Thanksgiving in the New Place

For the past 5 years, Coach and I have hosted Thanksgiving for both our families in our home.  Yes, I know, we've been married for 6 years... but that year when I was preggers with Lovebug I couldn't handle the smell of food, therefore cooking a turkey in the house would not have been good.

Anywhosers, this year we were fortunate enough to have the family join us in our new, big, beautiful home.  And wow, what a difference it made.  There was room to walk around people without stepping on their toes, and wait for it... we even had room for a kids table :).  Yes, we've moved up in the world folks.

{Lovebug with Grandma Pam and Marshall with the ball popper}

{cousins}

{not quite sure what to think here}

{pile up on Aunt Mandy}

{imagine that... Lovebug wanting to read a book}

{what's that?  what's that?  what's that?  Can you tell these are Lovebug's two favorite words?}

{Daddy and Grandpa Dale measuring for the new TV from the Black Friday ad.  Lovebug thinks they need her help}

{just chillaxin' by the fire}

It was a great day to spend with family.  And... the food wasn't too shabby, if I do say so myself :)

16 months old... .5 months late :P

Waaaaaay back on Thanksgiving, Lovebug turned 16th months old. 

And somewhere along the way, she learned how to pose :).



{could she BE any cuter?!?!  i think not.}



15 month update... 1.5 months late :P

Waaaaaay back in October, Lovebug had her 15 month well-check.  Daddy took her to it.  It was a nice time for both of them.

Lovebug's stats are were as follows:

~Height--31", 70th percentile
~Weight--23 lb. 2 oz, 55-65th percentile
~Head Circumferance--18", 50th percentile

And here she is... waaaaay back when she turned 15 months :)

Sick, sick, and sick... and sick again...

Sorry for being MIA since Sunday.  Here's a recap of what's happened in Lynamland the past 7 days, ya know, in case you couldn't get enough of it from previous posts.  This recap begins last week and moves into tonight...

Wednesday--Lovebug pukes at daycare at 7:20-7:30am... I get things ready for my sub then head off to get her.  Car barf a few more times, then home with Mama for the rest of the day.  Lovebug up in middle of the night.

Thursday--Lovebug stays home with Coach and sleeps... on him... all.day.long.  No barf, but low-grade temp.  Lovebug up in middle of the night.

Friday--Mama stays home with Lovebug and we go to the doctor.  Strep test--negative.  Take blood--came back good (which, by the way, Lovebug did not scream or cry when she was finger pricked.  Me on the other hand?  I held back my tears like a big girl... kind of.  Told by the doc that we've got a virus on our hands.  Coach comes home and says he doesn't feel good.  Uh-oh.  Lovebug up in middle of the night.

Saturday--whining, whining, and more whining.  No barf.  Except from Coach.  He's down for the count... fever and all.  Lovebug and I clean.  Lovebug up in middle of the night.

Sunday--looking to be, maybe, on the up and up.  Other than hitting her head all the time and chewing on things.  Oh man... are we getting a tooth?  Coach is on the up and up, too.  Lovebug up in middle of the night.

Monday--Lovebug goes back to daycare!!  Mama has flu symptoms at school... and probably should have gone home, but didn't.  Lovebug up at 4:30am.

Tuesday--the Monday night at 4:30am?  Yeah.  Lovebug vurps and up comes some stuff.  Mama stays home and attempts to sleep off the flu symptoms while Lovebug plays to her hearts content.  Other than chewing on everything in sight, we're doing ok.  Lovebug up at 4:30am.

Wednesday--back to daycare, super happy to see her peeps!  Coach feels better, Mama feels better, Lovebug shows MAJOR signs of teething.  Oh... and Mama gets barfed on by one of her students at school.  Greeeeaaat...  Oh yeah, and when I returned back to school from a quick trip home to the 'burbs to shower & change, I sent another student home with pink eye.  When it rains it pours...

Today--Holly calls & texts Mama... Lovebug cried from noon-3pm.  Pulling on ear, runny nose... great.  Mama takes Lovebug to Urgent Care here in the 'burbs and after 2 hours, find out that she's got an ear infection :(.  And the P.A. says that she's definitely teething, too.  No, really?

