Friday, December 31, 2010

2010

I can't believe tomorrow we welcome in January!  This past year has just flown by.  I love January and February, they are two of my favorite months.  I love the excitment of what the new year will bring.  I also have a serious addiction to Valentine's Day decor from Target.   We don't actually celebrate Valentine's day (not our style...we're too cool for school), but I can't get enough of the candy, hearts, and cupcakes.  Anyway, I digress.....

Here is a bit of what our year looked like.

January:  We were still living in Mankato while Michael finished up his last semester in college.  Ingrid was 4 months old, and still NOT sleeping.  In fact, she was up ever 2 hours.  Now this might have been due to teething (she got her first two teeth in mid-January....at only 16 weeks old, phew!) or just due to the fact that she is the strongest willed baby I know.  Either way, we started the  CIO method of sleep training...because when you have a kid like Ms. Nightingale, that's the only thing that will work.  The first night we let her cry she woke up at 3am, I clenched my fist and ground my teeth through the screaming,but 45 minutes later-she was asleep.  And it's been 10-12 hour night's of lullaby sleep since.

February:  We celebrate Valentine's Day!  I am enjoying all the special occasions when I get to "doll up" my little girl!












Ingrid celebrates her first 1/2 birthday!   I can't believe 6 months have passed, and that we are 1/2 way to having a 1 year old.  I'm loving having a "big" girl that sleeps through the nights, eats well, nurses well, giggles, and is FULL of personality.  This is from Ingrid's "6 month photo shoot!"












March:  We are counting down the days until Michael graduates.  He is busy working at the Waste Water Treatment Plant, which includes working some weekends.  Ingrid is 7 months old and continues to painfully welcome more teeth.  Ingrid sits up!  We experience one warm day and I take my baby for our first walk with just the two of us  I get my first tattoo!  This tattoo represents pregnancy and natural childbirth, which I am ever so passionate about.  We take Ingrid to visit the Underwater Adventures Aquarium at the Mall of America, she LOVED it!


Our first walk of the season, we are
thrilled to get out of the house!

My tattoo

Underwater Adventures Aquarium

April:  We are enjoying warm weather, and going out on walks.  Ingrid's preferred method of transportation is rolling...everywhere!  Ingrid continues to get more teeth, and now has 8!  My sister comes for a visit and we enjoy going on walks, making cheeseburgers, and watching the Princess and the Frog.  Ingrid goes on her first slide ride and is enjoying play dates with friends!





May:  My 24th birthday!  I am enjoying celebrating my 24 years with my precious child, and awesome husband.  Ingrid is 9 months old!  She is pulling herself into a standing position, and turning into quite the little lady.  I get to experience my first mother's day by snuggling in bed with my baby. I am starting to get more opportunities with photography, and even get to shoot my first wedding!  



Michael graduates!!!  What an amazing journey the past two years had been.  We moved to Mankato, and 5 months later found out we were expecting our first baby.  The next 9 months would bring so much anticipation and excitement and the following 9 months would bring trials, tribulations, and so much joy.  Michael worked so hard and managed to balance, school, work, and family like a pro.  
June:  We are enjoying summer, more play dates, and more weddings and kiddo's to photograph!




July: July brings many changes for our family.  While Michael is busy looking for a job as a post-grad, we decide to make a move back to our home town, where Michael has the opportunity to work with his dad.  We were so sad to leave our awesome apartrment, filled with awesome memories, but so excited to live near family again.  Michael turns 24 the day we move, so it didn't turn out to be much of a fun day for him.  We move into our new house, only to find that half of our furniture doesn't fit up the stairs!  We spend the next several months futon-ing it!  

August:  August is the month that I've been waiting for for 1 whole year.  We celebrate Ingrid's 1st birthday with a big bash!  We can't believe she is walking, talking and now a full blown toddler.  The past year proved to be the best year of our lives.   We also get our first family pictures taken by my friend Carlie.  It was a blast to know that these would be our first official "family photos".


September:  Michael is full blown engulfed in harvest season, and it's hard to believe but he's busier than he was when he was still in school!  12 hour days, 6 days a week.....oofta.  We experience one of the worst flood's Owatonna has ever seen, and our backyard looked something like this....
October: Michael is still harvest-ing, and we are missing him so much!!  The waters have finally receded and we are in autumn mode!  Ingrid is a butterfly for Halloween, and as you can see-was not thrilled about her costume!  We also make a trip to the apple orchard for a fun filled day!


November:  We celebrate Thanksgiving in Grand Marais.  It was an awesome trip and we enjoyed every second of the huge waves and beautiful scenery.  
December:  We move, once again-into our new house.  We are loving it and it works sooo much better for our family.  (1 word: dishwasher).  We can't believe how much Ingrid has changed in 1 year.  She went from a sleepless 4 month old to a walking, talking toddler.  We can't believe how many words she knows, we lost count!  Everyday she seems to be able to say something new.  We are excited to see everything the new year brings!!




Wednesday, December 29, 2010

My first crochet pattern!

