Only in Minnesota...

Ski Hill & Golf Greens...on our Thanksgiving Day walk

Only in Minnesota...can you golf the course during the day - and ski the slopes in the evening. This is the sight Miss L and I viewed on our walk on Thanksgiving Day. It was a "record-high" temperature of...(you'll probably laugh outloud)...55 degrees! That was exciting news to the locals. When I heard the news reporter tease about record-high temperature for Thanksgiving, my eyes lit up - I'm thinking, "Oh great!" Well, 55 was not what I was expecting...more like 65 or so. But...for November 24 in Minnesota- I will gladly take 55 and sunny (and no snow!)

The Big 3-0

Jeremy exited his 20's on Sunday...all the while, "taking it like a man..." he didn't shed one tear over closing the chapter of youth. LOL I can say that now, because I have 2 more years to cross this bridge myself!

Jeremy has accomplished so much in the short 30 years on this earth; I can't wait to see what the next 30 have in-store for him and our family. I feel so fortunate to have been a part of the fun the past 15 years and basically grow up together. Enough with the sappy stuff.

It just so happened, he had a nice 5-day vacay to enjoy with the holiday. And with the exception of the first day, I got the pleasure of spending every day and night with him. Some couples would go stir-crazy spending so much time together...not us. We both miss each other (and now Miss L), sooo much on Mondays. This lil' staycation made it that more difficult to leave one another.

For his bday celebration, we went downtown Minnie for dinner at Fogo de Chao. This was my first time at Fogo de Chao, but I am not a newcomber to the Brazillian steakhouse concept. It's basically an all-you-can-eat meat feast - with servers briskly walking the restaurant floor with skewers of various meats, ready to shave a tender, juicy slice of beef, pork, lamb or chicken onto our plate.

Jeremy loved the meats, and certainly I think they had the best filet mignon that I have ever had. It literally melted in my mouth. But my favorite part of the experience was the signature Brazillian cocktails. Is anyone really surprised by this? :) Nearly everyone in the bar was enjoying a lime-infused beverage. After a quick view of the drink menu, I gathered that this is a Caipirinha - a refreshing blend of limes, sugar and Brazillian spirits. Since I'm more of a vodka-girl than a rum-lover...I ordered the cousin drink called the Caiprissco (sp?). After one (strong) sip, I pronounced this a new favorite and that I must buy limes on my next grocery trip to try to replicate this drink at home. The ice was finely crushed, the limes were muddled and the entire beverage shaken (like a polaroid picture!) to perfection. See photos below...

Here is a photo of the molten chocolate lava cake in celebration of Jeremy's big day!

Happy Birthday Jeremy!!

A Modern Closet {Light}

Here's to another progressive technology item that my husband has spoiled me with...automatic light switches. For example, when I walk into our walk-in pantry or my walk-in closet in our bedroom...the light automatically comes on, thanks to a fancy little sensor on this lightswitch (see photo below).

The light comes on as soon as I walk-in...which is especially helpful with a load of clothes or pantry items. It automatically powers off after 5 minutes or so without activity.

Now that I am conditioned to just walking in the room and the lights turn on...I often forget to turn the light on when I walk in other rooms...like the utility room - which always happens when I have my hands full. Maybe I should put a utility room auto light switch on my Christmas list...hmmmm.

If you have a room in your home that you could benefit from this modern technology - send the hubby to Lowe's and call an electrician - like my dad! Or perhaps your own dear husband can tackle it himself, like mine. Highly suggest it for the modern home!



Our pantry





My walk-in



The light switch



A {very} Happy Thanksgiving

We have so many blessings to be thankful for this year. As we reflected at our dinner table of 2, er, 3...we enjoyed thinking about how much our world has changed since last Thanksgiving. The day we learned of our growing family. We are thankful for:

• Jeremy's new job that has taken us on quite the adventure
• Our new home that we love and enjoy
• Our health
• Jeremy's award trip to Hawaii in March
• The birth of Miss L
• The constant, loving support from our families

Our Thanksgiving day was spent exactly how we had hoped - woke up to the aroma of cinnamon bread baking in the bread machine, watched the parade with Miss L STARING at the TV in delight and amusement, Mommy & Miss L went for a walk/jog outside, watched lots of football, enjoyed appetizers then a traditional feast, followed by dessert from The Cheesecake Factory.

Our appetizer spread included a Cheese Tray with some aged white cheddar, gorgonzola and parm-reggiono (sp?), bacon-wrapped potato bites, crab-stuffed mushrooms and blue cheese filled baby reds.

