Okay, so it's been entirely too long since I've last written. Random things that happened since then:
We said farewell to our pastor; We visited the pumpkin farm; We went to a baby shower; I had my first day back to work in over a year; Kirstin had her first day at daycare.

I probably won't write about all of those. I can write prolifically about Kirstin's first day at day care though. I went back to work as a substitute teacher, so I needed to drop of Kirstin at day care. It was tough. I knew she would be fine and all that, but she didn't want to go to Connie. She literally cuddled up to me, and then I had to hand her over. She cried and put up a fuss and was really hanging on to her pink bunny, which is her comfort toy. I knew it would probably only last a minute, but it still was tough.

I went through the day as a math teacher (interesting concept, me trying to teach some math!) and then went and picked her up. When I got there Connie was rocking a very tired looking Kirstin in the chair. I thought for sure that she hadn't taken a nap, but it turned out that she had just woken up from an hour and a half nap! Yay! Connie said she was really good and had a lot of fun with April, another little girl that is there. I think from now on it will be a lot easier to let her go. I know she's in good hands (in fact I knew that from the very beginning!) and I know that she can adapt to life at day care. She needs to be around other kids. Already yesterday I could tell that she had learned new things. It was great.

Busy busy busy

Time does get away from a person rather quickly, if I do say so myself. This past week has been rather hectic. Monday was a normal day, so that was good. Tuesday brought a phone call from Phil asking if I would be willing to do some data entry work at the plumbing shop for him. If it was anyone else, I think I would have said no, but being it's Phil, and he and his family are so nice, how can you turn him down? So, I spent Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday and Friday entering inventory numbers for him. I'll probably be back on Monday doing the same thing. It's rather mind numbing, and the problem I have is that I sometimes transpose numbers while going from the sheet to the computer, but I usually get it all figured out. Kirstin gets to stay with me, so that's a good thing. She just gets a little dirty from playing on the floor. It IS a shop, so there's plenty of dust and dirt around no matter how much you clean up. We stay up front, in the office/showroom area. Kirstin likes the toilets and likes to explain how they work. Then she takes her nap in her pack and play, and as soon as people see the sleeping baby, they immediately quiet down. I like small town shops!

Other than that, I have written down rocks, poop, and banana. I know that sounds interesting, but it's all Kirstin. Last Thursday I was getting us ready to go into town for our usual church work day. That's all fine, and I was putting some stuff into the car before getting Kirstin into her seat. There's no problem there, as she was playing and talking. She was jabbering at me when I put her into her seat. I have no idea what she was saying, but it was funny to her. All of a sudden, as I'm doing the final check/tightening of the belts deal, she opened up her mouth and stuck out her tongue and out rolled a rock! She didn't gag or anything, so I don't believe she swallowed it, but it stayed in her mouth while she was talking! I told her it was aucky, and now she gets watched much more closely while we're outside.

As far as the word poop goes, the same day, Thursday, I got her home and put her in her crib for a nap. Lately, she won't poop until she's in her crib. I think she's just going to much to really relax enough. Anyway, she was making a ruckus, so I went up to check on her. The smell hit me right when I walked in the doorway. Yup, she pooped. Okay, no big deal, I just had to change her diaper. As I walked to her crib to get her out to do just that, I asked her if she pooped, and her response? "Yeah! Poop!" Great, she's learned a new word. Luckily it's not like the way she says shirt. She'll bring me shirts, and try to say the word. We'll get it in the end, I know.

And then the banana time. I recently got out all of her warmer clothes, and I chose a time in which she was eating her lunch, part of which was a banana. Well, I was only upstairs for a few minutes while I got out the clothes and put them away. I came back downstairs, and she had banana absolutely CAKED in her hair and smeared up and down her arms and on her face. I figured the easiest way to clean her up was going to be to give her a shower. She loves showers and likes to play with the water coming out of the faucet. Well, as I was getting her ready for her shower, I noticed she had a dirty diaper. That wasn't a big deal, I just had to get her somewhat cleaned up before getting her into the shower. This left her without a diaper while I was running the water to get it to the right temperature. She likes to stick her hands in the water as it's running, and the warm water had an effect on her.

