First Flight!!!

6/30/14

Erica earned her wings over the weekend!!!  (Pictures at the bottom)

Our trip begins last Wednesday night when my cousin, Holly, came over to our house for some orientation on what to do to take care of Lexi while we are away.  Of course, this lasted only a few minutes, and then we hung out after Erica went to bed.

Thursday morning, we found ourselves waking Erica up and packing into the car to go pick up grandpa and grandma on our way to the airport to visit our relatives in Tennessee!!!

Before we get into the trip, I need to give a little background info on our reason to visit the south:  My mom has some distant relatives that live in Nashville and other scattered cities around the state.  I've gone down there on vacation since I was Erica's age or even younger; although we used to make the 15 hour drive back then!  My mom's Great Aunt Ruth (who is in her mid-late 80s) lives in Nashville with her son, Will (who is about 60)...who we've all fondly called Aunt Ruth and Cousin Will since as long as I can remember.  They've always been more than distant relatives to us.  I recall making the long drive every few years growing up for some time down there to hang out at their house in Nashville.  Aunt Ruth has 3 grown grand daughters, Jen, Amanda and Lori who live outside of town.  We've always met up with them and they've always been more like cousins to all of us.  Now all 3 girls have young families of their own; Jen has a 10 year old girl and 8 year old twin boys, Amanda has a 14 year old girl and an 8 year old boy, and Lori has an 8 year old boy and a 5 year old girl...they are great kids, and the house was a lot calmer this trip down, now that the kids have all grown up quite a bit!  I was last down there almost 4 years ago, so the kids have grown up quite a bit since then!  We booked our trip in early Spring and were all excited to go on the trip!  Suddenly, in April, Aunt Ruth was hospitalized with some lung complications.  Then, even more suddenly towards the end of May, Will had an aortic anuerism and stroke within days of each other and was hospitalized for about a month...and as he said, "Damn near died a couple times!"  Needless to say, we were very excited to get down there and see them and visit with them...and were very surprised they wanted to put up with us while recovering and insisted we come see them!

I think I was more nervous than Laura was for Erica's first flight!!!  She can't sit still nor be held in a lap for more than 10 seconds at a time, so a 2 hour flight scared me to death!!! 

We made it through security with ease...well, Laura and Erica did!!!  They were able to walk through the metal detector, but because I'm a handsome white guy, they selected me for the full-body scan.  I just hope the person watching the screen appreciated my smile!!!  Once we passed through security, we found ourselves with well over an hour to kill before our flight was scheduled to leave.  We found some breakfast...Taco Bell for dad, and some breakfast Stromboli's for mom and grandpa.  We made our way to the gate only to find out that we were not allowed to board early with Erica (despite past practices).  The ladies at the gate were very helpful, and allowed us to get on early anyways and get settled in on the plane.  Laura was shocked at the small size of the plane and quickly noted that it was the smallest she had ever flown on!!!  Erica was exploring our seats/playground once we buckled in and was fascinated looking out the window as we taxied toward the runway for take off.  I held her for take off and pointed out the window as we climbed out of Minneapolis...her eyes getting bigger and her fingers pointing while sucking out of her bottle!  We tried to entertain her for a while and finally decided a nap would be good for her and worth a try.  She hadn't slept in anyone's arms since my "cold days" (snow days) this past winter, so we were curious if it'd work.  After some fussing and restraining with my arms, she finally fell asleep and didn't wake up again until we were about to land in Nashville!

We landed and made our way to the rental car, which came equipped with a car seat, courtesy of a free upgrade, thanks to our AAA membership!  I'd strongly recommend this to anyone traveling with kids...no need to hassle with a car seat in the airport!!!  We made our way to a burger joint for lunch and then headed to Aunt Ruth's.  Erica started a few new trends while eating lunch:  She wants to drink whatever mommy is drinking, and she likes chicken strips and fries!  We made it to Aunt Ruth's and greeted her and Will with hugs. We hung out there for a little over an hour before heading back to check into the hotel a few miles away and put Erica down for a nap.  We woke up and made our way back to Aunt Ruth's and met up with Amanda and Lori and their families for dinner at a downtown burger joint.  The food was great, the beer was even better and we had fun catching up while Erica tried keeping up with the big kids.  Lori's daughter, Lily Kate, quickly became buds/babysitter with Erica!!! She loved chasing her around, playing with her and trying to teach her new things.

