Chicago

For a belated anniversary, Mike and I went to Chicago for the weekend. We had a great time. Lydia stayed with some friends here in Lafayette and came home totally pooped from all the fun she had, and frankly, we came home pooped too!

We stayed in a hotel downtown, right off of Michigan Ave, which is the shopping district. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory, which is now Mike's new favorite restaurant and saw The Navy Pier. We saw Speed Racer at the Imax theater at Navy Pier and really liked it. The screen was huge!
To top it all off, we walked down to the Theater District and saw Wicked on Broadway. I think we have been singing the songs ever since! It was fantastic! The weekend was great. I loved spending time with Mike, but we were both excited to come home and see the cute little antics of our princess. Just about everything we did, we would spy something that Lydia would like. Next time we go I think we will take her with us and go see the zoo.

This last picture is for you Mom and Dad! This is Dad's next boat- a "gift for mom!"

Cutting hair

A few weeks ago, I was visiting my friend Jackie, who is blind. She asked me if I would cut her hair for her, so tentatively I did. The extent of my hair cutting experience is trimming my bangs when I had them about 10 years ago and shaving my legs. So you can see why I was a little nervous. As I went along however, I decided that this would be the best experience I could ever get. I was cutting a blind woman's hair! She would never see my mistakes and blunders. She told me what she wanted by how it felt.
Well, it really didn't turn out too bad, so this week I decided I would trim up my own hair, and Viola! It didn't turn out too bad either. Of course it took several times of washing it before I managed to get everything even!
And now I face the decision, should I cut Lydia's hair? It has never been cut before and frankly it is kind of straggly, but I am able to put it in pigtails. Any opinions? I'm on a role so far. . .

Laws of Physics

What happens when a 25 pound girl tries pushing a 250 pound man on the swings? Not much.
What happens when that man is swinging and that 25 pound girl is still behind him trying to push him?
Well, you can guess what happened. We went to play at the park and despite Lydia's attempts to push her Daddy on the swing, it ended up that he took her out instead. She flew through the air and landed on her behind. She didn't cry, just seemed confused as to how she ended up on the ground so quickly. Maybe we should let her play with kids her own size and let Daddy keep his football size frame on the ground.

Mike's Birthday

Mike turned 26 on Saturday, so I threw him a surprise birthday party. I knew Mike wouldn't want a big to-do, so I just told him we were going to bar-b-q at the park and his two closest friends here in Indiana and their wives happened to show up at the same time. That's Joseph on the left and Carlos in the middle. Those boys talked the whole time- about sports! I guess that is what you do at a bar-b-q!




While the men folk talked, us ladies took the kiddos over to the toys. Lydia loves the swings. I've included a picture of little Joshua (Joseph's son) who had his first experience on the swings. Though the picture might not make it seem like it, he did really enjoy it.
We did have cake, though I don't have any pictures. Lydia put the candles in- some were upside down and some were stuck in all the way to the bottom of the pan. It was a fun evening.



















I also had this recent picture of Lydia riding her rocking horse and talking on her cell phone at the same time. I wonder, if at 2 she already has a cell phone, do you think when she is 15 she will think she needs one?

26 weeks!

I took this one today and though it isn't that great of a picture, I am proud to say that I have finally figured out how to rotate my pictures so they aren't sideways! Hope that makes viewing the blog a little more fun.
Also, please vote on a baby name on the right hand side of our blog. We want to know what you all think!

Tidbits

Mike working on his bike. We love biking.
Lydia and Grandpa Hansen. She loves Grandpa Hansen and cried when he left.
The Red Hat. She wears this hat almost every time we go outside, even if it is 70 degrees.

Tidbits on our family:

Lydia-
Lydia woke up at 5:00 one morning this week, bright eyed and bushy tailed. By 7:00, I decided it was Dad's shift. When I woke up around 8:30 the house was silent. Either they were asleep or outside. I put my money on outside because Lydia doesn't fall asleep once up and is obsessed with going out at every opportunity.
I was wrong. I opened the door to find Mike asleep on the couch and Lydia asleep with her head on the coffee table. She was sitting in her doll stroller, which keep in mind would be a tight fit for a cabbage patch doll, and had her favorite blanket all wrapped around her neck like a boa. Her head was resting on her folded arms, but before I could take a picture of this serene and unheard of moment, she woke up, and with no hesitation, was back to being a very busy almost 2 year old. Random.

Mike-
Mike is becoming a computer gamer. Tomorrow night he has a gig to go play computer games with a whole bunch of guys that all hook up their computers onto a network. I don't expect him home before 1:00 AM. I never thought this would happen to Mike, but as long as he doesn't start collecting Japanese cartoon playing cards, I guess I should let the boys be boys.
Also, Mike came home from school yesterday and informed me that he was going to sale his presidential vote on ebay. I told him it had to be illegal and would be the demise of democracy if people sold their right to vote for money. Thankfully, he researched the idea, along with some fellow grad students and found that someone had already tried it and been notified it was a felony. What are they teaching him at school?

Heather-
In highschool, I always found it fun to buy some new jewelry or clothes, but I have found that since being married and starting a family, the things I desire to buy are very different from what they were before. For example, I love shopping for my children. The toy aisle never held so much joy. Or how about appliances? What I wouldn't give for a dishwasher! That is so lame! But it is true. I came home from a store called Gordman's last week being most elated with a newborn outfit for the baby! (To which Mike looked at and said, "Hmm, there are frogs on this. Where are the footballs?)
And other news in my life is that I am so excited because I am getting a piano, something that 10 years ago I would have shrugged my shoulders at. I was at a community center this week for a meeting and they had a sign posted on the piano that said "Free! Out of tune. You must haul." So, for the approximately $35 it will cost to haul, I am getting a piano. It has it's nicks and scrapes, but now I will be able to submit my own children to the horrors of piano lessons.