Our dinner feast was complete with these beautiful, hand-made place cards from our sitter and Alexis. I just love how crafty and creative people can be! See below for some photos...

I love  some gorgonzola and honey on a cracker!

Blue cheese stuffed baby reds

Crab-stuffed Mushrooms - surprisingly, Jeremy's favorite app of the day!

Our Feast

Placecards

Our biggest blessing - Miss L

 P.S. - we are super thankful for the record-breaking high temperatures on Thanksgiving, and the fact that the 3" of snow received on Saturday melted already! Yay!

Baby it's cold outside

What a difference one week makes. Last Saturday, we were taking fall photos outside of our home. This Saturday, it was freezing cold and snowing 2-3". Yep, the green grass we sat in last week, it won't be visible for the next...say...5 months!

I'm thankful we were able to soak it up from the comfort of our warm home; having no where to go until the evening. On a short walk to visit a neighbor, it was fun to see Lexi's reaction to the big, puffy snow flakes landing on her cheek. "They" say how much fun it is to see things through your children's eyes and I can't wait to for many more firsts to come.

For now she enjoys staring out our windows at all of the white stuff. This momma is happy, as long as the sun is shining.

Below is a snapshot of our Saturday:

Snow, Oh no!

Mommy & Daddy had a asnowball fight

Our date night with our bff Miss C!

3 month milestones

We celebrated the 3-month mark last week, which is hard to believe, because I feel like we were just bringing her home from the hospital last week!

Long-distance family and friends comment on "how big she is getting" in photos. In all reality, we think her face has matured, but her body is still "peanut" status. I have no idea what she weighs currently, as I have no idea what I weigh currently and to find out weight of baby, it would require that mommy gets on the scale with and without baby to determine such weight. And that algebra equation is not happening yet! Daddy will have to take care of this sometime.

When we are around other baby friends around her age (mostly 1-2 weeks older), or other babies at the library events, etc...it is unanimous we hear comments about her alertness, neck strength and personality. Oh, and how tiny she is...which usually leads to comments about how she looks like a porcelain doll.

Here are some of our recent milestones:

• Giggled for the first time on Sunday, and then again today
• Roll over from our belly to our back
• Last week, we found our toes and love playing with them
• Babbles up a storm, which is super cute...until it turns into whine, and then cries
• Loves Baby Einstein dvd about world music
• Sleeps through the night (most nights) until 5/6/7am. 

And most importantly, smiles like crazy!

Below are some photos of from our recent 3-month photo session, held at our home last weekend...

Happy Birthday Brother!

My little brother celebrates his birthday today. We haven't celebrated his birthday in-person together probably since his 21st (which was a good one!)...but there is no question that I wish we lived closer so I could see him, give him a hug and share in happy hour somewhere today.

JJ, aka "Brother," is not only one of my best friends, but one of Jeremy's best friends. Since JJ was 10 and Jeremy was 14 when we met, we grew up together and Jeremy quickly became the "brother he never had."

Jeremy and I have watched him grow as a person into this wise, well-spoken, confident, and educated person. It has been a joy to observe him love his girlfriend with all of his heart, demonstrate his nurturing side with his adorable pets, his maturity with his perserverance in pursuit to complete his college degree and now his caring interest and love for his beautiful niece.

I'm so proud of my brother and wish him a wonderful year ahead filled with more excitement, joy, laughter and fun times!

Hanging out on our balcony in Chicago! 

Good Times at The Signature Lounge, 95th floor, Hancock Bldg 

A Special Surprise

Today was an eventful day for our home.

I had to get to leave the house this morning at 6:15 am to get to work early for a Board meeting, so Jer had to handle drop-off of Miss L to the babysitter. And Jer had a 7:30 am conference call, so this meant he had to wake up, get himself and her ready (and fed) and out the door by 7:10ish.

It was soo nice just getting myself ready and in the car on time (for once!). I find working part-time outside of the house is a perfect balance and truly lets me appreciate my time spent with and without Miss L.

The fabulous part of picking up Miss L from her in-home sitter/neighbor/friend, was the suprise of beautiful artwork that accompanied her. Today, she made her first piece of art to don our fridge! Her little foot prints dipped in paint strategically made the feathers of a Thanksgiving turkey.

