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Buddies

We went to visit Krista and Will earlier this week and had a spectacular time rolling around with them. Thomas and Will tie for world’s roundest cheeks, I love them.

If Thomas is a jolly baby, then Will is somewhat more serious and pensive. He seemed to be deep in thought about our arrival, eventually warming to the idea that we were there to play. By the time we left Will was talking up a storm. Maggie, however, didn’t miss a beat, once we sat down, with trying to take Will’s toys and poke his eye out.

I think my child is a rascal, but I love rascals so it’s okay with me.

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Is That a Hunk of Junk?

Before we had Maggie, we had pretty strong opinions about choices that we would or would not be making regarding being parents. More than once I have found myself doing things that I swore I would never, ever do with my own child.

Take the ExerSaucer for example, it is huge and ugly and takes up a substantial part of our smallish house. Guess who loves to rock out in it each morning? It was the same way with the swing. I thought that I wouldn’t want/need those Hunks of Junk, as we have affectionately been calling them, because we were going to be the parents that constantly held our baby and wouldn’t need a contraption to hold her.

And for the most part we do hold Maggie. In fact, if she is in a Hunk of Junk, we’re right down on the floor with her enjoying it. I remember seeing Barry lying under the swing when Mags was a teeny baby while she rocked above him. I’m not sure that our sweet, sweet child touched ground for a significant amount of time before her she was at least 5 months old.

What I didn’t take into account when I had my pre-parenting opinions, was that Maggie might want some time out of our arms, or I might want to take a shower, or even make some food. Tonight we turned a new page with a real high chair that arrived at our house. It is more aesthetically pleasing than the ExerSaucer and certainly serves more of a purpose. I typically wear Maggie or sit her on the ground near me when preparing foods or doing stuff in the kitchen, but tonight I loaded her in the high chair and she happily mashed a banana and played with some kitchen utensils.

She was able to keep an eye on the action at level that pleased her and I was able to swiftly complete my tasks: a win-win! So, as I eye the next Hunk of Junk or supposed ‘must have,’ instead of rolling my eyes and discounting it, I’m going to take into consideration what Maggie might think of it. Turns out we don’t always agree on everything.

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Hi-Ho It’s Off to Glacier We Go!

We survived Thanksgiving through the exploding Pyrex dish, broken pipe, piles of snow and the power going out. We were thankful for some very basic things. It was an eventful day, but more on that later.

On Friday we went up to Glacier to surprise Tyler for his birthday. He turned the big 3-0 and, although we weren’t there for the surprise part, he had no idea that we were all meeting up to celebrate him! Joey did a fantastic job coordinating.

Barry and the boys got to dote upon Maggie and the following sequence of pictures is really funny. Keep your eye out for a chubby Pug:

I like the fact that Sydney saw her moment to shine and she moved on in, plus Bahl obviously thinks it is a-okay because he decided to give the two thumbs up.

But Jeff is kind of like that – a two thumbs up type of guy. He ran into Tyler at a gas station randomly shortly before Tyler was to arrive at the cabin to be surprised. Bahl hatched a little white-lie to keep the surprise from being discovered. Two thumbs up, right?  Bahl give two thumbs up to the Huskies, funny pictures, and his sweet, sweet girlfriend, Allison, who was with her family and not at the cabin.

Eventually Maggie started to suggest that it was time to go by yelling in Joe’s face. Thankfully he has to nephews and so he was able to tolerate her screaming. Joe and Claire (not pictured, sadly) are getting hitched in a few weeks and Barry is in their wedding. Claire was wondering if the bridal party should do a fun dance at the wedding. Barry is a mover and a shaker, so I volunteered that he would love, love, love to do a fun dance. I may have gotten dagger eyed from Barry, but I survived.

We left the cabin and headed to the Miller/Rhone compound for a good night’s rest….so great to see some of our very favorite people*.

*Kurbbie, we missed you.