Year in Review 2014

Why I don't expect to get much work done this year.

The year in review seems to be the thing to do right about now. So, to review: baby born, went on vacation, got a puppy, end of year. What? You wanted more? The New Year's Resolutions? Ok, here goes: feed, clothe and bathe baby; train puppy. I'm pretty sure that we're not going to have too much time for much more than that.

That said, things have been going pretty well for us. We are enjoying time with family and friends this Christmas season. A certain little girl found playing with the wrapped package to be just as much fun as playing with its contents. Go figure. She enjoys scrap paper and empty soda bottles too.

The big thing for us is that with a slightly more predictable sleep pattern from the little girl, we have been able to do a whole lot more work around the house. While it's not a show place (I wouldn't even want that), there have been significant strides in removing clutter and organizing. Hopefully we can use the momentum to continue making progress.

May God's peace rest on you all this coming year.

Christmas is coming!

Thanks Auntie Katie!

Life has been cruising along here at Chez Sheffer. We had a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends out at the farm, and have been working on getting everything ready for Christmas and the new year. Christmas presents are finished and just need wrapping, cards will be addressed this weekend and posted on Monday, and we are working hard to clean and declutter around here, so we don't take extra junk into the new year. Ok. We'll take plenty of extra junk into the new year - I'm just hoping to decrease the amount enough that we can enjoy our space and have room for the things that we actually use and enjoy.

Christmas came a little early for a little girl - she got her two front teeth this week! One came in on Tuesday and its buddy popped through yesterday. This brings the total to 4 in with two more "close" for a few weeks now. (Luckily for us both she has not been using them to chomp down while nursing.) The gummy grin is starting to disappear.

Eating Cheerios in the hospital café.

This last week had some extra excitement. A certain little girl and I went down to Chicago for a few days, so she could hand down her title of "youngest member of the Blakeley Clan" to her new cousin. She as a super trooper with the travel and disruption of her sleeping schedule. We got to see the newest addition to the family, go for walks around Lincoln Square, and spend time with family and friends who are like family. We had a very nice couple of days, and at the same time we were really glad to get home too. Charlie was extra glad to see us because Gretl had apparently been worried about us and fussed and cried all night for the whole time that we were gone. So much for Charlie's plan of a couple of good night's sleep and time to do projects around the house. So much for outdoor Christmas lights. The kitchen was cleaned up, and that's plenty for me. We can do the lights next year.

Until next time.....

Hugs and love.

Broken Windows and Boogie Sucking

Hopefully I can get this written before the house stirs too much. It has been a rather adventure filled few weeks for us.

Gretl and Elska have started to become bestest buddies. Gretl kisses Elska's feet and doesn't mind having her hair pulled; Elska throws Cheerios, carrots, peas, beans, dill pickles, and everything else on the floor for Gretl to eat. It's a pretty perfect relationship really. They seem to be tag teaming us right now to see just how fast they can make my hair grey and Charlie's fall out.

Let me kiss you Mama!

Veteran's Day with Great-Grandpa

Elska has been cutting two more teeth (to join the two on the bottom - none on the top even look close) which resulted in a stuffy nose for a week along with a lot of drooling. I am SO glad that it's cleared up some for her. None of us were getting much sleep since she couldn't breathe well and didn't like our attempts to better help her with that. (Based on her levels of protestation, I'd like to suggest that the CIA abandon water boarding for terrorists and just suck the boogies out of their noses as an enhanced interrogation technique.) It did give us some time to compare different boogie suckers. For those wondering the results of our testing, the battery operated snot sucker was the quickest and easiest to use while the old fashioned one from the hospital was the most effective when she was really stuffy. We tried a few others including this one (we couldn't get enough suction with a flailing baby kicking the hose on it), and this one (the feature that made it possible to open it up and clean it properly made it pop apart when it was less than opportune).

Elska is growing up so fast. She's now a pro at sitting by herself, has started to lunge forward onto her knees (and occasionally face which is not as much fun), and give everyone rather gummy kisses. She loves chattering on Skype with GG and Granny a couple of times a week, always seems to be laughing, totally rocks out in the Johnny Jump-up, is fascinated by spoons, and has started to occasionally put her food in her mouth instead of immediately tossing it to the dog.

