Resolutions

Maybe I should have put some more thought into my New Year's resolutions, but it just occurred to me today (Jan 2) that I should get on this. Oops. Well, here are some resolutions off the top of my head. Since they all came to me so quickly, I think that means I've already been thinking about them often and already working on incorporating them into my life. Here's to a peaceful and happy 2013!

1. Be present. Enjoy the moment - Rose will only be this age once, so slow down and enjoy her!

2. Eat better. More whole grains, start each dinner with a vegetable, use honey instead of sugar, tea instead of soda, and pick "happy" meats.

3. Move more. Get the treadmill fixed, once it's warmer take the long way home after picking Rose up at school, start running and/or walking regularly again, do more yoga.

4. Take care of myself.  Floss, use the neti pot, don't check work email at home, get together with friends on a regular basis, always be reading a good book, don't feel the need to finish a book I'm not enjoying, make time for hobbies (baking, quilting, etc.), spend less time on Facebook, get 8 hours of sleep (plus 30 minutes of reading) every night.



And now, your moments of zen:

Rose can pat the bunny!

practicing with utensils!

presents

Rose got so many cool gifts this year, as did Mike and I. So I'm only going to brag about one, which doesn't mean that I think any less of any of the other gifts that any of us received, but I just wanted to show off this one! (Sorry for the glare on the glass!)

It's an original pencil drawing replica of this photo! How cool is that?!? Thanks, Mary and Mike (Grandma Roles and Grandpa Fly) for the great gift that is now prominently displayed in our living room. And thank you to Grammy and Grandpa Jack, Ninja and PopPop, Trula Anne, Uncle Dave and Aunt Sara, Aunt Emily and Uncle Jason, Great Gramma Larson, MomMomMom and PopPopPop, Great Grandma and Grandpa Borho, and all the other friends and family who gave us fabulous presents! (Yes, we will still be sending thank you cards at some point, but at least you have this digital thank you to tide you over!)


And I'm also going to toot my own horn and brag about the presents we made for all the grandparents. You know the weekly photos we've been taking? We took each of the first six months and made them into coasters!

I got the idea off Pinterest. It turned out to be a really good project for both me and Mike, since making six sets took quite a lot of time and effort! I'm glad it truly was a gift from our whole family.


Finally, I thought I'd share just a couple more photos from the weekend.

Happy New Year! (It's nigh on 8pm, which means it must be bedtime for Steph!)

Happy New Year! (36 weeks)

My parents came to town for a belated Christmas / early New Year's celebration. It was so much fun!

Saturday we met up at cousin Janet's in the late afternoon and got to see Janet, Jeff, Kari, Maggie, and Annika. Rose enjoyed meeting her older cousins! Then we came back to our house for dinner, a gift, and a regular bedtime for Rose.

Rose started doing this really cute thing where she lifts up her arms ("so big!") then tilts her head to the side until we all start laughing and smiling. :)

Sunday we went swimming in the hotel pool, followed by an afternoon of present opening and then football watching.

"Finally, some green and gold!"

We also took her 36-week portraits that morning.

 

Sunday evening, my parents let me and Mike stay at their hotel room. It was my first ever night away from Rose! I think I did a great job, if I do say so myself. I enjoyed myself so much that Mike and I even went out for breakfast on Monday morning before we went home. What a treat!

The rest of Monday, Rose spent some quality time with her grandparents while I painted that bathroom and while Mike did a lot of chores around the house - he fixed our garage door, installed a new dimmer switch in the bathroom, and replaced our sink sprayer. And Rose did lots and lots of standing, rocking (still not crawling!), and playing. Yay!

  

New! (old)

 Mike made matching hats for me, Rose, and Ninja. Aren't they great? :)

 Then we topped off the evening with a fancy salmon dinner and the bottle of Sauternes that my parents gave me for Christmas. What a great weekend!

Thanks, Mom and Dad! And Happy New Year, everyone!!

First Christmas

Our Christmas festivities started on Saturday with our family excursion to the Dayton's display, as I previously mentioned. On Sunday we had brunch with Dave and Sara, and then we all met up with Brad and Katie to watch the football game at the Park Tavern. (Somehow I didn't get any photos! Ugh! Sorry!) Then on Monday it was officially Christmas Eve, which means we spent the afternoon and evening at Grammy and Grandpa Jack's.

Well rested and ready for some presents!

"So far I like Christmas!"

"You mean I get to rip off ALL this paper?"

"Whew! Time for a break."

"Grandpa Jack knows just how I like my bottles!"

As she got more tired, Mike and I pulled out all the stops to try to keep her from melting down.

Thanks to Grandma Roles, we were able to enjoy a quick dinner before we started Rose's bedtime routine.

After Rose went to bed, we all opened presents. The we put Rose to bed again and opened up more presents. Rose was not happy to be woken up in order to get in the car, nor to be woken up again to get into our house after the drive home. An hour later, we finally got Rose to bed yet again, then in the middle of the night Mike put her to bed one last time. What an exhausting night! Let's hope she's better at sleeping in different places for Christmas 2013! But I'm not going to worry about that now. :)




Tuesday morning was Christmas proper, so we all got up bright and early to open presents as an immediate family, then we had our traditional Christmas breakfast of Erik Estrada (i.e., strata).

After a quick nap for Rose and Mike, we headed off to Grandma Roles and Grandpa Fly's for "second breakfast" and more presents!  Rose's cousins LOVED the whoopie cushions and harmonicas they got from Santa - the adults were a little less impressed, but everyone was a good sport.

After we finished opening presents, there was enough time to chill out for a bit (I even snuck in a nap on the couch!) before we headed out to the Fleischhacker Christmas gathering. It's always a bit overwhelming to be surrounded by the entire Fly gang (especially for an only child like me!), so perhaps that's why I forgot my camera in the car. Alas, it was a delicious five-course meal, with wine paired with each course! Yum! Here are a couple photos that David took of the event:

And with that, I'm off to bed again! I'm still fighting off that cold, although I'm convinced I'm on the upswing and getting closer to full recovery every day. Hope you all had a wonderful (and restful!) Christmas!

35 weeks / 8 months!

To celebrate Rose's 8-month-iversary yesterday, we took her to the "Dayton's display" in downtown Minneapolis. She was a little feverish and tired, and the look on her face seemed to be saying "What is this crazy place you took me to?!?" I think she had more fun watching the cars from the skyways before and after the exhibit. :) But just like our Santa photo, a trip to Dayton's is a Minneapolitan's winter rite of passage and we couldn't miss it.

Today we took her "official" weekly portraits. Ever since we did a practice Christmas present earlier in the week, Rose has been super excited to open gifts - even those that aren't for her :)

And she's starting to get really frustrated that she can't figure out how to crawl! Poor girl. I'm sure she'll get it soon! :)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Rose met Santa today

It did not go as well as anticipated. Poor Santa. Poor Rose.

Practicing for Christmas!