Baby Book

3/17/13

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone...I hope this isn't a common occurence in the future, but I didn't even get to enjoy a Guiness and shot of Jameson today...of all days!!!  Just a heads up...this is a bit long...so grab a Guiness and enjoy, lads!!!

Yesterday, we went to Babies R Us..yet again!  We had to get burp clothes and a few small misc. things.  While there, I picked up a Baby Book.  It was the last one on the shelf of this particular type and I was really looking forward to filling out some of the pages because I hadn't blogged about those things...but...when we got home, Laura checked it out and found that one of the bindings/rings was broken!!!  So...this blog is focused on some of the topics I found interesting in the baby book that we are now going to be returning!!!...And, of course, this entry is dedicated to our little girl that will read this some day in the future...

#1 - Where mommy and daddy are from and their background info:
Mommy = Laura Jean Lemke (maiden name, Christiansen) from Glenfield, ND.  She was born on August 22, 1985.  Until attending college (and meeting your daddy!) in Duluth, MN, she grew up on a farm next to her grandparents.  She graduated high school from Midkota High School in 2003.  After college, she moved in with my parents and I, in Mendota Heights, MN for a little over a year while we worked and saved money for our house, which we have now lived in for almost 4 years.  Among her many talents and interests are scrapbooking, organizing, traveling, geocaching, hanging out with Lexi, and sipping wine with her husband on their deck.
Daddy = Daniel Timothy Lemke from Mendota Heights, MN.  I was born on April 9, 1985...a day after my mom.  Until I was 4, we lived off of West 7th Street in St. Paul, near the historic Landmark Brewery, not far from downtown St. Paul.  We moved to Mendota Heights, where I attended school and graduated from Henry Sibley High School in 2003.  I always wanted to go to UMD as a kid, so when I was accepted my senior year, the rest was easy!  Among my many interests, and not-so-many talents, are hunting, 4 wheeling, reading boring history books (I particularly enjoy biographies and the American Revolution era), a re-kindled interest in video games, watching "Cops" on TV, sipping wine with my lovely wife and letting Lexi chew on my arms and hands when we wrestle!

#2 - How mommy and daddy met
Since I went into detail on this topic in one of my first posts in this blog, I'll briefly recap:  We met through a high school classmate that I graduated with during the first weekend at college.  While visiting my friend, I couldn't help but wonder who was the cute blonde that lived 2 doors down.  Our first date was in late October of 2003.  I took Laura to dinner at Grandma's restaurant in Canal Park in Duluth, where she ordered a chicken sandwich.  After dinner, we proceeded to the highlight of our night...a UMD Bulldog hockey game.  This was her first hockey game, and we now share a love for the sport!!!  I proposed in Rice Park during the Winter Carnival in downtown St. Paul in late January 2008.  Little did I know that a beauty pageant was taking place in the park that night, so I spent my time focused on walking around amongst the ice sculptures trying to find a quiet place to "pop the question."  I finally found a nice big tree with lots of lights in it, and got down on my knee and asked her to marry me.  She was shocked, and much to my dismay, she didn't even shed a tear!!!  Our wedding day, June 13, 2009 was perfect.  It was a nice, sunny day on the shores of Lake Superior in Two Harbors, MN.  We had well over 200 friends and family join us for a great weekend at the resort and helped us celebrate our wedding day!

#3 - Mommy's pregnancy
We found out Laura was pregnant in a fun way...she jumped into bed early one July morning and was whispering to wake me up, "Sweety, sweety, look!  We're pregnant!" and was holding the test stick.  We were both extremely happy...and shocked at our efficiency!!!  I've been super excited the whole time, while Laura has been a bit more reserved with nerves...yet still very happy!  We're both nervous about how good of parents we'll be, and how our lives will change...though we know our baby will transform our lives for the better!  The first people we told were my old teaching buddy, Jon.  He and I typically emailed each other weekly and sent occassional texts, but when I sent him several texts one day telling him to call me, he knew something was up.  Over the next 3 weekends as our schedule found us traveling to be with friends, we slowly let our close friends in on our secret.  When we went to Milwaukee, I told my old roomate and great buddy, Scuba Steve.  When we went fishing up at the 6 Pak Shak, I told my 3 "brothers", the Boland boys.  Laura called and told her close friends, Stephanie and Megan, and we told Adam and Shana in person when they came over in early August for dinner...our parents wouldn't find out until late August when Laura's parents had a planned trip to the cities.