It made my day and certainly reassured me that she is just fine while I'm at work, she's in great hands AND the other neighbor ladies long to have coffees together on Wednesdays just so they can play and have fun with my little girl. We are really blessed by such amazingly generous and thoughtful people in our life.

House Updates

When we purchased our home in April, it was not without a long laundry list of required projects. Some of them were just necessary for the cleanliness of the home (i.e. new carpet in the entire home and practically refinishing the laundry room due to poor pet hygiene...or rather sad pet parenting)...other projects were a matter of personal style and preferences. Regardless, I think we spent every.single.Saturday at The Home Depot nearby (which we also were frustrated with b/c we already had a Lowe's card and the nearest Lowe's is about 15 miles away!).

Below are two projects that we completed early this spring.

Living Room

• Removed the built-ins from our living room because our TV wouldn't fit it the slotted area for a TV and they were taking up too much room. However, they were "too nice" to toss, so we relocated them to the office. 
• Removed the existing tile and mantle/surround and replaced with stone from floor to ceiling and tile floor.
• Jeremy strategically and meticulously crafted the perfect home theater system with all wires and connections through the walls, down to the basement and up again to our console on the left side of the room.
• Fresh Paint
• New Carpet
• New Curtains

Office:

• Modified and installed the built-ins for optimal storage
• New Carpet
• Fresh Paint

Dishing out smiles and hope

Today, we visited the Minnesota Hematology and Oncology office for a routine Vitamin B12 injection and a blood draw to check my platelet count. We sat in the hot, stuffy and crowded waiting room awaiting the first lab work to be done. In the meantime, Miss L woke up from her nap and had to escape her car seat carrier, because afterall, she hates being warm (Jeremy's trait) and being confined (my trait).

So, I hold her on my lap as we play with the toy I brought, as well as quietly performing our "elevator ride" song (I pretend lift her up 3 floors, one at a time and then we go down...she LOVES it!). The entire time she is flashing her gummy-beautiful-smile to the rest of the waiting room - which is filled primarily with both older patients and those clearly battling cancer. They glance at her and smile; they ask questions about how old she is; all the while I imagine this little miracle is making their day just a little pleasant for 10 minutes. Maybe for 10 minutes they forgot about what's on the other side of the waiting room...or maybe they were reminded of their sweet lil' grandchildren and perhaps great, grandchildren.

After I get the CBC done, we return to the waiting room for a few minutes longer, again dishing out more smiles. By this time, the entire waiting room practically knows her name. (Plus, her adorable onesie designed by our dear friend Cori, says "Hello My Name is Lexi")

Then, my name is called for the injection in the lab. Selfishly, this is my favorite part of my day. I carry her in my arms with the car seat in the other arm and the nurses all get so excited to see us again (since last month!). the main nurse offers to hold her during my 90-second (if that) injection. I gladly accept and before I know it...at least seven ladies (nurses, scheduler, etc.) are all surrounding Miss L just making faces at her, smiling, observing her every detail. "She looks like a porcelain doll" "She is so beautiful" "Look how strong her neck is" "Wow, she's so alert!" ...and it goes on and on...well after my injection. I must say, they sure put a smile on my face.

At the library this morning, during "Storytime with Babies," two different moms/grandmas came up and talked with us, both citing how advanced my little 3-month old is - gripping the toys, watching the older kids, trying to stand, and observing the activities - she may be a peanut, but I am certain that she is the advanced kind.

As a child, I was never "into dolls"; as I was more of a Barbie fan. This was a great concern to my great-grandmother, since that generation believed dolls help girls learn how to mother and nurture. Well, I must say, on days like today, I know that I am the best mom to Miss L that I can be...and it is kind of nice having a dolly to call my own!

10 Days 'til Turkey Day!

Wow! Where is time going? My baby girl is already 3 months old and we are now just 10 days shy of celebrating our first Thanksgiving together as a family...well a more complete, real family!

Last Thanksgiving was quite eventful for our family of 2! Jeremy left for work at O'hare around 7am. I flew out of bed shortly after he left to take a home pregnancy test. It didn't take very long for the window to turn to a positive sign and for me to be jumping for joy in the bathroom on the 29th floor of our Chicago high-rise. Then, I had to walk to the grocery store, prepare our appetizers and Thanksgiving feast...all while I was lip-locked, waiting for Jeremy to arrive home from work so I could share the exciting news.

For the past four years, Jeremy has had to work Thanksgiving day and we created this routine of our very own intimate, Thanksgiving celebration. This year, we are happy that Jeremy has the day off and our family of three can celebrate the entire day!

