Lost and Found

This is part of a picture of the Tiffany's cuff braclet that Todd bought me for our first xmas as a couple. I lost it three years ago when I was wedding dress shopping. At least I thought I had. When we were at the Iowa Homecoming parade last weekend my Dad was putting away a bag chair and the braclet fell out of a pocket on the chair. The man sitting next to it asked if it belonged to us and I said it wasn't mine before realizing that it was mine indeed! Glad to have my old friend back in my possession. Maybe Veda will read this someday after I've handed it down to her;)

Update!

Sorry we've been MIA! I had to give up my loner laptop last week when I was in Columbus so I'm once again dealing without my laptop and managing my life on my blackberry. As soon as we get back to California on Thursday I'll post more pictures.

Veda has had a great week with Nana and Bull. My Mom and I also took a trip to Maryland this weekend to visit my Aunt Diane. Grandpa Bull was on his own and scored an A+ with diapers, baths, and making sure Veda was happy and entertained. He even managed to watch his football games while playing babysitter... an art Todd has perfected.

Todd is missing sweet Veda and we can't wait to see him Thursday. He's working in New York this week so at least he doesn't have to go home to an empty house!

Play Time with Ava

Our friends Brandon and Nicole were in town from the Twin Cities for the big game. Veda got to play with their daughter Ava at the downtown playground. Veda thought she could do everything that Miss Ava could do but unfortunately Ava outranks her in skill and ability by almost a year. You can tell in the top photo that Ava is losing her patience as she waits for Veda to figure out that she can't climb the latter. ha!

Gameday

The Baldes crew minus Janice came over to watch the game and play with Veda. Veda loved the kids and kept crawling on top of them because she wanted to sit in their laps. Carson said it was ok "he could handle it." She was really amused with his hair for some reason too. I spent a few hours visiting with the Beemers at their house (eating more than I can handle of Pat's gameday cooking) and then roaming the tailgating lots. Basically how I spent every gameday for years. I now remember why night games are never a good idea. Way too many drunk idiots. I could hardly make my way through the packed rows of people so I felt really bad for all the elderly people who were making their way to the game at the last minute as I ran home to watch the game on the tube.

Another Hawk victory. Yes I guess you could say I've been a fair weather fan these past few years but hey - I have the spirit and I can't wait to see the rest of the season. I'm already thinking about all my Hawk friends heading out West to the Rose Bowl! You have a place to stay!

Don't eat the yellow snow!

We woke up to snow in Iowa City this morning! Veda was curious but oddly enough she didn't try to eat it. The neighborhood kids were out in full snow gear hoping for a blizzard - Veda chased them around for a bit before she decided she was ready for the warm and cozy of the indoors. Good thing Nana Sayre found her this coat (and matching snow pants) for the hot deal of 12 bones! Of course I headed out to the only garage sale I could find this morning in search of toasty winter clothes for V. My first garage sale in the snow - they didn't look like they were having much fun. I found some cute digs for little V so it was a great morning - latte and all!

Now football starts in less than an hour. I sure appreciate that we get to jump out of bed and watch the games at 9am in California. Waiting until 11 is like an eternity when you get up at 6 in the morning.

Homecoming Parade - Go Hawks!

We weren't sure how long we'd last at the parade and were surprised at how much fun Veda was having! My camera died after I took these few photos. She was dancing and clapping and waving at everyone who went by in the parade. It was burrrrrr cold but the sun came out and we dodged the rain so it was a pretty perfect fall evening in downtown Iowa City.

It just feels so great to be home. The crisp fall air - the corn ready for harvest - the excitement for Hawkeye football. Wish I could tailgate tomorrow - seriously tailgate - but I'll just be dragging my pregnant self around the parking lots for a few hours before I head home to watch the game on my parent's warm and cozy couch.

The pics above are at the Homecoming parade. The two gals are friends of mine from grade school. Becky on the far left and I had the same birthday and lived on the same street so we had all our birthday parties together - she has three girls now! Kristi is on the far left with her daughter Veda - yes VEDA! This is where we snagged the name. Glad that we could get a picture with the two pretty Vedas. She thought it was pretty cool that baby V shared her name;)

I'd also like to mention that we had a fabulous trip home on Thursday which made up for the last visit. No delays, broken strollers, or stolen luggage! Veda slept take off to touch down on the 3.5 hour flight - watched movies and giggled at everyone. Things went so smoothly that I was actually able to order and drink a latte during our layover - imagine that!

