Easter Weekend Part 2: Easter!!

After plenty of delay, I bring you part 2 of Easter weekend...

As usual, it was a pretty good weekend. Mom and dad picked me up from my sleepover and we got to watch Tyler play Lacrosse, his team won and he even scored a goal!! It was my first time at a lacrosse game but I am sure there will be plenty more this summer.

After Tyler's game we went to the mall and I got to meet the Easter Bunny!! I was a big girl and I didn't cry, I am not sure why there were so many kids crying, I thought hanging out with him was fun, although I did refuse to smile for the camera, I was hungry...



After the mall we went to Grandma Carolyn's favorite store, IKEA!! It is a pretty neat store, it is REALLY big and it has everything! I was pretty excited that we were going to get to see Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Tim, it had been a while since I had seen them and I was bummed that they weren't going to get to see me in my Easter dress and tights.

The next day was Easter which was a very busy day. My cousin Tyler got confirmed at the early service, then we had pancake breakfast, and then it was Easter church. It was pretty neat seeing my cousin get confirmed, it is kind of like the big-kid version of baptism!

After church we went back to Tyler's house and I found out that the Easter Bunny doesn't just hangout at the mall he also comes to visit!! I am kind of bummed that I wasn't around to meet him again, but he left some pretty neat stuff! Look at all of the books and toys he brought me, I even got a cute summer outfit...
It was a pretty great weekend but I am glad to be spending this weekend at home with mom and dad. I had a great week at daycare, I'll have to tell you about it sometime next week.

Lots of love,
Linden

Calling all Grandmas!!

Ok, I know that I still have part 2 of Easter weekend to talk about, but I need to take a short tangent...

I need grandma!! It can be Grandma Carolyn, Grandma Nancy, or any other grandma that wants to claim me, but I CANNOT go back to another day of daycare!

even lets me cuddle with her. The problem is that daycare has made me sick. Not just a little sniffle, not a slight cough, I am 100% sick!

Mom took me to the doctor yesterday and he told me that I just have a cold and that it will get better in a couple days. He also told mom to feed me this disgusting Pedialite stuff, there is no way grandma would make me drink something that terrible! After we got home from the doctor Gretchen told mom that she has strep so back to the doctor we went today and this time he stuck a cotton thing down my throat!! I don't have strep so no meds to make me feel better...Dr. Bob brought me a sticker and a sucker for mom, I don't think either made me feel better, do I look at all happy?


Not only does miss Gretchen have strep but so does Annie (she just turned 1), mom was CERTAIN I was going to test positive. So this is my plan...If my grandmas comes and takes care of me then I won't have to go back to daycare and then I won't feel so icky, right?

The only good thing to come from feeling so icky is that I have gotten to cuddle with mom all night the past two nights because I can't sleep because of my terrible cough. I think I would rather cuddle with mom without being sick.

Hopefully I feel better tomorrow, either way, we have a spare bedroom and anybody is willing to come stay!
Linden

Easter Weekend Part 1: First Sleepover!

This was a BIG weekend full of firsts...I had my first sleepover, went to my first Lacrosse game, and celebrated my first Easter!!

Aunt Wendy and Cousin Tyler came down to Owatonna to pick me up on Friday. Mom spent Thursday night packing my bag and getting all my stuff together to make sure that I would have a great time! Daddy picked me up from daycare and we all met mom for lunch before I headed out for my adventure.

I had a great time, Tyler is such a great cousin and kept me busy the whole time, I didn't have enough time to miss mom, I was too busy!! Here are some pictures of the fun we had together.

First we did some tummy time, Tyler is MUCH better at it than I am...


Afterwards, Tyler introduced me to all of his stuffed animals. I got to sleep in his room that night, of course he took all of the animals out before bed...

Tyler thought it was important to teach me about texting...I tried calling mom but I couldn't quite figure it out, oh well, it was a good time...

Tyler decided we should play dress up, he never dressed up, but it was fun anyways...

He also taught me about hockey!!

We had a great time, Tyler had me so tired I slept like a baby!

The next day was full of adventure as well but I need to get some sleep so you will have to wait until the next post...

Have a good night,

Linden

Happy Wednesday!

