I forgot to mention...

... the other morning when the maintenance man was here (for a long long time), he investigated the dryer vent and found, not rodents, but a bird's nest. with 5 eggs. They must have been nice and toasty. Apparently bird chirping sounds a lot like mouse squeaking. He moved the nest and covered the vent so no more scurrying around sounds. That's all.

teeny tiny post

• Aleah has been sick since Wednesday. I think overall she's starting to feel better but still is snotty and grumpy. very grumpy. And it's hard to know what's sickness and what's teeth these days. fun. And Dave and I are both flirting with the idea of getting sick too, but so far haven't taken the all out plunge. May it henceforth remain so.
• Sunday was quite the day - in the morning, Aleah was playing in our room getting books out of a crate. Suddenly she was attacked in the face by a falling (rather heavy) journal with sharp corners. Screaming commenced. About 2 minutes later she was playing with a little folding purse mirror (to distract her from the pain in her face) and was looking shocked and distressed. Here she was pinching her little fleshy finger flab between the 2 parts of the mirror - hard. There was a nice pinch mark. More screaming commenced. Later, Dave dumped a bowl of soup on the living room carpet floor (I cleaned it up). Even later, I dropped a jar of jam on the kitchen floor, which promptly shattered (he cleaned it up). Whew! But somewhere in there I got to talk to a friend for a long long time on the phone which was really nice and also in the evening we stopped by the annual church crawfish boil and it was nice to get out of the house.
• It is so crazy easy to steal stuff from Walmart! Twice now I've done it without trying. Yesterday I ran to Walmart to grab some things we needed and picked up some kitchen gadgets. One was a pastry brush. When I got to my car, that thing had slipped between my purse and the cart seat back thing. ARG! I dutifully went back and paid for it. That's twice now. Think if I actually tried to shoplift. oh the money making potential.
• I get to see Bethany G. tomorrow! For a bit, then she comes to visit over the weekend! Hopefully all the illness will be gone from this place by then. Can't wait to hang out with her!! I think that's all for now.

party on dudes...

Some good little Mennonite families have ice cream and popcorn with their kiddies on Sunday evenings. Others.... get stoned.

(no babies were harmed in the making of this picture)

Another country heard from...

