Hello? Hello?

Is this thing on??

What. a. week.

It has been the week of 1st-s around the Haugen household. Wow. Not only has someone been on a complete sleep/nap strike but she's decided to wow us with her new found abilities. Here's the list:

• M rolled over 3 times


• is blowing raspberries and bubbles (which includes drooling ALL over!)


• laughed for the 1st time (she was looking at herself in the mirror and thought she was absolutely hilarious! It was so cute!!)


• vocabulary explosion...I guess sound expolsion is more accurate but MAN can this girl talk!


• has given up sleeping through the nite ...due to what I can only imagine is the fact that she loves her mommy SO much that going for more than 2 hrs without seeing my face is PAINFUL to her. ~sigh~ Mommy needs more than 2 hours of sleep in a row, you little crap! How can you be ~too~ upset when you lean over the crib and Miss Thing is SO excited and happy to see you...smiling like mad:/


• sitting and playing in the high chair. She's really into chewing on the tray. It apparently it much tastier than the chew toys directly in front of her. ? .


• started cereal today in hopes that I won't have to feed her 6-8 times in a 6 hour period and I'll get more than 2 hours of sleep in a row. We can only hope!! "The Girls" perform wonderfully so its not lack of food but this kid is hungry ALL the time. It just doesn't seem to satisfy her anymore. I gave her very diluted cereal in breastmilk with a spoon and she gobbled it up. I also gave her a little cereal in her "right before bedtime" bottle in hopes that she'll be full. She seems to sleep longer when we give her a bottle instead of direct from the "source". Why is that?? It's the same stuff just different delivery method. Weird.

I think that is it for Miss Thing's week. It's been a wild one. I start teaching on Tuesday so I'm hoping that M's sleep schedule gets back on track otherwise I'm going to be a crappy teacher. I'm all prepared for my classes this week so now I just need to keep ahead of all the planning and preparing. It's nice to have all the ready!

M's 4 month appt is on Friday...more shots. Ick! We were planning on holding off on cereal until after that appt but we were at the end of our rope. Hopefully the doctor will agree with our decision and guide us from there. I cannot believe we are already at that stage. Yikes!

I have my photography class this Friday and Sat. I'm really looking forward to it! I adore the photographer that's hosting the class so I'm sure I will learn a ton. We're also hoping to hit the pumpkin patch sometime as today's trip was rained out.

A BIG Congrats to D & D S. on the birth of their baby girl!! Can't wait to see pictures!!

I leave you with Miss Thang....

Lovely Sunday

First off, sorry for all the silence over here. Things are hopping with activity and I was just trying to stay above water until October:) I've had my hands full with Makenna activites, Lance being gone all the time, me going back to work (albeit part time) and lots of visitors. ~sigh~ It has been a fun but VERY busy September and I'm not sad to see it wrap up. I'm looking forward to a much more relaxing, slower paced October filled with pumpkin spice lattes, Halloween decorations, sweaters and beautiful colored leaves. This is my favorite time of year.

I've been scrapping all weekend with friends and have had a blast! I'm going for more quality pages instead of quantity due to these being about Miss Thing! So I didn't get nearly as many pages done as usual, but they are exceptional fabulous layouts (IMO) and I did a ton of gabbing! My throat is sore today but I'm sure it is not because I've been talking non-stop since Friday @ 5pm. Although not nearly as much as the lady next to us! Yikes! I don't think she even took a breath! Anyway, it was great to have some ~Kelly~ time and creative time. Love it! We're already planning the next one for November and December. Do you think my mom will mind if I move her birthday to a different day this year due to a scrapping gathering?! tee hee

This week I'm getting caught up on house work and school. Miss Thang is going to daycare tues and thurs so I can get prepared for my classes. Teaching starts Oct.6! I was wimping out on daycare for tues but I really need to get prepared for my classes so off to Jaye's she goes. Poor M hasn't had much Mommy time in the last 4 days and the Mommy guilt is beating me up. I think putting her in regular daycare (although only 2 days/week) is adding to the mommy guilt too. I've only commited to this quarter so we'll see how it goes.

It's cool outside, footballs on inside (Yay Vik.ings!!) and my T.J.'s chai tea is hot....doesn't get much better than this. Ok maybe if Lance was home so M, L and I could snuggle on the couch or bed andwatch football but this is a pretty great day. Plus M isn't into snuggling very much these days...she's WAY more into standing, putting everything in her mouth and looking at everything. Oh and talking/cooing. Love that.

Welcome autumn old friend...I've missed you:)

Where has the time gone?

I swear it was just Monday and I was editing baptism pics?! Here it is Wed and I still don't have any pics up. Well, lets just fix that!

