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‘Fun’ Category

  1. Snow Day

    January 16, 2012 by Katie

    The once-a-year snowstorm descended upon us this weekend….much to my excitement and Todd’s dismay.

    I say, “Yaay! Look at the wintery wonderland! I loooooove snow!”

    He says, “Grumble grumble. I’m moving somewhere warm.”

    I was pretty intent on getting Elise out to enjoy her first snowfall, so I called up Ryan & Aubrey—who are always up for snow fun—and they walked up to our neighborhood for some sledding.

    We went  to the same hill/street we conquered last year, only this time we had real sleds! Gone are the days of riding on cookie sheets and in Rubbermaid tote boxes. Sadly, other kids were onto our secret and the two neighborhood hills were busy. Anybody else absolutely hate waiting their turn on the sledding hill? “C’mon kids, move it along! Need a push?” No? Just me?

    Naturally, I had to take Elise on her first sled ride. Safety first, I wrapped my arms tightly around her and we did a shortened version of the hill (like maybe 15 feet worth). Wheeee!

    I remember my sled rides as a youngster…..sitting on a rusty old car hood with my brother and cousin Ryan, being pulled behind our dads’ motorcycles over the snow covered soybean field.

    It really amazes me sometimes how we survived childhood. :)

    I think she liked loved it. Next year we’ll go further up the hill!

    We’re supposed to get even more snow the next couple of days, which is great except that it melts during the day and freezes at night, making the hilly roads better for ice skating than driving.

    Oh well.

    Thankfully, my boss lets me work from home. :)

    {Seriously monster cheeks. What’s she storing in there?}

     

     


  2. Success

    December 14, 2011 by Katie

    Since I don’t have any pictures of our early family Christmas—yes, I’m still sad about the whole thing—here are some pictures from when grandpa & grandma came to visit last month.

    Do you know how difficult it is to get Elise and my parents to both look & smile at the camera?!

    Very.

    And usually Elise is the one who is better at it. :)

    {she’s thinking: who’s that crazy lady?}

    .    .    .    .    .

    Ah, and remember when I challenged myself to take a picture of just Todd & I when we were out with friends?

    {success.}

    That was like an entire month ago! We got a babysitter and enjoyed an evening out at Black Raven, our local microbrewery. Todd and the guys go there frequently (or they used to before Elise was born), but this was my first time there. Naturally, they suggested I order a sampler.

    {this momma needs to get out more.}


  3. Social Butterfly

    November 14, 2011 by Katie

    Isn’t this blog titled ‘toddandkatie.com’? :)

    Despite the fact that Elise has taken over the blog postings for the past 4 months—err, longer actually, even while I was pregnant she was the star of this show—it’s not like our social life has totally gone by the wayside. We still get to enjoy non-baby time, it just doesn’t get documented as well.

    Recently though, we got to help Ryan celebrate his 30th birthday with a surprise shindig that Aubrey organized. Lots of cheese & wine, and cake! (okay, technically Elise was there, but she was asleep upstairs the entire time)

    Love those two.

    I’ll spare him the embarrassment and not post the video of him walking into the surprise. But there is this:


    .   .   .   .   .   .   .
    And my good ol’ friend, Kaddie, came for a visit recently with her husband. They stayed with other friends downtown, so we didn’t have them as house guests, but we were able to enjoy some time together on a couple separate days. Not as much time as I would’ve liked, but I’ll take whatever I can get when there’s a sweet little baby’s life to revolve around.

    Oh look, there’s Elise (she goes wherever I go)! I think she enjoyed getting some cuddle time with Auntie Ping Pong. If only she lived closer, I’m pretty sure I’d have someone to hold Elise 24/7. No?

    Plus, she got to go on her very first ferry ride. Yaaay!
    .   .   .   .   .   .   .

    Most recently, I participated in my first running event post-baby. Our friend Jason works for one of the sponsors of the Get Your Rear in Gear 5K, so he easily convinced me to run the race with him & Aubrey. It felt good to be back in an organized event, and running with friends made the 3 miles fly by.

    We even beat our goal—I think we came in around 28 or 29 minutes, which is good considering the only free time I have to run is once a week, on Saturday mornings (that’s not entirely true….I could run after Elise goes to bed for the night, but that’s when I fix dinner and finally get to relax and it’s too dark out and blahblahblah).


