It's Walk-apalooza time!

Yes, for all interested parties, I'm happy to share that Romelie is officially walking. Which means she's also falling down more than before. And we were excited for this because...?

First things first. Her 18-month well-baby check-up (doe all those words need to be hyphenated? It seems excessive...) went fine. Only one shot. She is 34 inches long (!!) and weighs 25.8 pounds, I think. I don't remember exactly. She's had a cough for the last few weeks which Dr. Dukinfield told us not to worry about unless it gets worse or she develops a fever. Well, that was a week and a half ago and she's still coughing and has raspy breathing off and on throughout the day, so I may be calling on Monday to check it out. But otherwise...good stuff. They did a couple of screenings which she seems to have passed, and she was pretty well-behaved for the exam, so it was a good visit.

Last weekend, we had our final Waterbabies class and then went up to my dad's cabin ("we" being my dad, Chason, Romelie and me). We spend lots of time encouraging Romelie's new walking skills and exploring both inside and out. We tried to get her to go in the lake but it was pretty cold - she put one foot in and then tried to crawl up me to get away. My dad took some awesome pictures (I was slacking), so here's a cute selection for everyone.

In other news, yesterday was Chason's and my three-year anniversary. Congratulations, us. We celebrated our anniversary with me working an 11-hour day and then catching up on a few of our favorite TV shows after Romelie went to bed. Yup, we crazy. You know. Actually, my dad agreed to take Romelie (again! Thank you, Dad...) for the night tonight so we can actually do something to celebrate. We don't know what we're going to do yet, but it will probably inovled some food somewhere.

Then, tomorrow morning is going to be Big Exciting Home Projects Day! Until noon or so. I made a list of things that we keep putting off doing, so tomorrow we're actually going to see how many of them we can get done in the 4-ish hours we have before we pick up Romelie. Chason gets the outdoor and handyman tasks like weeding and putting up the door to the basement; I get the crappy cleaning tasks like cleaning the mold off the bathroom ceiling and vacuuming for the first time in months and months. Our home will be much sparklier after we're through, though, so I'm pretty jazzed for that.

And coming soon...Can Danni work her full-time day job at The Bakken, spend time with her family in the morning and evenings, and provide henna tattoos and palm readings for 5 middle-of-the-night senior graduation parties in one single week without going bat-s*** crazy? Let's find out...

In other words, don't expect to hear much on this blog until some upcoming craziness is over; I won't be getting much sleep next week. Wish me luck!

I'm 29 and I'm feelin' fine

So much for writing more often. We all knew it wouldn't happen.

Since the last time I wrote, I've celebrated a birthday and a Mother's Day. Happy weekend to me! For my birthday, Chason took us to the MN Zoo. The last time we went there, it was the middle of winter and icy freezy ridiculously cold outside. This time, it was in the 50's, so still a little cold but not quite so ridiculous. We got to explore more of the exhibits this time and we saw all of the outdoor animals. Romelie had fun feeding the goats (aka doggies) and eating oh-so-healthy hot dogs and French fries for lunch. My mom was in town, so Chason and I were able to go out (!) that evening, and then for Mother's Day we spend the afternoon together and then Romelie and I went to my Grandma Hurley's home and spent some time with my dad and uncles.

Oh, and for my birthday, I got an ice-mold from my friend Lauren that makes ice glasses. Here is me drinking cheap wine from one such ice glass. Classy, I know. I also got a new and improved digital camera from my mom. So expect the photos and especially the videos on this blog to improve in quality...as soon as I figure out how the damn thing works. Stupid technology.

