in MBA form. I don't know the details but know it's hard. Of course he's going to ace it, as that's how Adam is when challenged academically. We shared a few classes in early college and he always whomped me on tests. He just "gets" it better than I do. I'm so ridiculously proud of him for doing this. November 15th will result in a party upon his arrival home (don't care that it's a Monday!) and then an adults-only trip to Chicago. Still have to find some willing grandparents for that weekend... ;-) I don't think that will be a problem.

Morgan worked on her walking a little bit tonight again and is pretty good at 2 steps alone. She started to think it was a pretty cool game that she'd stand independently several feet away from me, hold and chew on this orange ball of hers, and when she was ready, she'd come walking towards me. It wasn't perfect every time, but she's working on it! She also discovered the dogs' water dish today and enjoyed splashing in it...until her mean mean mommy told her no no and brought her back to her toys. :) I knew it was bound to happen. Sigh. That should be a fun, never-ending battle, no?

Ok, off to pack the baby's back pack and make sure I have everything I need for tomorrow for before Adam gets home. Time is so short when one works FT. Did I mention I love my family? Because I really really do. Starting back to work just drives that one home more and more as I have less and less time with them. They are my world!

These are the best pictures of Morgan's 10 month photo shoot. :) She's getting wigglier every month which makes this a touch more difficult... ;-)