Day two of daycare and it was pretty great!! Today was my first art project!!!

I am so glad to have Alyssa at daycare, she is a great friend and loves to play with me. Today she got out a floor gym and a bouncy seat for me to play in, but most importantly, she helped me with my first art project. Not only did we make one art project, but we made two!

This was our first art project. We were talking about circles and things that roll so Gretchen came up with this cute Chick project...the eyes are circles and the body and head are paper that is rolled...and the end product is totally CUTE!!

We also made Easter Eggs. I love pink and green, I can't believe Alyssa did such a great job helping me!

It was a pretty good day, although mom and dad forgot to bring my baby doll today, it was story day and we were all supposed to bring a blanket and our favorite toy. They really need to get the hang of this.

Tomorrow is bunny craft day. I hope Alyssa is there, it sounds like a lot of gluing and I am not very good at that.

Have a good night!

Linden

Worst day of my life...

You will never believe what mom and dad did to me today, it is even worse than the day they brought me to the doctor for shots, they brought me to daycare and left me there ALL day!!!

Just kidding, they did bring me to daycare, but it was pretty great! I got to meet a bunch of new friends today. Anne just turned 1, I think someday we will like playing together, I need to figure out that walking thing, it looks like it could come in handy! Gretchen has a daughter that is 8, I think, and she really liked playing with me too. By the time mom picked me up today Alyssa had pulled out two bouncy seats a floor mat and a BUNCH of toys for me to play with!

I was kind of nervous about going today, would the other kids like me? Would she know how to feed me just right? Would she make funny noises and faces like mama does to make me smile? Gretchen did pretty good, not quite as good as mom though.

Here is a picture of me getting ready to go...

Daddy dropped me off today and told me that mom would be there to pick me up after work but mom surprised me and showed up for lunch so we could hangout and go see the other babies at newborn clinic one more time! I weighed in at 12 pounds 10 ounces, but I think it was kind of unfair, mom fed me right before I got weighed... Mom dropped me back off at Gretchen's and then, like daddy promised, she picked me up again after work.

It was a pretty good day. I don't know how I feel about going there every day, I really liked hanging out with mom. I guess I will be a big girl and give it a try.

Time for bed, it was a long day!

Linden

Daycare Dodger

I dodged another bullet...I used my amazing charm and brilliant blue eyes and convinced a judge to give my daycare lady, Gretchen, Jury Duty. I don't know what is so bad about jury duty, all I know is that I wanted another day with my mom, and it worked!! We had a great day together. Mornings with mom mean cuddling in bed for at least an hour; this morning it was at least two! After cuddling with mom, I had my breakfast and then we got to go shopping. It was kind of a boring shopping trip today, we only went to mom stores, but none the less, it was a good time. The big reason for the shopping trip was finding an outfit for church pictures. It wasn't me that was the problem, I look cute in EVERYTHING that I wear, it was mama that was the problem. In the end, church pictures turned out great! Mom found a new shirt, and of course, I looked cute in the outfit mom found in my closet. Here is a picture of us in our church picture outfits... In the end, I did great! Mom was worried, I didn't take a nap after lunch so she thought I was going to be crabby, but as usual, I pulled through and gave some great smiles!! Unfortunately, I have to go to daycare tomorrow, unless this big snowstorm that is supposed to happen comes early and traps us in our house...God, can you arrange that?? It's not that I am not excited to hang out with Gretchen, it is just that I would rather hang out with mom. Anybody have any good ideas to get out of daycare tomorrow? I need to go to bed...it is going to be a LONG day tomorrow, missing mom take a lot of energy!! Wish me luck, Linden

I found Nemo!

