Oh, Darn!

This is what I saw when I let the dog out this morning. Just add it to the unexpected expenses for March (although I think this one will end up on the April spreadsheet...) It could be a LOT worse. No one got hurt. Our house didn't get hurt. And I think the fence will just need two new slats, hopefully the chicken wire is salvageable. Nathan says the tree is full of woodpecker holes. So Nathan will be refreshing his chainsaw skills this weekend...too bad we have a gas log fireplace!

Spring has sprung

Nathan's new toy...
This tree was the first to bloom on the block...Seth takes the time to stop to smell the blooms. Our trees are so pretty right now!


Seth would spend every waking minute outside right now if I'd let him!

Swedish Mafia, generations 2 and 3

Since news always travels so fast on my mom's side of the family, my dad affectionately coined the term "Swedish Mafia" for them years ago. Here are the 10 of us Meek grandkids, and all but one of the great-grands. I think we range in age from 22-40, and as you can see, we've run a special on great-grandbabies the past 2 years. I'll give you a lollipop if you can guess age order, and bonus if you can guess whose kid Lisa is holding!

Minnesota Pics

What did parents do before portable DVD players were invented? Seth, Sam, and Zander watching Curious George Sunday morning.

Let me introduce you to Seth Bear and Zander Moose...Zander is 5 months younger than Seth, they were instant buddies!

This is the snow pile that is still waiting to melt beside the driveway, it was our makeshift slide.

Seth really did like being outside, even though he wiped out a couple times on the icy driveway!

March 18th, people...

Seth and his Grandpa B

Goodbye, Grandpa

For those of you who have missed us, Seth and I made a last minute trip to Minnesota over the weekend. My Grandpa Meek passed away Thursday night after two months of declining health. It's never easy to say goodbye, but I'm very grateful that I had him for almost 29 years. Seth and I got the last seat on flights to Chicago and then Minneapolis, where we met up with Bryan and made the 6+ hour trip to Warroad. All 10 of the grandkids were able to make it up, and 7 of the 8 great-grands, so it was quite the family reunion. There was a visitation at the funeral home Sunday night, and Monday the funeral. The grandkids were pallbearers, and it was quite the moment, the 10 of us being the last to say goodbye. Monday afternoon we made the 6 hour drive back to the Cities and flew home yesterday. I am travel-weary, but decided it was best to get back into a routine and go back to work today as originally planned. I took a ton of pictures of Seth playing with his Minnesota cousins, I'll post them soon.

Tuesdays are for playdates

It's probably just coincidence, but Seth has had some fun stuff to do on Tuesdays lately. Yesterday his buddy, Case, came over so his mommy could go to an appointment without a toddler in tow. Seth and Case are great pals, and they played great for 2 hours straight! Seth has been sleeping better, but tried real hard to get our attention before 4 this morning. After 45 minutes of bossiness I went up there (there is a NASTY stomach virus going around, I wanted to make sure it hadn't found it's way to our house), and ended up reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear", but at least that let everyone go back to sleep until a decent hour. He woke up this morning with two new words..."book" and "banana".

Party time in HKY

Yesterday I went to Hickory for a bridal shower for Sabrena. It was so nice to get together with the girls again, however briefly. We only get to see each other usually about every six months, but we're the type of friends that just take up where we left off. Seth got to play with his cousins at his Great Aunt Maggie's house. He got a good report card, and I can tell he had fun, he was exhausted once we got home, and is sleeping in (which in addition to daylight savings time is nice that I'm getting a little down-time first thing this morning!)

Seth is loving the warming temperatures. We went to the playground twice during the week, and he played outside with his daddy yesterday morning and with his cousins all afternoon. Here's a picture from earlier in the week. He loves to swing right now, and I either sing silly songs or quiz him on his vocabulary.

First trip to the library!

Seth has shown renewed interest in his books over the last week, and I've been looking for inexpensive activities for him to enjoy, so it made sense to check out our local library, which is very close to our house. Toddler story hour is at 10:30 every Tuesday. We got there a little early to check out the children's section and we checked out two books to read this week, one about boats and the other about ducks. Then we went to storytime. I stopped counting at 35 parents, and most parents had more than one child with them. Over the next 45 minutes Seth didn't stop smiling. The librarian read three books, the kids danced to three songs, and they were offered a snack and a craft. Seth got a star stamp on each hand, which he thinks is the greatest thing ever. I think I have just found a new way to spend our Tuesday mornings!

Wish us luck!

After a week of Seth fighting sleeping in his own bed, and another night of very little sleep for me after working, we have decided to make the transition to big boy bed tonight. I've heard horror stories, but other than having him sleep with us, I think it's our only option. We made a big deal out of changing the crib into the toddler daybed, with repetition of things like "Seth's big boy bed" and "big like Evan and Ryan". We had a slight bump in the road when we couldn't find Floppy for naptime, but once found, Seth slept about an hour in his bed, then took the rest of his nap on Nathan's chest on the couch. Seth and I just read three stories and I said goodnight...it's been 10 minutes now, and he's out like a light! (by the way, my camera has a great flash, because his room is very dark!) We'll be keeping our fingers crossed.....

Every Other Day

Today is the halfway point of my weird, working every other day, schedule. And get this, Seth is letting me get less than 6 hours of sleep the nights I work, but then sleeps great the nights I'm off...conspiracy! So I feel like I haven't gotten nearly as much accomplished this week as I usually do, but I was pretty darn constructive last week, so hopefully it comes out in a wash. There have also been two additional nuances to our schedule. First of all, this week I started precepting a LRC nursing student at work. Love her! It is so nice to be teaching someone who wants to learn NICU! Also, after much anticipation, Lisa and Michael spent the night here Tuesday night. It seems like February flew by, but it seems like we've been waiting for their visit forever! Seth took right to them , which was really good, since he hasn't seen Lisa since September and Michael since July! He had a blast having two more people to play with that let him do whatever he wants. Lisa will be back again in mid-April...she told Seth she wanted him using his words the next time we see her...we'll see! One picture is of Seth and our visitors, the other is of Seth's new (daddy-created) game, throwing bouncy balls over the landing. It's all fun and games until Mommy's cell phone gets broken (and on that note I'll be going to Cingular tomorrow morning to get a new one...)