    Oh, hey, there’s little Elise again. She didn’t run with us, but Todd bundled her up and they came out to cheer us all on.
    Our littlest (and cuddliest) fan.

    I just realized that there are no pictures of just Todd & I together. So…..maybe we actually don’t have that much non-baby time out and about amongst society. :) Elise still seems to be hovering around wherever we go, but that’s perfectly fine with me. She’s the best accessory I’ve ever had. Plus, it’s a proven fact (done by my own scientific research) that you become 100 times more popular in public when you’re with a baby.

    Also, we have a babysitter lined up for this weekend so that we can enjoy some time out with our friends. The challenge I’m extending to myself (other than to enjoy some wine) is to take at least 1 picture of us. And no matter how blurry/gross/distorted it looks, I will post it here.

    Challenge accepted.

  4. Aunt Cat

    October 25, 2011 by Katie

    We’ve been busy doing very important things. Like…..trying to get comfortable with taking naps in the crib. And you know, other important time consuming baby stuff.

    Recently though, ‘Auntie’ Catherine came to spend a weekend with us. And while we didn’t do any real exciting touristy things, we got to spend some quality time together and relax. Plus, next to the grandparents’, she’s our most frequent visitor so we’ve done all the fun stuff before baby arrived.  I’ll admit, it’s hard doing activities outside of the house when you have a baby. I try to keep Elise on a daily routine so it takes some pre-planning to figure out when we can venture out and about.

    We went on a nice long walk by the lake, did a little shopping, visited Gasworks Park & IKEA, drank plenty of wine, and even had our first non-grandparent babysitter so us three adults could enjoy a nice dinner out. Best of all, having Cat as my running buddy helped me get in my longest post-pregnancy run so far (almost 3.5 miles….yaaay!), while Todd took Elise for their weekly daddy/daughter date.

    Can’t wait for your next visit, Auntie Cat!

    Elise LOVES you. You have a special gift in being able to make her so calm, happy & smiley. If she could talk, I’m pretty sure she’d say she misses you lots.

    In other exciting news, my phone now has video capabilities so I’ve been taking videos of Elise like it’s going out of style. We recently watched a video that Todd’s parents had made from when he was born until age 2, and it motivated me to start capturing more memories so someday we can look back and say “I can’t believe you were ever that small”.

    Oh wait. I already do that.

    If I can figure out how to upload them onto here without having to consult my computer genius husband, I’ll share some giggles with you.


  5. Only Time Will Tell

    June 20, 2011 by Katie

    For the past nearly 5 months, only Todd and I (well, plus the ultrasound lady and our midwives) have known the gender of our little Junebug, but it’s fun to hear what everyone else thinks we’re having.

    Oh, totally a boy, you’re straight out like a bullet, like I was with my 3 boys”. “Definitely a girl, you’re all belly, not big all over like I was with my boy”.  Basically, I’ve decided that you can’t determine a baby’s gender by how mom’s belly looks, every women is different.

    If the heart rate’s below 139, must be a boy. Above 140? Girl.  To be honest, this baby’s heartbeat has been both. A good variation means the baby is healthy.

    “Do you have cravings for sour or salty foods? Boy.”Are you craving sweets? Girl.” Ok, fine. But what if I don’t have any cravings?? I just like all flavors equally.

    We asked our parents and brother & sis-in-law for their predictions and the results came back an even split: 3 voted girl, 3 voted boy. Now’s your chance to voice your opinion before the little one arrives.

    Are we having a Momma's boy or Daddy's little girl?

    • girl (57%, 8 Votes)
    • boy (43%, 6 Votes)

    Total Voters: 14

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    And just because I like guessing games, here’s one more for you:

    When will the little one arrive?

    • running a bit behind: Sat, June 25- Fri, July 1 (87%, 13 Votes)
    • right on schedule: Friday, June 24 (7%, 1 Votes)
    • hit snooze too many times: Sat, July 2 - Fri, July 8 (7%, 1 Votes)
    • early: anytime between today and Thurs, June 23 (0%, 0 Votes)

    Total Voters: 15

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    If you’re feeling really confident, leave us a comment with how you voted (the exact date of birth gets you bonus points!).

    The winner gets……[drumroll please]………bragging rights!

    Yaaay!