Prayers for David

Please pray for my brother in law, David. He was admitted to Abbott on Monday evening due to an ear infection spreading into his bone. It was very scary at first because the doctors were concerned that the infection may also have spread into his brain. It did not, and for this we are very thankful.

He does have to have surgery this morning to remove the infection, and depending on the severity, some or all of the bone behind the ear (the mastoid). What he has is called mastoiditis and is very rare, hence why it was not caught by the doctors 2 months ago when he initially went in for his ear infection!

Please pray that surgery goes well, for healing, and for a safe recovery. There is also a chance he could lose some of his hearing in that ear, please pray that there is none or minimal lose.

Thank you!

Back to my amazing talent...

Well 12 to 3 odds are that you can't close your nose flaps/globules. I guess the 3 of us who can are the lucky ones! :)

Pic O Day

Tagged?

Well, I don't know how to get tagged! But I saw this post on Melissa's blog, and for the joy of procrastination from housework, here I am!!!

A: Attached or Single? Attached

B: Best Friend? Oh so many--Bridgit, Delinda, Margaret, Mara, Jenelle, Laura...seriously do I have to name you all? You are all so wonderful to me!

C: Cake or Pie? Pie all the way!!! Pecan, Strawberry, Banana Cream...anything really!

D: Day of Choice? Saturday

E; Essential Item? cell phone...I know, it's bad.

F: Favorite Color? PINK

G: Gummy Bears or Worms? Mmmmm...gummy grapefruit are my favorite, but I'll take anything gummy!

H: Hometown? Cambridge

I: Indulgence? candy...

J: January or July? July

K: Kids? 1, so far!

L: Life isn’t complete without? Time with family

M: Marriage date? 6/28/03

N: Number of brothers and sisters? I'm the 1 and only!

O: Oranges or apples? Apples...I hate the white skin inside oranges...gross.

P: Phobias and fears? Being put under (for surgery) and teeth...thinking about having my wisdom teeth taken out about puts me over the edge!

Q: Quote? Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. -Emily Bronte

R: Reason to smile? Olivia Lynn!

S: Season of choice? Fall

T: Tag three people? (Oh I get it now, well I broke the tag rules!!) Bridgit, Jill, and Megan

U: Unknown fact about me? Hmmm...you already know about the nose flaps... I took circus classes in college! They were the BEST!! Remember Gina!!

V: Vegetable? asparagus!! Livi loves it too!

W: Worst habit? Cracking every part of my body...

X: X-ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound!!

Y: Your favorite food? Tie between Italian and Mexican...I'm hungry...

Z: Zodiac sign? I'm on the cusp between Gemini & Cancer...but I totally consider myself a Gemini!! (Not that I know anything about it!)

oh geez....

So last night Olivia split her lip open. Don't ask me how because I don't know. She was sitting playing and all of a sudden screaming with blood running down her face. I looked for the culprit toy, but none showed themselves. Who knows. She was fine after some ice, although her lip looks not so cute today. I tried to get a picture, but have been unsucessful.

Then this morning, Olivia escaped to the kitchen for literally 30 sec. and when I came to get her she had been digging in the garbage. Gross. You want to know what was even grosser? When she turned around she was chewing on something. You want to know what's even grosser than that? It was the wrapper from our meat last night. OOOHHHHHH ISHHHHHHH. And a little scary, she could get like salimonela (I don't know how to spell this or the energy to try!) or e coli! So I washed her lips and hands, and just said a little prayer. I mean, really, what else is there to do!

I hope the day improves from here. :)

Slim Shady

These just make me chuckle...

Her favorite way to wear them...I think it could be a new fashion statement!

Twins & Nose globules

What a great time last night! Ryan and I went on a double date with our friends, Bridgit & Nate, to the Old Spaghetti Factory and then to the Twins game. Probably the most boring game in the history of baseball, play wise, but I really didn't watch much of the game.