So, where to start. I know it's been shamefully long since I've been on here. What can I say ? Life has been pretty hum drum and every time I've wanted to write, I've felt totally uninspired to do so. So I put some pics on Facebook awhile ago and that's about it. But anyway, here I am, still not very inspired but I can always bore you with 20 thousand pics of little missy. Anyway, I can ramble a bit about the total excitement known as life around here. I know present a random, boring assortment of useless facts that will not enrich your life at all, consider yourself warned. ummmmmmm... the other day I was very nearly rear ended right in from of our apartment - heard the screeching breaks, looked in the mirror, and the guy had stopped about an inch from my bumper (I was stopped and turning left to go home, he didn't see me stopped apparently). Again, this would be a truly interesting story if I actually had been rear ended, setting my air bag off, giving me a broken wrist and a huge black eye. But none of that happened and I'm grateful. The other night when we came home after dark, there were a couple of, oh wow, I don't have words to describe them, not nice, bloggy ones anyway, guys in cars and they were completely and utterly drag racing, or would you call it street racing up and down the road right in front of our house. It was loud and weird - and so close to home. And so incredibly idiotic. Thankfully, I didn't read about or hear any fatal car accidents. Dave and I used to be the stereotypical couple when it came to climate control. I was always freezing and he was always hot. Awhile ago that started to change, maybe when I was preggo, I dunno, but it has never gone back. I seem to be always roasting and he has been known to say things like, "It feels like we're trying to store meat in here!" I'm stumped at how this happened. We just came through mardi gras season here in the good ol south. Dave and I had gone to one parade here in town 2 years ago and it was fun and relatively benign, as far as mardi gras goes (ha). So we thought it would be fun to take Aleah to her first parade and all last friday night. oh dear. we got there and it started pouring. That was nice. Then the parade started and it was so insanely loud, everything was really scary, and we wondered what in the world we were doing there with our baby. So we stayed about 15 minutes and then left. I won't be too sad to not go to any more mardi gras parades. I believe we have rats outdoors that like to run around our dryer vent (In honor of the season, I'm striving to write with utmost precision, being careful to follow all paragraph rules very precisely). It's the oddest thing. The washer and dryer are in our walk in closet and on a regular basis, there's this ominous noise that sounds very much like little rodents scurrying around (trust me, sadly I know the sound very well). We have looked and looked and there's NOTHING to be found. Which leads us to believe that it's something outside. The vent goes to the outside, so one day will I find a family of fluffy, dried rats in the drier? SHUDDER. I'm so excited about the company that will be gracing us with their presence the next couple months. My friend Bethany is coming in about 3 weeks, then Dave's parents are coming about a week after that, and then my friend Sue is coming in May. Hoooray for all of that! Can't wait. Maybe we'll do exciting things and I'll have something to blog about other than freezing meat and rats in the dryer. I'm on a mission to get this place organized and spotless from top to bottom! So far it's mostly a mental mission, but I'm hoping actual activity will soon follow. I suppose I have started a little, but there's so much to do and get rid of. I'd really like to have a yard/garage sale. But how do you do that when you don't have a yard or a garage? hmmmmmm.... I did talk to a friend about having one and hopefully that works out at some point. Oh, I should blather on a bit about little poopsie. What a crazy little kid she is becoming. She has been changing SO much the last few weeks that sometimes I feel like I barely recognize this new little person hanging out here. She's still not crawling, but scoots, rolls, and "swims" to get where she needs to go. She's able to get into a sitting position now all by herself which is most handy. Awhile ago I was sitting on the floor with her and she had this doll and I was saying bla bla bla baby this, baby that, and then it was all quiet and she said clear as day "Baby!" Dave was right there too and our jaws just hit the floor. So that goes down as her first word, even though it might have been a fluke. Right around that time, she started consistently saying mama and dada to the right person. Tonight she yelled at Dave and it was hilarious. She was sitting in her highchair getting all squirley and Dave started playing peek a boo with her, which she thought was great fun. Then he walked off. She started crying and in a tone that expressed much irritation, yelled "DADDADDAD!!!!" I suppose it won't be nearly so funny in about 14 years, but it was too cute. Her sleeping habits are very different as well. She used to often fall asleep eating right before bed, but if she didn't, I could put her in bed and she'd be out in about 5 minutes. Now it seems it doesn't matter how tired she is, she can flop around in her bed for way too long. Takes awhile to shut all systems down I guess. She's getting quite a personality and quite a few opinions about how things should be done around here. But she's a hoot and we have a lot of fun too. She thinks it's hilarious to watch me brush my teeth or sweep the kitchen floor - why, I have no idea. She loves to eat and will eat yogurt until it stops being offered. She would rather chew on shoes or metal buttons than any of her toys. We're thinking about giving her old shoes for her birthday. Ok, consider that a 10 month update, since she will be on Monday. gulp. Ok, now for some pics -

Just having a bit of fun with the camera - a couple weeks ago.

She has done this for a long time, doesn't do it as often anymore, but when she's looking at something or listening intently to someone/thing, she'll lean her head to one side.

Dress from Madagascar
It's never too early to start practicing good oral hygiene.

The fun begins. = )

She's saving the zucchini for supper

notice the zucchini shifting to make way for yogurt. and notice all the teeth.

We checked out a new park today.


hey! where'd everybody go?




Okay, that's all folks. If that took the better part of an afternoon to read and you burned your supper or forgot your kids at school, I'm very sorry. It won't happen again.

More pictures since I don't have anything interesting to say

Well folks, it's a little chilly out there. Only 29 degrees right now and only supposed to warm up to 36 tomorrow. And maybe some freezing rain on the side. I know, it's not really that cold, but for these parts, it feels pretty arctic. Anyway, nothing is new, so here's some pictures, or maybe more accurately, an Aleah fashion show -

Just being cute - 2 Sundays ago.

Discovering the joy of her snazzy new mesh feeder thing - one of those things that's probably totally unnecessary but does seem to help with sore gums. She likes chomping on frozen fruit and such.

During the morning school hours, we have been working on the art of banging 2 blocks together. Here she demonstrates just how far intensity and hard work will get you in life.

Last Sunday - "okay, I'll tolerate these pictures for a little bit."
"On second thought, NO I WON'T! Feed me already! I'm stinkin hungry!!"

"Thank you, that's much better."
pinned ya! (these were taken 2 days ago)

Aleah gets stuck in some awkward positions these days. If it's too much work to get out of them, she just lays there awhile.