The next day, we woke up and had a southern favorite, breakfast at the Waffle House.  It's kind of like a Denny's, but less fancy!  I had "hash browns all the way," which is hash browns topped with cheese, onions, jalapenos, chili, ham and sausage gravy....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...so tasty!!!  Erica again helped Laura drink her orange juice and munched on ham.  After breakfast, my dad dropped Laura and I off at the historic home of Andrew Jackson, The Hermitage, about 10 miles away from Aunt Ruth's house.  We toured the place for a couple hours and took lots of pictures, while grandpa and grandma took Erica to Aunt Ruth's to hang out there.  They picked us up around lunch time and we headed to a vineyard owned by Kix Brooks of the old country duo, Brooks and Dunn about a half hour south of town.  The vineyard and winery was beautiful.  Erica hung out with grandpa while grandma, Laura and I "indulged" at the tasting counter.  We loved everything we tasted.  We weren't thrilled about waiting 40 minutes just to get the counter (they checked us in as if we were waiting for a table at a restaurant), and the tastings were smaller than a shot, and we only got to taste 4 of their dozen or more wines.  I know, I'm not supposed to be greedy, and wine is a bit classier than breweries, but if we come all that way, give us more than a small mouthful of wine, and if we want to try more, allow us an option to pay for additional tastings, or offer a fee to taste all wines!!!  Regardless, we all enjoyed each wine we tried, and by the end of it, Laura and I bought a bottle of Reisling to have in our hotel room, and we had signed up for their wine club, bought a wine glass with the vineyard name/logo on it, and a cool wooden box with the logo on it.  We made the drive back to town in time for dinner with Will and Aunt Ruth.  We had "Witts" for dinner.  Witts is a BBQ company that has fantastic pulled pork for sandwiches, cole slaw, beans and ribs.  Yum!!!  After a second consecutive day with Erica's schedule/routine going to the wayside, we headed back to the hotel.  We got her ready for bed and handed her off to grandpa and grandma for the night....and we went "Honky Tonkin!!!"  Dad drove Laura and I to downtown Nashville, to a 3 block strip of Broadway that is home to lots of bars, restaurants and gift shops.  We stopped in a few bars and listened to the live country music.  If you're a country fan, this is the coolest place ever...if you're not, I'm sure it's hell on Earth!  But we loved it!!!  We hung out at a spot for over an hour listening to a group that covers lots of other well-known groups.  They were awesome!  They had a fiddler in their band, and she was outstanding...she alone could've filled a bar just to listen to her play...and she rocked a few fiddle solos on a few well known country songs, especially Alabama's, "If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band."  We made our way up and down the strip, and mostly shopped the little stores trying to find souvenirs.  Every bar we walked past had lines out the door just to get in! So we were glad we made an early trip down there on a Friday night. We ended our night at Rock Bottom Brewery for a couple of appetizers before taking a cab back to the hotel. 

Saturday was a rough day for daddy!  I slept poorly all night with stomach pains, and woke up in bad shape!  I know what you're thinking...and no, I wasn't!!!  Laura will vouch for me that I wasn't feeling good before we left Rock Bottom, "because you didn't even finish your beer, and that's not like you!"  I think I had my first bout with heartburn.  I never had it before, and hope I never get it again.  We're guessing the Waffle House breakfast from the day before, and a few greasy burgers didn't help the cause either.  I laid around until about 9:30 while Erica, Laura and grandpa and grandma did some shopping nearby, and then they picked me up and we headed to Aunt Ruth's for the day.  I popped Tums all day, and by dinner time, my chest still felt tight, but I was doing better.  We had a southern, "boil" for dinner; shrimp, sausage, red potatoes and corn on the cob, all boiled in a pot...yum!!!  Erica loved chasing around all the big kids at Aunt Ruth's.  Lily Kate and Avery kept tabs on Erica, while Laura entertained the kids at times with some competitive BINGO.  The boys loved their foam swards we picked up for them, and the girls liked trying to teach Erica how to use sidewalk chalk!  Needless to say, Saturday was a blast being with our awesome relatives for the day!!! We said our goodbyes to all the kids and Lori's family as they headed for home that night.  Despite a 3rd day of being off her routine, Erica was a trooper!  She missed a nap or two, but was great, even with a bed time over an hour later than usual!!!

Sunday, we woke up and had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel...another southern staple...think of Applebee's with just southern food....so tasty!!!  We headed back and packed up the hotel and headed to Aunt Ruth's for a short visit before heading to the airport.  We said our goodbyes to Aunt Ruth, Will and Jen and wished them well on their continuing recovery.  I'm hopeful we'll head back there sooner than later to visit with all of them again!!!  I just love it there and I was so happy to be able to take Erica down there and get a feel for something I've loved doing the past 29 years!!! 

Our plane for the flight home was smaller than the one that took us there...I'm sure Laura was super pumped!!!  The flight home started with Erica napping for over an hour...she was sleeping before we left the gate!!!  Once she woke up, she was moving and I'm glad that flight didn't last any longer!!!  Despite strong winds, our pilot nailed the landing...even though Laura was nervous next to me, I knew it was pretty darn good compared to some rough landings you hear/see about on the news.  We put Erica back in her own car seat and dropped grandpa and grandma off before heading to Cub for some staples and dinner and then made our way home to see our Lexi!  Our puppy was really excited to see us.  I think Lexi was more excited to see Erica than we thought she'd be!  Our trip ends with me trying to unpack my suitcase, while Erica put the stuff right back in it, and then she climbed on top of the closed suitcase and sat on it...I think that means she wants to go back to Nashville again...now!!!!

Erica's first flight and vacation away was a blast.  She did really well with all of the chicken strips and fries, stolen drinks from mommy, and she loved all the ice cream stops grandpa made for her!!!She did so great with a weird schedule and being limited in space on an airplane.  Her ears popping never bugged her, and she rolled with the punches at every step of the way!  Our trip was a huge success and I was so happy to be able to bring her down to meet the Tennessee Family I've loved seeing over the past 29 years, and glad she got to spend some time hanging out at Aunt Ruth's house with her and Cousin Will!

And lastly, a big thanks to my parents for all they did to help us out on this trip!  They had Erica sleep in their room one night while we went Honky Tonkin and changed countless diapers, helped with feeding, chased her around and kept tabs on her, as well as countless other things that we probably didn't even notice!  They were great and Erica will be told many stories of her first flight and trip she shared with grandpa and grandma!

Thanks to all of you for checking and reading about Erica's first flight!  Thanks again for reading my Daddy Diary...we appreciate your thoughts/prayers and/or well-wishes!  Take care!

Getting ready for take off to head to Nashville

In the air...and happy!!!

The Hermitage, from the driveway. A classic plantation style home

The back of The Hermitage

Our newest addition to our favorite vineyards!!!

The front of the winery...it had tons of patio space in lots of areas to enjoy wine!

