North Dakota

We went to North Dakota this weekend. Penny was visiting Todd and I wanted to visit at the same time because I haven't seen Penny since my wedding. It worked out best to have Penny fly to MSP and then drive to ND with me. Cheaper for her and more visiting/girl time for us. Plus, I would have help with Esme if I needed it.


I was able to drop Penny off in Bismarck and then go to New England to drop Esme off. Then I went back to Bismarck to spend a couple of days with Todd and Penny. Grandpa and Grandma babysat. :)



Sunday I came back to NE and that night we went for pizza in Scranton. Monday I hung out with Stacey a bit and we took some pictures of the water tower in NE. I heard they are going to tear it down sometime. :(


Sunday night was walleye with the family and then Tuesday I took off for MSP again, picking Penny up along the way. Lot's of miles put on, but a good trip.

I'm no Princess

Esme spent the morning at Grandma Barb and Grandpa Dan's house this morning while I went to an appointment. When I went to pick her up Jodie, Annika and Laurel were there. Esme was asleep on the little kid couch and Annika and Laurel were keeping a close watch.

After Esme woke up, Annika and Laurel showed me the princess crowns that they had made for themselves. They also made one for Esme. The three little princesses (or should that be princess' ?).


As you can see, Esme doesn't think much of her royal title. She would make her dad proud - eschewing the girly thing. Somehow, I don't think that will last too long.

Bath pictures - finally

Ok, so I am finally getting some bath pictures on here. I'm still nervous giving Esme a bath so I forget to get the camera. Plus, some baths are the result of a huge spit up and those require quick action and our full attention. No camera action then.

Here is Esme in her tub. Despite what these pictures show, she actually does like taking her bath.


Here is a picture of her in the towel that her Great, Great Aunt Gini gave her.


Good thing she took a bath. There ended up being an impromptu happy hour at the neighbors house and you always want to look good for happy hour. :)

It wasn't too long until she was out and ready for bed. She went home and slept. Aaron and I stayed for a little while and tested the baby monitor. It actually works pretty well at the neighbors. This is a good thing...

Deliver me

Today we got to see Dr. Manneh. She is the doctor who delivered Esme. When Esme was born we weren't sure what we were going to name her. We had it narrowed down to 2 names and when Dr. Manneh asked us what her name was we told her we didn't know. She asked what the two names were and after we told her she asked if we wanted to know what she thought. We did. She said that she liked Esme and that she thought it was classic, but a little modern and not trendy. We followed her advice and Esme it was!


After our appointment, we went over to NW Eye to visit. Esme decided this was a great time to try to suck her thumb. Luckily, I had my camera. :)

Tonight I went for a 1.2 mile run, just around this little loop by my house. I managed to run the whole thing and not walk at all. Never mind that most people could probably walk as fast as I could run. I'm still proud of myself. As you can see from the pictures on this blog, I have some work to do to get back to my pre-baby weight. This is a good start!

New Friends

Today we went for a walk with our new friend Emily and her mom Kim. Kim and I found out we were pregnant around the same time and our due dates were within 1 day of each other. I was due June 10th and I think Kim was due June 9th. Emily was born June 2nd and Esme June 8th. (As a side note, at my reunion last week I told 2 or 3 people that Esme's birthday was June 10th. Finally, Aaron corrected me. Oops. June 10th was my due date, I had been saying that date for 8 months. Hard habit to break!)

Kim and I had planned a summer of walking and visiting, but it got a little derailed because of the whole chicken pox thing. Plus, who knew that with newborns that our time would be so used up. All of a sudden the day is done even if you haven't done much but hold your baby and feed her and change her diaper and love her. Anyway, we finally got together and it was fun for our girls to meet. They are about the same weight right now and doing the same things. It was also great to compare notes on all those crazy questions that we have.

We went for a walk and little Miss Emily was none too happy about it. Just like Esme though, she likes bumpy roads better than smooth ones when she's unhappy. She also liked the traffic noise when we were close to a main road.


After our walk, we hung out for a little while. It was fun to watch the girls next to each other. Esme as usual had her head turned to the right. So it's not like she was completely antisocial. She told me that she thinks Emily is the best girl friend she's ever had (her best boy friends are Jack and Charlie of course). If you look at them, I think Esme looks bigger even though she's 6 days younger, but they weigh about the same. Maybe it's just Esme's outfit. Polka dots maybe are a bit like horizontal stripes??? To be avoided? I don't think so, it's too cute of an outfit!


