to chad on our anniversary

18 years ago today, I sat in my bedroom talking on the phone late into the evening with you when we "officially" decided we were dating. We were so young then. You were a senior in high school and I was a sophomore. We had met for the first time a couple months earlier when I was a wrestling cheerleader and you were a wrestler for our high school team. It's been an amazing journey. We've changed so much since that day in 1992.

We've had an amazing adventure these past 18 years- dating in high school, living thousands of miles apart while you were in the Navy for two years, going to college together, moving to MN, buying a house, adopting our first dog, adjusting to a new puppy, marriage, having a baby, and going through the loss of our beloved Bijou.

You have such an caring heart for animals and I love you so much for that.

You are a natural at being a father. Greta loves you so much and raising her with you these past 10 months has been such a joy.

I can't imagine what the next 18 years will bring. I love you Chad.

a day in the life of an elf

Last Wednesday, Greta and I ventured to downtown Minneapolis and had lunch with my friend, Sarah, at Ike's and then Greta and I went to the Macy's display "A day in the life of an elf."

In front of the tree at the IDS tower

Nicollet Mall

Entrance to the Macy's display

Greta was mesmerized by everything.

I loved watching her reaction.

I could barely get her to glance my direction because she was intrigued by all the lights.

Touching the "snow"

A view of the displays. It reminded me of a smaller scale Disney World ride.

In Santa's workshop

Greta got a little scared of these elves.

We got to see Santa at the end!

Telling Santa what she wants for Christmas.

A fun day with my special girl.

merry christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

pizza and shopping

Today Chad, Greta, and I ventured down to Northeast Minneapolis to have lunch at Punch Pizza and shop at the Pacifier boutique. Chad has never ate at Punch Pizza before and I was craving their Punch salad. Yum!

This little girl is crawling all over the place now. She is also standing really well and Chad had her walking around a bit while he was holding her hands today.

You can see her cute two bottom teeth in this photo. So far those are the only ones that have popped through.

Today we were playing on the floor and Greta leaned down and before I could realize what she was doing she bit my toe. I yelped and it startled her so she started crying. It really hurt though! Those two teeth are sharp.
We've noticed that she is really sensitive lately. Chad was feeding her a bottle in her nursery tonight and he thought Sofie wanted to go outside so he yelled to me and his loud voice startled her. She was a little groggy so I think that made her cry a little harder than she normally would. It's so sad when she gets upset though.

I love it when she crinkles her nose like in the picture above. She is growing before our eyes. That's pretty much all I have today. Chad and I watched the movie "Grown Ups" tonight and I thought it was funny but definitely a rental.

Have a great week everyone!

42 weeks and a weekly update

Greta turned 42 weeks on Thursday. We've had a fun week of baby classes, a trip to Ridgedale, a St. Paul jaunt to visit Eleanor, a lunch playdate, an adventure in NE Minneapolis along with Punch Pizza, and another lunch date at Noodles with our friends. Greta is definitely on the move now. She is army crawling everywhere. She loves to go after things she shouldn't have like cords or Sofie's red ball. She will giggle and crawl really fast if she thinks you are coming after her to stop her. It's pretty cute. A week and a half ago she got into a seated position from being on her tummy and has been perfecting that trick this week. I have also caught her showing affection to some of her animal toys. It's so sweet. She holds them like a baby and caresses them. I'm really loving this age.

This Saturday, we started our morning with breakfast at Carol's Restaurant. Greta loves sitting in her high chair and looking (staring) at everyone around her. She also tries to grab everything on the table.

Or eat the table. Yuck.
I bought this shirt for Greta when I was pregnant. It says "My dog loves me". I can definitely say this is true for Sofie. When I bought this shirt during my pregnancy I had hopes of getting a picture of Bijou and Sofie with Greta.
The feeling is mutual.

Someone likes to help me unload the dishwasher.

This week we made a trip to Ridgedale to meet our friends, Johanna and Harry. Harry got his picture taken with santa and it was adorable. While shopping in Gymboree, Greta tried on this cute hat. She isn't a fan of fur.

The day was exhausting.

We took a trip to the fabric store and picked out pretty fabrics.

We had lunch and a playdate with Greta's friend, Elle, and my friend, Rachel. Greta and Elle are about 8 weeks apart.

Flowers or

bows?

or flowers?

I snapped a few pictures before we went to the Guthrie for some family photos.

Next week, some of our classes are cancelled so I think we're going to try and make a trip to the Mall of America, a visit to the downtown Minneapolis Macy's A Day in the Life of an Elf exhibit, and finish wrapping all our Christmas Gifts. A week from today, Greta will be turning 10 months old on Christmas Day. We have a lot to be thankful for this year.