Yup, you guessed it, she peed all over the bathroom rugs. First she lifted one leg up as the urine was streaming down it, and then put that leg down and lifted the other when it switched direction. I quickly got her into the tub, but not before the rugs were well saturated. The joys of being a mom never end, I tell you.

Of course I can't be angry with her for any of those things, as they are just things that happen. Besides, she's too cute most of the time anyway. She now likes to play bucket head and she gives out hugs almost indiscriminately. Baby hugs make up for any kind of mishaps or mischief that come about. Unfortunately, Kirstin knows that too...

Do the baby shuffle!

I know it's been quite a while since I've last posted. I do have a good excuse though. I was on vacation. Matt, Kirstin and I, along with Ma and Bill, and Mark and Abby went on a quick tour of the south. We left here on the 14th of August and returned on the 25th. We had a great time, and saw many cool things. But there are drawbacks to vacationing with a toddler.

First of all, we have a cute little girl. I know I'm rather biased, but that's the way it is. Everywhere we stopped people would stop to talk with Kirstin and tell us what a cute baby she is. I have no problem with this, but sometimes it did get a little tiresome. Especially when I was trying to get her to do something, and people would interrupt. That's life, I know.

Second is that Kirstin developed a great fear of elevators and hotel rooms. She would scream. Loudly. I think we took many stairs just to keep her from crying. She was terrified of the elevators. She would kick and scream. It was horrible. Generally speaking though, when it came to the hotel rooms, she would calm down after a minute or so. I think she was scared that we would leave her there. Of course we wouldn't do that, but her baby mind must have thought so.

And third is the fact that she became shy of all our friends back here at home. The Wednesday after we got back we headed over to Lori's to raid her garden. She wouldn't let me put her down in the house. She clung to me, and then when I pulled her away from me and tried to put her down, she kept her feet up. I was safe, and she wasn't going to leave me. Well, Thursday came, and we went into town and I tried to leave her at the parsonage like I've been doing all summer. She clung to my leg.

Enter the baby shuffle. I tried to walk while she was clinging. The only way I could achieve mobility was to keep the one leg straight and drag it behind me with Kirstin attached. If there had been music, it would have made for an interesting dance. And you may ask, "Why didn't you just pick her up so you could walk?" Well, for the same reason that I shouldn't have picked her up on Wednesday at Lori's house. She wouldn't have let me put her down. Luckily Kim and Pastor are old hands at dealing with children. Kim finally got her trust and took Kirstin into the kitchen to help make buns and brownies. I left during this time. By the time I got back to the house, Kim and Kirstin were outside blowing bubbles. They were great friends again. It just took a little bit of time. The only problem is that I had to repeat the shuffle again at the grocery store, but I think we'll get better with that kind of stuff as time goes on.

Now I have many things calling for attention today, and I should get started so that I can get at least half of them done. Laundry and dishes are at the top of the list, and hopefully I can get some outside stuff done as well. Kirstin likes being outside, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

So, until next time, Do the baby shuffle!

They're here to protect....

Today Kirstin and I ran into town to do the weekly church work. I'm the secretary there and the assistant treasurer, so I get all kinds of fun stuff once a week. Before we went to the church though, I decided I'd stop by the eye clinic and see about getting new glasses. Basically I just want a price. Well, on the way into the parking lot, the street by the emergency room was pretty much as it usually is. I parked the car in the lot, got Kirstin out and walked up to the door of the clinic. I didn't even go all the way in, because I could see that the eye clinic was closed. They close at 1:00 on Fridays. So, I immediately turned around, got Kirstin back into the car, and then called Matt to tell him that I couldn't get a price today. As I was exiting the parking lot, I noticed two squad cars on the street that two minutes ago was devoid of activity. Not only that, but across the street from the hospital, there were two cops with a guy in handcuffs, and they were handing him a cell phone.