Beach Vacation

Unfortunately I didn't make good use of my camera this weekend. Here are a few good pics I did manage to get. We were in Manhattan Beach celebrating Brooke and Tom's wedding. It was beautiful and perfect. Veda was sick and crabby which caused plenty of stress but it was all worth the moments of joy she had playing on the beach, in the ocean, and in the hotel room bathtub. In the top photo she is smiling at Grandpa Gary and checking to see if he noticed that she was covering his feet in sand. She was pretty proud of herself. She was eager to cover her own feet in sand too and she surprised us by how much she loved the ocean - she wanted to keep chasing the waves back to the ocean and couldn't quite figure out that another wave would come and knock her over. We got some great film of it but no photos.

This morning she was downstairs at the rental house screaming and Grandma Diane came up with her and announced she had pierced her ears! For a second I thought she was serious but to my relief they were only stickers;) Grandma thought it was about time considering a women at the resturant where we were eating asked how old our little fella was.

I caved

I never wanted to be a Mom that uses DVDs as the babysitter. I give up. Veda is sick - snot everywhere - she can't breath - she can't sleep - she can't eat. She just wants to be held. So this was my solution while I worked in the kitchen. She got her flu shot yesterday and got a full workup beforehand to make sure she was well enough for the shot - of course the second we left she started snotting up a storm. Someone suggested it might be related to her sprouting her back teeth - which is possible since she is drooling up a storm as well.

Tomorrow we head to Manhattan Beach to meet up with Todd's family and to celebrate with Brooke and Tom. Veda is looking forward to the wedding - doesn't know what to wear so of course we had to pack half her wardrobe and all her shoes... and the gates... and the vaporizer... the fan... the sound machine... toys... two strollers... food and supplies for the beach house... the airbead... and lots of other stuff that most likely will take me two hours to get in the car. Here we come!

We need an upgrade

Veda had a playdate today and it made me realize that these kids' toys are much cooler than the poor man toys I have her playing with at home. She loves the ball pit and the door. Who would think of making a child sized front door as a toy? Genius really. She could have spent all day going back and forth through it and shutting the door and ringing the bell. Maybe when/if we move next year we'll get a place big enough for a play room and I'll be forced to fill it. Maybe I'll actually buy her xmas gifts this year?

Barbie

Todd brought Veda home a couple of Barbie's from his trip to Ohio last week. Veda has really bonded with her new friends - she might be a girly girl after all! She insisted on carrying this one around on a pillow. She could hardly lift the pillow but insisted that the Barbie was not to move unless she was on her princess pillow. She even tried to take the pillow outside to her new play area and when we objected she through a fit.

V will stand at the door trying to open it when she wants to go outside. I finally figured out that I could gate the porch and just leave the door open so she can come and go as she pleases. A win win for everyone.

Creative Styling

Nana Sayre gave Veda this "shirt" last week - it's actually a 3 to 6 month baby dress but works perfectly as a shirt - good thinking Mom. I'm going to dig through her old dresses and see if I can find any others that I can make work this way.

Green Thumb

I figured out how to upload the photos! Veda helping me water plants yesterday...

We're back - sort of...

I can't upload photos;( So you are stuck with story telling. I am still without my own laptop. I'm using a loner with limited capabilities. Our home computer crashed this weekend providing a perfect ending to a less than stellar week. Another $300 down the drain and it was only 10 months old. ho hum.

The trip home last week had me swearing I wouldn't travel with Veda again but of course we have another trip to the Midwest scheduled in a couple of weeks. She came down with a cold and I couldn't contain the snot - that was the worse part about the travel - forget the four hour delay and stroller the airline broke (yes I spent the day pushing her around with one handle). I just couldn't keep her clean - I was worried the other travelers would freak out but I think they thought it was drool - it looked like drool.

We made it to Iowa only 5 hours late - which is why I always travel in the morning - less risk of missing your connections and getting stuck somewhere over night! My luggage didn't come until the next day and that is when I realized my lap top was gone. Oh well - I'm over it.

We are glad to be home. We are watching the neighbor's dog - Veda is chasing him around and he probably wishes he had a rock to climb under. I'll have lots of pics to post when I can figure out why this computer won't let me upload!

Offline

My laptop has been stolen. So... I will be offline for awhile and unable to post. Sorry folks. I can't wait to get back to blogging so I can tell you about the crappy last three days I've had!