The vineyard...and of course, my favorite varietal, Laura Jean

Honky Tonkin...I tried taking a picture of us, and thought it took so I was turning the camera to look at the picture and suddenly the flash started going off, so this was my expression of panic as I tried to save the picture...not bad!!!

Erica's new favorite cousins, Avery (10) and Lily Kate (5)...Erica (almost 15 months)

Laura and Erica walking around the huge yard at Aunt Ruth's

If there is a big yard and a mower, this daddy will try to cut it!!!

One of the simple joys of the trip...letting Erica run to the room from the elevator!!!

A last picture before heading the airport. Grandpa and grandma with Aunt Ruth and mommy, Erica and daddy with Cousin Will

Hanging out with grandpa and grandma on the flight home

Erica made unpacking tough...her way of saying, "let's go back to Nashville!"

1st week of Daddy Daycare 2014...at the lake!!!

This is the first week of Daddy Daycare this summer, and we are celebrating it by spending the week at the lake!!!

After a looooooong week last week making up for our numerous snow/cold days, I was ready to get out of town!!! Two days last week were spent on diversity training and the other 3 were spent downtown Minneapolis for a PLC conference that was awesome. But...now...it's summer!!!  Since Laura is in Sioux Falls on work this week, I decided to head up here to the lake with Erica and Lexi. Although the lake isn't nearly as relaxing as it used to be when I ventured up here alone in the past, it is equally fun and rewarding!!!

After a long weekend with Erica being needy and getting into mischief at home, I was scared to do this week up here alone!!! She was equally troublesome on Monday afternoon when we got up here. It was a long day chasing her and repeating "no!!!" A million times, but once she went down I decided I needed a new mental approach to try and get through the next day with more fun. I decided to take things into my own hands, be a better, more entertaining and proactive dad and see how that would treat me...and I'm so glad I had that enlightened moment!!!

We woke up yesterday and had breakfast before heading into Two Harbors to see if there were any ships. We pulled in and got Erica situated in her umbrella stroller for the first time. Lexi was a pain in the ass for the duration of our walk on the pier...whimpering and whining for unknown reasons!!! While we were out walking, a quick fog moved in and we couldn't see the end of the pier nor town behind us!!!  Before heading back to the car, we walked down to the tiny beach at the end of the pier and I showed Erica how to throw rocks into Lake Superior...a right of passage for any Minnesota kid!!!  We got back in the car after a few minutes of throwing rocks we packed up in the car to take my girls on a special tour...

We pulled into Superior Shores Resort and I explained to my girls how their mommy and I were married on the beach 5 years ago. We walked across the big lawn between the resort and the beach and made our way across the little bridge where I first laid eyes on my beautiful bride on our wedding day!!!  We looked for our special rock we wrote our names on, but didn't see it amongst the large pile of special rocks from the numerous other couples that have tied the not on our beach over the past 5 years after us. We walked to the water past our "alter" and threw more rocks while Lexi sniffed every rock nearby.  We took a few "selfies" on the beach and I snapped a few more of my girls on our special beach before we made our way back to the car amongst some running and giggling through the grassy lawn of the resort. We made it back to the lake in time for lunch...and a quick breath before heading out on our next adventure...

Swimming!!!  I picked out Erica's swimsuit last weekend, so we had to try it out. I almost died trying to inflate her floating raft, but was saved by an air compressor in my dad's garage!!! We packed up and headed a few miles up the shore to the resort our development is partnered with. We waded into the pool water and I shrieked at the chilly water. Erica agreed with me as we waded in with her in my arms. She cried when I tried putting her into the raft that almost killed me. So we swam around in my arms for a bit before discovering a beach ball. That ball was the best thing Erica could've asked for in the pool!!!  She love her raft, finally, because she could better play with her ball!!! After a little while, we made our way into the hot tub...don't worry...it was pretty much bath water!!!  She loved it and relaxed in my arms for the few minutes we were in there. We played with the ball some more before heading to the shower where I rinsed her off before getting her ready to head back to the lake for a nap. We ended our day with a walk with Lexi around the neighborhood before having dinner and a bottle. 

Today's adventured brought us to the car dealership for 2.5hrs for our warranty clear coating. I was shocked to be awaken by my alarm and not Erica. Go figure...the one day this week we had to get up early, she let me sleep in!!!  I was terrified by the thought of staying in a waiting room for 2hrs with her, but she did great. It was like a separate service center within the dealership, so we enjoyed  lot of empty space for her to roam and explore while we waited. This overlapped nap time and I knew she was tired, but as expected, she refused to sleep in my arms. But by the time we left, she was sleepy and fell asleep by the time we left the dealership and pulled into town...a mile up the road!!!! We drove to the harbor again and napped as a ship was getting ready to leave but woke up as it started backing out, so we got out of the car and headed down the pier again. It was super windy and with my arms full with Erica and an attempt to take a picture, my hat flew off and floated off the pier and towards the water before snagging on a  rock. I was reminded of the great people in this world when a guy walking by on the pier told me to hold his bag and hopped through the wiring on he pier to grab my hat!!! Apparently I looked lost with Erica in my arms and a hat blowing away, so he took it upon himself to grab it from the rocks below without thinking twice. If only the world had millions more caring people just like him!!!  Anyways, we took some more pictures and headed back to the lake for a bite to eat and a 2.5 hr nap for Erica...she made up for the non-nap this morning!!!  After dinner, I gave her an early bath and loaded up the girls for a surprise in town...Dairy Queen!!! Erica scarfed down some ice cream and unexpectedly helped me slurp down my smoothie!!!  Lexi got to lick the remnants of our ice cream treats, and all was well in the world!!! Erica squeaked and giggled the whole way back, so apparently, dad was spot on with his surprise!!!  She went down for bed soon after we got home and since then, I've been working on this entry!!!  

