Ode to the Potato

huh?! Our town's festival is called Potato Days and is quite the big deal around these parts. It is so much fun! We didn't get to partake in as many events as we did last year due to being on Makenna's schedule and not her on ours;) Completely fine! We still loaded ourselves with lefse and mashed potatoes and all sorts of yummy carbs! Plus I had to throw in mini-donuts for good measure! Lance ran the 10K and did really well...especially for only training for 10 days....I know, he sucks! He was sore yesterday and a little today too but he came in 6 or 7! So proud of him!! There's a Miss Tator Tot contest that is for young girls., They are so cute and excited to be in it. (Anna looked SO cute in her blue dress, Gina!) I'm sure M will want to be in it too when she's old enough. So it was a great weekend...tiring but so fun!

Today I'm off to the dentist @ noon, going to try to squeeze in a ride on my horse then off to a birthday party. Somewhere in there I need to fit in a shower and some house cleaning. We have plans every weekend now until October plus a lot of other stuff/changes in the works. It was fun August but I love fall so See Ya!! Welcome Sept!!!!

Lovely!

I have to say... I'm a lucky girl. I so love being a mom. Makenna is so funny + cute + dramatic + snuggly. She's just the perfect combination of all these things wrapped into an adorable little bundle. Tonite my mom came over and went to the barn with us so I could ride and she watches M. M was great for grandma! She always is. When we got home, Grandma gave M her bath while I made supper. I took M up to her room to get her dried off and into her jammies after her bath. This normal starts the crying period. She was good until I went to put on her jammies... then the tears and crying began. The little stinker would cry for about 5 seconds then look to see if Grandma was watching then cry for a little longer then check again. Everytime she'd check to make sure she has Gram's full attention, her little lower lip would stick out. She is the queen of the pouty lip! It is one of the most adorable things I've ever seen. I still haven't gotten the perfect picture of it yet. I'm working on it! I'm so blessed to have a mom that is so willing and wanting to spend quality grandbaby time and help me out so much. Especially since Lance is gone all week. It really is the best! I hope one day that I can be that helpful to Makenna when she's a mom.

Interesting.

That's about all I can say about my weekend. Interesting. Not all good. Not all bad. Just interesting. We'll see how things pan out in the coming weeks. There are many potential changes on the horizon should I choose them. We'll see.

As we are rapidly approaching September and my most favorite time of year, I can't help but be excited. I love the changing leaves, crisp air, sweaters, vests and apple cider! Bring it on September...I'm ready for you. We have an extremely busy Sept brewing. We have every weekend booked already starting with Labor Day weekend in Brainerd (tradition) at Dennis and Joanne's. Love it up there and with them:) Then I have my 1st post-baby horse show (4 days long). M's baptism is next followed by 3 days of scrapping fun! And that my friends is the end of September! Yikes!! I can't wait:)

Miss M is almost 3 months old. Wow. She is so much fun! She's a little drama queen, very impatient and quite the comedian! Love her more and more each day. Can't imagine life without her cute little smiling face. I'll post pics of her and her fab room once I'm done hanging the butterflies. Hopefully tomorrow....

Go Fav.re!!!

NEVER did I EVER think that I would say that. Never say never! I'm watching the Vik.ings play the Chiefs. Fa.vre played 2 outings and wasn't great but he's only had 3 days of practice. I'm sure he'll be better next week. Hopefully! It is a sweet day... Zorbaz pizza, tall glass of milk, football, scrapping website browsing and Lance taking care of Makenna! Plus I got my nails done and some scrapping shopping. SWEET! As soon as M goes to bed, I'm going to head down to the woman cave aka scraproom and continue the fottball watching and organize the disaster that is my scraproom. I've been working on it on and off (mainly off!) and I just need to spend some good time down there and get it done. Lee is here so we're all watching football in the loft. Gotta love it! We're trying to break Makenna into football season in the Haugen household. I ~should~ be taking M for a walk right now then a bath at 8pm but I'm watching football. So much for Mom of the Year! ha!!

Tomorrow we're going to finish putting all the decorations up in M's room. Finally! I'll post pics after we're done. I'm hoping to get some actual scrapping done. Lance needs a daddy brag book so I'm going to work on that and some photo editing/printing. I'll post anything that I get done. Hopefully its not just a blank page post tomorrow! EEK!!

Also a BIG congrats to Jewels on the birth of baby boy!!!! We're so happy for you. Can't wait to hear the whole story!! :)

Motherhood

There are many titles I ~knew~ I would hold while signing up for motherhood...

