Eating and Laughing!

Play Date with Elliot (10 months old)

A Good 'Ole Fashion Garage Raising

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Nate and I are so very thankful for everyone that helped build our garage this weekend.  I am amazed by the generosity you all showed - giving up HUGE chunks of time to pound nails, hold Lou, climb ladders, haul shingles and "Novawrap" our new garage.  You know who you are, but you deserve some recognition (on this blog that gets MILLIONS of views each day)...

Mike, Trav, Ariyl, Paul, Abbie, Max, Georgia, Jeanne, Tony, Claude, Ryan, Grant, Jason, Rebekah, Adam, Kristy, Paul, Mike S, Aaron, and Jim

Nate started promptly at 8 am on Saturday morning and his work crew quickly grew.  Nate had an awesome idea to set up the camera to automatically take pictures every minute throughout the process.  Unfortunately, the camera battery died around 10 am on Saturday and we didn't realize it until around 4 pm.  Alas, here are some pictures from today.  I will hopefully update this post with the pictures from yesterday (before the battery died).  The last shingle was nailed in around 9 pm tonight. AMAZING work everyone.  Thank you.

A visit to Washington DC

Last weekend Louisa and I went to Washington DC while Nate was in Florida playing in 2011 Club Ultimate Nationals. They did better than the past two years, finishing seventh out of sixteen teams. I did my best to follow the games online while hanging out with Sarah, Dan and my parents. My trip was great - Lou was a champ on the flights and also during the Marine Corps Marathon that my dad participated in. Louisa had breakfast on a street curb not far from the Washington Monument before I took off to run the final 9.5 miles of the race with my dad. He did so well - finishing in about 4 hours and 20 minutes.

Here are some videos we took to send to Nate since he was really missing his Loubear...

More Pictures

As if you couldn't get enough pictures of our daughter, I have uploaded a bunch of pictures to our Flickr account. Take a look by clicking on the pictures below.

Autumn Louisa




Porcupine Mountains

Baby giggles are the best

Watch the video...hopefully you'll agree!

Gorgeous Fall

The beautiful weather this week gave us a chance to spend lots of time outside.  The sun brightens the already beautiful red, yellow and orange trees lining the streets in Madison.  Gorgeous!  Like most things placed before a 5 month old baby, these multi-colored leaves went right in Louisa's mouth.  Let's just say I'm testing out the "hygiene hypothesis" - that the uptick in food allergies is due to babies being raised in ultra-sanitary environments.

Photo shoot in the front yard

A beautiful quilt made by our friend Deb

Sorry if this grosses you out.  I have to embrace Lou's skills, otherwise I spend too much time researching how to make the spitting up stop.

Louisa brings so much joy to our lives.  She's happy most days and saves quite a few smiles for Nate and Georgia each evening.  I'm still thankful for my part-time job - it really makes me appreciate my time with Lou on my days off.  On my most recent day off, we went pumpkin picking!  Louisa enjoyed the pumpkins, but found the small gourds a bit easier to handle.  She spent at least an hour "chewing" on this gourd yesterday.

"This is the one, Mom"

"Or this one.  I like the dirt on it"

You carry the one you pick

Finally, one with a nice handle

Living the Life

I broke the 1 hour mark today - running for that long, that is, since having Loubear. It almost feels as though I should count it as a 70 minute run though since I was pushing 28 pounds + (dog+baby+stroller+water bottle+ i pod). I guess I will let my body make that decision come the race in November!  Summer has returned to Madison for the week, so I made sure to take advantage of it by getting out for a run. Ries loves riding in the front of the stroller. I promise, this is on the 2nd half of the run. She ran alongside for the first 30 minutes.  The video below is especially for Auntie Anne...

Five Months Already?

Tomorrow Louisa will be five months old!  Time has been passing quickly, but not so fast that it feels like a blur.  Since returning to work, I've felt so at peace with life.  I look forward to working, but by the end of a working day, I am so excited to stay home with Louisa the next day.  I compare it to coming home from school on a Friday or finding out early that your next school day has been declared a snow day.


This past weekend was the annual Porcupine Mountain camping trip.  Lou was a natural hiker - taking in the fall colors until the steady bounce of my step lulled her to sleep.  We're not a "family bed" family, but did have to become one for the two nights in the porkies.  Louisa slept next to me on my bunk.  The benefit of the arrangement was that when she woke up in the middle of the night, my magic milk silenced her fuss instantly.  The downside was that I didn't sleep much at all.  That's fine though, because I probably have gotten 100% more sleep over the past 5 months than the average new mom.  Louisa continues to be a champion sleeper most nights.

M&M Loubear?

Gotta get those naps in sometime

Ries still gets a fair amount of love

Bundled up for the hike.  It took a lot to not buy the pink snow suit

Lookin' snug as a bug in a rug

Our family

Another event worth mentioning is the completion of my first triathlon!  I intended to sign up for the Devil's Lake Triathlon last September, but my fear of swimming in a straight line as fast as I could and the discovery of a tiny baby growing inside gave me all the excuses necessary.  So this year, Louisa had made her exit and I convinced myself that I surely would not drown swimming 1/4 mile, so I signed up!  Nate was in Minneapolis for an ultimate frisbee tournament, so my wonderful friend Laura woke up extra early to come to Baraboo with me and Lou.  I'm glad I did the race for many reasons, but mostly because it made running events feel so pure and simple....there is just too much gear required!  I will probably do another triathlon next summer, but I didn't fall head over heals with the challenge.  Next challenge: 1/2 marathon in early November.

Nate asked if I was going to blog about my birthday that is tomorrow.  I said no, because I truly did not intend to, but now I feel like I should just because he was so silly to suggest it.  So it's my GOLDEN BIRTHDAY!  I've been waiting 29 years for this!  I hope Nate didn't buy me too much gold.  I've heard it's expensive right now and I'm really more of a silver or white gold kind of gal.  Anyway, it will be fun to share my 29th birthday with Louisa's fifth month birthday :)

My favorite picture

Who knew Louisa could already have such a love for books?  Or is it one of the pigs that she loves?