Tomorrow, grandpa and grandma will arrive in the afternoon and our week in solitude will come to an end. Laura will be up Friday night after working in Duluth and it will be an early night to bed for her because she is running the Grandmas Half Marathon on Saturday!!!  She has been a running machine over the past few years and I'm so proud of her for ramping up her training to tackle her next challenge!!!

Thanks so much for checking in with us. I'm so glad to be done with school for the summer and ready to kick off a busy summer with my Little Nugget and Lexi. I'll try to be better with more frequent updates. Enjoy the pictures below and thanks again for reading my Daddy Diary!!! Take care!!!

In the car, heading North!!!

Talking with mommy on the phone, cuddled in for the night

In Two Harbors, strapped in to the new stroller

Struggling to take the first picture on the pier

My 2 girls!!!

Erica and Lexi throwing rocks on our special beach

Erica on our beach

The cutest little girl ever!!!!

Ready to go swimming!! (Daddy picked out a cute suit, didn't he?!?!)

The pool toy that almost killed me!!!

A cute moment before bedtime with her "bah bah"

Erica wanted to buy this car while we waited, but daddy said no

 Watching the ship leave...just before daddy's hat blew away!!!

Our bed time treat...Erica helped me finish my treat after she finished hers!!!

Loooooong overdue!!!

This update is loooooong over due!! I last posted a few days before Erica's 1st Birthday, and today, she is now 2 months past her big day!!!

I look back and try to figure out why I haven't had much down time since then...and the only thing I can think of is that Erica has become a crazy little walker/runner in the house since a week or so before her birthday...and since then she hasn't stopped walking around and exploring the house at nearly every waking minute!!!

Her first bday party was a blast. We had all of Erica's grandparents at our house and by aunt and uncles from my

Mom's side, a few of my cousins and more importantly, Erica even had her great grandparents over to our house, although we did miss Laura's grandparents who were unable to make the trip from North Dakota.   We had a big taco bar with 10lbs of beef for nearly 20 of us!!!  And while we were eating, Erica had a surprise visit from some real princesses, courtesy of our neighbor, Tim. (He is prime minister for the St Paul winter carnival and he had a few of the princesses at his house before an event and they called to see if we want a visit for some pictures...it was awesome!!!). Erica was showered with gifts...everything from books to blocks, a baby doll to a shopping cart, and of course, lots of clothes.  Her biggest gift was a swing set from Laura's parents that is now standing in the back yard. It has a slide, 2 swings and a small platform with a ladder leading to the slide, with a little enclosed place with a small door underneath that serves as a small play house.  The highlight of the day was letting the birthday girl dog into her cake!!! Laura made a cake shaped like a cupcake especially for Erica to destroy...and she put a pretty big hole in it before she filled herself up with cake and frosting (everyone else had cupcakes that matched her big cake).  

Since her birthday, April and May have gone by in a blink!!!  In April, I was gone for 2 weekends in a row at the end of the month to go 4 wheeling at the cabin and turkey hunting (I bagged a nice Tom this spring!!! I pretty much had to shoot it in self defense as it came in for a landing about 20 feet from me after flying away from being shot at by Dan Hopkins on the other side of the field I was sitting on!!!). I brought home one hell of a cold that weekend two...and since the last weekend in April, one of the 3 of us has pretty much been fighting the cold!!!  Over Memorial Day weekend last weekend, we were trying to help Erica fight a 102 degree fever and a rash. Not fun...especially when the weather turns warm and hits 80 degrees for the first time since last September!!!

For the sake of time...and, I'm sure your angry at me for not updating this blog at least once in the past 2 months...I'll provide a few snapshots of the things Erica has been up to lately:

- she is a runner!  She runs/staggers around the house and babbles the whole time. If she is not pushing or pulling a toy behind her, she is carrying something in a hand!

- she is now eating all normal people food. She loves chicken, strawberries, green beans and cheese. 

- she loves tormenting her puppy, Lexi!!!  She sits with Lexi in her kennel, picks at her food while she eats and takes her toys. Although they truly love each other, Erica giggles when she bugs her but Lexi is a trooper and let's her get away with a lot of crap. It's cute...if they are apart for a day or 2, both girls get moapy and appear lonely...and then they are so excited when they are back together again...Lexi doesn't eat normal and Erica appears lonesome. Adorable!!!

- Erica's favorite toys are anything mom and dad have with buttons. Whether it's stopping the dishwasher cycle, cell phones, computer, cable tv receiver or her toys, she loves pushing buttons and hearing electronics at work. 

- she is developing a great personality and sense of humor. She is a trooper when she is sick because she isn't too crabby but just wants to be held. She still laughs and plays, but gets more clingy. She has recently started noticing that her actions cause us to laugh, so she sees our reaction and giggles herself and tries to keep us smiling at her expense. 

- lately she is becoming a climber. She is trying to lift her leg/foot onto anything just to see if she can get on top of it. She tries the couch, her toys, the dishwasher door, chair legs...everything!!

- she loves being outside!!! She loves her swing set and water table (an activity table that holds water for her to stand next to and play in). She would be outside for hours if we let her!!!

- she loves shopping with daddy!!! Of course, we go to cool stores like Gander Mountain, Cabelas and Home Depot...and she loves it! N she sits in the cart and we make faces at each other. She's very helpful at holding things, putting things in the cart and drawing lots of attention from other shoppers with her babbling and cuteness!!!