Not as smiley as last photo shoot and one's way more mobile.

Still got a couple good ones though.

Awwwwww... a sweet moment. = ) Turns out 8.5 months olds can be rather vicious, but kissing can be pretty fun too.

Why I don't Blog (Rhonda Style)

(that would be my sister in law for those who don't know. I would link to her, but I can't remember how since it's been so long since I blogged. But not as long as some other people whose names I won't mention but it sounds kinda like Benni)

- Aleah slept an hour

- Aleah slept a half hour (I was annoyed)

- Aleah slept 3 hours all evening

- The house got smaller as I sat in it for hours and hours.

- I still don't have our mail sorted from when we were gone in December. It's all in a box. ugh.

- I made a ginormous pot of vegetables soup. We ate it for days and days and there's still some in the freezer. Every time it had the same effect on me - I could barely finish one bowl I'd get so full. So Dave would finish. An hour later I'd be hungry. weird, no?

- Aleah's top teeth that have been trying to come in for months still have not. Why? Will they ever come in? Will she just be a grouch till she's 12?

- She likes lots of food now.

- We've gotten very little snow this winter.

- I'm scared I own 400 diapers that all give small child skin issues. I hope it's not that.

- I scratched my head.

- "WARNING! Do not use heat when drying this product!" (Shoot, shoulda read that BEFORE I took our mattress cover out of the dryer. It's all funny now.)

- Yesterday I had changed 3 poopie diapers before 9:30 a.m. Yesterday was a LONG day. Thankfully none of them were my husbands. That would have made it a much longer and poopier day.

8 Months

Aleah was 8 months yesterday so here's a little update. I wanted to do a bunch of little pictures together but Blogger has huge issues and won't let me. So I have no clue what this will look like when I'm done. Anyway, let's see. She weighed in at 21 pounds and 26.5 inches. Her weight would indicate that she's finally slowing down and gaining less than half what was normal from months 2 - 6 or so. She only gained a pound and a half in 2 months. Should I be concerned? haha. I don't buy her height measurement. According to that, she's only gained a half inch in the last 2 months. Pah. one of them is off, because stuff is clearly a lot shorter than it was 2 months ago. As far as her new tricks, let's see... she still HATES being on her tummy - at 8 months? really? I find it odd. Needless to say, she's not even close to crawling. Her very favorite thing is just to sit on the floor surrounded by toys and play, and not move too far. She also frequently face plants while trying to get something out of reach and then yells for one of us to sit her up again. She's a stark contrast to the little girl her age I babysit. That girl doesn't really play with toys - she MOVES, and gets into things, and climbs things and people. She likes to climb all over Aleah and treat her as a life size doll. It's so funny to see how totally different they are. She had banana for the first time today and was a huge fan. She's made attempts at waving, but it's not consistent. She also LOVES the TV when she gets to see it. Like now because her dad is watching football. She's glad to be home and doesn't need too much action to be happy with life. She also really likes driving and looking out the window. She's FINALLY getting some hair and it appears to be quite straight. It tends to stick straight up when provoked. I'm sure there's more but I can't remember at the moment. I figure if I write these things here, in 20 years when I'm working on her scrapbook or whatnot, I can look back at the info.

I should also mention...

... I didn't really say much about our time in Red Lake. And I forgot my camera for many things that I wanted to document. We saw so many old friends which was fabulous. Then in Indiana I didn't take any pictures either. arg! So all my pics are family and not friends but it was great seeing so many friends too. Ok, that's all. I'm going to try to sleep now, most likely unsuccessfully because how do you sleep and cough at the same time? ugh, I hate coughing. who doesn't I spose.

