Hey, I know you!

Miss A is getting to know her grandparents better even through long distances. Grandma Judy was back last month and now A has met and spent time with her Grandpa Tom. It was such fun during that sunny spell. Thank goodness grandparents are around to take care of their grand-daughter when parents suddenly become sick with a 24-hour flu bug! Thank you for all the love, attention, care-taking and playing.

Awww, hugs to Grandma J! 

She really helped and worked with A on her supported walking.

A great first meeting with Grandpa Tom

Big special kudos to Tom for helping Andy install this propane drip heater on the Cajun Queen. Can't wait to go winter camping all toasty warm! Great work guys. 

And in a Skype call with Wisconsin the other night it was pretty clear that Miss A recognized and was delighted to see her family.

*Amy

Thanks, Alaska!

Last week over 600, 000 Alaskans received their annual pay out from the state of Alaska: the Permanent Fund Dividend. One baby was excited to receiver her first. For some reason her parents didn't choose direct deposit, but an old-school check. So the deposit is ready to be made, an investment for her future.

Miss A is so thankful for the treat she tried to eat her original check. Therefore I made a photocopy to memorialize #1 in pictures. She tried to eat the fake as well. Clearly she's teething again at the moment. Our task is figuring out a smart way to invest (some of) her savings for the next 18 or so years down the road. Ahhh, the decisions parents must make.

Truly, the jackpot is actually living in Alaska. That's what I thought while on our mountainside afternoon stroller "hike" today.

We had a wet, kinda crummy summer weather-wise. I think the number of sunny days can be shown on one hand, maybe the start of a second. I'm not exaggerating. A recent string of lovely fall days has been most welcome. I'm more motivated to get our ugly used Bob stroller rolling. Smell the sunshine, smell the change of seasons.

All else is well and we enjoyed a nice visit from Grandma J last week. Thanks for coming and we'll see you as you come through south from Nome!

*Amy

Diaper Me!

One evening last week Miss A became fussy early on so I decided to give her an early bath. Once on her changing table she was fine again. So fine that she played with diapers for half an hour. I called Andy into her room and we sat on the bed and watched her.

She didn't care or become distracted that she had an audience. We soaked in the sounds of her nonstop babble and watched her discover surfaces by running a diaper over her wall and into the crack between the changing table & the wall. The fun ended when every single diaper I had lined out was in a pile on the floor (about 15).

It was some of the most fun yet. Watching her play on her own and do new things was a kick. I wish I could show you more, but here's a bit of "Fun with Diapers."

Special Weekend!

We had such a great weekend! It started late Thursday night when Nikki and Baby V flew in from Anchorage! We had the gift of their company until Monday morning.

Sunday morning of this weekend Miss A was (finally) baptized.  It was a special time and very smooth with Baby V (13-nearly 14 months) and A at Mass. Father Jim was laid back and encouraged their happy noises as we sat up front.

The two girls met one another 3.5 months ago but this is the first time they've had "quality" time together with parallel play and interactions. Baby V is obviously mobile and we took our first stab at baby proofing the house. She loves to say "Hi" and I loved saying "Hi" back!

However A was not as friendly. If Baby V tried to get close or touch her A would melt down. Obviously some personal space issues!

Baby V got to explore around our little house.

Poor gal was just visiting Miss A when she had to watch this reaction!

I always wonder why I don't take more pictures. Shame on me. We had a couple of days of rain together but got out on the Cajun Queen nonetheless. At one point both girls triggered each other and we had a double meltdown going on. It was hard not to laugh at the situation! But Baby V spent time on the ocean and her mama caught a ling cod that was all head waiting for its body to grow. Andy even plucked a tiny halibut out of the water.

The rain disappeared for "brilliant sunshine" on the day of the Baptism. Hurray! What a gift and a chance to also go walking and hang with friends at the beach later in the day.

As I said, Fr. Jim was just great for the sacrament. He didn't flinch when A tried to take his Baptismal reading booklet from him as he read (he even offered it to her), and he seemed to enjoy when A and Baby V talked back and forth at one point.

Miss A only cried out once a couple of scoops of holy water dribbled down, but once she was patted dry all was well again. A seashell with "Peace" inscribed was used for the scooping and pouring of water. Pretty neat and appropriate for here.

 Her lovely and special gown was a gift from Grandma Judy and Grandpa Tom. It fit perfectly and I'm happily surprised she didn't mess with the bonnet.

 Thank you special friends for joining us!

Sunny Day! Thanks for the scenic memory, Nikki. 

It was perfect for visiting with friends on the porch after the service.

Miss A managed to swipe a bit at the cake frosting and maybe got a little to her lips. Not sure, but we didn't offer cake to the newly baptized. In fact, she went down for a nap a bit after the activity. It's tiring joining God's family! We are happy.

We miss you, Nikki and Baby V! I'm glad we got in some adult Euchre playing once the babes went to bed. Can't wait to see her walking soon.

*Amy

Ahhhhhhhhh!

The other week while I was at the radio station for the evening Andy said Miss A yelled, shrieked and played with her voice for about 20 minutes straight. Rather than take video he decided to capture a montage of photos. They are pretty funny.

Here's just a sample from the series; you don't need volume to hear the baby delight. My favorite is the pose, "word to your motha."

You can unplug your ears now. :) *Amy

Cry Room

Two months ago I was at home with Miss A while Andy was in Juneau. The high school drama department was performing their spring show, Cyrano. I wanted to go but wasn't ready for a babysitter to stay with A for the show's duration. Then, I was kindly reminded of the amazing Sitka Performing Arts Center's cry room! So I took A, five months old then, to the theatre. The students did a grand job with the play. We enjoyed the comfort a spacious and comfortable room to ourselves. Miss A actually fell asleep in my arms within 10 minutes of the show starting and stayed racked out for the entire thing. No crying in the cry room!
I'm glad we can take advantage of this in the future, enjoy supporting the community, get some entertainment and expose A to quality happenings (even if she sleeps!).