I have two thoughts about this:

One is that the police must respond very quickly in order to get to the place (they may have been in transit when I went in, but still...) and get the guy cuffed that quickly. It actually makes me feel a bit safer knowing that they can do that.

Second is that I was rather surprised at my reaction. I felt smug. I don't even know what happened. I just felt superior to the dude in the cuffs because you know, obviously my morals are better than his /sarcasm. That reaction surprised me because I never feel superior to others. It was just odd.

Other than that weird happening, today was a rather normal in town day for us. Kirstin got to watch some of her Sing-A-Long videos. She loves them. She dances in her baby way and points at the tv and laughs. It's great. I did the secretarial work, and then the financial work. Same old stuff, just a different week. Next week I'm not sure when I'm going in because we're leaving on Thursday. We'll see what happens. Well, that's all for this post!

Farm Fest

Well, here's the second post. Matt and I went to Farmfest yesterday and had a really good time. At least I did. Matt had to work at the U of M booth this year. Matt got there early, around 8:00, and Kirstin and I rode in with Bill. I wandered around for a bit with Kirstin, Bill and Ma, and then they had to leave so they could get some lunch and Bill could get back home to do some combining. They brought Kirstin with them. This was kind of a test to see how she'd do in the stroller again. We rarely use it for her anymore, but we're going on vacation soon, so it was a good thing we had her in it. She had to get out and walk every now and then, but she was also okay in the stroller. She just had enough of the heat and all the people, so she went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I actually got to walk through the show site without having to hold on for Matt or hurrying up for him. That was really strange. Usually we walk it all together. I got to see what I wanted to see on my own time. I got some literature on a few things, at some food, and bought a wooden rose.

Yes, you read that right. It was a wooden rose. I bought one for Ma too. They were relatively cheap. Mine is blue and Ma's is red. They had some oils there that you could use to scent them, but I figured I could buy some scented oils at Walmart cheaper. You just drop the oil in the center, and you have a nice smelling, never dying rose.

The only bad thing about Farm fest was that I forgot to put sunscreen on my face. That was an oops, but at least I remembered my arms and legs this time. I look rather lobster like right now, but it should heal without a problem.

Last night Matt talked with John about getting us a ground source heat pump. Most of that goes over my head, but I do think it would be a really good thing for our house. But because of that conversation, we didn't get on the road until 10:30 or so. We didn't get back home till after 12:30 a.m. Kirstin slept in the car, which I expected. I did alright until just between Morris and Donnelly. Then I started nodding off. I just couldn't help myself. I feel bad for Matt who had to get up early this morning to work, and then he's staying later tonight to make up the hour he missed yesterday. He'll be staying late again tomorrow, so he doesn't have to stay late on Thurs, when we leave for Renville right before going on vacation.

Otherwise, I've been drawing up chicken coop plans on graph paper. I already know what kinds of chickens I'd like to get. I'd like 2 Rhode Island Reds and 2 New Hampshire Reds. I think that would be enough, but it's tough to find places that will deliver only four chicks without charging an arm and a leg. Maybe I'll have to get more of a different breed an then get them slaughtered for meat. Or maybe a neighbor would like some more. I won't be getting any for quite a while yet. I still have to figure the costs of feed and fencing and all that jazz. It will be interesting though. Well, that's all I can think of for now, aside from Kirstin telling Grandma Ma, "Monkey!" when she wanted to be held. We're still trying to figure out that one.

First of many?

This is the first post in this new blog. I really don't know what it will be about. I'm a stay-at-home mom that just basically holds down the fort. I do work one day a week at church doing the accounting and secretarial work. It's really an easy job. I've just been feeling the need for some kind of creative outlet lately. I don't know how often I'll post either, but I think this is the beginning of something that might turn into a habit.