chicken noodle soup, chicken noodle soup

almost a swimmer (not really)

I look so horrendously bad right now! I am wearing leopard print Cuddle Duds, a Christmas gift from my mom. We had an outdoor event tonight so I wore this ensemble under my clothes but I had to de-layer once in the house. Head to toe leopard Lycra. I am making leopards everywhere cringe.

Oh, what a week! People always complain about how blogs make life seem all rosy (well, probably not my blog since I whine more than the average person). But I will tell you this week was not rosy, rather it was like an episode of Springer. BTB, I met Jerry Springer in Cancun and was in a commercial with him for MTV's Spring Break 1999 . That's all I'll say about that.

Guess what? Norelle is no longer a Jellyfish, she graduated into the Sunfish class! Go Community Ed swim lessons. My office had a wonderful party to welcome Baby Henley, complete with Cafe Latte cupcakes. We have a full on epidemic in our house, Mucus Infestation 2011... send Kleenex! On Friday, we visited Great Grandpa Dick & Great Grandma Rosie in Austin. We purposely time our visits to coincide with breakfast. On Saturday, Grandma Liz & Grandpa Steve babysat overnight so Jake I could have a real date. Our date was at MoA where we had the most delicious pasta in quantities I won't admit to followed by a night in a hotel, courtesy of Uncle Randy's discount. We slept 12 hours straight, 9-9! In case you are wondering, no our baby does not sleep through the night unless you count waking up at 12,2,4 and 6 as through the night. Tonight we participated in the Purple Light Vigil in honor of my dad and all those with pancreatic cancer. Someone was not a fan of the cold and cried at the top of her lungs to go home the whole time...Jake.

Happy early Thanksgiving!

Nori "jumps" off the diving board

Dick & Henny

post pancake photo op

Jake says we buy too much corn too...

knee-deep in carbs, our idea of romance

Dad, your reflective hat is blinding me!

The Capitol a.k.a. "the castle"

prepare to be bored

super sisters!

Chicken tortilla. Thanks for asking! Has this ever happened to you? You are sitting down for supper when your financial analyst husband issues a stern warning to his activist sister to"never join the Occupy Wall Street movement", then she sheepishly looks away while quietly informing him she already has. These are the cringe worthy moments I live for! Of course, the only reason I even knew what this was was not from the NY Times but rather from DListed's bold coverage of Jay-Z's t-shirt controversy

Guess who had some whole grain rice cereal? Henny! She only ate a few spoonfuls but it's just another milestone on her journey to never needing me again. Call my therapist! I don't have one but I should. Also, call my personal trainer, as I need me a pair of Spanx. Despite the side effects, babies are heaven! I kinda want to do it again, someday. Call my acupuncturist!

It was an emotional, tear-filled, tantrumesque, "oh child" weekend for someone who is almost four due to nap aversion mixed with early wake-ups. She has enjoyed going on night walks with Daddy before bedtime. She takes her red laser pointer and they look for prey. Yes, prey.

That's it, I really have nothing to say. Air kisses!

love in my tummy

Nor will do anything for a squinkie

Henny Henny puddin' pie

just hatched

Why didn't I think of this?

Like my teeth?

celebrating Greta's 3rd birthday at Day By Day

happy one minute

The Hulk the next

an extra hour

fall back

Some people get an extra hour of sleep. Some people just get an extra hour. No matter, it was a great morning for a hike which is what we had planned. By hike I mean a normal walk near nature. However, we could not get our act together so instead of finding a nature preserve we just walked around the neighborhood like we do everyday. Only Nori told people we passed "we are on a hike!". City girl. We were going to devote the whole day to our dog: Dorothy's Special Day! But, we kinda let that slip by. So next week Dorothy with have her special day complete with dog park visit, dress up, and homemade dog biscuits...if we remember.

Twins (the strollers I mean)

Ajana & Baby Adira came to visit this weekend! Adira is just like Ajana, she wants to be moving and entertained all the time. It was fun to finally get the babies together and catch up with Jana. Adira, like Henley, is just learning to soothe herself to sleep but unlike Henley, she already gets to eat pureed spinach. I realized just how chill my baby is and I am grateful she is so easy. My dad also stopped by after chemo for his weekly visit with the girls. The one good thing about cancer is that it brings him into my neighborhood much more often. The one bad thing is it's cancer.

snuggle buns

Norelle continues to be the most nurturing, loving big sister. Every morning when I bring the baby in to her room she says "Oh, it's the Foosemeister!" in a high squeaky voice, followed by hugs and kisses. When we meet new people she brags, "This is my baby, look at her cute little foot". Henley loves her back with lots of smiles. In fact, we can not make her stop smiling...it's her favorite. They love to cuddle although sometimes big sister gets a little rough, straddling the baby and tickling her can lead to an elbow to the head. Good thing I am so busy on Pinterest I don't even notice. 90% of the time my kids are amazing, the other 10% I try to repress.

all good in the hood

Finally, Jake survived earnings season yet again but has not been feeling to well for months in the tummy region so he heads to the doctor this week. I think I scared him into going, never Google symptoms. We are happy to have him back from the grips of Wall Street. We are looking forward to many fun events in November from hosting Thanksgiving, family photos, Purple Light Vigil, visiting Austin and Winona, but best of all we can't wait for one solid night sleep at a hotel while G & G Seltz babysit.

Happy Halloween!

so much for my plan

If they can't make it, who can?

PanCAN, can you?

1st play date in the playroom

It's officially fall, I made my first soup: Chicken and Dumplings. Ever since I got pregnant last year, I have not had any interest in cooking so this is a big milestone. BTB, I have lost 6 pounds on Weight Watcher's in 3 weeks and it has been fairly easy - thank you nursing points! I am not a joiner and Lord knows I am not a spender, so I didn't actually register for WW rather I just found out how to do it from my coworkers and use a free online database to keep track of points. If you want to hack in too, do it here. First one to lose the muffin top wins. People without muffin tops are not eligible.

Jake & I had a real date Friday night at Barrio Saint Paul which has the best salsa verde. The new rule is that we must have one real date per month. And a real date must consist of a shower and leaving the house. Regular pajama clad couch dates still welcome.

Yesterday my dad & I spent the day at Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) Symposia downtown Minneapolis. It was such a wonderful education and networking event for patients and families. We listened to internationally renown specialists talk about chemo regimens, genetics, diagnostic screening, and new research & drugs (there is a drug in Phase I trials at the U of M that cures pancreatic cancer in rats). There were some really sad parts because we met several people who will die from the disease as anyone who can not have surgery has no chance at cure. But, we also met some amazing survivors who are living for years with or have beaten the disease. If you read much online, these types of stories are hard to come by. It reminded how fortunate my dad was to be diagnosed so early and made us think of Uncle Rick who only lived 6 miserable weeks after diagnosis.The weirdest part of the entire day was went one researcher talked about the Familial Pancreatic Cancer gene which is called PALB2. Say what now? Praying the gene is not responsible for both the beak and tumor! Thanks to Holly, Casey & Jamie for babysitting while I learned about how I might die and Jake dressed as a "cool vampire" and biked across down with beer in his backpack to the Gopher's football game. Not sure what made it cool, the black sweatpants or the skin tight metallic shirt?

Only one more day until the pumpkin sees his shadow, stay tuned for some Halloween cuteness tomorrow. Finally, in the US Weekly tradition, I present our first installment of:

Who Wore it Better?

Baby Honey 2011 (5 months)

Tootie McBootie 2008 (9 months)

Five months old!

I love you, Foosie Sue!