- lastly, we are getting a nice addition to our yard for our girls...Lexi and Erica are getting a fence!!! We will have a black, chain link fence that will enclose our backyard, hopefully by the end of this month!  That way, our girls will both be safe and free to run around in their yard!!!  

I'm sure there's a lot more that I've missed, but that will have to do for now. I'm sorry this was so delayed and I'm even more sorry for my lack of pictures. I got a new phone last week and I hardly have any pics on here now, let alone snapshots of the past few months. I'll try to get some on here soon!!! Until then, these few will have to do....but of course, thanks so much for checking in and seeing how Erica's life has gone over the past few months!!!  Take care!!!

Real food!!

Bath time with Lexi

Sharing a bed time snack with daddy

Daddy and grandpa building a new fence on the cliff at the lake to help keep Erica a little safer

Erica playing with her water table on the deck

Erica's first bike ride in the carrier...we pretty much got this for free while Laura was pregnant...our goal is to go on bike rides a lot this summer!

Erica's personality at play...take that mommy!!!

Erica's swing set in the yard

Our little, musical prodigy

Catching up...almost a year old!

3/23/14

Time flies when you're having fun.  Lately, having fun has meant chasing Erica around as she's taken her first steps and pushing her toys around, and/or crawling everywhere with much more speed than a few months ago!

It's been about a month and a half since my last post, which has been way too long!  Since my last update, we've gone through the typical motions of a booming and growing little girl.  Each day, Erica shows us something new, or shows us a "new and improved" version of things she already does.

- She is a dancer!  Whenever there is music playing; whether it's from a toy or the radio/iPod, she starts dancing.  Dancing can mean anything from rocking back and forth, shaking her butt, or swaying.  Regardless, it always gets going when the music starts.
- She is constantly on the go!  She never stops moving.  Whether it's her bedtime bottle and her leg is kicking, in the bath with both hands splashing, or she's pushing her toys around, crawling around the house, or trying to wiggle out of our arms while being held, she never stops!!!
- She's a talker.  She's not saying much yet, but she's always babbling and making noises.  In the car, we grunt back and forth to each other while I'm driving.  Her favorite thing to say is "Ba ba" which is what our nanny calls her bottle, and so we all refer to it as such.
- She's smart.  If she pushes her toys into an object and can't move it forward any more.  She shakes at it to try to rock it free.  If that doesn't work, she walk around the side of the toy and pushes it in reverse once she gets to the front of it.  She's also learning her shapes...very slowly, but she can put some of her shapes into her play cookie jar.
- She loves her puppy, Lexi.  She tries approaching her more often; whether Lexi likes it or not!  She uses her lips to almost say "puppy", but it comes out as "puh puh."  When we get home from being gone, Lexi gets a treat if the house isn't destroyed.  Erica has started giving her these treats, and both girls seem to love it!
- She has a fun personality.  She's always smiling and rarely crying.  If she cries, we know she needs something, and she doesn't cry too often.  Although, now that she's crawling, walking and falling more frequently, we've had a few more tears lately!
- She's becoming more independent/self-sufficient.  She plays for 10+ minutes on her own at times.  We put her in the sun room with her toys and do things in the kitchen, and she entertains herself.  She has been holding her own bottle for several months now, but it is really nice that she can feed herself the bottle from the floor or in her high chair.  She's also getting more into finger foods.  Her favorites are string cheese, peas (which she refused to eat when we pureed home-made food), and blueberry bread.  She has slowly started to try new foods, with mixed results, but she typically likes them better if she feeds it to herself first, rather than us getting it to her!
- She's very curious!  She's constantly pulling out drawers and trying to open cabinets!  We've installed door locks and handle locks on things, and have rearranged drawers in the bathroom to keep things out of her reach.  Whatever she does, she's always looking to explore and discover new things. It's so fun to see her learn new things all the time!!!

Over the past month, we've also transitioned her away from mommy milk to regular whole milk.  Laura successfully made it 11 months pumping for Erica.  And the remaining milk we have in the house will get her to the magical 1 year mark, which Laura set out to achieve long before Erica arrived in our arms.  Both with whole milk and mommy milk from the bottle, Erica has always been very easy to transition to new things.  She had her first bottle with me almost 11 months ago, and she never had a problem with it!  Her first time with whole milk, we mixed it with mommy milk at almost half and half, and she guzzled it!  She never liked mommy milk when it was cold, but now doesn't want her milk heated anymore, she just prefers it cold.  Along with moving towards real milk, we've also had her drinking more water.  She has a baby nalgene bottle with a flip-up straw/sipper and she loves drinking water from it!

She's still a pretty, darn good sleeper as well!  We put her down around 7pm every night, and she'll typically sleep until 7am or later the next morning.  Some mornings she's up a little earlier, other mornings we wonder how late she'll sleep, but it's consistently around 12 hours on average!

Daddy successfully survived a week long work trip while mommy was out of town and left us home alone.  Both Erica and I had a blast together, and Lexi did pretty well at keeping us all in line without mommy around.  Some dads seem to be scared of having to babysit for a night, but I love having my time with my Little Nugget with no one around...it's the best thing ever!

Other than those things, it's been a pretty typical month since my last update.  I'll leave you with a final story:  Several nights ago, I decided to get Erica started on our nightly bath routine.  However, that night, I mixed things up a bit.  Instead of starting the tub with her help like normal, I decided we should get undressed first, and then get the tub going.  So, while Erica was standing bare butt at the edge of the tub while it filled, I looked down and noticed she pee'd all over the floor!  I screamed at the amount of pee puddling at my feet.  Erica then screamed at my screams.  Laura laughed from the kitchen.  So, I had the little screaming girl sit in the tub while I rinsed her smaller tub and then started everything over again.  I'm still curious as to who screamed louder and who was more scared.  I'm not sure, but I think I win on both accounts!!!