• diaper changer
• tear wiper
• baby snuggler
• photographer
• owie healer
• breakfast/lunch/supper/snack provider

Just to name a few. I did not however expect a few of these. Actually they didn't even cross my mind as I was not a ~baby~ person before this. I did not stop to look at the cute baby or want to hold it. No thanks! I'll just drink my diet dew and maybe MAYBE pet it on the head. That seemed to be the least sticky, gooey place to touch.

I did not know that with motherhood comes:

• bogger picker
• spit up catcher/target
• comedian
• singer (seriously... how can she enjoy my singing?! Ick!!)
• manicurist
• pedicurist

Just to name a few. I love being a mom but sometimes I think... ick!

We have lift off!

Ok, it's actually rolling over but that didn't sound as cool! Makenna decided this morning that she was sick of tummy time and rolled herself over to her back. She looked surprised to see me sitting next to her then put her hand in her mouth like "Mom, I'm starving". Little stinker! I put her back on her tummy to see if she'd do it again and of course she wouldn't. Fine by me!! We don't need movement quite yet! She's also blowing bubbles but has been doing this for a week or so. I have to make sure to blog about all of this as I'm a horrible "baby book journaler". I mean how can that be? I'm a scrapbooker for the love of God! oh well. At least when I do finally pull out her baby book and update it, all I have to do is come to my handy dandy blog and write the info down.

Question for everyone that swaddled their LOs... how long did you swaddle them? When did you start weaning them off of it? Jen?

Question about naps....when did you start doing scheduled naps? I just let M nap when she wants too. I don't ~put her down~ for naps. Should I be doing that? I really don't want to get into a rigid schedule of she has to nap from this time to this time because I really like the flexibility I have with her. She's also a really good sleeper in the car and stroller so I know that I wouldn't have to go home for nap time. What do you think?

I LOVE FOOTBALL!!!

It is once again football time! The Vik.ings play their 1st pre-season game tonite!! So excited!! I'm going to take my partner in crime aka Makenna & try to make a football fan out of her. If she decides not to like football (I shudder at the very thought of my child NOT liking football...it just can't happen!) well then we're going to have some serious issues!

Sorry about the delayed post! I was holding M, typing with one hand when I inadvertently hit the enter key. While trying to fix it, M woke up and had to eat right now. So I abandoned ship and went to feed her...so now I'm back. Thanks for guessing though, Nancy;)

It is hotter than hell here and humid! Ick! I'm so ready for fall...sorry Gina Gina Sex-machina!! I know how you love summer:) We have a busy weekend as Lance is coming home late tonight then taking off Sunday for the drag races in Brainerd with Jerry (Gina's hubby!). I'm running errands and riding sans M so I can get alot done A LOT faster! Hopefully its cooler tomorrow!

Fabulous Pumpkin cake!

We've scheduled M's baptism for the end of September. I'm planning on making the cake since I've been dabbling in cake decorating. I wanted something ~fall-ish~ so I went in search of a pumpkin cake. I found what looked like a good recipe...made it into a 9x13 sheet cake instead of Bundt cake....PERFECTION! Although I didn't cook it quite long enough (the middle is a tish mushy), the outside is awesome! Even without any frosting. I'm planning on making a sour cream frosting and either decorating the sheet cake or adjusting it into a cross or something more complicated. We'll see... Here's the recipe I used in case anyone wants to try it: Cake

M is exceptionally clingy the last couple of days. I'm not sure if she's worried that I'm going to leave again or what? I put her down in the bouncy=she screams. The swing=she screams. The play mat= she actually good there for quite awhile (5-10mins) then she screams. I hold her and she's a happy little camper. I have to run to the bathroom anytime she falls asleep or I'll never get a chance while she's awake. Little stinker! Is this just a phase? I'm getting one for those "baby wearing" wraps so that way I can get something accomplished that can't be done with one hand. Plus my back is killing me from holding her all the time. ~sigh~ At least she's sleeping through the night for the most part! She normally wakes up 1 time between 3-5 am and then back down until 7-8am. Nice!

I've signed up for another ~Kelly~ weekend the end of Sept! This will be a little different as I'll still be staying at home but I'm going to a 3 day scrapbook retreat with Stacy (for sure) at the local scrap store. This will be a perfect opportunity to get started on M's baby album! Plus all the mini-albums that I want to make for family. YAY!!!

8 glorious hours...