We went on a BIG adventure today, we went to Underwater World at the Mall of America with Hailey!! We had a GREAT time, unfortunately I was REALLY tired so I slept through most of it but it was still fun. We started out the day with a behind the scene tour which was pretty neat. We got to go into the kitchen and see where and how they prepare the food for all of the animals. We also got to see where they test the water and take care of injured animals and we got to walk around above the tanks. It was pretty neat and we learned a lot. Once we went downstairs we got to see a LOT of fish and other sea animals. I thought the jelly fish were really neat, they had colored lights shining on them so they changed colors!! Here is Hailey next to the Jelly Fish. There were a TON of sharks in the aquariums. We learned that they get fed every other day so they don't get hungry and eat the other fish (in the wild they eat only once a week). We also learned that a sharks brain is only about the size of an egg but over half of it is devoted to smelling which makes them good hunters in the wild. One other interesting fact is that sharks have a LOT of teeth, each meal 3-10 teeth fall out, in a lifetime they go through more than 30,000 teeth!! I really liked this shark...

Here is Hailey looking at the sharks up close, I was too scared to get that close...

We even got to see an alligator and Hailey was brave enough to pet it!!

Just kidding, we went to the Rain Forest Cafe for dinner! The alligator was just pretend but it still looked really neat. Hailey really liked when it started storming at the restaurant. Here is a picture of Daddy, Hailey and me...

Daddy said we couldn't go to the Mall of America without visiting LegoLand. It was pretty amazing, this was one shopping trip that I was excited for daddy to teach me things. Look at my big smile when he was showing me all of the legos!!

Here is a picture of mama and Hailey with a lego statue of Woody from Toy Story.

I had a really great time today. I love hanging out with Hailey, she is really nice and likes to play with me.

Daddy told me it is tummy time now, I don't like tummy time...I wonder what I can do to get out of it??

Linden

Date with Daddy

The terrible day all the older babies have been telling me about has happened...mama went back to work. She decided to ease me into it, she went to work for 4 hours yesterday and then 8 hours today and she left me with daddy. I wasn't so sure about it yesterday so I just took a REALLY long nap and hoped mom would be back by the time I woke up (she was, thank goodness!!) Today I had to toughen up and make the best of it. It was a pretty good day, daddy took me to Target!!! Daddy decided to make it an educational trip, I'm not sure why he thought it needed to be educational, Target it good enough on it's own. The first thing he decided to teach me about is fishing. My cousin Tyler LOVES to fish so it was pretty interesting. Hopefully he teaches me how to be a good fisherman some day... After he taught me about fishing we went to the camping section. I was pretty tired after all the talk about fishing so I took a little nap. Daddy said he was going to take me camping this summer, I hope I learned enough!!

After all my naps I decided to wake up and be in a good mood for mom when she got home from work. I have been full of smiles lately and mom sure loves to see them. Here is another cute picture of me (I didn't want to give daddy one of my smiles, I wanted to save it for mom).

It was a pretty good day but I was pretty glad when mom got home. She said we get to spend the next couple days together which I am pretty excited about. My goal is to convince her to stay home with me until I go to school, let me know if you have any tips!!

Love,

Linden

Heavy Weight Champ

What a beautiful day it was today! Mom and I decided to walk to the Amazing Newborn Clinic today. It was a great walk, the fresh air REALLY tired me out though so I decided to take a nap so I was ready to play with all of my friends. I turn 12 weeks old this week (yes, that means mom goes back to work on Thursday and she isn't very happy about that). I have grown a LOT since my first week at the newborn clinic. Here is a picture from today... And here is a picture from 12 weeks ago (I don't know why I was so unhappy...)

Aren't I a big girl!! I have gained 6 pounds 7 ounces in just 12 weeks!!

Today was a lot of fun, I got to play on the floor with baby Drew, Kaiya was playing with us for a few minutes too, but mom didn't get a picture with her. There were a bunch of other friends there too! Look how cute baby Drew is, he is 4 weeks younger than me...

Before dad got home I got to hang out with Hailey for a little bit. She and mom sat outside and read while I was taking a nap in my carseat. After dinner mom and dad took me for another walk. I can't wait for summer, these walks are a lot of fun!

Hopefully tomorrow is another beautiful day!