Well, with that, I'll wrap this up.  If you're still following this blog, thank you so much.  I'll update this in just over a week when my Little Nugget turns 1 year old.  Until that point, this has been the best 11 and a half months of my life, and I'm so happy I get to keep her in my life as long as I'm around!  Thanks for all of your kind words and best wishes you've sent us along the way.  We've certainly been super lucky to have a happy and healthy baby in our lives for the past year!  Take care!!

10 Months Old!

2/2/14

After a January absence blogging, I'm trying to start February the right way!!!

January was a cold month filled with 5 "snow" days for school!  Those bonus days were a lot of fun with the return of Daddy Daycare!  Erica and I had a blast hanging out at the house, looking out the windows at the frigid neighborhood, and playing with her vast toy collection!  My favorite part of those cold days was spent taking afternoon naps in the recliner with Erica sleeping on my chest!  She hasn't slept on Laura or I for months, so it was a lot of fun having her snuggle in for a couple of hours each afternoon as I watched a movie with my Little Nugget cozied in with a blanket and her bunny! 

Beyond a very goofy January schedule, we didn't have too much excitement in the Lemke House.  We spent a weekend up at the lake with just the 3 of us while Lexi stayed home with grandma.  The highlight (and purpose) of that weekend getaway was Erica's first time swimming!  We took her to Grand Superior Lodge for a dip in their pool.  She was really unsure of the experience at first, but began to relax and enjoy it as time went on...without shedding a single tear!  After some time swishing around the pool in our arms, we put her in an inflatable tube my parents picked up and had waiting for us at the lake.  She loved the tube!  We pulled her around by her feet while she sat and splashed around.  After a while in the pool, Laura and I began to feel chilled, so we knew the poor little girl was even colder than us.  So we ended the pool day with a quick soak in the hot tub.  Fortunately, the pool water was warmer than expected, and the hot tub was cooler than expected, so each was enjoyable for us.  Erica immediately loved the warm bath water of the hot tub and turned into a limp noodle in my arms and just soaked it all in.  A hot tub is always relaxing for adults, but it was funny to see Erica's reaction to the comfort and warmth of it!  The other fun we had that weekend was from watching the deer outside the windows each morning as they ate at the neighbor's house.  Erica was super excited and squeaky and saying her new word, "Hi!!!" at every opportunity.  The deer were well-aware of her presence as they all were watching her, and others took off immediately when she tapped at the windows!!!

A highlight/lowlight from January was Erica's first fever!  She came down with the fever and a plugged up nose/watery eyes a couple days after coming back from the lake.  Her temperature spiked close to 102 one day, and took a few days to fall back down to normal.  Thanks to a couple of days with regular doses of Tylenol and lots of apple juice, we tackled the cold and had a healthy, energetic girl again!  I can definitely tell that dads are wired for the health and safety concerns...those are the biggest things that get me worried/stressed...and my daddy senses were on high alert for a few days during her regular temperature checks and Tylenol dosing.  Fortunately, she's a trooper when it comes to the snot sucker, nose wiping, and taking her medicine!!!

January's biggest challenge has been getting Erica to eat a bigger variety of food.  We've introduced whole milk in an effort to start transitioning away from mommy's milk, and she seems to do fine with it, as long as it's not right out of the fridge and super cold.  She loves blueberry bread we found at Target, but beyond this new food, she is very reluctant to try new foods.  We noticed it appears to be a texture thing...or so we think?!  She loves sweet potatoes that are pureed, but she will not eat small chunks of sweet potato we give her. She dislikes the feel with her fingers and the texture of it in her mouth.  So, of course, she doesn't like much other food we've tried giving her.  We thought pancakes would go well...nope.  We thought French toast would be a treat...nope.  We thought introducing chicken with vegetables (baby food) would be tasty...not even close!  She does like cheese!  We broke up cheese curds and sliced deli cheese, but that's about the extent of her new foods.  We're hoping this changes with some more teeth (she still has just the 2 bottom front teeth from Christmas).  It's sometimes frustrating as we try to spoon feed her new things or break into pieces for her to try, and she won't even get it past the lips.  And if we're lucky to sneak a bite in her mouth, she gets the most disgusted look on her face and spits out the food as if she is gagging on it!  Laura used to be picky as a kid, I'm told, but for Erica to be so picky at 10 months is a huge shock to me!!!  She's too young to be picky, right?!?!

Yesterday, we had our 3rd pro photo shoot.  We think there will be a bunch of adorable ones, so we're anxious to get those back and see what sort of funny expressions were captured!

Other than that, I don't have much to report on this lame update...it's been too cold to go out and do anything fun...just ask Lexi...she's missed out on her walk most of the month as we've had well over 20 days below zero this month.  In fact, a couple of the cold days for school saw morning temps over -20 below, with windchills close to -50!!! 

On Friday this week, dad and Lexi will have the house to ourselves as mom and Erica are heading north to the farm.  Laura's friend, Stephanie is having a baby shower on Saturday, before Laura heads to Warren, MN (near Crookston in the NW part of the state) for 4 days of work.  Erica will spend that time at the farm with Grandpa and Grandma C hanging out.  This will be the longest time I've spent away from her and I'm already well aware of how much I'm going to miss her...even 5 days before they head north!!!

Thanks again so much for checking out my Daddy Diary.  I appreciate you checking in on us.  We all appreciate the best wishes you send our way.  Take care!

A month of firsts!!!