Veda's First Birthday Invite

Our friends Jonathan and Christina had the party of the century for their twins Jacob and Alexander. It was over the top. Everything was coordinated to the monkey theme including their bathing suits and party attire. They hired a life guard (so smart) and had a full bar with a bartender (and yes - Megan came with us and had the bartender's number by the end of the night). They had a catered Taco bar which was AMAZING and the cake was just adorable - and delicious. There were close to 100 people at the pool party including plenty of children for Veda to play with. Because of the pool Veda was forced to wear her monkey leash which came in quite handy for me because she was ALL over the place. Veda gave Jacob and Alexander their own leashes for their birthday;)

Go Hawks!

I get to title the blog since I'm out numbered in the sporting gear department. However, Veda doesn't look too happy about supporting the losing team. I'm wearing my beat state shirt as we celebrate that we actually get to watch the game today! I guess something good has come out of the Direct TV investment.

Thief

I left the grocery bag a little too close to Veda in her car seat. I was wondering why she was so quiet on our way back from the grocery store. She swiped a banana from the bag, ate through the peel, and was sucking out the insides when I discovered the mess when we got home. The other day we went to the farmer's market with our neighbor and babysitter - Kathy. Kathy gave Veda a wedge of watermelon and we left her alone with it while we shopped - only to later discover that she was eating the rind.

Take Veda to Work Day

We had our first ultrasound on Friday morning. So Todd went in late to work after the appointment. We tried to get some work done before we left and Veda was happy to help. The ultrasound went well. The baby wasn't cooperating so we couldn't find out the sex - Oct 27th will be the big day. It was neat to see the baby jumping around and good to get a positive report that everything looks as it should.

Potatoes on the Counter

It's the simple things in life...sometimes you just need to sit on the counter naked with potatoes. That's all it takes to go from screaming tantrum, to happy baby.

Daily Recommended Allowance

Here's V eating my rollers. Her daily routine while Dad is getting ready in the morning consists of opening all the bathroom drawers, pulling everything out, and making sure that all the rooms on the second floor have an even distribution of Mom and Dad's bathroom items. Every time I want to curl my hair I have to go on a treasure hunt;)

It's a disappointing morning. Todd called to say that someone hit him while he was driving to work this morning. I thought this was going to be a real inconvenience because he has to turn in his lease next week. How in the world would we (most likely I) get in fixed in time? Then he reminded me that he drove my car to work - oh joy!

At my Doctor's appointment yesterday with my Urologist he informed me that the test results have identified the culprit responsible for my Kidney Stones... Salt. I have "way too much" sodium in my system. I laughed out loud because I am always giving Todd a hard time about eating too much salt and I'm the one with the problem. So this morning I started reading all the nutritional panels on our food in search for something healthy to eat. Ughhhhh!!! Everything has tons of sodium. This is going to be a serious chore to cut down on salt and it doesn't just mean staying away from the salt shaker.

So Long

Kel and Chris left yesterday and boy is it quiet around here;( I did spend the day with the Direct TV guy who spent 6 hours at the house installing Todd's birthday present. The good news is that we now have two less TVs in our house because they couldn't connect all of them - the bad news is that Todd now has a reason to stay glued to the couch ALL day on Sunday with NFL Sunday ticket.

Bun in the Oven Just Like Mom

This is Todd and Chris' way of teaching Veda about the birds and the bees. Cute huh?

Our House is a Sand Box

We had a sunset dinner on the beach Saturday night with the Ehlers. Veda LOVES the sand. I suppose it will be much like her love affair with snow the first time she experiences it. The sand is everywhere in our house. I wonder how people who LIVE on the beach deal with this nuisance?

Mummmmm Mussels

Aunt Kel made the best dinner ever. Giada's seafood pasta. Veda feasted on her milk. Today the ladies head to the spa while Chris and Todd watch football and hopefully, Veda.

No new material...

I've been so busy juggling work and baby that I haven't given my camera much attention this week. Here's a pic from the archives that I don't think I've shared. Big day today. Aunt Kel and Uncle Chris are coming to visit. I'm thinking that I wish I had maid service. I've never thought I was too busy to clean myself but now I'm thinking I'm just too tired - that's a good excuse right?!

Playmate

If you don't have this toy then you should get it. Veda loves it - we had some great Video but I couldn't get it loaded. Thanks Brooke - Veda picked this out with her birthday money;))