Here's a video of the girls running their first race together!

Hopefully, we will get to spend a lot more time with them this summer!

Yaayy for the Moby!

I finally sort of got the hang of the Moby wrap. There is definitely a learning curve with it. Luckily, Miss Esme has been very patient with me. Now that I have the technique down, I just have to finesse it a bit. Because it's made out of fabric, it stretches and gets loose after awhile. Esme can stay in it happily for a long time, today it was a couple of hours. So that loosening thing means that her head gets a little less support. Now I just have to make it tight enough that it doesn't scrunch her right away, but stays tight.

Here we are ---

Long ways to go

Today we drove home from New England. We had initially gone to NE a little early so that we could maybe drive to Billings to see Todd. But then we found out that there was a good chance that he would get transferred to Bismarck while we were home, so we decided to wait because we drive through Bismarck on our way. Ten less hours in the car with Esme was appealing.

It turned out that he got moved to Bismarck this morning so we did get to see him on our way back to Mpls. He was pretty sleepy and disoriented. He got sick on the plane ride from Billings to Bismarck and still wasn't feeling great. We visited with him very briefly. It was hard to see him because he looked so vulnerable despite being such a big guy. He really didn't know who I was which wasn't a surprise.

We only stayed in his room for a few minutes because the nurses were still getting him settled in. He literally arrived only an hour or so before we got there. He didn't even have any of his stuff in the room yet. I will try to go back in a couple of weeks and see him again. I'm excited to see the progress as he begins therapy.

The good news is that Butch and JoyLynn got to meet Esme. :)


See you again in a couple of weeks!

Esme did pretty well on the rest of the trip. She slept quite a bit which was nice and I don't think she was too fussy when we got home. She still slept just as well at night. She's a good baby!

Old Friends

This morning we had a final get together for our reunion. Burgers and brats a the golf course. It was fun to see everyone one last time.

Esme got to meet a few other babies too. Baby Oe is about 1 month older that Esme. She is the daughter of Mike and Heidi Schoch.


Baby Bradyn is about 2 weeks older than Esme. He is Brent Bautz' son. Look at his little shoes!!!


After lunch we decided to drive to Medora. Aaron had never been there before, so we drove through Theodore Roosevelt National Park. But first we stopped at the Painted Canyon viewing area.


As soon as we got into the park we saw buffalo. This one was keeping people from using the bathroom! :)



We also saw wild horses.


Esme didn't think any of it was too exciting...


On the way home, we decided to stop at The Trappers' Kettle for dinner in Belfield. While we were eating my mom looked over and saw Dorothy Petri sitting at another table. She was my Grandma Pearl's best friend. We had invited her to the baby shower, but she wasn't able to make it. I was so excited that we saw her and that she got to see baby Esme. She is Esme's honorary great grandma! :)

Shower and Dance :)

This morning Esme had a baby shower. Grandma and Linda hosted. This is the second quilt that Grandma Jackie made for Esme. It's beautiful!


Esme got to hang out with family and meet some new people.


We took a four generation picture.

That night grandma and grandpa watched Esme while Aaron and I went downtown for reunion activities. First a dinner and then a street dance. I was most excited to hang out with Jill and Tina and they weren't even part of my class!



The best part of the night was that Grandma and Grandpa kept Esme in their room, so Aaron and I got to sleep the whole night!

Lazy Day

Friday was a very lazy day.


We spent most of the day sitting on the deck and playing with Aaron's camera, trying different settings. Here are some of the shots that were pretty good.


That night we went to Lion's Park for a get together for my 20 year reunion. Esme was there for awhile and then we took her home. It was really chilly out! The best part was meeting up with Cheri Ehlis who I haven't talked to in years. It was so great to visit with her. Oddly, I didn't take any pictures. :(

A visit to the farm

Today was a quiet day. Aaron and I went for a walk down to the Credit Union so that I could sign some paperwork for Esme's savings account. Grandma and Grandpa opened an account for her.


We spent most of the afternoon hanging out on the patio and doing a whole lot of nothing! Not a bad way to spend the day.



Later that night we went to the farm so that Len and Gini could see Esme again. And so I could have a bloody mary. It was so yummy, thanks Len! :)


Aaron took some pictures of the surrounding area and now you know why I'm so fond of trees.