Hooray for bye weeks!

I like watching the Vikings as much as the next girl, but it turns out I also love the bye weeks, so I have a husband to help out around the house all day! We got so much done today! It also helped that it's icky weather (snow - seriously, it's only October 26th?!?!), so we didn't want to leave the house... but here's all the stuff we've gotten checked off our (my) list so far today:

1. Painted the newly remodeled bathroom. Well, at least got the first 2 coats on. I'm starting to regret my decision to not prime before changing a dark blue room light yellow. :(
2. Got the crib taken out of Gavin's bedroom - woohoo for big kids in big boy beds! He literally never gave the crib a second glance after the first night in his new bed. AND (knock on wood), he's never attempted to climb out of bed on his own! What a great kid!
3. Made the Tomato/Balsamic soup recipe that I've been wanting to try out.
4. Caught up with some friends on Facebook.
5. Put together the kids' Christmas lists.
6. Did my marrow donor "cheek swab" - painless. Now I just have to remember to get it in the mail STAT. :)
7. Also, got to watch Hallie entertain herself in front of the bathroom mirror that was propped on the floor - very adorable.

Hm, OK - maybe it doesn't seem like all that much when I write it out, but it has felt like a real productive day. And now I should get the little sweetie that's nodded off in my lap into her crib, so I can assess the painting situation.

Hooray for productive Sundays - and hubbies that aren't crabby about a Vikings' loss!!

Missing Mary

Five years ago today, a good friend and co-worker of mine, Mary VanBuskirk, died of "undetermined lung cancer" - at age 23. I think by the time they realized it was cancer, it had just spread throughout so much of her chest cavity that the doctors weren't really able to determine where it had started, and she died within about 4 months of the initial diagnosis.

Mary did everything on what most would consider a very shortened timeline, and looking back on it, I like to think it was because somehow she knew that she didn't have a lot of time to accomplish everything that she would have liked to do. She had a daughter when she was in high school, finished college in just over 3 years, then got the job at Minnesota Life and did everything she could to make a wonderful life for her daughter - she even bought a townhome all by herself when she was 22! Amazing! Arraina was always her #1 focus, and they were great together. They loved to go to water parks, ValleyFair, the zoo, the Mall of America, and anything else that two energetic girls could do together!

We spent a lot of time together in her 2+ years at Securian, and here are some of my favorites:

• Going to Lifetime over lunch together - she loooved it there, and her passion for working out was contagious
• Our trip to Colorado Springs for her sister Becky's bachelorette party
• Our trip to Miami - just for a little Girls' Getaway
• But the thing I miss most is our little chats about nothing and everything... her latest crush, Arraina's love of sports and school, how much Mary loved her job, then when she found out she was sick, what was going to happen to Arraina. I actually think she would be impressed about how much Arraina's dad has stepped up and taken responsibility for her.

I wish she was around when my kids were born - I'd love for her and Arraina to play with me and the kids! I miss you Mary, and promise to keep in touch with Arraina, to help make sure she knows how lucky she was to have a mom who loved her so much!

On a slightly related note, although it would not have helped Mary, I have recently ordered a kit to sign up to become a bone marrow donor - through the National Marrow Donor Program. I have been meaning to register for a while, but was recently reminded of it by this post from Matt - which included a link to the NMDP website (http://www.marrow.org/index.html). I know I may never get called, but if I do, I'll jump at the opportunity to be the one to help save someone's life! And I wish I would have known about the option to donate Umbilical Cord Blood through this site while I was pregnant - bummer. But for all of you pregnant folks, this is just something to keep in mind... if it could save a life, why not? I'm already signed up to be an organ donor when I die (hopefully not any time soon), so why not donate while I'm alive, too? :) From what I understand, all it takes to get registered is a cheek swab (well + $52 that you, the potential donor, have to pay for processing - but big deal, in the grand scheme of things, right?). So, if you're willing and able, get out there and do it!! :) Thanks.

6 months old!