I am soooooo thrilled with myself.  I made it my goal this winter to teach myself to crochet.  I knew how to do simple stitches (the wrong way), and that was it.  After watching different You Tube video's I've slowly been learning the right way to crochet.  BUT today I made a big accomplishment.....I crocheted a slipper from a pattern!!  No video's, just me and the pattern!  I am patting myself on the back for this!  It really is like teaching yourself a second language.  It was a pretty easy pattern, but I'm convinced that I can now move on to bigger and better things!  Here is the finished product:

(Again, this was a dry run-so I didn't even put a button on the slipper.  I did however, have a need to embellish with floral.I will post the link to the website I used!


Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas dress!

Last year I made Ingrid a tutu for her christmas dress...this year i decided to try crocheting her a little jumper...and I must say-it was so fun to do!  I love the way it turned out, she was such a little doll in it!  Here it is!


It's getting so hard to get that "stand still and smile" shot.  She is constantly on the move!!


Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas!  It was seriously our best Christmas in years!  Here is how the past few years went: 
2007:  Michael's cousin died suddenly 1 week before Christmas
2008:  Michael's grandma died after her battle with cancer 1 month before christmas (and on top of that, we had just found out I was pregnant, and I started experiencing some really scary complications Christmas Eve...but we all know how that turned out!;)
2009:  Ingrid was 3 1/2 months old, and not sleeping AT ALL....probably because she was teething! (she got her first two teeth in a week after Christmas)

So needless to say 2010 had to be good, we deserved it!  Even though we are in the midst of a little chaos from our move last week, we had a wonderful time with family, and watching Ingrid flourish into the toddler that she is.  She had so much fun opening presents and would say with delight "OOOOOOoooooooh!!" after each one.  Cute!  We were well rested, and so thankful for the wonderful gift we were blessed with.  Here are a few photo's from our holiday!

How can this.....

turn into this, in just 1 year?!

Family photo 2009 (very tired and worn out but happy)

Family Christmas 2010
Well rested and enojoying our christmas!

Opening her christmas eve book

Success!

Aunt Mary Ellen and Ingrid reading her book

Playing the piano at Grandma DeMars's house on Christmas Eve

Riding the horsey!

So fun!

Grandma DeMars and Ingrid eating birthday cake (Happy 30th Carmen!)

Being silly

Ben, Mary Ellen, Michael and myself making christmas cookies

We made gimpy a blood foot...(she just had her 4th foot surgery!  Poor little thing)

We are so thankful for our blessings.  We delight in the peace and guidance we receive daily.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Mission Accomplished!

Well, I think for my first attempt they turned out pretty okay!  I have to say, I'm a little proud of myself considering I don't know a half double crochet from a single double crochet....it's really like learning a different language!!  I love Theressa's video tutorials!  I am going to attempt to make some adult size slippers.....not sure If I will be able to without a pattern, but I will try!  Stay tuned to see if it's a cheers or jeers moment!

I attached a flower instead of a button!

cute cute!


Cookies & more!

I have felt pretty jipped this Christmas! When you move 1 week before Christmas, that means the entire month of December is spent packing, moving, unpacking, and trying to dig yourself out from the mess you've created!  We don't have the tree up, we have'nt done a ton of baking (like usual), and I wanted to wrap the presents all fancy, and when I realized there was no time for that I ended up throwing them in a christmas bag with some newspaper in place of tissue paper.  Jipped.  However, yesterday Ingrid and i found some time to make Mexican Wedding Cakes (or whatever you call them in your house).  She wore the apron that I made for her when I was pregnant with her....and it was so strange to now see this little person waking around holding her kitchen utensils pretending to bake with me.  Where has the time gone?  She did a great job "helping" mommy-what a joy to be able to stay home with her.  

How cute is she in her apron?  And those piggy tails-I can't handle the cuteness!!

She has sweetheart written all over her face!

Someone is eying the cookies...
 "Helping" Mommy (she is pretending to put stuff in her bowl and mix)

"Yes, I think I'll have some" (note: egg free cookie dough!:)

 Love her!

Caught in the act!

Turning into such a little girl...

The end product!




But wait!  We forgot we still hand Ingrid's presents to wrap!  So last night Michael and I put the little one to bed, and stayed up to wrap her presents.  I will be the first one saying that I loathe the materialism that surrounds Christmas.  It's not all about the "perfect" gift, and what the marketers want us to spend money on.  In fact, we always thought we would get our kids maybe 1 gift, but more so want to encourage family volunteering.  That is still the way we feel, but with some Christmas money we got in from grandparents, we decided to go a little beyond our "1 gift" rule.  It was too fun picking out little presents for Ingrid...especially because we know that this year-she will actually get involved and enjoy playing with them!  I got my chance to do a little "creative" wrapping.....





This was my first official "craft" with Ingrid.  Yup, still too young!  We made a Christmas card for the grandparents, and traced her hand (which she hated).  She did enjoy trying to put the stickers on...and coloring is always a fave!