12/27/13

December has been an exciting months for firsts with Erica!  She had her first visit to the urgent care, has been crawling all over the house, standing/pulling herself up on everything, she celebrated her first Christmas, climbed her first flight of stairs, received her first pair of big girl shoes, spent an extended period of time with just dad while mommy was away in Duluth for work, taking her first steps behind her walking toys, and over the past 2 days she has her first 2 teeth coming in!!!  Of course...I've included some pictures at the end...

She has been the joy in our lives ever since she was born almost 9 months ago, and she hasn't stopped rewarding us with love and laughter since day 1!!!  She reminds us every day of how lucky we are to have her in our lives and how fortunate we are to have a healthy and happy baby in the house!

I'll start by bringing you some comfort...Erica is fine and the urgent care was a precautionary trip.  When she first started standing, she was very unsteady and of course, she took some tumbles.  One night we noticed a thumb-print sized bruise on the center of her chest.  It turned black and blue and began fading away over a few days.  However, as it faded away, a small pencil-tip sized lump appeared in the center of it.  It was white and just below the surface.  When you put your finger on it, you could feel it rolling.  It was bothersome for her when we tried to touch it.  A few days later, on Thanksgiving weekend, we decided to take her in to an urgent care on a Saturday to have it looked at.  The doctor was great and guessed it was a bruise as we'd figured as well.  She explained the bump was likely blood vessels beneath the skin that had begun the healing process and some scab-like parts hadn't fully been absorbed by her body yet.  A few days later we followed up with Erica's regular doctor and we couldn't even feel the lump, and she concluded the same thing as the other doctor had.  Needless to say, the lump on the center of her chest gave mom and I a little scared and caused a little stress.  We were relieved leaving the urgent care knowing the doctor wasn't too worried about it!

When Erica first became mobile within the last month and a half, she started getting places by barrel-rolling across rooms.  She then began an army crawl using her strong arms (mostly elbows) to pull herself around without the use of her legs.  Over the past 3 weeks, she has been crawling normally...and she is fast!!!  She is really enjoying discovering all the things she can pull herself up to and stand against.  Whether it's the end tables in the sun room, the chairs at the dining room table or her favorite...our front windows!  She loves crawling over to the windows and watching outside and seeing cars go by.  Regardless of what she sees, she giggles most of the time!  If Lexi is at the windows barking, Erica starts crawling that way to see what the commotion is all about.  I must say, although she loves pulling herself up to the windows, she really enjoys pulling herself/crawling into the dishwasher when the door is open after dinner!  It's low enough for her to pull herself on to, and she enjoys laying on her belly and pulling the bottom rack in and out!  Her daily adventures and discoveries around the house are the best source of entertainment for Laura and I.  I often find myself just laughing at the things she does.  Her noises/sounds are always worth a laugh for daddy!  She makes these deep growling sounds (which sounds like a gremlin), and high pitch squeaks, but mostly, just random noises and grunts as she is discovering her voice!  Lately, she's been adding her hand into the mix of sound effects...she moves it across her lips and makes babbling sounds, as well as smacking her lips together while eating!  Apparently, this means that mommy and daddy are great and boiling/steaming food and pureeing it into awesome meals!

A couple weeks ago, my parents took her to Burnsville to buy her first pair of shoes.  They are cute little shoes that provide support for her feet and ankles as she begins taking her first steps and standing on her feet.  Laura's parents brought down a plastic dog (that we call, "Woofy" because "puppy" is already taken by Lexi!) that she can sit on and be pushed around, but the seat also pivots up so she can stand behind it and push it.  She has been cruising around with that and seems to be moving a little faster and more sure of herself each time she moves around.  Combined, these 2 generous gifts from her grandparents are helping her move closer to her first steps on her own at rapid speed!

Erica's first Christmas was a blast, though exhausting for her and mommy and daddy!  We left home with a full SUV and a crowded backseat with Erica and Lexi snuggled in for the long drive to Fargo.  Brett hosted dinner and gift opening at his house in the afternoon before heading to the farm for a couple of extra days.  Even though she was up way past her bedtime and had to be in her car seat longer than she wanted, she was spoiled with tons of gifts and has lots of new toys to keep herself entertained for months to come!  It was at Brett's house where she conquered her first flight of stairs.  We were all impressed with this accomplishment...but I was most impressed with the fact that she did it so easily...as if she'd done it many times in the past!  She just kept moving right up the steps, never falling or missing stride!  It's a good thing we have a baby gate at our house to guard the steps, but we may need one downs stairs now because we can no longer retreat to the basement and keep her confined to the smaller space...now she knows how to get back upstairs!!!

The week before Christmas, Laura had to be in Duluth for her work.  She left home Sunday afternoon and came back Thursday around dinner time.  In between, Daddy Daycare was back in full swing!!!  Of course, she was with our nanny during the day, but when I came home from school, it was just daddy with his girls!  I had a blast being home along with Erica and Lexi and enjoyed it thoroughly, but I don't know how single parents do it...it's a ton of work with no down-time unless the baby is sleeping!!!  It was pretty evident that Erica was missing her mommy because she was often saying, in her own special way, "Mom mom" or "mama!"

And finally, Erica's 2-3 months of drooling all over the place and gnawing on her toys and our fingers is paying off...her first tooth started poking through Christmas night.  It's barely poking through, but I can feel it when she nibbles on my fingers!!!  And, this morning at breakfast, I noticed the second one coming in right next to it!  So, whenever they are up, she'll have both of her bottom front teeth!  I think the best part about these new teeth is that she is not fussing at all!!!  Two weeks ago, we thought they were ready to poke through because she was super fussy and wouldn't let us near her bottom lip, let alone her jaw.  But now that they are actually through, she's not even fazed by them.  So, knock on wood with us...