I spent, oh I'd say, 104% of the time talking with my BFFOIKYA Bridgit--it was totally the only reason I was there. So much fun!!! Bridgit and I have been BFF's since the first day of Kindergarten...I got on the bus, much anticipating my first day of school and looking forward to meeting the little girl my dad had told me about. I saw her sitting in the front seat and I said, "Are you the little Bergloff girl that lived down the chicken barn road?". That did it! We have been BFF's ever since! :)

In reference to my latest poll...sometimes I don't know where conversations originate from between Bridgit and myself, but they are always interesting! So last night as we are sitting there, the hot dog vendor comes by. I hate hot dogs, and I particularly hate the way they smell. So does Bridgit. And this was our conversation (I may be paraphrasing a bit):
Ehlan: "I'm so thankful I have this amazing talent to plug my nose without having to physically plug it with my hands."
Bridgit: "What's so amazing about that, I can do it, can't everyone?
Ehlan: "No! They can't! I have (oddly enough) had many conversations with people about this topic and most people have NO idea what I am talking about or ANY idea of how to do it! Ryan can't do it!"
Bridgit: "I wish I could ask Nate right now if he could do it." (He was sitting at the opposite end of the row from her)
Ehlan: "Just lean over and ask him."
Bridgit: (eye rolling) "No, I'll just wait, he'd probably get annoyed!"
Ehlan: "okay. Suit yourself. Do you want me to play telephone through Ryan and ask him?"
Bridgit: (more eye rolling) "No."

The rest of the conversation involved a lengthy discussion of what we actually do when we plug our noses without using our hands and deciding upon a name for this amazing talent. Bridgit likes "globules"...I like just "closing your nose flaps". So, I decided it would be an interesting poll. How many of you can close your globules or nose flaps?

If you don't know what I am talking about, you probably can't do it. :)

Crushed dreams

I've been looking forward to starting Parent/Tot gymnastics classes with Olivia since she was 8 months old and a new gym opened up in Isanti. They started these classes at 18 mos. old! I was thrilled. Then they transferred owners. No more classes at 18 mos. They have to be 2. That leaves me with 11 months left to wait...

The perfect evening...

Thursday nights I work until 7 pm. It gets a little late, but last night was just what I needed. When I arrived home, Olivia was exhausted (but still happy!) and ready for bed. I got her all bottled-up and snuggled-in ASLEEP by 7:30... time for dinner. The dinner part wasn't so perfect as I really need to go grocery shopping, but oh well...food it was. Finished with dinner just in time for THE OFFICE. Just love it, just LOVE IT! And I topped it off with the best part of my evening--I rented a move JUST FOR ME! Why you ask? Because I was home alone!! (Well, Olivia asleep upstairs, but I don't count that!!) So I watched the movie Juno--have you seen it? It's fantastic; I laughed, I cried...and I finished it REALLY wanting to be pregnant again! ;)

So where was Ryan? Well, you may think that my wonderful night does not compare to his lucky week! On Tuesday he came home with 4 free Twins tickets, which we will be using tonight with our fantastic friends Bridgit (my BFFOIKYA) & Nate. Then on Wednesday, he came home with 2 free Wild playoff tickets for last night! I, generously might I add, gave up my ticket so he could take his brother David. Wasn't that nice of me? Really I just was looking forward to a night on my own! No offense to my wonderful husband, but isn't a night all by yourself just what the Dr. orders sometimes?

Fantastic!

Prayers

Please say a little prayer for Elijah today! Elijah is the son of one of my former co-workers, Dan and now blogging friend, Megan. You can read all about his heart condition on his website. He just had his second open heart surgery yesterday, it went well, as is recovery. Looking at that sweet little picture of him, just made me feel like I needed to request prayers so he can heal quickly and be done with those nasty tubes. Please take a moment for Elijah. Thank you!

A trip to the zoo...

Dolphins!
Otters!
Not sure about the goat...
Okay, I REALLY didn't like the goat...especially when he tried to eat my mitten!
Cluck, Cluck!

We took Olivia to the MN Zoo this past weekend. She absolutely LOVED it (well, except for the goats...and the pigs...and the cows...I guess she doesn't really like farm animals...) Ryan and I had a good time too--except for that it was freezing out and she was really the only one to dress warmly...and she got to be carried! :)

That's what she said!

It's back! I can't even tell you how wonderful it was to see my friends Pam, Jim, Dwight, Michael, Angela, etc. last night.

It was a painful episode to watch, but really those are the best!

Who else enjoyed The Office with me last night? Check out the link and see the deleted scenes!

In remembrance...

In honor of the snowy weather today, I am reminiscing about last week.
This weather sucks.

Olivia's Vocabulary @ 13 mos.