STRAIGHT!! No interruptions by Miss Thing!! (Which really I don't mind as she greets me with huge smiles. How can you not want to get up to that cute face?) It was awesome!! I could slowly wake up and lounge in bed for a little while (after pumping as ~the girls~ were huge!) before getting cleaned up. Nice! I went shopping this morning and scored some adorable clothes for Miss M and some great scrapbook stuff for me. YAY! I was going to head to the outlet mall but decided to grab a salad and make my way back to the hotel to eat, visit with Lee and pump. We're off to Lee's appt right now then homeward bound. I've been away from Makenna for 24 hours and I miss her like crazy! I can't wait to get home and give her some big kisses!!! Now don't get me wrong, I LOVED my Kelly time but I love mommy time too. I'm going to schedule some overnite Kelly time again in the near future as it's good for my soul! Not so much the pocketbook though... teehee... oops! Sorry Lance:)

Does Makenna really need a mobile? We don't have one for her. We do have the rainforest soother thing that is too much for her right now while trying to go to bed but I think she'll love it later on. What are your thoughts on mobiles for the crib?

All Alone.

And NOT in a bad way!! I'm in a hotel room in the cities all by myself! Well, Lee has the adjoining hotel room so I'm not completely alone but kinda. Makenna and Lance are at home while I'm here with Lee while he has a medical procedure done tomorrow. He's getting heavily sedated so he needs someone to drive his sorry butt around and home! That would be me. Let me first say... I miss my baby girl.... BUT I am loving the Kelly time! I really needed this:) This is the 1st time I've been away from Miss M for more than 6 hours. It was hard to leave her but I knew she was in good hands and Lee needed my help. It's so weird to be by myself. Definitely not bad weird! This will be the 1st night that I will get a full night of sleep since about mid-pregnancy! I'm REALLY looking forward to that!!!

Makenna's 2 month appt went really well. The shot nurse was very quick so M wasn't in too much pain for too long. She slept for quite awhile after the appt then had a very tough evening. She's very into kicking and everytime she would move her legs, she would scream in pain. I hit her with some tylenol and that seemed to help quite a bit. She was still a little off yesterday and today but much better. Makenna is right on track for growth. She's 21 5/8 in long and 10.75 lbs.

The 2 pics that were in my last post were taken by yours truly!! I've been trying to improve my photography and it's starting to come around. I'd love to become a professional photographer... maybe if I continue to improve and get some training:) Thanks for the compliments on the photos!!

2 Months!

How did she get to be 2 months already??

Happy 2 months Miss Makenna!!!

I'm off to ride this morning and then I'll meet Lance and Makenna at her doctor's appt. We're going to spend the weekend catering to this little girl to ensure that she's feeling as good as possible considering she'll have had her little legs stuck 4 times. We're also going to scoot to a funeral on Saturday (Lance's uncle passed away from a massive heart attack... he was 76) and a trip to Grandma's house. Wrapping up the weekend with some preseason football Sunday nite and then Lee and I are off to the cities Monday so he can have some medical procedures done. I'm hoping to squeeze in some shopping so maybe I can request that they give him some extra "happy juice"! He'll never know/remember that I drug him through every scrapbook and baby store in the area!

Happy weekend!

For the 2P's organizing challenge

Here's a picture of my spinning rack from Ben Franklin that I scored for $2!!! Love it!

Fun days!

Our days are so much fun here with Miss Makenna! She has discovered so much... such as...

• loving to do "hot laps" with Uncle Lee. This is where Lee turns her facing out and has her sitting in his hands and leaning against his chest then walks really fast around the main level of our house so she can look at things. She LOVES it! But only if Uncle Lee is going fast. Poor Uncle Lee's back was killing him by the end of the weekend:)
• playing with the toys hanging on her playmat. She's got quite the cross hook!
• trying to grab and pull and kick her way across the playmat while on her tummy.
• her voice... enough said!
• giggling and smiling like crazy

There is so much more but I can never remember it all. I really need to write everything down!

I've been riding my horse quite a bit when I have someone to watch M. Faith is doing awesome! I can't wait to show her:) I'm working on getting that infamous scraproom put back together so I can start preserving memories again. It's a slow process with Miss M aka the non-napper but it's getting there.

Poor Lance is working his tail off. He's finally fallen behind on the work which is completely understandable as he's doing the work of 2 people and trying to train in 3 additional employees. He's exhausted and then comes home and wants to be a dad but has to do more work stuff too. It's a vicious cycle for him but hopefully it will get better. He's needs some sleep!

I'll leave you with more pics:

It's 8:30pm on Sunday nite...

Makenna has been in bed for 1 hour now... whatever am I going to do with myself?? tee hee hee I ~should~ go to bed because I know she's not going to sleep through the night since she went down so early. BUT I find myself wanting to drift downstairs to work in my scraproom so I can finally get it organized & put back together and scrap again. Such decisions.... the scraproom wins!! Later gators!