And so, I'll wrap up this entry like I've done over the past 18 months...Thank you so much for following along with Erica's journey through her young life, and my young journey as a dad.  Being a dad is by far the best thing that has ever happened to me (just behind getting married to the best wife a guy could ever ask for!).  Each day is better than the previous.  And though there are some new challenges each day as Erica explores and discovers new things in her world, the laughter she brings us far outweighs everything else!  Being a daddy is by far the most fulfilling feeling in the world and I've loved every minute of it!  Thanks so much for reading this entry, and we thank you for your best thoughts/wishes and/or prayers you've sent our way...we are truly a lucky family!  Take care!

A few of our most recent professional pictures...

Erica enjoying looking out the window. We suspect her bruise was from falling onto a crank. We have since removed all of the cranks on the low windows!

Erica riding on Woofy!

She met Santa at the MN Zoo. Santa said she was so well-behaved, he wished all kids were as great as Erica!

Erica tormented Lexi by opening and closing her gate while the poor dog was inside of it!!!

Opening presents at Uncle Brett's!

Posing in front of the Christmas tree at the farm

A bed time picture we sent mommy while she was away at work in Duluth. 

Erica climbing on daddy while he wrote this blog entry. Notice all of her new toys in the background!!!

Daddy's slacking as baby's growing!!!

It's been waaaaay too long since I've updated this blog!!!!  Erica has been changing in so many ways since my last post over a month and a half ago!!!  I'll try to capture the highlights: (of course there are a few pictures at the end!)

She is eating real food now. Cereal never went that great for her until we added apricots. Eventually we cut out the cereal and stuck with just fruit and she loved it!!!  Since then she has been on a big food eating experiment!!! She loves sweet potatoes and apples. Carrots are close behind them as are pears and mangos. She tolerates avocados but hates anything else that is green. Her faces when she tries a new food is priceless...she looks so disgusted or upset and then quickly spits it out!!!  She learned how to eat from a spoon fairly quickly and she is pretty neat though she has now been trying to take the spoon from us and tries to feed herself. I must say, Laura and I have gotten pretty good at roasting, boiling, steaming and pureeing food over the past month or so!!!  Erica seems to enjoy the little tastes of humus and ice cream dad sneaks her on occasion!

We really enjoyed watching her on her first Halloween!!! She was a monster...a pink, fuzzy monster!!! And she was the cutest kid ever!!!  We carved our pumpkin the night before and managed to fit her in there for a cute picture. On Halloween we took her to see the grandparents and great grandparents and some other family in town before taking a quick tour of the neighborhood. She was a trooper!!! She lasted over 2 hours in her costume and endured several cycles of getting in and out of the car and never made much of a fuss!!! I think she knew how cute she was and wanted to show off!!!

Erica has become quite the mover lately!!!  At first she mastered rolling over but couldn't figure out the crawling thing. She began using the barrel rolls to get from one side of her blanket and toy area to the other. One weekend I tried showing her how to arch her back the other way in order to try and get herself up on her hands and knees. At first she just rocked forward and back and eventually face-planted. Since that first weekend though, she has been moving at warp speed with her hybrid army crawl. She is super fast and can scoot across a room very quickly when she wants to go after something!  This past weekend I started working with her on how to push/pull herself up on things while crawling. She now loves crawling over our legs while we sit on the floor, though she still face plants on the other side!!!  She has been following us around the house and has discovered the dishwasher door to be very fun to try to get up on and has enjoyed pushing and pulling on the oven drawer as well. Needless to say, we are now helping each other watch our backs while in the kitchen and we keep her out while cooking. Just the other day she found her way over to Lexi's kennel and began swinging the door open and close. It didn't take long for her to smack herself in the face with the door. Laura and I giggled while Lexi watched from inside her kennel as if to ask us, "how long are you going to let her do this to my house before you stop her?!?!" 

Lexi and Erica have become quite the pair of buddies!!!  Erica is now dodging and swinging her arms when Lexi approaches to lick her. Lexi also lucky enough to start reaping the rewards of dropped/slipped food in Erica's high chair when the meals are done. For some reason she always lays at our feet while we are feeding Erica!!!

Erica enjoys her baths more than ever!!!  We moved her tub into the bathtub a while ago so she loves being able splash around and play with her toys. Bath time is still as fun as ever because her and daddy get to crank the tunes and hang out for a little while together and do our thing!!!

Its become very clear lately that mommy is Erica's favorite person!!!  She has become quite clingy in this stage and screams when Laura leaves the room. Laura has been quite the trooper and has definitely earned "mom of the year" award the past couple of months with the arrival of my hunting season!!! Thankfully both grandmas have helped her be a single mom on a few occasions. I definitely owe her some long days to herself!!! Last Sunday was a fun day for Erica and I to bond while Laura went out to breakfast with her aunt and did some shopping while Erica and I hung out and played together!!!

Other than that, there haven't been too many major events happening around here. I'll try to get better with these posts and get them more regular. Next week Erica will celebrate her first Thanksgiving when Laura's family comes to town. Until that first tooth pops through or something else develops, I'll keep you posted. Thanks so much for checking in on my Daddy Diary!!!  Take care!!!

Erica loves her bath time!!!

She enjoys watching Wild games with mom and dad before going to bed most nights!!!

We spent a few hours in my parents yard helping get the yard ready for winter and she loved being outside by the fire with mom and grandma!

The cutest monster ever!!!

Practicing her scary face from her pumpkin the night before Halloween!

It's getting cool out so we had to bundle up for a walk with Lexi one afternoon!!! Both Erica and daddy stayed nice and cozy!!!

Food!!!