So yes... we've had flu, flu, flu, teething, and ear infection within one week's time.  Life is grand.  Ya know that old saying "God only gives you what He knows you can handle"???  Wow.  I had no idea He thought so highly of us :). 

Here's hoping we're on the mend.  AND, here's hoping our illness doesn't magically find its way into your neck of the woods.  Ya know, all two four of you :)

Vacuuming is fun... for now...

Wow!  What a day!!  Lovebug seems to be feeling better and Coach's temp broke.  Poor guy, he's still not 100% yet so he was on bedrest today.  For me?  Temps in the upper 60s in the middle part of November is unheard of up here in the north, but man oh man did I live it up... housecleaning style ;). 

With all of the before-mentioned illness that's plagued Lynamland the past week, I whipped open the windows to air this place out and did some deep spring fall cleaning.  This cleaning entailed:

• cleaning all bathrooms...again
• spraying Lysol
• washing our comforter
• spraying Lysol
• washing our sheets
• spraying Lysol
• washing our mattress pad
• spraying Lysol...I'm sure you get this part by now.  I have attempted to spray every square inch of this new home to kill 99.9% of all the germs.
• washing all our clothes...including every.single.sweatshirt that's been near us
• washing Lovebug's clothes
• washing Lovebug's bedding
• vacuuming the upstairs
• 2 loads of dishes (with ahem quite a few left to go).  I treated Coach to brownies :)
• vacuuming the kitchen and living room INCLUDING moving Lovebug's toy box and the couches into the middle of the room to get any and all specks of dust and dog hairs that may have been hiding underneath

Lovebug was my little assistant when it came to vacuuming.  This may be why it took me 45 minutes to vacuum.  Her arms length stretch doesn't get that vacuum to move very far.  Here are some pics of our adorable girl showing us that she'll be ready to earn an allowance to do this in a few years :).  Ya know, when vacuuming isn't fun anymore.  ;)



{in case you can't tell... this is an action shot.  hence the blurriness}




{like the pink socks?  yeah, we didn't either.  unfortunately, I got her dressed before I washed her laundry}




{this may take me out of MOTY (mother of the year) standings... but the vacuum was actually on, and she truly was cleaning the floor.  but look at that determination!}



{again, action shot.  sorry.  she's showing you how good she did.  like it?  she'll hire out in 9 years :^)}

Tea Party anyone?

Lovebug's got her own little corner in the Coach's mancave (lucky, right?) and her favorite things in that corner are her table & chairs, and the kitchen-y things that go along with it.  And her favorite thing to do with those kitchen-y things?  Share it with her Dada, of course :).

{see the high chair?  that was a gift from Santa to me when I was 2!!!}

{whippin' up something in her cookware}

{oh man!  it's not working the way I want it to!!!}

{busted!  trying to stand on the chair}

{Dada, I made you something yummy!!}

{that's some intense focus from both of them, huh?}

{oops.  don't think I was supposed to take this picture of Coach. HA!}

{but... I'm pretty sure Lovebug wanted me to show this one of her :)}

My First Trick-or-Treat

On the elusive day of Beggar's Night, Coach and I were both at our respective stadiums... he was enjoying the Hawkeye game, while I was working at the Cyclone game.  Both of us were pretty bummed that we were going to miss Lovebug's first trick-or-treat experience.  Luckily... my game got done quick enough for me to get home just in the knick of time to grab these pictures!!!




{playing in the driveway... working up the nerve to get back out there}



{ahh, what a pose}



{trick-or-treating at the neighbors' place}



{hmmm... she already knows what to do with the candy.  interesting...}



{the oh-so-elusive picture with Mama!!  My costume was as a PerMar security employee who works at Jack Trice stadium on game days.  So realistic, huh? :)}




{takes my breath away}

To Lovebug's surprise... Coach and Grandpa Dale made it back from the Hawkeye game. 

{Dada!!!  You made it home!!!!!  Can we go outside now??????}



{off we go... who do you think is more excited?}



{our neighbor girl shared some of her candy with Lovebug}

{ahhh.  A successful first trick-or-treat experience.  Notice the head tilt towards Dada :)}

All in all, it was a great night.  We were all glad we got to see Lovebug experience another first.  A first of many more to come.