A Long-Awaited Nap

Sometimes you get tired. Really tired. There's no controlling it. And no fighting it. You pull your hat over your eyes and temporarily kiss the world goodbye in exchange for one long-awaited and well-deserved nap. By golly, it's what you have to do.

School Blues

In just one little week I'll be heading back to school. It'll be my 21st time.

Back to journal article writing,

classes,

data analyzing,

and reading (oh, the reading).

But this time, I'll be going back with the prettiest 14-pounder you've ever seen waiting at home for me. It's a first. No doubt she'll creep into my thoughts one million times per day.

The way she smiles at me when she first wakes up,

the way she wraps her fingers tightly around mine on walks,

the way she "talks" to me when I talk to her,

and the way she searches for me and my voice when we're around crowds of people.

The thought of missing one moment of her day makes me want to flood our entire family room. Like right now. But I'll try to keep my cool so that I don't wake Tyler or Emma. I can do some ugly crying when I get going. Ladies, you know what I'm talkin' about. What's going to make it all ok, though, is that she'll be spending her two days away from me every week with her awesome daddy, who she completely adores and desperately needs one-on-one time with. I'm leaving them with a freezer full of milk so she won't go hungry, a half-decorated but stocked playroom, and some idea of when she gets hungry and tired. Besides that, they're on their own.

They'll do so great. No doubt about it.


And me? I'll be at school trying not to do the ugly cry and watching the clock go tick, tick, tick until I can get home to them both.

One Big Sleep Step

Congrats to Emma! We just finished giving her a bath and as I type Katie is putting her down in her new bed.


Note: The picture above is not Emma and Katie.

During our "family days" last week, we purchased it from Baby Grand and I finally had the time to set it up tonight. Emma has outgrown her bassinet and her pack 'n play so we thought this would be a good last step before she heads down the hall to her...drum roll please...crib. Having her in our room has been awesome for both of us but especially for me during golf season. I honestly never hear Emma wake up in the middle of the night. Katie's sixth mom sense must kick in because she wakes up before Emma even starts crying, feeds her, and then they both go back to bed.

Hopefully Emma likes her new bed!

Family Days

Emma and I flew solo today after two fun-filled family days. We miss the daddy already. Yesterday, we went for a walk, had our cars worked on, grabbed lunch at Chipotle, ran a bunch of errands, and grilled out for dinner. Because Emma loves many a thing more than her car seat, we tend to save errands for our family days so that I can sit in the back seat with her and play baby distractor while TB drives.

Here are two pics of my loves doing some reading before leaving home. I should have taken the picture from a different angle because you can't tell that she's got a little smile on her face. She's a sucker for that Elmo.


And here I am with our EB. A big thanks to my sis-in-law for the wrap. She sent us two boxes of clothes that my niece Lily has outgrown and threw in her Maya Wrap, too. I did a little happy dance when I saw it. I've been wanting one.

Wordless Wednesday

The Had-Another-Fun-Day-With-My-Daddy Edition


We'll tell you all about our family day tomorrow. It was fun with a capital f, as always.

Walkin'

Finally, a family day. It's been too long.

This morning we took a little walk up to Caribou Coffee for a latte (TB) and a tea (KB). The high today was 75 degrees so the weather was perfect for a walk.

Here's the daddy and the daughter just before heading out the door. TB is wearing Emma in our Bjorn. It's her favorite carrier at the moment because it allows her to be worn facing forward, which she prefers to facing us. We're a wee bit obsessed with wearing her these days because she finally likes it!


Notice the hands! She found them and loves them :)

Daddy/Daughter

To stay connected to my wife and daughter, I have become an avid reader of the blog. I check it at work, I check it on my phone, pretty much I check it whenever I can. I always need my daily fix of the KB and EB. I look at EB's cheeks, her beautiful eyes, her pretty outfits. And I look at her beautiful mama.

It's tournament season at the Dunes, and you have heard it before, it is rough on the family time, especially daddy / daughter time. I leave when she is sleeping and come home when she is sleeping. But the next two days are different. I have two days off in a row starting tomorrow! Over the next few days, you will see plenty of daddy / daughter time.

