Cake walks and army crawling

Romelie crawls! Okay, well, she doesn't crawl, but she army crawls. She started Thursday night, just pushing herself around with her toes. Well, Friday at day care, she was apparently army crawling all over the place, and she continues to hone her skills today. She's becoming pretty good at it - check out the video of her crawling earlier today.

We got out some this week. Tuesday was our neighborhood carnival/party thing, so we went to check it out. We bought tickets for hot dogs but they were all sold out so we used our tickets to do the cake walk. Like, three times. No luck, unfortunately, but a good first cake walk experience.

Tomorrow night we're going to my dad's house to meet Great Uncle Bill and his family. They moved to Florida last summer and haven't met Romelie yet, so hopefully she'll put on her cute face. For those still uncertain, here are a few examples of what her cute face looks like:

Thomas family reunion

We just got back from St. Simons Island in Georgia. For those of you who have never been to Georgia…it’s hot there. Very hot.

We had a great time visiting with relatives. Romelie and I met lots of new people, while Chason had a chance to reconnect with family he hadn’t seen in some time. We arrived Friday evening and headed over to Duane and Carol’s (I hope I have the right spelling of Duane…someone correct me if I’m wrong!!). Carol is Chason’s second cousin (right? Mom’s cousin), and a fantastic cook. We went there Saturday night as well and had an amazing meal called a Low Country Boil which consisted of shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes and onion. Delicious. I think I ate enough food in Georgia to feed at least two people. And we got to watch a video from about 20 years ago that was pretty fun – little Chason, aww…

Sunday was the big reunion, and we met lots of people. Lots. I remember some names, and I feel proud for that. Then great uncle Glenn took us on a tour of some Thomas family sites, including the house that he grew up in. It was pretty amazing, and Romelie was very well-behaved through the whole thing (thank goodness).

Most of the rest of the time was spent relaxing. We went to the pool a couple times and sat on the beach. Romelie loved playing in the dry sand, but she was scared of the crashing waves so we never actually made into the ocean (unlike her cousin Greta who played naked in the waves – super cute!). Monday we went on a boat ride with Duane and Carol and saw an alligator – well spotted, Chason – and ate more food.

All in all, good vacationing. Thanks so much to Diane and Roy for the gift of our accommodations – they were in a perfect location, and we had fun playing Spoons and Apples to Apples with the cousins. I’ll end this blog with an explanation of this video – Amanda, when she was about a year old in the video we watched Saturday, was asked the question, “How big is Amanda?” She responded by lifting both hands over her head, touchdown-style. Super cute. Well, Bronwyn starting asking the same question of Romelie, and Romelie did this:

Puppies and duckies and babies...oh, fer cute!

As promised:

and of course...

The puppies one didn't turn out so well. I was hoping to put her on her tummy and let the puppies crawl around her, but one of the puppies nipped her hand and she cried. So I figured it wasn't worth torturing her for a picture.

She comes home today! Romelie, we miss you!

And just for the record...I got no cleaning done. Chason and I went to dinner on Monday night and saw Iron Man last night. First movie in the theaters in a LONG time. Good stuff.

Fun times ahead

Just thought I'd send an update on our plans for the next couple of weeks. This weekend, we're headed up to my mom's place to see her baby puppies and baby ducklings. Many, many pictures involving babies, puppies, and ducklings will take place, so be sure to check back to see all the cuteness next week. Then the following weekend, we'll be heading down to Georgia for a Thomas reunion (that's Chason's mom's dad's family - I think that's right). So we'll get to see the cousins and aunts and grandmommy again as well as meet some new folks. Romelie's third vacation involving a plane ride...what a lucky baby.

We're also going to have our first few days without Romelie coming up. Jen (her daycare provider) is taking her one-week vacation next week, so my mom is going to watch Romelie. But she'll be watching her at HER home on Monday and Tuesday and at our home Wednesday and Thursday, which means...we'll be leaving her with her gramma for two nights. Sob. The "brighter-side-of-things" me is excited to get the house clean without interruption (I know, the brighter-side-of-things me is lame-o), but the rest of me is going to be super sad and a big worry wart while she's away. But this is good, right? It'll be a big step, but not a bad one, and it's only two days. She'll spend the whole time laughing at the puppies (that's what she does with our cats, anyways), she won't even notice that Chason and I aren't there. Maybe.

So that's it. Plus work and BBQs and baby food making and other merriment. Ooh, and working out. Started doing that last Monday. No dieting, though - I tried eating less and my milk supply went WAY down, so apparently my body won't accept anything less than tons of food. Thanks, body.