#4 - Current Events and Pop Culture
(I found this to be the most interesting page to include in a baby book, of course, so I wanted to include this for the record!)  Important world leaders today include our president, Barrack Obama (though I'd argue that he isn't a great leader!!!) and a whole bunch of other guys that seem to be content with letting things happen in the world around us as terrorists continue their suicide bombings on our troops overseas, and innocent civilians in the Middle East and around the world.  The economy is currently horrible.  Though the president would argue that it's recovering, he continues to want to raise taxes to help pay for all the things he wants our government to spend money on.  Our unemployment rate is near 10%, people are struggling to find jobs, companies are sending production overseas to keep costs low, our housing market is slowly crawling out of a whole that started a few years ago due to too many people buying homes that could not afford them.  Prices keep rising on most goods, salaries have slowed and everyone seems to be holding onto their money because they don't know what the next 6 months will bring them...though they are now spending a bit more freely than they were the last few years.  Current fashion trends in our society scare me because I'm having a daughter.  Girls are into spaghetti strap tank tops, tight jeans, short shorts, and lately, skin-tight yoga pants and brown boots called "Ugs" (I think they're called this because of how ugly they are, but my students deny this!).  Guys share a trend with girls in the sense that they buy blue jeans that are pre-faded, tattered and torn...rather than doing this themselves.  Other than that, guys still wear baseball hats around...thank, God!  As for me, I'm a trend-setter...I love my Crocs with socks, and I enjoy wearing one of my many jerseys at every opportunity I get...and whenever possible, I break out the camo...though Laura severely limits this!!!  Hit movies recently, are an oxymoron, because I've only seen a couple in the last few years because they all seem so stupid...sci-fi or action movies that are very futuristic with stupid special effects.  Batman has made a return the last few years, but is seems futuristic too.  I can't even begin to list some movies in the theaters because movies are expensive, and I haven't seen to many previews that make me want to go see a movie at a theater.  Famous artists today include my favorite, Taylor Swift (country music/pop), ...other than that (I know there are more) most famous people in our society today seem to famous for doing nothing (Kardashian sisters, Paris Hilton, Justin Bieber...though, apparently he sings?!?!), which also means most are on reality TV shows that are fake and made up to get audience members hooked into the drama that is supposed to be "real."  Shows that seek talent like American Idol, X-Factor, The Voice, The Bachelor, Survivor and many other spin offs now dominate nightly lineups and provide zero educational value and continue to provide countless, meaningless conversations at work with co-workers, while there seem to be almost no sitcoms that appeal to whole families anymore...like those I grew up watching such as, Full House, Home Improvement, Family Matters, Step by Step, Boy Meets World and a few others.  Wow...that got cynical!!! 

Today's prices...
Gallon of gas = $3.69
Gallon of milk = $3.29
Music CD = $12.99ish (most people now download music for $1.29 per song on iTunes)
Movie ticket = $7ish (see movie comment above...I'm kind of out of the loop)
Postage stamp = 44 cents

And with that...I'll wrap up this post.  There are more topics that I'll touch on at a later time from this baby book.  Baby's delivery, labor, going home, 1st birthday, birth announcement, etc...On a much more meaningful note, our baby room is now complete.  I assembled the new recliner grandpa and grandma Christiansen purchased for us!  It's awesome...and the room is ready!  Our new baby monitors are sweet and are ready to go too!  Thanks so much for reading this long entry from my Daddy Diary.  We appreciate your best thoughts, wishes and/or prayers you continue to send our way.  I'll let you know as soon as the contractions start!!!  Take care!