After Gretl broke a porch window because she wouldn't quit jumping on them, she became the owner of a training collar. (It is amazing how much better she listens and follows directions just by wearing it without our even using it.) Charlie and I learned all about cutting sheets of acrylic and replacing broken glass, and we really hope to not need the skill too much as it is a pain in the biscuits. Gretl also has developed a "sensitive stomach," and we are trying to figure out the exact cause(s). On the plus side for her, she has gotten to eat hamburger cooked up especially for her for the last two weeks or so while we reset her tummy. Rawhide chews are definitely out, and we're going to be checking her food next. That dog. It's a good thing that she's so darn cute and sweet in between being a little terror.

Charlie had a second interview at Petco a couple of weeks ago and finally heard back from them late this week. It had come down to him and one other person for the position, and they went with the latter. While he was (and still is) disappointed because he had really been hoping to get the job, he's decided that it's a message from the Lord that he needs to focus on school right now instead. This next week we will be working on filling out forms and applications, so he can start at the beginning of the next semester.

On my end, it's mostly all of the little things that make the household run though I have started seeing a D.O. and going to weekly physical therapy (in addition to the chiropractor) for my back. It is getting somewhat better, but not as fast as I'd like. OK, anything short of "better by two weeks ago" is not as fast as I'd like, but I'm trying to have patience with the process.

I can hear a little girl starting to chatter in the other room..... Have a great weekend!

Prost Mateys!

Seriously Mama? A little help?

It has been an absolutely crazy couple of weeks around here. I wouldn't even be able to figure out what happened if I couldn't look back at the photos to see what has all happened. Hopefully after you're through, you'll be able to excuse the time between posts. We've been so busy with living life that it's been hard to get the time to sit down and write about it all.

A little girl is starting to get to be a whole lot less little. At her six month checkup, she was 27 inches long and 16 pounds 7 ounces. For those keeping track, she's grown 6 inches and gained almost 10 pounds. If we didn't see her every day, we might not even realize that it's the same little girl except that she's still such an easy going baby. (Most of the time.) She now has two (!) teeth and enjoys playing with them. According to her pediatrician, she's doing well with hitting all of her milestones on track even though she hasn't quite mastered rolling over from her back....she can get totally rolled including her hips but hasn't figured out to move her arm and get her shoulders over yet. We're hoping that this means that we'll have an extra few weeks before she gets to cruising around crawling. I'm not sure exactly how we'll do with that. Our efforts to get the house ready for it have not been all that fruitful.

Chilling with ma froggie.

After a brief attempt to use just the big tub for bath time, we have returned to the baby tub. It's not because she wasn't fine with it - she was having too much fun with splashing. Mama and Daddy covered in water and a little girl super excited and unable to fall asleep is not exactly what we were looking to achieve with a bath as part of the bedtime routine. It is fun to see her excitement of discovery though. We'll just save it for those days when she gets a little extra messy earlier in the day and gets a bonus bath.

Tuckered out at the dog park

Seriously dog? 

Gretl has been a bit of a handful to say the least. She's getting bigger and is now probably in the 50 pound range. That, however, is not the problem. It seems that no matter how much time for fun and playing that she gets, we can't quite get the naughties out of her. We have managed to come up with a blend of oil, ground cumin, chili powder, and cayenne pepper that works reasonably well at convincing her to not chew on the woodwork in the kitchen (where she gets to chill out unless we can supervise her closely - this house has way too much woodwork for a teething puppy), but it didn't prevent us from coming home to a blue kitchen floor today after church. After calling poison control and the vet's office, we have at least been assured that the stuff is pretty much non-toxic. However, instead of getting to go to the dog park after church, she got a bath to remove all of the blue crap from her paws and muzzle. On the bright side, our doggie house guests Sadie and Buster have done a way better job of getting through to her that she's in trouble than we have. Buster decided that Gretl needed a timeout and has been barking at her any time she comes out of the corner. I'd feel bad for her except that I'm still annoyed that I had to spend a half an hour cleaning up blue gunk because she can't leave well enough alone.

Pickles...yum!

Gruncle Craig and Grantie Julie were in town the other day, and we met with them as well as Nana and Papa to celebrate Charlie's birthday. No, we did not tell the folks at Texas Roadhouse that it was his birthday. He had threatened to stay home if we did, so we kept it low key. A little girl had a whole lot of fun chowing down on the bowl of pickle slices that the waitress was kind enough to bring. We're never too sure how much actually gets swallowed (some definitely does), but she sure has a lot of fun gnawing on them.

Visiting Great Grandpa.