We went to Hallie's 6-month check-up yesterday- she did great!

She got 4 shots, and Gavy and I each got one (flu shot).

Here are Hallie's stats at 6 months old:

Height - 26 3/4" (80th percentile)

Weight - 16 lbs, 13 ozs (70th percentile)

Head Circumference - 17 1/2" - (94th percentile!!)

Just for fun, I looked back at Gavy's stats at 6 months

(you'll notice the percentiles are different between boys & girls):

Height - 26 1/4" (45th percentile)

Weight - 18 lbs 2 oz (70th percentile)

Head Circumference - 18" (92nd percentile)

We always joked that he had a big head, but I guess hers is (relatively) even bigger!

She also had her pictures taken on Thursday... they turned out super cute!

I'll post them as soon as I get a digital copy.

Big Boy Bed Update, Night 1

"Victory in the Pacific!!"

Gavin slept the entire night in the new bed - only waking up once

because he had too many blankets on, and was sweating!

He liked being able to read books and say prayers while laying down.

It was definitely a success -

I don't know why we didn't try it months ago!! :)

Frolicking, etc.

We've had some great fall-like weather the past couple days! Here are some pics of the kids playing outside...

Look who learned how to sit up on her own!

Gavy liked covering their feet with leaves, then kicking them off

Hallie's kicking often turned into tumbling! :)
So Gavin was all about joining her!

I love that SMILE!!

Nana giving Hallie some love!
Pudgy little cutie!

And here's a preview of Little Ms. Piglet

Reason # 228,437,682,195 Why I Love My Kids

Gavin has been such a sweetie to his little sister - basically from Day One. And he continues to look out for her at all times. A couple of adorable things he's done recently:

1. He was helping me put her down for a nap last week, and as he was closing the door, he stuck his head back in her room and said "Close eyes baby".
   
2. When she was practicing sitting up on her own, he walked by and said "Careful, Hallie".
   
3. While she was in her car-seat, I noticed her pulling down the jiggly cow for the first time on her own, so I said "Good job, Hallie!" and he looked over and said "Good job, Baby Bear!"! (Every now and then I call her Baby Bear and him Buddy Bear - but I had no idea that he actually picked up on the nicknames!)

Also, I was tickling both kids today and noticed something funny. Both are ticklish, but Hallie laughs more when Gavy is getting tickled than when I tickle her!! Too cute.

Can't believe Hallie's going to be 6 months old next week! I think we should get half a birthday cake (or a "Happy You Cake" as Gavy calls them) for the half birthday! We'll see if that happens. She does have a 6-month photo shoot scheduled on that day, so I'll hopefully be posting those after the 16th.

Speaking of them growing up so fast, Gavin's going to get a "big boy bed" in his room this weekend! I'm trying to be realistic about my expectations - I don't expect him to sleep in it all through the night the first night, but you never know! I'll keep you posted!

Not much else going on in our neck of the woods... oh, we got Hallie's costume in the mail last week and tried it on - it's big enough that she will probably be able to wear it next year, too - but it'll work this year! Gavy's going to be Pooh, so Hallie naturally had to be Piglet! Bet you can't wait to see pics of that (I can't!)!! :)

Fall

Well, fall is officially here. Hmpf. Don't get me wrong, I like fall - but it doesn't last nearly long enough, and the 6 - 9 months of winter that follow it are the most depressing of the year for me. So... I guess we'll just have to get out and enjoy fall as long as we can!

Gavy got his hair cut last week - shorter than it's ever been! Here's the "before":

And "after"

One good thing about fall is Vikings football! And since our Twins let us down on Tuesday, I'm officially jumping bandwagons now!

Here's one of the cutest Vikings fans on the block:

And the other one (helping Mommy make pepperoni pineapple pizza):

Doing "Row, row, row your boat"

She's lucky - she got to sleep through the Vikes' game last week!
This one's for you, Ab!

Sleeping Beauty:
BFF's:
Gavin at Choo-Choo Bob's:
TTFN! :)