A ridiculous number of pictures

Okay, where to begin. I guess it's been awhile since I posted and these pictures seem sort of old. And sort of not since we just got back from our crazy long trip. So anyway, yes, we got back Sunday night after being gone 4 weeks. We ended up in Indiana. Dave drive back Thursday to go to a conference and Aleah and I flew back on Sunday. I was SO nervous about flying alone with her and just knew she would scream for hours on end and the entire plane would rise up and unite in their hatred of me. Well, my friend and former roommate drove me to the Indy airport and when we got there we realized the plane was delayed - ended up leaving almost 2 hours later than scheduled. She was nice enough to hang out in the air port with us. So it was after 8 by the time our plane left. She ate really well on the first flight and seemed interested in everything, enjoyed looking out the window, didn't cry at all. I don't think the pressure bothered her at all. We also had 3 seats to ourselves which was pretty crazy nice. The first flight was just to Chicago and it was only a half hour or so so she didn't go to sleep. By the time she was good and tired, we were landing and the bright lights were on, people getting on and off the plane, etc. We didn't have to get off the plane - it was going right on to New Orleans. So she just laid there during all the commotion. Oh, and when we landed in Chicago, she was laying down and thought it was really funny and started laughing - all the jolting around and such. When the Chicago flight was boarding, it became apparent that we would not be so lucky as to have 3 seats to ourselves again (we flew Southwest and they don't assign seats - nice if you have a baby because no one in their right mind will sit beside you unless they have to). I kept watching piles of people come on the plane and thought great - so I eventually scooted her over so we were taking up all 3 seats. First a guy flying alone came along and asked if anyone was sitting there. I said no. He started getting ready to take up residence, but then must have spotted another empty seat and made great haste to that one. Then a youngish girl came along and asked if anyone was sitting there. I said no and she took the seat right next to me and pretty soon a guy joined her. They sat there all of about 2 minutes and then both got up and she (a very sweet young thing) said "He doesn't want to sit next to a baby." ha. So they found somewhere else to sit. In the end, a young girl flying alone sat with us and all was well. I held Aleah after that and she fussed a bit while we were ascending. I think it had more to do with being tired than her ears though. Soon she fell fast asleep and slept until right before we landed. At which point she looked out the window at all the fun lights and didn't utter a peep of disapproval. WHEW! Thanks for letting me bore you with that uneventful story. Aleah picked up a cold from her Red Lake cousins and was sick most of the time in Indiana. = ( We still had fun and got to see a lot of people. She is now feeling much better and has left her parents feeling rather gross. Anyway, we landed late Sunday night and I wasn't sure if I could walk unaided to meet Dave. I was so fried. I don't remember much or our ride home, and think I slept a lot of it. Aleah has been in crash mode and taking really long naps and such. no complaints here. Before Indiana, we were in Red Lake and then my family got together in International Falls New Years weekend. So, here's the pile of pics. That first one Jenni took and I doctored it up and I really like it. = )
Christmas Eve - our family that was in Red Lake got together before the church service. Here is my niece Erica with Aleah.
After the church service. She was a good sport about taking pictures even though she was rather fatigued.


Fun with iphoto. I think it looked cooler before it was resized and all.
We gave Aleah and my niece Hannah matching PJs. Aleah loved the paper.


Christmas Day. Keith and Jenni's boys opening gifts.
I really like this pic.
haha - scary. = P
"Aleah" opening a present

pokadot overload
After Christmas - working on cutting out blocks for a t-shirt quilt. I wanted to get it all done but only got it cut out.
Jenni took these of Aleah and Hannah. There were just too many good ones.


Weekend in International Falls - My niece Caitlyn's 10th birthday and nephew Josiah's 5th birthday.

The kids lined up to get presents from Grandpa and Grandma Dru

Dylan and Hannah
A stuffed bunny (that sings!= ) from Grandpa and Grandma Dru

A doll from Larissa
Caitlyn embroidered this for Aleah (sidenote- I had to tease her all weekend about her American swimsuit. Not sure how her dad let that one get by. haha)
Christmas dinner in Sheldon and Darla's church basement
Everyone kept saying how much she looks like her dad. hmmmmm... you can decide. = )

All the kidlets that were there - so this is the best picture I have and I finally have a kid to throw in the giant cousin pile and of course, her head isn't even visible. Check out the 3 boys on the left. How cute is that?
Not as good of picture but at least you can see Aleah's head in this one. And still not too bad, considering the sheer chaos of it all.
Now I shall proceed to bore you with pics of all my family members. Here's all the sibs.

Sheldon and Darla and kids and one in-law.
Keith and Jenni and kids
Mike and Helen - no kids there
Jeff and Wendy and kids
Matthew and Rhonda and girls
Derek and Elise and boys
yada yada
Dad and Dru
Traveling to Indiana. I should say - we subjected this child to multiple 16 - 18 hour days and she did amazingly well. Barely cried at all the whole time.

Okay, I think that's all for now. I'll be back to mourn the fact that Aleah is turing 8 months in a couple days and she shouldn't be that old yet and it's way too close to one. whaaaaaaaa...