Babysit for a Friend

Thank you Mandy and Aaron for helping me check one more thing off my list! I got to watch Miss Bridget this afternoon while Mandy had some solo time. She was an angel and it all went smoothly enough to continue to offer my services to my friends with kiddos.

I was curious to see how Harrison responded to a small one around. In the beginning he was all about showing off for her, complete with turning circles and drop kicking balls. But I think when Mandy left and he realized that she was staying with us he got a little more wary. They both shared well. Ate lunch at the same time, and danced to music. But whenever Bridget got too close to him (which lucky for him, she's still crawling) he got whiney and kept looking at me as if to say "call her off!".

One thing I noticed having two sweet babies around is that I couldn't watch one's acts of cuteness without missing the other. Tricky! As a second, and middle child, I feel bad for myself knowing now that Kellie got more attention :) Well, I turned out well enough anyway :)

Ann Arbor!

Wedding!

La Familia!

The sister, the bride :)

More to come on this a very happy wedding weekend in Ann Arbor, MI. Perfect weather and beautiful colors! They made for a very happy couple.

Unread Classics

I just finished my first classic book of the year (in September....took awhile) and I must say, I loved it. I finally read Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. Years ago I saw this movie with my sister Kellie at Studio 28. Loved it. The elegant old house, the rich ladies wandering around with little do to and much to talk about. Well, I took forever to get into the book. One of those stop and starts and shelve-aways for a later date. Finally to be finished today. I was most happy to find that all the bits I found to be silly in the movie were not present in the original.

I'm glad Fanny Price won in the end. Although marrying her cousin is still a little weird.

Now I am search of my second unread classic book.

A Bear in the Woods

H practically begged to go down to his first nap at 8:45a. Why so sleepy? That is perhaps the worst thing about camping with a 13 mo old, the readjustments. H is all about his schedule, for the good and the bad.

On a whim a few weeks ago we decided to look up Sleeping Bear Dunes campsites. I had heard about them through a co worker and since it is on my 27 THings to Do While 27 I thought why not go there? As luck would have it, the campsite we were aiming at had one night available amidst weeks of being booked up. We registered for it on the spot, 15$ campsite. I was happy about it already :)

So we woke up at 4:30 Saturday morning. The car was (very wisely) packed the night before. I only managed to forget both of our toothbrushes. We loaded a sleepy bear into his car seat and took off with coffee in our hands and cautious anticipation in our hearts!

It took us 3 hours and 15 rounds of The Ants Go Marching sung by me in the back seat to get to our first destination. We arrived early at the Platte River and loaded up the little one in the borrowed 25+ year old Gerry baby carrier (the BEST contraption and the winner of What to Bring While Camping with a Baby). We got to see large nesting cages of endangered birds. Discovered that we should have brought waders to ford the river and also maybe should have bought a map. But the river felt delicious on our feet!

Jon flashing some skin to avoid the water.

We lounged on the grass and ate some snacks while planning our next stop. We decided to head to our campground to see if our spot was open and then continue on to the Dunes.

View from the car, just the first of several dunes to Lake Michigan.

Because our site was still occupied we headed north to Glen Arbor (perhaps it was Haven?) for lunch and a stroll around the cute town. Very beachy. We grabbed some slices of pizza and H even convinced me to buy him his first ice cream (superman flavored) which we split. He was techni-colored around the face for the better part of the day.

Me and H decided to race up the dune...not a good idea.

The initial dune was huge yes, but I've done several before so thought nothing of it at first. But those dunes were deceiving us! Each time we crested the sand hills we just saw another looming in front with the false promise that the lake was right after that one. Well no it wasn't.

Jon reacts to seeing yet more hills between him and the water.

22lbs of precious cargo still feels like 22lbs.

H had a lot of fun removing his hat and throwing it to the ground while we climbed. Hilarious. But it really was a great hike. The best part was the descent though :)

The view before descending the big dune.

Another thing I learned was this, carry your camera everywhere if you want pictures. Sadly this is my last picture. This was taken at 6am Sunday morning while Jon was tearing down the tent and I placated a sad baby with crackers and milk.

To streamline the rest of the trip for you:

Things that went well:

H slept- from 10:30 to 5:30 the baby slept in his diaper between us. Little angel. It took him 2 hours of ping-ponging around the tent before he collapsed from exhaustion, cute but tiring even to watch!