It's hard as a mom not to feel proud of your kids, right? Olivia has had a word explosion over the last month and a half and it has been so fun to see her keep learning new words! I'm keeping track of them (well, for the time being!) so we can look back and remember. I thought I would share her words with you...

Words:

ma ma, da da, ba ba (bottle), baby, na na (banana), nigh-nigh, cracker, hot, down, pup-pup (puppy), turtle, book, buck, tickle-tickle, yes, bye-bye, hi, num-numbs, ball, car, peek-a-boo, ride, blue, girl, boy, apple, crocodile, eye, thank you "rock-a-bye", "all done!", "what is that?", "uh, oh!", "weeee!", Papa, Gra-Gra (Grammy & Grampy), MaKa (Mucka-Grandma), David, Mar-Mar (Maren-cousin)

Signs:

More, all done, please, thank you, eat, ball

Animal Sounds:

Turkey, chicken, puppy, wolf, elephant, penguin, bee, bear, lion, tiger, duck, kitty, cow, gorilla, snake

I just love listening to her sweet little voice! It is so much fun to keep watching her change and learn!

You may not know this about me...

I know some of you do, but others of you don't. You may not appreciate what you are about to read.

I am very anal. I like things perfect. I like things CLEAN (although you may not know it by looking at my house somedays!) I don't like dirty things. And as those of you know who have or are around children, it doesn't quite work this way!! I actually have dealt with these feelings much better than I thought I would before I had Olivia. I can clean up poop and puke just fine, I wipe her nose on my shirtsleeve when I have to (gross, but sometimes you do what you have to do!), and I deal with messes on the floor during meals. But still, some things I still anticipate having a hard time with:

1. Fingerpainting (GROSS.) I have memories of preschool gagging while having to fingerpaint.
2. Eating sand and bugs. Really, what parent does like this? But I really have an aversive reaction to the thought of it.
3. Really art projects in general, because as much as I like them, I want them to turn out just perfect. I will let it go, but boy will it be hard not to control!!

Anyway, what I am getting at is that today was a big milestone for both me and Olivia! Her first time "eating" with a spoon!

Are there really words to describe this? SHE LOVED IT. She thought it was probably the best thing that has ever happened to her in her short little life. I, on the other hand, now know to plan these self feeding sessions ONLY before bathtime! :)

You know you live in a small town when...

You start a new ECFE class and two of the other people in your class rode your bus growing up. Weird.

Reunification

I know you are all dying to hear how Olivia did! Well, she did fantastic! She hardly knew we were gone...

When we arrived home, it was 11:00 at night...as hard as it was, I did not wake her up when I peered into her crib. Oh I wanted to SOO bad! To hug and kiss that sweet little babe! But no, I knew sleep was important and I could wait until morning. So I laid in bed...until 1:30...when I finally drifted off to sleep. Awake at 5:30 to pee** (sorry, too much info) and then laid awake till she woke up at 6:30. I went in her room and she just stared at me... I imagine she was thinking, "What the...?" I picked her up and carried her into our bed. She just laid on my chest, not moving, for like 15 min. So not like her. Then she looked up at me, looked over at Ryan, and laid her head down...looked up at me, looked over at Ryan, and laid her head down. She repeated this about 5 times before we got a big smile out of her. It was so sweet! She was just trying to figure it all out!

She was a little clingy during the day on Sunday, just not quite sure what to do with herself. But she is back to normal now!

**I normally have to get up 2 times during the night to go to the bathroom. When I am pregnant this increases to 4-5. Ish. You'd think there was something wrong, but I do not have an overactive bladder other times! :)

You ask for 1, I give you 2...

You ask for 2, I give you 4!
That has to be my favorite quote from our trip as we sat and enjoyed happy hour on our first full day. We certainly are not big drinkers, but it was fun to enjoy a tropical drink by the beach! We had a wonderful time--full of sun, sand, and waves! It was a great chance to be away, enjoy doing WHATEVER we wanted, WHENEVER we wanted. I read 2 1/2 books, swam, spent time with my wonderful husband, rested, and enjoyed some sightseeing. It was a great trip. Here are some links:

Cozumel: If you haven't been, you really need to go!
Hotel: Coral Princess
Sightseeing: Xel-Ha, Tulum

A few good pics...