Day One

My upperbody / core strength absolutely stinks since having Ms Elsa. So, I found this. Let the fun begin.

One Hundred Push up Challenge

Hello Spring!!

I think we have had an unprecedented three weekend days (yes, I had a three day weekend) of NO rain and LOTS of sunshine. It was very conducive to my spring "cleaning". I opened up the windows and have been organizing like mad for our upcoming move. The movers will be coming in a little over a month as it takes approx 45-60 days for our household goods to arrive at our next destination. So, we will be living with the bare essentials and loaner furniture until we fly out the first week of July. Fortunately two weeks of that will be on a Spanish Italian Mediterranean cruise!! Anyways, I really enjoy the opportunity afforded by the military moves to purge our lives/households of accumulated "junk" and get organized!! Our kitchen table is a mess as I have gone through our house and collected all of my magazines (I am a magazine junkie) and am going through them to tear out recipes, interesting articles, decorating ideas etc. I am going to put them in a binder to refer to later. I subscribe to Southern Living, Real Simple, and Parents; but, much to my husbands distaste, I frequently buy Health, Runners World...among others. I think I collected over 50+ around the house!! That in and of itself has been a chore. Today, I am going through my closet to donate all the clothes that no longer fit, including shoes (since after Ms Elsa, I am 1/2 size bigger...LOL)

Friday, I took Elsa for a run in the jogger and then decided to introduce her to GRASS. At first she just stared at it. Then, she would pull some blades up and look at them so inquisitively and then toss them aside. Just to repeat the process all over again. It was as if each blade of grass was drastically different from the previous. Then, in true Elsa form, as soon as I ran in the house to put my camera away, she decided to taste the grass. She definitely enjoyed being outside and having some freedom crawling around in the grass.

Easter

Our Easter was very low key around here. I was tempted to buy her this really cute Easter basket from PBK and go crazy with coloring eggs and decorating, but with the upcoming move, I held back. Maybe next year. She was such a trooper as we took her to Good Friday and the Easter Vigil (which at 10:30 pm she was the only kid under 5 y.o. STILL awake!!) services. I had wanted to go to the Holy Thursday mass but got tied up at work with a pt.

Grandma Feder bought her first Easter Dress and she looked so pretty!! Again, incredibly difficult to get a good photo of just her. Grandma Peggy bought her this cute fuzzy bunny basket and I was trying to get a photo of her with it in the rocker...IMPOSSIBLE!! She kept throwing the bunny over the edge and then try to get it. Fun times! Anyone have any tricks for photographing infants??

I had Aaron's co-worker's daughter shadow me at work the other day. She was so sweet and she gave Elsa a present! Elsa loved unwrapping it and was entertained for a LONG time. I think she ended up unwrapping the present in three different rooms over the course of an hour--Christmas will be interesting!! I will definitely use the noisiest wrapping paper I can find and put ribbons all over the presents. I love this face here. She is not really closing her eyes, but rather squints her nose and gives this cute little smile!! So precious!

10 Months Old

We took her 10 month photo after her bath. She loves bath time and often screams for a couple of seconds when I pull her out. These photos are getting harder and harder to take. Unless I secretly photograph her, I rarely get one. The "staged" photos are impossible since as soon as I get her all situated and turn for the camera, she is off. This girl likes to be mobile!! She is getting much better about standing up and often "walks" between objects (from coffee table to couch or amongst the chairs in the dining room). And, she likes to be "helpful". As I load groceries into the refrigerator, she is right there pulling them out.

When I have all the laundry folded, she is right there pulling it all out. You should have seen us trying to pack for the trip!! I would go to get items to add to the suitcase and she would immediately pull them all out!! At least she was helpful with the unpacking part when we returned!!

She loves watching daddy!! I think the relationship she is developing with him by him staying at home rather than working is so precious!! I am one lucky girl!!

Here she put her hat ON!! (normally it is pulling it off)

Heads or Tails??

Just when we say we will not fly back to the US until the military moves us this summer.... we found ourselves going back to MN two weeks ago. I had recently turned down the offers to join practices in Spokane and Minneapolis. We had decided to defer future job seeking until we return to the States because it is so difficult to do so overseas. However, I was contacted by a practice in Southern MN and both of us were eager to see if it would be a good fit. So, they flew us back to interview!! All 4 partners met with us throughout the week while I visited the various offices (they have 5 offices throughout S MN) and they took us out to an amazing restaurant in Rochester. Of all the practices I have looked at so far, this definitely seems like "the best fit". They made me an excellent offer and we are currently mulling it over. It was nice being near family and seeing all of our relatives, especially the nieces and nephews, love on Elsa.

But.... (and, isn't there always a "but") We found out the military is moving us to California and I will be a staff at one of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery residency programs!!! Professionally, this will be incredibly rewarding albeit challenging. I will be one of four staff members training dentists to be oral surgeons!! And, from a personal standpoint, the base is in an excellent location and will provide us the opportunity to explore an abundance of outdoor recreation. It is only 40 minutes from Napa, one hour from San Fran, two hours from Tahoe or a beach, etc. The more we find out about my job and the base/location, the more we think about staying in the military.... So, that brings me to the title of this post. We go back and forth several times a day because each option is a good one. Sometimes I just want to flip a coin. Heads, we stay in the military; tails, we take the offer in MN.... Aaron just flipped and it was Heads!! LOL.

Here are some pics of our trip. This was Elsa's third trip back to the US and once again she did great on the flight!! Although, she is quite a wiggle worm when she is held because she would much rather be on the floor crawling around!!

And, we get Parent of the Year for this photo. Aaron had a Jack and Coke and Elsa kept reaching for the empty bottle. Rather than risk a melt down...we gave in. This kept her entertained for about 20 minutes. The other thing she liked was the mini pretzel package. Never knew foil packages could be so entertaining!!

Aaron made (with Corey's help) a hope chest last year for Elsa. It turned out so well!!

And, one of our must have's with every trip home, is CHIPOTLE!! I love this picture of Elsa chilled out on uncle Corey's lap. He had her giggling and laughing! It was so cute.

We went out to Gale Woods Farm to show Elsa some animals. Andi works there and it is a very impressive place. I linked the text to their website...go check it out. They provide a lot of education about local agriculture, an incredible CSA, etc.

Sari wrangling up a chicken!!

She was rather indifferent to the animals. Wasn't scared, but just didn't know quite what to think. From the farm, we drove down to Kato to see my family and get to the whole point of the trip, the interview. There, she met another animal, my parents' dog. She LOVED maddy!!

And, Maddy loved Elsa...especially at meal time.

Her cousins loved "Baby Elsa" and it was so much fun seeing how interested they were in her. Lo-Lo loves the fact that there is another girl in the family!!

This photo deserves some commentary. Holy cow was it difficult to get 5 kiddos three and under to cooperate for one photo!! One would be screaming and when he calmed down and sat in the photo, one of the others would run off....in come some treats. I joked how even though not everyone is looking at the camera, the photo captured real life.

And, of my parents and Elsa.

We had an enjoyable week! I will post pics of her 10month shot and Easter shortly.