Cry face

I absolutely love Evelyn's cry face. When she was a teeny tiny baby, I sometimes would be staring in admiration at her face, before realizing "oh wait...she's crying."

Dan and I are always taking pictures of her crying, which makes Evelyn cry even harder. But she is so cute.

I thought I would share.

Man I love her to pieces.

Love thy neighbors..

So a lot happened over the weekend. We have some super awesome neighbors (note sarcasm) that live directly next door. They are a couple in there 70's and are foster parents. They adopted one of there foster children, Michael, who is now 19. Michael is a disrespectful twerp. We have been having problems with Michael since last summer when his parties in the garage and alleyway got out of control. We found drug paraphernalia, drug baggies, graffiti in the alley, fights, kids parking in OUR driveway - blocking the garage. It has been a real treat, let me tell you.

We have tried EVERYTHING. At first we tried talking to Michael and his friends, asking them to respect the neighborhood and our things. Then we tried talking to the parents. They stated that they didn't have any control of Michael and to call the police. Super helpful I tell you (note sarcasm again). There are about 5 of us neighbors that have formed a "neighborhood watch" of sorts and we call the police often.

It all escalated on Friday night. Dan and I were out for a walk/run with Evi and when we got home, Michael and 3 of his friends were out back with the cops. They cops came up to our door and told us they found narcotics and Michael took the blame. He was going to jail. The 3 other kids are banned from the property.

We felt victory. They finally got busted.

Then on Saturday morning we woke up to this...



Yep. They slashed my tires. Awesome. We are livid. But, there is nothing that we can do. Unless you witness the act, the police can't do anything. It sucks and cost us $400. We filed a report and have the support of the police. But it is still very frustrating.

We have decided to take the stance that we are not going to let them scare us off. We live in a great neighborhood with lots of young families and we are not going to let this punk beat us down.

Hopefully, now that the kids are banned from the property, the disturbances will subside.

I keep you all updated.

Evelyn Picture of the Week

We had a very eventful weekend. Details will follow when I have some free time. In the meantime, I thought I would post this super cute picture of Evelyn.

13 mo.

TGIF

Wow. A lot has happened in the 24hrs since I last posted.

I survived Bootcamp. yep. I lived. And I hate/loved it so much I decided to sign up for another day. That means tue and thurs I will be being tortured at the YWCA. All for a good cause for sure...those pesky last 10 lbs from my pregnancy. Bye Bye LBs.

Michael Jackson passed away. While the MJ that I loved has long since been gone, all the memorials being broadcast brings up so many memories. My very first record to ever buy was Thriller. I so wish I still had it. Dad...is there any way it is packed in a box some where?

Farrah Fawcett - another icon. gone. While she was at her prime slightly before my time, I do remember Charlie's Angels. She is a part of history and will be missed.

Hope to have a fantastic weekend!

Drop and give me 20...er 50

Today after work I am going to boot camp. I am terrified. See, I am a manipulator. I have worked with several personal trainers in the past. But I always can control them. When they say do 15...I talk them into only doing 12. I am really good at it. Even though in our first meeting, I tell them I am a manipulator and that I need them to be hard on me and not let me get away with it. I always do.

That is why I had a doula at Evelyn's birth. I knew I wanted to have a normal un-medicated waterbirth. Dan and my midwives knew what I wanted. But I knew that I would still be able to manipulate them to give me the drugs. Even though deep down, I didn't want them. My doula was able to keep encouraging and supporting me. And I did it. No Drugs!

I digress.

So, boot camp, today at 5pm. I have a feeling Tim and the others (class limit 6) will not let me manipulate them. That is why I am scared. But it is a good scared. I need to be pushed. I need the extra 10 lbs OFF of my body. I am now 14 mo postpartum and can no longer use it.

Will post tomorrow if I don't die tonight.

Swimming in the rain

Evelyn is having fun today. Lorri (our daycare provider) sent me this picture while I was at work. Ev is playing in the pool with her friends Anders and Addy in the rain. Wish I was there :-)

Austin in Mpls

This weekend was filled with visits from old friends. It made me miss Austin. But at the same time, I also fell more deeply in love with the mpls. I felt a sense of pride I hadn't felt before for this city. This is my home. I accept.

Camille came to visit from Portland. She is just about to graduate with a PA (Physician Assistant) degree. She was doing one of her rotations in South Dakota. Her husband Mark has family in the Twin Cities so she came for the weekend. It was SO great to see her. It has been over 5yrs since we last saw each other. We didn't even skip a beat. I have always called Camille a soul sister. The moment we met, there was an instant connection and we became fast and true friends. She is planning on moving back to Austin after graduation so I am certain I will get to see much more of her.

Jennifer Jasso flew in on Sunday just to see us. Again, a bff from Austin. She is a fancy photographer in LA. You can check out her stuff at Jennifer Jasso Photography. She was shooting a wedding in Chicago and, lucky for us. made a pit stop in the mpls. It was so awesome to see jasso again. We had such a great visit. I was able to be there with her when she found out some life altering news. I can share more on that at a later date. Love you Jen!

We planned to do a photo shoot for Evi's one yr pics. But on Monday, the planned day, Ev got sick. Not sick sick, but teething sick. She had a low fever, runny nose and watery eyes. Let's just say that she was not in the mood to be photograph. We attempted to shoot, but it didn't last very long. Jennifer says she still got some good shots. I can't wait to see them. I will share with you all when I get them.

Till then...

Brrrrr in June

This was a boring weekend. It was rainy and cold. AND it is JUNE. yeah yeah...we need the rain. I get it. But we didn't like being cooped up inside.

Friday was fun though. We went to Lake Harriet Bandshell and had a picnic. I highly recommend this to folks. It was so great being outside on a lovely evening, eating dinner and drinking boxed wine. Evelyn loved it too. She got to walk around, people watch and swing.

She also got to eat a delicious bowl of cookies and cream ice cream. I think she dug it. What do you think?

Sharing with her friend Harper

The aftermath

What a difference a year makes

Brand new...
First Birthday...

Seriously. I can't believe Ev is not just a year old, but 13mo old. She is such a big girl. No longer a baby. And so much fun. She talks a ton now. She has quite the point of view. Alot of it we can't understand, but she still has a ton of words. For example - mama, daddy, puppy, kitty, baba, milk, num num (hungry), please, thank you, what's this, no, uh-oh, more, diggy, Weeee (swing), bathtub, and much much more :-)

back to blog

It has been over 5 months since I last blogged. I am not sure why I stopped. I am obsessed with reading blogs and day dream about blogging.what I would and would not post. So I am not sure why I stopped.

But, I have been inspired to start again. To chronicle for myself, my own life. Cause I didn't believe that I would forget important milestones, but I have. I am gonna real quick jot down some Evi Stones (aka milestones) while they are on my mind.

Crawling - Dec 10th, 2008
First Word - Puppy - 10 Mo (Feb)
First Tooth - 11Mo. (March)
Walk - 13mo. (May 27th, 2009)

There, now I can't forget because it is written.

Whew.