Linden

Linden Ruth: Child God

Today was yet another big day for me, I got baptised. It was a pretty big day, all of my grandparents (and great grandparents), aunts, my cousin, a bunch of my mom and dad's aunts and some family friends were able to make it, we had a LOT of people over. We were pretty excited about the great weather that we had this morning, it was sunny and beautiful. Even though the storms last night were pretty loud they brought a lot of rain and the grass was nice and green! Mom took some pictures of me in my pretty baptism dress before everybody came over. My baptism dress has a pretty neat history. My Great Grandma Ruth (Grandma Nancy's mom) bought the dress for Grandma Nancy when she was first pregnant. The first person to wear the dress was my Aunt Wendy, then Aunt Heidi, then my mom, then my Cousin Tyler, and finally me! Here are a couple of the photo favorites...

Church was pretty good today. Everybody said I did a really great job, I didn't cry the entire time, I even took a nap after baptism was over. Mom's camera didn't get any photos during baptism, hopefully we get some soon from all of our family and friends. Here is one from after church.

Afterwards everybody came over to our house for lunch, we had TONS of food! Mom had this special cake made for me, evidently the cake lady thought I was pretty special, she called me a Child God! (It was supposed to say Child of God, Oops...)

We had a great day, full of family, food and fun. I am not sure how I am going to be able to relax and go to sleep tonight.

Wish me Luck!

Linden

Bring on the Weekend!

We have a VERY full weekend this weekend, it is going to be a busy one but it will be great. To start this weekend off right mom and I decided to make sure to take a great nap. I LOVE napping with mom, I'm not sure how she got this picture but it works... When I woke up from my afternoon nap we were at Target!! How great is that? We got a whole bunch of not so fun stuff so that was kind of boring, but we got to see one of mom's friends from when she was in college, mom was pretty happy to see her and her girls. When we got home from Target mom looked out the back window and noticed that our friends were here. Brooke and Pat Deshler and their two boys used to live next door to us (before I was born) and then they moved to Chicago. They have family in Minnesota this weekend so they stopped by to see everybody! Tony and Marie were nice enough to have everybody over so we got to see a lot of friends, here are some pictures of everybody... Here is me with baby Parsons again. I really liked playing with him, I even tried holding his hand... Here is a group picture of all the kids. Once again, mom is not a very good photographer...

This is Grant. He REALLY wanted to hold me, I'm not sure if he should be holding babies yet, he was kind of dropping me...

Haley is MUCH better at holding babies. She really liked playing with me, she gave me my pacifier, talked to me, patted my head, she took care of pretty much everything, I wonder if mom will let her babysit?

We had a great night, but I am up WAY too late!!

We have another big day tomorrow,

Linden

Playdates and Prayer Requests

Today's blog is split into two parts, there is the fun part and then the more serious part...I'll start with the fun part first... Mom and I had another playdate yesterday, I know, we go on a LOT of playdates, but it is fun, it gets us out of the house and mom and I know a LOT of babies!! Yesterday we hung out with baby Max and his mom Kara. Max is only a week and a half old and let me tell you, I felt REALLY old hanging out with him. I wanted to do all sorts of grown up baby things, like tummy time, and batting at the toys that mom hangs above my head, itsy bitsy spider, and maybe even practice rolling over. Max wanted NOTHING to do with those things, all he wanted was a full tummy and a nap. Don't get me wrong, I like those things too, but we were on a playdate. Mom reminded me that I was once 10 days old too and all I wanted to do was sleep, maybe next time! Here is a picture of handsome baby Max... Now on to the more serious side of the blog...Mom and I are asking for prayer requests for a family at church. There is a little girl at our church who is around 3 or 4 and she just found out she has cancer. She started Chemo Therapy this week and she isn't feeling too good. We are asking for everybody to pray for her to heal and also for God to give her strength to make it through all of the treatments. We also want to pray for her mom and older sister. Mom and I decided to make some meals to bring to them. Mom said I was a really good helper, I need to get a hidden camera to see what I do when I am sleeping, mom always says I am a good helper when I am sleeping, I don't get it, aren't I just laying there?? I helped package up the food at the end, look at how I am such a big girl!