Our tradition has become our favorite holiday - we dress up, enjoy the food that we love, watch football and basically share our thanksgiving together. Time to start planning the menu...this year, we will have to have a little family breakfast included in the plans.

In A Perfect World

Having lived in 4 metropolitan cities, I must say there is something to love about every area. If I could have a semi-perfect world (because a perfect world involves me planning events and Jeremy renting cars on a tropical island), it would include:

• Indianapolis weather - all four seasons, particulary mild winters, warm springs and amazing falls!
• Minnesota terrain and topography - beautiful!
• Chicago's restaurants and retailers - delish!
• Detroit sports teams - go Tigers and Wings!
• And most importantly, it would include all of our family...and friends from all of our cities.

As much as I have acclimated pretty well to the Twin Cities, I certainly find something I miss from one of our previous homes...nearly every week. This past week - Bonefish Grill...I rec'd an email for $5 bang, bang shrimp (our favorite appetizer). I immediately Googled where the nearest one was...and my search came up empty. I am sad to read they haven't entered the Mpls market...yet! Maybe in my perfect (er, near) world.

November=Winter

Although this is my first full year in Minnesota, I quickly learned this sad, sad, math equation... November = Winter.

Today's forecast says we'll be lucky if we hit the 40's and the weatherman used the terms "wind chill" and "snow" in the forecast. Yikes!

Time to put away the flip flops and to bring out the coats from the basement storage. It truly is a sad day in my world. I continue to ask myself why did we have to relocate to the north pole?

Since November=Winter here, I spotted neighbors decorating lights on their trees over their fall break (early-mid October) and THEN, another neighbor flipped on their (professionally decorated) holiday lights earlier this week! WOW! I have never seen Christmas lights so early...but that's what happens when you live at the north pole.

So morale of the story is - we need to get our butts in gear on the exterior holiday decor.

Gaining an hour...really?

I quickly learned (today) that when Daylight Savings Time ends and most of the world celebrates in "gaining an hour" of sleep today...it really is irrelevant to families. It just creates a more-sleepy day for the family with young kids. This day/weekend, which used to be circled on the calendar weeks in advance...is now just a weekend of unpredictability for little one.

She and I did manage to nap for about 3 hours this afternoon while having a lazy football Sunday in our home...I think we both needed it after her 4am wake up!

Baby Video Monitor...Must or Lust?

In the sea of baby monitors, we originally registered for the best-reviewed simple monitor on the market, the Sony something or another. We graciously received it as a gift from Jeremy's aunt and cousin at one of our baby showers, however, this all-important electronic remained in the original packaging on a shelf in the nursery room closet for months and months.

About 2 weeks prior to the due date, as we were finishing up the nursery, we were ready to open the said baby monitor we registered for and my dear electronics-guru hubby said, "Are you sure you want to use this monitor? Maybe we should look around for a different one?" This was code for: "This bulky hunk of plastic appears to be straight out of the 80's and I think you were crazy for putting it on the registry to begin with." But a smart husband cannot say those exact words to a pregnant wife in her 3rd trimester.

So...it sat on the shelf some more. Then, one day shortly thereafter, I was browsing Pregnancy and Newborn magazine and saw an advertisement for Angelcare's NEW 3-in-1 video baby monitor. This led me to watch the short promo video on their web site...then, I immediately showed it to Jeremy. Our jaws dropped and our eyes sparkled in amazement.

Without hesitation, I really wanted it! It had all of the features I was searching for in my initial research, but never found...plus more!

• A video monitor - preventing me from running to the nursery with every wimper...plus I am able to observe her many sleeping habbits, which is very helpful!
• Angelcare technology to help prevent SIDS - a sensitive motion-detecting mat is placed beneath the crib mattress and will sound an alarm if it detects the babe stops breathing. (Only one false alarm thus far!)
• Direct Connect - it's practically a Nextel for our home, being able to talk with one another...comes in handy when my hands are tied as I nurse her and need something (usually a burp cloth!!)
• Temperature Gauge - we always know the temp in the nursery
• Timer - this is by far my favorite feature and benefit - you hit a timer to clock how long she has been in the crib...this is a huge sanity saver early on when you think "Did I feed her at 1 or 2? or How long was that last nap?" love, love, love it!

Needless to say...I found a stellar sale on it, had a coupon, had a credit from the former monitor...and still had a pay a small bit...but it is worth every penny!

I say this a "must" for any modern family!