Look Who's Talking

Romelie has started talking. A lot. Friday afternoon, we picked her up from day care, and she was making the same vowel-heavy sounds she always makes (aaaaaah, hi-yaaaa, etc.), when all of a sudden, she busts out with "dada."

Chason looks at me. "Did she just say da-da?"

"No," I say, "of course not."

She looks at me. "Mama."

"Oh, my gosh - she said mama!"

She also got out lala, and blah blah blah - which she has now shown a preference for. But yes, ladies and gents, Romelie officially babbles. She doesn't know what she's saying yet, I know, but we have reached the babbling milestone, and it's super cute.

On a different note, allergies have taken over the household. Romelie's nose is forever crusty, I slept for 12 hours last night, and Chason and I both sneeze up a storm everywhere we go. The fun part is that we started summer camp yesterday at work, and it's proving difficult to keep a clear head with 27 little 6-8 year olds running around. There are lots of counselors this year, though, so plenty of people to step up in my feeling stinky-ness. Of course, I'll be outside for 3.5 hours tomorrow in the woods teaching girl scouts - let's see how I'm doing after that!

I haven't taken any pictures since Texas, sorry...I'll get on it soon, I promise :)

Gross. Ick. Blech.

So I was sorting Romelie's laundry, pre-treating stains (on clothes, not bibs...that's what they're for, right?), when I came across one of the bibs she'd worn late last week when bananas were her new food to try. They were mashed, with a bit of breastmilk added to thin them out. Smelled pretty gross when she urped a bit up, but she seemed to like it. Well, the banana that had landed on her bib had turned brown and really gross looking. Too bad, hope it doesn't get banana on the rest of the laundry. Then I come across another banana bib, also pretty brown, but wait - what's that? What's that GROWING on the bib? Oh my Lord...it's MOLD. A bib, and a washcloth I had used to clean her face afterwards, had both grown MOLD. In her laundry hamper.

And we now have one less washcloth and bib. Luckily we have thousands more, but still - gross. Ick. Blech.

Minneapolis...we've returned

The stars at night are big and bright (clap clap clap clap) deep in the heart of Texas! Also, it’s hot there. They forgot to put that into the song.

Texas trip was fantastic. Gotta start off with the flight, though. So we’re at the gate, waiting to board the plane, when Chason notices a guy who looks an awful lot like Brian Robison, football player for the MN Vikings. I couldn’t tell you who’s who on the team, so I’m not super helpful in figuring out if it’s really him or not, and Chason doesn’t want to ask in case it’s not him. So whatever, we board the flight, and who sits down directly in front of us? Robert Ferguson, also a MN Viking, and former high school classmate and teammate of Chason! So they got to chat and catch up, and it turns out the other guy was Brian Robison, also going home for the weekend to visit his family. So Chason was just being cool, hanging out with a couple of Vikings on the plane. Nice.

Romelie got a little sick during her vacation (coughing and stuff), so she was a bit fussy for the first day or so, but that cleared up by the time she went to meet her aunt and uncle and cousins. Greta is such a cutie! Big round cheeks, very strong baby, seems super coordinated compared to Romelie! And then on Sunday, Steve and Angel hosted the family for a big barbeque and swim party – which was awesome. She met her great grandma Nona and her great aunts and uncles and second cousins and lots of friends – she was pretty well-behaved for everyone, went swimming, bounced in a horsie-thing, and generally had fun. Mom and Dad had a lot of fun, too!

Since returning from Houston, we’ve been super busy. Crystal and I ran an activity tent this weekend at the International Children’s Festival in St. Paul, so there was a lot of prep work going on last week, and my mom came down so she could help Chason with Romelie while I was away all weekend. Have I mentioned that I started working at a church daycare on Sundays? If not – I’ve started working at a church daycare on Sundays. Just a couple hours in the morning, but it’s a little extra income to cover expenses. Between that, the activity tent, some palm reading gigs I’m doing at senior graduation parties this week, and our economic stimulus check – we’re raking in the dough! Yay…putting the money into savings. Thrilling.

Last note – Romelie wouldn’t sleep in her crib last night. Every time we laid her down, even if she was sound asleep, she wake up and start scream crying. Kept rolling onto her tummy and couldn’t figure out how to get back. This went on for over an hour until we finally just took her to bed with us for the night. So I’m a bit sleepy today. Every send good prayers that she doesn’t do this again tonight.