One big change that also occurred that weekend: Romelie has officially been weaned. Friday night she didn't want to nurse, which wasn't all that unusual - she really only nursed every other night towards the end. But she ALWAYS nursed in the mornings...until Saturday morning (my birthday). Straight-up refused to nurse. Got mad about it, even. So I though, okay...I'm going out tonight, which means I'd have to nurse her early, and she probably won't go for that, which means by the time I nurse next, it'll have been 2 days. And though I was sad to stop this ritual that I've mostly enjoyed, it just seemed like it was time. So that's it. Now I have to get her a bottle of milk every morning instead, which is a big ol' pain in the butt since then I have to wash the bottle whereas before there were no extra dishes involved. But she's happy and doesn't seem to miss nursing, and I'm happy enough and will hopefully get to do this again someday.

Romelie has her 18-month check-up this afternoon, so I'll try to post the results from that visit soon. She's had a cough for the past 10 days or so, and her walking is coming along but not totally there yet. I did just get a call from Jen, though - apparently she's walking all around the room today! Like, not cruising, not holding on to anything, but actually walking back and forth. She spent Saturday night at Grandpa Dan's and they did a lot of walking around the house together, and we've been doing a lot of hand-held walking around outside this past week, so maybe she's finally going to master this skill. I'll keep you posted.

Must. Write. More. Often.

ANNOUNCEMENT: For those who have not yet heard…one week ago today, I made a very exciting discovery. Lo and behold, I have found…my WEDDING RING! (Insert fanfare, loud music with trumpets and such, and various cheering sounds here.) Where on earth has it been hiding for the last 20 months?

In my lingerie drawer.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen (and sorry, Dad and in-laws for the too-much-information…), it was in the bottom of my dresser drawer containing my “fancy” undergarments that don’t get worn too often (obviously).

The good news is that I’ve found my wedding ring! The bad news is I already re-purchased the wedding band back in January and I can’t return it. But the other good news, as you may recall from previous blog entries, is that Shane Company no longer makes my engagement ring, so I wasn’t able to re-purchase that (as I had intended). Instead I put that money into our savings account and earmarked it for a “someday I’ll buy myself a ring to replace the one I lost” future purchase. Now that money has no plans. It’s just extra money in our savings! Which is probably where it will stay unless or until we need it, but it’s nice to know it’s there.

Let’s see, other news. Last Thursday Chason, Romelie and I met with the Wollers (my church pastors) at their home to discuss a dedication ceremony for Romelie. For those unfamiliar with what that means (as I was), it’s similar to a baptism, but there’s no water involved. According to the Assemblies of God website, “In dedicating their child, the parents acknowledge the child as a gift from God and vow before Him and the congregation to set a godly example for the child and a commitment to lead the child to Christ at an early age.” So we’re doing that on Sunday, June 7 at the 5:30 pm service at Corner Church. All are welcome to come and witness (Crystal will be in town!). Informal dress. Nice people. Some singing.

And we had a pretty fun Saturday this past weekend. Romelie and I went to swim lessons, and then we drove to St. Paul for the Festival of Nations. We watched some performers from Greece and India and ate some Colombian food (arepa and empanadas), some African American food (sweet potato pie), and some Cambodian drink (mango bubble tea – strange but delicious!). Then, since I had already paid $10 to park, we headed across the street to the Science Museum of MN. We played with sound waves and watched a show about water and colored a picture of parts of a brain. Good times. Saturday night, I went with my friend Darcy to Eastview High School’s annual musical review, “Bravo!” I can’t remember if I’ve blogged about EVHS in the past, but they are amazing. I’ve been to Bravo! every year since 2004, and I’ve never seen so much talent at a high school. This is a video I took of a NINTH GRADER playing the violin. Ninth grader. Ridiculous.



Finally, these pictures don’t really fit in anywhere else in the blog but they’re worth sharing. The first is Romelie enjoying her new outdoor toys; the second is her carbing up on some very messy ravioli. Oh, and I almost forgot – our precious girl has been rising with the sun lately. Which means she’s up by 6:00 am. So yesterday we bought some blackout curtains for her room. It kind of worked. She woke up at 5:00 am instead. I managed to nurse her back to sleep, though, and then she slept until 7:30, so hopefully the early morning was a fluke and 7:30 will become the norm. I hope, I hope.