Here are a couple to tide you over until tomorrow when I finish editing photos while M is at daycare for another "breaking in" session. I do actually have to go to work later in the afternoon to meet with High School counselors about the programs we offer since the program coordinator is gone. I REALLY need to get some school work done and read before October rolls around and I start teaching/winging it! I need to prepare! I'm planning on doing that next week as this week is going to be spent getting ready for a scrapbook retreat (fri-sun) just down the road at the local scrapbook store. Some great friends are going to join me...can't wait! It has been FOR.EVER. since I've done anything like that. I need to be crafty and create! I need to organize and pack up my things. I normally have all the photos and papers organized according to what I'm going to use with what so I'm more efficient. That was before Miss Thang! Now I'll be lucky to have photos and/or paper or that they coordinate! Ha! Oh well... this face is SO worth it....

Look at that cute pudgy belly!! What happened to my 6 lb peanut? She's a 14 lb cutie!!

We made it!

It actually wasn't too bad dropping her off at daycare. It helps that I was leaving her with one of my very good friends who I trust with my life...or my daughter. Jaye is watching 1 other baby...he's 1.5 years old and M was absolutely enthralled with him. She's never seen another baby. It was very cute the way she watched him. I guess Miss Thing was kinda crabby/whiny which doesn't surprise me as she's a momma's girl. She wouldn't sleep hardly at all...I'm sure she was waiting for Mom to come back. Thank goodness Jaye is still willing to take her so I'm very thankful for that. I just hope that Makenna behaves herself next week. She's been very crabby the last few days. I'm thinking teeth. She's chewing on everything, drooling like crazy...does that sound right?

I'm watching the Bigg.est Lo.ser and yikes! Lots of big people but also the one lady's story (Abby) about losing her whole entire family in a car accident...her husband, 5 yo daughter and 2.5 week son. ~~sob~~ I can't even imagine. It just breaks my heart to even look at her. As I see her story in my mind. Ugh.

We have M's baptism on Sunday so we're cleaning and baking like crazy tomorrow. I'll post pics on Monday. Have a great weekend:)

Daycare starts tomorrow!

Yikes! I'm dropping off Miss Thing at 9am so I can get some things accomplished for the week and ready for her baptism on Sunday. We're on a once a week schedule until I start teaching then it will be tuesday and thursday until Dec 17 which is the end of the quarter. I want to do 1 day a week to get her use to it...but its actually more to get ME use to it. I've totally got the super protective mom thing going on! Wish me luck:) Umm...I mean Makenna;)

I'm a showin'...

horses, that is!! I'm at a horse show yesterday - Sunday. We had a really good morning except my showmanship was crap. We're going to do a little schooling tonite but my pattern was ridiculous. Dang horse! Lance and Makenna were here with me but Lance forgot some things at home so they went back last night. Ahh.... another full night of sleep! Glorious;) When I talked to Lance this morning, he said it was a pretty long night. First M wouldn't stay asleep so she finally went down at 10:30pm which is 1.5 hrs later than normal then she was up at 3am and again at 5:30am then up for the day at 7am. I said that's not too bad...pretty much how she is every day so what's the problem? The problem is that Daddy isn't use to that schedule EVERY day!!! With no help!! Welcome to the world of Mommy!!!! You aren't getting ANY sympathy from me. And I'm not even sorry!
It is SO nice to be at a horse show and showing and riding again!! Love it!! This is where I was raised so its just second nature to me and I LOVE IT!! Love the people too. There is another baby girl who should be blessing the horse show world ANY DAY!!! Hopefully not at the show;) Her parents (& the rest of us) are so excited to meet her!! Can't wait!!! Good luck D & D!!!

Gotta run... I'm done pumping so I'm heading back into the arena/barn to socialize:) If I was a wise woman (& really I am but I'm a bigger talker) I'd take a nap before L & M get here. Back to the barn, I go;)

It's Professor Haugen, thank you!

That's right...I'm now teaching! Yikes, right!! College no less. Which is probably much better then young impressionable minds:) I was offered and accepted a part time teaching position at a local college. I will just be teaching Tues and Thurs - 2 classes each day. Chem 2 and urinalysis for the fall quarter (starting Oct.6) then it will switch for the winter quarter and they are already trying to talk me into full time but I'm not having it! I'm excited about this new adventure but freaking out about putting Miss Thing in day care. I've found several places for her so I'm going to interview and go from there. I have 2 in particular that I'm leaning towards. I just hope I get the warm fuzzies and not the ick feeling.

On Miss Thing news...we had the blow out of the century here! ICK!! All the way up to her neck. It was the consistency of frosting and loads of it! It was SO disgusting!! Needless to say, there were 2 people in this house that had showers/baths this morning. I did not even attempt to save her outfit. I just threw it in a ziploc bag and tossed it out! It was a really She was standing on my lap and then got the serious "somethings going on" look and then she started to feel squishy around her waist. I leaned her forward so I could look to see if it was coming through the outfit and it was already brown and moving higher. Ahh, the glorious, glamorous life of a mother!

On a funnier note, if you need a really good laugh you need to go check out Jen's daughter Jillian discovering how to go up and down from her new chair. I seriously was crying I was laughing so hard. Just too funny!!! Jen, hope you don't mind me linking to your blog.. it is just so funny!! Email me if you do!!

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!!! We're off to Brainerd for our annual trip to Dennis and Joanne's home. Love it up there!!!