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30 years later...

This little sweater was made for me 30 years ago by our family friend, Donna Solomonson. We have lots of pictures of me wearing it and now it fits my baby boy. Lately when I pick up Ivar I can't get over the fact that I have a baby that is ready to snuggle and cuddle at all times. I spent a whole lot of my childhood rocking dolls, burping them, changing their clothes, walking them around the house, taking them for walks in the stroller around the block. But now I have the real thing. I have wanted to have a baby my whole life and right this very moment I am living my dreams come true.

I think I link to her blog almost every single time she posts a new blog entry, but my friend Meta has written another gem. She also just had a baby boy and her writing always sweeps me off of my feet. Click here to read Meta's latest thoughts on mamahood.

living room remix

Rearranging the furniture is basically what I do when I'm going a bit batty inside and need a change of scenery. If I can't actually get out to change the scenery, then I have to work with what I've got. For this room redo, we took the corner sectional and turned it into two sofas. Is that legal in the world of room design? I don't know. Don't really care either. It works for us. And a special perk? The end cushions on our couch are super saggy and lack in support (read: your butt can get very close to the floor). But the corner cushions that used to be placed together rarely got any use, so now we have two prime sides of two couches that actually support our bodies when we sit down.

around here

Around here we are playing dress up in summertime clothes, just to get us ready for the warm weather just around the corner. Plus, at the rate Ivar is growing, he is not going to fit into this sweet outfit that Mimi and Papa brought back for him from Hawaii!

Around here we are having more trouble with our naughty cat than we are with our infant son.

Around here we can't get over how "healthy" our son looks. We laugh at how it looks like he has rubber bands around his wrists.

Around here we are so elated that the snow is melting. Rory was out all weekend working on the yard and added 11 bags of woodchips to our front landscaping.

Around here we are debating if perhaps now would be the right time to take down the artificial Christmas tree we put up on our porch five months ago. It's hard to know...we'll be putting it back up again in only 7 months.

Around here we are living through our baby's first fever, cough and cold. It means that we're snuggling a lot, reading lots of books together and that I am still in my pajamas from Saturday night.

Around here we're low on the staples: milk, bread, eggs and butter. Hard to get by without those ingredients.

Around here we are celebrating the tulip buds that are popping up all over our front garden. I can't wait for spring flowers!

Around here we rearranged the living room furniture. Because that just needs to be done once in a while.

Around here we have added a high chair to our kitchen table set up so that our little man can start eating sweet potatoes and carrots with his mom and dad. It's the best. He's very proud to have joined us. The last time I posted an around here post was over a year ago! It is so amazing to track the day to day details and to see how hugely our life has changed in one year... You can read that post by clicking here.

time to get your game on!

Family Fun Magazine has some super simple practical jokes that are ready to print and enjoy. My sister emailed this morning and said her 5-year-old, Mara keeps asking, "what are we going to do for April Fool's Day?" as if she believes it is a major holiday. So if you're looking for some fun ideas to get your creative juices flowing, check out this Family Fun April Fools link. My favorites are the easy, printer-ready ideas found here. I can't wait until Ivar is old enough to help me celebrate this very major holiday!

fill-in-the-picture books

This post is another tip of the hat to my mom. Somehow she finds these awesome albums that tell you what pictures to place where. This book is a book about Ivar's baptism that she put together. This is her 7th baptism book as she has made one of these for each of her grandkids. It means that she comes to the service equipped with a list that she usually passes onto my aunt louie with items listed like: exterior of the church, baptismal font, baby with pastor, inside of the church etc. Then those 20 pictures get placed throughout this book that weaves a story around the pictures, explaining what baptism is and then you add the details:
It's a super cool teaching tool for passing on the faith, so that when Ivar is older we can talk about baptism and what it means to be baptized into the kingdom of God. My niece Sonna was baptized in Flathead Lake and she will "read" this one to us with her own script, "once I was a teeny, tiny baby and there's pastor wayne in his shorts and we all walked into the lake..."


The baptism book mom uses can be ordered online here or here, if you're interested.