 Rows of seating!

Miss A was starting to sit up at this time. 

From our seat in the Cry Room we watched and clearly heard Cyrano feeding lines to the lovely Roxane.

Surprise!

Wow, the last post, so long ago, was on the eve of hosting friends from Wasilla, figuring out my new schedule with hours at the radio station....and a trip to MN with Miss A! Now, I've run out of reasons for not blogging.

My wonderful, loving grandparents celebrated a Golden Wedding Anniversary in early July and a reception was in the works for months by my Mom and Aunt. Congratulations Grandma and Grandpa! You know we love you lots! The idea was hatched to finally bring the babe to her MN family, join the celebration and try to surprise my grandparents with our presence in the process. I think it worked! It wasn't the longest trip ever but solid days of family time to love on baby girl.

Of course she traveled like a champ again. This was her first plane trip not for my work. I was a bit worried about these flights as she's getting more active, but she still slept in my arms and we had good seat space around us. One flight attendant gave me her theory (from her personal experience and by asking parents on all her flights) that women who fly a good deal while pregnant will have easy-going babies on planes. Babies on her flights that have more difficulty, she says the parents share they never flew while pregnant. If that's the case, then I know why our traveling is so smooth.

Moving along, we announced ourselves to our grandparents the night before their party, during a nice dinner. Miss A was loved on by her grandparents, met her Uncle and Auntie, and of course great-grandparents!

You couldn't imagine a more excited Uncle and Auntie! 

So much fun watching them all together finally.

Grandpa Joe loved telling her stories, singing silly songs, and taking her exploring around the house or around the yard and flowers.

It was certainly warm, sometimes in triple-digit heat, and it was a change for her take naps in just a diaper or onesie. I definitely loved the temperature change and baking in traditional summer heat (for a couple of days, anyway). 

She really liked meeting the family pets. She'd follow the doggies roam around her.

At Grandma and Grandpa's Anniversary party she found the biggest Vikings fans to cheer with!

As many people would know, my parent's lawn is in excellent shape despite the scorcher days. I think Miss A won Grandpa's heart because he didn't make a fuss when she sat in the grass and started ripping it up! haha. She loved watching cars drive by with Grandma. Very observant.

And we cooled off at Steve's pool and at Lake Elmo beach. Our family friend Steve has this perfect floater for babies. Miss A loved it and kicked her legs around. I wish we could do more of this in Alaska. She could be a legit water baby.

Thanks to my family for babysitting, for the gifts, time off from work, loads of good food, and love. My brother Kyle even treated me to an amazing all-you-can-eat belated birthday sushi dinner in downtown Mpls. Visiting with family at the party was a true gift. I think A misses batting around helium balloons with her great-aunt Diane. So good to see you all!

*Amy

Nome-Such

Goodness, it's been awhile! Lots of misc. happening, mostly to share with Miss A of course. A couple of weeks after New Orleans, in early May, her and I journeyed north to my old home of Nome. I'd been looking forward to this trip since I found out about it last summer. There would be an annual conference happening there and I coordinated the Youth Track portion of it. That meant Miss A got to meet her Uncle, Aunt and cousins, along with very special friends.

Of course my camera battery died early in the week-long trip and I forgot to pack the charger. Small items like that were forgotten as I focused on the quantity of diapers to get us through the trip (buying them in Nome is not economical). You can see here that she got to meet her friend, Victoria! I loved seeing V crawling around and talking away.

We settled right into the family home and am so grateful for the hospitality in giving us niece Taylor's room and just having us around for quite awhile.

Uncle Tony took this picture of a splish-splash bath in their kitchen sink!

 Cousin Tay helped her play dress up. Lots of accessories for this fun.

A couple of pics. were taken of Miss A and I in KNOM. I hope to get a copy. It was quite something to be in the radio station with my daughter. As I think about moving to Nome and working there for years....to having my daughter in that actual building, with very special people was emotional for me. Here, she's playing around with KNOM's talented News Director in a hub for Western Alaska's information: the Newsroom! I think they're editing some sound files here. I was in the studio working on public service announcements with one of my teen travelers to the Summit.

Here are some of my teens representing nearly every region of the state. The Summit was focused on tobacco prevention and control. Our Youth Track was titled: "Tobacco: the REAL Deadliest Catch." As an icebreaker to get everyone bonding with one another, I initiated the Human Knot. Except that it was framed as a crab boat net of the tobacco industry trying to "hook" teens into a lifetime of addiction. I needed them to break free of this net/knot and in order to do so they had to work together, think outside of the box, stay united and committed to their cause. Captain "Cig" (cigarette) rooted for them to fail. But alas, after nearly an hour working together, and no one quitting, they made it out of the net/knot. What a team. We had a great experience. I miss this group, but thankfully we're working together long-distance via our tobacco-free coalition.

It snowed while in Nome! And the mornings were around zero with windchill. Good thing I packed the winter gear to use one last time this season. I'm so glad for the trip.

Even as Miss A gets bigger and more independent, its still nice to cuddle with Dad.

 And it's fun to play with the hallway mirror while Dad's on his lunch break!

 My first Mother's Day, with a gift of outdoor flowers. She was actually fussy for most of the day.

 Like I said, fussy. She doesn't smile all the time.

And now tummy time happens more often, in different places and with more positive results.

Whew! That's a lot. More to come as Miss A turned 5 months old Thursday. And more from the Cajun Queen. Andy took her out for an overnight while we spent time with his brother in Nome. He caught an eel. Maybe if Andy ever blogs again we'll see it (nudge, nudge). haha!

*Amy