Alexandria part 2

Frogs! Crocodile hunter nothing...

Emma, Maya and Eric release the frog so it can go find its family.

Safety first on Lucy's first pontoon ride. She was cool with it as long as she was asleep. Once awake it became less fun to wear even if it did have cute ducks on it.

ok. the next posted photo is not for the faint of heart. I thought long and hard about whether it is appropriate to post poop pictures on a blog - well anywhere really. I'm still not sure it is but as the book says - everyone poops. And this is a funny story - classic new parent in its telling and the fact that we actually have a photo speaks volumes.

Let me begin with - We had just returned from an afternoon of sunshine and boating. I put on a pair of pants straight from the washing machine. An unfortunate milk explosion had necessitated laundry immediately upon arrival from Duluth. Ahh clean laundry. I am leaarning to not put too much stock into any one outfit these days. You never know how long it will last.

Anyway - clean clothes and a hungry baby. Great. We'll chill in the evening air and nurse while dinner is prepped. Half-way through I hear a toot. No big deal. But then my leg feels wet. Hmmm. A peek reveals baby poop pooling on my newly cleaned pants. Funny, gross, etc. I'm laughing and Lucy just continues to nurse greedily. That's funny in itself what with the little piglet snorts she makes.

I call Ryan over to share the poop grossness and as we're discussing how this possibly could have happened (spoiler: diaper was applied only covering one cheek...) and how we are going to possibly change her without getting poop everywhere. Well just then, Lucy stops feeding and spits up all over my other leg and the front of her onsie. This made me start laughing even harder. Ryan takes this to mean that a photo is definitely necessary. We'll want to share this moment with Lucy at some properly embarrassing moment.

Just another day in the life of a new parent. :)

A few things to be noted about the picture below:

1. We actually have a photo of this situation - thanks Ryan Love for helping...

2. I'm laughing so hard I'm crying.

3. Lucy is sweetly looking up at me amidst the fluids

alexandria part 1

We recently went to Alexandria to visit Pam, Brian and the extended Norby-Johnson clan.

Saturday folks got right to work planting more than 40 trees around the land. Lots of hands and a posthole digger helped things move quickly. Lucy and I "helped" by taking pictures.

Ryan and Emma tuck a tree into its new home.

And then play a bit in the mud.

Ryan: Emma, you know what's cool? Mud mustaches.

Emma: (looking doubtfully at her cousin) How about you do it?

Then again, who can resist Ryan? In the photo below he laughs in amazement at his success and she laughs because - it's true. Mud on your face IS fun.

pimp my ride

This is not baby related. Not everything has to be. Somethings simply need to be shared.

This is one way to pimp out your truck...not the traditional route but no one's judging except the big guy in the sky. Location: Miller Hill Mall of course.

firsts...

First "real" bath in the baby bathtub. She does great! Although it is still challenging to get the breastmilk out of her neck folds. Not a great place to store snacks. It's hard to reach and not refrigerated. Un-classy details like that aside. Lucy does look cute all wrapped up and smelling of freshly cleaned baby.

First baseball game! Ryan's work had an outing to Wade Stadium to see the Duluth Huskies play. Mmmm brats and lime budwieser. Fun fact: My grandfather played in this stadium for the Dukes in the 40's. Keep in mind that he was a French Canadian guy from New Hampshire. Played some minor league ball after the Navy. We have photos of him at bat with the Fitgers sign behind him. I think it's so cool that we ended up in Duluth of all places....

First Smithie encounter. Kristen, Chadd and Soren swung by during their Minnesota month. Here they are with Ryan and Lucy (she's the colorful sweaty blob on Ryan's chest) during our walk in Congdon Park.

Evening on the lakewalk

Chariot with a view.

Lucy and Ryan admire the evening light as it plays on Lake Superior. Or Lucy would be if she was awake and could see more than 12 inches away from her face.

I look small against such a big lake. Lovely evening in Duluth.

more visitors

Lucy has been very popular. And she has had lots of guests.

Some of the Olsons stopped by on their way up the shore. John held his first ever baby...

Emily and Wade dropped in to marvel at how small our large baby is...Tessa (their two month old) was at the grandparents' so it's really very hard to make a comparison. We'll just have to take their word for it.

Dan, Jessi and Mia (3 months) popped in for a visit and Lucy now owns a match box car...

Joy and Joe were in town from Chicago and may need to consider new careers in baby whispering. This picture does not do Joe credit. Lucy was very interested in his funny faces and loved Joy's soothing presence.

Visitors

We have had a few visitors lately to meet Lucy.

Chris and Heidi stopped by while they were in town. Chris brought a Sophie the giraffe for Lucy. Apparently every kid in France gets one of these. Already this kid is running in international circles...

The Mattsons stopped by with presents and lunch! What a nice treat!

Maarit was very interested in holding the baby and sang special songs for her.

There was also some hamming it up for the camera. I think she knows full well how cute she is. :)

Britt and the Tyes stopped by for a quick visit yesterday too. It was great to see them all.

The Pearson clan also visited the other day. Thanks for the food and beverages everyone!

No pictures were taken of these visits unfortunately.

First trip to the lake!

With the super hot weather last week we decided to head down to the beach for dinner. It was good to get out of the house and so lovely, breezy and cool at Brighton Beach.

Eating makes everyone sleepy these days. Dad's chest is the perfect place for a snooze.

You can't go to the lake without sticking a toe in....

Notice Ryan's face. We weren't sure how this would go over.

Feet in! And an instant "what the ----" face from our sweet daughter.

Which made us laugh and laugh....

Sorry little girl. Our parents did this kind of thing to us to. Thank you for the laugh. It helps with the sleep deprivation.

More photos and a shout out to Jesse

Family photos

Lucy's not particularly happy in them - turns out she had a wet diaper and was ready for a snack...we tried to hurry and take these though before any rain happened.

Grandparents!

Our little family...

A major shout out of thanks to Jesse our wonderful doula and incredibly valuable part of our birth team. She was supportive, calming, informative and just overall awesome. We feel so lucky that she was part of this experience.

Bathtime

The first bath from Mom and Dad. It was a team effort but on the whole she was pretty chill about it. The water may have felt good because it's sooooo hot out. Nothing smells better than freshly bathed baby. Especially once we got the old breast milk out from behind her ears.

Dad's finger doubles as pacifier during the particularly "horrible" moments.

All clean!

This face can precede and follow a full throttle scream. It's very peaceful though at this moment.

Lucky little girl

Chillin' with Mimi and Grandpa. We've spent a lot of time in this chair this week. Thanks to Pam and Brian for gifting us the most comfortable chair in the world several years ago. It has been a wonderful place to snuggle with our daughter.

Sporting her bad-ass skater onesie - Thanks Uncle Neal!

Not even a week old and she already has Twins gear. She has no idea what kind of intense baseball training is in her future. Ryan is already planning her knuckle ball practice.

The Ericksons.

Meeting Grandma and Grandpa Erickson

Grandma and Grandpa Erickson arrive for a visit!

Cuddle time with Grandma Pam. Lucy got to snuggle a bunch in the special rocking chair that Pam brought. She's also the lucky recipient of many blankets and garments crocheted with love.

Hanging out on the deck with Grandpa Brian.

Snickerdoodle was not quite sure what to make of this little person who seems at home in "her human's" arms. See Snicks, there is still room for you too!

It was nice to see Pam and Brian and their help with some basic household tasks was appreciated. Who knew we could rack up so much laundry in a week....