We got to see such beautiful things in northern MI that we really want to go back. That along was a success :)

I made and lit a campfire (albeit with 6 matches but who was counting?) that lasted long enough for our hot dog dinner and smores.

We went through Traverse City on the way back- what a fun mix of Ann Arbor, Holland and Chicago. I want to go back!

Things that were less than awesome:

The camp stove was not our friend...a fire hazard for real! No pancake breakfast for us.

It thunder stormed as we woke up (which was actually pleasant) but packing up camp in it with a cranky baby not so ideal.

A loud raccoon got into our campsite and scared me silly. I couldn't see it and only heard piggy-like noises and lumbering about. Yeesh.

So that in a nutshell is what I learned. The best thing was we left tired but wanting to do it again. Success!

Check That one off the List

We. Just. Bought. A. House. For real.

Reality is sneaking around the corner and when I wake up tomorrow I think I might start hyperventilating. Wow. But happily it's like 80% excitement and only 20% vomit inducing. That's a good enough ratio for me.

Packing party tonight with Jonathan, Jets Pizza and a movie!

We're on the Move!

Lots has happened over the course of the week. I'd put them into 3 categories, because that is just what I do.

I. Baby H:

He went from being semi-mobile to a real crawler seemingly within the week. His daycare ladies must have been working him hard because he has launched into true crawling. In addition to that he is really into pulling himself up onto anything he can get his paws on. One of his favorite things to do is stand in his crib and slap the railing as loud as he can.
He is also being a champion sleeper. Waking up around 3/4a for a feeding then rolling back to his tummy for the rest of the night. We are really appreciating that. Will it last, eh? Perhaps.

II.House:

We actually made an offer on this house that we really like. It came back with a counteroffer and after a little discussion we decided to sign that too....whoa.
So now inspections on Monday will tell us if it's a lock. And then...I guess we go from there.
Here's a little written sneak peek on the house:
3 bedrooms all on the upper story, fireplace, bay window, fire pit in backyard, funny little carport, wood floors throughout, nice kitchen, built in 1930.
Things to update: windows! They literally have a pulley system to open them...

III. Me

I am getting back into the swing of working out. Awesome. Played volleyball at the staff v. students game this past week and am sadly feeling it in my arms and stomach. I so miss sports!

I went swimming, delightful! I need to get back into that.
And the house is located 2 blocks away from a bus stop that could take me to the street that I work on. That would be amazing to not have to drive over there and do all that back and forth. And honestly, that's getting way pricey!
Also, we paid off 1 credit card which puts me on track to make my goal of killing 2 by the end of the year! Yay!

27 Things to Do While 27

Happy Birthday to me! 27 years old. There is something refreshing about January birthdays. If you didn't quite get off to a great new year's start you can use your birthday to begin again fresh. And that is always a good feeling for me :)

So here it is, my new and improved:

27 Things to Do While 27! 

• be in my sister's wedding 10/8 Ann Arbor, MI No baby H or Jon due to sickness :(
• complete my first marathon
• pay off 1 credit card
• travel to a new destination Traverse City 7/10
• throw an awesome 1 year bday party for the baby Both sets of grandparents and our friends including Bridget come over to the house
• babysit for a friend Bridget T on a Wednesday afternoon in December
• go on our first family vacation cancelled due to H having the croup 
• visit NYC
• take a Spanish language course
• fix/finalize my Michigan teaching certificate
• audition for a local play
• move to a nice apartment We move to our first house in April!
• participate in a team sport:coaching soccer at RP 6-8th grade
• volunteer regularly
• friend vacation
• camping trip 7/9- 7/10 Sleeping Bear Dunes!
• be involved with something musical
• be involved with something artistic
• get Harrison baptized
• read two classic books I have never read before: Mansfield Park 9/1/11
• complain less Jon verified this on 1/15/12, I did in fact curb this behavior from last year :)
• alter my work schedule to more evenly accomodate the baby
• make a new girlfriend
• open Baby a savings account
• Project 365, picture/caption daily  
• Do an improvement on the house painted the dining room red curtesy of Katie, October
• try something new Jan 7, Ivenger Yoga @Cherry Street Yoga, interesting but quite slow

There it is! I am missing 2 things. Any thoughts on what to do this year?
Oh, and if you're wondering how I did on my 26 Things to Do While 26 , I finished 12 of them. Let's hope I can do better this year!