I might go give her a kiss right now.....

To be continued...

Let Me Tell You 'Bout My Best Friend

If Emma and Maggie could put a caption on the photo below, I think it would read something like this:

"Uh, Mom? Why are you looking at us so weird? We're just playing. Geez."



It's true, I was surprised to see them lay together so happily. Usually Maggie ditches the room when Emma enters it. But, no longer. They became fast friends yesterday when Maggie learned that Emma was, in fact, very useful.

Cheeks

You know how people tend to carry weight in certain places?


There's the hips,


the butt,


the thighs,


the belly,


all over,


the cheeks.


Wait a minute. Cheeks?


Uh huh, cheeks.


Exhibit A.


Exhibit B.

Playroom

This is KB, blogging to you from....HOME! We finally have the internet again and I'm spending the evening checking all of my favorite blogs and catching up on e-mail while simultaneously watching Fried Green Tomatoes on TV. An excited TB left to go play dodgeball a little while ago but arrived home just a short time later after he learned that it had been canceled. He was so bummed! The Twins play tonight so we'll probably turn the game on in a bit and/or sit out on our little patio and enjoy the weather.

Remember when I said we planned to convert our office into a playroom for Emma? I've finished half the room! Two of the walls are windows so the room gets great light during the day. I took these pictures last week when the sun was going down so it's a little hard to tell how bright it actually gets.


The rug is new. It has lots of flowers and ladybugs on it, and the colors are fun. We already had the bookcase and four-shelf toy bin. The big circles came from IKEA (just $5 each!) and the hanging green thing and fun stuffed animals came from IKEA, too. I could live at IKEA, I tell you.

Here's a close-up of the right corner of the room. I still need to do something with the wall because it's looking pretty bare. Some fun family pics would probably look great there.


And here's a close-up of the left corner of the room. Emma has a lot of great books, and believe it or not, it only takes us one to two days to read all of them. She loves to read and talks/laughs/pays close attention in all of the right places. She's so awesome.


On the other side of the room, I am thinking of putting brightly colored workout mats down. The rug is nice for playing on the floor and reading, and will one day be perfect when Emma is crawling and learning to walk, but the foam mats would be great for anything messy we get ourselves into :) I'd love to put a little table and chairs on that side of the room and maybe an easel with a chalk board on one side and a white board on the other side.

I'll let you know when the other side is done!

Wordless Wednesday

Fun With Mama

Emma and I were able to get outside and play a few weeks back.

We "talked,"


read books,


and walked around.


Does school really have to start in three weeks? I love days with our sweet girl.

Baby Blues

A few weeks ago a new baby store opened just up the street. Emma and I have walked by and peered in the windows every single morning for a month just waiting to get our hands on the goods. I'm sure the owner, who happens to be newly married with no kids yet and really sweet, practically felt like she knew me on the day it opened. What I love about the things there is that they are unique and made from really nice yet comfortable material. Emma scored herself three new outfits. She wore one of them last week. My grandma and I met my mom downtown so that Emma could meet all of the sweet people in my mom's office and take her to lunch.

This outfit, in particular, was worth every penny. And the grin to match? Priceless.

Hi Again

I know, I know, where have we been!?! Well, currently we don't have internet at home. Our neighbors moved out and took their unsecured wireless with them. Darn! So, we're in the process of getting it and should be online within the week. I personally cannot wait. It's amazing how much I depend on the internet.

Emma and I also took a trip to Kansas. I take the same trip every year in July. Tyler usually can't make it because he's in mid-season but Emma was able to come this year! We had a lot of fun and it meant a lot to me to bring her home. I think I've told you how much Emma dislikes the car. It made for a very eventful and long trip! Thank goodness I had my sister for the first leg and my grandma for second because if I did not I guarantee I'd be blogging to you right now from somewhere in Iowa. I'm so not kidding. We keep thinking that when she's a little bigger and can face forward and entertain herself she'll like the car more.

In other news, we have a new camera! I am in love with it and have it attached to me at all times so that I no longer have to deprive you of the most beautiful little girl in the world. And, speaking of that girl, check out these pictures! She holds her head up so well now and loves her Bumbo!