Most of the people who follow my blog are moms. Count your blessings for the healthy children you have in your life and say a prayer for the family at our church. We are SOO blessed, Linden

Friends

I have been meeting a LOT of new friends lately... Last night was the first night of spring baby class. There are 5 other babies, one is a couple weeks younger than me otherwise they are all older. Baby class is pretty fun, we get together and sing some songs then the adults go to the other side of the room and talk while the babies all get to play together. I was kind of crabby last night so mom didn't let me play, maybe next week... Today I got dressed up because we were going to have a busy day. Mom's friends Jerah and Sarah Flynn had another baby boy, Luke David. He has an older brother named Logan who is 2 and a half. It was fun meeting Luke!! After meeting Luke, mom and I went to the library to find some new books. I know I am going to like the library when I get older but right now it is really stressful, it is hard being that quiet!! We had a good time looking at books and even found a couple to take home with us. After the library we went to the Amazing Newborn Clinic where I got weighed in again. All sorts of friends were there and I had a great time talking to them (mom enjoys talking to their moms too). Today I weighed in at 11 pounds 15 ounces, good thing mom didn't feed me before I got weighed!! Mom and I went to lunch with her friend Jen and her baby Parsons. Parsons and I were really good babies at Applebees and we slept the whole time. Mom enjoyed having some time to hang out with Jen and catch up.

After daddy got home mom decided we should go for a walk today. Mom tried taking me for a walk a couple weeks ago but it was REALLY windy so we went home. Today was perfect! Mom tells me that summer is really nice here in Minnesota, I am excited to go for walks all the time!

Today was a VERY busy day. I need to get my beauty sleep, I think I might have another play date tomorrow!

Linden

Beautiful Bride

I got to go to my second wedding this weekend, I LOVE weddings! It was a really beautiful ceremony. Mom went to college with the groom (Peter) and unfortunately never got a chance to hangout with the bride because they started dating after college. The bride (Mindy) is a graphic designer so as you can imagine, no detail was left out. Here is a picture of the beautiful bride and her groom during the ceremony. After the ceremony we went to the reception and that is where all of the details really came out. As we walked in there was a ledge of candles and photos of all of the important couples in their lives. Once we got into the actual reception room we noticed a candy table full of chocolates, caramels, dipped pretzels and truffle-pops (see below). We heard that the bride and her family made all of the treats, including the candies that were on the table as favors.

We heard that the bride made all of the necklaces, shoes and hair pieces for the bridesmaids. All of the tables had beautiful, unique centerpieces.

Being a graphic designer, the bride created her own invitations, but they weren't your average invitations. Part of the RSVP was interactive and asked questions like, How many slices of cake do you plan on eating? How much punch will you drink? What is your favorite quality of the bride/groom? They used this information to create a "stats sheet" on the reverse side of the menu at the reception. They also had matching programs and wish for the bride and groom cards.

There were so many amazing details that I am sure I am missing ones that I noticed, and I am sure there are countless more that we missed as we tried to soak it all in. It was a great day, but all of the fun is REALLY exhausting. Here is a picture of me in my dress, I was REALLY sleepy!

I have to go and get some play time in before bed. I have been a really good girl this past week, most nights I have slept 7 hours, last night I made it 8!!

Have a great week!

Linden

Great end to a great day

Happy Birthday Mama!!

Today was a GREAT day, it was my mom's birthday!! I decided to give her a special birthday treat and I slept for 7 hours last night, she really seemed to like that.

After mom fed me breakfast she and I cuddled in bed before going to Zumba. The music was so good and I was so excited for mom's birthday today that I just couldn't sleep through the whole thing, but that was ok because I was a good girl and mom still had a good time. Dad came home early from work and we met him at Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch, then after lunch I got to cuddle some more with mom and we took a nap.

We went out to dinner for mom's birthday to Applebees which was a lot of fun. Mom didn't tell them it was her birthday so they didn't sing for her, but that is Ok because grandma Nancy called her and sang her happy birthday. After dinner we came home and I got to play on the floor while we watched the Twins game. Mom made me go to bed before the game was over...I hope they won!!

Mom read our favorite book tonight for bed, "On the Night you Were Born", it is a really neat book and makes mom really happy when she reads it. I think I am going to be an extra good girl tonight and go to bed right away, I'm not sure if I can sleep so long again though, my tummy gets really hungry!!

Have a good night, and thanks to everybody for wishing my mom a happy birthday! I can't wait until it is my birthday (I don't think mom wants it to come so soon...)

Linden