Lately we have been making a much more focused effort at getting the little girl over to Great Grandpa's for visits. Both of them have so much fun when we do. We absolutely love that he is close enough that we can stop in a couple of times a week for short visits. The staff and other residents really enjoy our visits too. It's amazing how many smiles there are when she comes through the door. (For those with good memories, you may recognize the pink suit that she's got on in the picture. It's currently on it's second generation of little girls wearing it. It's been waiting at Grandma's house for 35 years now.)

Adding lemon to the list of favorites.

 Last week, the little girl and her mama got a chance to go for a ride on the La Crosse Queen paddle wheel riverboat cruise. Not too shabby for her first boat ride; it might set the standards a bit too high for all future rides though. We had a fabulous time visiting with Aunt Becky, and we gave a new food a try. (Lemons are a thumbs up. This leaves the rankings at Good: dill pickle and lemon OK: banana Not fit for human eating: Cheerios. Cheerios are a fantastic toy to throw on the floor for the dog though, so at least they have redeeming value for her.) After we were done, we stopped at the Pearl Ice Cream shop as well as Pearl Street Books. Downtown La Crosse has so many things to do!

Torchlight Parade!!

 Last but not least, the last few days, we have gotten our "fest" on with the La Crosse Oktoberfest fun. Thursday evening, we walked down to the north side downtown for a little girl's first Torchlight Parade and see how she would do with the noise of marching bands and such. Luckily for us, she loved it. The parade was fantastic as always, and it was a lot of fun to see the marching bands (and other floats) all lit up and everyone having a good time.

Mapleleaf Parade!!

The parade went a little too long...

The little girl also got to experience her first Mapleleaf Parade. For those unfamiliar with the event, it's the largest fall parade in the nation (a bigger parade than even the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade although without the giant inflatable stuff). It's also the only parade that I've ever heard of people turning into a full day tailgating event. We got a bit of a late start, but we still had a couple of hours of pre-parade festivities and visiting with friends and family along the route. It was a pretty long day though, and a couple of hours in (and just a few minutes after the Onalaska Marching Hilltoppers went past), it was finally time for a nap before we made the trek back to the house.

THUNK *SCREAM*

There have been a couple of "I'm a bad parent!" moments as a certain little girl starts growing up and exploring her world. I expect that more will come as she becomes more and more mobile. Most recently I was cleaning while she was bouncing excitedly in her Johnny Jump Up that hangs in the hallway door frame. She loves it. She also got a little carried away Ok, she got a lot carried away and bonked her head on the door frame. I didn't think that she'd be able to swing that far; she couldn't only a day earlier! As I sat on the floor snuggling a sobbing and hysterical little girl to reassure her that she was safe (no bump or bruise - just scared), I started to get scolded by the guilt voice in my head for not doing a good enough job of protecting her from all the things that might hurt her. (That voice is even louder than a screaming baby!) I successfully argued it back reminding myself that this is going to happen. It's probably even supposed to happen as a part of growing up, exploring the world, learning new things, and growing as a person. The happy ending to the story is that after a snuggle the little girl was put back in the bouncy seat and went back to excitedly bouncing and learning how those feet work. I did adjust the height on the swing to account for her longer and stronger legs. 

In other news, our household grew by one more this last week - at least temporarily. Our niece has come to live with us for this school year which started Tuesday. Elska is thrilled as she absolutely adores her cousin. It's a little different to go from just having a baby to having an 11 year old in the house, but everyone is working to get the hang of it, and the upside is that I feel much more obligated to have healthy meals served at the table.

Finally, I've started a 90 day Mental Fitness Challenge. It's not easy, but I've wanted to do this for a while now, and I think that it will be awesome. If anyone would like to join me, I'd love it!

Yay for Yummy Food!

It's been a pretty nice week here. There have been lots of projects as always, and we are continuing to work on getting Gretl trained to be the good doggie that we know she will be. No accidents in the house, and we're working on leash training while on her walks. I'll take it.

Harmony Smurf Mega Blocks - Charlie knows the way to my heart!

This last week, I got to celebrate my birthday over the course of many days. On my birthday itself, we had a nice relaxing family day of chilling and watching movies. It's not quite the exciting birthday that I would have had 15 years ago, but I couldn't have imagined a more perfect day. Friday, we continued the celebration by going out to dinner with Dad and Lynn at the Hungry Peddler and then enjoying some dandelion wine while sitting out in their back yard. Again - fantastic. (Plus, Gretl didn't even have an accident when we lost track of time and left her for way longer than we normally would.) We totally love the fact that we are close enough that Elska can have grandma and grandpa snuggle time, and when she gets a bit older, we can arrange for sleepovers at their house. 

