About Me

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I am a Mom of two young lads, a fitness fanatic and wife to a die-hard Packers/Brewers fan. I worked in corporate america for 12 years. Now I am on a new adventure - raising my sons and working part-time in the fitness industry as a Personal Trainer and Group Exercise Instructor. I hope you stop by and read my updates- family, fitness, or life related!

Friday, July 30, 2010

July Gone By!



This is going to be a double post today - two in one.

So, it's already the end of July! I can't believe it. July was a busy month for us. Joe coaches baseball and his team had two state tournaments in July. The team ended up winning the Gopher State 10AAA Championship - woohoo! We celebrated a great end to the season (and having more free time) by being vegabonds for the weekend.
We started out by heading to Lumberjack Days in Stillwater, my hometown. This consisted of a visit to Teddy Bear Park (pics above), watching the log rollers/Lumberjacks, a K-9 demonstration and stopping to eat along the local vendors in the park. We then stayed the night at Shawn and Kurt's in Woodbury and the cousins got to play together. Saturday, we headed up to my Dad and Pam's in Turtle Lake and all of the Sullivan's were there to hang lake side. We played bean bag toss, ate, drank and some did some kayaking and paddle boating. We then left the Sullivan's to go over to our friends cabin in Balsam Lake- David and Brenda. We spent all day Sunday boating on their nice deck boat. I got to float on an air mattress for about an hour, Braden got to be dunked waist high in the lake which he loved, and Joe got to get thrown around on a tube behind the boat with a couple of 10year olds! What a great summer weekend we had, and I can't believe it's almost August now!

I also celebrated a birthday this week. It was a great day. Joe made me breakfast in bed. Braden and I took a morning stroll. We hit the Linden Hills wading pool in the afternoon. I taught kickboxing and then Joe and I headed to Broder's Pasta Bar for dinner. Jess came over to babysit Braden, so that was nice of her to give us a night out. We sat outside for appetizers and drinks and then were seated inside and Joe held the door open for Jared Allen who was also dining there. It was nice of Jared to show up for my b-day celebration! :) I look back to last year and how pregnant I was on my birthday...and this year, Braden is 10 months. Time is just flying by. I do have to say that I feel a lot younger/better this year than I did last year. Full of energy and somehow I am keeping up with this energetic and curious little guy each and every day! Here are some pics of my little diaper head wearing a b-day hat for Mamma. :)

Friday, July 23, 2010

10 Months!


Yesterday, on July 22, Braden turned 10 months old. We are officially in the double digits. Time is flying by, I can't believe he is almost one!!! Crazy.

What is our 10 month old up to these days? He is loads of fun! He is an expert crawler- fast and furious. He is smiley and happy. He has TWO teeth - the second one was a pretty traumatic experience for both he and I (lots of crying and no sleeping!!!) :) He loves to climb (per my last post.) He hand feeds himself- he loves pancakes and bananas for breakfast. He has tried ice cream and loves it! He loves swimming, dogs, playing with new things, going places and being chased around the house. He has a little bit of seperation anxiety (from me) but we are working through it- it's not horrible or anything. He loves to bang on the keyboard, as he is doing while I type this. He loves pulling things off of shelves, counters, etc.. he likes to climb inside the refrigerator, he loves stairs and anything that is challenging! He loves to bang two toys together to make noise.

Braden, we are so proud of the little man that you are becoming. You are full of life, energy and personality. You amaze us each day. We love you and are having so much fun with you. We can't imagine life without you! We are so excited to see what is next for you, since every day there is something new. Happy 10 months!!!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

We Have a Climber!