Bananas!!!

Elska had a checkup last week, and she's doing fantastic. She's clearly been eating well because she has definitely been growing. At 14 pounds 5 ounces and 25 3/4 inches long, she is has moved to 48% and 86% on the growth chart. (From 9% and 74% at her last checkup. It's nice to know that at least she's making good use of all those nighttime feedings that she's had lately.) She's able to sit up almost unassisted now too. While it's all very exciting to see how she is growing up, it's also a bit hard for her Mama to see how fast it's happening. At the risk of getting all sappy, how can this be happening so fast? Aren't babies supposed to stay babies for a while? We even got the go-ahead from the doctor to let her start trying some solid food! Since she's been incredibly interested in everything that we have put in our mouths for weeks now, and she can sit pretty well as long as it's in a chair, we started letting her experiment with table food. So far, she's gnawed on some pickles and maybe gotten a bite of banana down. Mostly, she's been just happily playing with and studying what had always been just outside of reach. Lucky for me, a very small percentage of her food has actually ended up on the floor. It's more of accidentally dropping it than throwing it on purpose like a certain little sister of mine used to do to feed the dogs.

Charlie's first ever Kornfest!

Finally, we did actually have a family outing this last weekend. This seems like it should be a given, but sometimes it's hard to actually make the time to get out and do something new or different. Sure, there's errands, church, and occasionally a meal away from home; we just have a tendency to be rather boring homebodies unless we make a point of getting out and doing something. We met our dear friends (and Elska's godparents) at Kornfest up in Holmen and got to eat some delicious sweet corn. For those of you unfamiliar with this delicious tradition - roasted sweet corn with butter painted on it (Litterally. With paint brushes. I'm not kidding.) and sprinkled with salt from Mason jars hanging from strings. It's one of the few places where you'll see them have to put stuff on the grass to try to keep it from being so dangerously slick from all of the butter. My flip flops are still a little greasy from it. It is, in a word, amazing and totally worth the pirate prices for the corn. (Buck an ear. Get it? Ha!) When we discovered that the ice cream tent was shut down for the night, enjoyed a stop at DQ for the ice cream that we had all decided that we absolutely NEEDED. Some people might question how much we really NEEDED ice cream. #1 Nursing mama's sometimes NEED things just like preggo ones do. You shouldn't question it. #2 You try walking around a hot, dusty fairgrounds for half an hour trying to find ice cream and then be like, "oh, never mind I guess I don't want any." See? NEEDED. And you thought that I was exaggerating. 

This week, we have a lot more projects that we are hoping to accomplish. Let's just see how much I can finish getting ready in the kitchen before a certain little girl wakes up from her nap......never mind. I hear her in there now.

"This here's my little buddy Dan. I'll just rest my arm on his head.

Road Trip 2014

Think that it's crazy that we would consider going on a two week long road trip with a 4 month old baby? How about if I say that we picked up a 25 pound 14 week old puppy along the trip? What can I say? The Sheffers love an adventure! I'm just going to need a few days (or longer) to recover from this one!

For years, friends and family all over the country have been asking us to come and visit them. This summer, with Charlie having some time off, we decided that we really need to start doing just that. The first draft of travel plans had us hitting locations from Pennsylvania to Florida and even hitting points west of the Mississippi over the course of a month or more Now, we might be crazy (ok, we probably are crazy), but we're not stupid. We made some adjustments to the plan and arrived at a much more reasonable 14 day trip that had us visiting friends and family in 7 cities in the northeastern and central states. We hit the road not exactly sure what we needed to travel with an infant and completely unsure of how she would handle the trip. Part of me was worried that we would have to head back early because a little girl was unwilling to play along with us. Fortunately, it turns out that we have a good little traveler.

Here's a few highlights and photos from the adventure:

On top of the steps at the art museum in Philly and standing in "Rocky's" footsteps!

Let freedom ring!

Wine tasting with Auntie Abby

Lots of sight seeing with a big floppy hat

Elska was excited to meet her Mama's friend from Chile!

Seriously Mama and Daddy? You wear me out!

The Sheffers welcomed a Bernese Mountain Dog named Gretl into the clan. She's definitely been doing some shennanigans like a Sheffer.

Elska thought that traveling was better with company in the back seat. 

Scott and Emily took a whole lot of extra time to find us some Cokes with our names on them.