My sister was generous enough to pass along some old toys to Braden. It's so fun to watch Braden with toys he hasn't seen before and see what he will do. Forget letting the cars go zooming down the ramp, or putting them in the elevator and watching all the lights light up....his favorite thing to do is climb on top. Right now he is into climbing up/onto everything! This weekend I brought him into the library and the Sprint store and at both places he wanted to climb on the countertops and cried when I wouldn't let him. I guess the days of him just sitting in my arms are over....another milestone reached- our kid can climb and he's really good at it!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Swimming with a Turtle

Braden in his happy turtle state!
And he's off! Our little turtle cruising around.

It's crazy how life changes so quickly. If you would have asked me two years ago what my favorite summer activity was, I might have said running around the lake or hanging out on the patio with a cold drink. Last year if you would have asked me, it might have been going on dates with Joe (knowing that those would soon slow down post-baby), going on weekends away or getting a pregnancy massage to feel better. Well, this year it's swimming with a turtle!

We bought this turtle raft a couple of weeks ago and we take it to the Linden Hills wading pool. What is so great is that the LH wading pool is shallow enough that Braden can touch the bottom while he's in his raft. So, he cruises around the pool just like he is walking. He has so much fun and barely even notices if I am around! So, this year...swimming with a turtle is my favorite activity.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Starting The Day Off Right!


This morning Braden and I ate breakfast outside on the patio, one of my favorite things to do. We are relaxing after a busy weekend. Joe's parents came to town this weekend to watch Braden all day Saturday while I renewed my YMCA teaching license and Joe coached his 9-10 year old team in a state tournament. Braden enjoyed hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma, who took him to two parks and gave him some ice cream (not his first time, don't worry). We also got to have a date night on Saturday - dinner and a movie which was really nice after being in class all day long. So thank you to Jack and Theresa for helping us out, giving us a night out and spending precious time with Braden. We appreciate it. Sunday they took off and we watched Joe's team take third place in the tournament. We ended the weekend with a little swim in the Linden Hills wading pool.

Oh, and speaking of patio- I took some pictures of ours. We are hoping to put the townhouse on the market this fall to see if we can sell it and I wanted to have pictures of the beautiful summer flowers and plants. So, if you know anyone who wants an adorable end townhome in Edina that is close to shopping, parks and restaurants AND has this great patio for entertaining- let me know. :)



We hope you all had a great summer weekend and are starting the week off right with something you love.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

First Tooth



I forgot to capture this milestone - Braden's first tooth. He has one lone tooth at the bottom. If you click on this picture you should see a larger version where the tooth is more visable. Was teething bad? Well, he was a tiny bit fussier when this tooth was trying to come through, but nothing major. He woke up crying a few times as well but a little baby Tylenol fixed that right up. We think he might be working on one on top now, so bring on the teeth. It is strange not seeing just a full gummy smile anymore. I just wanted to capture this very first tooth before I forget and then soon enough you will see pics with multiple teeth! :)

Monday, July 5, 2010

Happy (Belated) Independence Day!

Dad teaching Braden to swim. I think he likes it. :)
Braden in his red, white and blue on the Fourth of July, just hanging on the lawn.
We have a waver!

We hope everyone had a Happy Independence Day or Fourth of July! We had a really nice weekend. Joe traveled last week Mon-Wed night so it was really nice to have him home Thurs-Monday (he took vacation days on Thursday and Friday)!! Our weekend consisted of swimming, a Forth of July parade, music at the park, lots of family giggle time, a day at the lake, friends on the patio and the list goes on.
Were there any firsts for Braden this weekend? Well he wasn't up for fireworks but he enjoyed his first parade. He liked all the people waving to him, the fire truck and the bands. He did not like the tuba player that blew his tuba very close to him though, he crawled up into my lap and started to cry a bit. We even saw Sunshine and O'Neal from the Biggest Loser- they were the Grand Marshalls of the parade. It was a humid weekend but we enjoyed spending it together.
Braden is showing his own independence now. He is waving, clapping and yes- even kicking and splashing in the pool. Soon enough he will be a swimming man.
We hope you all had a safe and fun holiday weekend with your families and friends! Now back to reality tomorrow, ugggg...